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From valley of death to volley of victory
Nehal Adil
Hurricane Sidr hit nearly one-third of Bangladesh devastating the life of nearly 10 million people and damaging property of 160 billion taka. Because of the difference between the purchasing power of taka and exchange rate one can hardly grasp the damage rate in terms of dollar. But like a phoenix Bangladesh has risen up again with its indomitable spirit of survival. The country has suffered two devastating floods and a hurricane.
Two months after the Sidr I took a bus journey to Kuakata, the tourist resort in Southern Bangladesh which was once a hub of fishing industry. I fixed up a ticket by phone with a coach service. As I was waiting for the shuttle, a lady was sobbing. A young man was comforting her. I thought it was her husband because in religiously conservative Bangladesh none except a husband holds a woman publicly. She said, it was her colleague and friend. She had come to the city to work as a secretary and save money to make their nest.
It was easier for women to find job in the city than for men, especially Christian women. Her paternal home Amtali is a Christian-populated area where the Portuguese sailors came in the sixteenth century and created a mixed race. Since then they fought and fought for their survival through the country's chaotic history. What waits for her next?
The Sidr has hit poor and rich alike. She felt she could go in the first hours. But the communication was disrupted. First the telephone link was disrupted. Then the village priest had brought the news for her. Her parents are all right but they had not informed her of the bad news. She worked in the city mostly to help her parents and the younger brothers and sisters. She thought of herself later.
People in that area are well to do. Many of them work in Australia, New Zealand and U.S.A. The handful of rice that is distributed would not make much difference.
We took the big bus to Kuakata. It moved in horrendous speed. We crossed the Padma which was nearly dead. There were starving faces around but they were not victims of Sidr directly but high rice prices. As rice price goes up and people pay more for rice, the price of other commodities start falling. An old fisherman sold his whole bucket for only one hundred and fifty takas. Wages generally go high with high food prices. But not this time; people are selling their labour for cheapest price. In terms of economics this is called deflation- recession, and famine in its worst form.
Bus passed Goalundo, then one way turned to Rajbari where I was just last year. But mood of the people were changed. The flood and Sidr had its impact. The traffic was thinner. High oil prices have their toll. There is still water in the field after two floods. Then we passed by Faridpur, a typical district town with hospital, schools and so on. The Government is still a major employer of the country though it no more plays major role in the country's industrialisation and agricultural development.
Even in the private sector almost 90 per cent small and medium entrepreneurs belonged to one or other party. But with the emergency bulk of them are in jail -- nearly half a million without a specific charge but under the broad specification of corruption and terrorism. A schoolteacher who was travelling with us told me without mentioning where he works or what party he supports. Another cautioned me not to take such liberty because plainclothesmen always tests people by talking anti-government.
We stopped for tea, food is cheaper here than in Dhaka. But a lot of beggars are there to take the leftover. A small child left a half eaten orange and two street kids started fighting over it.
Then the bus started moving. There would be next stop in Takerhat. The fury of the Sidr starts being felt from here. Then we moved to Barisal. Barisal airport was the major operational area of Sidr aid in the region. The Americans came there to offer relief, but they abruptly left.
I got a hotel in the town though I had to undergo lot of check up. Next morning I took a bus on way to Kuakata. I was surprised to see how vibrating were the people.
The people who have been affected are not only poor but also of the middle class people. Some people in the coastal region are well off and many of them work abroad. But Sidr did not spare any. But the middle class does not want to take help specially alms from the whites.
Kuakata is nearly empty. Nearly twenty five hotels have been destroyed and only a few survive. They were occupied by white aid workers. Army had a strong presence there for their security. Normal tourists do not dare to venture there. Once there were plenty of stalls on the beach but the scene is different now; only a coffee shop catering to the white tourists.
When I talked to a tourist group from Germany a group of security people were present. There were also people in uniform. A journalist at the press club told me his wife was killed by the Sidr by falling tree. I remembered the first girl I met whose boyfriend was killed. He was a sympathetic person.
There are no tourists, even in the peak season so the tickets are being sold in for half the prices. In the bus a boy was crying aloud as he was leaving for Dhaka, leaving his mother and the little sister behind.
In his eyes there was strong determination to face the unknown. In the bus I felt the boy was right that his mother was facing an unknown destiny.
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Demand for the release of DU teachers and students
Mohammad Ali Sattar
The students and teachers of Dhaka University (DU) and Rajshahi University (RU) have lately become vocal about the release of their fellow students and colleagues. They warned that they would not accept any 'undignified' release of their detained peers.
The Government last Sunday decided to release the teachers and students charged in two cases for breaching the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) 2007 during the violent incidents on the campus upon completion of legal process.
Following the August incident last year that started on DU campus and spread all over the country, the DU and RU teachers were put behind bars in connection with their involvement in the violence. The RU teachers have been released recently. But their release was mired with conflicting statements.
Two cases were filed against 4 teachers and 15 students in connection with violating EPR 2007, two other cases were filed in connection with torching of an army vehicle. In one of the army vehicle torching cases around 22 DU students and a few other outsiders were charged, while the charge sheet in the other case in connection with the same incident has not been submitted yet.
The detained Rajshahi University teachers were freed after conviction by a court followed by a presidential pardon for them, and after their release the Government claimed that they had been pardoned by President Professor Iajuddin Ahmed following a petition from the convicted teachers' families. This was looked upon by many as Government maneuvre to demean the teachers. If the teachers were convicted by a court, the rule could have been challenged in the higher courts. Whoever is found guilty should be declared guilty; the law must not be only for convicting politicians and businessmen. The teachers too can also commit errors.
The teachers of the highest seat of learning should have a better understanding of the situation and they should be more rational than any one of us. They should respect rule of law. They would be wrong to think that the teachers can commit no wrong.
They have expressed concern that the government might follow the same 'tactics' by releasing them after conviction and pardon by the President.
I would suggest, if they have such suspicion in mind, they should rather fight lawfully for their release. On the one hand they demand the release of the arrested persons and that too at their own fashion. There will be no conviction and no pardon but that's hard to swallow on the part of the Government. The DU agitators said the Government's promise was not clear enough regarding the fashion their detained peers will be freed from jail.
The Government, the law enforcers and investigators all believe that the convicted teachers were directly involved in instigating the student violence that led to sudden crises in the country leading to violence resulting in loss of property.
At a news briefing the DU students, agitating for their peers' and teachers' release, urged the Government to drop all charges against the detainees before freeing them.
Education Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said at a media briefing in the capital that the detainees will be freed 'within the next few days, whatever the court verdict might be'.
The Education Adviser's statement somewhat makes the thing clear. It may be surmised that the court will convict them, but they will be pardoned by the head of the State.
The statement of the former president of Dhaka Univsersity Teachers' Association (DUTA) Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique that nobody is feeling assured that the detainees will be freed in a dignified manner any time soon. It seems the incidents of Rajshahi University are about to visit the DU campus, as the Government is insisting on freeing the detainees through the 'legal mechanism', he added. This statement is damaging. If the Government is thinking of freeing them through 'legal mechanism', that is the only option the Government has. Or the whole process will be outside the purview of law and courts.
The students continued their peaceful demonstrations on the campus demanding their peers' and teachers' release by abstaining from classes and by collecting signatures of fellow students, with silent vigils and processions, by drawing street graffiti, and by performing agit-prop street theatres. They decided to continue agitation until the release.
Detained teacher of DU, Prof. Anwar Hossain who is also the general secretary of DUTA , has protested the statement of the Education Adviser and expressed his deep apprehension that the incidents of Rajshahi University is about to repeat in Dhaka. He was quoted as saying, why the case against them would not be withdrawn since they did not commit any crime. The professor also said all detainees in connection with the DU incidents must be freed and all cases in connection with the incidents must be withdrawn if normalcy to be restored on the campus.
Meanwhile in another development an investigation officer (IO) of a case, filed in connection with the August violence on Dhaka University (DU) campus, told a Dhaka court recently that he submitted the charge sheet against four DU teachers and 15 students as the charges brought against them were primarily proved during investigation. Sub-inspector (SI) Babul Bhuiyan of Shahbagh Police Station, was put in charge of the investigation on August 23 after the case was filed against DU teachers and students.
Following the filing of the case, two teachers and several students were arrested, Babul added in his statement. He recorded statements of eyewitnesses and obtained two videotapes of private TV channel NTV's coverage and a video CD of ATN Bangla's coverage. He also collected treatment certificates of policemen who were injured during the violence, he said.
The cases were filed against 5,000 to 6,000 unnamed students and teachers of Dhaka University and outsiders on August 22 in connection with violating the EPR, vandalising public and private properties, obstructing police performing their duty and assaulting law enforcers on the campus and its adjoining areas.
The police submitted charge sheet against only four teachers and 15 students on September 9 in connection with instigating the violence on campus and at Shahbagh area on August 21 and 22.
That the convicted teachers were siding with the agitating students were evident from the TV footage and the statements made to the print media during the incident. If that is not instigation, what is it?
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IFC-SEDF hires operating lease expert for Bangladesh's SMEs
Staff Reporter
IFC-SEDF, a member of the World Bank group, hired Sudhir P. Amembal as consultant for its new operating lease programme to facilitate Bangladesh's SMEs by providing rental equipment, vehicles and technology for everyday business. The new financial product requires no collateral and it involves no asset risk.
This is the first ever service in Bangladesh's emerging market. The new operating lease not only enables lease holders to acquire equipment in construction, aviation and in transportation without collateral. It also reduces their operating risk
because they are not required to own the equipment outright.
Sudhir was introduced to the media men at a press conference held in its office at Gulshan. He is also chairman and CEO of Amembal and Associates. He began his professional career in lease education, consulting and publications by co-founding Amembal and Isom in 1978, the first entity in the world to serve the global leasing industry.
Among others were present Anis A. Khan, CEO and managing director of IDLC Finance Limited, N. Roger D. Handberg, senior operations manager, access to finance of IFC-SEDF, Sayed Tarek Kamal, financial markets specialist and Shazia Ahmed, communication analyst.
Volume of operating lease is increasing everyday in the world. According to London Financial Group, Global Leasing Report the volume was US$ 40.8 billion in the year of 1978. It reached US$ 633.7 billion in the year of 2006. Like other countries of the world, Bangladesh has a huge demand for such operating lease.
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