In the Middle of Nowhere

“We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world… “

Israel declares after US stops the world from demanding an immediate ceasefire. US rather wants Israel to complete it’s mission.

And this is the mission US wants Israel to complete and the World gives Israel to go ahead with.

While 54 innocent civilians with 34 children die, our CNN claims 19 chidren is killed as if it is OK to kill 19 children. And our liberal friend New York Times’s headline picture is angry ” Hizbollah supporters” ransacking UN building in Beirut. Nothing about those dead children.

And US keeps on saying Israel has the right to defend herself. Defend from these elderly women and children or defend from UNIFIL observers?

”Israel was attacked two weeks ago. It was Hezbollah who started this and crossed the blue-line,” Repeats US leadership.

It’s always the other side when comes the question of who started it. It’s never Israel. Even nobody ever bothers to note, over the months preceeding Hizbollah kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, how many cross border raids Israel conducted to kidnap Hizbollah leaders from their bedrooms. At least terrorist organization Hizbollah did the kidnapping from an army base, not from a bedroom.
You don’t want to discuss whether it was Zionists who occupied Palestine to start with, you better only condemn the terrorist Islamist Arabs who is bothering good peace loving Israel.

And then comes the question of all these crimes against humanity, the world only can remain “deeply shocked”, “Deeply saddened”. Forget about punishing the war criminals from IDF or Israeli leadership, you even can’t condemn it. Uncle Sam will twist your neck if you dare do so.

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Drishtipat is a Bangladesh related blog site and remains committed to Bangladesh issues. However Drishtipat bloggers simply fail to keep silent in the face of the atrocities by Israel and it;s backers.

It’s worth mention that Israel Palestine issue is the only issue that can unify Bangladeshis across the divides.

A very different transition zone. The story of the journey of a heart from a donor to a recipient. Also the tumultuous emotional journey of the carier who wrote the story.
Read it here.

There are a few things in the world I have difficulty expressing. I kind of get speechless or don’t get the write words while expressing these things.

Bangladesh police is one such thing.

Two news item in Bangladesh newspapers of today give us a glimpse of Banglades police.

This news reports release of “Mora” after being acquitted of charges of raping four year old Taniya. Taniya was a street child living in the porch of Dhaka court house. She was taken to adjacent police control room and was raped. It is open secret that she was raped by members of police force stationed at the control room. However, police, in an attempt to divert the charges from their members, put the blame on poor street vendor “Mora”, whom they found handy to detain and powerless to protest. Today “mora” got released after 8 years of unjust imprisonment as court found the whole investigation report as false.

And this report, also published today, gives a random peek in how bangladesh police works.

I had several interesting observations while revisiting the Col Taher event.

1. Taher was a very smart, brave, revolutionary leader. However Col Taher is Col Taher today because he was hanged. Look at all his revolutionary comrades;

Maj Jalil: Later became an Islamic leader.

Sirajul Alam Khan Dada: Gone into oblivion, became insignificant.

ASM Rab: National laughing stock, Ershad’s domesticated opposition.

Maj Zia/MR Manna joined AL.

Hasanul Haq Inu, SN ambia, Dr Akhlaqur Rahman have become politicians with no popular support.

2. In his statement, Taher himself took the responsibility of overthrowing Khaled Mosharraf. He mentioned Khaled as villain several times. In the statement he also mentioned of some Army officers who ” begged on his foot for life” .

With this statement it becomes a more and more clear that Taher apparently klled Maj Gen Khaled Mosharraf And Col ATM Haider.

3. Will there ever be a call for justice of Khaled Mosharraf killing?

4. I wonder, all these emotion sorrounding Col Taher, is it out of love for Taher or out of hate for Gen Zia?

5. Zia probably didn’t have any option but to hang Taher. With Taher living, Zia’s control and leadership would have been seriously undermined and his efforts to stabilize Bangladesh armed forces into a disciplined conventional traditional military would have been seriously hampered by Taher who clearly wanted a non conventional people’s red army. ( However I don’t know whether Taher’s dream peole’s army would have been worse or better for Bangladesh)

6. The counter coup, valiant freedome fighters Khaled and Haider did, is probably the least bloody and most misunderstood coup in Bangladesh. When CIA link was surfaced in 15th august killing, these two patriotic freedome fighters could not but take up arms. It should have already been done by then Army chief Maj Gen Shafiullah and then Rakhkhi bahini chief Tofayel Ahmed ( Both AL leaders now).

7. Countering of Khaled’s coups probably saw the strongest and most prudent use of ” India fear”. And Col Taher spearheaded the use of this ‘card ‘, as it is evident from his statement at the martial law court.

8. During the period between 72-75, one reason behind the perceived failure of Bangabandhu governmnet was the activities of the leftists, the so called ” Peking left”. The armed wing, ” Gana bahini” has been implicated in thousands of murders including those of 7 MPs. Has there been any concerted effort to bring those involved in this mass murder to justice?

It was Colonel Taher’s death anniversary today. Like every other year, there were newspaper memoirs, articles/columns along with discussion and protest sessions in Bangladesh.

This years events also included an additional attraction, a key note addresses by American journalist Lawrence Lifschultz.

Lawrence Lifschultz, in his speech today, urged the concerned authorities for ensuring a fair re-trial of
1. Jail killing of four national leaders
2. Taher death sentence
3. All the freedome fighter killing during coups against Zia rule,
4. General Manjur Killing
5. Death sentence and execution of freedome fighter officers convicted of murdering Zia.

I find these demands quite logical and I belive nobody will cringe too much at these demands. However I get curious when I see some ommission in Lifschultz’s list.

Is there any significant killing missing from this list?

Do we remember valiant fredome fighter sector commanders Khaled Mosharraf and ATM Haider?

Khaled Mosharraf was arguably the best of the military leaders during our war of independence in 1971. He almost died in the war with a bullet hitting his forehead.
ATM Haider was also another valiant freedome fighter who represented Bangladesh during Pak surrender on 16th December.

Do anyone clearly know how they were killed?
Exactly who killed these brave souls?
Who ordered the killing?
In what situation they died? Were they executed? Or did they die in gunfight?

Why these two sector Commanders deaths are not mourned every year as it happens in case of Colonel Taher?
Why nobody demand a justice for their killing?
Why Lawrence Lifschultz does not mention Khaled Mosharraf and ATM Haider in his list?

Once a while, there are some voices of reasoning. I was surprised to read these comments by CNN anchor Lou Dobbs.

While the United States provides about $2.5 billion in military and economic aid to Israel each year, U.S. aid to Lebanon amounts to no more than $40 million. This despite the fact that the per capita GDP of Israel is among the highest in the world at $24,600, nearly four times as high as Lebanon’s GDP per capita of $6,200.

Lebanon’s lack of wealth is matched by the Palestinians — three out of every four Palestinians live below the poverty line. Yet the vast majority of our giving in the region flows to Israel. This kind of geopolitical inconsistency and shortsightedness has contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict that the Western world seems content to allow to perpetuate endlessly.

Today I had another discovery, i.e in the US media an Israeli casuality is mourned more than a US casuality. While in the last week 29 Isreali lives have been lost, In Iraq 10 American lives have alos been lost. But these ten American got miniscule media attention compared to those Israeli casualities.

Todays CNN.com’s main news

Hezbollah leader ready for “open war” with Israel
•Israeli jets destroy Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut
• Hezbollah fires missiles into six Israeli towns
• An Israeli naval ship off the coast of Lebanon was damaged by what appeared to be a rocket
• Israeli woman, grandson reported killed by a rocket

For journalism’s sake, was there any casuality on the lebanese side? Do those worth mention?

Another attack. Another event of sense less mass murder.

Serial bombing on Mumbai commutar railway system kills 145.

When this will stop?
On what logic this sort of killing can be of a good cause?

I worry this event may start a domino of more blood shed.
Communal violences, currently under control should not be allowed to flare up again.

I also worry, like previous incidents, the blame again may be immediately put on so called ‘perpetrators from Bangladesh’.

–15 year old Shazneen was raped and murdered in her bedroom.

–Shazneen is the daughter of one of the most influential families of Bangladesh. Her dad owns both the most circulated Bangla and English daily newspaper of Bangladesh. In addition he is a top notch businessman and leader of the business community.

–Many of Shazneen’s family members and family friends are leaders of the country.

— The culprits were easily identified. They were mostly people with no means.

Yet

—- Shazneen’s family went through daily recollection of the grisly rape murder of Shazneen, as they witnessed and participated in explicit court proceedings of Shazneen murder case. Shazneen’s dad had to describe, in minute details, his youngest daughter’s mutilated body multiple times in front of the court.

— Shazneen murder case ran so far for more than eight years. Today it crossed the highcourt obstacle. Ahead is more time consuming supreme court appeal process and then presidential mercy petition.

–Who know may be eight more years will easily go by before Shazneen’s soul will get the much coveted justice.

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Can anyone tell me what is the current state of Bangabandhu murder case? Initiated at the beginning of AL rule, 5+5, nearly ten years have passed so far, but Bangabandhu killers have not been punished yet.

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The top ranking police officer, the IG P, get’s punished, looses his job within months after some in his department fail to salute a highcourt judge. This happens while people run, year after year, from court to court, in search of justice for the killing of their near and dear ones.

Only these judicial system has the professionals who can refrain from performing their jobs on the plea of feeling embarassed. Can a physician or a journalist or any other professional refuse to perform their assigned job in this manner?

We, the human rights activists can spend years shouting against the extra judicial, illegal, immoral, unethical killings by RAB and police. But I am skeptical how much we can doto sway the public opinion favoring the ‘encounter’ killings by RAB and other law enforcement agencies.

Being disabled in Bangladesh….

1. You do not have any constitutional protection form being discriminated for job, education etc.

2. You do not have any hope for a meaningful self sustained life.

3. You do not have any way to use public(?) transportation. So the disabled are not public?

4. You will not be able to access governmnet offices, as there are no special accomodation.

5. Who cares you are disbaled. You have to learn to live like an ‘abled’. There is no concept for special accomodation, special bathroom for the disabled.

6. Forget about village, can you imagine those rickshaw clogged, uneven brick paved lanes in Dhaka? Now think of a wheelchair stroll through that. So you are pretty much confined to home.

7. When you are young, you are the responsibility of your poor parents. But when you are old?

8. What about normal competitive schooling for a disbaled kid?

9. Disabled women? Where are they? Do you see them unless they are your family?

10. While 10% of our population are somewhat disabled, how many, except those street beggers, disabled people you see in Bangladesh offices, schools, businesses or public places? Where are they? What did they do to deserve these forced house arrest?

In our political game, in the struggle to win the ‘cup’, i.e. the ruling power of the country, now after the end of this round, the result is a 1-1 draw.

The side on the offensive tried hard for a goal, a dead activist in this case and scored one early goal yesterday during the countrywide strike. However they couldn’t maintain the lead, as the other side scored the equalizer with another goal, another deadbody, now a dead police.

Now while there was no referee to put the blame on, both the teams are resorting to post games spins to score out of field goals.

One such spin is the governmnets claim that the police was killed very shortly after the opposition leaders instructions to attack the sister’s of police members as a revenge to police brutality. An added spin from this side was the lack of bullet or lethal wound on the dead AL activist, claiming it to be death by heart attack.

The opposition team counter spinned claiming the government itself arranged the killing of the police officer to vindicate the off track remarks of the opposition leader.

‘Jhhalmuri’ is a delicious snacks for which I always craved . There were ( I am saying ‘were’ as I don’t see jhhalmuri vendors that visible anymore) no public place you could imagine without a jhhalmuri vendor around. I remember school gates, bus train stations, stadium gallery during football or cricket game or the other corner of the neighborhood—-used to have a permanent fixtute, the jhhalmurui guy with the typical container full jhhalmuri.

However when I was in Dhaka earlier this year, I found jhhalmuri vendors being replaced with popcorn vendors. You hardly can stop in any traffic light without being solicited to buy the pre packed popcorns.

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My friend invited me to have dinner with them, and as ususual popcorn was the starter. My transient comparative discussion about popcorn and jhhalmuri was quickly dismissed by the host as the American vacationeers ultra-romaticism .

Another extinct item in our culinary genre is ‘lebur sharbat’. I very much miss this ‘lebur sharbat’ or lemon serbet. Wasn’t it Bangladesh culture to entertain with lebur sharbat when the surprise guest used to show up? Now a days, I bet, you will definitely be treated with RC Cola, sprite or Tang, not ‘lebur sharbat’.

And talking about the ‘surprise guest’? In this cell phone era, you will definitely get a running commetry of the journey that the guest takes to get to your house.So ‘the surprise guest’ is another extinct breed.