Tiare Rath and Dhiya Mousa in Basra

Iraq once had one of the best educational systems in the Middle East. Baghdad and Mosul were thriving university and intellectual centres, and school enrolment and literacy rates were high. War changed that - first the decade-long conflict with Iran, then the first Gulf War, and finally the effects of United Nations sanctions from 1991. The school system began to collapse, and enrolment fell as many children, functioning in survival mode like the adults around them, were forced to earn money rather than study. Within a decade, only 53 per cent of children were enrolled in schools, according to the US Agency for International Development.
   By the time the US-led Coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, Iraq's schools and its educational system were in shambles.
   With Saddam gone, though, there were rays of hope: Enrolment began to climb again, while the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, the US government, Iraq's education ministry and other powerful actors promised to rebuild thousands of crumbling schools and improve the country's education.
   Once again, war arrived. The chaos of conflict has disrupted the day-to-day life of schools and universities and prevented substantive change in the education system.
   The lack of security has also made statistics difficult to obtain.
   UNICEF's last report on literacy in Iraq, in 2004, estimated that 74 per cent of people could read and write.
   The conflict is being fought on the streets of Iraq and its once-flourishing capital, Baghdad, affecting every aspect of life and effectively halting governance there. In the capital, IWPR correspondents report, the lack of law and order is destroying education. Teachers are refusing to show up to work because of the security situation; schools, particularly in mixed Sunni-Shia neighbourhoods, shut down for months on end; and pupils are pulled out of school by their parents.
   In Basra, according to IWPR reporters in this southern region,
   education officials are slowly trying to rebuild schools, which are under pressure from returnees and Shia Iraqis from other regions who have flocked to the south. At Basra University, meanwhile, students affiliated with Shia militias are using these dangerous connections to threaten teaching staff.
   In spite of the difficulties, the picture is not entirely grim. Mud schools built by tribesmen in al-Samawa in southwestern Iraq are giving their children an opportunity to study, although the government is ignoring their requests for more durable modern facilities. In Kirkuk, two significant ethnic groups - Turkoman and Kurds - can finally study in their own languages following years of persecution under Saddam.
   Iraq's brightest spot continues to be the Kurdistan region, which will
   soon be home to the American University of Iraq. An comment piece argues that the northern region must improve its curricula and teaching style if it is to become a centre of higher education.
   Meanwhile, young Kurds are so eager to study English that some are paying hundreds of dollars to study at private centres.
   Students say the Kurdish educational authorities have removed references to Saddam and the Baathists from teaching materials, but have not take any other steps to modernise textbooks and educational methods.
   
   Sectarianism
   Students linked to rival Shia parties and militias are throwing their weight around at the University of Basra. Students with links to the political and religious parties vying for control of the southern city of Basra are intimidating both lecturers and classmates at university.
   "Either you let me pass this class, or you will be in danger," is typical of the threats received by lecturers at the University of Basra from students attempting to use their political - and paramilitary -connections to get better grades.
   Students at the university, which has 17 colleges with 34,000 students and 2,000 lecturers and assistants, complain that politicised classmates are harassing them and telling them what to wear and how to behave.
   Some lecturers say that this threatening behaviour, which causes conflict and feuds on campus, shows how the local political parties are trying to exert control and disrupt university life through their student supporters.
   Conditions in the universities are already difficult. Ongoing security problems cause classes to be suspended for days at a time, and there is a severe shortage of teaching materials. At many colleges, the curriculum has not been changed since the Seventies or Eighties.
   Some lecturers have already fled the city to escape the threat to their
   lives posed by a campaign to kill university professors, lecturers and intellectuals throughout Iraq, which began in 2004.
   No one knows who is orchestrating this campaign, the latest victim of which was Mohammed Aziz, a professor at the College of Fine Arts in Basra, who was killed in May.
   A source at Basra university, who spoke anonymously for fear of
   assassination, said a total of 362 lecturers have been killed in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and Najaf since the campaign began.
   Local security and education officials refused to provide information about the number of lecturers who have left or have been killed in Basra. According to figures from the Iraqi ministry of higher education, 4,500 lecturers have left the country since March 2003.
   Inside the University of Basra, posters supporting religious and political celebrities are plastered on walls - graphic evidence of the way politics has infiltrated campus life, a development that many students dislike.
   Basra province has become a battlefield for Shia parties, militias and
   clerics jostling for control of the city's rich oil reserves as well as its Gulf seaport, through which oil is exported and vital goods are imported. The Supreme Islamic Council, the Dawa Party, and the Mahdi Army of hardliner Muqtada al-Sadr compete to control the provincial council, which is currently led by the Fadhila Party.
   One of the first signs that religious militias would try to impose restrictions on students' daily lives came in March 2005, when Shia paramilitaries aligned with al-Sadr attacked a group of engineering students having a picnic at al-Andalus Park in downtown Basra. Armed with rubber cables and sticks, the militias beat the students and took some of them away in pickup trucks. The attack reportedly left one Christian girl dead.
   The students had offended the militiamen because the men were dancing and singing, and mixing with female students.
   In protests sparked by the attacks, students called for an end to political interference in university affairs.
   "The incident [rang] alarm bells about the worsening situation at the universities because of intervention by members of religious parties," said Muhannad al-Mansoori, a student at Basra University.
   Students say little has changed since then. Rasha al-Bahadli, 23, who is studying agriculture, said his peers continue to be harassed by classmates affiliated with Islamic parties. "They ask us to change the ringtones of our mobile phones, our clothes or our hair styles, all allegedly in the name of religion," he said.
   Lecturers also come under pressure from political groups, often to help failing students pass their exams.
   Last June a student with links to an Islamic party attacked a lecturer at the College of Education because he refused to mark up his grades so he could pass the class.
   A witness said that lecturers and students watched the fight but no one dared intervene, and the attacks only subsided when the professor got a his pistol out of his car and fired warning shots into the air to scare off his attacker and disperse the crowd.
   Hakim al-Mayyahi, head of the security committee at Basra's provincial council, accused neighbouring states of being behind the attacks on university teaching staff. He refused to say which country he had in mind, but said "some of them are acting according to a very dangerous plan".
   Many lecturers are more worried about political actors closer to home.
   They complain that the local security forces have been infiltrated by political parties, and say this makes them hesitant to report threats and abuse.
   Mayyahi confirmed there was "wrongdoing" within the security services, but insisted, "this does not mean there is no trust".
   He said that many of the problems had already been solved and that the provincial council had asked both the security forces and political parties not to intrude on the university campus.
   Any incidents that had been reported were "individual acts by certain party members", he said, rather than part of some wider campaign.
   But Abu Mohammed al-Ibrahimi, who lectures at Basra University, disagrees.
   "Extremist Islamic parties in Basra control everything," he said. "They impose their agenda on people through their militias who threaten and kill people."
   Institute of Peace and War Reporting

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Vital issues concerning Bangladesh

Dr Azizul Karim

Any treaty with IMF should be signed after consultation with Bangladesh's economists and elected politicians. The country's economists have already denounced the IMF and Indian request for corridor through Bangladesh's territory. Advisers to the present Caretaker Government (CG) should appear before the national media from time to time to face a panel of journalists and ensure prevention of any hide and seek regarding information about any plan and programme. We have not seen anything like that so far regarding such a highly important matter. Most importantly, why are they in so much hurry before the next general election? This is a very important question to be answered.
   Secondly, India wants to give us less and wants to get much, much more. Economic exploitation by India was happening for past few decades from 1975 with export -import deficit of $2 billion dollars per annum, according to statistics. India is more interested in Dhaka-Kolkata train service because millions of dollars would be earned by India in health sector only. But India does not bother about the Farakka, Angurpota, Dahagram and other Chhitmahal issues.
   The original report by B M Abbas should be read and reviewed for guidance to solve our flood problem and no availability of water during lean period or draught.
   There is no anti-Indian feeling in Bangladesh. India on the other hand started anti-Bangladesh campaign for the past decades and successfully captured Bangladesh economy by exporting various goods, the balance being always in her favour.
   The people of Bangladesh did not liberate their motherland from Pakistani domination to fall in the grip of Indian economic exploitation. Present stakeholders of the CG of Bangladesh and government officials of India should bring all those facts on the conference table before expecting anything from Bangladesh. Our army or the present Government should be intelligent enough during bargaining. People of Bangladesh do not pay tax for serving the cause of India or US. India wants economic benefit from us without giving us any benefit.
   Some time back Sri Rahul Gandhi commented openly about liberation of Bangladesh. For his information, by means of Simla Pact with Zulfiker Ali Bhutto, Mrs Indira Gandhi set free all the 90,000 troops of Pakistan Army prisoners of war and 193 well-identified war criminals by the definition of Geneva Convention. Indira's government traded in our bloodshed and sacrifices in 1971. Furthermore, Indira Gandhi and Siddhartha Shankar Roy destroyed brilliant youth movement of West Bengal.
   So Rahul Gandhi shouldn't try to pity us, Bangladeshis. The then Indian government did very unfriendly things to us for their geopolitical and economic benefits, the undesirable legacy of which we are still bearing. Humanism of Bengalees on both sides of the borders has been crushed by premeditated Kotilya politics at the expense of bloodshed of millions. Indian officials should stop lecturing Bangladesh to become secular and democratic standing from bloodied ground of Gujarat.
   Notably, we neither support enemy property law about Bangladeshi Hindus. At the same time we object to pampering the writer of obscene and communal books, Tasleema Nasreen by the Anandbazar Patrika and some other newspapers which act can instigate fanaticism here.
   People of this country are suspicious about the former US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Butenis and US foreign policy because of their past records: their role in 1971 supporting Pakistani killers and PL 480 game during 1974 famine will not be wiped out from history. The US govt wants to capture our economy through IMF. Mr Bush has selected India as regional policeman to capture our market, putting our Army and people to fight each other and destroy our institutions with Mackiavellian intrigue.
   We are aware of Sirajul Alam Khan and Dr Kamal. Please make no mistake: we don't want to replace corrupt Hasina-Khaleda by more potential monsters. East India Company and its Permanent Settlement should not come back in midst of current geopolitical dirty game in the region.
   All the national and international stakeholders should step carefully before making any quick decision against our poor people. Amen
   Dr Azizul Karim is a general practitioner based in Victoria, Australia.

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Flood water and tube-wells

Dear Editor:
   It is reported that most of our tube-wells in the flood affected areas have gone under water and there is acute shortage of drinking water.
   Over fifty thousand people of our country are now reported to be suffering from flood waterborne disease: diarrhoea.
   Our Ministry of Health is issuing and publishing advertisements in newspapers and also making announcements over radio and~ television as to how to procure drinking water from the tube-wells gone under flood water by fixing an extra tube/pipe on the mouth of the tube well above the level of flood water for supply of drinking water.
   Has the Ministry of Health supplied any extra pipe/tube to the flood affected people or made any public demonstration as to how to fix an extra pipe/tube on the mouth of the tube well for supply of drinking water?
   We appreciate practical work instead of theoretical advice and suggestion.
   O. H. Kabir,
   Dhaka.

Dear Editor:
   There is no signalling system in big cities of Bangladesh including Dhaka, the capital ,which is very shameful. Anybody can ride his vehicle to any direction although there is red or green lights are shown. Does it reflect our national character? A few years back when I was in New Zealand, one TV commentator during cricket mini worldcup held in Dhaka was jokingly commented in that way.
   Furthermore, traffic accidents and deaths are mainly manmade.
   Most of roads of Dhaka should have speed limit of 40km/hr.
   Nobody wears seatbelt in cars, neither driver nor passenger. Statistics abroad shows there is an inverse relationship between head injury patients and seatbelts.
   We think, the current CG should ensure traffic rules. The Communication Adviser should look into the matter.
   Dr Azizul Karim,
   General Practitioner, Australia
   Email mounaj@optusnet.com.au

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We can't afford two airports

Dear Editor:
   After Commissioning of ZIA International Airport by the late President Ziaur Rahman, news surfaced in those days that the old Tejgaon Airport will be demolished and the vast area will be utilised for the purpose of residential and Government office buildings. ZIA is serving as civil cum military Airport. But in course of time betraying our belief Tejgaon Airport was handed over to the B.A.F. by the Civil Aviation Ministry, though the airport is there for name's sake and hardly in use by the Airliners. A large portion of the runway has been converted in to National Parade Ground and is also being used for displaying Armed Forces Artillaries on special occasions.
   Tejgaon Airport, what was an emergency landing strip during World War II was converted in to a full pledged airport by the Govt. of Pakistan. Due to its very location within the city and also unsuitable for use as an international airport The Govt. of Pakistan started construction of the new airport at Kurmitola with a view to demolish the Tejgaon Airport, located not very far off from the existing new Airport.
   Now the question is considering the limited land mass available in the country as a whole and that of Dhaka city in particular can we really afford to have the luxury of retaining the old Tejgaon Airport just for name's sake? Is this at all necessary? We are losing our lands every year due to devouring of the same by the mighty rivers. On top of that sea level is rising to engulf further land mass. Our country is so small and getting smaller day by day when the population is so high! Land is so scarce! There are not enough play grounds for our children and even enough cultivable lands to feed the hungry millions. Should we not think of our future generations? Should we not protect each and every inch of land for productive purpose? The irony of this country is that individuals/groups in power only think in terms of their own comforts and better life and not bothered about the masses.
   I think we have a moral duty towards our future generations and we should leave behind a better world for them to live on. Hence, Tejgaon Airport should no longer be there as an airport and be converted in to residential cum office areas, while retaining the National Parade Ground. The large water bodies also be utilised for psciculture to supplement our fish shortage. May I hope our city fathers will think of the poor nation as a whole and make an appreciable decision.
   M.A. Elihan Zakaria,
   124 Whitley Close,
   Staines .Stanwell,
   Middlesex tw19 7ey, U.K.

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Incidents at DU campus: Introspection, reasoning needed

Dear Editor:
   We are shocked and perturbed by the unpleasant incident that happened at the Dhaka University central playground on 20th August, 2007. We cannot understand as to why the army personnel (a sipahi) had to pick a quarrel with the students whatever may be the reason(s). We presume, the other day, may be few years back, these army personnel were also students.
   Normally we behave with the students in an affectionate and loveable way. They are our children, somebody's sons/daughters, brothers/sisters and above all future leaders of the country. Teachers are assets of the nation and deserve respect except the ones who are politically motivated and engaged in the activities subversive of the state. In such a situation, excesses committed by the parties, could have been averted if patience, tolerance and self-restraint would have dominated.
   Again the incidence may be a preplanned drama played by the unscrupulous elements to create law and order situation. These possible destructive elements may have utilised the students, a sensitive organ of the society.
   These are simple speculations. We do not really know the mind of the people involved. But the Government and the people at large should be careful about these harmful persons. But simply on the plea of beating a student and humiliating a teacher, the protest actions were very destructive and illogical from the point of view of the Government's sensible reactions from the very beginning of the incident.
   Since the incident, whatever may be the reason(s) behind it, was carefully handled by the concerned authorities and the matter had been settled amicably -- there was no point to take recourse to destructive activities. The so-called picketers and protesters were enjoying the destruction of public and private properties as revealed by the roar of laughter on their faces as shown on the screen of the electronic media.
   The roles of the DUTA on the plea of this incidence are indecent and provocative. Instead of delivering constructive advice and suggestion, they started adding fuel to the fire in the wake of this trifling matter. It appears, their demands, irrelevant to this incidence, were the result of instigations by the unruly and unpatriotic forces behind the screen to fish in troubled water.
   We would humbly request the members of the DUTA to work/react prudently and rationally on any matter and to stop involvement in politics, as members of an Association comprising of genius and rational persons. We expect, they would mind their own business of teaching, a noble profession. We would like to take the privilege of reminding them that they are being paid from the public exchequer, neither from any party's fund nor from any individual's fund.
   We cannot look back. We cannot dispense with the interest of the country for an individual or a few or a group of people.
   We are to go ahead with courage, caution and intelligence with a view to accomplishing the welfare of the people and the country.
   GolamMostafa,
   Adabar, Dhaka.

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