Bharat Rakshak

Supratik wrote:B,

Just complaining about Islamism in the Bengal region and blaming others is not enough.

What do you propose as the strategy that India should adapt? Short of military intervention or a LTTE type of solution.

Why blame others when the Bengalies themselves are confused and running around like a plucked chicken? Even if we assume that all non-Bengali politicians especially Hindi-speaking ones are out to get Bengalies which I find a lot of Bengalies complaining about what initiatives Bengali politicians both Communist and non-Communist have taken to counter Islamism in the Bengal region for the last 40 yrs specially after the left came into prominence. The Tamils fought a 30 yr civil war in SL. What have Bengalies done? Except vacillating between being tormented and impotent rage.

I am aware of your knowledge on a lot of things but in this case I think your complaints are misplaced.

brihaspati wrote:

Supratik wrote:B,

What Bengalis should do is a different question altogether... they should, think "nationally" rather than as Bengalis.... They should become Indians first - without shining their armours of superior "culture", Rabindranath Thakur, "secularism", yadda yadda..

The marchers called for a new blasphemy law, with the provision of the death penalty to punish those who insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Their group, Hefajat-e-Islam, put forward a total of 13 demands, criticising the government for not taking action against what it called "atheist bloggers".

Supratik wrote:B,

I am in agreement that Bengalies need to come closer to pan-Indian memes and drop the isolationist memes of the last 50 yrs both politically and economically. The isolationist memes are a result of the impression that the Nehru-Gandhi led Congress left them to the wolves and also later Communist propaganda. Currently there is a demographic threat in WB and an existential threat in Bd. I have no answer for the former but for the latter I see no option but to depend on Hasina even though AL is less-than-perfect.

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has rejected a demand by the country's Islamists to enact a new anti-blasphemy law to punish those who defame Islam and Prophet Mohammad.

Her comments came after hundreds of thousands of Islamists held a rally in the capital Dhaka over the weekend asking for tough punishment to those who insult Islam.

“India and Bangladesh held three rounds of meetings to finalise the draft agreement. It is not possible to run ‘class’ vessels (bigger ships) due to cost concerns. We are expecting the trial run to take place within a month,” a Union Government official told Business Line.

Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh’s capital fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Islamic activists Sunday during a protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law.

The activists were among thousands demonstrating around Dhaka, blocking roads and cutting off the city from the rest of the country.

Police said protesters also set many shops and at least 30 vehicles on fire. Authorities deployed more than 15,000 security forces in the capital.

A British community leader has been indicted in Bangladesh for his alleged role in the killing of 18 people during the 1971 liberation war from Pakistan.

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin strongly denies any role in the murder of 18 intellectuals in December of that year.

He is alleged to have been a member of the Al-Badr group, which identified and killed pro-independence activists.

He is accused with another alleged Al-Badr member, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, a United States citizen.

• Thousands of Islamist activists are calling for those who insult the religion to face the death penalty
  Rioters set fire to shops and vehicles, blocked roads and fought with police
  Police fired rubber bullets into crowds armed with rocks
  But sources have claimed officer fired hundreds of live rounds into the mob

37 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Bangladesh today in fierce street fighting between police and Islamic hardliners demanding the death penalty for blasphemy.

Rioters chanting 'God is greatest!' torched shops and vehicles, blocked roads and fought bloody battles with police in the capital of Dhaka and its suburbs.

At least 70,000 activists ran amok in the capitals financial district overnight, forcing hundreds of workers to sleep in their offices as gunfire rattled through the night.

Bangladesh factory collapse death toll rises above 1,000

The death toll from a garment factory building's collapse near the Bangladesh capital has climbed over 1,000. Recovery efforts are still under way.
Officials on Friday said 1,021 bodies have been removed from the rubble of the April 24 factory collapse in Savar town, near Dhaka. The eight-storey building collapsed in one of the world's deadliest industrial disasters.
Army spokesman Captain Shahnewaz Zakaria said recovery crews used "cranes, bulldozers and excavators" to pull 130 bodies from the rubble since Thursday morning and that more bodies were found in the pancaked lower floors.
The bodies, thought badly decomposed, could be identified by mobile phones in their pockets, as well as identity cards around their necks.
"Of the total dead, most are female garment workers," he explained.
Industrial safety in spotlight
More than 3,000 people were working in the five garment factories located in the building, making clothing for retailers such as Benetton, Mango and Primark.

The structure collapsed after a loud bang, trapping them. Nearly 2,500 people were rescued, with around 1,000 suffering serious injuries.
A government probe is working to determine the cause of the collapse, with initial findings pointing to poor construction and disregard for safety regulations.
The collapse was followed by a fire this week Wednesday at another Bangladesh factory in which eight people died. The fire consumed the lower floors of the 11-storey building, which had closed for the day, and the smoldering acrylic products produced smoke and poison gas that killed those trying to flee.
These accidents have raised awareness to the often deadly working conditions in the country's $20-billion (15.3 billion euro) garment industry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/2 ... 79523.html

Benetton, the Italian fashion line known for provocative marketing campaigns advocating progressive causes , has denied any ties to the garment factory in Savar, Bangladesh, that collapsed last week, killing at least 377 people , 1000 people. “None of the companies involved are suppliers to Benetton Group or any of its brands,” the company said on April 24.

But evidence is mounting that Benetton clothing was indeed being manufactured at the factory, known as Rana Plaza. Photos taken at the scene by the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse clearly show shirts with “United Colors of Benetton” labels. That’s the AP photo above, and here is AFP’s documentary evidence:

New Wave Bottoms, one of the manufacturers based at Rana Plaza, lists Benetton as a client. Labor rights activists digging through the debris have also said they found documents linking Benetton to the factory.

Benetton didn’t respond to emails and calls seeking comment. Its Twitter account has been silent since tweeting the company’s brief statement of denial four days ago. (Update, April 29, 2013: In a new statement after the photographs emerged and this story was published, Benetton said, “A one-time order was completed and shipped out of one of the manufacturers involved several weeks prior to the accident. Since then, this subcontractor has been removed from our supplier list.”)

Benetton is hardly the only—or even the largest—clothing company with ties to the factory; America’s Wal-Mart, Ireland’s Primark, and Canada’s Joe Fresh all made clothing there. But Benetton’s initial denial and its social activism could make it a bigger target for criticism. The company produces most of its clothing in Bangladesh, which is the world’s second-largest garment exporter, after China.

Workers in garment factories like the one that collapsed last week make a minimum wage of 3,000 taka ($38) a month. Working conditions are notoriously brutal and unsafe. The day before Rana Plaza collapsed, large cracks appeared in the side of the building, prompting a bank and other retail stores on the first floor to close. But the garment factories in the floors above stayed open, and the building fell to pieces the next day. The death toll now stands at 377 but is expected to keep rising.

Supratik wrote:If things go out of hand we may have to reactivate the Bangabhumi Sena.

rsangram wrote: And Lord Vishnu "may have to" take another avatar !

Pray tell me, who is the "we" in your statement ?

Ten men of a banned Bangladeshi Islamist outfit were sentenced to death on Thursday by a fast-track court here after they were found guilty of involvement in a deadly suicide bombing in 2005 that claimed eight lives.

The court handed down death penalty to 10 operatives of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for the 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed eight people, including lawyers, at suburban Gazipur.

“The convicts will be hanged to death,” Judge Mohammad Motahar Hossain of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal said while announcing the verdict in a crowded courtroom.

The verdict was announced in the presence of the militants who appeared in court under heavy security.

Eight people were killed and 80 others were injured in the blast that occurred at one of the lawyers’ room in Gazipur Bar Association office on November 29 in 2005.

The JMB men who carried out the blast also died in the incident.

The sentence will be executed after the approval of the High Court, the judge said.

On the day of the bombing, one of the JMB activists, wearing a lawyers’ gown, blew himself up at the Gazipur Bar Association office.

Prosecution lawyers earlier told the court that the eight convicts assisted the suicide bomber in manufacturing the bomb, provided the blue print for the attack plan and aided him at the time of the explosion.

Under the Bangladeshi law, the death sentences can only be executed after the High Court has reviewed the verdict under automatic death reference hearing or through the appeals by the convicts.

JMB carried out the attack months after they announced their emergence as a clandestine outfit carrying out near simultaneous blasts in 62 districts in 2005 to make public their demands of establishing an Islamic rule of their brand in the Muslim majority Bangladesh.

Earlier media reports said beyond Bangladesh territory, the outlawed JMP operated in three cross border Indian districts of Murshidabad, Maldah and Nadia in West Bengal through some 100 full time operatives.

At least 28 people were killed in JMB attacks between August and December, 2005, alone.

In subsequent years, JMB has carried out a series of bomb attacks across the country killing scores of people, including two judges.

(PTI)

Supratik wrote:Jamaat is not banned. They have to re-register after making necessary changes.

brihaspati wrote:Just wait until elections. Jamaat will revive after elections even if not allowed to contest as Jamaat. Hifazat was a Saudi project, that took off in the 2008 caretaker military phase - as a hedge against the potential failure of Jamaat. Given that BD will be firmly in the grip of the Saudi network in the foreseeable future, hifazat is here to stay and as a more direct control point for the Saudis.

The Spy who knew Bangladesh better than its President
July 19, 2008, 9:59 am
Filed under: SubContinent
The Spy who knew Bangladesh better than its President

‘‘A foreign intelligence agency is the eyes and ears of the government. Its activities are the direct resultant of the policies of the government, without which any government would be left in a state of limbo’’ — R.N. Kao, the first RAW chief, who died on January 20.

The search for the man who would head RAW was a crucial one. Rameshwar Nath Kao, during his tenure with the IB, had been exposed to the world of intelligence and espionage, having worked in the field in the mid-sixties. Kao set up the structure, followed by K. Sankaran Nair who made it fully operational… It was possibly from a long list of names coined by DS Joshi, then Cabinet Secretary, that the title ‘‘Research and Analysis Wing’’ was selected.

The Bangla Desh Operation possibly began a year before the actual operation was underway. Even when the world did get a whiff of it in the shape of the Mukti Bahani, many remained unaware of RAW’s involvement. By then Phase I of the operation was already completed. Phase II saw the Indian Armed Forces poised for the liberation of Bangla Desh. RAW, along with the Mukti Bahani, when they developed into a formidable force, provided information to the Indian forces.

Information collected by an IB foreign desk operative in London from a Pakistani diplomat indicated that the West Pakistanis were contemplating action against Bengali Muslims in Pakistan. By 1968 Indian operatives had already been in contact with the ‘‘pro-Mujib’’ faction. A meeting convened in Agartala during 1962-63, between the IB foreign desk operatives and the Mujib faction indicated to ‘‘Colonel’’ Menon (which in fact was Sankaran Nair’s non de guerre that the ‘group’ was eager to escalate their movement. ‘‘Colonel Menon’’ had warned them that in his opinion it was far too early for them to take any positive action. As Colonel Menon right put it….‘‘they jumped the gun.’’ But this was a total disaster.

A few months later, on January 6, 1968, the Pakistan government announced that 28 persons would be prosecuted for conspiring to bring about the secession of East Pakistan, with India’s help. Mujib was implicated 12 years later as an accused. By now the IB foreign desk (PAK) had moved to the new set-up at RAW. RAW cells were set up all along the border.

RAW sources in Karachi had indicated a movement of troops from Karachi harbour for Dacca. On March 3, a message sent out from Dacca to Calcutta by a RAW operative indicated that a major crackdown was imminent. As the report found its way to New Delhi, an urgent message was flashed — ‘‘…advise Menon…’ to bring in … our friends.’ Towards the end of April the genocide continued and drove 9.8 million into exile to India. The March 1969 RAW report had already spelt out the possibility of Pakistan resorting to a war with India… By the end of May, another RAW assessment sent to the Prime Minister spelt out the need of a ‘‘surgical intervention’’. RAW received the green signal and began mobilising its resources. The Mukti Fauj was known as the Mukti Bahani two months after its formation on the night of March 25, 1971.

General SHFJ Manekshaw, Chief of Army Staff, realised that the major question of India’s defence policy could not be dealt with in purely military terms. As Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, he pressed for political involvement of the Government. For the first time a political representative in the person of DP Dhar, designated as Chairman of the Planning Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs, was inducted into the war council. On the civil side, a secretariat committee was set up to take executive decisions, dealing with preparations for war and their execution. The committee consisted of the Secretaries of Defence, Home, Finance and Foreign Affairs, with Kao as Member Secretary.

With the go-ahead signal, RAW’s underground network in East Pakistan came alive. Every six weeks 2,000 guerrillas were being trained by RAW, capable of taking on the enemy in hit and run encounters.

After the war for liberation was over, Bangla Desh was estimated as a sovereign state with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as its head. RAW agents continued to keep an eye on developments in the newly born country. By the end of 1973, RAW reports began to indicate unrest in the country. Nair met Mujib and apprised him of the situation. Mujib, preoccupied with other events, that engulfed his country, shrugged off the warning.

Four months later, RAW agents received information of a meeting between Major Rashid, Major Farooq and Lt Col Usmani at Zia-ur-Rahman’s residence. The decision, among other things, had centred on the coup. During the three-hour meeting one of the participants had doodled on a scrap of paper, which had been carelessly thrown into the waste basket. The scrap had been collected from the rubbish pile by a clerk and passed on to the RAW operative. The information finally reached New Delhi.

Kao, convinced that a coup was in the offing, flew into Dacca, under cover of a pan exporter. After his arrival at Dacca, he was driven to a rendezvous arranged beforehand. Mujib is reported to have found the exercise highly dramatic and just could not understand why Kao could not have come to see him officially.

The Kao-Mujib meeting lasted one hour. Kao was unable to convince Mujib that a coup was brewing and that his life was threatened, in spite of being given the names of those suspected to have been involved.

Les than three months later, on the night of August 14, an army manoeuvre took place. The Bengal Lancers and the Bangla Desh Armoured Corps moved out of the cantonment to the capital’s half built airport. A few hours later, the same evening, 40 members of the Mujib household along wit Sheikh Mujib, lay dead. The killings lasted three minutes.

On November 3, a counter coup led by Brigadier Khaled Musharraf was followed by yet another counter coup that established General Zia-ur-Rahman in power. It was on General Zia’s subsequent goodwill visit to India that a formal meeting between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Bangla Desh President took place. Kao was also present. General Zia is reported to have remarked that ‘‘this man (referring to Kao) knows more about my country than I do.’’

(Edited excerpts from Inside RAW: The story of India’s Secret Service by Asoka Raina,New Delhi, 1981)

Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country in the world and the origin of a large diaspora in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. But the country is poorly understood in the West. Linked to India by language and to Pakistan by religion, Bangladesh has struggled to define an identity different from its neighbors’ that embraces its own linguistic, religious, ethnic, and ideological diversity. The country has gone through more than its rightful share of trauma: colonialism, partition from India, a war for independence against a brutal Pakistani army, internal rebellions by minority tribes, poverty, flooding, and factory disasters. Yet a pluralistic, proud, and self-aware culture has emerged; the economy is growing; feminism contends with fundamentalism; and periods of party politics alternate with those of military rule. This revelatory volume brings alive Bangladesh’s tormented history and vibrant culture through a selection of excerpts and illustrations from works of history, journalism, literature, and visual art.

On Monday, apparel factory workers in Bangladesh demonstrated their frustrations over small wages with protests that quickly escalated to violent riots. The protests, which began last week, have injuredmore than 50 people, including 6 policemen.

An estimated 100 factories have halted operations due to vandalism and blockades generated by the crowds. Cars parked along the Gazipur and Savar industrial zones of Dhaka endured assault as bricks and rubber bullets flew between policemen and protesters.

"We had to take harsh actions to restore order as the defiant workers would not stop the violence," a Gazipur police officer told Reuters of their methods of retaliation.
...
...
The protests began as a means to force garment factories to raise their minimum monthly wages from $40 a month to $100 a month.

The planned Gono Shradhya ’71 or mass obsequies for the Hindu victims of 1971 genocide has been called off after police intervention. The organisers were forced to cancel the event planned for October 4 in the compound of the demolished Ramna Kalibari after Mujibur Rehman Chisti, an Awami League leader filed a complaint before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. The complaint named six organisers Jayanta Sen, Sanjib Chowdhury, Govinda Chandra Pramanik, Arun Majumdar, Ripon Dey and Dayamay Biswas. The fear of police harassment kept many participants at bay. The Jaitya Hindu Mahajot (National Hindu Alliance) spokesperson Palash Kanti Dey in a Press Conference stated that their organisation was not involved in the Gono Shradhya ’71. But Sen maintained that large number of victims of 1971 genocide were Hindus. In Chuknagar, district Khulna, alone more than 10,000 Hindus were killed by Pakistan Army and the Razakars.

The programme was called off after verbal instructions from the Shahbagh police station in Dhaka. Ironically, it is the same Shahbagh that was scene of huge anti-war crime protests earlier this year. The police have refused to share details. The forced cancellation of the Gono Shradhya ’71 raises serious questions about the secular credentials of the ruling Awami League. It is no secret that even Awami League, the party to which founder of Bangladesh late Mujibur Rehman belonged, is infiltrated by Islamists. Many of their local leaders are accused of grabbing of Hindu land and religious endowments. With an uncertain political future in upcoming general election, the Awami League is also wilting to fundamentalist elements.

Complaint inspired by Islamic theology: The devil is in details. The complaint is theologically motivated. Chisti says the use of the word Shaheed (Martyr) to describe the Hindu victims of genocide as inappropriate. The organisers had, in their posters and leaflets, described the genocide of victims as martyrs who died for freedom of Bangladesh. The word Shaheed (Martyr), contends Chisti, can only be used for Muslims. Further, he has opposed inter-faith prayer meeting as being against the tenets of Islam.

This should come as a revelation to the non-Muslims especially Hindus. The Hindus had been describing as Shaheed (martyr) those killed in freedom movement. Even the organisers of Gono Shradhya ’71 wondered whether Bhagat Singh, Khudiram and Surya Sen were not Shaheed. Clearly, they are not as per Islamic lexicon. The non-Muslims should know that Shaheed – like Jihad- is a technical word in Islam. But prudently, Chisti has not explained the full meaning of Shaheed. In Islam, a person who dies in the process of killing a non-Muslim (Kafir) for Islam is Shaheed. He goes directly to heaven where he is regaled with many pleasures. If he does not die while killing a non-Muslim, he becomes a Ghazi. A non-Muslim, as per Islamic theology, rots in hellfire. There is martyrdom in Judaism and Christianity also, but in those creeds, a martyr chooses to die without harming anybody else. Thus in Judaism and Christianity, it is ‘I Shall die for my Belief’ while in Islam it is “You shall die for my belief. Killing and dying for religion is an idea foreign to Hinduism and its allied belief systems. It was only the medieval age that Hindus had to suffer persecution and death for their religious beliefs. The concept of dying heroically for one’s religious faith was made popular by the Sikh gurus.