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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)...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
Saifur Rahman passes away
Abdur Rahman Khan
Bewildered with manifold economic problems, the ruling Awami League (AL) appears to have been puzzled with many more self-sponsored political issues, poor governance and internal conflict.
The major challenges for the govenement was to tackle the galloping price spiral, restore law and order and ensure civic amenities. However, it prioritised political vendetta ignoring the public outcry for electricity and gas. ..[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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. ..[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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...[ FULL STORY ]
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