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Knowledge for regeneration of the Muslims
Emajuddin Ahamed
The plight of nearly 1.4 billion Muslims in the world is far from satisfactory. Though they constitute majority in as many as 57 states out of 192 member-states of the UN and a sizable minority in many of them, practically one fourth of the world’s population, yet they account for less than ten per cent of the world trade and a little more than sixteen per cent of the world’s wealth. Though some of the Muslim states have had the good fortune of possessing in their territories a substantial portion of the fossil fuel ie. Petroleum and natural gas, a tangible motive force of the modem civilisation, yet most of the poorer people in the world live in these states and most of the illiterate and half educated ones inhabit these lands. In most of the Muslim states, there is very little democracy, though the state of Madina, set up in 622 A.D, became a beacon of democratic ideas in the sense of a state based on consent of the people. In the Muslim states there are a few half/baked centres of academic instructions, although Islam laid maximum emphasis on the need for, and pursuance of, education and acquisition of knowledge. In the Muslim states there are not many homes of broad based enlightenment and only a handful of corners where technological development is nourished and practically no resort for motivated high level manpower development with technological skill and moral values... [ FULL STORY ]
CHANGING WORLD ORDER
Whither common South Asian destiny?
Sadeq Khan
Is there a scope for carving out a common South Asian destiny in the unstable matrix of global economic downturn? Can South Asian nations solve or set aside historical and newly-evolved disputes to muster a common will to build a regional fort of peace and cooperation to face the vicissitudes of changing world order?
Positive democratic index
There was hope that the year of 2009 would usher in a new political environment of close regional cooperation in South Asia. Notwithstanding the dark shadow of assassins’ bullets, suicide-bombers’ blood-letting and sectarian killings keeping a Damocles’ Sword hanging over its polity, Pakistan managed to return to democratic rule in February 2008 after almost a decade. In March 2008, Bhutan became a democracy. In April 2008, unrest and armed conflicts were ended and general elections held successfully in Nepal for a Constituent Assembly after over a decade of civil war. Maldives also had a change of government with a multi-party democracy. Bangladesh got back to democracy with a commonly accepted general election in December, 2008 after long unrest and 2 years of emergency rule... [ FULL STORY ]
BANGLADESH
Muhammad Habibur Rahman
With very little reasons
Ours is called a land of six seasons.
Excepting some hills on the Eastern side,
And it’s all green countryside.
Largely flat, with little or no landscape,
But it has a glorious sky-scape.
Its sun-ups and sun-downs of various hue
And its variegated clouds will remind you
Of the maps of various other countries of the world.
For a quite reverie... [ FULL STORY ]
A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE
A forty-year sojourn in Bangladesh
Valerie Taylor
Joining the anniversary celebration of the Holiday, this country’s outstanding newspaper, founded by an outspoken journalist, the late Enayetullah Khan, is a great privilege and honour. We offer our heartiest congratulations on its momentous stepping into the 46th year of publication.
While applauding our long-time friend and supporter A U M Fakhruddin on this newspaper’s 45th founding anniversary, and wishing the Holiday a long triumphant onward journey —- it is on this occasion that I was requested to write something about the past forty years that I have spent in Bangladesh... [ FULL STORY ]
Songs of Liberation War
Dr. Karunamaya Goswami
In the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Liberation, the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (the Independent Bangladesh Radio Station) was established. Historically speaking, the genesis of that radio station is traced from temporarily set up Kalurghat radio station in Chittagong on 26 March, 1971 although it took up full-scale on-air programme from Mujibnagar on May 25, 1971. Persons associated with the operation of Kalurghat radio station were soon joined by a host of people from different disciplines to successfully carry on the broadcasting events from the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra... [ FULL STORY ]
Wasted years of India’s foreign policy (2004 –2009)
Dr. Subhash Kapila
At the turn of the millennium and till 2004, India in terms of its foreign policy achievements stood on a promising threshold. The nuclear weaponisation tests of 1998 had endowed India’s foreign policy with boldness and assertiveness. India had placed itself in a position where it could operate strategic partnerships at the same time with the United States and Russia, effectively. Indeed, it seemed that India was on an ascendant trajectory towards global power status... [ FULL STORY ]
Can media contribute to combating terrorism?
Mahfuz Ullah
Can media, electronic and print both inclusive, contribute to combating terrorism which is plaguing many countries across the globe, or is it contributing more to the glorification of terrorism and terrorist activities? This has of late become a hotly debated issue. Generally speaking, there are four issues involved here: terrorism, the role of media, how media can contribute to combating terrorism and what should be the role of Bangladeshi media... [ FULL STORY ]
Climate change and human rights
Dr. Atiq Rahman
Global climate change has emerged as the greatest threat facing humankind today. The long arm of climate change impacts is likely to undermine various fundamental human rights and basic securities. These rights and securities include the right to life, food, safe water and health, home, land, properties, livelihoods, employment and development. Climate change affects almost all ecosystems, societies and economies. But the effects are different depending on their location, economic status, and history of development and governance patterns. The poor in developing countries would be most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and extreme climatic events such as frequent and prolonged floods, cyclone, tidal surges, salinity intrusion, sea level rise and drought. Climate change will increase global poverty and human insecurities (food, water, health, energy, shelters and social securities), enhance regional disparity and violate sets of basic human rights if the global communities do not take urgent actions now... [ FULL STORY ]
‘VISION-2021’
“The spring of our hope, the winter of our discontent”
Dr. Mizanur Rahman Shelley
“There is a tide in the affairs of men which when taken in its turn leads to fortune”. There is little doubt that the Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, at present the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, was swept to power spearheading the grand coalition of political forces called the Mahajote on account of a favourable surging tide in the politics of the country. With meaningful, though not overt help from forces which were not strictly political, she, her party and its associates deftly seized the moment. The vital moment and the dynamic woman combined in an effective blend and massive success followed. The overwhelming victory of the Awami League and the Mahajote in the national elections of 29 December 2008 brought them to state-power with an impressive mandate... [ FULL STORY ]
Bangladesh Liberation War and West Bengal
Talukder Maniruzzaman
THE Bangladesh liberation struggle in 1971 evoked great sympathy and support from the people of West Bengal, the Bengali speaking province of India which was separated from East Bengal as a result of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Apart from the spontaneous support of individuals and independent groups, all political parties in West Bengal except the Communist Party Marxist-Leninist (CPML) gave a joint call for help and organised a complete general strike on March 31, 1971 in support of the Bangladesh liberation struggle. The West Bengal members of the Indian parliament, belonging to different political parties, raised the issue in the Indian Parliament soon after the army crackdown... [ FULL STORY ]
SMALL STATE PERSPECTIVE
Geopolitics and national security
Maj- Gen. (Retd) A L M Fazlur Rahman
The basic idea of ‘might is right’ is that force triumphs and a man has a duty to constantly protect, with force, what he has acquired by force himself. The phrase ‘might is right’ is most often used in derogatory assessments of expressions of power. Those who are the strongest will rule others and have the power to determine right and wrong. “It is a very dangerous doctrine when it becomes the creed of a stupid people, for it flatters their self-sufficiency, and distracts their attention from the difficult, subtle, frail, and wavering conditions of human power,” eminent Elizabethan figure, explorer, poet and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618). But who heeds Raleigh?... [ FULL STORY ]
Rabindranath’s Gitanjali
‘Like a flute of reed for Thee to fill with music’
A.U.M. Fakhruddin
Perhaps no other modern poet has enunciated the inconceivable spiritual world as well as the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Supreme High — the Almighty as lucidly as Rabindranath Tagore did. He discovered poetry in all people’s hearts; and it is necessary for them, as he says, “as much as possible to express their feelings.” For this they must have a “medium, moving and pliant, which can refreshingly become their own, age after age.” In his words, beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the universal being; truth, the perfect comprehension of the universal mind... [ FULL STORY ]
Unforgettable Zia that I knew: A flashback
Abu Obaid Chowdhury
Following my defection from Pakistan Army in 1971 and after being cleared by the Indian and Mujibnagar authorities, I was posted to ‘Z Force’ of Lt Col Ziaur Rahman in the Eastern Theatre of Bangladesh Liberation War. About 20-day journey took me from Lahore to Khemkaran to Ferozepur to Delhi to Kolkata to Agartala and finally to Masimpur —- the Sector-4 headquarters of Lt Col C R Dutta (later Major General)... [ FULL STORY ]
Need for consolidation of democratic culture in Bangladesh
Dr. Taiabur Rahman
After the restoration of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh in 1991, the people expected a better form of governance than the previous semi-military regimes. People at present are bewildered and disenchanted with the rule of democratically elected government and thoughtless politicisation of everything and inability to govern. The elected government has failed to perform the very basic functions of governance i.e. ensuring law and order, establishing social justice and collecting revenue. Bangladesh has achieved electoral democracy through participatory elections but its ambition to elevate herself as a liberal democracy remains a dream... [ FULL STORY ]
SHANTIR SWAPNEY: SAMAYER SMRITICHARON
Gen. Moin’s book: Fiction overshadows facts
Ranu Chowdhury
Bangladesh’s former army chief Gen. (Retd) Moin U Ahmed published a book entitled Shantir Swapney: Samayer Smriticharon recently. I read an abridged version of the book.
One tends to add a little fiction to facts, particularly when it comes to autobiography. Retired Gen. Moin could not be immune to such temptation. However, when fiction overshadows facts, eyebrows do rise... [ FULL STORY ]
Reflections on power and authority
Salauddin Qader Chowdhury
The twentieth century has been a century of heroes. We have had communist heroes like Lenin and Stalin, fascist heroes like Mussolini, Hitler and Franco, democratic heroes like the two Roosevelts, Wilson, Churchill and Kennedy. In the sub-continent we had our own share of luminaries like the Ali brothers of Bombay, the Nehrus of Kashmir, the Bose brothers of Calcutta, Mohammad Ali Jinnah of Pakistan and Shaikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh. All of them have left their indelible marks in the annals of our recent history... [ FULL STORY ]
BANGLADESH-INDIA RELATIONS
The context of SAARC and emerging global scenario
Imtiaz Ahmed
The title of this article poses a challenge, to say the least. With the SAARC and the ‘Global Scenario’ in the sub-title, one is asked to make sense of the post-Westphalian bilateralism in the midst of the ever-growing multilateralism or, as some would say, pluralism. One cannot deny that the conventional thinking of inter-state relations is predominantly bilateral in nature, and this is more so with politicians and government officials, and of course with organic intellectuals as well, who have a vested interest in reproducing it as such, indeed, in the name of guarding what is at best a self-defined understanding of the reason of the state... [ FULL STORY ]
Manipuri community: diversity in beauty
Farhana Tithi
The Manipuris have identified themselves to Bangladesh and South Asia through their rich art and culture, presented a mosaic of conventional and civilizing prototypes through the ages and preserved its own diversity of literature, language, lifestyle, traditions and festivals. They migrated to Bangladesh during the reign of Rajarshi Bhagyachandra (1764-1789) and the process was accelerated by the Manipuri-Burma war. After the war with Burma, Manipur was ruled by the Burmese invaders for about seven years. King Chourajit Singh accompanied by a large following of Manipuri subjects moved to Bangladesh. At present they live in different places of Sylhet Division, like Kamalganj, Sreemongal, Kulaura and Baralekha thanas of Moulvi Bazar district; Chunarughat Thana of Habiganj district and Chhatak thana of Sunamganj district. Manipuris are approximately classified into two distinct races namely the Bishnupriya and the Meiteis. The former group of the people is of Indo-Aryans origin and the later section has identified them as the Kuki-Chin branch of the Mongolian stock... [ FULL STORY ]
Nuclear safety and radioactive waste management
How safe is nuclear energy?
M. A. Quaiyum
The use of nuclear fission i.e. splitting the atom for the peaceful purposes, notably for power generation was started in the 1950s. Today, the world produces as much electricity from nuclear energy as it did from all sources combined in 1960. Civil nuclear power can now boast over 13,000 reactor years of operation experience and supplies almost 16 per cent of global electricity needs, in 30 countries. Contributions of different primary sources of energy are shown at “World Electricity”. Safety has always been an important consideration from the very beginning of the development of nuclear reactors. With such cautious approach to safety, it is no wonder that the operation of reactors to date has an impressive track record... [ FULL STORY ]
Sylhet: Its seasonal canvas and glimpses of history
Raana Haider
On road to Sylhet, the Nature’s palette of colours sweeps across the changing landscape. In mid-January, an early morning departure from Dhaka, in order to escape the mega-metropolis’s tentacle traffic, reveals a pale yellow sun dotting the yet silver-grey sky backdrop – a Monet-captured canvas. Enveloped in dense fog, boughs of trees appear suspended in space on the distant horizon. Ghostly and eerie forms reveal trees. A majestic rain tree appears as a looming monstrosity. Nearing Sylhet, thickets of rubber trees appear edged with autumn colours – the impact of the dry winter season... [ FULL STORY ]
Fallacies of India’s Tipaimukh Dam
Dr M. Monirul Qader Mirza
Bangladesh and India share basins of 54 international rivers. The waters of these rivers play an important economic role for agriculture, urban and rural water supplies and navigation sectors. Among the shared rivers between the two countries, until recently, the Ganges was the most debated because of withdrawals of its waters at Farakka Barrage point and 90 other points above of it. Thus far, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna-Barak have remained virgin in terms of water withdrawal or transfer. However, this is no more the case. India’s recent decision to go ahead with the plan of building a dam at Tipaimukh on the Barak River has ignited heated debates on its merit in India and Bangladesh... [ FULL STORY ]
Understanding the value of philosophy in life
Niru Kumar Chakma
In this age of science and technological revolution, philosophy, popularly known as the science of all sciences, seems to be losing, if has not lost yet, its ground, the main reason being that it fails to deliver practical benefit to modern man. What a modern man as well as woman is concerned with or looks for is practical utility and anything that falls short of satisfying his or her material needs is to be set aside. What Bertrand Russell has said in his The Problems of Philosophy about the value of philosophy is noteworthy and pertinent. As Russell writes, “In our endeavour to determine the value of Philosophy, we must first free our minds from the prejudices of what we wrongly called ‘practical’ man. The ‘practical’ man, as this word is often used, is one who recognizes only material needs, who realizes that men must have food for the body, but is oblivious of the necessity of providing food for the mind. If all men were well off, if poverty and disease had been reduced to their lowest possible point, there would still remain much to be done to produce a valuable society, and even in the existing world the goods of the mind are at least as important as the goods of the body”... [ FULL STORY ]
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