Govt must provide more clarity regarding election, reform, and trial.
Urgent measures needed to prevent a deadly outbreak
The HSIA situation is clearly concerning, and must be addressed before a major accident occurs
An internationally reputed American journal, theForeign Policy (www.foreignpolicy.com)in its Aug-Sept 05 issue published a "Failed State Index." The index was tabulated by the Fund for Peace, an American social research organisation. The organisation ranked a group of 76 countries on their probability of failure as a state. The top 60 countries were grouped in three colour-coded categories: Critical (red), In Danger (orange), and Borderline (yellow). Among the 20 countries ranked 'Red', Bangladesh is 17th. The spate of writings in the local press on the index prompted me to carry out some research of my own. Here are my findings....
Government's plan for rationing gas supplies in a desperate bid to shore up the crisis-ridden energy sector cannot but raise questions. For a number of years people were given to understand that Bangladesh is one of the better gas producing nations of the world. We were told that we had gas reserves good for a period of 30 years. At one stage, considerations were also given to the possibility of its export to fetch precious foreign currency. But now we are facing a serious gas supply crunch, to an extent of being incapable of meeting our own domestic demand....
Twice in the last four months the Armed Forces Division (AFD) was in the news, primarily because it came in for discussion in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Defence several times in as many months. The fact that its members chose to discuss the function of the AFD in its last meeting few days ago, belies the criticism that it was something out of their ambit of scrutiny, being directly a part of the Prime Minister's Office. But that is not the point at issue for this piece. Instead, we will dwell on whether or not the AFD merits existence at all in our defence management setup....
When Dr Manmohan Singh was sworn-in as India's Prime Minister 16 months ago, many regarded him as a political lightweight who got that job entirely because of his proximity and loyalty to Ms Sonia Gandhi. They predicted he would remain under her shadow, and consult her on every issue forever....
We are saddened by Bangladesh's ranking at the top of the Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index. But we are more saddened and angered by the fact that the government has done so little and taken so few steps to mitigate the disrepute against the backdrop of four consecutive such rankings, prior to the latest one....
At any given point in time, unlicensed rickshaws must be outstripping authorised ones by a ratio of at least 3 to 1. But now, well into the month of Ramadan, and with the Eid a fortnight or so away, rural drifters among the poorest of poor are filing into Dhaka city in quest of a job on the manual three wheeler. It is thus that the current ratio between legal and illegal rickshaws must easily be 4:1, if not more....
In the USA and elsewhere, there are some people who brag about of our two leaders being women. Facts, however, would turn such ostentatious boasting into a vanity -- a personification of vainglory. Sir Edmund Spenser in "The Faerie Queene", calls them braggadocios. The braggers contend that Bangladesh (an overwhelming Muslim and male dominated society) is planet earth's only democratic country where two women becoming the PM and the OL are no small a feat....
Local government elections have been completed. The real victor is the Army Chief Pervez Musharraf, who also runs the country. Parties loyal to him have won. The MMA has put up a fairly good show in NWFP and so did Baloch and Pushtoon nationalists in Balochistan. Punjab, the heartland, is securely Musharraf's; opposition parties have been crushed. In Sindh PML(Q), PML(F), and MQM are victorious, though MMA has some presence in Karachi....
Like any other military dictator Ziaur Rahman established a political party to meet the challenge of the then most powerful political party the Awami League. At that time it was not political ideology but expediency which was more critical to face AL politically. Such development proved to be a boon for the most organised Islamists' party the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Both BNP and the JI needed each other for their growth and development in Bangladesh. JI never believed in independence of Bangladesh with Indian help whereas Zia was a highly valued freedom fighter. JI fights for Islamic rule and Islami brand of democracy. On the other hand, Zia, though a soldier, believed in multi-party democracy. He never thought of making Bangladesh anything beyond a moderate Muslim country. Thus Jamaat...
We welcome the ban on the Harkat-ul Jihad (HUJI). It has come not a moment too soon; in fact one wonders why it did not come sooner when the government had specific account of its operation in the country in 2003?...
