The foolish Friend and media situation in Bangladesh

JaiJaidin’s new editor in the embodiment of the pathetic condition that is currently prevailing in Bangladesh media industry as well as the country as a whole. The founder editor of the newspaper, Shafiq Rehman  has been removed without getting the chance to make the slightest noise about it. This is the same Shafiq rehman who single handedly discredited and exposed the character of ex army dictator Ershad. While other big editors of that time became big fan of Ershad’s poems, this Rehman defied Ershad, got ejected from Bangladesh, his paper banned twice and had the electric/water connection of his father’s home disconnected by government. It was the same Shafiq Rehman who was the first and most forceful critique of Magura bye-election rigging during 1st BNP govt of 91-96. The JaiJaidin cover story ‘Ma–Gura’ paved the way for Care taker govt movement and fall of first BNP govt. This same Rehman was the instrumental force in establishing Valentine’s Day tradition in Bangladesh and he energized the youth in 2001 to bring BNP back to power.

The new editor replacing Shafiq rehman, literally brought from the street (unknown song writer, film extra supplier of FDC) started writing pro-army editorials on a daily basis. The quality of those editorials are, IMHO, worse than a fifth grader’s writing. Wise men say that it is better to have intelligent enemy than a fool friend. Post Shafiq Rehman Jaijaidin has now turned itself into one such fool friend of DGFI government. One such stupidity was this JJD editorial by one Barun Shankar.

 

Unification or castration?

Everybody, every single person in this planet Earth is very eager for the unification of BNP. Newspaper staff writers, TV talk show chattering class, civil society commentators, and even prothom-Alo/Daily Star are eager to see BNP united as soon as possible. And BNP’s reformist leadership (Whose philosophy is to reform BNP to get rid of dynastic politics, corrupt princes etc) are yelling day and night; “at any cost…Je Kono Mulye..” BNP must be united under Khaleda Zia. The ‘reformist’ AKA DGFI-ist leadership are making predictions like BNP will be united before certain date and the newspapers are publishing stories of imminent unification. Seems like BNP unification is the spectacle of the century and children are being put to sleep rhyming that BNP will be united in the morning.

I really don’t understand why there is such a national desire to see BNP united. Parties split up, they join hands; these all are commonplace politics of Bangladesh style. Why suddenly there is so much pressure on Khondokar Delwar Hossain to do kola-kuli with ex JP leader Hafizuddin, ex NAP-ex UPP leader Mannan Bhuiyan, ex generals Mahbub and ZA Khan etc?
May be I am paranoid, may be not. May be I am over-reading it, or misjudging it. Time will judge us. But here is how I see the so called ‘unification’ process;
1. When you see Daily Prothom-Alo or Daily star are actively promoting BNP unification, this ‘unification’ thing must not be anything good for BNP.
2. It is absurd when everybody is so silent ( and disguisedly happy) with the Election commission’s blatantly partisan role in establishing a DGFI made splinter fraction as mainstream BNP and so happy at the inhuman treatment on Khaleda Zia’s family, but suddenly very anxious to see BNP united under Khaleda Zia. Didn’t Prothom -Alo wrote editorial demanding arrest of Khaleda Zia?
3. Why the reformists want to get ‘United’? We thought they wanted to build a new political order free of corrupt and dynastic despots. Why they would want to come back under the despot leadership?
…and these will be my advice to Mr Khondokar delwar Hossain

 

The fine prints of indoor politics

The government issued a circular Monday ordering the easing a ban on indoor politics all across the country.

Before the vocal world of savy Bangladeshis succumb to the irresistable urge to congratulate their beloved entity, let me remind all of the strings those are attached to this mock gesture towards democracy.

1. There will be no meetings in open places.
2. The political parties have to inform the police about any meeting, 48 hours ahead of its start.
3. But the electronic media will not be allowed to broadcast the meetings live.
4. Political parties will not be able to use loudspeakers for the meetings.
5. The meetings will take decisions only on organisational activities and elections. No other discussions are allowed, according to the circular.
6. The government has limited the venues for meetings to houses, community centres, hotels, restaurants and party offices.

 

Mother’s Day Wishes

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers all over the world.

I wanted to share a clip of the great peom , ” Ma ke amar pore na mone…”. Later I changed my mind to share the youtube entertainments of a diverse society in Bangladesh. Mother’s in this societies still probably don’t know of a special day called mother’s day.

And this one is a singer activist of Islami Chhatra Shibir, member of Shibir’s cultural wing, ‘Panjeree’. They sing without instruments.

 

A national treasure at stake

Lauachhara used to be a pitch dark dense animal filled forest even fifty years ago. That’s why, when a real dense forest was needed for filming the Indian jungle portion of the famous Jules Verne master piece, ” Around the world in eighty days”, Lauachhara forest was selected. Michael Anderson, the director of this 5 Oscar/Golden Globe winning classic milestone movie, brough his several hundred stong team to Lauachhara forest in Sri Mangal of the then East pakistan.

[ A small clip of rural Bangladesh taken from the movie]

Almost none is left of that great forest. Yet this is one of the last remaining great Indian forests. This is home to a host of flora and fauna including nearly extinct Huluk Gibon locally known as Ulluk.
This forest is our national treasure. It is much more important than a gas or an oil field.

US oil giant Chevron started 3D survey in the forst area. I don’t know what was the idea. If they find oil/ gas their would they destroy the forest? And I also don’t know who gave them the permission.

Anyway while doing the survey in Lauachhara today, fire broke out in the reserve forest. The damage has not yet been assessed. Recently anaother gas rig fire, the tangra tila accident ruined a big portion of the forest.

I would urge all to Bangladesh and nature lover to raise their voices to stop Chevron from destryoing our national treasures.

 

The reformists, morning shift of creative garments and CEC’s প্রশান্তি

Some leaders belonging to last BNP government have betrayed their party, leader, collegue and activists and are conspirating to hijack a political party on behalf of the governing clique. A chapter of the conspiracy was stages yesterday when the election commission held a meeting with these few turncoat conspirators after inviting him as legitimate BNP. These turncoats as well as the conspirator Election commissioners, are, like any other criminal, very afraid. They cordoned themselves off by huge presence of police yesterday. They were afraid of BNP grassroot beating.

And on the other hand Mr Hafiz led government manufactured BNP also decided to stage a show of force. While cases have been filed just yesterday against 50 JCD activists-BNP leaders for breaking the SOE law by holding procession in the street, yesterdays gathering and procession took place under police protection.

[ Activists of Hafiz led BNP in SOE breaking EC front showdown. Photo: New Age]

Although the police facilitated breaking of SOE law as attributed to be a show of organizational strength by Hafiz led gang of turncoats, it was in fact the morning shift of Creative garments owned by turncoat leader Fazlul Azim. They all were wearing ‘chhatra dal” ” Jubo dal” imprinted headbands and were being served with bottled water under the supervision of Nabiullh Nabi, a goon terrorizing the Demra area during last several years.

If you look carefully at the picture, you will see garments workers and even children were attending the rally.

And at the end of all these ‘good stuff’, the great CEC expressed his প্রশান্তি as the job was well done.

The palace conspiracy that is currently being done in the name of election reform etc, are things, we thought we left behind in the eighties. Yet that deos not surprise me much. What surprises me more is the tacit approval of these dirty trickby the vocal activist part of the civil society.

 

Unwinding of the claw

There are not too many people in this world who could share the magnitude of the personal tragedy ex Prime minister Sheikh Hasina endured. Both her parents, all her three brothers, sister in laws, dozens of uncles-aunths; all have been hunted and killed execution style in one single night. Eldest daughter of a household traditionaly is the most caring for the rest of the family. So was Sehikh Hasina. Life for Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh rahana jolted on 15 th August 1975. Since then, life has never been the same again.

Scientific studies show that most of such victim of family massacre, suffer constantly from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I believe Sheikh Hasina also suffer from the same painful experience.

Like many other PTSD patients would do, Sheikh Hasina, since 1975, tried to get relief by avoiding being alone. Loneliness forces these patients to relive the traumatic experience and I can guess why Sheikh Hasina hates to be lonely. For the last 33 years this woman sorrounded herself with crowds of admirers of her dad, other survivors in her family and that definitely helped her live and move on.

 

Today again, some military officers are playing a yo yo game with this lady. They are bringing her to hospital for a day and sending her back to jail the next day, they have kept on doing this routine repeatedly throughout the last month. One day doctors find some ear proble, the other day something comes up in ear and the next day blood pressure is found very labile. The government-selected doctors over there probably seeing the blind men’s elephant. By looking at ear, eye, blood pressure– they are missing the big picture, they are misisng the real person herself. 

 

Take a patient with PTSD, lock him-her up for a year, you will destroy the person mentally and physically. Pure from a medical professional’s point of view,  what they are doing with Sheikh Hasina is nothing short of torture, crude-rude torture.

Physicians in Bangladesh may not know much of PTSD, but militray officers know of it. Knowing about symptoms and mitigation of PTSD Is part of current day militray training. And probbaly that’s why they are relentless in their effort to send Mrs Hasina back to jail.

I personally believe that Sheikh Hasina has suffered enough to enjoy an immunity from imprisonment for the kind of cases lebelled against her. I urge the authorities to free her and stop the torture. Or at least let her stay in hospital. What’s wrong if they let her stay in hospital for  a longer time? There are many prisoners without serious illness who have spent months if not years in hospital cabins. Why not Sheikh Hasina then?

 

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A government manufactured fraction of BNP met Election Commissioners today. The main BNP has been barred from meeting the EC. Government continue their blatant patronization of the government manufactured fraction. Government is even sending detail instruction how to cover Hafiz or Delwar. Per their instruction when two fraction’s make news, the government designed fraction is to get earlier and longer TV coverage. Even TV channles were forced to pull off Khondokar Delwar Hossain’s press conference of today. Although the press conference was shown earlier in the day, it was totally blacked out during the evening news.

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Definitely there is a serious desparation in some level of the government.

 

Future of Bangladesh: The good, the bad and the Ugly

Which way our beloved Bangladesh is heading? Lets discuss the possible futures of Bangladesh.

The Good

Writing this part would have been easier even one week ago until when we could keep dreaming that the election commission would call the real BNP for a dialogue. Forecasting a good future has gotten a bit difficult now. Yet, let’s try. The endeavor for better future never ceases its’ stride.
Two main political leaders will be released from jail. The rest of the political prisoners however may remain in jail to face the due process. The ban on political activities will be withdrawn to let the political parties’ solve their own internal conflict in an open environment of party councils. The current anti-corruption drive may continue under joint forces but selective persecution is stopped. An earlier election date and election schedule is declared. The political activism and nations focus immediately gets thrown at the election. Nation gets busy with campaigning. The army chief goes back to his Pre 1/11 protocol and visibility and continue his tenure till June 2009. The army lets the current CTG administration focus on finishing election. After the election a quick power handover is arranged.

There actually should be no worry of repercussion under new government. The new government will initially remain grateful to the CTG/army chief for facilitating the power handover. Gen Moeen, still army chief, will enjoy unprecedented military-civil society-media support and will remain immune from any repercussion. Senior very involved brigadiers may be given foreign posting even before the election.Historically, army generals enjoy a kind of impunity under a civilian government. Except Ershad’s short jail terms, no General have ever been punished by a civilian government in Bangladesh. When BNP came back to power in 2001, it came heavy-handed after Dr Mk Alamgir and others for their perceived role in ‘jonotar mancha’ but dared not touch Gen Nasim, Gen Miron, Gen Morshed for their proven role in a failed coup.

The Bad

The government, with tacit instructions from the military intelligence agency, breaks up political parties and forms a pro military front. They somehow manages senior AL leadership to take part in election and forces BNP mainstream away from the election. Keeps Hasina and Khaleda in jail. Uses local government election as the staging event to set up the grassroots of the pro government front. Spends money in recruiting political leaders and activists for the new party. Uses Election commission as a tool to achieve most of its’ political goals. Ordinances after oddinance slowly turns the state into a semi-military state. NSC goes into effect, Supreme Court remains bent in front of the army chief. The new government MPs as well as the media/ columnists work hard to persuade general Moeen to assume Presidency. The new parliament passes laws empowering the president with the sweeping authority to dissolve the parliament, sack the premiers etc.

The Ugly

The CTG, torn between the external/ street pressure to adopt the “good” option and internal instinct to go the ‘bad’ way, fails either ways and messes it up badly. 2008 comes to an end without making any headway towards any direction. With increased food prices, the streets and markets get very agitated against this CTG. Jailed leaders; Khaleda-Hasina gains back 1990 level popularity. Military top brass also withdraws support of Moeen and his Brigadiers. Election gets delayed. Massive street violence erupts. A counter-coup like situation develops.

I personally think, a very strong and concerted effort has been undertaken to implement the ” Bad’ future option for Bangladesh. What do you think?
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The rule of law in Bangladesh

1. Senior Lawyer Barrister Shafiq Ahmed, on behalf of the lawyers representing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina complained that they had been harassed by military intelligence agency people. He made this allegation when journalists asked for his comment on Sheikh Hasina trail that day. He also alleged that the agency men are trying to scare them off representing Sheikh Hasina.
This medieval tactic is being applied by a government which has grabbed and are clinging illegally to power apparently to ‘re-establish’ rule of law and a fair judiciary in Bangladesh. And those people, whose actions have been instrumental in establishing this illegal rule of law, who used to be vocal against every single slightest diversion of righteousness are dead silent these days. Neither Kamal Hossain, Amirul islam, Rokonuddin Mahmood, nor media-civil aka retired society stars of last ten years made a single noise about this issue.

 

পহেলা বৈশাখঃ আবহমান গ্রাম বাংলার ঐতিহ্য উদযাপন না নগর চারুকলা সংস্কৃতির বাংলাদেশ বিজয়?

দেশ ছেড়েছি এক যুগ হোল, তাই গত বারটি পহেলা বৈশাখ কেটেছে দেশের বাইরেই। এই বার বছরে দেশের অনেক বড় বড় পরিবর্তন হয়েছে, এর মধ্যে আন্যতম হচ্ছে পহেলা বৈশাখ উদযাপন।

যখন দেশ ছেড়েছিলাম, পহেলা বৈশাখ তখন ছিল কলেজ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ক্যাম্পাস কেন্দ্রিক বড় নগরগুলোর কিছু সাংস্কৃতিক বৈদগ্ধ নাগরিকের বার্ষিক বিনোদোন। ঢাকার রমনার বটমূল অথবা চট্টগ্রামের ডিসি হিলে ভোর থেকে রবীন্দ্র সংগীত পরিবেশন হোত আর সহস্র অনধিক মানুষ তা উপোভোগ করতেন। নাগরিক এই রিচুয়াল টার শুরু হয়েছিল পাকিস্তান আমলের শেষের দিকে, ৬৭ ইংরেজী সনে। আইয়ুব সরকার কর্তৃক রবীন্দ্র সংগীত নিষিদ্ধ করার প্রতিবাদে ছায়ানট বাংলা নববর্ষকে রবীন্দ্র সংগীত দিয়ে বরন করে নেয়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নেয়।

দেশের গ্রামে যা হোত তা হোল বৈশাখী মেলা। তখন তো যোগাযোগ ব্যাবস্থা এত ভাল ছিল না, বৈশাখী মেলাই ছিল গ্রামের মানুষের জন্য শহুরে মনোহরী পন্য সামগ্রী ক্রয়ের একমাত্র সুযোগ।

গঞ্জে বাজারে হোত হালখাতা। হালখাতা মানে হচ্ছে মিলাদ অথবা পুজো পার্বনের মাধ্যমে ব্যাবসায়ীদের নুতন বছর নুতন হিসেবের খাতা খোলা। মিলাদ অথবা পুজো উপলখ্যে উপস্থিত সবাইকে মিষ্টি অথবা বিরিয়ানী দেয়া হোত।

 

পহেলা বৈশাখ উদযাপনে ব্যাপক পরিবর্তন এসেছে গত এক যুগে। নগরের গুটিকতক সাংস্কৃতিক বৈদগ্ধ মানুষের বার্ষিক রবীন্দ্র সংগীত বিনোদোন থেকে পহেলা বৈশাখ এখন শহর, মফস্বল, গঞ্জের মানুষের  এক সার্বজনীন উৎসবে পরিনত হয়েছে। রমনা এলাকা অথবা ডিসি হিল এলাকা গুলো পরিনত হয়ে নগরবাসীর মিলন মেলায়। এখন সমাজের সর্বস্তরের মানুষ যোগ দিয়েছে বাংগালীর এই উৎসবে।

শিশু, কিশোর, তরুন, তরুনী, বৃদ্ধ, বৃদ্ধা মুখে আলপনা একে ঘুরে বেড়াচ্ছে। নগরীর লেকে মংগল প্রদীপ ছাড়া হচ্ছে হাজার হাজার। বিভিন্ন আকারের কাঠের তৈরী পাখী, পশু ইত্যাদির প্রতিকৃতি, ভংকর দর্শন কিছু মুখোশ নিয়ে বিশাল শোভাযাত্রা ঘুরছে রাজপথ ধরে।

এগুলো কিন্তু কোনটাই আবহমান বাংলার ঐতিহ্য নয়। মংগল শোভাযাত্রা বলুন আর মুখে আলপনা আকা বলুন, এগুলো কোনদিন ই গ্রাম বাংলার পহেলা বৈশাখ এর অংশ ছিল না। কিন্তু মানুষ খুব দ্রুতই এগুলোকে নিজেদের প্রানের উতসব হিসেবে গ্রহন করে নিয়েছে। আসলে আমাদের মুসলমান বাংগালী সমাজে সত্যিকারের উৎসবের খুব ই অভাব। ঈদ একটা খুব ই ঘরোয়া উৎসব। পহেলা বৈশাখ হয়ত আমাদের উৎসবের অভাব ঘুচাবে।

আজ খবরে দেখলাম প্রত্যন্ত অঞ্চলের এক বৈশাখী মেলায় এক শিশুর মুখে আলপনা আকা হচ্ছে। আমাদের কাছে পহেলা বৈশাখ এখন আর আবহমান গ্রাম বাংলার ঐতিহ্য উদযাপন নয়। পহেলা বৈশাখ এখন চারকলা চত্বরে উদ্ভাবিত সংস্কৃতির গ্রাম বাংলার বিজয়।

 

A battle to lose…

…because the will to win this battle is not there. I am anticipating a total and unconditional government surrender on this issue.

 

 

Footnote:

1. It is only BNP-AL battle, corruption of politicians that is worth fighting and denouncing.

2. Violent bigots are good for the heath of the nation.

2. Responsing to our dear general Moeen’s advice to the nation, these protesters should have used Aloo instead of brickbats. That could have made a good use of our aloo. BTW, why our talkative 7 course aloo eating general is so silent about this issue?

 

 

Of Judges and Generals

 

 OK, there is an example and even that is also very short-lived. It is rather an extreme exception than a rule. The exception is that Justice B A Siddiqui, the then chief Justice, refused to take oath of Tikka Khan. At that time, the momentum in East Pakistan was totally pro Bengali nationalistic and Justice B A Siddiqui had no option but to go with an overwhelming public sentiment. He, however corrected himself pretty quickly. After March 25 crackdown, he speedily conducted the oath of Tikka Khan.

That was the last apparent act of defiance of a judge against the military. Since then throughout the history of Bangladesh, the judges took it as their inherent virtue to be subservient to the Generals.

Every time Generals create a legal-constitutional mess out of their power lust, they brought in a justice to sweep off their mess. The supply of such military boot-licking judges is never-ending in Bangladesh.
In fact the judges are the only professionals in Bangladesh who never stood up against a military dictator in Bangladesh. From the very beginning of military interventions, politicians, fellow military men, students, professionals like physicians, Engineers, bureaucrats— stood up defiant against dictators at some point or the other. But the only group that remained ever loyal to their General bosses, are the judges. All military men in Bangladesh had t a pet judge. Khaled Mosharaf appointed Sayem, Ershad had Justice Ahsanuddin and looks like now Moeen has Ruhul Amin.
In this backdrop, was it wise to expect any bold judgment about Khaleda Zia’s writ against EC? Especially when EC and Hafizuddins have been singing the same chorus for the last few months that they would accept whatever judgment the high court gives and they would not appeal. Didn’t that  CJ reconstituted the writ bench of high court just last month?

Supreme court judges are doing what their predecessors in Bangladesh have done all along. But this gives us the opportunity to unmask two collaborators. One is Kamal Hossain and the other is Shahdin Malik. This Shahdin Maliks try to walk both ways. They will write “nice” op-eds filled with “good” words, but in real life they will collaborate and help the agents of the military. Shahdin Malik is another shrewd collaborator like Shujon’s Bodiul Alam Majumdar who will also try to keep both ends.

And by the way, if you did not read it yet, read it now. It is indeed  a great piece by Farhad Mozhar.

 

 

 

General Moeen becomes Ershad

 
Lt General H M Ershad was a shrewd and cunning person ready to anything to grab and then stay in power. Looks like we are having another Ershad in General Moeen U Ahmed.
He occupied the prime time Bangladesh news today with the following news items.

First
He extended his tenure as army Chief by one more year. Government statement states that it was done in national interest. The nation however does not know what national interest warranted this extension. General Moeen repeatedly stressed the point that the country is not under martial law and he only is helping the civilian administration as he would do any other government. And the country knows that they are in war with any country. And no natural disaster is going on now. So is there absolutely no pressing need to take the extraordinary step to divert from normal proceedings of the armed forces.

Second
He declared that there is no food crisis in the country. He however did not elaborate then why rice price is beyond people’s purchasing power. He probably miss-spoke the cantonment for the country. We know there is no food crisis in Cantonment. The army chief probably meant cantonment. Moreover on what capacity the army chief would speak about country’s food status? He could talk about security issues etc.

 

Is it here?

Photo: Shafiuddin Bitu 

Who is this man?

He was photographed yesterday in Dhaka. May be he is a drug addict, may be he is a mentally or physically retarded person, may be he is a poor father unable to feed himself after exhausting all the food for the children at home or may be he is all of the above. Basic food of poor Bangladeshis is rice and the rice price has skyrocketed beyond the reach of the poor over the last year.  In such situation the people in the extreme edge of the society are usually the first victims. The vulnerable groups are usually the homeless, the poorest of the poors of the society. And among them the first to fall through the safety net are the mentally-physically disabled persons, drug addicts, the elderly and the children.  It has been many years I last saw a skeleton image of a Bangladeshi citizen. I was getting used to the fact this sort images may only come out of Bosnia concentration camps or Somalia or else.  This skeleton image of the man comes to me as a rude awakening.

News reports of hunger death started appearing scattered in our print media. This report confirms several hunger deaths.

Since 1990, I always thought that two things will never return to Bangladesh, one is military rule and the other is famine. Well, since 11 January 2007, Bangladesh is under de facto military rule and a famine, as well, may have been knocking at the door now.

My readers would know that I have been an uninhibited critic of this government. I have decided not to give military government a free pass on any issue and that has been my protest against this illegitimate military-elite rule. This kind of photo and news will be fuel for my blog posts. But I do not want this kind of fuel. I do not want any more opportunity to write about death from hunger in Bangladesh. I do not want to see even a single skeletonized body of a poor Bangladeshi. I hope this is my first and last post on this issue. I hope at least hunger is taken care of by our government.
 

 

The problem with city corporations

Dhaka Mayor Sadeq Hossain Khoka has just been sued by Bangladesh anti corruption Commission for alleged corruption.
With this law suit a pattern is completed. All the mayors of all the major metropolitan cities in Bangladesh is officially charghed with corruption. All, except Dhaka Mayor, are in jail now.
Surprisingly many of the mayors had a clean image prior to starting this Mayoral assignment. Most big city Mayors served governments in other capacities in the past and there have not been major corruption charges against them.

This suggests that there must be a serious problem in the system itself. Just prosecuting the Mayors will probably not do any long term benefit to the country. Once we jail these 6 mayors, tomorrow there will be six new clean faces__ be it Rizvi, be it Badsha, be it Saber, be it Hannan… . Unless we change the factors those facilitate corruption in the local government systems, six years down there will be six new corrupt faces who were otherwise clean.

Instead of Hasan Mashud-Hanif Iqbal destructive, trigger happy approach; a saner approach would have been to hold a public hearing, set up an all inclusive task forces, work with the current mayors, publish white papers and the try to fix the local government systems. Those generals and Colonels should know that the territory they are in now is a civilian territory. It is not a war zone where they will kill the enemy first, destroy the city then and leave the job of reconstruction to be done by the civilians later.

The approach must prefer engagement over shunning. The goal will be to do the fact finding research first, let the public know via white papers, have their input in how to fix the systems and then fix the system with everybody’s cooperation including the sitting mayors who know the system better than anyone else. Punishment? Publish the white paper with proof of crimes and let the public be the judge in the upcoming elections.

 

For a prosperous Bangladesh

I am surprised that this disturbing bit of news was abandoned by Bangladeshi blogosphere as well as the print and electronic media.

In an attempt to make Bnagladesh look civilized, the civil society-military government has decided to start arresting beggers from the street.

And the free judiciary was gung ho to hand the poor begegr a jail sentence!

New Age editor Nurul KAbir had this to say about this bizarre move of the government:

…the military-propelled government of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed has, indeed, established ‘rule of law’ in the country! His police on Saturday reportedly arrested two persons, one a hapless nonagenarian and the other a physically challenged man in his thirties, from a Dhaka street on charge of begging. …

…If the poor foodless, homeless beggars are to serve jail terms for creating nuisance on our city streets, then what punishment is due to the rich policymakers for begging in the big capital cities of the world, and that too by humiliating the entire nation?
…..

… The growing number of beggars, visible in the metropolitan cities and small townships, is the direct consequence of the governmental failure to manage the national economy properly. And if the government continues to fail to effectively manage the national economy towards a pro-people direction, and there is hardly any sign of success yet, the number of beggars in the cities, the towns and the villages would continue to grow. And, if the government continues to pursue the policy of jailing the beggars, it may have to declare the larger part of the country, if not the entire one, a national prison…

 

General Moeen’s Potato affair

General Moeen U Ahmed took over Bangladesh on the ground that politician have failed to govern the nation. Now his 15 month rule made things much worse. The country has shown deterioration in every possible economic and quality of life indicators.

 This General and his coterie have even failed to ensured the most basic need of the Bangladeshis, some rice to eat.  Failing miserably, he now started lecturing the nation to eat potato instead of rice.

 Well, General, why don’t you start it at your home first? Members of Bangladesh armed forces get almost free rice through a hugely subsidized ration. Lets stop that first, give them potato ration instead. We will sure than line up to listen to your lectures about potato.  

 

The long line to ‘reform’.

Reform of Bangladesh is a long tedious process. But it is a good thing. Hence the line to reform is a rather long one.

 

Good Riddance

H.E. Mr. Anwar Chowdhury, the British high Commissioner to Banglades is widely believed to be one of the co-conspirators of the military coup that killed the democracy in Bangladesh in 1/11/07. In addition to his job as the British high commissioner to Bangladesh, he has also been playing the role of the chief international trumpeter of the military government in Bangladesh. Today’s news is that he has been transferred out of Bangladesh. Good riddance.

 

India: Yes To General Jacob

Hero of 1971 war, General Jacob just visited Bangladesh. He was leading an entourage of several Indian senior military leaders of 1971. They attended our Independence Day parade and visited liberation war museum and other points of interest.

General Jacob’s played one of the most crucial roles in the six day india Pakistan war of 1971 that ensued at the climax of our independence struggle.  For that reason he always held a very high place in my heart. But the very considerate and careful remarks this 90 year old gentleman made during his conversations with some journalists in Dhaka has elevated his stature 100 fold in my mind. His statement that ‘it was mostly the freedom fighters and the East Bengal regiment soldiers who made Bangladesh independent’; is very generous, considerate and important.

In my opinion; the branding India enjoys these days, that India is a tolerant, secular, pluralistic society; is the contribution of General Jacobs generation. General Jacob, himself a minority Jew, was an embodiment of the religious harmony and inclusiveness of Indian society. His heart was in right place when in 1971 he fought his way to Dhaka to help a nation gain freedom from repression.

But unfortunately the spirit of the nonagenarian or octogenarian generation is rapidly fading from the horizon of Indian society. India is now more of a self centered generation which relishes nationalistic pride in Virendra Shehwag’s triple century cricket batting, a generation of Hironmoy Karlekar who makes a career out of Bangladesh bashing, or a generation of trigger happy BSF soldiers shooting Bangladeshis on a daily basis. This is the generation where more youngsters hate Mahatma Gandhi than revere him. This is a generation to whom it is must to hate pakistan, it is a norm to ignore Bangladesh or Sri Lanka and Bhutan, Sikim, Nepal are the countries to make fun of.

It is extremely important that not only Bangladesh, but also India herself honor General Jacob and his generation by embracing the spirit of a tolerant, inclusive and pluralistic society again.

Long live General Jacob. Your war is not over yet.