Bangladesh News and Discussion

Jamal K. Malik · Post by **Jamal K. Malik** » 30 Jun 2009 21:35

Govt determined to root out terrorism from B'desh: Hasina
http://www.ddinews.gov.in/International ... s/aass.htm

LHouse · Post by **LHouse** » 03 Jul 2009 19:17

One time india had its army within the borders of what is bangladesh, to liberate them from pakistan, and now they are causing all this trouble, all because you saints decided they were to noble for pragmatism and decided to help the people of this place, now they are coming across to takle from you. It would have been better to keep indias army there and keep the whole place, and then slowly reduce the numers so that the place could be reabsorbed back into india. Now there is a huge mess that seems difficult to manage and fight back against. Just like with kashmir, indian army pushed pakistna out and them that idiot nehru simply gave it back, even though it was a part of india, why did he watch pakistan seize kashmir from india, see the india army recapture it, and then, stupidity on a massive scale, give it back to them? Why are indians so moronic? Allowing foreigners such as blacks and whites into india is also stupid especially when you have so many problems of its own? Allowing zionism into india is going to cause huge problems, look at race mixing in america and see what problems that has casued. And americans are more connected to reality than indians, how will you deal with it?

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 03 Jul 2009 19:27

Allowing zionism into india is going to cause huge problems, look at race mixing in america and see what problems that has casued.

What do you mean?

Jamal K. Malik · Post by **Jamal K. Malik** » 05 Jul 2009 16:11

BSF, BDR agree to maintain status quo on disputed tract

Jamal K. Malik · Post by **Jamal K. Malik** » 05 Jul 2009 23:31

Protestors, police clash over Indian project in Dhaka

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 17 Jul 2009 09:12

Former Indian president Abdul Kalam due Sunday

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 21 Jul 2009 17:49

Why this silence on organised anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh?

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 22 Jul 2009 03:26

A Bangla border force like the BSF

...
Bangladesh border force BDR will soon pass into history, to be born again in a new avatar strikingly similar to its Indian counterpart.

Sources said the Border Guards of Bangladesh — or the Bangladesh Border Guards — would have sectors and regions like that of the BSF, which played a key role in helping Dhaka structure the new force. “The BDR even wants an intelligence wing like the BSF,” said a source.
...

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 22 Jul 2009 16:57

Will our resident expert kindly comment on the arrests.
Bangla arrests top LeT man, second catch in a week

Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, Jul 21 (PTI) A top operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba was arrested in Bangladesh, the second Indian militant linked to the terrorist group to be nabbed in the country in less than a week, police said today.

Maulana Mohammed Mansur Ali alias Maulana Habibullah, an Indian national, was active in Kashmir and has been the main organiser of LeT in Bangladesh, Deputy Commissioner of Detective Branch Monirul Islam told reporters.

He was arrested from Dakkhin Khan area in Dhaka yesterday after an intensive manhunt engaging police spies, Islam said.

The officer said in line with confessions of Mufti Obaidullah, a LeT-linked militant arrested last week and now in custody on a seven-day remand, police launched the manhunt and arrested Ali, who was working at a madrasah.

Mansur Ali wanted by US too

Detained Indian national and Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali is on two lists prepared by the intelligence agencies of India and the US for his involvement in militancy, sources said.

According to sources, Mansur's position is 16th on the list prepared by the US. A total of 280 names of militants who took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir are on the US list while another 77 militants on the Indian list.

DB sources said they have collected the two lists from two countries recently.

.................
Monirul Islam also said "Mansur had also contact with Daud Ibrahim's close aid Indian national Zahid Sheikh and Daud Merchant."

Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh were arrested from the country about two months back.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, detained Indian militant Mansur admitted that he is one of the most wanted Indians and he knows a number of Huji leaders in the country as they were his fellow fighters in the two wars.

kidoman · Post by **kidoman** » 22 Jul 2009 20:32

Indian High Commission clarifies Pinak's remarks

It said the FBCCI president also mentioned that the queue for Indian visa would find a place "in the Guinness Book of World Records."

In the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, the total number of visas issued by the high commission was 472644, 481064 and 523322 respectively.

My godd..Look at the no of Visas issued per year to BD folks!!!
Going by the statistics i guess it will touch 5.5 lac this year.

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 22 Jul 2009 20:39

We should be worried more about illegal cross overs not the legal ones.

kidoman · Post by **kidoman** » 22 Jul 2009 20:45

pgbhat wrote:We should be worried more about illegal cross overs not the legal ones.

If you had read the article , you would have probably gone through this..

While responding to these remarks, the high commissioner mentioned that visa is a problem area because of two reasons--the large number (around 25000) of Bangladeshi nationals who obtain visa but do not return{Per Year}, the difficulties caused to genuine visa applicants by 'touts and brokers.'

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 22 Jul 2009 20:49

kidoman wrote:
pgbhat wrote:We should be worried more about illegal cross overs not the legal ones.
If you had read the article , you would have probably gone through this..

While responding to these remarks, the high commissioner mentioned that visa is a problem area because of two reasons--the large number (around 25000) of Bangladeshi nationals who obtain visa but do not return{Per Year}, the difficulties caused to genuine visa applicants by 'touts and brokers.'

Yes I know ... but number of illegals (cross overs not VISA overstays) I believe are far more greater than 25000 per year.

kidoman · Post by **kidoman** » 23 Jul 2009 20:20

pgbhat wrote:We should be worried more about illegal cross overs not the legal ones.

So 25000 is too less a number and is to be ignored, according to you!!
If we are not able to maintain accountability of persons who are entering legally and overstaying, how the hell do we keep track of all those illegal entries?

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 23 Jul 2009 20:46

kidoman wrote: So 25000 is too less a number and is to be ignored, according to you!!
If we are not able to maintain accountability of persons who are entering legally and overstaying, how the hell do we keep track of all those illegal entries?

MORE is the keyword.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 24 Jul 2009 21:52

Lashkar-e-Taiba planning ‘armed-jihad’ in Bangladesh: Mansur

Third Arrest
Lashkar aid arrested

sum · Post by **sum** » 24 Jul 2009 21:56

Third Arrest
Lashkar aid arrested

Our agencies seem to be on overtime in BD since i feel that these scum could only have been pointed out to BD by our agencies.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 24 Jul 2009 22:52

BDR jawan 'commits suicide'

Heart disease, cirrhosis of liver, now blood cancer...

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 26 Jul 2009 03:50

This column from Chandan Mitra in dailypioneer.com pertains to the Northeast , West Bengal, and Bangladesh. So I am posting in full on the Northeast and Bangladesh threads. Whatever happened to the West Bengal thread?

Fishing in troubled waters

Chandan Mitra

Bengal’s greatest culinary heritage is tottering on the brink of extinction. Hilsa, the extraordinarily tasty fish species, which the English and Anglo-Indians termed Mango Fish because it swarmed the deltas during the mango season — or Ilish (as it is called by Bengalis) — is virtually unavailable in Calcutta’s crowded fish markets although this is peak season. It’s not that Ilish has entirely disappeared; but the only variety available at an astronomical price comprises babies weighing not more than 750 grams whereas the tastiest are the full grown ones weighing between 2 and 3 kilos. Khoka (baby) Ilish is not only far too bony, it is also against fishing tradition to catch them before they come of reproductive age.

But faced with the virtual annihilation of the bigger variety, and given the Bengali’s obsession with Hilsa, fishermen nowadays routinely flout their own beliefs and customs. But Khoka Ilish too is currently selling upwards of Rs 550 a kg, which explains why fishermen have pounced upon them in a bid to make a quick buck even at the cost of exterminating this delicious species altogether. Bangladesh is the biggest supplier of Ilish, having exported 21 lakh kilos to West Bengal last year. A dispute over price has stalled the import of Ilish to India this year because our agencies insist on retaining the wholesale price at Rs 14 per kg against Dhaka’s demand to hike it to Rs 17. Rather cheap, come to think of it, when it retails at over Rs 500! They are demanding a higher price because the species is rapidly declining in that country too.

Even a decade ago, Ilish was available in plenty although its price started skyrocketing about 20 years ago as availability began to shrink. Hilsa shares its breeding habit with the Canadian salmon and swims upstream from the sea into rivers in order to procreate. Exposure to freshwater contributes to its taste, which is why sea Hilsa, available in Mumbai, is usually shunned by connoisseurs. There was a time not so long ago that Bay of Bengal Hilsa swam through the mangrove delta in Sunderbans, crossed Calcutta and actually managed to reach up to Allahabad, nearly 1,000 km from the Mouths of the Ganga. Literature is replete with a never-ending dispute over the relative culinary merit of the Ganga-bred Ilish vis-a-vis the Padma variety. The Ganga, as is widely known, gets divided in two branches just after the Farakka Barrage in northern West Bengal, with the Bhagirathi or Hooghly travelling due south while the Padma moves in a south-easterly direction into Bangladesh before being joined by the Meghna (or Brahmaputra) and eventually disgorges into the Bay of Bengal.

In my childhood years spent in suburban Hooghly, 40 km north of Calcutta, I routinely accompanied my uncle to the banks of the river that flowed across the road from our ancestral home, yelling out to fishermen “O Karta! Achhe naki? (O boatman, do you have any?)” Fishermen believe Ilish possess sharp ears and if it hears its name being called out, promptly scoots from the vicinity. It is also believed that Hilsa enjoys a light drizzle and therefore surfaces when fine strands of rain saunter down from the skies. That explains why Bengalis often describe a fine monsoon drizzle as Ilsheyguri brishti (fine droplets of rain associated with the surfacing of Ilish).

The purpose of recalling all this is to establish the deep association of this prized fish with Bengal’s culture and heritage. It is also to lament its disgraceful over-fishing, which has resulted in near-annihilation of the species. I realise the difficulty of making lawless Indians adhere to pre-determined fishing quotas. But I wish we could regulate the quantum on an annual basis and enforce rules with regard to fishing baby Hilsa.

In Europe strict laws exist about the permissible amount of the catch, with the European Union setting firm limits. Member countries, in turn, enforce the quota through Government agencies in cooperation with fishermen’s unions. Anyone found violating them is fined heavily and could even be sent to prison, but that doesn’t usually happen because fishermen are conscious of their responsibility and do not endanger the future.

The Hilsa is probably in terminal decline as environmental changes, degradation of mangrove forests, silting of rivers, increased shipping activity through their breeding grounds and construction of barrages have disturbed their habitat irreversibly. But at least the wanton culling of baby Hilsa must be stopped, not only to restore the natural balance but also to ensure we don’t lose an integral part of eastern India’s cultural and culinary heritage.

Something equally preposterous is happening to the flood plain of the gorgeous Brahmaputra in Assam. It is threatened with strangulation as a result of unchecked illegal immigration from Bangladesh and occupation of fertile land along the river by these unwelcome intruders. On a recent visit to Assam, many people I met expressed serious concern not only about the danger of being swamped by alien immigrants but also the destruction of the State’s fragile ecology by aggressive settlers from across the border. I had not realised the environmental devastation Bangladeshi migrants had caused till it was explained to me that, by settling on chars (mid-river islands) and planting trees there, the unwelcome occupants had made these erstwhile shifting islands permanent. As a result, the silt-laden river nowadays routinely breaches its embankment and floods terrain traditionally cultivated by indigenous farmers. Bangladeshis have occupied the chars as well as the vast flood plain on both sides of the river’s stream. These areas were never cultivated on a large scale earlier because they served as natural barriers to flooding.

Indigenous Assamese had their fields located at a sufficient distance from the river’s course to allow it to overflow within a given parameter during the monsoon months. But Bangladeshi settlements have now disturbed this age-old natural balance causing the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to flood vast areas wrecking severe damage on humans and livestock.

The irony is that 14 out of Assam’s 28 districts have been declared drought-affected this year, but the Brahmaputra basin is flooded nevertheless. With rampant deforestation in the hilly regions of Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh through which the mighty river flows, silting has become an additional problem. Meanwhile, China is still toying with the idea of constructing a gigantic dam in southern Tibet to block the flow of the Tsang-Po (as the river is known there) into India and then build a canal to divert the waters to its arid northern territories.

This amounts to playing with fire, not just water. Between illegal Bangladeshi migrants, greedy loggers and industrialists who have invaded India’s North-East and megalomanical Chinese nature killers, Assam’s ecology is on the verge of a catastrophe. Assam, Bangladesh and West Bengal are part of a common eco-system. So, the Hilsa’s near extermination is not the result of population pressure and over-fishing alone; it is linked to what is happening to the north-east of its habitat.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » 26 Jul 2009 19:59

No comment.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/p ... ce/3281357

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 30 Jul 2009 12:58

NYT sob story on BDs being harassed by them nasty Indians only.

Women Deployed to India’s Wall of Death (NYT)

Classic bait and switch employed. Begins like a tribute to the BSF, now inducting women into its ranks to 'man' the Indo-BD border and the second half degenerates into TSPish propagandu.

Earlier this month, Voice of America’s Amir Khasru reported from Dhaka that the Border Security Force had “shot dead four Bangladeshi cattle traders,” who were between the ages of 16 and 25. Family members said “these men were killed while returning to Bangladesh after purchasing cattle from India.” Mr. Khasru noted that “according to human rights organizations, approximately 30 Bangladeshis were killed by [the] B.S.F. in the last six months.”

In 2002, my colleague Somini Sengupta reported that the B.S.F. was similarly active along its north-western frontier: “Those spotted trying to cross from Pakistan to India are shot and killed. Last year, 87 people suffered such a fate and several guns were seized, border officials said.”

In the recent, remarkable video report embedded below, Jonathan Rugman of Britain’s Channel 4 News interviewed people on both sides of India’s border with Bangladesh who claim that “hundreds of unarmed villagers” have been killed by the B.S.F. simply for getting too close to the fence. Mr. Rugman’s report also includes interviews with a human rights advocate in India who says that the B.S.F. kills even Indian citizens with impunity and with a former director general of the force, who defends its actions.

And so on.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 03 Aug 2009 22:32

Another heart case...
Another BDR jawan dies

Shahid and Azad were working in the BDR workshop along with their colleagues and at about 8:30am, Shahid complained of chest pain and was soon admitted to the BDR hospital.
Shahid died shortly afterwards, Azad added.

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 04 Aug 2009 01:52

slightly dated news

troop withdrawl from CHT

Bangladesh to pull out soldiers

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 07 Aug 2009 22:30

Plan to kill Bangladesh leaders

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Aug 2009 16:00

Dividing Lines - A book Review

"A Neighbourly Affair" is by no means a modern day action replay of David and Bathsheba. It is, on the contrary, an account of the romance between India and Bangladesh and of the active role the author Hemayetuddin played as Bangladesh’s envoy to India, first as a junior diplomat and later as high commissioner. And like a romance, the story is spiced with abundant anecdotes about typical lovers’ tiffs and patch-ups.

At the heart of the ‘trouble’ is India’s insistence that it had acted purely as a Good Samaritan to liberate Bangladesh. It therefore expects that the latter should remain forever grateful to it and translate the gratitude into actions in letter and spirit at every turn.

Bangladesh refuses to buy this line; it argues that India’s assistance merely expedited what they would have achieved in any case, and India’s involvement was actually a cover for settling its own scores with Pakistan.

India spare no opportunity to remind Bangladeshis of their obligation. For example, when Bhutan drove out anti-Indian elements from its soil the Indian press, which is almost always hostile, told Bangladesh to ‘follow [the example set by] Bhutan’.

This negative attitude is so deep-rooted that even after an intensive interaction with Indians at all levels, the author feels ‘inclined to think that some in the centre regard Bangladesh as an extension of the state of West Bengal and formulate their dealings with (it) with that mindset.’

The book begins with a prologue that summarises the events that led the Bengalis in East Pakistan to rise against the West Pakistani rulers. It also provides glimpses into the author’s early life and education. However the period between leaving university and his entry into government service has been skipped altogether.

Neither does he mention in what capacity he met Indian army officers in Chittagong and with whom he travelled as a guest to Agartala, the Indian city located just two kms from Bangladesh.

His father was a local product; his mother’s ancestors were foreign, perhaps even Afghan. The author narrates how his father liked everything that was indigenous — food, manners and idioms and greatly enjoyed Hindu festivals.

He preferred the author’s younger siblings to call him Borda which is regarded as a Hindu idiom. The author’s mother, however, reflected her roots in everything from spicy food to her dislike for Brahmins who treated Muslims with contempt.

With such an upbringing the author was fully prepared for an affair with Hindu India. His opportunity came when he met two Indian army officers on ‘the day of our liberation.’ He instantly befriended them and was consequently posted to New Delhi to play out his romance.

In India, at his very first business encounter with a local, the author found that as local Bengalis and Punjabis dislike each other, while Indian Punjabis and Sikhs love Bangladeshis. His landlord, Kishna Gopal Kapoor, who had been insulted by a Bengali, confided at one point that ‘Bangladeshi Bengalis are different from the Indian Bengalis.’

The author narrates how he cashed in on the goodwill most Indians have for Bangladeshis and thus made many friends, including the legendary journalist Khushwant Singh.

But this was all on an individual level; collectively, it was a different story. The book recounts how India complains about the influx of illegal Bangladesh nationals into its territory while alleging that Bangladesh provides sanctuary to Indian insurgents and Pakistan’s ISI.

Bangladeshi authorities counter with complaints that India allows Banga Sena activists agitating for Shadhin Bangobhumi in the southern districts of Bangladesh to operate from West Bengal, harbours wanted criminals and even smuggles narcotics into Bangladesh.

Other issues discussed in the book include gas export to India, gas pipeline between Myanmar and India across Bangladesh, transit route to India’s eastern states, water sharing, border demarcation, exchange of ‘enclaves’ and India’s River Linking Project.

It appears that relations between the two countries under a BJP government in India are seldom cordial. With a BNP government in Bangladesh they tend to become even more strained. The author implies that only with a Congress government in India and Awami League government in Bangladesh are relations are their best.

Another perpetual irritant between the two countries is the demarcation of a boundary and enclaves in each other’s territory. Bangladesh ratified the Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 immediately while India has yet to do so.

The book illuminates the strains and frustrations Hemayetuddin had to encounter in combating a hostile press, arguing his country’s case on contentious issues and trying to build bridges. Yet he never gave up. Thus, while he fully pleads for India to change its arrogant mindset, he also suggests that Bangladesh ought to do a little more in acknowledgement of India’s assistance in its liberation war.

A Neighbourly Affair is also the story of the sheer pluck of the people of Bangladesh who, encircled on three sides by India while on the fourth side by the sea, still muster the guts to look India in the eye without blinking. {This is the Pakistani reviewer's comment}

The book ends on a sad note, the author telling how his brilliant career was sacrificed to the political bickering between Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.

A Neighbourly Affair: Assignment India

By Hemayetuddin
The University Press Limited Bangladesh
ISBN 70220 0022 6
176pp. Tk450

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 10 Aug 2009 20:50

Another BDR man dies of cardiac arrest

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 23 Aug 2009 17:47

Another BDR man dies

Another member of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) died yesterday, raising the death toll of BDR jawans to 40 since the February mutiny.

Nayek Subedar Mujibur Rahman, 54, passed away at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU) in the city yesterday.

A BDR press release stated that Mujibur of 30 Rifles Battalion at Panchhari, who hailed from Ugli village under Chandpur Sadar, had been suffering from liver cirrhosis and cancer.

The press release however did not specify what type of cancer he had been suffering from.

Anabhaya · Post by **Anabhaya** » 23 Aug 2009 23:05

B'desh may offer Chittagong port facility to India

Bangladesh could offer India the facility to use its southeastern Chittagong Port after upgrading its capacity to take the extra load, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan said.

"There is no concept such as 'my port or your port' in this free world . . . The day is not far off when you (India) will be able to use Chittagong port as 'your port'," he said at the eastern frontier town of Akhaura late yesterday.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 24 Aug 2009 01:03

The clock has started to turn a full circle.
Chittagong was one of china's potential "Pearls" against India. While India has for long requested access via this port for its NE states.

Can't wait for more of China's pearls to fall. The Burmese and Lankan Pearls in particular.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 24 Aug 2009 01:53

Gagan, dont exult too fast. Chittagong port offering to India is a political decision, not a common-sense one. For if it were, it would have been offered eons back. Chittagong is tied to Cox's Bazar standoff with Burma, oil block and maritime boundary in B-o-B, and as a quid pro quo for Indians stopping their assistance to the Chakmas. The CHT accord is only being implemented slowly. We did not know what Shri MKN brought to Dhaka in the aftermath of the Pilkhana massacre. We keep hearing news about the paki hand in the Pilkhana massacre, but no clarity or preciseness yet. Dipu Moni is expected to visit India on a fire-cracker of a visit. Lotsa goodies are expected to flow both-ways.

Even if the BAL chose to give Chittagong to India to tide over their economic problems, the J-e-I, the BNP and the JP are waiting in the wings to make it a Tipaimukh-lite. Expect to hear Nepal and BD to make noises about transit now that Vizag has been offered to Nepal. At the end of the day, there are many in BD, Nepal and elsewhere too, who would rather eat grass for the sake of H&D. The main issue from the Indian side is to let Darwinomics kick in faster.

Dhaka has not recognized Kosovo yet because the Russkies are constructing the Ruppur nuke plant. At the end of the day, ummah-dom will triumph over godless communists. The Russkies either find a way to control the key to the plant or it is going to be another case of clutching at straws and propping up neo-powers for the sake of short-term economic gains. They even sold their wares to the commies across the border and created a monster right in their midst. I fail to understand the Russkie method to madness. Is it shoot at your leg and allow bad blood to leak from the body, I know not?!

Harsha.H.D · Post by **Harsha.H.D** » 25 Aug 2009 17:44

India seeks ULFA leader's deportation from Bangladesh

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 27 Aug 2009 02:10

Posting in full. This is from TSP newspaper but relevant here.
BD grants oil, gas blocks in disputed waters

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
DHAKA: Bangladesh has awarded three offshore exploration blocks to American and Irish companies to search for oil and gas in the disputed waters of the Bay of Bengal, an official said on Tuesday.

The country’s highest cabinet committee on economic affairs awarded two blocks to the US energy giant ConocoPhillips and another to Irish company Tullow, energy secretary Mohammad Mohsin told AFP.

The government granted the blocks despite ownership claims on some of the territories by neighbouring India and Myanmar, he said.

“We will tell the companies not to explore in the disputed areas until it is settled,” he said.

“The two companies will now sign agreements with the (state-run oil and gas company) Petrobangla and can start survey and other exploration activities from early next year,” said Mohsin.

Bangladesh’s last army-backed emergency government invited bids for offshore exploration in February last year after dividing its sea territory in the Bay of Bengal into 28 blocks.

But Mohsin said the bidding was met with a poor response, as top oil companies opted out because of the conflict over the territories from India and Myanmar.

A tense stand-off between Myanmar and Bangladesh flared in November last year when Myanmar escorted a South Korean gas exploration company into a disputed stretch of the Bay of Bengal.

Both countries deployed their navies to the waters, prompting high-level diplomatic contacts to prevent the situation escalating dangerously.

Experts have forecast major reserves of gas in the Bangladesh part of the Bay of Bengal, after huge discoveries were made in the Myanmar and Indian areas of the bay.

Bangladesh needs to urgently locate new sources of energy as the government forecasts the nation’s current gas reserves will run out by 2014-15 at present consumption rates.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 27 Aug 2009 05:14

BD papers claim that these blocks were NOT the disputed ones, and the ones that have been disputed have been held aside. Lets wait for the spin to subside. It seems like India has been the only one to make great profits from oil exploration, both Burma and BD's blocks are weak in oil/gas.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 31 Aug 2009 17:05

India will brush aside BD's whines and construct the fences on the border upto the zero line, said Union Home Minister Shri P. Chidambaram.

BD Nobel laureate, Prof. Mohd Yunus to deliver the Hiren Mukherjee lecture in the union parliament.

Malaysia wants to invest up to 3b$ in the electricity sector. BD would do well to get some returns back by asking Malaysia to take back tons of BDeshis thrown away by Malaysia.

Another case has been filed against J-e-I local chief Sayedee on being a razakar.

Silence on the ULFA arms drop case, Tipaimukh and BDR restructuring. BBC guesses that some of the folks behind the BDR massacre have been tortured and killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8219775.stm
Well, that should have been expected when fit people in their 20s developed heart attack and died in a flurry.

Swine flu hits BD as the first person dies.

A small earthquake in the Sylhet area.

BD hopes to reduce the export deficit with India by increasing its exports to 1b$ by 2011. Lots of demand for bricks in the NE states of India. India now exports around 3b$ and BD 400m$.

xpost:
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/2521524 ... h.html?h=B
India, neighbours fight for the continental shelf

satya · Post by **satya** » 03 Sep 2009 18:47

BANGLADESH: SITTING ON HISTORY’S KNIFE EDGE

By Bhaskar Roy

The history of Bangladesh’s liberation would have been lost had the "January 11" military backed emergency not been imposed. Army Chief Moeen U. Ahmed and the Commander of the critical 9 Div. Maj. Gen. Masududdin Ahmed pre-empted a BNP-JEI conspired coup in which President Fakhruddin Ahmed was complicit. In the BNP, the Kingpins were Prime Minsiter Khaleda Zia, her elder son Tareque Rehman and his coterie, and militant groups promoted, nurtured and protected by them. The JEI worked from the background with its Amir Matiur Rehman Nizami involved in various illegal arms import like the 2004 Chittagong arms haul, and Dilwar Hossain Saydee managing the Jamatul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB) Islamic terrorists.

It may not be a widely known fact that in July 2006, Saydee told Prime Minister Khaleda Zia not to succumb to US and other western pressures to execute the top six leader of the JMB including its Chief Shaik Abdur Rehman. He explained that the JMB would be very important during the upcoming general elections. Khaleda Zia took his advice. These six dreaded terrorists were executed by the army backed caretaker government (CG) at the insistence of Gen. Moeen and his commanders. They also chased the militants into retreat, including the HUJI.

Evidence presented during the on-going Chittagong arms haul case exposed a nightmare of conspiracies involving the Bangladeshi intelligence agencies the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), JEI Amir Nizami, Indian insurgent group the ULFA, Pakistan’s ISI and their front organization the ARY group, and international criminal residing in Pakistan, Dawood Ibrahim. When Dawood gets involved, he usually has a long term vision of establishing his company. That is what is coming out now. The serpents head rested in the Zia family.

It is true that the army backed caretaker government made mistakes. There was corruption, politicking, the ‘minus two’ (without Khaleda Zia and Sk. Hasina) Bangladesh political structure, reformism in the two major political parties, the Awami League and the BNP, and Gen. Moeen’s vision of a new Bangladesh. There were rumours that Moeen had the ambition to become a benevolent dictator, President among other things. At the end, the army officer stepped aside with dignity and grace.

Moeen proved everybody wrong. He was thought to be pro-BNP because he superseded a number of other officers to become the Army Chief during the BNP-JEI government. But he was also the chief architect of the notorious BNP-JEI combine’s downfall. He was not pro-Pakistan or pro-any country. He proved to be more nationalist than many others.

Holding this brief for Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed has a very pertinent reason. Nobody in Bangladesh or any other country for that matter is ‘Caesar’s wife’. The new clamour to bring Moeen to trial at this time will send a very wrong message to the Bangladesh army. The army under Moeen moved away from a coup for whatever reason, including some stern UN advice. If he is tried for corruption or something else, it will tell the armed forces of the country to review their role in a future crisis. If the Awami League led government has to go forward with their honourable objectives, a review of the Moeen politics would be in order.

During the CG government there were Advisors (equivalent to Cabinet Minister) who did more harm than good including attempts to raise communal hatred. Maj. Gen. (Retd.) M.A. Matin’s book distorting the history of independence of the sub-continent and trying to generate a hatred of India and Hindus is a case in point. Matin’s book, to say the least, was subversive.

Any kind of dictatorship or army rule is not acceptable to the genetically freedom loving people of Bangladesh. Otherwise, the 1971 liberation war would not have happened with self-less sacrifices. But after the assassination of the liberator of the nation, Sk. Majibur Rahman in 1975, most of the time it has been army rule or army backed rule. Hence, the ambience of the army has always been there, and continues to be. It will take a while for the Bangladesh armed forces to retreat to the barracks, and that will depend on the political leaders of the country.

This writer remembers the words of late Maj.Gen. Abdul Mannan, GOC, 24 Inf. Div. Chittagong, as well as Governor of Chittagong. It was during Gen. H.M.Ershad’s rule. He said the army’s place is in the barracks and protection of the country’s sovereignty. Governance is for political leaders, he added. Obviously, he did not climb up the military ladder. He preferred to shed his uniform and become an ambassador. Bangladesh has not reached that position yet, but could very soon, if issues are handled with vision and sagacity.

For the first time after 1975, the general elections in December 2008 were acclaimed by the international community as the most free, fair and credible elections of Bangladesh. It cannot be denied that the army ensured its own neutrality and that of the polling. The Awami League won a landslide victory, with the BNP and its ally, the JEI, reduced to marginal players in Parliament (Jatiyo Sangshad).

This was a cathartic change. In the 2001 elections the army and the security forces acted unashamedly with the BNP-JEI alliance. This is well documented in the Bangladesh media.

Prime Minister Sk. Hasina stands today with the huge responsibility on her shoulders to turn Bangladesh to what her father, Sk. Mujibur Rahman had envisioned. He was about to be executed in Pakistan or West Pakistan in 1971, but finally succumbed to an army conspiracy in 1975. Sk. Hasina has survived at least three serious attempts on her life. Members of the BNP-JEI government were complicit in these attacks, employing the terrorist organization supported by Pakistan, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI). But Sk. Hasina is her father’s daughter, indomitable and tireless.

For Bangladesh to come to its own, a conclusion of the various aspects of the 1971 war of liberation is a must, and brooks no delay. The poison goes back to the immediate period of bitterness of partition in 1947. The question was what was to be the position of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the overall sovereign Pakistan. The issues were both economic and linguistic. But language (Bhasa Andolan) took the centre stage. The divide started in 1948 and the 1952 language movement in East Pakistan sowed the seeds of separation. West Pakistan (Pakistan now) dealt with 1952 language issue with bullets and created martyrs. The die was cast. It was the Punjabi domination that is even now creating serious repercussions in Pakistan.

The year 1971 witnessed a very serious confrontation in East Pakistan or Bangladesh. It was between those who pledged their alliance to an alien domination based on religion, and those who opted for language, culture and pride to rule themselves.

The first group dominated Bangladesh following August 15, 1975 for a long time. But one can cut the leaves and branches, but the roots always provide succour to the tree. Sk. Hasina has to draw strength from these roots, and end permanently the source of the 1971 collaborators.

A concurrent issue is the assassination of Sk. Mujibur Rahman and most of his family, and the jail killings of most of his cabinet colleagues in November, that year. Before surrendering on December 16, 1971, the Pakistani army and the Razakars had killed as many Bengali intellectuals as possible.

There is a definite link between the three incidents of killings. The result of the 1971 trials, 1975 conspiracy investigations, and the Abu Taher case will determine where Bangladesh will go. They together remain a cancer in the country’s body politics.

Added to this is the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny of February 25-26, 2009 in Dhaka which took the lives of 59 Bangladesh army officers and their families, including the BDR Chief. Maj. Gen. Shakil. BNP and JEI leaders unleashed a propaganda that the mutiny was India’s handiwork aided by Awami League government to weaken the Bangladesh army. A preposterous as the charge may be, the BNP and JEI continue to clutch this straw.

On August 17, this year, the new BDR Chief Maj. Gen. Moinul Islam, put the munity in the following perspective. He said foreign forces benefitted from this "most heinous crime", "external enemies still exist", and added "it reminds us of the liberation war of 1971". Maj. Gen. Islam need not have been more explicit. He obviously spoke based on the findings of investigations, and pointed the finger squarely at the BNP, JEI and Pakistan.

Sk. Hasina is faced with strong opposition both internal and external in the 1971 war crimes trial. Internal forces can be overcome. But when they are backed by strong external forces, it becomes difficult.

Saudi Arabia holds a strong economic clout to exterminate the fountain heads of Bangladeshi nationalism. In 1978, Major, then Lt. Gen. and finally President of Bangladesh Zia-ur-Rahman gave a new political life to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), the main collaborators of Pakistan’s occupying army in 1971.

Therefore, the role and character of Zia-ur-Rahman, the founder of the BNP, life giver to the JEI, and late husband of Begum Khaleda Zia comes to question.

Zia, as a Major in the Pakistani army, fought for Bangladesh as a sector commander in 1971. He wrote an article how he hated Pakistanis and bloodied a Pakistani opponent in a boxing ring. This was soon after liberation. The BNP then went on to project Zia as the declarer of Bangladesh’s independence, and not Sk. Muiblur Rahman.

Very little is known whether Zia had any role in Sk. Mujib’s assassination, or even his real intent in the liberation war. Then there is the mystery of why Zia had Col. Abu Taher tried and executed immediately, in Dhaka central jail behind closed doors especially, after Col. Taher had helped him to regain power after 1975. Did Col. Taher come to know something about Zia and his connections that others did not? The rest of Zia’s career as President till he was assassinated in a military coup in 1981 suggested he was against the liberation forces.

Saudi Arabia exercises strong influence over Bangladesh given that Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia are a major economic stay for Dhaka. It has promoted Wahabi Islam in Bangladesh, and some Saudi based NGOs have funded Bangladeshi extremist organizations. Pakistan wants Dhaka to drop 1971 war crime cases and forget the liberation war as several Pakistani army officers are listed in the war crimes. Riyadh also backs Pakistan.

The US has also been circumspect, given at least, real time information on Sk. Mujib’s assassination. The US and other western interest have indicated assistance for the trials, but do not want it to be made political. This is a very critical question. Every war crime trial and assassination of state leaders in a mutiny has political repercussions and roots. The west can be satisfied if the trials do not include foreign participants in both cases. But references to them are bound to come up during the course of the trials.

The 1975 incident was to try and obviate 1971. It almost succeeded. But the trials could open up a lot of old cans of worms. Even China would be indirectly complicit in support, since Beijing recognized Bangladesh only after Pakistan did after Sk. Muiib’s assassination.

To take the country’s attention away from the 1971 and 1975 trials, the BNP and the JEI have raised a number of India centric issues, like the Tipaimukh dam, the Asian Highway, maritime boundary, access to Chittagong port, the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty being the major ones. The BNP-JEI combine has succeeded in raising especially the Tipaimukh issue to a significant extent arguing that the dam will dry up Bangladesh. But their arguments have been merely rabble rousing bereft of facts, and misinformation by the JEI organs like the Naya Diganta and Sangram among others.

Sk. Hasina has held her grounds till now. She will be coming soon to India on an official visit, the first in her new tenure as Prime Minister. It will be prudent for the Indian side to make critical questions, especially on technicalities, abundantly clear before her visit on Tipaimukh.

Sk. Hasina needs to conserve her and her party’s energy and concentrate on the existential issue of the relevance of Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign country, and justify the blood given by the people of Bangladesh. From 1948 to 1952 and then to 1968-69 and 1971, Bangladeshis irrespective of Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists fought on one side. The question on Gen. Moeen was brought in this article in this context. Energy and focus must not be dissipated at this critical juncture.

For Bangabandhu’s elder daughter, one of the two who escaped the annihilation of the family, destiny beckons for the last time. Do not forget old friends or those who helped to this point. Remember, Bangladesh is on history’s knife edge.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 06 Sep 2009 05:59

Lets see if there is some progress on Anup Chetia and the Ctg. arms haul case.

The Foreign Ministers of Bangladesh and India hold bilateral talks in New Delhi on Tuesday (Sept for a review of the entire range of bilateral issues as well as finding out newer avenues of cooperation between the two next-door neighbours.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni goes to Delhi tomorrow to hold the meeting with new Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna at Hyderabad House, diplomatic sources said. The last foreign minister-level meeting between Dipu Moni and Pranab Mukherjee was held in Dhaka on February 9 this year.

Trade, investment, sharing waters of the common rivers, including the Teesta, Tipaimukh dam, border demarcation, connectivity and security issues, may figure prominently during the Dipu-Krishna talks.

Indian giants seek telecoms corridor
Want to connect seven sisters, offer an access to alternative submarine cable

Bangladesh can have access to an alternative submarine cable if it allows two Indian companies to build a fibre optic network to take low-cost telecommunication services to India's seven sister states. Indian telecom giants-- Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications--have recently submitted a joint proposal in this regard to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). If any deal is signed, Bangladesh can use the companies undersea cable network as an alternative to lone submarine cable SEA-ME-WE-4. Experts think that such initiative can also relieve Bangladesh from repeated disruption of undersea cable, which inflicts a huge loss to the country's information and communication technology sector.

Remember the following worthies, need to collect open-source info on how many of these environment-nazis have base in amrika with blessings from the Gous. If one takes a look at the letters to ed, much of the oppn seems to be spearheaded by professors in Dhaka U. and this BPA (BD paribesh andolon). Why is Dhaka U. having so much takleef, least of all folks who have nothing to do with water management?

Join JS to raise voice against Tipaimukh dam
Experts urge opposition

The government must invite the opposition to forge a people's unity to address the issue of India's proposed Tipaimukh dam, said noted experts at a roundtable yesterday. The opposition too must go to parliament and raise its voice on the issue, they said at the roundtable titled 'Tipaimukh Dam/ Barrage: Overall impact on Bangladesh' organised by the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) at a city hotel. Once implemented, the proposed dam on the river Barak will devastate not only the river system of Surma, Kushiara and Meghna in the northeast of Bangladesh but also its ecology and economy, said the experts.

Former secretary M Asafuddowlah said, “The government has been silent on the issue of Tipaimuk dam with a kind of gratitude to India.” Naya Diganta Editor Alamgir Mohiuddin said the government should invite the opposition to forge a national movement against the proposed dam. Former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury said the opposition must go to parliament and raise its voice against Tipaimukh project.

Prof Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of an environmentalist movement Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon, said they arranged an international conference on Tipaimukh issue in 2005 which was attended by environmentalists from India, Nepal and Bhutan. “Though the then water resources minister Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed consented to inaugurate the conference, he did not turn up at last,” he said. “Awami League lawmaker Abdur Razzak too, who headed a parliamentary delegation to Tipaimukh recently, has forgotten his solidarity that he expressed with the conference at that time,” he said.

“Tipaimukh should not be a political issue,” said Prof Ahmed, adding, “It is going to be a life and death question for Bangladeshi people.” It is unfortunate that Bangladesh has not yet been able to sufficiently clarify its official position on the proposed dam, said Barrister Abdur Razzaq, CHR secretary general who moderated the conference. Dr SI Khan, an environmental scientist and former UN consultant, said Bangladesh needs adequate water in the rivers to prevent intrusion of saline water, recharge groundwater table and stop desertification.

Former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Emajuddin Ahmed said Tipaimukh issue should be resolved with a regional approach under a multi-lateral framework of the Saarc. Prof Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University said India's unilateral approach to Tipaimukh dam is a violation of article 9 of Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996. International conventions on biodiversity, climate change and heritage may also be applied as customary laws to address the Tipaimukh issue, he added.

M Abdur Rouf Chowdhury, FBCCI director and member of the Regulatory Reforms Commission, said the proposed dam poses security threats to water, food, economy and ecology of Bangladesh. Former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Moniruzzaman Miah, former secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, former ambassador Masood Aziz, Editor and Publisher of the daily Amar Desh Mahmudur Rahman and Prof Mahbub Ullah of Dhaka University were amongst a host of high-profile personalities who also spoke on the occasion. Former chief justice Mahmudul Amin Choudhury presided over the roundtable.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 07 Sep 2009 17:16

Reach out to Bangladesh : Importance of Dipu Moni’s visit can’t be overstressed ----- Hiranmay Karlekar

Considerable importance attaches to Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni's visit in the next few days. Bangladesh is India's only neighbouring country where developments since the beginning of the year, when an Awami League-led Government assumed office, warrant satisfaction. While the Awami League has been traditionally friendly toward this country, the Government it led from 1996 to 2001, which also had Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister, did not fulfil India's expectations on several issues — ending the support by Bangladesh's intelligence agencies, primarily the Directorate-General of Forces Intelligence, to rebel groups of north-eastern India; acting effectively against Pakistan' Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and terrorist organisations like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh using Bangladesh's territory for terrorist strikes against India; granting Indian goods transit facilities from the rest of the country to the north-eastern States through its territory; and the sale of Bangladeshi natural gas to India.

The Awami League, however, had been in the wilderness since Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's assassination in 1975. During this period, the disguised as well as undisguised military dictatorships under Gen Zia-ur Rehman and Gen HM Ershad, as well as the elected Government of Begum Khaleda Zia during her first prime ministerial incarnation (1991-1996), had swamped the bureaucracy, the armed and para-military forces, and the intelligence agencies with pro-Pakistan and anti-India elements, while systematically trying to Islamise Bangladesh. Significantly, Gen Zia-ur Rehman had set up the DGFI, initially called Directorate of Forces Intelligence, in November 1977, shortly after a visit to Dhaka by then ISI chief, Lt Gen Ghulam Jilani Khan. It is a clone of the ISI which has trained many of its officers.

Any Government, committed to secularism and friendly ties with India, would have been hobbled by Bangladesh's power structure. Overhauling the latter would have required a majority which the Awami League, which won 146 out of 300 seats in the National Parliament in the 1996 election, lacked. Even after the filling of 30 reserved seats for women through election by MPs had given her an absolute majority, the task would have required single-minded determination to cope with stiff opposition from large sections in the Army, the intelligence agencies and the administration, as well as parties like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the country's fountainhead of Islamist terrorism and anti-India activities, and Begum Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which, with 116 seats, constituted a large, effective Opposition.

Sheikh Hasina began well by acting against the training camps for secessionist rebels of north-eastern India run by DGFI and Islamist organisations but faced intense internal pressure, with Begum Khaleda Zia describing the rebels as 'freedom fighters' who deserved support. She did not push too hard perhaps because she recognised the odds. Besides, she regarded the Jamaat, with which she had cooperated on occasions, as a political opponent but not a deadly foe. Nor did terrorism pose to her and Bangladesh the kind of threat it did subsequently. The rule of the BNP-Jamaat coalition from 2001 to 2006 changed all that. The reign of terror unleashed by organisations like the HUJIB, Jama'at-ul Muhadeedin Bangladesh and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh which, with the blessings of a section of the Government, targeted NGOs, liberal intellectuals and politicians, and, particularly, the Awami League. She escaped death by a whisker during a grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, which killed 23 people.

All this bred in her a steely determination to wipe out terrorism. It is on full display with the arrest of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terrorists and Daud Ibrahim's men active in Bangladesh. Rebels of north-eastern India are under pressure. The mystery of the massive arms haul in Chittagong on April 2, 2004, is being unravelled. The Jamaat and its leaders face prosecution as war criminals, with the Government responding positively to the widespread demand for the trial of those who committed unspeakable atrocities while collaborating with Pakistanis during the 1971 liberation war. As important, her handling of the mutiny of Bangladesh Rifles personnel in Dhaka in February showed a remarkable blend of courage, political wisdom and leadership. Armed with a massive parliamentary majority, she is now calling the shots. India has everything to gain from further deepening its ties with Bangladesh under her leadership. Hence the importance of Ms Dipu Moni's visit.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/199931/Reac ... adesh.html

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 09 Sep 2009 13:09

What a stupid-ass DDM, Sujata Koirala is in China on a week visit and there is sign that China is arm-twisting Nepal to get the same package India got to freely invest some cash anywhere in Nepal. And there is no news on Dipu Moni-SM Krishna talks. Is this how we understand our neighbors, DDM seems to be ignoring all our neighbors quite blatantly.

In other news, SH is tightening the noose around the J-e-I. One more razakar case filed against Saka Chowdhury. There is a case against the Sayedee chap as well. The only one left behind is the amir Motiur Rahman Nizami. I hope they find something on him too. Regarding J-e-I supporters, the corruption case against BKZ and her son is also in full swing.

Some whines on applying the army act against the Pilkhana massacre indulgers. HR organizations leading the whine and saying let the trials be public. SH today said something like why whine about the Asian highway thing, rightly said. She said something like "we liberated this country, so trust us on protecting sovereignty." What a solid jhapad to J-e-I and BNP

.

More and more signs that BNP will create more anti-India sentiments to ensure that SH will NOT rule in peace. The agenda seems to be to keep AL busy with defending themselves that very little to no time is left for progressive stuff. Rampant corruption in contract awarding continues, the US and china are now the benefactors of AL largesse. This one never changes, I believe.

Harsha.H.D · Post by **Harsha.H.D** » 10 Sep 2009 02:14

War-affected Hindus to get land back in Bangladesh

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 10 Sep 2009 09:01

Import of power from India to Bangladesh, allowing greater access to goods from Bangladesh into Indian market and New Delhi's 'positive interest' in dredging ports and rivers in the country figured prominently as the two countries held wide-ranging talks here today.

Water sharing from common rivers of the two countries, economic, security and border issues and increased connectivity in the region including India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh were also discussed during the two and a half hours talks at the Hyderabad House. BD Foreign Minister Dipu Moni led the Bangladesh delegation while Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna led the Indian team. The talks were preceded by a ten-minute one-to-one meeting between Moni and Krishna. Giving a substantive start to her four-day visit to India, Moni and Krishna discussed the entire range of bilateral issues. The meeting discussed the issues of cooperation in power sector, including import of power from India to Bangladesh and Indian assistance for upgrading our railway sector and procurement of locomotives, passenger coaches and buses. The two sides also discussed easing of customs and immigration procedures of the passenger train Maitree Express, running between Dhaka and Kolkata, to make the service more popular. They also discussed the possibility of Indian assistance for capital dredging of ports and rivers in Bangladesh to which Indian side expressed positive interest.

The two ministers also agreed to resolve the issues relating to demarcation of the boundary between the two countries, including exchange of enclaves and adverse possession in a single package.

Will have to wait for EAM press briefing on this, as of now just an advisory on EAM website.