EDITORIAL

Prioritise RMG sector

Since long frenzied lingering vandalism leading to violent clashes, characterised by incidents of rampant arson and destruction of factories, have hit the newspaper headlines over the readymade garment (RMG) workers' dispute with entrepreneurs over wages. However, there may be some relief if the just announced Minimum Wage Board recommendation is agreed upon by the stake holders. As per the proposal the wage of an entry-level RMG worker should be Tk 3,000 per month, which is 80 per cent more than the present minimum wage.
   Giving a comparative wage structure of some Asian countries a web page, 'nazifahmed wordpress.com', said in 2009 that the wage of a Bangladeshi worker was £ Sterling 40, while in Vietnam it was £45, in India £54, in China £66 and in Thailand £130. Generally formulation of wages is proportionate to the strength of a given economy; so ground reality and allied factors do play an important role here.
   There is no gainsaying that in view of pervasive violent clashes among rival groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League cadres, extrajudicial custodial deaths, repression on the Opposition leaders, alarming law and order, and blatant violation of human rights, the report card of the incumbent Awami League government has more brickbats than bouquets. But we appreciate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's assertion the other day deploring paltry wages of garment sector workers, terming it 'inhumane'.  Without mincing words Hasina deplored the poor wages in the RMG sector, terming them 'inhumane'. Reminding all of a touch of milk of human kindness, her observation sums up the genuine grievances that are starkly visible.
   As of now, the RMG sector contributes about 75 per cent of the forex earnings for which the stakeholders, the entrepreneurs, and the labourers, most of them women, deserve kudos. Though the earnings represent around 45% value addition, doubtless the sector brought about a sea change in the economy of traditionally agrarian Bangladesh when in 1988-89 it earned Taka 14.94 billion crore accounting for 36.5 per cent of the country's total export earnings. At present the sector earns US$18 billion.
   Conceptually though both the parties are interdependent and the credo of collective bargaining agents (CBA), of necessity, has to be that a factory is a milch cow and hence must be kept alive and unscathed in the interest of their survival. Nevertheless most frequently violent activities do erupt destroying even solvent units having excellent track record of making regular, better payment of wages. These usual inexplicable mysterious incidents have prompted serious misgivings among the investors if saboteurs from inside the country, through the nexus of some so-called NGOs, as well as across the borders are playing a dirty game. While it is up to the government's intelligence units to unearth such dirty games, the workers' unions or CBAs must make it imperative that they make every worker understand that only fools bite the hand that feeds.
   Given the obvious predicaments that the unit owners have been suffering as regards power and gas crises for the last 16 months, there should not be any scope for misapprehension from the workers' side. For power crisis alone the RMG sector has been loosing Taka 2150 crore annually.
   Called the global financial meltdown, the financial predicament of 2007 to the present is a crisis set off by a liquidity shortfall in the US banking system. It is said in economic parlance that when America sneezes the rest of the world catches cold. Entrepreneurs say, globally apparel prices have dropped sharply, and to counterbalance the countries like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and China have granted three stimulus packages to their RMG sector. It remains to be seen how much financial incentive our government provides to rescue this vital apparel sector from losses. It needs no elaboration that factory owners and the government are in the same boat, so they should confront the challenges together. Any flippant attitude will have detrimental effects on the country as well as the 2.5 million workers and their dependants.

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Anthony DiMaggio

Critical evidence from the British government and other sources suggest that the "War on Terror" has actually destabilized the Middle East and increased the terror threat throughout the globe. The former head of Britain's MI5 ­ Baroness Manningham-Buller ­ finds that the Iraq war has dramatically contributed to the growing terror danger as directed against the United Kingdom and its citizens.
   Britain has been forced to double the budget devoted to investigating terrorist plots following the 2003 invasion. An official British inquiry into the proposed invasion warned of just such an increase in the terror threat. This means that the destabilizing affects of Western attacks were predicted in advance of attacks that were seen as illegal under international law (as British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently conceded).
   Buller's confession is an admission that the war in Iraq has further inflamed anti-U.S. and anti-U.K. sentiment. When considering it along other critical studies, it looks as if the war has contributed to a greater hostility toward British foreign policy more generally among the majority of Middle Easterners, and among British nationals more specifically (Buller is most concerned with the latter group). She concludes that "a whole generation of young people" have been "radicalized' by what is perceived as an attack on Islam.
   
   Threats increased
   The Blair administration, Buller states, conceded that the war increased the terror threat at home: the budget increases for anti-terror operations were "unheard of, certainly unheard of today, but he (Blair) and the Treasury and the chancellor accepted that because I was able to demonstrate the scale of the problem that we were confronted by." The growing threat to Britain seems all the more plausible in light of the 7/7 2005 terrorist bombings in London, which killed more than 50 civilians and were motivated by anger at the British invasion of Iraq.
   Buller concedes what should be known by most in the U.S. and U.K. today ­ the terror threat has grown in the wake of the Iraq invasion, despite the fact that Iraq posed no real national security threat to the West. Buller admits that MI5 had refused to contribute to the intelligence comprising the British government's dossier against Iraq's "WMD threat" in 2002. The reason is clear enough: there was "no credible evidence" that Iraq was linked to the 9/11 attacks, and Saddam Hussein was "unlikely" to support any attacks against the U.S. or U.K. unless his regime's survival was threatened. These conclusions were shared with the Bush administration at the time, and promptly ignored by a U.S. administration whose members had been set on going to war for more than 10 years.
   Buller also discusses a point well known among critics of U.S. foreign policy on the left: the invasion of Iraq has actually served as one of the best recruiters for Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and loosely affiliated Islamist terror groups. As Buller describes with regards to U.S.-U.K. actions in Iraq: "Arguably, we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad." In short, those throughout the Muslim world see the U.S.-allied occupation as motivated by imperial ambitions for oil; they see the torture and abuses in which American and British troops are responsible, and they are reacting critically. Targeting of U.S. and allied forces has become far more common now than it was prior to 9/11.
   Buller's MI5 based conclusions are not the first time it's been conceded that the "War on Terror" actually increases the global terror threat. Terrorism experts Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank found through their own statistical analysis that the 2003 invasion was accompanied by an "Iraq Effect" in which terrorist attacks escalated dramatically from 2003 to 2006 (the time period when the study was conducted). More specifically, their report http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ article17137.htm finds that: "the rate of terrorist attacks around the world by jihadist groups and the rate of fatalities in those attacks increased dramatically after the invasion of Iraq. Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the average fatality rate (from 501 to 1,689 deaths per year). A large part of this rise occurred in Iraq, which accounts for fully half of the global total of jihadist terrorist attacks in the post-Iraq War period. But even excluding Iraq, the average yearly number of jihadist terrorist attacks and resulting fatalities still rose sharply around the world by 265 percent and 58 percent respectively."
   
   Ethnic cleansing
   Subsequent empirical studies of the decline of violence in Iraq after 2007 demonstrated that the reduction came about, not because of the success of the "surge" in promoting humanitarianism, but because the ethnic cleansing in cities like Baghdad had essentially succeeded (with the help of U.S. troops disarming Sunni communities in the name of "counter-insurgency"), and with the Shia militias winning the civil war against Iraq's Sunnis (for more, see: http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/ social-history-of-surge.html and dimaggio02272009.html http://www.counterpunch.org/ dimaggio02272009.html). In short, violence declined because there were fewer people to kill following the successful ethnic cleansing.
   Additional journalistic investigation finds that the policy of torture and mistreatment at Guantanamo, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan (often directed against those whose terrorist ties were questionable to non-existent, but were nonetheless picked up in blanket raids in Afghanistan and Iraq) led to a further intensification of anti-U.S. sentiment in the Muslim world. As McClatchy Newspapers concluded in an eight month investigation http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/06 /15/38773/day-1-americas-prison-for-terrorists.html#ixzz0uLC2CKXg in 11 countries, U.S. detainees were often kept "on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence...McClatchy interviewed 66 released detainees, more than a dozen local officials in Afghanistan, and U.S. officials with intimate knowledge of the detention program...This unprecedented compilation shows that most of the 66 were low level Taliban grunts, innocent Afghan villagers, or ordinary criminals. At least seven had been working for the U.S. backed Afghan government and had no ties to militants...many of the detainees posed no danger to the U.S. or its allies".
   
   Prisoners' mistreatment
   Through its investigations, McClatchy found that "prisoner mistreatment became a regular feature in cellblocks and interrogation rooms at Bagram and Kandahar air bases, the two main way stations in Afghanistan en route to Guantanamo...the investigation found that top Bush administration officials knew within months of opening the Guantanamo detention centre that many of the prisoners there weren't 'the worst of the worst,'" as "it was obvious [from military administrators] that at least a third of the population didn't belong there."
   American soldiers were often gullible in that they accepted http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/06/15/38773/ day-1-americas-prison-for-terrorists.html#ixzz0uLCs7Dxl "false reports passed along by informants and officials looking to settle old grudges in Afghanistan, a nation that had experienced more than two decades of occupation and civil war before U.S. troops arrived". The lack of connections of many detainees to any terror operations looks especially tragic in hindsight, considering that the torture visited upon these individuals contributed to their radicalization against the United States. As McClatchy reports, "U.S. detention policies fuelled support for extremist Islamist groups. For some detainees who went home far more militant than when they arrived, Guantanamo became a school for jihad."
   The above evidence strongly suggests that the U.S. and U.K. primarily play a destabilizing role throughout the world, rather than fighting terrorism and ensuring world order out of chaos. Global public opinion polls have long found that most throughout the world view the U.S. as one of the primary threats to global security, rather than the protector of world order. These revelations are likely to elude many Americans, as the evidence above is not widely disseminated in the U.S. press. American journalists have long been content to uncritically repeat statements from liberal and conservative political officials (typically accompanied with no evidence) that the "War on Terror" must continue in order to keep America, its allies, and the Middle East "safe." In reality, though, the U.S. and U.K. are not fighting a War on Terror, but a War *of *Terror.
   Anthony DiMaggio is the editor of media-ocracy (www.media-ocracy.com), a daily online magazine devoted to the study of media, public opinion, and current events. He is the author of When Media Goes to War http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ ASIN/1583671994/counterpunchmaga (2010) and Mass Media, Mass Propaganda http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 0739119036/counterpunchmaga(2008). He can be reached at: mediaocracy@gmail.com http://www.counterpunch.org/ dimaggio07232010.html.

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Controversy over the recognition of Kosovo still continues

Khan Ferdousour Rahman

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague has rejected Belgrade's argument that the declaration of independence of Kosovo had no legal basis. The judges of the UN's highest court have given their opinion (by 10-4 votes) on July 22, 2010 that the declaration of independence from Serbia in February 17, 2008 did not violate international law.
   The world community is divided on the issue of the Western-backed international recognition of Kosovo. The UN Security Council could not take decision and remains divided on the issue because of the split among the veto carrying permanent members of the Security Council. Of its five members with veto power, three (the US, the UK and France) have recognized the declaration of independence, while China has expressed concern, urging the continuation of previous negotiation framework.
   
   New 'power game'
   Russia has rejected the declaration and considers it illegal. On May 2008, Russia, China and India released a joint statement calling for new negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. The OIC-member states are also split on the issue. In fact, the global recognition seems to be the new 'power game' between the US and its allies and Russia and China.
   Kosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognized Republic of Kosovo, a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves. Serbia does not recognize the succession of Kosovo and considers it an UN-governed entity within its sovereign territory.
   The Assembly of Kosovo declared independence of Kosovo from Serbia as the Republic of Kosovo on February 17, 2008 with unopposed majority. So far 69 out of 192 sovereign UN member states have formally recognized Kosovo, of which include some big guns of the Muslim world such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE and Turkey. Majority member states of the EU (22 out of 27) and NATO (24 out of 28) have also recognized Kosovo, of the four countries that border Kosovo, only Serbia refuses to recognize it. Currently 14 countries maintain embassies to the Republic of Kosovo. The countries that oppose recognition of Kosovo consider that its recognition as an independent state in the Balkans will boost the ethnic demand for greater autonomy and independence.
   Kosovo is landlocked and bordered by the Republic of Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west and Montenegro to the northwest. The largest city as well as capital of Kosovo is Pristina. Kosovo, with a total area of 10,887 sq km, is a developing country. It was the poorest province of Yugoslavia. With around 2 million populations, 37 per cent are below poverty line. Majority of the population are Albanian Muslims with few Serbian Orthodox and Roman Catholic. The literacy rate is over 90 per cent.
   During ancient time, Kosovo formed the central part of the Kingdom of Dardania. Afterwards it became the part of Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian empires. In 1389, Kosovo became the part of the Ottoman Empire, which brought the region into close contact with the Middle East and subsequently introduced Islam to the population.
   During the late 19th century, it was the centre of Albanian national awakening. In 1912, the Ottoman province was divided between Montenegro and Serbia, and both of which became part of Yugoslavia in 1918. During World war II, the majority of Kosovo was part of the Italian occupation of Albania before becoming an autonomous province under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
   Pristina hopes the recent outcome due to the judgment by the ICJ will lead to more nations recognizing its independence. Bangladesh, the third largest Muslim-majority nation, with a meaning of certainly not taking a side has not yet firmed up its stance on the question of recognizing the independence of Kosovo, despite persistent diplomatic presentation by the US. However, the people of Bangladesh were overwhelmingly in support of the people of Kosovo. From the very beginning of the formation of UNMIK, the members of Bangladesh Armed Forces and Bangladesh Police are participating in UNMIK. From 2000, Grameen Bank is operating microcredit in Kosovo.
   Obviously the people of Kosovo are having the right of self-determination and freedom, and Bangladesh has also a constitutional obligation to support that right.

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They are the national heroes - I

Dear Editor:
   Bangladesh is beginning to emerge and command the spotlight on the world stage, for all the right reasons.
   We first witnessed Musa Ibrahim, a mild-mannered Clark Kent transform into superman, conquer the majestic Mount Everest and become a national hero. This was followed by the Bangladesh Cricket Team's victory over England, another great morale booster for all Bangladeshis worldwide.
   The Golden Trophy award, however, has to go to Barrister Sara Hossain of Dr. Kamal Hossain's chamber and Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) for their achievement last week in abolishing corporal punishment in Bangladesh schools.
   They're the latest national heroes. They may never get even a 'thank you' from the millions of present and future school children who no longer will have to endure such inhumane cruelty, or reap a tangible reward of any kind, but sometimes just knowing within you've done the right thing is ample reward in itself.
   They and the eminent High Court judges have created a new dawn and changed the course of history from which Bangladesh will prosper enormously thenceforth.
   Sir Frank Peters
   Gulshan,
   Dhaka.
   Email: sirfrankpeters@googlemail.com

Dear Editor:
   I cannot find words to express my deepest thanks to Sir Frank Peters and Barrister Sara Hossain for the noble deed they performed for Bangladesh by ridding it of the corporal punishment scourge.
   Although I have lived in Canada for almost 25 years, I have never forgotten the inhumane and disrespectful way I was treated in my village school. There was only one law, the teacher's law, and that was horrific. We, the pupils, were not only deemed to be trash, we were treated exactly like trash. The boys were treated much worse.
   I was fortunate enough to have been rescued through the kindness and generosity of an uncle in Toronto and did not suffer as much as most, but I still vividly recall how evil and cruel some of the teachers were to me and to some of my school friends.
   One evening my husband (who is a radio broadcaster) downloaded and read on-air the complete article on corporal punishment written by Sir Frank Peters. The audience was so moved, the switchboard was jammed with calls long after my husband had left the building and the subject was a hot topic for days.
   Throughout I was very saddened and ashamed to be a Bangladeshi, but thanks to the aforementioned and Almighty Allah, it is the end of an era and Bangladeshi children in the future will get to live normal childhoods.
   Shumi Chowdhury
   Toronto, Canada
   Email: shumi.c.chowdhury@gmail.com

Dear Editor:
   In Rajshahi street lights are turned on at least one hour before in the evening and turned off after two hours in the morning.
   The government is distributing energy saving bulb among the public to save energy in Rajshahi. On the other hand, road lights of Rajshahi City Corporation have not been replaced with the energy saving bulbs yet.
   I would like to draw the attention of the concerned people for taking immediate action against the matter.
   Mawduda Hasnin
   Raninagar, Kajla-6204

Dear Editor:
   Former State Minister for Planning Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir said that Iaj-Moeen-Fakhar's government had extorted a sum of Tk. 1200 crore from the businessmen during its two-year tenure. "Iajuddin-Moeen-Fakhruddin's government was a dacoit government. Our government is not a dacoit government. So, the money extorted from the businessmen must be realised from them [vide Naya Diganta, June 30, 2010]. He said this during the discussion on the budget for FI 2010-2011 at the Jatiya Sangsad (JS).
   Industries Minister Dilip Barua said that the immediate past Army backed Caretaker Government has extorted people's especially businessmen's huge money taking them captive during its two-year tenure. The caretaker government created huge amounts of black money during its tenure and people want to know the destination of that money. Mr Barua said this while addressing a seminar on 'Budget 2009-10: Perspective of Local Industries Development' in the DCCI (Dhaka Chamber of Commrece and Industry) conference room. DCCI hosted the seminar which former Finance Adviser Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam and Commerce Adviser Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman attended as special guests.
   A vernacular daily reported that the High Court issued rule on the government to explain as to why Tk. 52 crore extorted by the Caretaker Government from Meghna Cement Industry Ltd. would not be illegal and be refunded with profit [the Naya Diganta, 24 November, 2009]. Finance Secretary, Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Directorate General of Forces of Intelligence (DGFI) and Janata Bank had been asked to reply to it within three weeks. The High Court bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mamunur Rahman issued the rules against a writ petition filed by Mostafa Kamal Mohiuddin of Meghna Cement Industry Ltd. It was the first writ petition for money extortion against the Task Force of the Army-backed Caretaker Government. But we do not know whether this extortion case was finalised and the extorted money was refunded as yet.
   Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Dilip Barua's allegation and High Court's rule prove that the Army-backed Caretaker Government, which was the product of Awami League (AL) political movement as claimed by AL President Sheikh Hasina, extorted huge amount of money from businessmen during its two-year tenure. This is black money [see the Bangladesh Observer 25 June, 2009].
   The government should form a committee to assess how much black money the Army-backed Caretaker Government extorted during its tenure. After assessment the extorted money must be realised from the persons who were involved in it. This should be done with immediate effect in the interest of the nation's economy.
   A M K Chowdhury,
   Narayangonj.

Dear Editor:
   I would like to state that on my complaint the Authorised Officer, RAJUK, Dhaka, issued a notice to the owner of the house No. 6/I, Hare Street, Wari, Dhaka and endorsed the copy of the Notice No. Ovi-105/IO/710 Sa dated 14-6-2010 to Officer-in-Charge, Sutrapur Thana, Dhaka to stop the construction of the building.
   But the construction of the building is going on unabated. Would our Minister of Works and Home Minister kindly look into the matter?
   O. H. Kabir,
   Dhaka.

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