Bangladesh News and Discussion

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 19 Dec 2013 23:43

Lalmohan wrote:i dont think IG had any other option - the nixon/kissinger combo had pretty much limited what she could and could not do after the victory in terms of global opinion and room for political manouevre. globally she was boxed in to a purely liberation war for e-pak/bdesh. nothing else would be allowed - the soviets also would not have stood by our side much longer, since bigger issues were at stake - and the US and USSR did not particularly want to go to war with each other for the sake of a 'few billion goddamn dirty brownies'

we need to understand these constraints better

Well then - go for scaled down autonomy for BD and pindi+Chittagong for India. At least not allow a second independent base for islamists.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 19 Dec 2013 23:45

are you talking about then or now?
my read is that then - nothing other than set up BD was possible
now... depends on how the cookie crumbles

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 19 Dec 2013 23:48

I know the no-dismemberment further reduction of Pakiland - supposed threats. I am rather doubtful about these excuses which are later made to show Indian helplessness - as was done in 47-48 over Kashmir, or when tearful "leaving to destiny" speeches were given in 62 for "easterners".

But if they tacitly accepted already a "reduction of Pakiland" by carving out BD, then it could have been bargained against autonomy and territorial adjustments in favour of India. Chittagong port itself would have effectively disconnected eastern Pakistan, with a concurrent clause on demilitarization of the eastern autonomous part on the formal excuse to prevent Paki military excesses on Bengalis.

Surely these ideas had crossed people's minds. If not, then grave future indications indeed as to what sort of mentality faces Pak, and how it will continue to react.

PS. Talking of then. And of course the result now.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 19 Dec 2013 23:51

and then whatever had crossed people's minds, india did not have the international clout to get away with enforcing them
that was decided between washington-moscow and beijing to a lesser extent

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 20 Dec 2013 00:00

Now - once independent nation has formally formed - no way possible. It provided breathing space for islamists on the subcontinent - the standard hedging policy by which Islamist ulema maintain their alliances under the skin across party and national boundaries. They have three independent bases now to manipulate, pretend, subvert and when opportune collaborate.

Already they show their islamist common cause by rioting on cross-border other-nation islam-khatrein-me-hain shenanigans. The rioters who come down streets to chase out Tasleema Nasreen, do not riot against the very islamic treatment of the tortured execution of Indian soldiers at Paki hands.

Because of the majority Muslim population of BD, its network of madrassahs and other islamist institutions, it would never have been India friendly. They used India in a classic islam taught policy of deceptive alliance with liberal/accepting non-Muslim powers to achieve their local tactical objectives, all the while sharpening their knife to go on poaching on Hindu lands,wealth and women, and territorial expansion at the cost of India [Mujib's speech and subsequent current academic theoreticians based in Jahangirnagar Uni claiming that entire NE of India is their natural expansion space - and destabilization of the NE is good for BD so that eventually that entire strecth can be absorbed into BD].

The formal fight against Paki overlordship is touted so much to try and show that Islamists do not always unify - is a false understanding. The real unity lies in the madrassha, awa, and Deobandi - wahabi - salafi networks that span all three countries. [The Saudis are the focal point of unity and in spite of Deobandi posturings, Arabic/Arab/Sunni/Saudi has always maintained a common thread among all three countries ulema].

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 20 Dec 2013 00:01

Lalmohan wrote:and then whatever had crossed people's minds, india did not have the international clout to get away with enforcing them
that was decided between washington-moscow and beijing to a lesser extent

There are always scope for initiatives within the supposed pressures from outside. As is very clearly shown in the entire episodes within Kashmir-48 and Eastern sector-62. These "external pressures" appear to be used more to shift blame and responsibility or to cover for internal errors, biases, perceptions of internal equations.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 20 Dec 2013 00:28

Things could have been done even in 65. China would still be sitting neutral - since they were still licking their wounds from the zhenbao-island fiasco. And the 1972 Nixon-Mao meet had not yet happened. Negotiations were going on from 1969, but the Soviets were aware of it. There are rumours of Soviets threat to keep Mao's hands off BD war. Mao probably in fact withdrew support from the Naxals under combined pressure from both Soviets and USA - each wanting the same for their own distinct reasons.

Evena much weaker positioned Sastri could negotiate on territory, because he probably had no qualms about destroying Pak piece by piece if necessary.

The Nehruvian policy has always been coloured by formal pride in appearing "liberal/left", complemented by internal fears about regions and their potential impact on hold of personal power. In '71 that other policy I suggested could still be pushed for, given that soviets and the USA were the onlee two external players.

Staking th initial bid high - independent country of BD - then scaling down, on bargaining for indian territorial gains, combined with autonomy and demilitarization - would have immense benefits for the future. As I repeat, chittagong in Indian hands alone would forever stall China, and prevent Paki military ever dominating its eastern part until it completely collapsed.

We would have one single regime and territory to deal with when Pak is no more.

krish.pf · Post by **krish.pf** » 28 Dec 2013 02:34

Official Bangladesh Airforce Ad

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 28 Dec 2013 10:24

So actor Farooq Sheikh passes away of a heart attack in Dubai on the day his movie on 1971 Bangladesh genocide and rape camps "The ******** Child is being released".

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/actor ... bai-464102

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 04 Jan 2014 18:26

Bangladesh goes to the polls tomorrow with the anti-India BNP and Islamic fundamentalists boycotting the elections and calling for a general strike.Dozens of poll booths have been set on fire and what is apalling is the support that the Islamist anti-Indian entities are getting from the US and West who are unhappy with Sheikh Hasina's independent foreign policy.The US and India are on opposite sides of the fence-some "strategic partnership",refusing to acknowledge India's genuine security interests,which could see BDesh turn into another rabid Pak .sending in thousands of terrorists into Bengal and the NEast,a diabolic plot by the Pakis,Chinese and BNP to sever the NEast from India.

Some analysts in a worst case scenario say that India may once again have to plan for military action in BD if the opposition come to power by hook or crook,which is what the US/West are trying to do by removing their election observers ,as well as Commonwealth observers so that they can call the elections fraudulent ,because the BNP knows that they would lose and are trying to bring down the country into chaos.It is past time for India to give the BD govt. max support,political,diplomatic and military.What is astonishing is that BDesh in no way impacts directly upon the security or the US or West,but is right in India's backyard.The US's historic shameful collaboration with the Pakis in '71,in the worst war crimes committed since WW2,has been exposed in recent times in the "Blood Telegram" book.

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 04 Jan 2014 23:41

krish.pf wrote:Official Bangladesh Airforce Ad

They make some nice slick ads. BD army ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BJsF7pbXEY

KrishnaK · Post by **KrishnaK** » 05 Jan 2014 02:58

brihaspati wrote:
Lalmohan wrote:i dont think IG had any other option - the nixon/kissinger combo had pretty much limited what she could and could not do after the victory in terms of global opinion and room for political manouevre. globally she was boxed in to a purely liberation war for e-pak/bdesh. nothing else would be allowed - the soviets also would not have stood by our side much longer, since bigger issues were at stake - and the US and USSR did not particularly want to go to war with each other for the sake of a 'few billion goddamn dirty brownies'

we need to understand these constraints better
Well then - go for scaled down autonomy for BD and pindi+Chittagong for India. At least not allow a second independent base for islamists.

Why not add an autonomous Balochistan ?

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 05 Jan 2014 06:48

Bangladesh votes today, India decides to back Sheikh Hasina

...
While Hasina has promised dialogue with other parties after she returns to power, the problem is that many Western countries, particularly the US, have voiced concerns over such elections lacking legitimacy.

In fact, sources said, some US interlocutors have even indicated to Indian officials that Hasina could have accepted opposition demands and resigned for the sake of upholding democracy.

The Bangladeshi prime minister, however, did not want to leave a vacuum that may allow a third force to seize power and wanted to fulfill this constitutional requirement. She has indicated that her party is agreeable to holding elections again if that is the outcome of the dialogue with other parties after the polls.
...
The fear in New Delhi is that many countries like the US may go to the extent of not recognising the Hasina government, leading to a host of negative repercussions. In 1996, Khaleda Zia was in the same situation as Hasina and at that point, no major power had raised serious concerns. However, the Zia government fell because of a massive popular unrest.

It is learnt that in several meetings between South Block and US interlocutors — at one stage the US ambassador to Bangladesh came here for talks — the main point of difference has been over the right wing Jamaat-e-Islami, a BNP ally.

US officials, sources said, have been more positive about the Jamaat, even conveying that it had begun to emerge as a legitimate Islamic party. But for India, the Jamaat is a security issue and its radical elements constitute a serious terror threat to Bangladesh and India.

In fact, for the past month or so, Indian interlocutors have been in touch with Bangladesh National Party leader Khaleda Zia urging her to participate in the elections and even assuring full Indian support as long as she moved away from the Jamaat.
...
...
But it is Washington from where New Delhi is expecting retaliation as this issue figured prominently during Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh's first visit there. It is learnt that there was significant divergence of views, one which reflected the concerns being voiced by the US post in Dhaka.
...

US is giving scant regard to Indian security concerns wrt Bangladesh. One wonders what the "strategic relationship" is all about if you don't care for each others security!

Vriksh · Post by **Vriksh** » 05 Jan 2014 10:09

What is the Inside story. A brief perusal of the usual Media outlets seems to suggest that only India (or perhaps more correctly the IFS: given the Khobragade incident) stands with the Awami League whereas the rest of the world is against it.

What do the Aam Public in Bangladesh want?

Are the recent electoral wins in Municipal elections by BNP significant in showing people had enough of the AL? As a datapoint In India Corporators in Municipal elections are elected by margins of 200 votes with a total of ~10000 votes being cast.

eklavya · Post by **eklavya** » 05 Jan 2014 11:59

The Economist's take on the situation (with a pro BNP slant). Fairly ridiculous paragraph at the end, suggesting that the AL has no long-term future because Sheikh Hasina has no biological "successor" i.e. her children are not involved in politics (not that The Economist makes the clarification).

The minus-one solution

Electoral farce in Bangladesh
The minus-one solution
Jan 3rd 2014, 11:44 by T.J. | DHAKA

ROAD 79 in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone is a good place for a glance at the state of Bangladesh’s democracy. Here two sides of a house are blocked off by five lorries loaded with sand, and scores of policemen; a third side is blocked by the high walls of the Russian embassy. Khaleda Zia, the leader of Bangladesh’s main opposition party, is living under house arrest. Her followers who have tried to visit have been arrested, detained or turned away.

Mrs Zia, a two-time prime minister, is likely to remain locked up until Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister (pictured above, in duplicate), has been sworn in for another term. Upcoming national elections are a mere technicality. They are to be held on January 5th but their outcome has been known for weeks. Mrs Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its 17 allies are boycotting. The government has detained in hospital Mohammad Hossain Ershad, a former dictator and the leader of Jatiyo, the third-largest party, for its participation in the boycott. The next-biggest party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has been banned from taking part on the ground that its overtly religious charter breaches Bangladesh’s secular constitution.

Of 300 elected parliamentary seats, 153 will be uncontested. Of 92m eligible voters, 48.3m will not vote. Those who do may choose between the ruling party’s candidates and candidates beholden to them. In gargantuan Dhaka, voting is to take place in only two of 20 constituencies.

Mrs Zia called a mass rally for December 29th, but the police banned it, cutting transport links into Dhaka and arresting more than 1,000 opposition activists. On the designated day, at the supposed rally site in front of the BNP’s party headquarters, journalists were left to film other journalists.

Elsewhere in the city, lawyers siding with the BNP staged a protest inside the main gate of the Supreme Court, where police tried to disperse them with water cannon and sound grenades. Stick-wielding AL goons stormed the gate to beat the lawyers and chase them away, as the police stood by and watched. The men with sticks took to the streets vowing to take on their counterparts from the BNP, but there were none to be found. In all, two people were killed in Dhaka during the day’s clashes. But there has been no fresh wave of bloodletting since December 26th, when 50,000 troops were deployed to provide extra security.

A few months back the BNP had the moral high ground. Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL) had overreached in claiming for itself the privilege of overseeing the polls. In 2011 the AL had junked a constitutional mechanism that was intended to rescue the country’s frail democracy from its viciously confrontational two-party politics: an unelected caretaker administration to oversee elections. The caretaker-arrangement had been in place since 1996, after the BNP won 300 of 300 seats, in an election that the AL boycotted. Circumventing the caretaker system for the 2014 vote looks plainly self-serving on the part of the AL. A recent opinion poll shows nearly four out of five Bangladeshis think it a bad idea.

But now the BNP is in disarray and has no better option than to wait out Sheikh Hasina and the AL, hoping that they bring about their own downfall. In the past few months the BNP stepped up its series of crippling strikes, making one-day work weeks the norm. Its thugs, along with hooligans from the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s biggest Islamic party, started killing civilians. This helped the nominally secular AL government make the argument that only it can save Bangladesh. A new manifesto, read out by the prime minister to an assembly of party loyalists and diplomats from Russia, Sri Lanka and Singapore on December 28th, charges that the BNP turned the country into a “valley of death” when it ruled in coalition with the Jamaat between 2001 and 2006. It suggests that since then the BNP has “taken up the role of the Jamaat”—the party that opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, and whose current leadership looks to be headed for the gallows by the time a trial for war crimes is concluded. Reverberations from that trial are mainly to blame for the 500 Bangladeshis who were killed in political violence in 2013, the worst annual toll since independence.

It does not help the BNP’s case that their most recent stint in power made the country look like a kleptocracy. But the AL’s cronies have not been sitting idle either. Financial statements published by the election commission show that the income of one of Sheikh Hasina’s relations rose 330 times since 2008 (and another made off with a nice two-digit multiple of growth in his reported wealth). After failing to keep the commission from publishing the statements, the prime minister redefined what she considers her “family”. It now excludes greedy relations running for parliament.

Few expect Sheikh Hasina’s stint as an absolute ruler to last more than a year. One of her own advisers says it will be a short-term arrangement. He also insists that the constitution gives the government no choice but to go ahead and hold the poll. Though this is not the only reading of the constitution, it is the one that most suits the AL.

The debate in Dhaka has already turned towards what will bring down the next AL government, the one that has yet to be sworn in. It could be economic stagnation, or a disgruntled army. The former would take time. The latter, insists a mandarin in charge of managing the government’s relations with the army, is unlikely. He speculates that the army will not attempt another “minus-two solution” (consigning the countries' top two civilian politicians to exile), as it did in 2007. And he might be right. A week ago, the UN forked over additional lucrative peacekeeping duties to the army, which has also won contracts for Russian arms and construction projects, and the navy has been promised two Chinese submarines.

When it all unravels, admits a senior leader with the AL, another election will be held and then the BNP will win. The immediate consequence of the slide towards autocracy will be a tainted legacy for Sheikh Hasina, he says, and a wasted opportunity to organise her own succession. Unlike Mrs Zia, who has an heir in her son Tarique Rahman, at the age of 66 Sheikh Hasina does not does not have a successor. Mrs Zia can afford to wait for a year or so now, if it wins her five in the future. While she rails against her confinement and threatens to wipe Sheikh Hasina’s home district off the map once she returns to power, Mrs Zia is well aware that the very lorries that prevent her leaving her house today are likely someday to help preserve her dynasty.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 06 Jan 2014 14:06

This is a typical Paki/US dirty trick,to use violence in a country where one side,sure to lose,disrupts an election,cries foul,with the help of western parasitical states like the US,etc.,and pontificate to the "turd world" about "democracy"! The US is actively supporting the Islamist terrorists causing mayhem in BDesh and who threaten to "sever" India's NEast by a link up with China in the north.,

Now that the elections are over Hasina and India should collaborate asap to protect her govt. with Indian intel help,and her core partymen and establish a clear line of succession in case attempts are made on her life as was done with Bangla Bandu Sheikh Mujib. It is nauseating to see the US and Pak combine diabolically on India's eastern front while they work against India on her western front s well! The new govt. in Delhi that is sure to arrive should demand the deportation of Headly,warren Anderson and the RAW traitors who are being protected by Uncle Sam.We also need to support BD economically.It has large gas reserves and should reconsider exporting some of it to India and exploring for more offshore.

BanglaDesh is India's immediate neighbour.The US has no damned right to interfere in our backyard and be shown the upturned finger.How would it like it if we gave Castro and Cuba nuclear reactors,WMDs and a whole range of arms to go with it?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/j ... ami-league
Bangladesh election violence throws country deeper into turmoil
Ruling Awami League's victory never in doubt but poll marred by violence, low turnout and opposition boyc
theguardian.com, Monday 6 January 2014 08.45 GMT

Bangladesh election
Voters outside a polling centre in Bangladesh: three people died on Monday and 18 on Sunday in election-related violence. Photograph: Indrajit Ghosh/Demotix/Corbis

Bangladesh's ruling party has won one of the most violent elections in the country's history, marred by street fighting, low turnout and a boycott by the opposition that made the results a foregone conclusion.

Although a win by the ruling Awami League was never in doubt, the chaos surrounding Sunday's election plunges Bangladesh deeper into turmoil and economic stagnation, and could lead to further violence in the impoverished country of 160 million.

On Monday, three people died in Dohar, outside the capital, in clashes following the election, according to police. At least 18 people were killed on Sunday as police fired at protesters and opposition activists set fire to more than 100 polling stations.

"We are passing our days in fear and anxiety," said Abdur Rahman, an accountant and resident of the capital, Dhaka, where soldiers were patrolling the streets on Monday. "These two major parties don't care about anything. Only Allah knows what is in store now for us."

The Awami League won 232 of the 300 elected seats, the election commission said on Monday, far more than the 151 required to form a government. Because of the opposition boycott, about half the seats were uncontested, allowing the Awami League to rack up many victories.

The political feuding in this South Asian nation can be traced back decades, as the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and Khaleda Zia, the opposition leader, vie for power. The country has been ruled by one of these women, both from powerful political families, for nearly 22 years.

The squabbling between the two known as the "Battling Begums" is at the heart of much of the political drama. "Begum" is an honorific for Muslim women of rank.

The opposition has demanded that Hasina's government resign so a neutral administration can oversee the polls. They say Hasina might rig the election if she stays in office, a claim she denies.

A group of opposition parties, including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party, boycotted the election after Hasina refused to heed their demands. Political violence has convulsed the country in recent months as opposition activists staged attacks, strikes and transportation blockades to press their demands. Nearly 300 people have been killed in political violence since last February.

The European Union, the US and the British Commonwealth refused to send observers for Sunday's election because they weren't inclusive.

The vote raises pressure on the Bangladesh government to hold talks with the opposition. The turmoil also could lead to radicalisation in a strategic pocket of South Asia, analysts say.

Turnout was only 22%, according to election officials who asked that their names not be used because the election is so politically sensitive. In the last election, in 2008, turnout was 87%

Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper described the polls as the deadliest in the country's history, and said in an editorial that the Awami League won "a predictable and hollow victory, which gives it neither a mandate nor an ethical standing to govern effectively".

But the editorial also was critical of the opposition's role in fueling violence.

"Political parties have the right to boycott elections. They also have the right to motivate people to side with their position. But what is unacceptable is using violence and intimidation to thwart an election," the newspaper said.

Bangladesh's parliament has 350 seats, with 300 directly elected and another 50 reserved for women who get elected by other chamber members.

As the political situation unravels, Bangladesh is also trying to emerge from suffocating poverty and reinvigorate its $20bn (£12bn) garment industry. The industry has been rocked by a series of disasters, including a factory collapse in April that killed more than 1,100 workers. The deaths laid bare the harsh working conditions in an industry that employs 4 million Bangladeshis and provides clothing to major western retailers.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 06 Jan 2014 18:27

Sorry. I haven't been following Bangladesh closely, but given that it is a primary front in the struggle against radical Islam (and given how the West seems to be playing its usual game of concessions to radical Islam in South Asia to compensate for suppression of it elsewhere), do we have a body of work like we have in the first page of the TSP thread, with accumulated BRF gyaan about that country?

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 06 Jan 2014 19:35

http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2014/01/06/ ... -election/

The other part that came through was the rise of India and the US as factors in local politics. Since they disagreed, and India seems to have done better on this, we may have now become a part of India’s own security strategy. India’s anxiety over support to the North-Eastern rebels and the Islamists by the BNP has made the AL, the party of choice for India but such calculations are in India’s interest not ours. India’s main enemy is Pakistan and they have routinely played a proxy war in South Asia in several countries but now that war may well become more intense and we are part of their war and on one side. That will make security issues more visible though one is not sure they can cope and how well. - See more at: http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2014/01/06/ ... b5qkv.dpuf

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 06 Jan 2014 22:48

A_Gupta wrote:http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2014/01/06/ ... -election/

The other part that came through was the rise of India and the US as factors in local politics. Since they disagreed, and India seems to have done better on this, we may have now become a part of India’s own security strategy. India’s anxiety over support to the North-Eastern rebels and the Islamists by the BNP has made the AL, the party of choice for India but such calculations are in India’s interest not ours. India’s main enemy is Pakistan and they have routinely played a proxy war in South Asia in several countries but now that war may well become more intense and we are part of their war and on one side. That will make security issues more visible though one is not sure they can cope and how well. - See more at: http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2014/01/06/ ... b5qkv.dpuf

THis is more like false logic
If they build their policy which shows no terrorist support from their soil and no backing for any groups which go to other countries and then expect the same from other countries then they may get support. Now they want everything including infiltrating into India and support from their soil hardline groups

member_22872 · Post by **member_22872** » 07 Jan 2014 01:22

Apologies if posted before:
Hasina set to return as Bangladesh PM

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League is set to form the next government after securing over three-fourth majority in the controversial polls marred by deadly clashes, a low turnout and a boycott by opposition parties.

According the unofficial results, the Awami League candidates won in 107 seats and its ally Jatiya Party so far bagged 16 as counting for votes in 147 out of 300 constituencies in 59 districts were still underway.

Having won 127 seats uncontested, the party has now more than 230 seats in the house, which gives it a clear three-fourth majority in the 10th parliament -- much like it was in the 9th parliament.

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 07 Jan 2014 02:42

Will we ever stand for Bangladesh Hindus? The answer probably is in negative because we never paid back the Pakis for committing genocide against them in 1971 and the leftover pro Paki elements who continue to perpetrate ethnic cleansing against them.

We should work with Sheikh Hasina to clean up Bangladesh of Pro Paki islamists elements.

Hindus under threat

It has been a long period of 43 years. Yet Hindus in Bangladesh remain vulnerable to attacks by anti-liberation forces.
Hundreds of Hindu families who fled their homes following post-poll violence in different districts on Sunday are scared to return as the administration could not ensure their security.
As soon as the voting ended on Sunday afternoon, BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men looted, vandalised and burned Hindu houses in Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Bogra, Lalmonirhat, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Jessore.
The raids remind many of the atrocities by the Pakistani occupation forces and their collaborators in 1971.
“We left our house in 1971 as the Pakistan army and razakars set fire to our village. And we are passing through the same ordeal in 2014,” lamented Bishwajit Sarkar of Malopara village in Abhaynagar, Jessore.

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 07 Jan 2014 10:12

The US's stance vis-a-vis BNP and Jamaat in BD is just a sign of things to come. a solid portent of the future games that will be played on the Western front. today it's BD. tomorrow, it will be Pak. all those organizations current listed as "Terrorist" might quickly become "freedom fighters".

India should prepare itself for what's coming. West-Islamic nexus is gunning for India and Hindus now.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 07 Jan 2014 10:52

They were the ones who created the parent of Al Quada. They created Pakistan. Why would they not support Islamic fundamentalists.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 07 Jan 2014 11:01

Jan 6 US DoS Daily Press Briefing.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/ ... BANGLADESH

Excerpt:

QUESTION: Marie, you said that there were no U.S. observers there?

MS. HARF: There were not.

QUESTION: Not even the Embassy? I mean, what are you basing your statement on if you didn’t have anyone on the ground?

MS. HARF: Let me see. I don’t believe there were any observers. Let me double-check on that.

QUESTION: Well, how do you know, then, that it was a bad election?

MS. HARF: Well, I think when we say observers, that’s people like at polling stations. What I base the statement on was that more than half of the seats were uncontested, and most of the remainder offered only token opposition. Obviously, you don’t need to have an observer at a polling place to see that.

QUESTION: Okay, so – right, but you’re referring to the – not necessarily the conduct of election day itself, but the overall --

MS. HARF: But there was also quite a bit of violence too, which obviously you don’t need observers at a polling station to see.

QUESTION: Well, yeah, I know, but usually you would play that off as “Oh, those are just press reports. We don’t have any independent confirmation here to -- ” Do you – can you check to see whether there were people from the Embassy who were out and about who actually saw some of this stuff, or are you just basing --

MS. HARF: I’m sure that is true. When I say “observers,” I mean not official folks at polling stations as election observers, but I’m happy to get some more details.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: There is some kind of coordination with the Indians on the Bangladesh issue?

And second --

MS. HARF: That we have with the Indians?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS. HARF: I’m happy to check. I’m not aware, but I’m happy to check.

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 07 Jan 2014 12:54

When it comes to Bangladesh, US has no moral right to do so since it sided with the perpetrators of genocide in Bangladesh. The audacity is truly astounding.

US calls for fresh elections in Bangladesh

Washington: The US has called for fresh polls in Bangladesh that reflect the will of the people, even as it expressed strong concern over the just concluded general election which it alleged was neither credible nor fair.

"We have been very clear about our strong concerns about the selection and what we think the way forward should be. We believe Bangladesh still has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to democracy by organising free and fair elections that are credible in the eyes of the Bangladeshi people,"
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 07 Jan 2014 19:42

Strange how there are no comments by international leftists, human rights orgs about violence against Hindus post poll by Jamaat and BNP. No one can feign ignorance any more now but still are giving cover of silence to rioters and pillagers.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 07 Jan 2014 20:16

vishvak wrote:Strange how there are no comments by international leftists, human rights orgs about violence against Hindus post poll by Jamaat and BNP. No one can feign ignorance any more now but still are giving cover of silence to rioters and pillagers.

There never will be. Why do we find it so strange? Once we recognize and accept that these folks are often bedfellows being puzzled/ surprised will be a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, we never learn and are persistently puzzled.
The west has to destabilize Hasina and get their brotherhood in or some despot they can control. A free and sovereign Bangladesh is not in their interests. Both the Islamists and the despots are means of controlling Islamic nations. That is the dual strategy. A sovereign, right thinking Bangladesh will god forbid not give them access to resources or crucial control. If you look at all the Muslim nations with kooky Islamists (Arab)/ despots, the west ends up having vast control over resources and access. Look at the entire middle eastern stretch. Look at Pakistan where despite the drones and Talibanis the west has such control over the trade and drug routes. Bangladesh is crucial to them as part of the eastern fringe and god forbid the people of Bangladesh truly decide to control their own destiny and not be under the influence of some irrational crazy Wahabbis who dumb them down. I am surprised that the East Asian countries are quiet.
The so called leftist orgs now have a Pavlovian response to atrocities of Islamists which is ignore because their bread and butter is funded by the western orgs that have an interest in the region.

The way the west has created the wahabbis and promoted them is truly staggering and brilliant. FOr the last 30+ years, it is a gift that keeps paying and enables them control over vast swathes of the population and resources.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 08 Jan 2014 10:05

http://ibnlive.in.com/shows/The-Last-Word.html

Very good discussion show, hosted by Karan Thapar, about the Bangladesh elections. Very uplifting, in a way, because it asserts a strong independent Indian perspective on Bangladesh, and the need and wisdom of supporting Hasina. One participant states that not much should be read in the withdrawal of foreign election observers. Even the left oriented Jyoti Malhotra is pretty supportive of Sheikh Hasina. I say 'even' not because she should be expected to support the BNP, but because you would think she would at best be neutral, or maintain that whatever the people of Bangladesh choose, that is their business, not India's at all. She hasn't said this, bravo!

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 08 Jan 2014 19:40

The Jamaat-led forces violent impact on the polls

..
1971.While sections of the BNP were inclined to participate in the democratic process,the Jamaat held sway over the decisionmakers in the party.Not only did it boycott the polls but it also unleashed violence on people who were keen to cast their ballot.While it is the democratic right of an individual to boycott polls,it is also the right of an individual to cast her ballot.It is undemocratic and fascist to deny that right.The Jamaat supporters did exactly that.The organisation,which has a history of violence,created a reign of fear for over a month ahead of elections.The violence intensified after its leader Qader Mollah was sent to the gallows on charges of war crimes last month.The Jamaate-Islami has never really believed in democracy and has allegedly maintained links with the Taliban and other extremist groups
..

Question is why are so called leftists and humanists in international arena including media not calling for banning violent Jamaat and instead questioning democratic process.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 08 Jan 2014 20:15

^
Yes, why aren't the Left and humanist groups denouncing the Jamaat and their links to the Pakistani military. And where is their commentary on the war crimes trial, and the Jamaat's violent response to the trial? Cat has really got their tongue!

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 08 Jan 2014 20:18

How to interpret this wikileaks cable from 2010?

http://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1 ... 145_a.html

Excerpts:

8. (C) Jamaat's closed-door majlish and our meetings with Jamaat and Shabbir indicate that the organizations remain hierarchical with top-down decision making, despite their claims that they are internally democratic. Jamaat's leaders clearly hope that slow and steady wins the race. Mission Dhaka will continue to engage with Jamaat and Shabbir and track their efforts to transform Bangladesh into a more Islamic state. Dean

What is of concern is the precise meaning of "engage" and "track".

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 09 Jan 2014 09:30

what I don't understand is why the Foreign Minister, top IFS Babus, and other cabinet ministers don't speak out on US perfidy.

US grandstanding on Bangladesh is meaningless because they opposed tooth and nail the very liberation of that country from Pakistan.

one of the top guys in the cabinet or babudom can make a prepared statement on this on his/her official capacity with the full support of the Indian Govt.

this would send a strong signal that India has its own interests to look after.

I just don't get why Indian babudom and top ministers don't undertake such PR and opinion shaping exercises.

it's not just the foreign press, within India itself, people have no clue about these things happening. it will help the people and general population understand the dynamics in the region, and also give them a chance to know more about how and what their Govt is doing to safeguard their interests.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 09 Jan 2014 18:34

^
Absolutely right on, Devesh. Why can't they just make a fairly simple, concise statement, that the people of Bangladesh liberated themselves from the clutches of the Pakistani military and the Islamists, if even temporarily. And that it was India that assisted the people in their efforts to become more democratic and secular, not Nixon and Kissinger or US strategic think thanks. Make it clear that the last thing the people of Bangladesh as well as India and the greater region need, is an Islamist, military oriented country.

Are firm, concise statements beyond the ken of the Indian bureaucratic, political and diplomatic cadre?

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 09 Jan 2014 20:14

Not to forget how, again, 'international'(/'global'?) moral keepers, media, leftists, human rights orgs and heartbleeders are performing miracle of radio silence.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 09 Jan 2014 20:44

It is not that our eminent scribes have not had their finger on the pulse of events in BD.As far back as 2006.His latest book on Afghanistan ,"For whom the dice rolls",is allegedly being deliberately suppressed by the US as it exposes the duplicitous US policies in Afghanistan and the region.

Unfortunately,India's foreign policy under Snake-oil Singh was abdicated to Washington.Our entire Pakistan policy,regional diplomacy and independent strategic interests were mortgaged to the Yanquis.We are now seeing the gamut of diplomatic fellatio that was provided by Dr.Singh's disgraceful regime in the Devyani outrage and issue that is raging today.Only a new strong vot. at the centre will be able to withstand the tsunami of terrorism that will engulf the nation from both north,east and west in the no to far off future.

Book review: Hiranmay Karlekar's 'Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan?
By Kanchan Gupta
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book ... 92515.html

My father would often tell me hair-raising stories of how, while fleeing from East Pakistan in 1947, he had to hide in paddy fields along with his widowed mother and younger siblings, the youngest a mere toddler, to escape blood-thirsty mobs screaming, "Allah-o-Akbar".

Those must have been terrible moments for a 13-year-old. Many years later in 1971, while listening to radio broadcasts of the Mukti Bahini's heroic tales of resistance to Yahya Khan's rapacious army which had been deployed to crush the Bangladesh liberation struggle, I would wonder if my father had not been exaggerating.

Here was a country wanting to break free of Pakistan because its masses refused to accept Islam as a common denominator. Bangla culture and its liberal view defined the nascent nation. Mohammad Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory had been defeated, and liberalism had won over military dictatorship and khaki Islam.

Cut to 2005. The famed green of Bangladesh no longer stands for its fecund soil. It is the shade of political Islam which is supplanting, forcibly, Bangla liberalism with harsh Wahabi conservatism of Arabia. The lilting tunes of Rabindra-sangeet have been replaced by chants of "Aamra shobai Taliban, Bangla hobey Afghanistan (We are all Taliban, Bangladesh shall become Afghanistan)".

A nation which till recently identified itself with India now unabashedly provides asylum to terrorists wanted in India. Terror camps in Bangladesh churn out jehadis to wage war against India.

The terror unleashed on hapless Hindus after Begum Khaleda Zia's BNP Jamaat Government came to power in 2001 now targets anybody who questions the Islamists. What went wrong? How did Bangladesh descend into a vortex of fundamentalism? Is it emerging as a net exporter of jehadi terror? Worse, is it the new epicentre of Islamist terrorism?

IN THE NAME OF GOD: Islamic protest
In Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan?, veteran journalist Hiranmay Karlekar provides wholesome answers to these and many more questions. Meticulously researched and almost entirely based on Bangladeshi sources, the book lifts the veil on the ugly face of a rapidly talibanising Bangladesh.

The author traces the birth and growth of the antediluvian forces represented by the tribe of Banglabhai of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh fame and exposes how Khaleda Zia's Government encouraged religious bigotry, mainly to annihilate the country's secular Opposition.

Karlekar evocatively recreates the coup of August 15, 1975, in which Mujibur Rahman and his family (barring Sheikh Hasina and her sister) were murdered, and the night of the long knives of November 3 that year when the top leadership of the Awami League were massacred. Zia-ur-Rahman, who pole-vaulted to the post of army chief after this and came to power, later died a dog's death.

His widow now rules Bangladesh and presides over its inexorable slide into disaster. In a replay of August 1975, Awami League leaders were brutally attacked in August 2004. Sheikh Hasina barely survived that attack, not so 22 of her senior colleagues. In today's Bangladesh, only the foolhardy will dare celebrate Poila Boishakh, the Bengali New Year's day.

The distance between Bangladesh and Pakistan is only geographical; the razakars rule again through the Jamaat-e-Islami. Strangely, the government of India has failed to read the writing on the wall.

A failed state is not desirable in the neighbourhood, especially when it is also a jehadi state. India is already burdened by unchecked illegal immigration from Bangladesh; which is adding to Islamic fundamentalism this side of the border.

This book should ring a warning bell for policymakers in South Block. If you do not agree, read Karlekar's chilling tale of the death of Mujibur's dream-and that of many others who naively believed in it.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 09 Jan 2014 21:03

^
Good link and book, Philip. Here is today's commentary from the "Toronto Star" by Haroon Siddiqui. It is one of those 'could be worse' articles. Siddiqui says absolutely nothing about Hindus in Bangladesh, or the differing ideology of the Awami League and the BNP/Jamaat.

Also craftily neglects to mention, that unlike Begum Khaleda, Hasina has narrowly escaped attempts on her life twice. And that unlike the BNP, Awami League leadership have been massacred on at least two occasions. So we just get a mindless equal-equal comparison, about dynastic politics in South Asia. And a personality clash. No philosophical/ideological comparison.

Needless to say, omits mention of Indian concerns, particularly on its border states.

Authoritarianism and anarchy endanger Bangladesh: Siddiqui
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia both need to go to rid Bangladesh of dynastic politics.

By: Haroon Siddiqui Columnist, Published on Wed Jan 08 2014

A national election was held. But the opposition parties, leading in the polls, boycotted, fearing a rigged vote. The public shared the doubts — the turnout was abysmal, perhaps 22 per cent instead of the usual 85 per cent. Unopposed, the ruling party won but not before 18 people were shot dead by troops.

More may die amid mounting daily protests demanding a new election, a call supported by the United States, the European Union and the British Commonwealth. But Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won’t listen.

She had refused a neutral caretaker government to conduct a fair election, a routine practice in the past — initiated, in fact, by Hasina herself when she was in opposition. But this time fearing that a temporary handover would become permanent, she changed the law.

She also prevented the leader of the opposition from campaigning. She placed the leader of the third party under detention.

Mid-campaign she had a prominent opposition leader hanged. He had been convicted by a flawed tribunal for war crimes during the bloody birth of the nation’s secession from Pakistan in 1971. She ignored pleas of clemency by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The tribunal’s original verdict had been life imprisonment. But Hasina changed the rules to allow an appeal. A court duly ordered the man hanged.

War criminals should be brought to justice but the process has to be impeccably fair and free of political interference. The 10 leading accused before this tribunal have been Hasina’s political opponents.

The hanged leader belonged to the Islamic Party, which was banned and barred from the election. Hasina rationalized her hounding of Islamists in the name of secularism, as is the vogue these days from North America through Egypt to Asia.

But her wrath knows no bounds of ideology. Earlier it singed a certified secularist, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus. He’s the pioneer banker who popularized microcredit that uplifted tens of thousands of poor, especially women. But he made the mistake of flirting with the idea of running for office. She had him removed from the board of the bank he founded.

Hasina is pondering more hangings.

As many as 152 people have been handed death sentences — members of a border militia that rebelled in Feb. 2009 against the army, killing 74 officers and their family members. The accused said a protest against poor working conditions got out of hand. The army called it a mutiny. The government agreed. Forty-seven defendants died in custody, assumed murdered. The top UN human rights envoy, Navi Pillay, said the entire trial process was a farce. However, Hasina was not going to alienate the army, which in the past has toppled several elected governments.

The opposition, led by Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, will continue street politics. There were 36 nation-wide strikes last year, costing the economy $7 billion. About 300 people were killed in political protests.

There will be more shutdowns in the months ahead, as the opposition pays Hasina back in her own coin — she having shut the country down for 107 days when she was in opposition (2001-06).

She is the daughter of a prime minister, Mujibur Rahman, assassinated in 1975 in a coup. Zia is the wife of a general who led that coup and was himself killed in a counter-coup in 1981. Both women worked together to bring back civilian rule in 1990 but have been battling ever since, each having been prime minister twice.

Both need to go so that the nation of 160 million can get past dynastic politics (the curse of the region — the Nehrus/Gandhis of India, the Bandaranaikes and the Rajapaksas of Sri Lanka, the Bhuttos of Pakistan).

Bangladesh has had a tragic history. Whereas the entire subcontinent paid a huge price for the murderous end of British colonialism in 1947 — India carved into largely Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, leading to sectarian bloodbath in which one million people died — Bangladesh suffered more.

It began as the eastern half of Pakistan, separated by 1,200 kilometres of India. The arrangement, forged in the name of religion, fell apart over the more mundane matter of power. West Pakistan refused to accept the results of an election won by a Bengali from the East. Not only did the army intervene but Z.A. Bhutto (father of the late Benazir Bhutto) worked in cahoots with the army to become prime minister of a truncated Pakistan, rather than accept the electoral verdict. (The Bhuttos would later recast themselves as democrats.)

The Bengali rebels won with the help of the Indian army, sent by then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The United States supported the Pakistan army, a Cold War client that was secretly helping Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger reach out to China (to help America extricate itself from Vietnam). Nixon referred to Gandhi as “the bitch,” and Kissinger called Indians “********” and “a slippery, treacherous people,” as the White House would later reveal. But Nixon thought no better of the Pakistanis — “just a bunch of brown goddamn Moslems” (language not that far off from today’s Islamophobic lingo).

Despite its tortured history and contemporary partisanship, Bangladesh became a model of civil society with thousands of small businesses, including its $22 billion a year garment industry. The latter has been in the news since the collapse of a factory last year, killing 1,100. My colleagues Raveena Aulakh, Rick Westhead and others have exposed the sector’s Dickensian sweatshops, child labour and corruption. Canadian importers have been shamed into pledging fair trade practices and worker safety. They have a more urgent task: press Ottawa to join other allies in mediating a political compromise and the return to the rule of law. Otherwise, there’ll be fewer factories and fewer jobs for the poorest Bangladeshis, fewer profits for Canadian retailers and fewer cheap garments for Canadians.

Haroon Siddiqui’s column appears on Thursday and Sunday. [email protected]

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 09 Jan 2014 21:09

The immediate need is to takeover the lost lands of India called Pakistan and Bangladesh. The believers of Saudi do have a right to live in the holy lands. India must ensure that this right is allowed, so that people who wish to live in Mecca and Medina is allowed to live there.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 09 Jan 2014 21:18

Varoon Shekhar wrote:^
Absolutely right on, Devesh. Why can't they just make a fairly simple, concise statement, that the people of Bangladesh liberated themselves from the clutches of the Pakistani military and the Islamists, if even temporarily. And that it was India that assisted the people in their efforts to become more democratic and secular, not Nixon and Kissinger or US strategic think thanks. Make it clear that the last thing the people of Bangladesh as well as India and the greater region need, is an Islamist, military oriented country.

Are firm, concise statements beyond the ken of the Indian bureaucratic, political and diplomatic cadre?

They already know this. Some of the saner elements amongst Muslims acknowledge this. There is also a minority who are genuinely into Bengali culture. However, at the grassroot level 1971 was a pause in the ML mindset. I think Sheikh Hasina is genuinely grateful and not anti-Hindu. However, her ability to control things at the grassroots is limited (remember the AL is supposed to be the largest grabbers of Hindu land) inspite of the changes she made constitutionally and by targeting the Jamaat. Right now we are backing her to hold onto power but I am not sure if it will be successful. If it is unsuccessful we need to take an unsentimental call on Bd. There are still about 12-15 million Hindus in Bd. We could back a separatist movement failing which we should go for a forcible exchange of population.

rajanb · Post by **rajanb** » 09 Jan 2014 21:27

rec'd via email: Daily Briefing from Foreign Policy Magazine

Bangladesh: Zia loses security personnel, opposition leaders go into hiding

Chief of the Bangladesh National Party and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia is set to lose her security detail as fallout of boycotting recent elections. Zia, who has been Bangladesh's Prime Minister twice, received privileges as Leader of the Opposition for the past five years, including 22 Ansars personnel, 8 police personnel, and 2 policemen from the special branch; she will lose this protection force as she will not be a member of parliament for the first time in 23 years (The Hindu). Zia has also continued to speak out against the results of Bangladesh's recent election and has complained of being put "under virtual house arrest" with around-the-clock police vigilance and blockades by trucks (The Telegraph). In a recent interview to the Financial Times, Zia said, "democracy is not in Bangladesh right now. It's dead now. We want free, fair, credible and participatory elections ...as early as possible" (Financial Times).

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered Zia a figurative olive branch on Monday and said she was open to discussions on how to end violence and unrest in the country but asked Zia to 'shut up' shortly thereafter (Zee News, Mint).

The police have been increasingly conducting raids on members of Bangladesh's opposition parties and have reportedly sent several into hiding. On Tuesday, detectives arrested four opposition leaders, including an adviser to the opposition chief and former Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia. Several senior leaders had been arrested in the months preceding elections including a former minister of law. Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the arrests were arbitrary and were employed in "weakening critics, limiting dissent and consolidating ruling party power" (ABC News).

Whatever the methods, which I do not condone, I can't but help commenting that
a) They are in keeping with Amerikhan's love for such rulers;

and

b) She seems to realise that the country needs a cleansing of those left behind and responsible for the rape, torture and deaths of millions before the '71.
If it suits us, that's the way to go!

Anindya · Post by **Anindya** » 10 Jan 2014 01:06

Bangladesh editor jailed for 7 years over Israel visit

DHAKA: A Bangladesh court Thursday jailed a newspaper editor for seven years for trying to travel to Israel more than a decade ago to speak about a rise in Islamic militancy.

Salahuddin Shoaib Choudhury, 48, who edits the Weekly Blitz newspaper, was found guilty of harming the country's interests through his articles as well as trying to make a banned trip to Israel, said prosecutor Shah Alam Talukder.