Hasina banned from coming home

Khaleda Zia's alleged confinement challenged in High Court

Holiday Desk

With fresh developments unfolding in respect of the immediate past Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh politics now seems to have entered a new phase.
   A legal representative on behalf of BNP Chairperson Begum Zia yesterday (Thursday) applied for a writ of habeas corpus at the High Court (HC). Habeas corpus a law which says that a person can only be kept in confinement or prison following a court's decision.
   The petition was filed against the alleged "confinement" of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia before a division bench comprising Justice M A Wahhab Mian and Justice M Emdadul Haque; and the HC asked the government side to inform the HC about her actual status. The petitioner sought issuance of a rule upon government to explain whether Khaleda Zia has been "kept in confinement at her house lawfully".
   The HC adjourned the hearings till next Sunday after hearing the case in two sessions, asking the government side to come up with report on her status.
   Additional Attorney General Salauddin Ahmed prayed to the court for time to explain government position on the issue. When he sought time for engaging a senior attorney to deal with the case the learned court allowed adjournment. The writ petition was moved at a time when the immediate-past PM was reportedly packing her bags to go abroad along with her family members.
   A family friend of Khaleda Zia filed the application Before passing the adjournment order after hearing both the sides, the bench told the Additional Attorney General, "Convey our anxiety to the government that her (Khaleda Zia) normal movement is not restricted without following any lawful procedure."
   Moving the application, Advocate M. Azizul Haq, the counsel for the petitioner described before the court the former Prime Minister's position as "detenue", claiming that she has been "detained and confined to her Dhaka Cantonment residence for uncertain period unlawfully. The government has also restrained her from going out of the residence and entry of others into her house, excepting four close relations.".
   The counsel further held that the government has also disconnected the telephone lines to her residence. As a result, she is "incommunicado to everybody in the country, including her relatives and well-wishers".
   The lawyer contended that lthough the law-enforces have not issued any formal order of detention against her, it is evident from media reports that she is being "illegally confined or detained in her residence".
   Lawyer M. Azizul Haq further submitted that the government is putting "tremendous pressure" on Khaleda Zia, also the chairperson of BNP, to leave the country as soon as possible.
   "She is being threatened of getting arrested and harassed, if she does not leave the country, despite her unwillingness," The petitioner went on: "The government had tried to blackmail Khaleda Zia by arresting her youngest son Arafat Rahman Coco to make her agree to leave Bangladesh."
   Citing the media reports, the lawyer submitted, as a case in point, that the government has also prohibited entry of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, now on a private visit to the USA, into Bangladesh. "And this way, the government is trying to keep both the leaders outside the country."
   Describing government action as "mala fide and illegal and violative of the principle of natural justice", Azizul Haq further submitted that it was just to "harass and humiliate Khaleda Zia at the instance of some vested quarters because of her political belief".
   The counsel sought issuance of rule by the court asking the government to explain why 'detenue' Khaleda Zia should not be brought before it to satisfy that she is not being detained illegally.
   Advocate M. Azizul Haq, a family friend of Khaleda Zia, also prayed for court direction restraining the government from, in his words, putting pressure upon Khaleda Zia to leave the country and ensuring her right to live freely like any other citizen.
   It is worth mentioning that Defence and Home Secretaries, Dhaka District Magistrate, Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner have been made respondents in the case.

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US, Russia, Bangladesh urged
to stop 'murdering suspects'

Moinuddin Naser in New York

A United Nations indepen-dent human rights expert on extrajudicial killings has recently called for action in response to reported incidents in Bangladesh. The expert also urged the United States, Iran, the Russian Federation, Nigeria and Indonesia to take actions to combat the reported incidents in these countries.
   "Bangladesh must stop the Rapid Action Battalion and other elite security forces from using murder as a policing technique," said Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
   His report covers a series of allegations he has received regarding Bangladesh, "none of which were effectively addressed by the Government."
   A report released by Alston last week devotes roughly ten pages to a series of allegations he has received regarding Bangladesh. His report states: "The pattern of incidents would suggest that what the police and special forces report as 'crossfire' deaths are in fact staged extrajudicial executions."
   On 22 August 2006, Alston presented the Government with 27 cases of violent death reported by the police and special forces as having occurred in "crossfire" with criminals. In one case that Alston raised with the Government, the police had reported that Ebu Hossain had been killed in a shootout between police and Hossain's cohorts. A special team of police had arrested Hossain about one day earlier in Dhaka. After a confession, police took him to recover hidden arms. While retrieving the arms accomplices of Hossain opened fire on police, and Hossain was killed in the crossfire while trying to flee. Most of the deaths had been reported by the police as having occurred in circumstances nearly identical to these. Many of the deaths have involved the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), although the regular police and its auxiliary Cheetah and Cobra units are implicated as well.
   In his communication of 22 August 2006, Alston requested that the Government provide detailed information on its independent investigations into the 27 cases presented. Alston emphasized that he would report on these cases to the United Nations, but the government responded only that "the contents of the communication have been duly noted" and that they would be "carefully considered". On 30 October 2006, Alston raised two further cases of persons who had reportedly been killed in "crossfire" by the RAB. The government responded only that his letter had been "duly noted".
   According to Alston, "the Government's apparent indifference to these grave allegations is deeply disturbing. The involvement of the police in extrajudicial executions is of great concern to the international community, and the reputation of Bangladesh is on the line."
   Alston emphasizes that the current state of emergency does not affect Bangladesh's legal obligation to immediately end extrajudicial executions by the police. Bangladesh became a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 6 September 2000. When it joined that human rights treaty, Bangladesh made a legally binding commitment to only adopt measures that are consistent with its provisions. The Covenant permits some exceptions during states of emergency, but it includes a specific provision that bars any measures cutting back on the legal safeguards surrounding the right to life.
   Philip Alston was appointed as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 13 July 2004. In 2006, the Commission on Human Rights was replaced by the Human Rights Council, and Alston now reports to the Council.
   A knowledgeable source in the United Nation said that the UN is watching development in Bangladesh after reports published in a section of newspapers that the country is being run by martial law and the constitution is not in effect. Reports of deaths in custody and in military camps have raised the eyebrows of the human rights activists. These kinds of incidents may be used by the anti-Bangladesh lobbyists in the United Nations.
   "In recent years the United States has consistently argued that the UN Human Rights Council, and all other international human rights accountability mechanisms, have no legitimate role to play when individuals are intentionally killed, so long as it is claimed that the actions were part of the 'war on terror,'" said Philip Alston in a separate statement.
   "While this argument is convenient because it enables the US to effectively exempt itself from scrutiny, if accepted it would constitute a huge step backwards in the struggle to promote human rights."
   He also called on Nigeria to "make good on its commitment to end extrajudicial executions by the police" but added in a separate statement, "unfortunately, it seems like business as usual with the Nigerian police continuing to get away with murder." He urged Iran to stop executing juvenile offenders, calling the practice "unacceptable."
   "It is time for Iran to demonstrate that its commitment to international law involves concrete action, not just empty words," said Alston, calling on the country's Government to "immediately commute all death sentences imposed for crimes individuals committed before the age of 18."
   In a statement directed at the Russian Federation, he called for an end to extrajudicial killings of journalists. "Murders are always tragic, but when journalists are being murdered to cover up human rights abuses, the stakes for the society are even higher than usual," he said.
   "The Government of Russia must bring to an end what appears to be a consistent pattern of failing to prosecute those responsible for these murders and of failing to take the measures required to prevent furthers assassinations of journalists."
   Egypt must instruct its police to stop using firearms to disperse crowds, he said in another statement. "Even if a country makes some demonstrations illegal, and even if the demonstrators ignore the law, that does not mean that the police are allowed to shoot at the demonstrators."
   In a report including several allegations he has received regarding Egypt, Alston expressed his appreciation for the detailed responses that the Government had made to his requests for further information regarding these incidents, but noted that his dialogue with the Government had revealed serious legal misunderstandings that required immediate reforms.
   In a letter to Nigeria Alston called for the Government "to underscore the fact that the imposition of the death penalty for offences such as sodomy is unconstitutional." But his report indicated that the Government ignored his letter.
   Indonesia should investigate all those implicated by the report into the murder of Munir Said Thalib, a leading human rights activist, the expert said in another statement.
   In a letter earlier this year, the Government responded to Alston's inquiries in a manner that he characterised as "cooperative but incomplete."

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Bangladesh faced with WB-India nexus

M. Shahidul Islam in Toronto

No amount of scandal and corruption seems enough to tame the bunch of shameless people running the affairs of the world these days. The US policies have proved too detrimental to nations that had nothing to do with the fake war on terror, but the tentacles of Washington and London remains too pervasive and they have succeeded in finding the right horses to run the moth eaten political carts of most South Asian nations too.
   In Bangladesh, where external interferences, of late, have become too common, foreign diplomats have become Viceroys of some sort of the colonial era. Having succeeded in installing regimes of their choosing, two of the western diplomats have lately earned pats at the backs from their home governments.
   The departing US ambassador to Dhaka received an extension to stay until the end of 2008 and go to Baghdad not as a deputy, as was previously declared, but as a full-fledged ambassador. Likewise, British High Commissioner too was granted an extension to stay in Dhaka until the penultimate days of 2008, it was learnt.
   The latest moves by Washington and London indicate that the outcome of the prospective elections in Bangladesh, if held as promised, may not depend on voters' choices as much, as it may be engineered to suit the needs of some foreign nations. This means the end of our democratic plurality and continuation of dictatorship.
   Bangladesh is not alone in this seeming 'loss of sovereign decision making power' amidst increasing pressure from the World Bank (WB), Washington and London. Beyond bilateral diplomacy, the agenda of the WB president had impacted Bangladesh and all other South Asian nations in a massive way.
   Paul Wolfowitz, the defamed head of the World Bank and the main architect of the 'gone wrong' Iraq war, is now fighting for his survival. In an ironic twist of fate, Wolfowitz has been caught naked in an earth-shaking scandal that testifies to his corrupt mindset. On April 14, the bank's 24 executive directors issued a statement that Wolfowitz had facilitated his girlfriend Shah Riza's promotion and unprecedented salary increases without a review either by an ethics committee, or the board's chairman.
   In Bangladesh, the WB has been in the forefront of shaping political agendas and in prodding the so called corruption busters as the likely 'third force', while the USAID had funded two of the major think tanks of Bangladesh since 2003 to wage an incessant battle to defame politicians and to portray the country as a hub of Islamic terrors. Laughably, some of the politicians arrested so far have been alleged to have possessed wines and extracted tools. How big are those corruptions?
   Contrast this with what is happening with the WB. Scandal is rocking, careers are rolling and all South Asian nations have much to worry from the likely fallout of this blockbuster event in Washington. Wolfowitz's right hand man for South Asia is Dhanendra Kumar, an executive director of the bank who represents India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Over the years, Wolfowitz helped Kumar to put Indian nationals in all key posts dealing with our regional affairs in order to bring India under the US fold. In return, India obtained a blank check to shop freely in the US for nuclear technology despite not being a signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
   Other blue-eyed men of Wolfowitz from India are Praful Patel, the Bank's vice-president for South Asia region and, Vinaya Swaroop, a lead economist for the Dhaka office. Our concern is not about who runs the day to day affairs of the Bank. Rather, we are more concerned about the Bank's specific mission and the message it spreads.
   We are also concerned about the depth of hypocrisy that goes around. Upon assuming office, Wolfowitz declared a virtual Jihad against corruption and made his friend, Suzane Rich Folsom, the point person to handle that matter. Folsom had earlier served as a counselor to the US President and as a director of the department of institutional integrity. We have reason to demand an explanation why two of the advisers of the controversial US President had to be appointed in those decision-making positions of the Bank.
   It has also come to our attention that Folsom targeted India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as corrupt borrowers of the Bank money and persuaded Wolfowitz to impose rigorous political reforms as precondition to financial assistance to these countries. Thus the decision to ban JMB and JMJB was imposed upon Dhaka, pushing the groups underground and triggering their retaliatory moves to conduct simultaneous explosions across the country in August 2005.
   That's not all. At the macro level, Wolfowitz deployed political ploys on behalf of the Bush administration to have WB- approved governments in all the South Asian nations. India in May 2004 came under the leadership of former WB executive Manmohan Singh while Bangladesh and Pakistan were branded as hubs of Islamic terrorists and political pressures began to mount on Dhaka and Islamabad through the Bank policies and via Indian and Western media outlets. This is the tale behind the arm twisting of the so called civic society in Dhaka ever since and what followed since October 2006.
   But the comparison between Pakistan and Bangladesh was the most misplaced one; as if between orange and apple. While Pakistan has been under a military dictator since the late 1990s, Bangladesh emerged since the early 1990s as a model democracy among the Islamic nations. And, unlike India, Bangladesh opened its market to the world in the mid 1980s. Our pluralistic democracy and adherence to market economy being faultless, the curse had to be discovered in the rampant corruption and nepotism that had bedeviled it. Added to it was the fake issue of Islamic militancy, which sprang, albeit in not substantive way, as a reaction to Bush's preemptive war mongering against Islamic nations.
   Like ours, Indian democracy was much more flawless and fault lines had to be found somewhere else. Never, however, it was questioned why Singh had to appoint two of his key officials - the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India and the deputy chief of the Planning Commission- from the WB staffers, besides many others in below- the- ladder posts. In Bangladesh, the WB fellows had to wait a bit longer for the right moment to arrive, although the Chief Adviser's four close relatives are at the helm of nation's affairs now as is another former WB official who is the economic adviser.
   In retrospect, the WB's political ball in Bangladesh began rolling in late 2005 when Wolfowitz visited Dhaka and focused on Bangladesh's energy sector. He signed an agreement with Dhaka that insisted on reforming Bangladesh's power sector. The US pressure to export gas to India began to mount ever since, as did pressure in other fields, like to hike up energy prices.
   But the democratically elected government of the past had the fear of public revulsion, which the military backed government of the present does not. That is why Dhaka said no to gas export to India. As soon as the current interim administration assumed power, India decided to skirt off the direct proposition for gas import and, by using the ADB, a WB appendage, launched a mega project to get the long-sought transit facility and all other benefits from Bangladesh.
   Before going to Delhi for the just concluded SAARC summit, foreign office is learnt to have finalised a project named 'Technical Assistance for the Development of Transport Corridors for Trade Facilitation.' The project is one of a number of such ventures undertaken by a regional sub-group of countries, titled South Asian Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).
   Technically speaking, SASEC seems like a substitute to the SAARC although only India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan are members of the group. The projects being studied by the SASEC also include energy cooperation and the study itself will cost Taka 8 crore 14 lacs, of which ADB is paying Taka 6 crore 44 lacs and the rest will be paid by Bangladesh government.
   Besides, under WB pressure, the non-party government has increased recently the prices of fuel by at least 15 per cent across the board although petroleum imports account only for about 9.2 per cent of nation's overall import bill. So much of the economy's other components being dependent on energy prices, the WB suggested that borrowing from banks be restricted to deflect inflationary pressures. If followed, the prescription will further discourage private investment and entrepreneurship, as it will exacerbate unemployment problem.
   The WB had always insisted on disinvestment by government of public owned enterprises, but, curiously, nowhere in the myriad of the Bank's recent reports the words 'free market economy' appear. This is surprising, deceitful and hypocritical. This proves the WB wants governments loyal to the US, be it dictatorship, disingenuous and demonic.
   That is why the government in Delhi, which has been a champion for democracy elsewhere in the world, has been mum about the political developments in Dhaka. One reason for that may be, Dr. Ahmed is a relative of Manmohan Singh through filial matrimony and, like Mr. Singh, he too served for two decades in the WB. As well, the Pakistani Prime Minister, Showkat Aziz, too joined General Musharrof's military regime from the New York-based Citicorp bank where he was a senior executive. It's all bankers' bonanza; but not governments of bankers, by bankers for bankers, per se.
   The WB and Washington must be reminded that emergency rules and military dictatorships did not have happy endings in South Asia in the past. When Indira Gandhi imposed emergency rule in 1975, her dictatorship lasted only 18 months and she was later gunned down by a disenchanted bodyguard in 1984.
   The Indian judiciary too hit her hard. On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court found the prime minister guilty of misusing government machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election null and void and unseated her from the Lok Sabha membership and banned her from contesting election for an additional six years.
   Recently, when the Pakistani military ruler moved to privatize the Pakistan Steel Mill under WB pressure, the public anger mounted. The uproar rolled over to the court and a nine-member full bench of Pakistan Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, declared last month that the $362 million transaction of the mill with the Russian-Saudi-Pakistani investors was null and void. Almost instantly, and reportedly under WB pressure, the military junta sacked the Chief justice.
   Earlier, Pakistan's military dictator Ziaul Hoque got blown up in the air along with other US dignitaries, reportedly out of a CIA machination. In Bangladesh, General Ziaur Rahman was assassinated by fellow army officers while General Ershad languished in prison for six long years for abusing power and indulging in corruption.
   We know the WB is not here to guide itself with those sordid historical lessons in mind. By convention of some sort, the Bank's president has always been an American and the US policies are what matter to the bank executives. That is why, following the hanging of six Islamic militants on March 30, the WB and US administration could not subdue its jubilation. On April 12, The Bank said it might release US$200 million under its development support credit (DSC), perhaps as a deserved prize for Dhaka's expressed loyalty. In this and many other instances, one observes a close correlation between the WB's release of funds and Dhaka's fulfillment of certain preconditions. Funds released in previous three installments under the DSC followed a similar pattern.
   The first installment for $300 million was approved in 2003, the second ($200 million) in 2004 and the third ($200 million) in 2005. By and large, the commitments of the government in fighting Islamic radicalism and allowing energy deals to leading US and other Western companies were the preconditions that Dhaka has had to adhere to before the funds' commitments and release. There are also whispers that the previous four-party government's negation to the Tata investment and gas export to India had fixed the last nails in their political coffins. The gas export issue has been high on WB agenda.

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Moinuddin Naser in New York

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog body seeks to curb nuclear proliferation and stop weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists. That is what IAEA is generally known to be doing.
   But among its many less publicised multi-dimensional tasks it is also applying nuclear and molecular tools for DNA analysis to help protect more than 100 sheep and goat breeds, totaling nearly one billion animals in many countries. It represents the most important livestock species in the Asian region, which are now under threat by patterns of land use.
   Among the world's poorest countries, Bangladesh is home to one of the richest treasures - prized black Bengal goats. But fallow lands for the dwarf-size animals to graze on are decreasing almost daily because of the fast growing human population and the need to plant cereal crops.
   Research supported by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is now helping Bangladesh plan and protect the goats' future. Working with other countries in the Asian region, scientists are looking to learn more about black Bengal goats and other livestock.
   "A specific aim is to build up the capacity of national agricultural research systems to conduct research in livestock genetics and breeding using modern methods of molecular science," IAEA says in an update on the project, one of the agency's less publicized areas of work that crosses a host of fields from medical diagnosis and cancer treatment and isotope tracking of underground water to weather and climate studies and art restoration.
   But IAEA's efforts to curb nuclear weapons and its dealings with the nuclear programmes of Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and earlier Saddam Hussein's Iraq hogs newspaper headlines.
   Results of the FAO/IAEA research programme are contributing to scientific knowledge about animal health and reproduction underpinning Bangladesh's efforts to help goat herders and farmers adapt to the changing environment. About 80 per cent of the country's people live in the countryside, and raising goats and other livestock is a key part of their livelihood.
   No one knows exactly how many goats graze in Bangladesh - some estimates run as high as 30 million. Together they provide about 30,000 tons of meat and 20 million square feet of hides and skins, besides milk and other products that families depend upon.

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Al-Sadr's boycott of cabinet appears ominous

Iraq torn by sectarian violence

Fazle Rashid in New York

Iraq has been totally torn asunder by sectarian violence. There is no sign yet of normalcy returning to one of the oldest civilization in the world. More than 200 people perished on Wednesday in two separate car explosions, BBC reported.
   The situation in Iraq is growing gruesome and there is no sign of let up. Six Shiite ministers resigned from the government at the call Moktadar al-Sadr, the mutinous, powerful and influential Shiite cleric. The en-masse resignations came in protest against US refusal to drawdown its troops from Iraq. Prime Minister Kamal al-Maliki said resignations would not make any difference.
   The White House and the Democratic Party-controlled Congress are at loggerheads over this complex question. The Congress is demanding a timeframe for the withdrawal of the American troops. President Bush would not budge from his stand. He insists that a timeframe for withdrawal of American troops will send a wrong signal to the insurgents and plunge the country into a bloody civil strife.
   The situation is no different now. The strife is taking a heavy toll of civilians At least two international agencies, the Red Cross and WHO have painted rather depressing and gloomy picture about Iraq. WHO describes the situation in Iraq as desperate. It said car bombs and other violences kill on average 100 people a day. The unremitting violences have created other problems. About 70 per cent of the Iraqis do not have access to clean water and 80 per cent do not have hyegenic toilets. About 21 per cent of the children remain chronically malnourished that put them at risk of stunted growth and mental illness a unicef survey revealed. All these statistics will be placed before the UN high commissioners for refugees.
   Iraqi government officials say 70 per cent of the critically wounded patients die in the hospitals because of lack of doctors, drugs and equipment. More degrading are the revelations that pregnant women and injured and ill do not take the risk of visiting the hospitals because of security concern. All these were reported by the NYT in a report by its Rome based correspondent Elizabeth Rosenthal. In a separate report the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) said the condition in Iraq continue to deteriorate steadily and is inflicting immense sufferings to the entire Iraqi population The ICRC found that hospitals cannot cope with daily mass of casualties and half of the Iraqi doctors have either been killed or left the country. Thousands of bodies remain unclaimed in the morgues.
   The ICRC study said that the infrastructure continues to crumble and poverty, unemployment and food shortages are skyrocketting. More than one thirds of the Iraqis are living in poverty. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes and have been displaced. Every two of three displaced persons or refugees are women or children. More than 61,000 civilians are reported to have been killed and another 106,000 have been driven out of their houses since the US led invasion to establish democracy in the country, ICRC representative said. The suffering that Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unacceptable and unbearable an AP story quoted Pierre Krahenbohl , director of operations of Red Cross as saying.
   Surgeons were performing 60 to 80 surgeries a week before the US led invasion. The number has now dropped by half. Bangladesh in the meanwhile continues to occupy the pages of the US media. There were two reports on successcive days on CG promising polls within 18 months and Khaleda Zia agreeing to leave the country with her entire family.

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GCC countries favour dialogue

Gulf countries dampen US
plan to attack Iran

Meena Janardhan in Dubai

With members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) urging dialogue rather than war with Iran over its nuclear programme and reluctant to allow their territories to be used in any attack, Washington's pressure tactics against Tehran appear to be faltering. This reluctance is seen as one factor in the Islamic Republic's defiant announcement, last week, of an expansion of its uranium enrichment programme to 'industrial' levels which, the West fears, is a step away from producing a nuclear bomb. Tehran has consistently denied a weapons component to its nuclear programme.
   On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised address from the city of Shiraz that Tehran ''will not retreat even one iota to preserve its nuclear right''. This was clearly a response to the United States' warning that further United Nations Security Council sanctions would be brought to bear upon Iran. But beyond sanctions it would be hard for the U.S. to contemplate military action against Iran because of a lack of support from such GCC countries as Qatar which played host to the U.S. Central Command during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
   ''We will not participate by any means to harm Iran from Qatar,'' first deputy premier and foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al-Thani said as far back as on Mar. 15. ''Let us hope to solve this diplomatically and through peaceful means,'' said Sheikh Hamad, who has since taken over as the premier.
   Less than a fortnight later United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan used the run-up to the Arab League summit in Riyadh to announce: ''We have informed the Iranian brothers in a message carried recently by the foreign minister that we are not party to its conflict with the U.S. and will not allow our territories to be used for any military, security or intelligence activities against it.''
   That announcement was not without misgivings. Prof. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla of the Emirates University, while appreciating the reconciliatory message to Iran, said: ''As a follow up statement we should also make it clear that if we are attacked by Iran we will retaliate.''
   Analysing the UAE and Qatar's statements, Abdulla told IPS that the ''GCC countries are trying to do everything possible not to send wrong messages to Tehran. They feel that they should not antagonise Iran at a time when its role in the region seems to be gaining in strength''. The reference was clearly to Iran's massive influence in the current politics of Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
   ''This is not just a message to the Iranians but also to the U.S. that 'you are on your own','' Abdullah said. At another level, it is also a signal to ''the public at large across the Arab world,'' he added.
   The issue of public opinion becomes relevant in the context of a Zogby International survey of six Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where only six percent of respondents thought Iran a major threat to their security. About 80 percent considered Israel and the U.S. as the two biggest external threats. The results of the poll announced in February suggested that fewer than 25 percent Arabs wanted Iran to be pressured to halt its nuclear programme. In fact, about 60 percent said Tehran had the right to pursue the programme even if it was aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
   ''Iran is a huge neighbour and we have been living in the same neighbourhood for centuries. We understand the positive and negative sides of the relationship and we have adapted very well to all the changing faces of Iran. We lived with Iran before and after the U.S. became a part of the equation, and we will continue to do so with or without the U.S., irrespective of whether Iran is a nuclear or non-nuclear power,'' Abdulla explained.
   That understanding was evident when Sheikh Khalifa - whose country has a running feud with Iran over the occupation of the Abu Mussa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs islands - said: ''The UAE is an independent and sovereign state that rejects the use of its territories to attack any country, especially if it is a neighbour and Muslim.''
   One of the likely reasons facilitating Doha's soft approach could be the ample opportunities that Qatari and Iranian leaders have had in recent times to hold face-to-face discussions, especially on exploring the possibility of forming a 'grouping' of gas exporters, which gained momentum during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the Middle East in February.
   Discussions at a 16-member Gas Producing Countries' Forum in Doha during the second week of April focused on deepening cooperation aimed at creating a stable world market for the 'fuel of the future'.
   Among the other countries in the GCC bloc, Oman - which has the Straits of Hormuz separating it from Iran - has consistently urged negotiations and was the only country in the GCC bloc not to endorse the idea of the Gulf as a weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-free zone, aimed at 'denuclearising' Iran, during the GCC summit in Abu Dhabi in 2005.
   Given the extent of Iran's influence in the Middle East, energy-rich Saudi Arabia has resorted to engaging with Iran through dialogue to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate any more than it already has.
   Ever since the nuclear issue turned into international one, Ahmadinejad, former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani have taken care to visit several GCC countries. Reciprocally, several Arab leaders from the Gulf, including the emir of Qatar and the UAE foreign minister, have visited Tehran in attempts de-escalate the tension.
   Iran has made several positive gestures which could be the basis for dialogue in the future. At the Arab World Competitiveness Roundtable, held in Doha on Apr. 9-10, Iran proposed a 10-point plan for establishing a security and cooperation organisation in the Gulf region.
   Due to the strategic importance of the Gulf and the need for building trust, security, stability, and sustainable development, it is necessary to devise a framework for security and economic cooperation in the region, said Hassan Rowhani, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies of Iran's Expediency Council.
   Proposed in Iran's plan were: establishment of a Gulf Security and Cooperation Organisation that would include the six GCC members, Iran and Iraq; joint security arrangements and building trust between the regional countries concerning nuclear issues, including monitoring and verification of each others' nuclear programmes in a voluntary and non-intrusive manner.
   Also proposed were the establishment of a joint nuclear enrichment consortium among the regional countries for producing nuclear fuel and other peaceful uses of nuclear energy under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and cooperation among regional countries for the establishment of a Middle East free of WMD.
   However, this 'constructive' plan had 'precondition' - withdrawal of foreign military forces from the region. This implies that the U.S., the sole security guarantor for the six-member bloc, should pull out and this will never be acceptable to the GCC countries in the near future.
   Yet, according to Abdullah of the Emirates University, ''War is not the answer, unless it is a short and surgical one, which no one, including the U.S., can guarantee.''
   - Inter Press Service

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Assault on Indian woman reporter condemned

Media persons under threat
from cops in Assam

Nava Thakuria in Guwahati

Media persons in Asom (Assam) often make news with their plight and harassment. The media in real sense has to face excesses from both state and opposition actors. Two recent incidents of physical and mental assaults to a section of Guwahati-based scribes by the police and security staffs while they were on duty, reminds the fact that the media persons in the trouble torn region are living with constant threats primarily from the state agencies.
   First it was a distinctive example, where the security staffs of Guwahati Medical College Hospital in the city ruthlessly assaulted a female reporter. Ms Afrida Hussain, who works for the NE Television, a Northeast based private satellite channel was physically attacked by the guards, while she tried to interview a group of ladies fasting at the hospital on March 31 last.
   The young reporter broke one of her hands during the merciless dragging and punching of the staffs. Incidentally the agitating ladies were the wives of six missing ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) rebels, who had been fasting since March 21 demanding satisfactory information about their spouses. The missing rebels were allegedly arrested by the Royal Bhutan Army during their operation against ULFA cadres taking shelter in the thick jungles of southern Bhutan during December 2003. They were reportedly handed over to the Indian authority.
   Manhandling of a female reporter by a group of male security persons, when she argued for the access to the fasting ladies invited strong words of protest from local journalist bodies as well as from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Expressing shock at the incident, the IFJ president Christopher Warren said in a statement: "It is disgraceful that security guards can beat a female journalist into submission to suppress a story, and they must not be allowed to get away with this." IFJ demanded the authorities launch an immediate investigation into this violent attack.
   More recently, a group of journalists were humiliated by a state police officer while they arrived to cover a Prime Minister's function in the city. It is learnt that the journalist team were officially invited by a government agency (Press Information Bureau) to cover the function organized on April 8 at Amingaon with an aim to lay the foundation stone of the 2nd bridge over Brahmaputra at Saraighat, Guwahati. The function was attended by Dr Manmohan Singh with some of his cabinet colleagues and also the state chief minister Tarun Gogoi. A senior PIB officer escorted the invited journalists to the venue after necessary security procedures were strictly observed.
   The invited journalists, however, were prevented from entering the venue (even after producing their formal press invitation) by the district police head. The senior superintendent of police of Kamrup (Metro) named SN Singh not only prevented the journalists, but also abused and insulted the journalists with filthy words. Frustrated with the shameless behaviour of a mere district level police officer (in a function attended by the highest authority of the country) the media persons decided to boycott the programme.
   Later, the media persons under the banner of Journalists' Action Committee (JAC), Assam issued a 72-hour ultimatum (beginning from 3 pm on April 9) seeking stern actions against the unruly SSP and also demanded a public apology from the state government. With the consensus of a general meeting held at Guwahati Press Club on April 9, the media also boycotted all government functions and news during the period. The newspapers of the state carried a black space in the front page on April 10, while the journalists wore black badges as a mark of protest that day.
   The JAC, Assam had also sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister for his 'kind information and necessary action'. Arguing that Northeast is 'a trouble-torn area and the media persons in the region have to suffer a lot in performing their duties with dignity and honour', the journalists right body asserted that they 'never expect such unwarranted behaviour from any officer of the government'. The memorandum, simultaneously copied to IFJ, CPJ, RSF and different journalists' bodies also argued that 'being the Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world' he would step in 'to protect and ensure free and fair atmosphere for the journalists to carry out their duties'.
   The conduct of the police officer was condemned by various organizations including the All Assam Students Union, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, Peoples' Committee for Peace Initiative (in Assam) with Assam Press Correspondence Union; following which, the state chief minister Mr Gogoi ordered a probe into the incidents. The state additional Chief Secretary PP Verma had been ordered to investigate into the matter and submit the report as early as possible.

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Country faces 'lower growth, higher inflation' syndrome

Asjadul Kibria

After completion of the three quarters of the current fiscal year (FY06-07), major socio-economic-business parameters clearly indicate that the overall economic growth of the country is slowing down. Besides, slower growth would be accompanied by the higher inflation rate during the year. Logically, the impact of 'low growth-high inflation' would make the limited income and poor people more venerable in the long run.
   Different international organisations have projected that country's GDP growth would be lower in FY07 from 6.7 per cent achieved in FY06. The Asian Development Bank, in its quarterly economic update released in February, said that GDP is to grow by 6.5 per cent in FY07, down from 6.7 percent in FY06. 'Growth is expected to be moderate to reflect more normal agriculture growth, following the post-flood high-growth of last year.'
   The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) released last week, has predicted a 6.6 per cent growth in the current year and 6.5 per cent for the next year. The Citigroup, a leading global financial services company, in its economic and market analysis that was released last week, however, has projected more disappointing scenario in the coming days. It said that GDP growth would be 6 per cent in FY07.
   Although the Bangladesh Bank, the central bank, has expressed its reservation on such projections and tried to rekindle the hope by saying that the growth would be stronger, little can be found to substantiate the claim. In fact, Bangladesh Bank stuck to its higher growth projection made earlier while releasing the half-yearly monetary policy statement. 'The upper end of the 6.5 - 6.8 per cent FY07 growth projection reported in the July 06 MPS look attainable, subject to restoring conducive political environment and ending the disruptions to economic activities,' said the statement in January. The monetary policy review becomes more optimistic saying that the aggregate GDP growth projection for FY07 is in the range of 6.6 and 7.1 per cent. But all these projections were made three months back and sticking to such ambitious projection does not appear to be realistic at all.
   In a similar vain, the central bank is also sticking to its earlier projected inflation rate of 7 per cent. More interesting is the central bank's assumption that even after significant hike in fuel oil prices, inflation would not cross the ceiling. The World Bank too makes similar observation and suggests that the central bank should squeeze the credit flow to contain inflationary pressure likely to arise from oil price hike.
   But businessmen and economists have strongly rejected such propositions. Prominent business leader and former adviser to the caretaker government Syed Manzur Elahi said that already huge liquidity has piled up in the banks reflecting slowdown in investment. 'So there is no rationale to credit squeezing further,' he said. He also said that upward trend in inflation would definitely hurt the limited income people more.
   Zaid Bakht, research director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said that tightening money supply through the credit squeezing to contain inflation would not work ultimately. 'The monetary stance is demand management tool which can't address the cost-push inflation,' he added. Zaid also said that increase in fuel price would inevitably push the inflationary trend.
   According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, inflation rate soared at 7.28 per cent in February from 5.84 per cent in January.
   Citigroup also expressed apprehension on upward inflationary pressure. It said that the government has launched both fiscal and monetary weapons to combat inflation expecting that inflation may ease in near future. 'What may offset this is the increase the fuel prices, which may increase transportation costs and hence inflation,' it added.
   On economic growth, the Citigroup analysis appears more realistic and updated. It said that contrary to expectations, the declaration of the state of the emergency has led to a restoration of economic activity as political rallies and strikes are banned. 'The political uncertainty in the first half of the current fiscal has had a widespread impact on the economy and across the sectors,' it said. Such disruption, coupled with slowdown in agricultural growth, would result in GDP growth moderating from 6.7 percent in FY06 to 6 percent in FY07. 'Lower food grain production coupled with the bird flu threat will likely result in agriculture production coming in lower in FY07 as compared to the 4.8 per cent growth registered in FY06.

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Cambridge University honours Maissa Karim posthumously

Cambridge University's prestigious Judge School of Business announced the establishment of Director's Maissa Karim Scholarship to honour Maissa Karim. A valued member of the MBA class of 2005-2006 and a Director Scholarship holder, Maissa was studying at the Judge School of Business when she had a relapse of a major illness and passed away peacefully in her sleep on the 5th of July 2006 at the age of 31.
   The Director's Maissa Karim Scholarship will be offered as a supplement to a Director's Scholarship to an outstanding candidate whose financial circumstances are such they would be unable to join Cambridge MBA programme. This would be the second highest non-corporate scholarship at the Judge School of Business.
   Maissa Karim graduated from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and additionally held a Masters degree in Mass Communications from Boston University. She worked in various capacities in major companies in both London and New York before entering the MBA programme at Cambridge.
   Maissa was the beloved daughter of Iftekhar and Nasrine R. Karim and granddaughter of late Mohd. Bazlul and Zohra Karim (paternal) and late Speaker Humayun Rasheed Choudhury and Mehjabeen Choudhury (maternal). She was married to Ian/Issa Turpin and was the elder sister of Mishal Karim.

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