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Politics dangling between
hope and despair
K. Faezul Huq
The nation as a whole seems to be passing through a spell of tension. There is total confusion all around as far as the political parties and their leaders are concerned. Businessmen and traders of all classes are also confused due to the queer policies of the present administration, which has neither given any satisfaction to the consumers nor satisfied the people on the other side of the fence. The present-day policy has, in fact, failed to contain the prices of essentials until now without providing any special relief to any section of the society, except the big, black money holders. And the finance and planning adviser, in his utter spell of wisdom, claimed that the prices of essentials had not soared!
Further, to make things more confusing, every moment, one comes across contradicting statements emitting from different official sources. While the chief government spokesman, Janab Fahim Munaim, who is also the press secretary to the chief adviser, says that the idea of appointing more advisers or their associates for smoothly running the day-to-day affairs of the government is being mulled, the Law Adviser, on the same day, says something different and contradictory. On the political front also, a battle seems to be on with constant tussle between the neo-reformists and those who want the present status quo to continue until the next council session of their respective organisations. Indeed the differences and confusion all over are quite discernible.
A recap of recent events clearly reminds us as to how people from all walks of life sincerely reacted and prayed when Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed’s journey began with tons of hope, after the changeover of 1/11. Ninety-eight per cent people had heaved a sigh of relief when some major changes were announced after the interim government had taken over on the 11th of January 2007. Perhaps at that point they had rightly thought that a group of Messiahs had descended from somewhere in order to put everything in order. Soon, when they witnessed some quick action on different fronts, as the new government took over full charge, their belief in the goodness of transformation was further intensified, and they were convinced that all evils would vanish soon.
In fact, the ACC, as the forerunner of bundles of momentous reforms which were perceived by the present government, started its voyage with a big bang under the able leadership of General Hasan Mashhud Choudhury, who, despite having paucity of workforce and logistics at his disposal, went ahead full-speed without caring for the available deficiencies. People were both surprised and happy to see ACC’s fast-moving actions, when the big fishes were caught without discrimination. But soon the euphoria started dying down, as some ‘bigwig’ politicians and ‘others’ were left out [and are still out!] at whose direction, God alone knows.
There have been judicial flaws and excesses also, conspicuously visible in a few cases which were recently tried. Whether that was done purposely and voluntarily by individuals in charge of dispensing justice or it was done at the behest of the power is not the moot point of consideration. People are just loath to see the popular government backed by our patriotic armed forces, on which they have pinned so much hope, committing any silly mistake(s) like their predecessors and that also due to the overdoing of the civil bureaucracy. For example, a man possessing 15 bottles of spirit/liquor cannot be sentenced to five years in prison—a fact of law and common perception on which lawyers and jurists are almost unanimous, and which even a layman would know.
The sentence, in fact, only increased the number of sympathisers for the convict under reference by a huge number. A maximum sentence of six months would have really sufficed. And if that is a crime, then everyday 1,000 people should be caught drinking and sentenced to various terms for consuming wine and whisky at different clubs, licensed bars and 4- and 5-star hotels. You simply cannot have different set of rules and regulations prevailing in the same society at the same time for different people. Not at least during Dr. Fakhruddin’s incumbency as the head of government. People feel that the government should concentrate on the big-time corrupts and the financial defaulters who have siphoned off millions of takas and have only been convicted for some minor crimes.
While the politicians and their cohorts including businessmen and civil servants are being tried every day, sentenced to various terms and sent to jail with approval all around, the public has reacted sharply to certain scenes where teenage sons and daughters of the accused and the convicts are also being sent to the prison along with their parents in the same vans. Siblings and wives of the alleged corrupt men might have encouraged a person like the forest dacoit Osman Ghani to indulge in corrupt practices, but sons and daughters, who are fully dependent and live under the same roof, cannot be equated on the same plank with those who live and earn independently. It is true that sometimes sons and daughters overtake their parents in the corruption race like in Maya Choudhury’s case or Hasnat Abdullah’s case, but that does not necessarily happen always.
Now coming back to the national political scenario, I was quite stunned to watch Janab Tofail Ahmed’s reaction, in response to Begum Matia Choudhury’s comment on the two ladies. Tofail Ahmed almost put in his own words into Begum Matia’s mouth and uttered many irrelevant and uncouth things himself while giving his reaction to the media. Nobody has ever seen him doing that in the past and it was quite unexpected. Was he trying to paint a ‘good boy’ impression about himself was what some people were asking in the streets the other day. Mannan Bhuiyan, on the other hand, with support from Major General [retd] Z.A. Khan and Major [retd] Hafizuddin Ahmed along with a few others, seems to be doing a good job by keeping the BNP chairperson on her toes.
But a full-fledged council session, notwithstanding all the present flaws and stigma attached to Begum Zia’s name, would still have a different texture and result altogether. The councillors in any case will have to be fully convinced that Begum Zia with all the blame on her shoulders can no longer lead the party properly, and the time has indeed come for a drastic change of leadership. The councillors would certainly question—which the common man in the streets is presently doing—and ask the top leaders from the reformists’ group as to why they had kept silent for the last 14/15 years. The same applies to the Awami League, with the only difference that Hasina’s rhetoric and dramatics take her well ahead of Khaleda Zia at all times and give her an edge over her political opponent. Further, Hasina’s son Joy or daughter Putul were never involved in any scam or corrupt deal at any time, except some imaginary ones, and they have always kept themselves aloof from their mother and active politics in the real sense of the term.
Hasina in any case would not have a free, smooth ride in the coming days and weeks, either. What one personally feels is she should have been allowed to go to the USA to be beside her daughter for humanitarian reasons. And, after all, a noisy Hasina would do more harm sitting in Dhaka than in Florida, since the American press would have been least interested in her rhetoric and stale statements, which she is so fond of issuing. The US press would be more interested in Hasina’s right to speak rather than what she actually says. It is as simple as that. In any case, she may eventually give up in due course of time, but not before putting up a good fight; or at least not earlier than Begum Zia or Hussain Mohammed Ershad, both of whom appear to be very tired and run down. Conversely, most of the political developments in the coming days would largely depend upon the new political organisation, which is in the offing, how it would fare and tackle the old guards and their older political organisations. It would be an interesting scenario no doubt to watch them together in the coming days.
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Washington shows justice
shouldn’t be heartless
Fazle Rashid in New York
President Bush spared Lewis Libby Scooter, former chief of staff of Vice-President Dick Cheney, the ignominy of serving a 30-month jail sentence, saying, “I respect the jury’s verdict,” but adding that the 30-month prison term was excessive. Libby was framed for perjury and obstruction of justice in the Central Intelligence Agency leak case.
Libby had disclosed the identity of a CIA operative, which is a grievous crime. This was done in retaliation for an ambassador’s non-compliance with the government directives. The ambassador, husband of the CIA operative, was deputed to Niger to find out whether Saddam had bought any uranium from there. The ambassador in his report said he found no substance in government’s claim.
Libby will still have to pay a fine of $250,000, which his friends in the Republican Party have already paid. He will also be on probation for two years. Presidential clemency has saved Libby from the grim prospect of being separated from his wife and two children.
In sharp contrast to this, the lower judiciary in Bangladesh is not only dispensing justice at a break-neck speed but also sending ailing wife, son and university-going daughter of a corruption suspect to jail in its overzealousness. There is no precedence of this anywhere in the world.
The government’s anti-graft drive has been applauded, but it must not do anything that will put the administration in face of embarrassing questions by the civil rights groups.
07.07.07
These are very meaningful numbers. The seventh of July, the seventh month in the Gregorian calendar, of the year 2007. July 7th has come and gone unnoticed and unsung. The world has come halfway towards the Millennium Development Goals. In 2000, from a glittering gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, came the solemn pledge of reducing global poverty by half as a part of ‘making poverty history by 2015’.
But the goals remain illusive. The world leaders had pledged, among other things, to cut the maternal mortality rate by three-quarters, the number of people without access to safe drinking water by half, and the infant mortality rate by two-thirds.
The 80s were supposed to bring water and sanitation, and the 90s to provide education. No one takes the MDGs any more seriously than those. The lofty goals will eventually fade into memory, said The Economist in a recent article. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organisation still think the goals are attainable. China is the only exception. It has been able to eliminate poverty by half from the level of 1990. To make poverty history, you have to know how history is made, The Economist wrote.
How rich are Ambanis
Mukhesh Ambani, chairman of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, is building a 570-foot-tall home in the heart of the busy Mumbai City. The project will cost him $1 billion. The building will have 27 floors. The sixth floor will be earmarked for parking Mukesh Ambani’s 168 cars. It will have a theatre, a hanging garden, a health club, and apartments for guests. The roof will have a helipad for three choppers. Mukesh Ambani is showing that the days of rajas and maharajas are back with a high-tech veneer.
Iran-India gas pipeline
Iran, with the second largest gas reserve after Russia, is planning to lay a gas pipeline which will go through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India, much to the annoyance of Washington. Two of its best allies, Pakistan and India, are joining hands with its sworn enemy, Iran. The project will cost $47 billion with an initial production of 60 million cubic feet per day, which will later rise to 120 million cubic feet. India’s Reliance Industries will be the principal company. Pakistan, which will also receive gas, has assured India that the security of the pipeline is as much its concern as India’s.
Roger Federer makes history
Roger Federer, the 25-year-old tennis star, created history by winning the Wimbledon Men’s single title, beating Rafael Nadal, who is 21, after a grueling five-set battle. This was Federer’s fifth win in a row. He joined Borg as the only men’s player in the last 100 years to win the Wimbledon five times in a row. Borg was present at the centre court and greeted Federer’s feat with a broad grin. At Wimbledon only Peter Sampras and William Renshaw won the title seven times but not in a row.
Hasina and Govt.
Sheikh Hasina’s outrage against the government and its apparent will to stomach the outpourings of her broadside raises questions. She has been the only leader to lambaste the government with impunity. The climb-down from attending the swearing-in ceremony and assuring the government to indemnify all its actions to the present bellicosity only reawakens the suspicion that she has the tacit support of a foreign government.
How could the caretaker government so easily acquiesce to the Indian proposal for a direct train link between Kolkata and Dhaka will also remain a mystery. This is a very sensitive issue and should have been given a closer scrutiny before relenting to India’s pressure.
One adviser, known for his loquaciousness and acerbic tongue, has likened the impending prospect of splits in two major political parties with division of the subcontinent and dismemberment of Pakistan. Something good will come out of splits in the political parties, he asserted with all the wisdom he claims to possess.
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Suspected corrupt leaders
jostle to regain power
Shamsuddin Ahmed
Followers of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina sound excited. They rejoiced when Khaleda hit back at the reformists in BNP, throwing a veiled challenge. Hasina, in her turn, launched a broadside against the armed forces, accusing the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence of breaking up the major political parties and promoting the floating of new ones, a move that would isolate her. Matia Chowdhury, a close associate of Hasina, came up quickly with the statement that democratic politics in the country was unthinkable without the leadership of Khaleda and Hasina.
The sudden burst of captious statements by politicians jostling for regaining their image has no doubt encouraged their supporters. They have been given to understand that the caretaker government has weakened, raising the prospects of their leaders coming out unscathed. A mid-ranking AL leader suggests that something big is in the offing with the Election Commission (EC) promising to announce its polls roadmap by the middle of this month. A journalist follower of Khaleda Zia while sharing his views was found no less optimistic.
But, it is unlikely. Sources close to the administration indicated that none of the bigwigs including the chiefs of AL and BNP would escape trial in corruption cases. Concrete evidences of their corruptions are being gathered.
Sources have given this correspondent to understand that the elections will be held as promised by the end of next year. Awami League and BNP will be very much in the race, but without the leaders discredited by the court and disallowed by the EC. Only a miracle can change it.
The Army chief, Gen Moeen U Ahmed, who is wholly behind the interim government, said in unequivocal terms on Tuesday that the drive against corruption would continue. He curtly refuted Hasina’s allegation of involvement of the forces intelligence in breaking up old political parties and forming new ones. Some say it was prudent on the part of Gen Moeen to avoid debate on the allegation. But he did not signal a caution to Hasina, who is also on the list of suspected corrupt politicians, not to spit at others.
Here some words may not be out of place for the proponents of Bangladesh-style democracy as well as that of some other Asian countries. The United Nations Development Programme resident representative in Dhaka, Renata Desssallien, publicly criticised our politicians in December, saying, “Greed- and power-hungry politicians are destroying the fabric of Bangladesh.”
A UN report on South Asia back in 1999 observed that “the countries are dominated by corrupt governments elected by the poor but serving to enrich the politicians.”
Celebrated British journalist Gwynne Dyer mocked Asia’s democracy, saying most leaders were corrupt.
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and his wife were indicted by the court for corruption. Thaksin Shinawatra, former prime minister of Thailand, sneaked out suitcases full of wealth by planes days before the military coup ousted him from power in September last.
Elected thrice and poised to get elected again, Thaksin used to give cash presents to village headmen who could deliver the local votes. He appointed a large number of cronies to senior positions, abused and undermined the democratic order in many ways, and became the Southeast Asian Silvio Berlusconi.
“This situation has been equally disastrous for Bangladesh,” observed Gen Moeen. “State resources often form a large part of the economy. Whoever controls this revenue stream can afford political godfathering and running chains of crime to stay in power; this fact provides a strong incentive for undemocratic acquisition and irresponsible use of political power.”
But the striking difference is that when Chen Shui-bian and Thaksin Shinawatra stepped out of political scene, the politicians who had ruled Bangladesh for the last 15 years and are defamed in the eye of the people are jostling for regaining power. Khaleda’s son Tarique Rahman and her close associates Mosaddeq Ali Falu and Haris Chowdhury are being tried for amassing illegal wealth when she was the prime minister. Was it possible for them to indulge in such enormous corruption without the knowledge of Khaleda? Let us also see what comes out when Hasina faces the trial of the much-talked-about Frigate and MIG-29 purchase scams during her rule.
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Six months of emergency
Parties yet to fathom their tasks
Sadeq Khan
Six months have passed since the proclamation of the state of emergency on January 11. The Emergency Powers Rules 2007 were promulgated on January 10. Under the rules, provocative activities, including meeting, gathering, procession, rally, blockade, strike, lockout, and other functions of the political parties, trade unions, clubs or associations, remain suspended until further order or until the emergency is revoked. Certain constitutional guarantees of fundamental civic rights have for the time being been suspended. Beyond those the writ jurisdiction of the High Court remains operative. The media has also been left alone to function freely, although with a notice to mind its steps and respect the state of emergency. The violence of the highly polarised and vengeful partisan politics generally ceased with the proclamation of emergency. Normalcy and security of civic life and economic activities were restored.
The vehemence of vengeful partisan politics, however, did not disappear. It has continued with wild passion in the courts of law and the media, with brazen character assassinations, trumped-up charges and counter-charges, summary criminal prosecution of political rivals in gang cases and counter-cases, and disinformation and misinformation tricks planted in media coverage.
The enthusiasm for such camouflaged party political ambuscades got a jolt by the revelation in newspapers of stories of unthinkable abuse of official/demi-official authority in government as well as abuse of political party authority in nomination trade and influence-peddling. Lurid confessions detailing misdeeds of political leaders of both the major political parties, while in power and out of power, were given by some political stalwarts and crony capitalists remanded in custody under the corruption and serious crime prevention drive of the Joint Task Forces. For a while, the political snipers of both sides were out of their depths. But their enthusiasm rebounded with vigour in time, as each side competed with the other in washing the dirty linen of persons of the rival camp by using sympathetic reporters and editors in the media.
The poison-pens of such partisan scribblers also appear to have been run out of ink by now as in the meantime the idea of political party reforms has taken root and a real turn has taken place in the political matrix of the country. Although people have been talking about the need for political party reforms for a long time, and the President set a mandate for creating conditions for “honest democratic practices” in his speech proclaiming the emergency, the political parties remained in a simmering state of suspense. Lip service to reforms agenda was being given by a few in both the camps in cryptic criticism of the leadership failure that brought about the present pass. There were some noises of defiance of respective party leaders by, for instance, Mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka, standing committee member Lt. General Mahbubur Rahman, and the like in BNP and Presidium members Suranjit Sengupta and Tofail Ahmed of Awami League. Awami League Acting General Secretary Mukul Bose spoke of possible leadership change in the party, and Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu reprimanded one of the gaffes of his party chief Sheikh Hasina. Former ministers M.K. Anwar, Kamal Ibne Yusuf, Major (retd.) Hafizuddin Ahmed, and Mosharraf Hossain Shajahan and even the ailing former finance minister M. Saifur Rahman of the BNP expressed opinions in favour of a reform bid within the party to recover its public image ahead of the next general elections, notwithstanding the restrictions on indoor politics under the state of emergency. Yet the sway on the political flock of the two main parties and their camp followers remained dynastically bound, although public disenchantment with the dynastic brand of politics of the two main parties and public disgust at corruption and coercion by party loyalists of the two camps were complete by the trauma of events from October 28 to January 11 that had kept the nation a helpless hostage to political violence and manipulations.
The break came with the announcement to the media on June 25 by BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan of a set of reform proposals for consideration by a BNP council. The proposals, if accepted, will in effect remove Begum Zia from the party leadership, limit the absolute powers of the party chairman, and fix limits to tenure for any incumbent in any party post or parliamentary party leadership to make room for succession. This was followed by a similar reform proposal for Awami League announced to the media by its Presidium Member Abdur Razzaq in his “individual capacity”. The proposals in effect envisage removal of Sheikh Hasina as the party chief by limiting one’s tenure in any major party position and seek to establish a collective leadership. Awami League Presidium members Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta also came out in the first week of July with their own proposals in “individual capacity” for necessary reforms in the party and its parliamentary party. The latter also talked about possible multi-party consensus for constitutional amendments limiting the powers of the prime minister. Sheikh Hasina emphasised her party constitutional right to guide any reform proposal, which she demanded to be placed in the appropriate party forum, meaning presumably the central committee or the Presidium. Strong voices were raised in her support by Presidium members Zillur Rahman, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, and Matia Chowdhury, the latter pooh-poohing any real need for reforms in the party at this stage. Begum Khaleda Zia, while accepting the need for reforms, made no effort to conceal her unhappiness with the Secretary General Mannan Bhuiyan, and in telephonic interviews with her loyalists in the United States did not rule out the scope of disciplinary action against him. She is strongly supported by some veteran Jubo Dal and trade union leaders and her vocal following abroad. A political heat wave has thus been generated by the reforms agenda, the thrust of which has diverted the inter-party rivalries to inner-party squabbles. It is not surprising that the incumbent leaderships of the two mainstream political camps have turned to make a common target of the caretaker government, accusing it of unethically interfering in their party political affairs, misusing emergency powers.
Advisers to the Caretaker Government stoutly denied any interference or any knowledge of official support to party reformists or rebels. They simply acknowledged that their role was limited to accommodating political exchanges at individual levels, like accommodating the free media despite emergency constraints, to facilitate political reforms as it is their mandate to create conditions for honest democratic practices. When Sheikh Hasina pointedly accused military intelligence personnel of engaging in blotched attempts of new party-building and splitting the two main parties, the Army chief, General Moeen U. Ahmed, himself responded in answer to a questioner in a Peace and Security Studies seminar on July 10 as follows: “If the reforms are coming from within the political parties themselves, why are they diverting from internal matters to other organisations? Why aren’t they looking at themselves?
“As a politician Mrs. Hasina has the right to say [what she thinks, but] it is not a fact… but we should not retaliate... I am not here to advise anybody, they are well educated in the system and have gone through politics for so many years… but I should say that [they] should look at themselves [in the mirror]. If you spit upwards it will fall on you.”
He had several times made it clear in public pronouncements that the armed forces were not interested in taking over and were only doing their duty in the aid of the Caretaker Government as they were called in to do under the state of emergency. In his seminar address and in answer to questions, he repeated that the Army was not intervening in government decisions but working only to execute them.
“The decisions are taken by the government and we are not getting in. However, once it takes a decision we try our level best to see that it is executed.” He cited the example of preparing the voters’ roll with photographs. He also explained why the military refrained from public rebuttal to all sorts of wild accusations: The Army has to limit its public announcements because people have already started to ask: ‘What is their intention?’
“There are people who smell a rat everywhere... We are still surviving because we have not given directions. Had we done, we would have been in power. But then all the guns would have been pointed at us...
“Let me assure you, the military is not getting involved in any of the national matters. The decision is being made by the government. However, once they take their decision we try our level best to see that the decisions are executed.”
He defined the limited task in which the Caretaker Government was engaged in with the support of the armed forces under the state of emergency as follows: “While we believe in the representative democracy as an indispensable condition for stability, peace and development of our country, the current [turn] is irreversible and contributes to the process.
“The change of January 11 was therefore inevitable, unavoidable, and formed [a] part of ‘reinvention’ of the nation. The people accepted it, and the international community has seen its logic.
“We are deeply committed to establishing a sustainable governance structure to guarantee reforms. I think availing of this opportunity is almost a ‘now or never’ case in all fields of development to reshape our own destiny and leave a way for our future generations to take charge...
“Curbing corruption and improving economic governance will require strong political will, institutional reforms, high visibility, government support, and international partnership.
“My sad observation is that at times international leaders are more concerned about having a functional elected government in a country [than] how that government is dispensing democracy in that country. This taught us a lesson that things should not go [out of hand any] further...
“…it is imperative that the future government after December 2008 must continue to manifest their desire to continue with the current initiatives as I view the threat of corruption as a threat to the nation’s security and it must be opposed by all conscious citizens.
“We are a time-tested nation that has remained united in all major crises. I leave you today an optimistic note that, through our united and indomitable courage and resolute character, we will succeed in the struggle to offer you a government that is accountable and a society that is democratic and corruption-free.
“We would create structures and policies of development model for Bangladesh that can accelerate growth, but at the same time ensure economic relief to the poor for a more caring, equitable and peaceful society.
“I believe that the present condition has provided us with a historic opportunity to serve the nation—a lifetime chance for every patriotic citizen of Bangladesh...
“If you want to curb corruption, you have to have reforms and that has already begun at many places like the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission, the Public Service Commission, and in many areas of the civil administration. [Extensive] reforms have taken place in the administration and the government feels [it is necessary] to change the administrative system. These reforms do not require constitutional amendments...
“But what do you expect in two years of time…how much the government can do? I think they should do that much which would assist them in achieving their aim to hold a free, fair and credible election through which we can get an honest and credible leadership for the nation.”
Apart from mild criticism of the global leaders’ myopic view of democracy in developing nations, the Army chief also asserted: “...democracy is certainly not having only elected government and depriving its people.”
And along with his advocacy for comprehensive administrative reforms, the Army chief also maintained that the NGOs needed to be more tightly regulated. “The NGOs have no accountability…
“Even projects undertaken by NGOs are apparently not free from corruption... They make beautiful papers, circulate them and then take care [only] of themselves.”
The army chief defended the caretaker government advisers who have made contradictory statements or changed their minds. “They may not be able to give answers to questions the way a politician would, but they correct their mistakes.”
On the question of constitutional reforms, Gen Moeen said the constitution should be reviewed through a “constitution commission” for preparing new laws and mechanisms to ensure accountability and effective governance. He suggested that an elected government might undertake the constitution review after the elections are held by the end of 2008, when a constitution commission might be formed to prepare “relevant new laws” and ensure “horizontal accountability.”
Citing the example of parliamentary committees for constitution review, he said the committees had largely been ineffective in the last 15 years as they had no real authority and the government had the power to accept or reject their suggestions.
“We have to have the constitution up-to-date so these committees have a lot of authority to act on the decisions they make.”
On the possible formation of a ‘national security council’, General Moeen said it was nothing new and the government was thinking about it but it was nothing like what the newspapers were reporting. ‘And I think it is not a priority.’
The avowed purpose and roadmap up to the general elections as spelled out by the Army chief will hopefully stop idle speculations and clear the climate of change in the country, wherein the political parties must now define their own responsible leadership role to serve the nation-building process and to uphold sovereign dignity of our nationhood.
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US naval ship Nimitz’s port call
India practises close military ties
with US, professes non-alignment
Praful Bidwai in New Delhi
The port call of a United States nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to Chennai in southern India has provoked strong protests from a spectrum of political parties, trade unions, peace groups and environmentalists.
It has also exposed a yawning gap between India’s professions of non-alignment and foreign policy independence, and its practice of cultivating a close military and political relationship with the US.
The carrier USS Nimitz was on a five-day “friendly” call to Chennai at the invitation of the Indian government.
The Indian left and centrist parties like the All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, the main opposition in Tamil Nadu, held demonstrations in Chennai last Monday. So did transport and port workers’ unions and civil society organisations, including the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), a broad-based umbrella organisation of over 250 groups.
The carrier arrived in India’s territorial waters from the Persian Gulf region, where it had been despatched two months ago as part of a 50-ship armada: “The function of that mobilisation was to threaten and intimidate Iran over its nuclear programme,’’ says N.D. Jayaprakash, a CNDP activist and National Coordination Committee member.
Adds Jayaprakash: “The political message of the current visit of the Nimitz is unmistakable. It is to tighten the India-U.S. strategic embrace at a time when the U.S. is engaged in its disastrous occupation of Iraq, which has destabilised West Asia.”
Nuclear weapons
The port call of the Nimitz has precipitated controversy for other reasons too. “It is entirely possible that the aircraft carrier carries nuclear weapons on board,” says Deepak Nayyar, a distinguished economist and until recently vice-chancellor of Delhi University. “In that case, it would flagrantly violate India’s well-established, often-reiterated policy of disallowing foreign nuclear weapons into its territorial waters.”
Nayyar is one of 11 public intellectuals who last week signed a statement protesting the visit of the ship, including celebrated writers Arundhati Roy and Mahashweta Devi, former civil servants S.P. Shukla and Sudeep Banerjee, and social scientists Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik and Amit Bhaduri.
The statement points to the contradiction between the Indian government’s claim that the Nimitz is “not known to be carrying nuclear weapons,’’ and the U.S.’s well-reiterated policy to “neither deny nor confirm” the presence of nuclear weapons on its warships under any circumstances. The statement expresses dismay at the fact that New Delhi “gratuitously granted this certificate to the U.S., when Washington itself does not do so”, and says this speaks poorly of India’s foreign and security policies.
The visit of the warship marks a reversal of India’s past policy opposing the transit of nuclear weapons in its neighbourhood. In the 1970s and 1980s, India campaigned against the U.S.’s naval base at Diego Garcia (or Chagos Islands) in the Indian Ocean and wanted the entire Ocean to be declared a “zone of peace”.
New Delhi has rationalised the visit of the aircraft carrier by saying that at least 10 other nuclear-powered foreign warships called at Indian ports in recent years. These include four visits by French naval ships, one by a British ship and five by U.S. naval vessels.
“These precedents cannot justify the present visit”, argues Anuradha Chenoy, a professor of international relations at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. “It is deplorable that India allowed these port calls in the first place without sharing the reasons for the underlying policy shift with parliament or the public. Besides, the Nimitz is visiting India just when public opinion in West Asia is highly polarised because of the occupation of Iraq and the U.S.’s threatening gestures towards Iran.”
The carrier’s visit has special symbolic significance because of its role in the Iran crisis. The U.S. has been mounting pressure on India to drop a proposed natural gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan.
There is a good deal of lobbying on Capitol Hill in Washington to get the Bush administration to drop the nuclear cooperation deal with India, which was initialled two years ago and is under negotiation.
Last week, “The Hill” newsletter reported that several senators and congressmen want that the nuclear deal, which would make a special one-time exception for India in the global non-proliferation regime, be made conditional upon a cancellation of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project.
“The visit of the Nimitz is clearly no routine or innocent affair”, says Chenoy. “India is aware of and has always been sensitive to the importance of symbolic gestures, including subtle and not-so-subtle forms of U.S. gunboat diplomacy.”
During the Bangladesh war with Pakistan in 1971, the U.S. dispatched another aircraft carrier, the Enterprise, to the Bay of Bengal. This was widely seen as signalling Washington’s opposition to the further continuation of the war after the Pakistan army surrendered to Indian troops in Dhaka and Bangladesh became independent.
“India-U.S. relations have turned a full circle,’’ says Jayaprakash. “Now India is willing to indicate its uncritical support for the U.S. military and enter into an unequal strategic relationship with Washington. This is a shameful departure from India’s independent strategic and foreign policy orientation. It also means that the India-U.S. strategic partnership is being strengthened at the expense of third countries.”
Jayaprakash is appalled that some of the Nimitz’s 5,000-plus personnel will engage in a public relations exercise by doing community service in Chennai, including visits to people affected by the tsunami of December 2004.
“This is sanctimonious posturing,” he says. “After committing horrendous crimes in Iraq, U.S. military personnel are trying to pretend that they have a humanitarian mission as well.”
Trade unionists and environmentalists have also objected to the carrier’s visit on the ground that it is liable to present another hazard, in the form of radiation from its two nuclear reactors. The Indian government says it will periodically monitor radiation levels; in any case, the Nimitz is anchored two miles outside Chennai port proper.
However, the protestors are not satisfied given that India’s own nuclear programme has a poor safety record and its Navy’s ability to monitor radiation hazards is not independently established.
“What is galling is that Indian officials are bending over backwards to speak on behalf of the U.S. and allay the public’s apprehensions,” says Jayaprakash. “That is completely out of order.”
In recent years, the U.S. and India have held high-level military exercises, including some that involved U.S. nuclear submarines. But the Nimitz visit even lacks such a strategic rationale.
“The docking of USS Nimitz is not a neutral or normal affair, but a strong political-strategic statement,’’ says Chenoy.
The statement runs counter to the promise of the ruling United Progressive Alliance to correct the strongly pro-U.S. bias in India’s policy under the previous government led by the right-wing pro-West Bharatiya Janata Party, and to fight for a balanced, multipolar world free of nuclear weapons.
(*IPS Correspondent Praful Bidwai is a committed anti-nuclear activist and the author of several books on peace and disarmament)
— Inter Press Service
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Dhaka-Kolkata train link
Why not similar service with NE India?
Special Correspondent
In all probability Dhaka-Kolkata train service will be opened sometime in September. Bangladesh should take up the matter of similar direct communication with Gawahati and Tripura in the east. That will improve the relationship through trade, exchange of visits by business people, cultural teams and people in general. Bangladesh and the seven sister states of India are less known to each other. Direct communication facilities will help improve relationship.
Modalities of the train service have been completed in the two-day Bangladesh-India official level meeting in Dhaka that concluded on Tuesday. Certain security issues remained unresolved, which are expected to be finalised when the Bangladesh official team goes to Kolkata in a trial run of train from Dhaka on July 29.
If everything goes well, in the final meeting in Kolkata, train will start running twice a week from early September, said an official of the Railway Ministry. He said some security issues security of passengers, trains and establishments like the Jamuna Bridge remained unresolved. Security issues got priority in view of extremist activities on both sides. All possible steps should be taken to ward off sabotage and destructive activities by the extremists.
The moot question is whether the train service will sustain. How much will Bangladesh benefit from the service? The immigration and customs officials at Benapole are found pessimistic. Benapole is the main route through which two BRTC buses from Dhaka and two from Kolkata now run every day. Most of the travelers, estimated at 600 on an average every day, are from Bangladesh. Barely 50-60 Indian nationals come to Dhaka mainly to meet their relatives and hardly carry foreign exchange.
In sharp contrast Bangladeshis go to India for medical treatment, students for studies, in connection with hundi business, shopping and travelling. This depletes huge foreign exchange of the country. Immigration officials said the number of bus passengers to Kolkata is however declining. These days dozens of seats are found vacant in every bus. The reason is attributed to the decline of black money circulation following crackdown on corruption. Propensity of medical treatment and study is likely to decline with improvement of the situation at home.
India is interested in early opening of the train service. Indian business sources feel that train service will give impetus to more Bangladeshis visiting India and spending more money in their markets. According to the arrangements, no commercial goods will be allowed in the trains from either side. But a passenger can carry luggage up to 35kg.
The business community in Dhaka suggests that the Government should consider Dhaka-Tripura and Dhaka-Gwahati train and bus service. That may give Bangladesh more travellers from the seven states of eastern India. Direct communication link with the seven sisters will provide Bangladeshis scope to improve the relations through trade, exchange of visits of officials, cultural teams and people in general. Dhaka should have good relationship with eastern Indians for mutual benefit.
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Glimpses of the Great
H. S. Suhrawardy
K Z Islam
When Suhrawardy went to the UK as Pakistan’s Prime Minister he was asked by the press, “And what do you think about Pakistan leaving the Commonwealth?” “Oh no! We are not thinking of leaving the Commonwealth when such a young and beautiful Queen is at the head of it,” said he with a twinkle in his eye and won the heart of the press.
The official visits to the U.S. is usually made very gruelling to completely exhaust the visitor. Suhrawardy was probably the only visitor to the States who tired out the State Department rather than the State Department programme tiring him out. He would turn around at well past midnight after a grueling day of appointments, lunches, and dinners and ask his escort, “Now what else?” and when told that there was nothing else he would decide to go on to a restaurant or night club. “Are you going with your Prime Minister?” Someone asked Syed Ahmed the Press Attache in Washington. “No, no I am not as young as my Prime Minister” he replied smiling. He was less than half of Suhrawardy’s age and was considered very energetic in his own right, but even he could not keep pace with Suhrawardy’s tireless energy.
During the same trip to the US, Suhrawardy went to see Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady. After the show he went backstage to meet the actors. “Where did you learn to speak such good English, Mr. Suhrawardy?” asked Julie Andrews. “Oh, out there from your Professor Higgins!” was the pat reply. “I felt such a fool,” says Julie Andrews in her Year Book, “when I learned that he was an Oxford man.”
I shall now relate the very famous story about Suhrawardy’s remark after the British briefly occupied the Suez Canal which got him into serious trouble with the Arab nations. While addressing the S.M. Hall students of the University of Dhaka he reflected about the results of creating a Muslim Bloc and said “However many zeros we may add to each other the answer will still be zero. Therefore, nothing positive will ever be produced by blindly adding a series of zeros together. However if we added a zero to one the total would be determined by how many zeros we added to that one. Whether zeros were added to the right or the left of the one the result would always be bigger than a zero”
He was an avid movie-goer. His constant companion in Dhaka Mominul Huq (Khoka), Sheikh Mujib’s first cousin recalls that he frequently accompanied Suhrawardy to the Naz Cinema Hall where he saw English movies. He also saw Bangla films. Khoka recalls that he had to see the Bangla movie once before he took Suhrawardy to see the film as Suhrawardy would constantly keep asking him questions about the movie. After the movie Suhrawardy would sing the Bangla songs of the film loudly in the car or sometime in a rickshaw.
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Indian newsmen raise voices
for fellow Myanmar scribe
Nava Thakuria in Guwahati
The notorious press censorship in Burma may witness severe criticism on and off from western media organizations, but this time a group of Indian journalists has come out to protest against the anti-media attitude of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (of Myanmar). The union of journalists from Manipur, a Northeastern state bordering Myanmar had recently made a historic step expressing solidarity with the detained Burmese journalists inside the South East Asian country. The focus of the cohesion was U Win Tin, who had been under detention for the last 18 years in a Myanmar prison.
Imprisoned U Win Tin
The All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU), in a press statement on July 4, demanded the immediate release of the Burmese journalist-editor U Win Tin, who was arrested by the military junta in 1989 on the same date. The former chief editor of Hantharwaddy (in Burmese language), U Win Tin, among hundred others, who were arrested during a military crackdown throughout the country following the mass uprising in late Eighties.
“U Win Tin was detained on July 4, 1989, primarily for his critical write-ups against the ruling junta and for his activism as an adviser to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy,” informed a New Delhi-based exiled Burmese journalist. He also alleged that the elderly and ill health journalist had been subjected to torture in the prison. “He has been denied proper medical attention and food and compelled to sleep on the floor. But the junta has failed to break his spirit,” added the exiled journalist, who has been living in India for more than a decade now.
Born in 1930, U Win Tin graduated from Rangoon University and joined Sarpay Beikman (Burma Translation Society) in 1950 as an assistant editor. Later he shifted to Kyemon Daily in 1957 as the executive editor. Finally he became the chief editor of Hantharwaddy Daily. U Win Tin was honoured with the UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom Award, Freedom of Expression Award, Reporters San Frontiers Award for his relentless efforts to promote freedom of expression in a land under an oppressive regime.
International media organisations have been raising voice for his early release since long. The World Association of Press Councils (WAPC), in recent statement, argued that U Win Tin was jailed primarily for being a journalist and an advocate of democracy. “He is a man of high courage and serves as an inspiration for all who struggle for freedom of expression. We demand his immediate release from prison,” stated the WAPC Secretary General, Chris Conybeare.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters San Frontiers and Southeast Asian Press Alliance have also called on the military rulers of Myanmar to immediately release the elderly journalist. The Burma Media Association (BMA), a network of Burmese journalists in exile argued that “no sensible person can accept such cruelty of this military regime which has imprisoned a sick 78-year-old man for 18 years”. “We call for him to be freed at once,” declared in a recent press statement by the BMA secretary Son Moe Wai.
The entire media in Myanmar is however surviving under strict censorship of the military junta. The journalists are prevented outright from covering the activities of the Nobel laureate Ms Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May 2003. Many news portal, which are traditionally critical to the military regime are banned in the country. Even e-mail access is restricted throughout the country. The local media (mostly in Burmese) is tightlipped while reporting the ongoing atrocities and human right violation by the military throughout the country.
Recently the SPDC chief General Than Shwe was singled out as a menace to press freedom by the Reporters San Frontiers. The Paris-based media rights body had accused the SPDC for arresting not less than 50 working journalists and maintaining absolute control over the Myanmar media, where the only daily newspaper of the country ‘The New light of Myanmar’ is used as its mouthpiece.
Speaking to this writer from Imphal (capital of Manipur), the AMWJU general secretary J. Maibam said, “We have protested against the elongated detention of all Burmese journalists and appealed to the authorities to show minimum respect for those journalists under their custody including U Win Tin.” The AMWJU officials remain vocal for any kinds of atrocities against their member-journalists. Manipur, being a home to nearly 20 armed outfits fighting New Delhi for fulfilling various demands, experiences regular harassment of media-persons while on duty to cover insurgency related issues.
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WB Report
Bangladesh still a backslider
in abating graft!
Fazle Rashid in New York
The World Bank, itself mired in governance scandal, in a recently-released report has placed Bangladesh among the nations who have regressed in combating corruption. It is quite clear that the report has not taken into consideration the last six months’ account. Among the backsliders are Bangladesh, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Pakistan. The countries which have made significant gains [progress] in their anti-graft drives are Indonesia, Colombia, Turkey, and Afghanistan. Africa, often described as a continent of epic corruption and misrule, has a mixed bag. Tanzania, Liberia, Ghana, and Niger have made great strides while Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, and Eritrea have made backward slides. The survey, conducted in 200 countries, said corruption in America was proliferating. Growing economies like Chile, Botswana, Costa Rica, and Latvia scored higher points in the rule of law and corruption han two industrialised nations—Italy and Greece.
The report begins to challenge the long-held popular notion that the rich world has reached nirvana in governance, the New York Times quoted Daniel Kauffman, co-author of the report, as saying. The countries are rightly questioning the WB, “What right you have of rating the world when you first
ave to rate yourselves.”
It has to start at home, Kauffman emphasised.
The report, Governance Matters, 2007: and Governance Indicators 1996–2006, was co-authored by Kauffman, Aart Krasy, and Massimo Mastruzzi. The survey took into account corruption, electoral democracy, civil liberties, press freedom, human rights, and transparency in governance.
Meanwhile, the European Union has thrown its weight behind the candidacy of Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France for the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The incumbent MD of IMF, Rodrigo de Rato of Spain, steps down in October, two years ahead of the termination of his tenure. He cited personal reason for the action.
The joint annual meeting of the WB and IMF will be held in September. Strauss-Kahn is a socialist. He made an unsuccessful bid in the last presidential election in France. The party has accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of trying to break up the party by offering lucrative jobs to the socialists. Sarkozy has denied the charges.
The IMF was created after the Second World War to help maintain a stable global financial order. In the last decade, with no financial crisis and private money flooding into emerging economies, the IMF has been like a fire fighter without fires, the Wall Street Journal in a report said. Strauss has promised to give the emerging economies a greater say if he were chosen to lead the Fund.
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