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FIFTH AMENDMENT CONTROVERSY
Nation heading towards
constitutional crisis?
M. Shahidul Islam
A debate gets as good as the debaters can lead it to. A controversy is not over until some acceptable threshold of incontrovertibility is established. And, a judgment remains flawed until the interplay and the sequences of causalities are delineated as satisfactorily so as to outweigh the onus of the defaults they aim to overcome...[ FULL STORY ]
RED ALERT IN GARMENT SECTOR
Ruling party members blamed
for the trouble
Abdur Rahman Khan
County's export oriented garments industries have been facing grave uncertainty posing a threat to the vital foreign currency earnings and job opportunity of the huge female workers.
It is the law and order situation that has been causing concern for the garments manufacturers and exporters of the country. A thrust sector of the country, the ready-made garments sector fetches as much as 76 per cent of our total export earnings by engaging 35 lakh workers, mostly female workers...[ FULL STORY ]
US GENERAL IN IRAQ SACKED
Pak-Afghan war against insurgency in bad shape, says NYT
Fazle Rashid in New York
The war against the rising tide of Islamic insurgency is not moving the way the participants would like to see. The combined military might of the US, Nato, Pakistan and Afghanistan have failed to make any significant headway. These four together have spent billions of dollars and used most modern lethal weapons to exterminate the Taliban and al-Qaeda activists without any tangible result. It is always difficult to defeat a "non state" enemy.
The situation prevailing along the Pak-Afghan border and in Iraq point to the growing might of the Islamic militants. Bangladesh is a rare exception. Dhaka seems to be planning to exterminate all semblance of the jihadists with the help of India which itself has no answer to the continuing onslaughts by the Jihadists...[ FULL STORY ]
BDR mutiny: Army inquiry report finds
no terrorist link
Holiday Report
The army inquiry commission has come out with the report on the BDR mutiny of February 25-26 dispelling rumours of involvement of any terrorist organisation and political party as a whole.
The 200-page report submitted to the Army Chief last week identified eleven causes behind the mutiny and suggested 27 recommendations in five categories. It has clearly identified the failure of intelligence agencies and the involvement of the Rifles Security Unit in the mutiny...[ FULL STORY ]
OF NOVICES AND NEW FACES
Diplomatic sojourns or private trips?
Faisal Rahim
The dividing line that separates diplomatic sojourn of ministers and senior state functionaries from private pleasure trip and individual tour is slowly getting mixed up in this country. It happened in the past but the new trend is becoming more noticeable inviting public attention and sharp criticism in the press.
The foreign adviser of the immediate past Caretaker Government Dr Iftekher Ahmed Chowdhury has the record 27 visits abroad during his two-year tenure in office. It was followed by Finance Adviser Dr ABM Azizul Islam who passed most of his tenure abroad in the name of attending conferences and seminars of World Bank, IMF and such other bodies...[ FULL STORY ]
Qulkhwani of Dr Wazed Mia held
Abdur Rahman Khan
The nation last week lost a noted nuclear scientist, Dr Wazed Mia, husband of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. His Namaj-e-janaza was held at Baitul Mokarram Mosque premises and at his village home in Peerganj, Rangpur, where he was laid to eternal rest.
The people saw the leader of the Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia visiting the Dhanmondi residence (Sudha Sadan) of Dr Wazed Mia to pay her tribute to an old family friend and console Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by getting close to her. Showing respect to the sad demise of Dr Wazed Mia, the opposition BNP also deferred its scheduled programme on the following day...[ FULL STORY ]
POLITICAL CHAOS IN NEPAL
No solution visible
Shamsuddin Ahmed
The political deadlock continued in Nepal since Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned on May 4 over the power struggle with President Ram Baran Yadav. Nepal Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have claimed success in cobbling up support of smaller parties to form majority and hoped of forming the new government in a couple of days. But reports emanating from Nepal media online said CPN (Maoist) said no coalition government without them will survive even a couple of days. It accused NC of heavily bribing the smaller parties to buy support...[ FULL STORY ]
OBAMA'S NEW MIDDLE EAST DIPLOMACY
US wants India, Israel, Pakistan,
N. Korea to sign NPT
Gabor Steingart
The Obama Adminis-tration is hoping to revive the peace process in the Middle East. Part of the strategy is to distance Washington from Israel.
The members of the leading pro-Israel lobby in the US were visibly moved as they listened to Vice President Joe Biden's speech early this month. It was music to the ears of the 6,500 delegates of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who had gathered in the Washington Convention Centre.
"With all the change you will hear about, there is one enduring, essential principle that will not change; and that is our commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel," he told his audience.
The delegates not only applauded Biden, they cheered him as loud as they could...[ FULL STORY ]
GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Benjamin Disraeli
K. Z. Islam
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was born in London and brought up as a member of the Anglican Church as his father Isaac had broken away from Judaism when Benjamin 9 years old. Of a lively intelligence, he learned quickly and by 17 considered himself, master of history, literature and the classics.
The Disraelis were moderate Tories but he leaned towards reform and radicalism, and in 1832 offered himself as a candidate for the High Wycombe seat but was defeated. Again defeated in Buckinghamshire in 1835 he boldly contested the London seat of Marylebone, and lost again...[ FULL STORY ]
Gonoshasthaya Kendra gets a
woman on the top
Abdur Rahman Khan
Social service, charitable works and volunteerism are the family tradition of Professor Altafunnessa, the new chief coordinator of the Gonoshasthaya Kendra, a centre of excellence in people's health movement in Bangladesh.
A longtime volunteer and trustee member of the Gonoshasthaya charitable trust, Altafunnessa was unanimously nominated by the board to become the first woman chief or the organization in its tradition to empower women in various field of activities, said Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, a freedom fighter and legendary figure in people's health movement.
Actually Altafunnessa become a part of Gonoshasthaya Kendra after her marriage with Zafrullah's childhood friend Mohammad Zakaria, a young shipping merchant of that time. Altafunness, then a young lecturer at Dhaka College, was married to M Zakaria on June 15, 1972 when Dr Zafrullah along with his comrades in arms started organizing the freedom fighters' field hospital at Eskaton in Dhaka...[ FULL STORY ]
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