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CHANGING SOUTH ASIAN MATRIX
Joint Task Force poses grave threats
to sovereignty
M. Shahidul Islam
The Government's dogged determination to cobble a Joint Task Force (JTF) in collaboration with India - and with other gullible, naive regional nations - is an ill-timed and uncalled-for attempt.
Sources say Pakistan has no interest whatsoever in such an adventure. Yet, the intended mission to Dhaka of the Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukharjee, is learnt to have been primarily slated for laying the foundation of the JTF's formation.
Should that prove correct, the adventure is bound to be viewed by neutral observers as a misguided one in the context of the changing time and the ambiance of global politics mostly preoccupied in the fundamental 'bread and butter' concerns - not in waging wars through making military alliance...[ FULL STORY ]
DELHI'S EXPORTS $2.7B AGAINST DHAKA'S $300M
Pranab to discuss corridor, port issues: Boucher for TIFA
Faruque Ahmed
Indian acting prime minister and foreign minister Pranab Mukherji is scheduled to visit Dhaka on February 8 to discuss trade, corridor and other issues with leaders of the newly installed Awami League-led coalition government.
Almost at the same time the US assistant secretary Richard Boucher is also coming here for dialogue with the leaders of the new government. He will have TIFA issues in hand, besides other strategic subjects like partnership in fighting terrorism...[ FULL STORY ]
ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY
Overpowering majority can be hazardous
Abdul Hannan
When asked about his reaction immediately after the landslide victory of Awami League in the recent national election, Abul Mal Muhith, now the senior most minister in the cabinet of Sheikh Hasina, said he was a little 'worried'. A man of varied and vast experience and practical wisdom, Muhith knew that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. His fear was that a party which got overwhelming majority inflicting a crushing defeat to its opposition could not care less, might tend to be complacent and irresponsible. His worry was not entirely unfounded as events unfolding during the last one month of Awami League government have demonstratively proved...[ FULL STORY ]
TRANSIT, TASK FORCE TOP ON AGENDA
Visits of Pranab, Boucher not
mere coincident
Amanullah Kabir
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina commanding two-thirds majority in parliament, appears to be poised for lifting a mountain over its head - obviously a too difficult job to perform. Her government moves quickly to equip itself with the do-it-at-any-cost tactic, taking it for granted that people will happily endorse whatever the Awami League thinks appropriate to do or undo, without considering the possible socio-political consequences. The tricky engagement of her government in handling a bundle of politically sensitive issues, some of which involve even national sovereignty and security, is destined to land in trouble earlier than expected...[ FULL STORY ]
BOTTOM-UP METHOD SUGGESTED
BNP grassroots workers say no to imposed leadership
Abdur Rahman Khan
BNP grassroots organisers have shown political maturity and healthy symptom of recovery from election shocks by suggesting the party leadership to reorganise the local units with dedicated and honest persons in the committee and discard the opportunists and fortune-seekers who earned a bad name for the organisation.
The grassroots organisers also suggested the party high-ups to get rid of those who had no public support but could buy nomination with money power. They wanted the units to be reorganised with leadership to be chosen in a bottom-up method, not imposed from the top...[ FULL STORY ]
CORRUPTION TO RISE IN DELHI
Corporate scandal rocks India
Fazle Rashid in New York
India has been rocked by a corporate scandal of horrendous scale. Billion dollar scandal at Satyam Computer Services has exposed old fashioned corruption. Paradoxical though it may sound Satyam was awarded the Golden Peacock award by the World Council for Corporate Governance and its chairman Ramalinga Raju was named Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the year in 2007.
Raju has resigned and is now under detention admitted manipulating Satyam's balance sheet from top to bottom including inventing a fictitious cash reserve of more than $1billion for seven years. The scam has been described as India's Enron. He became obsessed with market capitalization a trend common in India where business people jostle for inclusion in the Forbes rich list, the Financial Times of London which also has an US edition reported...[ FULL STORY ]
Glitch in poll results: EC in a soup
Holiday Report
The Election Commission is in a soup over the Upazila election results for the last three weeks as results sent at night are not the same as the ones dispatched in the morning.
"After scrutiny, it was found that the results announced by the returning officers at night had no similarity with the ones announced later in the morning," Chief Election Commissioner Dr A T M Shamsul Huda told reporters at the EC secretariat. He said some Upazila election results sent by some of the returning officers to the Commission were found incorrect in many cases.
By the end of last week, the Commission approved the results of 435 Upazilas for gazette notifications and kept pending the results of 40 Upazilas out of the 475 Upazilas where polling were held on January 22 amid sporadic violence and various irregularities...[ FULL STORY ]
Sahara Khatun admits slide in
law and order
Holiday Report
Home minister Sahara Khatun, who created controversy by making a comment about post-poll violence blaming the opposition, has admitted at last that the country's law and order situation has deteriorated after the general elections of December 29.
The situation aggravated quickly after the Upazila polls that was held on January 22 amidst violence, irregularities and internal feud among the conflicting candidates of the ruling Awami League.
"Terrorism and use of illegal firearms have also increased. The police should be responsible for controlling the situation," Sahara Khatun told a training programme at Police Staff College in the city last week...[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Mohan Roy (August 14, 1774 - September 27, 1833) was a founder (with Dwarkanath Tagore and other Bengali Brahmins) of the Brahma Sabha in 1828 which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement. His remarkable influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration and education as well as religion. He is best known for his efforts to abolish the practice of sati, the Hindu funeral practice in which the widow was compelled to sacrifice herself on her husband's funeral pyre. It was he who first introduced the word "Hinduism" into the English language in 1816. For his diverse contributions to society, Raja Ram Mohan Roy is regarded as one of the most important figures in the Bengal Renaissance...[ FULL STORY ]
Govt. to consider giving recognition to Ed Kennedy, George Harrison
Special Correspondent
The High Court has favoured due recognition to pop singer Geroge Harrisaon and US senator Edward Kennedy and pop singer Geroge Harrisaon for their extraordinary support to Bangladesh liberation war in 1971.
The proposal to give recognition to these two friends of Bangladesh was made by Barrister Masood R. Sobhan, a Supreme Court lawyer, who first made a formal appeal to the President of the country. Later he filed a writ petition before the court seeking a directive to the Prime Minister and the cabinet Secretary to consider the recognition to foreign nationals who individually contributed to the cause of liberation of Bangladesh...[ FULL STORY ]
3 INDIAN CPs FORM CPI-MAOIST
Maoists kill 15 policemen along Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border
Shamsuddin Ahmed
Maoists in India killed 15 police officers in a night attack in Gadchioli district along Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh state border last Sunday. It occurred in less than a month of Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram's meeting in New Delhi on January 7 with the chief ministers of rebel infested Indian states. Unnerved by the frequent incidents of killing and rising threats, the home minister asked them to crush the Maoists.
Democratic forces in Bangladesh cannot but worry at the disquieting developments in the neighbourhood. Reports say that at least 13 states of India out of 28 have Maoist stronghold. Nepal is ruled by the Maoists. Secessionist movement is gaining ground in Seven Sisters on the east and the Maoist friendly Army is ruling Myanmar on the southeast...[ FULL STORY ]
Change is coming to Iceland
and Madagascar
Nehal Adil
Madagascar and Iceland are both island republics with immense strategic importance. One is situated near the South Pole and another near north. Otherwise they are different. Iceland is developed European country with modern market economy with highly educated white population on the other hand Madagascar is an underdeveloped country with agricultural and pastoral economy and largely illiterate African population. But now they have one thing in common their governments have collapsed in the face of mass demonstration and the 'Left democrats', a euphemism for communists in the post cold war era, has taken over.
Root cause of this revolt is the collapse of global capitalist market where the corrupt financial oligarchy has gone bankrupt. The changes in Madagascar and Iceland were taking place when the world leaders were sitting in Davos, Switzerland to find a way out from global bankruptcy. From Wenbao of China and Putin of Russia to Japan's Aso and Indis's Kamal Nath delivered speeches attacking the centre of global economic power: the United States. The US President Obama, who is an apostle of change and a strong critic of his predecessor, was not present there. But the change appears to be coming anyway...[ FULL STORY ]
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