My younger brother’s are being searched, identified, tortured and then taken away to undisclosed location.
My country is under seige.
My people are without telephone, transportation.
My folks have no food to buy.
My fellow countrymen has all their rights curtailed.
My journalist friends voices have been gagged.
My poor marginalized people has just lost their last indulgance_right to express their anger.
My sick relatives can’t see a doctor, can’t buy a medicine.
How can I seat quite, either observe the situation or be a cheerleader of all these miliary atrocities?
How Can I not protest all these injustice?
August 24, 2007 at 5:09 am
All these are ture but do you think only military atrocities are responsible.
We hate the activity of army men in the campus and I think this is the first time in the history of Bangladesh when a government reacted fast by offering apology and withdrawing army camp within 24 hours.
What politicians did in this situation, when students and street hawkers are destroying raclessly with no objective and direction. Politicians acted irresponsible as they used to do. They must think country frist then their objective.
Politicians forced military to take power to save the country; please remember Sk. Hasina had told that she would support and pass all the activities of this government if AL in power. Now she is opposit when CTG hold her for corruption. For last 40 years, slogan like “JALIE DAO PURIA DAO” we need water to control fire not any fire.
Remember, this is a poor, limited resourced, over populated, uneducated, religiously blind country where leaders easily use these to make them rich; no need to give example.
Please please don’t support these atrocious activity any more and make the country like Somalia or Congo…..
August 24, 2007 at 8:44 am
Ofcourse we protest… We protest .. break our brothers cars and shops… ofcourse we protest..
August 24, 2007 at 10:08 am
You can sit quite because you’ve been sitting quite for the last 35 years under oppression from a Civil authority. What difference does an armed junta make? The fact that they kick first and (
ask later) never ask?I’ve always said this..and I’m repeating this once again…. In my view, the great author George Orwell, whilst visualizing about his book “The Animal Farm”, must have taken BD as its back-story. Otherwise, why would the recent incidents..as well as that of the last 35 years be so reminiscent of this book? Metaphorically speaking or not..we suck in choosing our overlord, and thus we have to deal with the consequences.
August 24, 2007 at 11:40 am
Well said. We can all sprout fine political theories and speculate as much as we want, but nothing will even slightly diminish the pain, humiliation, and indignity that our countrymen are having to endure. All of us are diminished by their suffering.
August 24, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Rupen
For you the country may be like switzerland and you don’t want all those nasty dirty people take away your peace. But for those people who rampaged in the streets, the country is no better than somalia. At least you don’t have to worry for feeding your child.These peoples’ bacxk has touched the wall with price hike. They had nothing else to do.
August 24, 2007 at 8:24 pm
There is also violence or economic violence (depends how you see it) by World Bank (WB) and IMF. These two organizations forcing Bangladesh to accept conditions where GOB has to seek WB/IMF approval for any future external loan from any other donors. WB and IMF dictating contractionary monetary/economic policy (increasing bank borrowing rate, lowering import duties on finish goods and increasing duties on raw materials) which bound to destroy Bangladesh industrial base and bring more people to street. If you call jute workers violence as punishable offence (which may be) then its instigators World Bank/IMF has to be punished by law. Oh, I am sorry they have hold Bangladesh hostage to pass a law where they are immune from Bangladeshi law no matter what violence they instigate.
http://www.newagebd.com/2007/aug/02/front.html#1
http://www.dailynayadiganta.com/full…ID=38273&sec=1
Do you remember destruction of Supreme Court and desecration of our national flag with direct instigation by Dr. Kamal Hossain and his lieutenants? Well I see him still roaming freely untouched by any law or enforcement.
Umm I guess law and its application all depends on who has the power. In case of Bangladesh that power seems to be in the hand Washington and London. Remember statement from ambassador from star and stripe country – constitutional provision for Bangladesh election date is not a binding requirement. That was a turning point and signal.
What a sorry state we are in? But I feel sorrier for people who have cheer led and leading on the illusion of anti corruption. In bigger schema of things anti corruption is used as a tool to create illusion and smoke screen, it was never intended to eliminate corruption itself.
I am no supporting street violence but as a nation it would be prudent to go after instigators of violence first and then street scenario. Not the other way around.
August 25, 2007 at 5:52 am
Dear Asif:
You are protesting of what? Breaking of car and shop or Government activity?
Dear Rumi,
May be I don’t have to think of my child’s food today but my belongings are not safe and if this things continues who knows I have to think for my child’s food tomorrow. My child’s school is closed, my wife is going and coming back from Dhaka Medical College through a battle field with big time risk, shops are closed, my colleagues and workers and their families are worried whether they will reach safely or not.
Rumi, you have nothing at stake; not only child’s food, your belongings and surroundings are safe and you are judging the situation from thousands miles away by seeing news paper through internet and watching TV. While all your possessions are safely protected, it is easier for you to support these kinds of street hawker’s atrocity. To feel the thrust you have to be in the battle field not keeping in a safe place.
I do agree that prices are high and general people are in a crisis; so what to do… breaking the country’s property. Referring one of your previous posts, you wrote that price hike is an international issue not Tarek Zia’s syndicate; so how this government is solely responsible for price hike. People have to understand the problem and should help the government to overcome the situation. Country is affected by recent flood, prices are high, huge unemployment exists; now these type of activities are dangerous. Unruly students and Hawkers can do this but as an experienced educated person should not support these types of atrocities. Here in my surroundings, nobody is supporting this; not that they are privileged; some of them has political affiliation also, but destruction should never be supported.
CTG declared a road map for the election and they are heading towards the goal. Can you proof that they are power hunger? Yes, if we see that after 2008, they manipulated the election and trying to be in power then question comes. In Bangladesh politicians made an irregularity as regular, that’s why Hawkers are so powerful by capturing footpath as shop and government land as slum. Politicians use them as vote bank and hire for these kinds of activity and janashava. On the other hand they may make alternative plan for them in the city or village. Anything in public sector means loss and hariloot. Whatever the achievement in Bangladesh is only for private sector development; it is clear to everybody.
FIRST WE HAVE TO STOP THE DESTRUCTIVE ACTIVITY; WE HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE OURSELVES in every section of the society. Please Please don’t support and stimulate the destructive activity only for cheap emotion.
August 25, 2007 at 7:10 pm
M. Amin,
Who was the “instigator of violence” in Supreme Court? Was it Dr. Kamal Hossain or was it the unlawful decree by the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Had a proper ruling be delivered then, we would not be in the mess now. Its interesting that now you are looking at “cause” of the street violence and justifying it whereas you were decrying the street violence only in November calling it “destructive activities”. Leaving that aside, today’s prothom alo had Sultana Kamal’s view. Read between the lines on what she is saying. No one is the biggest advocate of human rights than Ain O Salish Kendro’s Sultana Kamal. There is definitely a lot more than what meets the eye. Yes, the oppession is wrong, yes a lot of things that are happening in the country is wrong. Protest that by all means. But also let us be pragmatic about the current situation and offer solutions on how to get out of this alternative. We can all romanticize about fighting the good war but the sad truth is that a lot of the folks I see protesting the loudest were quiet when oppression was going by different sets of feudal lords.
Engage with this government with a critical eye by all means and I myself has loudly done that in print media but let’s not lose sight of the big picture and some of the worse alternatives that may come before us, should this CTG fall. Disorder and anarchy favour no one. I believe its still possible to have a dialoge with this government and I believe its still possible to engage with them before giving up on them and calling out an all out war. That’s to me seems to be the best possible work around now.
August 25, 2007 at 8:19 pm
In his second round of interview with Tasneem Khalil, M Sanjeeb Hossain, son of detained DU Professor Anwar Hossain, detailed what his father told him about the DGFI “black hole,” his torture and what happened in the court. Considering its significance, this pod was recorded both in English and Bangla.
Read More here:
http://www.e-bangladesh.org/2007/08/26/pod-anwar-hossain-tortured-in-dgfi-%e2%80%9cblack-hole%e2%80%9d/
N.B: This is not promoting our site E-Bangladesh.It is just sharing the experience.
August 25, 2007 at 8:31 pm
It’s interesting how when this CTG came to power, they and their supported used to shrilly proclaim how they had the support of the general populace. While the last few days have, finally and thankfully, illuminated them about their level of support, their rationale for supporting the CTG has shifted to painting horror pictures about what will happen to Bangladesh should this CTG have to resign. And of course, there’s always the dark, dependable bogeymen: the politicians.
This reminds me, rather sadly, of the President Bush’s Iraq War, and how the President and his neoconservative cronies went from looking for WMDs to spreading democracy in the Middle East as a rationale for an illegitimate war.
To hear our current CTG advisors and General Moeen talking about the past regime, it is as if they, like the fairy princesses, of yore, were deep in a magical sleep between 2001-2006, and only came life and woke up on January 11 2007. If a foreigner heard them speaking, that foreigner would not have the faintest clue that a vast majority of them served in positions of power and influence under the past BNP government. That Saifur Rahman handpicked Fakhruddin Ahmed to head up Bangladesh Bank. That Moeen U jumped through hoops day and night for Tareq Rahman and Sayyed Iskandar to be appointed Army Chief.
We are now at a crossroad for Bangladesh. We can’t continue saddled with a government that is unable to perform its necessary duties without Emergency, with a capital E, powers. We need to, through elections, let the people of Bangladesh speak and hand over power to our elected representatives.
August 25, 2007 at 9:20 pm
In his second round of interview with Tasneem Khalil, M Sanjeeb Hossain, son of detained DU Professor Anwar Hossain, detailed what his father told him about the DGFI “black hole,” his torture and what happened in the court. Considering its significance, this pod was recorded both in English and Bangla. You can find it Here.
August 26, 2007 at 2:53 pm
The picture on the following link http://www.daily-dinkal.com/details.php?nid=8399&pubdate=2007-08-27 resembles the scenarios of Iraqi arestees, Afghan/Muslim arrestess in GITMO, which reminds the grand plan to go against the nationalists/Freedom lovers just to break up the concept of Nation State, destroy Islam to make Muslims The materials of exploitation. The global conspiracy of AIPAC, Sangh Paribar(BJP, VHP, RSS etc) and Right wingers are very much in play at our beloved motherland. And connivers like Kamal Hussein, Mahfuz Anam, Motiur Rahman, Shushil bastards like Debabrata, Abul Barakat are SIMPLY being instumental in that scheme. Wake up people and read what a patriot like Farhad Mazhar has to say about DARPA’s publication regard demolishing SLUMs at DHAKA in his Nayadiganta’s article.
August 26, 2007 at 3:14 pm
[Asif]
Kamal Hossain and his lieutenants of SCBA leaders instigated Supreme Court violence. Supreme Court own investigation concluded that and till to date he remains charge sheeted. It would be a great joke to say chief justice instigated destruction of his own office.
Anyway crux of the matter was, could chief justice according to law give stay order? Legal answer is, YES. If Kamal Hossain and his partners felt it was unjust they could just seek legal recourse not violence and desecration of national flag.
But matter did not end there, Kamal Hossain went to press club and among other things lied in front of national television. He said Chief justice action for stay order was unprecedented. But his lie was later reveled -
In the case of Kazi Faruque Ahmed of Proshika, Dr Kamal Hossain himself approached the chief justice and got a stay order on delivery of the judgement in the case
I will leave it at that for now.
By any critical analysis Ain O Salish can not be considered as human rights organization and Sultana Kamal is no humanitarian. At best they are mouth piece for some motivated and political cause of their own lenience.
[Getting back to topic]…
Point is interim entity should not make blank accusation for 80K violators and try to back fill those slot with whoever does not agree with them. And they can not contain violence by exempting one instigator and going after another who does not agree with their activities.
August 28, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Protest needs to be measured, rightly directed and we need to single out the agents of the enemies of mankind. A man of honor and a real patriot that has been pulling the mountain almost alone. Let’s spread the helping hand to save our beloved motherland. Here is his latest protest,
http://www.dailynayadiganta.com/fullnews.asp?News_ID=39808&sec=4