My commentary on Awami League's moral defeat Political violence is undemocratic process and should be denounced. Right way to avoid violence is not instigating it in the first place. BNP leader, Khaleda Zia, has been threatening the government, for a long time, with ultimatum to overthrow it through mass movement, and the Dhaka-March was supposed to be the starting point of that movement. Now, it will be naïve to expect that government will sit quiet and facilitate that opportunity for the BNP on that day. It will not happen in any government anywhere in the world. Mr. Mahfuz Anam has missed the point completely. I do not think it is a democratic right of any political party or parties to overthrow a democratically elected government. That right is only reserved for the people of the country. Such extreme measures are used in the extreme political situations, like cessation or independence movement, not to change the government power from one political party to another. That's an absurd democratic right, and no government should allow opposition party to organize such a movement. The only democratic way for a political party to come to power is through the election. That's it. Could some with neutral mindset (if there is any such thing in Bangladesh) tell me why opposition party has chosen such undemocratic way to go to the power? They have not attended the General Assembly almost from the beginning of their term. Whatever excuses they have been giving us are just excuses; they do not convince me for a moment; it seems like - it's a part of their political calculation to go to power quickly. This is nothing but a back-door illegal politics. Caretaker government provision in any country tells us that the democratic institutions and people of that country are not trustworthy. So, caretaker system can only be justified as training wheels for a new democracy. It cannot go on forever. You have to take off the training wheels ASAP. From that point of view, I consider caretaker government system in Bangladesh is a national disgrace now. But, BNP has made the 'Caretaker government' issue as their primary campaign issue. No one can forget about 1/11, when a virtual military government took over the power from a caretaker government. Therefore, do not pretend, for a second, that a caretaker government system is the most fail-safe democratic system in the world, because it is not. You have seen many perfectly peaceful democratic elections already under this government, and the opposition candidates won in many of those critically important electorates. What that tells you? The problem is not there; the major problem with BNP is that it is without a clear political philosophy, which makes it ideologically bankrupt political party. Tell me what is it? Is it a progressive party or a religious fundamentalist party or a moderate Islamic party? I can't say, because it has not made it clear. But, I know, it needs a political chaos to go to the power. BNP is now using everything such as, caretaker government issue, political agitations, non-cooperation movement, communal agitations, subversive activities, etc., for mobilizing its power-base. They have tried everything from road-march to military coup to go to power. Everything failed to do the trick for BNP. But, they have succeeded to sustain substantial damage to the economy of the country. That's an achievement for the BNP, but a failure for the country. I don't understand how anybody with fair mind could support such destructive political agenda of the opposition party. Therefore, I shed no tears for what happened during the Dhaka-March. In my opinion, certain political programs, such as strike, road-march, procession, etc., which can hamper country's economic progress should be reserved for national interest only, not for party political interests. The country cannot afford such destructive political campaigns by opposition parties. Political parties should have only right to hold public meeting to present their cases to the public. Labor organizations should have rights to strike and hold meeting to mitigate their demands. That's it. Everything else is just destructive political agenda, should be reserved for critical circumstances only. Don't tell me that - that critical time is here already, and BNP/Jamat is here to save us. Jiten Roy
--- On Tue, 3/13/12, Captain Chowdhury <captchowdhury@yahoo.ca> wrote:
From: Captain Chowdhury <captchowdhury@yahoo.ca>
Subject: [mukto-mona] Awami League's moral defeat: Govt holds Dhaka city hostage
To: khabor@yahoogroups.com, mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com, Chetona71@yahoogroups.com
Cc: editor@thedailystar.net, editor@prothom-alo.com, editor@amadershomoy.com, news@daily-dinkal.com, news@akhonshomoi.com, "news-deshbangla" <desdeshbangla@dekko.net.bd>, news@dailyjanakantha.com, news@prothom-alo.com, news@rtvbd.tv
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 8:28 AM
| VERY WELL CONTROL (RISK MANAGEMENT) BY SHAHARA KHATUN BEING A LADY. THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE FROM BNP REGIME. MR MAHMUZ ANAM WANTED TO SEE ANOTHER 21st AUG GRENADE ATTACKS, WHERE LAST ALIVE BLOOD OF BANGABANDHU NARROW LY SURVIVED OR LIKE TO SEE KASHEM MASTER / INNOCENT N THINK TANK/HIGHLY EDUCATED KIBRIA LIKE KILLINGS WITHIN PARTY RALLIES !!!! WHY CAN'T MR MAHFUZ ANAM AND THEIR FRIENDS TRY TO REQUEST BNP/ALLIES TO GO TO PARLIAMENT AND DEMAND FOR CTG /PENDING ISSUES !!! THERE WAS ALL OVER RUMOUR (8TH NIGHT TILL 10TH) THAT ANOTHER 21ST AUG MIGHT BE HAPPENED OR SOME-WHAT SABOTAGE, SIMILAR TO ARAB SPRING IN AFRICA TO FOIL THE WAR CRIMINAL ISSUES AND MAKING FOOL TO JOURNALISTS LIKE MR MAHFUZ ANAM !!! FOR SELLING PAPERS FOR HIS BUSINESS, MR MAHFUZ CUD HAVE MASTERMIND TO QUOTE MANY THINGS IN CASE SOMETHING CUD HAVE BEEN COOKED UP!! I DID MY OFFICE VERY WELL, PEACEFULLY, SHIFTED FM CHITTAGONG WELL BEFORE TO AVOID ANY DELAYS. HOW ABOUT MR MAHFUZ : WAS HE AT HOME OR IN THE OFFICE..NORMALLY THE JOURNALISTS WORK LATE NIGHT TO COOK UP MANY THINGS (AS USUAL PICTURE IN BANGLADESH LIKE MIDNIGHT COUP ), LATER PROCEED TO OFFICE N THUS DIDIN'T SEE DHAKA AS A WHOLE DURIING SUBSEQUENT DAY!!! BRAVO SHAHARA !!!!! DEFINITELY WHOLE ACTION HAVE BEEN TAKEN CONCEPT FROM USA OR OTHER NATO ALLIES AS MANY ANTI-MOBBED POLICES HAVE BEEN TRAINED RECENTLY (CALLED SWAT TRAINING), EVENTUALLY I AM LITTLE LUCKY TO HAD SAME EXPERIENCE WHILE DEALING A PROJECT WITH US MARINES!! THIS IS SOPHISTICATED RISK MANAGEMENT !!!! MR MAHFUZ NEEDS MORE TIME TO GET SUCH CONCEPT !!!! HE MUST APPRECIATE GOVT THAT SERIOUS ACCIDENTS HAVE BEEN AVOIDED AND POLICE DEPT ARE WELL EQUIPPED WITH ACCIDENT PREVENTION SCHEME. DOES HE AWARE AS JOURNALIST REGARDING THESE TECHNICAL WORDS DURING MODERN ERA !!!
--- On Tue, 3/13/12, Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Subject: [KHABOR] Awami League's moral defeat: Govt holds Dhaka city hostage
To:
Received: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 1:45 AM
CommentaryAwami League's moral defeat: Government holds Dhaka city hostageMahfuz Anam http://amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2012/03/13/135903When does a government strangulate its capital city by preventing almost all modes of transport from reaching it? When does a government bring to a virtual halt almost all internal city movements? When does a government create such a panicky situation that traders do not open shops out of fear of vandalism? When does a government prevent its own citizens from carrying out their day to day activities? When do government leaders tell blatant lies on television while the truth is clearly the opposite? When does a ruling party let loose its goons upon normal citizens on suspicion that they might attend the opposition rally? When does an elected government adopt the most oppressive measure to prevent the opposition from holding a public rally? http://www.thedailysangbad.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=News&pub_no=1007&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&val=95083Only when it is unsure of itself. A party confident of its popular base, sure of its public support, certain of the efficacy of its policies and surefooted about its public record would never have done what the ruling Awami League did yesterday to prevent the BNP from holding its public rally. What the ruling party did over the last two days to prevent mass participation in the opposition rally reveals a political party frightened of the strength of the opposition and loath to allow it to show it. In its massive show of strength the Awami League looked its weakest. http://www.samakal.com.bd/details.php?news=13&action=main&option=single&news_id=243754&pub_no=990A party that only three and half years ago came to power with a massive four fifths majority in parliament should today be so frightened of a discredited (in the last election) opposition that it uses all, save the military, coercive machinery of the state to prevent its mass rally. What is it, if not a moral defeat? http://jugantor.us/enews/issue/2012/03/13/news0706.htmThe tragedy for the AL is that in attempting to suppress the opposition it has suppressed the citizens. Ordinary people were subjected to indescribable sufferings just to prevent the BNP from holding its rally. People who had nothing to do with the opposition's programme were searched, harassed, verbally abused and prevented from coming to Dhaka for their personal work on suspicion that they might join the rally. We have reports of job seekers scheduled to reach the Middle East not allowed to travel to Dhaka even after showing their tickets and passports. We have eyewitnesses to the fact that most launches were stopped at the point of origin and the few arriving at Sadarghat were prevented from reaching the shore and forced to go to far away jetties to let their passengers disembark, who then were stranded without any means of reaching their destinations. And we are not even talking of people arrested on suspicion and held in jails all over the country. http://amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2012/03/13/135899We published photographs of stick wielding ruling party goons attacking passengers of buses and launches in order to prevent them from reaching Dhaka. What mindset, what myopia, what perverted logic, what disregard for ordinary people could have allowed a government party to permit its activists to attack ordinary passengers whose only "crime" was to want to come to Dhaka. Seldom can we find examples of such disrespect for the fundamental rights of the people. Is this the ruling party's example of democracy? http://www.dailykalerkantho.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=Soccer&pub_no=820&cat_id=1&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&index=5We also condemn the fact that the mass media, especially the electronic media, were prevented from fully carrying out their professional duties during yesterday's opposition programme. Several TV stations were barred from airing uninterrupted live coverage of the rally. A few channels that were covering stories of public sufferings during the course of the day were visited by intelligence people and told to tone down their coverage. In other cases the cable operators were partially prevailed upon to take some channels off the air during the peak hours of the opposition's rally. Such blatant interference in the media's function amounts to suppression of the freedom of the media and public's inalienable right to know. http://sonarbangladesh.com/blog/post/98962The oppressive measures the ruling party resorted to in order to prevent the BNP rally has shocked us all. The use of police, the intelligence agencies, and late last night, the BGB stunned the ordinary citizens are to why such a massive show of states repressive machinery was necessary. The government's apology of an explanation that it was only trying to prevent the opposition from creating chaos was neither credible nor acceptable in the absence of any proof. The more the government leaders repeated this narrative the more they sounded hollow and more their real intention became clear.The question today is not what BNP did or how big was its rally, but what the ruling Awami League did. It showed a most ugly repressive face. It demonstrated that it would not hesitate to take any measure, however harsh, use any coercive instrument of state, impose any amount of sufferings on ordinary people, tell their fibs regardless of what the truth is, impose needless restrictions on public movement to prevent the opposition from carrying out protest activities permitted in a democracy. It may not realize that by its actions of the last two days the AL's image as a party that believes in democracy stands seriously damaged and its claim that it wants the opposition to play its legitimate role stands questioned.We are sorry that Khaleda Zia has called a hartal on the 29th of this month, which we are opposed to in principle. But the issue of some sort of neutral body presiding over the election period and allowing the Election Commission to function freely is a legitimate question that AL cannot wish away. Here the opposition is right and the ruling party is wrong. The latter will have to concede on this point if it wants an election participated by all parties. Terming all BNP's actions as attempts to subvert the war crimes trial is a misconceived strategy and may have the opposite effect than intended. It is true that the BNP's position on the war crimes trial is condemnable (we will write separately on it) but its demand for an interim government for free and fair elections is justified.We want to say in clear terms that the AL's policy towards the opposition, as exhibited in the last two days, is fundamentally undemocratic, legally untenable and practically unsustainable. What if the opposition calls for a similar programme a few months later? Will the government strangulate the country again for days? Will the public accept such sufferings again and again? As a country that proudly tells the world of its democracy such behaviour from its ruling party is totally unacceptable. The quicker the AL learns it, the better it is for its prospects in the next polls.http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=226110Further:http://www.jjdin.com/?view=details&type=single&pub_no=66&cat_id=1&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&index=5http://www.samakal.com.bd/details.php?news=13&action=main&option=single&news_id=243754&pub_no=990http://www.thedailysangbad.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=News&pub_no=1007&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&val=95083http://www.dailykalerkantho.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=Soccer&pub_no=820&cat_id=1&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&index=5http://sonarbangladesh.com/blog/post/98962
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