The first round of reform talks produced a wide range of agreements and disagreements
Government should prioritise reform recommendations that help with holding the election in time.
Troubling development involving fine exemptions comes to light
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?...
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....
The demonstration held this week by residents of Dhaka city's old town protesting frequent disruptions in their water supply is only the latest reminder of the acute water crisis that this metropolis has been facing in recent times. Water scarcity in Chittagong city too, has taken a serious turn. Water is the most basic of resources, and in a country such as ours that is criss-crossed with water bodies, the only reason for shortage of potable and usable water is lack of proper attention to the issue on the part of the relevant authorities....
What is CPI?
The CPI, prepared under the auspices of the Berlin-based international anti-corruption organisation Transparency International (TI), ranks countries annually in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index, a poll of polls, drawing on corruption-related data from expert surveys carried out by a variety of reputable institutions. It reflects the views of businesspeople and analysts from around the world, including experts who are locals in the countries evaluated....
Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece for this column titled: "Four years of false hopes." In that note, I tried to argue that the high hopes for the country since the present government assumed power on October 10, 2001 had been dashed during the last four years. Due to paucity of space and time, I had to pick only a few pertinent points for analysis. Anyway, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Z.A Khan recently reacted sharply to my submissions in a piece titled: "False hopes or falsifying achievements?" and dubbed my writing as a "biased" presentation that, allegedly, ignored some of the praiseworthy activities of the government....
The much-vaunted Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) entitled "Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction" has at long last been okayed and adopted by the National Economic Council. Originally envisaged as having a three-year timeframe, the PRSP has made its appearance 18 months too late, but redeemingly, as a full-fledged document, a perfected version over the interim PRSP formulated in March, 2003. While welcoming its advent, we cannot help notice that it's going to be a race against time as far as implementing the time-bound programme goes....
The family reunites at least twice in a lifetime, once to celebrate a birth, and again to mourn a death and comfort the living. A tragedy beyond our control can become an opportunity within our means. Death has placed an immense print across the north of the Indian subcontinent, in the shadow of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. Have the divided emotions of our subcontinent been jolted into some realignment by the massive earthquake from Kashmir to the Frontier?...
Whoever masterminded the August 17 attack by exploding 500 bombs in 63 districts did it consciously and with a purpose. That it had not been done on mere impulse was clear when in less than two months the courts in Chittagong, Chandpur, and Laxmipur were attacked with more lethal bombs. The perpetrators of the crime meant business and were read to go to any extent to achieve their objectives. In other words, they threw down a challenge to the existing system of our statecraft and announced their intention to impose their values on us, if required, by force. They made no bones about it and gave their objectives in printed leaflets left by them on both occasions....
