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DHAKA FIGHTING A PROXY WAR FOR INDIA?
India mobilises force along China border
M. Shahidul Islam
Faced with what could become a chilled political winter amidst a series of insider-exposures of pre-election deals with the country's military establishment, and, of 'criminal connivance' of some ruling party leaders in the BDR massacre of February 25-26, the AL-led regime has another mammoth task that could define its political future for ever.
That undertaking involves re-shaping of the regional geopolitical landscape and the role Bangladesh must play as a sovereign nation, at a time when tension along China-India border attains a war pitch.
The government must also answer why the country's security forces are routinely massacring the so called Marxist-Leninists across the length and breadth of the nation, something the rights watchers claim to constitute naked violation of human rights and urges not to go unchallenged for too long. Some of those groups even accuse Bangladesh of fighting a proxy war for India.
Chinese linkage
While the nation remains in the dark with respect to what exactly has sparked this killing spree of Marxists-Leninists by security forces, a deeper look into the policy dynamics indicates the move being inextricably linked with an emerging creed of an 'Anti- Red - Terror' drive in Delhi which seems to have supplanted India's previously held priority against the so called 'Anti- Green- Terror' drive against forces of political Islam, or runs in parallel.
Hence, all indications reveal the decision by our security forces to recklessly kill so many Marxist-Leninist stemming from a regional power game in which India is desperately trying to reshape the geopolitical landscape of the region with unfettered Western blessing.
The boon for India comes from endorsements from the gullible NATO allies who view China as an emerging 'Red Threat' while the Indian intelligence believes China is trying desperately to severe India's North Eastern regions from the mainland by helping various radical left groups and other secessionist forces.
Some recently leaked Indian intelligence reports, rumoured to have been leaked deliberately, claim Beijing is training and financing the People Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur, the ULFA separatists of Assam, Kachin rebels of Myanmar, and a host of other Naga and Mizo separatist outfits. All these groups operate along our own borders.
That is part of the danger we face. More ominously, the leaked reports implicate Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar of aiding and abetting those terrorist outfits in their territories and depict an emerging danger of 'Red Terror' from the combined military prowess being displayed by Marxist-Leninists in neighbouring countries, allegedly in concert with other North-Eastern separatists of India, with Chinese blessing and patronage.
Covert missions
That has made the sea change in Delhi's policy stances too conspicuous to ignore. Despite having financed and patronized the Tamil separatists for decades, Delhi began to view, in some of those leaked reports, the LTTE too from an inimical perspective due to emerging China fear: One of the outcome of some of those reports being a radical decision to decimate the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka in March this year, only days prior to Indian general election.
The spark to that decisive moment came from another report that claimed that China has sold six battle tanks to the Tamil guerrillas which Indian intelligence had spotted while landing along the Sri Lankan coast. The incident ended up with a devastating consequence for the Tamil guerrillas who had tenaciously withstood Sri Lankan armed forces for over 25 years.
According to reliable sources, a brigade strong special force of India has made physical intervention in Sri Lanka in March to dismantle the Tamil separatists. Following that, another brigade of Indian special force allegedly conducted a special operation in the Swat valley of Pakistan's North East in May, Prior to those two revealing events, allegedly a small segment of 21 special force fighters of India had neutralized the border forces of Bangladesh (BDR) by instigating a barbaric carnage in February while a brigade strong Indian special force stood ready along the border to intervene, if needed.
Sources say Pakistani authorities have discovered dead bodies of Indian special force members in the Swat valley following the May encounters in which leading Taliban commanders died. Dead bodies of Indian special force members were also discovered after the Sri Lankan offensive in March. Meanwhile, some irrefutable evidence has unearthed lately of participation of Indian special force in the BDR mutiny of February 2009.
Experts believe, through such covert operations, Delhi wanted to send some dire messages to India's smaller neighbours in order to be able to focus singularly on China, resulting, over the last three months, generation of intense war hysteria within various Indian establishments while the Indian military went onto beefing up its force capability along the Chinese frontiers by reinforcing two squadrons of Su-MKI advanced fighter jets, each consisting of 18 aircraft, to its air base at Tezpur, 150 km south of the Chinese border.
At the same time, construction works to upgrade at least five airfields in the Arunachal Pradesh for simultaneous uses by air force fighters and transport aircrafts have been finalized while two new army divisions, with some 30,000 soldiers, have been raised for deployment in the 90,000-sq-km Arunachal Pradesh, which has a 4,000-km border with the Chinese-occupied Tibet.
Earlier in June, the provincial governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Joginder Jaswant Singh, who is also a former chief of the Indian army, announced that the two army divisions of about 30,000 men will be deployed along the Chinese border, joining the 90,000 already there. Reports say, that planned deployment has completed recently while many other aggressive postures of India had made bilateral relations further worse.
For instance, On September 10, China accused India of diplomatic protocol breaching and spying due to Delhi's decision to inspect the cargo of a China-bound UAE flight. Amidst such military build ups, the situation is getting tenser by the day, and, unlike in the past, the gravity of the situation is being acknowledged by responsible quarters in Delhi and Beijing.
India's chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, Admiral Suresh Mehta, acknowledged recently the brewing trouble at the Chinese frontiers and said, 'It is quite evident coping with China will certainly be one of our primary challenges in years ahead. Our deficit trust with China can never be liquidated unless our boundary problems are resolved.'
Global blue print
Some experts claim that the Indian moves are linked with a global blue print devised in early 2000 by ultra-conservative hawks from Washington, Delhi and Tel Aviv in concert with the neo-con advisers of former Bush administration to re-shape the global geopolitical landscape. Unfortunately, no other region has paid more heavily as a result of that global scheme's implementation, as did the Mid-East and South Asia.
In South Asia, Pakistan is undergoing a fratricidal warfare while another Muslim predominant nation, Bangladesh, has witnessed a naked conspiracy to bring certain political forces to power at any cost. Meanwhile, in order to circumvent the major Chinese ally in the region, Pakistan, New Delhi has facilitated the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 by aiding militarily the so called Northern forces and has been one of the trusted allies of Afghan President Hamid Karzai ever since.
Further a field, India has leased and built an air force and an army base at Farkhor in Tajikistan to watch over Chinese activities in that region as the US influence began to wane in the follow up to the Afghan invasion in 2001.
Sources say when India undertook a mission to build another military outpost in Mongolia, in the northern tip of China, Beijing took it as a grand move to encircle the Chinese Republic from all fronts and increased its military patrols along the China- India border.
However, the fundamental problem with that global blue print was in identifying the real ideological enemy. Although political Islam has been branded as the main nemesis of US, Israel and India since September 2001, Delhi faced a graver danger from the Marxists who made governance dysfunctional in more than half of the Indian states by late 2006. That is what has made it urgent to revive the historic enmity with Beijing into a war-ready pitch.
In recent months, India claimed that China is in occupation of approximately 38,000 sq. km of Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir, and, under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963, Pakistan had ceded 5,180 sq. km. of Indian territory in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir to China. Delhi claims, in totality, approximately 90,000 sq. km. of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and about 2000 sq. km. in the mid- sector of the India-China boundary is under Chinese occupation.
Beijing, on the other hand, has always insisted that it does not recognize the Arunachal Pradesh, resulting in a protracted stalemate in which neither side reconciled with the claims of the other. The border between the two nations has never been officially delimited due to such intransigence from both sides.
McMahon Line
Besides, since the creation of the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, not a single Chinese government recognized the British imposed McMahon Line that divides the two nuclear-armed Asian giants, which Beijing terms as a symbol of imperialist aggression.
However, in recent months, the Arunachal Pradesh dispute has become China's most intractable border issue with India, prompting many experts to fear that it could trigger an armed conflict sooner.
That fear is not unplaced. In 1962, the two Asian powers went to war over disputed 3,500 km border, which ended in China occupying much of the Himalayan high ground which Delhi traditionally considered as strategic buffer against invasion from the north. Delhi is now determined to turn the tide in its favour, with NATO backing.
Besides, Delhi is playing hard ball with Beijing using the Tibetan exiled leader Dalai Lama as a potent political card. That is why, in the midst of such an explosive situation, Dalai Lama is being sent in early November to the Tawang Buddhist temple located in the disputed territory of Indian- occupied
Arunachal Pradesh.
As anticipated, the Chinese reaction to that planned visit was very terse. When asked about the visit, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said, 'China expresses strong concern about this information. The visit further reveals the Dalai clique's anti-China and separatist essence.'
Observers say the Chinese anger is palpable. Exiled in India since 1959, Dalai Lama said in 2008, "I believe Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory."
Although India had stopped the Dalai Lama from visiting Tawang a number of times in the past, the official patronage from Delhi to the upcoming visit is viewed by experts as a deliberate move to antagonize Beijing further.
Economic fall out
Economically, the latest building of tension has put in jeopardy the booming economic interactions between the two Asian giants and poses a grave threat to the economic growth of the entire region. Since the mid-1990s, China became India's biggest trading partner, the value of bilateral deals reaching $60 billion by now, a 30-time-fold increase since 2000.
Yet, as Delhi seems poised to sacrifice its economic dividends for anticipated geopolitical boon by upping the ante, the consequences for other small nations of the region of this dangerous game is anybody's guess. For Bangladesh in particular, the Marxist card needs to be played with caution and any reckless action in this context should be put on hold.
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IRAN WAS FOCUSED TO SAVE ISRAEL FROM UN GLARE
Goldstone report on Israeli crime
in Gaza ignored
Sadeq Khan
In an article published by Khaleej Times of Dubai, Ramzy Baroud, editor of Palestine Chronicle. Com pointed out how the western leaders' outbursts at the UN over Iran's notification to IAEA about its second uranium enrichment plant, which Iran in accordance with NPT obligations has offered to submit to IAEA inspections, were in reality a diversionary exercise engineered by Israel to put under the carpet the Goldstone report about Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza strip. Baroud wrote: "The Iran nuclear threat - although theatre is a more suitable term - was highlighted repeatedly, first by US President Barack Obama during a UN speech on September 23, then again by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day. The latter came armed with maps and relentlessly provoked Holocaust memories, following the ever so predictable, albeit insensitive and deceptive pattern.
"This charade was meant to distract from the nearly 600-page UN report, prepared by South African judge Richard Goldstone and others, dedicated mostly to Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Confirming that Israel wantonly used weapons, including illegal weapons, against a defenceless civilian population in Gaza and going so far to say that Israel did not only commit war crimes, but indeed may have also committed crimes against humanity, the findings of the report were all set by the wayside. The report was utterly rebuked by Netanyahu and his ilk, arrogantly disregarded and shelved. Concurrently, Israel's official statement regarding the IAEA's pressure on Israel to sign on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty was that Israel deplored such a notion.
"It seems that President Obama is also learning some painful lessons regarding the balance of power between the US and Israel. "In the words of Israeli writer, Uri Avnery, 'No point denying it: in the first round of the match between Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu, Obama was beaten.'
"And thereafter, the Israeli cue was emulated, and Obama followed it to the letter. Israel's recent use of illegal weapons on civilians, its arsenal of hundreds of nuclear weapons and its refusal to consider disarmament paled in comparison to the potential threat that could arise should Iran seek a nuclear weapon some time in the future. Obama's words to Ahmadinejad and the people of Iran at the UN were decisive: 'They are going to have to make a choice: Are they willing to go down the path to greater prosperity and security for Iran, giving up the acquisition of nuclear weapons ... or will they continue down a path that is going to lead to confrontation.'
"(On the other hand,) Netanyahu has been tireless at drawing parallels between Iran and Gaza, presenting them both to the world as dire threats to the existence of the Jewish State. When addressing the UN in New York on September 24, he branded Iran once again, exhorting that. "The struggle against Iran pits civilisation against barbarism. This Iranian regime is fuelled by extreme fundamentalism. What starts as attacks on Jews always ends up engulfing others. This regime embodies the extremes of Islamic fundamentalism."
Baroud concluded: "For the time being however, one can only hope that the international community reject all attempts to be blinded by Netanyahu's fear mongering, and insist on a stern and decisive investigation into the alleged war crimes in Gaza, as presented in the Goldstone report so that the real culprits, not the imagined ones in Tehran, pay for their heinous crimes against the defenceless people of the Strip."
Bangladesh scene
As in global games of diplomacy and geo-politics, so in internal administration and national politics too, diversionary tactics appear to be a useful weapon. In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina's nine month-old government is facing a critical loss of public confidence on account of its failure to govern, breakdown in law and order as well as chronic failures in utility services, its wilful mishandling of public works and purchases, its unabashed politicisation of the administration, its concentration of power in the Prime Minister's Office resulting in arrest of decision-making at all other levels, and rent-seeking by its cohorts from all walks of life and at all levels of statecraft and local government. On top of such misfeasance and pervasive fear of godfather gangs of muggers, rapists and ransom-seekers let loose in the social milieu, people are also haunted by the memory of the bloody Peelkhana massacre and the BDR rebellion which was so badly handled by the government. The investigation, prosecution and process of trial of the vicious mutineers are dragging on, creating unease in the minds of the people. The Prime Minister in her closing speech of the last session of the parliament added to that unease by darkly suggesting that more bloody incidents like the Peelkhana massacre might be in the offing. She did not have any words of consolation for the people to say that the government was taking necessary precautions and adequate measures to prevent the repetition of such a ghastly incident.
In this background, the country certainly needs a distraction, even if adequate assurance against the message of doom cannot or is not intended to be furnished. For some time, it appeared that the war crimes trial of the razakars and enemy collaborators in the war of liberation would provide such a diversion and may ease people's minds. But it appears that the government has obtained a discouraging response from the UN over the standards of justice and fair play that the international community expects of any such trial since such a long lapse of 38 years after the alleged incidents of crime.
It seems now the Law Minister, Barrister Shafique Ahmed has hit upon another diversionary issue to take people's minds off other vexing experiences including the government's foot dragging over trial of BDR mutineers (It is widely rumoured that the government's dilemma arises from its desire to cover up the names of some ruling party leaders who were directly or distantly involved in the loathsome incident). The law minister first made it public on 24 September that he had initiated a move to 'update the constitution' by bringing the 15th amendment with changes in various provisions including the ones related to the caretaker government, tenure of the parliament and the local government system.
Constitution amendment
'The government will update the constitution in order to give democracy an institutional shape,' the law minister told reporters in his ministry that weekend. 'We will ask the Law Commission to make recommendations on updating the constitution after scrutiny.' As such, the draft of a letter to be sent to the Law Commission asking for its recommendations was prepared and the letter is likely to be sent to the commission in the first week of October.
The ruling Awami League general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, also the LGRD and cooperatives minister, told reporters on the same day, 'Any change to the constitution will be made based on a popular consensus.'
'The Awami League will not meddle with the constitution even though it enjoys absolute majority,' Ashraful said after exchanging post-Eid greetings at the ministry. The government would like to see the required changes in matters such as the caretaker government system, tenure of the parliament and local government system based on dialogues with all, he said, and urged the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to return to the parliament and make it more functional. 'Democracy will not put down its roots until the parliament becomes more effective,' Ashraful said, expressing fear about seeing situations like the January 11, 2007 incidents over and again until democracy was institutionalised.
There was, however, an uproar from all opposition parties over the suggestions of repeal of the caretaker system and other changes. The law minister has now come up with another idea of reviving the 1972 constitution at a stroke, without any amendment or consensus on that account being necessary. To do away with the continuity of the constitutional order evolved over the last 38 years, he had already taken the step of withdrawing the government's prayer for leave of appeal pending with the Supreme Court against a High Court bench's observation finding the 5th Amendment to the Constitution invalid in its judgement on the case a clamant for the ownership of Moon Cinema Hall that was taken over by the government. That bench of the High Court on August 29, 2005 declared illegal the fifth amendment to the constitution and the martial law regulations issued between August 15, 1975 and April, 1979. The Appellate Division, however, stayed the operation of the verdict the same evening. But despite withdrawal of the government's appeal against that judgment, the Supreme Court's stay order suspends hearing as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on May 3 this year filed a petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court verdict after the present government stepped out of legal battle accepting the verdict. Now the law minister says: 'The repeal of the Fifth Amendment will automatically restore the spirit of the 1972 Constitution.... People want the High Court's verdict to be honoured and materialised as it is a historical judgment reflecting the spirit of our liberation war.' Talking to newsmen in his office on 29 September, the minister dismissed the apprehension - expressed by some lawyers and politicians - that the annulment of the Fifth Amendment meant restoration of the Fourth Amendment that had created the one-party BKSAL system of government in January 1975. 'A referendum annulled the Fourth Amendment and there is no way of going back to the one-party system,' he observed. But the hearing of the BNP petition on the stayed verdict of the High Court bench appears still a long way off. As the law minister himself explained: 'The appeals in the Bangabandhu Murder Case are at the top of the list, after that comes the Jail Killing Case, and then maybe this one will be heard.'
About the controversy raised by his earlier statement that the government would seek the opinion of the Law Commission on constitutional amendments, the minister said, 'It should not create any controversy as the commission cannot make any law. If we want to frame any law, it will be discussed in the cabinet and the parliament as well.' All the hullabaloos about constitutional changes in the offing, therefore, appear to be designed for diversion of the public mind.
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Why Hasina refuses to prosecute Gen. Moeen, Fakhruddin?
Special Correspondent
Bangladesh is now faced with a potentially serious problem where the legality of the government's past and present will be questioned. The big question will be: "Did the elections that bring the incumbent Government into office reflect the people's will or were they stage-managed to bring a particular party into power?" If it could prove beyond reasonable doubt that the results of the past general elections were manipulated, a question may be asked if the Government that was elected is legal?
Then there is the question of international recognition. Our elections are deemed valid if they are validated by the US, the EU and their cohorts. Our December 2008 elections were also validated by this group and our Prime Minister has reaffirmed that our last elections were accepted by the "international community".
The same community has also validated the elections held in Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan. Lest we forget that the same "international community" did not validate the election results of Algeria decades ago when the anti-West parties had swept the polls there. This "international community" has also validated all despotic governments of South and Central America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. It is therefore hardly reassuring that this same "international community" has validated our present government, as proudly claimed by the Prime Minister.
For a long time the West had ganged up on the rest of the world but the winds of change is now beginning to blow, albeit softly. The Group of 7 (later 8) has now transformed itself into the Group of 20 as the former colonial powers and the neo-colonial powers are giving way to the emerging nations. Unfortunately this Group of 20 still reflects those countries which are in the good books of the Group of 7. So much for the certification by the so-called "international community", what, however, is needed is the acceptance by the people of the country that the December elections were fair. Lack of democratic practice within our two major political parties is the main culprit responsible for the lack of democracy in the country. This is coupled with the use of the services of the military intelligence agencies in reining in the recalcitrant politicians, a practice dating back from the days of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Some politicians do rebel and speak out as Z A Bhutto did, precipitating the fall of the Ayub regime and more recently M A Jalil, pulling the plug on the elections that brought the Awami League to power for the second time.
Jalil has only confirmed what most non partisan elements have been suspecting all along, that the December elections did not reflect the will of the people in so far as the size of the "Maha Jote" victory was concerned. It is unlikely that Jalil will be able to substantiate his claims that the Interim Government and the military intelligence manipulated the results, just as no corruption charge have ever been proved against politicians, but the stigma has largely been established.
Jalil has since retracted his statement but the cat is out of the bag. Furthermore, in his attempt to disprove Jalil and to destroy his credibility, the Awami League General Secretary and senior Minister of the Government, Sayed Ashraful Islam confirmed that the powers that be at the time had offered Sheikh Hasina to become the Prime Minister of the country without any elections and when this is read in conjunction with the Prime Minister's own statement, "I know how to make deals" and her strong refusal to take action against Moeen U Ahmed and Fakhruddin Ahmed for their extra-constitutional activities only adds to the credibility of Jalil's statement.
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Jalil puts AL govt's legitimacy
into question
Faisal Rahim
The Awami League-led grand coalition Government is heading towards a big credibility crisis this time bringing forth the question of its legitimacy of coming to power.
The situation has developed with the disclosure of former party general secretary Abdul Jalil that this government has come to power under a frame-up election facilitated by the Army Intelligence (DGFI) denying the nation a free and fair election.
Jalil made the disclosure to newsmen in London recently drawing stormy reaction from Awami League (AL) leadership at home and abroad and also wayside assault on him in Birmingham city the next day when he went there to open a money exchange house.
Bunch of inept loyalists
The incident also indicates a growing crisis within the party as Jalil severely criticised the present AL leadership and the cabinet as a bunch of inefficient and inexperienced loyalists to party chief Sheikh Hasina. He said these people would not only fail to run the party but would also fail to give proper leadership to the nation, particularly when most of them were agents, not political leaders.
People wonder how and why Abdul Jalil is speaking openly against the party and the government. If he is just speaking his mind and pains or otherwise, he is acting as the mouthpiece of other leaders of the party, whom Sheikh Hasina has thrown out from the party presidium and national working committee.
AL leaders: Govt's weakness
Observers are keeping watch on the movement of Tofail Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Amir Hossain Amu and Suranjit Sen Gupta, who lost their presidium posts in the recent reshuffle. How are they reacting to the changing time?
Tofail in a recent statement said party advisory council as the exit point from national politics is not his place to sit; he would better be content with the party primary membership which costs Taka 10 only.
Hasina has also dropped all the seven party organizing secretaries in the recent reshuffle and put people -- who are having direct relation with her family -- in all-important sensitive posts. She justified her action saying that on the basis of the party councilors' opinions, she had purged the reformists, who wanted to oust her from the party leadership. She said such decision was necessary to remove the credibility gap in the party's top leadership.
But the question, which is now increasingly agitating the public mind is whether the Government is heading towards a big crisis from within the party as Jalil's latest exposés suggest.
If it is true, then the government may slowly become weak to perform its important work like holding trial of BDR mutiny, war crimes trial and handling of such other issues. It may also face snags in dealing with India, especially regarding big concessions it wants to provide its close neighbour.
Delwar questions AL's legitimacy
On Jalil's comment, BNP secretary general Khondker Delwar Hossain and some other senior party leaders said they have been talking of such massive frauds since the very beginning and Jalil's disclosure has only reconfirmed it. The development may thus have serious impact on Awami League and also on the government's moral justification and legitimacy to stay in power. An election, which does not reflect the people's verdict, cannot bring legitimacy to its beneficiaries, many observers here say.
In this situation if the major opposition BNP, which lost the last elections beyond any foreseeable calculation, demands holding of a fresh election. Such demand may not be turned down at least unjustified.
Covert negotiations
Jalil further said 90 per cent of the ministers in the present grand coalition government, including the newly elected party general secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam are DGFI agents.
He said, when Sheikh Hasina went on a visit to the USA during the tenure of the military-backed Caretaker Government, it was part of a deal with the army intelligence. Syed Ashraf fled the country to London fearing reprisal but within a few days he came back having struck a deal with the army intelligence to work towards its goal in domestic politics, Jalil said.
Ashraf was then instrumental in all covert negotiations with the forces' intelligence and the subsequent deals with Awami League paving the way for bringing the party to power in exchange for indemnity to extra-constitutional action of the Army high command and the Caretaker Government it had installed in power. The media said the DGFI even allowed political emissaries from home and abroad during that time under the cover of darkness of night to visit Hasina in custody to strike the deal.
'Nonsense'
Awami League leadership is, however, trying to give a damn to such allegations in public reaction terming Jalil's allegation a total lie. Many of them told newsmen last week that he was speaking 'nonsense' on being dropped from party presidium and also from the new cabinet of Sheikh Hasina.
Partly supporting Jalil's allegation Syed Ashraf last week said they (DGFI) had even offered Hasina to become Prime Minister without contesting election but she declined the offer, he said trying to make clear she did not enter into any deal. In fact, the offer was to accept Gen Moyeen as the country's new president with Sheikh Hasina as prime minister in exchange of throwing Awami League's support behind him.
The debate is still building on Jalil's comment as Awami League is preparing to decide the fate of the renegade former party secretary general in its forthcoming national working committee meeting on October 3.
Sheikh Hasina during her visit to New York last week laughed out Jalil's allegations at a press conference after attending the UN General Assembly seesion. She said Jalil is cutting his own roots. If his allegations were true, he should immediately resign from Parliament to free him from the stigma of a frame-up election.
She, moreover, avoided a direct answer to a question as to why she was not initiating action against former army chief Gen Moyeen, chief adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and such other persons, who derailed the country from the course of a scheduled national election to put it under two years of extra-constitutional rule when not only Hasina and Khaleda but many other senior party leaders from both parties were jailed.
She told the questioner, 'If a dog bites you, you are not expected to bite back.'
Critics wonder how she can treat those persons with such slanderous comment at a time when she had welcomed the takeover of Gen Moyeen as the fruits of her movement. So the reality speaks out that there was a long nexus between Sheikh Hasina and Gen Moyeen and Jalil's allegation had just made it clear once again.
Senior BNP leader Dr Khondker Mosharraf Hossain reacted on Jalil disclosure saying that the officially reported 87 percent voter turnout during the last election was itself a concocted figure.
How was it possible, observers questioned, although the caretaker government and the Election Commission held the view that the 'huge voter turnout showed spontaneous participation of people in a free and fair' election the country has never seen before. They also look with suspicions now at the so-called 'election roadmap' as a roadmap to election betrayal when the EC and the caretaker government had attempted time and again to destroy BNP by organising a rival group as party reformists.
Most observers now believe Gen Moyeen was an Indian protégée, who appeared as an Awami League activist throughout the transition period to bring it to power as per Indian desire. DGFI just implemented the scheme.
In 1996, the party won election creating an unusual situation starting a movement to set up a caretaker government, thereby breaking the normal constitutional process. Earlier in 1986, Hasina joined hands with autocrat Gen. Ershad to put into failure anti-Ershad democracy movement and knock BNP out of election race.
More surprisingly, when Hasina returned home in 1981, the then president Ziaur Rahman was killed within a month. People here believe Ershad was the mastermind behind it and when he snatched power from late President Justice Abdus Sattar of BNP, Hasina said she was not unhappy either.
The party wanted to deny victory to BNP in1991 when Justice Shahabuddin was planning to hand over power to Begum Khaleda Zia. In 2001 when BNP won the polls, Awami League sought to deny it by encouraging a coup from behind the scene, although it failed. Then it opened a floodgate of conspiracy to bring down BNP government under the so-called April 'trump card' conspiracy, which sought to encourage many party lawmakers to revolt. Awami League reportedly mobilised Taka 100 crore for the purpose as per estimation.
Abdul Jalil, then the party general secretary, was publicly talking of imminent fall of the BNP government that time. Sheikh Hasina had authorised the scheme, he said.
The October 2006 mayhem at Paltan was also the fruit of Hasina's call to party workers to gather on the spot with 'logi boitha' to destroy the country's democratic process. It ended in the killing of half a dozen Jamaat workers in the fight and subsequent 1/11 takeover of the military.
Many people here believe Awami League may have more tough time to handle party dissidents and on the other hand, implement major election agenda. Moreover, its target to amend the Constitution to go back to 1972 Constitution may face credibility challenge at a time, when the government appears to have been sitting on a fraudulent election outcome.
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Maoists 'gravest threat' to Indian security
Shamsuddin Ahmed
Is Delhi going to use the Air Force to combat the Maoists within India? Home Minister P Chidamabaram has drawn a plan for 'final assault' on the red rebels with proposal to use the air power. The planned drive is to begin from two central states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the epicentre of the Maoists, in early October. Senior officials of the Home Ministry said the plan is being discussed in an appropriate committee where the minister's say will carry major weight.
The plan for use of air power to remove the threat to internal security has raised concern among many Indians. Newsmen on board the plane accompanying Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to USA last week questioned him if he has approved the plan to use the air power in the 'fight to finish' the Maoists. "You are to break the egg to have an omelette," Singh told them without refuting the query. "Proposal to tackle the Maoists has been shaped by the Home Ministry. It has not yet been decided if greater force should be used."
According to BBC report on September 27, New Delhi has extended total support to the states in its final assault against the red rebels. About 20,000 troops are being sent to Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand to join 35,000 already deployed there ahead of the drive in early October to eliminate the Maoists.
Failing to contain the Maoists who are growing in strength and influence in about 200 districts of central and northeast India, Dr Singh has been cautioning the nation that the rebels have posed the 'gravest threat' to the internal security of the country. Explaining the reasons for failure so far of anti-Maoist drives, officials said police force is averse to fight the dreaded rebels who are armed with better and sophisticated weapons. Dozens of police personnel have been dismissed and suspended for refusing to fight the rebels. Another major problem the government is facing while dealing with the left-wing radicalism is the tacit support from the civil society and NGOs. In most of the troubled areas, locals have formed committee styled as Committee to Resist Police Atrocities. These are helping the Maoists.
Maoists claim they are fighting for the rights of tribal, dalits and minorities who are deprived. They also aim at establishing communist rule in India. Statistics show that about 77 percent Indians live on an average income of 25 cents a day although the country is acclaimed for achieving 7-8 percent GDP growth. Suicide rate is the highest in the world among the debt ridden poor farmers. The situation is acute this year because of prolonged drought in some of the states and slim prospect of a good harvest of food grains.
Chidambaram visited Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on September 25 to prop up the state governments when he denied involvement of the armed forces in the impending drive against the red rebels. "Maoists have posed the gravest challenge to our way of life, our public, our democracy," he told reporters in Raipur, state capital of Chhattisgarh.
Defence analysts have been suggesting for immediate and strong action to curb the Maoist movement within the country before they expand influence. The rise of Maoists in neighbouring Nepal who are poised to regain power and reported covert design of China to support insurgency in India for disintegration of the country have no doubt worried the Indian leadership. Future of the Maoist movement in India will depend much on the success or failure of the plan of Home Minister Chidambaram.
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Hasina avoids Tipaimukh, vital
issues at UNGA
Moinuddin Naser in New York
South Asia as a whole stole the world attention during the inaugural days of the 64th meet of the UN General assembly. However, apart from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's speech delivered in Bengali at the UN, the significance of her visit after her election victory failed to meet the expectation. The visit was a lacklustre one excepting the well organized reception arranged by a reception committee at the sprawling ballroom of Grand Hyatt Hotel on September 27.
In her speech, prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlighted five issues including importance of food security; adverse impact of the climate change on Bangladesh, which will effect one in every 7 people; interests of the least developed countries, including rights of immigrant workers from developing countries to developed countries in this on going great economic recession; proportionate representation in the department of peacekeeping operations and having a say in the planning and strategies of peacekeeping missions and introducing Bengali as one of the official languages of the UN.
In fact of all the issues the climate change is the most important issue which has been highlighted by all the countries, whose heads of governments came to ventilate their concerns on world affairs. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her remarks said, "What is alarming is that a meter rise in sea level would inundate 18 per cent of our land mass, directly impacting 11 per cent of our people.
But Sheikh Hasina did not say anything about the devastating impact of manmade issues like Ganges water diversion at Farakka and the proposed Tipai Mukh Dam in her speech. Tipai Mukh Dam will deepen the crisis of climate change by adversely affecting Bangladesh's environment. Bangladesh could have made an appeal to the international community to undertake a survey about the human intervention on the environment, which is degrading the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans and posing threat to sweet water region.
About peacekeeping operations Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when claimed to give more access to the troop contributors in planning and strategies of peacekeeping missions, she stated that since 1988 Bangladesh has been involved in 32 UN peacekeeping operations in 24 different countries with approximately 83,000 personnel. Today Bangladesh is ranked the second with 9,567 peacekeepers in various UN missions. 84 Bangladeshi troops laid their lives while they were in operation.
During the visit Sheikh Hasina's daughter Putul attended an NGO seminar on climate change and her son Sajib Wajed Joy held a forum with the prospective investors.
Bangladesh has also failed to raise the issue of having rights to peaceful use of nuclear energy in agriculture, health, industry and science areas. Bangladesh also did not speak about other energy efficiency or solar energy goals, though it loudly talked about it in the 2021 vision. Bangladesh has missed an opportunity to alert the international community about the problems that it is facing in conflict resolutions with neighbouring countries. Though not specifically, it could have made general appeal on the issues like implementation of the law of the sea and resolving dispute over maritime boundary and trans-boundary water management.
However, other South Asian countries did not hesitate to raise the issues that they are facing now particularly in managing their resources and plundering of their resources by other countries. Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar were categorical in speaking about their concerns. India has clearly spoken about all of its neighbours except for Bangladesh. China also remarked particularly stating its special interests in East Asia.
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Ex-AL GS, SQC & Ctg. Mayor stir trouble
Special Correspondent
The ongoing political discords in Bangladesh society give us an idea that we are not ready to accept anything that conflicts with our partisan or coterie interests.
Take the case of Awami League's former general secretary Abdul Jalil. His statement that the party came to power through a compromise with the then military-backed caretaker government was well taken by the opposition.
However, Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, also LGRD minister, said his sidelined predecessor's claim was nothing but "an evil motive to smear the credibility of Hasina. She also refuted the statement saying Abdul Jalil should resign from parliament before he questions the credibility of the Dec 29 elections.
Before Hasina spoke from New York, her loyal cadres in London assaulted Abdul Jalil in a function organised to open a branch of his Mercantile Bank.
Chief Election Commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda has dismissed Abdul Jalil's claim of the 'election deal' as remarks of a man utterly frustrated.
Lately, Jalil retracted his remarks about the electoral deal with military-backed caretaker government and said he still suffers from the trauma caused by torture by the military intelligence agency during detention and blamed the mental state for the testy remarks.
In a counter reaction, Jalil rather blamed a 'stubborn' Khaleda Zia for the failure of the dialogue between him and former BNP secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan in 2006 on a credible election. "Khaleda Zia didn't want a fair and neutral election," said Jalil, currently on a visit to UK.
What BNP can say now? BNP should have been wise no to be prompt to take up such an issue especially when it comes from some one in the opponents' camp.
Chittagong issue
Meanwhile, the tolerance level in both Awami League and BNP has been manifested in another case of controversy involving BNP leader Salahuddin Qader Chowdhury and Awami League leader ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury. It was on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Fitr that Salhuddin Qader Chowdhury came to Mohiuddin's house and held a close door meeting that caused anger in both the camps inviting street agitation and burning of effigies
"He is my nephew. His father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury was my first cousin. So it is a family issue." Mohiuddin explained to the newsmen.
"He came to my house at my invitation. There is no reason to look at it from a political angle. Apart from me, other members of my family also had talks with him," Mohiuddin added.
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Sixty years on, China now a major player on world stage
Holiday Desk
Sixty years have elapsed since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. Those events of the past would still leap into the collective memory of all the Chinese people, giving a vivid picture of both cheers and tears, experienced by the nation in the arduous days before its rejuvenation and peaceful rise.
China now is on the path to national resurgence. With its increasingly enhanced comprehensive strength, China is playing a more assertive role on the world stage. The fact that China is more vocal and actively plays its role in the global affairs clearly shows the road it has taken. Especially the second 30 years of its reform and opening up of economy in conformity with its national conditions have yielded tremendous results.
No wonder, it is observed that China's development effort is so successful that it has allowed a new country to have settled the thorny problems of food and clothing for the world's largest population within only decades. And it is now leading the nation towards people's well-being and a harmonious society.
The Chinese people made unremitting efforts in the past six decades for modernisation and also achieved great success, top political advisor Jia Qinglin said last week.
Jia, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), was addressing a reception marking the 60th National Day of the country.
Socio-economic progress
China's economy underwent a tremendous change during the last two decades. The best way to make an accurate judgment of the success of Chinese economy in raising the average income of the Chinese people and spurring the social progress of the country is through the eyes of the reporters of the Western media, who have witnessed for themselves what has taken place in China. People from abroad, who visited China in the last quarter of the 20th century, irrespective of their political views, were invariably impressed by China's economic growth and social changes. It is the economic reform initiated in 1978 that has pushed China on the road of market economy. China has been on the fast track of economic growth since then.
A survey report made public at the Summer Davos Forum held in Dalian between September 10 and 12 has showed that over 70 per cent respondents believe that by 2020, Asia led by China will become the most influential region among the global economies. The survey took opinions of 130 major global business leaders, financial personnel, economists, government officials and people from supervisory institutions.
Last week's issue of the US Fortune magazine used a formula to comparatively illustrate the global influence of the Chinese economy -- Sinopec plus the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) equal ExxonMobil Chemical plus Microsoft plus Luxembourg's gross domestic product (GDP).
This formula shows the growing and waning strengths of Chinese and US enterprises respectively, but its deep underlying meaning is that the financial crisis is leading to a shift in the world power to the emerging markets led by China.
Big stride in heath care
In the 60 years since founding of New China, the public health system and the medical care service system have continuously improved, a basic medical security system has initially taken shape and the health of Chinese people is constantly improving.
At present, China's average life expectancy rate has jumped to 73 years from 35 years in 1949, when New China was founded; the maternal mortality rate has dropped from 1,500 to 34.2 per 100,000 and infant mortality rate from 20 to 1.49 per cent. These three health indicators have put China among the top developing countries and helped reach the average level of upper-middle-income countries.
At present, the international influence of TCM is expanding. At present, there are already more than 3,000 hospitals in China using Chinese medicine.
Science and technology
Chinese Academy of Engineering reviewed and summed up the 60 years of development in China's engineering, science and technology. Xu Kuangdi, president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), said since the founding of New China, China has built a complete industrial system, and a series of major projects have been completed. He said although engineering, science and technology have made remarkable advancement, they also must look at the challenges, including improving the innovation capacity in the areas of engineering, science and technology.
Pain in Urumqi
However, violence in the Uygur Muslim ethnic region of Xinjiang has caused some embarrassment for the Chinese authorities in recent months. On July 5, 2009, about 200 people were killed in ethnic riots involving the Han Chinese and Uygur Muslims in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
Since August, several organised groups have been plotting needle attacks aiming to stir up hatred between people belonging to different ethic groups. They stabbed people with sewing needles, safety pins and toothpicks to spread fear among the people.
By Sept. 4, local authorities confirmed 531 victims of hypodermic syringe stabbings in Urumqi, 171 of whom showed obvious syringe marks. The majority of the victims were from the Han ethnic group.
The recent syringe attacks in Urumqi are being called "terror attacks" by regional officials. The attacks, which targeted innocent people in Urumqi, were not practical jokes or simple crimes perpetrated by one individual but organised and planned stabbings that disturbed the social order and created an atmosphere of fear, said Du Xintao, an official with the regional Public Security Department.
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GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Jules Verne
K Z Islam
Jules Verne (1828-1905) can rightfully claim to be the father of 'science fiction'. Not being a science student (he studied law) and writing in the 19th century how he predicted many scientific phenomena and gadgets is mind boggling. His prolific output known as Voyages Extraordinaire exceeded 50 in number and each requiring a modern scientific knowledge. Verne born in the bustling city of Nantes in Western France had from his childhood developed a great interest in travel and exploration, a passion he showed as a writer of adventure stories and science fiction. At 12, he hid in a ship that was bound for India, only to be caught and severely beaten by his father. He famously stated, "I shall from now only travel in my imagination."
Verne had started writing in his student days in Paris around 1848. When Verne's father discovered that his son was writing rather than studying law, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Verne was forced to support himself as a stock broker, which he hated despite being successful in it. During this period he met Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo and got to know their publisher Hetzel. Almost all Verne's works relates to extraordinary transportation.
Verne called on the publisher Hetzel with the manuscript of an account of a flight over Africa by balloon. Having read it, Hetzel summoned Verne and told him to rewrite it into a complete novel. This assignment Verne completed in 5 weeks and gave it the title Five Weeks in a Balloon. Hetzel immediately saw the potential of the new version for what it was: a compelling narrative, beautifully written and bubbling with unique inspiration, while full of wholly plausible detail. With the encouragement of the publisher ideas sprang into form with the result that a contract was signed for 40 books in 20 years at a generous fee for each. At 35 he now had the security he needed to work uninterruptedly at the writer's craft. A series of extraordinary books followed. Some among the works are Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), The Mutineers of the Bounty (1879) and over 50 more. In all these books the scientific and technical details were so convincing as to seem true.
One day Verne chanced to pick up a Thomas Cook's leaflet suggesting the feasibility of a round the world tour in less than 3 months. Verne's mind raced ahead to the Eccentric's Club in London where Phileas Fogg would accept a bet and set off with his willing companion, Passe-Partout, on a journey Around the World in Eighty Days.
It began to appear late in 1872 as a serial in Le Temps. The journal's circulation rocketed from the first instalment and Phileas Fogg seized hold of the public imagination in a way that would only be equalled, a few years later, by Sherlock Holmes. Every stage of his journey was reported as though it were real news. Wagers were made that he would or would not achieve his task. Jules Verne was offered enormous sums by steamship companies anxious that the world-traveller should be said to have made the last, dramatic dash of his trip in one of their ships.
He made a fortune without them. Two years after the serial and with the book version selling in huge quantities. Around the World in Eighty Days was given a spectacular stage production in Paris. It was a terrific hit. Jules and his wife Honorine were made as rich as they would ever be. They took a big town house; the old yacht Saint Michel was supplanted by specially designed new yacht; they gave a ball of Hollywood proportions, attended by hundreds.
He was now world-famous. Yet he continued to produce several novels a year, at the same time working on a mammoth study of geographical discovery through the ages, The Discovery of the Earth, an eight-year task which gave the lie to the inevitable critics who claimed that the detail which characterized his stories was largely made up.
In 1863, Verne wrote Paris in the 20th Century, a novel about a young man who lives in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness and comes to a tragic end. Hetzel thought the novel's pessimism would damage Verne's then booming career, and suggested he wait 20 years to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. It was published in 1994.
From the Earth to the Moon, which is uncannily similar to the real Apollo Program, as three astronauts are launched from the Florida peninsula and recovered through a splash landing. In the book, the spacecraft is launched from "Tampa Town"; Tampa, Florida is approximately 130 miles from NASA's actual launching site at Cape Canaveral.
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C'NAWABGANJ TRANSPORT WORKERS' UNION
A role model for healthy trade union
Abdur Rahman Khan
Widespread extortion by political hoodlums in the country's transport sector is a blight drawing attention from the media and the government agencies.
In a sustained move for the last six months, the members of the Chapai-Nawabganj District Truck and Motor Transport Workers Union (CNDC) has been continuing to press the administration for action against this malpractice for which innocent transport workers are blamed by the interested quarters.
"It is unacceptable that till today we do not see any action from the administration in this regard" said Fazlul Karim Shelly, President of the CNDC.
The union representing bout 32,00 members threatened to enforce transport strike to compel the district administration to abide by the government orders for stopping illegal toll collections and plying of unauthorized vehicles on the road. However, they withheld the programme at the request of the district administration.
In the regular monthly meeting of the district law and order committee in August, Fazlul Karim Shelly categorically pointed out that unauthorised unions under different banners had been collecting tolls from buses and trucks by setting up offices at Sona Masjid land port area and other places in the bordering district. He referred to the notice issued by theDirectorate of Labour which quoted the resolution adopted in the Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting on 28 June, 2009, seeking action against such unauthorized unions.
The district law and order committee resolved that all efforts should be made to stop extortion in transport sector and also to evict all unauthorized branch offices of different trade unions. District police superintendent and the RAB authorities were instructed to implement the decision. But no action is there from the administration or the police, said Shelly while talking to the Holiday at his office last week.
The CNDC was launched in 1984 with 30 transport workers having Fazlul Karim Shelly as its founder President. After a long interval, he has been elected again to the post of president for the current term. He believes that the workers will survive only when the industry grows. "We want a healthy trade union and welfare for the workers" he said referring to various welfare programmes of his union.
Denying allegations of extortion by his members, Shelley said, "We collect subscriptions from our members and maintain a transparent account which is reviewed on the first week of every month and the printed report is kept open for the members".
The latest monthly report of August 2009, shows that the union has earned Taka 7, 91, 389.00 in August making the cumulative amount in the bank account to the tune of Taka 26,61,416.00. The total amount including the cash stood at about Taka 40 lakh.
The union office is housed in a two-storied building constructed on its own land. The union also owns a leased property to maintain a truck stand and operates seven trucks of its own. The union has set up rest rooms with recreation facilities for the transport workers in Rohonpur, Shibganj and Gomastapur. "We spend our income for the welfare of our members", Shelly said describing how they support the family of the workers in case of accident, death and or illness.
In case of the death of a member, the union provides a welfare fund of Taka 50,000 to support the family. The union also bears the medical expenses that may go high as Taka five lakh in case of major accidents which require surgical operation, amputation and providing artificial limbs.
The union members are provided with a grant of Taka 20, 000 for the marriage of his first daughter, Shelly said adding that the second daughter also got some grant as decided by the committee.
In the first six month in office, the present committee has spent Taka 2,26,606 for medical treatment of the injured members, Shelly said adding that they extended financial support to the nearby mosque and the Durga Puja celebration in the locality.
The transport workers may be taken as a role-model throughout the country in providing welfare services for themselves, said a smiling Shelly who is also the vice-president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation.
Shelly suggested the government to make the provision for a tree-year term of a trade union body instead of the present two-year term. He also demanded repeal of the Special 25-B act that causes the drivers suffer imprisonment without bail. One may be arrested only after framing a charge against him, argued Shelly saying that a driver of a train, captain of a ship or a pilot of a plane is not arrested for any contraband item but a driver of truck or a passenger bus is instantly put into prison for similar offence.
Shelly also pointed out that a driver should not be forced to work more than 8 hours a day. The additional work load makes a driver mentally unsound and physically fatigued that leads to many fatal accidents on the road.
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