Politics in Bangladesh - Comments made By an Expatriate in Bangladesh

I just came across this email in a mail group, thought I should share it with others. Here it goes:

Remarks regarding the former Prime Ministers, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina- Comments made By an Expatriate

Wednesday September 05 2007 20:28:58 PM BDT

Gregor, Bangladesh

As a foreigner I'm a guest in Bangladesh, living in Dhaka since February this year and will do so for a few more years to come. Politics has always interested me very much and so it was only natural that I would follow the development of my host country. What struck me from the very beginning was the hospitality of the people of Bangladesh. I was welcomed with open arms and never experienced anything that could be considered hostile.

The political situation in Bangladesh has an impact not only on the business community but also on the people. Unfortunately the responsibility is not with the caretaker government but with the previous governments, lead by said ladies. It was them who ran the country into turmoil and, to a large extent, destruction. They are responsible for the deteriorating relationship with our neighbors, the energy crisis which leaves millions of people without electricity for the better part of the day and many more ill developments, not to speak about paving the way for corruption, extortion and crime in a never experienced extent.

The same two ladies, who have nothing to their credit except one is the daughter of a famous father, founder of Bangladesh, the other wife of a famous husband, they are now concerned about all sorts of things. These are the same persons that catapulted family members and friends into the highest Government and party positions that deprived the people of Bangladesh of control about their constitutional rights, that lived a very glamorous life and there was nobody and nothing that would limit their lifestyle in any form or shape.

At the same time the overwhelming majority of people live of less then US $ 250 a year, have no air condition (and if they had, no electricity to run them), experience massive transportation problems, waste hours to get from A to B and would have a very limited choice when it comes to buying the needs for every day's life.

And here comes my point: Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina have the chutzpa to speak on behalf of the people of Bangladesh.

They pretend to be concerned about the rice price, the catastrophic consequences of this years weather and the many people that died, the political development of the country, democracy, election and many other extremely important issues.

They don't hesitate to address the very basic instincts of the people of Bangladesh, pull every psychological trick in the book just to (mis)lead people to believe they would care, instrumentalize and manipulate the press for their games and to top all of this, make the people believe they'd be victims of a witch hunt.

Now remember, these are the same, identical persons, that had every imaginable comfort, no limits on money, police clearing their way when they needed to use the roads; they snipped the finger and it was done.

My question is: Did they care then? Do they care now? Where and what is their contribution to the flood victims? It is so cynical to misuse the press to fabricate a story, like they would want to go to the victims and console the poor guys. What precisely is it they want?

My answer: They're more worried about losing their privileges and wealth, power and influence than anything else. They're not the least interested in the average Joe's and Jill's on the streets, after all their expensive shoe could get dirty. They want to keep their hands on things and take over and retaliate as soon as emergency law has been lifted.

A simple example shows that no lesson has been learned. Yesterday Khaleda made a comment to the extent that she would appoint a kind of substitute in case she's unable to run the BNP party business. At the same time she complains about lack of democracy. In my understanding a democratic process would be to allow the party member to elect a person. But no, she will appoint someone. Welcome to the democratic new Bangladesh.

I am in no position to advise or lecture you people of Bangladesh. From the bottom of my heart, I feel with you and I'm contributing from my own, private money to make a difference. Although I can't change the country I'd like to remind you of your strength, pride, self confidence and all the other values. Many of you liberated the country and helped to make it independent. Many of you are proud of your language, the Nation and your achievements as individuals and a nation.

They're innocent until proven otherwise! But in every democracy in the world the accused steps down and focuses on the trial or her/his private life. Here they keep manipulating the people, hoping they would probably venture into the streets and cause some headache for the government and the media provides the platform for the spectacle.

Please, liberate yourself from these two ladies. Let justice take it's course and if they're found guilty they should get the same treatment every criminal gets once sentenced. If found not guilty send them into retirement. Bangladesh has many, many talented and strong you women and men, which could lead the country into a golden future.

Thanx for allowing me to express my view, which is very much democratic too.

Kind Regards from a Peoples Friend of Bangladesh

Gergor
Bangladesh
E mail : gregorbd@bol- online.com

DU incident: the true story

http://www.ittefaq.com/get.php?d=07/08/27/w/n_zmkxmq

DU incident: description from a friend's email

I am very busy these days and cannot visit Bangladeshi blogger sites regularly, let alone write one. But recent incidents in DU were inspiring me to write something. When I was thinking to start to write, I received the following group mail from a friend of mine. I think I cannot express my thoughts better than this mail. Here we go:

Day 1: koyekta gadhar baccha NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) DU r koyektar sathe hatahati korlo. As usual, DU r polapain gelo kheipa...army r upor raag to onek diner (otherwise DU te dine e dhoroner hatahati 2-3 ta hoi). Third world coutry te ja hoi, jhamelar shuru te police thengano start kore (obossoi authority order dei, tai). ekhane o holo tai.  polapain aro khepe gelo.

 

Day 2: ok...issue pawa gelo...army camp shoraite hobe. DU r teachers association er moha-manob , jara student derke kapurush howar shikkha dei nai, tarao bollo, army shoraiote hobe, sathe police o. government ki r korbe, jhamela baranor dorkar nai, army camp shorano start hobe raat 8 tar dike. er moddhe polapain r police er moddhe maramari cholse aro koyek dofa. but eto shohoje army camp shore gele hobe naki? amader chatro dol r chatro league er neta ra onekdin dhoirai angula chustese, polapain salam-talam o dei na. eijonno raat 8 tar dike ek group polapain jokhon anando kortese, arek group tokhon nilkhet area te massacre start korlo. Dhaka college er udiyoman protiva ra to ready. New market r nilkhet e open chadabaji bondho bohut din dhore. ektu tight dewa dorkar. Chance to protidin ashe na. ei faak e nilkhet kno, Dhanmondi area te dokan gula aro dami, kach r gari vangar chance 2008 er election er age abar kokhon ashbe, k jane? maximum medhabi rai i obosso chatro na.

 

Day 3: Day 2 raat e ja start hoise, Day 3 te continue hoilo. moja hoilo, DU te police camp thkabena r RU othoba JU te thkabe , eta hoitei parena. Campus hoilo medhabi chatro der jaiga, ekhane boka-choda police er ki dorkar . so, JU r RU r osshonkh komolmoti medhabi ra vangchur start korlo.  Boloto, campus e police er kno dorkar nai? hijack korata ektu shohoj hobe. Oporajeyo Bangla theke Doyel-chottor jaite koijon thek khabe next 1 year e , k jane?

 

Day 4: thanda.

 

Day 5: ekta valo kaj hoise. kisu chatro neta r 4 jon moha-manob re dhoira niya gese. oderke thengaile asha kora jai,kisu info ber hobe.

 

ei government beshi din thakbena, coz amra bangali rai bar bar chutia der kase fire jete chai. shei political baal er alap. asha kora jai, kisu din er moddhei amader sommanito buddhi-jibi shomaj r jagroto chatro jonota mohan netri ebong tader sango-pango der kase desh ke abaar ijara dewar bebostha kore felte parbe.

 

(law enforcement force jokhon petano start kore, tokhon 100 jon er moddhe 40 jon niriho lok mair khai. oi 40 er moddhe amio thakte pari. better oi 100 jon er moddhe jate ami na pori, tar bebostha kora)

At last RANGS building will be demolished

It is a great news to the country. As described by one adviser, this building was the symbol of power misuse in the country. Now that Supreme Court has ordered it to be demolished, the construction work for the road link should be started asap. The top 15 floors will be demolished from Friday but I do not know when the rest will be. I want to see the link road as soon as possible. It will ease the traffic congestion greatly. It is another great job being done by this government. During the last fifteen years, this building only kept growing taller.

Microsoft surface

It will be a great thing when it comes into being. The possibilities are endless. The promotional videos can be seen below:

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

A muslim marine

He originated from Bangladesh, here it the link to the full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6755589.stm

The least expected from a national leader

This is not expected from a person whose father liberated this country:

From New Nation Online Edition

Front Page
Jt forces search Mokammel's house: Plot to rig polls uncovered
By Staff Reporter
Sat, 9 Jun 2007, 13:41:00

The Army-led Joint Forces have recovered documents on sensational designs to damage image of the country abroad and rig election from the residence of Awami League Advisory Council member Mokammel Haque recently.

Informed sources said the documents include copies of Sheikh Hasina's letter to US President George W Bush and the Embassy of the Netherlands, the party's election planning, including a design for polls tampering, and names of partisan bureaucrats in the administration as well as their party affiliations.

Sheikh Hasina sent her letter to the US President on January 9 this year. Mokammel Haque drafted the letter, which was fianlised by the AL President herself.

Contents of Sheikh Hasina's letter to the US President were full of elements damaging the country abroad. Contents of the letter were arranged in such a way that it could manoeuvre the Bush Administration in line with the AL.

The same letter was handed over to the Netherlands Embassy with a view to influencing its government to fuel anti-Bangladesh campaign in the Europe.

The documents recovered from Mokammel's residence also included names of persons, whom the Awami League (AL) wanted to appoint as Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commissioners and officials, whom the party wanted to occupy the civil and police administrations, including crucial Secretaries and the IGP, the DCs and SPs, during the January 22 stalled elections.

Besides, there were names of pro-BNP and pro-Jamaat bureaucrats, whom the AL wanted to purge from civil and police administrations before the elections.

The documents show that 80 per cent of the reshuffles carried out during the Caretaker Government headed by President Prof Dr Iajuddin Ahmed were done on the basis of the AL design and as per its list of names.

In addition to that the papers recovered from Mokammel's residence includes names of 44 pro-BNP and pro-Jamaat officials, who attended the much-talked about meeting at the residence of former Chairman of the Board of Investment. The AL had sent this list to the higher level of the Caretaker government.

A file recovered from his residence, contains description of 22 government plots, which Mokammel Haque manoeuvred to allocate in favour of his family and relatives abusing his position when he was a Secretary.

Another file contains paper-cuttings of stories published in different newspapers about his corruption.

Intelligence agencies traced the existence of these documents on Sunday through tapping cell phone of Mokammel Haque, when he was asking his Private Secretary from London to shift those from his residence to one of his friend's house.

The Joint Forces immediately raided his residence at flat no 403, House no 20, Road no 62 at Gulshan-2 and recovered these documents.


© Copyright 2003 by ittefaq.com

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/printer_36712.shtml

A timely remider

Editor Motiur Rahman wrote a good article on Tarek Zia. He must not be pardoned. Here is the link:

http://www.prothom-alo.org/index.news.details.php?nid=NzM5Ng==&PHPSESSID=c4dda7c6090ea871b38fbe89602aeba0

Shafi Sami & C.R.P.

http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/Arif-Jebtikblog/28712437

Joke of the year!

According to the Daily Janakantha, the joke of the year is - there is no existence of dynastic politics in BNP. This joke is made by Khaleda Zia. Either she seriously wanted to make fun or she still thinks people of Bangladesh are all fools. In the later case, the fool is no one but herself. The Daily Star news is here.

Radio Nakhojabad

From a friend of mine:

Citycell

Mobile phone operator CityCell is making about Tk 360 crore a year illegally, according to regulatory officials. A 12-hour raid on the company headquarters in the capital Wednesday produced evidence for the BTRC officials to claim CityCell, majority-owned by former foreign minister M Morshed Khan, was making at least one crore a day using illegal VoIP connections.

For more, visit http://media.bdnews24.com
Full contents on this site open to all at 2am (BdST) (8pm GMT)

Source: http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=4&id=7925#tp7925

Once, citycell was the only mobile company which was hundred percent owned by Bangladeshis. But I could never like this company because of its excessive greed. Former foreign minister M. Morshed Khan earned, I should rather say extorted, a lot of money when it was the only mobile company in Bangladesh. Each connection with a handset costed more than one lakh at that time. The coverage area was only gulshan and some part of its surrounding area. It was clearly a blackmail. Years after years they went on like this, they had no intention of enlarging their coverage area nor lowering the price. They were happy with what was going on. After GP, Aktel and Sheba telecom (now Banglalink) came, there monopoly was decimated. Though, as a Bangladeshi, I should have wanted the best for their business, because of their earlier nasty business practice and crooked owners I wanted the demise of this company. Today another dark chapter of this company is revealed which just validates my stance against them.

An example to follow

The education ministry adviser's wife, who is a government professor of economy, could not get a posting in Dhaka. The adviser did not abuse his power to do anything about it. How many times did it happen during BNP/AL (two sides of same coin) ruling in Bangladesh? I should better ask, how many times did it happen in the entire history of Bangladesh? I hope and pray that once an elected government comes to power, at least some of the people will follow this wonderful example.

http://www.shamokal.com/details.php?nid=60796

Biman

At last Biman is shaking up. The excessive manpower must be trimmed. The profitable flights like Dhaka-NY must be restarted. And to assert that Biman is not a place for easy corruption, Said Iskander must be caught by ACC.

Dhaka: Today's featured article in Wikipedia

Dhaka is the topic of today's featured article in Wikipedia.

Chowdhury Zafrullah Sharafat after BD win against S.A.

Uploaded by a friend of mine:

Smart Room: a great project by CSE BUET students

This is a superb project done by the brilliant CSE students of BUET. Quoting from the site:

This project is an attempt to incorporate some intelligence or "smartness" into a room. The room should be able to sense many things. If there is no one in the room, the devices are off. This saves unnecessary power consumption. When someone is in front of the door, the door should be opened automatically. When the person enters, the door is shut and the room decides how many lights to turn on depending on the current intensity of light. The fan speed is controlled based on the current room temperature. This way, people need not bother about mechanical switches. In addition, the smartness of the room can be disabled anytime. When the smartness is disabled, the room is able to understand Bangla and English voice commands and mobile commands through Bluetooth and SMS. The status of the room can be known through mobile. The room can also utter the temperature or time in both Bangla and English when asked by voice. Devices can also be controlled through PC software.

A report was publised in Prothom Alo about the project. For details: http://smartroom.awardspace.com/

Tarique Rahman's connection with Daud Ibrahim

It seems that he was not only a local godfather but also was trying to be an international godfather. If this allegation is proved, I think, it will give him the most pain.

http://thedailystar.net/2007/03/23/d7032301085.htm

A good cricket highlights website for world cup 07

http://www.crickethighlights.info/

Bangladesh vs India WC 2007 Highlights

The following videos are uploaded by my friend. Enjoy!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puTO-pzXXbQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bj1qCkp8AI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a94_VG9TUuA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CljpnHU6P7E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTQ7Ay_ bMHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnl2UfYLHIo

 

Bangabandhu == Ziaur Rahman ???

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/16/d70316012114.htm

CA is going to visit Bangabandhu 's grave. A good news. But wait, he is also going to visit late president Ziaur Rahman's grave at the end of this month. With all due respect to the late president, my question is, is it an equalizing effort? In that case, isn't it utterly unfair to equate a late president with the father of the nation? There will be and already are many late presidents but there is and will be only one father of the nation. There cannot be any comparison between Bangabandhu and any late president.

In this regard, I have one more query. Why single out Ziaur Rahman from the late presidents? What is his special achievement? I think he must be treated as any other country head (except Bangabandhu).

I think this is high time to reinstate the law to keep picture of Bangabandhu in all government offices. If this government does it, it will be above controversy and hopefully stay forever.

Shame on Yahoo!

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72972-0.html?tw=rss.index

Future of debased politicians

http://www.prothom-alo.org/mcat.news.details.php?nid=Mjk2NjI=&mid=NA==

The article by renowned columnist Kaiyum Chowdhury speaks people's mind.

Bangladesh Biman

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture speaks of the sorry state of Biman.

My Windows Aero Desktop

An excellent article on Tarique Rahman

Thanks Faiyaz for providing the link. It is one of the best articles I have read in the Daily Star. I would like to put it here:

Straight Talk
The rise and fall of Tarique Rahman
Zafar Sobhan

"Khaleda Zia is our leader
Ziaur Rahman is our philosophy
Tarique Rahman is our future"

This particular gem that has been ubiquitous on walls in the capital Dhaka for the past five years encapsulates perfectly the cult of personality that had been created around the person of Tarique Rahman and gave us a strong indication of where Bangladesh was heading had the January 22 election been permitted to go forward as scheduled.

Had the one-sided election been consummated, we would have been looking down the barrel of the Tarique Rahman raj. The last five years he has grown steadily in power and influence as the joint secretary general of the ruling BNP, recently promoted to "senior" joint secretary general, lest there remain any confusion as to who really ran the party, and, by default, the country.

Tarique Rahman's rise and consolidation of power has been a stealthy and, in many ways, ingenious process. The cult of personality which was skillfully developed despite his lack of any discernible charisma or acuity or any of the other qualities one would expect to see in a leader (in this he is not unique, see e.g., Bush, George W.) was just one part of the process.

In these days of rent-a-crowds, stage-managed public appearances, and embedded journalism it is not difficult to create an aura of leadership and popularity around a presentable-looking young man, especially if he happens to be the eldest son of a respected ex-president and freedom fighter, especially in a country where, regrettably, too many people are all too happy to ignore simple things such as truth and consistency when it comes to their political self-interest and pledging their allegiance (indeed, one could argue that the entire BNP was established on this foundational principle), especially in a country so starved of good leadership that the impressionable and opportunistic are eager to latch on to any new thing.

Hand in hand with the cult of personality went the slow-motion take-over of the party (the senior partner in the coalition ruling the country, mind you) apparatus, placing Tarique loyalists and sycophants in every nook and corner, even to the extent of squeezing out long time party-men who refused to bow down before the brash, new dispensation.

Matters came to a head last August 26, when the young Turk's of the party's national executive committee took serious exception to some of the party's senior leaders and demanded their immediate expulsion from the party for having the temerity to criticise Tarique. Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, deputy minister for land and a close associate (incidentally, now also in jail) went so far as to state: "BNP means Zia Family. He or she should be expelled from the party who will speak against this family."

Indeed, it was precisely this tendency that resulted in BNP founder members Dr. Badruddoza Chowdhury and then Oli Ahmed as well as a host of others being essentially forced out of the BNP and into first the BDB and then the LDP. The only reason there wasn't a more pronounced exodus was a well-founded fear of retribution and the combination of cringing sycophancy and grasping opportunism that marks Bangladeshi politics.

The hallmark of Tarique's ascendance and the closest we can come to in terms of an approximation of his vision for the country was the systematic centralisation of all crime and corruption: from the grandest of grand larcenies to the pettiest of petty larcenies, the idea was that nothing would escape the net of his influence.

Be it transporting a truck-load of vegetables from the north to Dhaka or selling those same vegetables in the market-place at Karwan Bazar, no transaction was too small to escape the attention of Tarique's coterie. The taxes or "tolls" that small traders transporters had to pay that eventually found their way to Hawa Bhaban make the NBR look like a charitable foundation.

The system in place for collection of tolls was fully computerized (though, no doubt, those computers are now to be found at the bottom of the Buriganga) and so sophisticated that one wonders whether Tarique and his coterie might not have been able to achieve something for the nation if they had had even the slightest inclination towards the common good instead of concentrating so single-mindedly on looting the country and establishing their reign of terror throughout the land.

From the power sector to the import trade, there was no corner of the economy that did not fall under his shadow and that his all-encompassing reach did not touch.

Until January 11, Tarique Rahman was the most powerful person in the country, indeed he was the most powerful behind the scenes power broker Bangladesh has ever seen. Considering that he was neither a member of parliament nor held any executive position, his reach tells us all we need to know about the sorry state of Bangladesh politics.

And had January 11 not happened, Tarique's reach would only have gotten more suffocating, his foot-print heavier. Had the four-party alliance returned to power, nothing could have stood in his way, he would have ascended from crown prince to king. Bangladesh would have been turned into a nasty police state where nothing would have moved without his consent, no dissent, no rule of law, no opposition, absolute power.

Tarique was selling himself, inside the country and out, as Bangladesh's Mahathir Mohammad, although any resemblance between the two is purely imaginary. Our foreign friends were willing to hold their nose and tolerate him, thinking, perhaps, that here was a man they could do business with and who would be ruthless enough to be able to deliver to them the wealth he did not loot for himself. Some countries have always had a soft spot for pliable third world despots.

When the days after the first spate of arrests began to pass without his arrest, concern began to mount that he was not being taken in. No list of the criminal and corrupt would be complete without his name at the top.

On the one hand, we were told, in whispers, to wait, to be patient, the authorities were preparing an air-tight case, Mamun was singing like a canary, the noose was tightening, they would go for Tarique when the time was right.

On the other hand, we heard of army units remaining loyal to him, we heard of the authorities setting out to arrest him and then pulling back three times, we heard of desperate back-room deals to keep him and the rest of his coterie out of jail.

Everyone knew: as long as Tarique Rahman remained at large, his poisonous coterie remained alive and able, potentially, to regroup and turn things around.

Now he is in jail. Others were swept up with him in another dramatic midnight raid. Some, doubtless, deserving, but others, again, of doubtful criminality. Still, "balance" has to be maintained at all times, I suppose.

But the message has been sent. Tarique's goons who have terrorised their localities with impunity for the past five years will now run for cover. He can't protect them any more, and now that he is behind bars, the house of cards that he and his coterie built up will start to tumble.

Perhaps I am speaking too soon and he can conjure up a resurrection from his jail cell, but this seems unlikely. The authorities know how fateful a step it is putting him in jail. He hasn't been incarcerated only to be sprung on a technicality to wreak vengeance on those who put him there.

I do not know where things will go from here, for good or for bad, but the five-year stranglehold Tarique and his associates had over the country, that they considered their birthright and personal fiefdom, had to be ended. Our long national nightmare is finally over.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.

Crown prince Tarique with a crown on his head and in a royal garb!

Oops! I guess this is not the crown he wanted!

A soothing news

In last few days, there were increasing number of fake cries from SK Hasina and Khaleda Zia for return of power to the people i.e. themselves. I was being disturbed with it. The recent ban on indoor politics should be able to curb those hypocritical howls. All they know is power. SK Hasina, despite knowing that she will certainly win the next fair election, can't wait few more months. She is fool enough to not to understand that if the prosecutions can be completed she will be the most beneficiary of them. People will have no choice other than to vote her party as currently they represent the lesser evil (a term coined by a friend of mine, I like it :-) ) of the two. I doubt on any significant influence of Dr. Yunus's new party in that election. It is too early for him. I think AL and their staunchest supporters should stop gearing up their propaganda machines and allow some time to the CTG to finish the cleaning up. After that, they will have full five years to loot the country again.

Prince stripped of glory

At last the much anticipated event took place. People were counting days for it. Some pessimists even started doubting on whether CTG will ever do it or not. Now the issue is settled. CTG has achieved what could not be achieved by anyone else, not even by BAL in 100 years. We have every reason to celebrate. I guess sweets will be distributed in some places of Bangladesh. But we must not forget that this is a great achievement but is not enough. It is a great victory for the people of Bangladesh but it is only partial. CTG must build strong cases with evidences and make sure that the prince can not get back home ever. If it can do that, it will be a great example of justice for our country. People will think ten times before becoming corrupt. Sons of prime ministers and ministers will stop thinking that Bangladesh is their inherited property. I wish CTG all the best. These are some real brave people no matter what some staunchest supporters of political parties say. They will hold high place in our history for what they have already done. Great work!!! Please keep it up and save the nation.

Voter ID card preparation to take one year, says expert body (???)

Here is the news:

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/06/d70306011713.htm

From newagebd, I found that the expert body was headed by Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury and IT Specialist Mostafa Jabbar was a member of it. Can anyone tell me how they qualify to their respective posts? Isn't there anyone in Bangladesh other than a civil engineer, who wrote few programs in his student life, to lead the committee? How much expertise does he have? How does he qualify as an IT expert? What are his achievements in IT field? And since when Mostafa Jabbar became an IT Specialist? What did he do which brought him the title? Does designing an unscientific keyboard layout and having it coded by Munirul Abedin Pappana makes him an IT Specialist? I am a graduate of computer science and doing graduate studies at this moment. If I come up with an arbitrary Bengali keyboard layout tomorrow, shouldn't I get a seat in that committee? I am sick of these people. How long will we drain millions of dollars for these ignorant people? How long will they have pleasure trip to the west by poor people's money in the name of observing their systems? Isn't there anyone in the current government to get rid of these people from this committee of vital national interest?

ID card: Where do we stand?

This is an excellent article written by Dr. S. M. Lutful Kabir of B.U.E.T. on national ID card. Considering long term goals, government should follow his suggestions.

New poll: When do you want the next election to be held?

I have created a new poll. You can find it at the right column of my blog. The poll is:

When do you want the next election to be held? (multiple selections are allowed)

* In may, as demanded by Sheikh Hasina
* Within this year
* Not before having voter ID card, no matter how long it takes
* Not before all the corrupts are sentenced to jail
* Not before it is ensured that neither BNP nor AL will come to power
* Do not want at all, want to continue with current government

Multiple selections are allowed. Please vote.

Poll result: Should Dr. Yunus join politics?

Now that he has announced his political party's name, there is no use of this poll. The result is as below:

Should Dr. Yunus join politics?

Selection Votes Yes 64% 7 No 36% 4 I don't know 0% 0 11 votes total

DU students say no to Yunus as Convocation speaker!!!

True faces are coming up from behind the veil of patriotism. Gradually BNP and AL are uniting. They don't want anybody else in their rotation of plunderage. I think we are going to see the two leaders in the same table soon. So far, they only went together to programs held by army (actually do they have any choice if the generals summon them??). Now, this is going to be changed. They need to unite to hide all the good deeds their party have done to the country.

Dhaka, Feb 24 (bdnews24.com )- Two top student organisations of the country-Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Chhatra League Saturday united in a demand that the authorities not invite Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus as speaker at the Dhaka University convocation.

The rare unity of the student fronts of the country's two arch rival political parties-the BNP and the Awami League- on the Dhaka University campus has become a reality regarding the demand.

Not only these two organisations, but also almost all other student bodies, have raised the same demand. A section of teachers and students have also taken a firm stand in favour of the demand.

They argued that the Grameen Bank chief had lost his acceptability as convocation speaker after announcing formation of a political party.

A group of teachers led by Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, leader of the pro-Awami League Blue panel of the teachers met with the vice chancellor Prof SMA Faiz Saturday noon and requested him not to invite Prof Yunus as the convocation speaker.

Later the leaders of Chhatra Sangram Parishad led by Chhatra League and Progotishil Chhatra Jote, an alliance of pro-left student bodies, also met the vice chancellor on the same demand.

Though the Chhatra Dal leaders did not have such a formal meeting, they made a similar demand through a statement Saturday afternoon.

At 12 noon a group of students under the banner of "University Students" at a press conference at Madhu's canteen announced their rejection of Yunus as convocation speaker.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is scheduled to attend the 43rd convocation of Dhaka University on February 28 as the convocation speaker where he is also to be given honourary "Doctor of Laws" on behalf of the University.

Entangled in the debate, the fate of the 43rd convocation has become uncertain. The date of the convocation was shifted once earlier due to political instability in the country.

However, the vice chancellor Prof SMA Faiz said that this time there was no possibility of shifting the convocation date.


Former president of Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique emerging after meeting the vice chancellor said, "Dr Yunus wants to do politics, we congratulate him. But by announcing formation of a political party he has made his being convocation speaker controversial. If he participates as the convocation speaker, a big section of the teachers will not join the programme. For the teachers there can be no bigger protest."

He also said, "Doctor of Laws" is a honourary degree. The university authorities usually give this degree to competent persons. If he is competent he can surely accept it. But he has lost the eligibility to be "convocation speaker" by announcing formation of a political party."

Dean of the Social Science Faculty Prof Harun-ur Rashid, dean of the Biological sciences faculty Prof Anwar Hossain, former general secretary of DUTA Prof Akhteruzzaman, Prof Tofael Ahmed Chowdhury, Prof Ashrafuddin Ahmed, Prof Nazma Shahin, Prof KM Saiful Islam and assistant professor Hafizur Rahman accompanied Prof Siddique.

Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League-led student organisation alliance Chhatra Sangram Parishad came to meet the Vice Chancellor at 3pm. Earlier, Progressive Students Alliance leaders met the VC and made the same demand.

After the meeting, BCL president Mahmud Hasan Ripon told reporters the person who did not come to honour the language martyrs on February 21 could not be convocation speaker.

BNP student front Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal in a statement urged the university authorities not to invite Yunus as convocation speaker.

JCD president Azizul Bari Helal and general secretary Shafiul Bari Babu said that Yunus had become controversial by launching a political party after making objectionable remarks about political leaders of the country.

Dhaka University is a universal institution and any controversial politician could not use the institution in the interest of his party, the JCD leaders said.

VC SMA Faiz however ruled out any possibility of deferring the convocation. He said convocation will be held on time by any means.

On whether Yunus would come to the convocation, the VC did not give any answer.

"The decision of making Yunus convocation speaker was taken at the meetings of the Syndicate and the Academic Council. Only five out of 183 teachers in the Academic Council opposed the decision.

The university authorities in a statement sent to news media Saturday evening said the convocation would be held on time. Rehearsal of the convocation will be held on February 27, the statement said.

Falu's dreamland

The lake is built by a government project!!! This is only possible in Bangladesh. I will not be surprised if the pets are fed by government food.

Partial list of corrupt people of Bangladesh

Today, in a bid to make Anti-Corruption Commission effective, it published a list of 50 corrupts. ACC said the listed people or their representatives have to inform the commission in 72 hours from notification about sources of income and movable and immoveable property. Otherwise, their properties will be seized. Those who run production businesses, an administrator on behalf of them will be appointed to run them. Here is the list:

1. Barrister Nazmul Huda (former communications minister/BNP)
2. Salahuddin Quader Choudhury (parliamentary affairs adviser to former prime minister Khaleda Zia)
3. Mohammad Nasim (former home minister/Awami League)
4. Tariqul Islam (former minister/BNP)
5. Mirza Abbas (former minister/BNP)
6. Abul Hasnat Abdullah (AL leader)
7. Salman F Rahman (AL leader and industrialist)
8. Harris Chowdhury (political secretary to former PM/BNP)
9. Giasuddin Al Mamun (Khaleda's son Tarique Rahman's friend and business partner)
10. Dr HBM Iqbal (former AL MP)
11. Mosaddak Ali Falu (former BNP MP)
12. Engineer Mosharraf Hossain (former minister/AL)
13. Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu (former deputy minister/BNP)
14. Nurul Islam Babul (businessman/Jamuna Group)
15. Akhteruzzaman Chowdhury Babu (AL leader)
16. Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu (former MP/BNP)
17. Haji Selim (former MP/AL)
18. Shamim Osman (AL leader)
19. Ahmed Akbar Sobhan (businessman/Bashundhara Group)
20. Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin (former state minister/BNP)
21. Amanullah Aman (former state minister/BNP)
22. Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya (former state minister/AL)
23. Joynal Hazari (former MP/AL)
24. Ali Asghar Loby (former MP/BNP)
25. Jahangir Kabir Nanok (Jubo League president)
26. Pankaj Debnath (Sechchhasevak League general secretary)
27. Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan (former MP/BNP)
28. Hafiz Ibrahim (former MP/BNP)
29. AHM Mostafa Kamal (Lotus Kamal) (former MP/AL)
30. Mufti Shahidul Islam (former MP/IOJ)
31. Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir (former state minister/AL)
32. Mirza Azam (Jubo League general secretary)
33. Naser Rahman (former MP/BNP)
34. Salahuddin Ahmed (former state minister/BNP)
35. Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku (former state minister/BNP)
36. Ward commissioner Abdul Qaiyum
37. ANH Akhter Hossain (former bureaucrat)
38. Zahurul Haque (former NBR member)
39. Engineer Manzurul Ahsan Munshi (former MP/BNP)
40. Haji Mokbul Hossain (former MP/AL)
41. Ward commissioner Chowdhury Alam
42. Mohammad Giasuddin (former Narayanganj MP/BNP)
43. Ariful Haque Chowdhury (BNP leader)
44. Rashiduzzaman Millat (former MP/BNP)
45. Former Demra MP Salauddin Ahmed (BNP)
46. Mohiuddin Ahmed (Munshiganj) (former MP/AL)
47. Mostafa Rashid-e-Shuja (AL leader)
48. Shahjahan Chowdhury (former Jamaat-e-Islami MP)
49. BM Bakir Hossain (trade union leader)
50. Firoz Mia (trade union leader)

Now, where is the prince?? When is it coming? I am becoming restless each day not seeing him caught yet. I sincerely believe that CTG is trying to find concrete proof to link him with corruption. But why is it taking so long, specially when Giasuddin Mamun is in their custody? If they can't find significant proof in BD, I think they should investigate in Malaysia, Saudi Arab and U.K. They can start with the suitcases which he took to Saudi Arabia.

Jewels of Bangladesh

These are the jewels of Bangladesh. Recently, Anti-Corruption Commission asked them to submit their wealth report. We are proud of them!

M Nuruzzaman: A brave man!

Today, I was very excited going through the news of M Nuruzzaman. I am very very proud of him. He is a brave person. People, who were oppressed by the godfathers days after days, should immediately follow him. Government must ensure their security and the cases must be processed as quickly as possible. I don't know how long this immensely popular CTG will be able to stay in power as I see political parties (who could do nothing for the country when they were in power for years; they only succeeded in plundering) and their hypocrite ardent supporters are becoming more restless each day. Before this government's departure, all the godfathers should be given either capital punishment (many will qualify for that according to our law as they are murderers) or sentence for life. Facades of people like Saifur Rahman must be teared down. Now is the time. I don't know when we will get this opportunity again. Every oppressed should come forward with his story now. Government must provide security to itself and the plaintiffs. There is very good chance that the corrupt political leaders of different parties will join hands to remove this government, though they were bickering like hell only a few days ago and ruining the county (what else they can do for the country? :D) in the process. They will forget that they were trying to kill each other (it is nothing new in BD politics, few days ago we saw son handshaking with the killer of his father) and will agree unanimously to get rid of CTG. I seriously apprehend that they will try to kill the chief adviser or some other advisers. I don't think they will dare to kill the army generals who are backing the government, they know its consequences. We are having a unique opportunity to get things straight for the first time after out independence. None can tell when we will get this opportunity again once the power goes to any of the current political (or plundering??) parties. May we be able to avail this opportunity fully!

http://www.prothom-alo.org/index.news.details.php?nid=Mzg5Mg==
http://www.prothom-alo.org/index.news.details.php?nid=Mzg5Mw==
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/02/18/d7021801169.htm

The poll result

I am closing this poll today. The result is not surprising. A.L. is the most probable winner in the next election.

Who is going to win the next general election?

Selection		Votes
B.N.P. led alliance	17%	5
A.L. led alliance	67%	20
Other	10%	3
I don't know	7%	2
30 votes total

Mail to professor Yunus

Dr. Yunus has asked every Bangladeshi to express his/her opinion on whether he should join politics or not. Anyone can email, call, send sms or fax him. Here is his contact info:

Dr Muhammad Yunus
HAL Mars
6/D, 66 Outer Circular Road
Moghbazar, Dhaka 1217
Fax: 88029334656
Cell: 8801713082277, 8801717760870
Email: prof.yunus@gmail.com , dryunus2006@yahoo.com

Bangabandhu on the front page of Wikipedia

Today, Wikipedia's featured article in the front page is Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The article can be later found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mujibur_Rahman.

Eternal Love

The hugging couple are the first double burial found from the Neolithic period:

Sajeeb Wazed Joy opens a blog

This is an excellent news, the first of this kind for any Bangladeshi politician. Blogs are now powerful tools to express opinion, do constructive discussion and healthy debates. Politicians can use it to communicate with people directly. More politicians are coming in the blogosphere recently, at least we can see that in U.S. I don't know how much Joy can affect the political decisions and actions taken by Awami League but I hope he will convey some of the input he will get from this blog. And he must welcome and tolerate all the criticism in his comments and must not suppress the criticisms, which he does not like, by moderation. I hope that his blog will be a very active area for all the Bangladeshi bloggers to express their views and directly communicate with him. His blog address is http://www.sajeeb.blogspot.com/.

gTalk Pinless Dial

As many of us, who are in abroad, cannot talk to our family in Bangladesh because of the current raids against illegal VoIP companies in Bangladesh, gTalk can come to our help. It is still functioning as I heard that its other end in Bangladesh is legitimate. Its customer care service is also very good. Its features (quoted from the site) are:

* Immediate activation on request.
* 1 minute billing increment
* No connection fees
* No maintenance fees
* No expiration date
* SPEED dial for the numbers you call frequently(up to 99)
* HOT number direct dial to most wanted number(up to 3)
* Recharge account using credit card.
* View call records online
* PINLESS dial from 6 telephone numbers
* Multi-language support
* No hidden cost

The site address is: https://www.gtalk.us/pinless/

You gotta watch it!

Believe me, your time will not be wasted!!!

Back to UTD

After passing one month in Bangladesh, I am back in UTD. It was an excellent weather there. But the political situation was frustrating after the poll turned to a laughing stock. On my way back, I saw on BBC that the old man has gave up and returned to his senses. It is the best news since the departure of last elected government. I am looking forward to see a free and fair election with a correct voter list. I think gradually, the situation in Bangladesh is becoming conducive for this. The army raids to the top corrupts' houses is very inspiring though they lacked the courage to touch the prince. But at least his best friend was briefly arrested, that is also a big achievement in our thoroughly corrupt country. I hope the next government will try the prince and his accomplices for their rampant theft.

Votebangla.com

http://www.votebangla.com/ is an excellent apolitical website with latest news and funny satirical cartoons. The news are of good quality. Hope the site will add many more features in future. It has just been launched. The site deserves a visit by you!

10 minute mail!

A simple but amazing solution to avoid spams. Many websites require to register before viewing some page or message board. Once you give one of your valid email addresses, that inbox is gone. You can expect lots of spams coming there from the next moment. I have so many such incidents. My gmail account now gets one spam mail per five minutes, sometimes more frequently. This 10 minute mail solution will help avoid such annoying problems. This site gives a temporary email address only valid for 10 minutes. You can check mail with web interface in that time. But you can only send mails to addresses where an email has come from. Once you get the verification mail for the registration there, forget that email address. Because that will be no more after 10 minutes. No more worry about spams! What an elegant solution!

It is coming at last

At last, the 14 party alliance declared to go for the old coward in case he fails to meet their demand. And after today's news of appointing two more election commissioners, it has become inevitable. I wonder why a man of 76 has no self-dignity. What will he get by being an accomplice of election engineering? He and his retarded friend in the election commission are trying to implement a blue-print of vote rigging, it is no more a secret now. He is losing ground everyday by his inexplicable behaviors. He is playing on people's tolerance, which has a limit. A sudden outburst from people is imminent now. I feel pity for the pigeon-hearted man.

Dr. Mohammad Yunus on Daily Show with Jon Stewart

What's happening???

What are these two stooges doing? I am surprised to read in bdnews24 that the President and the C.E.C. are discussing about groundwork for election and a poll schedule. It can be noted that this discussion took place right after former prime minister's demand for an immediate schedule for a poll. So, it is obvious that on command of their master, the slaves have started to work. I think the ongoing people's movement should immediately be redirected to the old scum sitting at the throne. He deserves no respect. People are only showing him respect due to his age and teaching career despite he has an active political background. The teaching background should have been discarded way before as I do not consider those who indulge in cheap politics to get promotion and illegal benefits as any ideal teacher. And now, it is proven that age alone does not purify a man. Despite all the sufferings of people, the weak-hearted (literally) gutless old man is still taking orders from his lady master and the prince. Enough blood is shed. To remove the puppets, it is not practicable to do one movement per person. My suggestion is to leave C.E.C., go for the old wicked. Strip him from all his offices. Appoint a really honest, unbiased, highly qualified Caretaker Chief. Then let him purge the whole corrupt administration. In my opinion, this is the best way to achieve the goal, optimal in the point of view of least bloodshed and suffering of people.

A Prime Minister we should be ashamed of!

Here is a report on unimaginable corruption of the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia. I wonder, how on earth after achieving so many things (e.g. two times being P.M.) a person can have so much greed? Doesn't their greed have any limit? Suppose, after death, they are placed in heaven, will they be content with what they will have their?? After how many times being P.M. their hunger for money will be satiated?

As the content of the website is continuously changing, I am pasting the report here:

Dhaka, Nov 05 (bdnews24.com)— Former state minister for power Anwarul Kabir Talukder Saturday alleged that 'Hawa Bhaban-bureaucrat-business' syndicate had sucked Tk 8,000 crore from the power sector during the last five years. The immediate past government invested Tk 17,500 crore in the power sector, but could not produce one megawatt of electricity during its tenure. He alleged that the immediate past Prime Minister, her Principal Secretary and the present energy secretary had been 'directly involved in massive corruption' in the power sector. In an exclusive interview with bdnews24.com Talukder alleged that 'hired goons' of the present Energy Secretary A N H Akhter Hossain ransacked the power offices in Uttara, Mirpur, Pallabi, Sabujbagh and other parts of the city and provoked people to go on the rampage on September 26. The 'ploy' had been designed to discredit him and tarnish his 'clean' image, Talukder claimed. "Following the September 26 incidents, former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar was given the charge of Power Ministry on September 28 on a verbal order from the then Prime Minister," said Talukder, who was reportedly sacked as State Minister for Power during the last government. Talukder had, however, claimed he resigned. ANH Akhter Hossain while talking to bdnews24.com Sunday denied Talukder's allegations terming them 'false and childish'. He said: "Regrettable; a senior person like him (Talukder) should not talk in such a way." Talukder, the former BNP lawmaker of Jamalpur-4 constituency, and now a leading figure in the newly formed Liberal Democratic Party of former President A Q M Badruddoza Chowdhury, said the power situation in the country would aggravate further. "It would take three years to maintain status quo in power sector even if improvement plans were implemented with honesty and efficiency", he said. He said he referred the cases of corrupt practices to the Anti-Corruption Commission and would testify in the court, if necessary. Regarding demand-supply, Talukder said daily demand of electricity was 5,500 mega watts against the production of 3,000 mega watts. The Power Ministry used to produce false statistics on electricity, he disclosed. Even, false statistics were placed at the meetings of the parliamentary standing committees, he said. He said the former Prime Minister and her Principal Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui 'directly patronised corruption' in the power sector. Talukder said being instructed by Prime Minister, an 'unconstitutional' committee comprising bureaucrats were formed at the Prime Minister's Office. The committee's status was between the power minister and the state minister. This committee used to intervene into the ministry's affairs and patronised corrupt practices, he said. Of the total government fund of Tk 17,500 crore invested in the power sector during the last five years, he said, Tk 2,500 crore was spent as establishment cost. "Of the rest Tk 15,000 crore, Tk 8,000 crore was looted by the Hawa Bhaban-bureaucrat-business syndicate. Some Ministers and MPs were also involved in it," he said. Talukder claimed he tried to purge the power ministry of corruption—part of the reason he was removed from the job. He said the outgoing government's only project Tongi Power Plant, with 105 mega watts capacity, was yet to go into production because of corruption and use low standard of equipments. "The standard of the booster compressors was downgraded to Chinese standard from the internationally recognised standard resulting in lowering of the capacity, but interestingly the price went up," Talukder said. He pointed fingers at the Hawa Bhaban, PDB's board of directors and the dishonest officials of the Power Ministry for the 'corruption'. He said he could have purchased 200 mega watts of electricity at the rate of less than Tk 1.9 per unit from the private sector, but he was not allowed to do so. "If I purchased that 200 MW electricity from private sector, setting up of eight captive power plants with 240 MW could not be justified," Talukder said. Those eight plants were yet to go into production, but they had been paid, he said. "The state will have to pay Tk 8,000 crore to those eight captive power plant owners as subsidy during the next 15 years. But this money could easily be saved by purchasing electricity from the private sector," the former State Minister said. bdnews24.com/krc/rm/ad/1921 hours

Source: http://bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=0.03&id=49814#tp49814 (may not work)

Soldiers' stress

Here is a video of some soldiers telling how much stress they are in in Iraq. The job is not easy at all.

MuhammadYunus.org launched

A comprehensive site on Dr. Muhammad Yunus has been launched: http://www.muhammadyunus.org/. Thanks for the people who have put it up. I think it is one of the top web resources on the Nobel laureate.

A website about scientific revelations in the holy Qur'an

http://www.speed-light.info/ is a mind boggling website. It deals with scientific revelations in the holy Qur'an. It shows how the holy Qur'an provides scientific facts which were unknown at that time and many of them are still to be proved by modern science. In some sites ( e.g. wikipedia), I found an argument that knowledge similar to some revelations were prevalent in seventh century Arab world. It may be true for only a very few cases but certainly can not be true for the examples given in this site. Though I have read a book (a series of two parts; does not have any electronic version) which had many more such interesting things, I liked this site for being very concise and to the point.

Quadir Prize

Quadir Prize is an Annual Global Contest to Strengthen Bangladesh hosted by the Center for International Development at Harvard University . One has to propose an innovative and practical idea that would improve the lives of low- and middle- income people of Bangladesh. Proposals will be judged by four Harvard University faculty members, in consultation with scholars familiar with Bangladesh.The author of the winning essay will be awarded the Anwarul Quadir Prize, USD $25,000. Deadline for submission is December 31, 2006. This contest is sponsored by the Anwarul Quadir Foundation.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus: First Ever Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate!

Like many said, the Nobel prize of Dr. Yunus is the greatest achievement of our nation since independence. Today, one Chinese colleague in my lab was congratulating me. He was very amazed to see that a small country like Bangladesh can have such people. He told that none from his country ever got a Nobel prize (actually, one person with Chinese root got but he is not recognized in China). I cannot express how I felt at that moment. A Bangladeshi could achieve what no one from a big prosperous country like China did not achieve (no offence to Chinese, I am just giving example). Ours is not only a poor and small nation but also we can produce Nobel laureates. It is a proof of how much potential we are. Today is a great day for our country. Dr. Yunus, we are so proud of you! May your dream of alleviating poverty from the world come true!

Corruption in Biman

While reading this article, I was feeling so depressed that I could not read through the end. I was being torn apart while going through it. Isn't there any end to this insanity? All these started during the time of our former dictator Ershad and was subsequently exacerbated in manifolds by some very high ranking politicians of a leading party of our country. This coterie is systematically destroying Biman, once the pride of our nation. I still remember how my parents preferred Biman over other airlines, not because of economy but because of hospitality and homely feelings. I wish there would be a magician who would stop all these absurdity of our country!

Interview of Tarek Rahman

I just came accross the following clips of an interview of Tarek Rahman a.k.a. Tarek Zia, senior joint secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It is believed that he will be the Prime Minister of Bangladesh sometime in future. If ten percent of what he promised to do in this interview becomes true, then I will be satisfied.

Unbelievable idiocy!

I can't believe this. Beating national shooters after entering the shooting complex just does not make sense to me. Commonwealth games gold medalist Asif and another national shooter Shoebuzzaman are seriously injured and will take weeks to recuperate and get back to practice. This is insane. These sycophants of corrupt political leaders have crossed their limits way ago. Now, who can bridle these unscrupulous people of the most corrupt institution of Bangladesh?

One fine example

The state minister for power resigned today. He admitted his failure and said that his conscience made him take the decision. Though I seriously doubt whether he actually failed as he was in charge for only four months and it is very tough to implement anything good in that sector because of a coterie close to PMO, I salute his decision. At least he showed that ministers should have some conscience and enough selflessness to take such decisions. This should be a great example to some shameless ministers of present government who amassed over million dollars in this term but could do no good to the country. I think they buried their conscience deep underground long before joining politics. Otherwise, how could they become ministers? Shame on them!!!

Why Countries Like Bangladesh Remain Poor

This is a great article by Professor Mahfuz R. Chowdhury. It summarizes some causes of our poverty. Though the facts are well-known, the article is worth enough to go through.

CAN'T WE THINK SAME WAY FOR BANGLADESH

This is a mind boggling article which I got from bdresearchers group. After reading it, I can't help sharing it with all. I always had a high respect for Indian president, the article justifies it. If you have time, please go through it.

An article By Dr. Abdul Kalaam (PRESIDENT OF INDIA)

======================================================

"I have three visions for India. In 3000 Years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds.  From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and Looted  us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation.

We have not conquered anyone.  We have not grabbed their land, their culture, and their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM.

I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture  and build on.  If we are not free, no one will respect us.  My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation.

It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most Areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being  globally recognized today.  Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

I have a third vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only STRENGTH respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept of space, Professor Satish Dhawan who succeeded him and Dr Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material.  I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

I see four milestones in my career: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first Satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years  played a very important role in my life of Scientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994. The Dept of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation  but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A very light material called carbon-carbon.

One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg.  each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients .  In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs,  they could  now move around. Their parents had tears in their eyes.  That was my fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them.

Why?

We are the first in milk production.

We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

We are the second largest producer of wheat.

We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.

There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid  and a granary.

It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of  killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried  among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.

Why are we so NEGATIVE ?

Another question : Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?

We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India.  For her, you and I will have to build this developed India.  You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation .

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

                     YOU say that our government is inefficient.

                     YOU say that our laws are too old.

                     YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

                     YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,

                     The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their Destination.

                     YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

                     YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore .

Give him a name-YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS.

YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best.  In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores.

YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.

YOU pay $5 (approx Rs 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.

YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity.

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs 650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else."

YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then
tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?).
I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost."

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?

Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???
We are still talking of the same YOU.YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place ," he said.  "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do?
Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.  Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right.  We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.

We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.  When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room  protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse? " It's the  whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my  sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change the system? What does a  system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a  safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country . Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J F Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians????

"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA  WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Conscious PPL who really feel of their mother land for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you,
Dr Abdul Kalaam
(PRESIDENT OF INDIA)

 

 

 

  'CAN'T WE THINK SAME WAY FOR BANGLADESH'

An encouraging article on Russian Air Force

Though it is old, it gives some useful insights about Russians which does not change over time.

58 GB of Downloadable Bangla Songs!!!

Thanks Rony for the wonderful website. It has tons of Bangla songs, at this moment 13304 songs to be precise. Anyone can download and upload songs to it via ftp. The ftp address is ftp://bangla.homeip.net:2121. You have to create an account before loggin in which is free.

Mahfuz Anam's apology to Tarique Rahman!

This is an excellent riposte by the revered editor of The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam to the leading corrupt of the nation Tarique Rahman. Mr. Tarique has grown so big in power that he seems to interfere in anything now. Though I do not know the incident exactly, going through the editorial, it is easy to understand that the ongoing "Joggo Prarthi Andolon" has disturbed him so much that he spoke out against it. I think what he thought was he is not a "Joggo Prarthi" (:D) and so felt humiliated by the campaign. I don't think he thought wrong! :D

Saeed Anwar - highest individual ODI score ever made

Saeed Anwar makes 194 runs against India during the Independence Cup in May of 1997. This is the highest individual score ever made in an ODI. If you are a cricket fan and have not watched it then it is a crime!!!

A Late Update

Lot of things happened in last two weeks and I am now in UTD for my phd. I applied for visa more than two months ago. My wife was refused spouse visa and I was referred to security clearance. I was waiting for the security clearance to come. Almost all who applied for visa at the same time got their security clearance. My orientation date was 14th August. I was losing hope and at one stage gave up the hope completely. But dramatically, on the 8th August it came. I only had a handful of days to prepare and fly. After much struggle, I got one expensive ticket to Dallas of British Airways. I flied on the 14th and reached Richardson on the 15th. My friend Arif and his wife came to receive me. I attended the late orientation on the 17th.

There are lots of things to tell among these events. If I start in detail it will take so long that my fingers will start aching. So, I think I should skip most of them and just tell how much I miss my family, my home and my country. I was feeling so bad in the flight from London to Los Angeles that I decided to get back to country after one week. I miss my family terribly. I realized how sweet one's motherland is after leaving it. No country, regardless of how rich, developed it is, is comparable to one's motherland. I am dying for the moment I will be again in my country. I am staying with a fellow Bangladeshi here who is really a good person. I am fortunate to get a Bangladeshi roommate. My friend Arif and his wife are helping me a lot. I am very grateful to them for arranging everything for me before I arrived here. My class has begun on the 17th. The load will increase gradually. As I am a TA here, I will have to do a lot of TA works too. One of them has already begun. I already told my professor that I will go to Bangladesh after this semester. He is a nice man too. He did not disagree.

I hope I will be able to fulfil the purpose for which I came here though I will not be happy here without my family. After I get the degree, I will get back to Bangladesh, my sweet home country.

Amazing!!! 19 downloads in two weeks!!!

Since I uploaded the TrayController project to SourceForge.net, the installers have been downloaded 19 times. Isn't it cool? I am very excited and happy to see this. I really did not expect that much. I hope the software is being used by the downloaders. I am yet to receive any feedback from users. I will be happier to get some suggestions, comments or bug reports from the users.

An excellent criticism of Java

This is by far the best article by Joel Spolsky I have ever read. While reading the article, I wondered whether he read my thoughts before writing it or not. The points he made are very valid and I can no more agree with him. I have been long looking for this kind of articles in the net which will support my view unequivocally. I am sure that some of my ardent java fan friends will be hurt by it, but what he wrote is fact no fiction. I cannot like Pointer-less programming languages for the reasons mentioned in it. C++ is the best (as suggested by the poll in the right side too :-) ), no doubt about it. It is so much powerful and flexible that one can do anything (s)he likes. Chopping off the head to get rid of headache is not any solution. But unfortunately, popular programming languages like Java and C# have done exactly that by leaving out pointers. I was always a fan of Joel's articles but today I have become a bigger fan :-). Sorry Java-lovers ;-).