The Unknown Citizen
(To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
-- W. H. Auden
Recently I came across this poem written around 1939, just before the WW2.
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in England in 1907 and moved to the United States in 1939. This is his observation or view toward American state and bureaucracy. The narrator in this poem, I think, is the state. He is saying about a citizen who is just an average person, nothing unusual about him. Also the state is viewing its citizens only by letters and numbers. The state, by its various agencies, is monitoring all his actions. He is expected to do things in a certain way, give certain opinion, work hard to satisfy employers and pay his dues to the union. Basically the state is pre-planned the “right way” for every thing and make sure he and all average citizens fill into that.
The state through is press make sure that “he bought a paper every day” and that “his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way”. That’s how the bureaucracy creates an opinion that they want. Auden said “When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went”. Auden describes as many as 10 people and groups check and monitor this individual person, but still he is an “Unknown Citizen”. That’s because no one is interested about his individuality, they monitor him through his record and numbers, just like you would do to a machine if you want to make sure that it is working “properly”. The state and its bureaucracy are manipulating the whole system and give you an illusion of freedom. At the end, Auden is saying it is really an absurd question to ask if he is free or even happy. No one is interested on that. If any thing goes “wrong” according to the master, we would certainly have heard and he would have been dealt with.
-x86
Friday, November 23, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Pakistan and its prisoners of destiny
The Hindu : Opinion
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
Pakistan and its prisoners of destiny
Ramesh Thakur
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir Bhutto knows how to press the right buttons when speaking to Western audiences through the mass media. But clichés of women empowerment, democracy, poverty eradication, human rights and war against terrorists are all at odds with the actual record of her rule as Prime Minister, not once but twice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography was originally published as Daughter of the East (June 1989) but then changed to Daughter of Destiny (January 1990). The sense of destiny manifested itself last Thursday when she returned to Pakistan to reclaim the family legacy of ruling over the volatile, nuclear-armed country that has been buffeted by increasingly strong Islamist crosswinds.
The same sense of destiny that explains her sense of entitlement to rule is likely the wellspring of her remarkable courage in proceeding with the journey against the explicit advice of Pervez Musharraf and the chilling threat from Islamist enemies of the “welcome” she could expect. They delivered immediately on their threat and killed over 140, but not her.
Pakistan’s destiny has been tied up with the story of the Bhutto family and its relationship with the army, the real arbiter of the country’s government, politics and economy; with the relationship with India, largely one of enmity with periodic peace feelers; and with the relationship with the United States.
India may be the mother of dynastic democracies. Motilal Nehru joined the Congress Party in the early years of the struggle for independence. His son Jawaharlal led the country to independence and delivered one of history’s great political speeches, on a par with Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, on August 15, 1947. India had made a tryst with destiny, he proclaimed, and the time had come to redeem the pledge. The mantle passed from him to daughter Indira and then to her son Rajiv.
The story of dynastic succession is often punctuated with tragedies. Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were assassinated. Rajiv’s younger brother Sanjay, who had been the heir apparent, died when the light plane he was piloting crashed in Delhi. Destiny then embraced Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, a daughter-in-law of the Nehru family, as a daughter of India and as supreme leader of the party of independence. Son Rahul Gandhi is now being groomed as the next heir to the family patrimony.
The Bhutto dynasty in Pakistan has not been quite as dominant as the Nehru-Gandhi in India. Benazir did not have the prime ministership fall into her lap but had to fight adversity in order to reclaim it after a military rule by a man who, promoted by her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, ended up killing him through judicial murder. Her brother was also killed subsequently by the police in circumstances that remain murky.
Bangladesh has two political dynasties, one headed by Hasina Wajed, the daughter of the country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the second by Khaleda Zia, widow of General Ziaur Rahman who took charge of the country after Sheikh Mujibur and many members of his family were assassinated just four years after independence. Every election in Bangladesh becomes a battle of the begums.
Sri Lanka too has two political dynasties: the Senanayake (Don Stephen and son Dudley) and the Bandaranaike (Solomon Dias, widow Sirimavo — who in 1959 became the world’s first woman Prime Minister — and daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga, the last President who, from 1994 to 2000, had her mother Sirimavo as her Prime Minister) families.
Thus the dominance of political dynasties, the habit of assassinations and palace intrigues, and the striking success of women inheritors of the dynasty are common across South Asia. Inder Malhotra has written a fascinating account of the political dynasties of the subcontinent since the British left (Dynasties of India and Beyond, 2003).
The reality of political dynasties is not limited to the subcontinent. The mantle passed seamlessly from father to son in Syria and looks likely to do so in Egypt. In Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri moved back into the palace in which she grew up as a child. In North Korea, we have the world’s only example of a Stalinist dynasty.
In the United States, the dynastic credentials of the Kennedy clan (which too is no stranger to family tragedy) seem to be waning. Instead, we bear witness to the rise of the alternating Bush and Clinton dynasties.
All of which would suggest that whatever else may explain the phenomenon in South Asia, it isn’t just a matter of these societies being still essentially in a state of 19th-century suspended feudalism.
Washington may believe it was merely the midwife to the new power-sharing arrangement in which Gen. Musharraf wins the presidency but sheds his uniform while Ms Bhutto becomes Prime Minister. There is the very real risk, however, that Washington will be viewed by millions of Muslims as the puppet master pulling the strings once again in yet another Islamic country. This will be hardened by the fact that while Ms Bhutto enters into a power-sharing deal with Gen. Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif — the legally elected Prime Minister whom Gen. Musharraf deposed — was not even allowed to return to Pakistan. The whole saga could thus feed into the narrative of Islamic grievance against the U.S.
Therein lies a clue to why “they” continue to hate “us.” Benazir Bhutto was rather more complicit in encouraging and tolerating Pakistan’s many pathologies (Faustian bargains with the Islamists that included tolerating anti-woman laws, state sponsorship of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, and self-enrichment — her husband was widely known within Pakistan as “Mr. 10 per cent” based on what people alleged was his share of any government contracts); while Mr. Sharif tried to curb some of them and made some effort at reconciliation with India.
The fascination with Ms Bhutto by the people and governments of the West remains a mystery. Perhaps it is due to her charisma and Western education. She certainly knows how to press the right buttons when speaking to Western audiences through the mass media. Clichés of female empowerment, democracy, poverty eradication, human rights and war against the terrorists trip readily enough off her tongue. But they are all at odds with the actual record of her rule as Prime Minister, not once but twice.
‘Make no mistake’
As Jemima Khan commented in Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, “It’s all totally bogus. Benazir may speak the language of liberalism and look good on Larry King’s sofa, but both her terms in office were marked by incompetence, extra-judicial killings and brazen looting of the treasury.” She ended by warning: “Make no mistake, Benazir may look the part, but she’s as ruthless and conniving as they come — a kleptocrat in a Hermes headscarf.”
Lest the comments seem harsh — they certainly jibe with my impressions and memories of her rule — consider the circumstances last week. She makes a U.K.-U.S.-sponsored deal with Gen. Musharraf under which the intensely unpopular and besieged General can become President while corruption charges against her are dropped (Gen. Musharraf’s National Accountability Bureau reckoned she had $1.5 billion stashed away in Swiss accounts) so she can return from eight years of self-exile. The commitment to democracy is proven in cutting the last elected Prime Minister out of any power-sharing and deporting him so he cannot contest elections, free or rigged. The egotism is evident in dismissing advice to delay her return owing to several threats of suicide terrorists, rejecting the offer of a helicopter ride from the airport to her house in Karachi, encouraging a public rally from the airport to the city to welcome her as a show of mass support for her, organising an armour-plated bus for herself but leaving her crowded supporters vulnerable to terrorist carnage.
Pakistan’s legendary cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, who was at Oxford with her, wrote (also in the Sunday Telegraph) that “Given the way that she has undermined democracy by siding with Musharraf, I don’t know how Benazir has the nerve to say that 130 people killed in those bomb blasts sacrificed their lives for the sake of democracy in Pakistan.” But they did — for dynastic democracy.
(Ramesh Thakur is distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and professor of political science at the University of Waterloo in Canada.)
Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102453911201.htm
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
Pakistan and its prisoners of destiny
Ramesh Thakur
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir Bhutto knows how to press the right buttons when speaking to Western audiences through the mass media. But clichés of women empowerment, democracy, poverty eradication, human rights and war against terrorists are all at odds with the actual record of her rule as Prime Minister, not once but twice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography was originally published as Daughter of the East (June 1989) but then changed to Daughter of Destiny (January 1990). The sense of destiny manifested itself last Thursday when she returned to Pakistan to reclaim the family legacy of ruling over the volatile, nuclear-armed country that has been buffeted by increasingly strong Islamist crosswinds.
The same sense of destiny that explains her sense of entitlement to rule is likely the wellspring of her remarkable courage in proceeding with the journey against the explicit advice of Pervez Musharraf and the chilling threat from Islamist enemies of the “welcome” she could expect. They delivered immediately on their threat and killed over 140, but not her.
Pakistan’s destiny has been tied up with the story of the Bhutto family and its relationship with the army, the real arbiter of the country’s government, politics and economy; with the relationship with India, largely one of enmity with periodic peace feelers; and with the relationship with the United States.
India may be the mother of dynastic democracies. Motilal Nehru joined the Congress Party in the early years of the struggle for independence. His son Jawaharlal led the country to independence and delivered one of history’s great political speeches, on a par with Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, on August 15, 1947. India had made a tryst with destiny, he proclaimed, and the time had come to redeem the pledge. The mantle passed from him to daughter Indira and then to her son Rajiv.
The story of dynastic succession is often punctuated with tragedies. Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were assassinated. Rajiv’s younger brother Sanjay, who had been the heir apparent, died when the light plane he was piloting crashed in Delhi. Destiny then embraced Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, a daughter-in-law of the Nehru family, as a daughter of India and as supreme leader of the party of independence. Son Rahul Gandhi is now being groomed as the next heir to the family patrimony.
The Bhutto dynasty in Pakistan has not been quite as dominant as the Nehru-Gandhi in India. Benazir did not have the prime ministership fall into her lap but had to fight adversity in order to reclaim it after a military rule by a man who, promoted by her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, ended up killing him through judicial murder. Her brother was also killed subsequently by the police in circumstances that remain murky.
Bangladesh has two political dynasties, one headed by Hasina Wajed, the daughter of the country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the second by Khaleda Zia, widow of General Ziaur Rahman who took charge of the country after Sheikh Mujibur and many members of his family were assassinated just four years after independence. Every election in Bangladesh becomes a battle of the begums.
Sri Lanka too has two political dynasties: the Senanayake (Don Stephen and son Dudley) and the Bandaranaike (Solomon Dias, widow Sirimavo — who in 1959 became the world’s first woman Prime Minister — and daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga, the last President who, from 1994 to 2000, had her mother Sirimavo as her Prime Minister) families.
Thus the dominance of political dynasties, the habit of assassinations and palace intrigues, and the striking success of women inheritors of the dynasty are common across South Asia. Inder Malhotra has written a fascinating account of the political dynasties of the subcontinent since the British left (Dynasties of India and Beyond, 2003).
The reality of political dynasties is not limited to the subcontinent. The mantle passed seamlessly from father to son in Syria and looks likely to do so in Egypt. In Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri moved back into the palace in which she grew up as a child. In North Korea, we have the world’s only example of a Stalinist dynasty.
In the United States, the dynastic credentials of the Kennedy clan (which too is no stranger to family tragedy) seem to be waning. Instead, we bear witness to the rise of the alternating Bush and Clinton dynasties.
All of which would suggest that whatever else may explain the phenomenon in South Asia, it isn’t just a matter of these societies being still essentially in a state of 19th-century suspended feudalism.
Washington may believe it was merely the midwife to the new power-sharing arrangement in which Gen. Musharraf wins the presidency but sheds his uniform while Ms Bhutto becomes Prime Minister. There is the very real risk, however, that Washington will be viewed by millions of Muslims as the puppet master pulling the strings once again in yet another Islamic country. This will be hardened by the fact that while Ms Bhutto enters into a power-sharing deal with Gen. Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif — the legally elected Prime Minister whom Gen. Musharraf deposed — was not even allowed to return to Pakistan. The whole saga could thus feed into the narrative of Islamic grievance against the U.S.
Therein lies a clue to why “they” continue to hate “us.” Benazir Bhutto was rather more complicit in encouraging and tolerating Pakistan’s many pathologies (Faustian bargains with the Islamists that included tolerating anti-woman laws, state sponsorship of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, and self-enrichment — her husband was widely known within Pakistan as “Mr. 10 per cent” based on what people alleged was his share of any government contracts); while Mr. Sharif tried to curb some of them and made some effort at reconciliation with India.
The fascination with Ms Bhutto by the people and governments of the West remains a mystery. Perhaps it is due to her charisma and Western education. She certainly knows how to press the right buttons when speaking to Western audiences through the mass media. Clichés of female empowerment, democracy, poverty eradication, human rights and war against the terrorists trip readily enough off her tongue. But they are all at odds with the actual record of her rule as Prime Minister, not once but twice.
‘Make no mistake’
As Jemima Khan commented in Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, “It’s all totally bogus. Benazir may speak the language of liberalism and look good on Larry King’s sofa, but both her terms in office were marked by incompetence, extra-judicial killings and brazen looting of the treasury.” She ended by warning: “Make no mistake, Benazir may look the part, but she’s as ruthless and conniving as they come — a kleptocrat in a Hermes headscarf.”
Lest the comments seem harsh — they certainly jibe with my impressions and memories of her rule — consider the circumstances last week. She makes a U.K.-U.S.-sponsored deal with Gen. Musharraf under which the intensely unpopular and besieged General can become President while corruption charges against her are dropped (Gen. Musharraf’s National Accountability Bureau reckoned she had $1.5 billion stashed away in Swiss accounts) so she can return from eight years of self-exile. The commitment to democracy is proven in cutting the last elected Prime Minister out of any power-sharing and deporting him so he cannot contest elections, free or rigged. The egotism is evident in dismissing advice to delay her return owing to several threats of suicide terrorists, rejecting the offer of a helicopter ride from the airport to her house in Karachi, encouraging a public rally from the airport to the city to welcome her as a show of mass support for her, organising an armour-plated bus for herself but leaving her crowded supporters vulnerable to terrorist carnage.
Pakistan’s legendary cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, who was at Oxford with her, wrote (also in the Sunday Telegraph) that “Given the way that she has undermined democracy by siding with Musharraf, I don’t know how Benazir has the nerve to say that 130 people killed in those bomb blasts sacrificed their lives for the sake of democracy in Pakistan.” But they did — for dynastic democracy.
(Ramesh Thakur is distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and professor of political science at the University of Waterloo in Canada.)
Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102453911201.htm
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Two fallacies: Why not catch them ALL? Are YOU good enough to catch?
Two fallacies:
1. Why not catch them ALL?
2. Are YOU good enough to catch?
Some people are not happy about current crack down of corruption in Bangladesh aka war-on-corruption. They “see” lot of problems with it. Most of the folks tell me about two problems.
First one is that why pick and choose? They say that if you arrest and punish them for this or that violation of law, then how come you are not punishing others? They laugh (showing there 32 teeth or 36?) about punishing some of our dons on tax violation? They are like, well, every body defy tax laws in BD. If you can not punish ALL of them, you should not punish ANY.
Second complain I hear is that, WHO are these folks to punish? They are doing the same mistake. They are violating this and that law themselves, they will give some examples. Folks get some how angry at this point, and say CG is not dhowa-tulshi-pata themselves either. They all are same, so no one should punish our corrupt leaders. Let them be free!
Say an officer stop you in the road and give you a speeding ticket. Does it mean that every one that have crossed speed limit also have to get a ticket. Hmm…. May be I will use this excuse next time. Tell the judge that, since law is equal to every one and you have not fined every one who speeds, you can not punish me. Interesting, huh? This is a fallacy I see many of my fellow Bangladeshi for some reason believe. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea.
Here is another fallacy. Think about the officer that gave you the ticket. Is he a perfect man/woman? Didn’t he ever violate any law? How come then HE give me the ticket? What if he get arrested the next day for some sin that he did? Will that make ME any less guilty? I don’t know how this fallacy come into us either. It’s not between YOU and the OFFICER. It’s between YOU and the STATE. It is between YOU and the LAW.
On a second thought, may be I do have a hypothesis on why we have these fallacies. May be it’s because we have been ruled by our masters for centuries. Masters are not like us in any way (by the skin). And of course masters don’t have any fault, what they DO is the LAW. Problems start to pile on when we are in the arena of self-govern. Now, why the hell you deserve to punish me or judge me, huh? You are almost just like me. The masters were different at least by the skin, you are not. So YOU must have to be some kind of angel to deserve to judge me.
Yeah, I know. May be, there is very weak logic behind this hypothesis. Well, do you have a better one?
-X86
1. Why not catch them ALL?
2. Are YOU good enough to catch?
Some people are not happy about current crack down of corruption in Bangladesh aka war-on-corruption. They “see” lot of problems with it. Most of the folks tell me about two problems.
First one is that why pick and choose? They say that if you arrest and punish them for this or that violation of law, then how come you are not punishing others? They laugh (showing there 32 teeth or 36?) about punishing some of our dons on tax violation? They are like, well, every body defy tax laws in BD. If you can not punish ALL of them, you should not punish ANY.
Second complain I hear is that, WHO are these folks to punish? They are doing the same mistake. They are violating this and that law themselves, they will give some examples. Folks get some how angry at this point, and say CG is not dhowa-tulshi-pata themselves either. They all are same, so no one should punish our corrupt leaders. Let them be free!
Say an officer stop you in the road and give you a speeding ticket. Does it mean that every one that have crossed speed limit also have to get a ticket. Hmm…. May be I will use this excuse next time. Tell the judge that, since law is equal to every one and you have not fined every one who speeds, you can not punish me. Interesting, huh? This is a fallacy I see many of my fellow Bangladeshi for some reason believe. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea.
Here is another fallacy. Think about the officer that gave you the ticket. Is he a perfect man/woman? Didn’t he ever violate any law? How come then HE give me the ticket? What if he get arrested the next day for some sin that he did? Will that make ME any less guilty? I don’t know how this fallacy come into us either. It’s not between YOU and the OFFICER. It’s between YOU and the STATE. It is between YOU and the LAW.
On a second thought, may be I do have a hypothesis on why we have these fallacies. May be it’s because we have been ruled by our masters for centuries. Masters are not like us in any way (by the skin). And of course masters don’t have any fault, what they DO is the LAW. Problems start to pile on when we are in the arena of self-govern. Now, why the hell you deserve to punish me or judge me, huh? You are almost just like me. The masters were different at least by the skin, you are not. So YOU must have to be some kind of angel to deserve to judge me.
Yeah, I know. May be, there is very weak logic behind this hypothesis. Well, do you have a better one?
-X86
FW: ...... Star coverage of 9/3 ......
1. Khaleda lands in sub-jail
2. The mandate that Khaleda Zia wasted
3. Mixed reaction among public
4. From a housewife to premiership
5. Moments before the arrest
6. Star Editorial : Khaleda's arrest
==========================
1. Khaleda lands in sub-jail
==========================
Published On: 2007-09-04
Son Koko taken on remand; she expels rebel Bhuiyan, Ashraf from party
Staff Correspondent
Escorted by police, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia waves before entering the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in the capital yesterday morning. Photo: STAR
A Dhaka court yesterday sent BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to jail and placed her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko on a seven-day remand a couple of hours after they were arrested on graft charges at their cantonment residence.
The arrests followed close on the heels of the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) filing the first graft case against the former premier and her son after the state of emergency came into force on January 11.
In the case filed with the Tejgaon Police Station late on Sunday night, Khaleda, her son and 11 others were charged with violating tender conditions in appointing an indenting house for container handling.
The joint forces hauled them in a little after 7:30am, and took them straight to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court, Dhaka at 8:05am.
At the court premises, Khaleda's lawyers in her presence announced that BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Joint Secretary General Ashraf Hossain have been expelled for "attempts to split the party in the name of reforms with support from the government".
Like her archrival Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina who was arrested on extortion charges on July 16, Khaleda too was sent to a special jail set up in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex.
Since the present military-backed caretaker government assumed power in January, the going has got tough for both the leaders who had run the country alternately for the last 15 years and boast a past of nine years' vigorous street agitations against military ruler HM Ershad.
In the event of conviction, they will be disqualified from contesting the next parliamentary election planned to be held within December 2008.
Soon after declaration of the state of emergency, it has been widely discussed that the two might be forced to quit politics for alleged abuse of power and corruption.
But lately many have been questioning the government's approach to its anti-graft drive, as it was yet to take action against Khaleda long after detaining Hasina and having at least four cases filed against her.
Appearing before the crowded courtroom, the BNP chief protested her innocence and described the case against her and Koko as false and part of a conspiracy against her party and family. She sought bail for her and Koko in line with the submissions made by their counsels earlier.
Law Adviser Mainul Hosein, however, rejected Khaleda's allegation and said, "Arrests of the two former prime ministers have proved that the present government is not biased towards any party."
The mother and son, who once were considered to be dwelling somewhere high above the law, looked gloomy while in the dock.
Khaleda was brought in an ash Nissan Patrol while Koko in a red Pajero amid tight security measures along the stretch between their Shahid Moinul Road residence and the court.
In a white chiffon saree, Khaleda however smiled and waved outside the courtroom. At that time, a group of party faithful were chanting slogans.
Meanwhile, sources in the administration said that more graft cases would soon be filed against her.
According to the BNP constitution, she will be disqualified from holding the party chief's post and retaining the membership if she is convicted of graft.
Immediately after the court orders, the security forces whisked her off to the makeshift jail. This is for the first time she has landed in a prison in a political career spanning over two decades.
Late president Ziaur Rahman who founded the BNP in 1978 after taking over state power as a military ruler won public support for what many political observers say his stance against corruption. But the image of his widowed wife, who ruled the country for 10 years since restoration of democracy in a mass upsurge in 1990, has been tainted by corruption allegations.
During her last stint as the prime minister, many of the party lawmakers and leaders had allegedly been involved in massive corruption and made a huge wealth.
The country's political situation turned volatile in October last year as the BNP-led four-party alliance tried desperately to hold the ninth parliament election despite the AL-led grand alliance's decision to boycott the polls that they viewed were designed to bring BNP and allies back to power.
Amid violence and chaos on the streets, President Iajuddin Ahmed, who assumed the office of the chief adviser sidestepping various constitutional options, stood aside as the caretaker government chief on January 11. He declared the state of emergency and postponed the election scheduled for January 22.
Fakhruddin Ahmed took the reins with a promise to rid politics of corruption before holding the stalled parliamentary election. In February, his administration launched a crackdown on graft suspects and began rounding up the political and business heavy weights on charge of corruption.
LEGAL PROCEDURE
Opposing Khaleda's plea for bail, Assistant Commissioner (prosecution) Maqbul Hossain Khan yesterday told the court that it is a very sensitive case and so she should be confined to jail till the investigation is completed.
He also petitioned the court to place Koko on a 10-day remand.
Hearing both the sides, Magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah rejected the bail prayer and sent her to jail. He also placed Koko on a seven-day remand in police custody.
Khaleda's other son, Tarique Rahman, who was perceived to be the most powerful man during the last BNP government, has already been detained on graft charges.
The assistant commissioner (prosecution) told the court that an application for bringing the case under the emergency power rules has been in process at the home ministry.
Once the case is brought under the emergency power rules, Khaleda will not be entitled to bail, and she will be ineligible to contest the polls if found guilty by a trial court.
The same day the investigation officer of the case submitted a petition seeking permission to carry out a search of the cantonment residence. In response, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jalal Ahmed assigned Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ashrafuddin to conduct the search.
Earlier, the assistant commissioner (prosecution) placed the case dockets and read out the charges brought in the first information report (FIR) and the forwarding report.
Moving the petitions for bail and cancellation of the remand prayer, the counsels for Khaleda and Koko told the court that the two have been implicated as part of a conspiracy to harass them.
GOVT ACTIONS AGAINST HER
On June 12, Khaleda, Tarique Rahman and 12 other BNP leaders, who were directors of Daily Dinkal Limited, were sued for not submitting service returns of the daily for the past several years.
Under the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984, the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the NBR had earlier asked the banks to provide it along with bank account information of Khaleda and 10 of her family members.
Finally on August 29, the NBR asked all banks to freeze the accounts of the former prime minister, her son Koko and nine others of her family.
Sources said the government is preparing to file a case over Khaleda's wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which has gross anomalies.
The NBR recently allowed Khaleda to legalise Tk 1.30 crore undisclosed money on payment of Tk 33 lakh tax but rejected Tarique and Koko's bid to legalise Tk 18 lakh and Tk 1.5 crore respectively by paying a total tax and fine of Tk 44 lakh.
Earlier, the High Court quashed two graft cases against Khaleda Zia filed during the AL regime regarding decoration of her house and airbus purchase.
PAST SEVEN MONTHS OF KHALEDA
Khaleda, who ruled the country for a maximum period as prime minister and run the party with an iron fist, became isolated within the party as most of the senior BNP leaders started keeping away from her since the beginning of the crackdown on the political bigwigs.
After the declaration of state of emergency, Khaleda kept running party activities from Hawa Bhaban, popularly known as the alternative powerhouse during the BNP regime, until slapping of the ban on indoor politics on March 7.
Next, she was reportedly put under pressure to leave the country, but later she changed her mind and decided to face the situation.
In June, BNP leaders led by Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan came up with a set of reform proposals with a provision to exclude Khaleda from the helm of the party.
In the face of challenges from senior party leaders, Khaleda started holding teleconferences with other party leaders and activists within the country and overseas, urging them to be united against any 'conspiracy' against BNP.
Earlier in May, Khaleda cancelled her Singapore trip for medical check-up as her younger son Koko was sued for extortion and was barred to leave the country.
Most recently, she was not allowed to visit the grave of late president Ziaur Rahman on the occasion of founding anniversary of BNP on September 1.
KHALEDA'S HEALTH CONDITION
Khaleda Zia is physically fit now, DIG (Prison) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told a private television channel yesterday.
He also said that after arriving at the sub-jail, Khaleda took a cup of tea and then went to take rest.
In the sub-jail, she would be provided with four newspapers to read and a colour television to watch Bangladesh Television, the state owned television channel, the DIG said.
Replying to another query, he said that both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina would receive same facilities in the sub-jails.
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2. The mandate that Khaleda Zia wasted
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Commentary
The mandate that Khaleda Zia wasted
She could have transformed our political culture
Mahfuz Anam
Seldom did an elected leader, especially in parliamentary democracy, receive the type of popular mandate as Khaleda Zia did in 2001. In fact she is the only leader who got elected as prime minister twice (We are not counting the controversial election of February '96) in our country's history. Of the 15 years of our unbroken succession of elected governments she was in power for ten years. In the last election in 2001 her party, the BNP, alone won 194 seats in a parliament of 300 seats. With her allies, her total strength in parliament was 217.
With such a mandate and her personal stature as a politician at her peak, she was in a position to totally reshape Bangladesh's political culture and economic prospects. With so many MPs at her command she could have demanded a higher standards of integrity and dedication from them. She could have warned that anyone found wanting in honesty and integrity would be expelled from the party, which would automatically lead, as per our law, to losing their seats in the Jatiya Sangsad. This would have saved us from corrupt politics, the primary reason for which our democracy now stands derailed.
The stability of government that such a massive electoral victory automatically implies could have easily been used to attract FDI. With steady FDI inflow, we could have easily reached our goal of 7 to 8 per cent of growth if not more. It was all within our reach only if she wanted it.
She could have brought an end to our confrontational politics by offering a hand of co-operation to the opposition, which ruling parties with massive parliamentary strengths usually do. Instead, from the very start, she took a tough policy in dealing with them starting from physical attack on the opposition immediately after her election victory. Terming it as wrath of common people for AL's misgovernance, the BNP and its allies turned a blind eye to, if not directly participated in assaults of thousands of AL activists in several districts.
Subsequent repression on rallies by the opposition, denying them their due participation inside the Jatiya Sangsad and never giving any importance to them in formulating policies resulted in the erosion of the moral strength that such a huge mandate usually carries.
Instead of her unprecedented strength leading to farsighted, conciliatory fence-mending attitude, she became imperial in personal style, arrogant in political behaviour and condescending in dealing with important members of her own party. She attributed her party's sweeping victory to her son Tarique Rahman's election management, and as such, she felt ready to bring him directly into the power structure both of the party and of the government.
The proof of this is the growth of the Hawa Bhaban, which truly and practically became the second centre of power after the PMO. In fact, in some instances the Bhaban was more effective than the PMO itself as functionaries often felt that getting the son's support was more useful than the mother's as the latter's consent could be taken for guaranteed if the former's was already there.
In our view, the seed of destruction of Khaleda Zia's government was sown almost immediately after her election victory. That seed was the size of the new government. Initially it was supposed to be small, say of round 35 to 40 members. But about 48 hours before oath-taking the word came out that the cabinet would be nearly of 60 members, the highest ever in Bangladesh, and bigger than most governments in the world.
This was Tarique Rahman's first major foray into governance. He insisted on appointing his loyalists as deputy or state ministers virtually in every ministry. So we had a dual government where the cabinet ministers were reporting to the PM while their deputies to Tarique Rahman.
Over time, as more and more cabinet ministers found out that they were being either overridden in decision making, or totally ignored, they realised where the real governance emanated from and either started visiting Hawa Bhaban or became inactive.
In fact only a few ministers like Saifur Rahman, Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandakar Mosharraf wielded some power. Others literally became ciphers. The duality in government brought about by the rise of the Hawa Bhaban, which Khaleda Zia permitted or at least did nothing to stop, made it impossible for the government to function and as such destroyed it.
As loyalty to the Bhaban resulted in lucrative postings, extensions of job tenure and enhanced stature within the administration, the bureaucracy became totally politicised, followed by other branches of the government, especially the police and its branches.
While the Hawa Bhaban destroyed the government, another action by Khaleda Zia destroyed the BNP itself. That was the unceremonious removal of Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury from the position of the Head of State. The founding secretary general of the BNP, one of the earliest comrades of its founder Gen. Ziaur Rahman, (years before Khaleda Zia entered into politics) and one of its most revered leaders, Dr Chowdhury was made the President after the 2001 election.
Within seven months of assuming the Presidency he fell out of grace (why we still don't know, and in her arrogance she never bothered to give any explanation to parliament or to the public) and was forced to resign in a most humiliating manner. This was done without the slightest consideration to either the dignity of his office (after all it was the highest constitutional post) or respect for the contribution he made in making BNP one of the two largest parties in the country.
The humiliation did not end there. When the venerable doctor wanted to float his own party, BNP goons beat him up and the factories and residences of several of his main supporters were set on fire. So much for respect for rule of law. With the firing and humiliation of Dr Chowdhury it became evident, if evidence was at all necessary, that the BNP from now on would mean only Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, and that party loyalty would be defined as total, unquestioned and blind support for the Zia family.
The mother and the son's writ would be party law and the slightest trace of dissent would result in the swift dismissal from the party. So the ouster of Dr Chowdhury transformed the BNP from a party with whatever little semblance of collective decision making to one of total centralised power to be run on personal whims and caprice of first the mother, Khaleda Zia, and later the son, Tarique Rahman.
As we had said earlier, the Hawa Bhaban destroyed the government and Dr Chowdhury's dismissal destroyed the party. Both these events occurred within seven months of Khaleda Zia's second term. From then on it was a one-way slide downwards, presided over by the leader who got such a huge parliamentary majority and who really had a chance to change Bangladesh as we know it and who, with a little bit of modesty and capacity for introspection and self criticism, could have done it.
We are deliberately not bring on the issues of corruption under Khaleda Zia's tenure as she has been accused of it and the matter should be decided in court. However, it must be mentioned that evidence of graft was all around. While we continued to be termed as the most corrupt country in the world, our elected government preferred to do nothing to stem it except blaming those who were saying so.
It is amazing how little concern was expressed for the issue of corruption and how little was done to investigate the thousands of corruption stories that the media relentlessly published. Instead of finding out the culprits, it was the media that were accused of deliberately maligning the image of the country. Whether or not Khaleda Zia was personally corrupt the courts will decide. But the fact that she tolerated it and did absolutely nothing to either fight corruption or even to raise it as a matter of concern, are now a matter of record.
Now that Khaleda Zia is in custody we will insist that she be given all the protection of law and rights guaranteed by the constitution, especially since she has been twice our elected prime minister. Yet today we cannot but feel deeply sorry for the magnificent opportunity she wasted. Instead of giving us a Bangladesh of unity and growth she left us in a mire worse than the one when she came to power.
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3. Mixed reaction among public
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Mixed reaction among public
Staff Correspondent
People of different walks of life yesterday expressed mixed reactions over the arrest of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Arafat Rahman Koko while many said they were not surprised at the government's move to arrest them.
Following the arrest, The Daily Star correspondents talked to over 100 people of different professions--lawyers, businessmen, NGO workers, students, rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers and other professionals.
Many preferred anonymity while some declined to make any comment regarding the arrest of the former premier and her son.
A corrupt person will eventually be punished, said Ismail, a coconut vendor of Hatirpul Bazar. They were involved with corruption for years together and that is why they have been put behind bars, he said.
A lawyer, wishing to remain anonymous, told The Daily Star that Khaleda Zia should have been arrested and put on trial much earlier as the countrymen suffered for their unbridled corruption during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
"Her government brought nothing but corruption, which
made Bangladesh the most corrupt country in the world," he said. He said successive governments always ignored the general people. They always thought about themselves and were busy with changing their own lot.
Many said there were rumours of Khaleda's arrest after the arrest of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina.
"It is nothing surprising since the rumour of Khaleda Zia's arrest was already around," said Mokhlesur Rahman, an employee of a private firm in the capital. "I think the move was made to balance out the actions taken against the rival party," he added.
A retired police officer told The Daily Star that during his days in service he had to carry out many unlawful orders from high-ups. With her arrest, he expects that such practices from Bangladesh politics would go forever.
Nazmul Alam, an electrical equipment dealer said, "We [referring to general people] all suspected that they were corrupt, now charges have been brought against them. We want her [Khaleda Zia] to be given exemplary punishment, if the charges brought against her are proved… if not she should not be harassed."
Kabir Ahmed, an NGO worker, said that Khaleda Zia's arrest proves that the government is sincere in its crackdown on corrupt people in the country.
When asked for comments, Mizanur Rahman, a banker, became a bit angry and said the government arrested Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina to implement their "minus-two policy". The government's plot will not be successful, he added.
"None is above the law and those who stole people's money and were involved with corruption must be brought to justice," said an owner of a shoe shop in the capital.
"I think her arrest was not handled properly. The process through which she was arrested is not very clear to us as she was arrested within a few hours of the filing of the case," said a banker seeking anonymity.
Many low-income people claimed the arrest did not affect them at all as it would not bring any positive changes to their lives. "It does not matter whether they were arrested or not as it does not bring any good to us," said Shah Ali, owner of a pharmacy at Karwan Bazar in the city.
He claimed he has not seen any changes in the lives of low-income people since the caretaker government came to power. Rather the prices of essentials are going up and out of their reach, he said.
During their "corrupt" regimes the situation was far better, he said adding that the government should concentrate more on price hike of essentials rather than arresting top political leaders.
Many claimed the government's move would not bring any positive changes for the country rather it might even create an anarchic situation.
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4. From a housewife to premiership
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From a housewife to premiership
Star Report
Khaleda Zia's political life has been defined by her rise from a reclusive and shy housewife of a slain president to the longest serving prime minister in Bangladesh's history.
First gaining fame as one of the spearheads of the anti-Ershad movement in the 80s, Khaleda subsequently became the country's first female head of government when she won the 1991 parliamentary elections after the restoration of democracy.
It all changed for Khaleda when her husband military leader and later president Gen Ziaur Rahman
was assassinated in 1981 during an abortive military coup and Gen Ershad came to power a year later.
Conspicuous by her low profile and image as the retiring housewife during her husband's presidency, Khaleda rose to prominence when she was appointed vice-chairman of BNP in 1982, the party founded by Ziaur Rahman in 1979. She later assumed the BNP chair in August, 1984.
Much like her political rival--Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina--Khaleda was brought in to quell the rising tensions within the party, unite the disparate forces within the party and fill in the power vacuum in BNP following Ziaur Rahman's death.
As BNP chair, she worked to unify political opposition to the authoritarian Ershad regime, forming a seven-party coalition alongside a similar grouping formed by the BNP's main rival, the AL.
During the nine years of military rule, Khaleda Zia was arrested seven times.
While she led the BNP's movement against the Ershad regime, she faced three attempts to break up the BNP from powerful forces within the party. Khaleda's adroit management of these three blows to the BNP strengthened her hold within the party and cleared her way to launch the upsurge against Ershad with a united BNP.
By 1990, discontent over Ershad's rule and support for the opposition political parties had grown sufficiently to convince the president to step down and organise fresh elections. Khaleda Zia led the BNP to a convincing victory in February 1991.
The 1991-96 Khaleda-led government was comparatively successful in revising the country's presidential system in favour of a parliamentary system, restoring the country's flagging economy with nominal signs of corruption. But, her government was largely blamed for holding farcical elections in February 1996, which were boycotted by the AL, ensuring a BNP victory, and Khaleda Zia had her second term in office in February. However, agitations continued and she called for fresh elections for June, which the BNP lost to the AL.
But, her last term in office, between 2001-2006, was marked by unprecedented corruption, wide-ranging abuse of power and flagrant violation of state regulations that subsequently triggered the violence and political crisis that precipitated the declaration of emergency on January 11.
She was heavily criticised by senior BNP leaders for stacking up the party leadership and cabinet posts with her sons, nephews, brothers, sisters and other relatives, which was not the case during her husband's regime or her own in 1991-96 government.
A critical turning point and burning example of this unchecked nepotism was the sacking and expulsion of erstwhile president of Bangladesh and BNP founding member, Badruddoza Chowdhury in the same party meeting, which promoted Khaleda's son Tarique Rahman to the post of senior joint-secretary-general of the party.
Khaleda's patronage of the corrupt and criminal elements within the BNP and its coalition partners in government gave her regime an aura of invincibility that allowed her party members--including her two sons--to demonstrate a minimum of accountability for their actions. The BNP had assumed power in 2001 with two-thirds majority.
Her last term in office also saw most violent expression of militancy in the country with her reported patronage of Bangla Bhai, who played a vital part in the creation of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), responsible for the 469 near-simultaneous bomb blasts on August 17, 2005.
The longest serving prime minister in Bangladesh's history, Khaleda Zia was inaugurated for her third official term as prime minister of Bangladesh on 10 October 2001.
Election on 1 October 2001 were preceded by high levels of violent unrest and yielded a sweeping victory of the BNP and its coalition allies. The BNP secured 66 percent of the seats in parliament leaving the AL with just 20 percent. Khaleda Zia was inaugurated as prime minister nine days later.
Khaleda was born on August 15, 1945 in Dinajpur to businessman Iskander Mazumdar from Feni and his wife Taiyeba Mazumdar, a well-known social worker. Her late sister Khurshid Jahan Haq was a minister for women and children affairs and her brother Sayeed Iskander was a member of parliament. She has another sister and a brother.
At the age of 15, she married the then captain Ziaur Rahman in 1960 right after she passed her SSC examinations and then attended Surendranath College in Dinajpur where she attained her HSC in 1962. In 1971, she was under the custody of the Pakistani military with her two sons.
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5. Moments before the arrest
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Published On: 2007-09-04
Front Page
Moments before the arrest
Star report
She seemed reluctant to meet her fate. As law enforcers knocked at the door of Khaleda Zia's house at 5:30am, she appeared on the veranda more than 45 minutes later and asked: "Why are you here?"
The law enforcers then told her about the case and the reason for their presence at the address.
"Ok," Khaleda tartly replied. "Let me offer prayers, get my suitcase packed and then I will come out."
As the law enforcers requested her to let them in, she sounded agitated, "What for? You have already checked my house thrice. Why again?"
At around 7:30am, Khaleda finally stepped out with her son Koko to their uncertain future. She still looked angry.
As she walked to the vehicle, she almost said in a monologue: "I am very sad today. Why are you taking away the Zia family members one after another? Why don't you just round them together and send them to the firing squad?"
Hours later, as she stepped inside the lavish Speaker's house-turned-sub-jail complete with central AC, she looked to be lost in a different world far from her palatial luxury. She was received by the inspector general of prisons. A little hesitantly, she muttered: "I never did any household work. You know I am suffering from arthritis. May I have my personal servant to do my works?"
The jail officials said they would look into the rules if her request could be complied with.
Khaleda was then led upstairs to her bedroom. As the officials left her to herself, Khaleda gave them a crucifying last look.
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6. Star Editorial : Khaleda's arrest
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Published On: 2007-09-04
Editorial
Editorial
Khaleda's arrest
Due process of law must be ensured
The ex-PM's arrest does not come as a surprise. In fact the news of Khaleda Zia's impending arrest had been in the air for sometime, particularly after the arrest of Sheikh Hasina. Many had been left wondering after July 16, 2007 as to what kept an immediate past PM out of the reach of the law while an ex-PM, whose tenure of office had been long over, was incarcerated.
It would not be wrong on our part to suggest that there were doubts in the public mind regarding the government's intention of making public office-holders, and those who benefited by exploiting political and family linkages, accountable under the current anti-corruption drive. It was reinforced with the release of Khaleda Zia's youngest son, soon after he was arrested the first time. With their arrest one hopes that all the speculations would have been put at rest.
Now that Khaleda Zia has been arrested we would expect that all due process of law would be followed and that the facilities that the law of the land provides to an accused would be afforded to the ex-PM.
We feel obligated to repeat in case of Khaleda Zia what we had said in these columns after the arrest of Sheikh Hasina. Both the party leaders, in spite of the way they chose to conduct politics during their term in office, have developed a stature and standing of their own in the minds of the public. Therefore we insist that they, both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, must be treated with due dignity and honour and ensured all legal rights during the process of trial. So far, to the credit of this government, both these leaders have been treated with due respect.
We would like to call upon the government to ensure that whatever charges are brought against the accused, they are grounded on incontrovertible facts and that they are legally founded. It is also important to keep in mind that the legal proceedings are not only transparent; it must also be made certain that they are open and fair.
2. The mandate that Khaleda Zia wasted
3. Mixed reaction among public
4. From a housewife to premiership
5. Moments before the arrest
6. Star Editorial : Khaleda's arrest
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1. Khaleda lands in sub-jail
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Published On: 2007-09-04
Son Koko taken on remand; she expels rebel Bhuiyan, Ashraf from party
Staff Correspondent
Escorted by police, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia waves before entering the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in the capital yesterday morning. Photo: STAR
A Dhaka court yesterday sent BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to jail and placed her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko on a seven-day remand a couple of hours after they were arrested on graft charges at their cantonment residence.
The arrests followed close on the heels of the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) filing the first graft case against the former premier and her son after the state of emergency came into force on January 11.
In the case filed with the Tejgaon Police Station late on Sunday night, Khaleda, her son and 11 others were charged with violating tender conditions in appointing an indenting house for container handling.
The joint forces hauled them in a little after 7:30am, and took them straight to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court, Dhaka at 8:05am.
At the court premises, Khaleda's lawyers in her presence announced that BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Joint Secretary General Ashraf Hossain have been expelled for "attempts to split the party in the name of reforms with support from the government".
Like her archrival Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina who was arrested on extortion charges on July 16, Khaleda too was sent to a special jail set up in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex.
Since the present military-backed caretaker government assumed power in January, the going has got tough for both the leaders who had run the country alternately for the last 15 years and boast a past of nine years' vigorous street agitations against military ruler HM Ershad.
In the event of conviction, they will be disqualified from contesting the next parliamentary election planned to be held within December 2008.
Soon after declaration of the state of emergency, it has been widely discussed that the two might be forced to quit politics for alleged abuse of power and corruption.
But lately many have been questioning the government's approach to its anti-graft drive, as it was yet to take action against Khaleda long after detaining Hasina and having at least four cases filed against her.
Appearing before the crowded courtroom, the BNP chief protested her innocence and described the case against her and Koko as false and part of a conspiracy against her party and family. She sought bail for her and Koko in line with the submissions made by their counsels earlier.
Law Adviser Mainul Hosein, however, rejected Khaleda's allegation and said, "Arrests of the two former prime ministers have proved that the present government is not biased towards any party."
The mother and son, who once were considered to be dwelling somewhere high above the law, looked gloomy while in the dock.
Khaleda was brought in an ash Nissan Patrol while Koko in a red Pajero amid tight security measures along the stretch between their Shahid Moinul Road residence and the court.
In a white chiffon saree, Khaleda however smiled and waved outside the courtroom. At that time, a group of party faithful were chanting slogans.
Meanwhile, sources in the administration said that more graft cases would soon be filed against her.
According to the BNP constitution, she will be disqualified from holding the party chief's post and retaining the membership if she is convicted of graft.
Immediately after the court orders, the security forces whisked her off to the makeshift jail. This is for the first time she has landed in a prison in a political career spanning over two decades.
Late president Ziaur Rahman who founded the BNP in 1978 after taking over state power as a military ruler won public support for what many political observers say his stance against corruption. But the image of his widowed wife, who ruled the country for 10 years since restoration of democracy in a mass upsurge in 1990, has been tainted by corruption allegations.
During her last stint as the prime minister, many of the party lawmakers and leaders had allegedly been involved in massive corruption and made a huge wealth.
The country's political situation turned volatile in October last year as the BNP-led four-party alliance tried desperately to hold the ninth parliament election despite the AL-led grand alliance's decision to boycott the polls that they viewed were designed to bring BNP and allies back to power.
Amid violence and chaos on the streets, President Iajuddin Ahmed, who assumed the office of the chief adviser sidestepping various constitutional options, stood aside as the caretaker government chief on January 11. He declared the state of emergency and postponed the election scheduled for January 22.
Fakhruddin Ahmed took the reins with a promise to rid politics of corruption before holding the stalled parliamentary election. In February, his administration launched a crackdown on graft suspects and began rounding up the political and business heavy weights on charge of corruption.
LEGAL PROCEDURE
Opposing Khaleda's plea for bail, Assistant Commissioner (prosecution) Maqbul Hossain Khan yesterday told the court that it is a very sensitive case and so she should be confined to jail till the investigation is completed.
He also petitioned the court to place Koko on a 10-day remand.
Hearing both the sides, Magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah rejected the bail prayer and sent her to jail. He also placed Koko on a seven-day remand in police custody.
Khaleda's other son, Tarique Rahman, who was perceived to be the most powerful man during the last BNP government, has already been detained on graft charges.
The assistant commissioner (prosecution) told the court that an application for bringing the case under the emergency power rules has been in process at the home ministry.
Once the case is brought under the emergency power rules, Khaleda will not be entitled to bail, and she will be ineligible to contest the polls if found guilty by a trial court.
The same day the investigation officer of the case submitted a petition seeking permission to carry out a search of the cantonment residence. In response, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jalal Ahmed assigned Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ashrafuddin to conduct the search.
Earlier, the assistant commissioner (prosecution) placed the case dockets and read out the charges brought in the first information report (FIR) and the forwarding report.
Moving the petitions for bail and cancellation of the remand prayer, the counsels for Khaleda and Koko told the court that the two have been implicated as part of a conspiracy to harass them.
GOVT ACTIONS AGAINST HER
On June 12, Khaleda, Tarique Rahman and 12 other BNP leaders, who were directors of Daily Dinkal Limited, were sued for not submitting service returns of the daily for the past several years.
Under the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984, the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the NBR had earlier asked the banks to provide it along with bank account information of Khaleda and 10 of her family members.
Finally on August 29, the NBR asked all banks to freeze the accounts of the former prime minister, her son Koko and nine others of her family.
Sources said the government is preparing to file a case over Khaleda's wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which has gross anomalies.
The NBR recently allowed Khaleda to legalise Tk 1.30 crore undisclosed money on payment of Tk 33 lakh tax but rejected Tarique and Koko's bid to legalise Tk 18 lakh and Tk 1.5 crore respectively by paying a total tax and fine of Tk 44 lakh.
Earlier, the High Court quashed two graft cases against Khaleda Zia filed during the AL regime regarding decoration of her house and airbus purchase.
PAST SEVEN MONTHS OF KHALEDA
Khaleda, who ruled the country for a maximum period as prime minister and run the party with an iron fist, became isolated within the party as most of the senior BNP leaders started keeping away from her since the beginning of the crackdown on the political bigwigs.
After the declaration of state of emergency, Khaleda kept running party activities from Hawa Bhaban, popularly known as the alternative powerhouse during the BNP regime, until slapping of the ban on indoor politics on March 7.
Next, she was reportedly put under pressure to leave the country, but later she changed her mind and decided to face the situation.
In June, BNP leaders led by Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan came up with a set of reform proposals with a provision to exclude Khaleda from the helm of the party.
In the face of challenges from senior party leaders, Khaleda started holding teleconferences with other party leaders and activists within the country and overseas, urging them to be united against any 'conspiracy' against BNP.
Earlier in May, Khaleda cancelled her Singapore trip for medical check-up as her younger son Koko was sued for extortion and was barred to leave the country.
Most recently, she was not allowed to visit the grave of late president Ziaur Rahman on the occasion of founding anniversary of BNP on September 1.
KHALEDA'S HEALTH CONDITION
Khaleda Zia is physically fit now, DIG (Prison) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told a private television channel yesterday.
He also said that after arriving at the sub-jail, Khaleda took a cup of tea and then went to take rest.
In the sub-jail, she would be provided with four newspapers to read and a colour television to watch Bangladesh Television, the state owned television channel, the DIG said.
Replying to another query, he said that both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina would receive same facilities in the sub-jails.
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2. The mandate that Khaleda Zia wasted
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Commentary
The mandate that Khaleda Zia wasted
She could have transformed our political culture
Mahfuz Anam
Seldom did an elected leader, especially in parliamentary democracy, receive the type of popular mandate as Khaleda Zia did in 2001. In fact she is the only leader who got elected as prime minister twice (We are not counting the controversial election of February '96) in our country's history. Of the 15 years of our unbroken succession of elected governments she was in power for ten years. In the last election in 2001 her party, the BNP, alone won 194 seats in a parliament of 300 seats. With her allies, her total strength in parliament was 217.
With such a mandate and her personal stature as a politician at her peak, she was in a position to totally reshape Bangladesh's political culture and economic prospects. With so many MPs at her command she could have demanded a higher standards of integrity and dedication from them. She could have warned that anyone found wanting in honesty and integrity would be expelled from the party, which would automatically lead, as per our law, to losing their seats in the Jatiya Sangsad. This would have saved us from corrupt politics, the primary reason for which our democracy now stands derailed.
The stability of government that such a massive electoral victory automatically implies could have easily been used to attract FDI. With steady FDI inflow, we could have easily reached our goal of 7 to 8 per cent of growth if not more. It was all within our reach only if she wanted it.
She could have brought an end to our confrontational politics by offering a hand of co-operation to the opposition, which ruling parties with massive parliamentary strengths usually do. Instead, from the very start, she took a tough policy in dealing with them starting from physical attack on the opposition immediately after her election victory. Terming it as wrath of common people for AL's misgovernance, the BNP and its allies turned a blind eye to, if not directly participated in assaults of thousands of AL activists in several districts.
Subsequent repression on rallies by the opposition, denying them their due participation inside the Jatiya Sangsad and never giving any importance to them in formulating policies resulted in the erosion of the moral strength that such a huge mandate usually carries.
Instead of her unprecedented strength leading to farsighted, conciliatory fence-mending attitude, she became imperial in personal style, arrogant in political behaviour and condescending in dealing with important members of her own party. She attributed her party's sweeping victory to her son Tarique Rahman's election management, and as such, she felt ready to bring him directly into the power structure both of the party and of the government.
The proof of this is the growth of the Hawa Bhaban, which truly and practically became the second centre of power after the PMO. In fact, in some instances the Bhaban was more effective than the PMO itself as functionaries often felt that getting the son's support was more useful than the mother's as the latter's consent could be taken for guaranteed if the former's was already there.
In our view, the seed of destruction of Khaleda Zia's government was sown almost immediately after her election victory. That seed was the size of the new government. Initially it was supposed to be small, say of round 35 to 40 members. But about 48 hours before oath-taking the word came out that the cabinet would be nearly of 60 members, the highest ever in Bangladesh, and bigger than most governments in the world.
This was Tarique Rahman's first major foray into governance. He insisted on appointing his loyalists as deputy or state ministers virtually in every ministry. So we had a dual government where the cabinet ministers were reporting to the PM while their deputies to Tarique Rahman.
Over time, as more and more cabinet ministers found out that they were being either overridden in decision making, or totally ignored, they realised where the real governance emanated from and either started visiting Hawa Bhaban or became inactive.
In fact only a few ministers like Saifur Rahman, Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandakar Mosharraf wielded some power. Others literally became ciphers. The duality in government brought about by the rise of the Hawa Bhaban, which Khaleda Zia permitted or at least did nothing to stop, made it impossible for the government to function and as such destroyed it.
As loyalty to the Bhaban resulted in lucrative postings, extensions of job tenure and enhanced stature within the administration, the bureaucracy became totally politicised, followed by other branches of the government, especially the police and its branches.
While the Hawa Bhaban destroyed the government, another action by Khaleda Zia destroyed the BNP itself. That was the unceremonious removal of Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury from the position of the Head of State. The founding secretary general of the BNP, one of the earliest comrades of its founder Gen. Ziaur Rahman, (years before Khaleda Zia entered into politics) and one of its most revered leaders, Dr Chowdhury was made the President after the 2001 election.
Within seven months of assuming the Presidency he fell out of grace (why we still don't know, and in her arrogance she never bothered to give any explanation to parliament or to the public) and was forced to resign in a most humiliating manner. This was done without the slightest consideration to either the dignity of his office (after all it was the highest constitutional post) or respect for the contribution he made in making BNP one of the two largest parties in the country.
The humiliation did not end there. When the venerable doctor wanted to float his own party, BNP goons beat him up and the factories and residences of several of his main supporters were set on fire. So much for respect for rule of law. With the firing and humiliation of Dr Chowdhury it became evident, if evidence was at all necessary, that the BNP from now on would mean only Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, and that party loyalty would be defined as total, unquestioned and blind support for the Zia family.
The mother and the son's writ would be party law and the slightest trace of dissent would result in the swift dismissal from the party. So the ouster of Dr Chowdhury transformed the BNP from a party with whatever little semblance of collective decision making to one of total centralised power to be run on personal whims and caprice of first the mother, Khaleda Zia, and later the son, Tarique Rahman.
As we had said earlier, the Hawa Bhaban destroyed the government and Dr Chowdhury's dismissal destroyed the party. Both these events occurred within seven months of Khaleda Zia's second term. From then on it was a one-way slide downwards, presided over by the leader who got such a huge parliamentary majority and who really had a chance to change Bangladesh as we know it and who, with a little bit of modesty and capacity for introspection and self criticism, could have done it.
We are deliberately not bring on the issues of corruption under Khaleda Zia's tenure as she has been accused of it and the matter should be decided in court. However, it must be mentioned that evidence of graft was all around. While we continued to be termed as the most corrupt country in the world, our elected government preferred to do nothing to stem it except blaming those who were saying so.
It is amazing how little concern was expressed for the issue of corruption and how little was done to investigate the thousands of corruption stories that the media relentlessly published. Instead of finding out the culprits, it was the media that were accused of deliberately maligning the image of the country. Whether or not Khaleda Zia was personally corrupt the courts will decide. But the fact that she tolerated it and did absolutely nothing to either fight corruption or even to raise it as a matter of concern, are now a matter of record.
Now that Khaleda Zia is in custody we will insist that she be given all the protection of law and rights guaranteed by the constitution, especially since she has been twice our elected prime minister. Yet today we cannot but feel deeply sorry for the magnificent opportunity she wasted. Instead of giving us a Bangladesh of unity and growth she left us in a mire worse than the one when she came to power.
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3. Mixed reaction among public
==================================
Mixed reaction among public
Staff Correspondent
People of different walks of life yesterday expressed mixed reactions over the arrest of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Arafat Rahman Koko while many said they were not surprised at the government's move to arrest them.
Following the arrest, The Daily Star correspondents talked to over 100 people of different professions--lawyers, businessmen, NGO workers, students, rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers and other professionals.
Many preferred anonymity while some declined to make any comment regarding the arrest of the former premier and her son.
A corrupt person will eventually be punished, said Ismail, a coconut vendor of Hatirpul Bazar. They were involved with corruption for years together and that is why they have been put behind bars, he said.
A lawyer, wishing to remain anonymous, told The Daily Star that Khaleda Zia should have been arrested and put on trial much earlier as the countrymen suffered for their unbridled corruption during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
"Her government brought nothing but corruption, which
made Bangladesh the most corrupt country in the world," he said. He said successive governments always ignored the general people. They always thought about themselves and were busy with changing their own lot.
Many said there were rumours of Khaleda's arrest after the arrest of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina.
"It is nothing surprising since the rumour of Khaleda Zia's arrest was already around," said Mokhlesur Rahman, an employee of a private firm in the capital. "I think the move was made to balance out the actions taken against the rival party," he added.
A retired police officer told The Daily Star that during his days in service he had to carry out many unlawful orders from high-ups. With her arrest, he expects that such practices from Bangladesh politics would go forever.
Nazmul Alam, an electrical equipment dealer said, "We [referring to general people] all suspected that they were corrupt, now charges have been brought against them. We want her [Khaleda Zia] to be given exemplary punishment, if the charges brought against her are proved… if not she should not be harassed."
Kabir Ahmed, an NGO worker, said that Khaleda Zia's arrest proves that the government is sincere in its crackdown on corrupt people in the country.
When asked for comments, Mizanur Rahman, a banker, became a bit angry and said the government arrested Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina to implement their "minus-two policy". The government's plot will not be successful, he added.
"None is above the law and those who stole people's money and were involved with corruption must be brought to justice," said an owner of a shoe shop in the capital.
"I think her arrest was not handled properly. The process through which she was arrested is not very clear to us as she was arrested within a few hours of the filing of the case," said a banker seeking anonymity.
Many low-income people claimed the arrest did not affect them at all as it would not bring any positive changes to their lives. "It does not matter whether they were arrested or not as it does not bring any good to us," said Shah Ali, owner of a pharmacy at Karwan Bazar in the city.
He claimed he has not seen any changes in the lives of low-income people since the caretaker government came to power. Rather the prices of essentials are going up and out of their reach, he said.
During their "corrupt" regimes the situation was far better, he said adding that the government should concentrate more on price hike of essentials rather than arresting top political leaders.
Many claimed the government's move would not bring any positive changes for the country rather it might even create an anarchic situation.
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4. From a housewife to premiership
==================================================
From a housewife to premiership
Star Report
Khaleda Zia's political life has been defined by her rise from a reclusive and shy housewife of a slain president to the longest serving prime minister in Bangladesh's history.
First gaining fame as one of the spearheads of the anti-Ershad movement in the 80s, Khaleda subsequently became the country's first female head of government when she won the 1991 parliamentary elections after the restoration of democracy.
It all changed for Khaleda when her husband military leader and later president Gen Ziaur Rahman
was assassinated in 1981 during an abortive military coup and Gen Ershad came to power a year later.
Conspicuous by her low profile and image as the retiring housewife during her husband's presidency, Khaleda rose to prominence when she was appointed vice-chairman of BNP in 1982, the party founded by Ziaur Rahman in 1979. She later assumed the BNP chair in August, 1984.
Much like her political rival--Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina--Khaleda was brought in to quell the rising tensions within the party, unite the disparate forces within the party and fill in the power vacuum in BNP following Ziaur Rahman's death.
As BNP chair, she worked to unify political opposition to the authoritarian Ershad regime, forming a seven-party coalition alongside a similar grouping formed by the BNP's main rival, the AL.
During the nine years of military rule, Khaleda Zia was arrested seven times.
While she led the BNP's movement against the Ershad regime, she faced three attempts to break up the BNP from powerful forces within the party. Khaleda's adroit management of these three blows to the BNP strengthened her hold within the party and cleared her way to launch the upsurge against Ershad with a united BNP.
By 1990, discontent over Ershad's rule and support for the opposition political parties had grown sufficiently to convince the president to step down and organise fresh elections. Khaleda Zia led the BNP to a convincing victory in February 1991.
The 1991-96 Khaleda-led government was comparatively successful in revising the country's presidential system in favour of a parliamentary system, restoring the country's flagging economy with nominal signs of corruption. But, her government was largely blamed for holding farcical elections in February 1996, which were boycotted by the AL, ensuring a BNP victory, and Khaleda Zia had her second term in office in February. However, agitations continued and she called for fresh elections for June, which the BNP lost to the AL.
But, her last term in office, between 2001-2006, was marked by unprecedented corruption, wide-ranging abuse of power and flagrant violation of state regulations that subsequently triggered the violence and political crisis that precipitated the declaration of emergency on January 11.
She was heavily criticised by senior BNP leaders for stacking up the party leadership and cabinet posts with her sons, nephews, brothers, sisters and other relatives, which was not the case during her husband's regime or her own in 1991-96 government.
A critical turning point and burning example of this unchecked nepotism was the sacking and expulsion of erstwhile president of Bangladesh and BNP founding member, Badruddoza Chowdhury in the same party meeting, which promoted Khaleda's son Tarique Rahman to the post of senior joint-secretary-general of the party.
Khaleda's patronage of the corrupt and criminal elements within the BNP and its coalition partners in government gave her regime an aura of invincibility that allowed her party members--including her two sons--to demonstrate a minimum of accountability for their actions. The BNP had assumed power in 2001 with two-thirds majority.
Her last term in office also saw most violent expression of militancy in the country with her reported patronage of Bangla Bhai, who played a vital part in the creation of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), responsible for the 469 near-simultaneous bomb blasts on August 17, 2005.
The longest serving prime minister in Bangladesh's history, Khaleda Zia was inaugurated for her third official term as prime minister of Bangladesh on 10 October 2001.
Election on 1 October 2001 were preceded by high levels of violent unrest and yielded a sweeping victory of the BNP and its coalition allies. The BNP secured 66 percent of the seats in parliament leaving the AL with just 20 percent. Khaleda Zia was inaugurated as prime minister nine days later.
Khaleda was born on August 15, 1945 in Dinajpur to businessman Iskander Mazumdar from Feni and his wife Taiyeba Mazumdar, a well-known social worker. Her late sister Khurshid Jahan Haq was a minister for women and children affairs and her brother Sayeed Iskander was a member of parliament. She has another sister and a brother.
At the age of 15, she married the then captain Ziaur Rahman in 1960 right after she passed her SSC examinations and then attended Surendranath College in Dinajpur where she attained her HSC in 1962. In 1971, she was under the custody of the Pakistani military with her two sons.
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5. Moments before the arrest
=========================================
Published On: 2007-09-04
Front Page
Moments before the arrest
Star report
She seemed reluctant to meet her fate. As law enforcers knocked at the door of Khaleda Zia's house at 5:30am, she appeared on the veranda more than 45 minutes later and asked: "Why are you here?"
The law enforcers then told her about the case and the reason for their presence at the address.
"Ok," Khaleda tartly replied. "Let me offer prayers, get my suitcase packed and then I will come out."
As the law enforcers requested her to let them in, she sounded agitated, "What for? You have already checked my house thrice. Why again?"
At around 7:30am, Khaleda finally stepped out with her son Koko to their uncertain future. She still looked angry.
As she walked to the vehicle, she almost said in a monologue: "I am very sad today. Why are you taking away the Zia family members one after another? Why don't you just round them together and send them to the firing squad?"
Hours later, as she stepped inside the lavish Speaker's house-turned-sub-jail complete with central AC, she looked to be lost in a different world far from her palatial luxury. She was received by the inspector general of prisons. A little hesitantly, she muttered: "I never did any household work. You know I am suffering from arthritis. May I have my personal servant to do my works?"
The jail officials said they would look into the rules if her request could be complied with.
Khaleda was then led upstairs to her bedroom. As the officials left her to herself, Khaleda gave them a crucifying last look.
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6. Star Editorial : Khaleda's arrest
======================================
Published On: 2007-09-04
Editorial
Editorial
Khaleda's arrest
Due process of law must be ensured
The ex-PM's arrest does not come as a surprise. In fact the news of Khaleda Zia's impending arrest had been in the air for sometime, particularly after the arrest of Sheikh Hasina. Many had been left wondering after July 16, 2007 as to what kept an immediate past PM out of the reach of the law while an ex-PM, whose tenure of office had been long over, was incarcerated.
It would not be wrong on our part to suggest that there were doubts in the public mind regarding the government's intention of making public office-holders, and those who benefited by exploiting political and family linkages, accountable under the current anti-corruption drive. It was reinforced with the release of Khaleda Zia's youngest son, soon after he was arrested the first time. With their arrest one hopes that all the speculations would have been put at rest.
Now that Khaleda Zia has been arrested we would expect that all due process of law would be followed and that the facilities that the law of the land provides to an accused would be afforded to the ex-PM.
We feel obligated to repeat in case of Khaleda Zia what we had said in these columns after the arrest of Sheikh Hasina. Both the party leaders, in spite of the way they chose to conduct politics during their term in office, have developed a stature and standing of their own in the minds of the public. Therefore we insist that they, both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, must be treated with due dignity and honour and ensured all legal rights during the process of trial. So far, to the credit of this government, both these leaders have been treated with due respect.
We would like to call upon the government to ensure that whatever charges are brought against the accused, they are grounded on incontrovertible facts and that they are legally founded. It is also important to keep in mind that the legal proceedings are not only transparent; it must also be made certain that they are open and fair.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
FW: Why I'm Returning To Pakistan (Benazir Bhutto)
Why I'm Returning To Pakistan Benazir Bhutto
Sat Sep 1, 9:23 PM ET
I was looking forward to a quiet family holiday in New York this summer with my three children, our dog Maxmillian and my husband, who is being treated for a heart condition that developed while he was a political prisoner in Pakistan from 1996 to 2004. I thought we would go to the theatre and spend time walking in Central Park, as well meeting up with friends for nice, long chatty dinners. But in this surprisingly momentous summer of 2007, our quiet family vacation disappeared as we found ourselves caught up in the media attention on my country Pakistan, and its fast changing political situation.
It is clear to those following events in South Asia that Pakistan is truly at a turning point. Almost a decade of military dictatorship has devastated the basic infrastructure of democracy. Political parties have been assaulted, political leaders arrested, and the judicial system manipulated to force party leaders into exile. NGOs have been under constant attack, especially those that deal with human rights, democratic values and women's rights. The press has been intimidated, with some reporters -- even those that work for papers like the New York Times -- arrested, beaten or made to disappear. Student and labor unions have not been allowed to function. The electoral institutions of the nation have been manipulated by an Election Commission that could not stop rigging and fraud. And in the battle against terrorism, we look on with dismay as the government of Pakistan ceded sections of our nation that previously had been governed by the rule of law to Taliban sympathizers and to Al Qaeda, making Pakistan the Petri dish of the international terrorist movement.
But the most dangerous manifestation of this retreat from democracy has been a growing sense of hopelessness of the people of Pakistan, and a total disillusionment with the political system's ability to address their daily problems. The social sector has festered -- underfinanced and relegated to the back burner of national policy. All the indicators of quality of life have spiraled down, from employment to education to housing to health care. And as people's sense of disillusionment has grown, there has been a corresponding growth in the spread of religious and political extremism. The failure of the regime has made our citizens open to extra-governmental experimentation with fanaticism. This has clearly been manifest in the spread of politicized madrassas, schools in which the curriculum incorporates xenophobia, bigotry and often para-military terrorist training. But poor parents who cannot feed or clothe their children entrust them to these kinds of schools, so their children may be fed and housed.
The growth of the madrassas is but one important signal that extremism has been making inroads against moderation amongst the Pakistani polity. I have always believed that the battle between extremism and moderation is the underlying battle for the very soul of Pakistan. Yet moderation can prevail against the extremists only if democracy flourishes and the social sector improves the quality of life of the people. In 2007, I sensed that the decade of dictatorship was threatening to undermine the moderate majority of Pakistan, those people committed to pluralism, to education, to technology -- in other words, those committed to Pakistan taking its place among the community of civilized nations as a leader in the 21st century. Under democracy, the extremists had been marginalized in the past, never receiving more than 11% of the vote in an election. But under dictatorship, Pakistan was edging toward extremism, chaos, and sliding towards a failed state.
My party [the Pakistan Peoples Party] was engaged in a dialogue with the regime of General Musharraf, but discussions didn't move the regime concretely toward democratic reform. In the summer of 2007, after the reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the birth of judicial activism, the dialogue with General Musharraf took a more substantive turn. It seemed now that the country had an opportunity to peacefully transition to democracy, which is critical for the other war -- the war of moderation against extremism -- to succeed. I had a choice. Engage in dialogue, or turn toward the streets. I knew that street protests against the Musharraf dictatorship could lead to the deaths of hundreds. I thought about the choice before me very carefully. I chose dialogue; I chose negotiation; I chose to find a common ground that would unite all the moderate elements of Pakistan for a peaceful transfer to a workable political system that was responsive to the needs of the 160 million people of Pakistan whose empowerment is critical to the success of both governing and the fight against terrorism.
I know that some in Pakistan, including those in political parties were so embittered with the military regime that they wanted the door of dialogue shut. But from the very beginning my goal was and remains to guarantee a free and open electoral process that would provide for a legitimate Parliament and provincial assemblies that would then select, in a constitutional process, a civilian President who understands that in a parliamentary democracy, the parliament is supreme. I wasn't negotiating for a guaranteed outcome, I was negotiating for a guaranteed process. That was the goal at the beginning. That is the goal now. Are we making progress towards that goal? I still am unable to say. There are many elements, in particular those sympathisers in the ruling Party and Government who enabled the extremists and militants to expand their influence in my country who are fearful of the return of the PPP and a rollback of the terrorist forces that have gained strength since my government was overthrown in 1996. They want to scuttle a process that could see the emergence of a moderate Pakistan. So it has been a roller coaster ride. Some times the dialogue moves forward with General Musharaf . But then he consults his colleagues in the ruling alliance and retracts from confidence building measures promised for a fair electoral process.
As the presidential and parliamentary elections approach, I am making plans with my supporters to return to Pakistan. I know that it is critical for Pakistan to return to a democratic way of life so that the people's problems can be addressed. When people are partners with government, they stand up to defend their communities against terrorists, criminals and negative forces.
My stay in New York wasn't exactly the family vacation I had planned, but it was a critical period of weeks that could very well determine the future of Pakistan. I long ago realized that my personal life was to be subjugated to my political responsibilities. When my democratically elected father, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was arrested in 1977 and subsequently murdered, the mantle of leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party, our nation's largest, nationwide grassroots political structure, was suddenly thrust upon me. It was not the life I planned, but it is the life I have. My husband and children accept and understand that my political responsibilities to the people of Pakistan come first, as painful as that personally is to all of us. I would like to be planning my son's move to his first year at college later this month, but instead I am planning my return to Pakistan and my party's parliamentary election campaign.
I didn't choose this life. It chose me.
Sat Sep 1, 9:23 PM ET
I was looking forward to a quiet family holiday in New York this summer with my three children, our dog Maxmillian and my husband, who is being treated for a heart condition that developed while he was a political prisoner in Pakistan from 1996 to 2004. I thought we would go to the theatre and spend time walking in Central Park, as well meeting up with friends for nice, long chatty dinners. But in this surprisingly momentous summer of 2007, our quiet family vacation disappeared as we found ourselves caught up in the media attention on my country Pakistan, and its fast changing political situation.
It is clear to those following events in South Asia that Pakistan is truly at a turning point. Almost a decade of military dictatorship has devastated the basic infrastructure of democracy. Political parties have been assaulted, political leaders arrested, and the judicial system manipulated to force party leaders into exile. NGOs have been under constant attack, especially those that deal with human rights, democratic values and women's rights. The press has been intimidated, with some reporters -- even those that work for papers like the New York Times -- arrested, beaten or made to disappear. Student and labor unions have not been allowed to function. The electoral institutions of the nation have been manipulated by an Election Commission that could not stop rigging and fraud. And in the battle against terrorism, we look on with dismay as the government of Pakistan ceded sections of our nation that previously had been governed by the rule of law to Taliban sympathizers and to Al Qaeda, making Pakistan the Petri dish of the international terrorist movement.
But the most dangerous manifestation of this retreat from democracy has been a growing sense of hopelessness of the people of Pakistan, and a total disillusionment with the political system's ability to address their daily problems. The social sector has festered -- underfinanced and relegated to the back burner of national policy. All the indicators of quality of life have spiraled down, from employment to education to housing to health care. And as people's sense of disillusionment has grown, there has been a corresponding growth in the spread of religious and political extremism. The failure of the regime has made our citizens open to extra-governmental experimentation with fanaticism. This has clearly been manifest in the spread of politicized madrassas, schools in which the curriculum incorporates xenophobia, bigotry and often para-military terrorist training. But poor parents who cannot feed or clothe their children entrust them to these kinds of schools, so their children may be fed and housed.
The growth of the madrassas is but one important signal that extremism has been making inroads against moderation amongst the Pakistani polity. I have always believed that the battle between extremism and moderation is the underlying battle for the very soul of Pakistan. Yet moderation can prevail against the extremists only if democracy flourishes and the social sector improves the quality of life of the people. In 2007, I sensed that the decade of dictatorship was threatening to undermine the moderate majority of Pakistan, those people committed to pluralism, to education, to technology -- in other words, those committed to Pakistan taking its place among the community of civilized nations as a leader in the 21st century. Under democracy, the extremists had been marginalized in the past, never receiving more than 11% of the vote in an election. But under dictatorship, Pakistan was edging toward extremism, chaos, and sliding towards a failed state.
My party [the Pakistan Peoples Party] was engaged in a dialogue with the regime of General Musharraf, but discussions didn't move the regime concretely toward democratic reform. In the summer of 2007, after the reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the birth of judicial activism, the dialogue with General Musharraf took a more substantive turn. It seemed now that the country had an opportunity to peacefully transition to democracy, which is critical for the other war -- the war of moderation against extremism -- to succeed. I had a choice. Engage in dialogue, or turn toward the streets. I knew that street protests against the Musharraf dictatorship could lead to the deaths of hundreds. I thought about the choice before me very carefully. I chose dialogue; I chose negotiation; I chose to find a common ground that would unite all the moderate elements of Pakistan for a peaceful transfer to a workable political system that was responsive to the needs of the 160 million people of Pakistan whose empowerment is critical to the success of both governing and the fight against terrorism.
I know that some in Pakistan, including those in political parties were so embittered with the military regime that they wanted the door of dialogue shut. But from the very beginning my goal was and remains to guarantee a free and open electoral process that would provide for a legitimate Parliament and provincial assemblies that would then select, in a constitutional process, a civilian President who understands that in a parliamentary democracy, the parliament is supreme. I wasn't negotiating for a guaranteed outcome, I was negotiating for a guaranteed process. That was the goal at the beginning. That is the goal now. Are we making progress towards that goal? I still am unable to say. There are many elements, in particular those sympathisers in the ruling Party and Government who enabled the extremists and militants to expand their influence in my country who are fearful of the return of the PPP and a rollback of the terrorist forces that have gained strength since my government was overthrown in 1996. They want to scuttle a process that could see the emergence of a moderate Pakistan. So it has been a roller coaster ride. Some times the dialogue moves forward with General Musharaf . But then he consults his colleagues in the ruling alliance and retracts from confidence building measures promised for a fair electoral process.
As the presidential and parliamentary elections approach, I am making plans with my supporters to return to Pakistan. I know that it is critical for Pakistan to return to a democratic way of life so that the people's problems can be addressed. When people are partners with government, they stand up to defend their communities against terrorists, criminals and negative forces.
My stay in New York wasn't exactly the family vacation I had planned, but it was a critical period of weeks that could very well determine the future of Pakistan. I long ago realized that my personal life was to be subjugated to my political responsibilities. When my democratically elected father, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was arrested in 1977 and subsequently murdered, the mantle of leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party, our nation's largest, nationwide grassroots political structure, was suddenly thrust upon me. It was not the life I planned, but it is the life I have. My husband and children accept and understand that my political responsibilities to the people of Pakistan come first, as painful as that personally is to all of us. I would like to be planning my son's move to his first year at college later this month, but instead I am planning my return to Pakistan and my party's parliamentary election campaign.
I didn't choose this life. It chose me.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
“Bangladesh Army”, total leadership and a basket full of rotten apples
I see some people some how love to hate “Bangladesh Army”. They laugh with showing their 32 teeth to see its humiliation. That’s interesting.
If you are still carrying a Bangladesh passport, you must love “Bangladesh Army”. That’s a must do for a citizen of an independent nation. If for some reason, you can not do that, dissolve the army or toss your passport.
Shocked?? Let me explain.
When some of us jumping up and down and saying “Houston, we have a problem” and “we need to fix it, NOW”, we meant the collapse of total leadership in Bangladesh. The state itself is NOT failed (even though some of us are very excited to label it so, where are the inspiration, well, we can understand), but its TOTAL LEADERSHIP has definitely failed. We need to turn it around.
If you are long enough in free air, you probably realized it by now that leadership of a country is not just few ex-PM (aka don makers) and their chamcha ministers (aka dons). The leaders in the business organization, the leaders in the professional organization, the leaders in the arm forces, the leaders in the intellectual community etc are all part of this TOTAL LEADERSHIP of the country. And guess what? They all have failed. They ALL have brought us in this mess of today while we are trying so hard to get out of.
For an example, look at our leaders in shikkok samiti. Yeah, I am talking about those god-makers who some how fall in love with loud speakers. I mean, hey, teachers and loud speakers? Asking students to hold on to the fort and fight like a ……. well, god. That’s just too much, isn’t it? But on a second thought, they are no teachers. They may be in the class room (I am not sure what they were up to in the class room, textbooks or propaganda; I will give them benefit of doubt) they are teachers. But they are actually leaders of a professional organization (teachers association in this case). They are part of total leadership of the country that I was talking about. And just look at them, how pathetic they are. No wonder we are in this mess.
If you just become little less lazy and look around, then you will see that the same pathetic scene in every branch of leadership. If you are with me up to this, we can draw two very important points and I will give my take on these. You probably won’t agree with me, but that’s okay.
First point: If it is the failure of total leadership, why then we (well, some of us) are so mad with our don-makers and their dons? Why them? Good question. My take on this is that I believe very firmly on a saying “first rule of leadership, every thing is YOUR fault”. Who do you think put these clowns in the leading position of teachers association? Who mastermind the choice leaders of bankers? Who mastermind the choice of leaders in FBCC? Who mastermind the choice of leaders in armed force? Who mastermind the choice of leaders in …….well, say ……. beggars union? You got the idea. It all points to our don-makers, isn’t it? So yes, everything is in deed their fault.
Second point: You say, okay okay I got the point. But wait, what about those khaki dictators? I say, what about them? You mean they are BAD. Of course they are! But why are you blaming “Bangladesh Army” for that? Just because they are part of army, is it? Well, please think hard. They are not just member of Bangladesh army. They are the “leader” of army. Just like our loud speaker teacher, they are leader of armed force. They are in deed just few more rotten apples from the basket of TOTAL LEADERSHIP. Of course they are very pathetic too, like the leaders aka rotten apples of other branch of TOTAL LEADERSHIP. No wonder we are in this mess. Just like we should not hate our teachers just because of few rotten apples (leaders) in teacher community, we should not feel negative toward our brave sons in “Bangladesh Army” just because of some rotten apple (leaders) in it.
Bonus point: You say, wait a minute. If I have taken your previous two points, then these saviors of 1/11 are rotten apples too. Why would we support them? What good that will do? I will tell you a secret; don’t tell any one ….shhhhh….. I KNOW. But if one fine morning, few rotten apples from the basket of rotten apple jump up and say enough is enough. Let’s do some clean up. I am smart enough to shut up my mouth. I hope you would be too. This is a game we can’t loose, talking about win-win situation. Because even if they fails in total make over, we will have less rotten apple in the basket to worry about in the day out than in the day in. It’s not the very best, but it’s better at least. If they do succeed, then voila! I can see your fear though. What if these dudes stick around like a pain in the neck like other appear to be good fellow that we have seen. That is a legitimate fear, I don’t disagree. But you see, as long as they keep doing what they are doing i.e cleaning up, I am okay to take that risk. We will have less and less rotten apple in our basket, the TOTAL LEADERSHIP basket will change its label from a basket full of rotten apple to a basket full of fresh apple with FEW remaining rotten apple. Eventually these FEW remaining rotten apples will definitely be over run by all the fresh apples. Right now, what we have is full basket of rotten apple. We just simply can’t accept that. No way.
-x86
If you are still carrying a Bangladesh passport, you must love “Bangladesh Army”. That’s a must do for a citizen of an independent nation. If for some reason, you can not do that, dissolve the army or toss your passport.
Shocked?? Let me explain.
When some of us jumping up and down and saying “Houston, we have a problem” and “we need to fix it, NOW”, we meant the collapse of total leadership in Bangladesh. The state itself is NOT failed (even though some of us are very excited to label it so, where are the inspiration, well, we can understand), but its TOTAL LEADERSHIP has definitely failed. We need to turn it around.
If you are long enough in free air, you probably realized it by now that leadership of a country is not just few ex-PM (aka don makers) and their chamcha ministers (aka dons). The leaders in the business organization, the leaders in the professional organization, the leaders in the arm forces, the leaders in the intellectual community etc are all part of this TOTAL LEADERSHIP of the country. And guess what? They all have failed. They ALL have brought us in this mess of today while we are trying so hard to get out of.
For an example, look at our leaders in shikkok samiti. Yeah, I am talking about those god-makers who some how fall in love with loud speakers. I mean, hey, teachers and loud speakers? Asking students to hold on to the fort and fight like a ……. well, god. That’s just too much, isn’t it? But on a second thought, they are no teachers. They may be in the class room (I am not sure what they were up to in the class room, textbooks or propaganda; I will give them benefit of doubt) they are teachers. But they are actually leaders of a professional organization (teachers association in this case). They are part of total leadership of the country that I was talking about. And just look at them, how pathetic they are. No wonder we are in this mess.
If you just become little less lazy and look around, then you will see that the same pathetic scene in every branch of leadership. If you are with me up to this, we can draw two very important points and I will give my take on these. You probably won’t agree with me, but that’s okay.
First point: If it is the failure of total leadership, why then we (well, some of us) are so mad with our don-makers and their dons? Why them? Good question. My take on this is that I believe very firmly on a saying “first rule of leadership, every thing is YOUR fault”. Who do you think put these clowns in the leading position of teachers association? Who mastermind the choice leaders of bankers? Who mastermind the choice of leaders in FBCC? Who mastermind the choice of leaders in armed force? Who mastermind the choice of leaders in …….well, say ……. beggars union? You got the idea. It all points to our don-makers, isn’t it? So yes, everything is in deed their fault.
Second point: You say, okay okay I got the point. But wait, what about those khaki dictators? I say, what about them? You mean they are BAD. Of course they are! But why are you blaming “Bangladesh Army” for that? Just because they are part of army, is it? Well, please think hard. They are not just member of Bangladesh army. They are the “leader” of army. Just like our loud speaker teacher, they are leader of armed force. They are in deed just few more rotten apples from the basket of TOTAL LEADERSHIP. Of course they are very pathetic too, like the leaders aka rotten apples of other branch of TOTAL LEADERSHIP. No wonder we are in this mess. Just like we should not hate our teachers just because of few rotten apples (leaders) in teacher community, we should not feel negative toward our brave sons in “Bangladesh Army” just because of some rotten apple (leaders) in it.
Bonus point: You say, wait a minute. If I have taken your previous two points, then these saviors of 1/11 are rotten apples too. Why would we support them? What good that will do? I will tell you a secret; don’t tell any one ….shhhhh….. I KNOW. But if one fine morning, few rotten apples from the basket of rotten apple jump up and say enough is enough. Let’s do some clean up. I am smart enough to shut up my mouth. I hope you would be too. This is a game we can’t loose, talking about win-win situation. Because even if they fails in total make over, we will have less rotten apple in the basket to worry about in the day out than in the day in. It’s not the very best, but it’s better at least. If they do succeed, then voila! I can see your fear though. What if these dudes stick around like a pain in the neck like other appear to be good fellow that we have seen. That is a legitimate fear, I don’t disagree. But you see, as long as they keep doing what they are doing i.e cleaning up, I am okay to take that risk. We will have less and less rotten apple in our basket, the TOTAL LEADERSHIP basket will change its label from a basket full of rotten apple to a basket full of fresh apple with FEW remaining rotten apple. Eventually these FEW remaining rotten apples will definitely be over run by all the fresh apples. Right now, what we have is full basket of rotten apple. We just simply can’t accept that. No way.
-x86
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
FW: Must we go back to square one?
Published On: 2007-08-28
Editorial, The Daily Star
Sense & Insensibility
Must we go back to square one?
Shahnoor Wahid
No, we cannot afford to go back to square one. For that matter, we cannot even go back to square five or square three! In fact, we cannot backtrack under any circumstances, because the stakes are too high.
It's a high-stake game and the opponents are sly and ruthless, and apparently they have some powerful cards up their sleeve. So, we have no option left but to outwit the opponents and win the game. We have to go forward on the perilous journey, like Odysseus, to reach the shore of Ithaca and end the mission.
It is common knowledge now that there are forces out there trying their best to push us back to square one, back to pre- 1/11, so that they may reinstate their rule of misrule throughout the country, once again. They want disorder to reign supreme because they thrive in a disorderly society. They suffocate in a society that is trying to bring order back in life.
Now, who are these people who do not want order, transparency, discipline, and stability in society?
They are the black marketers, gold smugglers, diesel smugglers, electricity thieves, rice hoarders, land grabbers, toll collectors, lake grabbers, forest grabbers, and relief thieves who have been crowding the corridors of state power for decades. And this time they have gotten together to play their own kind of game, waiting for an opportunity to strike back at everything that stands for goodness with all their might.
So, last week, they thought they had one such opportunity knocking on the door early in the morning. They watched in dismay the peaceful settlement of the altercation between students and army personnel at the Dhaka University playground.
They saw the opportunity vanishing in thin air. They were not ready to let it go to waste. It was an opportunity they had been waiting for. So, they got together in the dark depth of the night to connive and conspire to destabilise the government.
They quickly got into action, cooked up an "upsurge," and the nation witnessed wanton breaking of car windshields and windowpanes of office buildings. It was vandalism of the worst kind. They wanted to make it look like a student protest, but people saw only a few astray students and hundreds of hoodlums going berserk on the streets. As a result, people withdrew their support and sympathy and openly condemned the actions.
Student politics and student leaders
The recent student protest on various campuses brought forth the role of some of the student leaders who allegedly have worked from behind to fan the fire on behalf of the political parties for their individual and narrow political gain. The very mention of the term "student leaders" continues to intrigue us.
Who are these people? What actually do they do on the campuses across the country? Do they help the general students in improving their education standard? Do they bargain with the authorities to take examinations in time, take classes regularly, and assess performance of students impartially? Do they take steps to improve the infrastructure, laboratory facilities, hostel facilities, research facilities, and teaching/learning standard of the institution?
They do nothing of the above. We have information that they are the licensed gangs of toll collectors who send their cadres to collect weekly tolls from shop owners and contractors. They come with two trousers and two shirts from their villages and eat free breakfast, lunch, and dinner in student halls. Within three years on the campus, they drive tinted Pajeros and live in their own flats in Gulshan or Banani. Aladdin's lamp? No, blessing of madam or apa.
The present lot of student leaders is quick to cash in on the reputation of the past leaders, who had shown great valour in our fight against the Pakistani rulers. But this has to be added here that many of those past "heroes," at a later time, forgot all about their ideology. It's sad, people do not consider them heroes anymore.
Square one …
We had started with the warning of dark forces working together to push the country back to square one. The government has to be fully awake about the conspirators and take immediate actions against them. The reform agenda has to be fulfilled. Political arena must be cleansed of thugs and murderers. Democracy does not mean reinstating demons. The sacred precinct of our parliament must not be defiled once again by Lultoos, Faltoos and Biltoos.
Shahnoor Wahid is Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
It would take courage to love the flag and its protector
Before I jump into any discussion, let’s just say I am a very believer of the saying “a nation gets a leader it deserves”. That’s the bottom line. So, no need to get over board. At the end of the day, it will all be fine. If not, at least it will be well justified, as that’s what we deserve any way.
No savior will fall from the sky to give us a golden country. “We the people” have to build one. For that we need to learn how to behave. No nation in today’s world became prosperous because their teenagers go to street and burned some cars. Not in the planet earth. Some other planet; may be, who knows. This is the curse we get from centuries of ruled by foreigners.
Burning down the system, just simply will not works. How many times we have to try it? It is like those smart folks in centuries ago, who were trying to build a divine machine that will give output of energy with out any input. They had no clue what’s they are up against. It’s the thermodynamics law that they had to break, and of course they were no match for it. Likewise, we are no match for law of physics and it’s no different for Bangladesh. The sooner we learn it the sooner we will be free.
We all get so excited talking about 52 and 71. Every thing we do, some how, some people, would like to link it to 52 and 71. That’s great. But that’s also very immature. Why is that? Shouldn’t we learn from our past? Shouldn’t we feel proud about our past heroes? Make no mistake; we should …… as long as we understand that they are “past”. Confused? Let me explain. The heroism in 52, 69 and 71 (you can even go back as early as 1757 and 1857) was for a freedom-less nation against their foreign masters. Just like any classic heroism. Those were to end slavery and to be free. If we can’t feel free, then all those heroes sacrifice will go in vain. Like I said, it’s hard to remove physical slavery. But it is even harder, if possible at all, to root out slavery form one’s mind. Bringing back 52 is not helping, because along comes slavery (in our mind). All the strategy of getting out of slavery just simply fails when we need to use them to build a nation. That’s why probably; the heroes of freedom movements are often a failed nation builder. A stunning example could be Gandhi vs Jinnah/Mujib. I am not a history analyst, but one could go back and analyze the success of “Gandhi to Nehru transition” vs. the failure of Jinnah & Mujib as a nation builder.
I saw some Bangladeshi columnist aka buddijibi getting so nostalgic. To them, so called jolpai rong is synonymous to Ayub khan. In fact every thing is about Ayub Khan to them, either for or against. This is so funny. But I don’t blame them. I feel very pity for them. What can you do? They have born as a slave. No matters how many independence our brave sons bring to them, their mind won’t be free. It’s a curse they can not get out of. They are still kept inside in the independence war. That makes sense. The 71-minus generation, who born as a Pakistani or Indian, are in constant battle inside their mind. The poor fellows feel like they have to prove that they belong to independent Bangladesh. That’s why every thing is about Pakistan-ponthi or India-ponthi to them. It’s like something inside ask them constantly, which side are you in? Who can blame them? I am like, dude, the war is over long ago. Now, just get over with it. I have born into independent Bangladesh. I got only one side. I don’t need no stupid question, stop making fool out of yourself. Freedom is a blessing, not everyone can feel it.
Comparing our brothers and sons who take the oath to protect us, for whom we can say that March 25th of 71 will not repeat, to those of enemy soldiers are not only silly, it’s also unethical. It’s like comparing your brother with the criminal who have just raped your sister-in-law. After all, both of them do the same. ARE THEY??
Just because you & I earned few degrees, does not necessarily make us better then the soldiers. While I headed to buet after HSC, few of my best friends take the oath. I always look up to them (not down) for their courage. My uncle/mama was a very brilliant student, one of the best that I have seen. He joined the force and now he is flying with a Bangladesh flag and bringing peace to world ahead. Trust me; you are not necessarily smarter than him, neither am I. If we judge our nation’s brave sons by few rotten apples aka dictators, we would be very wrong.
It may take a little brain to find pin holes and criticize. It may take an evil mind to push our teenagers in the street and encourage them on burning. But it would take courage to love the flag and its protector.
NB: It’s a great shame. We are setting up booths in different office campus to literally beg money from our foreign colleague for a sinking BD and show them the picture of flood victims. But the truth of the matter is BD is burning. Stupid GOOGLE have no sense of what to show and when. All my colleague have to do is go to google.com, click News, and search for the word “Bangladesh”. It’s like he took out the shoe from his foot and slap me in the face. And trust me, it hurts. But good thing is that we all collected some dollars yesterday, enough to replace one or two tire of one of those many cars that I saw burning in BD. We hope that will help.
-X86
No savior will fall from the sky to give us a golden country. “We the people” have to build one. For that we need to learn how to behave. No nation in today’s world became prosperous because their teenagers go to street and burned some cars. Not in the planet earth. Some other planet; may be, who knows. This is the curse we get from centuries of ruled by foreigners.
Burning down the system, just simply will not works. How many times we have to try it? It is like those smart folks in centuries ago, who were trying to build a divine machine that will give output of energy with out any input. They had no clue what’s they are up against. It’s the thermodynamics law that they had to break, and of course they were no match for it. Likewise, we are no match for law of physics and it’s no different for Bangladesh. The sooner we learn it the sooner we will be free.
We all get so excited talking about 52 and 71. Every thing we do, some how, some people, would like to link it to 52 and 71. That’s great. But that’s also very immature. Why is that? Shouldn’t we learn from our past? Shouldn’t we feel proud about our past heroes? Make no mistake; we should …… as long as we understand that they are “past”. Confused? Let me explain. The heroism in 52, 69 and 71 (you can even go back as early as 1757 and 1857) was for a freedom-less nation against their foreign masters. Just like any classic heroism. Those were to end slavery and to be free. If we can’t feel free, then all those heroes sacrifice will go in vain. Like I said, it’s hard to remove physical slavery. But it is even harder, if possible at all, to root out slavery form one’s mind. Bringing back 52 is not helping, because along comes slavery (in our mind). All the strategy of getting out of slavery just simply fails when we need to use them to build a nation. That’s why probably; the heroes of freedom movements are often a failed nation builder. A stunning example could be Gandhi vs Jinnah/Mujib. I am not a history analyst, but one could go back and analyze the success of “Gandhi to Nehru transition” vs. the failure of Jinnah & Mujib as a nation builder.
I saw some Bangladeshi columnist aka buddijibi getting so nostalgic. To them, so called jolpai rong is synonymous to Ayub khan. In fact every thing is about Ayub Khan to them, either for or against. This is so funny. But I don’t blame them. I feel very pity for them. What can you do? They have born as a slave. No matters how many independence our brave sons bring to them, their mind won’t be free. It’s a curse they can not get out of. They are still kept inside in the independence war. That makes sense. The 71-minus generation, who born as a Pakistani or Indian, are in constant battle inside their mind. The poor fellows feel like they have to prove that they belong to independent Bangladesh. That’s why every thing is about Pakistan-ponthi or India-ponthi to them. It’s like something inside ask them constantly, which side are you in? Who can blame them? I am like, dude, the war is over long ago. Now, just get over with it. I have born into independent Bangladesh. I got only one side. I don’t need no stupid question, stop making fool out of yourself. Freedom is a blessing, not everyone can feel it.
Comparing our brothers and sons who take the oath to protect us, for whom we can say that March 25th of 71 will not repeat, to those of enemy soldiers are not only silly, it’s also unethical. It’s like comparing your brother with the criminal who have just raped your sister-in-law. After all, both of them do the same. ARE THEY??
Just because you & I earned few degrees, does not necessarily make us better then the soldiers. While I headed to buet after HSC, few of my best friends take the oath. I always look up to them (not down) for their courage. My uncle/mama was a very brilliant student, one of the best that I have seen. He joined the force and now he is flying with a Bangladesh flag and bringing peace to world ahead. Trust me; you are not necessarily smarter than him, neither am I. If we judge our nation’s brave sons by few rotten apples aka dictators, we would be very wrong.
It may take a little brain to find pin holes and criticize. It may take an evil mind to push our teenagers in the street and encourage them on burning. But it would take courage to love the flag and its protector.
NB: It’s a great shame. We are setting up booths in different office campus to literally beg money from our foreign colleague for a sinking BD and show them the picture of flood victims. But the truth of the matter is BD is burning. Stupid GOOGLE have no sense of what to show and when. All my colleague have to do is go to google.com, click News, and search for the word “Bangladesh”. It’s like he took out the shoe from his foot and slap me in the face. And trust me, it hurts. But good thing is that we all collected some dollars yesterday, enough to replace one or two tire of one of those many cars that I saw burning in BD. We hope that will help.
-X86
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Messing with gods…………GOD help us!!
If a Dhaka University student beaten by a soldier is so XYZ that whole country needs to be upside down, then GOD help us!!
I remember when I was a new graduate student in my school in US. One day, a policeman came to the next door. One of my classmates lives there with his wife. Being clueless we rush after the police left. His wife was crying with tears all over her. The poor girl was all alone just listening music. Well, may be little too loud according to one neighbor, that’s all. Apparently all it took is a phone call. Next thing you know, police was banging your door.
WOW, we said. Boy, are these students stupid or coward? In back home, police in our campus?? Ha ha ha. I remember all those “misil” in BUET campus. You know like “campus a police keno, kortipokhkho jobab chai”. Well, that was just the beginning, words gets ugly after a while and campus become kurukhetro.
I got my first lesson that US is no BD, this campus is not even close to buet or DU campus. Here the university have a police camp of it’s own. Can you believe that? What? Like you still ruled by “british benia”, or what? I came to know about the police camp after getting a parking ticket for apparently violating “front end parking only” sign. Well, that’s a long story, let’s not go there.
In Bangladesh however, DU students are some kind of god. And no one touch god, especially police. Because when you touch god, you are cursed. Who in the hell are brave enough to mess with god? A god beaten by a soldier, wow! By the way, gods doesn’t go to soldier's superior to complain. They don’t go to court to sue you. They don’t write in the news paper, saying Houston, we have a problem here. Are you kidding me?? Those are not god kind of work, are they? Instead, god will simply crash you. That’s what gods do.
NB: By the way if you are one those folks who haven’t done his undergrad in BD, you would probably not understand what I am talking about. For a start, just take this. Our 12th grade pass kids don’t go to university to learn business, law, engineering, medical. Aaa aaa, that’s a no no. They go there to become gods and save the nation. As if we are still in those era when anyone out side of the campus is just as good as a cow, dog or cat. As if, a nation of cow, dog and cats (often associated with the word “bloody” by Brits) is trying to be human in the classroom. As if we are still in the era, when parents don’t teach their kids, but kids come home to teach their parents.
-X86
In the news:
============
Breaking News
Protests break out across country: 1 killed, hundreds injured
Star Online Report
At least one person was killed and hundreds were injured as violence broke out across the country for the 3rd day today.
Students of different colleges and universities across the country came out on streets and fought pitched battles with police.
A rickshaw-puller was killed and more than 50 students were injured when around 2000 students marched through the Rajshahi University (RU) campus demanding withdrawal of law enforcers from the campus and protesting DU incident.
Several dozens of students of Jagannath University and DU were injured in sporadic clashes with police. A DU student also sustained bullet injuries in front of F Rahman Hall during the clashes.
Dhaka city streets virtually became void as violence spilt over into the third day. Several incidents of vandalism and arson were reported from Airport road, Mohakhali, Gulistan, Kamalapur Railway Station, Mouchak, Noyabazar, North-South road and Nawabpur areas. The protesters also vandalised the windowpanes of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ (CMM) Court, Dhaka.
Reports said students of Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Eden University College, Jagannath University, Titumir College, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University and Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute also joined the demonstration.
The pitched battles across the country between police and students occurred when police tried to resist the demonstrating students.
UNB reports that students of Jagannath University staged violent protest and burned four vehicles including a Pajero jeep around the District Court in Old Dhaka at about 10:30am.
Students of Titumir College brought out a procession and moved towards Mohakhali crossing chanting anti-government slogans.
In Rajshahi, police lobbed innumerable rubber bullets and hurled around 600 tear gas shells in a bid to disperse the unruly students who were pelting policemen with brickbats, leaving the rickshaw-puller dead and over 50 students injured.
The road communications on the Rajshahi-Dhaka Highway came to a halt as the law enforcers were forced to retreat and took position on the highway. On information, additional contingent of police were deployed in the area and the RU premised virtually became a battleground.
Our RU correspondent reports that among the injured, the condition of one student is critical. Our RU correspondent and Rajshahi staff correspondent were also assaulted by the agitating students.
The angry students also ransacked the administrative building of the university. They set fire to the temporary police camp, three vehicles and residence of Vice-chancellor Prof Altaf Hossain. They also cut off the telephone, power, water and cable TV connections of the VC’s home.
On the other hand, Progotishil Chhatra Jote (PCJ), a combine of left-leaning student organisations, called for an indefinite strike at the university.
The student unrest erupted on Monday afternoon when some army men beat up three students and humiliated a teacher of the DU during a soccer match on the university central playground.
I remember when I was a new graduate student in my school in US. One day, a policeman came to the next door. One of my classmates lives there with his wife. Being clueless we rush after the police left. His wife was crying with tears all over her. The poor girl was all alone just listening music. Well, may be little too loud according to one neighbor, that’s all. Apparently all it took is a phone call. Next thing you know, police was banging your door.
WOW, we said. Boy, are these students stupid or coward? In back home, police in our campus?? Ha ha ha. I remember all those “misil” in BUET campus. You know like “campus a police keno, kortipokhkho jobab chai”. Well, that was just the beginning, words gets ugly after a while and campus become kurukhetro.
I got my first lesson that US is no BD, this campus is not even close to buet or DU campus. Here the university have a police camp of it’s own. Can you believe that? What? Like you still ruled by “british benia”, or what? I came to know about the police camp after getting a parking ticket for apparently violating “front end parking only” sign. Well, that’s a long story, let’s not go there.
In Bangladesh however, DU students are some kind of god. And no one touch god, especially police. Because when you touch god, you are cursed. Who in the hell are brave enough to mess with god? A god beaten by a soldier, wow! By the way, gods doesn’t go to soldier's superior to complain. They don’t go to court to sue you. They don’t write in the news paper, saying Houston, we have a problem here. Are you kidding me?? Those are not god kind of work, are they? Instead, god will simply crash you. That’s what gods do.
NB: By the way if you are one those folks who haven’t done his undergrad in BD, you would probably not understand what I am talking about. For a start, just take this. Our 12th grade pass kids don’t go to university to learn business, law, engineering, medical. Aaa aaa, that’s a no no. They go there to become gods and save the nation. As if we are still in those era when anyone out side of the campus is just as good as a cow, dog or cat. As if, a nation of cow, dog and cats (often associated with the word “bloody” by Brits) is trying to be human in the classroom. As if we are still in the era, when parents don’t teach their kids, but kids come home to teach their parents.
-X86
In the news:
============
Breaking News
Protests break out across country: 1 killed, hundreds injured
Star Online Report
At least one person was killed and hundreds were injured as violence broke out across the country for the 3rd day today.
Students of different colleges and universities across the country came out on streets and fought pitched battles with police.
A rickshaw-puller was killed and more than 50 students were injured when around 2000 students marched through the Rajshahi University (RU) campus demanding withdrawal of law enforcers from the campus and protesting DU incident.
Several dozens of students of Jagannath University and DU were injured in sporadic clashes with police. A DU student also sustained bullet injuries in front of F Rahman Hall during the clashes.
Dhaka city streets virtually became void as violence spilt over into the third day. Several incidents of vandalism and arson were reported from Airport road, Mohakhali, Gulistan, Kamalapur Railway Station, Mouchak, Noyabazar, North-South road and Nawabpur areas. The protesters also vandalised the windowpanes of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ (CMM) Court, Dhaka.
Reports said students of Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Eden University College, Jagannath University, Titumir College, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University and Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute also joined the demonstration.
The pitched battles across the country between police and students occurred when police tried to resist the demonstrating students.
UNB reports that students of Jagannath University staged violent protest and burned four vehicles including a Pajero jeep around the District Court in Old Dhaka at about 10:30am.
Students of Titumir College brought out a procession and moved towards Mohakhali crossing chanting anti-government slogans.
In Rajshahi, police lobbed innumerable rubber bullets and hurled around 600 tear gas shells in a bid to disperse the unruly students who were pelting policemen with brickbats, leaving the rickshaw-puller dead and over 50 students injured.
The road communications on the Rajshahi-Dhaka Highway came to a halt as the law enforcers were forced to retreat and took position on the highway. On information, additional contingent of police were deployed in the area and the RU premised virtually became a battleground.
Our RU correspondent reports that among the injured, the condition of one student is critical. Our RU correspondent and Rajshahi staff correspondent were also assaulted by the agitating students.
The angry students also ransacked the administrative building of the university. They set fire to the temporary police camp, three vehicles and residence of Vice-chancellor Prof Altaf Hossain. They also cut off the telephone, power, water and cable TV connections of the VC’s home.
On the other hand, Progotishil Chhatra Jote (PCJ), a combine of left-leaning student organisations, called for an indefinite strike at the university.
The student unrest erupted on Monday afternoon when some army men beat up three students and humiliated a teacher of the DU during a soccer match on the university central playground.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Drunken driving, unlicensed gun and Joy (Weekly Probe magazine)
Here is an article worth exploring. It is full of pointers that need some more work and supporting data. I am not necessarily agree on the conclusion though. At this moment, its all seems speculation that is not necessarily all false or true.
I can add one more point though. I went to the same school in US little later than him. His legacy did not look good. He was portrayed as an anti-Bangladeshi to Bangladeshi students there. I was told that he specifically blocked other Bangladeshi students from getting a job in the lab that he was working as a student worker. I was told that he never wanted to let people know that he is a Bangladeshi origin. He was always kept distance from any BD students and their activity. But again these are not necessarily all bad. He might have his reason and his own issue to deal with. I would like to give him the benefit of doubt.
Also if he is in fact a spoiled kid, who would we blame! Finger will probably can only points to us the people of Bangladesh. For we are the reason he was away from home. For we are the reason he was left without his parent’s love and affection. I can’t even imagine how it was like to be grow up knowing that you are the grandson of a nation’s founder which, by the way, killed most of your ancestors. (For what ever was the reason that is pointless to the kid). I feel like we woe an apology to Joy. It’s us, who took one of the greatest freedom movement leader of south Asia; and turn him into the greatest dictator of south Asia in mare 3 years or less. It was us who did not tell him to stop until it was too late. I wasn’t old enough, but I guess I could have been the little boy, jump up and ask “King, where is your dress, you are nude”. No one did. ====SORRY====
I may write about his visit to bay area some other time. Stay tuned :)
-X86
In The news:
=============
Article on Sajeeb Wazed Joy on Weekly Probe magazine
Drunken driving, unlicensed gun and Joy
Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, has been arrested for drunken driving on several occasions, was in possession on an unlicensed gun and guilty of a host of other misdeeds
A PROBE report
When Sajib Wazed Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, returned to Bangladesh after many years abroad, the massive reception organized for him at the airport reflected his mother’s wish that he be her successor in politics. But was he cut out for the tough task of a political career? It doesn’t seem so. He seems quite happy with his cushy life in the United States, notwithstanding his several scrapes with the law and other shady tales.
Going back
Joy has hardly much childhood association with Bangladesh. His mother lived a life in exile since August 1975, spending a long asylum in India under the patronage of the Indian government. She would live at Basant Bahar, the safe house run by the agencies there.
As a result, Joy had his early education in India where he spent much of his formative years. They may have returned to Bangladesh in 1981, but there was a sense of isolation from normal family life for Joy. This was only to be expected, given his boarding school years, the intense political activities of his mother, all compounded with the estrangement of his parents.
Persons who knew him then say he was a rather reckless youth. Even later, he reportedly met with an accident in Gulshan in the mid-nineties, totaling the Pajero jeep of a businessman of Narayanganj. Rather than keeping him in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina sent her son to the US for further studies. She perhaps felt that would give him some stability, a sense of responsibility.
Reckless driving
Life in the USA didn’t seem to change Joy much. That reckless trait in his character showed itself time and again. Records show several cases were filed against him. He has been charged on various occasions with drunken driving, speeding, reckless driving, unlawful use of radar detection device, and even carrying an unlicensed gun. He even had to spend time in jail for his misdemeanours, not to mention all the fines he had to pay too. If Hasina had political aspirations for him, she couldn’t have chosen a more unsuitable candidate.
As it is, he had a basically apolitical character. He disliked the gathering of poor people at home and expressed a distinct disinterest in politics. He often snubbed persons who, out of affection or simple curiousity, came to meet Sheikh Mujib’s grandson.
He continued his fast life in the US as he had no sense of belonging with Bangladesh, no affinity to his mother’s party and had no intention of living with his dysfunctional family at home. In was no secret that there was no love lost between Sheikh Hasina and husband Wazed Miah.
Clouds over love and marriage
During his mother’s tenure as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister (1996-2001), Joy reportedly got engaged with an old girlfriend from his school days. She was an Indian girl of Sikh religion. Hasina, taking cover of an official visit, went to London to formalize the marriage. Along with the barat of close friends and relations, she even took along cooks of Dhaka’s famous Fakhruddin bawarchi. Her one condition was that the girl convert to Islam. The girl refused. Hasina was more than upset. She reportedly cancelled all programmes on that day. She shut herself up in her hotel room the whole day, refusing to talk to any one. She immediately returned to Dhaka. The marriage reception never took place, and her entourage, cooks and all, returned home without the taste of biriyani in their mouths.
Joy is presently married to American citizen Kristine Ann Overmire a.k.a. Kristine Wazed. They were married in the US on October 26, 2002. Kristine may have been previously married to a certain Richard D Loomis. There were rumours that Joy and Kristine were on the verge of a divorce, but if there had been a separation, things have apparently been patched up, perhaps with the birth of their child.
Informal entry into politics
Joy’s arrival in Dhaka and grand reception by young cadres of the party at the airport, and the several subsequent meetings at Sudha Sadan, heralded his informal entry into politics. It is not clear how serious he actually was about politics. He may have just been out to impress his newly-wed American bride. Or he may have just been pacifying his mother who had big plans for her prodigal son.
It was clear that Sheikh Hasina wanted him to be her successor, but Sheikh Rehana had her reservations in this regard. This fact was brought home further by an article in the magazine Bichitra, owned by Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana. The article was vehemently opposed to the idea of Joy’s entrance into politics.
The matter of Joy’s political induction was made clear again by the visiting card he had printed. His designation was shown as Advisor to the Prime Minister. He would use the card in his meetings and dealings in the US.
Interestingly, after the grenade attack on August 21, 2004, Joy’s statement was published in the official Awami League website with special prominence. The website normally only carried news, analyses and statements of Sheikh Hasina. At times it would have statements of senior party leaders like Abdul Jalil or Zillur Rahman at the most. But then suddenly it began posting Joy’s statements prominently.
Power breeds money
When Awami League came to power and his mother became ruler of the country, Joy got involved in business. There was the Texas-based Infolink International (from November 1998 to March 2001) and Nova BD International, LLC (May 1998 to August 2000). He had links with the SEAMEWE-4 undersea cable project through Nova BD International. He was also involved with Tyco Communications (USA) along with a certain Mahboob Rahman.
He also founded two other companies, Wazed Consulting and Sim Global Services in March 2005. This was after Awami League was out of power. Interestingly, the annual sales of these two companies were only 61,000 dollars and 35,000 dollars respectively. Yet Joy, in his own name, bought a brand new house at 3817 Bell Manor Court, Falls Church, Virginia, on May 12, 2006, worth about one million dollars. His wife is not a co-owner of the house. He used a fixed-rate mortgage and paid only about 200 thousand dollars (20 percent of the value) in cash. This was a clever move as it hid the real value of the property in terms of cash.
Earlier, together with his wife, he brought another property at 4823 Martin Street, Alexandria, VA 22312. The property is worth 749,000 dollars.
Business, not as usual
Like Joy, his brother-in-law Khandkar M Hossain, husband of sister Saima Wazed Hossain (Putul), started a few businesses in the US when his mother-in-law Sheikh Hasina came to power, but dissolved them after a couple of years. These businesses included Bangladesh Metals and Pipes Trading Corporation; Shonali Inc; Doug’s Wholesale Inc; Afsana Inc; and Jampy Corporation.
Apparently business was not quite the cup of tea for either of them. However, despite none of the businesses seeming to make any money and most of them being shut down before long, no one has ever heard of them suffering from financial difficulties. Perhaps mother’s affection helped them in this regard.
A reluctant successor
It was more than apparent to senior and mid-level leaders of Awami League in the mid-nineties that Sheikh Hasina to all intentions and purposes was intent on grooming Joy as he successor. Sheikh Rehana, Sheikh Selim and other in the family were no comfortable with this.
The Awami League leaders were noting with alarm that the post-2001 scene witnesses a gradual infiltration of newcomers into the membership of Hasina’s kitchen cabinet. Kazi Zafrullah, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abul Hossain, Salman F Rahman and a number of former bureaucrats were gradually entering the hallowed circle of Hasina’s favoured ones, pushing the old-timer “uncles” out of the way. Only Abdul Jalil and Zillur Rahman, together with half-baked politicians like Obaidul Kader, were allowed to come into prominence. Thanks to the pro-Awami League media who were friendly with the “uncles”, the seniors managed to maintain some semblance of political visibility.
Sheikh Hasina is going through critical times. In all likelihood she will have to relinquish her leadership of Awami League. At this juncture, given South Asian political trends, it would have only been natural for Joy to step into his mother’s shoes. Now, however, that does not seem likely. His background and records hardly present him as leadership material, particularly when reforms are the call of the day. The party leaders will not accept him. After all, his propensity for joy rides seems to outweigh his penchant for politics.
Arrests and criminal charges
Criminal court clerk records identify the following criminal charges and arrests of Sajib Wazed Joy:
On June 14 1998, Joy was arrested in Tarrant County, Texas. He was charged on two counts of carrying an unlicensed handgun and one count of driving while intoxicated. He was convicted for drunken driving and was imprisoned for 120 days, sentenced to 24 months of probation and fined $500.
On February 6, 2000, Joy was charged with reckless driving and having a radar detector in Hanover County, Virginia. He was fined and incarcerated for one day.
On March 19, 2000, he was arrested and charged with reckless driving in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was found guilty and given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and 12 months probation along with a $400 fine.
On April 29, 2001, Joy was charged with speeding in Rappahannock County, Virginia.
On May 20, 2004, Joy was charged with speeding in Arlington County, Virginia.
Putul’s property
Saima Wazed Hossain (Putul), Sheikh Hasina’s daughter and Joy’s younger sister, along with husband Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, own considerable property in the US. The houses they purchased there include:
456 North Bay Point Way, Jacksonville, Florida. This is a single family residence purchased by Saima and husband Hossain on November 1, 2005 for $245,000 from Merrill and Priscilla King.
845 York Way, Maitland, Florida. This is also a single family residence purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 16, 2004, for $311,000 from David and Elizabeth Cocchiarella. The property has an assessed value of $208,844.
2065 W 119th Avenue, Miramar, Florida. This single family residence was purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 28, 1998 for $154,300 from Pulte Home Corporation. On March 15, 2005, a non-purchase money loan of $197,000, was obtained from SunTrust Bank secured with this property. The property has an assessed value of $265,440.
Source:
http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?
index=2&contentId=2701&PHPSESSID=6cbb66180d90b402c6cff21c9a34d9e2
I can add one more point though. I went to the same school in US little later than him. His legacy did not look good. He was portrayed as an anti-Bangladeshi to Bangladeshi students there. I was told that he specifically blocked other Bangladeshi students from getting a job in the lab that he was working as a student worker. I was told that he never wanted to let people know that he is a Bangladeshi origin. He was always kept distance from any BD students and their activity. But again these are not necessarily all bad. He might have his reason and his own issue to deal with. I would like to give him the benefit of doubt.
Also if he is in fact a spoiled kid, who would we blame! Finger will probably can only points to us the people of Bangladesh. For we are the reason he was away from home. For we are the reason he was left without his parent’s love and affection. I can’t even imagine how it was like to be grow up knowing that you are the grandson of a nation’s founder which, by the way, killed most of your ancestors. (For what ever was the reason that is pointless to the kid). I feel like we woe an apology to Joy. It’s us, who took one of the greatest freedom movement leader of south Asia; and turn him into the greatest dictator of south Asia in mare 3 years or less. It was us who did not tell him to stop until it was too late. I wasn’t old enough, but I guess I could have been the little boy, jump up and ask “King, where is your dress, you are nude”. No one did. ====SORRY====
I may write about his visit to bay area some other time. Stay tuned :)
-X86
In The news:
=============
Article on Sajeeb Wazed Joy on Weekly Probe magazine
Drunken driving, unlicensed gun and Joy
Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, has been arrested for drunken driving on several occasions, was in possession on an unlicensed gun and guilty of a host of other misdeeds
A PROBE report
When Sajib Wazed Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, returned to Bangladesh after many years abroad, the massive reception organized for him at the airport reflected his mother’s wish that he be her successor in politics. But was he cut out for the tough task of a political career? It doesn’t seem so. He seems quite happy with his cushy life in the United States, notwithstanding his several scrapes with the law and other shady tales.
Going back
Joy has hardly much childhood association with Bangladesh. His mother lived a life in exile since August 1975, spending a long asylum in India under the patronage of the Indian government. She would live at Basant Bahar, the safe house run by the agencies there.
As a result, Joy had his early education in India where he spent much of his formative years. They may have returned to Bangladesh in 1981, but there was a sense of isolation from normal family life for Joy. This was only to be expected, given his boarding school years, the intense political activities of his mother, all compounded with the estrangement of his parents.
Persons who knew him then say he was a rather reckless youth. Even later, he reportedly met with an accident in Gulshan in the mid-nineties, totaling the Pajero jeep of a businessman of Narayanganj. Rather than keeping him in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina sent her son to the US for further studies. She perhaps felt that would give him some stability, a sense of responsibility.
Reckless driving
Life in the USA didn’t seem to change Joy much. That reckless trait in his character showed itself time and again. Records show several cases were filed against him. He has been charged on various occasions with drunken driving, speeding, reckless driving, unlawful use of radar detection device, and even carrying an unlicensed gun. He even had to spend time in jail for his misdemeanours, not to mention all the fines he had to pay too. If Hasina had political aspirations for him, she couldn’t have chosen a more unsuitable candidate.
As it is, he had a basically apolitical character. He disliked the gathering of poor people at home and expressed a distinct disinterest in politics. He often snubbed persons who, out of affection or simple curiousity, came to meet Sheikh Mujib’s grandson.
He continued his fast life in the US as he had no sense of belonging with Bangladesh, no affinity to his mother’s party and had no intention of living with his dysfunctional family at home. In was no secret that there was no love lost between Sheikh Hasina and husband Wazed Miah.
Clouds over love and marriage
During his mother’s tenure as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister (1996-2001), Joy reportedly got engaged with an old girlfriend from his school days. She was an Indian girl of Sikh religion. Hasina, taking cover of an official visit, went to London to formalize the marriage. Along with the barat of close friends and relations, she even took along cooks of Dhaka’s famous Fakhruddin bawarchi. Her one condition was that the girl convert to Islam. The girl refused. Hasina was more than upset. She reportedly cancelled all programmes on that day. She shut herself up in her hotel room the whole day, refusing to talk to any one. She immediately returned to Dhaka. The marriage reception never took place, and her entourage, cooks and all, returned home without the taste of biriyani in their mouths.
Joy is presently married to American citizen Kristine Ann Overmire a.k.a. Kristine Wazed. They were married in the US on October 26, 2002. Kristine may have been previously married to a certain Richard D Loomis. There were rumours that Joy and Kristine were on the verge of a divorce, but if there had been a separation, things have apparently been patched up, perhaps with the birth of their child.
Informal entry into politics
Joy’s arrival in Dhaka and grand reception by young cadres of the party at the airport, and the several subsequent meetings at Sudha Sadan, heralded his informal entry into politics. It is not clear how serious he actually was about politics. He may have just been out to impress his newly-wed American bride. Or he may have just been pacifying his mother who had big plans for her prodigal son.
It was clear that Sheikh Hasina wanted him to be her successor, but Sheikh Rehana had her reservations in this regard. This fact was brought home further by an article in the magazine Bichitra, owned by Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana. The article was vehemently opposed to the idea of Joy’s entrance into politics.
The matter of Joy’s political induction was made clear again by the visiting card he had printed. His designation was shown as Advisor to the Prime Minister. He would use the card in his meetings and dealings in the US.
Interestingly, after the grenade attack on August 21, 2004, Joy’s statement was published in the official Awami League website with special prominence. The website normally only carried news, analyses and statements of Sheikh Hasina. At times it would have statements of senior party leaders like Abdul Jalil or Zillur Rahman at the most. But then suddenly it began posting Joy’s statements prominently.
Power breeds money
When Awami League came to power and his mother became ruler of the country, Joy got involved in business. There was the Texas-based Infolink International (from November 1998 to March 2001) and Nova BD International, LLC (May 1998 to August 2000). He had links with the SEAMEWE-4 undersea cable project through Nova BD International. He was also involved with Tyco Communications (USA) along with a certain Mahboob Rahman.
He also founded two other companies, Wazed Consulting and Sim Global Services in March 2005. This was after Awami League was out of power. Interestingly, the annual sales of these two companies were only 61,000 dollars and 35,000 dollars respectively. Yet Joy, in his own name, bought a brand new house at 3817 Bell Manor Court, Falls Church, Virginia, on May 12, 2006, worth about one million dollars. His wife is not a co-owner of the house. He used a fixed-rate mortgage and paid only about 200 thousand dollars (20 percent of the value) in cash. This was a clever move as it hid the real value of the property in terms of cash.
Earlier, together with his wife, he brought another property at 4823 Martin Street, Alexandria, VA 22312. The property is worth 749,000 dollars.
Business, not as usual
Like Joy, his brother-in-law Khandkar M Hossain, husband of sister Saima Wazed Hossain (Putul), started a few businesses in the US when his mother-in-law Sheikh Hasina came to power, but dissolved them after a couple of years. These businesses included Bangladesh Metals and Pipes Trading Corporation; Shonali Inc; Doug’s Wholesale Inc; Afsana Inc; and Jampy Corporation.
Apparently business was not quite the cup of tea for either of them. However, despite none of the businesses seeming to make any money and most of them being shut down before long, no one has ever heard of them suffering from financial difficulties. Perhaps mother’s affection helped them in this regard.
A reluctant successor
It was more than apparent to senior and mid-level leaders of Awami League in the mid-nineties that Sheikh Hasina to all intentions and purposes was intent on grooming Joy as he successor. Sheikh Rehana, Sheikh Selim and other in the family were no comfortable with this.
The Awami League leaders were noting with alarm that the post-2001 scene witnesses a gradual infiltration of newcomers into the membership of Hasina’s kitchen cabinet. Kazi Zafrullah, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abul Hossain, Salman F Rahman and a number of former bureaucrats were gradually entering the hallowed circle of Hasina’s favoured ones, pushing the old-timer “uncles” out of the way. Only Abdul Jalil and Zillur Rahman, together with half-baked politicians like Obaidul Kader, were allowed to come into prominence. Thanks to the pro-Awami League media who were friendly with the “uncles”, the seniors managed to maintain some semblance of political visibility.
Sheikh Hasina is going through critical times. In all likelihood she will have to relinquish her leadership of Awami League. At this juncture, given South Asian political trends, it would have only been natural for Joy to step into his mother’s shoes. Now, however, that does not seem likely. His background and records hardly present him as leadership material, particularly when reforms are the call of the day. The party leaders will not accept him. After all, his propensity for joy rides seems to outweigh his penchant for politics.
Arrests and criminal charges
Criminal court clerk records identify the following criminal charges and arrests of Sajib Wazed Joy:
On June 14 1998, Joy was arrested in Tarrant County, Texas. He was charged on two counts of carrying an unlicensed handgun and one count of driving while intoxicated. He was convicted for drunken driving and was imprisoned for 120 days, sentenced to 24 months of probation and fined $500.
On February 6, 2000, Joy was charged with reckless driving and having a radar detector in Hanover County, Virginia. He was fined and incarcerated for one day.
On March 19, 2000, he was arrested and charged with reckless driving in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was found guilty and given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and 12 months probation along with a $400 fine.
On April 29, 2001, Joy was charged with speeding in Rappahannock County, Virginia.
On May 20, 2004, Joy was charged with speeding in Arlington County, Virginia.
Putul’s property
Saima Wazed Hossain (Putul), Sheikh Hasina’s daughter and Joy’s younger sister, along with husband Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, own considerable property in the US. The houses they purchased there include:
456 North Bay Point Way, Jacksonville, Florida. This is a single family residence purchased by Saima and husband Hossain on November 1, 2005 for $245,000 from Merrill and Priscilla King.
845 York Way, Maitland, Florida. This is also a single family residence purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 16, 2004, for $311,000 from David and Elizabeth Cocchiarella. The property has an assessed value of $208,844.
2065 W 119th Avenue, Miramar, Florida. This single family residence was purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 28, 1998 for $154,300 from Pulte Home Corporation. On March 15, 2005, a non-purchase money loan of $197,000, was obtained from SunTrust Bank secured with this property. The property has an assessed value of $265,440.
Source:
http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?
index=2&contentId=2701&PHPSESSID=6cbb66180d90b402c6cff21c9a34d9e2
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Professor Wins $1 Million Prize for Providing Clean Water, One Village at a Time
Professor Wins $1 Million Prize for Providing Clean Water, One Village at a Time
February 26, 2007
Professor Abul Hussam's water filtering system is improving health and saving lives in developing countries. Most of his $1 million Grainger Challenge Award will go toward ensuring that even more people can benefit from clean water.
By Tara Laskowski
In the United States, turning on the tap and getting clean drinking water is something most people take for granted. We have the luxury of multimillion-dollar filtration systems and deep wells that pump toxin-free water to our homes.
However, in developing countries such as Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, shallow water wells are the norm for villages. Arsenic, a poisonous element, is naturally occurring in these tube-wells, and in Bangladesh alone, more than 18 million people are daily drinking arsenic-contaminated water.
Arsenic poisoning is a slow, painful process that can cause skin cancer, tumors and ultimately death. Affected people can have difficulty working or even walking, and continued exposure can lead to liver failure, kidney failure and the need for amputation of arms or legs.
Abul Hussam
For Bangladesh native Abul Hussam, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Mason for more than 20 years, this threat hits close to home. About 10 years ago, his brother, a medical doctor in Bangladesh, started to see the frightening consequences of arsenic poisoning in his village. He asked Hussam to help develop a way of measuring the arsenic levels in wells.
Measuring the Problem
Hussam did his PhD work in analytical chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Developing an instrument to measure arsenic levels in drinking water was a perfect match for his interests.
He started with his own family’s well in Bangladesh. To his shock, he learned his family had been drinking water with three times the toxicity level of arsenic for more than 20 years, and there was a possibility his own father had died from arsenic poisoning.
“Measurement is absolutely critical – it is my strength and what brought me to this project – but once you know what you have, now the question is, ‘What can we do about it?’” says Hussam.
That’s when Hussam started looking at ways to build a filter to help provide safe drinking water for his family and neighbors. The challenges required looking at issues such as economy, environment and efficiency. Because Bangladesh is a developing country, the filter had to be inexpensive. Hussam also had to ensure that the materials used were safe for the environment and easy to obtain and reproduce.
After years of research and testing, Hussam and his brothers developed the SONO filter. Simple, inexpensive and made with easily available materials, the filter involves a top bucket, which is filled with locally available coarse river sand and a composite iron matrix (CIM). The sand filters coarse particles and imparts mechanical stability, while the CIM removes inorganic arsenic. The water then flows into a second bucket where it again filters through coarse river sand, then wood charcoal to remove organics, and finally through fine river sand and wet brick chips to remove fine particles and stabilize water flow.
A Distinguished Recognition
When Hussam learned the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was offering a $1 million Grainger Challenge Award for water filtration systems that removed arsenic from drinking water, he knew his work was perfect for the contest.
After all, the systems had to be affordable, reliable, easy to maintain, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly. They had to meet or exceed the local government guidelines for arsenic removal and require no electricity – everything he had been working on for years.
Last week, he was proven correct. On Feb. 20, Hussam was awarded the Grainger Prize at a gala dinner held in Washington, D.C.
Hussam's water filter is simple, inexpensive and made with easily available materials.
Photos by Evan Cantwell
Three prizes were awarded by the NAE, with the support of the Grainger Foundation, from a field of 70 entries. The Silver Award went to the nonprofit Water for People and the Bronze Award was given to the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program at Procter & Gamble Co. Hussam won the Gold Award.
Hussam’s $1 million prize will go to George Mason Intellectual Properties Inc., (GMIP) a separate nonprofit corporation established to facilitate the transfer of new discoveries made at George Mason University. GMIP will distribute the majority of the award to a Bangladeshi nonprofit organization that will use the funds to increase its production, quality control and training capacities so more SONO filter units can reach Bangladeshi households more quickly. Most of the remainder will fund Hussam’s continuing research in removing toxic cations and anions from drinking water sources. GMIP will keep a small portion of the prize and will pay back the Chemistry Department, which generously funded the tests needed last summer to enable Hussam to enter the contest.
GMIP is also handling potentially still patentable matter in the SONO filter.
Seeing the Difference Firsthand
In 2000, the Hussam family started distributing the SONO filter in Bangladesh. They started with their own village, and donated many of the filters to schools with high arsenic levels in their water.
“At first, the people were not sure if they should listen to us,” said Hussam. But after talking to them about the water and showing them the filter – which cost only $35 and lasts at least five years – people started to believe.
“Now, we hear of women who want to use the filtered water to shampoo their hair because it makes it softer,” says Hussam. “And people say their tea tastes different and their rice is a different color. It’s been very interesting.”
Today, there are more than 30,000 of these filters in homes, schools and businesses in Bangladesh. Hussam hopes that with the prize money they can distribute the filter even more widely and help even more people.
He and his brothers have also seen hospital patients improve dramatically from arsenic poisoning by drinking the clean, filtered water.
“The most satisfying aspect of working on this project is seeing people drinking clean water from the SONO filter and feeling better, and for some, the melanosis [poisoning] has been reversed,” says Hussam. “It is truly gratifying to see results of our scientific knowledge at work in the field for the betterment of human conditions.”
Return to Main Gazette Page
February 26, 2007
Professor Abul Hussam's water filtering system is improving health and saving lives in developing countries. Most of his $1 million Grainger Challenge Award will go toward ensuring that even more people can benefit from clean water.
By Tara Laskowski
In the United States, turning on the tap and getting clean drinking water is something most people take for granted. We have the luxury of multimillion-dollar filtration systems and deep wells that pump toxin-free water to our homes.
However, in developing countries such as Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, shallow water wells are the norm for villages. Arsenic, a poisonous element, is naturally occurring in these tube-wells, and in Bangladesh alone, more than 18 million people are daily drinking arsenic-contaminated water.
Arsenic poisoning is a slow, painful process that can cause skin cancer, tumors and ultimately death. Affected people can have difficulty working or even walking, and continued exposure can lead to liver failure, kidney failure and the need for amputation of arms or legs.
Abul Hussam
For Bangladesh native Abul Hussam, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Mason for more than 20 years, this threat hits close to home. About 10 years ago, his brother, a medical doctor in Bangladesh, started to see the frightening consequences of arsenic poisoning in his village. He asked Hussam to help develop a way of measuring the arsenic levels in wells.
Measuring the Problem
Hussam did his PhD work in analytical chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Developing an instrument to measure arsenic levels in drinking water was a perfect match for his interests.
He started with his own family’s well in Bangladesh. To his shock, he learned his family had been drinking water with three times the toxicity level of arsenic for more than 20 years, and there was a possibility his own father had died from arsenic poisoning.
“Measurement is absolutely critical – it is my strength and what brought me to this project – but once you know what you have, now the question is, ‘What can we do about it?’” says Hussam.
That’s when Hussam started looking at ways to build a filter to help provide safe drinking water for his family and neighbors. The challenges required looking at issues such as economy, environment and efficiency. Because Bangladesh is a developing country, the filter had to be inexpensive. Hussam also had to ensure that the materials used were safe for the environment and easy to obtain and reproduce.
After years of research and testing, Hussam and his brothers developed the SONO filter. Simple, inexpensive and made with easily available materials, the filter involves a top bucket, which is filled with locally available coarse river sand and a composite iron matrix (CIM). The sand filters coarse particles and imparts mechanical stability, while the CIM removes inorganic arsenic. The water then flows into a second bucket where it again filters through coarse river sand, then wood charcoal to remove organics, and finally through fine river sand and wet brick chips to remove fine particles and stabilize water flow.
A Distinguished Recognition
When Hussam learned the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was offering a $1 million Grainger Challenge Award for water filtration systems that removed arsenic from drinking water, he knew his work was perfect for the contest.
After all, the systems had to be affordable, reliable, easy to maintain, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly. They had to meet or exceed the local government guidelines for arsenic removal and require no electricity – everything he had been working on for years.
Last week, he was proven correct. On Feb. 20, Hussam was awarded the Grainger Prize at a gala dinner held in Washington, D.C.
Hussam's water filter is simple, inexpensive and made with easily available materials.
Photos by Evan Cantwell
Three prizes were awarded by the NAE, with the support of the Grainger Foundation, from a field of 70 entries. The Silver Award went to the nonprofit Water for People and the Bronze Award was given to the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program at Procter & Gamble Co. Hussam won the Gold Award.
Hussam’s $1 million prize will go to George Mason Intellectual Properties Inc., (GMIP) a separate nonprofit corporation established to facilitate the transfer of new discoveries made at George Mason University. GMIP will distribute the majority of the award to a Bangladeshi nonprofit organization that will use the funds to increase its production, quality control and training capacities so more SONO filter units can reach Bangladeshi households more quickly. Most of the remainder will fund Hussam’s continuing research in removing toxic cations and anions from drinking water sources. GMIP will keep a small portion of the prize and will pay back the Chemistry Department, which generously funded the tests needed last summer to enable Hussam to enter the contest.
GMIP is also handling potentially still patentable matter in the SONO filter.
Seeing the Difference Firsthand
In 2000, the Hussam family started distributing the SONO filter in Bangladesh. They started with their own village, and donated many of the filters to schools with high arsenic levels in their water.
“At first, the people were not sure if they should listen to us,” said Hussam. But after talking to them about the water and showing them the filter – which cost only $35 and lasts at least five years – people started to believe.
“Now, we hear of women who want to use the filtered water to shampoo their hair because it makes it softer,” says Hussam. “And people say their tea tastes different and their rice is a different color. It’s been very interesting.”
Today, there are more than 30,000 of these filters in homes, schools and businesses in Bangladesh. Hussam hopes that with the prize money they can distribute the filter even more widely and help even more people.
He and his brothers have also seen hospital patients improve dramatically from arsenic poisoning by drinking the clean, filtered water.
“The most satisfying aspect of working on this project is seeing people drinking clean water from the SONO filter and feeling better, and for some, the melanosis [poisoning] has been reversed,” says Hussam. “It is truly gratifying to see results of our scientific knowledge at work in the field for the betterment of human conditions.”
Return to Main Gazette Page
Monday, June 18, 2007
Reverse exodus: High-tech Indian immigrants returning home
========================
Reverse exodus: High-tech Indian immigrants returning home
By Mira Kamdar
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:05/13/2007 01:54:47 AM PDT
Sri Renganathan had made it in America - she owned a lovely home and had a good job with Intel. But three years ago, she and her husband decided to move back to India. They headed to Bangalore, her hometown, where she was able to keep her job with Intel, before moving on to a better position with another high-tech company. Her husband, who'd been laid off in the wake of the tech-bubble bust of 2001, started his own biotech consulting business.
"Ours was a one-way move," says Renganathan of her family's return to India. "We sold the house and packed up and came."
Renganathan and her husband are among the tens of thousands of Indians who, despite having more than achieved the American dream, are voting with their feet to return home.
This is not the mythic immigrant saga most Americans imagine. India's economic boom is now offering returning Indians things that simply didn't exist there when they left: U.S.-level salaries and an American lifestyle, including gated communities with manicured lawns and swimming pools, shopping malls filled with familiar brands, and international schools for their children.
Moreover, a low-cost, English-speaking workforce, a liberalizing economy that just hit a 9.2 percent annual growth rate, and the recent infusion of millions of dollars in venture capital and foreign direct investment have come together to create an environment many Indian entrepreneurs find hard to resist, especially when it is located in their home country.
No region of the United States has been more affected by this trend than Silicon Valley. The Indus Entrepreneur Group, known as TIE, estimated in 2003 that between 15,000 and 20,000 Indians had left Silicon Valley to return home. That strong trend has continued, with about 40,000 more returning in the last four years, according to Vish Mishra, a charter member of TIE and a senior venture partner with Clearstone Venture Partners.
The flow of investment capital to India also has expanded, much of it from Silicon Valley VC firms. Clearstone Venture Partners now has an office in Mumbai, as do many other firms that either are based in or originated in Silicon Valley. During the 12-month period that ended in August 2006, Mishra notes, VC firms invested $2 billion in early- and late-stage companies, and new India-focused VC funds raised a total of $3 billion.
Clearly, the flow of people and money to India from the Silicon Valley was not a one-time response to the tech-bubble bust. Should the valley be worried?
According to a report released earlier this year by Anna-Lee Saxenian of the University of California-Berkeley and by Duke University, Indians founded 15 percent of all Silicon Valley start-ups. The study also found that 53 percent of the science and engineering workforce in the valley is foreign-born, and that one-quarter of immigrant-founded engineering and scientific companies founded in the United States during the past decade were created by Indians. These companies rang up $52 billion in sales and created 450,000 jobs.
No wonder some business and policy leaders are sounding alarm bells about American competitiveness in general and Silicon Valley's future as a technology leader in particular.
There isn't a single major information-technology company in the United States that hasn't set up operations in India. IT companies are attracted by the low-cost, highly skilled workforce; 3.5 million white-collar U.S. jobs, along with $151 billion in wages, are expected to be outsourced by 2015, with India the top outsourcing destination, according to a report by Forrester Research.
But these tech companies also see a market of potentially epic proportions. Half of India's 1.2 billion people are younger than 25. That's 600 million people coming into their peak consuming years in an economy fueled primarily by exploding retail growth.
As Amar Babu of Intel India, where 15 percent of the workforce is made up of Indians who returned from the United States, explained, "Intel views India as a critical research and development site. At the same time, India is a consumption market for IT. A lot of future growth will come from these emerging markets."
In fact, India is moving beyond simply being attractive because of the obvious cost advantage of lower wages. As wages rise on the tide of higher demand for skilled workers, India is shifting its competitive advantage toward more and more sophisticated industry needs. This has led to a trend from call centers to back-office processing to cutting-edge engineering. India is no longer just one of the world's biggest buyers of commercial aircraft and pharmaceuticals; it also is emerging as a center for research and development in scientific and technological areas as diverse as aeronautics and biotechnology.
Yet India also faces a series of serious challenges it must overcome if it is to realize the promise of its renaissance as a global economic power. That China has huge advantages over India when it comes to infrastructure development is common knowledge. Overloaded roads, insufficient airport and port capacity, and woefully inadequate power are all potential roadblocks to India's advancing economic engine.
Education gap
On the human side, the situation is even worse. The information-technology industry in India has created 1 million jobs, which in turn are estimated to generate an additional 3.5 million jobs. But that's a drop in the bucket compared with the hundreds of millions of jobs India needs if it is to give its unemployed and underemployed the financial resources they need to participate in India's booming economy.
A cruel irony in India is that while a small proportion of the population is exquisitely educated and speaks English, the vast majority do not have these skills. Only one in 10,000 Indian students makes it to college. Few of those who get to college obtain a level of education equal to their aspirations - or equal to the needs of companies desperately looking for qualified workers. Of the more than 1 million Indian applicants for jobs at Indian tech giant Infosys last year, for example, less than 2 percent met the company's requirements.
More people live in absolute poverty in India than in any other country in the world. Malnutrition and illiteracy rates are among the world's highest. And India has the largest number of people infected with HIV: 5.7 million. India also is facing an environmental catastrophe, with some of the world's worst air and water pollution. And India, like most of the developing world, will be disproportionately affected by global warming.
In this contradiction between India as exploding tech leader and developing nation lies huge opportunities for Silicon Valley - opportunities it can leverage through its Indian workforce that is returning home to its native land.
There's only one way forward for India: innovation. India needs precisely the skill set Silicon Valley famously nurtures: the ability to think outside the box, and the daring to risk capital on new ideas. These solutions in turn will create products for the great untapped markets of the world. Face it: More people on the planet live in conditions that resemble those in India than those in the Menlo Park. The problems India is facing are global problems. How much the dynamic recirculation of money and talent between Silicon Valley and India focuses on solutions to these problems may determine how much Silicon Valley remains relevant and in the vanguard of a changing world.
In the age of cheap jet travel and digital communication, many of the Indians returning to India from Silicon Valley aren't leaving so much as expanding the sphere of their well-honed talents and networks beyond California. As Clearstone's Vish Mishra put it, "These people are building bridges, not burning them."
For Mishra, Silicon Valley's unique tradition of innovation and educational and research excellence, coupled with a free-wheeling entrepreneurial environment, cannot easily be duplicated. "The whole state of mind here is very difficult to replicate. India will try to come close to it but they don't have all the pieces," he says. "Indian-Americans are playing a big role in what is happening in India, but they are doing it because of what they have learned here and their connections here."
Valley connections
The immigrant talent from Asia that has been so much a part of Silicon Valley's success in the past will be critical to that success in the future, helping turn the valley into the hub of a vast network that relays talent and capital back and forth to new centers of innovation and market growth. The more Indians who leave Silicon Valley and renew linkages with their homeland, the more Silicon Valley will reap the benefits of having fostered an Indian immigrant population.
For Renganathan and her family, the transition back to India has had some bumps along the way. Real estate values shot up 300 percent before she and her husband were able to buy property in Bangalore. The daily commute in the city's famously hideous traffic is wearing. And their young daughter took some time to adjust to life in a country where she had never lived.
Still, Renganathan has no regrets. Her family is enjoying renewed closeness with their Indian relatives. They're building a new house. Their daughter now attends a local school where her best friends are children who, as she did, began their childhoods in America. (For more on Renganathan's experience moving back to India, visit her blog at: http://sribloremusings.blogspot
.com/)
At the same time, Renganathan confesses that "all my close friends are still in the U.S." She keeps up her professional contacts in the high-tech world in the United States and has traveled back to visit friends and family. While her daughter is happily adjusted now to her new life in India, Renganathan considers it temporary. "She thinks she'll go back to the U.S. for college," she says.
Reverse exodus: High-tech Indian immigrants returning home
By Mira Kamdar
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:05/13/2007 01:54:47 AM PDT
Sri Renganathan had made it in America - she owned a lovely home and had a good job with Intel. But three years ago, she and her husband decided to move back to India. They headed to Bangalore, her hometown, where she was able to keep her job with Intel, before moving on to a better position with another high-tech company. Her husband, who'd been laid off in the wake of the tech-bubble bust of 2001, started his own biotech consulting business.
"Ours was a one-way move," says Renganathan of her family's return to India. "We sold the house and packed up and came."
Renganathan and her husband are among the tens of thousands of Indians who, despite having more than achieved the American dream, are voting with their feet to return home.
This is not the mythic immigrant saga most Americans imagine. India's economic boom is now offering returning Indians things that simply didn't exist there when they left: U.S.-level salaries and an American lifestyle, including gated communities with manicured lawns and swimming pools, shopping malls filled with familiar brands, and international schools for their children.
Moreover, a low-cost, English-speaking workforce, a liberalizing economy that just hit a 9.2 percent annual growth rate, and the recent infusion of millions of dollars in venture capital and foreign direct investment have come together to create an environment many Indian entrepreneurs find hard to resist, especially when it is located in their home country.
No region of the United States has been more affected by this trend than Silicon Valley. The Indus Entrepreneur Group, known as TIE, estimated in 2003 that between 15,000 and 20,000 Indians had left Silicon Valley to return home. That strong trend has continued, with about 40,000 more returning in the last four years, according to Vish Mishra, a charter member of TIE and a senior venture partner with Clearstone Venture Partners.
The flow of investment capital to India also has expanded, much of it from Silicon Valley VC firms. Clearstone Venture Partners now has an office in Mumbai, as do many other firms that either are based in or originated in Silicon Valley. During the 12-month period that ended in August 2006, Mishra notes, VC firms invested $2 billion in early- and late-stage companies, and new India-focused VC funds raised a total of $3 billion.
Clearly, the flow of people and money to India from the Silicon Valley was not a one-time response to the tech-bubble bust. Should the valley be worried?
According to a report released earlier this year by Anna-Lee Saxenian of the University of California-Berkeley and by Duke University, Indians founded 15 percent of all Silicon Valley start-ups. The study also found that 53 percent of the science and engineering workforce in the valley is foreign-born, and that one-quarter of immigrant-founded engineering and scientific companies founded in the United States during the past decade were created by Indians. These companies rang up $52 billion in sales and created 450,000 jobs.
No wonder some business and policy leaders are sounding alarm bells about American competitiveness in general and Silicon Valley's future as a technology leader in particular.
There isn't a single major information-technology company in the United States that hasn't set up operations in India. IT companies are attracted by the low-cost, highly skilled workforce; 3.5 million white-collar U.S. jobs, along with $151 billion in wages, are expected to be outsourced by 2015, with India the top outsourcing destination, according to a report by Forrester Research.
But these tech companies also see a market of potentially epic proportions. Half of India's 1.2 billion people are younger than 25. That's 600 million people coming into their peak consuming years in an economy fueled primarily by exploding retail growth.
As Amar Babu of Intel India, where 15 percent of the workforce is made up of Indians who returned from the United States, explained, "Intel views India as a critical research and development site. At the same time, India is a consumption market for IT. A lot of future growth will come from these emerging markets."
In fact, India is moving beyond simply being attractive because of the obvious cost advantage of lower wages. As wages rise on the tide of higher demand for skilled workers, India is shifting its competitive advantage toward more and more sophisticated industry needs. This has led to a trend from call centers to back-office processing to cutting-edge engineering. India is no longer just one of the world's biggest buyers of commercial aircraft and pharmaceuticals; it also is emerging as a center for research and development in scientific and technological areas as diverse as aeronautics and biotechnology.
Yet India also faces a series of serious challenges it must overcome if it is to realize the promise of its renaissance as a global economic power. That China has huge advantages over India when it comes to infrastructure development is common knowledge. Overloaded roads, insufficient airport and port capacity, and woefully inadequate power are all potential roadblocks to India's advancing economic engine.
Education gap
On the human side, the situation is even worse. The information-technology industry in India has created 1 million jobs, which in turn are estimated to generate an additional 3.5 million jobs. But that's a drop in the bucket compared with the hundreds of millions of jobs India needs if it is to give its unemployed and underemployed the financial resources they need to participate in India's booming economy.
A cruel irony in India is that while a small proportion of the population is exquisitely educated and speaks English, the vast majority do not have these skills. Only one in 10,000 Indian students makes it to college. Few of those who get to college obtain a level of education equal to their aspirations - or equal to the needs of companies desperately looking for qualified workers. Of the more than 1 million Indian applicants for jobs at Indian tech giant Infosys last year, for example, less than 2 percent met the company's requirements.
More people live in absolute poverty in India than in any other country in the world. Malnutrition and illiteracy rates are among the world's highest. And India has the largest number of people infected with HIV: 5.7 million. India also is facing an environmental catastrophe, with some of the world's worst air and water pollution. And India, like most of the developing world, will be disproportionately affected by global warming.
In this contradiction between India as exploding tech leader and developing nation lies huge opportunities for Silicon Valley - opportunities it can leverage through its Indian workforce that is returning home to its native land.
There's only one way forward for India: innovation. India needs precisely the skill set Silicon Valley famously nurtures: the ability to think outside the box, and the daring to risk capital on new ideas. These solutions in turn will create products for the great untapped markets of the world. Face it: More people on the planet live in conditions that resemble those in India than those in the Menlo Park. The problems India is facing are global problems. How much the dynamic recirculation of money and talent between Silicon Valley and India focuses on solutions to these problems may determine how much Silicon Valley remains relevant and in the vanguard of a changing world.
In the age of cheap jet travel and digital communication, many of the Indians returning to India from Silicon Valley aren't leaving so much as expanding the sphere of their well-honed talents and networks beyond California. As Clearstone's Vish Mishra put it, "These people are building bridges, not burning them."
For Mishra, Silicon Valley's unique tradition of innovation and educational and research excellence, coupled with a free-wheeling entrepreneurial environment, cannot easily be duplicated. "The whole state of mind here is very difficult to replicate. India will try to come close to it but they don't have all the pieces," he says. "Indian-Americans are playing a big role in what is happening in India, but they are doing it because of what they have learned here and their connections here."
Valley connections
The immigrant talent from Asia that has been so much a part of Silicon Valley's success in the past will be critical to that success in the future, helping turn the valley into the hub of a vast network that relays talent and capital back and forth to new centers of innovation and market growth. The more Indians who leave Silicon Valley and renew linkages with their homeland, the more Silicon Valley will reap the benefits of having fostered an Indian immigrant population.
For Renganathan and her family, the transition back to India has had some bumps along the way. Real estate values shot up 300 percent before she and her husband were able to buy property in Bangalore. The daily commute in the city's famously hideous traffic is wearing. And their young daughter took some time to adjust to life in a country where she had never lived.
Still, Renganathan has no regrets. Her family is enjoying renewed closeness with their Indian relatives. They're building a new house. Their daughter now attends a local school where her best friends are children who, as she did, began their childhoods in America. (For more on Renganathan's experience moving back to India, visit her blog at: http://sribloremusings.blogspot
.com/)
At the same time, Renganathan confesses that "all my close friends are still in the U.S." She keeps up her professional contacts in the high-tech world in the United States and has traveled back to visit friends and family. While her daughter is happily adjusted now to her new life in India, Renganathan considers it temporary. "She thinks she'll go back to the U.S. for college," she says.
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