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Democracy or kleptocracy?
Accelerating river erosion brings post-flood misery
Abdur Rahman Khan
With the flood water receding towards the Bay, the situation in the riverside villages turned even more dangerous as the mighty rivers continued to devour cropland, homesteads, educational institutions, roads, culverts, and embankments along the banks.
Although the overall flood situation in the country is on the mend, some of the mighty rivers in the central and southern parts are still flowing above their danger levels, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC).
The river situation bulletin prepared on Thursday shows that the Ganges-Padma was flowing 54 centimetres above the danger level at Goalundo and 50cm at Bhagyakul. The Meghna at Bhairab Bazar was also flowing 22cm above the danger mark. Similarly, the Kaliganga was flowing 78cm above the danger level at Taraghat and the Dhaleswari 19cm at Jagir and 37cm at Rekabibazar.
Reports received from the districts indicate that the miseries of the flood victims further worsened with increased rate of river erosion as result of the strong downstream current.
River erosion took a devastating turn along the Padma at Dohar and Nawabganj in Dhaka district, Louhajang in Munshiganj, Shibalaya in Manikganj, and Char Bhadrasan and Char Jhaukanda in Faridpur. The River Jamuna is also wreaking havoc on its banks in Sirajganj, Sariakandi in Bogra, and Ulipur and Chilmari in Kurigram, while the Gorai is doing the same in Kushtia and the Baleswar in Pirojpur.
The River Arial Khan has moved about half a mile westward over the last few days, gobbling up a vast area along 50 kilometres of its bank from Tarabunia launch terminal to Mangal Majhi ferry ghat. River erosion has rendered homeless around 200 families in Duttapara and Sanyasir Char under Shibchar Upazila in Madaripur.
The Dhaka-Sariatpur highway is under threat at Jajira and the Faridpur-Barisal highway at Pukuria point due to river erosion, local reporters said.
In the second spell of flooding, the Jamuna has devoured 10km of embankment, two high schools, one madrasa, and two rural markets in Gunaigachh and Bazra union of Ulipur Upazila in the northern district of Kurigram.
The river situation monitoring office of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) confirms that the erosion continues along the three major river systems - Meghna, Padma, and Jamuna - as well as in their estuary areas due to the strong current of receding flood water.
According to the water resources ministry, the government has allotted Tk 155 crore in the current budget for implementation of its river and water development projects and maintenance work. But, the extent of damage to the BWDB projects and structures alone has been estimated at around Tk 520.74 crore.
BWDB sources said the current flooding had eroded 140km of river banks completely and 1,345km more in part in their project areas. The floods also washed away 17km of erosion protection embankments completely and 48km more in part. According to a compiled assessment, as of September 18, 313 structures like sluice gates and culverts were damaged by river erosion.
The flood monitoring cell at the Chief Adviser's Office puts the estimated figure of damage to infrastructure at Tk 1,670 crore, while 28,51,570 families in 263 upazilas under 46 districts have been hit hard by the floods.
The floods have damaged 6,189km of rural dirt tracks, 7,524km metalled roads, and 1,323 bridges and culverts across the country, the compiled report says. The government so far has sanctioned 18,515 tons of rice as gratuitous relief and Tk 635 million in cash for the flood victims. The non-governmental organisations also received commitment of Tk 881 million for 144 relief and rehabilitation projects, according to a report of the monitoring cell last week.
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INDO-US NAVAL GAME
Bangladesh should reassess its security needs
M. Shahidul Islam
"To interfere in a contest already begun promises more advantages to a state than war under any other circumstances," said Antoine Henri Jomini in his epic compilation of strategic thoughts (The Art of War, 1838).
India's innate rationale behind the desperate alliance with the USA at a time when the latter is mired in a number of pre-emptive wars around the world - and all of those ventures having gone awry - seems to be exactly that.
Of late, the strategic collaborations between the USA and India have reached a crescendo, and they have never been so vast and so threatening to the peace and security of the region.
Despite propagation that the ongoing war game in the Bay of Bengal is a routine collaborative military exercise between the two navies, the range of armada and the massive firepower being displayed undoubtedly aim at sending a message to China on the one hand and to the Islamist fighters seeking to rid the Indian- and US-occupied Muslim territories on the other.
Not only the ongoing war game is both qualitatively and quantitatively different, it is also scheduled to prolong until September 23 and to resume with a different face from October 2.
Bangladesh's national security concerns warrant a re-assessment in light of how the US-India strategic collaborations are evolving. The main focus of the national security concerns must encompass some core issues relating to (1) preserving territorial sovereignty, (2) pursuing independent foreign policy, (3) ensuring stability of the government, and (4) securing social, political and economic wellbeing of all citizens. The flexing of Indo-US military muscle threatens all those aspects of our national security.
First of all, India is seriously pursuing a policy that seeks to strangulate Bangladesh economically, diplomatically, and ecologically (see India resumes 3-pronged onslaught on Bangladesh; Holiday, September 15, 2007, p-1). Besides, the ongoing war game has further emboldened the forces of extremism inside India, prompting BJP President Rajnath Singh to issue a dire threat on September 14 against the territorial integrity of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Singh said, "If Pakistan and Bangladesh were not in a position to control terrorist activities,... India could jointly launch military action against terrorists operating from the two neighbouring countries." Singh is still insistent on the alleged involvement of terrorists from Bangladesh in the August 25 Hyderabad attacks, although Dhaka has persistently denied the allegation, as did Islamabad.
The BJP's support being crucial to the survival of Manmohan Singh's government, one would presume that the threat has an indirect government nod and was made at a time when the Indian navy was busy cruising in the deep water of the Bay along with the notorious US Seventh Fleet that in 1971 made a threatening posture to Bangladesh's liberation warriors from the same water.
This surreal posturing shows how Indian foreign and defence policies have transformed over the years and how obsessed India has become with its grandiose ambition to emerge as a global power by sacrificing the very principles of peaceful coexistence and Nehruvian neutrality of the 1950s and the 60s that once made it a role model for nations seeking emancipation from imperialism and tyranny.
At the least, the sea change in Indian policies sends a message to its militarily weaker neighbours that Delhi will blindly follow the US in a hot pursuit of Islamist militants and will not hesitate to attack neighbouring countries on allegations that could later prove unfounded, bogus, and maliciously doctored to suit specific geo-political interests.
There is another dimension of this particular war game. This is the first time a NATO-centric military manoeuvre is taking place in the Bay of Bengal, buttressed by a total of 25 modern warships from the navies of USA, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and India. It is also the biggest US naval assembly in last 36 years.
And, for the first time, the Indian navy has deployed in the deep sea its only aircraft career, Viraat, along with the US's Kitty Hawk, two Perry class destroyers, many P3C Orion long-range maritime reconnaissance aircrafts, etc. The Indian navy's other contributions to this show of force include a number of Kashin class missile destroyers, anti-submarine Kamov helicopters, and IL-154 reconnaissance aircrafts.
Bangladesh and Pakistan aside, Iran has been alarmed by the Indo-US move and the armada being displayed - and the firepower projected - is not indicative of a war game that can be classified as the 'Malabar' type of manoeuvre that the two navies routinely conduct.
Some security experts say the two navies have locked into a binding strategic relationship to revive the Cold War era military tensions so that the US's military debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan can get overshadowed by the discovery of 'phantom enemies' and the shifting of the theatre of conflict from the Mid-East to South Asia. Others say the move is a necessity to checkmate the evolving China-Russia strategic closeness forged in the wake of US's Afghan invasion and stationing of US forces in many Central Asian countries.
Whatever that be, the Indo-US joint muscle flexing is already rattling nerves and emboldening the 'fanatical nuts' looking for excuses to push the region into an Armageddon. The threats being made by BJP leaders to India's weaker neighbours must be seen through that prism as they are bound to increase tension in a region where peace has become an aberration of some sort and tensions can be flared by the whisker of an odd event.
Above all, the hyper Indo-US strategic cordiality may unleash an arms race, resulting in the diversion of much-needed funds from development activities to armament procurement and other military expenditures. Particularly for Bangladesh, the scenario is getting increasingly murkier. India's seemingly perennial enmity with Bangladesh aside, the US has shown no credible sign as yet that it stands ready to assist Bangladesh in overcoming its bona fide national security concerns.
Ever since Senator Orin Hatch urged the US Congress to commence military aid to Bangladesh in 1986, the US administration has never shown much enthusiasm in this regard. Technical collaborations have increased since 2001 due to the US's fear of being overtaken by Islamist fighters, but such collaborations were limited to the so-called anti-terror drives. The official US policy vis a vis Bangladesh's military needs remained largely unchanged.
The US administration's policy parameter was succinctly encapsulated in the early 1990s by Thomas Stern, a senior official of the State Department's Military and Political Affairs Division, who told the US Senate, "The US does not desire an arms supply relationship with Bangladesh... We would, however, be prepared to consider export licence request for cash sales on a commercial basis of limited type of military equipment such as transport and communication items."
Compare this lukewarm approach with the US's binding commitment to provide India with nuclear technology, despite India being a non-signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a nation that has developed a nuclear arsenal over the decades, prompting Pakistan to follow suit.
That is not to say that we, as a nation, are seeking avenues to entangle ourselves in the big power game. Our concern rests upon the perception that we cannot afford to stand idle by when senior Indian politicians and policymakers prefer to equate Bangladesh with Pakistan with respect to fostering Islamist insurgents and threaten to launch pre-emptive attacks on our territory.
Viewed from an objective angle, such allegations are not only unfounded, one also finds no evidence to suggest that the so-called Bangladeshi Islamists are linked with the international Jehadis. Besides, we know for fact that the Bangladeshi Islamists have never been able to face the nation's police forces, let alone pose a threat to the world's mightiest armies like the al-Qaeda warriors with whom the equation is made and parallels are drawn.
Despite that, Dhaka has succumbed over the years to many undue pressures from Delhi and Washington and took action against a number of suspected Islamist insurgents whose activities were marginal, localised, and nonsensical.
Now that the geo-strategic ambiance is shaping up to the detriment of our core national interests and inherent values, we are convinced that our good wills have largely been interpreted by the big powers as signs of weakness, and nations feigning as friends are indeed making preparations to harm us in the instance we fail to comply with their diktats.
If what happened to the fate of the Iraqi people is a lesson not to forget so soon, our policymakers must raise guards to fend off the looming dangers and re-assess the needs of our national security in the context of the alarming circumstances that are about to re-fashion the future of the region.
Like India, we might as well seek help from Jomini at this critical moment of our history. "To lessen the power of dangerous rivals or to prevent aggrandisement, nations must prepare for wars of expediency," advised the astute strategist.
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It's time to review relation with IMF
Faruque Ahmed
Should Bangladesh say good-bye to IMF?
The question haunted the public mind throughout the last week as the International Monetary Fund's proposal to the government to sign a Policy Support Instrument (PSI) deal surfaced in the press inviting sharp reactions. A High Court bench acting on a writ petition last week issued a rule on the government to explain why it should not be barred from signing the PSI agreement.
Meanwhile, the IMF team has left Dhaka, abandoning the scheme in the face of the fierce resistance from all levels. "We hope, it will be their last trip to sign a PSI deal," said Bangladesh Economic Association President Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed.
In last week, economists, politicians, business leaders, and civil society activists debated the issue and warned the government not to sign any 'instrument of slavery' and stay out of the 'IMF trap.' They said the IMF was nothing more than a credit-selling agency to promote sales of merchandise of its fund-givers; so, it should not be treated as a donor agency. Some even demanded the removal of IMF office from the Bangladesh Bank office, saying it showed how the central bank had become an IMF captive.
They also said it was unethical on the part of the IMF to bring the PSI proposal to the caretaker government as it has no authority to take policy decision on sensitive issues. Meanwhile, Prof Muzaffar Ahmed spoke for vigorous political control and involvement of experts in such decision-making. Ill-prepared and over-ambitious bureaucrats often do the mistakes, he maintained.
Earlier last week, Qazi Kholiquzzaman told a roundtable that the IMF was no longer a credible development partner, but a big impediment to independent decision-making and Bangladesh should say it 'good-bye.'
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Dr. M Zahir told the discussion that the country "should not give in to unjust demand" having strings attached that infringed on its sovereign right to take decision. In a view similar to Kholiquzzaman's, he said, "Though I will not say good-bye right now, I will say start preparing to quit." Meanwhile, he government should review the whole relationship with the lending agency. He said many countries were quitting the IMF and if necessary Bangladesh should go for it too. He emphasised the need for developing the country's bargaining capacity on crucial issues, saying: "We cannot continue to lose ground for lack of bargaining power."
The IMF has been damaging our economy by destroying local industries and institutions, instead of coming to their rescue, Kholiquazzaman further said. Pointing to the country's comfortable foreign currency reserve to take care of import bills, he said IMF's departure would not bring any setback at this stage.
Pointing to the nature of overseas development assistance, former finance secretary Siddiqur Rahman Chowdhury, however, said the IMF and such other funds in fact came as part of deficit financing to the country's development programmes, such as Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. He said, as a member of the IMF, Bangladesh might be selective to what it would take, but the situation did not warrant breaking the relationship.
Finance Adviser Dr. A B Mirza Azizul Islam has meanwhile allayed the public fears by saying that the government will not sign any such agreement. After the wrap-up meeting with the IMF team last week, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed also ruled out an agreement. The IMF team, however, reiterated interest to continue the dialogue, he said.
Economist Dr. Atiur Rahman sounded more calculative and demanded more pragmatic handling of the issue in the context of domestic and global politics. He blamed the agency for abandoning its high moral grounds. Dr. Rahman held responsible the agency for pushing the wrong sort of monetary policy in Bangladesh, saying its contractionary credit policy with high interest and pressure to increase corporate tax and prices of gas, electricity and fuel oils had worked more than anything to hurt the country and erode its business confidence.
Former Board of Investment executive chairman Mahmudur Rahman said its prescription of tight monetary policy at a time when the country required an expansionary credit policy had proved seriously counterproductive. He said the country at the moment required more investment and expansion of business to overcome the sluggish trend in the economy. It is more important now to create more employments and income-generating activities to fight back poverty, particularly after the recent and current devastating floods, but the IMF had been taking us to the wrong direction. He said the IMF could only see inflation, ignoring other socio-economic growth perspectives of a developing economy.
Pointing to the import figure of capital machinery, which has significantly declined this year over the last year, he said, "We will only get poorer, if we go by IMF policy agenda, and the sooner we get out of that the better."
The president of women's chamber, Salima Ahmad, said Bangladesh must go for the very minimum relation with the Fund.
Demanding total independence from the World Bank and the IMF, Reazaul Karim Chowdhury, who is now spearheading a nationwide campaign for good governance, said we must take charge of our own affairs. When the IMF has lost face globally and more and more countries are quitting it, it has come up this time with a new product branded as PSI, he said.
Under it, no matter one takes new loans from the IMF or not, one has to submit to its credit rating. The showing of this rating will be binding for making loan request to other multilateral agencies. "Why we should go for it," he asked and suggested that the SAARC Development Fund, for which preparation was underway in Delhi, might be restructured as a South Asia Development Bank. It may partly replace agencies like the IMF for the countries of this region.
Former Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sayeeful Islam warned that the time for restructuring the IMF was running out.
DCCI Director Shahidul Islam wondered why the government was not using the private sector funds for development. He said the country was having good export earnings, remittances, and excess liquidity in banks and these could be exploited using the stock market to replace dependence on external sources. He said bureaucrats were not taking the issue seriously.
Prof Abu Ahmed is also against recognising the World Bank or the IMF as donor agencies beyond their role as credit sellers for their fund-givers. They give the money to the developing countries to promote sales of their products, technologies, and services. This is what is called IMF's balance of payment support. The entire money goes back to its funding sources in consultant fees and procurement costs, he said, adding there was hardly any difference between the WB and IMF loans and supplier's credit in a broader sense.
Syed Abul Maksud observed that in the past only communists used to protest the WB and IMF activities, but now even the common people were doing that. Pointing to the presence of the IMF resident mission in the main building of Bangladesh Bank, another critic said the IMF move for the PSI agreement aimed at setting up yet another office at the National Board of Revenue building as a 'supra-agency' regulating the nation's revenue authority. "It must not come true," he said.
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ALPIN CARTOON
Khatib Obaidul accepts apology from Prothom Alo editor
Shahriar Noori
Prothom Alo Editor Motiur Rahman, accompanied by Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein and Religious Affairs Adviser Dr. Motiur Rahman, on Thursday called on Khatib Obaidul Haque of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque and apologised for publication of the outrageous cartoon in Alpin, a weekly supplement of the daily, on Monday.
The Prothom Alo editor also promised that such mistake would not happen again.
According to meeting sources, Khatib Obaidul Haque accepted the apology.
The meeting took place on the eve of the deadline of the ultimatum issued by a delegation of Ulemas led by the Khatib that the government must cancel the declaration of Prothom Alo and arrest its editor along with others responsible before today (Friday) 'for showing disrespect to Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (pbuh)'.
The delegation conveyed the demands to the government at a meeting on Monday with Mainul Hosein, saying the cartoon ridiculed the Prophet by adding his name (Mohammad) before an animal.
Although the government could placate the Ulemas and outraged Muslim devotees by confiscating the issue of Alpin and arresting the cartoonist on Tuesday, it has been concerned about how to deal with the ultimatum. With Thursday's meeting, it could finally avert a potential public unrest today (Friday) being a Jumma day.
Earlier on Thursday, Mainul told this correspondent that a large number of people felt genuinely humiliated by the irresponsible act. But, there are also some quarters who may try to cash in on the situation.
On the demand to ban Prothom Alo and arrest its editor and publisher by Friday, Mainul said many people's jobs were at stake here.
The matter is under investigation and the law will take its own course, the adviser said. If anyone is found guilty, the court is the ultimate authority to resolve the issue, he added.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the Prothom Alo ran a statement apologising for publication of the cartoon and said the magazine editor, Sumanta Aslam, and the cartoonist, Arifur Rahman, had already been sacked.
The statement generated yet another question by terming the cartoon a rejected one. If the carton was rejected then how come was it published?
In answer, the joint editor of the daily, Abdul Quayyum, told this correspondent that there are two content boxes for Alpin. One is marked 'selected' and the other 'rejected'. The controversial cartoon was kept in the second box. But, as there was a shortage of publishable materials, someone pasted the rejected cartoon taking it out of the 'rejected' box to fill up the gap when the make-up of the magazine was almost complete.
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Political scenario around Bangladesh changing fast
Shamsuddin Ahmed
The scenario around Bangladesh is changing fast. Myanmar under a military rule is gaining in strength. The kingdom of Bhutan is going to hold its first-ever general elections. It is probably only months away from Maoists taking over power in Nepal. The 'shining' India is reeling under rising insurgency in eastern states, where hundreds of poverty-stricken farmers commit suicide every year.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has lamented that all means, including economic sanctions and threats from the western powers, have failed to bend the military government of Myanmar. US President George W Bush has repeatedly accused its rulers of tyranny. Undaunted by the criticism, Myanmar is treading on its path and making progress.
The dirge of Downer came in the ARF meeting in Manila at the end of July. He said, "What amazes me about Burma is that the leadership seems completely insensitive to and impervious to the views of the outside world... economic sanctions and threat have failed to sway the ruling junta." Foreign ministers of the ASEAN and neighbouring countries attended the meeting. Myanmar is an active member of ASEAN.
"We do not borrow a single farthing from the IMF or the World Bank. Why should we bother about the USA," a Myanmar diplomat had told this correspondent.
Pro-democracy demonstrators held a rally in Yangoon, the capital of Myanmar, on August 15 to protest a stiff price hike of fuel oils. The government cracked down on the demonstrators and detained about 150 of them. That annoyed the western powers and the human rights organisations. They are cranking up pressure on Myanmar in various ways.
India is billed as the biggest democracy in the world. Its Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee happened to be in Bangkok last week (Sept 14) when the western diplomats asked him to put pressure on Myanmar and get the reclusive country to restore democracy and release Aung San Suu Kyi. But Mukherjee meekly refused, saying his country did not interfere in internal affairs of any country. "It is for the people of Myanmar to decide what kind of government they want," he told the diplomats.
But, in case of Bangladesh, another close neighbour, India wants democracy and secularism.
Analysts say that India does not want to annoy Myanmar and for that matter China by advocating democracy in those countries. China had beaten India badly in a short-lived war in 1962 and allegedly occupied a big chunk of Indian territory. Besides, India's seven north-eastern states bordering Myanmar, known as seven sisters, have for long been fighting for separation, which is another factor that India has to consider while dealing with both China and Myanmar.
Nepal, long known as a vassal state of India, will go for elections to the constituent assembly in a couple of months. Observers believe Maoists are likely to sweep the elections. The Youth Communist League, youth wing of the Maoists, has recently demanded scraping of the 1950 peace and friendship treaty with India, which it terms unequal, and withdrawal of Indian troops from Kalapani of Nepal. This and rising insurgent activities in Indian states bordering Nepal are likely to cause fresh worries for New Delhi.
Bangladesh is expected to decide its course considering the changes in the scenario around it.
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Blasphemous cartoon
Govt. should handle the issue judiciously
Special Correspondent
A blasphemous comic strip caricaturing the Holy Prophet of Islam published in the Alpin, the weekly supplement to the Bengali daily Prothom Alo, has caused a furore among the people. As for the contemptuous cartoon, some believe that it was a deliberate action because in addition to the blasphemous cartoon, the cover page of the weekly supplement Alpin printed a cartoon depicting the greed of a devotee for rich iftar spread before him, undermining the fasting Muslims.
However, the editor of daily, Matiur Rahman, was quick to regret the publication of the cartoon and apologised to the people for hurting the religious sentiment.
The matter has been taken seriously by Islamic scholars. A group of religious leaders led by Maulana Obaidul Haq, Khatib of the Baitul Mukarram Mosque, met the Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein. They demanded arrest of editor, publisher of the daily and ban its publication.
The Adviser and religious leaders were unanimous that the publication of the cartoon was a deep conspiracy against the country. "It is not a trivial matter...A section of people are plotting to create anarchy in the country by exploiting the religious sentiment of the people...It's a planned conspiracy against the country," vented the Adviser.
Under the circumstances the Government should take all possible measures to assuage the religious sentiments of the people triggered by publication of the profane cartoon in the Bangla daily Prothom Alo supplement on Monday. The action is needed to desist them from taking to the street.
A number of religious groups have called for protesting the act of the daily after the Juma prayer today (Friday). The devotees are set to come out from most mosques in the city including the national mosque Baitul Mukarram as part of countrywide protest if their demands are not met before the Juma prayer.
The situation has no doubt caught the Government in between Scylla and Charybdis. While arrest of the editor/publisher of the Prothom Alo and ban on the daily may earn displeasure of the free press, taking no action could hurt the religious sentiments of the people. And the trouble is unlikely to calm down.
Observers understand that there is every likelihood that certain political elements and hired troublemakers take advantage of the religious sentiment of the people and push ahead the demonstration to the streets, create disturbances and destabilise the situation.
It will be thorny for the Government to allow violation of the emergency rules as that may encourage political parties to take advantage of the situation. Nor it can take risk of harsh police action against the people protesting sacrilege of the Holy Prophet. The nation has a sad experience of brutal police action against religious groups in Brahmanbaria during the Awami League regime headed by Sheikh Hasina.
Certain elements fed by internal and external forces hostile to Bangladesh may be out to foment trouble. A trivial incident on Dhaka University campus of August 21-22 escalated the street vandalism and destruction of public and private property. Disturbing elements can easily sneak into demonstration in guise of devotees or musalli, lob some bombs, damage passing vehicles and ransack shops. "You can't rule out such prospects," said a senior intelligence official, and pointed out that the recent incidents triggered from the unrest in Dhaka University campus.
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World Bank lending fraught with fraud, bribes, bid-rigging
Fazle Rashid in New York
Over 40 per cent of the World Bank lending is tainted by fraud, bribes and bid-rigging. The Bank has an annual lending portfolio of $20 billion.
An enquiry committee headed by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker has arrived at this damaging conclusion. Volcker also headed an enquiry team and unravelled a financial scandal surrounding the UN-sponsored oil-for-food programme in Iraq. Billions of dollars had changed hands in this operation which badly bruised the reputation of the United Nations.
The anti-graft drive of the World Bank remains hampered by weak management, internal distrust, and resistance to combating fraud by the employees, the New York Times said in a report. There has been an outright conflict in the Bank as to whether to have an anticorruption function. The Bank's anti-graft and ethical unit was headed by Suzanne Folsom. Many of the Bank's more that 100,000 employees said the anti-graft drive under Ms. Folsom was waged selectively and unfairly against employees and countries she did not like.
Volcker report also said a 'siege mentality' in the institutional integrity unit led to 'excessive secrecy' about its activities and sharing it with colleagues and the peoples of the affected countries.
The report said the WB had done a poor job in following up findings of corruption with remedial actions in many countries. Sexual harassment is another chronic problem in the multilateral lending agency. The enquiry committee has surprisingly recommended that the integrity unit should discontinue probes into incidents of sexual harassment and that such cases should be dealt with by the human resources division.
Robert Zoellick, the incumbent WB president, has welcomed the report and pledged to put its recommendations into effect. "The most important recommendation is that anti-corruption efforts are a vital function of the Bank and need to be incorporated into everything we do," the NYT quoted Zoellick as saying.
The holier-than-thou attitude of the WB employees in Bangladesh runs counter to what is happening in its head office. All multilateral lending agencies like the WB, International Monetary Fund, and Asian Development Bank have lost their relevance as their lending volume has been going down steadily. Bangladesh Bank Governor Salehuddin Ahmed deserves kudos for rejecting the 'good advices' of the IMF to tighten bank credit. The ADB in Dhaka continues to generously distribute its wisdom, an exercise it should stop forthwith.
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Concern over Sigma Huda's conviction
Moinuddin Naser in New York
A United Nations expert on the independence of judges and lawyers recently voiced concern regarding the trial proceedings of Sigma Huda, a fellow Special Rapporteur who was sentenced to three years in prison by a Bangladeshi court.
Leandro Despouy said recently that the sentence was handed down by the Special Anti Corruption Court of Bangladesh for aiding and abetting extortion found to have been committed by the husband of Ms. Huda, who is a UN independent expert on trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
However, Despouy said that he has "received information indicating that the right to legal representation and the independence of the court were severely affected during her trial."
He added that Ms. Huda's attorneys "who had no opportunity to confer with their client in prison" felt pressured, having only met with her at the end of hearings. The lawyers also had difficulties accessing case files and other important information, "thus compromising their ability to ensure an adequate defence," he said.
'The atmosphere during the trial was reportedly intimidating, with military and police presence both outside and inside the courtroom, and access of the public and the media to the courtroom was restricted.'
Despouy said that these alleged irregularities violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Bangladesh has ratified, and also called on the country's authorities to respect Ms. Huda's right to a fair and public trial during any appeal process.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said last Monday that her office is seeking clarification about the situation surrounding Ms. Huda's conviction and possible appeal.
The High Commissioner noted in a statement last month that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, after receiving information from Bangladesh on the nature of the charges brought against Ms. Huda and their linkages to her functions as Special Rapporteur, concluded that she is not being tried on charges related to her work as a UN independent expert.
It may be mentioned that Ms Huda was appointed Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons on April 19, 2004 for three years. Special Rapporteur enjoy the privileges and immunities necessary for the independent exercise of their functions as experts on mission under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. The responsibility to determine whether privileges and immunities apply in a given situation is vested in the Secretary.
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GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Napoleon
K. Z. Islam
With his humble beginning on the island of Corsica Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), became one of history's most famous personalities. A general by the age of 24 he has been compared to the greatest of military geniuses - Alexander, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan. To some historians, he is a torchbearer, romantic hero who spreads across Europe the French Revolution's high ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. For twenty years he ruled France, producing a code of laws still in use in that country today. Eventually he crowned himself Emperor and loomed, a solitary, brooding figure, towering above the life of Western Europe. His downfall was his disastrous campaign against Russia. Napoleon's achievements carried with them a terrible cost. In the bloody wars he fought continuously some 500,000 Frenchmen gave up their lives. Eventually the other European powers combined to defeat him in battle of Waterloo and exiled him to the desolate, rocky island of St. Helena far away in the South Atlantics. And it was there he died.
Napoleon carried around his neck a leather bag that contained poison which was prepared by his physician Dr. Yvan. The ingredient of the poison was opium, belladonna, white hellebore. Napoleon kept the poison with him during the Russian campaign to escape, if need be, the Cossacks, should they have captured him on the Maloyaroslavets road. Caulaincourt, Napoleon's ambassador to Russia announced that agreement had been reached in Paris on the condition of his abdication. The Emperor will be the sovereign of the isle of Elba and will receive an income of two million francs paid by the French government.
Napoleon sees himself a betrayed emperor takes the bag of poison that hangs around his neck. He pours it into a glass of water. He drinks it slowly. Then goes and lies down. He sends for Caulaincourt and squeezes his hands. He gives him a letter for Marie Louise and remembers Josephine. 'I must keep the poison in me' says Napoleon but his mouth opens and the bitter, sharp jet comes out.
He vomits again. This is death slipping. He clutches on to Caulaincourt, asks for poison again. But they pick him up and support him so he can walk to the window. He looks for his pistol, but they have taken the power horn. 'They want to let me live'. They sit him down in front of the window. Dawn breaks. Napoleon is aching all over, but the storm has passed, the fire is slowly going out. Napoleon was forced to sign his abdication on 4 April 1814.
Elba could not hold him for long. On 1 March 1815 he dramatically landed on French soil and was greeted like a returning hero. He ruled thereafter exactly for 100 days after which he was defeated by the combined forces of the Allies led by Duke of Wellington in the battle of Waterloo. This time the British played safe and banished him to a distant, lonely island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. He died on 5 May 1821 Napoleon died not yet 52 years old. It is also rumoured that the wallpaper in his bedroom was impregnated with arsenic. All the symptoms of his death are similar to that of arsenic poisoning.
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SOLIDARITY FAST IN IMPHAL
Sharmila's supporters salute Suu Kyi too
Nava Thakuria in Guwahati
Hundreds of activists representing a number of civil societies joined a four-day 'solidarity fast' in Imphal from September 13 in support of Irom Sharmila Chanu, a Manipuri young lady in her early 30s who had been on a hunger strike demanding repeal of a black law for almost seven years now.
The demonstration was held in front of Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, where the government keeps the fasting 'iron lady' to force-feed her, at the call of the National Alliance of Peoples' Movements (NAPM), an umbrella body of nearly 200 organisations fighting for human rights in India.
NAPM Convener Dr. Sandeep Pandey, while inaugurating the solidarity fast, saluted the zeal of Sharmila to continue with her unique agitation for all these years. An eminent social scientist of India, Dr. Pandey also hailed the detained Myanmar pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for the last four years.
A poster with the slogans 'Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi' and 'Free Burma' was also put on public display during the solidarity fast, Pandey told this correspondent over telephone from Imphal, the capital of the northeast Indian state of Manipur, bordering Myanmar. He was critical of New Delhi for maintaining strategic ties with the Myanmar military junta, which is directly responsible for the protracted detention of Suu Kyi.
So, it seems, Suu Kyi has found a group of fervent supporters in Imphal too. A Nobel laureate and the National League for Democracy chief, Suu Kyi, has been identified by the international community as a symbol of protest against the tyranny of the military junta of Myanmar.
"Conscious people all over the world stand en masse behind Sharmila and Suu Kyi for their exemplary struggle against violation of human rights and protection of democratic values in their respective countries," said Pandey, a Ramon Magsaysay award winner.
Besides Pandey and Asha Pariwar of the Manipur Forward Youth Front, representatives from the National Identity Protection Committee, All Manipur Student Union, All India Human Rights Association, All Manipur Kanba Ima Lup, Thangmeiband Khunthokhambi Meira Paibi Lup, All Manipur Social Reformation and Development Samaj, All Manipur Tammi Chingmi Apunba Nupi Lup, Salei Apunba Nupi Lamjing, Salei Lup Chingamokh, and Mahila Shanti Sena along with hundreds of students and other people joined the solidarity fast.
Sharmila, a Meitei lady, began her indefinite fast on November 2, 2000 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) from Manipur immediately after the Malom massacre, in which the Assam Rifles had killed 10 innocent people. The security personnel allegedly often take advantage of the draconian law to hide their crimes and excesses. The AFSPA, termed an inhuman law even by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is applicable in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir states of India.
Applied in the northeast India since 1958, the AFSPA empowers the security forces to arrest people without warrant and use excessive force, including shooting or killing, even if their lives are not at imminent risk. The law also provides the security personnel with virtual impunity as no one can initiate legal action against any member of the armed forces for anything done under the act without permission of the central government.
Manipur was placed under the AFSPA in 1980, since when the state has witnessed innumerable killings by the military, paramilitary, and security forces. Located nearly 2,400km away from the capital of India, the tiny state is home to 30 ethnic groups. However, the land of jewels, as Manipur literary means, nurtures nearly 25 armed outfits which have been fighting New Delhi to press home demands ranging from sovereignty to autonomy. Insurgency-related violence is rampant in the state and New Delhi continues to insist that the security personnel deployed for counter-insurgency operations there need the AFSPA to deal with the hostile situation.
The voice of Sharmila against the AFSPA is now heard in many international forums. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognised her as the world's longest-surviving individual on fast. According to the Guinness Book, it is also the longest protest on a social cause by a single individual anywhere in the world.
More recently, Sharmila was awarded with the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Instituted in 1980 by the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School of South Korea, the award is conferred to someone who contributes significantly to human rights and social justice. Suu Kyi also received the prize a few years back.
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Trade deficit with China hits record high in FY07
Asjadul Kibria
Imports from the East have been flooding Bangladesh's domestic market. The imports ranging from varieties of electronic products to lady's bags, from dry food items to showpieces, are becoming more and more available on the consumer market. From the shelves of departmental stores in Gulshan-Banani to the roadside shops in Gulistan in the capital, the increasing presence of made-in-east commodities is quite apparent.
The recent foreign trade statistics also reflect this fact. Bangladesh's trade deficits with leading Asian trading partners have been widening significantly for the last couple of years. In the last fiscal year, 2006-07, the total trade gap with these countries reached a new height, contributing to a significant rise in the overall trade deficit. Of them, the trade gap with China marked a record 25.8 per cent growth in FY07 over FY06, according to a provisional estimate prepared by the Dhaka Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) based on different official figures.
Central bank data shows that Bangladesh's overall merchandise trade deficit with the rest of the world stood at $3.45 billion in FY07, jumping from $2.88 billion in FY06. The huge increase in the trade deficit was mainly due to higher import payments in the last fiscal year against a moderate growth in exports, with the yawning trade gap with China playing a major role.
According to official data, Bangladesh's bilateral trade deficit with China rose to $2.48 billion in FY07 from $1.98 billion in FY06. In FY07 exports to China grew by around 44.5 per cent but failed to reach $100 million level. On the other had, imports from China registered a huge 25.8 per cent growth, with import payments standing at $2.57 billion.
Although China offered tariff-free access to some 84 Bangladeshi products and relaxed tariff on 100 other products, it appears the country is yet to cash in on the tariff facilities.
This, however, is not surprising as cheap import from China is a common phenomenon across the globe.
China is the second biggest trading partner of Bangladesh, followed by the United States, and the trade with the country showed unprecedented growth in the last couple of years.
Trade deficit with India, the fourth largest trading partner followed by Germany, also increased in the FY07 to $1.70 billion from $1.60 billion in FY06. The export to India surged by around 20 per cent to $290 million in last fiscal year against $241 million in the previous year.
Although the imports from India registered a moderate 7.6 per cent growth, the actual amount stood very close to $2 billion in FY07, after 7.6 per cent decline in FY06.
Trade deficit with India has been a perpetual concern for the country as there is also a huge unofficial trade, meaning smuggling, between the two neighbours across their long porous border. Several studies revealed that the volume of unofficial trade between Bangladesh and India is almost twice the officially recorded one.
The imports from Singapore have crossed the $1 billion level for the first time in FY07, after registering a 23 per cent growth over FY06. On the other hand, exports to Singapore declined by 6 per cent to $92 million from $97.3 million in FY06. Thus the trade deficit with Singapore stood at $951 million in the last fiscal year. The city state is the sixth largest trading partner of Bangladesh, followed by the United Kingdom, while it ranked third among the Asian trading partners.
Bangladeshi goods exported to Singapore include furnace oil, printing equipment, machinery, chemical fertilisers, jute goods, knitwear, woven garments, frozen fishes, vegetables, and pharmaceutical items.
The trade gap with the country's seventh largest trading partner, Japan, has also been on an upward curve as it increased $584.7 million in FY07 from $471.22 million in the previous fiscal.
South Korea is not on the top 10 list of the country's trading partners, but it is one of the largest five Asian partners. Dhaka's export to Seoul registered a record 56 per cent growth in FY07 over that in the previous fiscal year. Bangladesh exported products worth $66.45 million in the last fiscal year while imports from South Korea stood at $507.22 million, recording a 7 per cent growth. Thus trade deficit with S Korea stood at $440.7 million in FY07 compared to $429.5 million in FY06.
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