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'GUERRILLA WAR' AFTER PEELKHANA!
Govt. accused of obfuscation
Mumtaz Iqbal
Make noise in the East. Strike in the West.
- Mao Dze Dong
The authorities cons-ciously are turning Mao's classic maxim of guerrilla warfare on its head by making noises along all points of the compass not in order to mount a strike somewhere but to sow confusion and buy time to deflect the likely bitter after-effects of the Peelkhana massacre.
The noise generated spans a wide decibel range, from the familiar to the provocative to the seemingly rational mixed with acts of compassion and political artifice.
The familiar noise is trotting out the charge that the religious fundamentalists particularly the JMB had a hand in the massacre. This is a very handy weapon to use, giving the JMB's record of violence and insurrectionary action. ..[ FULL STORY ]
PEELKHANA MASSACRE
Sideshows fail to mislead investigators
Sadeq Khan
James F. Moriarty, the U.S. Ambassador in Bangladesh sent a letter to Ms. Sahara Khatun, Minister of Home Affairs of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, on March 22, 2009. The letter read as follows: "Honourable Minister, I am writing to register my concerns regarding recent reports of restrictions being placed on the freedom of movement of individuals seeking to travel outside Bangladesh...[ FULL STORY ]
CARNAGE AND 'GREAT GAME'
Émigré ex-army officers launch probe
into BDR massacre
M. Shahidul Islam in Toronto
After much procrastination, anticipation and waiting in anguish, expatriate retired military officers have begun to play a bold and decisive role in the midst of what a former India army chief and lawmaker, Gen. Shankar Roy Chowdhury, said the 'Great Game' involving Bangladesh and its Armed Forces.
Utterly frustrated by what seems like deliberate delay in probing (and extending time for the fifth time) into the BDR mutiny, a group of those officers has decided to employ the 'long arm doctrine' by launching their own investigation from abroad to dig out the real truth behind the heinous BDR carnage of February 25-26...[ FULL STORY ]
How to make BDR massacre
probe transparent
Sunita Paul
The people of Bangladesh in general and in particular the bereaved members of the families and relatives of the massacred army officers in BDR mutiny at Peelkhana intently want transparent and fair trial of the accused who perpetrated the mass killings of army officers.
CID investigator of the BDR mutiny case Abdul Kahar Akhand is known in Bangladesh as he was the investigation officer of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case and Jail killing case. He has no reputation of being an able investigator; and in 1998 Abdul Kahar Akhand was warned by the highest judiciary in the country for his lack of experience in investigating the cases, it is learnt...[ FULL STORY ]
GLOBAL RECESSION AND BANGLADESH
Economy on a tailspin, needs stimulation
Faisal Rahim
The country's economy is facing an awful situation and the annual GDP growth this year has hit the bottom. Experts fear this trend may continue next year and beyond.
The World Bank in a report released last Tuesday said Bangladesh may achieve 4.5 per cent growth this year compared to a slightly better estimate of 5.6 per cent growth projected in its report by Asian Development Bank in Dhaka the same day.
The figures indicated in both the reports showed the lowest growth performance the country is going to witness depicting a dismal unfolding situation at a time when the global economic recession is slowly hitting the economy hard...[ FULL STORY ]
BTMA demands urgent measures to protect textile sector
Special Correspondent
The global recession has started pinching the textile sector. Yarn and fabric manufacturing sector with total investment of Taka 40,000 crore has been forced to close many of the factories and keeping 30 per cent of their spindles idle.
Discouraging use of local fabrics for manufacturing ready-made garments for export markets is also contributing to lower value addition and increase in the burden of unsold products. In addition, yarn manufacturers are facing uneven market competition resulting in soaring stockpiles of unsold bundles...[ FULL STORY ]
Col. Gulzar made 16 rescue calls
from Peelkhana
Shahidul Islam
Colonel Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, lauded for his role as a RAB official in the drive against militants, waited a long time for his colleagues to arrive and save his life from the brutal hands of the BDR rebels at Peelkhana.
On February 25, in his first call at 9:38 am to RAB intelligence director Lieutenant Col Majid, he sought help for himself and the other officers under attack. After that he dialed the T&T number of RAB Director General, Hasan Mahmud Khandaker. He also made telephone calls to ADG of RAB and Commanding officer of RAB-2 and discussed plans for a storm operation.
Colonel Gulzar also made four more telephone calls to Army headquarters seeking urgent help. The duration of the calls was for 31 seconds, 55 seconds, 48 seconds and 101 seconds respectively. And finally he called some of his trusted RAB officials and waited for the troops till he was gunned down...[ FULL STORY ]
Why AL plays Islamist militant bogey?
M I Ali
There are three countries in the world whose governments claim that their countries face terrorism from their own kinds. These countries are Iraq, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Some other countries also face terrorism from within but these threats are from separatist movements fighting their own liberation wars. These are countries like United Kingdom, Spain, India, Sri Lanka, China, Russia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc., where historical reasons exist for such movements...[ FULL STORY ]
U.S. POLICY HEAVYWEIGHTS SAY
'Exclude Hamas' no longer viable
for ME peace
Ali Gharib in Washington
A new report from a New York-based think tank and delivered to U.S. President Barack Obama by a signatory who is also a current adviser recommends that Washington forcefully reinsert itself into the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, calling for "a more pragmatic approach to Hamas."
Even by its title, the report from the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP) alludes to the urgency of U.S. involvement: "A Last Chance for a Two-State Israel-Palestine Agreement...[ FULL STORY ]
Stage is set for trialsand turmoil
Amanullah Kabir
Stage is quietly but quickly set for the nation to witness a series of episodes of killings, rapes, arsons and lootings spread over more than 37 years from 1971 to 2009. If the episodes are woven together, it will produce a horror story that the government is going to unfold almost simultaneously the most sensitive trials.
The ruling Awami League is promise-bound to hold the trial of the war criminals that is delayed by nearly four decades since the Liberation War; and the parliament being the stronghold of the ruling party has meanwhile given overwhelming approval to the move. To add to this, the government is obliged to finish the unfinished trial of the Sheikh Mujib murder case and the jail killings which involved a group of former army officers. The case virtually remained suspended during the past regime of the alliance government.
Besides, there is the ghastly incident of 21 August that shed blood when grenades were thrown at the public meeting of Sheikh Hasina at the city heart which killed a number of Awami League leaders and workers. ..[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Nawab Abdul Latif
K. Z. Islam
Nawab Bahadur Abdul Latif (1828-1893) was one of the most remarkable men of his time. For nearly half a century he occupied a unique position in the public life in Bengal. In that era the Muslims were shunning the study of English and anything to do with the British. While still in school, however, in addition to excelling in Arabic and Persian Abdul Latif pursued the study of English. So great was his keenness that even after class in the seclusion of his home he used to pursue his lessons in English for hours together...[ FULL STORY ]
Bangladesh liberation movement in US
Abdur Rahman Khan
The movement for Bangladesh started in the United States of America well ahead of the War of Liberation declared against the Pakistani occupation army on March 26, 1971.
The Bengali speaking population, almost one thousand in number, living in North America at that time, were getting imbued with the spirit of independence following Pakistani authorities' denial to hand over power to popularly elected parliament with Awami League winning in clear majority. ..[ FULL STORY ]
COMMUNICTION MINISTER'S CAR, OFFICE
Enraptured by glamour of position
Abdul Hannan
It seems the communication minister Syed Abul Hussain is infatuated more by the glitz and glamour of his position than interested to promote the positive roll call of performance report of his ministry and the departments under its control to improve their sagging image tarnished and tainted by allegations of unbridled corruption by TIB reports.
The extensive press reports of refurbishing by wood panel and glass walls of his office room in the secretariat buildings at a cost of one and half crore taka by the roads and highways department and the tender invited for the purchases of a Mitsubishi Pajero jeep for the use of the minister at a cost of one crore taka by the same department is abominable and flabbergasting. What is most outrageous is his grand eloquent and gratuitous defence of lavish expenditure is to vindicate, as absurdly claimed by him, the programme of 'change' of Awami league government in keeping with the demands of digital and globalised world. What was more amusing, he asserted that the grandiose decoration of his office room was in the national interest to impress upon foreign visitors to his office. Apparently little does he Know how the donors instead of appreciating his aesthetics would most probably contemptuously frown at the wasteful extravagance of their funded loams to the government. He requested the press to treat the matter in good grace as trivial. ..[ FULL STORY ]
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