BangladeshPolitics.org

Bangabandhuke Jemon Dekhachi

2012-02-07T16:48:00.003-06:00

By Major General (Retd.) Shubid Ali Bhuiyan, MP

Find the eBook here: Bangabandhuke Jemon Dekhachi

Symbol of hope for Bangladesh

2012-01-28T17:28:00.002-06:00

She is a symbol of hope for Bangladesh. Corrupt politicians from any parties, watch out. Your time will end soon.

40 Years of Independence

2011-12-16T12:07:00.002-06:00

Today is Dec 16th, 2011. Forty years ago in 1971, Bangladesh was born. Many people sacrificed their lives, their honor, and their dignity to achieve independence from West Pakistan. Because of the sacrifice of many brave souls, we can call our ourselves Bangladeshis, we can call Bangla our language. Today, we take a moment to remember all those who sacrificed and risked their lives for us. To the brave ones, we thank you for your sacrifice.

As a relatively new nation, we have achieved a lot in last forty years. And we have a long ways to go to become a leader among the nations of the world. I am very optimistic about the future of Bangladesh. We have great people working really hard every day to make Bangladesh a better place to live. We have business leaders who are taking a risk and creating jobs for the people. We have a great military who are carrying the green and red flag of Bangladesh in many nations in turmoil.
They are helping to keep piece in the world.
We have every day farmers producing food for us.
We have many things to be thankful for.

On this day, I urge all political leaders not to exploit the people of Bangladesh. Do not create divisions among the people for your own political benefit. Be a political leader for the right reasons, to serve the people and not to exploit them. People voted for you with a great deal of trust that you will solve our problems. Please do not break that trust. If you do, history says there will be a payback in some way or other. Work for the country, work for the people. Otherwise get out and let others with good intensions to lead Bangladesh.

Lastly I want to thank my father, Major General (Retd.) Shubid Ali Bhuiyan, MP for his fearless contribution in 1971. I want to thank my beloved mother, Mahmuda Akhter for her sacrifice during the liberation war. Abba joined the fight to liberate a nation and Amma didn’t know if she would ever see him again. Amma was pregnant at that time with my older brother, Major (Retd.) Mohammad Ali. I am proud to be the son of a freedom fighter.

Our parents sacrificed a great deal, so we could grow up in an independent country, in a free society where we could achieve what we wanted with hard work and dedication and no one to dictate what we could or couldn't do because of the religion we practice or the language we speak.

Today, I am very thankful to everyone who sacrificed their lives, so we can live in a free nation called “Bangladesh”.

A country, a nation name Bangladesh was born on 16th Dec, 1971

2011-12-13T19:59:00.002-06:00

Saudi "Barbarism"

2011-10-10T12:57:00.001-05:00

Is this Justice?

Few days ago Saudi Arabia executed eight Bangladeshi's for an alleged crime of robbery and murder of an Egyptian man. If people are convicted of crime, they should be punished. But in this case Saudi's decided to put these "very poor" Bangladeshi's under a sword in a public square in front of thousands of people. They beheaded them, in medieval style. It’s like ancient Roman citizens watching prisoners are being eaten alive by lions for entertainment.

The human rights group says the execution of Bangladeshi workers should be condemned by anyone who cares for humanity. - BBC News

This is a sad day for humanity. All the progress we have made in thousands of year, Saudia Arabia puts us back more than thousands of year of progress in protective human rights. Unfortunately they were poor migrant workers from Bangladesh and got very little legal assistance, if any. Saudi Arabia's development is dependent of migrant workers from third world countries. And they must ensure their basic human rights.
I strongly condemn this brutal execution by Saudi Govt and I urge everyone to protest against public beheading. Saudi's have beheaded 58 people alone this year. This is not acceptable in 2011.

Read more about the story at BBC News.

Jamaat, a sign of terror in Bangladesh

2011-09-20T17:41:00.005-05:00

Jamaat activist recently went on a rampage in Dhaka and Chittagong without any reason. According to their top brass, agitation was part of their strategy to boost morale of it's activist.

"The showdown and anti-government agitation will certainly boost our activists' morale and also increase our organisational strength,” Jamaat lawmaker ATM Shamsul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday.

I do not think Jamaat is major political force in Bangladesh but they certainly has influence. Bangladeshi are very peaceful religious minded people. And Jamaat's politics is to hijack the sentiments of Bangladeshi people and leverage them for their own interest. In a democratic country, all people have the right o organize the protest; but it has to be peaceful. We are not Pakistan or Afghanistan. Bangladesh has achieved major milestones in recent years towards a mid-level economic strength in the south Asian region.

Political sentiments like Jamaat, will dis-credit all the progress we have made so far. I strongly urge authorities to take appropriate measures to bring those who are accountable for the recent atrocities. I strongly urge my fellow country men to boycott Jamaat in the next national election. Reject their violent and fundamentalist ideas. We need to move forward, not backward.

What mattered, who didn't - Wikileaks exposed BNP top guns

2011-09-09T14:23:00.001-05:00

Wikileaks recently released U.S Embassy in Bangladesh confidential cables. It exposes the BNP's top guns and their corruptions.

I) Health Minister Khondakher Musharraf Hussain: Another beneficiary of Zia's loyalty based on their long association. Energy minister in Zia's first administration, corrupt, and involved with coal mining deals with the Chinese, he is a key member of her kitchen cabinet. A geologist, and a former teacher of Tariq Rahman's, before winning his first election to Parliament in 1991, he has Zia's trust, perhaps more than any other minister. Also reported to be exceptionally corrupt. In 2002, he held up a USAID-financed condoms shipment for months looking for a payoff.

Read the entire cable here.

Eid at Zindabahar Lane - Dr.Kamaluddin Ahmed

2011-08-30T14:02:00.002-05:00

Dr.Kamaluddin Ahmed, Professor and Chair, Department of English, Jagannath University.

Eid at my Zindabahar house is long gone by. That would never come to my life again. Zinda means living. Bahar means beauty. So the place where I had lived till 1981 was full of living beauty. There were beautiful people with beautiful well decorated houses. Verandas and staircases were architecturally unique in design. My daughters call them staircases of a Zaminder house and whenever I remind them about Zindabahar house, they say “Oh! Dada’s Zaminder house.” Celebrating Eid at Zindabahar house is the best time I have ever had in my life.

We used to wait eagerly one week before Eid day for chickens to be bought by my father from Tongi Bazar. Rooftop of our house was prepared for nursing the birds. My sisters and younger brother had different blocks for keeping the birds. I still remember hoisting a colourful flag immediately after the moon was sighted. Neighbours used to ask what that flag was about. I told them it was there in honour of sighting the moon. Looking out at the sky on the last day of Ramadan was very enjoyable. We waited to spot the moon, the signaler of Eid. Even we forgot to take iftar in time. We would have a little ‘competition’ as to who could spot the moon first. Now we do not have such great expressions of love centering around the moon. This excitement of childhood is not there much any more among today’s urban children. But in the rural areas children still enjoy spotting the moon.

Read the entire article here.

Bangladesh 'lifts 13 mln from poverty': AFP

2011-06-23T14:00:00.004-05:00

World Bank sponsored survey tells a progressive story of Bangladesh. Bangladesh lifted 13 million people out of poverty in the five years to 2010, pushing the poverty rate in the South Asian country down to 31.5 percent, the government said Wednesday.

Only way we can continue this progress if our political parties stop personal vendata against each other and focus on development issues in Bangladesh. Calling hartal "strike" because of personal issues will not put Bangladesh in the middle class country in the world map, it will just take us back.

"It's one of fastest paces of poverty decline in the country's history and has been driven by a boom in remittances, welfare spending, exports and the huge growth of non-farm sectors in the rural areas," he told AFP.

"This is an impressive achievement by any standard," said Sanjay Kathuria, World Bank Country Office acting head.

In the survey, "poor" was classified as someone unable to buy food that provides 2,122 kilocalories of nutrition per day.

Remittances shot up to $11 billion in 2010 from $4.8 billion in 2005 while exports nearly doubled in the same period, Alam said, adding the government had boosted social welfare spending by 53 percent to $2.5 billion.

Read full story here.

Caretaker Goverment and Future of Democracy

2011-06-01T12:46:00.005-05:00

Recently Bangladesh supreme court gave a land mark ruling to abolish care take government system to hold general election in 2014. I think it's a step forward towards establishing a stronger democracy in Bangladesh. Honorable prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina also supports the ruling.

In a protest to Supreme court's ruling, main opposition BNP and it's allies called general strike on June 5th. From a political play book perspective, BNP did what they have to do by calling the hartal. As in last two and half years of Awami League's governance, BNP hasn't find their rhythm to develop a strong political opposition. I strongly believe in coming days, BNP and it's allies will build opposition against present government solely based on this issue. And we have to see how Awami League deals with this issue politically.

Ideally, I think we do not need a un-elected caretaker government to hold elections any more. Due to our fragile democracy, we adhered to the care taker system for last five general elections. Our democracy is maturing and general public are far more aware of the situations. People can decide themselves through democratic ballot process who they want to be their leader to take nation further ahead. We saw that example in landslide victory of Bangladesh Awami League in Dec 2009 general election.

Now back to our honorable prime minister's desire to have a general election under an elected government. It's a very tough decision for her to support and I praise her to make tough decisions like this even knowing this could jeopardize the outcome of the next election. We need leaders who make long term visionary decisions for the future of the country. In the same time, it's a very hard sell to the opposition.

Sheik Hasina needs to assure the people of Bangladesh that general election under her leadership as a ruling party will be free and fair. There will be no influence from the top level of Awami leadership. One way to ensure is to make election commission independent if possible. If Sheik Hasina can take appropriate measures to ensure a free and fair election under her leadership and even if Awami Leagure doesn't get the majority in next election, people of Bangladesh will remember her contribution to the democracy of Bangladesh in years to come.

Overall, I think it's a positive sign for democracy in Bangladesh. Now let's see if our two major political parties can stay above personal interest and set an example for the world by participating in a free and fair election in 2014 under an elected government for the first time since 1991. If we can achieve that, with a fast growing and vibrant economy, Bangladesh will be ready for prime time.

A sensible opposition

2011-02-15T02:34:00.002-06:00

A sensible opposition

Forty years of independence gave Bangladesh a lot. We have made significant progress towards democracy. We have ousted military dictators and established democracy in a very short period of time comparing to other countries in the world. Many other countries in the world are still dealing with dictator’s or military regimes. Along this journey, many of our leadership sacrificed a lot. Our prime minister lost her entire family. Our opposition leader was widowed. And many other great leaders sacrificed their life for our country, for our democratic rights. Since 1991, we are having parliamentary elections in regular intervals, which is a very good sign. Besides small incidents, Bangladesh is sailing smooth in the path of a modern democratic society.

I thank Shiek Hasina and Khaleda Zia for their personal sacrifice for our country. History will judge their contribution for our country. But we live in the present and we need to solve our current problems. I consider Bangladesh still a very fragile democracy. In 2008, people of Bangladesh gave Bangladesh Awami league a landslide victory and I believe Sheik Hasina’s govt doing everything they could do to move the country forward. But they are missing a key ally in their journey which is Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a largest opposition in the parliament. Without a sensible opposition, democracy doesn’t sustain. BNP has not been in the parliament for over a year now. Parliament is the heart of the democracy. People send their representatives in the parliament through a fair voting process. But BNP is not exercising people’s mandate. They are staging street protest, disrupting commerce, affecting people’s lives by calling hartal in the name of people. Calling strikes is a democratic right, but not by violating law and order of the country. We are not Egypt or Tunasia where we have dictators for over 30 years. We have a democratic government in the country. We don’t need street protest, burning buses or shutting down businesses through violence. We need productive dialogs in the parliament. If opposition leader truly cares for the people of Bangladesh, please go fight for people’s right in the parliament. Not in the street.

If BNP leader’s true motive is just to get in power, then our democracy is in big trouble. BNP is the second largest political party in the country. We need them in the parliament, not in the street. Debate the national issues you do not agree with, even if you don’t win by majority in parliament, people will know that BNP is a sensible and credible opposition. So when they are elected to run the country, they will be a sensible government as well. I share the same sentiment for future opposition parties in Bangladesh. Let’s take out country forward, not backward. I am urging BNP to come back to the parliament and start participating in the democratic process and stop calling hartals.

Hartal, destructive for Bangladesh

2010-11-22T17:36:00.004-06:00

Today Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called nationwide Hartal (strike) on Nov 30th, 2010. Main opposition party, BNP’s reason for calling Hartal as stated in the newspapers, is to resolve the miseries of public life, to save democracy and to protect the interest of people and the country. In a democratic society, its people’s right to call general strikes to protest against injustice and in humanity. Throughout the history, people in all parts of the world have organized, called strikes against the oppressive regimes, and topple mighty aggressor’s, and at the end achieve basic human rights and in some cases freedom. We don’t have to look too far, how Hartal was leveraged to achieve freedom. In March 7th, 1971, Father of the nation of Bangladesh, Sheik Mujibor Rahman, called upon civil disobedience (Hartal) to protest against the Pakistani military aggressor’s injustice and brutality. And as a result, after nine months of bloody war, a country was born called Bangladesh in Dec 16th, 1971. That Hartal was called for a greater cause, to liberate a country and it’s people.

Now let’s analyze why BNP is calling Hartal on Nov 30th.

First cause for the Hartal is to “resolve the miseries of the public life”.

I understand we have many problems in Bangladesh, so does most countries in the world. Given vast population of un-skilled workers, Bangladesh is surprisingly enjoying a 6-7% GDP growth in recent years. GDP growth translates into a higher standard of life. This is happening due to a long term development vision of the current government and increased public/private sector partnership in various economic sectors. Daily Star reported on March 22nd, 2010

“Bangladesh is believed to have performed well over the years as far as the indicators are concerned. Economic growth rate crossed the 6 percent mark in recent years from a feeble 4 percent or below in the 1980s and 5 percent plus in the second half of the 1990s. Under a business as usual scenario, reaching the target of 7 percent growth rate does not seem to be too difficult. By and large, the per-capita income grew roughly at 4 percent per year in a regime of falling population growth rate.”

World’s leading investment firm, Goldman Sachs identified Bangladesh as one of the top next N 11 countries based on the current economic growth and future potentials.

As you can see, local and global organizations are recognizing Bangladesh’s rapid economic growth, which translates into improved life style of the people of Bangladesh. So BNP’s one of the first cause for calling Hartal, contradicts with the facts I presented earlier. In my opinion, this Hartal is nothing but purely motivated by personal interest of BNP leadership. If we were in a negative GDP growth economic environment, I could understand BNP is trying to create a movement against failed policies of the current govt. But that’s not the case. I will argue that this Hartal will not result in resolving the miseries of the public people, but will create more miseries of the public people.

Second cause of the Hartal is to “save democracy”

In December, 2008, People of Bangladesh gave Bangladesh Awami League a five year mandate by a landslide victory to run our government. It was one of the free and fair elections in the history of Bangladesh. Awami League came to power through a legitimate democratic process. In order to sustain a transparent democracy, a strong leadership in opposition chair is a must. Bangladesh Nationalist Party has failed to fulfill their democratic responsibility by not attending the parliament in last two years. BNP’s primary agenda became personal agenda of few people at the top. It’s unfortunate to see that BNP is becoming a political party of self motivation and interest, not a political party for the people. I think time has come for BNP’s leadership to rise up above the personal vendetta and join the democratic process and become a strong opposition in the parliamentary process.

So a party (BNP) withholding themselves from our democratic process, what justification they have to call Hartal in the name of “saving democracy”! Again, this Hartal is nothing but purely motivated by personal interest of BNP leadership.

Third cause of Hartal is to “to protect the interest of people and the country”

It would be nice for BNP to list what interest they protecting and whom they are protecting against. If BNP was involved in the legitimate democratic process, they would do the research and publish it to the public. But they are not.

In conclusion,

BNP is still practicing power politics leveraging age old tactics like Hartal. I strongly urge the BNP leadership to develop a strong and sensible opposition in our fragile democracy by participating in the parliamentary process. Please do not take pot shots at popular Government with baseless and agenda less Hartal’s like Nov 30th, hoping that something will stick. This will not only diminish BNP’s public support, it also diminishes Bangladesh’s potential to be a rising star in the global economy in the twenty first century. After all, we all know that Hartal is destructive for Bangladesh.

Disclaimer - This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer or any other individuals I am associated with.

Parliamentary Standing Committee Members Visit German Open Pit Coal Mine

2010-10-26T13:26:00.008-05:00

Members of the Parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Power, Energy & Mineral resources visited the Open pit Coal mine in Cologne, Germany on 25th October
(Monday). The visiting delegation headed by the committee Chairman Major General (retd.) Md. Shubid Ali Bhuiyan MP went around the different parts of ‘ Hambach’ mine. During their visit to the ‘Rhenish’ lignite mining area
they were highly impressed and took special interest in relocation of affected community and reclamation of land. They were amazed by the smooth relocation of people to new villages and talked to relocated people. The team appreciated the land reclamation effort and was astonished
to see cropland and forest being recuperated to their original status.

The team also includes Chief Whip Md. Abdus Shahid MP, Abdul Matin Khasru MP, Md. Abdul Kader Khan MP, Omor Faruk Chowdhury MP and Abdullah Al Islam Jakob MP. Energy & mineral resources secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Ambassador to Germany Mosud Mannan and visiting government officials accompanied them. The delegation will visit coal based power plant and wind energy project next. Before their return they are scheduled to visit German Parliament in Berlin on invitation from the German Parliamentary Group of South Asia.

Bangladesh, 'Basket Case' No More - The Wall Street Journal

2010-09-30T14:57:00.004-05:00

"Pakistan could learn about economic growth and confronting terrorism from its former eastern province."

I am glad to see the western media is finally focusing on the positive Bangladesh. We have come a long way in a very short time. First the tremendous growth in the garment sector in last 20 hours. Now with the new digital Bangladesh initiative by current Awami League govt, Bangladesh NEXT, we are preparing ourself for the next generation IT outsourcing destination. This is a good news for us, this is good news for 171 million Bangladeshis.

"Bangladesh has much to be proud of. Its economy has grown at nearly 6% a year over the past three years. The country exported $12.3 billion worth of garments last year, making it fourth in the world behind China, the EU and Turkey. Against the odds, Bangladesh has curbed population growth. Today the average Bangladeshi woman bears fewer than three children in her lifetime, down from more than six in the 1970s."

Read rest of the article from The Wall Street Journal.

RadioBanglaOnline.com, a great initiative

2009-12-24T11:02:00.003-06:00

On Dec 23rd, my elder brother (Mohammad Ali) and I launched an online Bangla Radio. I wanted the share the story of our project with readers of BangladeshPolitics.org.

There are more than 300 million people that speak Bengali in the world, and Bangla songs are the heart and soul of the Bengali communities around the world. Bangla songs bring back memories from our past regardless of where we live today. Bangla songs unite us as one great Bengali nation. Our heritage and our pride are deeply rooted in each and every song.

The first initiative of RadioBanglaOnline.com is to bring Bangla music to you to enrich your life and make you feel proud of being a Bengali. Whether you are at work or at home spending quality time with your friends and family or driving somewhere, RadioBanglaOnline.com brings Bangla music to you. You can listen to it on your iPhone, BlackBerry or any other Smart phone with an internet connection. Is portable and mobile.

RadioBanglaOnline.com broadcasting live from Dhaka, Bangladesh brings you the best Bengali music with premium quality sound. Our DJ’s are the best in the industry and very passionate about the work they do. They will help bring joy to your hectic life through Bangla music, every day, ever hour and every minute.

Please let us know your feedback. We would love to hear your opinion about the project. Thank you for listening to RadioBanglaOnline.com. Without your support, we can not bring Bangla music to every corner of the world.

RadioBanglaOnline Team
Love Bangla, Listen Bangla.

Justice is served

2009-11-19T16:59:00.005-06:00

I was born in March 7th, 1978. While growing up, during my birthday I always heard a loud, compassionate voice, "Amader songram, shadinotar songram, amader songram mutkir songram" playing in loud speakers all over the city. I was just a kid; I didn't know the meaning of that speech or whose voice it was.

Growing up, Abba, a freedom fighter, used to tell me stories of our liberation war. He used to tell me stories of freedom fighters who left everything they had in their possession and fought for our country. Some fought with weapons, some fought with sticks.But everyone had one desire, to live in a free country, a free country we call our own. And they gave us a free country on Dec 16th, 1971, 7 years before my birth. Because of the freedom fighters courage and valor, I was born in a free country, Bangladesh.

Bongabondho Sheik Mujibor Rahman,our father of the nation had tremendous contribution to our liberation. He led a nation of millions through a revolution against injustice, and then led a liberation war which gave us a free Bangladesh. Now I am a grown man, and live in US with my wife and have a decent job and caught up every day chores. But still on March 7th, on my birthday, I remember the day when I was going to the New Market with Amma and listening to “Amader songram, shadinotar songram. Amader songram, muktir songram” playing in a broken mike by Dhanmondi cricket ground. Now I realize how powerful message Sheik Mujibor Rahman delivered on March, 7th 1971. His message liberated a nation. His speech ignited fire in people’s heart to take up arms against a heinous, well equip aggressive military. His passion gave us courage to fight the war. His vision curved a new map; and Bangladesh country was born.

15th August, 1975. Twelve cowards under the shadow of the dark night attacked house 32, Dhanmondi, Dhaka. They sprayed machine guns at the man, women and even children living in that house. Twenty eight dead bodies were lying on the floor after the massacre was over. Their objective was to kill, our father of the nation, Bongobandhu Sheik Mujibor Rahman. And they succeeded. They killed a person who devoted his entire life to liberate a nation. A nation we call our country, Bangladesh. Evil groups rewarded them for this heinous act. They protected them for last 34 years. Not anymore.

Today, on Nov 19th, 2009, justice is served. Bangladesh justice system ordered death sentenced to the accused twelve cowards. This is a victory for Bangladesh; this is a victory for humanity. Rest in peace, my Bongobondu. Thank you for your sacrifice, so we can live in a free country. People say, freedom has a price and Sheik Mujibor Rahman and million others has paid that price with their life. Now let’s take this freedom and build a Bangladesh where we can keep our heads up and be the leader among nations. Today is a proud moment for all Bangladeshis. Today is an inspiration of a future Bangladesh.

“The more we will delay in gas exploration at the off-shore, the more we will loose and crisis will increase further as well - Shubid Ali Bhuiyan

2009-10-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

A parliamentary committee yesterday recommended that the government finalise the production sharing contact (PSC) with two foreign companies on gas exploration bids for three offshore blocks soon as it feared further delay might hamper the country's interests.

In defence of the recommendation, the parliamentary standing committee on power, energy and mineral resources ministry observed that crisis might occur due to delay in starting the exploration.

“India and Myanmar have already started gas exploration in their offshore blocks, and if we delay, they might capture our gas resources using sophisticated technologies,” Maj Gen (retd) Shubid Ali Bhuiyan, chairman of the committee, told reporters after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

“The more we will delay in gas exploration at the off-shore, the more we will loose and crisis will increase further as well,” he said.

Shubid Ali, also a ruling Awami League lawmaker, said many wars and conflicts are seen over oil and gas issues in the past and it may happen again in future.

Read full story here.

Enact law banning export of coal - Shubid Ali Bhuiyan

2009-06-07T14:06:00.004-05:00

Speaking at the roundtable, Maj Gen (retd) Md Shubid Ali Bhuiyan MP, Standing Committee Chairman on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said that the electricity supply situation is now worse in the country. "Some of dishonest Politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen are responsible for such a sorry state in the power sector here," he noted.

He further that the Awami League government has taken initiative to reduce system loss to a tolerable level very soon and introducing of prepaid meter.

Bhuiyan informed that the government was now investigating into corruption in the power sector. Read more

Pakistan, next Taliban regime?

2009-04-14T12:06:00.002-05:00

Today Pakistani president, Asif Al Zardari, signed a treaty with militant Taliban's to establish saria law in Swat region. This is very alarming to me. Taliban's are controlling lawless Afghanistan and now starting to take control over Pakistan. What's next?

This is a significant threat to the south East Asia’s stability. I think Bangladesh and Indian's leadership needs to take aggressive measure's to stop the Taliban militancy further east. Bangladesh just had a free and fair election and already faced with terrorist attacks (BDR Massacre). I would strongly urge Prime Minister Sheik Hasina and her leadership to crack down on Islamic militants. Start awareness program aimed at youth, so Islamic militants can't recruit them to expand their influence and militancy. Awami League govt. should take the Pakistan incident very seriously and implement countermeasures in Bangladesh immediately.

If we failed to do so, Bangladesh will be the next victim of Islamic militants group like Taliban. And Afganistan is an example of a Taliban regime.

BDR Massacre - Will we ever find the truth?

2009-03-02T20:13:00.002-06:00

The blood stains of fallen Army officers have not been washed away yet, but our political parties already started pointing fingers at each other. Many conspiracy theories have been established. Many to blame depending on who you are talking to or media outlet you subscribe your news from. Looks like everyone has an answer. Bottom line is, we lost many of our bravest soldiers, proud sons of Bangladesh. Their wives, their orphan children, will never see their husband or father. Nothing will heal their pain and sorrow.

I do not want to say my version of who did it and why. It does not really matter at this point. I would like to beg our political leaders to refrain from giving partisan baseless comments. If you can, please help our newly elected democratic Govt. and Bangladesh Army to capture the “monsters” who is responsible for this atrocity. If you cannot, please do not make comments to gain cheap political points. This is not a time for politics. This is time for national unity to find these “monsters” and bring them to justice.

Unite Bangladesh just like we did in 1971 against evil Hanader’s. Let’s find the truth behind this cowardly act. Let’s build a strong Bangladesh.

Election hangover is over; reality setting in!

2009-01-22T21:34:00.010-06:00

"A polling agent at the Char Boro Dhopli government primary school polling centre in Companiganj, Noakhali is seen trying to manipulate a voter into casting her vote for a particular candidate.Photo: Focus Bangla, Source: Daily Star, Jan 23rd, 2009."

Yesterday Upazilla election ended on a very different note than that of Dec 29th parliament election. Just by reading at the daily newspapers, it looks like the Upazilla election was a joke. Bangladesh just achieved a milestone towards a mature democracy on Dec, 29th. Now it looks like we can't even have a free and fair election when a political party is in power!

Prime Minister Sheik Hasina and EC warned minister's and MP's not to influence the Upazilla election, but did they listen? Sheik Hasina has a big challenge ahead of her just like US president Barak Obama. When people gave landslide victory to Awami League in the last parliamentary election, people put their trust and faith on AL leaders. Bangladesh Awami League needs to respect that trust and faith.

Prime Minister Sheik Hasina had a very good start with forming her cabinet with clean-honest MP's. That was game changing and got popular support. Then series of violence created by AL's student wing, home minister's partisan comment about the post election violence, robbery in Bangladesh railway, and at last Upazilla election makes me wonder, are we sliding back to the good old partisan politics of revenge and "do anything to stay in power" sort of political environment?

If AL Minister's and MP's don’t stay above the partisan politics, the hope of 15 million Bangladeshi's will fade very soon, just like before. Their dream of a prosperous Bangladesh will be destroyed again, just like before. If AL electorates don’t stay above the partisan politics, the Digital 2021 vision will not be realized. It will just be a vision then.

I urge our honorable Minister's not to think about how they can be re-elected in five years, but to think about how they can help build our beloved country. You are in power because of people, please don’t forget us. You are our hope, please don’t destroy that. I am counting on you and you have my support. But remember, I will question and criticize you when you are looking after your self interest than our peoples, because I love my country above anything else.

People of Megna and Daudkandi said NO to corruption :: Corrupt Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf defeated in Comilla-1

2009-01-02T11:12:00.004-06:00

Major General (Retd.) Shubid Ali Bhuiyan defeated BNP heavy weight candidate and ex-minister, Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf in 2009 Bangladesh parliamentary election by 19,000 votes. It is the biggest achievement for Bangladesh Awami League. This is the first time in 33 years, an AL candidate won this seat.

I campaigned for my father, (Shubid Ali Bhuiyan) for over two weeks. It was great to see how people responded to our campaign message, "durnitir biruddey shangram". Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf tried to buy vote with his corruption money (kalo taka), but people of Megna and Daudkandi rejected "vote buying" scheme of corrupt Dr. Mosharraf.

I reached Dhaka on Dec 18th and left for Daudkandi same day. I didn't notice any BNP campaign activities since Dec 26th. I truely felt that, people of Daudkandi wanted a positive change and the change was in favor of Major General (Retd.) Shubid Ali Bhuiyan. Three days before the election night, we have heard that Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf and his "vote chor" allies where trying to buy votes. They were going door-to-door and giving people 1000 taka/vote. So we started a campaign to resist his "kalo taka" distribution. We setup nightly patrol (My brother and I personally participated), so "kalo taka" distribution is disturbed. This campaign effort caught on at the grass-root level and people were forming committees to stay awake all night to resist "kalo taka" distribution of Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf. This grass-root effort helped our campagin a lot.

This was amazing to see, how people responded to our campaign against corruption. This victory is a victory of the people of Megna and Daudkandi and victory against corruption. Now Shubid Ali Bhuiyan has long list of task to accomplish in next five years to bring "development" back in Daudkandi. I wish him best of luck and I will try my best to help him along the way. I am also very happy that democracy is being restored in Bangladesh. Thank you CTG for arranging this free and fair election.

Teacher to a billionaire :: Dr. Khandaker Mosharaaf's history on fast track to wealth

2008-12-11T09:49:00.007-06:00

Read the full story here.

More on Khandaker Mosharraf's family's corruption charges.

"Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, son of detained former BNP minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, and transport leader Murad Siddique, younger brother of Kader Siddique, were released from Dhaka Central Jail on bail yesterday.

“Khandaker Mahbub and Murad were freed separately at about 7:30pm,” Jail Super Towhidul Islam told The Daily Star.

The joint forces arrested Khandaker Mahbub from his Gulshan residence on September 2 in connection with a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of misappropriating Tk 48,51,080 from the government fund, abusing power and fraud.

Murad was first arrested at Tangail on January 30 last year. He was released from the jail on bail on August 12 only to be arrested under section 16 (2) of Emergency Power Rules (EPR) soon afterwards.

Source: The Daily Star, 20 September 2008"

Major General (Retd.) MSA Bhuiyan - Candidate for Bangladesh Parliamentary Election, Dec 29th, 2008

2008-12-04T22:13:00.006-06:00

A valiant freedom fighter, a true patriot, Major General (Retd.) MSA Bhuiyan. In 1971 he took up arms against Pakistani aggressors to fulfill a dream of an independent Bangladesh. As a young army officer, he led his troops with courage and valor. After nine months of bloody war, Bangladesh earned her independence on December 16th, 1971. Major General (Retd.) MSA Bhuiyan's contribution to the Bangladesh liberation war will be remembered for years to come.

Now after 38 years of independence, Gen. Bhuiyan has declared war against corruption. His honesty and integrity collides with the mind set of corrupt politicians in Bangladesh. His patriotism led him to the liberation war, now his patriotism is leading him to fight against corruption. To fight against corruption and to improve the lives of the people of Daudkandi and Homna, Comilla; he has decided to run for the election on Dec 29th, 2008 as member of the Parliament endorsed by Bangladesh Awami League, a party for democracy and for the people.

Vote for a change, vote for a true patriot, give Gen. Bhuiyan one chance. A vote for Major General (Retd.) MSA Bhuiyan is a vote against corruption.

Visit Gen. Bhuiyan's campaign website: msabhuiyan.info

Bangladesh, fighting for democracy since 1971

2008-11-20T00:23:00.006-06:00

Before independence we were fighting against the Pakistanis oppressors for our rights, now we (political parties) are fighting against each other for power. Just listen to this great speech by the father of the nation, "Sheik Mujibor Rahaman" and you be the judge.

When this fight will end? When we will unite? And when we will start building our nation?

Bangladesh, greedy corrupt politicians are back

2008-11-11T16:31:00.007-06:00

I haven't blogged for a while due to different reasons. Just plain busy with work, school, and life in general. Also I am losing interest in Bangladesh politics. I feel like our country will not change in years to come. I hate to believe that, but what can I say.

So Army backed CTG came in power almost two years ago. They put corrupt politicians in jail, staged some trails, tried to make some changes, and then realized, these corrupt politicians are very powerful backed by the money they stole while they were in power. Now they (CTG) is letting them out one by one. What was the point of arresting them begin with? In Bangladesh, rich corrupt politicians are just above the law, that’s just plain old truth.

Today I heard that most corrupt ex-minister of Bangladesh, Khandaker Mosharraf is freed from jail. Just few months back, we heard how much money he looted from Bangladesh. The number was enormous. Newspapers were buzzing about the amount he stole while in Govt. for two terms. What happened to all those charges! Now he is going to run for the election again? Oh wait, he is above the law as well.

"Mosharraf Hossain and his wife Bilkis Akhter will be sued on charge of hiding information on their wealth of Tk 3.11 crore and owning wealth of Tk 12.51 crore beyond their known sources of income, a commission official said. Source - independent-bangladesh.com"

I also think our journalists are biased, maybe there are few honest journalist are out there. Couple of months ago they were reporting how much money corrupt politicians looted from the country. What happened to those news! They just vanished in the air, as if nothing happened. Now journalists are feeding the news with political bickering between parties, just like before. Looks like CTG took care of the corruption problem in Bangladesh!

CTG announced an election date, Dec 18th, 2008. Now BNP is saying they will not participate in the election because the environment is not “level playing field”. I thought CTG was working hard last two years to create a level playing field! I guess not, looks like we are travelling back in time before Jan 22, 2006 election date. Will there be democracy in Bangladesh? Or we just to live with these greedy corrupt politicians forever?

For now, I will stay optimistic and keep believing that change will come one day to Bangladesh.

General's and CTG Administrators: Listen to the people

2008-06-05T10:46:00.003-05:00

U.S Senator, Barak Obama, made history last Tuesday by claiming the first African American presidential nomination from a major political party in USA. He fought against power-house Hillary Clinton’s campaign for long five months to win the nomination in 54 primaries and caucuses. Hillary had everything on her side, money, name recognition, influential support, everything to win a nomination, except for one, majority of peoples support. On the hand, comparing to Mrs. Clinton, Obama started his campaign with basically nothing. But he believed in people and people believed in him by voting for him in primary elections and electing him as the first African American presidential candidate from a major party in a white predominant country like USA.

What can our power-hungry general’s learn from it? If anything, people’s power is the absolute power. Our CTG and army allies stopped listening to the people and frustration and agitation is growing in Bangladesh against the current regime. The roar of a fair election is humming every city and township of Bangladesh and before they (CTG) know it, humming will turn into outburst and Generals and CTG will not have any place to hide.

So CTG and Generals please learn from history and listen to the people. Your only goal right now is to administrate a free and fair election without any self-interest by Dec 08. If you love Bangladesh and want to do some good for this country, finish your duty, retire and come back to politics through its democratic process. You will be welcomed then, but not now as you are staying in power with your guns and boots.

Bangladesh! Democracy a dream or Dictatorship a reality?

2008-04-12T18:45:00.012-05:00

Lets just admit it, dictatorship will be the way to govern Bangladesh very soon. Several situations in Bangladesh making me belief that Gen Moeen will become the military ruler of Bangladesh, I hope I am wrong. Lets analyze just two of them:

Price of every day goods

I must admit that the state of world economy is contributing to the price hike in every day commodities in Bangladesh. But what measures is military backed CTG government taking to solve this problem? Or our General does not want to solve this problem! If price problem is not solved soon, people will get agitated eventually and riots will erupt. And this will give our General opportunity to take over power formally as a president of Bangladesh. All he (General Moeen) has to say that, corrupt political parties are behind all these atrocities and Bangladesh needs military to govern to restore “law and order”. And our international masters will buy into that as they did for General Musharaf in Pakistan. Once things settle down, our General and his people will loot the country for next five to ten years, just like General Ershad. History will repeat itself.

Threat of Islamic fundamentalist

When General Ershad took over power in early 80’s, his political allies were Islamic parties in Bangladesh. Same as General Musharaf's (president of Pakistan) most closed allies were the Islamic fundamental parties. I think; Gen Moeen is also using Islamic fundamental parties to clear his path to the throne of Bangladesh. Staging fake atrocities in front of national mosque in Dhaka, he might be painting a picture for the international community (i.e. USA) that Islamic fundamentalist are imminent threat to the countries security as terrorist and at the same time convince India that he is doing everything to suppress any Islamic terrorist activities aimed towards India.

So in the near future I will not be surprised if we see more and more staged violent clash between Islamic faith based political parties and the law enforcement authorities of Bangladesh. Once the imminent threat of "terrorism" in Bangladesh is painted for the international community, Gen Moeen will just slip into power one night at 2:00 am claming, he took over to restore “law and order" in Bangladesh and save the world from terrorism.

If these two strategies are successfully being implemented by Gen Moeen, there are no way AL or BNP or any body else can stop him to take over power. But I would like to believe our Army Chief, Gen Moeen U will help organize a free and fair democratic election with all parties involvement by the end of 2008 as promised by him and then go into retirement as a honorable soldier of Bangladesh Army next year when his tenture is over as an Army chief.

Will he keep his promise to the nation? If he does, he will be a hero for our nation in days to come. Or he will be just like another military power hungry dictator! If he becomes a dictator, then his fate will be worse than Gen Ershad. We just have to wait and see. The ball is now in Gen Moeen’s court and let’s see if he scores for the country or for himself.

7th March, 1971 a historical moment for Bangladesh

2008-03-06T15:57:00.003-06:00

General Moeen U lobbying in India against Hasina and Khaleda

2008-02-26T11:41:00.006-06:00

According to http://www.dnaindia.com article:

"The general is here to get the Indian political establishment to advise Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party not to take part in the national elections scheduled for later this year."

It is a good thing when two neighboring countries military chiefs visits and discusses national security but it gets controversial when an army Chief visits a certain nation to lobby against two ex-prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina and Khaleda Zia. As an unelected government official, it is unconstitutional for an Army chief to visit foreign nations and discuss internal politics. He doesn't have people's mandate to host such a dialog.

This is a just recent example of how Bangladesh government is running under the shadow of military dictator. We must have election in Bangladesh as soon as possible and give people back their basic human rights. And General Moeen must stop interfering in the national politics while serving as a Chief of Army Staff. Otherwise Bangladesh Army will get controversial because of one man’s wish to be a King illegally.

Update 2/27/2008

This article by Bhaskar Roy interestingly encourages General Moeen U's activities and actually calls him the "leader of his country". Article ends with,

"There is a lot to be done in the Indo-Bangladesh relations. It is for Dhaka to grab the opportunity. Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed should return from India as an encouraged leader of his country."

I don't recall General Moeen U being elected in any election to be called "leader of his country". He is a military personal and a government servant. I am ok calling him "Leader of Bangladesh Army" for his current position, but not "Leader of the country". India, as being the largest democracy in the world, should not encourage military dictatorship in the region for its own shake. What’s your thought on this?

"How the Bangladesh Military Abuses Its Power under the State of Emergency"

2008-02-18T11:43:00.003-06:00

Generals are ruining the image of Bangladesh Army. Time for a democratic goverment, time is here for a free-and-fair election in Bangladesh.

Recent Human Rights report on Bangladesh Army.

"This report presents the testimony of Tasneem Khalil, recounting his torture at the hands of Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). To our knowledge, this is the most detailed public account of a case of torture in Bangladesh available anywhere. It demonstrates the nature of ongoing state-sponsored violence in Bangladesh, including the torture of critics of the current government."

Read full report here.

Welcome 2008, Happy New Year

2008-01-01T13:01:00.000-06:00

I wish everyone a prosperous, joyful and a Happy New Year. May this year bring peace in this world. May this year bring democracy back to Bangladesh and around the world. May this year be the year of prospect for all of us.

Happy New Years to everyone, from www.bangladeshpolitics.org. Thank you for your continuing support and creating awareness around the world about Bangladesh and human rights.

Benazir Bhutto - Killed

2007-12-27T09:22:00.000-06:00

I highly condemn the assassination of the former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. How barbaric people could be! Dictator Gen Musharaf should be held accountable for this tragic death. I want to warn Gen Moeen U that if something happens to Bangladeshi ex prime minister Sheik Hasina or Khaleda Zia, there will be very serious consequences.

More on Bhutto assasination:

Benazir Bhutto assassinated at political rally in Pakistan - Times online
Bhutto: "She has been Martyred" - Times
Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide attack - Daily star
Pakistan Bomb Blast: Kills ex-PM Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi - Pakistan Times

Cyclone Sidr killed 3000 and counting. Please Donate.

2007-11-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

"Bangladesh dated with an incubus as cyclone Sidr ripped through the southwestern coast late Thursday with wailing wind and tidal surges, killing over 641people and demolishing houses, crops and trees alike along its trail of devastation extending over thousands of square kilometer area..." read full story at The Daily Star.

"We have no food, we are trying to survive with eating whatever is edible that we can lay our hands on" - Survivor

I urge everyone to extend their kind hand to help the improverish cyclone affected people of Bangladesh. Lets help those are affected by donating what ever you can. At this time of crisis, they need money more than anything. You can donate by clicking "Donate" button below. I appreciate your participation in this cause. 100% of your donation will go to the people who are affected.

IN THE NEWS

Update 11/19/2007 - Red Crescent fears toll may top 10,000 - The Daily Star

Update 11/21/2007 - Bangladesh Cyclone Victims Face New Threats of Disease, Starvation

Bangladesh, A fallen democracy!

2007-11-14T12:33:00.000-06:00

I went to Dhaka recently for a family emergency, some of you might already know about it. I want to thank you on be half of my family for condolences. So I had a chance to observe the situation in Dhaka first hand. Two weeks while I was there, newspapers headlines are mostly about, Yaba, so-called reform, Jammat, and reform again. So what is actually happening in Bangladesh? When are we going to go back to the democratic process? Let’s see if we can analyze the situation.

Jan 11th, 2007 came the heroes, The Military government with a civilian mask. People were jubilant, because they were tired of political bickering between two major parties. People had hope, they had hoped that law and order will be restored, economy will be prosperous, people of Bangladesh will live ever after! Just like a perfect ending to a tragic movie.

So where is the hope now after 11 months of military rule! Law and order hasn't improved, economy is about to collapse, prices are sky rocketing, corruption still persists, and people of Bangladesh are not living happily ever after. The point is, it takes time to build a country, to build a nation. 11 months is nothing to make a significant progress. A solid foundation of democracy builds a country, a nation. No dictator, no king, no communist ever developed a prosperous nation and sustained it for a period of time with use of force. A free-market-economy with a solid foundation of democratic process did make a vass empty land to a most powerful country in the world in 270 years, America.

Military keeps interrupting our process of developing democracy. And every time they come in, they are being welcomed by the people, and they come in when the time is volatile. People welcome them, because they want miracle. There is no magic solution to our problems. Only a thoughtful democratic foundation will solve our problems, but it will take time. May be with right vision, 50 years from now, we can claim, we are living happily ever after. There is no quick fix to the problem of our Nation.

Developing high rise buildings in the cities is not a true sign of progress; it is just a mirage. True sign of progress is where citizens are getting educated in all areas of the country, their basic human rights are being respected, their basic needs are being met and every citizen beliefs that "I can do it too." A BMW in the streets of Dhaka is not sign of progress of Bangladesh; it is a sign of corruption and sign of massive economical gap between the rich the poor.

This military interruption of democracy is in the way of progress. With information I have gathered in last couple of months about the big shots in the current Bangladesh Government proves that, they are no GOD, they are no HERO. They have the same intentions as corrupt politicians in the jail. They are more like rivals to each other. I strongly urge the current non-democratic Goverment of Bangladesh to ensure a free and fair election as soon as possible and give the power back to the hands of the citizens. A free and fair election will bring Bangladesh into path to a stable democracy. It will be possible only if our current leaders believe in Democracy! The question is, will democracy return to Bangladesh! If so, when?

Bangladesh, Burma and Pakistan – Military and politics

2007-10-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

All three south Asian countries are directly or indirectly are being ruled by military dictatorship. In south asia, people are poor. People are starving. They don’t care who rules them, they want food and shelter, and if possible health care perhaps. You have seen in the media, how ruthless leader of Burma, General Than Shwe brutally suppressed the peoples movement for democracy led by the Buddhist monks. Result is, according to foreign diplomats, more than 200 killed. China said, it is Burma’s internal matter. When 200 people die because of planned military brutality, it is not an internal matter anymore. It’s gross violation of human rights.

In Pakistan, General Parvez Musharraf, is no better. Popularized by USA for “war on terror”, he is in a very critical stage of his political carrier. All military dictators take advantage of the volatile political situation and come to power as a hero. But later, reality sets in and hero becomes afraid of losing power and starts massive corruption in fear of losing power. Pakistani key political leaders are in exile. So in all these, where are the voice of people? I never hear what people of Pakistan wants in the media.

Now let’s discuss Bangladesh. Army took over power in Jan 11th, 2007, taking advantage of the volatile political situation. I would blame our politicians for current situation. (That’s a different story which I will not discuss here). Army is controlling civil administration. Junior army officers are being appointed in many government sectors. Army is trying to control the economy (rather they are destroying it), trying to control the law and order (polices job).

Now if you think about it, what is the purpose of an Army? If I understand it right, it is national defense. In all three countries, Army is not working on national defense; they are very involved in internal political affair. For the sake of argument let’s ask, are they doing a good job? I will leave this up to your judgment.

Does a poor country like Bangladesh, Burma, and Pakistan really need a lavish military presence! Who is paying for them? Japan is a very rich country, their military power is laughable. But their economy is being admired by the world.

Now as for Bangladesh, how long are we going to continue financing a lavish military with high interest foreign aid and poor tax payers money? What is our return on investment on military!

Jammat Islami is in power of Bangladesh!

2007-09-21T12:07:00.000-05:00

With the recent incident of Prothom alo cartoon, Bangladeshi islamic fundametalist group are going insane. They want the cartoonist thrown in jail, CTG govt took care of that. They want Prothom Alo's editor to be prosecuted. I am sure something will happen. Also our honorable(!) barrister Moinul claiming that Prothom Alo’s editor is conspiring against the country.

So to me it definitely looks like CTG echos what Jammat Islami says. On the other hand, take a look at an excellent investagative report by Meherul Hasan Sujon on somewhereinblog.net. This cartoon is no different that what was published on Prothom Alo. Should government go after the madrasa student who sent this cartoon? Should the editor of Kishore Kontho be prosecuted as well?

I would urge the people of Bangladesh to boycott these fundamentalist socially, like Jammat and shibir. They should be prosecuted in the international war crime tribunal and get justice. we do not want Taliban style government in Bangladesh. We want a country where every religion can practice their faith without being reprimanded. We want a open market economy where market will decide the price of a good, not Armed forces. We want a country where people can express their opinion without being feared by the RAB.

We just want to live in Bangladesh peacefully and go about our own lives. This is our fundamental right.

Only 524 good people in Dhaka!!

2007-09-16T22:59:00.000-05:00

This news actually made me laugh. According to a recent survey done by Dhaka metropolitan police, there are only 524 good people in Dhaka. The most interesting part is the criteria to be a "good person". They are following:

1. Can't be affiliated with any political party
2. Can't be a local government representative
3. Never went to police station for lobbying
4. Can’t have any legal case against them
5. Can’t have any legal litigation related to land
6. Must have certain level of education and socio-economic status
7. Can’t have any allegation against their children

So if you want to be in the police's "good person" list, make sure you comply with these seven criteria's. First of all who comes up with these sorts of idea? It took three months to do the survey and I am sure some outrageous amount of money was spent to come up with this non-sense list. It is a shame that, people who come up with these sorts of ideas are running our country.

Read the full story in Jugantor

The future of Bangladesh

2007-09-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

I haven't written lately due to the fact that, I could not find anything worth writing about. So, recent development is that Army Backed CTG lifted ban on "ghoroa politics". First of all, can someone please tell me, what is the difference between "ghoroa politics" and "politics"? Political parties started their low-profile activities after 8 months of ban. A progressive sign, I must say.

Now the question is; what is the ultimate motive of Army Backed CTG! Elect a puppet government or give Bangladesh what it needs, a free fair election where people can exercise their democratic rights. If they choose the later, then AL or BNP will come to power. Probability is that AL as it looks more united than any other party.

So if AL or BNP comes to power, what will happen to the key players in the current government! Will they face the court for illegally holding on to power or be exiled to a foreign country! These are questions that are being brokered in five star hotels of Bangkok or Singapore. Then the cycle will continue. While these so-called leaders are playing power game, people of Bangladesh are suffering. There is no infrastructure development, no good foreign investment strategy, and no good vision of our country for next 50 years.

If Army Backed CTG choose to put a puppet government in power, situation will be worse. BNP and AL will eventually re-group, protest will happen, people will die. Army will rule the streets of Bangladesh, emergency law will be imposed, politics will be banned and Army Generals will take over the country, saying they are in power to save the country. And the cycle will start again.

I may sound very hopeless, but I am looking for your input in this. I am interested to know how you think Bangladesh will sustain democracy and enjoy economical growth in next 50 years! What is the future of Bangladesh?

Who is responsible for this shame?

2007-08-28T11:25:00.000-05:00

BBC reporter, John Sudworth, reports from Dhaka,

"If a single image can sum up the thorny mess into which Bangladesh has once again stumbled, then this perhaps is it.

A sandaled demonstrator in mid-air kick and a hatless army officer in terrified retreat.
In the background, bystanders hurry away. Out of shot, a military vehicle burns and the security forces are in danger of losing control to the angry mob.
The photo gives a momentary glimpse of just how bad things got during three days of violent protest that rocked cities across Bangladesh last week." Full story

Bangladesh Army is a pride and joy of Bangladesh. Who is responsible for this shame? The guy in the sandle, or someone else!

Beginning of the fall of army backed CTG!!

2007-08-21T10:08:00.000-05:00

Daily star reports today, "Violence erupted on the second day today on the Dhaka University (DU) campus when hundreds of students confronted police at different points on the university premises. The angry students are fighting running battles with police as the riot police charged dozens of tear gas shells on the students following yesterday's clash that left more than 150 students and four policemen injured..."

Dhaka University has always being the place where fight for justice begins. If the general's do not correct their course of action, they will make Army, the enemy of the people. Like in early 90's during the fall the Gen. Ershad, people burned military vehicles out of anger. I want to see a peaceful resolution to our current crisis. CTG needs to hold a free and fair election as soon as possible and hand over the power to an elected government.

I read somewhere; people do corruption/in justice not to be in power, but in fear of losing power. Fear is settling in for the Army backed caretaker government.

Army controlling the economy!

2007-08-12T14:11:00.000-05:00

Under which law these vendors are arrested! Price fixing! As a former banker, doesn't our honorable chief advisor knows how economy works! Or he is there to legitimize the informal military govt!

CTG advisors are not experience in running a country - Moinul

2007-08-03T17:51:00.000-05:00

So barrister Moinul admitted those CTG advisors aren’t capable of running a country due to lack of experience. Admitting once limitation is a good thing, but once someone realizes the limitations, there should be some action to overcome those limitations to achieve the goal. So that brings out a good point! What is the goal of CTG? Also Moinul says, "due to heavy concentration on uprooting corruption, govt doesn't have time to concentrate on economy".

It is becoming obvious that CTG is a failure. Corruption is related to economy. It is being known that due to heavy corruption, Bangladesh stays in the world's poorest countries list. And now CTG is uprooting corruption, but economy is not any better, rather it is getting worse. History has proven many times, control politics as well as control economy doesn't allow a country to prosper. Only a free market economy can. So I think CTG should hold a free and fair election as soon as possible and let the people of Bangladesh decide who should run the government. Only a free and fair election will truly uproot corruption, and lead our country to prosperity. Not any staged biased reform by CTG.

Read Moinul's comment here.

HC grants Hasina bail

2007-07-30T10:05:00.000-05:00

I congratulate HC for granting bail to Hasina on a "baseless" lawsuit. Now Army must free Hasina immediately. If they do not free Hasina within 24 hours, that will be direct violation of HC ruling and it will be an imminent threat to future democracy of Bangladesh.

CTG should respect the HC order as they are all for honesty and integrity. Now we will see how honest CTG/Army is or they have a different motive.

Read Daily Start report here

General's in civil administration

2007-07-26T13:12:00.000-05:00

In recent days, generals are taking over different posts in the civil administration. To me it looks like the repetition of Ershad era. If these general's are running civil administrations, who is going to do their military job! Or they just don't have anything to do any way! History has repeated many times; generals cannot run a country, or an economy. The training they received in their life time is authoritative and dictatorial. Countries’ economies cannot flourish under these conditions. But it’s a good condition to run a disciplined professional Army. But again, professional army doesn’t interfere in civil administration.

Bangladesh had a steady growth in last several years even being one of the most corrupted countries. The growth has slowed down since military is running the country. BDR is opening up shops around the country to control price. BDR can afford to sell goods at a lower cost because they are being subsidized by the military budget. They are probably selling goods at a loss to show people that how good they are in running business. Their job is to protect our border, not to sell spinach in the kacha bazar.

I would like to believe that General's have a good intention to eradicate corruption from Bangladesh, but they should remember control economy will take Bangladesh back many years. If they are really patriot, I would request them to hold a free and fair election as soon as possible and go back to their cantonments. People will have more respect for Army. Generals, please do not ruin our beloved country, you are also one of the sons of this great land. Do not let your greed overtake your patriotism and the oath you took in graduating day at BMA. Before it is too late, do the right thing for the people, for the country, for Bangladesh.

CTG got involved in politics - Major General (Retd) MSA Bhuiyan

2007-07-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

Awami League advisory board member, Major General (Retd) MSA Bhuiyan's comment published in Daily Inqilab, July 18th, 2007 edition.

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Arrested

2007-07-16T11:43:00.000-05:00

According to VOA.com:

"The court ordered Ms. Hasina held for an indefinite period. Police say she has been detained in connection with a charge of extorting about $440,000 from a businessman during her term in office from 1996 to 2001."

I am deeply saddened by the news. I was hoping that CTG doesn't make this mistake and their ambition to hold on to power became more obvious after Hasina's arrest. To me, arresting the all prominent politicians in the name of corruption is just a tactic to remove any competition from the political arena for some other interest group to be in power.

This is a mistake for CTG and they must release Sheik Hasina immediately. Under the rule of law, she can't be held in jail indefinite period. This is a naked violation of human rights. If this can happen to our most popular leader of Bangladesh, I can't even imagine what is going to happen to the general public.

Bangladesh, open your eyes, open your mind. Watch CTG's movement carefully. We want democracy, we want a free bangladesh where people can vote who they want. Where people can exercise their basic human rights. We do not want a non-elected government ruling our country.

Just as "command economy" failed, so will "command politics" - Mahfuz Anam, Editor, Daily Star, comment on Hasina's arrest.

CNN.com/World front page is convering this news.

An official website for collecting complain or some sort of trap!!

2007-07-03T16:52:00.000-05:00

www.ekhoni-shomoy.net claims to:

-We receive your complain regarding any corruption
-We assist law enforcing agencies to take action
-We evaluate prevailing situation of the country

Who gave these guys authority to help law enforcement agencies! Is this some sort of trap! This website sounds too fishy to me.

According to godaddy.com, this domain is owned by Brothers Associates in Kochukhet. Can someone in Dhaka find out if there is a Brothers Associates!

Registrant:
Brothers Associates
Boro Kumar Ghosh (boro_ghos@yahoo.com)
27/1, Kochukhet Bazar
Dhaka
Dhaka,1206
BD
Tel. +880.9889828

Creation Date: 04-Apr-2007
Expiration Date: 04-Apr-2008

Who is thinking about this guy?

2007-06-20T11:19:00.000-05:00

We can spend million of dollars to develope a high tech voter id system, but we can't provide these hard working farmers with modern agriculture equipments! Our so-called elite class drives, BMW, Hummer, Lexus and this guy still plowing his land with cow, a century old method. When we will start thinking about development of majority of our people, farmers like this guy? How many tractors we can buy with the money recovered by Joint Task Force in recent days from corrupt politicians and businessman!!

AL reform and age limit 60

2007-06-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

I do not understand the validity of setting age restrictions to be part of the AL working committee!! Many great politicians in the world are way over 70. With age, comes wisdom and stability.

Personally I do not support this age restriction as I think this is discrimination. To me it means every person 60 or better, is not capable of doing things! I do not support any reform related to age restriction. There are far better things AL could do to reform the party.

Read here..

Bangladesh, next Rwanda

2007-06-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

I found this article very interesting by Shahiduzzaman Quoreshi, PhD, Associate Professor of Department of Economics, University of Bergen, Norway.

He wrote,

"Moreover, the chief of army staff is commenting on political issues and exaggerating the magnitude of corruption in order to win public sympathy. For example, he said that the politician has stolen 200 thousands millions taka during the last five years only from the electricity sector (Ittefaq March 28, 2007). This is equivalent to about 1% of GDP per capita per year. The electricity generation of Bangladesh is 155 kwh per capita which is equivalent to 728.5 taka per capita calculating at a flat rate 4.7 taka per kwh.1 If you assume that there is no system loss in selling the electricity we can say that 38 percent of total production in electricity sector has been stolen during the time of the previous government. This means that about 4 out of 10 taka produced in electricity sector had been stolen during the time of the previous government. We know that there is huge amount of system loss in producing and selling electricity. So the percentage of stealing during the time of the previous government will be much higher than 38% in terms of total revenue from the electricity sector according to the Chief of Army Staff. This is not only hard to believe but also raises question on integrity of the Chief of Army Staff and the care taker government."

As I anticipated, all these claims of corruption by CTG seems to be highly inflated to gain public support. But I do not doubt the corruption done in last 15 years by few politicians of both AL and BNP. I am just questioning the data provided by the CTG.

He concluded,

"If the care taker government stays for a long time there will be agitation in the country. BNP and AL will not just sit and watch the situation. The economic function will be damaged. The economic growth will decline. If the businessmen are afraid to invest or to expand their businesses, we will have problem with our export and import. If we start losing our export market we will suffer for a long time. When the economic growth will start declining the people will start preferring BNP and AL to the care taker government. In this situation, if the care taker government does not hand over the power through election the agitation will be intensified. There is a high risk that the (Islamic) extremist might be able to take the advantage of the situation. The situation will worsen further. AL, BNP and the care taker government will blame each other and seek international help. As a consequence Indian army, if not American, supported by U.S. government will invade Bangladesh. In order to finance Indian Army, natural gas will be exported to India. Civil war is inevitable. The situation will be worse than that of Sri Lanka or even that of Iraq and I suspect that the fate of the country might be like Rwanda."

This is an interesting theory. I do not think US has any interest in starting another theater in Bangladesh. US military power is already very thin fighting in two major theaters. But who knows!!

You can read the article here.

Bangladesh budget 2008 by CTG

2007-06-07T18:13:00.001-05:00

Is it realistic to have 55% source of income from taxation? Without major tax reform, I do not see where this 55% will come from!!

Daily Dinkaler karshazi

2007-06-02T10:47:00.000-05:00

Same people, every where in the picture. Take a closer look.

http://www.daily-dinkal.com/index.php?pubdate=2007-05-31

Corrupt politicians mental and physical health

2007-06-01T16:23:00.000-05:00

As our so-called politicians are mental health is in question with no moral values, their physical health is also in question. Every day news papers reporting that during the interrogation, they are falling sick or acting to be sick.

Bangladesh needs healthy politicians both morally and physically.

Koti Koti Taka

2007-05-31T15:57:00.000-05:00

Even if 10% of newspapers are reporting regarding money looted by some politicians, businessman, and government officers, is true, that's a massive amount of money!! Why do these people need all this money? What are they going to do with them! Looks like all the money joint-forces are collecting; we can have our 2007 budget with that.

I can't even imagine how these people could be so greedy!! They must be punished in the court of law. I really do not care which party they belong to.

More news of BNP policy maker, Dr. Khandaker Musharraf's act of terrorism

2007-05-20T17:08:00.000-05:00

BNP's top policy maker, Dr. Khandaker Musharraf's supported thugs still terrorizing the people of Daudkandi and Titas area. I am surprised to see Anti Corruption Division (DUDOK) hasn't charged Dr. Musharraf with any lawsuits yet.

Read the detail news in The Daily Bhorer Kagoj.

Bangladeshi Preisdent is having eye surgery in Dhaka

2007-05-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

I think this is a good example set by the president. Even though he did some really non-sense thing in the past. This sets an example to trust out medical service. Most people with money just go to India, Singapore, Thailand etc for minor check ups.

This example will help Bangladeshi medical profession to gain trust from other countries as well.

Read the news in Amader Shomoy

Where is the voice of the 140 mil people!!

2007-05-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

In the recent media all I am hearing is about what US or UK wants for Bangladesh. Or, khaleda, Coco, Saifur, Mannan, Jajil etc either going to UK or Singapore for medical treatment ("Unnoto Chikisha"). Or CTG is trying to exile two of the "Begums". Or politics in banned on Bangladesh! Or some "no-name" ex-member of the parliament went to jail for corruption charges.

To me, honestly, it seems like nobody cares about the people of Bangladesh. We are in a crisis and the problem we are trying to solve is for the PEOPLE OF BANGLADESH. Where is their voice, what is Abdul wants? Or what Sahara banu thinks what should happen in Bangladesh!!

CTG, BNP, AL, JP, Jamat etc. - nobody talks about the real problems of Bangladesh. Poverty, illiteracy, infrastructure and many more issue to run a country effectively. It's all hog wash to me. All “happy talk”. We will free our people, we will bring democracy, and we will fight for our rights, and so on. No one proposes a real solution!!

So I would encourage all readers to really think about what we need to do to bring Bangladesh to a solid economic power in the region. Enough with all these "Happy Talks". Lets deal with the real issues and work towards solving them.

Nordem Report on Bangladesh election in 2001!! It was fair!!

2007-05-14T20:11:00.000-05:00

I found this report (Nordem Report) on 2001 Bangladesh parliamentary election. I was in Daudkandi during 2001 election and I have witnessed the Election Day. I do not find any truth to this report on Comilla 2 constituency. Former BNP minister, Dr. Khandakar Musharraf's gang issued open threat to against any candidates who would visit the thana office for former vote count and declaration of result. Rumor has it, votes were manupulated to give Dr. Musharraf's a huge win over his opponents. He should be charged with vote fraud along with his other corruption charges.

That election was a mockery of democracy and it was an insult to the people of Daudkandi. BNP cadres threw away many ballot boxes of opponent strong hold polling stations into the river; they threw out presiding officers out of the polling station and close the doors to cast false votes. Two Para-military were just hanging out. What else they could do against those thugs!!

Anyway, I do not want to see an election like 2001 where people's basic right of voting is being insulted by orchestrating a mockery of democracy. And these international organizations just go to few "right next to highway” polling booths for 30 min's and finds everything to be peachy and report on it, saying election was free and fare. If they are going to monitor the election, they need to go deep inside the country and see actually what happens!! Their reporting gives legitimacy of a flawed electoral process. I hope this doesn't happen in next election either.

Anyway, you can read the Normem Report here.

Jouranalist, Blogger, Tasneem Khalil arrested!! Why?

2007-05-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

I think Bangladesh Army is starting to abuse its power. They were doing some good things like arresting corrupt politicians and restoring law and order. But arresting a journalist without any charges will not help Army to gain popular support. Looks like, someone is misguiding the Generals, or they are not thinking off the consequences of their action. These undemocratic activities must stop now. And Tasneem Khalil must be free.

Article demanding release of Tasneem Khalil in Reuters

Why corruption in govt. services? Below par compensation!!

2007-05-08T16:43:00.000-05:00

As we all know govt staff doesn't get paid much. But they are in charge with spending peoples/donors money for development. If a secretary gets 23,000 taka per month as a salary, and he/she is dealing with crores of taka, I think it would be difficult for him/her to be honest. Bangladesh govt. needs to pay their staff according to market demand if they want to recruit and retain bright intelligent people. People might tend not to get corrupted and will work hard, if they are compensated with what they deserve. I do not know if it is a right or wrong theory, it's just my opinion.

There is an interesting article in Amader Shomoy about this.

Dr Yunus backs off from politics!!

2007-05-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

Finally reality sunk in for Dr. Yunus's. He was all excited about forming a political party after winning so-called Nobel Prize and dreaming about becoming the savior of Bangladesh. Political parties do not form in a month. AL and BNP emerged through a process of forming a political party over time. LDP was formed, but it is breaking part pretty soon. Same with “Bikalpa Dara”.

I think Dr. Yunus should concentrate on how he should stop ripping off poor innocent people of Bangladesh. Lowering the outrageous interest rate would be the first step. One mind wonder, if this banking system is so successful and it alleviates poverty, how come there are no competitions of Grameen Bank!!

Read my blog on Feb 2nd about Dr. Yunu's political ambition

Pressure is mounting for an early election

2007-05-02T08:27:00.000-05:00

Pressure is mounting for an early election

"We would like to see the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh as soon as possible," Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters after nuclear talks with top US officials.

India wants democracy in Bangladesh

I am afraid, if CTG doesn't provide a clear vision to the Bangladeshi people and to the international community soon enough, they might just hold an election as soon as possible by giving up to the pressure.

I think CGT should only focus on two things.

1. Ensure that "Anti Corruption Commission" and legal system has every tool they need to make sure "already-in-jail" corrupt politicians gets justice.
2. Work with election commission to hold a free and fair election within six months.

What I can see is that CTG is trying to "FIX-ALL" and running after every possible things. This is not possible and re-forms takes time and intelligent people of the CTG should understand that.

But CTG can install a process of checks and balances in the government system, so in future corruption will become a tough act. Patient is running out, CTG needs to put together a road map for the people. Otherwise political parties will take advantage of the situation and we will back to the days of hartal and tareq, manum, apu, titu's wealth building scheme with the expense of people of Bangladesh.

Bomb blasts rock Bangladesh terminals, one hurt

2007-05-01T14:35:00.000-05:00

Bangladesh is going through some sort of "full of climax" drama serial. Todays train station bombing added a new dimension to the political scene of Bangladesh.

Reuters reported Bomb blasts rock Bangladesh terminals, one hurt

The demand is very interesting,

"... If Hazrat (Prophet) Mohammad is not declared the superman of the world by May 10, all non-governmental organisations will be blown up,"
One of the bloggers, Dhaka Shohor wrote, "what was he smoking??"

I have to way as well, "what are they smoking??"

Interview of Major General (Retd) MSA Bhuiyan regarding Army chiefs recent comments

2007-05-01T13:29:00.000-05:00

There are some ingredients in Army chief's comment to be satisfied regarding Army’s role in the current situation- Amader Shomoy

Any comments on this?

Hope The Train doesn't get derailed - MSA Bhuiyan

2007-04-29T22:26:00.000-05:00

Major General (Retd) MSA Bhuiyan's opinion published in Daily Ittefaq regarding current caretaker government and it's plan for election.

Hope The Train doesn't get derailed

I think, this caretaker government should continue putting the corrupt politicians in the jail and make sure they are punished for their crime. And banned any felons to be able to participate in the next election. In the mean time, plan for election with in next 12 months.

This government was born, due to conflict over free and fare election. If a free and fair election doesn't happen soon, this government’s legitimacy will be in question.

Hasina's ban on return home withdrawn

2007-04-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

Caretaker government just made a mokery of themselves with this recent "Exile" saga with Hasina and Khaleda. They started doing some good reform, but with this stupid move, I think caretaker goverment's time is running out.

Bangladesh says ex-PM Hasina free to return home

Hasina and Khaleda's exile

2007-04-18T09:43:00.000-05:00

I went to West Indies last weekend to watch Bangladesh Vs Ireland cricket game. Even though Bangladesh lost, it was a fun game to watch. And I think losing to Ireland is a good thing for Bangladesh cricket. It will keep their head down and focus on good cricket. Good cricket mun...

Anyway, back to politics in Bangladesh. To me, it looks like we are heading towards Pakistan style politics. In Pakistan, key leaders are in exile. At first I supported the caretaker government’s activities. I really thought these guys are trying to do something good for the country. Now it seems they are clearing their path to be in power forever. If a person commits crime, he/she should be charged in the Bangladeshi court and if convicted, should be put in Bangladeshi Jail.

Now the care taker government is sending Khaleda to Saudi Arabia and banned Hasina's return to Bangladesh from US. As far as I know, if they are charged with corruption, they should be face the Bangladeshi court as like others and if convicted should carry out their sentence in Bangladeshi jail. As far their VVIP status, I am ok with them being house arrest rather than being in conventional jail and being banned from politics for the time of their sentence.

I am starting to question, this caretaker governments motives. If there is a valid reason for Hasina and Khaleda needs to be exiled, people of Bangladesh need to know that. It's our democratic right. I think this move might be a big mistake for this government. I have to say, this is not democratic. I can see a popular up rise is coming and people will get their freedom back by electing an honest democratic government.

Congratulations Bangladesh cricket team

2007-03-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

Congratulations Bangladesh cricket team on their victory over Bermuda in world cup cricket 2007. With this win, Bangladesh moves to the second round for the first time in the world cup cricket history. I will be watching Bangladesh Vs West Indies game on April 15th live in Barbados. Growing up, West Indies was my favorite team. I never dreamed of Bangladesh cricket team will play against West Indies!!

But we have done it. Well done tigers.

Tareq Rahman met with Daud Ibrahim

2007-03-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

Ok. This is getting very interesting. As the plot is thickening with Tareq Rahman, Khaleda Zia is planning to leave the country with Coco. End of a corrupt dynasty in Bangladesh!!

Read more

Religion and Corrupt politicians

2007-03-08T14:03:00.000-06:00

With the recent wave of senior political leader's arrest, news papers are selling news like hot cake. I have noticed one thing about Tareq Rahman's arrest news, that right before he was arrested he was praying (Namaz). What is he praying for? He probably forgot in his golden days, that he is invisible. Stop this praying business to fool people of Bangladesh.

For how long these so-called politicians will use Islam as a political tool!!

Dr. Khandakar Musharraf Hossian is being arrested by joint force

2007-03-07T12:36:00.000-06:00

Dr. Khandakar Musharraf Hossian is being arrested by joint forces. Finally the less publicized but the most corrupt so called leader of BNP is being detained. His corruption during his two terms as a minister, made him very rich. From a university professor to a buisness tycoon in a very short term….

I hope current CA government will have a permanent resolution with this detained corrupt people. Otherwise, when they get out, they will do the same.

News of Musharraf's arrest in Ittefaq

Three more law suit against Khandakar Musharraf Hossian

2007-03-04T20:05:00.000-06:00

Khakadar Musharraf Hossian, a key BNP policy maker and former minister, has been sued in the Comilla district court. Three law suit has been filed in same day against him, in one of them he is being acused of murder.

Read more here in "Daily Amader Shomoy"

Ex Health Minister Khandakar Musharraf Hossian in being accused of "chada bazi"

2007-02-27T14:15:00.000-06:00

Ex minister Khandakar Musharraf Hossain (terror of Daudkandi) is recently being accused of "chada bazi" in a local bazar. And this sort of people are in BNP's core leadership!!

read here

Dr. Yunus and Politics - My opinion

2007-02-12T21:48:00.000-06:00

I thought I should write something about Dr. Yunus and his wish to be in politics. I respect him for winning the Nobel peace prize, but honestly what peace he brought to Bangladesh!! That's my first question!! We have branches of grameen banks in our village (Juranpur, Daudkandi), but I haven't seen any changes by Grameen Bank activity besides women crying in front of the bank when they can't make their interest payment. Grameen bank is a business entity and it charges outrageous amount of interest from its very poor clients. It has complete monopoly over this micro credit business in Bangladesh. Dr. Yunus made a fortune with this successful business idea. To me, he is a business man, not a philanthropist, not a freedom fighter and definitely not a politician.

His recent bashing of ALL politicians also bothers me. Not all politicians are corrupt and all bad. 10% politicians like Falu, Jaynal Hazari, Tareq Zia etc. puts a bad taste about politicians into peoples mouth. There are many honest and patriotic politicians in Bangladesh. To name a few, Mannan Bhuiyan (BNP), Jalil (AL), MSA Bhuiyan (AL), Rashed Khan Memon and many others. They make an honest living and really care about the people of Bangladesh. So Dr. Yunus should stop making blanket statements about all politicians in Bangladesh. Without the politicians, Dr. Yunus could not build his fortune in a free country called Bangladesh. I think he is trying to gain political advantage by taking advantage of the recent political situation where average people are frustrated with the political parties and the current system. I am not sure what Dr. Yunus will do to the country when he is yet to propose a road map to a successful prosperous Bangladesh.

I am inspired by the richest man in the world Bill Gates. He is a genius and as well as a very successful business man. His and Melinda gates charity is the largest charity in the world. With his immense fortune, he could become a politician as well. But he is not doing so. He knows what he could contribute to this world without being in politics. With his fortune, he can take initiatives like irradiating malaria from Africa. Comparing to Dr. Yunus with his new found fame, he has done nothing elaborate to show that he cares about Bangladesh or the world. Having dinner parties with head of the states doesn't give him the rights to run the country. There are more to it and I think he will discover that days to come.

I do not doubt that Dr. Yunus has all the good intensions, but I have yet to see that besides making "SMART" comments about politicians. I would rather see him as a business man and promote Bangladesh in the global arena for a good place to do business and bring foreign investments and be a global business leader. If he thinks, winning a Nobel Prize (I still don't understand why he Nobel prize!!) gives him the right to be the future prime minister of Bangladesh, I think it would be a mistake on his side. We still have many honest politicians on both major parties who understands healthy democracy and wants to see it in action. It has been proven that when a business man joins politics, it is for his/own business interest. For example, Falu, Salman F Rahman, Mamun, and many others whose name came in the recent news paper articles.

Anyway, the point is, Dr. Yunus should stay out of politics. His recent activities doesn't convince me that he wants to join politics to make the country a better place to live, but it convinces me that he has more of a business interest than anything else. Dr. Yunus has to convince me otherwise.

Sajeeb Wazed is blogging

2007-02-08T08:42:00.000-06:00

Welcome Sajeeb Wazed (Son of AL Leader Hasina) to the blogging world. It's good to see your perspective on things.

Sajeeb Wazed

Going to Dhaka

2007-01-13T16:46:00.000-06:00

I am happy with the recent political development in Bangladesh. We needed to get rid of Mr. Iajuddin and we did. People's will has spoken. Anyway, right now I am chicago air port, waiting for my flight to London. Then off to Dhaka. I am glad that political violence is under control now, so I can enjoy my vacation. I will be writing from Dhaka, til then chao.

Article in Economist about current situation in Bangladesh

2007-01-05T08:47:00.000-06:00

This is obvious that BNP's dream of winning the January 22nd and form a government will not get any credibility in the international community. BNP need's get rid of the crooks and thieves and listen to veteran honest progressive politicians. Oh!! I forgot; they all went to LDP. I think BNP's election engineering policy is going to back fire now... Othi chalaker golay dori….

Messy Bangladesh - Read the article in Economist here

Tarek Rahman and his mother-in-law Mrs. M.A Khan

2007-01-03T21:50:00.000-06:00

I do not know the validity of this claim, but it is an interesting point of view regarding the real source of Tarek Rahman's source of corruption.

"Tarek Rahman's real office is in House # 40, Road-5, Dhanmondi, Dhaka, in his mother-in-law's residence where plans are plotted not only to determine the politics of Bangladrsh but also the future of his own mother and PM, Khaleda Zia. Mrs M.A.Khan (wife of Late Admiral M.A.Khan), Tarek's mother-in-law, is an ambitious woman who used the name of Tarek and Khaleda to make immense wealth in the last few years. She has been using her residence to make deals with Ministers and foreign companies...." read full story here.

Another twist in Bangladesh's electoral fate

2007-01-03T08:41:00.000-06:00

With the recent withdrawal of AL led grand alliance from the Jan 22nd poll, the countries electoral fate is ambiguous again. Who is it to blame? I do not know. Should AL go to poll staged by BNP formed caretaker government and risk its political existence, or trust the public support and go to the poll and see what happens! This is very interesting. I think our country is maturing its democracy. The people of Bangladesh are involved in politics more than ever. With the use of internet, blogging, breaking news in satellite TV's, people are educated. Political parties need to keep that mind. I believe, we will struggle with next couple of elections and then it will be a formal process. This is our only 4th electoral poll. People are suffering right now due to political turmoil, but sun shines after a cloudy day.

I have many friends in Bangladesh Army and their professionalism is admiring. I hope Army will stay out of political process and keep its reputation around the world as a professional Army. If Army stays out of political process, it will be interesting to see what happens with the electoral fate of Bangladesh.

Happy New Year 2007

2007-01-01T12:31:00.000-06:00

Wish everyone a happy prosperous new year. Hopefully Bangladesh will be able to move beyond the political turmoil and Bangladeshi's will achieve the right to live in peace and harmony.

Election forecasting 2007

2006-12-26T13:33:00.000-06:00

A well thoughtout and based on facts, election forecasting by Nazim Kamran Choudhury.

An exert from his article...

"Politics is not static. Everyday will bring in a new issue, a changed circumstance. However, if the elections are held as per the schedule, and all the major political parties take part, I do not see a different eventual outcome from that I have presented. For me personally, I see an outward swing from the BNP Alliance of around 8%. This will take the AL and their electoral partners close to 48% of the votes. Under these circumstances, I do not see the Greater BNP Alliance (with JI & JP(E)) getting more than 80 seats in the next Parliament. The AL share will be around 180 seats, with about 40 seats going to AL Allies, “others” and Independents."

Read the full article

Freedom fighters not invited, but rajakar's in Bongobhaban!!

2006-12-16T15:07:00.000-06:00

Where is this country heading towards!! This is the greatest insult to all the valiant freedom fighters of Bangladesh. This president is incompitent and needs to impeached NOW. He is running the show from direct orders of BNP and rajakar Jamat.

Read this article in prothom alo.

RAB is in trouble

2006-12-14T10:29:00.000-06:00

I hope Bangladesh Army doesn't get punished by banning from UN peace keeping missions due to illegal acts of RAB.

Read this article

Free and fair election in Jan 23rd!!

2006-12-09T16:20:00.000-06:00

Finally looks like political parties in a consensus of an election date. But i doubt that this election will be free and fair. With the current setup in the low level of the government are very corrupt. I am not sure changing EC commissioner’s will affect the free and fair election. As election is conducted by the local administration, their fairness is the key to a free and fair election. Unless there is a major overhaul in the local administration, I doubt the outcome of the election will change.

We are so focused on holding a free and fair election, but we aren't very focused on how to achieve that goal. I think we need a leader who vision goes beyond five years of service. We need to look at this, where Bangladesh will be in 50 years from now. We need to change the mind set of people to hold a free and fair election. And this mind set change has to start from grade one. Massive government initiative needs to happen to make people believe that in a democratic country, voting is a basic human right.

As we claim ourselves as a democratic nation, our political parties need to practice democracy as well. All major political parties don’t hold democratic voting process to elect their chairman. If they don't practice democracy within, how we expect them to practice democracy in times of election!!

Why these govt officials covering their face?

2006-12-02T10:26:00.000-06:00

History of Bangladesh Liberation War 1947-1971

2006-11-30T12:24:00.000-06:00


History of birth of Bangladesh. Watch with caution as some footage is very graphic.

Instructed by BNP, police van ran over AL activist in Dhaka

2006-11-20T23:21:00.000-06:00

NGO's and their activities in Bangladesh

2006-11-10T10:11:00.000-06:00

Interesting article about NGO's activities in Bangladesh. Read here

Major General MSA Bhuiyan (Retd.)

2006-11-04T13:13:00.000-06:00

A valiant freedom fighter, a true patriot. Major General MSA Bhuiyan (Retd.). In 1971 he took up arms against Pakistani aggression to full fill a dream of Independent Bangladesh. As an young army officer, he lead his troops through good and bad times of war with courage and valor. After nine months of bloody war, Bangladesh earned her independence in December 16th, 1971. Major General MSA Bhuiyan's (Retd.) contribution to our liberation war will be remembered in years to come.

Now after 36 years of independence, he has declared war against corruption. His honesty and integrity collides with the mind set of corrupt politicians. His patriotism lead him to the liberation war, now again his patriotism is leading him to work against corruption. To fight corruption and to work for the development of Daudkandi, Comilla; he has decided to run for member of the parliament election in 2007 endorsed by Bangladesh Awami League, a party of democracy.

Vote for a change, vote against corruption, vote for a true patriot, give him one chance. Vote for Major General MSA Bhuiyan (Retd.) and help him get elected in January 2007.

Visit campaign website www.bhuiyan2007.org

Current political situation and BNP

2006-10-28T13:02:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the speech by Khaleda Zia in BBC, and all she was talking about is some cheap words to stimulate the mass into violence. As a leader of a country, I do not expect her to say things like, "I am ordering my party people and the citizens to fight against the opposition." Total 9 people died according to BCC right after Khaleda Zia stepped down from the office. Why these 9 people needs to die. Didn't enough people already died in 71 to free our country! Then the justification was that people died for the country. Now what is the justification for the death these 9 people!!

BNP had its chance and they blew it. Their so called leaders corrupted the country more than it was before. Former health minister, Khandaker Musharraf Hossain is a multi billioniare. How can a college professor turned politician have so much money!! After he stole the election in 2001 from Retd General Bhuiyan, he destroyed all the good things Major General Bhuiyan (retd.) developed over 35 years. He harassed anyone who doesn't support BNP with false cases. His thugs looted people’s belongings and tortured when faced resistance. Now I have heard that Khandaker Musharraf is banned from Daudkandi by the people. It’s about time. People of daudkandi rejected BNP before and will reject BNP now.

Above is just an example of how BNP leaders demonstrated leadership during their tenure. I urge AL and its allies to show wisdom to deal with this tense situation and think about the people of Bangladesh. They are reason politician exists and enjoys status and luxury. AL led coalition will probably win the next election, but will we witness the same situation in 2012!!

How barbaric are we?

2006-10-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

This is non-political, but I thought this is worth talking about in my blog. I just saw in the newspaper, one "maid" tried to commit suicide to escape from the torture. Bangladeshi privilege class is just to be lucky to hire help due to poverty in the rural areas. These rural women come to cities to make a living. And torturing them, dominating them is taking away their basic human rights. I grew up having maids in the house. While growing up, I didn't realize how fortunate we are. Living in the US's, makes me realize how valuable a human life is. Over here, middle class people can't even think about hiring a maid.

Some people in Bangladesh says, they have lot of work to around the house. Those people don't even work. And working 45/50 hours a week, doing my MS and running a part time business, I still have to day to day house hold work. And people talk about they are busy. Why can't we utilize these rural help for other more productive purposes? I think government should develop some law around hiring domestic help and any abuse would be illegal and punishable if proven guilty. I am just furious to read this story.

read the story here

Current Chief justice and Election Commissioner

2006-10-04T16:18:00.000-05:00

A very good article by Major General MSA Bhuiyan (Retd.) regarding current chief justice and election commissioner published in Daily Jugantor Oct 3rd, 2006 issue.

Cick here to read: Shob pauai shes paua noi

Tired of violence

2006-07-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

When this violence will stop in Bnagladesh? When will we get some sense in our head that we are living in a global economy and in order to prosper to we need to focus on real issues like, education, poverty, heath care! We have long ways to go to be called a civilized nation. Our leaders, please think about the future, not what your personal short term gain.

2 killed, 300 injured in Bangladesh during opposition's blockade program

U.S lobbyists!!

2006-04-09T14:21:00.000-05:00

Now we need to hire professional lobbyists to build Bangladesh image in Washington. Balance reporting on Bangladesh, or fabricated news of BNP's achievement! Where else our tax payer’s money goes!!

US lobbyists hired for image building, 'positive' reporting

Time interviews Khaleda Zia

2006-04-03T11:18:00.000-05:00

Is Khaleda's intention is as pure as she claims regarding co-operating with Hasina (AL)? Or just political propaganda! Why can't we get away from these two figures personal vengeance they might have! I think law should be implemented to prohibit one person to be prime minister for more that two terms.

We Have Arrested So Many

U.S. Peace Corps suspends activities in Bangladesh

2006-03-15T09:36:00.000-06:00

Govt. is claiming that law and order has been improved in Bangladesh during their tenure. After staged capture for top two terrorist, Govt. was trying to convince international community that Bangladesh is a safe place to live. I don't think international community is convinced, if so, why U.S. Peace Corps suspends its operations in Bangladesh!

It's about time that BNP and along with all political parties concentrates on real issues of Bangladesh, like poverty, education, economy, rather than brewing up issues like Bangla Bhia to divert people’s attention.

All political parties please understand for your own good that Bangladesh is not your playground. That you could do whatever you want. It's an inhabitant for 140 mil people. Sooner or later, these people will do the justice for you and it will not be very pleasant. We just want to live our lives peacefully.

Architect Moinul Hossain - Designer of Savar National Monument

2006-03-09T13:53:00.000-06:00

People like him doesn't get honor in our country! But thugs like Bangla Bhia, and illiterate state minister's gets all the attention and press. I congratulate Prothom Alo for bringing him back to the spot light which he deserves more than any one. I wish him a quick recovery from his illness and start contributing more to our polluted society.

Architect Moinul Hossain

Coincidence!!

2006-03-03T13:52:00.000-06:00

US President Bush comes to India!
Awami League holds a huge political rally in Chittagong!
Shaikh Abdur Rahman gets caught!

Something to think about!

Shaikh Abdur Rahman is caught!!

2006-03-01T12:05:00.000-06:00

So according to online news, Shaikh Abdur Rahman is caught. I congratulate the authority for his arrest. But I hope people don’t give credit to the BNP government for this which might be in the BNP's achievements list in upcoming election. It's a government’s job to maintain law and order in the country. BNP might use this achievement to hide their rest of the failures (economy, corruption, rural development, etc). So let’s be aware of this.

http://english.people.com.cn/200603/01/eng20060301_247050.html

Thanks.