tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193293932024-03-14T20:24:34.909+05:00Bangladesh WatchdogSpeak no evil; Hear no evil; Share no evil; Post no evil; Text no evilBangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.comBlogger1270125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-32690782266136717192024-03-14T20:23:00.005+05:002024-03-14T20:23:43.780+05:00Bangladesh climate crisis may dent SDG objectives<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiN97QFUZo4O9J106gk31EnPqFKSPUTboZrifRw5DfPA2hrMrQfhGybb5tX9QAhd7BtS6Va4f0Ssfxnbf2kr4M4ZzEeRfa_pmSNmjhaDscJQugE_8GnaXyvP9u_8nrbBfbCwuAkhRZhrUYIVD9kEAZg7sfZfzPwW2T35v896Nbc6oXbPv4XLncqRw" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="1008" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiN97QFUZo4O9J106gk31EnPqFKSPUTboZrifRw5DfPA2hrMrQfhGybb5tX9QAhd7BtS6Va4f0Ssfxnbf2kr4M4ZzEeRfa_pmSNmjhaDscJQugE_8GnaXyvP9u_8nrbBfbCwuAkhRZhrUYIVD9kEAZg7sfZfzPwW2T35v896Nbc6oXbPv4XLncqRw=w400-h173" width="400" /></a></div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh is, of course, on the critical list to face the climate crisis. The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 ranks Bangladesh as the seventh most extreme disaster-prone country in the world.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The country, at the confluence of the yawning rivers Padma, Meghna, and the Brahmaputra, creates a delta, with accumulated sand and silt spilling into the Bay of Bengal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Coastal Bangladesh will always remain prone to natural disasters and annual monsoon river flooding, vulnerable to livelihood.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thus, the densely populated, low-lying regions are one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to disasters and climate change. Every year, an estimated 3.5 million people in Bangladesh are at risk of river flooding due to rising sea levels and increasingly intense monsoons.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The vulnerability of Bangladesh to climate risks has brought into focus the delicate balance between its pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the multifaceted impacts of global warming.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The SDGs and their determined achievement in several categories of goals will be severely dented due to climate risk and global warming.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Often argued by planners and policymakers that the Arctic is thousands of miles away from Bangladesh, melting polar ice caps may not harm the region much, as predicted by climate scientists for the last few decades.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While the immediate repercussions are visible in the Polar regions, the Arctic is experiencing unprecedented warming, losing its sea ice and snow cover at an alarming rate, several research stations have found.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman, a leading development economist, said that the dramatic achievements in human development and infrastructure development may cause irreparable damage to the glorious economic triumphs.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The melting Greenland Ice Sheet in the Arctic, Bangladesh's deltaic nation will have vast stretches of land barely above sea level, which impacts sea level rise, heightening risks of coastal inundation, salinity intrusion, and land loss, writes The Arctic Risk Platform.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Professor Ainun Nishat, a water resource and climate change specialist and a professor emeritus at BRAC University, said that the implications would be profound during climatic extremes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From displacing millions to threatening food and water security, the Arctic’s warming disrupts the monsoon systems, and Bangladesh grapples with erratic rainfall patterns, leading to extended droughts and devastating floods, he remarked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dr Rahman, a policymaker who led the team to develop the poverty reduction strategy of the government, said the SDGs serve as a beacon for Bangladesh’s developmental aspirations; they are deeply intertwined with the nation’s socioeconomic fabric.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He said the infrastructure, which forms the backbone of developmental ambitions, is likely to face vulnerabilities due to climate-induced damages, potentially isolating communities and hindering economic progress.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh’s determination to march towards the SDGs is rendered more intricate by the indirect yet profound influences of Arctic warming, including the accelerated melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which significantly contributes to rising sea levels, posing an even greater challenge to the nation’s development.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Extensive research on socioeconomic implications needs to be undertaken to understand the impact on Bangladesh’s SDG journey and the impact of climate risk, said Dr Rahman, the founder of a research institute, Power Participation and Research Centre.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He describes how critical infrastructures, including roads, schools, and health facilities, are threatened by the rising waters and intensified weather extremes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Presently, 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s electricity grid is at risk from strong cyclonic winds exceeding 30 meters per second.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Looking ahead to 2050, over 65 per cent of electricity substations and 67 per cent of power plants could face potential climate-related hazards. Due to climate change, the road and rail network in Bangladesh will bear the brunt of climate change.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">These may include more frequent flooding and erosion, greater wear and tear from extreme weather, increased obstructions from debris after cyclones and storm surges, and salinity impacts in coastal areas, said Professor Nishat.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Agriculture is a vital lifeline for a substantial portion of Bangladesh’s population, but it faces increasing threats from unpredictable weather and rising salinity levels.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Bangladesh, 70 per cent of the land is allocated to agriculture, employing 48 per cent of the population.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Climate-related events not only impact food security but also place significant strain on livelihoods, casting doubts on the nation’s progress toward achieving SDG targets of ‘no poverty’ and ‘zero hunger.’</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Current estimates indicate that only in the agricultural sector in Bangladesh may incur an annual loss of approximately USD 7.7 billion (BDT 84,588.27 crore) due to climate change.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Within two decades, the country’s average annual rice production could decline by 33 percent due to climate vulnerability, according to Global Climate Risks, a research outfit based in the United Kingdom.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Agriculture has a central role in Bangladesh’s economy and will face challenges originating from erratic monsoons, extreme weather events, and salinity intrusion, affecting both food security and countless livelihoods, said Prof. Nishat.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Bangladesh, repeated climatic shocks are hindering access to education, health, and opportunities, and posing significant barriers to SDGs related to health, education, and well-being.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The nation’s human capital, its most valuable asset, confronts threats from climate change that, when amplified by Arctic warming, can potentially erode its developmental milestones.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A growing number of Bangladeshi children have had to permanently end their education when they migrate to urban slums in the wake of climate disasters. Around 1.7 million children in Bangladesh are labourers, and one in four of them is 11 years old or younger, according to UNICEF.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh’s pursuit of the SDGs is frankly linked with the distant echoes of the Arctic’s warming, cautions Dr. Rahman.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh policymakers and politicians must adopt strategies accordingly to face the daunting challenges supposedly caused by climate extremes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh certainly can still develop strategies and plan for a harmonious balance between sustainable growth and the ever-shifting climate landscape, observed Global Climate Risks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/bangladesh/news/15159" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Messenger</a>, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 14 March 2024</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger. An award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-85543102794806350062024-03-05T14:10:00.004+05:002024-03-05T14:13:19.000+05:00Japan to tie landlocked Northeast India with Bangladesh<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOP_mFgDhmI3YkUimAmAsE6Dd3s_zo-xMc4H2pSSxjua3BFtavGtZl7ScnHwTkjF2E436YLtH2ZR3gSeqXvYCXhoKGYIfRdR8b-Y2c9tmYeLkjjPBpNIFx7RedCVefLbxOQ2aKNr_7V6u0Q-qVHWsWzo1pWNjt92YUxoZKyG1IgiM1Ul3WdqmUjA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOP_mFgDhmI3YkUimAmAsE6Dd3s_zo-xMc4H2pSSxjua3BFtavGtZl7ScnHwTkjF2E436YLtH2ZR3gSeqXvYCXhoKGYIfRdR8b-Y2c9tmYeLkjjPBpNIFx7RedCVefLbxOQ2aKNr_7V6u0Q-qVHWsWzo1pWNjt92YUxoZKyG1IgiM1Ul3WdqmUjA=w360-h400" width="360" /></a></div><b style="font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hopes for the Red Sun finally glimmer lights over landlocked northeast India and plans to connect with landlocked states with Bangladesh, which has been deemed as geostrategic significance to Japan.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japan after the brutal Second World War has developed several proven friends of South Asia and is edging closer to Bangladesh and India for socio-economic development.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many think tanks say Japan has enlarged its diplomatic vision in a bid to counter the economic hegemony of China, which has set its eyes towards South Asia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, Japan has been a major donor and development partner since the war-ravaged Bangladesh, 52 years ago and has a strategic understanding of the region and the Bay of Bengal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Against the backdrop of huge Japanese investment in the country recently being outsmarted by China, particularly after the launch of Beijing’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and half of South Asia including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are signatories of the mega plan to revitalise the ancient silk roads to the heart of the world.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A series of top Japanese official's visits to New Delhi, Guwahati (Assam), Agartala (Tripura) and Dhaka come against the background of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Vision.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">These developments in conjunction with initiatives like the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) and regressive naval exercises jointly by the United States, Japan and Australia in the disputed South China Sea off the Philippines in response to a recent show of Chinese aggression in the disputed waters.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japan wants her physical presence in the Bay of Bengal. As Nikkei Asia writes, Bangladesh's ambitious deep-sea port promises a strategic anchor for Japan and India.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A mega seaport under construction is shaping up to be a strategic linchpin for Japan and India as the Quad partners aim to counter Chinese influence.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Development of the gigantic port of Matarbari will put a Japan-backed facility just north of Sonadia, another prime location on the Bay of Bengal where China proposed to develop another port. The Chinese project never materialised, and Dhaka reportedly dropped the idea, reports Nikkei Asia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A mega deep-sea port at Matarbari, in southeast Bangladesh waters is underway and is expected in 2027, the complex will take a major load off of the country's main Chattogram (formerly Chittagong) port and a trade gateway for northeast India, which would be less than 100 kilometres to the massive port facility.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whatever the geopolitical strategy, the deep-sea port project has the potential to improve regional trade ties, boost investment, create jobs, and support infrastructural development, spurring economic growth for Bangladesh, Northeast India, Nepal, and Bhutan, as well as the surrounding countries along the Bay of Bengal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier regional studies suggested both Bangladesh and Northeast India need to scale up their multi-modal connectivity, which would not only help the region to raise its competitiveness but also narrow long-standing regional development gaps.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The connectivity will bring synergy in trade facilitation, and build express corridors for the trans-shipment and transit of goods from northeast India to Bangladesh port in Chattogram.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Currently, nearly 350 Japanese companies are operating in Bangladesh, with more than $380 million in combined investment.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japanese investment in Bangladesh has reached USD 123 million in 2022. Japan and India are two major export destinations in Asia where Bangladesh's export earnings reached $2 billion, said a top official Ministry of Commerce.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japan has proposed developing an industrial hub in Bangladesh with supply chains to the landlocked northeast states of India, Nepal and Bhutan beyond by developing a port and connectivity in the region.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Improve connectivity in the region through the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative, Japan plans to build road connectivity in the Indian states of Assam, Mizoram, and Tripura to connect to the seaport in the Bay of Bengal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Calling India an ‘indispensable partner’, after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listed three important regions — Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Pacific Islands — where multi-layered connectivity could overcome vulnerabilities and boost economic growth, writes Fumiko Yamada, a Research Associate at the University of Melbourne, Australia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The comprehensive collaboration among Bangladesh, India and Japan provides the blocked-in northeast with access to the Bay and access to ASEAN countries, which plays a crucial role in unleashing the enormous potential for growth and prosperity based on better access to the Indian Ocean, becomes crucial for the improvement of people’s lives of the northeast region, opines Ishita Singh Bedi of Amity University in India.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Red Sun has plans to build a Bengal–Northeast India industrial value chain in cooperation with India and Bangladesh to foster growth in the region.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier in 2019, the Government of Japan invested 205.784 billion Yen, equivalent to approximately BDT 152 billion in several ongoing and new projects in different states of India’s northeast region. None of the projects would be sustainable unless the connectivity with Bangladesh is augmented to rip huge economic benefits.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Regarding port development, Japan could hardly ask for a better spot than Matarbari — a natural gateway to South and Southeast Asia. Tripura state, around 100 kilometres from the proposed seaport, might serve as a gateway for regional exporters, Bedi writes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japanese Prime Minister’s FOIP vision focused particularly on emerging economies and developing countries in the Indo-Pacific region and territories vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It comes after Japanese Prime Minister Kishida visited India last March, where he touted the idea of a new industrial hub for the Bay of Bengal and northeast India that could bolster development in the impoverished region of 300 million people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After Kishida visited India, Japan approved $1.27 billion in funding to Bangladesh for three infrastructure projects - including an enormous commercial port in the Bay, which will be equivalent to the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka or the Singapore Port in terms of water depths, said a JICA official in charge of the project.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India and Japan have a comprehensive economic partnership, with trade worth $20.57 billion in 2021-2022. Of this volume, India imported Japanese goods worth $14.49 billion, reported Reuters.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The FOIP and new mega project investment further solidified when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Tokyo and held an official parley with Kishida in late April.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With infrastructure projects set to be completed over a five to ten-year horizon, the proposal for joint discussions on investment promotion, customs, and tariffs will set the stage for an economic boom in India’s northeast.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India, Japan, and Bangladesh need to create a mechanism to discuss three key stumbling blocks to regional investment: tariffs, customs procedures, and connectivity. India and Bangladesh are negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that is expected to boost bilateral trade.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/bangladesh/news/14560" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Messenger</a>, 5 March 2014</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger and an award-winning journalist. An Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-2466092191485795572024-03-03T16:09:00.005+05:002024-03-03T16:09:52.578+05:00Bangladesh can be a game changer for northeast India<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQXp0y-GC52aJ9AYXD5vAuvlcLTsrNiDHz8qowhdFUmAMONInvDFPu-SeXyKvO5DJHCfR1TDIIom87twVkKPb9ssLHQPgM8igY1fGCJSe8s2Lh7e71IAK7TpC1lXfF6irKvqsic4XrPx63lSc9oKLqrI3z0NsXZX8bx8ryBSSLyJfImSVq5irEQQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="544" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQXp0y-GC52aJ9AYXD5vAuvlcLTsrNiDHz8qowhdFUmAMONInvDFPu-SeXyKvO5DJHCfR1TDIIom87twVkKPb9ssLHQPgM8igY1fGCJSe8s2Lh7e71IAK7TpC1lXfF6irKvqsic4XrPx63lSc9oKLqrI3z0NsXZX8bx8ryBSSLyJfImSVq5irEQQ=w587-h640" width="587" /></a></div><br /><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Landlocked northeast Indian states do not have easy access to cost-effective seaports.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Imports and exports of northeast Indian states are very time-consuming, loaded with frustration, and most importantly, the high cost of transportation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Politicians, business bodies and state governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura underscores boosting connectivity, transit and trade with Bangladesh and through Bangladesh territory, which is expected to be a game changer for the northeast.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They have realised that connectivity with Bangladesh to access the ports is vital to economic growth and rapid industrialisation in the landlocked region.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Bangladesh ports to ease northeast trading</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The connectivity projects have gained momentum after Bangladesh allowed the use of its Chattogram and Mongla ports and transit facilities to India’s northeastern states.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The road distance between Kolkata and northeastern states is more than 1,200 km, while Chattogram and Mongla ports are located at almost half the distance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Recently, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said Tripura will be the gateway to southeast countries by using Chattogram Port in Bangladesh, which will substantially reduce the time and costs associated with transporting goods to the northeastern states.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh has already allowed India to use its Chattogram Port through South Tripura's Sabroom sub-division. The Maitri Setu (bridge) built on the Feni River has already been inaugurated for transportation and passengers through the bridge.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once the bridge is operational, Tripura will have direct access to Chattogram Port and will widen new possibilities in business and trade.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Saha said, that not only South East Asian (SEA) nations, Tripura will have access to many countries by using Chattogram Port on the Bay of Bengal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Saha also highlighted the Indo-Bangladesh railway project connecting Bangladesh's Gangasagar station with Agartala railway station.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Agartala-Kolkata train via Padma Bridge in 10 hours</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Social Empowerment, Pratima Bhoumik, said the Indo-Bangladesh rail link will be a game changer once the connectivity is operational.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 32-hour train journey from Agartala to Kolkata through Bangladesh will be completed in 10 hours. It will boost trade, business, investment, and people's movement in the northeastern state into the heart of India, she added</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Dhaka-Delhi relation enhances connectivity</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dhaka and New Delhi have been closely cooperating in implementing numerous bilateral and sub-regional rail, road, and waterway initiatives.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In recent years, the two countries have launched several bus, train and air services, opened immigration checkposts and upgraded border infrastructure boosting bilateral ties and enhancing trade and connectivity.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a significant development in November 2023, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated three New Delhi-assisted infrastructure development projects including the Agartala-Akhaura cross-border rail link and Khulna-Mongla rail line through video conferencing.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier, External Affairs Minister Dr Subramanyam Jaishankar noted that five operational bus services, three cross-border passenger train services and two inland waterway routes are facilitating greater trade and people-to-people contacts, which are integral parts of India’s broader engagement with South Asian neighbours.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After the Indo-Pakistan 1965 war, six decades ago the river transportation began to connect Rajshahi to Murshdabad in February. A cargo vessel carrying two tonnes of cotton departed from Sultanganj port to Maya port in Murshidabad.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Similarly, the first cargo vessel sailed from Kolkata in the first week of August 2022 carrying 16 tons of iron pipes in a container via Mongla Port with destination Meghalaya using the Tamabil-Dawki border points and 8.5 tons of pre-foam in another container for Assam using the Bibir Bazar-Srimantapur border points.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once the official protocols are completed, the passenger ships will soon connect Dhaka with Kolkata.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The four northeastern states, namely, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram share a 1,879 km-long border with Bangladesh and India has sought transit facilities through the neighbouring country for the transportation of goods to and from these states.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In August 2022, the Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy told the Lok Sabha (parliament) that enhancing comprehensive connectivity between India and Bangladesh through the northeast was crucial for strengthening bilateral ties and significant progress has been made in recent years.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">During a parley between Hasina and DoNER Minister Reddy in September 2022, in New Delhi, the Bangladesh government proposed that the chief ministers of the seven northeastern states could visit Dhaka for a sharing meeting for enhancing cooperation in connectivity, trade and security.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reports say the union government accepted the proposal in principle, and, work is underway to decide on a suitable time for the visit which will involve coordinating the schedules of seven chief ministers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unfortunately, the grand meeting of the Chief Ministers of northeastern states did not materialise for the coronavirus pandemic and national elections in Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Awami League's commitment</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ruling Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina is keen on engaging northeastern states to expand trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties with Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The AL leaders have pointed out that Hasina decided on principle to grant transit facilities to India’s land-locked northeastern states in 2015, when her government was facing severe political instability in the country, and this demonstrated her firm conviction in forging friendly ties with India.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The AL leaders maintain that Prime Minister Hasina has taken a big political risk and steadily cemented Bangladesh’s ties with India.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a major development in April 2023, Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) granted permission to transport goods from one Indian state to another using the country’s key ports under a bilateral agreement signed in October 2018.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The NBR issued the permanent standing order to use Chattogram and Mongla seaports for transit and transhipment to carry goods to and from India through Bangladesh’s territory following the completion of trial runs for the operationalization and regular movement of goods.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India has extended three Lines of Credit (LoCs) amounting to $7.35 billion over the last 12 years for the development of infrastructure in various sectors, according to Dr. Rupak Bhattacharjee, an independent public and foreign policy analyst.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Exploring riverine routes for trade</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh and India have plans to develop an Eastern Grid with 5,000 km of navigable waterways connecting neighbouring countries including Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Both countries believe that the development of this grid will accelerate development but will further deepen eastern India’s trade with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) initiative.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With the seamless connection between National Waterway (NW)-1 (Ganges), NW-2 (Brahmaputra) and NW-16 (Barak), India is keen to create an economic corridor linking the northeast with the rest of India via Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">During the September 2022 bilateral summit, the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh directed their respective officials to work together to address the issues of pollution in rivers and to improve the riverine environment and river navigability concerning common rivers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh has decided to dredge in the old Brahmaputra River for the restoration of its dry season flow, which will enable navigation through the Brahmaputra will vastly improve and reduce the 116 km distance in the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Road connectivity with northeast</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dr Bhattacharjee writes, that the Bangladesh government has initiated 42 infrastructure development projects under Indian LoCs, of which 14 have been completed, and the remaining 28 projects are at various stages of implementation till February 2023.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The construction and timely maintenance of high-quality roads capable of taking ever-increasing loads of passengers and goods, the building of modern, user-friendly river ports for ensuring safe and easy navigation and the development of a multimodal logistics hub are key components of India’s overall framework of cooperation with Bangladesh on the connectivity front.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ongoing four-lane project, which is expected to be operational by June 2026, will connect the Sylhet-Chattogram National Highway as well as the Ashuganj river port and Akhaura land port.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The approved routes include transportation to Dawki in Meghalaya via Tamabil in Sylhet, Sutarkandi in Assam via Sheola, and Srimantapur in Tripura via Bibir Bazar in Cumilla, as well as the reverse directions. Cargo originating from India and arriving at Chattogram and Mongla ports can be directed to Agartala, through Akhaura in Bangladesh will reach the northeastern states quickly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Delays in fund disbursement</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, reports suggest that the Cumilla-Brahmanbaria road project is progressing slowly due to delays in loan disbursement.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Similarly, the Benapole-Jashore-Narail-Bhatipara-Bhanga road project is facing funding issues.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Ashuganj-Sarail-Dharkar-Akhaura road project is also moving slowly due to a cash flow problem of the Indian contractor.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Both the Benapole-Bhanga and Ashuganj-Akhaura road projects have been taken up to improve cross-border connectivity between India and Bangladesh and need to be fast-tracked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The delay in the execution of various projects has led to cost escalation. For example, the cost of the Ashuganj inland container river port project will increase by 10 to 15 per cent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Bangladesh government’s Economic Relations Division has noted that some slow-moving projects including the Bay Container Terminal Project at Chattogram Port (with a $400 million loan) and the Saidpur Airport Project have to be reviewed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Air connectivity with northeast</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India has greenlit four new air routes that connect the country's northeastern states with international destinations, including Dhaka and Chattogram, under a project for improving regional air connectivity called "Udan".</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Officials of the Indian civil aviation ministry said fares on these routes – Guwahati-Bangkok, Guwahati-Dhaka, Imphal-Mandalay and Agartala-Chattogram – will be subsidised by the state governments of Assam, Manipur and Tripura to facilitate air travel.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Guwahati is all set to get its first international flight under the International Air Connectivity Scheme (IACS) Guwahati-Dhaka flight from 1st July. The northeastern passengers on their onward journey to the Gulf, South-East Asia and European destinations will have lesser layovers during transit in Dhaka and Chattogram.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>The article first appeared in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/bangladesh/news/14439" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Mesenger</a>, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3 March 2024</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger and an award-winning journalist. An Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</b></i></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-59479464349284480172024-02-29T16:38:00.005+06:002024-02-29T16:38:40.163+06:00Myanmar junta crackdowns on non-committal youths<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih1bZfyKiCqu04KYttyoxkZ4wXnxL7m_TZrbt70KpqPONI_WBMNBODBZ9Sc8nGyBjYk6POwz7ujeH9qI1lJ8Wa3RVaw_BXH18ZCk32TphIx-3gB_vvpR7HXd7T6-gRgXx4rOXiVjl479lssE_YHHvLDeqGqcJqekAuMUhQdIA1oVhcpi6dxhWh_A" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih1bZfyKiCqu04KYttyoxkZ4wXnxL7m_TZrbt70KpqPONI_WBMNBODBZ9Sc8nGyBjYk6POwz7ujeH9qI1lJ8Wa3RVaw_BXH18ZCk32TphIx-3gB_vvpR7HXd7T6-gRgXx4rOXiVjl479lssE_YHHvLDeqGqcJqekAuMUhQdIA1oVhcpi6dxhWh_A=w400-h200" width="400" /></a></div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Scores of youths have been arrested in Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar after Yangon, since the junta activated the conscription law early this month, according to news pouring in from war-torn Myanmar.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">More than 80 people have been arrested by government soldiers since the second week of February in Chanmyathazi, Maha Aungmyay, and Aungmyaythazan townships in Mandalay, according to Myanmar’s dissident news media, The Irrawaddy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Combined forces of junta soldiers, police, ward administration officials, and militia members have been taking headcounts and checking households for overnight guests in Mandalay since mid-February.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Migrants working in Mandalay or internally displaced people (IDPs) living in the town were arrested as junta troops searched houses, teashops, and restaurants in the ward on Sunday, allegedly to check for unregistered guests during the day as well as at night.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Streets in Mandalay have become almost deserted after evening hours following the activation of the conscription law and reports that young people are being abducted.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unverified reports on Myanmar social media say abductions by the army have already begun, while potential conscripts speculate that bribery will be the only way to avoid being conscripted.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The national conscription law was implemented on February 10 by Min Aung Hlaing, a Myanmar army general who has ruled Myanmar as the chairman of the State Administration Council since seizing power in the February 2021 coup d'état. He additionally appointed himself Prime Minister in August 2021.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, the regime has asked students to join the University Training Corps (UTC), which acts as a reserve for the military’s depleted ranks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Junta newspapers boast that many generals, including regime boss Hlaing, were former UTC members.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Under the Conscription Law, students can defer service, but the regime wants students to join the UTC to recruit them as reserves in the meantime.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first UTC was formed in 1922 at Rangoon University under colonial rule. It was modelled on the British Army’s University Officer’s Training Corps, which aims to recruit educated officers and expose civilians who will become future employers to aspects of military life.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are three days of training a week during the academic year with a camp every October.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Junta newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said the UTCs are commanded by the Directorate of Militias and Border Guard Forces, providing students with four years of training.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">University staff and UTC students were quoted by junta newspapers saying the organization teaches basic skills and explains what the military does to protect the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the wake of the 2021 coup, the regime revived a colonial-era law that allows authorities to conduct warrantless searches of private homes and requires all residents to register overnight houseguests. Previously, such searches were mainly conducted at night. But junta troops are also searching households in Mandalay during the day.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Myanmar’s military is aiming to recruit 5,000 able-bodied fighters every month from April under a conscription order, Myanmar watch groups say, revealing its weakness.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, junta soldiers are extorting money from people whom they detain under the pretext of overnight guest registration. The detainees are released after payment is made.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, pro-junta Telegram channels claim that the young men detained are members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force and that they possess weapons.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fighters from the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) have a message for compatriots who have not yet directly supported their resistance against the junta but are now at risk of being pulled into the violent chaos that has engulfed the country since the 2021 coup.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This comes as a coalition of ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy rebels across the country has inflicted heavy losses on government forces, in a counteroffensive that poses an unprecedented – and possibly existential – threat to the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s vicious military is known, reports the South China Morning Post.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reports from Yangon (formerly Rangoon) show queues of hundreds at the Thailand embassy as people seek a legal way out, while hundreds of mainly young men have been detained after sneaking over the border into Thailand to escape the draft – a warning of the potential for a larger exodus ahead.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thailand, a country that does not have an asylum system for the protection of refugees, is under pressure to consider formalising entry ahead of the expected influx, writes SCMP.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier in January, China brokered the Myanmar ceasefire, urging the junta and rebel militia to ‘exercise maximum restraint’. ‘The two sides agreed to an immediate ceasefire,’ the Chinese foreign ministry claimed, while pledging a continued ‘constructive role’ from Beijing.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The junta and rebel Three Brotherhood Alliance held two days of talks in the Chinese city of Kunming, the ministry spokeswoman reveals.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In another story on Al Jazeera, Myanmar’s military regime has admitted it is facing “heavy assaults” by anti-coup forces who began a coordinated offensive at the end of last month, claiming to have taken control of several towns in border areas and dozens of military outposts.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told Al Jazeera that troops were under “heavy assaults from a significant number of armed rebel soldiers” in Shan State in the north, Kayah State in the east, and Rakhine State in the west.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anti-coup fighters are using “hundreds” of drones to drop bombs on military posts, and some sites have had to be evacuated, he added.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Myanmar was plunged into crisis when the generals seized power from the elected government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup in February 2021.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/international/news/14295" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Messenger</a>, 29 February 2024</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger and an award-winning journalist. An Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-91353554506067277902024-02-25T17:05:00.000+06:002024-02-25T17:05:10.526+06:00Myanmar junta forcefully recruiting Rohingya to fight rebels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhk5Ia15hfAkK22bjKT0c6rhzEx0BMvlpMUUYAf3ZwgJZXKvGF3hw-n_QlbnEn0PnVtdSbsRmMDpGM2fw2RtPvFBGZdF1ew-B89OQBl90kpyUaRa60nsKjUgIoIrTeFmExbk9jtvmJBC6q1YQdPpur0GNmSuicQ6IOku1cVnyb_XnHM5WBUvdwg/s1000/Rohingya%20refugee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1000" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhk5Ia15hfAkK22bjKT0c6rhzEx0BMvlpMUUYAf3ZwgJZXKvGF3hw-n_QlbnEn0PnVtdSbsRmMDpGM2fw2RtPvFBGZdF1ew-B89OQBl90kpyUaRa60nsKjUgIoIrTeFmExbk9jtvmJBC6q1YQdPpur0GNmSuicQ6IOku1cVnyb_XnHM5WBUvdwg/w640-h438/Rohingya%20refugee.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Myanmar’s regime is accelerating its effort to recruit up to 50,000 personnel per year to replenish its armed forces under the reinforced Conscription Law.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Several media outlets have recently reported in independent and pro-resistance Myanmar media on the forcible recruitment of young men in urban areas.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing activated, for the first time in a decade, a conscription law amid heavy regime casualties and desertions.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Following the announcement, the regime formed a central committee led by the Defence Minister to conscript over-18s into military service. Those who fail to comply face three to five years in prison.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The committee announced the formation of branches in each state and region to implement the law, led by the chief minister with the deputy regional military commander as the vice-chair.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The conscription branches will be established in rural areas and townships. The recruitment process will start in April, regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun said.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The spokesman said around 6 million men and 7 million women were eligible for compulsory military service, according to the 2019 census.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He said 5,000 people will be called up each month and given training, with around 50,000 recruited per year. The conscription is not intended for only one, two, three, or four years and will be eligible for service for two years.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The junta also activated a Reserve Forces Law, allowing it to send veterans back to the front line. Under the law, all former military personnel must serve in the reserve forces for five years starting from the day they resigned or retired.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Conscription has sparked fear and anger among eligible citizens who have been called on to defend the junta that has brutalised them for three years.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It has also been criticised for legalising the junta’s practice of rounding up civilians for use as porters or human shields.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Desertions and defections plague Myanmar troops</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The military government's forces have been stretched thin by the recent upsurge in resistance activity. They were already believed to be depleted by casualties, desertions, and defections, though there are no reliable numbers regarding their scale.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The army faces two enemies: the pro-democracy forces formed after the army takeover and better-trained and equipped ethnic minority armed groups that have been battling for greater autonomy for decades.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are alliances between the resistance groups, as reported by the pro-rebel newspaper The Irrawaddy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In September of last year, the Defense Ministry of the National Unity Government (NUG), the leading political organisation of the resistance that acts as a shadow government, stated that more than 14,000 troops have defected from the military since the 2021 seizure of power.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The military seized power and ousted the elected government headed by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021. She has been kept in home custody to serve prison sentences for election fraud and other trumped-up charges.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Forced recruitment of Rohingyas</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Myanmar’s military is forcibly recruiting Rohingya men from villages and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Rakhine State, and it is feared they will be used as human shields, activists, and residents of the state warn.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sittwe, the state capital of Rakhine State, has 13 IDP camps for about 100,000 Rohingya people who were displaced by ethnic and religious violence in the western state in 2012.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">At least 400 Rohingya men have already been forcibly recruited from villages and IDP camps after Rohingya community leaders and administrators were pressured to compile lists of at least 50 men for each small IDP village and at least 100 for each IDP camp in three Rakhine townships – Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Sittwe.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The junta is offering freedom of movement to Rohingya Muslims restricted to IDP camps as part of a bid to entice them into military service amid the nationwide rollout of a conscription law.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Junta forces have told Rohingya men that if they serve in the military, each one will receive a sack of rice, a citizenship identity card, and a monthly salary of 150,000 kyats (US$ 41), Rohingya residents of Rakhine State and activists stated.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since taking the census on Monday, junta officers have repeatedly visited the camp, trying to persuade Rohingya residents to serve in the military with an offer of free movement within Kyaukphyu township, said another camp resident.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, the conscription law only applies to Myanmar citizens, but the citizenship of Rohingya people has been scrapped after a draconian Citizenship Law of 1982 requires individuals to prove that their ancestors lived in Myanmar before 1823 and refuses to recognize Rohingya Muslims as one of the nation's ethnic groups or list their language as a national language.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Despite the compulsory military training schedule to begin in April, junta troops arrested at least 100 men from four villages in Buthidaung Township on 18 and 19 February, and they were transferred to a nearby military base for basic military training.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, describes that two weeks of training would make them vulnerable either to be captured or killed on the battlefront by the battle-hardened Arakan Army (AA) rebels fighting the military junta for more than a decade. Lwin said the junta’s military will use the Rohingya foot soldiers as human shields and porters.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Rohingya to defend IDP villages</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Junta troops informed Rohingya community leaders that the AA had established armed fortified camps near the Rohingya villages and that residents would have to undergo military training to defend their villages.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The junta’s troops, who are fighting the AA, know the terrain of Rakhine State better than the AA does and have public support.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since November, the military has surrendered Pauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Myay Pon, and Taung Pyo townships in Rakhine state.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The capital of Rakhine State, Sittwe, is besieged by government troops. Civil administration officials and their families have been evacuated to safe places by commercial flights, while other officials have been shifted by Naval vessels.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rights campaigners fear that drafting Rohingya into military service could stoke ethnic tensions in Rakhine state, while legal experts argue that the drive is unlawful, given that Myanmar has refused to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s ethnic groups and denied them citizenship for decades.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An estimated 1.2 million ethnic Rohingya refugees have been languishing in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, since 2017 after fleeing the genocide committed by Myanmar military forces.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another 630,000 living within Rakhine State are designated stateless by the United Nations, including those who languish in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and are restricted from moving freely within Rakhine state.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/bangladesh/news/14169" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Messenger</a>, 25 February 2024</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger and an award-winning journalist. An Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p><p><br /></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-23549575816609125472024-02-23T14:01:00.004+06:002024-02-23T14:03:23.625+06:00The fractured state of Myanmar<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRXyLDV7AEoY4BOGZnOaMhyah2s5Baq-IXnmOzz9_VX78NevJomAXkkMFMyL-BASz9_vf9bT-RSlqbg9WRTmSZxAU4cmfxNHqec8AuYbAMJzKl3QArc3n_9FsNrVHQ5yqCIRx1hktUw075MGR__X9TnPnj2c8ToQNHzN2vwVnUPHKHUl9XUzPF1w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="900" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRXyLDV7AEoY4BOGZnOaMhyah2s5Baq-IXnmOzz9_VX78NevJomAXkkMFMyL-BASz9_vf9bT-RSlqbg9WRTmSZxAU4cmfxNHqec8AuYbAMJzKl3QArc3n_9FsNrVHQ5yqCIRx1hktUw075MGR__X9TnPnj2c8ToQNHzN2vwVnUPHKHUl9XUzPF1w" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><u>Myamnar rebels gains ground - Photo: Public Domain </u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If anybody reads Myanmar's state-run daily newspaper, the Global New Light of Myanmar, the oldest English Daily which covers news, the state Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV), one would not fathom the crisis faced by the Myanmar government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">News coming in from dissidents, journalists and media activists inside Myanmar rebel-held regions gives diametrically opposite news, which is not comfortable for the military junta in the capital, Naypyidaw.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The rebels are upbeat when they could make the government troops withdraw from northern Rakhine State after the onslaught of the rebel Arakan Army (AA).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The AA is one of the three ethnic armies in the Brotherhood Alliance, which launched Operation 1027 against the Myanmar military dictator, which ousted an elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, ending a 10-year experiment with democracy and plunging the Southeast Asian nation into bloody turmoil.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Armed insurgencies by the People's Defence Force (PDF) of the National Unity Government (NUG) have erupted throughout Myanmar in response to the military government's crackdown on anti-coup protests.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As of February 7, 2024, at least 6,337 civilians, including children, have been killed by the junta forces and 21,000 arrested.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, pictures and videos surfaced on social media and several other websites of the rebels, indicating that they have taken control of six towns in Rakhine State—Pauktaw, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Taungpyoletwe and Myebon—and one in Chin State, Paletwa.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government soldiers, in retaliation, are attacking civilians in the south. The Rohingyas in the north of Rakhine State have also taken the brunt and fled from their settlement.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The guards of the Rohingya settlements have long abandoned their checkposts and the ethnic community has scattered for safety and security.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unfortunately, the Arakan Army is equally not so kind to them. The Rohingya forced them to flee towards the coasts of the Naf River, with advice to cross into Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They are asked to join their relatives and neighbours living in squalid refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Intensified patrols and vigilance of Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB) and Coast Guards have discouraged them from crossing the river, which borders Bangladesh with Myanmar.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Several sources in Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar and Ghumdhum in Bandarban have indicated that some Rohingya, after taking dangerous journeys through the hill forests, have trekked into the camps.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Officials working with international NGOs have confirmed the incidents of some illegal migration and have been sheltered in the camps by relatives mostly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The NGO officials declined to be named and said they are not expecting a huge or even moderate influx of Rohingya people, as the borders are sealed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The refugee leaders and camp leaders are reviewing the situation across the border into Rakhine State. They are in touch with scores of Rohingyas who are living in extreme difficulties.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Home boss and Chief of BGB have reiterated that they will not allow a single Rohingya to enter Bangladeshi territory under any circumstances.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other end of the world, Myanmar’s ruling military junta has “doubled down” on civilian attacks while showing signs of becoming “increasingly desperate” by imposing military service, the UN special rapporteur UN’s Tom Andrews said at Geneva on Wednesday.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“While wounded and increasingly desperate, the Myanmar military junta remains extremely dangerous,” the UN’s Tom Andrews said in a statement.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier this month, the conscription law, the junta was trying to justify and expand its pattern of forced recruitment.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The junta faces widespread armed opposition to its rule three years after seizing power from an elected civilian government and has recently suffered a series of stunning losses to an armed alliance of ethnic minority groups.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Junta Families Evacuated</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On last Saturday, a naval vessel reportedly carrying family members of the junta and police personnel was seen departing from Maday Island, where the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port project is located.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier, on February 15 and 16, the family members were evacuated from Ma Ei town by helicopter. Later the soldiers and police personnel were seen leaving Ma Ei police station in military vehicles.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Following the Arakan Army's capture of many towns after the conflicts erupted in Ramree, Taungup and Kyaukphyu localities, the military regime relocated their family members to Kyaukphyu, Thandwe and Ann localities. Later, the officer’s families were shifted to Yangon.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Sittwe Braced for Street Fight</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fighting continued in northern and southern Rakhine State since the AA launched an offensive against Myanmar’s junta in mid-November last year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The AA has seized Mrauk-U, Minbya, Kyauktaw and Pauktaw towns and Paletwa in southern Chin State, along with numerous junta bases and border outposts. Only Sittwe remains to be occupied by AA.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The AA has urged the government’s Regional Operations Command in the state capital, Sittwe, to surrender. Sittwe is the junta’s administrative seat in Rakhine.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The junta forces are systematically fortifying their defence arrangements in Sittwe. They have obstructed the access of roads and even destroyed many bridges to obstruct AA advancements.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Civil administrative officials and residents have left Sittwe in fear for their lives during the street battle. Many residents cannot afford to leave and there is no way out from Sittwe if fighting breaks out.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Commodities and fuels in Sittwe are running low since the roads were blocked. Shops are selling off their stocks as they are in a hurry to leave the city.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Despite the night curfew in Sittwe, the hospitals and clinics are still operational, but the city is in panic.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Brotherhood Alliance warned civilians of the rising danger of landmines in Rakhine State, saying the junta’s military is placing landmines around its outposts and bases there.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>Nervous Junta</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Junta troops arrested around 600 civilians after their flights from Yangon landed at two airports in Sittwe and Kyaukphyu city in Rakhine state, according to family members, who said the military is holding them on suspicion of attempting to join the armed rebels.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The arrests come amid the enactment of a conscription law that has sent draft-eligible civilians fleeing from Myanmar’s cities, saying they would rather leave the country or join anti-junta forces in remote border areas than fight for the military.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>India-Myanmar Military Forge Ties</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Myanmar Tatmadaw and the Indian Armed Forces to forge friendly ties and further cooperation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Vice-Chairman of the State Administration Council Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice-Senior General Soe Win held parleys with an India Army delegation led by Lt-Gen Harjeet Singh Sahi, the General Officer Commanding III Corps of the Indian Armed Forces, at the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, according to the official daily The Global New Light of Myanmar.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They cordialy discussed friendly relations between Myanmar and India and the two armed forces and promotion of further cooperation, and plans to cooperate in peace and stability, security and development at the border regions between the two countries.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/opinions/news/14080" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Mesenger</a>, 23 February 2024</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b>Saleem Samad, is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger, an award-winning independent journalist, and recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter (X) @saleemsamad</b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-51649230917218423552024-02-21T13:45:00.010+06:002024-02-23T13:50:54.481+06:0021st February: International Mother Language Day<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0J7GNBSj-H_kNGtGbqVaLZYbf0i4cZ2_TUXpZCv0pRao-o7T90HyJbbvMQt9Bv4fgbljNOdkonpquDFG6ketyHNR_ActQTakIJUu6Nckk1xJEFi6-QTdLkC7zzuVZLErtCNyyhuZSSCoSY1Iz-xskrAKDZxaz1KVjRy-gdbz1OOqWFpWuv6lQEQ/s480/International%20Mothers%20Language%20Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0J7GNBSj-H_kNGtGbqVaLZYbf0i4cZ2_TUXpZCv0pRao-o7T90HyJbbvMQt9Bv4fgbljNOdkonpquDFG6ketyHNR_ActQTakIJUu6Nckk1xJEFi6-QTdLkC7zzuVZLErtCNyyhuZSSCoSY1Iz-xskrAKDZxaz1KVjRy-gdbz1OOqWFpWuv6lQEQ/w400-h400/International%20Mothers%20Language%20Day.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) on 21st February is observed worldwide to promote cultural diversity, linguistics and multilingualism, In Bangladesh, the day is observed as National Language Martyrs Day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">UNESCO announced the IMLD on 17 November 1999. It was officially recognised in 2008 under the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unfortunately, due to globalisation just over 40% of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world today are endangered and only a few hundred languages have a place in educational systems.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Every two weeks a language disappears — taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Two Bangladesh-born activists Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam live in Vancouver, Canada wrote a letter to Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations on 9 January 1998 urging him to take steps to save the world's languages from extinction by declaring an International Mother Language Day. The duo proposed the date as 21 February to commemorate the language martyrs of 1952 in Dhaka.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pakistan Legislative Assembly in 1948 in the capital city Karachi (later the capital moved to Islamabad) adopted Urdu as the official language with an overwhelming voice vote.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The people of East Bengal (now Bangladesh) demanded that Bangla, the language spoken in Bangladesh should also be recognised as an official language.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was very odd, that Urdu was never the mother tongue of Pakistan. The four provinces of Pakistan – Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, North West Frontier Province (renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and East Bengal (now Bangladesh) had separate mother languages for centuries.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Urdu was spoken only by political elites of the Pakistan Muslim League and elites of Pakistan. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan negotiated a separate nation for Muslims of India from the British Raj and other political elites spoke Urdu.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In 1948, a year after the birth of Pakistan, declared Urdu to be the national language of the nascent state.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The elected members from East Bengal of the Pakistan constituent assembly vehemently protested in the house. But the voice was too feeble to make them heard in the assembly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Promptly, the political leaders, youths and students in Bangladesh protested loudly. The news of the stubborn Pakistan politician's refusal to accept another state language picked up momentum among all strata of the society. The country plunged into country-wide unrest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">On 21 February 1952, the angry student decided to march towards the East Bengal Legislative Assembly in Dhaka in demand Bangla should also be an official national language.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hundreds of students marched with banners and placards enroute to the provincial assembly hall – located on the Dhaka University campus was barricaded by armed police.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The civil administration imposed a ban on rallies and street protests. The students attempted to march through the barricade – police fired live bullets at the demonstrators. Five protesters were shot and killed and hundreds more were wounded.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The news of police firing sparked wildfires all over the country. Hundreds of students and political leaders were arrested for protesting the police firing and demanding recognition of Bangla as a national language of Pakistan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finally, Bangla was recognised as one of the state languages of Pakistan at a session of newly elected members of the United Front to the National Assembly on 9 May 1954.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Bangla language created a nation-state – from East Bengal to East Pakistan and now to present Bangladesh.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After 1952, the people of Bangladesh were frustrated with the attitude of the elite politicians of Pakistan who deliberately adopted a policy to alienate people living in the eastern province of Pakistan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The citizens of Pakistan looked down on the people of the eastern region as a low-caste Bangalee (Bangla-speaking population). Visible marginalisation in higher education, jobs in civil administration and recruitment in Pakistan's armed forces. The people in Bangladesh felt they were deliberately discriminated against.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Moreover, the administration of the eastern province was dominated by people in civil administration, judiciary, police and military who were transferred from Pakistan, and they spoke Urdu, a language alien to the local people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The simmering dissent in East Bengal, treated as a colony of Pakistan and governed by political and military elites from the capital Islamabad for 2.5 decades erupted in a mass protest in 1969.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The IMLD has also made an impact in Bangladesh. The 50 different Adivasis (national ethnic communities) were now able to study their languages in schools in remote hill forests.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">To conclude the United Nations on IMLD says: Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. When one language vanishes, a part of the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity also disappears.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/opinions/news/14016" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Messenger</a>, 21 February 2024</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger, an award-winning independent journalist, and recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter (X) @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p><p><br /></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-9539021217068226402024-02-15T14:04:00.002+06:002024-02-15T14:04:24.547+06:00China's dam on the Brahmaputra to threaten Bangladesh, India<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggcfVTk0uN_1BaJomxb6NyT4Jxp0zhiI5_rXi_P52kFmRcnm96_GkiGb2mimawtcziRVe6B42j5TNR8sKi4ZBzKP3WXFMZXHEP6pYNPSWzZPUQIPG2ucAhOiCN4EYu0dAvP4f4vsdh_SXlcAky1zzwXKBGNmgKHWTPtOR1tinI_WcmvkcqOJpZXA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggcfVTk0uN_1BaJomxb6NyT4Jxp0zhiI5_rXi_P52kFmRcnm96_GkiGb2mimawtcziRVe6B42j5TNR8sKi4ZBzKP3WXFMZXHEP6pYNPSWzZPUQIPG2ucAhOiCN4EYu0dAvP4f4vsdh_SXlcAky1zzwXKBGNmgKHWTPtOR1tinI_WcmvkcqOJpZXA=w640-h400" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China secretly building the world's biggest dam over the mighty Brahmaputra River which is likely to jeopardise the ecology, environment and morphology.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If the mega project goes through will immensely cause hardship for several million people in downstream India, and of course Bangladesh.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China's $1.5 billion dam over Brahmaputra, known as Zangmu Hydropower Station, has raised serious concerns in Bangladesh and India.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China did not consult with the two neighbouring countries, which is mandatory according to the Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers is an international guideline regulating how rivers and their connected ground waters that cross national boundaries may be used, adopted by the International Law Association (ILA) in Helsinki, Finland in 1966.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dhaka and New Delhi know very well that diplomatic parleys will not dent the simmering issue with the arrogant Beijing administration.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The hydropower dam over the mighty Brahmaputra River, China is opening another flashpoint with India, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has its party in power in the northeast state of Assam, where the river flows further south and enters Bangladesh delta.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Brahmaputra River once it enters Bangladesh, at Bahadurabad in Jamalpur, gets a local name. The Jamuna River directly flows from the yawning Brahmaputra River, said researcher and writer Mohiuddin Ahmad.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The people along the Jamuna River people are critically dependent on the river for rejuvenating life in the monsoon for massive agricultural activities and navigation to millions in the floodplains.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China’s planned super dam on a major river that flows into northeast India threatens to turn into another in a series of flashpoints with New Delhi and Beijing and is likely to spark concerns in Bangladesh.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Brahma Chellaney is professor emeritus of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and a former adviser to India's National Security Council. He is the author of nine books, including ‘Water: Asia's New Battleground.’</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China is unmatched as the world's hydro hegemony, with more large dams in service than every other country combined. Now it is building the world's first super dam, close to its heavily militarised frontier with India.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This megaproject, with a planned capacity of 60 gigawatts, would generate three times as much electricity as the Three Gorges Dam, now the world's largest hydropower plant.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China, though, has given few updates about the project's status since the National People's Congress approved it in March 2021.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China presented the super dam project for the approval of the National People's Congress only after it had built sufficient infrastructure to start transporting heavy equipment, materials and workers to the remote site.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Barely two months after parliament's approval nearly three years ago, Beijing announced that it had accomplished the feat of completing a "highway through the world's deepest canyon." That highway ends very close to the Indian border.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Opacity about the development of past projects has often served as cover for quiet action. Beijing has a record of keeping work on major dam projects on international rivers under wraps until the activity can no longer be hidden in commercially available satellite imagery.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The super dam is located in some of the world's most treacherous terrain, in an area long thought impassable. The hydrology and river morphology have not been fully explored, meaning research on the gigantic river is still under study by experts.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh is trailing behind in conducting a study on the river Brahmaputra, said Ahmad, who had worked for Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP) for 100 years.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To understand, the Brahmaputra, known to Tibetans as the Yarlung Tsangpo, drops almost 3,000 meters as it takes a sharp southerly turn from the Himalayas into India, with the world's highest-altitude major river descending through the globe's longest and steepest canyon.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Brahmaputra gorge holds Asia's greatest untapped water reserves while the river's precipitous fall creates one of the greatest concentrations of river energy on Earth. The combination has acted as a powerful magnet for Chinese dam builders.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">During the British Raj, several British expeditions and researchers failed to enter Tibet, now a territory of China, said Sanat Chakraborty, a journalist and researcher on the river morphology, life and history of rivers in northeast India.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another journalist Samrat Chowdhury, an acclaimed Indian journalist who floated on the Brahmaputra for days in the northeast as well as in Bangladesh has written a book The Braided Rivers, which describes the life of boatmen, fishermen, the chars (shoals) people, vibrant trading in hats (market) and farmers. He described how millions of people are dependent on the river.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The behemoth dam, however, is the world's riskiest project as it is being built in a seismically active area. This makes it potentially a ticking water bomb for downstream communities in India and Bangladesh, writes Chellaney.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is alarming, the southeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau is earthquake-prone because it sits on the geological fault line where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 2008 Sichuan earthquake, along the Tibetan Plateau's eastern rim, killed 87,000 people and drew international attention to the phenomenon of reservoir-triggered pressure from a dam's reservoir may have helped trigger the earthquake.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some Chinese and American scientists drew a link between the quake and Sichuan's Zipingpu Dam, which came into service two years earlier near a seismic fault. They suggested that the weight of the several hundred million cubic meters of water impounded in the dam's reservoir could have triggered RTS or severe tectonic stresses.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But even without a quake, the new super dam could be a threat to downriver communities if torrential monsoon rains trigger flash floods in the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra. Barely a few years ago, some 400 million Chinese were put at risk after record flooding endangered the Three Gorges Dam.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In pursuing its controversial megaproject on the Brahmaputra, China is cloaking its construction activity to mute international reaction, alleges the Centre for Policy Research.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Brahmaputra was one of the world's last undammed rivers until China began constructing a series of midsized dams on sections upstream from the famous canyon. With its dam building now moving close to border areas, China will in due course be able to leverage transboundary flows in its relations with rival India.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But the brunt of the environmental havoc that the megaproject is likely to wreak will be borne by Bangladesh, in the last stretch of the river. The environmental damage, however, is likely to extend up through Tibet, one of the world's most bio-diverse regions. In fact, with its super dam, China will be desecrating the canyon region which is a crucial Tibetan holy place.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A cardinal principle of water peace is transparency. The far-reaching strategic, environmental and inter-riparian implications of the largest dam ever conceived make it imperative that China be transparent. Only sustained international pressure can force Beijing to drop the veil of secrecy surrounding its project.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://www.dailymessenger.net/bangladesh/news/13715" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Daily Messenger</a>, 15 February 2024</i></b></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad an award-winning journalist is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger. An Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></b></span></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-83114314826724357562024-01-28T11:58:00.016+06:002024-01-29T12:04:39.426+06:00India is not among the top 10 development partners of Bangladesh<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-5RUgNi8uS4qWOzwXgBCSoGxNV2Hira9REyH5L7QTUBIetyjj_3FFzy6xawQPcPP7LLen7gNZFEQnvS5DIM25diHtQFdLGE9LH77OAOQcmDw8F-U_3XLyF3dSCvJi6qk2yFy2xksdCU4SmVWkF7sXr2IGLgLzCGzG1LNqEtwufDmbS6OyQQbaQ/s714/India-Bangladesh%20Trade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="687" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-5RUgNi8uS4qWOzwXgBCSoGxNV2Hira9REyH5L7QTUBIetyjj_3FFzy6xawQPcPP7LLen7gNZFEQnvS5DIM25diHtQFdLGE9LH77OAOQcmDw8F-U_3XLyF3dSCvJi6qk2yFy2xksdCU4SmVWkF7sXr2IGLgLzCGzG1LNqEtwufDmbS6OyQQbaQ/w449-h466/India-Bangladesh%20Trade.jpg" width="449" /></a></i></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When India promptly felicitated Bangladesh for holding a "free and fair" 12th National Elections, the government leaders in Bangladesh were visibly excited.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on her "victory for a historic fourth consecutive term in the Parliamentary elections" and also said, "We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the eve of the 75th Republic Day of India, a Bangladesh business daily Share Biz in Bangla publishes a damning first-page lead story "India is not among the top 10 development partners of Bangladesh".</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story was published in the byline of a reporter Ismail Ali writes, that since the liberation war of Bangladesh, India is one of the friendly countries in South Asia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Having the longest international border, the country always stood by its neighbour at various times. Bangladesh's diplomatic and economic relations with India are also very deep.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, there is a lopsided trade imbalance between the two countries. India is Bangladesh's second-largest source of imports.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is also worth noting that every year Bangladesh's trade gap with India is widening rather than narrowing. In the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22, for example, Bangladesh imported commodities worth US$14.58 billion from India, while its exports to that country were merely US$1.8 billion.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Every day, thousands of Bangladesh nationals travel to India for medical treatment, been lagging business and pleasure. The two countries have shared the same history, culture and tradition for centuries during the Moghuls and British colonial era.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An estimated US $5 billion annually is remitted to India by documented and undocumented Indian expats working in Bangladesh. Similarly, thousands of economic migrants work in India as menial labourers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although India boasts of Bangladesh being a development partner and heightened bilateral relations, which both countries reiterate on all occasions.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The largest country in South Asia is not on the list of top 10 development partners of Bangladesh. India has been lagging in foreign economic assistance to Bangladesh since its independence.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India has provided nominal economic assistance to Bangladesh for 52 years from financial year (FY) 1971-72 to FY 2022-23. This information has emerged in the latest report of the Economic Relations Department (ERD), a government department which negotiates foreign economic assistance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to ERD's report, Bangladesh's foreign debt has reached US $92.367 billion in the 52 years since independence. At this time, Bangladesh received US $30.105 billion in various grants.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The total development assistance received is US $122.472 billion. Of this, $7.031 billion came from food aid, $10.908 billion from product aid and $104.533 billion from project aid.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The World Bank has provided the most assistance to Bangladesh among any single international multilateral donor agency, amounting to $28.446 billion. It is 23.23 per cent of the total development cooperation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The international multilateral donor agency has donated $1.623 billion under this economic assistance. The remaining $26.823 billion was loaned by the World Bank.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another, multi-lateral donor agency Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is in the second position on this list provided Bangladesh with $22.424 billion in development cooperation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is 18.31 per cent of development cooperation and provided only $382 million to Bangladesh. The remaining $22.42 billion was disbursed as loans.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The two international multi-lateral agencies have never provided food aid to Bangladesh. However, the two agencies have given some loans under product support.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japan is third in assisting Bangladesh. In the last 52 years, the country has given $20.452 billion or 16.70 percent of foreign aid. Of the total aid, Japan has given $3.609 billion in grants and $16.843 billion in loans.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China is in the fourth position. The country has given $8.115 billion or 6.63 percent of aid to Bangladesh. Of the financial assistance, China has donated only $104 million.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Russia ranks fifth in the list of development partners.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The country has given $6.874 billion to Bangladesh in the last 52 years, which is 5.61 per cent of the total aid. Of the country's aid, only $35 million was in grants.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United Nations and its bodies are in the sixth position among the list of development partners. The UN has given the entire amount of $4.795 billion or 3.92 percent was disbursed as a grant to Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United States ranks seventh and has provided $3.856 billion or 3.15 percent of foreign aid.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United Kingdom was followed by the USA and provided economic assistance worth $2.727 billion or 2.23 per cent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Germany, ranked ninth and tenth respectively in development cooperation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The country gave Bangladesh $2.251 billion or 1.84 percent and Canada gave $2.214 billion or 1.81 percent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Apart from this, India has given 2.143 billion dollars or 1.75 percent of development assistance to Bangladesh. And the European Union (EU) has contributed 2.105 billion dollars or 1.72 per cent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Contributions from other organisations and countries amount to less than two billion dollars. Among them, the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), UNICEF, Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Netherlands, France, Denmark and Saudi Arabia have development cooperation amounting to more than one billion dollars. The rest have less support than that.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to ERD data, different countries have provided food aid to Bangladesh at different times. Basically, in the post-independence years, food aid was higher. This support has decreased in recent times.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over 89 percent of food aid in 52 years was received in grants, amounting to $6.268 billion. The remaining $763 million, or about 11 per cent, was loan assistance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Food aid has been given to Bangladesh the most by the United Nations and its various organizations, amounting to 2.143 billion dollars. The United States is next in food aid. The country has provided food aid to Bangladesh at various times under USAID, amounting to $1.804 billion.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">About 52 percent or $5.651 billion of product assistance came from grants and 48 per cent or $5.257 billion was loans. Japan and the World Bank provided the most product assistance. And 18.186 billion dollars or 17.40 per cent of the project assistance came as grants. The remaining 86.347 billion dollars or 82.60 percent was loan assistance. World Bank, ADB and Japan are the top three lenders.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finally, on 20 January, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar in a microblogging Twitter (X) wrote: So glad to meet with my new Bangladesh counterpart Dr. Mohammed Hasan Mahmud in Kampala [Uganda at 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit] and further stated that "India-Bangladesh relations are growing from strength to strength."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://nenews.in/business/india-is-not-among-the-top-10-development-partners-of-bangladesh/6635/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">North East News</a>, Guwahati, India, 28 January 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-32553633826444398352024-01-06T23:45:00.000+06:002024-01-06T23:45:07.166+06:00Bangladesh goes to polls amid ailing democracy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAu5RVtYfd1jpLQAnJRWzOh2jkT6wfdGH9FROKJTk30sgKym2OsXANkZ4EtDjmtvPDcgH6hCNMezPgk3TowE4jeKghlXM2B9Pg03JmpW4u0W_IKpBLU8jCYv0rrfypeSCsTvc9KiQja2LoqITRUwsJ-f8Kh_uWutgquMsNHRzt8bv0Yte34g-aBg/s1024/Hasina%20loves%20Fevicol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="767" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAu5RVtYfd1jpLQAnJRWzOh2jkT6wfdGH9FROKJTk30sgKym2OsXANkZ4EtDjmtvPDcgH6hCNMezPgk3TowE4jeKghlXM2B9Pg03JmpW4u0W_IKpBLU8jCYv0rrfypeSCsTvc9KiQja2LoqITRUwsJ-f8Kh_uWutgquMsNHRzt8bv0Yte34g-aBg/w300-h400/Hasina%20loves%20Fevicol.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After much international media hype on the Bangladesh election, the day dawned on 7 January.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the eve of the tense election battle of the ballots, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, called the election environment in Bangladesh “repressive” and said that he is “deeply disturbed”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) has expressed profound concern over the 12th Parliamentary Elections to ensure free and fair elections in Asia voiced its concern.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">ANFREL said they strongly believed that this election is at risk of lacking genuineness and electoral competitiveness, raising serious questions about its adherence to democratic principles and international election standards that assess the legitimacy of the electoral process.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The statement also said ANFREL believes that the risk of lacking genuineness and electoral competitiveness emanates from the observed absence of accountability, fairness, and inclusivity in the electoral processes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Amnesty issued a 10-point human rights charter and urged all contesting political parties to ensure that the protection and promotion of human rights is a core part of their plans for the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 10 points: Respect and protect freedom of expression and media freedom; Protect the protest; Sustainable solutions to the Rohingya crisis; End impunity for enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions; Protect women’s rights; Protect the rights of religious minorities and indigenous peoples; Abolish the death penalty; Inclusive, sustainable responses to the climate crisis; End impunity for custodial deaths and torture; and Uphold corporate accountability and labour rights.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The question they are addressing to the wrong group of politicians, and political parties including the governing Awami League. None of them has the mood to listen to the civil society and often blames them for working for the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, a senior Indian journalist Bharat Bhusan writes that the staged election could result in political instability in the country. He believes that the national election on January 7 is widely expected to be neither inclusive nor competitive.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instability, because Bangladesh has fallen into geo-political fault. China, Russia and India want Sheikh Hasina, the president of the Awami League should return to power with an overwhelming majority.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India’s conspicuous silence over the one-sided election has encouraged China and Russia to adopt a similar policy to keep Hasina in power for another term.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China and Russia are singing the same tune, which could be understood to counter the United States, European Union and other West putting pressure on Bangladesh to hold a free, fair and inclusive election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The election needs no prediction as BBC News dubbed the polls as a ‘one-woman’ election, while the result already looks inevitable, writes Anbarasan Ethirajan.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The predicted win of stage-managed win in the election would be a win for India, Russia and China.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It’s an election of Awami League versus Dummy League. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has advised his political hierarchy to nominate ‘dummy’ candidates to ensure that if the contestant application is rejected by a higher court or the election commission, at least there is one standby candidate to fight the ballot.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the dummy candidates have no political credibility and accountability in their constituency they are known to be troublemakers for the rebel candidates who failed to get nomination from governing Awami League.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The dummy candidates are also a political nuisance in the area for obstructing independent candidates, also creating rowdyism for other party candidates.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are reports of clashes and attacks on rival candidates in scores of district towns. News of vandalism of polling centres is also pouring. Such incidents give a chilling message of violence during voting. The fear is likely to hinder voters from going to the polling station.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such fear means the election is not free. The voters will go to the polling station with fear and impending violence among supporters and henchmen of rival candidates.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is expected that violence would be lowest, as the Awami League has no opposition in the real sense. The independent and rebel candidates are unlikely to pose any threats.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In several seats, the rebel candidates are very influential and have a strong support base in the certain constituency. Most rebel candidates have strong people-to-people contacts.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The parliamentary election as Western and Indian media are agog with stories that the election is one-sided and Sheikh Hasina, the Mother-of-Humanity will be elected for the fifth tenure.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">She will surely be included in the Guinness World Records, as the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, the call for agitation by the BNP and its allies has fallen flat. As the BNP failed to garner the support of the people to protest the one-sided election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Agitation in the form of a general strike (hartal) and lockdown to disconnect from the rest of the country could not woo the people to support the anti-government movement.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What did not surprise the political observers was that a significant number of candidates from the ‘loyal opposition’ Jatiya Party, Trinamool BNP and other King’s parties have stepped out of the election race.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">More than 225 of the 265 Jatiya Party candidates have pulled out of the race, terming the election “one-sided and staged” and others blamed the non-cooperation of the ruling Awami League.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, only the contestants who were blessed with a quota of 26 have not pulled out.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It’s too late for the candidates to drop out from the race as the last date for withdrawal has long gone.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Bangladesh Election Commission has also reiterated that they also envisage holding a free and fair election, but could not assure that the election would be free of violence.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Despite repeated promises by the government and the election commission, it seems neither the West nor the international media are convinced that the election would be free, fair, credible and inclusive.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, foreign election observers will be only allowed to visit polling centres within a range oftwo-hour road drive. The observers can travel to cities and towns where domestic airlines fly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The election commission has given election observer accreditation cards to 127 foreign observers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Ministry, Information and Broadcasting, and Home Affairs have imposed conditions on foreign journalists to issue visas to cover the election. Only 73 journalists were accredited to cover the election and visit polling centres.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The award-winning journalist Nazmul Ahasan in a Twitter (X) posted that foreign journalists granted visas are mostly those based in the India bureau. Some are required to sign agreements mandating that their footage receives official approval before publication and that they will not harm the “national image” or “sentiment.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indirectly, the Bangladesh authorities have imposed censorship and restrictions on foreign journalists who are not free to report independently.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Bangladesh, the nation tests an ailing democracy on the ballot.</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/politics/bangladesh-goes-to-polls-amid-ailing-democracy/5974/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">North East News,</a> Guwahati, Assam, India, 6 January 2024</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</b></i></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-59946576042802189652023-12-27T17:17:00.002+06:002023-12-27T17:17:49.195+06:00In search of an Opposition in Bangladesh election<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9V-98jWQL9_bmc4Cb5NiURTNqp7kJ8Rpgvkif5fSzTmUcrPDnwBj1jF1ecFLj5ImdqP_8RPMXvdeAPnybqNXMsDsjgLdSQofG00iH6arntWZ0JFUcOSloMOCLsL2z-KXbLnM62ptw3sgB4DxfySrtXHnZAruwcP7F8veTowcbXycrm6oe9KEWTA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9V-98jWQL9_bmc4Cb5NiURTNqp7kJ8Rpgvkif5fSzTmUcrPDnwBj1jF1ecFLj5ImdqP_8RPMXvdeAPnybqNXMsDsjgLdSQofG00iH6arntWZ0JFUcOSloMOCLsL2z-KXbLnM62ptw3sgB4DxfySrtXHnZAruwcP7F8veTowcbXycrm6oe9KEWTA=w640-h320" width="640" /></a><br /></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">SALEEM SAMAD</span></i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nosy political scientist, political analyst and political observers have been scratching their heads to understand, where is the opposition in the upcoming national election scheduled to be held on January 7, 2024.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Which party will sit on the opposition bench in the magnificent iconic Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) building?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It should not sound strange that in an election, a party that gets a majority in an election forms a government, while the runners-up (second majority) takes a seat on the opposition bench in the parliament. That’s a norm in political science.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A day before, the European Union (EU) was equally curious to know where the opposition is.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The EU asked the governing Awami League general secretary, Obaidul Quader, to know who would be the opposition party in the 12th national parliament.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Quader, also Road Transport and Bridges Minister said ‘The results of the polls will tell who will be the opposition.’ Indeed, a simple answer to a complex question.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Bangladesh, the governing party Awami League has ensured that the principal opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is eliminated and thousands of the key leaders, members and supporters are behind bars.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The trumped-up cases are mostly terrorism, vandalism and destruction of government properties.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Awami League has sacrificed six constituencies for its alliance partners and 26 for the Jatiya Party in the national election, said the ruling party’s Office Secretary Biplob Barua that their party leaders have withdrawn their candidacies from these 32 seats. Thus the party will contest for 263 constituencies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, the Jatiya Party Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu announced that the party will contest for 287 constituencies, out of 300.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With the Jatiya Party joining, the pre-election camp gets bigger, writes Jahidul Islam in the Business Standard.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If the Awami League shares seats with the Jatiya Party the latter will become a “loyal opposition” that will be subservient to the governing party and would hardly oppose not debate any bill that goes against the freedom and rights of the people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ‘loyal opposition’ will need not walk out from the session nor debate in the parliament, other than asking for political favour for the party and their members only.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, upbeat Awami League lawmaker Prof Mohammad A. Arafat and Chairman of Suchinta Foundation who is active on Twitter (X) writes: 30 former parliamentarians, including five advisors to the (opposition) BNP Chairperson and 15 members of the BNP Central Committee, are participating in the election. Apart from the central leaders, 87 leaders of the BNP, including the president, vice president, general secretary of the district, and upazila (sub-district) level, are contesting the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Arafat, who is an active cyber warrior against the opposition (BNP) and critic of the Awami League regime troll army, seems to justify the absence of BNP and others in the poll and remarked that “They look set to mount a tough challenge in many seats. In addition, the Jatiya Party and its 14-party partners will also face stiff competition in many seats. Trinamool BNP and BNM (Bangladesh Nationalist Movement) have also fielded strong candidates in many seats.</span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/in-search-of-an-opposition-in-bangladesh-election/5601/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, Guwahati, India, 27 December 2023</span></i></b></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</span></i></b></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-16714228934266624132023-12-16T17:05:00.000+06:002023-12-16T17:05:08.597+06:00Victory Day To Commemorate The 1971 War Of Bangladesh<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpP-QVYN-zeaVWLTmDAHCmlTjToYTwVGOv97Y10HVNQCmvMuhL12psRqVfYQqUDSMLnNbrYLYyduHGhCwi7-PDd87mj0gxOswku2iMIpmm6xyWLCHH2QidtB8m8sna34L9h8byP98rhzeGiWUchNWvU0ll826hEwWqq9WSmKWQOHKcKKodG6Zatg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpP-QVYN-zeaVWLTmDAHCmlTjToYTwVGOv97Y10HVNQCmvMuhL12psRqVfYQqUDSMLnNbrYLYyduHGhCwi7-PDd87mj0gxOswku2iMIpmm6xyWLCHH2QidtB8m8sna34L9h8byP98rhzeGiWUchNWvU0ll826hEwWqq9WSmKWQOHKcKKodG6Zatg=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Vijay Diwas or Victory Day is celebrated in Bangladesh and observed in India to commemorate the victory of Indian forces in a battle against the ‘occupation’ Pakistan military and the liberation of Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The fall of Dhaka was indeed the greatest achievement of a military battle in years to come, which culminated in a surrender ceremony on December 16, 1971.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The brutal war of Bangladesh's independence came with a heavy cost of the supreme sacrifice of thousands of fallen soldiers of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Force).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With the surrender of 93,000 troops, officers and staff of government offices and their family members became prisoners of war (POW) under the Geneva Convention of 1949.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With heads down in shame, the defeated soldiers laid down their weapons. Ranks from their uniform were removed and taken away by the Indian army to military garrisons as POWs.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After several wars between India and Pakistan, it was indeed a humiliating defeat for Pakistan in the eastern war theatre.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pakistan's government in Islamabad and the military headquarters in Rawalpindi gave hope to their military and civilians that China would open a battlefront with India, which would divert the Indian Mountain Division to hold the incursion.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Simultaneously the United States Seventh Fleet would move into the Bay of Bengal to provide aerial support to block Indian Air Force to provide ground support to the advancing Indian forces and the Mukti Bahini.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nothing happened! China did not dare to push into India as snow-capped mountains were difficult to cross. There was no movement of the People's Liberation Army of China from their warm quarters. The US fleet also did not sail into the Indian Ocean after threats by the Soviet Union.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The India-Pakistan war in the eastern sector created history. The nine months to freedom was the shortest war of independence of the last century compared to the war in Vietnam, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Namibia and scores of other countries gained after protracted bloody wars.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After WWII, it was the only battle that ended with a surrender ceremony at Dhaka. The Instrument of Surrender was signed by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, who was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command and Pakistan's Eastern Command General A. A. K. Niazi, who corroborated the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers to India — the world's largest surrender in terms of number of personnel since World War II.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The war created the largest number of 10 million war refugees sheltered in squalid camps in neighbouring states with Bangladesh. Another information is that the majority of the refugees have returned home.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The war-torn Bangladesh government had to undertake a gigantic post-war rehabilitation programme to settle the returnees in their villages.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As a foot soldier with the Mukti Bahini deployed in Dhaka under Sector 2 commanded by Major ATM Haider, I witnessed the demoralised Pakistan troops in the capital being driven to POW camps.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">During my recent visit to the Northeast Indian states of Assam and Tripura, I found among different professions and backgrounds a keen interest in Bangladesh-India bilateral relations, especially improving connectivity between the northeast states with Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, the interest is centred on one-sided upcoming elections in Bangladesh with threats of opposition in the battle of votes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, the Awami League will make a land-slide victory led by Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is popularly known as ‘Bangabandhu’. Hasina will surely go into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest-serving women prime minister in the world.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A couple of years ago, the Guwahati-Dhaka bus service began with fanfare. The public transport needs to be rolling to augment people-to-people contact.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The bus service between Agartala and Dhaka is functioning. The much-expected Agartala-Kolkata train connectivity through Dhaka is expected in 2024.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lots of enthusiasm was found after the news of the Guwahati-Dhaka and Agartala-Chattogram flights appeared in the media in the Northeast.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is expected that trade, commerce, and connectivity will bring the neighbouring states with the return of the Awami League government with Northeast states closer than before.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First in<a href="https://www.guwahatiplus.com/buzz/victory-day-to-commemorate-the-1971-war-of-bangladesh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> G-Plus</a> digital newspaper, Guwahati, Assam, India, 16 December 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Guwahati, Assam, India26.1157917 91.7085933-20.324735627558805 21.396093300000004 72.5563190275588 162.02109330000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-15414516980789004112023-12-05T10:19:00.015+06:002023-12-09T10:26:07.635+06:00Sheikh Hasina hints at dealing with sanctions after the election<p><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEju7nk1xmmLDd8_Q8jUp-WNEEWQ8Tw4hgkvgEDTHA-6B27HOm41L4-FN_Dxyjbu74lmLSR3lqbl6h2JqDwcOKnKaAsTh6FwIH9JM2PI7v97oyRl5kcG_hy4hjxRcF8XnrmB402_3KzkLFIoB5SkkXGSk5VPuXbQwdtBw2YyVTjNd96IWlNv700WkQ" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEju7nk1xmmLDd8_Q8jUp-WNEEWQ8Tw4hgkvgEDTHA-6B27HOm41L4-FN_Dxyjbu74lmLSR3lqbl6h2JqDwcOKnKaAsTh6FwIH9JM2PI7v97oyRl5kcG_hy4hjxRcF8XnrmB402_3KzkLFIoB5SkkXGSk5VPuXbQwdtBw2YyVTjNd96IWlNv700WkQ=w400-h200" width="400" /></a></i></b></div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Looming threats of sanctions on labour issues have raised eyebrows among the government, policymakers, garment entrepreneurs and industrial bodies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most ready-made-garments (RMG) factories have failed or partially implemented international compliance and ethical practices, which has ignited labour unrest.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Recently, Bangladesh has witnessed intense labour unrest and violent protests related to wage disputes in the garment industry. The dispute on fair wages for RMG workers has sparked widespread protests demanding against the government’s Wage Board decision to increase BDT 12,500 ($113) per month for garment workers, effective from 1 December.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The labour groups rejected the new wage structure due to its inadequacy in addressing their financial needs. The unions dismissed the decision, arguing that the pay hike does not adequately address the rising costs of food, housing, healthcare, and school fees for their children.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The prices of essentials have dramatically risen and the wages of workers cannot meet both ends. Inflation in Bangladesh rose to 9 per cent between 2022 and 2023, the highest average rate in 12 years.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The garment industry employs some of the poorest and most vulnerable people recruited from rural areas. Ensuring fair wages and safe working conditions remains a critical challenge for the industry.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The garment industry in Bangladesh employs some of the poorest and most vulnerable people, making fair wages and safe working conditions critical issues.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thousands of garment workers took to the streets, demanding better wages for the country’s four million garment workers. The worker’s agitation escalated and clashed with the riot police.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Police lobbed hundreds of tear gas shells and fired rubber bullets which failed to contain the riots.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The worker’s protests led to shut down of scores of factories, paralysing Bangladesh’s position as the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing hub after China.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">At least three workers were killed during the protest and 70 factories ransacked since. Tragically, protesters set fire to a factory, resulting in the death of a worker named Imran Hossain.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The police shot and killed another worker, Rasel Howlader. Among them was Anjuara Khatun, a 26-year-old machine operator at a factory in Gazipur, north of the capital.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The worker’s protest has coincided with other anti-government demonstrations when the opposition is demanding that Hasina step down, cancel the election schedule and hold the national election under an interim government. The demands seem to have fallen flat.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the garment workers to return to work with the newly-announced wages. Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories contribute to approximately 85% of the country’s USD 55 billion in annual exports, supplying major global brands including Levi’s, Zara, and H&M.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hasina threatened the workers, that if they continue to abstain from work despite the wage increase, she stated, “If they take to the streets to protest at someone’s instigation, they will lose their job, lose their work, and will have to return to their village. If these factories are closed, if production is disrupted, and exports are disrupted, where will their jobs be? They (workers) have to understand that.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The majority of the workers slowly returned to work. Which means they have accepted the new wage announced by the government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Immediately, the US State Department expressed concern about the ongoing repression of workers and trade unionists. Washington urged a tripartite process to revisit the minimum wage decision to address the economic pressures faced by workers and their families.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Bangladesh embassy in Washington DC on 20 November raised concerns that Bangladesh might face stringent measures, including sanctions, trade penalties, and visa restrictions outlined in the US Presidential Memorandum on labour rights.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While the memorandum has global implications and is not specifically targeted at Bangladesh, recent weeks of labour unrest in the country’s readymade garment industry, centred on demands for improved pay and marked by violent clashes with the police resulting in at least four worker fatalities, have prompted the embassy to issue a warning to Dhaka.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After the call from the USA, good sense prevailed upon President Mohammad Shahabuddin has sent back the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill, 2023 without giving his assent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The two sub-sections of Section 294 of the Labour Act, 2006, propose to amend some of the penalties for illegal labour strikes and illegal lockouts by employers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The law provides for imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to BDT 5,000, or both if a worker goes on an unlawful strike. There is a legal provision that any factory owner will also face the same punishment if he makes an illegal lockout.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Interestingly, in 2023, the amendment to the law, which was passed in Parliament, increased the fine in case of illegal strike of workers from BDT 5,000 to 20,000. But in the case of the owners, the fine has been kept at the same as before (BDT 5,000).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the national election fever, there will not be any parliament session. The fresh bill will have to be placed in the parliament next year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, many garment industries have fallen short of fully implementing international compliance guidelines. In the context of the garment industry, adherence to international compliance guidelines is crucial for ensuring ethical and safe working conditions. While some garment industries fully implement these guidelines, others may only partially comply.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Additionally, compliance covers various other aspects such as equal remuneration, anti-discrimination policies, child labour abolition, and safety measures to ensure adherence to guidelines, which create a favourable working environment for their employees.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers Export Association (BKMEA), and Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) are expected to play a crucial role in monitoring factories to ensure ethical practices, fair wages, and safe working conditions in RMG industry.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A recent survey by Quality Inspection, Management, and Assurance (QIMA), a global company that offers quality inspections, audits, and testing services, ranked Bangladesh second in “Ethical Manufacturing,” just behind Taiwan.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh’s local suppliers in the international supply chain have been recognised for their good practices.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A day ago, ruling Awami League’s President Sheikh Hasina told the leaders of the 14-party that a conspiracy was being hatched over the election. Without naming Uncle Sam, she said that sanctions may come.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hasina, pointing fingers towards the United States said, is trying to make the Awami League government uncomfortable over the labour issue. “Where will you find cheap labourers producing at competitive prices? I will also see. I am not afraid of domestic and foreign conspiracies.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">She warned that a new crisis may arise after the election. “If I survive, I will overcome this,” Hasina snapped.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/sheikh-hasina-hints-at-dealing-with-sanctions-after-the-election/5157/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 5 December 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-65743310179412947312023-11-22T14:29:00.009+06:002023-11-23T14:33:28.152+06:00Bangladesh election not likely in early January<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjACfYPvRONFVGKu82CzyxelP2tWD3u6_F5Dbc9zA8GdNorg7H6AWsFDCbpIx5cMQzU1kZXOafSzIpUm-2KGeg0QaZHrckKB8M9V2EgG6Ih6UBT5jt_Ie-yMOC_BQtjBQRfTisUL5xgSKpe7pUb0fJZf8mKtKRJLZccXldLZbXaoKvUfifIyc5TQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjACfYPvRONFVGKu82CzyxelP2tWD3u6_F5Dbc9zA8GdNorg7H6AWsFDCbpIx5cMQzU1kZXOafSzIpUm-2KGeg0QaZHrckKB8M9V2EgG6Ih6UBT5jt_Ie-yMOC_BQtjBQRfTisUL5xgSKpe7pUb0fJZf8mKtKRJLZccXldLZbXaoKvUfifIyc5TQ=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The much-awaited national election to the 12th Parliament of Bangladesh is likely to be rescheduled, and not postponed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The governing party Awami League’s top leader Obaidul Quader and Minister for Roads and Bridges said on Wednesday that if the election date is rescheduled, his party does not have any objection. But, said subject to holding the election within the timeframe stipulated in the constitution.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, Quader, General Secretary of Awami League added that the Election Commission has the authority to reschedule the election date and other dates.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is enough room for an additional two weeks to hold the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An Election Commissioner earlier said the national election must be held by 29 January, under the constitution, to avert a potential political volatility akin to anarchy in the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Election Commissioner Mohammad Alamgir recently said, “Failure to do so would create a constitutional gap leading to a state of anarchy, which the Election Commission cannot allow.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The election circus has already begun and the media is abuzz with news and speculative stories of cross-current and undercurrent of negotiating with the principal opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to set aside their ego and participate in the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The political reporters cannot fathom the political development behind the curtain.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hundreds of former bureaucrats, senior police officers, journalists, cricketers, entertainment industry artists, doctors, engineers, educationists, and lawyers have bought nominations for the Awami League.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Election Commission is willing to reschedule the 12th parliamentary election if the BNP and other parties boycotting the polls officially change their mind and decide to participate in the election, Election Commissioner Rashida Sultana says.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, BNP has not responded to rescheduling the election date.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last week, the BNP announced to boycott of the elections to the 12th parliament arguing that the election would not be free, fair and credible unless Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped aside and an interim government to hold the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hasina and her party are in power for the fourth consecutive tenure, thus becoming the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world, which is expected to enter into the Guinness Book of World Records.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, if the opposition and others join, of course would be described as an inclusive election. The Election Commission would welcome their [opposition] participation, said another Election Commissioner Rashida Sultana.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government has cracked down on opposition since BNP held a rally on 28 October to showcase strength in the capital Dhaka. The rally abruptly ended after police and ‘golden boys’ attacked the crowd.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thousands of opposition members and more than a hundred key leaders are languishing in prisons on trumped-up charges for arson, vandalism of public properties, etcetera.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hasina remarked “BNP is a party of terrorists” for their violent anti-government campaign and said there would be political dialogue with “terrorists”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">BNP has launched countrywide anti-government protests, which have been marked with violence, arson and vandalism.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The protest has led to further arrests of the leaders, party members and sympathisers from all over the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, Hasina and her party stalwarts hectic negotiations with dissident leaders from BNP and the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) to join newly opened shops.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Trinomul BNP and Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party formed with dissident leaders who had quit or were kicked out from the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami parties.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The higher court has banned JeI from contesting the election under the party name and election symbol.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A senior journalist Salauddin Babar of pro-JeI newspaper Naya Diganta, who is familiar with JeI’s policy said, the party has not been banned and therefore can continue in politics, except that the party cannot participate in any elections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He, quickly added that JeI members, if the election is conducive for the party can contest as an independent candidate and also can join a like-minded political coalition and seek nomination from the alliance. There is no bar in doing that, Babar said.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad says the windows have been opened to showcase the Bangladesh election as inclusive, but there is no guarantee that the election will be free, fair and violence-free.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh election is riddled with a history of violence and violation since 1973, the first election, two years after the independence of the country, remarked Ahmad.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To assess the ground situation a pre-election Commonwealth mission is presently in Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US-based International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) have applied with the Election Commission for election international election observer credentials.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IRI and NDI will send five technical experts to assess the electoral violence conditions before, during and after the election day. The team is expected to be in Bangladesh for six to eight weeks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The technical team will assess different types of election violence that occur in Bangladesh, including inter and intra-party violence, violence targeting women and other marginalised groups and communities, online harassment and threats, as well the role of state institutions in addressing these types of violence.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The European Union plans to send election observers for limited assessment before and after the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The question is abuzz who will bell the cat? The political observers means, who will convince the BNP to participate in the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If BNP joins, the government will have to bend to agree to a long list of pre-conditions, including unconditional release of their leaders and those arrested after police crackdown on 28th October. Drop all charges against opposition members.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The crucial issue is, whether the self-styled supremo Tarique Rahman, living in exile in London for two decades has no understanding of the ground reality, will allow his Dhaka-based acolytes to bargain with the government, when he is adamant not to hold dialogue with the state.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The nation has to wait and see the next round of political development likely to unfold in days to come.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/politics/bangladesh-election-not-likely-in-early-january/4725/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, Guwahati, India, 22 November 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-37621877990374064642023-11-19T16:12:00.007+06:002023-11-20T16:31:08.622+06:00Opposition in Bangladesh failing to unseat Sheikh Hasina<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyDtOimOn3Wl3uX3m_anHdatpUAb0xzTQfdrxewVWEC3hlMXcZf84XHk9UzvLkVieNqj0Dx9V7XnWa4x9ZcKkcN8L3lk4B4XxPorMRC9VbIcYbcXBq-RGVoLMl5mb52kls0vr4PqWSSvj7s2WtwyMyBi068qY1ipCfO_lzkXHcdF3N1jv6LovSmg/s717/Sheikh%20Hasina%20cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="717" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyDtOimOn3Wl3uX3m_anHdatpUAb0xzTQfdrxewVWEC3hlMXcZf84XHk9UzvLkVieNqj0Dx9V7XnWa4x9ZcKkcN8L3lk4B4XxPorMRC9VbIcYbcXBq-RGVoLMl5mb52kls0vr4PqWSSvj7s2WtwyMyBi068qY1ipCfO_lzkXHcdF3N1jv6LovSmg/w640-h490/Sheikh%20Hasina%20cartoon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many keen political observers believe that the principal opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has come to a dead end on the road. Their strategy has been violent to demand that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should step down and an interim government to hold a free, fair and inclusive national election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">BNP has announced to boycott the upcoming national election in January 2024. The party and its alliance have called for a countrywide general strike (hartal) and blockade (oborod).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The blockade was announced in protest of breaking up the BNP’s 28 October rally allegedly by police in conjunction with the ‘golden boys’ of the governing Awami League.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said the opposition always envisages winning the election. If they access that they will not win, or even win a reasonable number of seats in the parliament, then they threaten to boycott the elections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Demanding Hasina to quit power and form an interim government to oversee the elections is not happening. The rewritten constitutional provisions have deleted the sections for holding elections under a caretaker government, said Ahmad.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Winter in Bangladesh comes as a blessing when flowers bloom across the gardens and parks in the country. The village women prepare traditional pita (traditional cake made from fresh rice harvest). Some schools are done with their final exam. While others plan vacations during the winter.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The vibrant tourist industry is now challenged with negative business. This awkward situation has been caused by opposition actions and the governing party along with its alliance joining the election fest. In fear of political actions, the customers cancelled their vacation plans.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ahmad said it is understood what the BNP wants. But the party leaders before they were arrested and sent to prison had not spelled out what they wanted to do after they won the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They have not promised that they will abrogate all draconian laws which hinder democracy. They did not say they would ensure accountability and transparency and zero-tolerance for corruption and human rights abuse of law enforcement agencies. They did not say that the judiciary would become independent with no political influence and not harass and intimidate opposition, critics, and dissidents.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The opposition party has not spoken a word about freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Arson, agitation and protest rallies will not change the policy of the government. After boycotting the election they have nowhere to go but sink in a black hole.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are reasons BNP is aggressive, arrogant and refuses to dialogue with the government parties. Thus arrogance of the BNP has led the party to the end of the road.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nonetheless, BNP for long is leaderless or rudderless and floating without any compass. The present party leaders are powerless and do not have the guts to manage the party autonomously. It’s no longer news that BNP is managed by a remote controller – sitting in London by a self-exiled leader.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The party chairperson Khaleda Zia is serving jail terms and is restricted in her house. She is barred from politics and unable to contest any elections. The ailing leader with medical complications often shuttles between her home and the hospital.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The party’s de facto leader Tarique Rahman (56), is Senior Vice-Chairman of BNP. A spoiled brat of the military dictator General Ziaur Rahman (1977-1981) and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 93-year-old former President Prof Badruddoza Chowdhury once blamed Tarique arbitrarily established a political “powerhouse outside the Prime Minister’s Office” when her mother Khaleda was the Prime Minister (2001-2006).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tarique never attended any BNP’s central committee or high command’s meetings, but he dictated his decisions. Several ministers and secretaries of various ministries sought his decision and approval of government projects from the popularly known place in upscale Banani, the ‘Hawa Bhaban’, the office of the delinquent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">His schoolmates said he was a flop in the class exam. A below-average student in BAF Shaheen School and College in Dhaka was a timid person and not vocal. He was kicked out of the school for failing an annual exam. Later he was a dropout from studies. The high school certificate and college degree were obtained fraudulently.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Khaleda Zia never expressed embarrassment that her son established a parallel government. She never stopped him from messing with government administration.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instead, she indulged his son to run an unauthorised powerhouse and also rein the party. Corruption during Khaleda Zia’s regime was not spatial but horizontal – the ‘prince’ did it all.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Discontentment among the senior party leaders and ministers began to surface, which the Prime Minister tried to pacify.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He hated the senior BNP leaders including those Ministers who were inducted into the newly born party by his assassinated father Ziaur Rahman.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He advocates that the country should be governed by new generation (XGen) politicians and not left with the ‘old haggards’.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the October 2001 election, understanding that the BNP may not be elected to power, he cleverly forged an alliance with the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, which surprised many BNP leaders.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In fact, several senior BNP leaders and ministers were 1971 liberation war veterans and also those from the leftists and communists who joined the nationalist party during the tenure of Zia were uncomfortable with the presence of JeI.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamist party opposed the independence of Bangladesh and collaborated with marauding Pakistan troops. The youths of JeI were recruited to form the death squad, Al Badr.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The death squad, a secret outfit abducted hundreds of intellectuals, tortured them in secret locations and later killed them, which was the saddest episode of the liberation war history.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Pakistan military committed genocide of 3 million, targeting the Hindus, but Muslims who belonged to the Awami League and people sympathetic to independent Bangladesh were also slaughtered and buried in hundreds of mass graves all over the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The occupation forces deliberately used rape as a weapon of war to create a new generation of “saccha (genuine) Pakistanis”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The crackdown created 10 million war refugees of Hindus and Muslims alike. The war refugees were forced to take shelter in neighbouring states of India. The war has also caused internal displacement of 25 million in search of safe refuge.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The refugees were sheltered in India until Bangladesh was liberated in December 1971. Millions of refugees trekked home to their homesteads only to find their villages were parched, houses looted and torched by local militia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The JeI leader of the eastern province of Pakistan, Ghulam Azam, fled to Pakistan in 1971 living behind his compatriots and Islamic militia to fight alongside the Islamic army.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Later JeI party was banned. Imbued in the 1974 constitution and declared that any party with a religious objective will not be registered as a political party.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Civil society challenged the self-styled professor Ghulam Azam as the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh in 1991, arguing that he was a citizen of Pakistan and should be deported. He, however, held the position until 2000.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Azam hated the independence of Bangladesh and believed the territory (Bangladesh) would be under the hegemony of India. Azam was convicted of crimes against humanity in July 2013.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a development on November 19, the apex court upheld the scrapping of Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration as a political party, barring the party from contesting any polls. The Appellate Division of Supreme Court upholds a verdict from the High Court that prevents the party from running for elected office, writes the private news portal bdnews24.com.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This means that JeI is left with no scope to contest the upcoming elections scheduled in early January.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It could not be ascertained whether JeI has any alternative plan to participate in the national election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A senior journalist who is familiar with the JeI policy said that the party leaders of Majlis-e-Shura, the highest policy-making body of the JeI will meet soon, to discuss the future of the party and relay the decision to the members.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With Jei put out of circulation, the wings of the BNP have been clipped from forming an electoral alliance or having a strong ally in the anti-government movement.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/politics/opposition-in-bangladesh-failing-to-unseat-sheikh-hasina/4604/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 19 November 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-13492428817357559692023-11-10T23:23:00.002+06:002023-11-10T23:23:21.469+06:00Was Bangladesh Discussed at the ‘2+2’ Dialogue in Delhi?<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO2ARzGqcWfUDjLHbvDy16201mYEpQgFt-wp0sKVHqSYqLYjS-740p5Jh9RezQ-CrNX-rh5fJtX_ctTSDVkzIzLd60p1LfJCGbP_JRja2H0dn0IZkvIVGfbPed3aP_xnhwh9cgPpEBc3MbU9pk6BZBKT2cyAHLFKG7gEfPaTzCHSWwgptzWIsv5w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO2ARzGqcWfUDjLHbvDy16201mYEpQgFt-wp0sKVHqSYqLYjS-740p5Jh9RezQ-CrNX-rh5fJtX_ctTSDVkzIzLd60p1LfJCGbP_JRja2H0dn0IZkvIVGfbPed3aP_xnhwh9cgPpEBc3MbU9pk6BZBKT2cyAHLFKG7gEfPaTzCHSWwgptzWIsv5w=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #a0a0a0; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 15px !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left !important; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The fifth edition of 2+2 dialogue between India and the US has concluded on Friday.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://nenews.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/US-India-bilateral-meeting.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: "Work Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The entire media and foreign offices of South Asian countries are eagerly watching as the development unfolds in New Delhi.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Southeast Asian countries are also waiting for the outcome of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue from the visit of a high-profile American delegation led by United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin while External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh headed the Indian side.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The agenda for the dialogue on Friday (10 November), on the eve of a weekend, would not discuss the wars in Gaza and Ukraine but would focus on security challenges in the Indo-Pacific and concerns over China.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China has kept all its eyes and ears of the red dragon focused on Delhi to understand what resolutions have been adopted at the so-called 2+2 talks against the giant of Asia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 61-year-old Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, responding to a query by journalist Yeshi Seli of the New Indian Express about whether Bangladesh was on the menu, the veteran diplomat said “As I mentioned, extensive discussions took place on different regional developments in South Asia and other parts of the world also. And so far as Bangladesh is concerned we shared our perspective very, very clearly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“It is not our space to comment on the policy of a third country. I think when it comes to developments in Bangladesh, elections in Bangladesh, it is their domestic matter. It is for the people of Bangladesh to decide their future.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“We as a close friend and partner of Bangladesh respect the democratic processes in Bangladesh and will continue to support that country’s vision of a stable, peaceful and progressive nation that the people of that country seek for themselves.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“We were very clear in sharing our perspective on how we look at situations in different parts of the world and that includes Bangladesh with the US side during these discussions,” the veteran diplomat said softly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, the United States Ambassador Peter Haas to Bangladesh has flown to New Delhi ahead of Blinken’s arrival.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sources said, Haas is likely to update the Indian and US sides on where things stand for them in Bangladesh. It could not be ascertained what has transpired from the official briefing by the US envoy, who has been recently threatened to be beaten up black and blue by a ‘golden boy’ from the governing Awami League for Haas, allegedly hobnobbing with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The governing party did not take action against the henchman.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US has been reiterating that there should be free, fair and inclusive elections in Bangladesh. The upcoming national election is expected in early January 2024.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Both India and the USA are concerned about Bangladesh that it should not be allowed to slip into the fold of the Red Dragon. Understanding that the country is in debt due to loans it needs to repay to China under its so-called Belt and Road Initiative. Many define the Chinese motive behind the mega projects are debt trap for a poor country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United States, India, Japan and Korea do not want to see a pro-Chinese regime come to power. China is deep down in Bangladesh’s politics and so-called economic development partner.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United States, India and Japan see China as a threat to regional security having its visible footprint in Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">These countries have time and again expressed doubt about the strong pro-Chinese lobbies in the country, which besides the political parties and their leaders, includes the media and the business community remains an influential force.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That is why India and the United States cannot trust the principal opposition BNP, for not only being anti-Indian but also a die-hard pro-Chinese.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China first made inroads into Bangladesh during General Ziaur Rahman’s era when the military dictator made his first official visit to Beijing in 1977.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China recognised Bangladesh after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence hero.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The military dictator sought China’s political and military blessings to counter Indian influence, which was suddenly disrupted on 15 August 1975 after the death of Sheikh Mujib. Its a long history in short.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">India surely does not wish Bangladesh to go away and envisages that Bangladesh should continue to remain a good neighbour.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Delhi is nervous after China’s increasing influence in South Asia and meddling with politics. After Mohammed Muizzu won the elections in Maldives. India, lost its political clout in the island nation located in the Indian Ocean as the country slid into the Chinese lap.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China does not care about free and fair elections, as they do not practice democracy in an authoritarian rule and have rebuked the West without naming any country for “interfering in domestic affairs”.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/was-bangladesh-discussed-at-the-22-dialogue-in-delhi/4375/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 10 November 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-34169096140747022532023-11-04T18:51:00.003+06:002023-11-04T18:51:14.280+06:00Will the Islamists pose a challenge to the Awami League in Bangladesh?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1W_irlpwaW2IIA0Seykrg6D77eJNxSxyzt4w-s6Y1H7ZOa4wIjd7G5Q8hl1aIWwCcaajoMhJD1elEs4uEMam9pS5oBvTXdUdyWm85BdRj3xYB9P3rIrzGnMRAiXvfNaGylgUv4SUoXJVqCvhcckEk2yL2ge1yqBgAPvd3ePq37TdiQk0MaQwMrw/s640/Islami%20Andolon%20rally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1W_irlpwaW2IIA0Seykrg6D77eJNxSxyzt4w-s6Y1H7ZOa4wIjd7G5Q8hl1aIWwCcaajoMhJD1elEs4uEMam9pS5oBvTXdUdyWm85BdRj3xYB9P3rIrzGnMRAiXvfNaGylgUv4SUoXJVqCvhcckEk2yL2ge1yqBgAPvd3ePq37TdiQk0MaQwMrw/w640-h360/Islami%20Andolon%20rally.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i><p><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></p></i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The wind of election fever is sweeping Bangladesh as the national election is coming closer. The Islamist parties, including the lesser-known Islamists are gearing up for the elections expected in early January 2024.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamist parties are formally and informally holding parleys to form an electorate alliance. The question arises, whether the alliance will be a challenge for the incumbent Awami League or the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After a long time, Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka witnessed a largely attended crowd at a rally organised by Islami Andolon (Movement) Bangladesh on Friday (November 3), a weekly holiday for the noon Jumma prayer.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The rally was held at Shurwardy Uddyan, where 96,000 Pakistan military signed a historic surrender and a surrender ceremony was held on December 16, 1971.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is the same placed where Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made a historic speech on March 7, 1971, which inspired the people to rise against the Pakistan military junta, leading to an independent Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The vast green expanse was the country’s only race course, a legacy of the British Raj, is presently a site in remembrance of the liberation war, and the sacrifices of the martyrs.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islami Andolon has asked the governing Awami League to relinquish power within seven days.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What has amazed many political observers is that the Islamist party has expressed solidarity with the ongoing BNP anti-government movement for a caretaker government and asked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The founder of Islami Andolon, Syed Mohammad Rezaul Karim said if the government fails to comply with the demands to quit by November 10, they will discuss with members of the opposition alliance and announce the next course of the movement.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The demands include a national government with members from the parties in the anti-government campaign and urged the President of the country to take measures to avoid further escalation of the violence unleashed during the series of countrywide shutdowns and blockades of road, train and river communication.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They also asked to release all BNP leaders arrested during the wake of the movement in a week.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamist leader Karim warned that the people will not accept sham elections held in 2014 and 2018.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamic preacher spelt out an ultimatum and threatened to launch a tougher movement with all the political parties to hold an election under a national government if their demand is not met by the date.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He warned that they will not be allowed to hold sham elections held in 2014 and 2018 polls. “The government is referring to the constitution saying that it is not possible to go beyond it. Who made the constitution? Awami League? This constitution is also illegal like the Awami League–led government,” he remarked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He told a cheering crowd of tens of thousands that they would fight in collaboration with all political groups and get Sheikh Hasina off the throne.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, the governing Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are vigorously working backstage to get Islami Andolon as an electoral ally. Obviously, it will energise the enthusiasm of the impressive vote bank ahead of the upcoming general elections in early January 2024.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Surely, Karim, popularly known as “Charmonair Pir” has become a factor in politics. And it led the two major parties to make one request to Islami Andolon to join their electoral coalition, instead of going alone.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Notwithstanding, starting their political career from Barishal in March 1987, the party emerged as the fourth most popular political party in the last general election, writes The Daily Star.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamist party categorically told the BNP delegation last February that they have strong reservations about the caretaker system as has been marked by bitter experience which ushered in the infamous 1/11 military-backed caretaker government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instead, they proposed a national government comprising members from major political parties to hold the national elections, which did not catch the winds from BNP leadership visiting Islami Andolon headquarters in Barishal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The governing party is actively engaged in expanding the political base of an electoral alliance with leftist and Islamist parties too.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A government party delegation held parleys with Islami Andolon and proposed to its fold to defeat the opposition BNP.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ruling party explained to Islamist leaders that joining the alliance would broaden their hope of winning in several constituencies with a vote bank of like-minded parties in the pro-government alliance if BNP decides to participate in the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Several Awami League leaders, however, denied holding dialogue or have proposed the Islamist party to join the broad electoral alliance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamic Andolon contested 299 seats out of 300 constituencies in the national polls held in 2018. Well, the highest by a single party, whereas the Awami League contested in 262 seats, the BNP in 258 and the Jatiya Party in 45 seats.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamic Andolon individually participated in national elections for the first time in 2008. In the last 2018 election, the Islamist party contested 299 seats and got 12.55 lakh votes, which was 1.52 per cent of the vote, according to The Daily Star.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh Election Commission has delisted the registration of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and has no locus standi in the electioneering. However, 22 candidates of JeI have contested the 2018 election with the BNP election symbol ‘sheaf of paddy’. All the JeI candidates lost the election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since the BNP announced agitations on 28 October, the JeI has also announced a similar agitation programme.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Qawmi Madrasa–based non-political Islamist organisation, Hefajat-e-Islam are in catch-22 whether to support the government party and release central leaders languishing in prison or challenge Awami League in the upcoming elections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Several central leaders of Hefajat-e-Islam, are also leaders of smaller Islamist parties and will certainly surface during the electioneering.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the sideline, lesser-known Islamist parties are gearing up to participate in the elections and plan to merge as a “third force”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An alliance of Islamist parties has launched the Liberal Islamic Alliance comprising six Islamic and like-minded political parties formed on 1 September.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The six Islamic parties, newly registered with the Election Commission, are Bangladesh Supreme Party led by Syed Saifuddin Ahmed Maizbhandari, Bangladesh Islami Oikya Jote led by Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury, Krishak Sramik Party led by Farhanaz Haque, Aashiqeen-e-Awlia Oikya Parishad led by Alam Noori Sureshwari, Bangladesh Janodal and National Awami Party (NAP Bhashani).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Supreme Party Chairman Syed Saifuddin Ahmed Maizbhandari said that preparations are afoot to contest in all 300 constituencies, indeed a challenge to other Islamist parties and alliances.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some of the Islamist parties have reportedly said, that they will decide to participate or boycott after the election date is formally announced by the election commission.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Presently, 44 political parties, including 14 Islamist parties, are registered with the Election Commission, which is obligatory for participation in national and local government elections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What will happen, if BNP suddenly decides to join the election at the eleventh hour? The Islamist parties will surely join the grand alliance of the government with an impressive vote bank, concludes Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee, political reporter with The Daily Star.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/politics/will-the-islamists-pose-a-challenge-to-the-awami-league-in-bangladesh/4119/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 4 November 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-87688199759720991392023-11-02T22:30:00.001+06:002023-11-02T22:30:08.080+06:00Decoding Bangladesh political violence in the West<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgosF-MF-md5ktc6tVIPYTCpRMR4NkA6rp7WRzAhp2c2UyXMUMD95YBhSTtuMeTY5ETZkt3WvuggbqwwZbGbBrAfka1tmtDy_8xQjKE4F-Q2RPbiNaJFTXBVT5-tMnVl0JoA2aqlGAfwcc-idv5XYK_nd0dbXVxTF52ArTDsojiFhOonMXvayn3DQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgosF-MF-md5ktc6tVIPYTCpRMR4NkA6rp7WRzAhp2c2UyXMUMD95YBhSTtuMeTY5ETZkt3WvuggbqwwZbGbBrAfka1tmtDy_8xQjKE4F-Q2RPbiNaJFTXBVT5-tMnVl0JoA2aqlGAfwcc-idv5XYK_nd0dbXVxTF52ArTDsojiFhOonMXvayn3DQ=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As predicted, Bangladesh plunged into a political abyss after the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and governing Awami League simultaneously held rallies choking busy streets in the heart of the capital Dhaka on October 28, which has been marred in violence and street anarchy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The opposition has demanded that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should step down and the national elections should be held under an interim government to ensure free, fair, credible and inclusive polls planned in January 2024.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh’s independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has been the longest serving women prime minister in the world. She has been in power since 2009 and has been accused of targeting political opponents, dissidents, critics and journalists, which she categorically denies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Moreover, blaming the opposition BNP for anarchism, the pro-establishment news organisations, apologetic Awami League leadership, the government, and law enforcement failed to foresee an impending political violence, which would usher in a political crisis that was approaching like a cyclonic storm.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As hundreds of opposition senior leaders and members were detained and accused of rioting, death of policemen and damaging properties including buses, the United States ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, hoped that all sides would engage in a “dialogue” without preconditions to de-escalate tensions and find a path forward to free, fair and peaceful elections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In response to the United States’ call for dialogue, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responding to journalists, rejected holding any dialogue with the opposition and said, “How can we meet and have dialogue with murderers.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hinting the government has taken a hard line with the opposition, she said “The BNP is a ‘terrorist organisation’ and they will be taught the lesson they need to be taught.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In response to a question at the press conference on November 31, on how to deal with the violence, she said she would “burn the hands of those who start the fire.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Amid a crackdown on opposition politicians and deadly protests, Bangladesh’s main opposition party BNP, whose top leadership is either jailed or in exile, is betting that if Hasina does not resign and allow in a caretaker government, boycotting the January election will de-legitimise any win for her and possibly invite international sanctions, the spokesperson said. BNP boycotted the 2014 election too but participated in 2018, reports Reuters.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is damaging for the government’s credibility is that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) suspected ruling party supporters were also involved in the violence that gripped Dhaka city on October 28 during rallies by major political parties.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“We urge the Government to observe the greatest restraint to curb political tensions at this critical time, and to take steps to ensure that human rights are fully upheld, for all Bangladeshis, before, during and after the elections,” said OHCHR.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on all parties to refrain from violence or any excessive use of force or arbitrary detention. He also stresses the need to respect the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a strongly worded statement on November 1 quoted witnesses to accuse the Bangladesh police of unnecessary use of (excessive) force during political protests on October 28.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The watchdog did not hesitate to say the violence was committed on all sides, the events were part of a continuing police crackdown on the political opposition.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">HRW claims at least 1,500 opposition members were arrested in the days leading up to the rally and BNP leaders said that the authorities raided party members’ homes. Nearly a dozen opposition members were shot and killed by police in the last four days.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to the opposition, nearly 5,000 party leaders and activists have been arrested since similar protests took place in July, while tens of thousands have been accused in hundreds of additional cases.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US rights watchdog appeals that all allegations of torture and other abuse of detainees should be thoroughly and independently investigated, and those responsible should be held to account.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whereas, according to Mohammad A. Arafat, an academic turned politician in a post on Twitter (now X), the General Secretary of Awami League has been saying for more than a month that we are ready for dialogue without any pre-condition but BNP responded negatively. Now that Mr. [Peter] Haas proposed a dialogue without any condition, let’s see whether BNP listens to their “trusted friend”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is the idea of ‘No-Pre-Conditioned’ dialogue being floated because of the failed attempt on October 28? Who from BNP is going to be available for dialogue, I wonder! Or, this offer of dialogue is to get some kind of amnesty for the perpetrators, he asked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In September, the European Union notified the Bangladesh government that it would not send a full election observer mission to the polls in January, stating that the decision “reflects the fact that at the present time, it is not sufficiently clear whether the necessary conditions will be met.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The European Parliament also raised the alarm about growing abuses in Bangladesh, putting into question its eligibility for EU trade benefits under the “Everything But Arms” programme. Mass arrests targeting the opposition further undermine the conditions for a fair election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United States pre-election assessment mission has called upon political parties as well as other stakeholders in Bangladesh to initiate a substantive dialogue on key election issues, intending to ensure a credible, inclusive, and violence-free election.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The assessment team, which comprises representatives of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), made the call through a publication from Washington on Saturday.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The United States has said it will “impose visa restrictions on Bangladeshi individuals responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The OHCHR and Human Rights Watch statements were not only damaging but have severely embarrassed the government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On 28 October, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police headquarters denied Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JeI’s) permission to hold a rally on the same day in the downtown Motijheel, a hub of all nationalised banks, insurance and trade bodies head offices.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Surprisingly police did not disperse the Islamist party rally held at Arambagh, near the downtown.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Salauddin Babar, acting editor of Dainik Naya Diganta, an Islamist newspaper explained why police did not want to disperse or block the JeI’s rally and said the government possibly did not want to open a second front battling two political parties in the streets.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Babar having closed ties with JeI leadership denied any deal with the government and remarked it was wise of the government to avoid battling JeI, which would have provoked other Islamists to join the street protest.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jamaat-e-Islami for a long hiatus has lent political support for the nationwide hartal (shutdown) on the following day of police crackdown and four-day blockade of roads, train and river communications for October 30-31 and November 1-2 called by BNP and its alliance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Interestingly, JeI has not been invited by the BNP to join the alliance for their movement asking Hasina to quit and hold elections under an interim government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the fifth day (Wednesday), at least 11 people, including two police officers, were killed, and hundreds injured including 30 journalists were heckled and harassed by riot police and attacked by opposition and governing party hooligans during the October 28 and ongoing violence that has followed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nevertheless, the police, opposition and Awami League denied their involvement in attacking journalists and damaging or seizure of mobile phones, cameras and video equipment.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States in a joint statement on the recent political violence have called for restraint.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A joint statement issued by the diplomatic missions of these countries in Bangladesh said, “We call on all stakeholders to exercise restraint, eschew violence and work together to create the conditions for free, fair, participatory, and peaceful elections.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Bangladesh government is ignoring international calls for restraint and its pledges to hold a peaceful, free, and fair election. National elections are planned for January 2024, stated HRW.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Human Rights Watch has called upon Bangladesh’s international partners to insist that elections cannot be considered fair when the opposition is targeted, harassed, and behind bars.</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>POSTSCRIPT: In the last few days, Bangladesh police clashed with thousands of garment workers demanding fair wages for the clothing they make for major Western brands. Police said tens of thousands of workers in the country’s largest industrial city, firing tear gas and rubber bullets as agitating workers smashed up factories and blocked roads. The protests left at least two people dead.</i></b></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/decoding-bangladesh-political-violence-in-the-west/4066/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 2 November 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-40878272263098647422023-10-23T20:47:00.012+06:002023-10-23T20:48:27.612+06:00Bangladesh likely to plunge into political violence<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZrWffJegPAJBADkyNBAetcQc71HeXTf1rmWtRms5DiB6JX2sJnyYvtV9PUz9_rxsNzWM6ZJhkZ1kTpT3T58zeV_cDYCp9SoeWMBHvEiWyd8K-x1CVoSeTH0uj9tqdGGC2eAfWno-bcleL1dGaM9JoM2gd4P1pxwwPd2us2jAq50wwO3V1Dd0-ug" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZrWffJegPAJBADkyNBAetcQc71HeXTf1rmWtRms5DiB6JX2sJnyYvtV9PUz9_rxsNzWM6ZJhkZ1kTpT3T58zeV_cDYCp9SoeWMBHvEiWyd8K-x1CVoSeTH0uj9tqdGGC2eAfWno-bcleL1dGaM9JoM2gd4P1pxwwPd2us2jAq50wwO3V1Dd0-ug" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The two rival political parties, the governing Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are on a head-on collision course on 28 October.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a major showdown of the BNP in mobilisation of supporters, members and sympathisers, the Awami League leaders and senior ministers are threatening that they will block roads and intersections in the capital Dhaka on 28 October and mobilise thousands of supporters.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Party general secretary Obaidul Quader and Minister for Roads and Highways warned the BNP that they would face a similar outcome in 10 December, last year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After protracted negotiations, the BNP got permission for its last year’s December 10 rally at the fringe of the capital – a ground which was not its first choice of BNP.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The permission came at the cost of a life, injuries to around 100 people, and the arrest of dozens of party stalwarts.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s commissioner, Habibur Rahman warned of tough actions if the BNP caused harm to the lives and properties of 2.24 crore (nearly 22 million) residents of the metropolitan city while holding the political programme.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, BNP’s general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir explained that their “loyalists won’t ‘occupy streets’ during the Dhaka rally” and has no plans to stage any sit-in protests during the party’s ‘mass rally’ in Dhaka. The party has taken adequate steps to ensure that the gathering ends peacefully, he added.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The threats against BNP were also made by Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, a family member of the Sunni cleric Shah Ahmed Shafi founder of the Islamist organisation Hefazat-e-Islam (Protector of Islam) that the governing Awami League members, supporters and henchmen will dominate the streets of Dhaka.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Literally, Dhaka will come to a standstill by warring parties, marching in the streets with bamboo sticks and batons to confront, one to obstruct holding the rally and another push through the Awami League and ‘golden boys’ barricades at all major intersections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ruling party would supplement the thousands of riot police and elite anti-crime police RAB, police detectives and security agencies mobilised to enforce the “law and order” situation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fearing police and ‘golden boys’ harassment, BNP leadership has called on their members and disciples to reach Dhaka two days early.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government in the past on several occasions during BNP’s rallies blocked public transport, like buses, trains and ferryboats (launch) services. Several hotels and informal accommodations were raided and hundreds were arrested accused of sabotage and conspiring against the government. In most cases, the hotel owners are asked to vacate the rooms of their customers and close for 24 to 48 hours in the name of security issues posed by the opposition’s gathering.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">BNP, the country’s largest opposition group demands that the next parliamentary polls, expected in early January, be overseen by a caretaker government to ensure a free and fair election, writes the Daily Star.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The party boycotted the election in 2014 and alleged vote rigging and intimidation during the 2018 polls, which were held under an Awami League government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, Awami League repeated its refusal to step down before the election, arguing that such an ‘unelected [caretaker] government’ would be unconstitutional, and would create a crisis from a political vacuum which would hinder the country’s politics and development.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Awami League launched a violent anti-government street protest demanding a caretaker government, which led to elections under a neutral government in 1996.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sheikh Hasina, the current leader of the Awami League founded by her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, an independence hero scraped the elections under a caretaker government when she swung to power in 2009 after the system was challenged in the higher court and declared unconstitutional.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group fears countrywide violence and conflicts in Bangladesh from October 2023 to March 2024. The assessment was recently published in the global conflict tracker, CrisisWatch, and qualitative assessments provided by Crisis Group’s analysts based in conflict areas.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The assessment identified several parameters of conflicts during the six months and said a potentially high-stakes violent election in January 2024 is a prime reason for hostilities. Violence could surge in the lead-up to or after voting in January, as envisaged by the European think tank.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ruling Awami League is expected to ignore calls for it to step down and hand power to a neutral regime that would ensure holding a free, fair, inclusive and credible election, and instead continue crackdown on opposition BNP members, says the report.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Not very unfamiliar with political protests in the country, the rival supporters could clash in street battles or attack party offices or candidates, especially rebel candidates.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Amid the political tensions, the Islamist groups will also bake extra bread when the oven is still warm. The Islamists become more active in opposing the government, the report said.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The potential consequences would be a rigged or disputed election could trigger fierce anti-government protests. Facing the prospect of a rigged poll, the opposition will probably boycott the election and could become radicalised, adopting more violent tactics.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the worst-case scenario, the military might intervene should the election’s aftermath become chaotic, says the Crisis Group report.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The International Crisis Group understands that conflicts, violence and political reprisals could also cause the government to increase its dependence on India and China, as the United States and its potential Western countries would probably respond with sanctions, such as collective visa bans on top officials by the West, especially the United States.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/bangladesh-likely-to-plunge-into-political-violence/3785/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 23 October 2023</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</b></i></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-22524871898923912882023-10-14T22:58:00.001+06:002023-10-14T22:58:14.537+06:00China-Russia-America, who is the friend of Bangladesh?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpgPcisyPpb8X_DWLWWAkQ3UCA0OSRTISIPKodwtMz_Fp3COkJ3Kqc8gQBaPhHS9zns4NIQsiEuazi4AoyL5R5k7vJHZ0KonXliOzb7cUo4o0R7O-UkFDPPvqWYIqwNNRi5eU2VK3ivF2Wmg4QVv2sSBevBFDsStxHNwxw5CXbJfs3GBUW2_0LYw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpgPcisyPpb8X_DWLWWAkQ3UCA0OSRTISIPKodwtMz_Fp3COkJ3Kqc8gQBaPhHS9zns4NIQsiEuazi4AoyL5R5k7vJHZ0KonXliOzb7cUo4o0R7O-UkFDPPvqWYIqwNNRi5eU2VK3ivF2Wmg4QVv2sSBevBFDsStxHNwxw5CXbJfs3GBUW2_0LYw=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the much-talked-about general elections expected in early January 2024 approach, the global superpowers are zooming their hawkish eyes on Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most concerned people in the West, of course, the Bangladeshi expatriates and especially the Indians frankly ask why the superpowers are interested in the political development in a country of 173 million people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In one word – the “China card”. The West, neighbouring India and even Japan are feeling jittery over the growing Chinese influence in the Sheikh Hasina-led government and her party Awami League.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once an Indian diplomat in a private gathering sought opinion on why China’s mega-projects get approval quickly, and India’s infrastructure development projects are delayed due to bureaucratic red tape. He was told that the Japanese had a similar experience of projects falling through the faultline of bureaucracy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China’s inroad to Bangladesh and getting contracts for mega projects had irked India, Japan and the United States.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indian media have written on the expansion and development project of the third largest airport at Sylhet, in northeast Bangladesh and the proposed Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project. However, the later project was shelved showing errors in the loan proposal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Osmani International Airport in Sylhet is in close proximity to Assam and Arunachal state is further north, where India borders with Tibet in China. The airport is in a strategic location for eavesdropping into Indian northeast states, it is feared by Delhi. Recently China’s official map shows Arunachal as South Tibet, inviting fresh ruckus with Red Dragon.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is China’s interest in the Teesta River, a transboundary river that flows through India and Bangladesh? The proposed project has raised eyebrows in the region. The river is a significant source of water for both India and Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indeed, the river is crucial for the economic development of the region as it is a source of water for agriculture and hydroelectric power generation. The river water sharing has been a bone of contention between the two neighbours for decades.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China’s involvement in the Teesta River dispute has added a new dimension to the conflict. The Red Dragon’s interest in the Teesta River can be attributed to its strategic ambitions in the region. The river originates in the Himalayas and flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh, says a river morphologist.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japan has undertaken to construct the largest deep-sea port on Maheskhali island, in the Bay of Bengal and has been able to bulldoze the Chinese proposal of a second deep-sea port in Sonadia, not far from the ongoing project of the Rising Sun.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tokyo has been able to convince Delhi that the deep-sea port on the Bangladesh coast which serves adequately to export/import of northeast Indian states, will boost economic growth and immensely contribute to the country’s GDP.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh, last week became the 33rd member of the nuclear club. The under-construction Russian project Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will augment electric generation in energy-starved northern Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Other than the nuclear power plant, Russia does not have a second mega project in Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh imports food grains from Russia and exports various garments items, jute, frozen foods, tea, leather, home textiles and ceramic products.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh, however, has a historic relationship with Russia. The former Soviet Union took a proactive position in favour of Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Delhi and Moscow signed a historic Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation which expedited the bloody independence of Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, the United States is being bombarded by cyber-warriors with anti-American rhetoric in social media after Washington announced visa restrictions on officials of the governing party, opposition, government officials, police administration, judiciary and media persons. This applies to those who undermine or cause hindrance to the democratic elections in Bangladesh, the axe will fall upon individuals and their immediate family members.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is understood that the visa restriction by the USA triggers a chain reaction in Australia, Canada, France Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the allies in the West in denial of entry to their countries.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US Embassy in Dhaka to counter the rhetoric has launched the #DidYouKnow campaign for Bangladesh’s audience in social media.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For example: #DidYouKnow, the United States is the biggest foreign direct investor in #Bangladesh?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh received USD 3.44 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during 2021-2022 for three broad sectors of FDI inflows: infrastructure, manufacturing, and services, according to Bangladesh Bank (the central bank).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The USA FDI stood at $575 million in 2022, while China seems the largest FDI source of Bangladesh climbed to $940 million for 2022, reported Dhaka Tribune.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Diverse sectors offer opportunities for U.S. companies, including natural gas exploration and production, power generation, financial services, infrastructure, agribusiness, information technology, consulting services, and civil aviation to name just a few.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The garment sector has been a key driver of economic growth for Bangladesh over the past few decades. The US-Bangladesh has a $14 billion trade relationship and it’s growing, tweets the US Embassy in Dhaka.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What irks Bangladesh is when America expresses concern on stellar human rights record, democratic election process, freedom of the press and freedom of expression.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The relations went cold in 2021 when the US imposed punitive measures, in support of US Global Magnitsky human rights sanctions, targeting six of the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion’s (RAB’s) former officials, including current and immediate past heads of the Bangladesh police.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The sanction did make an impact. A study claimed that RAB’s extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances have dramatically reduced, which received accolades from human rights organisations.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, Abed Khan, Chief Editor of Dainik Kalbela warns that in a week several economic sanctions against individuals, business establishments and government entities are likely to be imposed citing corruption and money-laundering, which is now a transnational crime.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Journalist Chandan Nandy, based in New Delhi writes in the Northeast News portal (blocked by Bangladesh authorities) also claims that sanction is in the offing against money laundering and corruption.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen trashed rumours of fresh sanctions by the US, in response to media reports told journalists. “We were in the US…they (US) only want free and fair elections. Even the words – participatory or caretaker government – were not mentioned,” he remarked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While the United States pressure on the current government on the upcoming general election is visible, China and Russia’s position contradicts the United States, quoting unnamed sources in Washington DC.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The polarisation of the rivals United States, China and Russia has been observed, writes a commentator for BBC Bangla Service.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Humayun Kabir, a former Bangladesh ambassador to Washington, opines that Bangladesh has become the new ‘field of polarisation’ of the United States, China and Russia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He said that the US President Joe Biden administration’s foreign policy envisages ‘establishing democracy and human rights’ in different countries of the world and Bangladesh is in the bigger canvass to neutralise China’s hegemony in South and South East Asia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another reason is that America’s Indo-Pacific strategy has focused on actively implementing the United States domination in the Asia region, with new and old allies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Kabir said, the European Union too also want Bangladesh to strengthen democracy and hold free and fair elections in upcoming polls. In exchange, Bangladesh will benefit equally, especially from the trade facility, which is believed to strengthen the democratic process in the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">China is a development partner of Bangladesh, retorted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, when she was confronted by overjealous Indian journalists.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of Dhaka University says Bangladesh is caught in a triangle of Russia, China and America, because of its geo-strategic position.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh, positioned on the coast of the Bay of Bengal which merges with the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean comes under the fold of strategic partnership with America, Japan and India.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said the reason Bangladesh is a strategic partner in Asia because the country has made dramatic economic development and has been fairing on the parameters of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which gives hope to the big powers rivals that the country is not a failed state like Pakistan or Somalia.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Therefore, the agenda of the United States, European Union, Japan and India to encourage Bangladesh to hold free, fair and credible elections and remain steadfast on the path to democracy will enable Sheikh Hasina to be the longest-serving prime minister to return to power for the fifth tenure.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>First published in <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/china-russia-america-who-is-the-friend-of-bangladesh/3560/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, Guwahati, Assam, India, 14 October 2023</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</b></i></span></p><p><br /></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-42689815100159273302023-10-12T17:53:00.002+06:002023-10-12T17:53:26.729+06:00Gazans left behind in conflict, while Hamas leaders live in luxury<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgwvnbITmR5syKB3nzT_k57y7aCdtmcYFRjaz295uU4buosd2lPu0uussOcpELgRIZQl1HzLex1szyagwrJCm-phQard2uwrLC4gwOswNIT-M5fbYAB_8axARumvAXTVLj5YfsNonKuve1PGYFWWzc2ueBwuvypFdEL7HdioSXDxw3ncOreRswdQ/s679/Cartoon%20Israel-Hamas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="679" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgwvnbITmR5syKB3nzT_k57y7aCdtmcYFRjaz295uU4buosd2lPu0uussOcpELgRIZQl1HzLex1szyagwrJCm-phQard2uwrLC4gwOswNIT-M5fbYAB_8axARumvAXTVLj5YfsNonKuve1PGYFWWzc2ueBwuvypFdEL7HdioSXDxw3ncOreRswdQ/w640-h442/Cartoon%20Israel-Hamas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is no light at the end of the tunnel as the conflict escalates to new heights between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is no respite in al Qassem Brigades (Hamas military wing), shooting homemade Qassam rockets in Israel, when Israel Defence Force (IDF) in retaliation for Saturday mayhem and abduction, which sparked chaos in the region, thrusting the nationalist movement firmly into the global spotlight.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Iran-backed militant Hezbollah in Lebanon, jihadist groups in Syria and of course, Hamas in Gaza, also militarily backed by Iran are pounding homemade rockets in Israel.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Pentagon moved American aircraft carrier and warships closer to Israel in the Mediterranean Sea to send a harsh message to Hezbollah, the Asad regime in Syria and especially Islamic Iran not to provoke escalation in the Middle East.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The USS Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group includes the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier, which is the largest warship in the world, in addition to the Ticonderoga – class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy and four Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers — USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Iran’s dreaded Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has long been involved in proxy wars in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The clergy regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran wants to give a sign warning to Saudi Arabia and Israel of their hegemony in the Middle East.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Iran is one of Hamas’s biggest benefactors. Iran’s top official Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Tehran was not involved in Hamas’ attack over the weekend. He however praised, what he described as Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nevertheless, recent Iranian diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia have thawed relations with the Sheikhdom, but Riyadh is sceptical of Iran’s motives in waging proxy wars in the region. Iran Quds Force had trained and armed the Houthi rebels in Yemen, attacked military installations and fuel depots and refineries.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Iran has long been advocating crushing Israel found strong allies –Hezbollah and Hamas. The militant groups are funded and provided weapons and trained in military technology to build improvised rockets with precision targets and provided satellite images to Hezbollah and Hamas regarding IDF’s deployment and their military machines in the region.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel’s retaliatory strikes continue in Gaza by mobilising 360,000 reservists, regaining control over areas attacked by Hamas in the south and along the Gaza border.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel escalated its offensive entire districts in the region have been flattened, and houses razed. Hospitals and morgues were overwhelmed, reported an Indian TV journalist Palki Sharma from the Gaza border.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations urged warring parties to allow access to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians trapped and helpless in the Gaza Strip.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The UN boss aptly said that he “recognises the legitimate grievances of the Palestinian people. But nothing can justify acts of terror and the killing, maiming and abduction of civilians.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Recognising Israel’s legitimate security concerns, the UN chief calls for an immediate cease to these attacks and the release of all hostages. “Civilians must be respected and protected at all times,” he stressed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reminds Israel, that its military operations must be conducted in strict accordance with international humanitarian law.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Responding to UN calls, Egypt and Qatar are reported to have been making moves to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to reduce the death and miseries of people in Gaza. The ceasefire will stop the destruction of Gaza City. Will the Hamas firing rockets and incursion against Israel stop?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, Hamas supremo Ismail Haniyeh famously pledged to live on “zeit wa zaatar”— olive oil and dried herbs — after he led the Islamic militant faction to victory on a message of armed struggle and austerity during the 2006 Palestinian elections.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The election ousted a secular Al Fatah, a dominant group in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) founded by Yasser Arafat. Hamas fighters forcibly seized Fatah’s headquarters and claimed control of the 41 km long, 6 to 12 km wide, a total area of 365 sq. km with a population of two million Palestinians.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The group has since maintained political control of the area as a de facto government, and implemented harsh Islamic laws, as defined in strict Shariah laws.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hamas never recognised the Palestine Authority of PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank and instead challenged its legitimacy to administer Gaza. Since then Gaza has been ruled by the militant Hamas, which also nurtured Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a fiercest militant outfit.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With Hamas in control of Gaza and Fatah in control of the West Bank, occupied by Israel, there were two de facto governments in the Palestinian territories, each claiming to be the legitimate government of the Palestinian Authority.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a radical Palestinian cleric who became an activist of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In 1988, Hamas published its charter, calling for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since Ismail Haniyeh left the impoverished Gaza in 2019 along with some Hamas leaders, is presently living in luxury as he splits his time between Turkey and Qatar, travelling with a Turkish passport. Haniyeh has yet to return.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Hamas leaders live in hotels and travel in private jets and their sons are in top positions in sports, and real estate business in Gaza. One son is known as the “Father of Real Estate”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Akram Atallah, a long-time columnist for the West Bank-based Al-Ayyam newspaper who moved from Gaza to London in 2019, said when faulted for not providing basic services, it claims to be a resistance group; when criticised for imposing taxes, it says it’s a legitimate government, he said.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While Gazans grumble privately, they dare to raise their voice against Hamas, which has a history of locking up critics to severely punish delinquents.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hamas also represses the Gazan media, civilian activism on social media, the political opposition, and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), reports Freedom House.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/politics/gazans-left-behind-in-conflict-while-hamas-leaders-live-in-luxury/3474/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, Guwahati, Assam, India on 12 October 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-14127697265022525502023-10-10T15:11:00.005+06:002023-10-10T15:11:55.168+06:00Hamas surprise raid duped Israel’s “overconfident” intelligence<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNwN_7VH1VVqAksC0otW93yyyBI_CVnI4eOrCCAWmBDfkshVqK8Zt1rA4aiKHWc6Le1zCZBVX-w8Bp7bsN3AkiQ8KCu9UNU8w0-nhi6c7IuiMfDgGg86CZJkASOY4LBhMpT9Lezl6n5ATOLua3VFS1M_TppqknYyE18ffXO_0dnE_QNry-09zEgw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1170" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNwN_7VH1VVqAksC0otW93yyyBI_CVnI4eOrCCAWmBDfkshVqK8Zt1rA4aiKHWc6Le1zCZBVX-w8Bp7bsN3AkiQ8KCu9UNU8w0-nhi6c7IuiMfDgGg86CZJkASOY4LBhMpT9Lezl6n5ATOLua3VFS1M_TppqknYyE18ffXO_0dnE_QNry-09zEgw=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the conflict escalates after Hamas militant’s surprise incursion in the South Israel settlements and Israel declares “war” against Hamas, the worrisome world leaders hurriedly make an effort to de-escalate to protect lives in the war zone.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed had phone calls with the King of Jordan, Presidents of Egypt, Syria, and Israel and the Prime Ministers of Canada discussing the need to de-escalate and exercise maximum restraint to protect the lives of civilians.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Abu Dhabi has recently established diplomatic ties with Israel, has expressed sincere condolences to all the victims of the recent crisis and invoked an immediate ceasefire to avoid serious repercussions.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Gulf nation UAE, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, urges the international community to immediately reactivate the international Quartet to revive the path process of Arab-Israeli peace and increase all efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace and prevent the region from experiencing further violence, tension, and instability.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The deadly assault came on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll. In addition, many people returned home to spend Shabbat with their families on Saturday, 7th October.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hamas on a weekend launched a highly-coordinated surprise multiple attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, land, air and sea. The blitzkrieg operation began with pounding barrage of home-made rockets and Jihadist combatants penetrated Israel at multiple locations infiltrating through the barrier separating the two, using para-gliders and motorboats to reach interior areas.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">During the rampage by Hamas militants, the gunmen opened fire on a crowd of thousands of young people attending a dance and Sukot music festival in the southern Israeli Kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Simultaneously thousands of locally produced Quasem rockets were fired followed by militants bursting automatic weapons into the crowd as hundreds tried to flee, which turned into a scene of massacre.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Videos showed Israelis racing across vast open fields and taking cover in orchards. The number of fatalities and injuries from the massacre is unclear.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hamas operation was named, “Al-Aqsa Storm” Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif claimed that the group had “targeted the enemy positions, airports and military positions with 5,000 rockets” and that the assault was a response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel has long prided itself on its ability to infiltrate and monitor Islamist groups. As a consequence, a crucial part of the plan of Hamas was to avoid leaks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the Jewish nation reels, it must be admitted that the radicalised Islamist group Hamas surprise attack was indeed a ‘historic failure’ for Israeli intelligence services.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Multiple failures occurred before Hamas’s unprecedented assault, Peter Lerner, a former Lieutenant Colonel, and former Israel Defence Force (IDF) spokesperson told Euronews.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is not the first, the Yom Kippur war – when Israel was blindsided by a lack of intelligence ahead of a 1973 attack from Egyptian and Syrian-lead forces – was a psychologically significant date to launch another major salvo in this decades-long conflict.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IDF’s “overconfidence” in the military’s defence mechanisms like the barrier around Gaza, and the Iron Dome missile defence shield which was overwhelmed by thousands of Hamas rockets and proved fallible.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In IDF’s military training course, the officers are reminded of bloody Yom Kippur as a teaching point to take warnings seriously, underscoring how intelligence is supposed to influence actions on the ground.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel arguably has the most sophisticated human intelligence and electronic intelligence gathering networks in the region, but the IDF’s HQ in Kirya, Tel Aviv failed to see it coming.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ‘storm’ campaign was meticulously designed to ensure Israel was caught off guard. Hamas has planned the lighting strike for less than a year without the knowledge of top Hamas officials.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With a thousand Hamas foot soldiers deployed in the assault had no inkling of the exact purpose of the exercises. The fighters in a mock Israeli settlement in Gaza where secretly practised a military landing and trained to storm it and they even made videos of the manoeuvres.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Israel intelligence hawks have seen the video but they were convinced that Hamas wasn’t keen on getting into a major conflict.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hundreds of migrant labourers from Gaza crossed the border for work in construction, agriculture or service jobs which had lucrative paychecks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since the 11-day war in 2021 with Hamas, Israel has sought to provide a basic level of economic stability in Gaza by offering incentives including thousands of permits so Gazans can work in Israel or the West Bank.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, Hamas sought to convince Israel it cared more about ensuring that workers in Gaza, a narrow strip of land with more than two million residents, had access to jobs across the border and had no interest in starting a new war.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The workers for months carefully took photographs with mobile phones and drew maps with hands of the settlements along the border of Gaza and Israel.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As part of its subterfuge in the past two years, Hamas refrained from military operations against Israel, even as another Gaza-based Islamist armed group known as Islamic Jihad launched a series of its own assaults or rocket attacks, reports Reuters news agency.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When the day came, the operation was divided into four parts, the Hamas source said, describing the various elements.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first move was a barrage of 3,000 rockets fired from Gaza that coincided with incursions by fighters who flew hang gliders, or motorised paragliders, over the border, several videos have confirmed the brazen attack.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once the fighters on hang-gliders were on the ground, they secured the terrain so an elite commando unit could storm the fortified electronic and cement wall built by Israel to prevent infiltration.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The fighters used explosives to breach the barriers and then sped across on motorbikes. Bulldozers widened the gaps and more fighters entered in four-wheel drives, scenes that witnesses described.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Islamist commandos attacked the Israeli border troops, and their jihadist commanders jammed the communications, preventing the beleaguered soldiers from calling IDF commanders.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The final part involved moving hostages to Gaza, mostly achieved early in the attack.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An unspecified number of hostages were abducted from Israel. Amid the elderly persons, young women and children’s presence in the crowded slums of Gaza is likely to be a deterrent to large-scale military action.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in <a href="https://nenews.in/politics/hamas-surprise-raid-duped-israels-overconfident-intelligence/3368/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, Guwahati, India</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-17241931891203255952023-10-02T21:38:00.002+06:002023-10-02T21:38:23.508+06:00A number that irks Bangladesh authorities<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhl4r817MHKrYGR7vRwqmy2kKoS0HOOVvJZAeFKANjABa3XfxUDI0MDsP4YiznJbcR4c4LeN_RlJ8CZdTuC4rxrBHPpB9tXEXKb3YQnEUpsmls_bJibLaN9mKG6NIDHQZiSpPv21__WpmXINIHodNAbvT3RN1b8S2md2RGTkU--dAVh4tL_knNqOA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhl4r817MHKrYGR7vRwqmy2kKoS0HOOVvJZAeFKANjABa3XfxUDI0MDsP4YiznJbcR4c4LeN_RlJ8CZdTuC4rxrBHPpB9tXEXKb3YQnEUpsmls_bJibLaN9mKG6NIDHQZiSpPv21__WpmXINIHodNAbvT3RN1b8S2md2RGTkU--dAVh4tL_knNqOA=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh authorities were pissed off with Odhikar, a human rights organisation, its boss Adilur Rahman Khan and its Director Nasir Uddin Elan for the last several years.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government was angry because Odhikar was frequently quoted by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union for its authoritative research, monitoring and documentation on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of opposition, critics, dissidents, human rights defenders and even journalists were victims.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some of the victims have returned, but maintained dead silence over their captivity]. A significant number were found dead and the rest have disappeared forever.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Each year, the family members grieve in silence about the disappearances of their loved one, the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances is organised by Mayer Dak on 30 August each year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mayer Dak, a network of family members believed to have been forcibly disappeared by state and non-state actors. The Mayer Dak is taken from Argentina’s popular platform Mothers’ Call. Its defiant coordinator Sanjida Islam, is also harassed and intimidated by state security apparatus and law enforcement agencies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government officials, the governing Awami League have a scripted message, playing the same record again and again. The content of the message is a mix of denial. A conspiracy theory to overthrow the democratically elected regime of Sheikh Hasina and to undermine the massive development of the country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government is too sensitive to the use of “enforced disappearances” and instead likes to say “missing” persons. Then who is responsible for the “missing” persons? In this regard, the government again prefers to remain silent and dumb.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many top ministers said most of the “missing” persons are due to the inability to repay loans from lenders, family disputes over properties, secret multiple marriages, and migrants missing on dangerous journeys in the sea.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The apologetic officials do not understand that such an explanation is shrugging responsibility for the disappeared persons. The sincerity of the government in international media and rights groups were questioned, as the authorities refused credible probes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such attitude of the government has encouraged the police stations to refuse to register cases of disappearances, missing or kidnapped persons by their immediate family members.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This has encouraged criminal gangs to kidnap victims for ransom, as they very well know the police will not accept complaints and will not launch a hunt for the missing persons.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) published a study by Ali Riaz, a distinguished professor at Illinois State University, USA which stated that as many as 86 per cent of the Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in small towns and grassroots are intermittently faced obstacles in their work from the state and governing party.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The CGS study “Who Defends the Defenders” said the obstacles the HRDs face come from law enforcement agencies, state intelligence agencies, and government officials have been identified by 42.3 per cent of the respondents. While 23.7 per cent of ruling party activists were identified as troublemakers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Threats, harassment, intimidation or persecution forced 28.6 per cent of respondents to scale down their work and 10.7 per cent have relocated in fear of harassment, said Ali Riaz quoting the findings of the research.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After the publication of the HRD study, CGS is often harassed and intimidated.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government has been harassing and intimidating the rights organisation Odhikar for the past 12 years. The two rights defenders were under surveillance, their phones were tapped and bank accounts were scrutinised.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government cancelled Odhikar’s NGO registration and permission to receive foreign funds.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rights organisations Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK) and BLAST (Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust) were harassed by the NGO Affairs Bureau (under the Prime Minister’s Office) causing immense delays in approval of their projects and sometimes denied.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The government seems allergic to rights organisations and human rights defenders. What do the authorities want to hide?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a glaring example of an orchestrated campaign against the HRD, on 14 December 2022, the American Ambassador Peter Haas visited the home of Sanjida Islam, coordinator of Mayer Dak to hear the agony and trauma of the family whose loved ones became victims of enforced disappearances.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Barely 30 minutes of the discussion. Due to security concerns, suddenly the meeting was cut short and security staff hurriedly escorted the ambassador to his vehicle. The crowd of pro-government ‘Mayer Kanna’ (Cry of Mothers) and local Awami League supporters was swelling in front of the residence of Islam making hue and cry.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The crowd mobbed the Ambassador and wanted to hand down a statement, which was declined. His security whisked the envoy safely from the area.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Commenting on the incident a US embassy spokesperson Jeff Ridenour said, “We have raised this matter at the highest levels of the Bangladeshi government, as well as with the Bangladesh embassy in Washington, D.C.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen expressed his annoyance and said that ‘Mayer Kanna’ went against the [diplomatic] norm by trying to submit a memorandum [statement] to the US ambassador. “Our country does not have the culture to stop a foreign ambassador on the road to submit a memorandum,” he remarked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Despite all odds, Odhikar did not cease monitoring despite the government’s sensitivity to the issue, the extra-judicial deaths and enforced disappearances. The data with sensitive information was uploaded and updated on Odhikar’s website in both English and Bangla, which was also annoying for the regime.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The information was used by major international media, rights groups and human rights annual country documents of American and European governments.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such sensitive information in the public domain caused outrage among bureaucrats, political leaders, and policymakers, which had dented the government’s international reputation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Despite the global outcry, the authorities did not bother to investigate the wrongdoings of the state actors and non-state actors.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instead blamed Odhikar for disseminating disinformation, misinformation, fake news, hoax news, mal-information, and rumour and of course fake news.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Coming to the issue of numbers, Odhikar has been banned and two leaders of the organisation were sentenced to two years in prison in September.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The crime of Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasir Uddin Elan was that ten years ago Odhikar published a number of people killed on 5 and 6 May 2013. The midnight police crackdown brutally suppressed the Islamist protest.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thousands of members of a hardline Sunni Muslim organisation, Hefazat-e-Islam (Defender of Islam) occupied downtown Motijheel Commercial Area unless the government accepted their demands to declare Bangladesh an Islamic Republic, scrap the secular constitution, and change the national flag and the national anthem. Also implement Shariah laws and a host of other Islamic dogma, which incidentally match with the Wahabi creeds advocated by the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Human Rights Watch said at least 58 people were killed in police action. Amnesty International put the figure at 44. It said 3 members of law enforcement and 41 civilians were killed in the violence on May police mayhem.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Home Affairs Ministry contradicted each other. Police said the figure was only 11, while the Home Ministry said 28 dead. Both DMP and the ministry never published the names of the dead people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Odhikar, several times changed the figure and finally concluded that the death stood at 61. The organisation never published the names of the victims and their addresses.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Khan defending himself in the court said it’s a moral obligation that the privacy of the immediate family members be protected from the wrath of law enforcement agencies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He said that Odhikar did not publish the names and addresses for fear of being harassed and intimidated by law enforcement agencies in forcing the victim’s families to sign a paper stating that the person is living in the Gulf countries or another story.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a ‘white paper’ published by the “People’s Commission” formed by Ekattorer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee (committee against the collaborators of 1971) challenged the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Hefazat-e-Islam’s claim that thousands of people have been killed, which were exaggerated and incomplete.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The “People’s Commission” got a list of 79 names from Hefazat-e-Islam.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Awami League leadership and Bangladesh authorities mock victims and routinely obstruct investigations, making clear that the government has no intention of meaningfully addressing enforced disappearances by its security forces,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bangladesh has not ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The curious question arises, why did the government target Odhikar? Why did authorities not list Hefazat-e-Islam, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for disseminating misinformation or disinformation? The question is left to the readers to respond.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>First published in the <a href="https://nenews.in/opinion/a-number-that-irks-bangladesh-authorities/3141/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northeast News</a>, 2 October 2023</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist and media rights defender based in Bangladesh. A recipient of the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad</i></b></span></p><div><br /></div>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-55839491594978447292023-09-29T06:48:00.015+06:002023-09-30T06:52:47.710+06:00US visa policy for Bangladesh causes worries for all<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihKosOgyf7eKeljj88mJCvCHHzc_t2qlfXRmiAWPg5uTbAFtNGUc7DGu8BJ6SGl9Rl1nE3bP1qqIxp6TJhfDw1RE9tuqb84TcfhaQ1Bo_hP0Z3pdG2uwvi4VwmKMDIDAKlSBSX7lArcRFXIv62LwWJI1gpF9SbUR6NoD2B--dAZPKlSIpEF2rWiQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihKosOgyf7eKeljj88mJCvCHHzc_t2qlfXRmiAWPg5uTbAFtNGUc7DGu8BJ6SGl9Rl1nE3bP1qqIxp6TJhfDw1RE9tuqb84TcfhaQ1Bo_hP0Z3pdG2uwvi4VwmKMDIDAKlSBSX7lArcRFXIv62LwWJI1gpF9SbUR6NoD2B--dAZPKlSIpEF2rWiQ=w640-h336" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fresh US Visa policy announced recently to be on the ‘red list’ of individuals with ruling and opposition parties, government officials, judiciaries, and media professionals would be tagged including their immediate family members responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Those who will hinder holding free, fair, credible and inclusive elections the Swords of Damocles will fall upon that individual.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over the last two years, the US has maintained pressure on Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest-serving women Prime Minister, urging her to ensure a free and fair election in upcoming national polls expected in the first week of January 2024.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since December 2021, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the top officials of Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite police unit targeting crime and terrorism, which has been accused of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hasina at a press conference in May retorted why should her government be afraid of being sanctioned by foreign countries. “Why should we be sanctioned,” she lamented.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The visa policy has indeed made shivers run through the spines of the Awami League, ‘golden boys’ (pro-government delinquent students and youths], and civil and police administration.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">While the critics, dissidents and ‘aam janata’ (mango people) of the regime are rejoicing, the visa policy seems to have cut across all tiers of the government and ruling parties.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Political analyst Badiul Alam Majumder said: “I see this restriction as a preventive measure. This could avert efforts by individuals to rig elections in their favour,” he told Reuters.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, anguish and frustration were visible in the body language of the people in power.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, a few weeks ago, the ruling party leaders, members, activists, and cheerleaders among all professional bodies were excited and shared pleasant posts of the selfie photos of Sheikh Hasina and US President Joe Biden at the G-20 Summit in New Delhi.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The confidence of the sycophants and partisan government officials, including police and district administration further heightened after the news of Hasina attended a banquet reception hosted by Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When the Bangladesh Prime Minister was in New York, her government in Dhaka was informed of the implementation of the visa policy by the US Administration.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Earlier, on 3 May the US Administration informed Bangladesh that it would announce a policy for restricting visas to those who would obstruct the democratic election process or be part of such action.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then on 24 May US Secretary of State Antony Blinken formally announced the decision and said the “[visa] policy to lend our support to all those seeking to advance democracy in Bangladesh.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">On 22 September, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the visa restrictions had started to be implemented on Bangladeshi individuals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After the US announced its new visa policy, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen hoped that the new visa policy would help Bangladesh hold free and fair elections.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US State Department in a statement said that it was “heartened” that the Bangladesh government welcomed its decision to impose visa restrictions on those who undermine the democratic election process in Bangladesh.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In describing actions that impeded the election process, the US mentioned vote rigging, threatening voters, restoring to violence to obstruct people’s freedom to assemble and their right to hold peaceful gatherings, and other actions that prevented political parties, voters, the civil society or the news media from expressing their views.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In response, the Bangladesh foreign ministry issued a statement, “The government apparatus will take necessary measures to prevent and address any unlawful practices or interference … to compromise the smooth and participatory conduct of the elections.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">“The electoral process will remain under strict vigilance, including by international observers as accredited by the Election Commission,” the statement added.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Walla, overnight the hell has broken loose! The troll armies, digital mercenaries, and lie factories — weapons of the government in collaboration with recruits from Awami League and Chhatra League, both at home and abroad began to shred the US Visa policy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The wolf warriors unleashed a smear campaign against the US Administration. Even the US Embassy in Dhaka and Ambassador Peter Haas were not spared.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The US Embassy and the Ambassador were showered with threatening messages. Former Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik demanded the US Ambassador should be expelled from the country.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A ‘golden boy’ Siddique Nazmul Alam, former general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra [Student] League (BCL) posted a status on his verified Facebook page: ‘We are seriously concerned about your actions and you have already crossed your limits in Bangladesh. Remember, this time is not 1975, it’s 2023.’</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Investigative journalist in exile Zulkarnain Saer Sami tweets: Regrettably, recent events have witnessed the @USAmbBangladesh becoming the target of unjustified criticism from various groups and individuals with close ties to the Bangladeshi government. These individuals have resorted to the use of social media to abuse him [US Ambassador Peter Haas], [and] derogatory comments have been made about the ambassador on multiple television programs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For the second time, US Ambassador Haas expressed fears for the physical security of his embassy staff and the embassy itself, said in an interview with a Channel 24 TV network on 23rd September.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once the visa restriction begins to be implemented, besides the United States, the names of individuals and family members will be on the red list category by Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The red-listed individual possibly may only perform Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia and pilgrimages to Ajmer in India – nowhere else to go, commented political historian and writer Mohiuddin Ahmad.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Recently, Dr Momen in a signed article published in a Bangladesh English press on 27 September 2023 writes: “Anchored in our shared values of democracy, human rights and rule of law, the relations between Bangladesh and the USA have evolved over the past 52 years into a robust partnership characterised as dynamic, multifaceted and forward-looking. Like in any matured relationship, we collaborate on areas where we have alignment in our views and agree to disagree where you don’t.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The article deliberately avoided the diplomatic tension between Dhaka and Washington. The article does not mention a word about the much-debated visa policy, sanctions on RAB, etcetera, etcetera.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First published in the Northeast News, 29 September 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://nenews.in/opinion/us-visa-policy-for-bangladesh-causes-worries-for-all/3057/</span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19329393.post-58501607089291371622023-09-25T20:00:00.001+06:002023-09-25T20:00:26.752+06:00Not just Khalistanis, Canada refuses to deport assassin of Sheikh Mujib of Bangladesh<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9EI5LLu5kSiVMKDGiFMeW5xW9ldu8Y6qfDtF6czYEyX0i2J7CJxy1OWtxhYL-5Zd-XDihkfvE17GT3wlpXa8fuSam5h9-pneYceDps9rLE7UT9RgiBBgPzKDNtQBvbcFIbUAkxLtSoGT-NszKHU-BphbgGvosTJ6AetqyjYeNjrA2aEE2BgITg/s1200/Aassassins%20of%20Bangabandhu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="1200" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9EI5LLu5kSiVMKDGiFMeW5xW9ldu8Y6qfDtF6czYEyX0i2J7CJxy1OWtxhYL-5Zd-XDihkfvE17GT3wlpXa8fuSam5h9-pneYceDps9rLE7UT9RgiBBgPzKDNtQBvbcFIbUAkxLtSoGT-NszKHU-BphbgGvosTJ6AetqyjYeNjrA2aEE2BgITg/w640-h174/Aassassins%20of%20Bangabandhu.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i>SALEEM SAMAD</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A recent diplomatic rift between Canada and India over Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian-Indian and leader of an outlawed Khalistan killed by unknown assailants at a Sikh temple in Surrey in the province of British Columbia in mid-June has dominated news headlines.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After four months, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suddenly stood up the House of Commons at Parliament Hill and told lawmakers in Ottawa that his government possessed “credible” allegations which pointed fingers toward Indian intelligence potential link to the assassination.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad says, Canada came out in the public domain regarding the allegations against India. But on the other hand, Canada has never made public the Chinese interference and their covert activities.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Canada allows hate speech by radical Sikhs in the name of freedom of speech and expression, which is not only a double standard but a hypocritical government, remarked Ahmed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Canada’s allies are still quiet! Trudeau expects condemnation from the West while asking India to cooperate on the murder of confessed extremists for an independent Khalistan. The anti-Indian terror campaign for a separate territory for the Sikhs has been aided and abetted by the dreaded Pakistan spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, his government has yet to share evidence blaming India behind Nijjar’s death, who was chief of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and is unlikely to get ‘cooperation’ from New Delhi. Ottawa has refused to extradite a couple of “most-wanted” Sikhs for crimes committed in India and elsewhere.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a tit-for-tat expelling spy agency officials under diplomatic cover from each other country.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An Indian born Ashok Swain @ashoswai, Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden tweets: “Modi has made Canada, India’s new Pakistan!”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pierre Trudeau (father of Justin Trudeau) turned down India’s request to hand over a Sikh militant named Talwinder Singh Parmar, the head of the terrorist organisation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ‘person of interest’ has been blamed for placing a bomb on an Air India flight in 1985. The bomb exploded midair, killing 329 people, 268 of them Canadian citizens.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Millions of immigrants who adopted Canada as their new home, do not know that Canada is a haven for Nazi war criminals and other wanted criminals living with impunity.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The politicians and former officials of their home countries [list of countries withheld for obvious reason] have been laundering money accumulated from loot, corruption and illegal cartels with a “no question asked policy” of Canada for new arrivals.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nearly a thousand suspects indicted for war crimes, according to the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals by Justice Jules Deschênes (1985-1986) are believed to be living in Canada.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Royal Commission was able to establish that identified Nazi war criminals, for crimes committed in Germany and marauding Nazi occupation forces during World War II were given permanent residency. The Nazi war criminals brought huge wealth looted from Europe and especially from Jews.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The book ‘Unauthorized Entry: The Truth about Nazi War Criminals in Canada, 1946-1956’ by Howard Margolian published in 2000 brings fresh waves among Canadians what the war crimes advocacy groups, the media, and even a royal commission have suggested that Canada has given refuge to such criminals.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the recommendation of the Commission, Canada enacted the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, 2000. Under the new legislation, one Rwandan immigrant was found guilty of committing genocide and sentenced to life in prison in May 2009.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Programme investigated 200 perpetrators currently residing in Canada.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Notwithstanding India’s repeated requests over the years to extradite the “most wanted” extremists, who have harmed India, Canada decided not to comply and gave any explanation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, Bangladesh had also made requests over 20 years to deport the ‘most wanted’ army officer S.H.M.B. Nur Chowdhury, held responsible for the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence hero of Bangladesh in a military putsch on 15 August 1975. The 73-year-old fugitive has been living in Canada since 1996.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“That’s why he is safe in Canada,” writes Charlie Gillis, a Canadian journalist, “The assassin among us.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nur told a state broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) denying the allegation of taking part in the murder of Bangabandhu and said as a junior military officer he obeyed orders of his superiors.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, present Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina pleaded with her counterpart Justin Trudeau at several meetings on the sideline at global events to deport her father’s assassin. Her appeal fell on deaf ears though.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A new Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Heather Cruden in September 2011 in an explosive statement said that “Canada will not expel any suspected criminal to face a possible execution abroad.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Our government has a clear policy that we cannot extradite people to a country where there is [a] death sentence,” she told reporters in Dhaka.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The diplomat has rekindled a long-running dispute between Canada and Bangladesh, during which Bangladeshi officials have at times accused Canada of giving refuge to the most wanted fugitive for 27 years.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Canadian Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs sings the same tune. A policy statement says something like this: “Bangladesh judiciary is not independent and deportation or extradition of a certain person will jeopardise his safety and his security would be compromised by a politically motivated justice system.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“There are possibilities of being harmed when the person is forced to return to his country of origin.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Canada provided a typical argumentative argument on the request for the deportation of Chowdhury, who was indicted in absentia for the murder of Sheikh Mujib and has been sentenced to the death penalty by a special tribunal in Dhaka in 1998 and declared him a fugitive. His name appears in the red list of Interpol.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Canadian media have intermittently kept the issue alive. This possibly has impacted the rejection of Chowdhury’s asylum case and demand for extradition by the Bangladesh government.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">All his hope to live in Canada has been dashed after all the gates of the refugee court, appeal court and higher court shut down on his face. Chowdhury’s asylum case has been denied again and again.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Shahidul Islam Mintu, founder and CEO of the first 24/7 NRB Television for the Bangladeshi diaspora in Canada has been following the case of Chowdhury.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He said the fugitive rarely ventures outside his apartment except to buy groceries. He once faced angry Bangladesh nationals who condemned him for killing Mujib and demanding punishment. He lives in seclusion in Etobicoke, Toronto.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a brazen move, Ottawa wanted to negotiate with Washington DC to send rogue military officer AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, to a third country (preferably Canada), who swears that he didn’t play a role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujib.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ahmed’s asylum case in Los Angeles, USA has been rejected multiple times in appeal courts. US authorities decided to deport him, which was indeed a surprise for Bangladesh.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The fugitive was deported to Bangladesh and the verdict was executed by hanging for the crime.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On 29 May 2007, Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice addressing the Speaker of Parliament urged Ms Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that a “former Bangladesh diplomat with a Canadian connection is facing imminent deportation from the U.S. to Bangladesh where he will be executed after a political trial was held in absentia,” as documented in the Parliament Hill online archive.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Given this humanitarian issue and that Mr Mohiuddin Ahmed has immediate family in Canada, would the minister be prepared to review this case, to provide Mr Ahmed with the protection this case would warrant and help secure the suspension of his deportation until this case can be reviewed?”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, Finley assured the members at Parliament Hill that Canada has “one of the most welcoming and fair immigration systems in the world.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Commonly most people know that hundreds of international victims of torture have found safety in Canada including dissidents, opposition, journalists, writers and academicians.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nevertheless, this statement has been contradicted by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International. A damning joint report blames Canada to have incarcerated thousands of people (between the ages of 15 and 83), including those with disabilities, on immigration-related grounds every year in often abusive conditions.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Canada’s abusive immigration detention system is in stark contrast to the rich diversity and the values of equality and justice that Canada is known for globally,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, Canada had forced several immigrants to their country of origin, who fled the country after they were brutalised and tortured.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen was a victim of rendition and tortured in Syria after the United States turned him over as an Al-Qaeda suspect in 2002.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Arar, a telecommunication engineer was boarding a flight back home to Canada from Tunisia at JFK Airport in New York. He was detained for 12 days in New York and was secretly transferred to Syria.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">US authorities alleged he was a member of the international terror network Al Qaeda and said they acted on data supplied by Canadian police.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Amnesty says in Syria, he was held in degrading and inhumane conditions, interrogated, and tortured for a year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After media and rights groups outcry, Canada was forced to bring him back and had to pay a compensation of $10.5 million.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Similar incidents occurred with dissident Noura Al-Jizawi, a Syrian born immigrant in Canada who was flagged as a security risk when she applied for a Permanent Resident (PR) card. Also, an Egyptian-born Joseph Attar, a Canadian citizen returned home serving 15 years imprisonment in Egypt on spying charges.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In February 2007, Ottawa formally apologised for the role officials may have played in the torture and abuse of three Canadians Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. A commission of inquiry found that Canadian officials were indirectly responsible for what happened to the three men.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Possibly for now, Nur Chowdhury’s prayer to Allah has kept him away from being guillotined for his crime. The diplomatic engagement to bring the rogue military officer back to Dhaka to face the music of justice remains frustrating for the coming years will be in deep freeze.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>First published in the <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/opinion-news/not-just-khalistanis-canada-refuses-to-deport-assassin-of-sheikh-mujib-of-bangladesh-152261.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">India Narrative</a>, 25 September 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>(Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. Views expressed are personal. Twitter: @saleemsamad; Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com)</i></span></p>Bangladesh Watchdoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254792331658459622noreply@blogger.com0Dhaka, Bangladesh23.804093 90.4152376-4.5061408361788438 55.2589876 52.114326836178847 125.5714876