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EDITORIAL
EC and polls procedure
Impartiality is indeed an essential virtue, associated with good judgment, justice and fairness. Whoever heads an exalted statutory body holds a high office, which necessarily has to be above all controversy. Partisanship is synonymous with partiality, prejudice or bias which tarnishes an incumbent's office, such as that of the Election Commission (EC).
Never before in its history, the country experienced a similar electoral controversy as of today which has been engendered by the Election Commission (EC) in particular and the military-backed Caretaker Government (CG) in general. If we glance at the EC's balance sheet to call a spade a spade, we see nothing to write home about as regards its achievement. Well, arguably, the voter roll, despite its faults and pitfalls, is the only positive work done; but the credit goes mostly to the untiring efforts of some soldiers who have succeeded in their mission.
The people of this country are familiar with polls and hustings since British colonial days. The 1946 election here mandated the Muslim League (ML) to move ahead for a separate homeland for the Muslims after the great divide, but in what is now Pakistan ML cut a sorry figure. Just two years after 1947 the titan of a leader, Moulana Bhashani, founded the Awami League (AL) which was to win a landslide victory with absolute majority. Subsequently all elections under Pakistan were free, fair and credible including the 1970 election that changed the whole course of history leading to the genesis of this republic.
Though massive rigging and election engineering began since 1973, when highly popular candidates lost due to manipulation, election since 1991 was largely acceptable. The February 1996 election was neither accepted nor rejected as it paved the path of constitutional amendment for the provision of CG, the sole demand of AL and Jamaat. In 2006 AL did agree to contest election of 22 January 2007 but abruptly backed out when Ershad was debarred. When the present EC was formed after 9/11 chaired by Dr ATM Shamsul Huda the people pinned much hope on it; but soon to be disillusioned.
During the dialogue phase of the EC, the learned members, shockingly, saw the part as the whole when they invited a splinter group of so-called reformists led by Saifur Rahman and Maj. (Retd) Hafiz. This action has bespoken the EC's neutral image. As the Republic's Constitution is the supreme law book, hence it is obligatory that any amendment whatsoever to it has to be done only in Jatiya Sangsad.
The Caretaker Government (CG) can enact laws relating to polls but can't violate the Constitution. The chief election commissioner is repeatedly saying that there is no restriction in holding the local government polls now. But there is no provision in the Constitution of holding these elections during the interim rule.
Speaker Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar recently observed that local government polls cannot be held before the national elections saying it would violate the Constitution and existing laws. "Holding local government elections before the parliamentary one is not permissible in the Constitution and law. According to the Constitution, the caretaker government will discharge its routine functions and assist the Election Commission to hold national polls," he said.
What surprises people much is that the Election Commission (EC) has accepted a considerable number of nominations filed by mayoral and councillor aspirants having criminal records such as charges of extortion, corruption and even murder. A few of them have even been convicted by local courts. How could this happen?
The present political scenario can be summarised this way: the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) expressed his displeasure over the quality of candidates, who are contesting the City Corporation and Municipal elections. If the CEC is frustrated we do not know who else can be entrusted with the job of choosing good people. What is the choice then? Back to square one? In that case it will be a great frustration for the nation.
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ISRAEL MUST SIGN N.P.T.
Nuke and Iran issue: Is
a war impending?
Dr Habib Siddiqui
It is no secret that the Bush Administration is against Iran. Thus, when in early July Iran test-fired long- and medium-range missiles the corporate media echoed the sentiment as if Iran had done something awfully bad, highly provocative. Forgotten from the coverage was Israel's own provocative testing and military exercise a few weeks earlier in June, let alone her incessant threat to attacking Iran for the past six months.
Much has also been said about nuclear proliferation, especially its impact on potentially changing the so-called balance of power in the Middle East. Behind the façade of all such tough talks about America's declared objective to stop Iran from getting the nuclear technology what worries many regional specialists is that Bush Administration is after regime change in Iran. That is why soon after the recently concluded face-to-face meeting between the Iranian representative and his counterpart from the Bush Administration, Secretary Rice warned that U.S., European and United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran's energy and banking sectors would be tightened if Iran did not agree to stop expanding its production of enriched uranium.
NPT signatory: Iran yes, Israel no
Not to be forgotten in this context are two Op-Ed columns that appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in the last few days proposing that Israel should attack Iran and that the Bush Administration should consider what cooperation the U.S. would extend to Israel before, during, and after a strike on Iran. To these proponents of war, the Israeli pre-emptive attack against Iran would be an act of self-defence and justifiable since by striking first, Israel would avoid the prospect of a future nuclear exchange with Iran. What a psychopathic justification!
Former US president Jimmy Carter said in London on May 26, 2008 that Israel has '150 or more' nuclear weapons, reported AFP.
Never mind that time and again Iran's leadership, including its supreme leader Ayatullah Khamenie, has categorically maintained that Iran is not developing nuclear bomb and that her programme is peaceful. The Iranian leadership has also stated that nuclear weapons technology violates Islamic principles, something that the regime upholds very religiously. Even a declassified report released on December 3, 2007 by the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) -"Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities" - concluded with "high confidence" that Iran had halted its military nuclear activities in fall 2003.
Lest we forget, Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while Israel is not. The IAEA, the nuclear watchdog, has validated that Iran is not working towards development of a nuclear bomb. So, why all this fuss about Iran's nuclear program? American and Israeli insistence that Iran's true intention is to produce nuclear weapon is simply too arrogant, ludicrous and untenable of a claim that cannot be substantiated.
The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing nuclear technology, is believed to have increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Such activities are nothing short of a campaign of "coercion" aimed at Iran. Unfortunately, they also reinforce the belief inside Iran that the only way to defend the country is to have a nuclear capability.
Israel owns 150 nukes
Even if Iran or any of the Middle Eastern countries were to develop a nuclear bomb why should these countries be castigated knowing very well that Israel has some 150 to 200 nuclear bombs? Did not national security concerns, especially threat from formidable foes, force other nations to go nuclear? Israel has been at war with all her neighbours and is far more likely than any other member of the nuclear club to actually use nukes.
Given Israel's history of starting wars against her neighbours, the genocidal mindset of her leadership, and her passionate embrace of the doctrine of pre-emptive strike against potential foes, all the Muslim nations in the region are afraid of Israel's sole ownership of such bombs that could obliterate their very existence.
If the Muslim nations in the region are to forsake the very idea of acquisition of nuclear weapons, they must have alternative sources of security: either a binding alliance with a nuclear armed ally or a credible international guarantee. But to them, the USA and her European allies have forfeited that privilege because of the latter's blind support for Israel.
The development, stockpiling and use of weapon are considered forbidden in Islam. And yet the temptation to possess this deadly weapon as a deterrent is ever high. It was the same raison d'etre, in the face of Indian nuclear threat, that pushed Pakistan to develop the bomb. As proven by record, in the last six decades, especially during the Cold War period, in spite of all the tensions, the USSR and the USA - the two heavily armed nuclear nations - haven't fought a single war directly, although they did use proxies to fight their dirty wars using conventional weapons. India and Pakistan have not fought a single war either since their possession of this deadly weapon.
West vis-à-vis Muslims
While the US and her European allies often claim that they are for nuclear non-proliferation, what they have proven thus far is that they are against proliferation only when it comes to Muslim nations. Truly, America's own record on nuclear proliferation is tainted by the fact that it assisted the Great Britain and France to develop nuclear weapons.
As Dr. Brzezinski and other experts noted, the USA winked, actually more than winked at Israel's; she acquiesced to China's, India's and Pakistan's; and she has been promiscuously unvigilant about its own nuclear secrets. The inclusion of North Korea in the Bush's "axis of evil" is widely interpreted as a deliberate attempt to obscure one-sided American preoccupation with proliferation among the Muslim nations in the Middle East.
What is so grotesque about USA's allergic reaction to Iran's legitimate aspiration for nuclear energy is that it was President Ford who signed a directive in 1976 offering Tehran the chance to buy and operate a U.S.-built reprocessing facility for extracting plutonium from nuclear reactor fuel. The deal was for a complete "nuclear fuel cycle" - reactors powered by and regenerating fissile materials on a self-sustaining basis. That history is deliberately obscured today from major Bush administration speeches, public statements and news conferences on Iran.
IAEA and Iran
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been relentlessly warning that there is no real evidence to support the war-fuelling allegations against Iran. Are we going to believe him or Bush, who lied about Iraq's WMD program?
If the major powers are serious, there are practical ways to mitigate and probably end nuclear crisis in the Middle East.
The first is to disarm Israel of her nuclear weapons that would be a sufficient motivation for Iran (or any other neighbouring nation) to never think about developing nuclear weapon as a deterrent.
A second step would be for the US, UK and Israel to join the rest of the world in accepting a verifiable Fissban treaty. A third step would be to have Israel sign the NPT -- much like Iran -- and have her sites monitored by the UN agency, IAEA.
A fourth step would be to empower IAEA so that it can do its monitoring task on nuclear activities everywhere more effectively without being unduly influenced by the nuclear club. Are they willing to take these measures?
The best global solution to the menace of nuclear bomb, however, is to have a nuclear weapon-free world where no single country could remain or ever become an existential threat to another. This would be consistent with Article six of the NPT, which obligates the nuclear states to take "good-faith" efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons, a binding legal obligation, as the world court determined. The sad fact is without America's concerted pressure Israel won't change her Mafiosi attitude on this matter of global importance. Is American leadership ready for that challenge?
As to the widely propagated notion of a suicidal Iran detonating its very first nuclear weapon against Israel, that is more the product of demagogy than of serious strategic calculus. Such an obsessed notion cannot be the basis for U.S. policy in that region.
About Iran's nuclear program, above all, it is important to heed the words of Mohamed ElBaradei: "There is no military solution to this situation. It is inconceivable. The only durable solution is a negotiated solution." And it is within our reach, if America and her allies are serious
about it.
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LETTERS
India's big brotherly attitude
Dear Editor:
Some days back the Indian High Commissioner to our country suddenly demanded transit facility from us for his country. After that, the BSF killed two BDR men at a place which is about 1.50 km inside our territory. Soon after four more people were killed. The BSF men occasionally shoot to death Bangladeshi people like a funny game of hunting birds of prey.
India has not given us the permission for transit of only 19 kilometers up to Nepal, but wants 500 kilometers of corridor from West Bengal border to north-eastern Seven Sisters.
India is big country. It helped us in our liberation war and we are grateful to them. But it is very regrettable that India always behaves like a big brother with its neighbours. Its attitude is to keep the neighbours in apprehension so that they obey them.
We cannot forget the behaviour of India regarding the negative effect of Farakka barrage, forcible occupation of Talpatty Island and many other issues.
We are not against building good relationship with India -- a good neighbour is an asset but a bad one is a liability. India should show due respect towards its small neighbours. Relation should be built on mutual interest i.e. on give-and-take basis -- one sided demand cannot be fulfilled.
Harun-or-Rashid,
Sobhanbag, Dhaka.
BOESL and workers abroad
Dear Editor:
Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) Managing Director Mahbubur Rahman in an interview with a TV channel last week said that only 1 to 2 per cent or 10 to 12 thousand Bangladeshi workers are suffering abroad -- and he termed it insignificant.
His comment is disappointing and unacceptable. These workers' remittances are playing the major role in our economy of political instability. We have to give our all-out support to every Bangladeshi worker abroad.
Saif Tinku,
Baridhara, Dhaka.
Chain food shop
Dear Editor:
I dream and hope someday we will have something like that, which will attract foreigners also. Now almost every big city has one Agora or Nondon or Aarong. Very soon, we hope other businessmen will take such initiative. Maybe it is Agora, Nondon, Aarong, Grameen Bank or others. A lot of us are waiting for those days.
In Asia in a famous food chain shop we found special Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani and other South Asian and Asian foods. They are very exceptional in their taste and quality and service. If you order from home you can get it within 30 minutes; if not they will give it free of cost. You can have Tehari, Biriyani etc. all traditional delicious foods here, Kebab, Dosa all.
Asifami Rahman Saikat,
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Remote control in politics
Dear Editor:
In Dhaka, the political trend has changed. It is now remote-controlled politics like you control your TV sets through the remote control. The remote control's job is to wait for you to press a key, and then to translate that key-press into infrared light signals that are received by the TV.
What would be the situation during pre-polls and after the general elections? Too many variable factors. We tend to excel in creating chaos.
Number one priority in our decadent society is the 'give and take' balance. Wishes, hopes and aspirations are never-ending.
Now the fuel prices have gone up, along with the food prices. Add the global warming predictions. Part of Bangladesh might vanish! Atlantis sub continent is now the Atlantic Ocean.
A Mahasen,
Dhaka.
Network of post offices
Dear Editor:
It takes decades to build a national network of post offices in a country. To set up a similar network (for any multipurpose extended services down to the rural level) it takes a lot of money and total man hours.
Now, the post office networks are going to provide more services, including mobile telephone calls and payment of foreign money remittances from abroad, payment of utility and other bills.
With the improvement of optical cable local networks, it should be possible soon to have TV telephone talks with the dear ones abroad. The counter services have to be modernised and the postal executives are visible for public relations.
The fast courier services could be fine-tuned, and more computers set up in the network and at the counters. Some NGOs might try (as pilot projects) powered river bicycles and tricycles for this deltaic region, specially during the monsoon floods. It is easy to mass assemble these cheap vehicles in our EPZs - for rural mobility (plus the mobile phone, an ideal combination.
Micro services could be run through mega projects. Mobility and communications have huge effects on the GDP.
A Mawaz,
Dhaka.
Deficit budget and Black Gold
Dear Editor:
We have a colossal deficit of Taka 30,000 crore in the national budget for the fiscal 2008-2009. The first national budget for the financial year 1972-1973 amounted to Taka 786 crore only.
Nevertheless billions and billions of US dollars of foreign loans remain outstanding. How and when would we be able to get rid of our poverty, make repayment of all debts and stand on our own feet?
It is strange but true for truth is stranger than fiction. Some of our experts, scientists and also our renowned BCSIR (Bangladesh Council of Science and Industrial Research) say that valuable minerals Zircon, Rutile, Monazite, Magnetite, Garmet, Elmenite and Titanium worth US dollars 560 lakh crore are available in the beach sand of Cox's Bazar, some other coastal areas and also in the basin of Brahmaputra river.
Why have our authorities concerned failed to utilise the valuable minerals called Black Gold either in the public sector or in the private sector for over last three decades? Further, why has the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources [vide-lefter No. OPA-2/5(2) 2003/839 dated 1 7-06-2003] refuse me permission for collection, store, commercial utilisation and export of the valuable minerals 'Black Gold' of Cox's Bazar?
Last year when I visited Cox's Bazar and Moheskhali Island I saw the valuable minerals, found in 1970, once again lying unused, wasted and lost into the sea.
Will our Govt. kindly look into the matter, hold a high level enquiry, arrange a visit of experts and media reporters with me to see for themselves the valuable minerals called Black Gold at Cox's Bazar and Moheskhali or allow me to make a public display/practical demonstration of 'Black-Gold' at Cox's Bazar and Moheskhali in the interest of public service?
The people of our country are totally ignorant of valuable minerals "'Black-Gold'. Our govt. may tell the people about the minerals and frame easy rules and regulations, terms and conditions for its commercial exploration for economic and financial benefit of all.
O.H. Kabir,
Dhaka.
Heart diseases and diabetes
Dear Editor:
The affluent people of our country generally undertake treatment mainly for heart diseases and diabetes at Singapore, India, UK and USA. They visit these countries every year for medical check up and thus spend huge amount of foreign exchange. But they can undertake treatment in Bangladesh.
The physicians here claim that angiogram and surgical operation are not needed anymore to cure a patient who suffers from a critical heart disease like blockage in the coronary artery. Some 50 patients with coronary artery blockage are getting treatment by lifestyle change at the Coronary Artery Disease Prevention and Regression Programme (CAD-PR) Centre at Panthapath in Dhaka city. They are feeling much better and are improving day by day. Some 200 diabetes and 10 heart patients have so far been cured with the help of natural treatment system.
The lifestyle change involves diet habit change, stress-free techniques, yoga, pranaym and meditation. Angioplasty or bypass surgery is generally advised for coronary heart disease. But it has side effects and can never bring a permanent cure; because heart problems reappear within several years.
Diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure, strokes, arthritis, impotence etc are reversible with proper healthy diets and changes in comprehensive lifestyle.
This was stated by Dr. Gobinda Chandra Das, Head of the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology of Saheed Suhrawardy Hospital and Programme Director of the Coronary Artery Disease Prevention and Regression Programme and Dr. Anwar Hossain, Chairman of Standard Bio-Nutrition and Dr. Dean Ornish, a heart specialist and Professor and head of Cardiology department of California University, according to an English daily dated June 1,2008.
People who go abroad for treatment of heart diseases, diabetes and for bypass surgery need not spend foreign currencies unnecessarily. They should undertake treatment in Bangladesh in the greater interest of the nation.
A.M.K.Chowdhury,
West Masdhair
Narayanganj.
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