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AL government sworn in, big
challenges ahead
Special Correspondent
Amidst high hopes and growing public expectations, the biggest winner Sheikh Hasina has been sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the country last week.
Sheikh Hasina has surprised the nation by dropping the stalwarts while appointing her 32-strong team with as many as 25 new faces in the cabinet.
Party stalwarts such as Amir Hossain Amu, Sajeda Chowdhury, Abdur Razzaq, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Abdul Jalil, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim-all MPs and presidium members-were left out.
Hasina chose only four who were her cabinet colleagues between 1996 and 2001 - Matia Chowdhury, Syed Abul Hossain and Syed Ashraful Islam and Dipankar Talukder - for the new cabinet.
It was also surprising that the big aspirants like Rashed Khan Menon of Workers party and hasanul Huq Inu of Jatiya samajtantrik Dal were also excluded from the cabinet. ..[ FULL STORY ]
BNP needs to mend its house first
Abdur Rahman Khan
After the initial shock is over, BNP leadership is now busy gathering information from the grassroots and analyzing the causes that forced the party to sustain a crushing defeat in the national parliamentary elections held on December 29.
In the December 29 general elections, BNP won 29 seats including three for party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. She, however, termed the results "unacceptable" while BNP leaders described it as a "digital rigging".
Whatever might be the reality, the party nominees both elected and defeated are visiting party Chairpersons' office at Gulshan almost every evening and narrating their experiences in the general elections. Many of the defeated candidates are yet to reconcile themselves and the party supporters about the election outcome...[ FULL STORY ]
What went wrong with BNP?
M. I. Ali
The December 29 elections came, the nation spoke and Awami League is now in power. In boxing terms, it was a knock out in the first minute of the first round. BNP simply did not know what hit it or where the blow came from. Analysts may argue as to how long the fight could have lasted, had BNP put up a better fight but none would dispute the outcome, that of an Awami League victory. In fact many analysts did not believe that BNP would be able to last up to the last round.
Many may recall the December 1969 World Heavyweight Boxing Championship in which Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston within the first minute of the first round. The December 2008 Bangladesh General Elections reminds us of that. Everybody had expected Muhammad Ali to win but the victory came too soon, on the eleventh second of the first round. All those who had paid for a full fifteen round match felt cheated as did the Bangladeshis who had expected BNP to put up a better fight...[ FULL STORY ]
300 PACKS OF BALLOTS, MURDER, RAPE
EC blamed for serious poll lapses
M. Shahidul Islam
Every crisis has its architect. Part of the solution in defusing a crisis is to identify its designers and dismantle the frameworks that nourish and nurture the calamity. Unfortunately, our sycophantic political culture is propelling things towards the opposite direction; at a time when the nation is passing through a turbulent post-polling scenario tarnished by too many perils and risks.
Forget about who is in power. More important are the economic woes of the GDP falling sharply amidst prediction of substantial reduction in the flow of remittance and import earnings due to a sweeping global recession, the impact of which has just begun to bite. Until now, remittance alone constituted 11 per cent of the GDP...[ FULL STORY ]
CG-led 'tsunami' on major politicians
Faruque Ahmed
The political reform programme of the Caretaker Government (CG) landed as a 'tsunami' on the country's major political parties and especially to a host of distinguished party leaders in both camps.
Some analysts say the CG swayed the BNP-led four-party alliance to a devastating defeat in the last election and turned to Awami League (AL) this time to destroy some of the top party bosses who never ever dreamt of such a humiliation in their lifetime...[ FULL STORY ]
HERITAGE FOUNDATION SAYS
New govt. must not settle political scores
Moinuddin Naser in New York
US conservative think tank Heritage Foundation (HF) has recommended that Washington should work with India, European Union Countries, Australia and Japan to encourage the Awami League-led government to build bridges with the political opposition and to avoid monopolising state political and economic power.
The recommendations said the new government in Bangladesh must use this opportunity not to settle political scores, but to solidify gains in the democratic process and improve governance in order to support the Bangladeshi people, revive the country's economy, and limit opportunities for radical Islamists...[ FULL STORY ]
Terrorism is a global concern
Fazle Rashid in New York
Terrorism is an oft-repeated catchy word. There are three varieties of terrorism. State terrorism, state sponsored terrorism and Islamic militancy.
The propounded and principal agent of state terrorism is Israel. State sponsored terrorism is being practiced in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, Omar Bashir's Sudan and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and the Islamic militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan...[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Shyama Prasad Mookerji
K. Z. Islam
Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerji (1901-1953), son of Sir Ashutosh Mookerji, beginning as an educationist at the young age of twenty three he rose to be the youngest vice-chancellor of Calcutta University at the age of thirty-four. Entering politics a few years later, he made his mark as a dynamic and clear-headed politician when he ousted the Muslim League Ministry of Bengal and installed a coalition government under the leadership of Fazlul Haq in which he himself became the finance minister at the age of forty-two...[ FULL STORY ]
Some stray thoughts on election 2008
M. Faizur Rahman
This election has been a special one. I am even prepared to describe it as unprecedented. Never before in our country or for that matter in any other country perhaps no election preparation has wasted so much time, made so many changes in decision so many times, so much of talks from so many fronts and so much comments made by those who had no business to enter into the domain of election management. And finally after such a gruelling process, the much awaited election was held...[ FULL STORY ]
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