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WHITHER SOVEREIGNTY?
Offshore explorations face abandonment
M. Shahidul Islam
The obsessive partisan notion and political culture of who shall be in power and reign supreme is turning this nation of 150 million people into a third-rate entity.
A just-concluded expert report by a New York-based global think tank, Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), has identified the three recently offered off-shore blocks in the Bay of Bengal as 'controversial and risky' for explorations by the international companies with whom the Awami League-led Government had recently okayed signing of production sharing contracts (PSC).
With 200,000 experts in the team, the GLG is a global heavyweight in the field, playing since the mid- 1990s a significant role in advising the captains of global capitalism and the governments alike. In July 2009, it co-hosted a conference in Beijing along with the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) to espouse for a new international economic order.
Besides high-level Government dignitaries from China, the conference was addressed by many international icons, including Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State) and Dr. Muhammad Yunus (founder of Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate), among many others.
Major setback: maritime zones
The GLG report is bound to deal a serious blow to the AL-led regime's economic blueprint as it will further aggravate the concerns for the sovereignty of the nation in the disputed maritime zones where exploration of energy has become indispensable to sustaining economic growth.
Experts believe an estimated reserve of about 18 billion barrels of oil and about 200 trillion cft of natural gas lay dormant in the disputed areas of the Bay of Bengal.
Was then the decision on August 24 by the Awami League cabinet for economic affairs to offer block 5 to Tullow Oil of Ireland and blocks 10 and 11 to the ConocoPhillips of the US a mere stunt? May be. The GLG report, coming within weeks, has not only virtually sealed the fate of those blocks for any exploration in the near future, it also rendered uncertain the fate of over 20 other blocks in the Bay, belonging to Bangladesh.
Experts say the episode will cast a dark of gloom on the Government's ongoing economic policy in general, and, to the expectations relating to oil and gas exploration and foreign investment in particular.
Great harm to Bangladesh
Although it remains unclear as to who had commissioned and paid for the report, the Holiday has learnt that the GLG report was commissioned by the concerned oil companies in order to verify the status of the allotted blocks vis-a-vis the overlapping claims made by Myanmar and India.
Other sources, however, insist that the report was commissioned by either the Government of India, or Myanmar, or by a third party with vested interest to harm Bangladesh.
Be that whatever, the short and long-term impacts of the report is bound to be staggering for the nation; with serious ramifications on the economy and the sovereignty alike.
According to pre-PSC understanding, the two companies are supposed to invest about US$ $160 million in exploring the three blocks. That prospect seems remote now. In the long-run, the crisis in anticipation of shortfall of gas in the country by 2015 will exacerbate further, holding back GDP growth, unless some other offshore blocks begin productivity by that time.
That prospect too is bleak. For, despite repeated vouching from the Government that the allotted three blocks belong to the 8 (out of 25) undisputed blocks in the Bay of Bengal, they are not hazard-free as yet. That means the Government is not certain whether the allotted blocks fall within the disputed 5000 sq. km. claimed by Myanmar on the eastern side of the Bay, and, another 16,000 sq. km. on the western side as claimed by India.
Ignorance can be hazardous: the magnitude of legal blunder committed so far by this and the preceding regime remains unforgivable. We, from the Holiday, advised both the governments strongly to take the matter for resolution to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but that fell on deaf ears. Our reason for doing so was purely in national interest.
Legal blunder
Under the UN Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 12 nautical miles from the coast is territorial water; 200 nautical miles falls within the Exclusive Economic zone (EEZ); and, up to 350 miles constitute the continental shelf. Both India and Myanmar having insisted on using this legal instrument in demarcation methodology (by using the principle of equidistant from the shore), the problem was already getting serious by late 2007, due to following reasons.
FIRST: Our claim, based on the principle of equity (due to the uneven and snaking shape of the shore) only sustains if there is prior agreement/claim/historic reason for not applying the equidistant principle.
SECOND: As Bangladesh has not filed a claim to the ICJ contesting the overlapping claims made by its neighbours - or did not secure any diplomatic commitment from the contesting parties - the neighbours kept on insisting on the stipulation of international law that emphasizes on equidistant from the shore.
THIRD: It was sheer stupidity of our Government to wait until the prospective filing of its claims to the UNCLOS by July 27, 2011, in order to obtain any benefit of doubt from the international law's stipulations? By then, all the blocks will have gone for explorations, excepting ours, due to India and Myanmar having already filed their claims with the UNCLOS.
The damage having already been done, the silence of the successive two regimes since the imposition of emergency rules on Jan. 11, 2007, deserves to be probed now, given that any flimsy excuse relating to why the dispute was not referred to the ICJ remains inexcusable due to following reasons:
One: The term equity, implying fairness and reasonableness, has universal validation although it does not serve as a source of law per se. Bangladesh has had a good case in hand due to Article 38(1) (c) of the Statute of the ICJ having encompassed the 'principle of equity' and, its applications so far having been decisive in resolving international maritime disputes.
Two: In the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (ICJ report, 1969), the ICJ had resorted to the formulation of 'equitable principles' concerning lateral delimitation of adjacent areas of continental shelf and opined that no rule of customary or treaty law bound the state parties to the dispute over the seabed of the North Sea.
Three: Among a plethora of other jurisprudence, in the Fisheries Jurisdiction Case (ICJ report, 1974) between the UK and Iceland, the ICJ outlined the elements of an 'equitable solution' of the differences over fishing rights and directed the parties to negotiate accordingly.
1/11: India-friendly regime
The juridical- legal grounds being that strong, why the regimes since 1/11 shied away from instituting claims at the ICJ remains a matter of deep mystery, prompting some experts to say, maritime disputes with immediate neighbours served as one of the main reasons for bringing an India-friendly regime to power in late 2007.
They argue, as the process to do so had to involve the use of the country's armed forces to delay the holding of an election in late 2007 by imposing emergency rules, the same blunder was committed by the Caretaker Government (CG) too, when it failed to file a complaint with the ICJ in late 2008 following a naval stand off between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the wake of Myanmar's exploration bid in the disputed area, beginning with November 1, 2008.
Consequently, the harm to the national interest has been irreparable. The non-existence of any legal challenge from Bangladesh side on the overlapping blocks, for years, - as well as the lack of any diplomatic agreement on the matter- has prompted the GLG report to conclude, "Given the lack of agreement and understanding between Bangladesh, Myanmar and India regarding the ownership of the territory involved, this can be a risky proposition."
The report concludes, "There has been some tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the recent past on this very issue. (As such), the concerned companies should "Wait and see the developments on this front before spending any money on exploration in the disputed areas."
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BAY OF BENGAL CONTINENTAL SHELF
Myanmar disputes Indian claim
Moinuddin Naser in New York
In an unexpected move Myanmar has disputed the Indian submission claiming the territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal, saying that in claiming the continental shelf India has violated the bilateral agreement, which was signed in 1986.
India submitted the partial claim on May 11, 2009. Pursuant to Article 76, Paragraph 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, containing information on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, it claims beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
In a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations submitted on August 4, 2009, Myanmar noted in her executive summary that India has made a reference to Section 9 of its territorial waters, continental shelf, and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976, and unilaterally constructed the median lines as a potential maritime boundary between India and Myanmar.
The aforementioned reference made unilaterally and based on the domestic law of India. It is not in conformity with the provisions of Article 83 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the note added.
Myanmar informed the Secretary General that maritime boundary between Myanamr and India in the Andaman Sea, the Coco Channel and in the Bay of Bengal -- that extends 200 nautical miles to the sea (Point 1 to 6) -- was delimited by a bilateral agreement between the two countries signed in 1986, followed by the ratification thereof in 1987. Myanmar and India agreed to discuss bilaterally to further extend the maritime boundary beyond point 16.
Myanmar requested the Commission that India's submission be considered without prejudice to the continental shelf areas, which Myanmar is fully entitled to claim in accordance with the relevant provisions of the UNCLOS.
Dhaka to dispute Indian claim
Bangladesh is preparing its letter to dispute the Indian claim on territorial waters of the Bay of Bengal, it is learnt from sources at the Permanent Mission in the United Nations (UN). According to sources, Bangladesh has engaged an international law firm to draft the letter to submit it before the United Nations.
Bangladesh can submit the objection before two weeks of the next 25th convention of the UNCLOS to be held in March 2010.
Now the ongoing 24th session, which will be concluded today (September 11), is considering the Myanmar submission claiming the continental shelf. But source in Bangladesh Mission expressed confidence that Myanmar's claim will be postponed until July 2011, when Bangladesh will submit its claim, in view of the objection submitted by Bangladesh in July last.
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UN won't send war crime trial team
to Bangladesh
Holiday Correspondent in New York
The United Nations (UN) would not send a team to Dhaka to see for itself and advise accordingly about the technicalities of the war criminals trial in Bangladesh.
Instead the Under Secretary General of the concerned department advised the Bangladesh Mission that if it so wishes, Bangladesh government may send an expert team or a team of concerned officials involved in trial of the war criminals to the UN either in New York (NY) or Geneva to be aware about the technical matters of trial of war criminals in Bangladesh.
This was hinted by the Deputy Permanent Representative Sabbir Ahmed at an Iftar party held on September 2, last at the Permanent Mission office of Bangladesh. At the party the new Permanent Representative Dr A.K.M. Abdul Momen was introduced to the journalists.
Dr Momen said that the main objectives of his mission, as he discussed with Prime Minister, were upgrading education system, building up Bangladesh as a developed country by 2021, resolving climate problems which is most serious for Bangladesh, stop environmental degradation and resolve militancy and terrorism in Bangladesh.
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A. H.-41 PREFERABLE, BARRIERS REMAIN
Silence about unresolved thorny
issues questioned
Sadeq Khan
In the first official Indo-Bangladesh ministerial level meeting of Sheikh Hasina's foreign policy team on September 8 in Delhi, the foreign affairs ministers of Bangladesh and India agreed to resolve the issues of demarcation of the boundary between the two countries, and the exchange of enclaves and adverse possessions in a single package. Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Minister Dipu Moni and her Indian counterpart SM Krishna came up with the views at the bilateral discussion at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. This was stated in a press release of the Bangladesh High Commission in the Indian capital. There was no press release from the External Affairs Ministry of India.
The intent expressed is nothing new, repeated on many occasions in previous joint press statements/declarations from bilateral meetings at various levels. What is new is the suggestion of a package deal. It is reassuring that the package deal suggested is limited to a specific sector of land border delineation. There was a lot of anxiety generated by hints of a foreign ministry level package deal, presumably including multiple sectors of unresolved issues and disputes in a hurry, as given out (and reported) in a press briefing after a meeting between the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka and our Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni, prior to the latter's departure for New Delhi. Skeptics continue to express doubts that the story of a package deal in a single sector of border delimitation sounds proper, but may, indeed, hide the agenda of sealing a multiple-sector package deal, in which vital interests of development and security of Bangladesh may be compromised.
Be that as it may, other matters discussed in the foreign minister-level bilateral meeting were, according to the Bangladesh High Commission's press release in Delhi, the issue of equitable sharing of water of common rivers, commercial and economic matters, security and border problems, and increased connectivity in the region among India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
According to the press release, the two foreign ministers also discussed cooperation in the power sector including the import of power from India, and Indian assistance for upgrading of Bangladesh's railway sector and procurement of locomotives, passenger coaches and buses with Indian assistance.
The two ministers exchanged views on easing of the customs and immigration procedure of the Maitree Express to make the train service more popular. Dipu Moni sought Indian assistance for capital dredging of ports and rivers in Bangladesh and her Indian counterpart expressed his country's interest in doing so.
They also discussed the delimitation of maritime boundary and agreed that the issue should be settled to mutual satisfaction through negotiations.
To facilitate trade, Dipu Moni requested SM Krishna to grant Bangladeshi products' greater access to Indian markets by offering duty-free access and also removing non-tariff and para-tariff barriers. They also agreed to upgrade the infrastructure of the Land Customs Stations on both sides of the border for greater facilitation of trade. In this connection both sides discussed the possibility of easing the visa procedure, particularly for businessmen, patients, students and government officials. Both sides discussed the possibility of opening border markets for benefit of the people in the border areas and transportation of equipment for a power plant in Tripura through Ashuganj.
If Indian assistance is forthcoming in a significant measure, whether for railway coaches, locomotives and buses, or simply for power supply to meet the contingency demands of our industrial development, it will be up to the relevant sector to examine whether such procurements would be competitive and technically matching other sources. Other routine expressions of positions on both sides appear to have been covered in the talks. A matter of immediate public interest is the vexing ordeal in obtaining Indian visa for Bangladeshi citizens. It is to be seen whether there will be any easing of the Indian visa procedure after the foreign ministers' parley. The matter of opening border markets, unless reciprocal concessions are obtained, may prove problematic as it turned out in 1972. Special arrangement for multimodal transportation of equipments for a power plant in Tripura through Ashuganj patently is all right.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh told the parliament on September 9 that Bangladesh would have full control over its stretch of the proposed Asian Highway that would come from India and re-enter India through Bangladesh.
She said Bangladesh would join the proposed Asian Highway to promote development, employment, business and infrastructural improvement of the country. She called the serious objections, prevailing in this country against India-to-India transit through Bangladesh, a 'bogus boo", and assured the House that though one of the routes is to go through Bangladesh from one end of India to another, Bangladesh will have the authority to control or shut the route, if required. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina informed the House that after assumption of office, her government decided to connect Bangladesh with the Asian Highway and a proposal in this regard was approved at a cabinet meeting on June 15 last. Responding to an appeal of Bangladesh government, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) of the United Nations recently gave consent to the signing of an inter-governmental agreement in this regard and after formal signing of the agreement by Bangladesh, ESCAP would finally approve the Asian Highway route. In the ESCAP proposal three routes through Bangladesh were selected. The routes are: Benapole-Jessore-Bhanga-Dhaka-Kanchpur-Sylhet-Tamabil (Route AH1), Banglabandha-Hatikamrul-Tangail-Dhaka-Kanchpur-Sylhet-Tamabil (Route AH-2) and the regional Mongla-Khulna-Jessore-Pakshi-Hatikamrul-Kanchpur-Comilla-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar-Teknaf (Route AH-3). The Prime Minister said selection of the third route will depend on Myanmar for its implementation. Moreover, she said, "it is not that Bangladesh's desire will be final; ESCAP has a say about the routes".
A hurry to seal such a transit arrangement for the benefit of India, albeit under the umbrella of Asian connectivity, may not be all right. Our trade gains from the Asian Highway in near future would be minimal, and the congestion of and damages to our fragile infrastructure may far outweigh the potential income from the passage fees of Indian and international traffic, even if we ignore the risks of becoming a target of violent rebel movements in India of Maoists on the one side and ethnic separatists on the other. We can only gain from the Third route connecting Myanmar-Dhaka-Calcutta, for which we must continue to seek the cooperation of Myanmar, as this route may significantly expand our "Look East" policy potentials for foreign trade and traffic. India itself offers a stable route for Asian Highway via Siliguri corridor. So, why burden Bangladesh?
For significant expansion of bilateral trade and traffic, and westward land route passage, it may be worthwhile to quote a remark by Dr. Atiur Rahman, current Governor of Bangladesh Bank. Dr. Atiur Rahman said barbed wire fencing and looking for transit facilities through smaller members of SAARC are unlikely to be helpful in promoting South Asian regional integration.
"Erecting barbed wire fencing along state borders with neighbours does not resonate well with integration priorities," he told a 3-day conference on 'Global banking: paradigm shift' in Mumbai, India on September 9.
"There can be other feasible options for dealing with illegal movement of goods and people", he said, recommending harmonisation of tariffs towards cross-border price parity, permitting limited border trade, streamlining of immigration procedures and so forth.
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Dipu Moni's Delhi meet leaves burning issues untouched
Faisal Rahim
Foreign minister Dr Dipu Moni again used Hilsha fish and special Chamcham sweetmeat to grease the country's diplomatic wheel with Delhi, but on her return the country is still not aware what outcome she carried back from her first ever official visit and talks with Indian leaders.
As per the foreign ministry handout release, she did not even raise the Tipaimukh issue with Indian water resource minister while she met him in the Indian capital although it is increasingly agitating the common people here and slowly taking them to street actions.
She held discussion on broader water sharing issues and the need for holding meetings of the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) with Indian foreign minister S M Krishna and finance minister Pranab Mukherji who in fact works as the postbox of the two countries' burning issues.
Critical issues untouched
Security and trade issues, water transit through Ashuganj river port and fixation of undecided borders including exchange of enclaves came up for discussion in the meetings, news reports said. But critical issues like transit and Tipaimukh were conspicuously absent in discussion as the released statements from both sides showed.
Dipu Moni said she did not feel like raising the Tipaimukh issue with Indian minister on the basis of Indian Prime Minister Dr Monohon Singh's earlier assurance that Delhi will not do anything, which will bring embarrassment to Sheikh Hasina. On some other occasions she reiterated the Indian assurances which said Delhi will not withdraw water from Tipaimukh dam to cause problem in the downstream and so there is nothing to worry about it.
Critical watch on persons
In fact working on India's verbal assurance, Sheikh Hasina's government is maintaining a critical watch on persons of different organizations who are talking the Tipaimukh issue seriously from environmental and national security viewpoints and taking all steps to put down any movement.
Like Monmohon Singh, Sheikh Hasina also does not want to see here growing any anti-Indian movement which may put Indian leadership in the dock. But to the real issue whether the Indian government will stop the Tipaimukh project is still in the dark. As all indication show, Delhi is committed to implement even though local communities are also vehemently opposing it for saving their existence.
Farakka Barrage: 1974
Even on Farakka Barrage issue, analysts here say, India gave all assurance of protecting Bangladesh's legitimate interest when it commissioned the barrage in 1974. But later development showed the northwestern part of Bangladesh is drying up from shortage of river waters and desertification is fast advancing to turn riverbeds into sand dunes. In respect of Tipaimukh the same may happen to the country's northeast, analysts say.
News report prior to her departure for Delhi said, Dipu Moni would hold discussion on a package deal over several issues. But on her return there is no clear statement on the outcome as to what serious issue came up in the package and if she had any divergence of views on critical issues.
The statement from Delhi and on return to Dhaka said the leaderships from both the countries are working on schemes which will take the people-to-people relations of both the countries to a new height. Foreign office, moreover said Dipu Moni's visit to Delhi may be viewed as preparatory to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Delhi next month. But during her forthcoming visit, the first one since her becoming prime minister, will not see signing of any agreement, some news report quoted official sources here focusing on her visit.
AH: Corridor for India
But Sheikh Hasina's government here is not sitting idle either. The cabinet has already approved the Bangladesh portion of the Asian Highway (AH) from Jessore and Banglabandha in Dinajpur as entry points to Tamabil in Sylhet as the exit point to re-enter it again to India. It will then cross to Myanmar at Tamu point over Mijoram to run eastward.
Sheikh Hasina told Parliament last week that she would not risk isolation of the country from the global network on so-called concerns over security issues. She said Bangladesh would maintain its control over this section of the highway, so there is no cause of concern at all.
This is how she is opening the transit corridor for India; analysts here believe pointing out it may create new problems for Bangladesh at the end. Both the countries will then sign a transit protocol to use the Asian Highway for transportation of goods and passengers. Since Bangladesh will have to use the Indian part of the AH to go to Myanmar, it will have to agree to give transit to India on reciprocal basis.
Narrow hilly paths, insurgency
But given the long terrain and hilly narrow paths and security risks in the Seven Sisters of Indian northeast from operating insurgency, businessmen or tourists from here to East Asia are not likely to use it or benefit from it either. Yet the Awami League government may then sign such agreement to open the corridor to Indian traffic.
News report said World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) are bringing increasing pressure on the Awami League-led grand coalition government to agree to the present Asian Highway routes to give transit facility to Delhi under the cover of the global network.They are using the corridor facility as a condition to loans that the government is now seeking from both the agencies to build the Padma bridge which is an election pledge of the government and viewed as a big political investment to strengthen Awami League (AL) vote bank in the country's southwest. The US government is also working behind the move to bring strategic advantage to its newly discovered regional ally.
Delhi's strategic scores
Analysts here believe the present AL government is behaving like a subservient one. Most of the ministers, besides foreign minister Dipu Moni are increasingly speaking for Indian strategic advantage in the name of regional connectivity. Finance minister AMA Muhith said recently Bangladesh as a transit country would benefit the most from it. Commerce minister Faruq Khan vowed to open Chittagong and Mongla ports to Indian business under the so-called ambitious scheme of making them regional business hub. Everything is going here to fulfill Delhi's strategic scores. The only thing absent or out of visibility here is formal Dhaka-Delhi contacts. It may be part of a skillful designed strategy to avoid demonstrative effect on the common people.
Political analysts here say the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohon Singh's policy of 'not doing anything may bring embarrassment to Sheikh Hasina.' It sounds like saying that India has put big investment in her and so it is careful not to put her to risk. But the question is whether Mr Singh hears the cries of the common people here as much as he bothers the political stake of Sheikh Hasina as their big friend in Bangladesh.
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Brig. Khaled wanted Kh. Moshtaque to continue as President
Holiday Correspondent in New York
The US Ambassador Boster in his primary assessment report on the incident that happened during first week of November, 1975, stated that there were three different governments in Bangladesh until November 7, but they had no evidence that either of them was pro-Indian or pro-Soviet or anti-American. The report stated that Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf, the Chief of the Army General Staff, had personal rivalry with Major General Ziaur Rahman who was promoted to Chief of Army Staff after the coup of "August 15, 1975."
Not only that, Khaled Mosharraf even wanted that Moshtaque Ahmed should continue as President of the country. In a contradictory remark, the report mentioned that "there was possibility of Indian intervention, which could be avoided by the narrowest margin, it stated that they had no evidence that India was involved in any one of the incidents of November 1975. The report further revealed that Mosharraf was unaware about the jail killing, when (he) was negotiating with Khodoker Moshtaque Ahmed conceding the departure of the army Majors, who were in control of the governmental affairs after the August 15, coup. The report which was sent from Dhaka on November 10, 1975 has recently been released by the office of the Historian of the Department of State.
The then US ambassador to Dhaka Mr Boster sent the report (Subject: Last Week in Bangladesh in Retrospect) through telegram No 5470 from Embassy of Dhaka to Washington D.C and that was simultaneously sent to American Embassy in Bangkok, Colombo, Islamabad, Kabul, Kathmandu, Moscow, New Delhi, Rangoon, Peking, American Consul office in Calcutta and US Commander in Chief of Pacific Command (CINCPAC) for Political Adviser.
Though the whole document was released, still many issues like (a) how the Indian intervention could be avoided; (b) who were the army majors, who had total grip on Mushtaque government; (c) the name of the army officers who were killed along with their wives; (d) who were the army officers, who did not like Mosharraf and (e) what was the function of the Chief Martial Law Administrator Justice A S M Sayem remained unanswered.
The content of the telegram report is being published for the Holiday readers verbatim:
"1. It may be useful to offer a capsule summary of the chaotic events of last week in Bangladesh which saw three different governments, much killing and the avoidance of civil war, with attendant possibility of Indian intervention, by the narrowest margins. This account is based on the best information available to the embassy from all sources.
Brig. Khaled's ambition
2. The confrontation between Brigadier Mosharraf, Chief of the Army General Staff, who had been embittered by his failure to share in the promotion, received by some of his colleagues after the assassination of President Mujib by the Majors in August 15 and who was also believed to be on a list of army officers to be investigated -- which had recently been drawn up by the Majors, began in the early hours of Monday Morning, November 3. We don't know positively whether Mosharraf was the architect of the confrontation, as many contend, or whether, as one good source has told us, he simply went along with subordinates who were determined to end the special role of the Majors in the Moshtaque Government, a role which resulted among other things in the harassment of some of the military officers. This source also held that one of Mosharraf's objectives- although he was undoubtedly mindful of the personal glory that might await him-was to take control of his subordinates' plans in such a way as to avoid major bloodshed.
3. Brig. Mosharraf and his allies quickly took control, early Monday morning of the cantonment as well as most of the city of Dhaka and pressed their confrontation with the Moshtaque government by flying a Mig fighter and armed helicopter over the city in a show of strength which was also intended to intimidate the tank crews loyal to the government.
Against this background, Brig. Mosharraf placed four demands on Moshtaque: (1) That Mosharraf replace Major General Ziaur Rahman, his personal rival, as Chief of Staff (2) That the majors be returned to regular army discipline; (3) That the tank forces loyal to the government be disarmed; and (4) That Moshtaque remain in office. Outgunned and apparently intend above all on avoiding bloodshed, which would also have invited Indian intervention, Moshtaque eventually yielded after negotiating during the course of a long day for compromise with Brig. Mosharraf by which the majors and some of their colleagues, to whom Moshtaque was indebted for his presidency, were permitted to depart Bangladesh.
Before this compromise had been reached, the Moshtaque Government had called on the army forces at Comilla to come to its aid but had been refused on the ground that the Comilla Commander would only respond to the orders of the Chief of Army Staff (who was then under arrest) or the Chief of the General Staff (Mosharraf).
Brig. Khaled and Majors' departure
4. The confrontation brought another bloody result which, we have good reason to believe, had been part of an earlier contingency plan to be carried out in the event that Moshatque were to be killed, i.e. the murder of his former colleagues in the Awami League Party leadership who were now his political enemies--former Prime Minister Monsoor Ali, former Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam, former Prime Minister, Finanace Minister and Indophile Tajuddin Ahmed, and former Industries Minister Kamruzzaman. These leaders were killed, evidently by order of one or more of the Majors, early Monday morning at Dacca Central Jail. The event added a note of mystery to Brig. Khaled Mosharraf's acquiescence to the departure of the Majors later in the day, one version having it that Mosharraf did not yet know when the plane left Dhaka at midnight Monday. Many observers also noted that one effect of the murders was to remove the logical leadership of any pro-Indian Government.
5. With the explosive situation defused to a degree by the departure of the majors, negotiations between Moshtaque and Mosharraf continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in Mosharraf's designation as Chief of Staff late Tuesday night, and eventually in Moshtaque's resignation early Thursday morning with the simultaneous announcement that a non-political figure, Chief Justice A.S.M Sayem, would be appointed President. Sayem was sworn in on Thursday and promptly dissolved the parliament. Reports, which we accept, were rife that the cabinet had already resigned in protest against the murder of the former government leaders.
Brig. Mosharraf ousted
6. But it now become clear that Brig. Mosharraf's assumption of power in the army was unpalatable to most of his fellow officers and enlisted ranks, both because General Zia evidently held a much wider popular following among them but also, and very importantly, because Mosharraf was widely seen, whether accurately or not, as an instrument of Indian policy. This perception was buttressed by the pro-Mujib procession on Tuesday and Wednesday's hartal to protest the killings at Dacca jail. The lower ranks revolt in the early hours of Friday morning, quickly overthrowing Mosharraf's forces and, according to virtually all accounts, killing Mosharraf.
Extensive firing went throughout the city all night and all during the day Friday, most of it celebratory after Brig. Mosharraf was ousted. One authoritative source has told us that only about 30 were killed in the overthrow; other reports reached us which put the figure in the hundreds.
Revolt and new problem
7. The successful revolt of the lower ranks now brought a new problem, the rampant indiscipline of the enlisted men, many of whom now turned on officers against whom they might have grudges and others began presenting demands on the army leadership for a better deal in their future treatment. Widespread reports were current throughout the weekend that large numbers of military officers had fled or were at least staying away from the cantonment out of fear of the rampaging sepoys and several reports reached us of the murder of military officers and of their wives.
8. Meanwhile the post-Mosharraf government took shape in a meeting early Friday morning between General Zia, Moshtaque and presumably other principal aides. Moshtaque was offered the presidency anew but declined on the ground that, in the still explosive situation, the country required a non-political, non controversial President. Consequently the decision was reached to keep Justice Sayem in the presidency and to turn over to him as well the functions of Chief Martial Law Administrator, a role which had been filled briefly by General Zia. We were pointedly assured that these arrangements enjoyed full support both within the military and within the political leadership so that the way was now clear for the restoration of stability in the country.
9. As of Monday morning, November 10, the situation had returned to an apparent normalcy, with international air service resumed on Sunday, but the general uneasiness was still being fed by reports of continued killings among the military and of possible Indian actions along the border. The prospect was for, at best, a continued state of tension and uncertainty.
Anti-Indian overtones
10. Comment. Three conclusions implicit in the above account should be underlined. The first is that the actions of the main participants in the coup and counter-coup appear to have been non-political, except in the sense that Mosharraf had the additional disadvantage of appearing to be pro-Indian. The army forces which overthrew Moshtaque and the majors, appear to have acted primarily out of a sense of grievance against the Majors. The counter -coup was the work of lower ranks who far preferred Zia to Mosharraf and who were also concerned where Mosharraf's loyalty might lie. We have no reason to believe that the regime of the past week was anti- American, pro- Indian or pro-Soviet in character.
11. The second is that we have no evidence that India was responsible for any of the week's actions.
12. The third is the confirmation of how strongly and pervasively anti-Indian antipathies are felt here -- from the top of the leadership to the lowest groups of society, although we have no evidence that Brig. Khaled Mosharraf was pro-Indian, and some say that he was not; he was widely identified as such and the wild celebration here of his overthrow carried distinctly anti- Indian overtones. Boster."
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Saifur Rahman passes away
Holiday Report
Bangladesh's longest serving finance minister and a veteran BNP leader M Saifur Rahman succumbed to fatal injuries following a road accident on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway on Saturday afternoon. A 77-year-old veteran political leader, Saifur Rahman was travelling to the capital when his car spun out of control after the driver tried to skirt a cow on the busy Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
A professional chartered accountant who completed his higher study in London, Saifur Rahman was hurled in politics by the late president Ziaur Rahman during the crucial rebuilding period of the nation in late 1970s.
Mr. Rahman who co-owned the famed accountancy firm Rahman Rahman Haque had since placed 12 national budgets during his three separate tenures at the helm of the finance ministry.
A BNP standing committee member, Saifur served president Zia as an adviser and then served his cabinet first as commerce minister and later as finance minister.
After Zia's death, he served as finance minister under President justice Abdus Sattar and later with Begum Khaleda Zia between 1991-96 and again between 2001-06.
His reforms during his first tenure under Khaleda Zia is widely credited with putting the country on the free market path and stabilising the country's macro economic health in the ensuing decades.
M Saifur Rahman was laid to rest beside her wife's grave at the family graveyard in Moulavibazar on Monday.
Immediately after the accident on Saturday, the body of the former finance minister was brought to his Gulshan house in the city. The funeral programme was delayed by one day as his eldest son, Naser Rahman, was in Saudi Arabia to observe umrah.
On the following day, his namaje janaja was held first at Gulshan Azad Mosque and later BNP central office premises at Naya Paltan.
Opposition BNP observed a three-day mourning programme to pay tribute to the veteran leader with party flag hoisted at half-mast and putting up a black flag at the BNP central office in Naya Paltan. BNP also opened a condolence for paying homage to the memory of the veteran leader at the Gulshan office of party chairperson.
Foreign diplomats political leaders, business leaders and the people different walks of life put their signature on the condolence book .
Meanwhile, President Zillur Rahman and Acting Awami League president Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury expressed deep shock over the sudden death of former finance minister M Saifur Rahman. Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-Ul-Alam also such a statement of condolence on hearing of the death. Finance minister A M A Muhith described the sudden death of veteran BNP leader M Saifur Rahman terming it "a loss to the nation". "Saifur Rahman was my friend and Sylhet has lost a son to be proud of," Muhith told the press shortly after Rahman's death. "The nation will long remember his contribution to the economy of the country," said Muhith. He said Bangladesh had lost a true patriot in Rahman, and extended his sympathies to the family. US government has also condoled the death of veteran BNP leader M Saifur Rahman, who was Bangladesh's longest serving finance minister. "We are shocked and saddened by the death of former finance minister M Saifur Rahman and extend our condolences to his family," said a press statement issued by the local American Centre Saturday afternoon. "We recall Saifur Rahman's critical role in improving the lives and bringing prosperity to millions of Bangladeshis by opening Bangladesh's economy and promoting free market reforms," said the statement. Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohon Sing, who had a good rapport with Saifur Rahman, sent a message to condole the death of Saifur Rahman whom he praised as a renowned economist. Bangladesh has lost a leader while the region has lost a renowned economist, Manmohon said.
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Gen Moeen's fun with the law
Hafiz Shamseer
The diminutive and cunning army general, whose atrocious exhibition of disloyalty to the land and the people saw the present rulers pitchforked in to power, has now knocked at the door of law while still running from it.
Slipping out of the Dhaka Cantonment through the backdoor soon after his retirement and whisked into a plane bound for the West, Moeen U Ahmed is now whiling his time away as a diaspora in Florida. He has no apparent plans to return to his own country because his beneficiary, the Awami League, is reluctant to guarantee his security.
A lawyer for this general filed a petition with the Third District Judge's court at Dhaka last Tuesday seeking a decree that the defamation case filed against him by the former state minister for energy Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku be quashed.
Why does he want it quashed? Why doesn't he appear before the court to say whatever he may have got to say? Why does he not fight the case with the proof that he was right? These are the questions the "brave" general is not quite in a mood to answer.
At a tea party in honour of freedom fighters on 27 March, 2007, Moeen, then in complete command of the statecraft, charged that the "corrupt politicians" had siphoned off at least Taka 200 billion from the energy sector alone during the five years of BNP rule. He sent Tuku, his wife and daughter in jail and started corruption cases against them that got to nowhere due to lack of evidence.
Freed on bail after the AL government took over, Tuku filed a damage suit for Taka one billion against Moeen on charges of defaming him in the eyes of the people. He said the total budget for the energy sector during the period was Taka 150 billion. How then was it possible to stash away 50 billion taka more than the amount budgeted? He asked.
He appealed to the court to ask Moeen to reply to the charges. Sensing danger, Moeen secretly left the shore and pitched himself in Florida where he has some kinsmen to look after him.
Much deeper cannot be delved on the merit of Moeen's petition because the whole issue is now a sort of sub-judice, or under consideration of law. But one shouldn't be wrong to believe that the former general's latest move is designed to make some fun with the law. He is clearly trying to circumvent the question of his gross misdemeanour by bringing irrelevant and extraneous issues. For example, he says the defamation case against him was filed by anti-liberation forces who do not want to give Sheikh Mujibur Rahman due honour as the father of the nation. How a defamation case can be germane to honouring Sheikh Mujib is a catch-22 that only Moeen and men of his ilk can decipher.
The irony is that Moeen's past role does in no way suggest he was all for the freedom fighting. He was not in the army when the liberation war began and, except for his elder brother, none of his family members are known to have ever joined the freedom fighting.
Moeen joined the army on 11 January 1975. He had been considered as an officer of no special variety; his academic record is by no means brilliant, although he did his NDC and attended courses in the School of Intelligence in USA, and got a fellowship from Harvard University as one of the officers of the Bangladesh army. Four of his Bangladeshi colleagues had much more brilliant academic and military records than him. But when Begum Khaleda Zia became the prime minister, she chose Moeen as the army chief on 15 June 2005 superseding his colleagues with relatively superior background.
That probably was Begum Zia's biggest blunder. She didn't have the foggiest clue that Moeen could be a dark horse of dangerous consequences.
Moeen didn't take much time to plot a demolition of BNP. He built up secret rapport with some Awami League stalwarts. Moeen played a surreptitious role in creating anarchy on frivolous grounds. He encouraged the infamous logi-boitha show in Dhaka that killed some people who were not at one with the anarchists. In fact the ground was perfect for the strike. Hence came the notorious 1/11. The rest of the story hasn't yet faded away from public memory.
It was not "minus two" that the people were fooled to believe. It was "annihilate BNP". All the prominent leaders of the party which swept to power three times were sent to jail, most of them with frivolous charges. Some of the leaders were sorted out inside the interrogation cells. Begum Zia's eldest son, Tareq Rahman, was brutally assaulted until his spine broke down. From a healthy young man, he turned into a sick man unable to move. Despite eight months of recuperation in London, he is not physically on his own. The wild allegation that he accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars through stash and graft has almost evaporated, with no sign of that money. Khaleda's younger son, Arafat Rahman, is half paralysed and is still in a Bangkok hospital. This is the price this family has paid for the offence that they are in politics. This is the price they have paid for believing in Moeen's loyalty.
"Betrayers survive only for a day, but not the whole year. Because much of what he has done starts recoiling on him". That's what Hemmingway had once said.
The quotation still stands, especially for Moeen U Ahmed.
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MENON FOR CANCELLING OIL-GAS DEAL
Independent MP wants Tipaimukh report discussed in the house
Special Correspondent
Taking the floor on a point of order in the Parlaimant, Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon MP condemned the police attack and brutalities committed on the procession of the National Committee on the Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports last week that left dozens including its member secretary professor Anu Muhammed injured.
The demonstrators were attempting to besiege Petrobangla headquarters at Karwan Bazaar over recent exploration deals with two international companies.
Menon urged the prime minister to cancel the offshore oil and gas exploration deals with ConocoPhillips and Tullow Oil plc in three sea blocks in the resource-rich Bay.
Meanwhile, independent MP Fazlul Azim on Monday demanded that the parliamentary team which had gone to visit the Tipaimukh project site in India presents its visit report in parliament.
"The 10-member parliamentary team has submitted its report on return from Tipaimukh. Copies of the report have reached the prime minister and your office," Fazlul Azim told speaker Abdul Hamid. "I urge you to present the report in the parliament."
The speaker however responded that "No such report of the parliamentary team has reached me."
Azim was on the 10-member parliamentarians' team led by water resources ministry-related standing committee chairman Abdur Razzak that had visited Tipaimukh in northeastern Indian state of Manipur in end-July.
In absence of the opposition ruling Awami League-led alliance lawmakers burst into uproar on parliament floor Wednesday protesting a statement by a state minister that allegedly undermined the role of political leadership in Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war.
The sudden pandemonium broke out when state minister for liberation war affairs Tajul Islam while replying to a question in the House commented that armed forces led the country's liberation war. As the situation calmed down after nearly 15 minutes, the state minister took the floor again and answered. Tajul, a retired army officer-turned-politician, backtracked from his comment and said that the independence war was absolutely led by the political leadership.
'Bangladesh's War of Independence was a political war, and it was fought under a political leadership,' said the state minister, adding that he had joined the armed struggle as a student and got commission in army after the war.
The third session of the 9th parliament began on Monday with speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad urging the boycotting opposition lawmakers to return to the House and play their due role.
The lawmakers belonging to mainstream opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party, have been abstaining from parliamentary proceedings since the first session of the 9th parliament over a dispute regarding seating arrangement in the House.
As decided by the Business Advisory Committee of parliament, the current session will split over seven sittings and run up to September 15, 2009 The House's business include placing of a few bills and their passage, call attention notices on matter of public importance, discussions on reports by parliamentary committees and regular question-answer sessions.
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Saudis to bail out Musharraf?
Former military President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf believes Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif would get a "strong" message from King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, during his forthcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, to change his stiff stand against the ousted leader, the retired general's close aides have hinted.
They claim that Nawaz Sharif would be asked to "honour the international guarantees and commitments" clinched with the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia at the time of Musharraf's resignation as the president of Pakistan and about which he was fully aware. They say a key element of these do's and don'ts was that Musharraf would be a free man, facing no embargo on his movements while going out of and coming in Pakistan and would not be prosecuted anywhere on any account.
-Internet
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GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Cary Grant
K Z Islam
Archibald Alexander Leach (1904 - 1986), better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was a British-American actor. With his distinctive yet not quite place able Mid-Atlantic accent, he was noted as perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man, handsome, virile, charismatic and charming.
In 1937 he became freelance, which he remained, choosing his films carefully and developing a light comedy touch. Over the next thirty years he was to make many huge box-office successes, taking a percentage rather than a fee. He changed his name legally in 1941 and became an American citizen in June 1942. Among his many sophisticated and "screwball" comedies, romantic comedies, and comedy thrillers, perhaps the best remembered are Bringing Up Baby (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). He worked with some of the best directors and with stars such as Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly. Above all, it was (Sir) Alfred Hitchcock who saw beyond the light comedian and jaunty man-about-town, giving him more subtle parts and being responsible for three of his best films, Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946) and especially North by Northwest (1959). In 1966, at the age of sixty-two, he appeared in a part other than romantic lead for the first time. Not relishing the role of elderly character actor, and perhaps bored after seventy-two films, he made no more.
In the mid-1950s, Grant formed his own production company, Grantley Productions, and produced a number of movies distributed by Universal, such as Operation Petticoat (1959), Indiscreet (1958), That Touch of Mink (co-starring with Doris Day, 1962), and Father Goose (1964). In 1963, he appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963). His last feature film was Walk, Don't Run (1966) with Samantha Eggar.
Grant was once considered a maverick as he was the first actor to "go independent," effectively bucking the old studio system, which almost completely controlled what an actor could or could not do. In this way, Grant was able to control every aspect of his career. He decided which movies he was going to appear in, he had personal choice of the directors and his co-stars and at times, even negotiated a share of the gross, something unheard of at the time, but now common among A-list stars.
For many years one of the most glamorous and wealthy stars in Hollywood, playing opposite top actresses from Jean Harlow in the 1930s to Leslie Caron over a generation later, he was widely seen as an amiable performer who always played himself and, somewhat unjustly, was not taken seriously as an actor. He was nominated for the Best Actor award in 1941 and 1944 but did not win the Oscar. He finally got recognition from his peers in 1969 when, his film career over, the Academy belatedly gave him the survivor's consolation prize, an honorary award. The public loved him, however, and most of his films did well at the box office, some of them spectacularly so.
In 2001 a statue of Grant was erected in Millennium Square, a regenerated area next to the harbour in his city of birth, Bristol, England.
In November 2004, Grant was named "The Greatest Movie Star of All Time" by Premiere Magazine. Richard Schickel, the film critic, said about Grant: "He's the best star actor there ever was in the movies."
Ian Fleming stated that he partially had Cary Grant in mind when he created his suave super-spy, James Bond. Sean Connery was selected for the first James Bond movie because of his likeness to Grant. Likewise, the later Bond, Roger Moore, was also selected for sharing Grant's wry sense of humour
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PHILANTHROPISTS URGED TO CONTRIBUTE
Asiatic Society kicks off landmark Bangla dictionary project
Abdur Rahman Khan
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, the oldest and largest research organisation in the country, has undertaken an ambitious project of publishing a comprehensive Bangla academic dictionary in five volumes.
Since the world's fifth largest population speaks Bangla both inside and outside Bangladesh, a comprehensive academic dictionary in Bangla is urgently needed, explained Professor Sirajul Islam, president of the Society.
He mentioned the existing Bangla dictionary, published by Bangla Academy, is a modified version of what West Bengal had earlier produced as a commercial dictionary. But the scholars in both Bangladesh and West Bengal are feeling the necessity of a comprehensive Bangla academic dictionary, Professor Islam asserted.
"Compilation of the Large Bangla Dictionary is a giant project to be completed in five years at an estimated cost of nine crore taka," Professor Islam told The Holiday, adding that a 15-member editorial board has been formed with Professor Muhammad Abdul Qayum, a well-recognised linguist of the country, as the Chief Editor.
A regional team of researchers including the local experts would gather information about the language as practised in a locality, its varied expressions, usage and interpretations for making the compilation in a systematic way, he said.
Asiatic Society, established in 1952 with historian Dr Ahmad Hasan Dani as its first General Secretary, operates as a non-profit and non-political charitable association. It receives an annual funding support from the government to maintain its administrative expenditure while the major research works and publications are carried out with private endowments from philanthropists.
Over the last two decades, the Society has established four trust funds of its own while another 22 private trusts have been formed by the philanthropists for promoting research in arts, culture, science and history. Under a policy formulated in 1984, the Society is encouraging the patrons of learning to set up trust to promote the causes of knowledge on a permanent and institutional basis.
The Society with 1,700 scholar members organises at least one scholarly lecture every month. Besides, the Society arranges Trust Fund lectures, special lectures, seminars and conferences to share and disseminate thought-provoking knowledge and ideas.
The Society also maintains a library of rare collections of books, journals and old manuscripts. It caters to the need of researchers and scholars from home and abroad.
Since 2006, the Society has been holding an annual folk festival featuring digital documentation of the traditional aspects of folk culture, which are under threat of extinction. With the objective of collecting, preserving and displaying the folk artefacts and music, the Society has also established a folk museum.
Being shy of media publicity, the scholars are working silently to complete the important projects. The Society has been contributing to the nation effectively in developing its intellectual backbone. The Society is publishing three bi-annual journals containing research articles contributed by the scholars and researchers.
To its credit, the Society has achieved landmark success by completing the projects like Dhaka: Past, Present and Future (1991), History of Bangladesh: 1704-1971 in three volumes (1992), Gour-Pandua-Lakhanavati, 3 volumes (1997), Banglapedia in 10 volumes (2003) and Cultural Survey of Bangladesh in 12 volumes (2008).
"All of our publications are available both in Bangla and English," said Professor Sirajul Islam, adding that they are also producing CD and online version of their publications for wider use.
Banglapedia, a pride project of the Society, involved 1,200 scholars to produce 7,000 articles on varied subjects. Banglapedia is also linked with leading universities and global online search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Encouraged by the huge response, the Society has engaged itself in producing the second edition of Banglapedia in an extended format. It will include two auxiliary publications- the Junior Banglapedia and the Banglapedia online biography.
Biography of noted personalities having worthy contributions to different spheres of life will be included in the Online Banglapedia. The Junior Banglapedia will be produced in three volumes having print, CD and online versions. The first volume will focus on Bangladesh affairs, the second volume will cover the world affairs and the third volume will be on science, Professor Islam said
Referring to ongoing projects, Professor Islam said the Society is now engaged with another pride project, Dhaka's 400 years that would be compiled in 22 original publications. The encyclopedia on Dhaka city will be completed with the A to Z street map of the city.
Another landmark project, "Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh," is in progress. The ongoing projects also include conservation of Nimtoli Dewry. The medieval structure would be conserved to house a cultural museum, Professor Sirajul Islam said. Hundreds of scholars are working around us with outmost dedication and without caring for media publicity, said the Society President calling upon the philanthropists and well-off people to contribute spontaneously to help enhance the knowledge base and thus help the nation grow intellectually stronger keeping abreast with the world community.
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Nato airstrike killings in Afghanistan another thorn in US-Muslim ties
Fazle Rashid in New York
President Obama's bid to befriend the Muslim world was dealt a severe blow after the Nato airstrike that killed 90 civilians in Afghanistan very recently. The incident became more poignant as it took place during the holy month of Ramadan. Mounting civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Pakistan, despite the US and Nato efforts to minimise it, have earned them scorn of the people in general and made the Karzai government unpopular.
The incident, which took place in the northern Kunduz province, came after two tankers were highjacked by the Taliban from Nato. The airstrike was ordered by German commanders. The Nato forces have been fighting the Taliban for the past eight years amid waning public support in the US and Europe. The casualty figure is contested. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is seeking a second term in the office in election to be held on Sept 27, and her defence minister Franz Josep Jung have been under blistering attack from her opponent over the controversial airstrike. Germany has not set a date for withdrawal of its 4,200 troops from Afghanistan.
Germany defended itself against growing international criticism of a devastating airstrike that saw huge civilian casualties. The episode has been a debacle for the Nato forces. It has also exposed the rifts between allies over different approaches to fighting the war in Afghanistan. Nato has ordered an investigation into the bombing. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has written "a searing critique of the government efforts at strategic communication with the Muslim world saying no amount of public relations will establish credibility, if American behaviour overseas is perceived as arrogant, uncaring or insulting."
The critique by the chairman comes as the United states is widely believed to be losing ground in the war of ideas against extremist Islamist ideology. The issue is particularly relevant as the Obama administration orders fresh efforts to counter militant propaganda, as part of its broader strategy to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the New York Times reported.
Though President Obama has distanced himself from the stand his predecessor George Bush took on the Muslim world, "the perception of America as an arrogant oppressor has not changed noticeably, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, where American forces remained engaged in war, and in Pakistan, where American-launched missiles aimed at militants have killed civilians, the same paper said. Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, shared the concern of Admiral Mike Mullen telling his entourage that America is widely despised, because it was obsessed with the 'finding and killing of Osama bin Laden.'
This September President Obama faces big foreign policy choices, the ones he avoided during his first seven months in office. Obama has to make a call on how many more troops to send to Afghanistan, how and whether to increase pressure on Iran in light of the deadline set by the US and whether to meet Arab expectations that he will make a forceful proposal to resolve the Israeli and Palestinian conflict once and for all, the Financial Times in an essay said.
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