Probe Magazine Vol 13 Issue 7 (16-31 Jan 2014) (Fortnight)

BNP caught in
govt trap ?
Issue: 07
Interview
We have completely
surrendered
ourselves to a
particular power
- Asafuddowla
January 16-31, 2015
Probe Special
Dhanmondi
Revisited
Vol: 13
Tribute
Justice Kamal's
political
predictions,
posthumously
Editorial
Editor in Chief
Irtiza Nasim Ali
Editor
Ayesha Kabir
Executive Editor
Ahmed Hasan
Special Correspondent
Anwar Parvez Halim
Senior Correspondent
Shafiq Rahman
Staff Correspondents
Md. Belayet Hossain
Aritra Ankan Mitra
Contributors
Badiul Alam, Kamrul Hasan
Altaf Parvez, Taib Ahmed
Harunur Rashid
Overseas Correspondents
Prof Moonish Ahmar (Pakistan)
Paritosh Paul (India)
Frances Bulathasinghala (Sri Lanka)
R Shresta (Nepal)
Sandra Kabir (UK)
Shehabuddin Kisslu (USA)
Chief Photographer
Bablu Chowdhury
Cover and Graphic Design
Adventure Communications
Manager
Debashish Sarkar
Address
House 10/B, Road 9
Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka 1205
Bangladesh. Tel: 8119897
Email: probenewsmagazine@yahoo.com
www.probeweekly.com
The centre cannot hold

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Poet Yeats' words, written way back in Ireland in the 1920's, are so
prophetic and profound! Is this short of anarchy that we face in
Bangladesh at the moment? The country has been caught up in a vortex
of bloodshed, mayhem and violence, meaningless killings and the death
of innocence.
The opposition, in the diminishing democratic space, has called for a
blockade. The government, unwilling to allow the opposition its right for
peaceful protest, is lashing back in all fury. As a result, the innocent
people are being maimed and killed, the economy has taken a nosedive
and democracy has receded into the shady background.
Wherein lies the solution? Surely in the three 'D's -- dialogue, dialogue
and dialogue. What is holding the government back from holding
dialogue with the opposition? The opposition is clear in its demand -credible elections under the non-party government. Will the government
stubbornly hold on to power in an unrelenting fashion, at the cost of
public life and property? Will it simply use brute force to quash the voices
of dissension? Is that democracy, for which Awami League and BNP
struggled side by side?
If the government is so popular and people-friendly as it claims, then
surely it has nothing to lose in mid-term polls. And if it does hold the
election and lose to BNP, it can be credited with allowing the continuance
of the democratic process. Even a dictator like Rajapakse in Sri Lanka
conceded defeat, and graciously at that too!
We can only appeal to the government to end this nightmare for once and
all. The opposition too must accept any olive branch that the government
may offer, call an end to the blockade and set to the business of
meaningful talks.
Is that too unreal an expectation? It can be made real. The government
must realise, despite all its coercion and control, without public support,
"the centre cannot hold"...
Published by the Editor from

S.A Printers Limited
1/1 Sheikh Shaheb Bazar, Dhaka
Price: TK 50
Issue: 07 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13
I Page: 1
Contents
Probe Special
Dhanmondi revisited
19
BNP caught in govt trap?
14
With the government ensnaring BNP in all

manners of oppression and repression,
Khaleda Zia faces a grave test...
INTERVIEW
10
We have completely
surrendered ourselves
to a particular power
08
Gone are the days when

Dhanmondi was the
genteel residential area,
with its limpid lake.
REGULARS
03
05
07
21
26
29
33
34
36
37
40
Newsbeat
South Asia Desk
Report
Article
Out of the Box
Guest Column
International
Region/ India
Region/ Pakistan
Region/ Sri Lanka
Food
REPORT
Artificial complications
delay DCC polls
32
Revelations and
Recollections
Bhasani's letter
to Sheikh Mujib
TRIBUTE
24
Justice Kamal's
political
predictions,
posthumously
31
Book Review
Indian elections
in a nutshell
38
I Page: 2
Flim
PK
Newsbeat
Bishwa Sahitya Kendra to

award book readers
ishwa Sahitya Kendra (BSK) will

award 6,092 school students of its
book reading programme in
Dhaka at a ceremony to be held at
Ramna Batamul.
A total of 30,000 students
participated in the reading programme,
said Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founder
chairman of BSK, at a press conference
recently.
The non-profit institution that
promotes reading habits among
students will later hold similar
ceremonies in the cities of Chittagong
and Khulna on January 23 and 30
respectively.
About
8,000
students
from
Chittagong and Khulna will receive the
awards.
Sponsored by Grameenphone, 65,000
books will be given to students of about
1,500 schools of the three cities, said the
litterateur. n
Eminent citizens call for

justice in Tawki murder
minent citizens on 12 January

urged the government not to use
the war crimes trials and the
word spirit of 1971 as a shield to save
the perpetrators of the Tawki killing
and seven-murders in Narayanganj.
Speakers at a press conference
expressed their frustration as the
concerned authority is yet to arrest any
accused and submit the charge sheet in
the Tawki murder.
Santras Nirmul Tawki Mancha
organised the press conference titled
Reality of Narayanganj after the killing
of 17-year-old Tanvir Mohammad
Tawki and the negligence of the state
at the National Press Club.
SK Sinha
new Chief Justice
ustice Surendra Kumar Sinha,

known as SK Sinha, the most
senior judge of the Appellate
Division, has been appointed as the
21st Chief Justice of the country.
He is the first Hindu to hold the top judicial post in the history of
Bangladesh, Law Minister Anisul Huq said.
President Abdul Hamid made the appointment as per the constitution and
will administer the oath of office to the new chief justice at his official
residence Bangabhaban on January 17. The law ministry issued a gazette
notification in this regard.
The appointment will come into effect on January 17, as the incumbent chief
justice, Md Muzammel Hossain, will retire the day before.
During his period in the Appellate Division, Justice Sinha was a member of
the apex court benches that delivered a number of landmark judgments,
including those on the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and
the fifth, seventh and thirteenth amendments to the constitution.
Twelve killers of Bangabandhu and his family members had been convicted
and sentenced to death by the Supreme Court.
An SC bench declared illegal the 5th amendment to the constitution, which
legitimised the regimes of Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Abu Sadat
Mohammad Sayem, and Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman between August 15, 1975 and
April 9, 1979 after the assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975. n
Serajul Islam Choudhury, professor
emeritus of Dhaka University said life
has become insecure as unnatural death
is a regular phenomenon in the
country.
He said such insecure life, threat
from hoodlums and denial of justice,
insults the spirit of the Liberation War
of 1971.
Anu Mohammad, member secretary
of National Committee to protect OilGas-Minerals-Power-Ports requested
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to
change her stand on Tawki who was
found dead in Narayanganj town on
March 8, 2013.
He said we, the citizens, were
terrified by the declaration of the prime
minster herself on saving the Osman
family of Narayanganj, who are
allegedly involved in the Tawki
murder.
Anu said it is not acceptable that the
government is using the war crimes
trial as a shield whenever people
protest or talk against the failure or
negligence of the government.
He said the Prime Minister should
take responsibility. Though the
evidence on Tawki murder is obvious,
the government is yet to punish any
one of the accused.
Tawkis father and Santras Nirmul

Tawki Mancha convener Rafiur Rabbi
said though 22 months have passed, the
concerned authority is yet to submit the
charge sheet while the main accused
are moving freely.
He said the agency which is
investigating the murder is a
government agency and when the
premier of a country says something,
they give importance to that.
Rafiur said last year when Rapid
Action Battalion shared their draft
charge sheet with journalists there were
three parts kidnapping, killing and
the dead body.
Though RAB discovered many
things about the killing and the dead
body of Tawki, they did not disclose
information on the kidnapping of
Tawki, said Rabbi.
Rafiur Rabbi demanded Ajmeri
Osmans arrest to find out who ordered
the killing of Tawki.
Journalist
and
president
of
Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi
Kamal Lohani said Tawki is a symbol of
protest.
He said by hanging only one of the
war criminals of 1971, the government
is feeling complacent, though they are
yet to implement the other verdicts. n
I Page: 03
Newsbeat
kushey Padak
winning filmmaker
Chashi Nazrul Islam
died at Labaid Hospital in
the capital Sunday morning
from liver cancer. He was
73.
Chashi left behind his
wife, two daughters and
numerous friends and wellwishers.
He was admitted to the
hospital after suffering
from complications related
to his condition, a few days
ago. On Wednesday, he
was shifted to the Intensive
Care Unit as his condition
deteriorated.
Chashis first namaz-ejanaza was held at the Eden
Complex Mosque in
Motijheel after Zohr
prayers and a second
janaza was held at
Gopibagh Brothers Club.
Chashi was the founding
president of the club.
His body was kept at the
Chashi Nazrul Islam dies

mortuary of Birdem
Hospital for the night. On
Monday, his body was
taken to Bangladesh Film
Development Corporation
and a namaz-e-janaza was
held there at 10:00am. A
second janaza was held at
Baitul Mukarram mosque
afterwards.
The body then was taken
to Shamashpur village in
Sreepur thana of
Munshiganj where he was
be buried beside his
Smoking kills 250

thousand a year in
Bangladesh
very
year
250
thousand
Bangladeshis die due to tobacco
and the rate of death is 28 per
hour, according to a report of World
Health Organization (WHO) that was
presented in a seminar.
Forty two percent of the country's
men are addicted to tobacco while 78.8
percent of the male slum dwellers in
Dhaka and its adjacent areas are
tobacco smokers, the report added.
Ninety five percent of the total drug
addicts of the country smoke tobacco
while in last five years the number of
smokers has increased by 25 lakh, it
added.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq
Inu, who was the chief guest of the
seminar, said the government has
enacted the tobacco control law and is
working to stop tobacco cultivation in
the country.
The minister also assured of
promoting anti drug and tobacco
advertisements at all TV channels.
fathers grave at their

family graveyard.
Born on October 23, 1941,
at Shamashpur village in
Sreepur thana of
Munsiganj, Chashi began
his career in the radio in
1965. He directed and
voiced many popular radio
dramas such as Ramer
Sumoti (1965), Socrates
(1966) and Sokhina
Birongona (1974).
He started his career in
the visual media in 1964
with Bangladesh
Television. He worked as
an assistant director in the
film Dui Digonto, directed
by Obaidur Rahman. Later,
he assisted Fateh Lohani.
He participated in 1971
Liberation War.
After independence, he
made the first film on
liberation war Ora Egaro
Jon, known as his most
famous work. He made a
total of 22 films including
Chandranath, Shuvoda,
Hangor Nodi Grenade,
Padma Meghna Jamuna,
Biroho Betha, Devdas,
Shilpy, Miya Bhai, Hason
Raja and Megher Porey
Megh. He won numerous
awards including Ekushey
Padak (1994) and National
Film Awards (1986 and
1997) for his contribution to
filmdom. n
Justice ABM Khairul Haque,

chairman of Bangladesh Law
Commission, emphasised that the act
has no provision for monitoring the
agencies which are assigned to
implement the act.
Addiction starts with smoking and
tobacco is more addictive than heroin
or cocaine, so the habit should be
kicked, said Arup Ratan Choudhury,
founder president of Madok Drrabbo O
Nesha Nerodh Sangstha (Manas) which
organised the seminar at Jatiya Press
Club. n
Samsung Galaxy Core

launched in Bangladesh
amsung mobile Bangladesh begins

the New Year with the
introduction of a new member to
the Galaxy Core series with the new
Galaxy CORE Prime. The new Galaxy
Core Prime has a large 4.5 display
with enhanced multimedia and crispy
detailed visuals. It's 5 megapixel main
camera and 2 megapixel front camera
allows to take high quality pictures. It
runs with a 1.2GHz Quad Core
processor and 1 GB RAM. This new

phone comes with 8 GB of internal
storage with expansion slot up to 64
GB. For connectivity it has Wi-Fi b/g/n,
BT 4.0 and a 2,000 mAh battery with the
Ultra Power Saving Mode providing
uninterrupted talk time. Current
market price is BDT 13,900. n
I Page: 04
South Asia Desk
Nepal awaits outcome of

different kind of
reality show
epalese TV viewers will tune in

Sunday (January 11th) to find
out who will be crowned their
nation's first "Integrity Idol".
One of five finalists will emerge
victorious in this first-of-its-kind
contest, whose purpose is to single out
one of Nepal's multitude of public
servants for recognition as the epitome
of performing his or her job honestly.
Citizens helped determine who made
the final cut by nominating their
favourite bureaucrat or public servant
via text messages and social media.
Selected by a panel of judges, the
winner will receive no cash prize, but
will be rewarded with public adulation.
The
Nepalese
branch
of
Accountability Lab, an NGO that
promotes government accountability,
developed the contest as a way to help
root out local corruption. Nepal ranks
126th among 175 countries listed on
global
watchdog
Transparency
International's Corruption Perception
Index.
"We realised that since the
government and citizens interact
through civil servants, the attitude,
behaviour and integrity of civil
servants mattered a lot in determining
the quality of services in government
agencies," Narayan Adhikari, who
heads the Accountability Lab's South
Asian office in Kathmandu, said.
Just doing their jobs
yanmani Nepal is renowned for

handing out his phone number to
pupils and parents so they can
contact him directly to lodge a complaint
or place a service request. He is also
leading a new initiative to achieve a 100%
literacy rate in his district.
"I have not done anything special. All I have done is diligently fulfil the
responsibilities assigned to me by our position as a civil servant. My belief is that,
if we are getting paid by the revenue collected from the citizens, it is our
responsibility to serve them as our clients, as our benefactors," he said.
Dangol has taught nursing students for 17 years and has been working in the
health sector for 25 years.
"I did not do anything great. All I did was fulfil my job responsibilities
sincerely," she said. "In the context of Nepal, one does not have to aim too high
to bring changes. All they have to do is be sincere and honest in their job. My
responsibility is to produce quality human resources in the health sector, and I
am committed to do that." n
"Although our bureaucracy is
criticised for inefficiency and
corruption
and
is
termed
dysfunctional, there are some civil
servants who have been doing a great
job against all odds. But their integrity
and hard work have not been
recognised."
The NGO's initial call drew a huge
response, with more than 300 civil
servants from 33 districts garnering
nominations at least 35% of which
were women.
The list was whittled to 170 nominees,
after which five finalists were selected
after their credentials and job
performances were verified. The public
voted for the finalists and a panel of
Pakistan, Bahrain sign 5 MoUs
akistan and Bahrain have signed

five
MoUs
for
further
strengthening the bilateral
relations.
They included MoU between the
University of Bahrain and Quaid-eAzam University, Ministry of
Industry and Commerce of Bahrain
and Ministry of Commerce of
Pakistan on cooperation in the field of
small and medium enterprises
development, in the field of culture
and arts, cooperation in the field of Education and Higher Education, and on
twinning of Islamabad and Manama Capital of Bahrain.
In addition, the Prime Minister of Pakistan handed over the Instrument of
Ratification of the Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments
to his Bahrainian counterpart. n
judges made up of retired civil servants

and civil society leaders will name the
winner.
The finalists Gyanmani Nepal, chief
education officer for Panchthar district;
Leela Bhattarai, a social worker from
Rukum district; Prem Bahadur Khadka,
principal of the Araniko School in
Bhaktapur; Bhuwan Kumari Dangol, a
nursing instructor from Kathmandu
and Pawan Kumar Mandal, a Sindhuli
district health worker appeared on an
Integrity Idol show broadcast in
December. The audience grilled them
with questions.
"One of the strengths of Integrity Idol
is that citizens have a say on the whole
process and on who gets the award.
Since general citizens are the ones
interacting with the civil servants daily,
it is important to have them involved in
the process," Adhikari said. n
Bangladesh, India to
open more border
markets
angladesh and India have agreed

to open eight more duty-free
haats (weekly markets) at border
crossings after two pilot projects
succeeded in reducing smuggling.
Two existing haats enable farmers in
the most remote areas to get fair prices
and increase person-to-person contact
across the India-Bangladesh border .
These haats operate at the Baliamari,
Bangladesh Kalaichar, Meghalaya,
I Page: 05
South Asia Desk
he number of rapes
reported in New
Delhi increased by
nearly a third in the last
year, police said Friday,
highlighting the alarming
levels of sexual violence
against women in the
Indian capital.
At an annual briefing with
reporters, Delhi Police
Commissioner Bhim Sain
Bassi said that a total of
2,069 rape cases were
reported in New Delhi in
the 12 months leading up
to December 15, against
1,571 reported the previous
year, an increase of 31.6%.
The city sealed its
reputation as Indias rape
capital two years ago
when a medical student
died after being gang-raped
on a moving bus,
prompting mass protests
and triggering a series of
policing and legal reforms.
The figures were released
the same day that an Uber
taxi driver accused of
Delhi rapes increase

by one third in 2014
raping a female passenger

in Delhi last month made
his second appearance in
court.
Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32,
was remanded in custody
for another three days over
the alleged December 5
attack.
But the police
commissioner insisted the
new figures did not
necessarily indicate that the
India and the Dolora, Bangladesh

Balat crossings.
Dhaka and New Delhi now have
agreed to open two more border haats
by May 2015 at crossings in
Moulvibazar and Sunamganj districts,
Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail
Ahmed said in November.
Similar haats will also be opened
along the Indian border in Feni,
Brahmanbaria,
Sylhet
and
Mymensingh districts.
The haats have benefitted people on
both sides of the border and cemented
PeoPle gather at a haat in Sunamganj diStrict, on

the BangladeShi Side of the Border with the indian
State of meghalaya
city was becoming more

dangerous for women but
rather highlighted a
growing willingness of
victims to come forward.
More cases are being
reported now as women
feel more confident about
approaching us, he told
reporters, while adding that
more still needed to be
done to change attitudes
and increase sensitivity
Indo-Bangladeshi ties , according to a

Bangladeshi Commerce Ministry report
submitted to a parliamentary
watchdog.
"The border haat enables the local
people to sell their produces without
duty and buy their daily necessities.
Informal and illegal trades have come
down significantly," Ahmed told
reporters.
The
haats
open
tremendous
opportunities for the people living in
the most remote areas of the two
countries, Bangladesh Institute of
Development Studies Director General
Mustafa K Mujeri said.
"One of the major problems the rural
people face is lack of market access due
to poor connectivity. These problems
are common in both countries. So, the
border haat , if run properly, would
open huge business potentials at the
grassroots," Mujeri told reporters.
DuTy-frEE COMMErCE
According to the bilateral agreement,
local authorities in each country enlist
25 traders, who live within 5km of the
about sex crimes.

Both society and polices
mindset needs to change
for crimes (against women)
to be reported and
registered, he said.
Bassi said that police
received another 36,284
complaints on other issues
at womens help desks in
the citys police stations,
which have mostly been
established in the recent
years.
In the last two years, there
has also been an increased
emphasis on training
officers to handle of rape
cases as well as a drive to
attract more female police
recruits.
Bassi said that the city
police solved 62% of all
crimes reported against
women within a week.
As for crimes against
women, we are taking
different steps including
self-training classes for
women, the commissioner
added. n
location, to operate in the haat . Both

Bangladesh and India maintain a fivemember local market management
committee headed by a magistrate.
The current haats are held every
Wednesday on both sides of the border
and within the immediate vicinity of
the two crossings. The border guards of
each country maintain two gates on the
two sides for entry and exit.
"Before the haat started three and half
years ago, I had very little income from
my fish business as the poor had little
money. But now I earn up to Tk. 5,000
($65) per week. This amount is enough
to maintain my family," Mohammad
Babu, who first enlisted as a
Bangladeshi seller of cloth and
household items, said.
Indian nationals mainly from the
minority Garo tribes buy cloth, betel
nut, plastic and melamine products,
crockery and other utensils, while
Bangladeshi customers buy fruits and
spices that are not grown in
Bangladesh, Babu said. n
I Page: 06
Reports
AUTISTIC ACADEMy
A PrOBE report
he government is to set up an
autistic academy. The initiative
has been taken to involve autistic
children, deprived of social facilities,
into mainstream education. The
academy will be constructed on the
land of the Health and Family Welfare
Ministry
in
Mohakhali.
The
Department of Education said that the
land will be handed over shortly.
The Department of Education also
organised a national consultation with
educationists, psychologists and
neurodevelopment disorder experts to
determine early intervention, treatment
and care for autistic children. The
consultation was held on 13 January at
the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital
city.
The government has taken up a
project under the title, 'Establishment of
Autistic Academy'. The project cost has
been estimated at Tk 741.09 million.
The entire cost is to be borne by the
government.
Under the project, two 50-bed
hostels, one for boys and the other for
girls, will be constructed by December

2016. There are also plans to construct
an administrative building, directors'
quarters and a staff dormitory for the
academy.
Alongside
the
infrastructural
facilities, the project has several work
plans to enhance the children's
educational opportunities and increase
social awareness. In order to absorb the
autistic children into the mainstream
education structure, the project
proposal includes medical care,
outdoor
counselling
service,
educational
equipment,
sports
equipment as well as training for the
guardian. Project director Salma Begum
says that they plan to train
at least one teacher from every school in

the country, regarding teaching autistic
children. She says, the main objective of
the project is to render educational
institutions friendly to autistic children.
The project is being implemented by
the Directorate of Secondary and
Higher Secondary Education. Professor
Dr. Mohammed Sirajul Huq, Director
(Planning and Development) of the
directorate, says that autistic children
are socially neglected. Due to lack of
awareness, some guardians even try to
hide away their autistic children. This
lack of awareness even exists among
teachers. That is why the Autistic
Academy will not only create education
and training opportunities for the
autistic children, but will also increase
social awareness to absorb them into
the mainstream social and educational
structure.
Primary and secondary level teachers
will also take part in workshops and
training to increase their awareness
regarding autism. The subject has
already been included in teachers'
training manuals, says Dr. Mohammed
Sirajul Huq.
Though Bangladesh has no accurate
statistic regarding the number of
autistic children in the country, the
project paper states that one in every
110 child worldwide is autistic. n
I Page: 07
Report
Artificial complications
delay DCC polls
by MD BElAyET HOSSAin
hough
the
Dhaka
City
Corporation (DCC) term ended in
2007, artificial complications have
delayed the elections. The Election
Commission has made several attempts
to hold the DCC election, but has had to
postpone it due to legal and
demarcation dilemmas. Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina recently urged the
Election Commission to hold the DCC
election, but the commission maintains
that it can only do so if the Ministry of
Local Government settles the
demarcation issue.
On the other hand, the Ministry of
Local Government says that this is not
their responsibility. The concerned
authorities are thus shirking their
duties. But whose duty is it to resolve
the demarcation issue? And what
exactly is the issue? How long will it
take to resolve the complication? Local
government analysts feel that this is a
concocted complication that can be
resolved in just a couple of days.
The analysts say that the problem is
not being resolved simply due to the
government's lack of intention to do so.
The government fears being defeated.
Local government experts say this is an
artificial complication that can be

resolved in a matter of days.
The commission has said that the
Dakkhingaon mouza of Sabujbagh
thana will be the new addition to the
southern zone. Earlier, 13 voter areas of
Sultanganj union were added to Dhaka
South City Corporation. In December
The analysts say that

the problem is not
being resolved simply
due to the
government's lack of
intention to do so. The
government fears
being defeated. Local
government experts
say this is an artificial
complication that can
be resolved in a matter
of days.
2012
the
Dhaka
Divisional
Commissioner issued a public notice,
adding these 13 areas to Dhaka South.
Yet till date it has not been determined
into how many wards these areas will
be divided. The boundaries of the city
corporation have not been demarcated.
According to the law, it is the
responsibility of the local government
ministry to resolve this complication. It
is the responsibility of the Local
Government Division to make
readjustments if there are any changes
in the demarcation before the city
corporation elections. After that the
Election Commission will prepare the
voters' list and announce the schedule.
Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of
SUJON
(Citizens
for
Good
Governance), says that the Election
Commission has failed to direct the
Local Government Division properly.
Meanwhile, Uttara Sector 11 and 14 as
well as Nailjura mouza of Harirampur
union is being added to Dhaka North
City Corporation zone. These areas
have also not been demarcated
properly as yet.
Mashiur Rahman Ranga, State
Minister for Local Government, tells
I Page: 08
Report
PROBE, "This is the task of the district
administration,
not
the
local
government ministry. It is for Dhaka
district administration to resolve the
demarcation complexities."
Additional Deputy Commissioners
Jasimuddin and Ali Akbar both say that
they are not well apprised of the matter.
The concerned authorities, including
the Election Commission, Ministry of
Local Government and the district
administration, thus continue to shirk
their responsibilities. Dr. Tofail Ahmed,
local government expert, tells PROBE,
"This is no complication at all. This is
just an excuse. This complication has
been artificially created. If the
government had the intention to hold
the election, the complication could
have been resolved within 30 to 45 days
time."
Badiul Alam Majumdar feels that the
entire election is victim of twisted
politics. He tells PROBE, "They will
hold the elections only if there is a
possibility of winning, not otherwise."
Incidentally, former mayor and
former convenor of BNP's city
committee, Sadeq Hossain Khoka, had
remained at the helm of Dhaka City
Corporation for two extra years, even
after its term ended in May 2007. In
November 2011, DCC was divided into
shahBaGh
Md Mona
Newsstand
(In front of Shahbagh Market)
Shahbagh, Dhaka.
Mobile: 01911785195
Md Ali raj
Newsstand
(In front of Shahbagh Market)
Shahbagh, Dhaka.
Mobile: 01714313538
Manager
Pathok Samabesh Centre
Above Agrani Bank
(Opposite Aziz Market)
Shahbagh, Dhaka.
Mobile: 01841234612
uTTaRa
Tofail
Kushol Centre
Rajlaxmi, Uttara,
Dhaka.Mobile: 0191537544
two, with 36 wards to the south and 56

to the north. Sadeq Hossain Khoka was
then removed as mayor and separate
administrators were appointed to the
two city corporations. Unelected
administrators are now in charge. The
government has, however, decided not
to extend the term of the
administrators.
In 2012 the DCC election schedule
had been announced, but it was not
possible to carry out the election due to
an injunction from the court. The
court's stay orders on the DCC election
are being extended repeatedly. On 13
May 2013, an order of the High Court
removed all injunctions on the DCC
election. This facilitated the removal of
all bottlenecks to the election and so the
Election Commission could commence

with preparations for the DCC polls.
However, just within eight days of
the court verdict, the DCC election was
held up once again, this time over the
demarcation issue.
Meanwhile, on 8 December when the
Local Government (City Corporation)
(Amendment) Act 2014 was placed at
the cabinet meeting in the secretariat
for the term of the city corporation
administrators to be extended by
another six months, Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina rejected it. She
instructed that the Dhaka City
Corporation North and South elections
be held at the beginning of the new
year. So the tenure of the present
administrators is not being extended
beyond six months. The Prime Minister
told the meeting, the city corporation
election must be held, whether it means
victory or defeat. Whoever wins, will
take over the City Corporation. She
said that the highest institution of local
government cannot be run for so long
by unelected representatives.
Analysts feel that though the Prime
Minister's words had seemed to shed
some light of hope on the DCC
elections, the indolence of the
concerned authorities will keep it in the
dark. n
PROBE is available at the following newsstands

Topkhana RoaD
Md Mainuddin
Newsstand
Bangladesh Secretariat
(South-West Corner)
Topkhana Road, Dhaka.
Mobile: 01829883233
DhanmonDi
newsstand
(In front of City College)
Mirpur Road, Dhaka.
Md Bahar
Newsstand
Kalabagan Bus Stand (West
side)
Dhaka. Mobile: 01841812996
Md Humayun
Newsstand
Sukrabad Bus Stand (east
side)
Md Abu Bakr
Newsstand
Sukrabad Bus Stand (east
side)
Dhaka.
Mobile: 01821438474
Md Saiful
Gyankosh
Sobhanbagh Mosque Market
Dhaka.
Mobile: 01929675457
islam
Book Choice
Sobhanbagh Mosque Market
Dhaka.
Mobile: 01914755009
GuLshan
Md rubel
Newsstand
DCC Market, Gulshan-1,
Dhaka
Md Kamrul
Newsstand
DCC Market, Gulshan-1,
Dhaka
Md Hasan
News Centre
Gulshan 2, Phone: 9884789
mohammaDpuR
Banani
Md Shahidullah
Newsstand
Asadgate Bus Stand, Dhaka
Mobile: 01923630946
Md Badshah
Newsstand
Banani Bazar Bus Stand
Md iqbal
Newsstand
Asadgate Bus Stand,
For details: Debasish 01673096718
I Page: 09
Interview
We have completely
surrendered ourselves
to a particular power
- mohammad asafuddowla
Former secretary mohammad asafuddowla is a man of many hats. in addition to being a
skilled officer of the civil service, he is also a singer, poet and a popular TV talk show
personality. he is a bold and outspoken critic of the prevailing unhealthy and unstable
political scene. This respected citizen has thus evoked the ire of the ruling coterie. in this
interview, he speaks to pRoBE about the state, the government, politics and experiences
during his illustrious career.
Interviewed by AnWAr PArVEZ HAliM
THE COunTry AnD THE
GOVErnMEnT
ohammad
Asafuddowla
assesses the state of the
people and the government
bluntly, "The people not doing well.
The answer to how they are faring, lies
within the questions as to whether the
people are secure, whether they want
to remain in the country, why three
and a half thousand people have opted
to make Malaysia their home. Many
people have sold their property and
gone to settle in Singapore. They may
be struggling there, but they are secure
and at peace. There is no peace
anywhere here. Why must they grasp
on to power?"
What is the cause of this unrest?
"There are not just one or two causes
for unrest. Whoever goes to power is
unwilling to relinquish their power."
The government claims that the
country is making strides in
development. Former bureaucrat
Asafuddowla responds, "I was a
member of the Planning Commission
for a long time. None of the figures
which they are sprouting about
development is correct. None of the
statistics quoted by the government is
correct. They are just dictated figures.
I Page: 10
Interview
For example, if the Finance Minister
says our GDP will be 6.2, immediately
the statistics department set to the task
of making this 6.2. Yet this has little to
do with your life or mine!"
There are quarters that believe that
because the present state of democracy
is rife with violence, the ruling party
ministers, leaders and intellectuals
intentionally focus on development
rather than democracy. However,
Asafuddowla does not agree. He says,
"If development continues in this
manner, the country will cease to exist.
An independent, sovereign country has
certain characteristics. We are steadily
losing those characteristics."
He says, "There is no protest here.
Everyday one or two people are being
shot dead at the border. Have you ever
heard the Bangladesh Foreign Office
summoning
the
Indian
High
Commissioner to say, 'we have
repeatedly asked the killings to stop,
you all have even agreed, so why does
this continue?' They do not have the
courage to summon him. What sort of
independence is this?"
5 JAnuAry ElECTiOnS
Concerning the 5 January elections, he
says that the majority of the people did
not vote and yet the parliament was
formed. There is no accountability for
this. The accountability lies with the
voters. They did not come to vote. I
personally did not vote for anyone. I do
not even know who my MP is."
Will the country continue like this?
Mohammad Asafuddowla replies, "No
country can continue through such a
crisis. Yet Bangladesh is carrying on
like this and will continue to do so."
But can things continue for long
without the people's support, just
depending on the bureaucracy and the
military? Asafuddowla
responds,
"They cannot deprive the people and
Mohammad Asafuddowla says, "It is

not for you or me to decide whether
'Bismillah' will remain in the
Constitution or not. It is the majority of
the people who have the right to
decide. Their opinion was not even
taken into consideration."
nO quAliTATiVE DiffErEnCE
BETWEEn Al AnD BnP
Asafuddowla believes there is no
qualitative difference between Awami
League and BNP and does not think
this will change any time soon. He says,
"I hear it take six to seven lac taka to
hold a meeting nowadays. In our day, it
cost three hundred taka to rent a
microphone. Now it takes thousands of
crores of taka to do politics. How much
donations can you collect? It is not
possible for a person of any proper
standing to collect such money. No
gentleman or lady can generate such
massive amounts of money. How much
money can they have? Nowadays we
hear
such-and-such
politician's
ancestors were zemindars, so-and-so's
father-in-law was a rajah. All this is rot,
nothing of it is true. So how can
qualitative change in politics come
about! But there is one significant
difference between these two parties.
That is the matter of religious values.
There is a big difference between
Awami League and BNP when it comes
to religious values.
simply depend on these elements. Take

note of the concept -- 'We have taken
power. We are in power. We hold
power.' Such phrases are nowhere used
in democracy anywhere in the world.
Even by mistake Obama will never say
that he is in power. Cameron will never
dare say, 'I have come to power and live
at No. 10 Downing Street.' or 'We are in
power.' They consider such words
uncivil. You must remember, it is the
people who give the politicians their
power, for the welfare of the people, for
people to live in peace. That is why they
vote. So tell me, what has this
government done, or the government
before this, or even the one before, to
alleviate the people's sufferings?"
He says, "The government totally
ignored the people and held an
election. Fine, but then hold another
election within three months. That you
did not do. Why are you scared of the
people? If you are scared of the people,
then you don't have the right to remain
in power. You are scared of the people
and that is why you have even
removed the provision for a
referendum from the Constitution so
that public opinion cannot be assessed.
Yet you talk about democracy! There is
no democracy in the world without
referendum."
DETErMinATiOn Of THE MAP

Asafuddowla explains why no third
party has risen up besides BNP and
Awami League. He says, "Our
relationship with India is a major
reason for this. We separated with
much difficulty from Pakistan in 1971.
We became independent. But are we
really independent? Did we really
achieve freedom? When I was young I
would chant the slogan 'Larke lenge
"The government totally ignored the people and held an election.

Fine, but then hold another election within three months. That
you did not do. Why are you scared of the people? if you are
scared of the people, then you don't have the right to remain in
power. You are scared of the people and that is why you have
even removed the provision for a referendum from the
Constitution so that public opinion cannot be assessed. Yet you
talk about democracy!
I Page: 11
Interview
Pakistan'. Yet 16 December is the
happiest day for the same me. What a
strange country. Why is our map like
this? Our map wasn't supposed to be
like this. Bengal was our province. Even
without Assam, the majority of the
population in Bengal was Muslim. The
province allocation was done on the
basis of majority. So why was Bengal
not given to Pakistan? The source of
each and every one of our rivers is in
India. There has been no such partition
anywhere else in the world. This
injustice has been there since then.
"The geographical boundaries
presently between Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh will not remain like this.
There will be change. One cannot say in
advance what this change will be. I feel
"The geographical
boundaries presently
between pakistan,
india and
Bangladesh will not
remain like this.
There will be change.
one cannot say in
advance what this
change will be. i feel
that the present
boundaries are not
the final ones. There
will be new
boundaries."
that the present boundaries are not the

final ones. There will be new
boundaries."
frEEDOM Of SPEECH
Why did you question whether
independence actually has been
achieved? Asafuddowla says, "The
happiness which swelled in my heart
on 16 December, abated the very next
day, 17 December. Our happiness
flared up like fireworks and
extinguished in no time at all.
Independence was the result of the
struggle of 75 million people of the
erstwhile East Pakistan. The struggle
was a success. It was the farmers,
workers, rickshaw-wallas, teachers,
students, government employees,
private service holders who gave their
lives in the war. Did any of them get
honoured for the liberation war?
Awami League claims they were the
ones who fought the war. It is their
contribution, they claim.
"It is the failure of leadership that has
brought the country to this state today.
Just as I am afraid of saying this today,
you will be afraid of printing it. The
Constitution speaks of freedom of
speech, but where is freedom of
speech? This is a total dictatorship."
You have criticised the government a
lot in the TV talks shows. Have you
faced any problems? Asafuddowla
replies, "I used to go to talk shows, but
now no more. The reason for this is
that, because I speak at the talk shows I
have now been asked to produce my
income tax returns of the last 35 years.
You can have returns of three years, not
of 35 years. Then again, my daughter
P r O f i l E
Mohammad Asafuddowla
Mohammad Asafuddowla was
born in 1936 in Faridpur. His
father, Khan Bahadur
Mohammed Ismail, was a senior
lawyer of the Supreme Court.
Asafuddoulah was the
youngest brother among seven
siblings. His elder sisters,
Mariam Begum and
Shamsunnahar Begum, were
both members of parliament.
The next sister was renowned
Nazrul Geeti exponent Firoza
Begum, who recently passed
away. His youngest sister Rizia
Begum lives in the US.
Asafuddowla's eldest brother
is Brigadier General
Masiuddoulah, second brother is
ACI Chairman Anisuddoulah
and then comes Asafuddowla
himself.
Asafuddowla has three
daughters and a son. His eldest
daughter Mubina Asaf is a
lawyer and had been the Deputy
Attorney General. His second
daughter Muniza Asaf lives in
Canada. Youngest daughter
Mehreen Asaf is a housewife.
Dr. Samir Asaf,
Asafuddowla's son, is a
businessman. Prior to taking up
business, he had been the CEO
of a private company.
Asafuddowla's wife Zulfia
Asaf, was Director, Human
Resources, at Pan Pacific Hotel,
She has now retired.
I Page: 12
Interview
faced pressure. She was the Deputy
Attorney General. She was told she
would have problems with her job
because of me. She was forced to leave
her job. My son was the CEO of a
company. The owner of the company
was pressurised into dismissing my
son. They had to carry out the
government's orders. My daughter and
my son lost their jobs because of my
words. Both these incidents happened
during Hasina's government. If I have
committed any wrongdoing, punish
me. It is hard to bear my children's
sufferings."
BNP and Awami League both use
unnecessarily foul language in
speaking about Bangabandhu and Zia.
This not only inflames politics, but has
pitched the country into uncertainty.
Mohammad Asafuddowla
says,
been helped by Fazlul Huq. There is not

a single Muslim family in Bengal that
he has not assisted. No law was needed
to be enforced to call him 'Sher-eBangla'. He was spontaneously called
'Sher-e-Bangla'. He could not agree
with my comment and fell silent."
POliTiCiSATiOn Of THE
ADMiniSTrATiOn AnD
lACK Of MEriT
You were a senior bureaucrat of the
government. How did the politicisation
of
the
administration
begin?
Asafuddowla replies, "The ones in
power have made government officers
into politicians. It wasn't like this in the
past. We couldn't imagine it that way.
We all voted for someone or the other,
but I can say with confidence that this
never influenced our decisions at work.
ministers from leaders. They develop a

complex. They see the boy who would
stand first in class is now a secretary
below them. They feel he won't listen to
them. They won't obey the ministers.
That is why they did away with the
CSP cadres. That is why there is a lack
of merit in the administration today. In
future the administration will have an
even greater lack of merit. There is need
for a meritorious administration to take
the country ahead. This cannot be
denied.
friEnDSHiP DOESn'T MEAn
SurrEnDEr
'Enmity towards none, friendship
towards all' - is our state still firm in
this foreign policy? The former
secretary replies, "We have completely
surrendered ourselves to a particular
"it is not enough for the GDp to increase and

the reserves to grow. These are not social
indicators. one must evaluate the development
of family, social and moral values. The future is
certainly bleak if the past appears to be richer
and better than the present. We are hurtling
towards a deep chasm."
"Politics was not like this before. This is
unfortunate for Bengalis. The language
being used in politics is simply not
civil. It is best to have some decency
when referring to certain persons."
PrOxiMiTy TO BAnGABAnDHu
"Bangabandhu was very fond of me,
extremely so. I was Secretary, Water
Resources at the time. On Eid day, 1973
I told him, this leadership of yours
seems to be all-devouring. He was
extremely offended. He said, 'You have
called me all devouring!'
"I said, 'You never remind the people
that there was another great leader by
the name of Maulana Bhasani. He too
wanted to see Bangladesh as a
prosperous country. You never
mention his name. In Kolkata we saw
how Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy
weaned you into politics. You never
mention him. You have forgotten Shere-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq. Yet there is
not a single Bengali family that has not
That would have been considered a sin.

I saw a colleague of mine supported a
certain party, at the same time I saw his
decision went diametrically opposite to
that party. When asked, he would say,
'This is the correct decision.' If I said,
'But you support that party,' he would
reply, 'I vote for a party, but that has
nothing to do with this decision.' In my
day it was impossible to politicise the
officers."
He says that the lack of efficiency and
qualification among the bureaucrats
was brought about by the removal of
the CSP cadre. During Pakistan times
there were two types of cadre-based
officers -- CSP and EPCS. EPCS became
BCS. During Bangladesh times, CSP
was removed. Do you know why?
Because most of the CSP officers were
brilliant students with first class results
all through. The boy who stands first in
class sits in the front bench. Those who
did politics did not attend classes. They
become leaders from activists and
power. We should remember that

friendship should be on the basis of
equality and mutual respect. When that
is absent, that cannot be called
friendship, it is subservience.
Friendship doesn't mean surrender."
"We have left all other powers and
now sit in the lap of one particular
power. We consider their support as
the support of the people. We imagine
their support will render us immortal
and indomitable."
Do you see the possibility of peace
anytime in the near future?
Mohammad Asafuddowla replies, "It
is not enough for the GDP to increase
and the reserves to grow. These are not
social indicators. One must evaluate the
development of family, social and
moral values. The future is certainly
bleak if the past appears to be richer
and better than the present. We are
hurtling towards a deep chasm." n
I Page: 13
Cover Story
BNP caught in govt trap?

With the government ensnaring Bnp in all manners of oppression and repression,
khaleda Zia faces a grave test...
by AnWAr PArVEZ HAliM
n the one hand, the BNP-led

alliance wants to force the
government to resign through
the blockade programme and to have
credible elections, acceptable to all
parties. On the other hand, the Awami
League-led alliance states that BNP is a
terrorist and militant party. The
government has professed its
determination to suppress it by any
means, even with arms. This power
struggle is now replete with vengeance
and violence, bereft of any political
demeanour. They have reached a point
of no return, and the entire nation is
held hostage to the battle. BNP has no
idea where and when its blockade
programme will end. As for those in
power, they believe that they can finish
off their political opposition with brute
force. They are unwilling to accept that
the opposition cannot be wiped out
with repression, suppression and arms.
During the 12 days of continuous
blockade from 4 till 16 January, 25
persons have been killed by petrol
bombs, fire and violence clashes. Over
500 vehicles have been set on fire and
damaged. The government side blames
Khaleda Zia for the violence and
destruction because she called for the
blockade. Government supporters say

she should be tried. However, all her
BNP-led 20-party alliance had wanted
was to lawfully hold a public meeting
in Dhaka on 5 January. The government
refused to give permission and
virtually pushed the opposition
towards taking up the blockade
programme. That is when all the
trouble started. This is crystal clear to
the public, but the government refused
to accept this.
The blockade has virtually cut off the
capital city from the rest of the country.
There is hardly any transport coming in
and out of the city. The economy is
gradually grinding to a halt. And yet
the government goes on insisting that
everything is "normal". If everything
was indeed normal, then why cannot
the buses and trucks come and go from
the city, even under police and BGB
guard? Why are innocent people dying
in petrol bombs and fire? Sitting in the
seat of power, the government cannot
escape responsibility for the present
state of affairs.
The ruling party claims that they
kept the country in peace during the
last one year. The fact of the matter
remains that trade and business was
not at rest in that period. Foreign

investment has dwindled to nil. The
reason for this was the controversial
election of 5 January. Prior to the
election Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
has said that the 5 January election was
held simply to maintain constitutional
continuity. She pledged to hold another
participatory election after that. Over
the past year BNP Chairperson Khaleda
Zia also waited for the peaceful
implementation of Hasina's pledge. She
did not take up any serious movement.
Coming to power, the government
took up an all-out propaganda
campaign against BNP, insulting and
instigating it in all manners possible. It
would ridicule BNP as a weak party, a
spineless party, a party that has become
extinct. In the meantime, Khaleda Zia
set to the task of strengthening her
party and organising it once again. She
used this time to gain strength. When
the government noticed the massive
public attendance of BNP's rallies and
public meetings outside Dhaka, it sat
up and took notice. It adopted a policy
of repression and oppression against
the opposition. This exposed the
government's moral bankruptcy.
In order to cling on to power, the
government has been highlighting
development over democracy. Senior
leaders
of
the
government
apprehended that if Khaleda Zia was
allowed to hold a public gathering in
Dhaka, she would sit-in there and her
supporters would throng around her.
They would not remain at home or sit
tight. This would have made it
impossible for the government to keep
things under control.
Political analysts believe this fear has
driven the government to try and
annihilate BNP. It is determined to
project BNP globally and at home, as an
extremist militant party. That is why it
did not permit BNP to hold the
gathering in Dhaka. The government
ministers,
MPs
and
leaders
continuously provoke and instigate the
I Page: 14
Cover Story
opposition alliance so that it takes up
violence means of protest rather than
peaceful programmes.
And the opposition alliance leader
Khaleda Zia finally stepped into that
trap set by the government. Without
any previous planning, she declared
the non-stop blockade programme. The
opposition leaders and activists have
no idea where it will all end.
The opposition policy makers do not
seem to realise that the continuous
blockade programme is hardly
sustainable. They also perhaps do not
realise haw far the government will go,
how harsh it can be, in the name of
upholding law and order.
The people are fed up and frustrated
with the government's autocratic-like
rule. But they are also alarmed by the
deaths in political violence. BNP has
failed to grasp that. BNP made another
political gaffe by making an official
statement about the phone call of BJP
president Amit Shah. It indicates that
Khaleda Zia is dependent in certain
inexperienced
and
non-political
advisors.
A journalist of the BNP ilk feels that
Khaleda Zia gives much importance to
two or three persons whose loyalty and
trustworthiness is questionable. It is
because of them she is taking advice
from inexperienced non-political
advisors rather than experienced
hands. These persons are also
responsible
for
her
political
dependence on foreign quarters. As a
result wrong decisions and faulty
strategy is causing BNP to trip and
stumble repeatedly. The journalist says,
BNP's politics has to go ahead with the
people's support in face of the
government aggression. Khaleda Zia
must understand that all organs of the
state, including the administration, are
in Sheikh Hasina's control. They will
not be able to topple the government
without the people's support. They
have to adopt much shrewder strategy
for their movement.
At a juncture when the blockade has
virtually crippled the entire country,
the majority of the people had hoped
that the Prime Minister would call the
opposition to talks. But at the 12
January public meeting at Suhrawardy
Maidan, the Prime Minister and other
ministers and leaders spewed out vile
comments on Khaleda Zia's personal
life and provoked BNP even further.
On top of that, 14-party alliance leader

Mainuddin Khan Badal said that BNP
was a terrorist party and that, if
necessary, the security forces would
shoot the terrorists outright. Maj. Gen,
Aziz Ahmed, head of the Border Guard
of Bangladesh (BGB), also declared that
arms would be used against those
responsible for the bomb blasts. Such
instigative remarks on the part of the
government indicate that there is no
intentional of a political solution to the
crisis. The government is simply
Tarique Rahman is
their next target. They
have made efforts to
bring him back to the
country. Bnp leaders
and workers are being
arrested en masse and
placed behind bars so
that they cannot create
agitation when khaleda
Zia is arrested. so the
opposition alliance
does not eventually
stand to gain from the
blockade programme.
devising new ways and means to wipe
out the opposition.
Interestingly, it is the opposition that
has called for the blockade, yet it is BNP
leaders' cars that are being set on fire,
bombs are exploding outside their
homes, they are being shot at, an
attempt was made on Reaz Rahman's
life, bombs were found in the High
Court, explosions were carried out at
the houses of the judges. What does all
of this indicate? Not many feel that
BNP or Awami League activists are
doing all this. Is it a move by some
extarnal force to destabalise the
country. The government must find out
who are behind these secret sabotages.
The government feels that by
keeping it out of the 5 January election,
they effectively broke BNP's wings.
That was their first round of victory.

They now plan to weaken it further by
using the prevailing blockade violence
to project BNP as a terrorist and
militant party. They may even use the
situation to place Khaleda Zia under
arrest.
Tarique Rahman is their next target.
They have made efforts to bring him
back to the country. BNP leaders and
workers are being arrested en masse
and placed behind bars so that they
cannot create agitation when Khaleda
Zia is arrested. So the opposition
alliance does not eventually stand to
gain from the blockade programme. It
is Awami League that is reaping the
benefits.
However, there are questions as to
how long the government can
forcefully
remain
in
power,
vanquishing the people's right to vote.
If the political stalemate is to be
resolved and democracy is to be
restored, the government must have to
arrange free and fair elections. The
western countries are unhappy with
the 5 January elections. The
government may plan on arresting
Khaleda Zia, splitting BNP and then
holding an election to come back to
power. But it is difficult to say how
acceptable that will be to the western
powers.
The British High Commissioner, the
US State Department, the European
Union and other western countries
have condemned the attack upon
former Sate Minister for Foreign Affairs
and BNP Chairperson's Advisor Reaz
Rahman, demanding that those
responsible for the incident be arrested
and punished. The UN has also
expressed concerned at the prevailing
situation in the country. Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina may not find this
important. She has turned down
requests to meet her, by the recent past
US Ambassador Dan Mozena. She did
not accept the agrimo for the next
German Ambassador. This unfriendly
attitude of the government will
certainly leave a negative mark on the
mind of the western quarters. It may
not have an effect on Sheikh Hasina's
government and she may continue
ruling the country. But if the bloodshed
continues, who can guarantee that
Bangladesh won't be left out in the cold
by the rest of the world in the future
process of globalisation. n
I Page: 15
Cover Story
Politics of democracy or
domination?
With the space for political opposition shrinking, politicians
and the public are concerned about the state of democracy
by BADiul AlAM
year after the controversial

parliamentary
polls,
the
countrys political scenario is
overheated and is likely to get worse in
the days to come. On 5 January 2014,
the country witnessed a mockery of an
election in which neither the common
people nor the political parties, except
the Awami League and their
collaborators Jatiyo Party, Workers
Party, JSD (Inu), the so-called
nationalist front, participated. There
were no participants in 154 seats out of
300 seats of the parliament. Hardly 8-10
percent of the people exercised their
franchise in the remaining seats.
Neither the national nor the
international community recognized
the 5 January election. Major
international powers and nations like
the US, UK, Germany and Canada,
expressed their concern about the fate
of democracy in Bangladesh. They
urged all the parties to sit across the
table to resolve their differences and
find a way for an inclusive election. But
some powers like China, India and
Russia, accepted the 5 January election

for reasons of their own.
The Chinese and the Russian
authorities acted on purely commercial
interests. China meets the major
defence requirements of Bangladesh.
Recently a deal was signed with China
to procure two submarines worth
several millions of dollars. Beijing did
not face any competition in such a big
business deal. The Chinese firms have
also been awarded billion dollar
projects like the Padma Bridge and the
coal-fired power plant project. Chinese
eyes are also focussed on the deep sea
port at Chittagong. China has proposed
signing the Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with Bangladesh, providing
opportunities for transport of various
commercial goods of both the countries
without any tax. Apparently it sounds
good, but Bangladesh's industrial
product base is so poor that the benefit
of the FTA would go in favour of
China.
The Chinese authorities have not
forgotten the last BNP government's
move to open a visa office of Taiwan in

Dhaka to facilitate hassle-free travel of
business persons to Taiwan. The
authorities in Beijing reacted sharply
and termed the move as unfriendly and
forced Dhaka to overturn the decision.
For this reason during the crucial
period of the 2014 political drama, the
Chinese authorities did not stand
beside BNP. Although before the
controversial 5 January election
Chinese stand was to some extent
supportive of the western powers, this
changed overnight.
BNPs relations with Russia have
never been warm because of India.
During the cold war era India and
Russia signed a peace and friendship
treaty in which it was stated in between
the lines that both countries would not
have warm relations with a country not
friendly to them. After the political
changeover in 1975, Bangladesh-India
relations did not proceed in the line of
friendship and cooperation and Russia
always acted in support of India.
Russia-BNP relations worsened in 2002
when the then BNP government
stopped payment of the Mig-21 deal,
signed during the 1996-2000 regime of
Awami League. A lot of irregularities
allegedly were committed in the Mig-21
deal. The Kremlin authorities had to
take up the issue with the international
court of arbitration to realize the
money. Russia could not have any
business deal during the BNP regime.
On the other hand, during the
Awami League regime of 2009, it had a
contract to develop a gas field without
any competition. A deal worth billions
of dollars to procure arsenal from
Russia was also signed. Russia was also
lucky to have a nuclear deal with
Bangladesh without any international
competition. Russia would supply
nuclear reactor for the development of
the nuclear power plant at Rooppur. It
I Page: 16
Cover Story
was worried about the future of all nontransparent deals and tried its best to
support Awami League's remaining in
power.
Though claiming to be a champion of
democratic administration, India keeps
its eyes shut about the controversial 5
January election because it believes that
Awami League would best serve their
security and other commercial
interests. Besides that, Awami League
and the Congress always maintain
cordial relations. Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina also maintains family relations
with the Congress supremo Ms Sonia
Gandhi. After the political change over
in the Delhi administration, Indian
policy towards Bangladesh has not
been changed much although the
Indian ruling BJP is not happy with
Awami League's relation with the
Congress.
Having blessings from the two
superpowers and one regional power,
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told
showed total disregard to the western
powers' opposition to the controversial
5 January election and she also changed
her tone. Before the election she had
that the polls should be held on 5
January 2014 for the sake of
constitutional continuity and thereafter
discussions could take place for
inclusive elections. The ruling alliance
has showed their utter disregard to sit
across the table. They are now saying
that discussions on the constitution of
the 11th parliament could take place at

the end of 2018. The ruling party has
changed their mind because BNP could
not maintain the momentum of its
movement. Everything turned normal
from 6 January 2014, which encouraged
the prime minister to change her stance
about mid-term elections. She is
convinced that BNP's organisational
weakness would prevent it from
forcing the mid-term election and that
she would be able continue till 2021 or
beyond.
From Day One of the consecutive
second term of the government, the
ruling party, it seems, has started a
crackdown on BNP. Hundreds of BNP
activists either were killed or forced to
disappear in the political scenario. It
has been alleged that security forces
were involved in the process of
elimination. The police were instructed
to handle the BNP movement with an
iron hand and police did so. Generally,
baton charge has been used to disperse
any procession but nowadays police
simply open fire. Police file cases
against senior leaders of BNP along
with ground level activists, blaming
them for any incident of violence.
The police did not hesitate to seek
remand of BNP central leaders
including its Acting Secretary General
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. The
judicial magistrate did not hesitate to
grant remand to Gaesher Roy
Chowdhury, a standing committee
Everything turned
normal from 6 January
2014, which
encouraged the prime
minister to change her
stance about mid-term
elections. she is
convinced that Bnp's
organisational
weakness would
prevent it from forcing
the mid-term election
and that she would be
able continue till 2021
or beyond.
member of the BNP. During the last one
year the police filed several hundred
criminal cases against BNP leaders and
activists throughout the country. The
number of such accused persons would
be around a hundred thousand.
rEVEnGE AGAinST THE ZiA
fAMily
The government had not restricted its
operations against BNP, but has
simultaneously taken up a vengeful
operation against late president Ziaur
Rahman's family. At a first instance, the
Zia family was forced to evacuate from
their cantonment residence, with the
government using the judiciary.
Besides, an insulting and slanderous
campaign was started up against late
Ziaur Rahman and other members of
the family, accusing them of being
involved in corruption. During the
"1/11" caretaker government period, the
army-backed government filed several
I Page: 17
Cover Story
corruption cases against Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson
Khaleda Zia as well as against the two
sons of late Ziaur Rahman.
After the formation of government in
2009, all cases against the prime
minister and other members of Awami
League were withdrawn or quashed
with the help of the judiciary. On the
other hand, cases filed against Khaleda
Zia, her two sons and other leaders of
BNP, remained alive. The government
is moving fast to conclude the Zia
Orphanage Trust Corruption case filed
against Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman
and others. It has been rumored that
Khaleda Zia would be convicted in this
case, which will enable the government
to keep the BNP chairperson away from
participating in any election. It has also
been heard that the next general
election would largely depend on the
conviction of Khaleda Zia.
BAr On HOlDinG PuBliC
GATHErinGS
BNP has been virtually barred
from holding any public gathering
in Dhaka city. BNP was not even
allowed to hold a public meeting in
any auditorium other than Jatiya
Press Club. Police locked the
Engineering Institute where the BNP
Chairperson was supposed to
address a gathering. The police also
dismantled a stage on the Supreme
Court premises on 29 December 2014
where the BNP Chairperson was
scheduled to address a gathering of
lawyers. During the last one year, BNP
and its front organizations were not
permitted to hold any rally in any
auditorium of Dhaka City. This created
pressure on the Jatiya Press Club. The
press club management, despite their
non-political commitment, could not
avoid the pressure from BNP and its
front organisations to rent out the Press
Club auditorium to them.
CurrEnT STAlEMATE
The current political stalemate has also
developed because the Dhaka
Metropolitan
Police
(DMP)
administration refused to permit BNP
to hold a public gathering on 5 January.
The DMP authorities banned all sorts of
gatherings on 5 January because the
ruling party and BNP both announced
mass rallies for that day. But the ban
was aimed at BNP, the ruling party
front organisations defying DMP ban

held gatherings on the same day. The
police administration did not limit itself
in banning the mass gathering, it also
took control of BNP's central office and
the BNP Chairperson has been kept in
confinement at her Gulshan office with
40 others. Since 5 January the BNP
chairperson has been confined to her
Gulshan office. Trucks loaded with
sand and bricks were placed in front of
the Gulshan office road. The police also
locked the main gate of the office. All
these actions have forced the BNP
Chairperson to call for an indefinite
blockade programme, which created
panic about the future of Bangladesh's
democracy.
nO SiGn Of SOluTiOn
During last two weeks Dhaka remained
virtually disconnected with the rest of
the country. Movement of buses, trucks
and other vehicles on the highway has
dwindled
to
almost nil. The sea and land

ports mostly remained out of operation.
The train services have also been
disrupted severely. Every day buses,
trucks, cars and other vehicles are set
on fire. So far, nearly a hundred
vehicles have been set on fire. Losses of
life including children have been taking
place throughout the country. The BNP
chairperson's adviser and former
Foreign Secretary Reaz Rahman came
under attack on the evening of 14
January. He was shot at and his car was
set on fire. He received bullet injuries.
He has been under treatment at the
United Hospital. The attending doctors
termed his condition critical. The US
and UK condemned the attack on Reaz
Rahman and urged the Bangladesh
government to ensure safety and
security of the people. The US urged
the government to ensure peaceful
gatherings and the democratic rights of
the people. Both the US and UK urged
both parties to sit across the table to end

the political stalemate.
Earlier bombs and cocktail bombs
were hurled at the residences of two
High Court judges and several BNP
leaders, including Abdul Awal Mintoo,
Moyeen Khan and Zamiruddin Sircar.
As the blockade continues for around
two weeks, the national and
international community has expressed
serious concern and has urged all
parties to hold dialogue. The BNP
Chairperson has expressed her
readiness to have dialogue with the
government. But the ruling party has
not been in a mood for immediate
dialogue. Capitalising on BNPs
organisational weakness, the ruling
party leaders feel strongly that BNPs
movement would face similar fate as
the 2014 blockade programe. The have
already directed the security forces to
handle the situation with an iron hand.
Besides the security forces, hoodlums
have also been deployed for
implementation of specific targets.
The ruling party feels they will
win, but their voice are not all that
forceful as they are not sure about
Delhis attitude. A spokesman of
India's External Affairs Ministry
said that India would not interfere
in the internal affairs of
Bangladesh. But both ruling and
the BNP seek India support.
On the other hand, BNP
considers the present movement as one
of life and death. Leaders and workers
of BNP feel strongly that if the current
movement fails, BNP would be crushed
and it would not survive. The ground
level leaders and activists have been
directed to use all means to ensure
victory. The BNP chairperson has
warned them she might be arrested and
asked them to continue the movement
till the realization of the demand.
ECOnOMy iS THE ViCTiM
The countrys economy is the worst
sufferer of the current political
stalemate. The BGMEA leaders have
estimated that during two weeks of
blockade, the country's garment sector
has incurred losses of around one
thousand crore. Foreign buyers
diverted their orders to the India,
Cambodia and Vietnam. Private
investment is shy as it is and will lessen
further because of the continuous
political stalemate. n
I Page: 18
Probe Special
DhANMoNDI rEvISITED
Gone are the days when Dhanmondi was the genteel residential
area, with its limpid lake.
by SHAfiq rAHMAn
"W
e are fed up." Jahanara

Begum Babli's words
reflect the feelings of most
of Dhanmondi's residents. Dhanmondi
was the first planned residential area of
modern Dhaka, but now its residents
are unhappy with the state of the
locality.
Jahanara Begum is a member of
Dhanmondi Owners Association. City
planner Professor Nazrul Islam says,
much in the same vein, "The residents
have become victims."
It
is
morn-till-night
traffic
congestion, sound pollution, rowdy
elements
and
excessive
commercialisation that has brought
such comments from Jahanara Begum
and Prof. Nazrul Islam. The other
residents in the area echo their
sentiments.
In 1949 the project was taken up to
create Dhanmondi, a modern and
planned residential area of Dhaka.
"This was to be a purely residential
area," says Prof. Nazrul Islam. "There
was to be a lake, two schools
(Dhanmondi Government Boys High
School and Dhanmondi Government
Girls High School), and four playing
grounds. The plan didn't even have
provision for any corner shop of drug
store. The question of hospitals or
clinics didn't arise.
But it's a different scene today.

Dhanmondi is replete, to put it mildly,
with schools, colleges, universities,
clinics, hospitals, diagnostic centres,
restaurants, cafes, community centres,
superstores, shopping centres, malls
and
hundreds
of
commercial
institutions.
The number of educational
institutions
has
increased
The number of educational

institutions has increased
exponentially. in a
research study, Trends of
Development in
Dhanmondi, asm mahbub
un nabi and maqsud
hashem say that there
were 30 educational
institutions in Dhanmondi
in 1984. in just 16 years
since then, the number of
schools in the area in
2000 stood at 124. maple
Leaf international itself
has 13 branches in
Dhanmondi.
exponentially. In a research study,

Trends of Development in Dhanmondi,
ASM Mahbub Un Nabi and Maqsud
Hashem say that there were 30
educational institutions in Dhanmondi
in 1984. In just 16 years since then, the
number of schools in the area in 2000
stood at 124. Maple Leaf International
itself has 13 branches in Dhanmondi.
Over the last 10 years there has also
been an onset of private universities.
According to a report of the committee
formed to carry a high court verdict on
the Dhanmondi area, there are 14
private universities in the locality.
These have 33 branches. The University
of Asia Pacific and the University of
Development Alternatives (UODA)
have five branches each.
In the 500 acres of land comprising
Dhanmondi residential area, there are
103 private hospitals, clinics and
diagnostic centres. Then there are 161
government, non-government and
foreign organisation offices. So the
pressure on Dhanmondi simply
increases steadily. Centre for Urban
Studies' town planning specialist
Architect Salma A Shafi uses this to
exemplify unplanned urbanisation. She
says, in 1959 a Master Plan was taken
up for the development of Dhaka city.
Fifty-five years have passed since then,
but there have been no plans since then.
In 1995 a 20-year plan had been taken
up, but that was hardly any tangible
plan at all. But that hasn't stopped
urbanisation or development.
She says, "The 1959 plan projected
that by 1980 Dhaka city's population
would be 800 thousand, but in
actuality, in 1980 the city's population
was three million. A plan should have
been taken up them. Today the
population of the city stands at 15
million. The government still has no
development tools. So whatever is
happening to the entire city, is
happening to Dhanmondi too."
There are a total of 1083 plots in
Dhanmondi. Each plot is more or less
one bigha. Mahbub Un Nabi and
Maqsud Hashem's 2007 report
mentions that in 1962, a total of 72.9%
of the houses in Dhanmondi were onestoreyed, 24.3% were two-storeyed and
only 2.7% were over two storeys. In
1984 the number of one-storeyed
houses came down to 24.78% and the
number of two-storeyed houses went
up to 51.34%. The houses over two-
I Page: 19
Probe Special
storeys was still less in number, only
3.54%. The report says that before 1990,
there were no buildings higher than six
storeys in Dhanmondi. But today the
buildings go up to 15 storeys. At one
point of time, permission had even
been given for 21 storeyed buildings.
Prof. Nazrul Islam says, "The law
may be changed, but this first calls for
extensive dialogue. There is need for
discussion. But in Dhanmondi, change
came first. Later laws were drawn up to
legalise the changes.
This has all result in the prevailing
traffic congestion, sound pollution and
excessive commercialisation. The local
residents can't shirk responsibility
either. Many of them have put their
own interests first, before the overall
interest of the locality. They have sold
or rented out their houses to schools,
colleges, universities, hospitals, clinics,
shopping centres and offices.
Dhanmondi rapidly was transformed
into a commercial area.
BuSiEr THAn MOTiJHEEl
Motijheel commercial area used to be
the busiest area in the city, but now
Dhanmondi is even busier. Motijheel is
only busy in the daytime, during office
hours and is empty at night. But
Dhanmondi is busy almost round the
clock. The schools, colleges and
universities are open from morning till
afternoon, causing a traffic rush then.
All day there is the bustle around
hospitals, clinics, markets and offices.
The evenings see a surge towards the
community centres and restaurants. At
night there are the residents making
their way home. So Dhanmondi teems
with people and cars from early
morning till late at night.
MOVEMEnT AGAinST
COMMErCiAliSATiOn
In 1952 the government
handed over residential plots
on 99-year leases for Tk 5000.
Among the earliest to get
these plots were Hussain
Shaheed Suhrawardy, Ataur
Rahman Khan and later
Sheikh Mujib, Tajuddin and
others. But now the provisions
of the lease are being violated
and residential plots are being
used for commercial purposes.
Dhanmondi
Owners
Association is brining about a
movement to cancel the leases of those

who are violating this provision.
In 2011, a number of local residents
filed a writ petition with the High
Court, demanding that all commercial
organisations, including educational
institutions, be closed down in the
Dhanmondi. On 11 June 2012, the High
Court issued orders for all commercial
organisations including educational
institutions to be removed from
Dhanmondi.
The committee formed for the
implementation of the court verdict,
began campaigning from 7 December
for the educational institutions to be
removed and that no new students be
admitted to these schools at the
beginning of the year. The committee
also issued letter on 17 December to the
Public Works Secretary, the Deputy
Commissioner and the Executive
Engineer of the Public Works
Department, asking them to take rapid
action to implement the court order.
Committee member Jahanara Begum
Babli says, "Children come from
Khilgaon and even Narayanganj to

attend school in Dhanmondi. We told
the school authorities that the residents
of Dhanmondi hadn't taken the
responsibility to educating the children
of the entire city. They could open
branches in the other areas. But they
didn't listen. We placed appealed to
have those removed and the order was
in our favour. We issued letters to the
concerned
authorities
for
implementation of the order. We
campaigned over megaphones. No one
has moved and we continue our
movement to cancel their plots."
She says, "After the appeal, only
Maple Leaf International School asked
for three years' time to move. So
according to the verdict, no one else has
the right to remain. Those who are still
here, are disregarding court orders."
SOCiAl CluBS TAKE OVEr
GrOunDS
Not only has the residential area been
commercialised, but the recreational
grounds for the local residents have
also been unlawfully occupied.
In the latest instance of such
encroachment, Sheikh Jamal
Dhanmondi Club has taken over
the field adjacent to Dhanmondi
Road 8. The local people are not
being allowed to enter the
grounds. A tenis court has been
laid down in the centre of the
field. There are plans to set up
a social club here, with a sixstoreyed
building,
underground parking and a
dormitory. n
I Page: 20
Article
Bangladesh politics
in historical context
maj gen S m
iBrahim
past politics puts the present into perspective

POST-SOViET CEnTrAl ASiA
hen the Soviet Union broke up about
25 years ago, a number of new
republics emerged on the world map.
The political history of these republics has not
been very comfortable or peaceful. The sudden
leap towards freedom was not matched by
responsible leadership. Corruption became a
passion with the rulers. Political power made
corruption easy, and to ensure continuity of
corruption as well as to safeguard the huge
wealth acquired, political power had to be
usurped. Elections per force had to be rigged
and results manipulated. The people or voters
would not accept such rigging and
manipulation. Invariably there would be
political turmoil and political agitation. There
could be central leadership or there could be
highly decentralized and localized leadership. In
every instance, the objective was laid out in
simple terms: free and fair election leading to
popular official leadership for the country.
The beginning
happened in the
immediate aftermath
of the run-off vote of
the 2004 ukrainian
presidential election.
There were serious
allegations of
massive corruption,
voter-intimidation and
electoral fraud.
Ruling political
authority attempted
to declare the loser
as the victor, denying
the real winner, who
was popular. people
demanded a secondtime election.
rOSE rEVOluTiOn
One example is Georgia. President Eduard
Shevardnadze had a very tight grip over politics
and administration in his country. But because
of inefficiency and corruption, many party
loyalists defected over a period of two to three
years. The non-governmental organizations
which were a strong pillar of support for
Shevardnadze, withdrew their support. Foreign

support for the regime also declined; foreign
friends calling upon the government of Georgia
to arrange for peaceful democratic transition.
Although media as a whole was not antigovernment, but one television channel called
Rustavi-2 served as an ally for the opposition
movement, in the process itself suffering from
governmental oppression. In July 2001 a popular
anchor for the Rustavi-2, named Giorgi Sanaia
was
murdered.
Agitation
followed.
Shevardnadze sacked his minister of security.
The minister joined a new political party. A
people's revolution took shape. This was the
Rose Revolution in Georgia. As a result,
President of Georgia Mr. Eduard Shevardnadze
was forced to resign on 23 November 2003.
OrAnGE rEVOluTiOn
Another example is the Orange Revolution in
Ukraine. The revolution lasted just about three
months from November 2004 to January 2005.
The beginning happened in the immediate
aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004
Ukrainian presidential election. There were
serious allegations of massive corruption, voterintimidation and electoral fraud. Ruling political
authority attempted to declare the loser as the
victor, denying the real winner, who was
popular. People demanded a second-time
election. Protests were very wide spread; civil
I Page: 21
Article
disobedience, sit-ins and general strikes were
order of the day. On behalf of the people of the
country, the opposition political parties
demanded fresh election which was ultimately
held on 26 December 2004 within 35 days of the
first election. The popular candidate
Yushchenko polled genuine majority and was
declared the winner. The orange revolution
ended on 23 January 2005.
he had been
buttressed and
patronized by
american
administration for
number of years.
america needed
friendly administration
in the philippines for
more than one
reason. at the time of
marcoss final crisis,
americans provided
four large helicopters
for marcos, his family
and close-ones in the
presidential palace,
to escape.
TuliP rEVOluTiOn
The third example from Central Asia is that of
Tulip Revolution or First Kyrgyz Revolution by
which President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzsthan
and his government was over thrown.
Parliamentary election was held on 27 February
2005. Pro-President candidates were declared
winner in most of the constituencies. Protests
started almost instantly. Government increased
its intimidation on the opposition political
leaders. Protestors demanded resignation of
President Akayev. There were reports of arson,
beatings, mass arrests and death. Many
organizations which were heretofore neutral, or
apolitical, joined hands with the main
opposition. The international community
increased their concern and demanded fresh
election. On 2 March 2005, President Akayev
addressed the parliament. Out of 71 deputies, 10
refused to attend and expressed solidarity with
the opposition. As political agitation increased,
President Akayev became more and more
intolerant of his colleagues who advocated
negotiation and peace. Nothing could assuage
the heated situation. In the face of tremendous
political violence, Akayev fled away from the
country with his family on 24 March 2005. The
Tulip Revolution ended within days.
MArCOS Of PHiliPPinES
Much earlier than the Rose or the Orange or the
Tulip Revolutions in Central Asia, there was the
People-Power-Revolution in the Philippines. In
the mid-eighties, President Ferdinand Marcos of
the Philippines was forced to quit power. He
had been buttressed and patronized by
American administration for number of years.
America needed friendly administration in the
Philippines for more than one reason. At the
time of Marcoss final crisis, Americans
provided four large helicopters for Marcos, his
family and close-ones in the presidential palace,
to escape. Three years later Marcos died in
Hawaii. Marcos had been elected President for
the first time in 1965. He had a good time; people
had a good time. In 1969 he was elected for the
second time. This time he was not so good.
Marcos decided to make the best use of time in
favor of corruption. Constitution of the
Philippines did not approve of anyone running
for presidency for the third time in a go. Marcos
huSSain muhammad erShad
decided to overcome the limitation. In 1972 he

declared Martial Law and arranged for a new
constitution to be drafted and approved. That
was the beginning of trouble for him. On 21
August 1983, Benigno Aquino was assassinated
by a sniper-short while Aquino had only
stepped on the tarmac out of the airplane after a
three year asylum abroad. Benigno Aquino was
a very popular opposition political leader.
Political agitation against Marcos got a fillip.
Under international pressure, Marcos agreed to
arrange fresh presidential election. The election
was held on 7 February 1986. Corazon Aquino,
the widow of Benigno Aquino, contested the
election on behalf of the opposition. Wide
spread fraudulence and corruption was
reported. Yet the election commission declared
Marcos as the winner. Political agitation gained
strength. Meanwhile, over the years, Marcos had
not only beefed-up the strength and capabilities
of the military and the police, but also increased
his reliance on them. As an unavoidable fall-out,
the military and the police hierarchy were
corrupted. In the early eighties young officers
formed Reform the Armed Forces Movement.
These officers were determined to bring back the
honesty and reputation of the military. They
thought this is the time; they joined the people.
The Deputy Chief of the Philippines Army,
sided with the young officers and in turn, sided
with the people. The hierarchy of the Catholic
Church called upon its rank-and-file, to console
the people. Marcos realized that his time was up.
ErSHAD Of BAnGlADESH
On 30 May 1981 elected President of Bangladesh
Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttom was assassinated in
Chittagong. Election for a new President was
held very soon. Erstwhile vice president under
Ziaur Rahman, Justice Abdus Sattar was elected
the new President. Sattar barely had time to
settle down. On 24 March 1982, the Chief of Staff
of Bangladesh Army, Lieutenant General
Hussain Muhammad Ershad, led a military coup
d'etat and over-threw elected President Justice
Abdus Sattar. General Ershad needed to legalize
his regime. Political leaders of the country
needed to rehabilitate themselves. There was
competition between the Awami League, the
I Page: 22
Article
indias protection
lies in india
diversifying its
political relationship
in Bangladesh. as a
good friend, india
needs a democratic
Bangladesh.
BNP and the others in the race for rehabilitation.

Awami League wanted to create new friends.
Awami League decided to take part in the first
parliamentary election under Ershad in 1986.
BNP decided not to. Parliament lased for little
more than a year only. BNP under the
leadership of Begum Khaleda Zia continued
irresistible agitation against Ershad. Ershad
ordered second time election in 1988, where no
major political party took part. But both the
elections of 1986 and 1988 were branded as
corrupt, manipulated and as the product of
money and muscle. Meanwhile, President
Ershad cultivated the military and all other
fields to ensure loyalty. Ershad being a militaryman, he thought his best prop would be the
military. Agitation against Ershad gained
momentum,
gradually.
Despite
the
development works all over the country, the
political party he launched only had artificial
roots among the people. Despite all the
pampering, military became wary and cautious
and wanted to determine limits of their support
to Ershad. In late 1990, the anti-Ershad political
movement gained much strength. On 27
November 1990, one physician named Milon
was assassinated. This triggered the last and
final hop for the overthrow Ershad
movement. The military of Bangladesh had to
take a decision. The Chief of Staff of the army
was Lieutenant General Nuruddin Khan. The
Chief of the General Staff was Major General
Muhammad Abdus Salam. The Director of
Military Operations was Brigadier Syed
Muhammad Ibrahim Bir Protik. Nuruddin and
Ibrahim had passed the last three days and
nights of November 1990 in North-East Saudi
Arabia, while inspecting the Bangladeshi
Brigade deployed for the multinational defense
of Saudi Arabia. Nuruddin and Ibrahim had
agreed it was time to call off support for Ershad,
in the greater interest of the country and the
military. On the other hand, since October 1990,
Major General Salam quietly catalyzed the antiErshad opinion among other seniors. According
to Salam, Ershads time was up. It was only a
matter of convenient language, to let Ershad
know that it is time for him to go. Once the
aspiration of the people and the patriotism of
the military had a common definition, Ershad
could not have stayed. He resigned on 6
December 1990.
COMMOn TrAiTS
Whether in Philippines, or in the Central Asian
republics, or in Bangladesh of the eighties, the
central issue has been credibility or legitimacy of
elections. In all cases, corruption by the political
party in power has been a major discredit,
difficult to defend. The support of the military,
or withdrawal of the support, has been a crucial
factor. Also, people had to come out on the

street, defying the hand-cuff and the bullet.
Opposition leadership had to offer tangible and
transparent alternatives to the corruption and
misrule of the ruling elite.
BAnGlADESH AnD inDiA
What will happen to Bangladesh in 2015 is a
matter of analysis. A peaceful and politically
stable Bangladesh is necessary not only for its
own good, but also for the neighbors. Once
upon a time, before 1947 for centuries, the
landmass of todays South-Asia was one.
Although there are three major countries now,
prosperity can be common. The nearest
neighbor of Bangladesh is India. 43 years, from
1972 to 2013, has been a long enough time to
demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages
of friendly or unfriendly relations between
Bangladesh and India. Definitely I am referring
to country to country relationship or
government to government relationship. It can
not be denied that, political parties run the
government. Therefore, more easily than one
can imagine, the relationship spills over to party
to party relationship. There is a perception,
political party in power in India, favors the
Awami League. Whether the perception is right
or wrong, is a secondary matter. The primary
matter is people to people friendship must get
priority. The government of India, under the
popular Narendra Modi, is on a spree to
cultivate new friendship all around. Political
parties in Bangladesh are open to renewal of
friendship. I for one, a freedom fighter of
Bangladesh war of liberation, hold India in high
esteem for all that did for our independence.
Like thousands of other freedom fighters, we
want honorable cooperation with India.
Bangladesh-India relations need to be balanced,
vis--vis other major neighbors. Indias
protection lies in India diversifying its political
relationship in Bangladesh. As a good friend,
India needs a democratic Bangladesh.
I quote from a book titled THE MAN OF
THE MOMENT: NARENDRA MODI jointly
authored by Dr. M V Kamath and Dr. Kalindi
Randeri. Dr. Sudhir Joshi, now a practicing
physician in Vadanagar, and Narendras
classmate in school, remembers him as being
outspoken, never afraid of anyone or anything,
ready to face any problem and getting it
resolved by talking it over with the principal of
the school. His argumentative skills and power
of persuasion were evident on many occasions.
South Asia needs his skills, now in 2015 also. n
Major General Syed Muhammad ibrahim Bir Protik retired in
June 1996. While in service, he was a graduate of The Royal Staff
College Camberley England as well as of the US Army War College.
He is a popular columnist in Bengali and English. He is also a popular
participant in television talk-shows. He leads a political party by the
name of Bangladesh Kallyan Party.
I Page: 23
Tribute
Justice Kamal's political

predictions, posthumously
it was 4 november 2013. Winter had just set in, and the weather was perfect. i sat facing Justice
mustafa kamal in his sun-dappled drawing room. he was over 80 years old then, but his face was
unlined and serene. our conversation, inevitably, turned to politics. Justice kamal was blunt, clear
and did not mince words. he saw everything in perspective, bereft of bias and had a keen memory
when it came to incidents, dates and historical facts. his predictions were uncannily accurate...
e spoke of how down the years since the

independence
of
Bangladesh,
tampering with the elections had been
an ugly practice for grabbing power since 1973.
He, in fact, asked me to note down his words for
posterity. Now that he has passed away (may
Allah bless him with eternal peace), I venture to
present here excerpts of his deliberations on
that day. His words were spoken without
malice, in a straightforward matter-of-fact
manner.
He said, "The crucial political issue now is the
demand for a change in government. This
cannot be ignored, cannot be bypassed. No one
can turn a deaf ear to the situation in the field."
He recalled the 1973 election, the tampering
with results and the grabbing of three-fourths
majority in parliament. "It was necessary for the
party in power to have this majority in
parliament in order to have BKSAL, the oneparty government. This would have been
impossible without a three-fourths majority."
He described the election by saying, "They
staged a dancing of dolls, a puppet show."
He continued, "Then Sheikh Mujib was killed
along with his family members. Four
national leaders were killed in jail.
Subsequently martial law was declared
and there was a loss of the Supreme
Court's power. Eventually the multiparty system was to be restored. Later
Ziaur Rahman won the elections with
him being incumbent President. Then
came Ershad's rule which
continued for nine years.
"It was 1990 that was a
turning point when all parties
decided to restore the
parliamentary
form
of
government. The start was not
bad, with Acting President
by AyESHA KABir
Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed the authority to
conduct the elections. He was a neutral man by
all standards. But then the trouble started with
the Magura by-elections. Awami League,
backed by Jamaat, would not yield to anything
short of a caretaker government.
"The constitutional machinery was paralysed.
Civil servants openly defied the government
and took their stand on Janatar Mancha. One of
them is now the Home Minister of Bangladesh.
The irony is that we hear of constitutionalism
and the supremacy of the Constitution from
him these days.
"Khaleda Zia held a one-party election with
more than two-thirds majority in the
parliament. That ill-fated parliament passed an
amendment to the Constitution, providing for a
caretaker government with a retired judge as
Chief Advisor during the tenure of the
caretaker government.
"Khaleda Zia was compelled to hold the next
general election in 1996 with a retired Chief
Justice as head of the caretaker government,
and duly lost the election to Awami League.
When Awami League's tenure of five years
ended in 2001, another retired Chief Justice took
over as Chief Advisor of the caretaker
government and this time Khaleda Zia came out
victorious and Awami League gained an
impressive number of seats.
"In 2006 another Chief Justice was to become
the Chief Advisor to the caretaker government,
but Awami League had reservations with
regard to him and would not accept him. The
point to consider is, whatever may be in the
Constitution and however legitimately the said
retired
Chief
Justice
would
have
constitutionally entered his office, if one man is
unacceptable as a neutral person to one of the
major political parties of Bangladesh, the
Constitution is thrown overboard and
graduation at london School of economicS, 1957
I Page: 24
Tribute
early childhood, 1936, cooch Bihar, india
at the old age
undemocratic interference with the normal

constitutional process gains ground. That is
how the Moeenuddin-Fakhruddin combine
ruled the country illegitimately and
undemocratically for two years, without any
sanction of the Constitution. However, the
general election of 2008 installed Awami
League to power with more than three-fourths
majority.
"The question was whether the old caretaker
system would continue or not. On 24 May 2011,
the Supreme Court ruled that the caretaker
government was unconstitutional, but the next
two general elections could be held under the
old caretaker system without the retired judges
as components of the caretaker government.
That was the time when the government ought
to have entered into meaningful dialogue with
the opposition, however small their
representation was in parliament, and settle the
issue once and for all.
"The special committee set up by the

parliament, headed by Sajeda Chowdhury MP,
to look into various areas of constitutional
changes, did not recommend the abolition of the
caretaker government. But when the special
committee met the incumbent Prime Minister
and submitted its report, only one person
strongly held that the caretaker government
must go. It was his/her sole wish that
determined the fate of an interim government
during the election period.
"Can anyone in his senses expect that the
unilateral decision would be obeyed meekly by
the opposition? They had the experience of 2006
before their very eyes. It is too much to expect
that they themselves would view their
sustained hartal for 60 hours and some such
harsh activities as illogical, immoral or against
the Constitution. They will justify all means at
their disposal, right or wrong, to achieve their
end, mainly to install a neutral and non-party
government during the election period. The
opposition in 2006 did not rest contented until
this objective was achieved and it is sheer
stupidity to think that the present opposition
will stop short of achieving the same goal,
whatever be the sacrifices and hardships of the
population.
"I don't believe there can be a dialogue
between the government and the opposition, far
less a meaningful dialogue. When someone
wants to perpetrate himself/herself in power,
regardless of the consequences, it is idle to
expect the consideration of hardship and
setback from the opposition either. It is more
pragmatic for the country and the countrymen
to brace themselves for a sustained period of
violence, police torture and brutality, loss of
lives and property and all that goes with this,
for an indefinite period till the issue is settled on
the streets." n
aS a PractiSing BarriSter at law in the SixtieS, dhaka
I Page: 25
Out Of the Box
WAJiD Ali
KHAn PAnni
he nation recently observed Begum

Rokeya Day to commemorate her
revolutionary role in advancing the causes
of women in this subcontinent. It was she who
took the first step for awakening the Muslim
womenfolk in the British India through
education in an adverse environment.
Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880 1932) started school in 1909 for Muslim girls at
Bhagalpur town in Bihar after her husband Syed
Sakhawat Hossain's demise. But this noble
venture faced many impediments, so she was
compelled to close down the school and moved
to Calcutta where she opened the Sakhawat
Memorial Girls' School in 1911. At the age of 21,
she started publishing articles about the
condition of women.
By 1930, it was upgraded to a high school
where Bengali and English were regular courses.
In 1926, Rokeya presided over the Bengal
Women's Education Conference held in
Calcutta. She was active in debates and
implies womens capability to participate in all

spheres of public and political activities and
decision making process. However, the power
relations that shape social, political, economic
and cultural life prevent women from
participating fully in all areas of their lives,
whether its in the home, or in the public arena.
Even though women tried to assert their role in
society and politics since time immemorial,
through effective interventions, there still exists
a cultural, religious and structural barrier which
keeps womens position in society less important
than men. According to UN, womens historic
exclusion from political structures and processes
is the result of multiple structural, functional
and personal factors that vary in different social
contexts across countries. Religion, patriarchy,
military domination, lack of experienced
women, family responsibilities, unfair party
nomination process, lack of funding etc are some
of the cultural and institutional factors which
affect political participation of women.
Women in Politics
Yet, participation
of women in socioeconomic and
political process is
far less compared
to men. Despite
the guarantee of
full citizenship
rights, women
continue to face
exclusion and
marginalization all
over the world.
Given their social
roles and
responsibilities,
women are
disadvantaged
with regard to
access to
resources and
power when
compared to men.
Long Way to Go
Begum Rokeya is an inspiration for women
to play a greater role in nation building
conferences concerning the advancement of
women until her death in December 9, 1932,
shortly after presiding over a session during the
Indian Women's Conference in Aligarh.
Women constitute approximately half of the
total population of the world. While we consider
the dual role of women in both productive and
reproductive realm of life, their social
contribution is more than men. Yet, participation
of women in socioeconomic and political
process is far less compared to men. Despite the
guarantee of full citizenship rights, women
continue to face exclusion and marginalization
all over the world. Given their social roles and
responsibilities, women are disadvantaged with
regard to access to resources and power when
compared to men. In most of the countries,
gender relations are still influenced by feudal
past and patriarchal rules and norms. Social
indicators also reflect that womens access to
resources like education, health, labour and
employment continue to be below average in
several Afro-Asian countries.
Womens civil and political participation
The movement towards gender equality in

politics was greatly influenced by human rights
and civil liberties movements of the second half
of 20th century. However, as a movement
towards equal suffrage rights, it started in
18th century itself. It was in Haiti in 18th century
that women first campaigned for equal voting
rights with men. Corsican Republic granted
suffrage in 1755 to all people above 25 regardless
of sex. When France annexed this small island,
the privilege was ended abruptly. However,
New Zealand was the first country which
extended voting rights to women in 1893.
Though countries like Sweden, USA and
Australia extended voting rights to women, till
the second half of the 20th century Universal
adult franchise remained a distant dream for
women movements despite their advocacy and
campaign for equal treatment with men in
politics.
Voting Rights for women received
international recognition when UN included this
in International Declaration of Human Rights of
1948. The question of gender equality in politics
I Page: 26
Out Of the Box
The Beijing
conference
envisaged to
occupy at least
30% of the political
positions for
women. however,
as per the latest
data of 2008,
women occupy
only 18%
parliamentary
seats across the
world.
with the emphasis on active participation of

women became a concrete agenda in the first
World Conference on Women, which took place
in Mexico City in 1975. In this conference, the
international community analyzed and
discussed the intensity of the inequalities which
makes women second-class citizens in every
country including the developed capitalistic
countries of America and Western Europe.
However, the most significant milestone in the
history of movement towards gender equality in
politics is the UN convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) of 1979. For the first time in history,
womens rights took codified form in an
international human rights instrument. The UN
conferences on Women held in Copenhagen
[1980], Nairobi [1985] and Beijing [1995] also
played vital role in mainstreaming the issue of
participation of women in decision making
process throughout the world.
In spite of the efforts of international civil
society, womens access to political decision
making power is still limited to a microscopic
minority. The Beijing conference envisaged to
occupy at least 30% of the political positions for
women. However, as per the latest data of 2008,
women occupy only 18% parliamentary seats
across the world. There is significant regional
variation as well. It is evident that except Nordic
countries like Norway, Sweden Denmark and
Switzerland, all other countries women lags far
behind men in political decision making roles.
WOMEn in BAnGlADESH POliTiCS
In South Asia, women still face social and
religious barriers which had affected their
political and social participation. Bangladesh is
not an exception, even though we proudly share
the great tradition of Begum Rokeya who was
the embodiment of emancipated and liberated
women of the 20th century.
The Constitution of Bangladesh grants equal

rights to women and men in all spheres of public
life [Article 28(1), 28(2), and 28(3)]. Various laws
have been enacted and amended to protect
womens rights: the Muslim Family Laws
Ordinance of 1961, the Muslim Marriage and
Divorce Registration Act of 1974, the Dowry
Prohibition Act of 1980, the Family Court
Ordinance of 1985, and the Child Marriage
Registration Act of 1992 etc are some of them.
Interestingly, Bangladesh was one of the first
among developing countries to establish a
separate ministry for Women Affairs in 1978.
Civil society and womens organizations have
been a strong force in bringing forward womens
issues and interests into the countrys
development agenda. Women were first elected
to local bodies in 1973. The amendments to
the Union Parishad Ordinance (1997) relating to
provisions for direct election of women to onethird of the reserved seats in the Union
Parishads have changed the overall scenario of
womens representation at the local level.
Government reserved three seats for women in
the union parishad where women members are
elected from each of the three respective wards.
Apart from the reserved seats women can also
contest for any of the general seats.
The Upazila Parishad act 2009 passed by the
parliament gives more role to the women and
one of the vice presidents post are for women to
be elected by the people.
As a result of these measures, women have
become more politically visible in our country
than ever before. Among women politicians, the
previous generation entered politics through
social work and activism, while some among
them and the new generation of women have
emerged from student politics.
There is limited female involvement in party
hierarchical structures. However, the top
leadership positions in each of the two largest
parties are occupied by women. Though there
might be diverse perspectives about their role in
Bangladeshi politics and our future; we cannot
deny the fact that they have been successful as
driving forces and unifying factors of their
respective parties. Significantly, neither of them
inherited the mantle of leadership when their
party was in power. Once placed in the position
of leadership, they were able to generate their
own dynamics and momentum to lead their
parties through difficult times.
Although our Prime Minister and leader of
opposition in the parliament are women, it does
not reflect the gender composition of
participation and decision making at the highest
policy level. At the ministerial level, womens
representation has never risen above a certain
percent. Political participation of women in
Parliament remains profoundly weak and the
I Page: 27
Out Of The Box
Sheikh haSina
Womens access
to productive
resources is still
low compared to
men. hence,
more number of
men can
participate in
democratic
process even
though
constitutional
provisions
support both
men and women
equally.
khaleda zia
effectiveness of their participation is even

weaker. The very small presence of women in
the political party structures and in Parliament is
indicative of the very low level of their
involvement in the countrys political arena as
well as in legislative process.
One of the most important factors which limit
womens entry into politics in our country is
patriarchic value system that dominates in
society. In
a male dominant value system,
women are preoccupied with household
responsibilities which prevent them from
actively participating political process.
Moreover womens entry into civic activities is
looked down by the conservative society in
general and religious associations in
particular. Class mobility allows movement
between rich and poor, but the division of social
space and the difference in behavioral norms
between men and women are rigidly
maintained. The male dominated structure of
political parties and gender bias in political
decision making are other factor that affect
womens political participation. Woman
members often feel neglected and sidelined in
party organizations. Naturally, it affects their
enthusiasm to actively participate in political
process.
Commercialization of politics is another factor
which affects women participation. Elections
and political campaigns need enormous amount
of money. Womens access to productive
resources is still low compared to men. Hence,
more number of men can participate in
democratic process even though constitutional
provisions support both men and women
equally. Women also lack capacity and
organizational support to effectively lobby for
their cause in politics.
The importance of women's participation in
the political process should be recognized by the
government and political parties. Women's
perception of their political role could be
enhanced through education, training,
awareness, advocacy, employment, and legal

measures. Mass media and other agencies can be
used to help motivate women. There is a need to
disseminate more information about the need for
equal political participation of women.
Begum Rokeya heralded a new era in Bengali
womens emancipation during colonial times. In
a critical period of history, when all women
across the sub-continent were being crushed
under the forces of the British Raj and traditional
society, Begum Rokeya fought against the forces
of religious and social forms of repression and
highlighted the issues of gender equality and
participation.
Our womens organizations should imbibe the
spirit of Begum Rokeya in their activities and
struggle for gender parity in all walks of life
whether political or non-political. Islam as a
religion is not against women and there are
several women who played great role in Islamic
history including Bibi Khadeeja our holy
prophets wife and his daughter Bibi Fatima.
In Bangladesh, womens participation in
public affairs and their move towards political
representation needs certain fundamental
elements. Constitutional provisions and
affirmative action can only overcome the legal
barriers that hinder women participation in
politics. The socio cultural factors which affect
womens role in power politics should be tackled
with long term sensitization and capacity
building programs and strategies. As voters,
candidates and leaders, their skill and
capabilities have to be strengthened and
nurtured using effective awareness and capacity
building programs. Political participation of
women can be enhanced through securing
participation of more women in academic
institutions, civil society organizations,
bureaucracy, visual and print media and local
democratic institutions. Participatory role of
women in civic engagements will contribute to
their status in societal power relations which can
be reflected in political power structure as well.
Gender equality in politics and power relation
require the participation of large number of
women who can get out of their conventional
role within family and assert their social,
economic and political identity as active
participants in political dynamics rather than
passive beneficiaries of a male dominated value
system. As UNDP rightly says, The qualitative
impact of both participation and representation
also requires a greater critical mass in order to
more effectively influence legislative, policy and
budget
formulation,
implementation,
monitoring and evaluation processes. n
Wajid Ali Khan Panni is a former Deputy
Foreign Minister and former High Commissioner of
Bangladesh
I Page: 28
Guest Column
ikram Sehgal
PrESErvING SoCIETy
AND ThE NATIoN
onstitutional
Amendment
notwithstanding, the community has the
right to protect itself. Blacks Law
Dictionary defines self-defence as the use of
force to protect ones self, ones family and ones
property from a real and threatened attack.
Based on the law of necessity of selfpreservation, self-defence is provided for in
every religion and law, this right extending
even to a stranger defending the person or
property of another. Section 100 Pakistan Penal
Code (PPC) gives legal protection to the
individual for his actions if they cause voluntary
death or any other harm to the assailant, the
caveat being not to inflict more harm than is
necessary.
The natural corollary of the individual having
such rights, why are we even engaged in
debating the collective right of society and the
nation to preserve and defend ourselves against
terrorism? We have to bring the terrorists fight
to their doorstep, we cannot sit around in
blissful apathy for them to act. Successful in
counter-insurgency operations in Swat and
FATA, the Army capped this by Operation Zarbe-Azb in North Waziristan. There is frustration
among the rank and file as in contrast many of
the terrorists in urban areas are walking free.
The divided political will to go after the roots of
terrorism in the urban areas has now finally been
Carrying out the

orders the soldiers
will shoot to kill,
simply causing
injuries may
encourage the
protestors to escalate
the violence when
they know their life is
not in danger to
further aggravate the
situation. The logic is
that shock tactics will
disperse the rioters
and prevent more
shooting leading to
many more deaths.
harnessed after the dreadful Peshawar APC

incident. For the record the 21st Amendment (to
the Constitution) and the amendments in the
Pakistan Army Act were passed by the National
Assembly and the Senate without dissenting
votes. Recording their dissent by abstaining, two
religious parties very importantly did not cast a
negative vote.
Taking the analogy of self-defence further, the
Army unit/sub-unit detailed for Aid to Civil
Power in a riot situation will act strictly
according to the procedure given in the Manual
for Pakistan Military Law (MPML). With the
police failing to quell a riot even after opening
fire on the rioters, the magistrate on duty hands
control over to the unit/sub-unit commander
present on the spot, authorizing opening fire on
the rioters because the life and property of the
common citizen is threatened. Even if the
magistrate was not present, it is the
responsibility of the officer to take action on his
own cognisance to protect the life and property
of the common citizens.
Carrying out the orders the soldiers will
shoot to kill, simply causing injuries may
encourage the protestors to escalate the violence
when they know their life is not in danger to
further aggravate the situation. The logic is that
shock tactics will disperse the rioters and
prevent more shooting leading to many more
Pakistani rescue workers take out students from an ambulance who injured in the shootout at a school under attack by taliban
I Page: 29
Guest Column
The 21st
amendment is a
start, it has to be
further refined. in the
meantime the
country cannot be
held hostage by
technicalities,
something is better
than nothing!
Recording the
dissent of the
minority we must
move to implement
the national action
plan in letter and
spirit.
deaths. The ring leaders must be targetted in the

mob, unfortunately the relatively less guilty
usually in the line of fire are considered collateral
damage. Every community has a right of selfdefence. By inference such collateral damage in
such a summary justice situation is acceptable
where an individual becomes the judge, jury and
executioner. Than why is the process of justice of
military courts not?
Zardari has convenient amnesia about his
providing a legal framework for the Army to
operate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Why did
respected Constitutional experts like Raza
Rabbani and Aitzaz Khan fail to stop him
promulgating Actions in Aid of Civil Power
Regulation 2011 (AACPR 2011) on June 23, 2011,
backdating it to Feb 1, 2008? To quote (then)
President Zardari, miscreants are waging war
against Pakistan, attacking infra-structure
through illegal private armies and trying to
assert control over the territories of Pakistan.
Measures included the mobilisation of armed
a soldier stands by ammunition seized during a military operation against taliban militants, in the of town of
miramshah, north waziristan
forces in aid of civil power or their requisition by

the Provincial or Federal govt, armed action,
stationing of troops, etc till their withdrawal by
the govt. Meant to cover the weaknesses in the
Qanoon-i-Shahadat 1984 (derived from the
Evidence Act 1872) that allows any good lawyer
to laugh his guilty client through to innocence,
these regulations provide that a statement or
deposition by any member of the armed forces,
or any officer authorised on his behalf, would be
sufficient to prove the facts for convicting an
accused. If AACPR 2011 is good enough for the
citizens of Pakistan residing in FATA and Swat,
why the discrimination protecting the citizens in
the heartland of Pakistan? What was done by
Zardari to qualm the conscience of Maulana
Fazlur Rahman and Raza Rabbani than?
One respects those with a conscience but why
did they choose to keep silent when AACPR was
enacted in 2011? With Asif Zardari
grandstanding doing his U-turn, Senator Raza
Rabbani may shed real tears now, the fact
remains he shed his conscience voting for a Bill
because that was needed. Neither unexpected
nor surprising, Maulana Fazlur Rahman knows
how and when to benefit from opportunity but
JIs Maulana Sirajs stand was on principles.
Terrorism is not going anywhere if we are
selective about excluding anyone who has links
to terrorism of any kind. Terrorism across the
board must be targetted, action cannot be
confined to only those using religion and/or sect.
The 21st Amendment is a start, it has to be
further refined. In the meantime the country
cannot be held hostage by technicalities,
something is better than nothing! Recording the
dissent of the minority we must move to
implement the National Action Plan in letter
and spirit. This is the moment of truth!
Preserving society and the nation must take
precedence over everything else.n
iKrAM SEHGAl is Editor-in-Chief of Pakistan's Defence Journal
and a renowned security and political analyst of the South Asian region
I Page: 30
Book Review
INDIAN ELECTIoNS
IN A NUTShELL
This volume, to put it in black and white, contains anything and
everything on indian elections and governance... and a bit more
Reviewed by AyESHA KABir
ith democracy, or the lack of it

thereof, glaring at us in the
face, political scientists and
others time and again refer to the
model of India, the biggest democracy
in the world. Despite troubled nations
surrounding it on all sides, India has
managed to retain a strong hold on
democracy and its democratic process.
Free and fair elections have been the
key, as well as subsequent acceptance
of victory and defeat by the respective
sides. The pattern of the elections in this
large South Asian nation is a document
of a sure and steady democratic
process.
Much has been written on the
democracy of India, there have been
both bouquets and brickbats for its
political parties and their respective
ideologies and foreign policies. This
regional power has been seen at times
as a role model and at other times as the
neighbourhood Big Brother. But the
fact of the matter remains that despite
its diverse demographic characteristic,
be it in the diversity or race, religion,
caste or creed, free franchise has been
the glue which keeps the people
adhered to its nationhood in an
unwavering manner.
A Hand Book of Indian Elections and
Governance (1947-2014) is a book
detailing the Indian elections and its
journey of governance since the
independence of the country till date. It
is a thorough research of the electoral
process of India, the upper and lower
houses, the constituencies, the results of
all the elections till date, the members
and so on. It is also a record of the
governance history of India, its
constitution, its presidents, prime
ministers and other state figures, its
National Security Council and other
A Hand Book of Indian Elections and

Governance (1947-2014)
Compiled and edited by ASM Shamsul
Arefin and Sanghamitra Saha
Published by Somoy Prokashon (2014)
Cover design: Adventure
Price: Tk 800 (US$ 32)
institutions facts and figures. It is a

handbook par excellence.
The very first chapter of the book,
Electoral Process of India, is basically a
primer in India elections, but reveals
with clarity the solid structure of the
Indian process of franchise. It lists the
Chief Elections Commissioners of India
from 1952 (Sukumar Sen), down till the
incumbent VS Sampath, 18 CECs in all.
The book then goes on to explain the
nitty-gritty of the Lok Sabha, its history,
its requirements, powers and
procedures. Next in the book is the
Rajya Sabha, its constitutional
provisions and more. It details the role

of the leader of the opposition too and
names the leaders of opposition in the
Rajya Sabha, from 1969 (Shyam
Nandan Mishra) till the incumbent
Ghulam Nabi Azad. The national
political parties and the state parties are
enlisted within this book too. The list of
state parties reveals interesting names
such as Amra Bangalee, All India
Muslim Forum, Gareebjan Samaj Party,
The Humanist Party of India and so on.
The chapter on the Analysis of India
Elections (Lok Sabha 1952-2014) is an
interesting study, covering the debut of
the Lok Sabha in 1952, going through
the entire gamut of Lok Sabhas, till the
present 16th one. The charts and tables
then present the documented results of
the Lok Sabha elections from 1951 till
2014. This is certainly a document of
history which should grace any public
or public library worth its salt.
The tables and charts are the
mainstay of the book, historical
documentation, all in one volume.
While obviously valuable to the Indian
researcher, academic, political scientist,
etc, the concerned Bangladeshi reader
will be enlightened by the facts, figures
and emerging patterns too. In fact, this
is a book for anyone anywhere who
needs to know about the Indian
democratic and electoral process. It is
indeed a painstakingly essayed
reference book, a volume of great value.
The identity of the authors, ASM
Shamsul Arefin and Sanghamitra Saha,
is enough to attest the relevance of the
book for its research and reference.
ASM Arefin is a renowned researcher
of Bangladesh and his book Elections of
Bangladesh
(1970-2008)
is
an
indispensable documentation of
Bangladesh's election history in detail.
His acumen and methodical work
processes, with an eye for the detail,
have been applied to the authoring of
the present volume. Sanghamitra Saha
of India is the co-researcher of the book
and applied herself to the task with
diligence and perseverance.
Published by Somoy Prokashon in
2014, this is a 424-page volume. The
cover pictures the national symbol of
India, the Ashoka sculpture of four
lions, with the Indian flag in the
foreground. Designed by Adventure,
the cover aptly captures the essence of
the book and what India stands for in
democracy and governance. n
I Page: 31
Revelation and Recollections
BHASAni'S
lETTEr TO
SHEiKH MuJiB
PROBE News Magazine carries a series of extracts from the writings of various prominent
persons. These writings have not lost their appeal or their relevance. In fact, these
revelations of the past explain the present day predicament of the country and the people.
The present excerpt is from journalist Rezwan Siddiqui's Kathamalar Rajniti 1972-1975
[Politics of Words 1972-1975]. The book was first published in 1984 and the second edition
in 1990 at the February book fair, by the publishers Pratik Prokashona Sanghstha.
hen Maulana Bhasani tried to

hold a public meeting on 29
June 1974, the government's
police force apprehended him and
placed him under house arrest. Many
persons, including Mashiur Rahman,
Oli Ahad and others, were also arrested
that day.
The budget session was underway in
parliament at the time. On 2 July during
the budget session, Home Minister
Mansur Ali replied to a question about
Maulana Bhasani being interned. He
said, "The police wanted to provide
security to Bhashani.... Any journalist
can go to Santosh and see him, he is not
under house arrest." (Dainik Bangla 3
July 1974)
The very next day, the daily Ittefaq
published a copy of a letter
handwritten by Maulana Bhasani on 2
July. In the letter, Maulana Bhasani
wrote to Prime Minister Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman:
"I demand that an inquiry be made
into the misbehaviour by the Ramna
police and their assault on my Oikya
Front activists, and that the guilty
persons be sternly punished. I demand
the immediate release of all political
prisoners including the student
activists and leaders of our Oikya
Front.
"In the early hours of 29 June, a large
number of police and high ranking
police officers arrived with a detention
order from the ADC of Dhaka and
arrested me. They were taking me to be
imprisoned for 30 days at Dhaka
Central Jail. However, they changed
their route to the central jail and took
me to Santosh instead, where I have
been kept under heavy police guard.

And yet during Ayub's rule, only eight
policemen, two havildars and one subinspector kept watch on your (Sheikh
Mujib's) Dhanmondi residence.
"Today,
during
your
rule,
innumerable police, havildars, SI, RI
and a deputy police super have
surrounded my house. Even the toilet is
u n d e r
daughter's room). People can only enter

and leave my house with the deputy
super's permission. I could never
imagine I would suffer such inhuman
oppression during your (Sheikh
Mujib's) rule. What irony! As soon as
possible, for the sake of the privacy of
the womenfolk in my house, arrange a
tent or some facilities for the police and
the officers. Or make arrangements for
me and my family to be relocated to
some other place in Tangail."
The letter was published and on the
same day, in accordance to the Home
Minister's words, correspondents of
Ittefaq
and
some
other
watch. The police are in my

cowshed. The police have no place of
their own to stay. They are in my guest
room, in my children's room. A DIB
watcher is constantly posted in front of
my house (in front of my married
i could never imagine i

would suffer such inhuman
oppression during your
(sheikh mujib's) rule.
What irony! as soon as
possible, for the sake of
the privacy of the
womenfolk in my house.
newspapers
went to Santosh to interview
Maulana Bhasani. A police on guard
outside Bhasani's house snatched away
the camera from a photographer and
smashed it. They refused to let the
journalists meet the Maulana. This
news appeared in the 4 July dailies. On
20 July the journalists went to meet
Maulana Bhasani again, but the
concerned police officer told them.
"Journalists and political leaders are not
permitted to meet Maulana Bhashani." n
I Page: 32
International
n wars, the first casualty is always

said to be the truth. And the
consequence of this has always been
found to be horrendous for the people
who get caught in the cross-fire. The
Middle East is still paying a heavy price
in life and property for the 2002
discovery of the non-existent weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq. Also, this
discovery seems to have forced the US
into a never-ending war in a theatre
dangerously too close to the nucleararmed Israel, Washingtons permanent
post in the Middle East. But one cannot
blame the US administration alone for
being the perpetrators of the casualty.
The US media is equally to be blamed
for accepting the falsehood without
questioning its veracity.
War is too serious a matter to be left
to generals, so said George
Clemenceau,
a
journalist-cumphysician who had also served as the
prime minister of France (1906-09). So,
it would be totally wrong and
professionally incorrect on the part of
Pakistani media to stop questioning the
moves the authorities would be making
on the advice of generals and the
decisions they would be taking
concerning the war against terrorism,
which after a very long wait and having
cost us the lives of over 50,000
Pakistanis including about 10,000
troops, and hundreds of school-going
children plus an estimated Rs 80 billion,
is being owned by the authorities as our
own after having remained, in their
estimation, somebody elses for almost
12 long years. During this long-drawn
state of denial, a good number of media
professionals had been shouting from
every rooftop, at the risk of being
declared traitors and unpatriotic, that it
Medias
role in
war
against
terrorism
by M ZiAuDDin
is our war now, no matter how, why
and when it was started. But to no
avail.
Governments -both democratic and
non-democratic, of countries both
developed and developing -readily
blame the media for their own failures.
And
after
having
persuaded
themselves into believing this selfdeceiving fiction, they usually tend to
apply thoughtless controls on the

media, closing off their own view of
what is really happening under their
very noses causing them naturally to
take wrong decisions, which more often
than not lead to disastrous
consequences taking the country in the
direction totally opposite to the one
desired. It is in this worrisome
perspective that Pakistani media
professionals are examining the moves
that the government is seemingly
making to render the media more
responsible while performing its
professional duties during the ongoing
war on terror, which it has owned up
only recently in lock-stock with the
army.
No doubt, a part of the national
media also suffers from the same
mindset malady that has afflicted a
good proportion of our society. Like in
all other branches, official and nonofficial, civil and military, the media
also has its own quota of madcaps who
sympathise and empathise with the
distorted ideology that is driving the
terrorists to kill in cold blood. And as
we all know, this mindset has not
germinated in a vacuum. It is one of the
sad legacies of the first Afghan war
(1979-1988) that was actually waged by
the American CIA in close cooperation
with our own secret agencies. Even
Osama bin Laden was known to have
been a classical consequence of the
CIA-manufactured jihad.
In times of war, propaganda based
on falsehood causes more harm than
good to the national interest. What is
needed at such times is to be truthful as
far as it is permitted by the situation on
the ground. Of course, the government
has the right to withhold information
that falls in the domain of war strategy
and tactics or such information the
disclosure of which would enable the
enemy to pre-empt our battle plans.
The factual state of the war needs
sharing with the media, leaving it to
media professionals to use the
information as they deem fit. With the
war progressing in the right direction
and the counter-narrative gaining
ground at the same time, the extremist
mindset that has afflicted not an
insignificant part of our society as also
a set of influential media professionals,
would gradually fade away reducing
gradually the market for promanufactured jihad related stories. n
I Page: 33
Region I India
rime Minister Narendra Modis

announcement from the parapet
of Madison Square Garden in
New York City apropos the grant of
lifetime visas to Persons of Indian
Origin (PIO) card holders was greeted
with jubilation by Indian Americans.
But it also brought to the fore
prejudices embedded in the treatment
of people settled in Indias immediate
neighbourhood. While welcoming PIOs
from First World nations such as the
United States, the United Kingdom and
Australia, people from Bhutan,
Afghanistan,
Nepal,
Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran (excluding
Iranian nationals of Indian origin) and
China have been at the receiving end of
systematic discrimination for years.
For passport holders of other
countries who wished to enjoy benefits
akin to that of an Indian citizen or an
NRI (non-resident Indian), a scheme
was launched in 1999, called Person of
Indian Origin (PIO) Card Scheme, and
it was further revised in 2002. Those
who could benefit from it were: persons
who, at any point in time, had held an
Indian passport; persons whose
parents, grandparents or greatgrandparents were born in
and were permanent
residents of India; or
persons who were
foreign spouses of
an Indian citizen or
a PIO holder. Any
foreign national
who was eligible to
become a citizen of
India on or after
January 26, 1950,
DoUBLE STANDArDS
There is no logic to the way in which the indian government
grants persons of indian origin (pio) cards to citizens of certain
countries and not to others.
by DiVyA TriVEDi
(commencement of the Indian
Constitution) is eligible to benefit from
an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
Scheme.
The deadline for the merger of the
PIO and OCI cards, as announced by
Narendra Modi, has been set for
January 2015. If it goes through, it will
drastically ease visa norms for PIOs
and enable frequent and hassle-free
travel for them. In making this
announcement, Modi carried forward
the hackneyed agenda of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) to reach out to the
Indian Diaspora. This endorsement of a
certain class of people (predominantly
the business community) has opened a
Pandoras box and brought into sharp
focus a policy of the Indian government
that seeks to exclude a lot of people
from enjoying citizenship rights.
Naina Khurshid, born and
brought up in New York, is
the daughter of parents who
migrated to the United States
from Karachi in Pakistan.
Her family had gone to
Karachi from Patna after
Partition. Of all the
countries she has
lived
in,
she
feels most
at home in
India but
this is one
country
where she
will never become eligible for

citizenship. Having lived in many
countries in the four decades of my
youth, I feel completely at ease in Delhi
and would love nothing more than to
spend more time here. But I have come
to understand and accept that as a
person whose folks are perceived to be
from Pakistan, I will never be able to
make India a home, she says.
Every time she has to visit, the
establishment gives her a hard time
through bureaucratic rigmarole, and
long-term work visas are hard to come
by. All this on the grounds that her
grandparents chose to become citizens
of Pakistan post-Partition many
decades before she was born. This
might be her last visit
in a long time to
come, she adds.
People who hold
citizenships of
Pakistan
or
Bangladesh
have
longer
waiting
periods,
sometimes
many years,
compared with
citizens of other
countries,
and
have to complete piles
of paperwork before they
are able to visit family or friends
in India.
A circular from the Ministry of Home
Affairs signed by Undersecretary to the
Government of India, M.K. Khanna,
with a copy to Secretaries of Ministries
of Tourism, Human Resource
Development, and Information &
Broadcasting, officials of the Ministry
of External Affairs and the Foreigner
Regional Registration Offices of Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata and Amritsar and the
I Page: 34
Region I India
audience memBerS wave indian flagS and hold BalloonS during an event with india'S
Prime miniSter narendra modi at madiSon Square garden in new york. Photo reuterS.
Chief Immigration Officer, Chennai,

specifies who is ineligible for availing
himself/herself of the PIO status:
Besides the nationals of Pakistan
and Bangladesh, the nationals of Sri
Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal,
Iran, China and any other country that
may be specified by the Central
Government shall also not be eligible
for issue of PIO card. Further if the
applicant himself or either of his
parents, grandparents or great
grandparents held the nationality of
these specified countries at any time, he
will not be granted PIO card. It goes
on to add that, stateless persons
holding identity/ travel documents
shall not be eligible for grant of PIO
card.
These policies bust the myth that
India is a melting pot of different
cultures that assimilates refugees from
all over, especially neighbouring
countries, with ease. It may still be easy
for people to get inside the country
illegally due to its lax control but the
officialdom makes it hard for people
who want to do things legally. In short,
it excludes genuine requests for
citizenship by people who have been
residing and working in the country for
years, condemning them to depend on
applying for short-term visas with no
guarantee of extensions. While the
notification states that all spouses of
Indian citizens are eligible to apply for
a PIO card, in practice, spouses from
South Asian backgrounds are excluded
without being given any reasons. It
especially hurts spouses of Indian
citizens from South Asian countries
who have been residing here for
decades.
The governments reasons for

implementing such a policy could not
be verified as attempts to contact the
Joint Secretary (Foreigners) and the
Minister of State for Home Affairs were
unsuccessful. Email queries went
unanswered.
DiSCriMinATiOn in PrACTiCE
Ruling out citizens of Pakistan and
Bangladesh on grounds of ancestry
could be because their ancestors were
all citizens of British India. Likewise,
there are about a million Sri Lankan
Tamils of recent Indian origin.
(Whether they would be able to
produce the required documentation is
of course very doubtful.) But, this does
not apply to spouses of Indian citizens,
and I think the PIO Notification has not
excluded them precisely because that
would constitute racial discrimination.
Yet, in practice, that is what is being
done, says Sanchari Nag who lives in
a South Asian country and has been
married to an Indian citizen for close to
four decades. She has been continuing
in domicile by applying for short-term
visas almost annually.
Contrast this with the situation of
Alec Martin, a British national, with no
Indian ancestry but married to an
Indian citizen, who got his PIO within
three weeks of applying for it on the
strength of his marriage to an Indian
citizen and one wonders if there is an
exclusion policy practised by the state
but not spelt out as it would directly
incriminate it for practising racism. If
this is indeed the case, the Ministry of
Home Affairs practice is in blatant
violation of the United Nations
convention against all forms of racial
discrimination,
including
discrimination on the basis of
nationality. It would also seem to be a
violation of the terms of the PIO
Notification, besides being a clear case
of discrimination on the basis of
nationality, which is counted as racial
discrimination in the International
Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Officials in bureaucratic and foreign
affairs circles will tell you that most
countries have certain necessary
protocols that need to be followed
where citizenship is concerned and that
India is no different. But beyond the
questions of necessary safeguards for
a nation state, there are questions of
whether, within the privileged concept
of citizenship, the establishment
exhibits a trace of prejudice in the way
it denies citizenship to people from
specific nationalities in a systematic
manner and whether some rethinking
is not required about the way in which
this has become the norm.
A long-standing demand of the
Hindu minority community in
Pakistan has been for citizenship.
Treated as a minority community in
Pakistan and as refugees in India, they
are a people without a nation. Mostly
poor and homeless, hundreds of them
have been arriving on trains from
Pakistan and camping in the towns of
Rajasthan for decades now. In an
election speech given in the area, the
BJP, specifically Narendra Modi,
promised to help their cause. But after
the Lok Sabha victory, the party has
forgotten them and is instead busy
wooing the richer diaspora elsewhere.
Hindu Singh Sodha, president of the
Seemant Lok Sangathan, which has
been actively campaigning for their
rights, gave a call for a dharna at Jantar
Mantar, New Delhi, earlier this year,
along with 350 Hindu migrants. They
are asking for the inclusion of
persecuted Hindu and Sikh minorities
of Pakistan and Bangladesh in the PIO
scheme. They say that if a person or
either of his parents were earlier
citizens of independent India and have
been residing in India for one year
immediately before making an
application for registration, then the
person should be considered for
citizenship. Under this provision, the
majority of Hindu migrants from
Pakistan staying in India on long-term
visas will be eligible to apply for
citizenship. n
I Page: 35
Region I Pakistan
It doesnt matter if a cat is black or white, so
long as it catches mice. - Deng Xiaoping
engs remarks about the

irrelevance of the colour to a
cats mice-catching abilities
seems relevant to the raging
controversy over the decision to set up
an alternative system of military courts
to put on trial those waging war on the
state. One can keep arguing against the
decision, and with very good reason,
the consequent militarisation of the
justice system.
But it is also true that these are not
ordinary times. The demand of the
situation has changed with the country
under siege. For sure there is a need to
strengthen the entire judicial structure,
but can a nation in a state of war wait
for the revamping of the system, and
for how long?
The militants have long since been
waging a war against the Pakistani
state. But it is only now that the
political leadership has finally
concluded the nation is in a state of war
which completely alters the paradigm rom peacetime to a war environment.
Though the realisation has come too
late and at a very heavy price, the war
now has to be fought with all the means
available to the state. This necessarily
also raises the question about how to
deal with elements involved in what
are defined under the law as war
crimes.
For sure, we already have legal
instruments to deal with cases of
terrorism. But can they be effective in a
war situation? For the past several
years, the armed forces have been
engaged in fighting insurgents not only
in the tribal areas, but also in parts of
KP. The military campaigns in those
regions were authorised by the
government under the Constitution.
The militants went ahead and
extended their war beyond the conflict
zone to the countrys main cities. Under
this situation, the attacks on civilians
and security agencies do come under
war crimes. The militants who
massacred schoolchildren, beheaded
soldiers and attacked defence
installations have surely committed
war crimes and must be dealt with as
such.
Alas, it took the gruesome Peshawar
school massacre to awaken the
government and political parties to the
existentialist threat, while thousands of

people had already become a victim of
the relentless terrorist attacks over the
past decade. The state of denial and
capitulation has allowed militants to
gain further space.
Our response to the militant attacks
thus far has mostly been reactive with
no clear strategy for a decisive war. A
major flaw was that there was no clear
policy on what to do with the
combatants captured by the security
forces and intelligence agencies in the
conflict region. More than 6,000 alleged
militants arrested in Swat, Waziristan
and other tribal areas have been
languishing in army detention centres
for the past several years without being
hard
choice
by ZAHiD HuSSAin
produced before any court of law.
Successive governments ignored this
grave problem and failed to develop a
legal mechanism to deal with the
detained combatants. The issue of
missing persons became more and
more of a scandal. Neither the civilian
administration nor the security and
intelligence agencies have been willing
to take responsibility.
That has also resulted in a marked
rise in alleged extrajudicial killings.
Hundreds of hardened militants who
faced trial in the anti-terrorism courts
benefited from the outdated law of
evidence and were freed by the courts.
Threat to their lives prevented judges
from convicting the others. Recently,
the government introduced the
Protection of Pakistan Act, but could
not find magistrates to run the courts
set up under the act. The anti-terrorism
courts have virtually become a joke
with all kinds of cases being referred to
them.
Now for the very first time the

political and military leadership seem
to be on the same page on taking
decisive action against militancy and
terrorism. The Peshawar school tragedy
too has finally brought the major
political parties together in supporting
a national plan of action. This
newfound resolve must not be wasted
on the sole issue of military-led special
courts.
There is no doubt that the military is
now in the driving seat and surely with
the concurrence of the political
leadership. It was the governments
decision to bring in the top military
brass to the multiparty meetings. Call it
surrender or anything else, this
abdication of authority by the political
leadership certainly undermines the
claim of civilian supremacy.
Yet it is wrong to conclude that it was
purely pressure from the military that
made the political parties agree on the
counterterrorism action plan of which
military-led special courts are a part.
Many political leaders have long been
advocating tougher action to counter
the terrorist threat, though they may
have reservations over the military-led
special courts.
It is fair to argue that there could
have been a better option than the
military courts though it is not clear
what other alternatives could be as
effective in the present situation. The
military courts are surely not the most
desirable system of justice even in this
conflict. Their acceptability can only be
based on temporary measures to deal
with those challenging the state and
indulging in killings.
It is, however, wrong to compare the
proposed military-led special courts to
those set up under military rule. These
courts would not be working
autonomously, but will be under the
control of civilian authorities for a
limited period of time. The amendment
in the Constitution does not give carte
blanche to the military to decide whom
these special courts should try. They
would only be used to try the hardened
terrorists and those who incite violence
in the name of religion.
For sure, there is always a danger of
these courts being misused. But it is for
parliament and the Supreme Court to
keep a strict watch on them and not let
their supremacy slip away.n
The writer is an author and journalist.
I Page: 36
Region I Sri Lanka
Who is this Sirisena?

by SAnDun A JAyASEKErrA
orn on September 3rd, 1951 to a

farming family at Laksha Uyana,
in Polonnaruwa Maithripala
Sirisena is the first President produced
from historic Rajarata.
Incidentally, he has been born after a
few hours of forming the SLFP, the
political alternative to the much
powerful and ruling UNP of the day by
late
Prime
Minister
S.W.R.D.
Bandaranaike. His mother was a school
teacher. His father, who was in active
service in the Second World War chose
paddy farming after the end of the war
and moved to a farming colony in
Polonnaruwa to continue the carrier of
his forefathers as Prime Minister D.S.
Senanayaka gave state lands to exservicemen for paddy cultivation.
Sirisena had his education at
Thopawewa Maha Vidyalaya and
Royal College, Polonnaruwa. Even
during his school days he has showed
skills in leadership and had a knack for
politics and social and community
service. In order to further his political
ambitions and obtaining ideological
acumen, Sirisena joined the Communist
Party of Ceylon (CPC Peking) while
still a school boy and closely associated
with party leader N. Shanmugadasan
in party activities.
The fate did not wait much longer to
gift this young student leader for his
abilities and ambitions as then SLFP
Member of Parliament in Polonnaruwa,
Leelaratna Wijesingha chose him as the
secretary of the SLFP Youth
Organization in Polonnaruwa and he
was only 17 years of age. However, the
active politics at such young age also
had negative impacts and he was
arrested and put behind bars at

Batticaloa jail during 1971 insurrection.
Following his release from prison, he
joined All Ceylon SLFP Youth
Organization
led
by
Anura
Bandaranaike and joined politics at
national level. After serving at a
number of state institutions, Sirisena
obtained the SLFP membership in 1978
and launched his long political carrier
that culminated after being elected as
the 6th Executive President of Sri
Lanka.
In 1981, he was chosen as the
President of the SLFP Youth
Organization and later as the Treasurer.
He took over the responsibility of the
Secretary of the organization after Basil
Rajapakas joined the UNP at the 1981
Presidential poll. Subsequently, he was
appointed the Polonnaruwa SLFP chief

organizer by the SLFP hierarchy.
In 1989, he was elected to the
Parliament for the first time and in 1994
appointed as the Deputy Minister of
Irrigation by the Peoples Alliance
government and promoted as the
Minister of Mahaweli Development at
the 1997 reshuffle.
Since then there was no looking back
and Sirisena moved steadily in the
political ladder and in 1997 was
appointed as the General Secretary of
the SLFP.
From 1997 up to his resignation as
the General Secretary of the SLFP and
Health Minister to challenge former
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he held
several important cabinet portfolios
and most significant achievement was
his green revolution during the global
food crisis that saved Sri Lanka.
As the Agriculture and Mahaweli
Development Minister he was able to
motivate farmers to grow enough
paddy, vegetables, fruits, grains and
other foods locally under the sloga Api
Wavamu Rat Nagamu and Sri lanka
was able to stand the global food crisis.
The government decision to give
farmers a bag of fertilizer for Rs. 350
was the result of his efforts and saved
the Paddy Marketing Board from
privatization.
As the Health Minister he introduced
legislations to cover cigarette packets
with pictorial warnings and to
introduce a National Medicinal Drug
Policy based on medicinal drug policy
of respected medical personality Dr.
Senaka Bibile that would benefit the
entire country and he had to fight with
many multi national companies and
powerful people to this.
He has been a prime target of the
LTTE and had a narrowly escaped from
a suicide bomber who targeted him at
Boralasgamuwa during the ethnic
conflict. His fighting qualities were well
displayed when he decided to contest
the Presidential election when he
decided to contest the powerful UPFA
and President Rajapaksa.
The election of President Sirisena
with a mandate from Sinhala, Tamil
and Muslim voters indicate that he is a
President of all communities and
ethnicities and a Maithri Palanayak
will dawn from today to entire Sri
Lanka under a government that
pledges to put an end to corruption,
nepotism, bad governance and
politicization of the judiciary. n
I Page: 37
Film
PK
not quite out of this world
by SurEKHA KADAPA BOSE
or once, the entire film fraternity has to applaud

the robust stance taken by Indias Censor Board of
Film Certification for not buckling under the
pressure of the self-professed guardians of Hindu
religion who are baying for a ban on Aamir Khans latest
release, PK.
The irony of this insistence cant be missed. Within 10
days of its release the film has already set a record at the
box office collection over INR 200 crores in the Indian
market! So any claims by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and
some Hindu outfits that the film hurts the sentiments of
Hindus referring to a particular scene of a stage actor
attired as Lord Shiva, is in itself laughable.
Adding to this were the tweets by ruling political party
BJP member and former cabinet minister Dr
Subramaniam Swamy who claimed that the film was
funded by the ISI and some people from Dubai. Always a
controversial politician, he got a lot of flak on social media
for this claim.
The audience knows that the film is a satire, and
nowhere questions the existence of the Almighty. In fact,
it goes on to raise questions about self-styled religious
zealots exploiting the common fears of the public at large
and the inconsistency among different faiths in regard to
rituals, customs, dress etc.
After all its a Rajkumar Hirani film so naturally one
expects it to be entertaining but at the same time talk
about social issues. Remember his first three films
Munna Bhai MBBS and its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai,
and then 3 Idiots? In PK, Hirani tackles the highly
sensitive issue of religion, self-appointed men of God,
their divisive religious practices and exploitations of
peoples fears.
Expectations are very high of anything from the house
of RHF (Raju Hirani Films). Sadly PK isnt one of his best,
but even with all its drawbacks, the last big release of the
year is still far above the clutter of nonsensical cinema we
have had in 2014 from Bollywood.
The film says something very relevant and after coming
out of the theatre makes you want to discuss religion, faith
and divine existence. Even if you are agnostic, the
questions raised and tackled in PK makes you think, if not
at an intellectual level, but at least at a Bollywood level.
One thing very laudable, and I really wish other script
writers would learn from the duo of Hirani and his
writing partner Abhijat Joshi, is precise script and
dialogue writing. Except for a romantic unwanted song,
there isnt much one could have done away in the story.
I mean after all its a Hindi film and so songs and
dances are important ingredients of it. That is one of the
jarring notes of the film; why make an alien sing? Yes, the
story is all about an alien (Aamir Khan) visiting planet
Earth and trying to decipher the idiosyncratic behaviour
of earthlings. He is bewildered by their actions, which
makes him comment, Hamri goley (planet) pe koi jhoot
nahin bolta. Yeh pe to lul hoi gayi hamri life.
In the entire film Aamir speaks a Rajasthani dialect as
unfortunately he lands from his spaceship on a remote
desert strip of Rajasthan and he imbibes the local
language. In his planet they dont have any spoken
language and instead mind-read each other by holding
I Page: 38
Flim
anuShka Sharma and aamir khan
hands. Plus they dont wear any clothes

and hence he lands butt naked.
Dont panic. No Full Monty scene
here. Hirani knows the sensibilities of
our Censor Board. A 1990 two-in-one
tape recorder helps cover the
unmentionables. Even this got a lot of
pre-release publicity protests for the
poster of the film showing an almostnaked Aamir with a tape recorder.
As Hirani said in an interview, I was
amused when people complained
about nudity. Theres no vulgar
moment in the film. Its a very
interesting-looking poster that signifies
the film.
Its this appearance big, saucershaped green eyes, teacup handle ears,
lack of any language plus nudity
makes people in the film ask,
Pee kay ayo ho? Without
understanding it, the alien
abbreviates it to PK. He is
introduced to the customs of
our planet by a jovial good
Samaritan, band master
Bhairon Singh (Sanjay Dutt).
PKs first encounter is with
a man who steals his remote
through which he can call his
space ship, like our own taxis,
to take him back home. In
search of his remote, the alien
travels through India and in
turn gets exposed to the practices and

doings of its people.
Incidentally, he lands up in Delhi and
happens to meet a TV journalist, the
bubbly Jagat Janani aka Jaggu
(Anushka) who is desperately in search
of a breaking news story. Jaggu has just
returned from Bruges, a picturesque
city in Belgium with a broken heart
over a mistaken belief of being ditched
at the altar by Sarfaraz (Sushant). She
gets intrigued by the actions of PK and
follows him.
Meanwhile, PK learns of God who is
believed to solve everyones problems.
He lands up at shrines of different
faiths temples, churches, mosques et
al and ends up highly confused. As he
says, Humka
laagat hai Bhagawan se baat kara ke

communication system iss gola ka ek
dum lul ho chukka hai!
This quest at times is funny, sarcastic
and also sad. Especially when he meets
the self-proclaimed godman Tapasvi
Maharaj (Saurabh Shukla) who has
acquired PKs remote and brandishes it
as Lord Shivas blessings. To get back
the remote PK needs to expose the
Tapasvi as a fraud.
All the ingredients are right in place.
Acting from the entire cast is great.
Aamir as the alien doesnt have too
much to do but to wear the same
expression throughout the film. The
dialogues,
his
innocent-looking
appearance and his make-up do it
for him. Anushka and Sushant are
good. Dutt is his usual jovial self.
Boman and Saurabh walk
through their roles. They have
done this before.
In fact, the story too is a case
of old wine in a new bottle a
reminiscence of 2012 Paresh
Rawal and Akshay Kumars
OMG. PK isnt one of Hiranis
best and unlikely to be
remembered for long. But the
new controversy, which isnt
expected to last long either,
may make it the biggest ever
grosser of Indian films. n
I Page: 39
Food
Is sugar
the next
ToBACCo?
elebrity chef Jamie Oliver recently branded sugar as definitely

the next evil. He proclaimed that sugary foods risk causing a
public health crisis similar to smoking and should be taxed in
the same way as tobacco. Sugar is the next tobacco, without a
doubt, and that industry should be scared. It should be taxed just like
tobacco and anything else that can, frankly, destroy lives, he said,
reported Daily Mail.
He argued that the ingredient should be targeted because of the
burden it places on the National Health Service. He reiterated the fact
that sugary diets are one of the main factors in increasing obesity and
Type-2 diabetes. According to Al-Arabiya News, the chef expressed his
support for Frances imposition of taxes on sugary drinks and holds that
Britain should follow suit.
UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ruled out taxing sugar last year, but
confessed that more needed to be done to tackle childhood obesity.
Oliver said, Im not passionate about taxing, but when you look at the
pot of cash that isnt getting any bigger, and if you think that 68 per cent
of every case that goes through the NHS is diet-related, then yes, you
need radical change, reported the Telegraph.
The average Briton consumes 238 teaspoons of sugar each week, often
without knowing, since processed foods today are laden with sugar. A
third of British children and two-thirds of British adults are classed as
obese or overweight, while the number with diabetes has doubled in the
past two decades.
The 39-year-old campaigner also disclosed that he personally found
himself on the edge of burning out from exhaustion last year, while
managing his business empire alongside a thriving television career. Its
not as if I felt bad at the time or I didnt think I felt bad, but with
hindsight, I didnt look great. I didnt feel alive, he
commented. I was functioning but, looking back,
there was this feeling that I had to rev up to do it. I
was exhausted all the time and no wonder, he
added.
The chef also revealed how he had been forced to
rejuvenate his lifestyle because overwork had left
him drained and struggling to endure on nightly
three-and-a-half hours of sleep. When I wasnt at
work, I could fall asleep at a minutes notice, not
that I got the chance with the kids. On the weekend,
they want to play.
Oliver, who runs multiple restaurants across the
country, also criticised EU regulations limiting
working hours for employees. He said, Whats a
48-hour week in a kitchen? I mean, really, thats
called a holiday. The average was 80 hours when I
started, and to people running their own places,
this is probably still standard.n
cleBrity chef jamine oliver
I Page: 40

Probe Magazine Vol 13 Issue 7 (16-31 Jan 2014) (Fortnight)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Probe Magazine Vol 13 Issue 7 (16-31 Jan 2014) (Fortnight)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

BNP caught in

January 16-31, 2015

The centre cannot hold

Published by the Editor from

Issue: 07 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

With the government ensnaring BNP in all

Gone are the days when

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

Bishwa Sahitya Kendra to

ishwa Sahitya Kendra (BSK) will

Eminent citizens call for

minent citizens on 12 January

ustice Surendra Kumar Sinha,

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

Tawkis father and Santras Nirmul

Chashi Nazrul Islam dies

Smoking kills 250

fathers grave at their

Justice ABM Khairul Haque,

Samsung Galaxy Core

amsung mobile Bangladesh begins

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

processor and 1 GB RAM. This new

South Asia Desk

Nepal awaits outcome of

epalese TV viewers will tune in

Just doing their jobs

yanmani Nepal is renowned for

Pakistan, Bahrain sign 5 MoUs

akistan and Bahrain have signed

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

judges made up of retired civil servants

angladesh and India have agreed

South Asia Desk

Delhi rapes increase

raping a female passenger

India and the Dolora, Bangladesh

PeoPle gather at a haat in Sunamganj diStrict, on

city was becoming more

Indo-Bangladeshi ties , according to a

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

about sex crimes.

location, to operate in the haat . Both

girls, will be constructed by December

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

at least one teacher from every school in

artificial complication that can be

The analysts say that

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

(In front of Shahbagh Market)

(In front of Shahbagh Market)

two, with 36 wards to the south and 56

Election Commission could commence

PROBE is available at the following newsstands

For details: Debasish 01673096718

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

Mohammad Asafuddowla says, "It is

simply depend on these elements. Take

DETErMinATiOn Of THE MAP

"The government totally ignored the people and held an election.

Issue: 7 I January 16 - 31, 2015 I Vol: 13

that the present boundaries are not the