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Appeal denied against bail to Hasina
SC reminds govt of its limits
Sadeq Khan
The full bench of the Supreme Court has denied the government’s appeal for a stay against the High Court order granting bail to Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case and asking the government to show cause why the transfer of the extortion case against her from normal court proceedings to proceedings under the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR), thereby rendering the charge non-bailable, should not be declared unlawful. By the dennial, the Supreme Court has sent a clear message to the caretaker government. The message is to take care to abide by the letters of the law with regard to provisions framed by the caretaker government itself under the emergency powers. Ordinary cases involving serious crime and corruption if transferred to speedy trial courts and prosecuted under the EPR were rendered non-bailable by ordinance. Later, making allowance for judicial discretion and in view of charges in which the wives and children of some accused faced harsh conditions of detention despite their relative innocence, several amendments were made to the EPR and a time limit was set for transferring regular criminal cases to prosecution under the emergency rules. In the extortion case under adjudication, that time limit for transfer was far exceeded.
The impression left is that the government initially did not intend to prosecute Sheikh Hasina under the EPR on the basis of the complaint filed with the police by an aggrieved party. Nor was the transfer made on the basis of a request by the investigating officer on the ground that the case involves grave matters of public interest and merits speedy trial under the EPR. It was done, in fact, on the basis of a directive from the law ministry at the instance of the caretaker adviser of law and parliamentary affairs, who announced on television the government’s intent to transfer the case to prosecution under the EPR. The transparent purpose appeared to be to deny bail to the accused.
The show-cause notice of the High Court does not limit the prosecution of the case by speedy trial under laws framed by the previous government to combat serious crimes and terrorist violence. If bail is denied by the ordinary trial court in case the High Court order staying proceedings of the case under EPR is made absolute after hearing, the High Court will not probably hear the bail petition afresh unless the full cycle of judicial redress in district judges’ courts are exhausted. The Supreme Court judgement, while making no substantial difference to the trial itself, has on the other hand served to demonstrate that the caretaker government is respectful of the rule of law and basic rights of citizens even under the constraints of emergency conditions. The government may credibly claim that it is making its best efforts to prosecute corruption cases fairly, transparently and without selectivity or political bias.
On the last mentioned point, however, scepticism has been expressed by some foreign observers. Steve Chabot and Mark Kirk, two members of the US House of Representatives, in a letter written to the Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, expressed their reservation that recent high-profile arrest of corruption suspects, including that of former leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina who previously was also the prime minister, gave “credence to speculations” that the government’s anti-corruption drive was “politically motivated” and contrary to international practices of due process of law and human rights.
The US State Department, however, in response to enquiries on July 30 about its silence on Hasina’s arrest made it clear that the US government as a matter of rule does not get involved in the case of any one charged with corruption and as such had no comments on Sheikh Hasina’s arrest. The Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Dhaka, Geeta Pasi, acknowledged in a business meting on July 31 that the government needed to ensure fair and transparent prosecution of corruption suspects without “selectivity or political motivation”. She said it was crucial that all those accused were accorded the full range of their legal and constitutional rights. But she extended full support to the caretaker government’s anti-corruption drive, contending that “Corruption is an insidious disease that saps the nation of its vitality and promise, and it has no place in democracy”. She also welcomed the road map to an elected parliament declared by the Election Commission as an “important milestone for this government” and expressed firm commitment of the US government “to help Bangladesh meet the markers along its stated course” to hold free, fair and credible elections by December 2008.
A grim warning for the government came from a different corner on a different count. The Asian Development Bank while releasing its Quarterly Economic Update for June 2007 on Bangladesh on July 31 warned that the administrative measures taken by the government had failed to contain rising inflation. If the flood situation continues to deteriorate, inflation may become more oppressive, it said. The ADB extended its unequivocal support for the anti-corruption drive of the caretaker government but cautioned that the drive should be more target-oriented to avoid possible negative impacts on the market and on private enterprises. Indeed, in public mind, floods, unemployment and food prices remain the overwhelming concerns, and the challenge for the caretaker government is now inevitably homebound to mitigate those concerns.
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Flood assumes alarming proportions
Abdur Rahman Khan
The flood situation is taking an alarming turn with the major river systems recording further rise in water level and the monsoon remaining active. More than a third of Bangladesh, a low-lying delta of 145 million people, has been inundated by floods. Nearly five million people have either been marooned or displaced in the country’s hardest-hit northern region.
In the flood-affected districts, schools and many government offices have been closed as roads and embankments were washed away, bridges collapsed and towns went under knee-deep water.
Many displaced people have taken shelter on embankments, while others have moved onto rooftops of their houses. Residents are using small boats to move around. The deluge is feared to cause huge losses to the agriculture and bring water-born diseases in its wake.
So far, 38 people have died in flood-related incidents, Food and Disaster Management Adviser Tapan Chowdhury told a press briefing on Wednesday. Many of the dead were children who drowned, relief officials said.
‘The overall situation looks alarming. But it’s too early to declare it a national disaster,’ Chowdhury said.
Official statistics say the floodwaters already affected more than 4.5 million people in 36 of the country’s 64 districts. Some 250,000 houses have been completely or partially damaged and crops on more than 500,000 acres of land damaged. Besides, more than 1,800 educational institutions and about 12,000 kilometres of road have been damaged too.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Army has joined the local administrations in rescue and rehabilitation of the flood-hit people. Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and army chief General Moeen U Ahmed visited some affected areas and distributed relief among the victims.
A bulletin of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said Wednesday that new areas in about seven districts in the central and western parts of the country and more low-lying areas in the eastern part of Dhaka City were likely to be inundated. According to the FFWC bulletin, the Ganges-Padma continued to rise at all points and is flowing 136cm above the danger level at Goalundo and 92cm at Bhagyakul. The river is likely to rise further, inundating more areas in Manikganj, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, and Shariatpur districts and in Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas of Dhaka.
The Meghna at Bhairab Bazar continued to swell and was flowing 40cm above the danger level Wednesday morning. The river is likely to rise further and inundate more low-lying areas in Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria, and Narayanganj districts.
Small rivers surrounding Dhaka and Narayanganj were also rising relentlessly. The Sitalakkhya is flowing 6cm above the danger level at Narayanganj and Tongi Khal 4cm at Tongi. The Balu at Demra is likely to cross the danger level within the next 24 hours and the Turag at Mirpur by the next 48 hours.
The flood situation in the north-eastern districts of Netrokona, Sunamganj, and Sylhet is expected to deteriorate slightly.
Most of the rivers in the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Meghna basins saw a rise and the rivers in the south-eastern hill basin both rose and fell. The water rose at 47 river-level monitoring stations while 24 rivers were flowing above the danger level on Wednesday.
The government has adequate preparations to deal with the exigencies caused by the raging floods across the country, said Fakhruddin Ahmed.
‘There is adequate food in government stock to tackle the emergency situation and the government has also taken steps for immediate import of more food...tender would be floated in this regard in a week,’ he told reporters.
There are standby medical teams to provide treatment to patients of waterborne diseases during and after the flooding, he said, adding, ‘There also is enough stock of water-purifying tablets. Other relief materials are being sent from Dhaka according to the demand.’
The chief adviser said he was getting updated information every day from the flood coordination and monitoring cell opened at the his office and giving necessary directives.
Eighty-three medical teams are working in the districts as diarrhoea has broken out in many flood-hit areas. However, a ban on political activities under the state of emergency has prevented political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from reaching those marooned by floods.
‘Due to the changed situation, I am unable to personally stand by the people who are facing the catastrophe,’ said former prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday and issued an appeal to all concerned to engage in relief work.
The people affected by the flooding are in crisis of food, shelter and medicine. Emergency relief is needed and the international community should be requested for aid. Political parties, NGOs and the civil society should be engaged in dealing with the emergency situation.
Away from the political intricacies, weather experts observe that people in countries across the world, from China to India and Sudan to Indonesia, are coping with a severe wet weather, highlighting the position of flooding as the most deadly of all natural disasters.
Monsoon flooding, which has proven difficult to predict in the past, has displaced thousands or left them isolated in their villages in the neighbouring Indian states of Assam, Bihar, and West Bengal.
Around four million people in India have been affected by floods. Flooding and associated problems have also caused deaths in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal.
The Nepal government has appealed to the international community for humanitarian aid as the country continues to reel under monsoon rain and mudslides.
In the middle of June, Cyclone Yemyin began drawing up water from the Arabian Sea and headed straight for Pakistan. On June 23 the storm made landfall and released torrents of rain over Baluchistan and Sindh provinces for four days. The resulting flooding has claimed the lives of 319 people with 224 still missing. Some 377,000 people have been displaced and a total of 80,000 houses completely destroyed in Baluchistan and Sindh alone. About 2.5 million people have been affected by the disaster.
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Dhaka should reap benefits
of granting India transit rights
M.I. Ali
An Indian junior minister, during a recent trip to Bangladesh, reiterated India’s desire for securing transit rights through Bangladesh to its north-eastern territories. As in the past, this time too the response to the request was not positive, with Bangladesh arguing that its request for transit rights to Nepal and Bhutan has not been honoured by India. India does not see the need for reciprocity as granting Bangladesh such rights will loosen the Indian stranglehold over these two landlocked countries and India will not be able to choke essential supplies if they do not tow the Indian line.
India has made it clear time and again that it does not believe in multilateral relations among its neighbours and all issues involving it must be dealt with on a bilateral basis. The best example of the Indian policy is SAARC, which is probably the most emasculated and ineffective regional forum in the world.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, does not have any hegemonic aspirations regarding its neighbours. Therefore, granting India the transit rights will not have equal political importance, except for some people in Bangladesh who believe that it may jeopardise the country’s security. For Bangladesh, the transit issue should not be addressed from a political point of view as it is most unlikely that India would use any Bangladesh route to transport unauthorised cargo like weapons and ammunition to arm its forces in the northeast.
As for security threats to this country, India does not need transit rights for carrying out mischief here. There are lots of other options open to it. On the other hand, giving India the transit rights will help Bangladesh improve its much-needed transport infrastructure and give a boost to its economy. India being the blue eyed boy of the West, all multilateral development and financial organisations are going to fall over each other to develop the infrastructure in this country to facilitate the implementation of the agreement.
The transit issue for Bangladesh is an economic one and should be evaluated on that basis. If giving transit to India is profitable for Bangladesh then it should be given by all means and we should extract the maximum benefit from it. Due consideration should be given to the fact that roads in Bangladesh are already overcrowded with our own traffic. Therefore, a completely new road system should be developed to accommodate the Indian traffic that will transit through Bangladesh.
However, as this is the most densely populated country in the world and the new road system will displace a huge number of people who, in no way, can be resettled elsewhere in Bangladesh—after all, land is extremely scarce here, the only way this problem can be resolved in the short run is India agreeing to settle them temporarily in Arunachal or Assam, where unpopulated land is abundant, until industrial jobs are created for them in Bangladesh for their return. The population density in these states is very low and infusion of the temporary settlers, who are farmers, will help boost their agriculture. Bangladesh can import these excess agricultural produces. Here, too, India can help Bangladesh by encouraging its industrialists to invest in Bangladesh. The sooner the jobs are created the sooner the displaced persons can return to Bangladesh.
Once the transit protocol is operational, raw materials can be brought from India, processed in Bangladesh using cheap energy and labour, and exported abroad, including India. Unlike India, where the strong rupee is making exports expensive, Bangladesh has a stable currency and a disciplined labour force that make it a better platform for setting up industries than India. Indian entrepreneurs will definitely seize the opportunity if conditions are conducive here.
India should also be allowed to use the Mongla Port to facilitate international trade of eastern India, including Bihar and West Bengal. The Chittagong Port should be reserved for Bangladesh as it is currently meeting the most of this country’s needs and does not have excess capacity to meet India’s requirements. Mongla should be developed as a regional entrepôt and the cost of such development should be borne by India as a gift to Bangladesh, with no strings attached. Unfortunately, Mongla has a serious situation problem that must also be addressed by India. This can be done through the release of an adequate amount of water from Farakka Barrage to flush Mongla Port of silt to keep it navigable throughout the year. India should stop diverting the Ganges waters to central India, if it considers the use of Mongla Port important to its economy, and make that water available for flushing Mongla Port.
Many economists and logistics experts have identified Bangladesh as the ideal transportation hub for the north-eastern India and south-western China. However, when Bangladesh was punched out of the eastern region during the 1947 partition of India, the economy of the region was upset. Many political and economic pundits had predicted that time that this country would fail to stand on its own and would have to revert to status quo within a short period. The opposite has happened and now the economic stability of the entire eastern India is at stake because of the disruption of the traditional lines of communication. These lines were further disrupted following the 1962 Sino-Indian war when cross-boarder movements became restricted. To become economically viable, the region has to be integrated as a near-homogenous economic unit once again. This is in the interest of both India and Bangladesh, but more so in India’s than Bangladesh’s.
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Islamic pragmatists’ unique
triumph in Turkey
Annette Grossbongardt in Istanbul
Turkey’s ruling Islamist political party AKP won recent election by a landslide with 47 per cent of the vote. The country has voted for stability, economic growth and—if the campaign pledges of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are to be believed—further democratic reforms.
Turkey has handed its government of chastened Islamists an overwhelming election victory—a reward for leading the country out of one of its worst crises and presiding over an impressive economic boom since it came to power in 2002.
The landslide result of almost 47 per cent in the election, up 13 points from 2002, is a unique triumph for the former fundamentalists who have transformed themselves into conservative pragmatists. No governing party had been confirmed in office so convincingly since the 1950s, astounded Turkish TV commentators announced.
It wasn’t just headscarf-clad women and devout men with moustaches who voted for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), as cliché would have it. Polling analysts said more than half its support came from people with a secular background who wanted Turkey to keep on reforming, to remain business-friendly and to continue to open itself up to Europe—goals shared by many religious voters as well. Erdogan’s AKP has done more in this regard than any of its predecessor governments, however secular.
Erdogan promised on election night to keep on reforming Turkey. AKP also seemed to have benefited from gains in the traditional, Kurdish southeast of the country.
The opposition secular left-wing CHP, which seems more nationalistic than social democratic, had tried to exploit fears of creeping Islamic fundamentalism. “Do you see the danger lurking in the ballot box?” wrote nationalist newspaper Cumhurriyet on its front page alongside a picture of a pair of eyes under a black veil. It appears to have failed to catch the mood of the population.
AKP’s election success proves it has been able to convince more people of its own transformation than the demonstrations by strict secularists had suggested in the spring. It seems that only a minority of Turks fear that the AKP will turn Turkey into a second Iran.
Social change
AKP’s victory underscores the extent to which Turkey has changed. Studies show the country has become more religious, but fewer people now support the notion of a political Islam. At the same time religious, rural classes have risen to join an elite that used to be the exclusive domain of the Kemalist urban upper class. The newcomers now want their share of power.
During the election campaign the AKP didn’t even promise to lift the strict ban on wearing headscarves in schools, universities and the civil service. The secret of Erdogan’s success was his middle-of-the-road strategy, for which he even appointed liberals and social democrats as candidates for his party. He had no competition on the center-right, where the former governing parties of Süleyman Demirel and Turgut Özal have shrunken to insignificance.
Reliable partner
As far as the West is concerned, Turkey has emerged from this election as a reliable partner. A change of government would have spelled instability, especially if there had been a coalition of the CHP and the radical nationalists in the National Movement Party (MHP), which won 14 percent. That would have sent out alarm signals about a rise of Turkish neo-nationalism. Such a coalition would have meant a “long-term crisis,” the Greens warned in the European Parliament.
Even Turkey-skeptic politicians in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats had secretly hoped for an AKP victory.
But this vote was also about personality. Erdogan, who held 55 campaign speeches in 15 days, confirmed his image: credible, hard-working and charismatic. His supporters are already likening him to the popular economic reformer Özal—and to Atatürk. “You’re the greatest prime minister,” they chanted when Erdogan appeared on election night.
They’re also celebrating him as a man who worked his way up to the top from a modest background. Who visited an Islamic school but was passionate about football at the same time. “Imam Beckenbauer,” they used to call him, referring to the German football legend. But at the moment of victory he was modest, and emphasized the need for national unity: “One flag, one republic.”
Message to generals
Was it a message to the generals? The army will now play a decisive role in determining whether or not Turkey succeeds, with this clear result, in overcoming the political crisis prompted by the failed presidential election. Will the military now accept an AKP candidate against whom they intervened with a memorandum in April? The memo, posted on the Internet, was widely perceived to be the threat of an army coup against Erdogan if his foreign minister Abdullah Gül were to become president. Sunday’s election can also be viewed as a message from voters to the military that it should stop meddling in politics.
The parliamentary vote for president will be the first major test for Erdogan. Will he interpret polls victory as a referendum on Gül and attempt once more to get him elected president? On Sunday evening in Ankara he appeared demonstratively with the devoutly religious foreign minister at his side—flanked by their wives, who were wearing strict Islamic headscarves. Despite the party’s success, however, preliminary results showed that it had failed again to secure a two-thirds majority. That means it will again need the votes of the opposition in parliament to elect a president.
It would be wise to avoid further irritating Turkey’s strictly secular forces, for example by firing up another headscarf debate. And for its part, the CHP should avoid a repeat scenario of April, when it boycotted the presidential vote and then sued in the country’s highest court to declare the election invalid, thus sparking Turkey’s biggest political crisis in a decade. AKP officials are convinced their party got more votes Sunday because voters sympathized with Gül, whose election as president had been thwarted by the CHP.
The two-thirds majority would also have been necessary in order for the AKP to keep its promise of changing the constitution. The party has also announced other important reforms that Brussels is eagerly awaiting after the AKP’s European ambitions waned over the past year.
A further stumbling block: Erdogan will soon have to decide whether or not to invade northern Iraq under pressure from the military. The army wants to fight Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters who have infiltrated the region, but by doing so, Erdogan would be risking a further escalation of the conflict in war-torn Iraq. The West has been following these developments with great concern.
How forcefully Turkey now continues on its path towards Europe now depends on Europe too. How long can Turkey be strung along when it is becoming increasingly clear that at the end of the day Europe doesn’t want it to join the European Union? After all, Turkey’s real dilemma has far more to do with its path to Europe than it does with the debate over headscarves and mini-skirts.
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Inflation breaches all official estimates
Flood to push prices further up
Asjadul Kibria
Breaching all official estimates, the consumer price inflation has reached a new height at the end of last fiscal year (FY07). Neither the finance ministry nor the central bank has been able to keep the inflation rate within their target.
There is also a stronger indication that the upward trend of inflation will continue in the upcoming months mainly due to the flooding which has already engulfed one-third of the country. There is a worry in different quarters that the already disrupted supply chain will totally break down as the flood situation worsens.
As the international prices of essentials have been on an upward curve for the last few months, it is clear that prices of imported commodities will also hover in the upper segment. Tariff cut will work little as it happened in the past. Moreover, the demand for essentials will increase ahead of and during Ramadan, creating additional inflationary pressure as Ramadan will follow close upon the flood without giving any time for the economy to recover.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data shows that the annual average inflation rate stood at 7.22 per cent in FY07, compared to 7.17 per cent in FY06. Both the rural and urban annual average inflation rates surged, the former to 7.3 per cent and the latter to 7.03 per cent. The Bangladesh Bank has set the inflation target at 7 per cent for FY07 and continues with the tight monetary stance to contain inflation. But the stance works little as reflected in the latest inflation figures. The finance adviser, Mirza Azizul Islam, was also ambitious on containing inflation and predicted in his budget speech that inflation would be within 7 per cent in FY07. But his efforts to contain the inflation have obviously failed.
Although the government has initiated some administrative measures to keep the market prices within a tolerable level, reality checks revealed that these measures have been largely ineffective. Rather, to comply with the international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government in April increased the prices of four types of fuel oils, pushing up the inflation risks. Interestingly, both the government and the World Bank argued that the increase in oil prices would not raise the inflation any more. That also proved wrong.
As flooding continues to deteriorate, the essentials prices have already begun to surge. Floodwater has snapped the links between many areas of the country disrupting communications. This has evidently broken the commodity supply chain as is reflected by the latest market prices. There is a concern that the natural disruption of the supply chain already partly broken by imprudent administrative measures in the name of anti-hording drive after the current government’s takeover would turn the situation into a long-term syndrome.
The post-flood situation will not be any better as the damage of agricultural produces, especially aman, will be severe. Without a comprehensive drive to revive the agriculture through easy bank loans and subsidies, the government will not be able to bring back the economy on track. The industrial sector will also need to be given a strong support as it is already under threat due to the IMF-dictated import liberalisation.
Bringing confidence back in the business community is a major challenge for the government. Uninterrupted import of major food items like rice, edible oil, onion etc entirely depends on private importers. A slowdown in imports has undoubtedly left a negative impact on the price situation.
The latest figures of the central bank show that during the first three weeks of July, the first month of FY08, fresh letters of credit for importing rice, wheat, sugar, and onion amounted to $20 million, $37.5 million, $5.9 million and $5.08 million respectively. In the coming months, it needs to be increased significantly to meet the growing demands, especially for food items.
The rural economy will be particularly vulnerable in the post-flood period. Inflation in rural areas is already higher than the urban ones. The food inflation rate, now approaching a double-digit figure, turned the poor into destitute and the meager relief they would receive during the flood will not give them the minimum food security. A terrible time lies ahead for them.
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Is Indo-US nuke deal a breakthrough
or a bad bargain?
Praful Bidwai in New Delhi
After tortuous negotiations spread over four days in Washington, the United States and India have reported “substantial progress” on a bilateral agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation, but said they would now “refer the issue to our governments for final review.”
However, the deal, also known as the ‘123 agreement’ because it will amend Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, is unlikely to find broad consensual acceptance either in India or the U.S.
So wary are the two governments about announcing a breakthrough that they have given no details of the agreement’s contents, and in particular about its acceptance of India’s right to reprocess fuel burned in imported reactors and continuity of fuel supplies from the U.S. in case India conducts a nuclear test.
The agreement is soon to be placed before India’s Cabinet Committee on Security. It is due to be put up before the U.S. Congress for an ‘up-and-down’ or yes-or-no vote without amendments. Under Indian law, it need not be ratified by Parliament.
The deal became possible only with intervention by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and talks between the National Security Advisers of the two countries, as well as high-powered delegations of diplomats and technical experts.
Looming large over the talks was the presence of India’s Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Anil Kakodkar. Although Kakodkar did not participate in the negotiations, he was continually consulted to ensure that his concerns about the deal are met. Kakodkar is known to be less than happy with the deal, and has orchestrated opposition to it through his former colleagues.
According to media reports, the 30 page-long agreement, reached after 300 working hours of talks, only ‘partly’ concedes India’s right to reprocess spent fuel to be used in its fast breeder reactor programme. India has all along insisted on such a full-fledged ‘right’—strongly contested by non-proliferation advocates in the U.S.
Indian negotiators are believed to have offered to build a dedicated reprocessing facility for imported fuel and to place it under safeguards (inspections) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This proposal is proving controversial in India, but the U.S seems to have accepted it. It is not known if this carries any conditions.
On the second contentious issue, that of guarantees of U.S. nuclear supplies if India conducts a nuclear explosion, it has been agreed that the U.S. can demand a return of equipment and material exported to India.
But this has reportedly been hedged in with clauses that call for a Presidential review of the circumstances in which India conducts a test, as well as technical conditions calculated to prevent a sudden and complete suspension of nuclear cooperation.
Both the U.S. Atomic Energy Act and a special legislation passed last December by the U.S. Congress, called the Henry J. Hyde U.S.-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act 2006, mandate a cessation of nuclear cooperation in case India conducts a test. Under the new agreement, such cessation will not be sudden.
“The Indian side obviously did some tough bargaining,” says Achin Vanaik, a political scientist and independent nuclear analyst. “The critical question now is how the two main lobbies opposed to the deal react. There is, first, the nuclear scientists’ lobby which is allergic to any external inspections. There is also the hawkish political right, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which wrongly holds that the deal will cap India’s nuclear weapons capability.”
Some nuclear scientists, such as A.N. Prasad, former director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, and A. Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, have attacked the proposal to create a dedicated reprocessing facility on the ground that its operations will be controlled by foreign agencies and that it will raise the processing costs. Yet others, including two former AEC chairmen, have demanded amendments to the Hyde Act.
However, the U.S. insists that the 123 agreement cannot substantially differ from the Hyde Act.
“It is not clear if the nuclear scientists’ lobby can be brought around to supporting the agreement in its present form,” argues M.V. Ramana, a researcher with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development, Bangalore. “If a majority of its constituents remain hostile to the agreement, political opposition to it will grow.”
Adds Ramana: “Many of the arguments of this lobby are self-serving and reflect xenophobia and a reluctance to accept any kind of scrutiny, including IAEA inspections. However, there is some validity in the argument that a dedicated reprocessing facility will raise costs. But that is something India can live with. The trouble is that this lobby wants to have its cake and eat it too: it wants India to be treated on a par with the nuclear weapons-states recognised by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970, although India is not a party to it.”
BJP leaders have already declared that they oppose the Hyde Act and the 123 agreement in its present form. Observers close to India’s Left parties believe that they are unlikely to support the agreement, and will want to hold down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to various commitments he made in Parliament. As for the U.S., non-proliferation experts and political leaders, especially from the Democratic Party, oppose any deal that exempts India from U.S. laws and effectively legitimises its nuclear arsenal while diluting the global norm against the spread of nuclear weapons.
Says Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, if the U.S. agrees to allow India to reprocess imported spent fuel, “it would still be next to impossible to ensure that U.S. technology and material would not be used directly or indirectly to support or facilitate India’s unsafeguarded weapons-related plutonium reprocessing activities....(A reprocessing facility) would further free up India’s limited fuel supplies for weapons purposes.”
Kimball argues that this would be the fourth major departure from the U.S. laws and policies. The first happened in July 2005 when the Bush administration agreed to drop its longstanding policy of restricting nuclear cooperation with states that have nuclear weapons, or have tested them, and refuse to allow full-scope IAEA safeguards.
The second departure took place when the Bush administration gave up its demand that India suspend production of fissile material for weapons purposes. The third happened in March 2006 when the U.S. urged India to include in its list of ‘civil’ nuclear facilities slated to be put under safeguards reactors falling in its fast breeder programme; “but again, India refused and the U.S. side went along”.
Unless the 123 agreement is rejected by the Indian cabinet, or fails to win Congressional ratification, which seems highly unlikely, the arms controllers would have to take their battle to other fora which must approve the deal before it gets come into effect: the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and the IAEA.
Inter Press Service
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The nation in crisis
Mohammed Ali Sattar
The country is going through a wholesale crisis. A raging flood is inflicting indescribable miseries on hapless millions. The water level is rising menacingly by every second. This curse visits us almost every year, every year we vow to fight it next time, and we fail every time. The government has very little means to fight this force of nature. However, it is trying with all its firepower at work.
We are also in the grip of soaring market prices of essentials. It has now reached a point where the very ‘efficiency’ of the government is facing a challenge. The rising cost of living is gradually sapping the vitality of people, with morality taking a nosedive.
The government has set up special markets across the country manned by the border guards to assist the consumers save a penny on most essential items. But that is too little a help needed at this juncture.
The government should also consider the economic impacts of its anti-corruption policies, noted Hua Du, country representative of the Asian Development Bank. In simple terms, it means the government should focus equally on the economy.
Evidently, the government is trying too many things at a time. At the outset, its mission was to fight graft. Over time, streamlining political parties has been added to the list of its agenda. The Election Commission (EC) has been rightly revamped and non-controversial persons have been chosen as commissioners to see through the necessary electoral reforms. The EC has already announced the much-awaited election roadmap. But, for some reasons, it has failed to generate much interest. It could be that the ‘seasoned politicians’ have the custom of being at odds with this body from the very beginning. Seldom have been the political parties ‘gracious’ with the commission, because for all of them ‘election’ is for ‘winning’ and never for ‘losing.’
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also finds the going tough. The ACC chief, Lt. Gen. Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, is indeed trying his best to convince the people and his colleagues that one must not lose heart and keep trying to make the body effective. It is anybody’s guess that the ‘mountain’ of corruption cannot be removed in a few weeks. It will take a long time to come down to an acceptable level. We all acknowledge that ‘crime’ and ‘corruption’ cannot be entirely wiped out from this unfortunate land. So, containment should be the ideal policy.
Therefore, the government has a range of tasks in its hand. It has to fight corrupt politicians, deceitful businessmen, dishonest government officials, insincere teachers, and double-dealing power-brokers. It can only succeed if it goes bit by bit and with maximum restraint. It cannot afford to be biased and unethical, for the nation is in crisis.
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NEWS NOTES FROM NEW YORK
Fazle Rashid
Johnson assassinated Kennedy
President John Fitzgeral Kennedy was murdered by Vice-President Lyndon Johnson in a widespread, incredibly complex, and brilliantly planned conspiracy that involved FBI director Edgar Hoover, CIA’s David Phillips, Secret Service elements of the US Air Force, Henry Luce of LIFE magazine, Ford Motor, Dallas police, Mayor of Dallas, and President Nixon.
This was claimed by Paul Kuntzler, president of the Court Reporters Transcribers, in a two full-page advertisement in the New York Times on July 31. Kuntzler said he had provided documentary evidence of the conspiracy to the Washington Post. The Washington Post had initially dragged its foot in returning the documents but finally relented on pressure of the court.
The Washington Post’s actions are symptomatic of how the American media have worked to keep the truth about the most atrocious crime in US history from the public. The media including the New York Times allowed themselves to be infiltrated by the CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency had more than 400 American journalists on its payroll, Kuntzler said in the advertisement. One of the many reasons for assassinating Kennedy was the personal ambition of Vice-President Johnson. ‘Then there was Vice-President Lyndon Johnson who was exceedingly corrupt, possessed an overpowering ambition to be president and would stop at nothing to obtain his goal,’ Kuntzler asserted.
Iraqis’ agonies mount
Iraq’s Asian Cup football triumph may have temporarily allowed the people a brief reprieve from the political turbulence but the country, the citadel of one of the world’s oldest and richest civilisations, now endures incalculable hardships. Iraq’s cup of woes is full to the brim.
Oxfam, which carried out a comprehensive research on human crisis in Iraq, termed the response of the US, UN, and EU to the crisis a slow-motion one. The report said four million Iraqis are in dire need of food aid, 70 per cent people do not have access to adequate water supply, and 90 per cent of country’s hospitals lack basic medical and surgical supplies. About 43 per cent people live in absolute poverty and unemployment and hunger are acute among an estimated two million displaced people.
International donors and the UN have focussed on reconstruction but overlooked the harsh daily struggle for survival by millions, Oxfam said. Even in the midst of struggle for survival, more than $400 billion meant for reforms and rehabilitation have disappeared into the pockets of American and Iraqi contractors. Oxfam has requested the nations who have no troops in Iraq to send more money for humanitarian aid there.
Rupert Mardoch buys WSJ
Media moghul Rupert Mardoch, whose empire is worth $73 billion, has added another feather to his cap. After negotiations protracted over several months, he has finally clinched a deal to acquire the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for $5 billion. Murdoch’s News Corporation owns more than 100 newspapers across the globe.
The New York Times (NYT) fears Murdoch will aim at luring both readers and advertisements away from the WSJ’s two main rivals—the NYT and the Financial Times. Among the major newspapers already under Mardoch’s belt are the Sunday Times and the Sun of London and the New York Post.
2.35m Muslims live in US
There are an estimated 2.35 million Muslims in America, according to the Newsweek International. About 5 per cent of the 2.35 million Muslims are from Bangladesh. Most of the Muslims are immigrants from Pakistan and Iran, each group accounting for 12 per cent of the total, followed by India with 7 per cent.
The Newsweek study reports that 69 per cent respondents said Muslim students should be allowed to wear hijab, 52 per cent said the FBI should be allowed to wiretap mosques, and to the question whether Muslims condone violence 63 per cent said no. Bangladeshi-Americans are doing exceedingly well as lawyers, doctors, engineers, bankers, and other professionals. Their number in the New York police is increasing with every passing year. Bangladeshi-Americans are the second largest group of yellow cab drivers in New York.
14 Congressmen under probe
Fourteen US Congressmen, 12 of them Republicans and two Democrats, are under investigations or already serving prison terms for crimes ranging from accepting bribes to sex abuse. The bribes include free trips abroad and campaign donations.
Money follows power. Those who do not have power are less susceptible to corruption. The highest ranking lawmaker whose head rolled on charges of corruption was former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. His wife reportedly accepted money from lobbyist Abramoff, who is now in jail.
The US House of Representatives has approved an ethics rule that requires lawmakers to disclose the names of the lobbyists from whom they take more than $15,000 in political contributions. The new law imposes restrictions on accepting gifts, discounted air tickets, meals, and tickets for plays and games.
Antonioni and Bergman die same day
Two celebrated filmmakers, Michelangelo Antonioni of Italy and Ingmar Bergman of Sweden, died Monday. Michelangelo was 94 and Bergman 89. Both shot into international fame in the middle of the last century when film making was an intellectual pursuit. Bergman was considered one of the greatest directors of the 20th century. He made about 50 films dealing with pain and torment, desire and religion, evil and love, a critic said.
And Antonioni, another critic wrote, ‘In a generation of rule breakers he was one of the most subversive and venerated’ film makers. He challenged moviegoers with an intense focus on intentionally vague characters and a disdain for conventions like plot, pacing, and clarity. He raised questions but never answered them.
200,000 currency note
Zimbabwe is a country of hyperinflation. Its central bank has issued a note of a denomination of 200,000. The new note is worth $13. A 200,000 Zimbabwean note will buy a quart of gasoline or two pounds of sugar. Previously the 100,000 bill was the highest denominated note in the country.
The International Monetary Fund says inflation in Zimbabwe is 4,500 per cent but the figure is 10,000 per cent by conservative unofficial estimates. The inflation would reach 100,000 per cent by the year end.
The United Nations has appealed to nations to send in food to Zimbabwe on an emergency basis. Thousands of Zimbabweans are facing starvation.
Income without tax
The Bangladesh government has extended the time limit for whitening undisclosed savings by paying a fine and tax on that. The non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) want similar facilities to be extended to them.
They want to clear their dues, if any, on their arrival in Bangladesh, even if it is after the expiry of the extended time limit. The Bangladeshi-Americans feel that the 30 per cent tax on undisclosed savings is a very exorbitant rate. They say there should be no tax up to a savings of Tk 15 lakh. The tax on a savings of Tk 16 lakh to Tk 50 lakh should be 10 per cent, Tk 50 lakh to Tk 1 crore 20 per cent, and above Tk 1 core 30 per cent.
Int’l oil price set to dog Dhaka
Bangladesh’s interregnum government will just begin to feel the pinch of the bitter side of governance. The bad news for Bangladesh is the steep rise in oil prices on the international market. The price has hit a record $77 a barrel and there is no sign of its coming down in the foreseeable future. The thirst for oil in China has accelerated the demand and the price as well. This will give a serious jolt to countries like Bangladesh.
Miscellany
The severe flooding in Bangladesh, India, and China could well be the beginning of the affect of the global warming, experts said.
British Airways (BA) has been fined $500 million by the US Justice Department for charging passengers additional fares on its trans-Atlantic flight. The BA has not contested the ruling.
The Democratic Party presidential hopeful Barrack Hussain Obama has caused a furore in Washington by stating that if elected he would rush US forces to Pakistan without its consent to launch an all-out offensive against the Taleban and al-Qaeda hideouts to exterminate once for all the Taleban and al-Qaeda remnants. Pakistan, meanwhile, has turned down a White House request to allow its soil for American soldiers to go after the Islamic fundamentalists. Pakistan does not want the repetition of the Iraq tragedy on its soil.
Barack Obama also caused a stir by stating that he would engage leaders like Kim, Bashar al-Asad, and Ahmadinejad in the first year of his presidency if he was elected. Obama’s father is a Kenyan Muslim and mother a white American. He was born in the US and had his early education at a Madrasa in Indonesia.
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GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Al Gore
K Z Islam
In the 2000 US Presidential elections Al Gore became only the third nominee in American history to win the popular vote by more than half a million but lose the electoral vote. In the US there is a total of 538 electoral votes. In the 50 States of the US there are 100 Senators and 538 Congressmen which constitutes the electoral college. In the electoral vote count Bush and Gore were neck to neck and the Florida count would have tipped the scale. Finally in a controversial decision the Supreme Court of the US stopped the recount of votes in the State of Florida which was tilting towards Al Gore. Bush won with 271 to Gore’s 267. Al Gore accepted the defeat graciously and said to Bill Clinton that he had gotten the best of both worlds: he had the popular vote and didn’t have to do the job. In the 2004 Democratic National Convention Gore reminded the audience: “Let’s make sure not only that the Supreme Court does not pick the next President, but also that this President is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court.”
Right from his initial entry in the House of Representatives in 1977 Al Gore had made climate change and global warming his main emphasis of the policies he pursued. His years of work culminated in the making of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth which won the academy award for 2007. A book of the same title has also been published. He has addressed countless presentations worldwide. In the introduction to his global warming presentation Gore introduced himself as “the former next President of the United States.” When the audience burst out laughing he said “I don’t find that particularly funny.”
An incident which completely changed Al Gore’s outlook on life was the accident which his son Albert had when he was six years old. The family had gone to watch a baseball match and after the match Gore was holding Albert’s hand while walking back to their car. Then suddenly his son ran across the road following a young friend. Gore watched in horror his son being hit by a speeding car. Albert was thrown into the air with a horrible thud and hit the pavement thirty feet away from the point of impact, scraping the pavement until he came to rest, motionless and silent. One can imagine the terrifying time of the parents. Most providentially two off duty nurses from Johns Hopkins Hospital who had also gone to the game had brought their bags of emergency medical gear with them. They were able to give first aid till the ambulance arrived. In the hospital it was found that Albert had suffered serious injuries with little chance of survival. Gore and his wife Tipper lived at hospital for a month and Albert came home in a full body cast. After months of rehabilitation, with their three daughters helping round the clock Albert recovered and within a year he was completely healed and back to full strength in every way.
This incident completely changed Al Gore’s life. Suddenly, the events that packed Gore’s schedule – once so seemingly urgent – were revealed as truly insignificant. It was after the new life that Albert was granted Gore decided to dedicate his life in service of humanity.
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