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Blame game and great game over Peelkhana tragedy
Sadeq Khan
The first session of the 9th parliament has been prorogued on April 7, with the passage of a vote of thanks for the speech of the immediate-past President Prof. Iajuddin Ahmed, who had inaugurated the session. The Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina agreed with the Leader of the Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia that none of the law-makers in the House were thankful to the former President since he had grossly violated the Constitution by supporting and prolonging authoritarian rule and oppressive measures by ambitions functionaries of the state, taking advantage of the interim caretaker system between two elected parliaments. Yet, she said, out of respect for the institution of the President, she wanted the motion of thanks to be passed by the House...[ FULL STORY ]
Upazilas come under MPs' tight control
Faisal Rahim
The new Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) evidently manifested its first autocratic maneuvering last week by adopting the new Upzila (amendment) law reestablishing local MP on top of everything while putting the newly elected chairman and other functionaries under their tight control.
The new law made local MPs adviser to the Upazila Parishad requiring it to listen to his advice as a matter of compulsion. Moreover, its functionaries should keep the local MP informed of any move or contact with the government, be it a letter or other requests on matter of development projects or governance related issues, meaning that the parishad has no right to avoid his involvement.
The Parishad should also provide the MP the minute of the decisions that it may take in any meeting within 14 days of holding such meeting.
The new law has also authorized the Upazila Prishad to constitute as many as 14 committees on local issues but in doing so it should take advice of the local MP in one hand and can not nominate the Upazila chairman to the post of chairman of any such body on the other. This means the MP may have his own nominees to be appointed as chairmen of those committees while the chairman may either be ignored or sidelined.
This is a critical situation that the Upazila system is going to face, local government experts fear as they reacted on the last week's action of parliament. Interestingly, all 345 members of Parliament supported the action and everyone present on the floor that day voted for it to win power and establish control on the Upazila system virtually dismissing the authority of its elected functionaries such as the chairman, vice-chairmen and other members comprising chairmen of the Union Parishad...[ FULL STORY ]
Khaleda accuses PM, army chief of complicity in BDR massacre
M. Shahidul Islam
The grasses on the graves of the butchered military officers may not have begun to spread roots as yet, but the politics is heading inexorably toward Alfred Hitchcock's vintage of unimaginable suspense.
In the concluding session of the current phase of the parliament, the two 'Battling Begums' were seen far from being in the same wave length to save the nation from an impending economic tsunami and the intensified political instability that have begun to torn apart societal fabrics in the seams...[ FULL STORY ]
CLASH OF PERSONALITIES
Muhith a fish out of water?
Fazle Rashid in New York
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, to use an archaic proverb, is a fish out of water. He stands out head and shoulders above all in the cabinet of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He has kept himself abreast of what is happening around the world and studiously refrains himself from making tall promises.
Muhith has things in his control. His public pronouncements have been compatible with deteriorating global economic meltdown. Experts in the US and Europe predict that the turnaround in global economy is not likely to begin before 2013. Muhith has already stated that expansion of power sector will not be possible within the term of the current administration. None of the election pledges can be implemented. Pay Commission recommendations will be phased out...[ FULL STORY ]
Ninth Jatiya Sangsad's first
session concludes
Special Correspondent
The first session of the ninth Jatiya Sangsad concluded last week with a thanksgiving motion passed by the parliament amidst rejection from the opposition.
The Prime Minister of the country and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, though sometimes called the immediate past President "yesuddin", has given a grand vote of thanks for his inaugural speech in parliament on Jan 25.
'Incendiary' remarks
The Leader of the House in her concluding speech accused the opposition parties of attempts to plunge the country into chaos. Frustrated by their election debacle, Hasina said in parliament, the BNP-led opposition is making 'incendiary' remarks about the BDR bloodbath to 'create unrest'...[ FULL STORY ]
BITTER PILL SWALLOWED
Unceremonious exit of
anti-corruption 'jihadist'
Amanullah Kabir
Known for his campaign against the country's politicians, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission General (retired) Hasan Mashhud Choudhury, had to bow out quietly last week before the expiry of his tenure, barely three months after the elected government had ascended to power. He had to swallow the bitter pill, though he earlier declared that he won't resign...[ FULL STORY ]
Hasina opts for confrontation
with opposition?
Special Correspondent
The ruling Awami League (AL) appears to have decided to take confrontational course, ignoring the Opposition BNP's offer to cooperate in the greater national interest.
Only the other day, while concluding the first session of the parliament Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought cooperation from the opposition, while the leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia also asked the government not to force them go to the street.
Suppression
However, the cabinet decision to cancel the allotment of the cantonment house of Begum Zia has been taken with a calculated move to push the opposition to the street. The plan is to engage the youth force, mainly the student front -- which is now busy infighting on the campuses -- to suppress the opposition agitation on the street...[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani
K. Z. Islam
Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani (1885-1976) popularly called Maulana Bhasani had a long life being a leader of the down trodden and oppressed people of Bengal and Assam. He lived a very simple life which identified him with people at the grass root level.
At the turn of the 19th century, when an Iraqi Sufi, Bagdadi visited Sirajganj to preach Islam, Bhasani a destitute teenager caught his attention. Bagdadi sent Bhasani to Deoband Madrassa. After he returned to Bengal, he joined the political movement against the British. Due to his activities among the farmers in the Northern district Bhasani was expelled from Bengal. This made him settle in Assam on the bank of river Brahmaputra. His headquarters came to be known as Bhasan Char because of frequent flooding. This is how he came to be known as Bhasanir Maulana or Maulana Bhasani...[ FULL STORY ]
Baishakhi carnival comes of age
Abdur Rahman Khan
Shubha Nababarsha, the traditional greeting on the occasion of the Bengali New Year's Day, brings a pleasant mood of festivity accompanied by musical programmes, colourful processions and funfare in the capital and other parts of the country.
In the capital city of Dhaka, it has become a tradition to celebrate the first morning of the Bengali New Year with a grand cultural programme in early morning at the Batamool in the Ramna Park. The most sung song is of course "Esho Hey Baishakh Esho, Esho" by Rabindranath Tagore who is also the writer of our national anthem. Music, dance, rally and Baishakhi fair with lots of traditional items including food are the part of the celebration...[ FULL STORY ]
NO FOREIGN AID IN NEXT 5 YEARS
Serious food crisis ahead
Fazle Rashid in New York
These days many people across the world are comparing the present financial crisis to the Great Depression. Will it really be that bad? Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and former World Bank chief economist, says the "world economy is going to be bad, very bad."
Sheikh Hasina's cabinet is made up of obscure persons and are of unknown political quantity. They all appear to be garrulous and make public utterances that betray their ignorance. No two men in the ministries seem to have the upper hand. They do the talking, and most of the time not knowing what they are saying.
The Awami League government should bear in mind that there will be no external assistance either bilateral or multilateral in the next five years. The Government will have to fend for itself. The warnings stated below by the prestigious British magazine The Economist should be learnt by heart by the policy planners, bankers, entrepreneurs and business leaders before making a public statement. It made the following points:
Frightened by the downturn people in the West are furious with politicians, central bankers (whom many are calling thieves) and immigrants...[ FULL STORY ]
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