let there be no more bloodshed

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Let there be no more bloodshed, atrocity and corruptionF R Chowdhury

Nobel Prize is awarded in recognition of extraordinary contributions made by any individual or

institution to the world community. Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded

Nobel Peace Prize for his unique concept of small scale loan called micro credit for rural poor people

to enable them to be self-reliant and thereby alleviate poverty.

Says the Encyclopdia Britannica: Micro banking or microfinance is a means of extending credit,

usually in the form of small loans with no collateral, to nontraditional borrowers such as the poor in

rural or undeveloped areas. This approach was institutionalised in 1976 by Dr. Muhammad Yunus,

an American-educated Bangladeshi economist who had observed that a significant percentage of the

worlds population has been barred from acquiring the capital necessary to rise out of poverty. Yunus

set out to solve this problem through the creation of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

Poorest of the poor

The Grameen approach is unique because the small loans are guaranteed by members of the

borrowers community; pressure within the group encourages borrowers to pay back the loans in a

timely manner. Grameens clients are among the poorest of the poor, many of whom had never

possessed any money and relied on a barter economy to meet their daily needs. Using micro-loans,

borrowers are able to purchase livestock or start their own businesses. By 1996 Grameen had

extended credit to more than three million borrowers and was the largest bank in Bangladesh, with

more than 1,000 branches.

Battle against poverty

As regards poverty Dr. Yunus wrote in the above mentioned Encyclopaedia, The Battle Against

Poverty

I want to see a world free from poverty. Poverty does not belong in a civilised human society. Its

proper place is in a museum. The Grameen Bank and affiliated institutions are dedicated to

providing opportunities that can help improve the socioeconomic condition of people who live inabject poverty. I believe that micro-credit has a key role to play in reducing poverty. While access to

credit for micro-enterprises is important by itself in improving the lives of the impoverished, it is

complemented by other strategies.

Poverty causes lot of unrest. Removal of poverty is a step forward to peace. That was the basis of the

decision of the Committee. This year Professor Yunus has also been honoured with the US

Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his good work.

Another person whose vision eventually created perhaps the biggest NGO with network in different

countries is Mr. Fazle Hassan Abed, the founder of BRAC. He has been honoured with a knighthood

by the Queen. He is now Sir Fazle Hassan Abed.

In Bangladesh when there is so much doom and gloom, we eventually found something to celebrate.

Long live Yunus and Abed; and they deserve to be remembered with something more than Nobel

Prize.

Misrule of Idi Amin, Mugabe

I am sure most readers will agree with me to name Dada Idi Amin of Uganda on top of the list. His

misrule turned Uganda into a country of total chaos which drove thousands out of the country. Then

we have to consider the name of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. This resourceful country was pushed

to total bankruptcy. Even printing millions of dollar notes could not keep pace with inflation. Thank


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God, it is now turning around because of a political settlement.

On 10 January 1972, when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to Bangladesh from Pakistan, his

popularity was unprecedented, probably more than what any political leader can even dream of. That

was a time and opportunity for him to do everything good for the country. Instead what he did will

remain in history as another period of total mismanagement and extremely poor governance. His

first priority was to remove all opposition to consolidate his position.

Extrajudicial killing

He nationalised all industries and appointed his own men as administrators. After struggling all his

life for the cause of democracy, he abolished democracy in a matter of minutes. He created a Rakkhi

Bahini that killed thousands of young men. He introduced the extrajudicial killing by killing Shiraz

Shikdar in police custody and even announcing the same in the House of Parliament. He banned all

newspapers except four government-owned dailies. The TV, radio and the four news-papers wrotes

in praise of his political ideology. He created the lone political party BKSAL and retained all powers

in his hand.

He appointed regional administrators with absolute powers. Many of his party leaders made money

and fortune when Anjuman-e-Mofidul Islam were busy burying unclaimed bodies of those dying onthe street without food or shelter.

Over 30 years later his daughter, with tacit support of the 1/11 Administration, came to power with

more than two-thirds majority in the House. She had a glden opportunity to do everything good that

she wanted to do. Instead she chose to follow a wrong path.

Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina launched movement along with Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh for

Caretaker Government (CG) for about 5 years since 1992.

The then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia positively responded got the Constitution amended, which CG

enabled Sheikh Hasina to come to power in 1996.

But Hasina amended the Constitution to remove the need for a non-party CG so that she can again

be elected to power. She changed the name of the Dhaka Airport only to remove the name of the late

President Ziaur Rahman. Even after getting a High Court order and giving posthumous award toHannan for declaration of independence of Bangladesh on behalf of Sheikh Mujib, she could not stop

people from speaking the truth that it was the then Major Ziaur Rahman who made the declaration

of independence from the Kalurghat broadcasting centre in Chittagong heard by millions of people

including Bangabir Kader Siddiki, Bir Uttam.

Professor Yunus defamed

For quite some time she embarked on a programme of defaming Professor Yunus in every possible

way because the Nobel Committee selected Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus.

In the political field she was determined to teach Jamaat a lesson for withdrawing their support in

2001 election. She had five years time from 1996 to 2006 to form war crime tribunal but did not.

She started with a war crime tribunal whereby most of the Jamaat leaders are now under trial.The BDR mutiny and killing of officers was dealt with in an unprofessional manner.

Killing of Biswajit, journalist couple and disappearances

The law and order situation in the country has gone to the lowest ebb. People are being killed at

random by police and other law enforcement agencies in the name of cross-fire.

The Government has no answer to killing of garment worker Aminul Islam, journalist couple Sagar-

Runi and disappearances of BNP leaders like Ilyas Ali.


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The Government tried to blame Jamaat for killing of Biswajit in broad day light by Chhatra League

elements. The Government arrested journalist Mahmudur Rahman only because he published the

news about Skype conversation by a war crime tribunal judge.

Political opponents have been arrested to such a scale that there is no room left in jails. Now they

may have to release criminals to accommodate more BNP and Jamaat leaders and other political

opponents!

Financial scams

Financial corruption has gone to a level never heard of before. By market manipulation people made

money out of the stock market and sent it abroad. Hallmark and Destiny matters are known to

all. One state-owned bank gave loan against inflated value of shares as security which is now not

even 1/10th of the original value.

The latest that has come to light is the bungling of millions of rupees from telecommunication

revenue from overseas calls. A mortgaged ship is sold off without reference to the bank.

However, the most sensational is the case where a car load of cash money was caught on way to

former Railway Ministers house.

According to news reports, Suranjit Sengupta received heavy condemnation from various quartersover the seizure of Tk 70 lakh from his assistant personal secretarys car at night and the casual

manner of his handling of the matter afterwards.

The parliamentary body on railway ministry and officials of railway and other ministries alleged that

Suranjit took the matter very lightly. They questioned how neutral the two probe committees, formed

by the minister, would be when an officer of the same ministry is to investigate his subordinates.

Even the Anti-Corruption Commission joined the crowd. The graft watchdog said it would launch a

probe into the ministers alleged involvement in the incident, reported Channel i, a private TV

channel.

The opposition BNP demanded the ministers resignation while the parliamentary body launched a

probe into the ministrys handling of tenders over the last three years.

Suranjits APS Omar Faruq Talukder, Railways General Manager (East) Yusuf Ali Mridha andDivisional Commandant Enamul Huq were in the car. Driver Ali Azam was driving the vehicle,

stopped on the way to Suranjits Jigatola house, and entered into the Border Guard Bangladesh

(BGB) headquarters at Dhanmondi in the capital in April 2012, news reports said. Ali Azam drove

the vehicle into the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) headquarters in the capital and exposed the

bribe money. The border guards discovered the money in the car and detained the four persons.

According to newspaper reports, when guards at the gate rushed towards the vehicle as it had

entered the BGB headquarters without authorisation, the driver told them there was bribe money

stashed in the car. The guards discovered Tk 70 lakh in the car and they detained the four.

At the very maiden meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Railway Ministry,

Minister Suranjit Sengupta faced the charge of corruption from the opposition BNP. Rehana Akter

Ranu, the lone opposition member on the committee, rejected the ministrys probe body formed to

investigate the alleged capture of Omar Faruk Talukder, assistant personal secretary (APS) of

Suranjit, with Tk 70 lakh. She told reporters that Omar earned the money from the recruitment

trade and the sum was supposed to go to the minister.

The minister still remains a minister without portfolio.

Padma Bridge project

Finally we come across the WB case on Padma Bridge project where the WB withdrew from the


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project only because the Government refused to prosecute the corrupt minister and other officials.

Meantime the Prime Minister introduced to the nation corrupt ministers as great patriots. With just

a few months left of the present tenure, the Government is desperate to sign new deals.

They are mostly on credit agreements. The need for purchase of 3bn worth of military equipment

from Russia is a debatable issue. Similarly the agreement for coal-based power plant has been

concluded without proper feasibility study.With the opposition away from the parliament, the Government does not have to answer for their

failures, corruption, mismanagement and bungling. The nation is on the verge of a serious turmoil.

In the meantime she is busy naming every road, bridge, building and military bases in the name of

Sheikh Mujib.

The incumbents are trying to cover up all failures, corruption and mismanagement. But people are

not given explanation for disappearance of Ilyas Ali or murder of Sagar-Runi or even about the

Padma Bridge corruption or black cat . Nobody talks about purchase of 3bn of military hardware.

The liberation of Bangladesh was not the achievement of any individual or any party. The whole

nation fought and achieved this independence. Everybody is equally patriotic Bangladeshi barring a

few. The ruling Awami League government must see to it that political killings, enforced

disappearances and corruption are stopped immediately; and release all political prisoners. Finallyplease agree for all general elections for the parliament to be held under non-party caretaker

administration without which fair national polls cannot be ensured. We can then look forward to a

happy and prosperous Bangladesh.

Let there be no more bloodbath in my motherland.

Email: [email protected]

Disturbed state of the nationJune 21, 2013 | Filed under: Opinions | Posted by: Jahangir

Sadeq Khan

Notwithstanding the abject defeat of the Awami League candidates supported by Mahajot partners

and CPB-led left front in all the four city corporation elections on June 15, Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina is sticking to her guns. She is determined to enforce the provisions of unilaterally-passed 15th

Amendment of the Constitution, in which she empowered herself to lead the government into the

general elections and beyond.

The Opposition 18-party leader, Begum Khaleda Zia, whose nominated Mayoral candidates won all

the four big city corporations, and earlier the Mayoral post of the commercial capital and port city of

Chittagong, is also equally adamant that her 18-party alliance will go to polls in the general election

only under a neutral non-party transitional government. She will not allow general elections to be

held under the incumbent Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina retorted on the floor of the parliament on June 16: The four citycorporation polls have been held in a free, fair and impartial manner. There is no need for any

further unconstitutional government. Do not try to bring back any unconstitutional government. It

will not be good for anyone, because in that case no election will be held.

In the absence of Begum Khaleda Zia, Barrister Moudud Ahmed, the de facto deputy leader of the

opposition, told the parliament that the people in the four city polls had voted in favour of BNP-

backed candidates protesting government misrule, including repression of the opposition leaders

and workers, false cases, stock market collapse, and Hall-mark scam.
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Vote of no-confidence

Itwas a vote of no-confidence in the government, he said: We participated in the city corporation

polls as part of our ongoing demand for the restoration of the caretaker government.

I urge the government to restore the caretaker government provision in the constitution after the

passage of the budget, and resign. This government has lost its moral right to stay in power.

Thus the political cum constitutional stalemate has only stiffened further. The Guardian newspaperof U.K. reported in its June 18 issue:

A controversial tribunal investigating alleged war crimes dating back 42 years has polarised an

already-partisan political scene. More than 70 died after it delivered its judgments in February.

Coming after the collapse of a factory producing clothes for the West with the loss of 1,130 lives in

April, any political crisis would be expected to seriously damage Bangladeshs booming garment

trade, which accounts for 80 per cent of its exports, and would complicate efforts to improve

conditions for the 3.5 million employed in the sector.

Gowher Rizvi, chief representative of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, told the Guardian that

preparations for the forthcoming elections, were completely on track.

However, many issues remain unresolved, particularlythe demand from the main opposition party,

the Bangladesh National party (BNP) for the Awami League to hand over power to a caretakergovernment.

A BNP official told the Guardian that party strategists believed Hasina and the Awami League aimed

to force the BNP to boycott the poll, allowing them to keep power and be elected again in a one-

party election.

The BNP plans to ramp up street protests between the end of school examinations next week and

the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, in July. This will give both sides an idea of what

kind of muscle the party can deploy. Then the real battle can begin in the autumn. There are three

key elements: the role of Bangladeshs Islamist parties, the ongoing war crimes tribunal and the

potential mobilisation of young voters alienated by the partisan politics of recent years. All three are

interlinked.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the main Islamist party and a long-term ally of the BNP, won only two seats in

the 2008 elections. However, their voters can swing the result in dozens of crucial constituencies

decided by wafer-thin margins.

Alongside JI, there is now a new force called Hefezat-e-Islam. Shah Ahmedullah Ashrafi, its deputy

emir, told the Guardian that the movement had been founded in 2011 to protect Islam from the

corroding influence of socialism and secularism.

Hefezat-e-Islam organised massive demonstrations last month that ended in police killing an

undetermined number of protesters and say they will take to the streets again to enforce their

demands.

A particular grievance is alleged government support for bloggers associated with the Shahbag

movement whom the Islamists accuse of being atheists who have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.It seems there is only one thing on which all are agreed: the struggle, when it comes, will be won or

lost on the streets.

While widespread unrest brews within the country, geopolitical observers are also clearly worried

about the disturbed state of the nation.

Weekly Holiday, June 21, 2013 - The article illustrates the repressive action of Govt actions leading

to blood shed which should be avoided


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Differences & conflicts can be resolved though persuasive yet tough political means avoiding armed

intervention by the Govt forces which causes blood shed and loss of life. Such thing creates adverse

effect in people's mind. This has been reflected in the recent election in 5 Corporations where the

ruling party has lost election despite giving good candidates

Siddique Ahmed

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Filed under: Opinions | Posted by: Jahangir.Source: Weekly Holiday, June

21, 2013 |
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let there be no more bloodshed

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