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CHANGING SOUTH ASIAN MATRIX
No land transit without proper study
Sadeq Khan
Interstate relations in South Asia have not yet registered any propensity to significant change in the wake of the new US President Barack Obama’s superpower resolve "Change We Can" reverberating around the world. However, like Israel which acted in a murderous hurry to inflict a devastating blow to Hamas in the Gaza strip and effect a paradigm shift for future Palestine peace negotiations, India also attempted to make the most of its Mumbai tragedy to flex its military and diplomatic muscles in a supremacist manner in the region.
Diplomatically, it moved to try excommunicate Pakistan as a source of the terror attack, and blew hot and cold about keeping its military options open for action again suspects in that country. Pakistan in turn sought to convince the West and the Obama team that while anti-American terror groups in Pakistan’s western tribal belt were the result of al-Qaeda infiltration compounded by Karzai government’s failure to accommodate Pushtoon "nationalism", on its eastern front anti-Indian terror groups derived their regenerative inspiration from the long-neglected Kashmir cause, which is as old as the Palestinian cause. Indeed British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, in line with declared Obama resolve to seek and address causes of terrorism, bought that argument and wrote in the British daily The Guardian about the need to resolve Kashmir dispute for peace and stability in South Asia...[ FULL STORY ]
Debate on T.I.F.A.
Experts prefer multilateralism
Faruque Ahmed
The US government has taken renewed initiative to finalise and sign the TIFA (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement) no sooner had the new government took office only three weeks ago. Observers suggest that at this stage the Government should not lend support to such a contentious agreement only with a motive to line up political support of a bigger nation; the issue calls for discussion in parliament and national consensus should be reached before taking a decision.
Analysts say Washington aims at creating a new platform to be dubbed as United States-Bangladesh Council on Trade and Investment with certain outlines of policies and actions for compliance from both sides to accelerate the pace of trade and investment between the two countries...[ FULL STORY ]
Moves to keep BNP away from
Parliament session
Shahriar Noori
The ruling Awami League (AL) is trying to keep Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) away from participating in the ongoing parliamentary session at least for a few days, it is reliably learnt. Because, they want the passage of most of the 122 ordinances, including some controversial ones, promulgated by the army-backed caretaker government (CG) during its two year tenure without any hue and cry in the parliament.
Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, now the Prime Minister and leader of the house, had promised earlier in 2007 prior to her departure for the United States that she would endorse all the actions of the caretaker government if voted to power...[ FULL STORY ]
BNP starts rebuilding its house
from grassroots
Abdur Rahman Khan
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that faced a serious organisational breakdown leading to a crushing defeat in the last parliamentary polls has initiated party reactivation programme beginning from the grassroots level.
At the first step, president, general secretary and organising secretary of the upazila, municipal units and district committee of the party has been issued letters asking them to come to Dhaka for consultation with the central office. In presence of designated central leaders of the party, the invited leaders will be asked to reply in writing to a set of questions regarding the present status of the unit and suggestions for reactivating the organisation...[ FULL STORY ]
ECONOMIC WOES AND PROSPECTS
Govt. seems unaware of lurking hazards
M. Shahidul Islam
Offering free advice to the Awami League (AL) regime may be an exercise in futility. Nevertheless, caution is worth articulating before things get much worse and the people need to be assured that the regime’s momentum towards chucking out its pre-election promises and treating the opposition as unwanted underdog will stop sooner.
Observers say, if this is the politics of change that the AL had pledged to the people, the nation is headed for troubles. For, the election of a deputy speaker from the ruling party on Jan. 25 was not a desirable thing within the House, on the very first day of the 9th parliament’s journey...[ FULL STORY ]
Upazila polls under AL regime
frustrate people
Special Correspondent
Upazila Election 2009, the first local government polls held under the new government of Awami League, has vividly manifested the aberrant political practices, contrary to what the ruling party had promised towards bringing qualitative change in politics.
The Upazila polls have been perceived by many as frustrating, primarily because of the unwarranted and illegal interference of ministers, MPs and Awami League party workers in a large number of Upazilas.
Amidst widespread allegations from the participating candidates, the Election Commission had to cancel results in seven upazilas. Earlier the commission postponed polls in six upazilas for violence and gross irregularities...[ FULL STORY ]
ALLEGED INFILTRATION OF BANGLADESHIS
Dhaka to face a new diplomatic row with Delhi over immigrant issue
Special Correspondent
The Awami League government is likely to be dragged into a new diplomatic wrangle with neighbouring India on the issue of alleged infiltration of Bangladeshi citizens.
The Indian Supreme Court on January 15 directed Indian government to prepare a National Identity Register (NIR) to check the infiltration of Bangladeshi citizens that Bangladesh always denied. It also directed the Government of India to take urgent steps to complete the fencing to prevent infiltration along the border...[ FULL STORY ]
ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
Saudi patience is running out
Turki al-Faisal
In my decades as a public servant, I have strongly promoted the Arab-Israeli peace process. During recent months, I argued that the peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia could be implemented under an Obama administration if the Israelis and Palestinians both accepted difficult compromises. I told my audiences this was worth the energies of the incoming administration for, as the late Indian diplomat Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit said: "The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war."
But after Israel launched its bloody attack on Gaza, these pleas for optimism and co-operation now seem a distant memory. In the past weeks, not only have the Israeli Defence Forces murdered more than 1,000 Palestinians, but they have come close to killing the prospect of peace itself. Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk...[ FULL STORY ]
Ministerial visage: Delhi has a chance to rebuild its ties with Dhaka
Ashok Mitra
The country has a new minister for home affairs, one shoved off the ministry of finance. The earlier home minister had a reputation for passivity. The fresh incumbent has evidently taken upon himself the task of removing traces of the infamy his predecessor was the cause of. The ardour of activism can, however, sometimes have disastrous consequences.
The ministry of home affairs is charged with the responsibility of ensuring the country’s internal security. Such security, the new minister has concluded, is impeded by the inflow, from across Bangladesh, of agents of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and of other saboteurs. The minister has seemingly no doubts regarding how to take care of the problem. Too many visas, he has growled, are being issued to Bangladeshi citizens. He wants to do something about it. Slash the quota of visas for Bangladeshis, and, hey presto, a dramatic improvement is sure to take place in our internal security...[ FULL STORY ]
US foreign policy undergoing
radical change
Fazle Rashid in New York
The foreign policy of the United States of America is undergoing a radical transformation and the process to this effect has already started. The foundation of the changes has been laid by the secretary of state Hillary Clinton. She has been supported to the hilt by President Barack Hossain Obama. Vice-President Joseph Biden, a seasoned foreign policy campaigner, will inject added strength. The three together will form a formidable trio.
The Obama administration is breaking away from the unilateral approach of President Bush. The foreign policy of the previous administration was based on the twin fallacious concepts of "you are with us or against us" and "the United States requires no one’s permission to defend itself". Both the slogans were catchy in the aftermath of the ghastly incident of September 11, 2001...[ FULL STORY ]
Henry Ford
K. Z. Islam
An outstanding figure in the story of modern America, and central to the struggle of American patriots to take the country back to her founding principles, was the great industrialist and humanitarian Henry Ford Sr. (1863-1947)
Ford was born on a farm in Wayne County, (near Dearborn) Michigan, on July 30, 1863, the son of Mary and William Ford, who had emigrated from Ireland in 1847. As a boy, Henry loved to do mechanical work with his hands. He attended rural schools only to the age of 15, when he found employment as a machinist’s apprentice in Detroit. In his spare time lie repaired watches and clocks to improve his knowledge of mechanical things, an interest that never waned. Even after he had become the master of an industrial empire, he delighted in disassembling the watches of his friends or joining the mechanics in his plant in a greasy repair job...[ FULL STORY ]
SOME QUESTIONS
What is wrong with Biman?
Shahabuddin Ahmad
A few days before relinquishing charge in December 2008 the Special Assistant to the former Chief Adviser to the last Caretaker Government, in charge of Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and also Chairman of Biman’s Board made some observations while talking to journalists about the performance of Biman which needs clarification.
He said that during the financial year 2007-2008 Biman earned a net profit of Taka 19 crore.
While quoting the profit figure, he did not mention that Biman has suffered a cumulative loss to the tune of Tk. 1481 crore till FY2007 - 08. It is learnt that up to 2007 - 08 Biman had a cumulative debt of Tk. 672 crore to the Civil Aviation Authority on account of landing and parking charges and another amount of Tk. 1150 crores to Petroleum Corporation on account of fuel purchase. The government paid both these amounts as government’s contribution in the equity of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited (BBAL). If the government had not paid this amount then this amount minus Taka 19 crore shown as profit would have been described as loss...[ FULL STORY ]
Bolivians approve the leftist constitution
Holiday Desk
Socialist Bolivia, a former Spanish colony in Latin America, approved sweeping constitutional changes that would bring greater political power to the country’s indigenous majority, allow President Evo Morales to run for re-election and hand him even tighter control over the economy.
Morales belongs to a trio of socialist leaders in South America who have reformed constitutions to extend their rule, tackle social inequalities and exert greater control over natural resources. President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela won approval for a new constitution in 1999 and Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa did the same last year.
Morales, an Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy and went on to lead the country’s coca-leaf farmers, is Bolivia’s first indigenous president and is popular among the poor...[ FULL STORY ]
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