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OPPOSITION VOICES GETTING LOUDER
Hasina's weak Govt. in horns of dilemma
Sadeq Khan
The youthful government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, secure with its overwhelming majority in the parliament and its post-election honeymoon with the media, is nevertheless finding itself in the horns of a dilemma. Inexperienced ministers and state ministers in the cabinet, including some of their senior colleagues like the Finance Minister AMA Muhith, indeed a youthful old-timer with sunshine temperament, are often being tempted by media focus to talk volubly and at cross purposes. No wonder, disgruntled insiders of her grand alliance, old guards and backbenchers alike, are voicing a loud enough murmur aside that her present cabinet is but a cruel joke played by the unhappy leader on her volatile voters. She is unhappy, despite the massive mandate she obtained in polls, as she is unsure about the absolute loyalty of the public and also of her own party apparatus and state machinery to her dynastic command...[ FULL STORY ]
Gaziul Haque passes away
Holiday Report
Gaziul Huq, a vanguard of the great language movement, died at city's Square Hospital on Wednesday after suffering from prolonged ailments and old age complications.
Haque was one of the veteran of the 1952 Language Movement, and had since played an active role in all the democratic movements in the then East Pakistan through the 1971 independence war, simultaneously championing the contemporary socio-cultural issues and causes all along...[ FULL STORY ]
BANGLADESH STILL DEAF, DUMB
India submits report on continental shelf claim to UNCLCS
Moinuddin Naser in New York
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) will include the Indian submission of its claim on the Bay of Bengal for discussion in its 25th session to be held in New York in March-April 2010. The Executive Summary of the submission, which was gathered by the Holiday Correspondent, shows that India has claimed that the submission is 'partial' and as such India reserves the right to further extend the claim on the Bay of Bengal.
Though the submission was made on 11May 2009, again India updated it on 27 May in accordance with Article 76, paragraph 8, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea...[ FULL STORY ]
Opaque law governs Muslim charity in US
Fazle Rashid in New York
The Muslim charitable institutions in the US are facing severe shortage of funds due to strict oversight by the administration. The fight against terrorism has dealt a harsh blow to Muslim charities and interfered with their donors' religious freedom, the New York Times in a report said quoting a study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Overly broad laws have been enforced indiscriminately thus starving the Islamic charities of money.
ACLU produced the report after talking to over 100 Muslim community leaders across the US. The US is the most secular country in the world. This is an incontrovertible fact. But the fight against terrorism has had some adverse impact. ACLU said nine Islamic charitable agencies had been shut down after being accused of fostering terrorism...[ FULL STORY ]
THE TRILLION TAKA BUDGET
A mix bag for businessmen and people
Faisal Rahim
Finance minister AMA Muhuth presented the Taka 1,13,819 crore budget for FY2009-10 last week before the Parliament terming it as the beginning of a new journey of Awami League-led grand coalition government to implement its charter of change.
But the budget criticism over the week-end showed stakeholders including business and industrial community have been more frustrated saying it has overloaded them with fresh tax burden and had brought them little benefits.
The entire textile sector including BGMEA, BKMEA and BTMA decried the budget for ignoring their problems. They expected a share of the bail out package to face the impact of the global economic recession. But finance minister, they said, remained indifferent to their problems in his budget speech. The leaders of these trade associations have demanded review of the budgetary approach to bring relief to this sector...[ FULL STORY ]
Hamas accepts two-state solution conditionally
Islamic Hamas movement will accept a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel, its deposed premier Ismail Haneya said in Gaza City last Tuesday.
"We welcome and push for achieving this dream if there was a real project aimed at settling the Palestinian cause," Haneya said in a joint news conference with visiting former U.S. president Jimmy Carter in Gaza city. Haneya added that the Palestinian statehood should be within the 1967 border "with sovereignty and full Palestinian rights and with Jerusalem as its capital...[ FULL STORY ]
WFP REPORT SAYS
Financial crisis hastens hunger in Bangladesh
Our Correspondent in New York
Bangladeshi people are coping with the financial crisis by reducing their number of meals eaten per day and embracing hunger as their part of life, according to a report released by United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The study report released on June 11, 2009 to coincide with the meeting in Rome of development ministers of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialised nations, calls on Governments to boost their safety nets for their poorest citizens.
The report added that the global financial crisis has hit the world's poor and hungry - and their situation is set to get even worse, according to a new study by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)...[ FULL STORY ]
CITIZENS MUST MOVE AGAINST INDIAN AGGRESSION
Govt. inactive: Tipaimukh dam will endanger Bangladesh's existence
M. Shahidul Islam
Lessons of history could be painful or inspiring, but they can only be ignored at great perils. The South Asian nations having experienced agonizing lessons in the past, it's time for the new generation to grasp the reality and learn how to use those throbbing lessons for the benefit of the posterity.
As a nation, our experience with the impact of the Farakka Barrage remains one of mixed anger and disillusionment. Yet, the blame can be poured on none but us alone.
Ayub, Mujib eras
When India started constructing the Farakka Barrage in 1960,
President Ayub Khan managed to put a stoppage on it by saying, "I will bomb the hell out of that barrage as it will kill my people by depriving them of water." Ever since, much of what led to the 1965 Indo-Pak war and the subsequent break up of Pakistan through another war in 1971 remains hidden in that particular threat...[ FULL STORY ]
CHINA'S CHEQUEBOOK DIPLOMACY
Beijing offers $10b loan to SCO members
Chinese President Hu Jintao said last Tuesday in Russia that China will provide a $10 billion loan to member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to shore up their economies amid the global financial crisis.
Hu announced this in his speech while attending the SCO summit at Yekaterinburg in Russia on Tuesday. He said that China will also organize visits of trade and investment promotion delegations to other SCO member states to boost two-way trade and investment.
He reiterated that China will adhere to its commitments and continue to support multilateral and bilateral cooperation within the framework of the SCO. In the face of international financial crisis, China has adopted an active fiscal policy and a moderately loose currency policy, Hu said...[ FULL STORY ]
BNP leadership firm on district convening committees
Special Correspondent
BNP leadership appears to be rigid on their decision about the district convening committees in spite of the dissatisfaction at the grassroots level and violent resentment in some districts.
The anger is a temporary phenomenon as the convening committee was constituted only to elect a full-fledged committee through holding council in a couple of months, the central leaders believe.
In the party standing committee meeting last week, BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia expressed her annoyance over the reactions ventilated in a crude form of violence and public demonstrations by some grassroots leaders in some districts. ..[ FULL STORY ]
China, Myanmar to boost 'comprehensive, stable and lasting relations'
Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping (L) holds a welcome ceremony in honor of Maung Aye ®, vice-chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 16, 2009. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)
China would like to join with Myanmar to promote comprehensive, stable and lasting relations, Vice President Xi Jinping said Tuesday last in Beijing while welcoming Maung Aye, Myanmar State Peace and Development Council Vice-Chairman at the Great Hall of the People. China valued good-neighbourly relations with Myanmar, he added.
He said Myanmar was among the first group of countries that forged diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, and Sino-Myanmar relations had maintained good momentum...[ FULL STORY ]
THE BOTTOM LINE
Taher Quddus
My friend climbed to the roof of the twenty storied building. He nicely placed his portable TV, two flasks of coffee, some salted nuts and a big umbrella to project him and his stuff from rain or sun.
Seeing all the arrangement I was some what curious.
"What is happening? Why all these elaborate arrangement for?", I asked.
"I am going to watch the budget speech on TV. Good thing you are here - sit down and be comfortable. It is going to be a very important budget speech. All figures are likely to be big, he said.
"Why do you think so, and why have you chosen to be at the roof of this high building," I asked...[ FULL STORY ]
'Need for galvanising national pride, identity': Rudra
Abdur Rahman Khan with Habibullah Bahar Khan
Professor Tapan Kumar Rudra lives a retired life in his home town Kurigram. The northern bordering district commonly known as Monga and flood-prone region of the country.
However, the socio-cultural groups, the elites and progressive elements of the town feel proud of certain personalities, and definitely Professor Rudra is one of them. He is a teacher, an essayist, a poet and a story teller possessing charismatic power to hold the audience for hours.
Mr Tapan Rudra, a progressive student activist of Rajshahi University, had joined the profession of teaching after completing his post-graduation in 1974. He had served as an English language teacher in government colleges and finally retired from Begum Rokeya Governemnt College in 2008...[ FULL STORY ]
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