Unheard Voices

Note from Mash:

Mohiuddin’s petition for rehearing has been denied by the 9th circuit court of appeals. He faces deportation today. However, a congressman has introduced a bill in the House to try to give him permanent residence.

Here’s my quick post on the topic:
http://www.docstrangelove.com/2007/05/30/mohiuddin-akm-ahmed-facing-imminent-deportation/

দৃষ্টিপাতের দুই বছর পুর্তি উপলক্ষে শুরু হচ্ছে বাংলায় ব্লগ।

ইউনিকোড ব্যবহার করে এখন অতি সহজেই বাংলায় ব্লগে লেখা সম্ভব এবং যে কোন প্লাটফর্মে থেকেও আপনি বাংলা পড়তে এবং লিখতে পারবেন। আপনার কম্পিউটারে বাংলা স্ক্রীপ্টে লেখা দেখানো এবং টাইপের কোন সমস্যার সমাধানের জন্যে বাংলাপিডিয়ার এই তথ্যগুলো কাজে দেবে।

(more…)

[Today it late President Ziaur Rahman's 26th death anniversary. This commemorative post represents personal view of the author. ]

The force was never with late president Ziaur Rahman.

DUCSU was then under BNP’s student wing Chhatra Dal (JCD) control, so was majority of the dorms of DU. JCD was overwhelmingly single largest students’ party at DU campus. At that time, when two new dorms were built at DU, they were named Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hall and Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall.

Today, Prothom-Alo gave single column 3 inches bottom of first page treatment to Zia’s death anniversary and the news item started this way, “Ex-President, Sector commander and Z force leader Ziaur Rahman’s…”.

(more…)

The following harrowing report was sent to us by a student from a London university. The name of the victim has been changed to hide the identify. Email address is below, should you try to act and find out how you can help.

Dear colleagues,

(more…)

Drishtipat started a small fundraiser for Garo activist Chalesh Richil and Protam Jambil’s family in April ‘07. It first started by email, and then moved to our blog.

[Richil was killed in custody. He left behind a family of 5 children. Jambil was facing serious long term illness. Recognizing the seriousness of the crime, GOB has recently formed a one-person committee to investigate the incident.]

After Taka 25,000 was raised, we wanted to send the money to Bangladesh. Because DAILY STAR journalist Tasneem Khalil had written about Modhupur Eco Park, and was in touch w/ the Richil family, we approached him to send the money to them. I emailed Tasneem to find out how the money should be sent to him, and he replied saying that it was “not safe” for him to take the money because he thought he was “under surveillance”. After a week or so, I emailed him again, and this time he emailed back suggesting sending it via Naeem, who was in Dhaka at that time. That was the end of that conversation. Soon after that Khalil was picked up, held for a day, and released. We never sent the money.

While in custody, Khalil’s computer was checked. Last Friday, Janatar Chokh weekly came out with a detailed article on the contents of some emails on his computer. The article was headlined “Shorkar Hotathe Laptop Shorojonthro”.

(more…)

DP readers will be aware of the campaign to raise money for the new BNWLA Hostel. The Dhaka-based jazz group BlueNote (Saad Chowdhury on piano and vocals, me on soprano sax) have been active in raising funds for the appeal and have huge plans for fundraising events in future too.

Many supporters of DP have made significant contributions of money, time and skills to the campaign already, helping us to raise GBP 3700 in the few months we ‘ve been up and running. Our target for this year is GBP 20,000.

There is a campaign blog which gives regular updates of what is happening, and the main site, for making donations. The main site itself is soon to be redeveloped.

Fellow DP reader, VSO Volunteer and friend to both the group and the appeal, Mikey Leung, helped put together this excellent video. Enjoy it here!

Mikey has his own site , which is well worth a visit, and has just won a contract to write a travel guide to Bangladesh, which I’m convinced will be a sensitive and authoritative alternative to the often glib approach of the Lonely Planet.

We have argued that the Election Commission needs to conduct grass-roots consultation on the proposed reform package it published in its website on April 5 We too should debate these reforms. That’s the purpose of this post. We list, and where needed, comment on each of the 20 reforms. Full details of the reforms are available here. Here is a very good op-ed on reforms by Shujon’s Badiul Alam Majumdar.

Looking forward to a lively discussion.

(more…)

A murder that took place 18 months ago during the BNP rule. 34-year-old lawyer (CIDA) and human rights activist Papia was brutally murdered by her husband and sister-in-law. There was evidence and there were eyewitnesses. There was an arrest (the sister-in-law) but the main suspect was allowed to flee in full view of the police. Why? Because this man, this murderer Tuhin was friends (allegedly) with the Mayor of Barisal. I/O changed hands three times but investigation still goes on. Papia’s sister Kumkum’s fight for justice still goes on. She has reached out for help from the media and human rights organisations. In all of this Papia’s only child Shaptorshi (now 11) is being held hostage at the murderer’s house. She has seen more than her share of trauma, she needs to lead a ‘normal’ life that is not possible where she is now.
Read the story here.

A quick update on Chalesh.

As you know we tried to do a short fundraiser for activist Chalesh Richil and other victims of Modhupur last month.

We have about 25,000 taka in that fund. However, we are unable to send that money as Tasneem Khalil who was going to hand over the money on behalf of us, was picked up by the authorities and released. He has not been in touch with Drishtipat since.

Alternatively, as there is a separate fundraiser going on by Rridoye Bangladesh, we will send that money to that fund.

The petition was sent to CA Fakhruddin last month.

10 days after the petition was sent, a one man inquiry commission was formed.

Amnesty has since then released a torture alert.

· Make public the terms of reference of the judicial commission formed to investigate the death in custody of Cholesh Richil.
· Ensure that its mandate is extended to cover allegations of torture of Tohin Hadima, Piren Simsung, and Protap Jambila.
· Ensure that all witnesses are able to submit evidence to the commission without fear or threat of reprisal.
· Ensure that its findings and the report that it will submit to the government will be made public.
· Ensure that those identified as responsible for the death in custody of Cholesh Richil are brought to justice in a fair trial without delay.

We will eagerly wait for the terms of references of the newly formed Inquiry Commission that was constituted three weeks ago.

We have raised our voices for a due process in the government’s dealings with the accused in different corruption cases. We believe this is vital for the credibility and continued popularity of the care taker government.

In addition to the due process I thik it is about the time to start monitoring the fairness and a sense of proportion in the trials those are going on in different summary judge courts.

Ex BNP member of the parliament Mr ABul Hossain Khan today has been sentenced to a 7 years jail term. Lets briefly discuss what did he do and how the whole prosecution evolved.

There was a government circular on 5 th Feb to surrender licensed arms. Accordingly this ex- representative submitted his licensed pistol on the 6th of Feb. 8 days later, he returned to the Thana to surrender some bullets those were not submitted initially with the pistol.
(more…)

Today is the 108th birth anniversary of our rebel Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

********************************************************************
One of my early childhood memories is that of visiting Nazrul. To go visiting Nazrul was probably the fashion of bourgeois Daccaites of early seventies in newly independent Bangladesh. I remember, me with my mother and some aunts, waited in line for long time before getting to enter the room where Nazrul was sitting.

Nazrul, as I can remember, was visibly angry and uncomfortable but probably he didn’t have any say at being treated like a zoo inhabitant.
The room was full of people, visitors like us was passing in a line, and a room full of musicians were singing Nazrul’s songs.
And Nazrul’s attention was apparently on the fly which was trying to sit on his nose.
**************************************************************
After falling ill in 1942, Nazrul quickly became irrelevent. Wife Pramila died, financial, physical handicap slowly overwhlemed the rebel poet. Wikipedia puts the rest of his life this way,

He entered a world of increasing isolation, until 1972, when the newly formed nation of Bangladesh rediscovered him. He was taken to Dhaka and honoured as the national poet. However, Nazrul’s physcial and mental condition never improved, and he died on August 29, 1976. In accordance with a wish expressed in one of his poems, he was laid to rest beside a mosque on the campus of the University of Dhaka.

Now three decades later I ask myself whether the way Nazrul was treated those days was a fair way to treat a severely demented person? May be he was the national hero. But that does not allow us to showcase him like a circus during the time of his illness. Did any of us ever saw Ronald Reagan after he got Alzheimer’s?

On a different note, I still don’t understand the rational of shipping Nazrul out of calcutta to Dhaka. Nazrul was born in Bardwan in West Bengal and spent most of his adult life in Calcutta. Does it mean that Nazrul, because he was a muslim belongs to Bangladesh? On the same logic Rabindra Nath Tagore then would not be ours because he was a Hindu!

Or, Bangladesh, a new born state, needed a national icon like Nazrul to promote and solidify Bengali muslim nationalism? Did it serve it’s purpose? Would Nazrul approved it?

[This is a repost]

Going home for the summer after hanging around “international development” students of myriad nationalities throughout the academic year was always a falling-back-to-earth sort of experience. Whereas these students - rarely Bangladeshi - were generally cautiously optimistic and well-informed about Bangladesh’s socio-economic progress since 1971, our fellow countrymen were not. This became doubly true when it came to comparisons with the rest of South Asia.

Back home, one is likely to encounter disbelief more often than not if one mentions that we are doing better than India and/or Pakistan (the rest of South Asia somehow never matters). Yet, in some very important dimensions of development, we are actually ahead. Rehan’s excellent post on UV last week brought back memories of making this very point with people back home, only to be met with disbelief. Yet, if I had said, “Bangladesh is a poor country”, everyone would have nodded with that blanket, almost meaningless statement without hesitation…

Hard though it may be to believe, Bangladesh is actually doing better than our bigger neighbours on several fronts.

(more…)

The deafening silence of Amnesty International’s Annual Report on Chittagong Hill Tracts is an ominous sign. It will definitely send a wrong signal to the government of Bangladesh. (more…)

I recently answered some of the Frequently Asked Question for the critics of the CTG. Someone gave me the idea to do the same for our other leaders. I won’t be able to answer those questions. But I can surely ask them. So here are my questions for the lady who is in the helm of Awami League for the last 26 years. Please add to this list. Perhaps we can compile a top ten and send to her via Sajeeb? With luck, we can get some answers as well.

Frequently Asked Questions for Hasina Awami League:

1. Shaikh Hasina has said the pace of fight against corruption has slowed down and she sees corrupt people lurking around. Who are these people? Does she consider Ershad as one ? If so, was it justified to go into alliance with him?

2. Shaikh Hasina has said a vote for AL is vote against extremism? In that case, is a vote for Moulana Habibur Rahman, the alleged extremist with links, the same as well? Why did Moulana Habibur Rahman, who got nomination from AL in the cancelled election be treated differently?

(more…)

Approved (LOCAL)
Multimedia Production (ATN Bangla), Impress Telefilm (Channel i), International Television Channel (NTV), National Television (RTV), One Entertainment (Channel One), Shaymal Bangla Media (Bangla Vision), Boishakhi Media, SN Television, Broadcast Islamic World, Desh Television, Diganto Media Corporation (DTV) and Focus Multimedia (CSB).

Approved (FOREIGN)
BBC World, CNN, Fox News, Sky News, History Channel, ESPN, Hallmark, Discovery Channel, TNT Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Animal Planet, National Geographic Channel, Star Sports, HBO, Alpha Bangla, Zee English, Zee News, Zee Sports, Star News, Zee TV, Star Plus, Star Movies, Star World, Sony TV, Zee Cinema, Zee MGH, Zee Movies, MTV and Star Gold.

[Source: Information ministry released a list of 12 local and 29 foreign TV channels, which are allowed to stay on the air in Bangladesh.]