BANGLADESH: When fundamentalism threatens democracy

Sounds familiar? Just like Pakistan, its former overlord, this nation of 140 million people—the third most populous in the Muslim world—though it once fought against radical Pakistan and achieved independence from it in 1971, is slowly moving away from its tradition of moderate Islam. Both the major political parties (BNP and Awami League) are harbouring or taking them as their allies, in turn, directly or indirectly, in order to counter each other in the short run. But it is well known to them that in the long run none of them will be spared by these deadly elements. A good few of the ruling BNP care for or are inclined to Islamic fundamentalist parties/groups. They allegedly patronize and favour the pro-Islamic institutions, organizations, newspapers and their people. As a result, the talented are being denied being in authority/important positions in most cases.........More

BANGLADESH: Dilemma for Donors

Clearly, now an uneasy relationship exists between the donor community and Bangladesh. By defending the Islamists openly, now the ruling coalition has shown its true colour. The right wing Islamist orientation of this coalition was known, since it came to power in October 2001. But no one expected such a brazen defence of Islamist forces by the top leadership of the country. Now it is amply clear, why Islamists have been operating with such ease in Bangladesh and why despite orders from the Prime Minister, Bangla Bhai, the operations commander of JMJB was not arrested. Probably, the order was never seriously meant to be implemented. Bangladesh seems to be exploiting the helplessness of the donor community, who think that if they withdraw from the country, situation would worsen. It may become another breeding ground of terrorism like Afghanistan. But, by continuing their assistance also donors have not been able to check the increasing hold of Islamists on the Bangladesh society. In fact, Islamists have now started attacking NGOs whom they think to be agents of Western powers......More

BANGLADESH: The trap of one-sided security focus

"Security" and "threat" are cognate words and one may be forgiven for using them in a fungible manner. Any discourse on security must of necessity take into consideration the entire threat scenario and the consequent strategic footprint that would need to be studied by the strategic planners. Any discussion on Bangladesh's security scenario has to be done in the context of the regional developments, and that must also be done within several parameters like the reconcep-tualisation of the term "security," nature of future conflicts, and the special features of the South Asian system..................More

ISLAM: Arab and Muslim professors at US universities remain target

According to Dr. Bazizn, the firestone that engulfed the university was a determined effort by the Evangelical Christian Right which wanted to build and maintain a negative construct of Islam in America and prevent an educated alternative from emerging. And this battle ended with court going and thus giving Prof. Shells victory, able to teach “Approaching the Quran, the Early Revelation” to the incoming freshmen. The focus in this case was on Islam and how to represent it inside the classroom, an area not suited to the Evangelical Christian Right and their supporters considering the dynamics......More

CHINA: Full Text of Human Rights Record of the US in 2004

The United States characterizes itself as "a paradise for free people," but the ratio of its citizens deprived of freedom has remained among the highest in the world. Statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last November showed that the nation made an estimated 13.6 million arrests in 2003. The national arrest rate was 4,695.1 arrests per 100,000 people, 0.2 percent up than that of the previous year (USA Today, Nov. 8, 2004). According to statistics from the Department of Justice, the number of inmates in the United States jumped from 320,000 in 1980to 2 million in 2000, a hike by six times. From 1995 to 2003, the number of inmates grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the country, where one out of every 142 people is behind bars. The number of convicted offenders may total more than 6 million if parolees and probationers are also counted. The Chicago Tribune reported on Nov. 8 last year that the federal and state prison population amounted to 1.47 million last year, 2.1 percent more than in 2003. The number of criminals rose by over 5 percent in 11states, with the growth in North Dakota up by 11.4 percent and in Minnesota by 10.3 percent.......................More

BANGLADESH: RAB - The good, bad and ugly

RAB, a year ago, was constituted as a hybrid force with personnel drawn from the army, navy, airforce, police, BDR and later coast guard. Members of the police force were also there. As was reported in the news dailies, there were initial confusion about the command and control of the force and the role of police. It is not known whether this has since been solved. Bringing RAB under the jurisdiction of armed police battalion virtually meant that members of RAB would be controlled and guided by the relevant law as it relates to the armed police battalion. However, this is not very clear. This is because the members of RAB are drawn from dissimilar sources of recruitment such as the army, navy, the airforce, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), coast guard, and the police. Each has its own law as it relates to discipline and punishment. How this problem is dealt with remains as yet unknown.............More

ASSESSMENT:India’s security fears hold sway when dealing with neighbours

We were under the illusion that the king’s actions were about fighting Maoists. India read out the riot act almost two weeks too late, and there is some evidence that India’s message was not as categorically received as India had hoped. The king is still reading too many caveats into our messages and apparently believes that India and the United States of America will not put maximum pressure for fear of sending him closer to China. India, at this juncture, has very little locus standi: even our ambassador can be sent away without an audience......More

BANGLADESH: Despotic Desperation - The Rapid 'Assassination' Battalion

Have we even thought even for once, that for every 'terrorist' killed in a 'crossfire', there are probably a hundred alive out there, who have the sophistication, skill and accuracy to shoot and kill only their 'leader' in the dark of night, with indigenously developed weapons that are inherently inaccurate but deadly? If we are talking about anybody being 'elite' here, and if the RAB stories are to be believed as 100% kosher, we have to face the prospect of deadly 'elite' criminals on the loose, and RAB is surely no match for them........More

PAKISTAN: Seeds of discord

Mr Bhutto had realized the power and strength of the armed forces when he had described the army as the third major political party of Pakistan. This reality continues to be recognized even today. Ms Benazir Bhutto, who has inherited her father's political acumen, is fully aware of this reality. She knows that if she wants to govern this troubled country, she has to make compromises with the visible and invisible rulers It appears that from day one, our policymakers failed to understand the psychology of the people of the eastern wing. The Bengalis are by nature very emotional people and they love their language and culture. But at the same time they were patriotic Pakistanis and fully supported the cause of Pakistan. It is a matter of historical record that they looked to Pakistan for their salvation. It is common knowledge that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had travelled to New Delhi riding a bicycle to have a glimpse of Mr Jinnah. How could he turn into a rebel?..........More

INDIA: United Liberation Front of Assam [ULFA] - A Deviated Movement?

Adopting extra constitutional means to protect the socio-economic ecology of Assam, ULFA leaders raised the issue of Assamese nationalism and gave it a militant and radical turn. They maintained that India's national mainstream had no meaning when the country's leadership failed to meet the aspiration of their people. They argued that independent political power was the only option for the organised ethnic group of this State that remained in seclusion for centuries. For them ethical solution to socio-economic and socio-political malady could be possible only through revolutionary changes it could be evolved only by independent political power............More

ANALYSIS: Changing perceptions in emerging global order

Politically, the US would seek to engage centres of influence like its NATO and EU Allies, Japan, Russia, China and India. While there is little doubt that the US can perpetuate its global military “dominance”, there are doubts whether it can retain its global economic clout, to the exclusion of other players. The present global order is going to largely revolve around the directions that American policies take in quest for global “primacy”.. After attempting to engage the US and secure American recognition and respect for its interests in the erstwhile Soviet republics, President Putin appears to have concluded that there is a conscious US effort to contain and undermine Russian influence in its “near neighbourhood”, especially in the light of the recent developments in Georgia and Ukraine. Japan has won “unambiguous” American support for its candidature for Permanent Membership of the Security Council after it joined the US on the Taiwan issue.
China is now perceived by the Americans as a long-term challenge and threat, though there are disagreements within the US on how the emergence of China as a competing global power in the Asia—Pacific can be handled...........More

INTERVIEW: Asian High

How are Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal faring in countering the drug menace?

All these countries are threatened in different ways. Pakistan is a neighbour of Afghanistan and an unquantified but presumed large amount of Afghan opium and heroin enters the country both for consumption there and onward trafficking. Also, as was reported recently, we are now starting to see an increase in opium production in the country's North West Frontier Province. In Bangladesh, smuggling, diversion and abuse of pharmaceuticals originating elsewhere in South Asia is considered to be the single largest drug problem. Because Nepal shares porous borders with India, the resulting free flow of goods and people is used to conceal trafficking in both drugs and human beings........More

ANALYSIS Changing perceptions in emerging global order

Politically, the US would seek to engage centres of influence like its NATO and EU Allies, Japan, Russia, China and India. While there is little doubt that the US can perpetuate its global military “dominance”, there are doubts whether it can retain its global economic clout, to the exclusion of other players. The present global order is going to largely revolve around the directions that American policies take in quest for global “primacy”. After attempting to engage the US and secure American recognition and respect for its interests in the erstwhile Soviet republics, President Putin appears to have concluded that there is a conscious US effort to contain and undermine Russian influence in its “near neighbourhood”, especially in the light of the recent developments in Georgia and Ukraine. Japan has won “unambiguous” American support for its candidature for Permanent Membership of the Security Council after it joined the US on the Taiwan issue......More

INDIA: North East in Retrospect

The Pakistani Army could not accept the disgrace of defeat, surrender and loss of power. They, therefore, seized power again after a short period of civilian rule and formulated a strategy of proxy war to try and defeat and balkanise India. They decided to make “India bleed through a thousand cuts” by active support to all dissident movements and through religious fundamentalism and terrorism. They, therefore, converted Pakistan into an Islamic state. They realised that India could not be defeated through conventional war and, therefore, decided to go nuclear with well equipped conventional forces, to deter India from retaliatory strikes. India was also then constrained to go nuclear which annoyed both China and the West. The Bangladesh Army also took control of Bangladesh. Both armies joined hands to try and defeat India and achieve their original ideals. Bangladesh also continued with the pre-partition strategy of the Muslim League, and subsequently of Pakistan, to ensure maximum migration into the North-East and Bengal so that, after demographic change, these areas would secede to Bangladesh. They knew that they could not defeat India conventionally. The strategy was, therefore, to ensure migration, ally with China and Pakistan, fan religious fundamentalism (they therefore also converted into an Islamic state), build up conventional forces for defence and provide maximum support to Indian dissident groups...........More

BANGLADESH: Religious extremism: Some ado about something

Two general trends are discernible in the activities of these extremist outfits. First, the major one is intended to bring about the so-called Islamic revolution in the country. But what this revolution means has never been clearly spelt out. In the name of Islam much has been done by these outfits that do contravene the essence of Islam. For one thing, Islam does not permit this kind of anti-human activity, and also a resort to terrorism (for example, la ikraha fi-ddin). Second, a minor one, but nevertheless at variance with the essence of Islam is the so-called Khatame Nabuwat Movement targeting the minority religious group known as the Ahmadyas. The government handling of the situation arising out of the activities of this outfit has so far been unclear, and on the whole, appeared to be placating the outfit. But, for doing so the government has been accused of violating the spirit of the constitution of the Republic; and of violating human rights by the international community, including the Amnesty International. Moreover, in tandem with these two major trends, a minor one has been witnessed in the recent past. A group of people belonging to some political coterie went on rampage at a madrasa complex in Bhola burning the entire infrastructure and torching as many as 200 copies of the Holy Quoran. This is a heinous act that reminds us the one done by the Pakistan army in 1971. That such an act can take place in a country where Islam enjoys the status of a state religion, and also in a country which is reportedly crammed with born again Muslims shows how much Islam has been denigrated by the politically motivated quarters.....More

Motivated journalism troubling Bangladesh

The latest twist in this whole string of anti-Bangladesh propaganda centring on Dr. Rice's visit to India was the UNB story published in the national dailies on March 22. The story said: "There has been no development of specific initiatives on US-Indo cooperation on issues pertaining to Bangladesh, a spokesperson for the US embassy told UNB, responding to a query about what US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had stated in India about the US-India initiatives to deal with the security situation in Bangladesh." If the story had been done as an admission of serious reporting errors in the past, that would have earned kudos from the adherents of ethical journalism. But the story continued with another round of vitriolic utterances on the state of affairs in Bangladesh: "The US mission in Dhaka, along with counterparts of other donor organisations, are concerned by the deterioration of governance in Bangladeshespecially by political violence and the law and order situation." The spokesperson actually said, "Threats to, and attacks upon the press, the political opposition, cultural institutions, and minority communities are all causes for concern." This is what I would call motivated, partisan, hostile, and unpatriotic journalism.........More

STUDY: The ruling class in Bangladesh

The new rulers were not new, either; they belonged to the same middle class which was rising. The new independence opened up for it limitless opportunities of gaining in wealth and power through misappropriation of aid and loan, illegitimate trade and commerce, expropriation of industries and public property, robbing of small savers' deposits in the banks, looking after the interests of the multinationals, and the like. It is because of the misdeeds of the ruling class that the country remains poor. That militant fundamentalism has been rising menacingly is also due to its patronisation -- both direct and indirect. Directly, the rulers have competed with one another in their use of religion politically -- to win votes, and at the same time keep the people forgetful of their worldly miseries. Indirectly too they have been encouraging militant fanaticism to grow by setting up madrashas. That madrasha education has been a breeding ground of the Talibans is now being recognised by its promoters -- both foreign and indigenous -- in Pakistan, much to their own discomfiture...............More

BANGLADESH: Liberation War - Bridging the Security Gap

Nothing appeared to have happened in the next five weeks to indicate that developments were taking place along the expected line. The public expectations meanwhile kept on boiling in favour of 'political solution,' to be mediated by the US, which received a set back during the third week of June, after the disclosures that a number of US ships were sailing towards Pakistan carrying armament spares and component. The hype reached its highest point on the occasion of President Nixon's national security adviser, Dr. Kissinger's visit to New Delhi during first week of July. I received a message around that time from PNH enquiring about the progress made towards formation of the national front. That was the first indication in more than a month that the approach decided upon earlier was still relevant, despite all the interactions between India and the US at various levels. But Tajuddin meanwhile made little progress in floating the proposal of national alliance, since he faced hostile factional campaigns on the advent of AL elected representatives' conference (July 5 and 6 ) at Siliguri, and he barely succeeded in pacifying a powerful faction openly advocating for 'going back to the country to carry on fight or seek reconciliation with Pakistan, since India had let us down in every respect.'.....More

V-Day Special : Remembering our American friends

It is indeed unfortunate that President Nixon and his National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger did not view our liberation struggle as our bid to establish our democratic rights. Instead, they had looked at it in the context of East-West rivalry of the Cold War era. Nixon's tilt in favor of Pakistan had completely blinded him. At that time he and his associates were using Islamabad as conduit for establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing, and they were not concerned about the sufferings of the people of Bangladesh. Today, in this era of globalization, there is so much concern for democracy and human rights; and it is sad that our people had to face such atrocities and were subjected to the worst violations of human rights when they had merely asked for the establishment of their democratic rights. Ironically, in 1999, Kissinger had to chair the selection board, and then present, the UNESCO Peace Prize to our former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Paris. He sounded apologetic when he mentioned in his speech that they were "misinformed" about the situation in Bangladesh........More

ASSESSMENT: US-Bangla relations: Making a mountain out of a molehill

As reports of joint Indo-US initiative to contain the 'troubling' situation in Bangladesh were orchestrated in the Indian media, in India-friendly Bangladeshi newspapers and in the Internet, reactions in the country were comically topsy-turvy. Politicians and newspaper commentators of the leftist opposition who are usually very anti-American, seemed to like the Idea of Indo-US intervention to upset the bandwagon of the ruling alliance. A commentator dared the Prime Minister to chide Dr Rice as she had chided, in the Parliament, foreign diplomats who had openly debated issues concerning the internal politics of Bangladesh.There was an express denial by the US embassy in Dhaka. In a press release, it stated that there was no actual initiative jointly undertaken by India and the USA to change the situation in Bangladesh. There was also the news that an FBI representative is again in Dhaka to finalise terms of reference for investigating Kibria's killing and other mysterious bomb-blasts, signifying direct US-Bangladesh cooperation on internal security issues. Reports from Washington suggested that the delay in FBI's arrival was on account of procedural complications of the FBI bureaucracy itself, and the USA was keen on providing help to Bangladesh for its internal security needs............More

STUDY: Contempt of Court and Rule of Law in Bangladesh

When Tariq Zias, Indira, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhis, Benazir Bhuttos, Bandaranayakes, Khaledas and Hasinas become totally irrelevant and almost unknown entities among the bulk of the population (as nobody in Britain regards Tony Blair’s wife or Winston Churchill’s children politically important), we should forget about having democracy. However, before Bangladesh becomes a democracy through evolution (we cannot expect visionary Maiji rulers or even a Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Muhammad – we only have Ershad-Khaleda-Hasina-Nizami and their likes), at least the educated Bangladeshis should start with the respect for law, equality, justice and freedom. Unfortunately, the way our politicians call names and portray each other as “killers”,” terrorists”, “Taliban agents”, “Indian agents”, “thieves”, “thugs” and what not, we cannot have the desired rule of law, a sine qua non for corruption free and accountable, if not democratic government in Bangladesh......More

BANGLADESH : Aroj Ali Matubbor, the rustic rebel

He shows how orthodox thinking falls short of a good answer to the questions he raises; it is also ridden with contradictions. To pick a few examples: in Islam, as in other religions, God has no shape or form. The non-corporal nature God makes it impossible for Him to sit or stand in the sense in which we use those words. Yet, in the holy books He is sometimes depicted as one sitting on his throne. How is one to reconcile the two irreconcilables? I am not sure whether Aroj Ali was aware of the following riposte to that question by Malik Ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki school of Islamic thought: "The sitting [God's] is well-known, its modality is unknown, belief in it is obligatory and questioning it is a heresy". But he was well aware of the broad argument, which has been repeated many times, and which of course has nothing to do with reason. Similarly, he asks, if God is omnipresent, why was it necessary for the Prophet to ascend the high heavens to meet with Him?.......More

MYANMAR: Karenni rebels dig in for last stand

Some observers believe the attacks on the KNU and KNPP are directly linked to the fall of General Khin Nyunt. The theory goes that with Khin Nyunt out of the way, the even-more hardline generals in Yangon, such as SPDC vice chairman General Maung Aye, are free to seek a military solution to the country's "ethnic question" But while Khin Nyunt's downfall is a factor, the reasons for the attacks are more complex. One issue is the increased willingness of the KNPLF to join forces with the SPDC. According to Tu Reh, a senior KNPP leader, "We believe that the SPDC paid around 70 million Burmese kyat [US$12.47 million] some time ago to the KNPLF, in exchange for their help to fight the KA. For a long time, they did nothing. But then, after Khin Nyunt was ousted, the ceasefire groups started to come under a lot of pressure. The generals in Rangoon [Yangon] have pushed them to take part in its National Convention, which is now working on a new constitution. The junta has made clear that, once the convention is over, the ceasefire groups will have to disarm."..........More

V-Day Special: Assessing our image on our National Day

On this day, we must be bold enough to accept that Bangladesh today suffers from poor governance, and that this situation has been created not only by certain politicians, but also by other stake-holders like bureaucrats, and officials responsible for law and order as well as dispensing of justice. We need not misunderstand international concern for good governance in Bangladesh as an effort to run down our country. Instead, we should undertake self-analysis and try to identify where we have gone wrong. It is not enough to go into a collective denial mode. It must not be interpreted in a short-sighted manner, as being part of a 'political conspiracy,' aided and abetted by foreign interests, eager to destabilise the country. That would indeed be very simplistic. We just cannot afford such a reaction...............More

BANGLADESH : Our RAB worries

It is a sad situation. In a country where policemen are regularly accused of bribery and extortion, the setting up of RAB, for its all subsequent excesses, was looked upon as a sign of positive change. If it is now RAB itself which falls prey to temptation, the result can only be despair, and then more of it, among citizens. Lest that come to pass, it will be a good thing for RAB to keep the country informed of the ways by which it has been penalising its undisciplined members. Let the nation keep a watchful eye on those whose responsibility is to provide security of life and property to people. .............More

INDIA: Winners who lose

What is the result? Of the Western democracies, any democracy, for that matter, the US alone has its levers intact, and penetrated further, in Nepal, to the anger and dismay of China, while we are getting snubbed on a daily basis by the king, to the delight and satisfaction of Pakistan, Gyanendra’s newest friend in need. But it is beyond ideology and realpolitik, and concerns management of foreign relations, not merely the conduct of it................More

V-Day Special: An Army Insider's Honest Expose of Atrocities in East Pakistan Debacle

The infamous Niazi signature: 90,000 troops surrendered to India in Dhaka

The election results could not have been farther from Yahya’s calculations. Badly let down by the intelligence agencies, Yahya decided to pursue a new course of action. His famous reference to Mujib as the future prime minister was in reality no more than “a calculated maneuver aimed at, first to set the military against Mujib, and second, to provoke the Pakistan Peoples Party.” The worried generals then recruited Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to ensure that any chance of a compromise with Mujib would be non-existent. In fact, as Siddiqi informs us, General Umar even met many West Pakistani minority party leaders to actively dissuade them from attending the first National Assembly session at Dhaka. Not surprisingly, East Pakistan soon went on the boil in the face of such intransigence. And the army-controlled West Pakistani media retaliated by accusing East Pakistanis of treason..............More

ANALYSIS: Chinese Military Buildup Causes US Concern

A recent report prepared for the U.S. Defense Department says China is proceeding with a substantial military buildup, leading some experts to worry that 25 years after starting its economic reforms, China may soon have the means to project military power in new and, from the U.S. point of view, potentially dangerous ways.According to the report issued by the Defense Department in November and made public in January, China has built a series of facilities and strategic relationships stretching to the south and west from its own coastal waters. The facilities and relationships involve Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Bangladesh and Pakistan...............More

FLASH: To finish fencing, BSF may get 'licence to kill'

Determined to complete the barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border, the Manmohan Singh government may give a go-ahead to the BSF to resort to "firing beyond limited exchange" against the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR)................More

INDIA: Guilt by any other name

A psychoanalyst would probably find much more in the sometimes overlapping and sometimes disparate layers of Modi's arguments against the American decision than a columnist. There is a hint of self-incrimination in the plea that if others who have violated human rights can be permitted to visit America, and even welcomed (he can hardly resist mentioning President Pervez Musharraf), why should he be denied a visa? At other moments, there are suggestions that India's sovereignty has been undermined. Er, not quite. It takes more than a denied visa to undermine our sovereignty. But Narendra Modi does provide one splendid suggestion. Should India refuse a visa to the United States Chief Of Army Staff because of the alleged violation of human rights in Iraq?............More

ASSESSMENT: Advantage China

Despite different political systems, China and India are aggressively pursuing economic liberalisation for growth. Both the countries tout science and technology, and exports as a basis for their growth. Yet, their strategic paths for economic development are remarkably different. China's strategy is methodical and deliberate, while that of India's is chaotic and opportunistic. This article compares the growth strategies of China and India since they will impact a third of humankind by 2050, influence world-wide job migration, and provide valuable lessons for other developing countries......More

BLOGOSPHERE: Salutes to Our Nepalese colleagues

Originally, United We Blog! was not politically oriented. This changed only with the coup, and with it, its readership which multiplied more than six fold between the end of January and the first three weeks of March, from 13,000 to over 80,000..............More

ASSESSMENT: Bangladesh becoming centre of global terrorism?

What worries India, the United States and Europe is the fact that taking full advantage of the Khaleda Hasina confrontation, anti-social elements and terrorists have dangerously entrenched themselves in Bangladesh. Frequent bombing of Opposition’s public meetings especially targeting Sheikh Hasina and her party colleagues in the Awami League could well be the work of those who want to crush democracy in Bangladesh to pave the way, initially, for the Army takeover and ultimately for Talibanisation of the country. Khaleda Zia’s second coming as the Prime Minister in October 2001 has proved a boon for the anti-democracy obscurantist forces and terrorists who would like to use Bangladesh as a springboard for their worldwide activities..........More

BANGLADESH: Appeal for journalists threatened by Islamist gangs

Amnesty International has issued an urgent appeal on behalf of three Bangladeshi journalists - among them the winner of Index on Censorship’s 2005 Hugo Young prize for journalism, Sumi Khan – all of whom have received written death threats from Islamist gangs active in their area........More

GLOBAL JIHAD: New jihadis, new threats

It has been seen from the experience of the ideological terrorist groups of West Europe of the 1970s and the 1980s, which withered away after the collapse of the USSR and other communist states of West Europe, that trans-national terrorist groups cannot survive without the sponsorship and complicity of another state in matters such as sanctuaries, training, supply of funds and arms and ammunition. If international jihadi terrorism continues to thrive despite the united action of the international community, it is largely because of the continued availability of sponsorship and complicity from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. The provision in the UN Security Council Resolution No 1373 calling on all member-countries to stop providing direct or indirect assistance to terrorists remain unheeded by these countries. Unless and until these three states are called to account by the international community, it is unlikely to prevail over international jihadi terrorism...............More

ANALYSIS: US Interest in Military sales to India

Is this an American invasion of sorts? While one constantly heard of their renewed interest in offering a little more to India with the NSSP (Nest Steps in Strategic Partnership) initiatives, it appears as if the old days are forgotten and the sales pitch is on a new high drawing the attention of the observers for many reasons. Every visiting dignitary from US invariably is armed with ready made answers on the scope of arms sale/release of high tech equipment to India. The recently concluded visit of the Secretary of State Ms Condoleezza Rice is no different and is in fact just an extension of a new policy to engage India on many planes in furthering the strategic interests in the region. Obviously in the American game plan, it would be essential for such strategic interests to converge with the US interests need not even be stated. ..............More

BANGLADESH : Foreign Office and country's image

Some of the Awami League lawmaker's remarks in the committee are more than a little hyperbolized, symbolic of both the exaggeration-prone nature of the average Bangladeshi as well as of the dysfunctional blindly partisan nature of politics in this country. Therefore, to dismiss as futile any governmental effort at image improvement is churlish, and may be construed as an attempt at endorsing, in a backhanded manner, the negative propaganda, especially those that are of cutting one's nose to spite one's face variety, that the opposition engages in. For the country's sake, and not for any narrow partisan interest, Bangladesh's image has to be enhanced. As a matter of fact, it has to be picked up almost from scratch. It will be a tall order, but it can be done. And the MFA with its External Publicity wing at home, and the press wing in the foreign missions, will have to shoulder the major load in image building...........More

BANGLADESH: Islamists Attack NGOs as Part of Jihad

Bangladesh has joined the company of Afghanistan and Iraq where humanitarian and development organizations are targeted. By targeting these organizations and their workers terrorists draw the satisfaction of retaliating against the West. These are also soft targets as it is difficult for the Islamic militants to attack military installations. These attacks have created terror among the workers of the NGOs in Bangladesh. It forced leaders of the Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB) to convene a meeting where they urged the government to take stern action against all kinds of terrorist activities to keep the ongoing development activities running. They also discussed the role of NGOs in the face of such attacks................More

BANGLADESH: No Terrorist Links- Minister Says

Khan derided some Bangladesh media for irresponsible reporting. "Sometimes some media may have the feeling that freedom of press is a license to lie," he said. But the state would not try to control the media or reporters, he added. Dhaka-based newspaper "The Daily Star" reported in January that intelligence agents were assigned to look for anyone who might have provided information for a Jan. 23 article by "The New York Times" on the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh. "We control everything in Bangladesh except two things: we don't control the weather and we don't control the media," Khan said. "If you try to gag the press it doesn't help."...............More

BANGLADESH: English, capitalism and snobbery -

The use of English in this country has turned out to be a rather easy means of coming by capital and therefore affluence. You see it all around you. Observe the private universities, so ubiquitous and so pretentious in their appearance. You tend to come by the feeling that the young men and women who make their way to these expensive universities, most of which by the way do not in any sense of the term qualify to be universities, are the nation builders of the future. That is a false notion, in a very large way. These are young people who are being influenced by the idea that they are part of the elite, that those who remain outside the universities they are part of are the old peasantry that cannot do the country any good..............More

INDIA: Condoleezza Rice Visits- America's Search for a Caliph

Casual readers of media reportage on Rice's recent visit to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan might be forgiven for thinking that the USA's principle interests in the region are arms sales and Iran, in that order. Much of the public discourse of Rice's visit focused on the prospect of the possible sales of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan and the Patriot II anti-ballistic missile defense system to India. The United States' concerns about the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to India, passing through Pakistan, ranked second in terms of the space it occupied. Little was said, unless it figured behind closed doors, about continued terrorism directed at India, nuclear proliferation, the persistence of jihadi infrastructure in Pakistan, and, yes, democracy.............More

BOOK REVIEW: The Final Settlement

It is recommended that readers should go through this article at least twice, preferably three times, so that they grasp the depth and insight of its analysis, proposals and recommendations, before starting an educated and informed discussion.

The crafting of the final settlement requires honest, though bitter analysis of the psychology and ground realities of the two countries. The conflict between India and Pakistan currently extends to the entire South Asian region, from Afghanistan to Bangladesh. It also engages sections of population in far-flung parts of the two countries. It is reflected in the strife in India’s north-east and Pakistan’s Balochistan. India accuses Pakistan of using Bangladesh as a platform to destabilize India’s eastern sector. Pakistan accuses India of using Afghanistan as a platform to subvert Pakistan’s western half. Of this widespread conflict, the Jammu & Kashmir component is known internationally. The Jammu & Kashmir issue itself has several dimensions. To India, it is a test of secularism. To Pakistan, it is a source of strategically important rivers. To the people of Jammu & Kashmir, it is a matter of living in peace with dignity.............More

BOOK REVIEW: Durable Disorder - Understanding the Politics of Northeast India

Baruah tackles the messy and controversial issue of immigration. While most writers and analysts have concentrated on the “pull factors” that attract large scale immigrants from neighbouring countries as well as from other parts of India into the sparsely populated, modern skills poor region, threatening to radically overturn the demographic balance, Baruah also points out the more systematic “push factors” prompted by the Indian nation’s need to “nationalize space”. This involves tuning local population to the national outlook as well as physically filling the poorly charted spaces with “nation-bearing” populations. While this agenda has not been pursued as aggressively as China has done, partly because in the case of India there is no single nation-bearing population, he argues the distinction between ethnic groups that are marked as indigenous to the region and those that are marked as immigrants from the rest of the sub-continent has remained quite significant in the politics of Northeast India.............More

ISLAM: A problem or a solution?

The topic of Jihad is a very favorite item in the arsenal of critics of Islam. It is often equated with religious intolerance that is sanctified in the Qur'an and Sunnah. This accusation by western critics is like turning the tables with a reprisal when one recalls that not a Muslim was left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia, and that not a Muslim was left alive and not a mosque left standing in Greece after the great rebellion in l821 (even to this day there is not a single mosque in Athens). In the Greek War of Independence in 1811, three hundred thousand Muslims - men and women and children - the entire Muslim population of the Morea without exception, as well as many thousands in the northern parts of Greece - were atrociously exterminated.....More

ASSESSMENT : Chinese Navy is growing, and expanding its reach in Asia to secure oil and gas supplies

Alarm bells are ringing in Washington, where some see a pattern in Beijing's naval build-up, combined with a foreign-port building spree and efforts to secure maritime oil-transport routes. An internal report circulated among Pentagon officials late last year says Beijing is assembling a "string of pearls"—including ports, listening posts and naval agreements from Pakistan to Bangladesh to Burma—to protect its fragile oil-supply routes. Gwadar is critical, because it would provide the Chinese a listening post for monitoring ship traffic to and from the oil-rich Middle East, according to the report, which asserts that China is building up naval power at maritime "chokepoints... to deter the potential disruption of energy supplies from potential threats, including the U.S. Navy." China's naval outreach program is of concern to New Delhi, too, and was an underlying theme during U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to India last week................More

NUKES: MAD is not bad

If a country like Iran becomes a nuclear power and possesses atom bomb it may not be a bad idea from the point of view of maintaining balance of power in the middle east. Therefore, it should be welcomed by all who are for peace and stability. Like Dr. Strangelove who loved the bomb, they too, can live with the bomb without any qualms of consciences. If MAD was not bad in the past, it cannot be so now................More

Religious extremism and freedom of choice

Though some Muslim scholars consider the essentialist construction of the people and the religion of Islam dominant in the western academic orthodoxy as grossly distorted, yet one must also acknowledge that the deviants of Islamic religion immersed in their own grotesque interpretation of pristine Islam do pose serious threat not only to the West but also to Muslims who they consider to have deviated from the "true" path. Time is past for the Muslim world to hold on to tortured nationalism by blaming the West for failing to seize the moment when western technology was on its way to irreversibly change the contours of global civilisation. It is past time for the Islamic world to clean up the Augean Stable, get its act together and unite with the West and others to fight the common enemy -- terrorism. Islamic renaissance is unlikely to emerge from the destructive acts of Osama bin Laden.............More

BANGLADESH: Govt reacts to sermons and suggestions by Western diplomats

The sudden harsh governmental reaction against such diplomatic interference might have taken most people by surprise. Knowledgeable circles suggest that the government leaders, no doubt, were in a dilemma for a while, but a series of quite derogatory statements made by the EU Ambassador pushed them rather hard towards such a decision. The latest interview of the German Ambassador by a news agency last week, in which he offered to hold a dialogue on his country's behalf to make the next parliamentary polls 'free and fair', did not help the cause at all. Rather it tipped scale. Analysts say that any Ambassador wanting to offer any help to the government on behalf of his government should talk to the proper quarter. In this case, it should have been either the foreign or the concerned ministry. He should not have given an interview to a news agency to discuss what he was going to do without first talking to the government. It is not a question of clearing the issue with the government, it concerns the diplomatic norms and practices, which should not be ignored. After all, he is accredited to the government of this country on behalf of the government of his country............More

BANGLADESH : The Cat is finally out of the bag!

The '90s witnessed a tremendous rise of communal forces in neigbouring India and with the Babri Masjid episode taking the lead, the religious sentiments of an average muslim all over the sub-continent was also affected to a large extent. That was indeed the period when the dormant communal forces in Bangladesh swiftly re-grouped behind the facade of 'defending Islam' but actually with a definite motive to find a political ladder by virtue of which they could quickly reach the citadel of power and spread their message more effectively. Madrasas sprang up almost overnight all over the country like mushrooms and no one knew exactly as to where from the huge funds came in regularly for their sustenance. Not that the sight of madrasahs was something new for us, but their swelling numbers in dozens baffled many of us beyond imagination. Still our progressive leaders found everything quite innocuous..............More

INTERVIEW: Condoleeza Rice with India Today - Full Text

Each relationship has its own character. In the case of India, I think we're beginning to develop a relationship that will undoubtedly have global dimensions. And if you look, for instance, at the way that we responded to the tsunami, it was India, Japan, the United States, Australia. I'm told that India was able to deploy ships within 48 hours. This is extraordinary. India is a country with increasingly potentially global reach. And I think you will see us with India doing more across a wide range of not just issues, but a wide range of regions........More

ANALYSIS:Chinese minister's trip could redefine India-Nepal ties

India had been providing the Royal Nepalese Army with its indigenously manufactured INSAS firearms at 70 percent subsidy. However, the INSAS weapons need 5.56mm ammunition, which are not manufactured in Nepal. The army has to buy the bullets from India. On the other hand, Nepal manufactures 7.62mm ammunition at home and Chinese weapons, especially AK-47s, can be fired with these bullets. Nepalese army sources said though there were no immediate plans to start buying firearms from China, "if push comes to shove" and the Indian embargo continues, eventually Nepal might turn to Chinese weapons..................More

NEPAL: The Royal Regression and the Question of Democratic Republic - Baburam Bhattarai

The despotic regime is desperately seeking to exploit two issues to gain international support for itself. The first is the 'anti-terrorism' card, and the second, the 'geo-political' card. The hackneyed 'anti-terrorism' card, much exploited after September Eleven by all and sundry petty dictators and reactionary regimes of the world, has already lost much of its original steam and is yet to be seen how it will fare in Gyanendra's case. But one can be fairly certain that the enlightened world public opinion won't be easily hoodwinked by the 'anti-terrorism' claims of a person of Gyanendra's ilk, whose hands are blood-stained in the infamous palace massacre and who has now launched a countryside reign of military terror against the people by suspending all political and fundamental rights...................More

India's Achilles Heel: Lack of a China Policy

Instead of trying to take a tip or two from China's management of its economy, India has a tendency to either envy China or try to dismiss its economic growth as a facade. As far as India is concerned, its political establishment still is not sure whether it should base its economic policies on sound economic principles or listen to a lunatic fringe that has no idea as to what economics is all about. The fact of the matter is so long as India does not place its own economic house in order, it will remain a second-rate power even in Asia............More

GLOBAL JIHAD: Profile of Islamic Terrorists

The extremists are absolutely assured that the existing world is incorrectly arranged, but there is an authentic world - created by Allah. They are assured that USA is not only the simple state, but also embodiment of world evil. It is the Satan appearing as sparkling skyscrapers, advertisements, large corporations, world communications and networks, spreading itself over the entire world as an octopus. Being unique esoteric, they see the designation of their life in fight with the evil and thus to accelerate the approaching of authentic world. Extremists prefer to alter this world as fast as possible to become the chosen race. Fight with the evil and millions of ordinary people, tied by evil, is simply the moment of this titanic work on the reconstruction of reality. Extremists consider themselves to be heroes heroes who accelerate the globe's evolution towards the correct way...............More

Bangladesh gets sophisticated Pakistani air defence system

As a fresh milestone in its journey of glory, AWC has succeeded in indigenous development of Command & Control System. AWC does not depend on any foreign company for supply or support, hence ensuring an un-interruptible supply, support and maintenance of the system. The salient feature of this system is its reliability under all weather and geographical conditions. It provides the commander an instant update of all developments in the battle or concentration area..........More

BANGLADESH: Pak acts on Dhaka push

The Indian establishment, which has been keeping a close watch on the developments in Dhaka, is trying to assess why Bangladesh is acting tough. “Can Dhaka really get away by taking on the European Union?” a senior Indian foreign ministry official asked. Over 50 per cent of Bangladesh’s economy is dependent on foreign aid and, therefore, it is not prudent for the government to get into a confrontation with these countries................More

NUKES:US not finished with Pakistan yet

Importantly, and to the consternation of Pakistan, the US demand includes direct access and interrogation of Pakistan's former chief of army staff, General Aslam Beg, who has on many occasions openly endorsed nuclear cooperation with Iran, former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan (August 17, 1988 until July 18, 1993) and Dr Khan. The exhaustive US demand has sent shock waves through General Headquarters Rawalpindi. To date, the belief had been that Pakistan's cooperation has been sufficient to avoid people like Dr Khan from being handed over............More

ANALYSIS: Regional instability threatens India

Many charge that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been seeding trouble in the northeast. Since 1990, the ISI promoted indiscriminate violence by creating small, militant outfits providing them with weapons and training, and using ethnic and religious groups and tensions between Hindus and Muslims to whip up severe divisions. Oil pipelines, railroads, and infrastructure have been sabotaged by groups like United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). The ISI has pumped money into these groups’ London-based bank accounts. The Bangladesh government aids and abets these groups as well. Bangladesh Prime Minister Khalida Zia leads a government that is packed with anti-India policy makers. These forces reject any peace initiatives taken by New Delhi or the West Bengal provincial government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).............More

PAKISTAN: Jinnah's unfulfilled vision - From the Quaid to al-Qaeda

Cohen says it is improbable that liberal democracy will take hold in Pakistan. Just a couple of decades ago, the same was being said of Latin America and Eastern Europe. He posits that Bangladesh, which also had an episode of military rule but now has a democratic setup, is unlikely to revert to military rule since it does not have a security problem. The implicit hypothesis that security problems lead to military rule is a non sequitur. Otherwise India would have military rule a fortiori, since it has security problems with Pakistan and China, in addition to numerous security problems in the eastern and southern states with separatist movements. There is no evidence that any serious coups have been attempted in India.................More

FLASH: US, India harmonise regional role:

"There was an expression of interest of working together in Bangladesh," the official said. Asked about US concerns about Bangladesh, the official spoke about the "general deterioration in security" in that country."This is another area where we think the stability-level of the region has deteriorated," he said. The official was referring to the spiralling violence and the growing assertiveness by fundamentalist groups in that country and the way Dhaka has reacted to these concerns in the international community. Eminent security and defence analyst K. Subrahmanyam said the US interest in Bangladesh is a "good thing" for India and noted that New Delhi has been complaining that Dhaka had been allowing various militant groups to operate against India from its territory. "If the Americans are interested in putting pressure on the Bangladesh government in a bid to discourage terrorism and fundamentalism in that country that is a move we should support," Subrahmanyam told IANS. He noted that there had also been independent reports that Al Qaeda activists had become active in Bangladesh...........More

INDIA: US keen on nuclear energy, joint defence production:

He said the two sides had identified three major areas to move forward - a strategic dialogue that will include India's defence requirements, coordination on regional security problems, like the cooperation during the recent tsunami tragedy and the diplomatic offensive to force King Gyanendra of Nepal to restore multiparty democracy and an enhanced business dialogue. The official said there was an "expression of interest" by Rice of the US working with India in Bangladesh where, according to both New Delhi's and Washington's assessment, the general security had deteriorated to an extent that it could affect regional stability. He was referring to the growing violence in that country and the role of the fundamentalist forces in it........More

ASSESSMENT: Implicating India

To get Osama Bin Laden, the US expects us to take unreasonable risks in J and K..India is in some manner of trap on the Pak-J and K question. By claiming that it has worked for and achieved a degree of peace with Pakistan, pointing to the CBMs, cricket diplomacy, and so on, it has undercut its own military position in J and K. The US argument, Rice’s argument, is that with so much of achieved peace, it is counterproductive to deploy in such strength in J and K. India, on the other hand, does not trust Pakistan, fears misadventures like the Kargil War, would prefer the present J and K troops strength to continue, but is compromised by its own propaganda. To sex up this cross-border, troops-reduction deal, the US side is linking it up to its long-term goal of cutting down Pakistan army strength by at least two lakh troops...............More

BANGLADESH: Govt may ask 2 EU envoys to be called back

‘The government would informally request the two countries to withdraw their ambassadors to Bangladesh as the activities of the two envoys are negatively impacting Bangladesh’s good relations with the countries,’ a source close to the policy planners concerned told New Age. The government has also decided to be stricter in implementing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, as it believes that some foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka are frequently violating diplomatic norms and are ‘involving themselves in the internal politics of the country’, the source said. ‘We prefer not to declare the diplomats persona non grata as such declaration would have adverse impact on our relationships with the countries concerned.’ The government is closely monitoring the activities of some diplomats and senior officials of international lending agencies in Dhaka as it finds their actions and remarks to have ‘crossed limit of tolerance’, he added.............More

BANGLADESH: The Prime Minister's view

Anyone who comprehends the fragility of Bangladesh’s political system knows too just how many weaknesses continue to bedevil a commission which is committed to adding newer doses of substance to pluralist politics in the country. What can therefore be suggested in the present context is that the nation’s politicians must come together to devise the ways and means by which the Election Commission can attain the status of a truly powerful and independent body, with the necessary manpower and machinery to have its writ run all over the country........More

Readers Re-AXE - 2 Letters on 17/03/2005

• I love and respect the Jihad and the message of your article and what it represents in the Qur'on. But, believe me, the Christian Palestinians believe in the Jihad as well. In Palestine, we have a Priest at the highest level in the church who supports the Jihad and continues to preach to kids of the Christian faith to fight back in the name of jihad and for their country and homeland.............More

• How can we expect that the same US government agencies that investigated the Kennedy assassination,the Abu Gharib prison scandals,the Guantanamo detention camp abuse will conduct a fair investigation for Bangladesh.....More

BANGLADESH: Kibria Killing Probe Report - 8 BNP men made the attack

The VICTIM THE PLANNER.

Sources said the investigators, in the about 150-page report, detailed the arrangement of the AL meeting, Kibria's participation, how the incident took place, and the role of police before and after the incident. The team then reported on the planners and executors of the grenade attack, the suspects and arrestees, the grounds for the arrests and suspicions, possible beneficiaries of the attack and its motives, possible sources of the grenade and recommendation to stop recurrence of such attacks............More

BANGLADESH: Rising terror

In Dhaka, during a three-day countrywide strike to protest against the bomb attack on an Awami League rally on January 27.

The `pro-liberation' secular parties and civil society groups allege that Bangladesh is being held hostage by violent religious extremism and radicalism, which want to wreck its secular foundations. The ruling coalition has, however, dismissed the charge as "sheer propaganda" by an "unpatriotic Opposition". Observers wonder if it is a mere coincidence that the latest grenade attack came just a few days after the publication of the report in the New York Times, which exposed activities of a notorious fundamentalist outfit called the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), led by Bangla Bhai (Frontline, June 19, 2004). The same day, several associates of the Islamist commander were lynched by villagers, fed up with the police inaction with regard to the murder of an Awami League leader in Rajshahi. The report, headlined "For a new Taliban: The next Islamist Revolution?", was based on fieldwork done in the northern villages where the militant leader's militia is known to terrorise people in the Taliban fashion. The report created a fresh furore when Dhaka-based dailies carried its translation........More

INDIA: ISI-backed plan on for ‘Greater Bangladesh’

Security sources informed here that the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) is linked to ‘Operation Pin Code’, launched by the Pakistani ISI from Bangladeshi soil to carve out Bangladeshi dominated areas of Assam as new districts of Bangladesh by raising a jehadi outfit. The JMJB, led by Bangla Bhai and advocating Taliban-type governance in Bangladesh, is well on its way to becoming a major force in Bangladesh. The most startling disclosure is that the ULFA is deeply involved in the designs of the Islamic fundamentalists on Assam.....More

BLOGOSPHERE: Who the F***k is Bangla Bhai

Late last month the New York Times Magazine published a stunning article on Bangla Bhai, a radical Islamist vigilante who seeks to "bring about the Talibanization of his part of Bangladesh," and which also suggested that the country faced the prospect of an Islamic Revolution. Not surprisingly, the Bangladeshi government promptly complained that the NYT report was "baseless and politically motivated," and Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the United Nations "sent a written protest" to the NYT. As a government official pointed out, "the one-sided report of a remote village (Bagmara in Rajshahi) out of nearly 90,000, does in no way depict the correct and objective picture of the country.".......More

ISLAM: Gentiletude and Dhimmitude

Dhimmitude is largely mythical and has not surfaced due to the stifling of criticisms of the Muslims and Islam. It is a convenient term developed by the likes of D. Pipes to denigrate those who oppose the removal of the few remaining fragile barriers giving some nomical protection to Muslims and Islam. Removing those barriers is perhaps the last step before calling for the rebuilding of the concentration camps and the gas chambers. Many would of course argue that Camp X-Ray, Bagram and Belmarsh were miniature models of those horror chambers. How ironic the very people who were subjected to such treatment about 60 years ago are now at the forefront of inciting the US to pursue that route, while invoking victimhood of the Nazi Holocaust........More

INDIA: Terrorist Camps in Maynmar and Bangladesh

The Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh affirmed in the Lok Sabha today that the presence of terrorist training camps in Myanmar and Bangladesh has come to the notice of the Government.............More

BANGLADESH : Fight against jihadis and crusaders alike is the need of the hour

The regional and international factors have, however, significantly helped the pro-Islamist political forces in strengthening their political hegemony over the entire society, which had once stood against the cynical use of religion in politics by the erstwhile ruling elite of Pakistan. The anti-Muslim attitudes of the political establishments in Washington, Tel Aviv and Delhi, as well as the political and military hobnobbing among the fundamentalist forces in question, are still contributing to the further departure of the Bangladeshi polity from secular democratic principles......More

NEPAL: India Worried About Growing Pakistani Clout

The Indian Security Establishment is deeply worried at the increasing influence of Pakistan in Nepal and security agencies cite the alleged presence of the ISI in Kathmandu, investments of Indian fugitive underworld dons in Nepal, growth of madrassas in the Terrai region of Nepal bordering India and visible presence there of Kashmiri Muslims as glaring examples. Experts have already started to speak up against the changing geo-political situation. Strategic expert and retired Maj. Gen. BS Khanduri told the South Asia Tribune: “Nepal is gradually becoming a Pakistani satellite. I do not know whether Crown Prince Paras (Left) has any hand in it, but it is definite that the present Indian government is also responsible as it has no definite policy for Nepal.”...........More

ASSESSMENT : India Recovers Lost Ground in the International Energy Game

While India has made no where near the progress of China on the international energy stage, it is conceivable that India could become a major player in the near future thus bringing it into competition with other major energy consuming countries. Furthermore, India's and China's attempts to engage "rogue states" such as Myanmar, Iran and Sudan in order to access their energy resources is undermining attempts by the West to isolate these regimes. The quest for energy resources on the world stage could eventually be added to the outsourcing debate as an area of contention between India and the West.....More

CONSPIRACIES: Did New York Orchestrate The Asian Tsunami?

Theoretically, the American 9 megaton W-53 thermonuclear warhead shown on the left, could easily be encased in a small 'lookalike' saturation diving chamber similar to that on the right, to protect it from the massive 10,000 pounds per square inch pressures at the bottom of the Sumatran Trench. The whole armored package would weigh less than five tons, allowing it to be slipped over the stern of any oil rig supply vessel, of which there are more than 300 in Asia alone. Who would even notice?.........More

INDIA: Blunderbuss, Act III

Nepal is your immediate neighbour in the North East, not your enemy, and together with Bhutan, they provide buffers to China in Tibet. You may pressure such a neighbour in private, very privately, but you don’t slap it around in public, if such slapping around gains you nothing but cheap publicity, and brings no extra credit to your democracy. To this day, there is no logical explanation for why India went public with terminating assistance to Nepal......More

NEPAL: Get Back On The Freeway

It has become common wisdom to state that Gyanendra's actions, first to sideline the political parties and now to wield direct power as an absolute monarch, have their origins in the deep antipathy he harbours for the said parties and their many incapacities. But, after February 1, this has begun to look opportunistic: an excuse for direct rule. Through his takeover, the king has put at great risk the 250-year-old institution of monarchy that makes Nepal the oldest nation-state in South Asia. On the day that he acted, wellwishers of the institution had hoped that the palace had an intricate plan of action for peace. Perhaps a secret deal with the Maobaadi, or the military finally going on the offensive. Five weeks later, these people continue to wait......More

ASSESSMENT : Unholy designs to harm Bangladesh using Islamic militancy as pretext

The recent bomb attacks on some NGO installations and cultural soirees and the subsequent arrest of some terrorists under the guise of so-called Islamic militants and their gangleaders unveiled India's involvement. A number of Bangladeshi dailies on February 25, 2005, quoting the interrogation of the arrested informed, that the recently banned so-called Muslim outfits JMJB (Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh) and Jamaatul Mujahiden, were the brainchildren of Indian intelligence agency -RAW. The outward and instant aim of floating these outfits was to justify Indian allegation that Bangladesh is a haven of the Islamic terrors and provoke the government to take stern action against the madrashas, their teachers and students. Such step will make the government unpopular among the people that will deter the possibility of returning to power of the alliance government and pave the way to install a puppet government in Dhaka. The long-term design is to invite American-led anti-terror invasion or get American permission to invade Bangladesh so that either the invaders or their puppets in Dhaka gradually can close down the madrashas and crush the Islamic scholars, intellectuals, and even the pro-nationalist forces and ultimately make Bangladesh a vassal state of India....More

RantBurg LIVE- Tales from the Bangladesh Police Blotter

Mar 13: Four suspected outlaws were killed and six policemen injured in a fierce "gunfight" at Laskardia village of Bhawanipur Krishnanagar Char under Pangsha upazila this (Sunday) afternoon.

If you only wack one, it's a "crossfire". More than that falls under the classification of "gunfight".

..............More

BANGLADESH: Politics is a Family Affair

Tarique Rahman, the elder son of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is creating waves as the “senior” joint secretary general of the party spearheading its propaganda machine. The fact that he superseded all the senior party leaders is matter of irrelevant detail. Party grapevines indicate that he would be made the party’s secretary general, — the second most powerful position after the chairperson Begum Khaleda. So soon we can expect the BNP to have a mother as its chairperson with the son its secretary general.....More

Abdullah Mehsud: Pakistan denies freed Guantanamo prisoner dead

"This is just a rumour, it has no basis," he told Reuters, adding that false rumours about Mehsud's death had been spread in the past.The News quoted the spokesman for Mehsud as saying he had suffered a serious bullet wound to the chest in the North Waziristan tribal region, about 300 km (185 miles) southwest of Islamabad, in a clash in which two al Qaeda suspects were killed and 11 others arrested......More

GLOBAL JIHAD: Who is a Radical Islamist?

Chris Blackburn is a political analyst and writer. His expertise and research areas include intelligence, counter-terrorism and defense.

The reality here is that these Islamist groups are waging a civilizational battle to transform the Middle East and do so with help from legitimate political figures and nations. One such group is the Jamaat-i-Islami, a renowned fundamentalist group with ties to terrorism that was formed through the leadership and teaching of Maulana Abul Al Maududi and is prominent in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Another group allied to the fundamentalist cause is the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed by Hassan Al-Banna.The Brotherhood is mainly prominent in Arab countries; however, the Islamist movements frequently share ideas and use each other’s works to consolidate their ideology. The first Jihad in Afghanistan, for instance, was a major factor in the blending and co-operation of Islamist designs........More

DIASPORA: Sleep for Sale

Three Bangladeshis from Connecticut have even invested significantly in the project. "Several Bangladeshis, who are doctors and lawyers, have supported the idea, because they see how unhealthy the American working lifestyle is," explains Chowdhury. Chowdhury says he has no immediate plans to open a MetroNaps centre in Bangladesh, but plans to explore the possibility of outsourcing portions of his manufacturing process here. He even hopes to tour several factories during a family visit to Bangladesh in March. "It's just an exploratory trip at this point," he explains.

Sleep for Sale
Daud Khan

Arshad Chowdhury's new office, on the 24th floor of the iconic Empire State Building in New York City, looks like the set of a science fiction movie. Eight fiberglass and steel pods line the walls, their billowy shapes illuminated softly from lights above. What happens in them is not science, but something much more elemental: Sleep. They are the centrepiece of what Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-American, claims is the first of its kind in the world: a state of the art sleeping salon called MetroNaps, where over-worked, bleary-eyed professionals pay to take a mid-day rest.

Paying to powernap may seem like a strange idea, but MetroNaps has struck a deep chord in the global working world so far, offering professionals an easy solution for making mid-day rest part of their daily routine. With franchises opening in North America and a storm of media buzz, the innovation could change the future of working life.

MetroNaps, which opened for business in May 2004, was conceived as a redress to the negative side effects of global working culture, where employees are spending more and more of their time in their offices, staring at computer screens, with little or no rest throughout the day. Chowdhury, 29, who hails from the state of Connecticut, says there's a real problem in the lifestyle that corporate culture breeds. "In the last 15 years, people are working more and sleeping less. Now people are sleeping 6 to 7 hours a night, not the 8 to 10 recommended by doctors."

Chowdhury should know. He used to work for a multinational banking concern in New York, clocking long hours himself while watching his colleagues desperately seeking sleep. "I saw a lot of them sleeping at their desks. People would even sneak off to the bathroom to take a nap."

All the sagging eyelids convinced Chowdhury of two things: one, today's professionals are woefully sleep deprived; two, they lack viable options for taking a mid-day rest. "For someone who wants to sleep, they basically have only two options: a very uncomfortable chair or a very expensive hotel--there's nothing in between," explains Chowdhury.

Filling that void could add up to a business, he thought. But would people actually pay to take a nap?

He decided to test the concept while pursuing his MBA at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, setting up a small makeshift nap centre on the university's campus. His hunch was right, and he soon found himself with ample customers willing to pay $1.00 to take a nap in a simple lawnchair.

With renewed conviction and an MBA fresh under his belt, Chowdhury teamed up with a college friend, Christopher Lindholst, a fellow MBA graduate and the two soon secured initial funding to launch the business.

Then, using the latest sleep deprivation research, they spent two years creating the ideal sleeping environment for prospective customers, employing along the way the creative talents of Matthew Huey, who has designed furniture for such world class companies as Knoll and Lucite.

The result is the centrepiece of the MetroNaps experience: the MetroNaps pod, a sleek, futuristic-looking hull in which customers recline, make their choice of ambient music, and then slip promptly into sleep. (Chowdhury, a veritable encyclopedia of sleep statistics, says the average person falls asleep in 5 ½ minutes). Special lights and soft vibrations wake dozers at the end of the rest period, which lasts a blissful twenty minutes - the optimal amount of time to boost alertness and brain activity, Chowdhury says.

"You don't sleep as much or as deeply, but you avoid sleep inertia, the feeling of grogginess that comes from sleeping too deeply," he adds.

Eight sleeping pods now line the walls of the MetroNaps' flagship office in the Empire State building. Their quirky novelty and sci-fi good looks have already generated a storm of media buzz less than a year after going into operation, appearing in numerous major news outlets, including The New York Times, Fortune Magazine and BBC News.

Chowdhury says he's very pleased with the customer response so far, reporting that the pods are often full by the afternoon. Most customers are full-time members of the facility, paying $65 a month for daily access to the pods. The centre also attracts a good number of curious walk-in clients who pay $14 for the 20-minute session. Metronaps, open daily from 10:00am to 6:00pm, even offers a lunch service for an extra fee, serving customers their choice of sandwiches, pastas and salads when they wake.

Chowdhury is still cautiously optimistic about the future of his business, but signs abound that the company is doing well. In January, MetroNaps opened a new centre in the Vancouver International Airport in Canada, allowing weary airport goers the option of dozing off comfortably right near their gates. The cost is $15.00 for 2 hours of rest.

"Airports seemed like a natural fit because people in airports are generally exhausted," Chowdhury explains, adding, "They have long lags, so they're enthusiastic about our store."

Chowdhury hopes the company's New York and Vancouver locations are just the first of many such franchises. Eventually he'd like to see MetroNaps pods become part of the standard architectural furniture of offices and airports everywhere. "I want this to be as ubiquitous as the photocopying machine," he says.

The plan, in other words, is not just to grow the business, but to effect a larger change in the way professionals live and work. "We intend nothing less than a shift in the global working world," Chowdhury proclaims.

To that effect, MetroNaps is currently working on an international rollout, with pods to be deployed possibly in the UK, Japan, Australia and Brazil.

Chowdhury was born and raised in the US, but Bangladesh has been a central source of emotional and financial support in the launching of his business.

To begin with, growing up in a Bangali community in Connecticut helped mold Chowdhury's entrepreneurial drive, giving him the courage to take risks. "Almost everyone in my family is involved in businesses of one form or another, from groceries to Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises. I certainly saw how my family and other Bangladeshis paved their own road to success."

Building a business around a mid-day rest resonated strongly with Chowdhury's Bangladeshi circle, beginning with his father. "My father, Dr. Mujibul G. Chow-dhury, is a cardiologist and physician, and he sees the benefits of a mid-day rest."

Three Bangladeshis from Connecticut have even invested significantly in the project. "Several Bangladeshis, who are doctors and lawyers, have supported the idea, because they see how unhealthy the American working lifestyle is," explains Chowdhury.

Chowdhury says he has no immediate plans to open a MetroNaps centre in Bangladesh, but plans to explore the possibility of outsourcing portions of his manufacturing process here. He even hopes to tour several factories during a family visit to Bangladesh in March. "It's just an exploratory trip at this point," he explains.

When not working, Chowdhury plans to spend time with his family in Chittagong, including his uncle, Yakub Ali, or to visit some of his favourite spots in Dhaka: Bongo Bazar and Boss Tailors.

The growth of Metronaps will no doubt keep him busy for the foreseeable future, but Chowdhury hopes to keep coming back to Bangladesh, which he has visited every year since his childhood. "I'm always impressed to see how much development is taking place in Dhaka," Chowdhury says, adding, "I'd like to see it become more of an international destination city for tourists."

If that happens, MetroNap pods could someday pop up at Zia International, offering passengers a quick powernap before they jet off around the world.

ANALYSIS: How valid it is to ask for FBI probe in Bangladesh for Kibria Murder?

The introduction to foreign investigation body in Bangladesh can lead to a federal discrimination. Because, Bangladesh can’t afford FBI investigation for every single murder committed. The only way to do this is abolishing the local one and give the charge to a foreign investigation body which is obviously out of question.

How valid it is to ask for FBI probe in Bangladesh for Kibria Murder?
Asif Sibgat Bhuiyan

But otherwise it will appear that the state only care about the protection and welfare of the high profile personalities of the high society. Can a state really work in this fashion creating a path to a “transparent” discrimination ?

Asma Kibria, the bereaved wife of the slain diplomat turned politician Dr. Shah AMS Kibria, has lately demanded an FBI probe on the grenade attack in Habiganj which killed 5 men including her husband. Her son Dr. Reza Kibria and daughter Dr. Nazli Kibria both have staged similar demands while addressing different foreign and national platforms.

Asma Kibria said , “I will not shift my stance an inch in ensuring independent probe into the killing and fair trial of my husband’s killers.”

A renowned artist, Mrs. Kibria , further added that she is not going to trust in the local effort in this regard. According to her the local body is neither skilled nor it is free from the influence of the power quarters.

Nazli Kibria , the daughter of the late finance minister, told that US state department is willing to send FBI here to investigate but the lack of proper terms of reference with the local government is working as a barrier. Dr, Reza Kibria further added that they have no trust in the “sincere will” of the government.

Undoubtedly, every concerned citizen of Bangladesh wants to see a thorough and successful investigation in this matter and wants to see that steps have been taken to uproot the base of such criminal acts. And nobody can deny the alleged lack of skill and transparency of the local probe body on certain occassions.

However, the lack of efficiency and transparency is often a common phenomenon found in many investigative body almost everywhere in the third world where the standard for police investigation is low.

But even then, it is not beyond reason to ask how valid it is to demand for an FBI probe in Bangladesh for a single case of murder.

Firstly, the introduction to foreign investigation body in Bangladesh can lead to a federal discrimination. Because, Bangladesh can’t afford FBI investigation for every single murder committed. The only way to do this is abolishing the local one and give the charge to a foreign investigation body which is obviously out of question.

But otherwise it will appear that the state only care about the protection and welfare of the high profile personalities of the high society. Can a state really work in this fashion creating a path to a “transparent” discrimination ?

Secondly, The introduction of FBI itself in the state is not an idea much welcomable. A state can’t sacrifice the bigger interest of it to satiate a smaller interest. To ensure the state security as a whole is the top most priority of a government.

Giving free access to FBI is not another bread and butter in the basket. Once this ‘culture’ starts it can harm the state security in the shape of giving away state secrets and confidential information to foreign bodies, let that be FBI or Interpol or any other body.

Thirdly, hunting down the killers of state sensational killers is not a cakewalk. Foreign agencies, including FBI, CIA, now defunct KGB, Interpol, Mossad etc all have their personal failures in finding killers of different high profile murders. The latest example includes the mission for hunting down the biggest killer and terrorist of US’s history Osama Bin Laden.

If we accept the fact that US intelligence agencies are having hard time finding the worst killer of their history, why we cannot accept the fact that Bangladeshi agencies are having hard time finding killers of people like Kibria? Can bringing foreign investigators guarantee anything, when those foreign bodies have failures of their own?

And in recent times, we did invite FBI, Interpol experts to aid our investigators in grenade attack probes on UK High Commissioner. From media reports we have seen that those probes were inconclusive.

Having all sympathy towards the Kibria family and their desperate quest for hunting down the killers of their father/husband, we can still conclude that the family should look at things not only from a family perspective but more from a state level one.

Specially when they have started the peace rally naming ‘blue for peace’, which to us is a praiseworthy altruistic effort.

But an altruistic scheme should always stem from an altruistic motto. There are many bereaved family that are in need of justice but are not just getting the required exposure that the Kibria family is blessed with.

A proper claim can be the renovating and re-enforcing of the local probe. Because that is what to be done to seal or atleast to fight out this mesmerizing problem of political hooliganism. Ridding of problem by introducing another one is not a healthy practice, that too when the latter one can be proved to be more grievous than the previous one.

If the medicine of a strong cold gives u a cancer , then u can always decide to switch to alternatives and if not any then decide to coexist with the cold.

Inviting foreign probe may proved to be a long-term liability. A liability unavoidable.

ANALYSIS: The Indian rope trick

India has a history of either vanishing when it is required to intervene in its neighbours' affairs, or of intervening dead wrong. The dilemma for India shows up whenever there is a crisis 'natural or political' in the neighbourhood. To an extent, it is fine for India to mobilise its armed forces to help Sri Lanka's tsunami victims. But what should it do whenever there is a political crisis such as the recent suspension of democracy in Nepal? Should it play honest broker between Nepal's recalcitrant Maoist rebels and an obdurate King Gyanendra, or should it allow the tiny Himalayan kingdom to reach its own solution/s? India has intervened in the past, the "liberation" of Bangladesh from Pakistani oppression and peacekeeping efforts in Sri Lanka being standing examples. But there is no clarity, even after all these years, whether the interventions served India's national interests and, as a corollary, endeared it to its neighbours.

The Indian rope trick
Sanjay Kapoor

Being the largest nation in South Asia, India just cannot figure out how it should deal with its neighbours. Too much interest in their affairs is seen as interference and attempts to spread and consolidate its hegemony. Contrarily, ignoring the happenings within these neighbours is seen as a manifest abdication of responsibility towards those who need help. The gentle balance, and the understanding, needed to handle these delicate relationships are somehow missing.

Perhaps all this has to do with the subcontinent's colonial past, and the violence associated with the birth of some South Asian nations. Even after 50-odd years of India's independent existence, the countries of this region are uncomfortable in, and with, the presence of one another. Unresolved issues pertaining to the partitioning into subnationalities by national borders hastily drawn by colonial rulers continue to foment violence and hatred in this region. This ongoing turbulence has allowed the world's stronger powers to pursue their own agendas. Even China, wary of an ambitious India, has taken advantage of this chaos.

The dilemma for India shows up whenever there is a crisis ? natural or political ? in the neighbourhood. To an extent, it is fine for India to mobilise its armed forces to help Sri Lanka's tsunami victims. But what should it do whenever there is a political crisis such as the recent suspension of democracy in Nepal? Should it play honest broker between Nepal's recalcitrant Maoist rebels and an obdurate King Gyanendra, or should it allow the tiny Himalayan kingdom to reach its own solution/s? India has intervened in the past, the "liberation" of Bangladesh from Pakistani oppression and peacekeeping efforts in Sri Lanka being standing examples. But there is no clarity, even after all these years, whether the interventions served India's national interests and, as a corollary, endeared it to its neighbours.

History never develops linearly: long before King Gyanendra dismissed the government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the Indian government had been trying to figure out what it should do with, and in, Nepal.

When the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition was in power, there was no ambivalence about which group it should back: King Gyanendra, a royal Hindu, was putting up a valiant battle against non-believers. Gyanendra was networked with Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, who organised their "Sita yatra" to Janakpur in Nepal. Furthermore, US military advisors continue to assist the Royal Nepalese Army in taking on the Maoists.

After the Deuba government's removal, the Indian government criticised Gyanendra, asking him to restore democracy in Nepal. India also threatened to stop military aid and, ominously, to take steps that could make Gyanendra's life difficult. This decision of the Indian Foreign Service establishment didn't quite enjoy the backing of the intelligence agencies. The foreign service feared that Nepal was being forced into China's arms and of others inimical to India's national interest.

The Chinese government empathised with the Gyanendra's palace coup. (In fact, a few days before his takeover, the Nepalese government had shut down the Tibetans' Kathmandu office. It was a move, experts say, meant to mollify Beijing.)

While Gyanendra has been using his brinkmanship to force the Indian government to back him, the Indian government fears a repeat of the quagmire it got stuck in in Sri Lanka and is adhering to a hands-off policy.

The big question is: can India afford not to mobilise itself? The reluctance of various Indian governments to play a more proactive role has hurt India dear in the past. Its failure to keep the regime of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Masood afloat in Kabul, for instance, permitted the spread of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In geopolitical terms, India has squandered away a lot of influence ? with Pakistan turning into the real beneficiary. Only after 9/11 and the Afghan war was this "imbalance" corrected.

In Myanmar, the Indian foreign establishment's indifference allowed the Chinese a free run. The Chinese slowly gobbled up the markets traditionally controlled by Indian companies. It is only in the past few years that India, properly unnerved, has put together a neighbourhood policy and is now looking at Myanmar more closely than ever before. India's petroleum ministry's recent efforts to tie up with Myanmar's oil enterprise could help India regain its footing.

India should seize the moment in Kathmandu and help Nepal find an honourable solution to its crisis. It might require deft diplomacy and micro-detailing of the tripartite arrangement between the Maoists, the political class and the Palace. Anything less might leave India vulnerable: not only would the Maoists spread disaffection in Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal Pradesh, where many Maoists and other political leaders have gone underground, hesitation would show India up as a country unworthy of its regional leadership position and an aspirant to a permanent slot in the UN Security Council.

India needs to prove to its neighbours the sincerity of its real politik. Its commitment to democracy could help provide it the moral stature for the neighbours not to feel queasy about its intentions.

GLOBAL JIHAD: The Freeing Of Humanity And Homelands Under The Banner Of The Qur’an

Here is the complete uncut and uncensored translation of the audio tape issued by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri on February 11, 2005. In this address titled “The Freeing of Humanity and Homelands under the Banner of the Qur’an”, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri rejects American “freedom” and lays out three principles for restoring strength to the Ummah. This document has been translated to English by JUS, and all rights are reserved. You may circulate it broadly with our copyright and accreditation. We remind our viewers that the statements, opinions and points of view expressed in this article are those of the author and shall not be deemed to mean that they are necessarily those of Jihad Unspun, the publisher, editor, writers, contributors or staff.

The Freeing Of Humanity And Homelands Under The Banner Of The Qur’an
Dr. Aymen Al-Zawahiri

In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
All praise be unto Allah, we seek His help, His guidance and His forgiveness.
And we seek refuge through Allah from the evils of ourselves and our bad deeds, whoever Allah guides, non can misguide, and whoever He misguides, non can guide.
Oh you who believe, fear Allah as much as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims
Oh mankind, fear your Lord, who created you out of one soul, and he created from it its partner, and He spread from them many men and women, and fear Allah, whom you will be asked about, and the wombs, verily Allah is Everwatching over you.

Dear Muslim brothers in all places,

May the peace and blessings of Allah be with you.

America has been attempting for a long time to establish its crusader military presence in the land of Islam. One of the means of establishing this presence is by supporting the Zionist entity and regarding it as the main steppingstone in its crusader war against our Islamic world, therefore the Jewish occupation of Palestine cannot be regarded as a regional issue confined to Palestine, and related to the Palestinians alone. Rather in the scale of Islam, it is an aggression on the house of Islam, as the Muslims are one nation, and their land is that of one country.

In the scale of any neutral analysis it will become clear that the Zionist entity is nothing but the front of the American campaign to control the Islamic East, and it is nothing but part of a massive campaign against the Islamic world, in which the West under America’s leadership has allied with global Zionism.

And with the coming of the current White House administration, the spiteful crusader spirit erupted to its most idiotic peak of support to Israel, and this stupid administration did not expect to face, with Allah’s grace, this tremendous Islamic resistance, due to its pride and arrogance,. That resistance reached its peak with the blessed battles of New York and Washington.

Like a blind bull, America decided to attack Afghanistan, and then its idiocy increased and it attacked Iraq, and then America discovered that sit had sunk with its ears into the biggest predicament it has been exposed to in its history, and its intention of starting a campaign to scare and terrorize Muslims has turned against itself with the steady flow of American blood, and weakening of its economy, and the exposing of their lowly behavior, and their principled hypocrisy - a predicament from which there is no escape except the declaration of America’s total defeat and withdrawal, and the acceptance of the strength of the Muslim Ummah, which is dependant solely on Allah, with all that that holds of catastrophic results for the American empire and their allied rulers in the Islamic world, especially after she has seen the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the weakening of its reach, after they withdrew defeated out of Afghanistan, after they accepted defeat in an exhausting war which nearly destroyed its resources without achieving any victory, or stretch in the areas of its reach. Rather the opposite happened, in that it left with no return, ten years later, known as the Soviet Union.

Therefore America is trying with all that it has to fight the Muslim Ummah in their beliefs, which represents the biggest threat to America’s arrogant existence, especially since voices have increased inside America saying that there is no hope in defeating what they call “terrorism”, the deceitful name for Jihad, except by changing the beliefs of the Muslims, and their minds, and the military confrontation with America will only lead to more losses for America; it may shake the foundation of the American empire.

But instead of America examining itself and asking for the reason that the Muslims are inflicting these great losses on them, it only increased in arrogance, and it started thinking about how to change the beliefs and thoughts of the Muslims, so that they can accept the American crimes against Islam and the Muslims. From here came the calls that they will free the Muslims from ignorance, fanaticism and suppression, so that they can fly with them into the horizons of freedom, equality and knowledge.

What makes us laugh and cry is that these callers look at us with a naked eye and fanatical and mad thinking. Freedom absolutely does not mean that we remove Israel, and it doesn’t mean that we are equal with Israel in conventional and non-conventional weapons, and it doesn’t mean that we choose Islam as a way of life, and it doesn’t mean that we chase away the crusader American forces from our oil fields, it doesn’t mean that we sell petrol at the price that we choose, nor does it mean that we choose school syllabus of our choice. It does not mean helping our oppressed brothers in Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya, nor does it mean declaring Jihad against America and its crimes, nor does it mean ridding ourselves from America’s agents who control us, with force and forgery, it doesn’t mean choosing with our own freewill, leaders who will strive to free our lands and retrieve our stolen wealth.

Freedom in Americas eyes under no circumstances means any of this, even if we choose it and strive for it with complete will power and free choice, for that in the eyes of America is fanaticism and backwardness, ignorance and rebelliousness against the American authority and the Crusader Jewish oppressor, who rule the sons of man. This ignorance and fanaticism (according to them), must be confronted with force, suppression, forging, occupation, shelling and destruction, and killing tens of thousands of women and children, as a sacrifice on the altar of American freedom.

Freedom in the eyes of the American freedom promoters means a group of things which make us laugh and cry, which covers the approval of Israel’s occupation of our lands, and her daily incursions and expansions at our expense. It means our absolute inability to confront the Zionist entity, it means stopping any resistance against the Zionist entity from our Ummah, it means permitting disengaging moral behavior, the permitting of everything, perverse sexual behavior and making fun of religion, the prophets and manners; it means changing our school syllabus to teach our sons that Israel is oppressed and that it has not yet gotten all its rights from our Ummah, and that our Islam is a group of rigid, fanatical beliefs, which may have been appropriate for times of old, but now have no place in the new American crusader age, it means that we allow our oil and resources into the hands of the bloodsuckers of New York and Washington, and that we submit to the gangs which control our lands so that they may inherit us like real estate through forgery, force and suppression.

It means after all that, that we allow and even be pleased with the America’s bombing of any resistance or semi-resistance that rises in our land against the policies of the champions of freedom, the new crusaders, even if that means the frying of the flesh of our women and children, the destruction of our cities, and the burning of our Qur’ans.

The Highest helper, Allah, the Exalted has guided the Muslim Ummah to vex the American crusader oppressor, and to uncover the reality of the false American power, which has millions of tons of iron and explosives, but does not have the bravery to face death, defend principles, or sacrifice for firm beliefs. How can they have this when they are a people with no principles and no morals, despite all their claims and their lies.

I bear witness in front of Allah that we have tested these American infidels and we have exposed their failure, soldiers more cowardly than cowardice itself, more weak than weakness itself; they rely solely on observations then shelling from afar, and hiring gangs of mercenaries and bandits. Other than that, there is no bravery, no courage, no patience and no steadfastness. In fact, there is no fulfilling of treaties and agreements.

Agreements to them are nothing but a means of deceiving the enemy and lure him; there is no relation between it and honesty, loyalty and honor. The agreement to leave Qunduz, and what followed of the massacre at Jangi fortress and then the killing of over a thousand prisoners in tanks through choking and thirst is the best testament to this.

As the Highest helper, Allah the Exalted has guided us to confront the lying American power, vexing it, and bringing it down to its true size, and to show that its defeat is possible on the hands of the people of Jihad and martyrdom, so must we also confront America in the field of beliefs and principles, to expose their Shirk, sinfulness and hypocrisy.

The freedom we want is not the lowly, filthy American freedom, it is not the freedom of the banks of usury, major corporations, and deceitful media, it is not the freedom of destruction of others for the sake of material interests, it is not the freedom of AIDS, spreading obscenity, and symbol marriages. It is not the freedom of gambling, alcohol and family breakups, it is not the freedom of using women as merchandise to gain customers, sign deals and attract tourists and sell products. It is not the freedom of double standards, and dividing people into robbers and robbed, it is not the freedom of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is not the freedom of selling torture machines, and supporting regimes of force, suppression and might, the friends of America, it is not the freedom of Israel massacring Muslims, destroying Masjid Al-Aqsa and turning Palestine into a Jewish state, it is not the freedom of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, it is not the freedom of carpet bombings, seven ton bombs, cluster bombs and leaf fallers, nor depleted uranium, and the destruction of villages in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not the freedom of the government of Haliburton and its sister blood suckers. It is not the freedom of monopolization of weapons of mass destruction, developing it and then forbidding it from others. It is not the freedom of monopolizing the vote in the Security Council to the five big nations, four of whom are crusaders.

Our freedom is the freedom of Tawheed, morals, chastity, fairness, and justice. Therefore the reform we wish to apply is based on three principles:

The First Principle: The Ruling Of Sharee’ah

The Sharee’ah brought down by Allah is the Sharee’ah which must be followed. In this matter, no person is able to stand in a position of waviness or oscillation; it is a matter that can only be received very seriously because it doesn’t accept jokes. Either you are a believer in Allah and then you have to abide by His laws, or either you are a disbeliever in Him, and then there is no use in discussing with you the details of His law.

The waviness which western secularism desires to spread, no proper mind which respects itself can accept. Because Allah if he is the Ruler then He has the right to rule; this is obvious and there is no hesitation. If a person believes in Allah then it is not logical to argue with His Lord the details of His laws, or to give himself the right to remove himself from those laws, or to stand in the face of those laws in a position of playful waviness. Rather it is compulsory on the one who believes in Allah to search for Allah’s laws so that He may implement them.

And so it is that if you are a disbeliever in Allah, then logically there is no use in debating with you the details of His laws, rather it is logically compulsory to look into the existence of Allah, as this is the most important matter in existence, rather it is the issue of issues, upon which all other issues are built.

Therefore it is compulsory on the believers in Allah to argue with others this main issue firstly, because running from it is what the secularists want, they who cannot face the truth in this clear matter, the matter of Allah’s existence, and so it is that they turn to their known tricks, striving to reach a middle solution with the believers, far from exposing their impotence in front of the question of Allah’s existence.

The beliefs of Islam do not differentiate between the existence of Allah and recognizing His right in ruling and legislating. This kind of differentiation cannot be made by a serious believer nor a serious atheist. Therefore, among the most important tricks of the secularists in covering up their impotence was to mix freedom and the removal of the right of legislating from Allah and giving it to man; this is a mix which does not conform in the sound mind, rather real freedom is submitting to the sharee’ah which is above greed, enmities and base desires.

And if it is that secular Europe have mixed freedom with removing religion from ruling, because it faced a church which gave itself infallibility and the right to speak on Allah’s behalf, and invented a trinity which no mind can accept, and allied itself with kings and patriarchs, and gave them the right of divine rule, and e sold people stamps of forgiveness, and came between the creation and their Lord, people admitting to them their sins so that they may forgive them, and fought the scientists and scientific research, then what is our sin as no church has stood in our lands, and we have no infallible person except for the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the ruler by us is not infallible, nor cajoled, nor is he legislator nor eternally ruler, whom no person can debate on his views. He is rather a human being whom an allegiance is pledged to, to obey in that which is good, and he is removed if he exceeds his limits.

What is our fault, seeing as there is none amongst us who claims to speak on behalf of Allah and His prophet, peace be upon him, nor anyone who has inherited authority, entrustment or agency, which raises him above wrongdoing, forgives him from criticism, or which gives him the right to legislate and rule and engage in the lives of people and their wealth. What is our fault as there is none amongst us who claims the right of intercession between Allah and His creation? What is our fault, as there is no men of religion amongst us, only scholars, whose words have no infallibility, and they do not claim agency on behalf of a hidden force, rather the truthfulness of their words and its proof-worthiness, is based on the strength of their proof of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

What is our fault, as there is none amongst us who claim the right of forgiving sins, nor the engaging in the wealth of the people without consequence, nor do we sell stamps in exchange for forgiveness. What is our fault, as never did we fight scientists and science, rather we are a nation that honored science and scientists, and our natural sciences like medicine, architecture and astronomy all developed in the arms of the mosque and the school.

What is our fault that we inherit the bitter leftovers, which the West inherited in its struggle against the Church-king alliance? Or is it the blind intellectual following, that followed the military defeat, and which pants blindly behind the West in good and bad, and we inherited from it, that which we have no role in.

Then if we look historically at the difference between the Sharee’ah government and the secular governments, then what do we see, we see that the Sharee’ah government in its weakest state, and in its worst of stages, and its worst states of disintegration and deprivation, it still maintained the unity of the Muslim Ummah with all its different nations and races, and it stopped the crusaders from our lands for a period of five centuries, and it revived the obligation of Jihad, and so it fought the crusaders in their own lands, and it conquered Constantinople, at the time when Andalusia was breaking up from decaying and disintegration under the strikes of the crusaders; it held on to Palestine, and Sultan Abdul-Hameed, in the last moments of the nation, refused to hand over even a hands size of the land of Palestine.

As for the secular governments, they had cooperated with the crusaders in the first world war against the Khilafat, and they accepted the borders of Sikes-Biko, and the division of Sir Percy Cox of the Arabian Peninsula, and they brought in the period of half a century, five major catastrophes on the Muslim Ummah, beginning with the 1948 war and ending with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, they accepted the existence of Israel, and they acknowledged it, they stepped down on most of Palestine for it, and they even signed treaties with it to fight the Mujahideen in Sharm Al-Shaykh, in 1996. They helped laid siege to the land of Iraq and then helped attack it, they helped invade Afghanistan, and they accepted the agent governments which the crusader aggressors put up in Iraq and Afghanistan. They fought Islam and they fought the Jihad against Israel and America, and they spread filth, rottenness, robbery and secularism with fraud, force and military courts.

This is the Islamic Khilafat in its weakest moments and this is the secular governments at the peak of their might, strength and arrogance against our Ummah. Allah says: (The example of the two groups is like the blind and deaf, and the seeing and hearing, are they equal as an example, so don’t you take heed). and (Shall we make the Muslims like the criminals (35) What is wrong with you, how do you judge).

The Second Principle: Freedom Of The Homelands Of Islam

The second principle upon which reform must be built on is a branch of the first principle: The freedom of the homelands of Islam, and freeing it from every occupying robbing thief, as no reform can be pictured to take place while we are under the burden of American and Jewish occupation, no free elections nor independent governments can take place, nor can our honor and dignity be guaranteed while the crusader and Jewish forces are trampling our land, killing whoever they want, and shelling whoever they want, and torturing whoever they want; they divide people into moderates, who have the right of freedom and practicing politics, and terrorists, who must expect nothing but destruction, death and torture.

No reform can take place while our governments are striving to recognize and create ties with Israel so that our economy may be destroyed, in order that they may achieve their personal interests, like the Egyptian government signed the Kwayz agreement with Israel, so that Husni Mubarak and his gang may benefit.

No reform can take place while under the pressure of governments put up by an occupier, with forged elections, under the supervision of the United Nations, under the protection of B-52 bombers, Apache helicopter rockets, seven ton bombs and cluster bombs. No reform can take place, whilst we are impotent, naked in front of Israel’s nuclear arsenal. No reform can take place while our oil is being stolen under the threat of American warships.

The Third Principle: The Freedom Of Humanity

The third principle is also a branch of the first principle, the freedom of humanity. The Ummah must harness its right to choose its ruler, to judge him, to criticize him and to remove him, to harness its right to command what is right and forbid what is evil, the Ummah must confront all types of aggression against the sanctity of people, their freedom and their rights, the Ummah has to confront force, harshness, robbery, forgery, rottenness, inheriting of rule which our rulers practice with the blessings and support of America. The Ummah must harness its right to know about what is happening around it, and reaching the truth, instead of being sold in secret agreements, in exchange for the remaining of a rotten and decaying ruler, and their children in thrones of power.

The Ummah must accept the authority of the Sharee’ah judgement, and that no person has the right to touch the rights of others except with its ruling.

These three principles of reform, and they are: The ruling of the Quran, and the freedom of homelands and humanity, cannot be achieved except with Jihad, and struggle and martyrdom, it will not be achieved except if we remove our enemies from our homeland, except if we secure our rights with the power of Jihad, our enemies will not leave our land with begging and asking, the rotten rulers will not be removed from their thrones of power which they are preparing for their children except through the power of Jihad, and how can they be removed by means other than the power of Jihad, when it is they who have blocked all means of peaceful change, and they rather punished those who attempted it with prison, death, torture and exile. They are the ones who silence every noble voice which confronts their oppression, they forge every election, they have put together an army of people linked to knowledge, who bless their wrongdoings, and who make a crime out of every call to change and reform, and they label every caller to command what is good and forbid what is evil that he is a Khariji, inciting turmoil, but what is turmoil except that which they defend, and who are its heads except those who pay their salaries, and they spread amongst the Ummah the school of thought of the Murji’a.

Ibn Asakir, may Allah have mercy on him, narrated from Al-Nadr bin Shumeil, may Allah have mercy on him, that he said: I entered the company of Al-Ma’moon, and then he asked me: How are you this morning Al-Nadr? So I replied: Well Oh Ameer ul Mu’mineen. So he said: Do you know what Irjaa’ is? I said: Religion that conforms to the desires of kings, through which they seek what they want of the dunya, and it removes from them their religion. He Said: You have told the truth.

And so it is that there is no reform without Jihad, and the truthful honest one, peace be upon him, spoke the truth when he said: (If you leave Jihad, hold onto the tails of cattle, and you… etc, etc: humilation and disgrace will accompany you in your necks, until you repent to Allah)

I swear by Allah whom there is no God but Him, that these crusaders and their helpers are only gaining victories against us because of our weakness, impotence, hesitation, and our holding onto this dying dunya. But if we gain victory over ourselves, and decide to die in honor and not to live in disgrace, and if we decide to sacrifice ourselves, our wealth, our fame, and our comfort in the path of Allah, then we have to defeat them with the will of Allah, and their weakness, destruction and feebleness, will become apparent to us. Allah says: (Those who believe fight in the path of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the path of Taghut (evil), so fight you the friends of Satan, verily the plot of Satan is weak).

So since it has become clear to us that there is no path except the path of Jihad and resistance to purify our lands, and to take our rights by force, after the crusaders and the Jews have blocked all other avenues for peaceful change, we must rush forth in resistance by every means available to us, beginning with education and Da’wah (propagation), inciting, organizing, consultation, gathering of rows of fighters and ending with carrying the weapon, and striking against the enemies of Islam, and then helping Jihad and the Mujahideen with wealth and self.

In this great battle, each one of us has his important and dangerous role, and on his shoulders is a great responsibility, which he will be asked about on the day of judgement. Allah says: (March forth, light and heavy, and struggle with your wealth and your lives in the path of Allah, that is better for you, if only you but knew). And the Most Exalted said: (There is no blame on the weak or ill or who find no resources to spend (in Jihad), if they are sincere and true (in duty) to Allah and His messenger. No ground can there be against the good-doers). And the prophet, peace be upon him said: ((Struggle against the mushrikeen, with your wealth, your souls and your tongues)).

And the prophet, peace be upon him said: (There was never a prophet sent before me, except were with a group of disciples from his nation, and companions who follow his follow his tradition and his command, and then others come after them, who say what they do not do, and they do what they are not commanded to do, so whoever struggles against them with his hand then he is a believer, and whoever struggles against them with his tongue, then he is a believer, and whoever struggles against them with his heart then he is a believer, and there is not even the size of a mustard seed of faith besides that).

In this great battle, the role of the true scholars, and honest propagators, and the intellectuals becomes apparent, in educating the Ummah, and showing them the dangers facing them, and inciting them to resist. Allah says, addressing his prophet, peace be upon him: {So fight in the path of Allah, only holding yourself accountable, and incite the believers, hopefully Allah will stop the might of those who disbelieved and Allah is mightier and more severe}.

The role also becomes apparent in removing the legitimacy of these systems which are far away from the law of Allah, and which are allied with Allah’s enemy and exposing the obscurities of the new Murji’a, the servants of the Sultan, who change the law of Allah for the sake of their salary and their posts.

In this great battle, the role of the generals and soldiers become great, as they are the main component upon which these governments depend on to oppress their people, and in the continuing of their policies which allies itself with the crusaders, and as they are the main means of change in our lands after our Ummah has been taken away from practicing its right in choosing its leaders, judging him and observing his deeds, and here becomes apparent the role of propagation, clarification, and announcements in educating the Ummah, especially the generals and soldiers and the duty imposed on them, and that they need to use their weapons and their abilities to defend Islam, and not to partake in aggression against Muslims, nor repressing them, nor surrounding the Mujahideen and chasing them.

In this great battle, the role of the youth becomes clear, as they are the front of the Mujahideen, who have, with Allah’s permission, spoiled the plans of the crusaders and the Jews in their plots in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Chechnya. It is compulsory on the Muslim youth to spread the battle against the crusaders and Jews on the biggest space possible of land, and to threaten their interests in all places, and to not let them rest or find stability.

In this great battle, the role of money becomes apparent, as it is the nerve of war and its fuel, therefore we should give the Zakat of our wealth to the Mujahideen, and to support the Jihad against the crusaders and the Jews, and we have to avoid with all means possible paying taxes to these agent governments, which uses our money to implement the policies of the crusaders and the Jews.

In this great battle, the role becomes apparent of the teachers, the journalists, the trade union men, the tribal elders, the traders and all walks of the Ummah with no exception.

In this great battle, the role becomes apparent of the people of opinions and position, in gathering the rows of the Ummah under the banner of Jihad in the path of Allah, organizing the resistance, distributing tasks and gathering energies.

In this great battle, it becomes the duty of all of us, individuals, movements and groups to unite and gather for the sake of Jihad against the crusaders, the Jews and their agents who rule our homelands, and to not accept any middle solution with them, or any course which justifies their position. We must all break away from them, discard them, oppose them, and incite in opposing them, and gather the Ummah to wage Jihad against them.

So Oh Muslims! Fight Jihad in the path of Allah! And let our slogan be: The freeing of humanity and homelands under the banner of the Qur’an.

And our final supplication, is that may all praise be unto Allah, Lord of the worlds. And may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our master, Muhammad, his family and companions.

Email to Dak Bangla from Party for Islamic Renewal

GLOBAL JIHAD: Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman

Zawahiri was associated with a faction of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad known as the Vanguards of Conquest. Zawahiri and the Vanguards of Conquest were seeking to recreate Mohammed's taking of mecca by a small band through violent attacks on Egyptian leaders. By 1998, Zawahiri had determined that the Egyptian Islamic Jihad should focus on its struggle against the United States and hold off on further attacks against the Egyptian regime. A key question is how they acquired the anthrax strain first isolated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab in 1980. According to senior counter terrorism officials, both here and abroad, among the supporters of these militant islamists were people who blended into society and were available to act when another part of the network requested it.

Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman: Means, Motive, Modus Operandi and Opportunity

Homeland Security In early June 2003, a Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") report publicly disclosed that the reason for Mohammed Atta's and Zacarias Moussaoui's inquiries into cropdusters was for the contemplated use in dispersing biological agents such as anthrax. An early September 2003 Newsweek article included a rumor by a Taliban source that at a meeting in April 2003 Bin Laden was planning an "unbelievable" biological attack, the plans for which had suffered a setback upon the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed ("KSM"). He had been captured the previous month in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. In November 2003, a report by a UN Panel of experts concluded that Al Qaeda is determined to use chemical and biological weapons and is restrained only by technical difficulties.

In a statement issued June 16, 2004, the 9/11 Commission Staff concluded that "Al Qaeda had an ambitious biological weapons program and was making advances in its ability to produce anthrax prior to September 11. According to Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, al Qaeda’s ability to conduct an anthrax attack is one of the most immediate threats the United States is likely to face." On August 9, 2004, it was announced that in the Spring of 2001, a man named El-Shukrijumah, also known as Jafar the Pilot, who was part of a "second wave," had been casing New York City helicopters. Photographs from a seized computer disc included the controls and the locks on the door between the passengers and pilot. In a bulletin, the FBI noted that the surveillance might relate to a plot to disperse a chemical or biological weapon.

The CIA reportedly has been quietly building a case that the anthrax mailings were an international plot. This is old news. It's just no longer bureaucratically impolite to openly contest the FBI's (former) theory about a lone, American scientist. Many people have argued that a US-based Al Qaeda operative is behind the earlier Fall 2001 anthrax mailings in the US, and that the mailings served as a threat and warning. Princeton islamist scholar Bernard Lewis has explained that while islamists may disagree about whether killing innocents is sanctioned by the laws of jihad, extremists like Zawahiri agree that notice must be given before biochemical weapons are used. "The Prophet's guidance," says Michael Scheuer, an al-Qaeda analyst who recently retired from the CIA and once headed its Bin Laden unit, "was always, Before you attack someone, warn them very clearly..." The anthrax mailings followed the pattern of letters they sent in January 1997 to newspaper branches in Washington, D.C. and New York City, as well as symbolic targets. The letter bombs were sent in connection with the detention of the blind sheik Abdel Rahman and those responsible for the earlier World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Handwritten notes and files on a laptop seized upon the capture of KSM, Al Qaeda's #3, included a feasible anthrax production plan using a spray dryer and addressed the recruitment of necessary expertise. What your morning paper did not tell you, however, was that the CIA seized a similar disc from Ayman Zawahiri's right-hand, Ahmed Salama Mabruk, 5 years earlier. The computer disk was confiscated from him during his arrest by the CIA in Azerbaijan and handed over to the Egyptian authorities. Mabruk, at the time, was the head of Jihad's military operations. There is a risk that observers underestimate the time that Al Qaeda has had to make progress in such recruitment and research and development.

Some may still think that even in the final stages of the 9/11 plot, Zacarias Moussaoui was going to fly a 5th plane into the Capitol or White House. Others argue that he was to be part of a second wave of airliners directed to targets on the West Coast. There is an e-mail by Moussaoui, however, dated July 31, 2001 indicating that he sought to take a crop dusting course that was to last up to 6 months. In March 2003, Mohammed reportedly said that Moussaoui was not going to be part of 9/11 but was to be part of a "second wave." Although Ramzi Binalshibh provided him $14,000 in July, accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told his trial judge that he had an al Qaeda mission that would have come after the terrorist attacks. KSM explained that Moussaoui's inquiries about crop dusters may have been related to the anthrax work being done by US-trained biochemist and Al Qaeda operative, Malaysian Yazid Sufaat. Zacarias Moussaoui, never the sharpest tool in the shed and thought by his superiors to be unreliable, has told the judge at his trial in a filing that he wants "anthrax for Jew sympathizer only." Al Qaeda's regional operative, Hambali, who was at a key January 2000 meeting and supervised Sufaat, has been captured. Hambali reportedly is cooperating to some degree. KSM and Hambali sent al-Hindi (al-Britani), along with Jafar the Pilot, to case NYC targets for a second wave. It was as part of that surveillance in early 2001 that Jafar the Pilot studied tourist helicopters in the NYC area.

Sufaat, according to both KSM and Hambali, did not have the virulent US Army Ames strain that would be used. That would require someone who had access to the strain. But if experience is any guide, nothing would stand in the way of Dr. Ayman Zawahiri's decade-long quest to weaponize and use anthrax against US targets that was described by one confidante to an Egyptian newspaper reporter. The islamist had been released from Egyptian prison and had known Zawahiri well for many years. Emails from Zawahiri to Atef in the Spring of 1999 indicate that Ayman was a close student of the USAMRIID anthrax program. He believed that the koran instructed that a jihadist should use the weapons used by the crusader. "What we know is that he's always said it was a religious obligation to have the same weapons as their enemies," former CIA OBL unit counter terrorism chief Michael Scheuer has said. The Wall Street Journal reported that a computer used by Zawahiri contains a June 1999 memo that "said the program should seek cover and talent in educational institutions, which it said were 'more beneficial to us and allow easy access to specialists, which will greatly benefit us in the first stage, God willing.' ''

Zawahiri was associated with a faction of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad known as the Vanguards of Conquest. Zawahiri and the Vanguards of Conquest were seeking to recreate Mohammed's taking of mecca by a small band through violent attacks on Egyptian leaders. By 1998, Zawahiri had determined that the Egyptian Islamic Jihad should focus on its struggle against the United States and hold off on further attacks against the Egyptian regime.

A key question is how they acquired the anthrax strain first isolated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab in 1980. According to senior counter terrorism officials, both here and abroad, among the supporters of these militant islamists were people who blended into society and were available to act when another part of the network requested it.

A few days before Christmas 2003, after a renewed audiotape threat by Zawahiri of attacks, to include in the US homeland, the threat level was raised to orange or "high." After the alert condition had long since returned to yellow, Zawahiri in late February issued another audiotape. He urged the President that brigades and brigades would be coming under the banner of jihad carrying death and seeking paradise. Zawahiri said that the US should expect another 9/11 on US soil. According to some reports, Zawahiri is thought by intelligence to be somewhere near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. At one time, some thought he had been spotted in Iran. Wherever he is, authorities need to focus on the traceable connection between him and those he or Atef recruited.

In October 2001, did the FBI profilers know of the draft message Khalid Mohammed had on the seized laptop (from 1995) that was signed "Khalid Sheik Bojinka"? The letter threatened to use biochemical weapons if the blind sheik was not released. (Khalid Mohammed's involvement dates back to Bojinka, as does Hambali's). Use of biochemical weapons as blackmail and threatened retaliation for such detentions was an alternative scenario in the Bojinka planning.

In May 2004, Patrick Hughes, Lieutenant General (Retired), Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis, Homeland Security Department testified before the 9/11 Commission. He explained that interrogations and other evidence revealed that Al Qaeda wanted to strike the US with a nonconventional weapon, most notably anthrax. The same week, the WTC head testified that while they had not received any briefing on the use of planes, they had taken steps to prepare for an attack using anthrax based on intelligence that had been received.

Al Qaeda has had anthrax, the raw seed product in its unweaponized form, since at least 1997, when it was purchased by Bin Laden through the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ("Moro Front" or "MILF"). Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's #2, is head of Al Qaeda's biochemical program. The CIA has known of Zawahiri's plans to use anthrax for a half decade. The confidante and right-hand man of Dr. Ayman Zawahiri admitted that Zawahiri succeeded in obtaining anthrax and intended to use it against US targets. Another senior Al Qaeda member (a shura or policy-making council member no less) was working for the Egyptian intelligence services and he confirmed the report in a sworn lengthy confession. Even Zawahiri's attorney in 1999 said that Bin Laden and Zawahiri were likely to resort to the biological and chemical agents they possessed given the extradition pressure senior Al Qaeda leaders faced. A recently released islamist who had been a close associate of Zawahiri said that Zawahiri spent a decade and had made 15 separate attempts to recruit the necessary expertise to weaponize anthrax in Russia and the Middle East. The US Army recipe was not used, and obtaining the unprocessed Ames strain of anthrax used does not warrant the weight given it by some press accounts. There was lax control over the distribution of the Ames strain that was used, especially in light of the fact that transfers were not even required to be recorded prior to 1997. Significantly, the individual who isolated it nearly a quarter century ago (now retired), upon being contacted, does not even report that he necessarily sent the only copy of the strain to Ft. Detrick. Senator Patrick Leahy at a Congressional hearing in the Spring of 2002 noted that the FBI had collected the Ames strain from 20 sources. In Fall 2004, MSNBC, relying on an unnamed FBI spokesperson, reports that the FBI has narrowed the pool of labs known to have had Ames that was a match from 16 to 4 but cannot rule out that it was made overseas.

Al Qaeda's anthrax production plans on Khalid Mohammed's computer did not evidence knowledge of advanced techniques in the most efficient biological weapons. At least according to the public comments by bioweaponeer experts William Patrick and Kenneth Alibek, under the optimal method, there is no electrostatic charge. In the case of the anthrax used in the mailings, there was an electrostatic charge. Although there was a dominance of single spores and a trillion spore concentration, there were clumps as large as 40 - 100 microns. (Spores must be no bigger than 5 microns to be inhalable.) Many point to the trillion spore concentration as extraordinary. It is far simpler, however, to achieve a trillion spore concentration in the production of a few grams than in industrial processing typical of a state sponsored lab. The "trillion spore" issue was at the heart of a lot of mistaken theories of the matter concluding that state sponsorship was necessarily indicated. The reported finding at Dugway undermines the argument of both the "bomb Iraq" crowd and the liberals focused on Dr. Steve Hatfill who object to US biodefense research because they view it as being useful for offensive purposes.

USDA employee Johnelle Bryant first told us, in sensational detail, of Atta's inquiries about purchasing and retrofitting a cropduster. Khalid Mohammed then told interrogators that Zacarias Moussaoui's inquiries about crop dusting may have related to Yazid Sufaat's anthrax manufacturing plans. Although the details of the documents on Mohammed's computer may (or may not) point to possible difficulties in aerial dispersal, they are fully consistent with the product used in the anthrax mailings. Al Qaeda had both the means and opportunity.

US-trained Malaysian biochemist Yazid Sufaat met with 9/11 plotters and two hijackers in January 2000. Sufaat was a member of Al Qaeda and a member of Jemaah Islamiah ("JI"). JI has ties with the Moro Front. Sufaat used his company called Green Laboratory Medicine to buy items useful to Al Qaeda. (Green symbolizes "Islam" and Prophet Mohammed's holy war). Zacarias Moussaoui, who had a crop dusting manual when he was arrested, stayed at Sufaat's condominium in 2000 when he was trying to arrange for flight lessons in Malaysia. Yazid Sufaat provided Moussaoui with a letter indicating that he was a marketing representative for Infocus Technologies and allegedly provided him $35,000. The crop dusters were to be part of a "second wave."

After 9/11, Yazid Sufaat traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan to work for the Taliban Medical Brigade and to continue his work with anthrax. As described in US News, a former reporter from the Kabul Times actually may have met Sufaat, without realizing it, while traveling near Kabul in October 2001, perceiving him as Filipino. The fellow was carrying papers from Zawahiri and bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax. Sufaat was arrested in December 2001 upon his return to Malaysia. Newsweek reported that a "second wave" involving biological attacks had been thwarted upon the arrest of Al Qaeda members who had been intended to provide logistical support.

Various doctors, both foreign and American, are associated with Al Qaeda leaders or operatives, to include the doctors Abdul Qadoos Khan, a bacteriologist from Rawalpindi and Aafia Siddiqui, PhD, from Karachi. Microbiologist Abdul Qadoos Khan was charged along with his son, Ahmed, for harboring the fugitives. As of March 28, 2003, he was in a hospital for a cardiac problem and had been granted "pre-arrest bail." Yet all you read about at the time was the arrest of the son Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, who receives a stipend from the UN for being officially low-IQ due to lead poisoning.

It was Khalid Mohammed who told authorities about Aafia Siddiqui, who has a PhD from Brandeis in neurology. The Pakistani press reported that she was nabbed in Karachi after being spotted at the airport in late March or early April 2003. If mistaken, how did those reports first come about? Understandably, Amerithrax is a confidential investigation. The Pakistan ISI and CIA rarely grant press interviews in connection with an ongoing manhunt. The CIA did not even allow the FBI access to KSM for 10 days after his arrest. As agent Van Harp, then head of the Amerithrax investigation said, the information coming from Khalid Mohammed is classified with the authorities releasing only certain limited information. While it's not easy to separate fact from fiction, Attorney General Ashcroft and Director Mueller have publicly confirmed Aafia is still being sought. They would know.

Her mother Ismat last saw Aafia and her grandchildren before they left in a minicab at the end of March. Aafia was on her way with her children to visit and uncle and a friend in Islamabad. According to the Pakistan reports, Aafia Siddiqui was detained after being spotted at Karachi International airport (after she was followed to a relative's house). (Karachi is in the south). The reports say she is suspected of having been a member of Al Qaeda's "Chemical Wire Group." The family's lawyer advises me that Aafia did not have enough money to pay for airfare tickets for herself and the kids and called Ismat from the train station. That was the last Ismat heard from her. Aafia never reached the uncle's house. Perhaps something got lost in the translation, but the phrase "Chemical Wire Group" has appeared in all the english Pakistan and India papers. The family's attorney advises me that Aafia had no knowledge of chemicals (and that would not appear to be her training).

There still is a very hot pursuit of the "Atta-level" Floridian, Adnan El Shukrijumah, who Siddiqui is thought to have known and been assisting. His nickname is "Jafar the Pilot." A senior DOJ official reports that Adnan has experience as a commercial pilot. He is said by one FBI agent to be "very, very, very" dangerous. He allegedly was at one or more meetings in the Summer of 2001 in Pakistan at which KSM and Sufaat were present. He may have been seen in Hamilton, Canada -- along with Egyptian al-Maati, who apparently also has received pilot training. The United States truly no longer has time for faulty analysis or politically-based preconceptions. In early June 2003, a CIA report concluded that the reason for Atta's and Zacarias Moussaoui's inquiries into cropdusters was in fact for the contemplated use in dispersing biological agents such as anthrax. It has long been known Osama Bin Laden was interested in using cropdusters to disperse biological agents (since the testimony of millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam).

The hijacker Ahmed Alhaznawi appears to have contracted cutaneous anthrax in Afghanistan. It is reasonable to credit his statement that he got the lesion after bumping into a suitcase he was carrying at a camp in Afghanistan. The lesion is further evidence of Al Qaeda's anthrax production program at Kandahar.

The present evidence relating to Atta's alleged travel to Prague does not warrant a conclusion that Al Qaeda obtained the Ames strain from Iraq. Iraq, however, remains a possible source of the Ames. Former Russian bioweaponeer Ken Alibek has said that a key Russian scientist assisted Iraq and that Russia had the Ames strain. (His conclusion may have been based on the fake mobile biolab plans foisted upon the US by the Chalabi associate "Curveball", which Alibek divined to be identical to Russian mobile lab design). Zawahiri did travel to Baghdad in 1998 with an entourage to attend the birthday party of Saddam's son. The papers found at headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's secret police, show that an entourage from Al Qaeda group was sent to the Iraqi capital in March 1998 from Sudan. According to at least some reports, Bin Laden rejected the suggestion of a closer alliance -- preferring to pursue his own concept of jihad. Two top Iraqi scientists, code named Charlie and Alpha, are helping the coalition to learn more about Iraqi's anthrax program, according to Dr. David Kay, head of the Iraq survey group in charge of the hunt for WMD. He has said that the Iraqis made surprising innovations in the milling and drying processes needed to weaponize anthrax.

The media coverage has been seriously confused on the issue of motive and the reason Senators Daschle and Leahy would have been targeted -- tending to simplistically view them as "liberals." Zawahiri likely targeted Senators Daschle and Leahy to receive anthrax letters, in addition to various media outlets, because of the appropriations made pursuant to the "Leahy Law" to military and security forces. That money has prevented the militant islamists from achieving their goals. Al Qaeda members and sympathizers feel that the FBI's involvement in countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Philippines interferes with the sovereignty of those countries.

According to a post she made on the internet, Aafia Siddiqui expressed the same sentiment in connection with US appropriations sought in exchange for the extradition of WTC 1993 plotter Ramzi Yousef from Pakistan. Senator Leahy was Chairman of both the Judiciary Committee overseeing the FBI and Appropriations Subcommittee in charge of foreign aid to these countries. In late September 2001, it was announced that the President was seeking a blanket waiver that would lift all restrictions on aid to military and security units in connection with pursuing the militant islamists. This extradition and imprisonment of Al Qaeda leaders, along with US support for Israel and the Mubarak government in Egypt, remains foremost in the mind of Dr. Zawahiri. At the height of the development of his biological weapons program, his brother was extradited pursuant to a death sentence in the "Albanian returnees" case (now he faces retrial). It's hard to keep up with the stories about billion dollar appropriations, debt forgiveness, and loan guarantees to countries like Egypt and Israel and now even Pakistan. Those appropriations pale in comparison to the many tens of billions in appropriations relating to the invasion of Iraq. Al Qaeda had a motive in mind.

In his Fall 2001 book titled Knights under the Banner of the Prophet, Zawahiri argued that the secular press was telling "lies" about the militant islamists -- to include the suggestion that the militant islamists were somehow the creation of the United States in connection with expelling the Russians from Afghanistan. Zawahiri argued instead that they have been active since the assassination of Anwar Sadat in Egypt because of the Camp David Accord and the resulting peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The anthrax letters were sent on the date of the Camp David Accord and then the date Anwar Sadat was assassinated as if to underscore the point to anyone paying attention. Most of the "talking heads" on television, however, knew only that Daschle and Leahy were liberal democrats and did not know anything of Al Qaeda beyond what they read in the US newspapers. The FBI's profile includes a US-based supporter of the militant islamists. Attorney General Ashcroft explained that an "either-or" approach is not useful. The media has tended to overlook the fact that when the FBI uses the word "domestic" the word includes a US-based, highly-educated supporter of the militant islamists.

There is an emerging consensus that anthrax was contained in a letter to AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer -- in a goofy love letter to Jennifer Lopez enclosing a Star of David and proposing marriage. A report by the Center for Disease Control of interviews with AMI employees (as well as detailed interviews by author Leonard Cole) supports the conclusion that there were not one, but two, such mailings containing anthrax. (The letters were to different AMI publications -- one to the National Enquirer and another to The Sun). (News assistant Bobby Bender recalls the letter containing the items to have been addressed to The Sun.)

This tactic of letters is not merely the modus operandi of these militant islamists inspired by Zawahiri, it is their signature. The islamists sent letter bombs in January 1997 to newspaper offices in New York City and Washington, D.C.. They were sent in connection with the earlier bombing of the World Trade Center and the imprisonment of the blind sheik, Sheik Abdel Rahman. The former leader of the Egyptian Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya ("Islamic Group"), he was also a spiritual leader of Al Qaeda. The letter bombs were sent in connection with the treatment of the Egyptian islamists imprisoned for the earlier attack on the WTC and a related plot. The purpose of the letter bombs -- which resulted in minimal casualty -- was to send a message. (There initially was an outstanding $2 million reward -- under the rewards for justice program, the reward now is up to $5 million.). There was no claim of responsibility. There was no explanation. Once one had been received, the next ten, mailed on two separate dates, were easily collected. Sound familiar? Two bombs were also sent to Leavenworth, where a key WTC 1993 defendant was imprisoned, addressed to "Parole Officer." (The position does not exist).

Abdel Rahman's son was captured in Quetta, Pakistan in mid-February 2003. That arrest in turn led to the dramatic capture of Khalid Mohammed, Al Qaeda's #3. Mohammed allegedly was hiding in the home of the Pakistani bacteriologist Dr. Abdul Qadoos Khan. Along with Zawahiri, Abdel Rahman and his two sons have had considerable influence over Bin Laden. He reportedly treated them like sons. Although while in jail in the early 1980s, Zawahiri caused considerable tension by challenging the blind sheik's ability to lead a coalition of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Egyptian Islamic Group, Zawahiri and OBL are Rahman's friends. The imprisoned WTC 1993 plotter Yousef was KSM's nephew. Thus, the leaders in charge of Al Qaeda's anthrax production program had a close connection to those imprisoned in connection with the earlier bombing of the World Trade Center. According to the controversial "Feith memo," which summarized purported intelligence showing an Iraqi/Al Qaeda connection, Osama Bin Laden had asked Iraqi intelligence for technical assistance in sending letter bombs a half year before the Al Hayat letters were sent.

Just because Al Qaeda likes its truck bombs and the like to be effective does not mean they do not see the value in a deadly missive. As Brian Jenkins once said, "terrorism is theater." A sender purporting to be islamist sent cyanide in both early 2002 and early 2003 in New Zealand and ingredients of nerve gas in Belgium in 2003. There's even a chapter titled "Poisonous Letter" in the Al Qaeda manual.

The "Federal Eagle" stamp used in the anthrax mailings was a blue-green. It was widely published among the militant islamists that martyrs go to paradise "in the hearts of green birds." In the very interview in which they admitted 9/11, and described the codes used for the four targets for the planes, the masterminds admitted to the Jenny code, the code for representing the date 9/11, and used the symbolism of the "Green Birds." Osama Bin Laden later invoked the symbolism in his video "The 19 Martyrs." A FAQ on the Azzam Publications website explained that "In the Hearts of Green Birds" refers to what is inside.

The mailer's use of "Greendale School" as the return address for the letters to the Senators is also revealing. A May 2001 letter that Zawahiri sent to Egyptian Islamic Jihad members abroad establish that Zawahiri used "school" as a code word for the Egyptian militant islamists in his correspondence. Green symbolizes Islam and was the Prophet Mohammed's color. By Greendale School, the anthrax perp was being cute, just as Yazid Sufaat was being cute in naming his lab Green Laboratory Medicine. "Dale" means "river valley." Greendale likely refers to green river valley -- i.e., Cairo's Egyptian Islamic Jihad or the Islamic Group. The sender probably is announcing that he is of either Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Egyptian Islamic Group or Jihad-al Qaeda, which is actually the full name of the group after the merger of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda. At the Darunta complex where jihadis trained, recruits would wear green uniforms, except for Friday when they were washed. In a Hadith the Messenger of Allah explains that the souls of the martyrs are in the hearts of green birds that fly wherever they please in the Paradise.

As to opportunity, though seldom reported, there is a wealth of "open source" information about possible Al Qaeda or Egyptian Islamic Jihad or Egyptian Islamic Group in the United States and Canada. The public information mostly relates to those suspected sleepers who have been detained or who are at large and are being sought. Zawahiri's mission in the United States in 1995 was to do spadework for terrorism, not fundraising for charitable causes. He traveled under an alias and was accompanied by a former US Army sergeant named Ali Mohammed. What mosques exactly did they visit and who did they meet?

Whatever your political persuasion, the FBI and CIA deserve our support. We are, after all, in this together. First, the nature of such an investigation is that we lack sufficient information to second-guess (or even know) what the FBI is doing. Media reports are a poor approximation of reality because of the lack of good sources. Second, hindsight is 20/20. Third, with the "new age" Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. in charge of the investigation, it is not likely we could do better in striking the appropriate balance between due process and national security.

Finally, the "Hatfill theory" seems to have been exhausted or at least lost public favor. The "Hatfill theory" accusing Dr. Stephen Hatfill was always highly dubious. The suspicion was founded on many false premises, and there was no reliable publicly known evidence indicating his guilt. The FBI's fixation on Hatfill (at least as rumored by some reporters) may have stemmed from a warning by one Senator that careers hung in the balance. Leahy's chief of staff apparently started with the strong predisposition that some right-winger was involved because two liberal democrats had been targeted. The Hatfill theory -- to include ongoing interviews and ongoing 7/24 surveillance by 8 surveillance specialists -- is now the subject of pending civil rights and libel claims of uncertain merit. A suit against the New York Times and columnist Nicholas Kristof was dismissed in late November 2004. The judge had agreed to delay the civil rights matter from proceeding until at least October 2004. The judge, frustrated by the apparent lack of progress, encouraged that the parties reach a negotiated compromise that would permit some limited discovery to proceed (and the judge has directed that the government to file an Answer to the Complaint). The Hatfill Theory ironically might best be understood as an Al Qaeda theory, with a coincidental Malaysian connection adding to the other circumstances. Given the regrettable leaks that he was under suspicion, it is only fair that the FBI leak with equal enthusiasm the fact that Dr. Hatfill has now been dropped as a suspect if and when that proves to be the case. A search of Dr. Ken Berry's residences likely will prove just about the last gasp of a biodefense insider theory. Senior officials have been quoted in the press as saying that the searches were for the purpose of excluding him as much as including him.

RE-Axe: Is Bangladesh terrorism a ‘flip-side of Pakistani terrorism’?

It is a bit puzzling as to why the Daily Times editorial criticises a 'Bangladeshi journalist' by paraphrasing sections of his article, without naming the 'journalist' or the Karachi daily, Dawn. Actually the so-called journalist is the present writer who has been an academic for the last thirty odd-years having taught at universities in Bangladesh, Australia, Singapore and Canada - Islam, Pakistan and Bangladesh history, anthropology and politics being the main areas of his research, publication and teaching. The Daily Times editorial has taken me to task for challenging Griswold's sweeping assertion that Bangladesh was soon going to experience an 'Islamic revolution'. By citing the news item about the recent arrest of eleven militant followers of an Islamist charlatan, known as Bangla Bhai in northern Bangladesh, the editor rejects my 'denial' of the truth in the following manner.

Is Bangladesh terrorism a ‘flip-side of Pakistani terrorism’?
Taj Hashmi

Although it is heartening that Pakistani media is concerned about the recent upsurge in 'Islamic' militancy in Bangladesh, as reflected in an editorial of the prestigious Daily Times (February 27, 2005), entitled 'Bangladesh terrorism is flip-side of Pakistani terrorism', I have strong reservations about some of the comments made innuendo in the editorial referring to my recent article, published unauthorised by the Dawn (February 15, 2005) albeit with amateurish doctoring of the original. My original piece, 'Bangladesh: The Next Taliban State?' (New Age, January 30, 2005) was a rebuttal to the malicious New York Times article by Eliza Griswold published on January 23, 2005. In this sketchy article, 'The Next Islamist Revolution?' Griswold has not only raised the "Muslims-are-coming" alarm, but in doing so she has also concocted facts and has not separated facts from fiction.

It is a bit puzzling as to why the Daily Times editorial criticises a 'Bangladeshi journalist' by paraphrasing sections of his article, without naming the 'journalist' or the Karachi daily, Dawn. Actually the so-called journalist is the present writer who has been an academic for the last thirty odd-years having taught at universities in Bangladesh, Australia, Singapore and Canada - Islam, Pakistan and Bangladesh history, anthropology and politics being the main areas of his research, publication and teaching. The Daily Times editorial has taken me to task for challenging Griswold's sweeping assertion that Bangladesh was soon going to experience an 'Islamic revolution'. By citing the news item about the recent arrest of eleven militant followers of an Islamist charlatan, known as Bangla Bhai in northern Bangladesh, the editor rejects my 'denial' of the truth in the following manner:

"After violence and coercion by Bangla Bhai were reported in the international press, a Bangladeshi journalist writing in a Karachi daily strongly condemned the 'international conspiracy' to malign Bangladesh. He described the Bangla Bhai phenomenon like this: 'What is going on in some parts of north-western Bangladesh does not bear any semblance of an Islamic revolution but looks like gang warfare for dominance and extortion, common in many unruly pockets in the Third World.' One assumes that he would similarly describe the shenanigans of another violent gang run by one Jangi Bhai in south Bangladesh."

The above assertion smacks of one's total ignorance about the prevailing regional/sub-regional conflicts among various godfathers and quasi-political leaders-cum-extortionists in Bangladesh, who change colour and political allegiance with the passage of time. The various Islamic groups, both with substantial power and influence and the ones without much support and clout, are not that different in this regard. Griswold in her controversial article cited a few of them as "precursors" to an Islamic revolution. I simply rejected her thesis by drawing a line between sporadic and organized terrorist acts (not very dissimilar from jaqueries or pre-political peasant rebellions) and revolutionary warfare.

It seems, the Daily Times suffers from the same inadequacy vis-à-vis its understanding of 'revolutions'. Otherwise it would not have criticized me for my differentiating violence and killing with an 'Islamic revolution':

'The journalist did not deny violence and extortion and killing in the name of Islam but protested strongly against the labelling of this phenomenon as 'Islamic revolution'. In his mind there is a pristine image of 'Islamic revolution' which he wants to save against pollution of foreign comment.'

The editorial has also misconstrued my text. It asserts that:

'In his anger the Bangladeshi journalist addressed a warning to the 'secular' rulers masquerading as Islamic leaders against fascism on the lines of what happened in Europe before the World War II.'

Actually what I wrote to conclude my article was as follows:

'Although the vast majority of Bengali Muslims do not believe in theocracy and terror, unless the lower middle classes and the poor get a sense of belonging to the state, which so far is only looking after the interests of the rich and powerful, the most corrupt elements in Bangladesh, extremism with a tinge of fascism (both secular and religious) would continue to dog the polity. We have lessons to learn from the rise of fascism in Europe in this regard.'

Although it is very problematic, yet I have no problem in partially agreeing with the Daily Times that by neglecting the growing menace of Islamic fanaticism in Pakistan, the Nawaz Sharif government gave fillip to Islamism in Pakistan. The editorial also informs us how various Islamic militants in Pakistan and Bangladesh are mutually connected with each other. So far so good. However, it seems the editor has forgotten the inherent differences in the political culture, norms and values of the Muslims of Bangladesh and Pakistan, especially with regard to Islamic theocracy, Shariah and mullah. Bangladeshi Islam has been syncretistic, tolerant and Bangladeshi Muslims in general are proud of their Bengali heritage and identity. Unlike the average Pakistani Muslims, their Bangladeshi counterparts do not regard plunderers and marauders like Muhammad Bin Qasim, Mahmud Ghaznavi or Muhammad Ghauri as their heroes and ancestors.

In short, had Bangladesh been part of Pakistan, as it used to be during the Pakistani colonial rule, Islamisation of the polity, beginning with the sad 'minoritisation' of the Ahmadiyya community under Bhutto, culminating into the introduction of the brutal, un-Islamic Shariah and barbaric Hudood laws under Zia, would not have been possible. As it happened the other day, Pakistani lawmakers outvoted the proposed scrapping of the inhuman Honour Killing (Karo Kari), will never happen in Bangladesh. And despite their trying and wishful thinking ('We are all Taliban, Bangla will be Afghan'), the various Islamic militant groups will never come to power in Bangladesh. Had wishful thinking been materialized, Bangladesh would have been a pro-Soviet communist country in the late 1970s after 'Comrade' Farhad, a leader of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, had publicly proclaimed to stage an 'Afghan-style revolution' in the country.

Contrary to what Lenin envisaged as the necessary preconditions for a revolution

a) mass discontent; b) gradual infiltration of ideas and c) a revolutionary party other than mass discontent among a sizeable minority, neither the process of gradual infiltration of ideas have crystallized nor is there one single revolutionary party in Bangladesh. The bulk of the Muslims being devotional-cum-fatalist with smaller sections of 'Anglo-Mohammedans' and liberal democrats, a handful of Muslim fanatics under a dozen or so disorganized Islamic parties under confused, megalomaniac leaders cannot stage an Islamic revolution in Bangladesh. They may, however, go on rampaging, killing people right and left in public rallies or movie-theatres to terrorise people. What Griswold and many others have failed to grasp is that terrorism alone does not stage revolutions. Otherwise the Tamil Tigers, the Iraqi Baathists and scores of other militant groups would have staged their cherished revolutions.

An Islamic revolution in Bangladesh, even if it could materialize under the leadership of a bitterly fractious mullahs without mass support like Khomeini had in Iran, would be crushed by the US 7th Fleet in collaboration with India. So, the prospect of any Muslim country going the Taliban way is least likely. Parts of Pakistan might remain medieval and tribal, clinging to the obsolete Shariah, Hudood and Blasphemy code for an indefinite period. However, poorer Bangladesh, which is much richer than Pakistan in secular and democratic culture, will remain different from Pakistan.

Finally, it is amazing that the editor, who has read my book, Women and Islam in Bangladesh (Macmillan and St. Martin's Press, New York 2000), which highlights my designation as a professor (no journalist would write 254 pages in four years) laments: 'It is ironic that the same Bangladeshi journalist who is in denial about 'Islamist' terrorism wrote a book some years ago recording the death sentences passed on women in the Bangladeshi countryside through fatwas. According to the book, the number of women subjected to cruel illegal fatwas began after 1994 and rose to over 3,000 annually. During the period from 1990 to 1995, over 10,000 victims of rape, murder, abduction, forcible marriage and arbitrary divorce, were poor rural women with no social support. In 1993 alone, 6,000 women committed suicide after being trapped in fatwa situations [p.97]. The obsession with sharia law was always present in Bangladesh but received a fillip through the Islamisation processes unleashed by General Ziaur Rehman and General Ershad, reaching a new furore after the 'Taslima Nasreen incident' in 1994.'

Who can argue with someone who cannot or does not want to understand that poor mullahs do not call the shots in rural or urban Bangladesh with regard to the persecution and subjection of women? Patriarchy and vested interest groups are much more powerful than the mullah. And again, what was going on in rural Bangladesh in the name of dispensing "Islamic justice" to poor Muslim women, through village courts run by village elders and presided over by financially dependent mullahs in the 1990s, have almost become history because of the growing awareness among the bulk of the population.

In sum, neither the rural nor the urban mullahs are powerful enough to stage Islamic or any form of revolutions in Bangladesh. Those who think Talibanisation of Bangladesh is a possibility should realize that Afghanistan fell prey to the mullahs after the bulk of the people in the war-ravaged country had been desperately seeking peace at any price. The Taliban provided that short-lived 'peace' or law and order under an indoctrinated military with direct military and logistical support from the neighbouring Pakistan. Has Bangladesh reached the stage where Afghanistan was in 1996?

Taj Hashmi writes from York University, Toronto

INDIA: Beware of Bangladesh!

There could be a greater Islamic state as well, and Assam might be the most suitable part of such a state. The dangerous rate at which illegal migrants are crossing over to Assam from Bangladesh and the way the Assam Congress has chosen to remain silent, are indications sufficient enough for anyone to feel that political patronage - in the form of pampering the pro-Bangladeshi lobby in order to cater to a solid, permanent vote-bank, is what the infiltrating Bangladeshis are already aware of. The ruling Congress in Assam finds it too difficult, and perhaps hazardous also, to use any harsh word against the quality and quantity of influx. And that is the price the State seems to be paying in order that a peculiar type of secularism, actually pseudo-secularism, could flourish. In other words, the Bangladeshis with a very different and alien cultural propensity, would hardly hesitate to cross over to Assam, given that the Congress, whose most conspicuous hallmark is pseudo-secularism, is always there to welcome them with the IM(DT) Act. Would there be a Bangladeshi Chief Minister in Assam in a decade or so?

Beware of Bangladesh!
Bikash Sarmah


On January 23, in the magazine section of The New York Times, Eliza Griswold wrote a report titled For a new Taliban: The next Islamist Revolution, where she candidly brought to light the bitter truth of Talibanization of Bangladesh. It goes to the credit of Eliza that the report could expose the fanatic rage with which the Bangla Bhai-led Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) Islamists carry out some heinous Islamist operations in order to establish a Taliban-like State in Bangladesh. But it remains to be seen whether the West, especially the United States, would take the report seriously and pressurize the Khaleda Zia government to undo the process of Talibanization.

As if the report was a precursor to the events which were to unfold, on January 27, in the heart of Habiganj, a powerful grenade ripped through an Awami League meeting, killing one of Bangladesh's most liberal intellectuals and former Finance Minister, Shah AMS Kibria. Kibria had also been a Foreign Secretary and an Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). One of the towering figures of the 1971 war of liberation, his killing heralds the Islamic bid to eliminate the secular and progressive minds in Bangladesh. And with it perhaps, the Talibanization drive in Bangladesh would soon become a success story.

The target is not just Sheikh Hasina's Awami League. All secular forces in Bangladesh today face the daunting task of consolidating themselves in the wake of terror tactics perpetrated by the JMJB
jehadis. Over the past three decades, ten Awami League MPs have been assassinated in attacks masterminded by the anti-secular Islamist brigade. Today, to be honest enough, it is all the more heinous. Any progressive scholar, writer, journalist or columnist, who is gutsy enough to decry the foul Islamist decrees, is chased and chastised, often brutally, much against the basic tenets of their holy faith called Islam. If one is a bit considerate while taking up the case of feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, believing that practical Islam does not normally tolerate fiery, sexist feminism, one could very well take the case of Salam Azad who has mustered enough courage to speak about the "ethnic cleansing of the Hindus" in Bangladesh, and who by virtue of this, has now become the most despicable writer in the land of Bangla Bhai. For that matter, take the case of Dr Kamal Hossain too. An internationally acclaimed lawyer and a former Foreign Minister, Dr Hossain has been declared as a murtad (infidel) for having fought for the cause of the minority Ahmedia sect. The Ahmedias believe that there could be other prophets after Prophet Muhammad, and this is blasphemy according to hardline Islam. Worst, the Khaleda Zia-led government, a four-party coalition where two fundamentalist parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islamic Oikya Jote, call the shots mostly, has even banned the Ahmedia literature. One would better not take the pain of thinking what might be the fate of Hindu literature!

Having said that, one must analyse the politics of religious compulsion in a country like Bangladesh. Ever since it assumed office in October 2001, the Khaleda Zia government has all along been a mute spectator to the diabolical designs of fanatical elements across the nation. If it did anything, it seemed to be just a charade. For instance, a one-man judicial commission was appointed to probe the ghastly violence of August 21, 2004, when Sheikh Hasina miraculously escaped a string of grenade attacks but not before losing 22 of her party activists. Interestingly, and to the shame of democracy whose hallmark is transparency, the commission's report was not made public. Instead of anything like that, what the Judge told journalists was that the intelligence agency of a "neighbouring country" had carried out the whole operation in collaboration with some local goons just to create anarchy. By all counts, the Judge probably meant India and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). But, quite ludicrously, he chose to be oblivious of the anarchy already in place in Bangladesh.

Begum Khaleda Zia would do little. The readers must be reminded here that her active coalition partner, the Jamaat-e-Islami, is a fundamentalist political entity with absolutely no concern for any
secular values, and is the same organization that had supported the "Pakistani occupation force" in their bid to oppose the 1971 liberation war. In fact, the Zia Cabinet consists of some fiery Jamaat leaders. It is crystal clear then that the fanatics across Bangladesh are least bothered about being nabbed because they know well that the government of the day would not do anything "offending", but would rather patronize them.

There could be a greater Islamic state as well, and Assam might be the most suitable part of such a state. The dangerous rate at which illegal migrants are crossing over to Assam from Bangladesh and the way the Assam Congress has chosen to remain silent, are indications sufficient enough for anyone to feel that political patronage - in the form of pampering the pro-Bangladeshi lobby in order to cater to a solid, permanent vote-bank, is what the infiltrating Bangladeshis are already aware of. The ruling Congress in Assam finds it too difficult, and perhaps hazardous also, to use any harsh word against the quality and quantity of influx. And that is the price the State seems to be paying in order that a peculiar type of secularism, actually pseudo-secularism, could flourish. In other words, the Bangladeshis with a very different and alien cultural propensity, would hardly hesitate to cross over to Assam, given that the Congress, whose most conspicuous hallmark is pseudo-secularism, is always there to welcome them with the IM(DT) Act. Would there be a Bangladeshi Chief Minister in Assam in a decade or so?

The UPA government at the Centre, steered by the scholar in Manmohan Singh who has a record of even saying that the highly notorious and discriminatory IM(DT) Act could well be applied all over the country , has by now tacitly acquiesced to the need of the Assam Congress to survive on a very unpatriotic diet: the IM(DT) Act coupled with the continuous appeasement of the religious minority, especially the pro-Bangladeshi lobby that has absolutely nothing to do with the pristine Assamese glory and tradition. Worst, a whole lot of genuine Assamese youths and others alike have already surrendered, shamelessly saying upai nai (no way out). This is a political calamity Bangladeshi jehadis looking for the right time to come and annex Assam! Has Assam fallen short of patriots? If not, beware of Bangladesh!

BANGLADESH: Power-struggle the mother of governance problems

Sheikh Hasina, despite being a loose cannon and at other times becoming maudlin for being 'a victim and a target' of what she calls 'state-sponsored terrorism in Bangladesh' in Tuesday's Madrid meet, is trying to become wiser also on the home turf. She, to her party-men's surprise, has also opened the doors to other forces categorised by her as 'opposed to the freedom fight' - a name-calling that beats political science. While the subject of the forces favouring the freedom fight or opposing it is a matter of another discourse that is likely to negate the entire thesis, Hasina's 'open-door policy' in alliance-making on a seat- and power-sharing basis, hypothetically speaking, or for that matter in driving a wedge in the ruling party alliance or undoing the arithmetic of votes, is seen as a strategic as well as tactical reversal of the AL's own Mujibbadi credo, which minus socialism is fundamentally wedded to the Mujib cult, verging on ancestor worship at its worst and idolatry at its best. Both variants of politics are repugnant to the Bangladesh ethos.

Power-struggle the mother of governance problems
Enayetullah Khan

With Amnesty International in the bag, opposition leader Sheikh Hasina has now taken her war for human rights to Spain, and then further afield to Washington, where she will go on a familial-cum-business trip. Though not strong on the wicket of rights herself, given her own record in government and that of the parliamentary-turned-presidential-turned-one-party- government of the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her father and the founding president of the country, she will be getting a lot of ears in the governing circles and also various networks in Europe and North America. International memory is after all proverbially short.

Begum Zia, the prime minister, is instead literally straddling the country, from one end to another, pointing fingers at Sheikh Hasina and her party for all the ills that her own government is beset with. Khaleda Zia, however, gets a lot more ears in the country on a comparative scale, though there is little to write home about her men, with the price of the staples, particularly rice, hitting Tk 23 and beyond per kilogram, too much for the common man?s comfort. The open market sales (OMS), of what many people think as fit for the stables only, has not helped, and the forthcoming IRRI and boro crops don?t promise an easing of the market price. And that?s a real bad news for the government, among other hackneyed, nagging and unmitigated public grouses that matter.

The forays in both cases are in the class of electoral campaigns, though the turfs are wide apart. Whatever the campaigns may yield in the run-up to the Caretaker Government (CG) ' the constitutional and an intermediate non-party regime holding the polls within 90 days, rain or shine (an Act of God excepted)' they will be carried to their bitterest last, close to the remains of the of the parliament's days that happens to be October, 2006. The current times, upped now in the usual Bangladesh season of news-fall ranging from November to March and with too many occasions to light the fuse, will ebb with the monsoon dousing the flickers and then the Ramadan piety ritually descending on the political class. The HR reports or the speculations about donor despair or ministerial hiccups will be put behind. And politics will again be business as usual badmouthing and some doses of hartals being administered now and then. For the time being, there is little or no way of 'Moving beyond Hartals,' as the UNDP, Dhaka, famously engages itself in an exercise in futility with handsome compensations for scribes and panellists billed as experts.

This being a job worth the UNDP handouts for advocacies by one too many worthies, the problems of governance can be said to lie in power-struggle - both within the parties and between them. What we are witnessing today in the current phase of what portends to be an absolute falling out with no holds barred, and some bizarre killer violence taking place on, say, August 21 and January 27, among others of lesser political import, are directly proportional to the behind-the-scene cabal power within the respective parties. External involvements, if any, and not unlikely though, are the functions of the cabal-power and not vice versa.

That being the case, it is unlikely that political violence will ebb completely even with elaborate security oversight and surveillance. It is more likely that intra-party dissensions rather than extra-party rivalries will increasingly overtake the political proceedings in the coming months, with intra-alliances backroom/bedroom manoeuvres in infidelities breaking up the unions on both sides and becoming the usual stock-in-trade in political commerce. After all, in a country where politics is cash and cash is power, pre-polls horse-trading is not a beauty that is a joy forever, but to the contrary. The transactions over and under the table, the somersaults in changing stripes and even the political vocabulary have now only begun, but they won't really become a regular pantomime, till such time as the government gets out and the CG takes over as a matter of rule, and without any procedure of handover that Sheikh Hasina had thought in her paranoia to be her prerogative at the discomfiture of losing face.

But Sheikh Hasina, despite being a loose cannon and at other times becoming maudlin for being 'a victim and a target' of what she calls 'state-sponsored terrorism in Bangladesh' in Tuesday's Madrid meet, is trying to become wiser also on the home turf. She, to her party-men's surprise, has also opened the doors to other forces categorised by her as 'opposed to the freedom fight' - a name-calling that beats political science. While the subject of the forces favouring the freedom fight or opposing it is a matter of another discourse that is likely to negate the entire thesis, Hasina's 'open-door policy' in alliance-making on a seat- and power-sharing basis, hypothetically speaking, or for that matter in driving a wedge in the ruling party alliance or undoing the arithmetic of votes, is seen as a strategic as well as tactical reversal of the AL's own Mujibbadi credo, which minus socialism is fundamentally wedded to the Mujib cult, verging on ancestor worship at its worst and idolatry at its best. Both variants of politics are repugnant to the Bangladesh ethos.

But there are more things to Mujibbad than meet the eye. And that happens to be extra-rhetorical and more pragmatic way of diluting her personal martyrdom agenda in favour of the broader power agenda under the current dispensation of CG elections and situational transfer of power that she had thought was forever during 1996-2001.

And it is in this context that I raise the curtain on the ongoing and the outgoing political habits which no longer, in our opinion, die hard. They are changing, perhaps for the better, but not without kicking up a lot of dust before the CG enters the government and the Election Commission, with a new face heading it, conducts the polls.

Let's sit tight with open eyes to see the drama unfold. Stay with us.

INDIA: Communist recipe for disaster

China is rapidly expanding the logistical capabilities of its armed forces in Tibet. China remains a major supplier of defence equipment to Pakistan. It will soon provide Pakistan with scores of "jointly developed" JF-17 (Super 7) fighters for which engine designs of the frontline MIG-29 have been purloined from Russia. The "Al Khalid" tank being built in Rawalpindi is of Chinese origin. General Musharraf recently indicated that he would not hesitate to provide base facilities to the Chinese navy in the Gwadar Port. China is reported to have agreed to strengthen Pakistan's naval muscle by the provision of new frigates.

Communist recipe for disaster

The Communist Parties in India cannot be accused of inconsistency. They have a track record of advocating foreign and national security policies designed to make India a surrogate or protectorate of one or another external power. Throughout the years of the Cold War, the Communist Party of India (CPI) took its directions from Moscow and wanted India to follow a policy of strident criticism of the US and western world. This line continued till the mutual dislike between Mao and Stalin led to a widening Sino-Soviet rift. When China and the USSR parted ways, the Communist movement in India split.

The CPI(M) adopted a posture of equidistance between the two squabbling Communist giants, with strident rhetoric against the western world. The CPI became anti-Chinese when the Sino-Soviet rift was at its height after the military clashes across the Ussuri River in 1969. The CPI(M), in turn, had little to say when Nixon and Mao embraced each other and formed a Sino-US axis directed against India during the Bangladesh crisis in 1971. Both Communist Parties could not hide their embarrassment and discomfiture when in February 1979, China with American backing, attacked a "fraternal" communist country Vietnam that had earlier concluded a Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union.

The Communist Parties in India have faced similar dilemmas after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They now advocate national security and foreign policies that will not only weaken our national defence, but also effectively make us a protectorate and client state of China. During the General elections last year, the CPI(M) found fault with the NDA Government for supporting the US Government in its "war on Afghanistan". Was the CPI(M) thereby suggesting that we would have been better off with continued Taliban rule and the presence of Osama bin Laden and Pakistani terrorist groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen operating in Afghanistan? The Communist Parties have called for an end to all military cooperation with the USA and Israel.

Are they suggesting that while it is alright for their comrades in Beijing to continue weapons procurement from Israel, we should deny our soldiers essential electronic sensors from Israel to check infiltration across the LOC? Similarly, is it the Communist viewpoint that our artillery should make do without American supplied gun locating radars while the Pakistanis lob heavy artillery shells across the LOC? Have any family members of our Communist leaders ever served in frontline military formations and faced bullets and artillery shells fired across the border?

While Communist rhetoric on its "fraternal ties" with China's Communist Party could be humoured, one cannot ignore their total silence on the collusion and collaboration between China and Pakistan on nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems. By advocating the "denuclearisation" of South Asia, our Communist friends are suggesting that we should abandon our long-standing policy of keeping our nuclear options open, while expressing our readiness to pursue the goal of universal and comprehensive nuclear disarmament. "Denucleari-sation" of South Asia has been a long-term goal of both the US and China as this would, in effect, involve our acceding to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by the backdoor.

China has demanded that we should renounce our nuclear programme, dismantle our nuclear weapons and end all testing, development and deployment of missiles. While swearing adherence to the NPT, China has supplied Pakistan with unsafeguarded facilities for plutonium reprocessing, designs of nuclear weapons, components for Pakistan's nuclear enrichment programme and M11, M9 and M18 missiles that have now given Pakistan the capability to target every major population centre in India. In these circumstances any talk of "denuclearisation" that excludes China is meaningless. The US National Intelligence Council has assessed that thanks to Chinese missile supplies, Pakistan has developed an edge over us in strategic nuclear delivery systems. Despite this, our communist friends oppose our acquiring missile defence systems to protect our cities against nuclear tipped missiles of Chinese origin!

While our Communist Parties cannot now "roll back" our nuclear and missile programmes (an objective they share with the erstwhile Clinton Administration), what is of immediate concern are the pressures being mounted by our Left Parties to reduce defence expenditure. During pre-Budget consultations, the Communist Parties had suggested a drastic reduction in defence expenditure from the level of Rs 77000 crore spent in 2004-2005. India presently spends less than 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, even though the eleventh Finance Commission had advocated a target of three per cent of GDP for defence spending. China and Pakistan spend well over four per cent of GDP on Defence. Chinese Defence expenditure is to increase by 12.6 per cent this year.

China is rapidly expanding the logistical capabilities of its armed forces in Tibet. China remains a major supplier of defence equipment to Pakistan. It will soon provide Pakistan with scores of "jointly developed" JF-17 (Super 7) fighters for which engine designs of the frontline MIG-29 have been purloined from Russia. The "Al Khalid" tank being built in Rawalpindi is of Chinese origin. General Musharraf recently indicated that he would not hesitate to provide base facilities to the Chinese navy in the Gwadar Port. China is reported to have agreed to strengthen Pakistan's naval muscle by the provision of new frigates.

Out historical experience has unfortunately been that our neighbours invariably take advantage of situations when reduced defence spending results in our defence potential being weakened. China made bold to humiliate us in 1962, primarily because our armed forces were starved with minimal defence budgets and our soldiers did not even possess winter clothing and automatic rifles to confront superior numbers and firepower. Field Marshal Ayub Khan tried his luck with us in 1965 because he was emboldened by American military assistance and Chinese political support. He failed primarily because we unexpectedly hit across the international border.

Between 1965 and 1990 defence spending steadily increased and neither China, Pakistan or any other regional power could take us for granted. It was only after 1990, that defence expenditure steadily fell and we lost the strategic edge that we had over Pakistan for over three decades. The net result was that Pakistan was emboldened to attempt its intrusion in Kargil. The Narasimha Rao and Deva Gowda Governments must bear the responsibility for the neglect of defence modernisation in the 1990s even though the economic crisis of 1991 necessitated reduction in Government spending. One hopes that those managing national security issues in the UPA Government will remember this.

Experience has thus taught us that maintaining a qualitative edge over our neighbours is essential for peace in our neighbourhood. Weapons we acquired three decades ago from the Soviet Union are now obsolete. There are a number of pending acquisitions including multi-barreled rocket launchers, artillery, advanced fighters, submarines and warships that we need in the immediate future. These acquisitions cannot be further delayed if we are to guarantee our security and remain a credible power in our Indian Ocean neighbourhood. Our Communist friends would do well to remember that the gross subsidies given to our loss making, corrupt and inefficient State Electricity Boards in 2004-2005 are estimated to be over Rs 34000 crore.

These subsidies are estimated to grow by over 12 per cent annually. If we are unable to fund our anti-poverty and social development programmes adequately it is not because our defence expenditure is high, but because our politicians prefer populism over efficiency and avoid reforming corrupt delivery systems in our socio-economic and anti-poverty programmes.

HUMAN RIGHTS: NGOs - The Self-Appointed Altruists

NGO's are proponents of Western values - women's lib, human rights, civil rights, the protection of minorities, freedom, equality. Not everyone finds this liberal menu palatable. The arrival of NGO's often provokes social polarization and cultural clashes. Traditionalists in Bangladesh, nationalists in Macedonia, religious zealots in Israel, security forces everywhere, and almost all politicians find NGO's irritating and bothersome.

NGOs: The Self-Appointed Altruists
By Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.

Their arrival portends rising local prices and a culture shock. Many of them live in plush apartments, or five star hotels, drive SUV's, sport $3000 laptops and PDA's. They earn a two figure multiple of the local average wage. They are busybodies, preachers, critics, do-gooders, and professional altruists.

Always self-appointed, they answer to no constituency. Though unelected and ignorant of local realities, they confront the democratically chosen and those who voted them into office. A few of them are enmeshed in crime and corruption. They are the non-governmental organizations, or NGO's.

Some NGO's - like Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Amnesty - genuinely contribute to enhancing welfare, to the mitigation of hunger, the furtherance of human and civil rights, or the curbing of disease. Others - usually in the guise of think tanks and lobby groups - are sometimes ideologically biased, or religiously-committed and, often, at the service of special interests.

NGO's - such as the International Crisis Group - have openly interfered on behalf of the opposition in the last parliamentary elections in Macedonia. Other NGO's have done so in Belarus and Ukraine, Zimbabwe and Israel, Nigeria and Thailand, Slovakia and Hungary - and even in Western, rich, countries including the USA, Canada, Germany, and Belgium.

The encroachment on state sovereignty of international law - enshrined in numerous treaties and conventions - allows NGO's to get involved in hitherto strictly domestic affairs like corruption, civil rights, the composition of the media, the penal and civil codes, environmental policies, or the allocation of economic resources and of natural endowments, such as land and water. No field of government activity is now exempt from the glare of NGO's. They serve as self-appointed witnesses, judges, jury and executioner rolled into one.

Regardless of their persuasion or modus operandi, all NGO's are top heavy with entrenched, well-remunerated, extravagantly-perked bureaucracies. Opacity is typical of NGO's. Amnesty's rules prevent its officials from publicly discussing the inner workings of the organization - proposals, debates, opinions - until they have become officially voted into its Mandate. Thus, dissenting views rarely get an open hearing.

Contrary to their teachings, the financing of NGO's is invariably obscure and their sponsors unknown. The bulk of the income of most non-governmental organizations, even the largest ones, comes from - usually foreign - powers. Many NGO's serve as official contractors for governments.

NGO's serve as long arms of their sponsoring states - gathering intelligence, burnishing their image, and promoting their interests. There is a revolving door between the staff of NGO's and government bureaucracies the world over. The British Foreign Office finances a host of NGO's - including the fiercely "independent" Global Witness - in troubled spots, such as Angola. Many host governments accuse NGO's of - unwittingly or knowingly - serving as hotbeds of espionage.

Very few NGO's derive some of their income from public contributions and donations. The more substantial NGO's spend one tenth of their budget on PR and solicitation of charity. In a desperate bid to attract international attention, so many of them lied about their projects in the Rwanda crisis in 1994, recounts "The Economist", that the Red Cross felt compelled to draw up a ten point mandatory NGO code of ethics. A code of conduct was adopted in 1995. But the phenomenon recurred in Kosovo.

All NGO's claim to be not for profit - yet, many of them possess sizable equity portfolios and abuse their position to increase the market share of firms they own. Conflicts of interest and unethical behavior abound.

Cafedirect is a British firm committed to "fair trade" coffee. Oxfam, an NGO, embarked, three years ago, on a campaign targeted at Cafedirect's competitors, accusing them of exploiting growers by paying them a tiny fraction of the retail price of the coffee they sell. Yet, Oxfam owns 25% of Cafedirect.

Large NGO's resemble multinational corporations in structure and operation. They are hierarchical, maintain large media, government lobbying, and PR departments, head-hunt, invest proceeds in professionally-managed portfolios, compete in government tenders, and own a variety of unrelated businesses. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development owns the license for second mobile phone operator in Afghanistan - among other businesses. In this respect, NGO's are more like cults than like civic organizations.

Many NGO's promote economic causes - anti-globalization, the banning of child labor, the relaxing of intellectual property rights, or fair payment for agricultural products. Many of these causes are both worthy and sound. Alas, most NGO's lack economic expertise and inflict damage on the alleged recipients of their beneficence. NGO's are at times manipulated by - or collude with - industrial groups and political parties.

It is telling that the denizens of many developing countries suspect the West and its NGO's of promoting an agenda of trade protectionism. Stringent - and expensive - labor and environmental provisions in international treaties may well be a ploy to fend off imports based on cheap labor and the competition they wreak on well-ensconced domestic industries and their political stooges.

Take child labor - as distinct from the universally condemnable phenomena of child prostitution, child soldiering, or child slavery.

Child labor, in many destitute locales, is all that separates the family from all-pervasive, life threatening, poverty. As national income grows, child labor declines. Following the outcry provoked, in 1995, by NGO's against soccer balls stitched by children in Pakistan, both Nike and Reebok relocated their workshops and sacked countless women and 7000 children. The average family income - anyhow meager - fell by 20 percent.

This affair elicited the following wry commentary from economists Drusilla Brown, Alan Deardorif, and Robert Stern:

"While Baden Sports can quite credibly claim that their soccer balls are not sewn by children, the relocation of their production facility undoubtedly did nothing for their former child workers and their families."

This is far from being a unique case. Threatened with legal reprisals and "reputation risks" (being named-and-shamed by overzealous NGO's) - multinationals engage in preemptive sacking. More than 50,000 children in Bangladesh were let go in 1993 by German garment factories in anticipation of the American never-legislated Child Labor Deterrence Act.

Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, observed:

"Stopping child labor without doing anything else could leave children worse off. If they are working out of necessity, as most are, stopping them could force them into prostitution or other employment with greater personal dangers. The most important thing is that they be in school and receive the education to help them leave poverty."

NGO-fostered hype notwithstanding, 70% of all children work within their family unit, in agriculture. Less than 1 percent are employed in mining and another 2 percent in construction. Again contrary to NGO-proffered panaceas, education is not a solution. Millions graduate every year in developing countries - 100,000 in Morocco alone. But unemployment reaches more than one third of the workforce in places such as Macedonia.

Children at work may be harshly treated by their supervisors but at least they are kept off the far more menacing streets. Some kids even end up with a skill and are rendered employable.

"The Economist" sums up the shortsightedness, inaptitude, ignorance, and self-centeredness of NGO's neatly:

"Suppose that in the remorseless search for profit, multinationals pay sweatshop wages to their workers in developing countries. Regulation forcing them to pay higher wages is demanded... The NGOs, the reformed multinationals and enlightened rich-country governments propose tough rules on third-world factory wages, backed up by trade barriers to keep out imports from countries that do not comply. Shoppers in the West pay more - but willingly, because they know it is in a good cause. The NGOs declare another victory. The companies, having shafted their third-world competition and protected their domestic markets, count their bigger profits (higher wage costs notwithstanding). And the third-world workers displaced from locally owned factories explain to their children why the West's new deal for the victims of capitalism requires them to starve."

NGO's in places like Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Albania, and Zimbabwe have become the preferred venue for Western aid - both humanitarian and financial - development financing, and emergency relief. According to the Red Cross, more money goes through NGO's than through the World Bank. Their iron grip on food, medicine, and funds rendered them an alternative government - sometimes as venal and graft-stricken as the one they replace.

Local businessmen, politicians, academics, and even journalists form NGO's to plug into the avalanche of Western largesse. In the process, they award themselves and their relatives with salaries, perks, and preferred access to Western goods and credits. NGO's have evolved into vast networks of patronage in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

NGO's chase disasters with a relish. More than 200 of them opened shop in the aftermath of the Kosovo refugee crisis in 1999-2000. Another 50 supplanted them during the civil unrest in Macedonia a year later. Floods, elections, earthquakes, wars - constitute the cornucopia that feed the NGO's.

NGO's are proponents of Western values - women's lib, human rights, civil rights, the protection of minorities, freedom, equality. Not everyone finds this liberal menu palatable. The arrival of NGO's often provokes social polarization and cultural clashes. Traditionalists in Bangladesh, nationalists in Macedonia, religious zealots in Israel, security forces everywhere, and almost all politicians find NGO's irritating and bothersome.

The British government ploughs well over $30 million a year into "Proshika", a Bangladeshi NGO. It started as a women's education outfit and ended up as a restive and aggressive women empowerment political lobby group with budgets to rival many ministries in this impoverished, Moslem and patriarchal country.

Other NGO's - fuelled by $300 million of annual foreign infusion - evolved from humble origins to become mighty coalitions of full-time activists. NGO's like the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and the Association for Social Advancement mushroomed even as their agendas have been fully implemented and their goals exceeded. It now owns and operates 30,000 schools.

This mission creep is not unique to developing countries. As Parkinson discerned, organizations tend to self-perpetuate regardless of their proclaimed charter. Remember NATO? Human rights organizations, like Amnesty, are now attempting to incorporate in their ever-expanding remit "economic and social rights" - such as the rights to food, housing, fair wages, potable water, sanitation, and health provision. How insolvent countries are supposed to provide such munificence is conveniently overlooked.

"The Economist" reviewed a few of the more egregious cases of NGO imperialism.

Human Rights Watch lately offered this tortured argument in favor of expanding the role of human rights NGO's: "The best way to prevent famine today is to secure the right to free expression - so that misguided government policies can be brought to public attention and corrected before food shortages become acute." It blatantly ignored the fact that respect for human and political rights does not fend off natural disasters and disease. The two countries with the highest incidence of AIDS are Africa's only two true democracies - Botswana and South Africa.

The Centre for Economic and Social Rights, an American outfit, "challenges economic injustice as a violation of international human rights law". Oxfam pledges to support the "rights to a sustainable livelihood, and the rights and capacities to participate in societies and make positive changes to people's lives". In a poor attempt at emulation, the WHO published an inanely titled document - "A Human Rights Approach to Tuberculosis".

NGO's are becoming not only all-pervasive but more aggressive. In their capacity as "shareholder activists", they disrupt shareholders meetings and act to actively tarnish corporate and individual reputations. Friends of the Earth worked hard four years ago to instigate a consumer boycott against Exxon Mobil - for not investing in renewable energy resources and for ignoring global warming. No one - including other shareholders - understood their demands. But it went down well with the media, with a few celebrities, and with contributors.

As "think tanks", NGO's issue partisan and biased reports. The International Crisis Group published a rabid attack on the then incumbent government of Macedonia, days before an election, relegating the rampant corruption of its predecessors - whom it seemed to be tacitly supporting - to a few footnotes. On at least two occasions - in its reports regarding Bosnia and Zimbabwe - ICG has recommended confrontation, the imposition of sanctions, and, if all else fails, the use of force. Though the most vocal and visible, it is far from being the only NGO that advocates "just" wars.

The ICG is a repository of former heads of state and has-been politicians and is renowned (and notorious) for its prescriptive - some say meddlesome - philosophy and tactics. "The Economist" remarked sardonically: "To say (that ICG) is 'solving world crises' is to risk underestimating its ambitions, if overestimating its achievements."

NGO's have orchestrated the violent showdown during the trade talks in Seattle in 1999 and its repeat performances throughout the world. The World Bank was so intimidated by the riotous invasion of its premises in the NGO-choreographed "Fifty Years is Enough" campaign of 1994, that it now employs dozens of NGO activists and let NGO's determine many of its policies.

NGO activists have joined the armed - though mostly peaceful - rebels of the Chiapas region in Mexico. Norwegian NGO's sent members to forcibly board whaling ships. In the USA, anti-abortion activists have murdered doctors. In Britain, animal rights zealots have both assassinated experimental scientists and wrecked property.

Birth control NGO's carry out mass sterilizations in poor countries, financed by rich country governments in a bid to stem immigration. NGO's buy slaves in Sudan thus encouraging the practice of slave hunting throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Other NGO's actively collaborate with "rebel" armies - a euphemism for terrorists.

NGO's lack a synoptic view and their work often undermines efforts by international organizations such as the UNHCR and by governments. Poorly-paid local officials have to contend with crumbling budgets as the funds are diverted to rich expatriates doing the same job for a multiple of the cost and with inexhaustible hubris.

This is not conducive to happy co-existence between foreign do-gooders and indigenous governments. Sometimes NGO's seem to be an ingenious ploy to solve Western unemployment at the expense of down-trodden natives. This is a misperception driven by envy and avarice.

But it is still powerful enough to foster resentment and worse. NGO's are on the verge of provoking a ruinous backlash against them in their countries of destination. That would be a pity. Some of them are doing indispensable work. If only they were a wee more sensitive and somewhat less ostentatious. But then they wouldn't be NGO's, would they?

Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Hypothetical Theatrics - Is Bangla Bhai a Sikh terrorist from India?

• The buzz "Where on earth has Bangla bhai disappeared"?
  

• Months before the much publicized crackdown on the jihadist, we were certain that the media who had more a less a fix on this insolent idiot, not only where he is and what he was up to, down to where his camps are located and how many men he has managed to torture and kill, would be enough intelligence to do a quick fix….but a fortnite down the line, here we are and its one big zilch….
  

• Check this out, our nameless Bogra correspondent said : "A leader of JMJB, which was banned last week for militancy, hinted that Bangla Bhai may leave for Pakistan today or tomorrow. Asked how Bangla Bhai would leave, the JMJB leader declined to provide any information. Another source said Bangla Bhai may go to Afghanistan if he fails to go to Pakistan"…as if one could just "fly across" to Pakistan or Afghanistan without India never knowing a damn thing?
  

• Someone ought to teach this Bogra correspondent a lesson in geography - unless he is blind and has no need for one. Rantburg truly has a fine sense of geography when its says: " Some frontier villagers apprehended that Bangla Bhai might have fled to the neighbouring country. But, police could not confirm such apprehension. The law and order improved in the region, the sources said."…Note the word "frontier" - the closest frontier that Bangla bhai has is INDIA.
  

• Not to be outdone another nameless Staff Correspondent from Rajshahi makes an open-and-shut case: "The Rajshahi superintendent of police (SP) misused his power to back Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and even helped Bangla Bhai to flee, according to a cross section of public accounts, coupled with documentary proof and a special government report."……of course it is always fair to give the SP devil the benefit of the doubt….when he says "Why would I help Bangla Bhai? He is a criminal. You made him the most powerful criminal. So where is he hiding now? It is only you (journalists) who are writing news after news on Bangla Bhai based on pre-physiological concepts". Asked to comment on the special police report, Mia questioned the manner in which it was obtained. "You (journalists) must have supplied the allegations against me."…which brings Dak Bangla back to square one …..Where on earth has Bangla bhai disappeared?............Read more

ASSESSMENT: Indo-Israeli ties - the post-Arafat shift

Ironically, the demise of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not only brought about long awaited reconciliation between the Palestinians and influential Arab countries such as Syria and Kuwait, but also facilitated the new Indian government to abandon its hesitation over continuing with the policies of its predecessor vis-à-vis Israel. Arafat's death appears to have resolved the uncertainty over the sense of direction of Indian foreign policy and re-focused the primacy of bilateralism in its policy towards Israel. Within days after Arafat's demise, a senior delegation from the Israeli foreign ministry was in New Delhi and conducted the first high-level consolations since Singh became prime minister. This was followed by the meetings of the Joint Working Groups (J.W.G.) on n defense and counter-terrorism, both of which took place in Israel in early December.

"Indo-Israeli Ties: The Post-Arafat Shift"

After weeks of anxiety and uncertainty, Indo-Israeli relations appear back on track. The spate of political contacts clearly show that despite its past criticisms over the pro-Israeli policies of the previous right-wing government, India's Congress Party has come to recognize the need to continue with India's newly found friendship with Israel. The sudden demise of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November 2004 appeared to have removed any lingering doubts in New Delhi over the place of Israel in India's overall Middle East policy. Having identified with him for so long, his death has enabled India, especially the Congress Party, to look at the broader Middle East without its traditional ties.

The Congress Party has been traditionally sympathetic towards the Palestinians and did not normalize relations with Israel until 1992. The roots of this policy can be traced to the early 1920s when Indian nationalists found a common cause with the Arab nationalists in Palestine and remained unsympathetic towards Zionist demands for a Jewish homeland. Its belated recognition in September 1950 was not followed by normalization of relations, and for over four decades the absence of formal ties was the hallmark of India's policy towards Israel. During this phase, Indian policy ranged from indifference to outright hostility that reached its crescendo in 1975 when it voted for the infamous U.N. resolution that equated Zionism with racism.

The end of the Cold War and the recognition of new Middle Eastern realities following the Madrid Conference of 1991 compelled India to reevaluate its sour relations. When the Arabs and Israeli leaders were seeking a negotiated political settlement, there was no reason for India to continue with its cold policy, and formal ties were established in January 1992. After some initial inhibitions, bilateral relations have improved considerably and a number of political, economic and military delegations have visited one another.

The relations improved significantly when the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.)-led coalition government came to power in 1998. The party's prolonged sympathy for Israel and its determination to move away from the pro-Arab stand of the Congress Party enabled both countries to forge closer ties. The desire of the B.J.P. and its partners to seek closer ties with the United States provided another impetus to the pro-Israeli posture. Its traditional pro-Western and anti-Soviet policy was also compounded by its subtle but recognizable nationalist posture that often bordered on unfriendliness towards Muslims, domestic and foreign.

Hence, even though it was the Congress Party, which normalized relations with Israel, under the B.J.P. the relations assumed high visibility and publicity. Surprisingly, however, its closer relations with Israel did not undermine India's larger interests in the Middle East. The reasons have to be found in the diminishing importance of the Palestinian factor in inter-Arab politics.

Moreover, by the time the B.J.P. came to power, some of the initial military contacts started bearing fruits. With Western sanctions following New Delhi's nuclear tests, India found Israel an important and reliable ally. Before long, Israel became India's second largest military supplier after Russia, and India became the largest market for Israeli arms exports.

In 2004, both sides concluded a $1.1 billion deal for the supply of three Phalcon advanced airborne early warning systems to India. Considering the American opposition to Israel supplying similar spy planes to China, the Indo-Israeli deal was an important development. Such convergence of interests between the three countries led to some Indian leaders openly suggesting a triangular alliance between India, Israel and the United States. India also sought to benefit from Israel's expertise in the upgrading of weapons and systems. Both sides are also cooperating in counter-terrorism operations and Israel is supplying India advanced surveillance and border management systems. They also benefit from intelligence sharing and periodic meetings of senior intelligence officials.

The relations reached its climax in September 2003 when India rolled out a red carpet welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The visit came against the background of growing criticism of Israel because of its handling of the Palestinian intifada and Sharon's own isolation from the international community. His visit was greeted by criticisms and condemnations from the Indian left and its supporters. However, contrary to initial skepticism, Sonia Gandhi, the then leader of the opposition, met the visiting Israeli leader.

Anti-Israeli Stands

At the same time, it is essential to remember that by 2000, bilateral relations ceased to be controversial in India and the visit of Jyoti Basu, the communist chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal, in June that year revealed the bi-partisan consensus vis-à-vis Israel. The outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada a few months later, however, signaled a new trend and anti-Israeli rhetoric returned. Since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, the communist movement has demanded the recalling of India's ambassador in Tel Aviv and the expulsion of the Israeli envoy from India. The muted response of the B.J.P.-led government to Israel's strong-arm tactics against the Palestinians often came under condemnation in India. The anti-Israeli posture adopted by the Soviets and its allies, especially after the June war of 1967, provided a larger ideological platform for them to adopt a sympathetic posture towards the Palestinians and Arab radicalism.

The pro-American and pro-Israeli policy of the previous government remained an anathema to the Indian left as well as a section of the Congress Party. Military relations, which grew significantly during the past few years, particularly come under stinging criticisms.

Indeed, some of the senior leaders in the present government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have in the past expressed reservations over closer ties with Israel. Current Education Minister Arjun Singh, for example, expressed reservations when the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao decided to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992. Likewise, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was highly critical of the Oslo Accords and in one of his weekly columns even depicted Israeli leader Shimon Peres as a "terrorist."

Above all, the government of Manmohan Singh depends upon the "outside" support of the communist lawmakers for its survival. As discussed earlier, for long they have been vociferously opposed to diplomatic ties with Israel, especially the military-security dimension. Even when they were prepared to admit formal diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, they consider military ties as an infringement of Palestinian rights and collaboration in the anti-Palestinian actions of Israel.

Therefore, in the weeks following the parliament elections in May last year, there were concerns that by giving into the dictates of his communist allies and their supporters within the party, Singh might slowdown the phase of Indo-Israeli relations. The Common Minimum Program of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (U.P.A.) explicitly declared, "Traditional ties with West Asia will be given a fresh thrust. The U.P.A. government reiterates India's decades-old commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people for a homeland of their own." Indeed, last September, India's junior foreign minister harshly criticized Israel following his meeting with the besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

However, despite strong pressures from his coalition partners, Prime Minister Singh is signaling that India is not planning any drastic shifts in its Middle East policy. Indeed, developments in recent weeks indicate that Indo-Israeli relations are progressing both on the political as well as military fronts.

Mid-November Shift

Ironically, the demise of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not only brought about long awaited reconciliation between the Palestinians and influential Arab countries such as Syria and Kuwait, but also facilitated the new Indian government to abandon its hesitation over continuing with the policies of its predecessor vis-à-vis Israel.

Arafat's death appears to have resolved the uncertainty over the sense of direction of Indian foreign policy and re-focused the primacy of bilateralism in its policy towards Israel. Within days after Arafat's demise, a senior delegation from the Israeli foreign ministry was in New Delhi and conducted the first high-level consolations since Singh became prime minister. This was followed by the meetings of the Joint Working Groups (J.W.G.) on defense and counter-terrorism, both of which took place in Israel in early December.

The same month also witnessed the visit of Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was supposed to have accompanied Olmert, was held up by a coalition crisis over the budget.

If the political rapprochement was not sufficient, toward the end of December, Israel Military Industries announced that it had secured a $130 million lucrative defense contract from India. It is obvious that negotiations were initiated by the B.J.P.-led government and perhaps it is likely that the December meeting of the J.W.G. on defense would have discussed similar ventures.

One could argue that the annual meetings of the J.W.G. and consultations were routine and should not be seen as substantial movements. However, given the uncertainty surrounding the bilateral relations since the resounding defeat of the pro-Israeli B.J.P. government, such "routine" meetings do signal a clear message.

The gradual decline in the Israeli-Palestinian violence, high expectations following the Palestinian elections in January and the desire of the new Palestinian leadership to mend fences with the Arab world have enabled the U.P.A. government in India to reexamine its initial reservations vis-à-vis Israel. Much of the 1990s was marked by tensions between Arafat and key Arab personalities over the Kuwait war and the Oslo process.

At the same time, it is difficult to ignore the negative vibes. Already, there are complaints that the new government has not "moved away" from the B.J.P. policies and is continuing with its special relations with Israel. Despite its public pronouncements to the contrary, the Congress-led government is accused of not exhibiting sufficient support for the Palestinians. The absence of either the prime minister or Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi at Arafat's funeral in Cairo last November was being interpreted as an Indian desire not to "antagonize" Israel.

Domestically, the government would not be able to ignore the coalition compulsions, especially if Israeli-Palestinian violence intensifies. At the same time, India, especially the Congress Party, could not ignore the turn of events since the death of Arafat. Not only is there a newfound rapprochement between the Palestinians and Israel, but also between the Palestinians and the wider Arab world. Palestinian leader Abu Mazen's visit to Syria, Lebanon and finally Kuwait marked an end to the tension that prevailed between Arafat and these countries.

Conclusion

It would be an exaggeration and even incorrect to argue that the road to Washington passes through Israel. At the same time, friendly ties with the Jewish state does help India in seeking a common cause with the United States. When New Delhi and Washington have serious differences over issues such as the Iranian nuclear program, the Iraqi conflict and Syrian support for militant Muslim groups, they converge on Israel.

At the regional level also, relations with Israel are no longer controversial. With the sole exception of Egypt, none of the Arab and Islamic countries has publicly expressed any concerns over Indo-Israeli ties. Even Iran, known for its anti-Israeli rhetoric, is keen to promote political and economic ties with India rather than be concerned about Indo-Israeli ties. The ongoing debate in Pakistan over the need to reexamine Islamabad's traditional hostility towards Israel is also favorable to India.

At the same time, Pakistan is extremely weary of growing military ties between the two countries and even unsuccessfully pleaded with the U.S. to scuttle the Indo-Israeli Phalcon deal. For the time being, China has not shown any anxiety in public but given the Sino-Israeli tension with the U.S. over military sales, China may not remain indifferent for long.

Abandoning its newly found relations with Israel is unlikely to bring any significant diplomatic gains for India. At the same time, Indo-Israeli ties would not remain immune to any intensification of Israeli-Palestinian violence, especially with the Congress Party in power.

BANGLADESH: Gun Tantra

It's Bangla Bhai the government is most keen to arrest. Blamed for attacks on activists of Left groups and unleashing terror in the north Bangladesh countryside, he is the JMJB's operational commander. He's managed to evade the police dragnet despite the government arresting 62 militants so far. Earlier, speculations were Bangla Bhai would surrender; now it's said he might have fled to India or Pakistan. But are these arrests Dhaka's attempt to appease international opinion or does it mark a decisive shift in its policy towards militants? The question assumed importance because two of the four-party ruling alliance—Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JIB) and the Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), an umbrella organisation of 11 small groups—are perceived to be religious, even fundamentalist, in their orientation.

Gun Tantra- At long last, Dhaka cracks down on its militants
HENA KHAN

For years, Bangladesh had been denying the existence of Islamic militants on its soil. Last week, Begum Khaleda Zia's government ironically provided proof of their presence: it arrested a clutch of militants, including Jamat-ul-Mujahideen (JM) leader Asadullah Galib, and reiterated its resolve to nab Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) leaders, Siddiqul Islam aka Bangla Bhai and Abdur Rahman; both the JM and the JMJB were also banned. The crackdown on militants ought to immensely please New Delhi, which had cited terrorism and fundamentalism in Bangladesh among the reasons for pulling out of the SAARC summit early February.

But it wasn't New Delhi that goaded Dhaka into arresting the militants. The pressure came from elsewhere: donor countries and banks hadn't even invited Bangladesh to their February 23-24 meeting in Washington, where they discussed deteriorating governance, worsening law and order problems and rising militancy. Desperately dependent on foreign financial assistance, and apprehensive of what the future might entail, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia consequently decided to take action against the militant groups and their leaders.

The crackdown also comes against the backdrop of bomb attacks on branch offices of two internationally famous ngos—Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and the Grameen Bank of Prof Muhammad Yunus, the mastermind behind micro-credit schemes. Fear of fresh attacks prompted the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations to declare that in the absence of security for ngo workers, the country might find it difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations.

Begum Zia's compulsions apart, an Indian diplomat welcomed the move, saying New Delhi had repeatedly informed Dhaka over the past two years about such groups. "No doubt it's Bangladesh's internal affair," he said. "But militancy has no borders and so is worrying for India as well." Islamic militancy has international implications for Bangladesh, the diplomat added.

Even many in Bangladesh felt vindicated. The prestigious Daily Star newspaper thought last week's arrest was equivalent of the Zia government "eating its own words". For, as the daily said, the government had been trashing reports of Bangla Bhai and Islamic militancy as a "figment" of the media's imagination. Famous sculptor Ferdousy Priyabhashi, also a prominent anti-fundamentalist activist, told Outlook, "We had warned the government many a times about Islamic militancy, but were dismissed as anti-government people."

Currently, Galib and his associates are being grilled by a joint interrogation cell of security agencies in Dhaka. Hitherto a non-entity, Galib shot into prominence following confessional statements of arrested militants naming him and Bangla Bhai as their leaders. An Arabic teacher in the Rajshahi University, Galib's denied his organisation is linked to militant activity. He's a close friend of Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai's mentor who secretly set up the JMJB in 1998. In a media interview last year, Rahman claimed the JMJB had 10,000 'trained' members.

It's Bangla Bhai the government is most keen to arrest. Blamed for attacks on activists of Left groups and unleashing terror in the north Bangladesh countryside, he is the JMJB's operational commander. He's managed to evade the police dragnet despite the government arresting 62 militants so far. Earlier, speculations were Bangla Bhai would surrender; now it's said he might have fled to India or Pakistan.

But are these arrests Dhaka's attempt to appease international opinion or does it mark a decisive shift in its policy towards militants? The question assumed importance because two of the four-party ruling alliance—Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JIB) and the Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), an umbrella organisation of 11 small groups—are perceived to be religious, even fundamentalist, in their orientation.

Surprisingly, the JIB, which is stridently anti-India, welcomed the crackdown on militants, saying Islam did not preach violence. But two top IOJ leaders publicly said the government should have consulted the alliance partners before taking action against the two proscribed groups, especially as the charges against them might have been "concocted". IOJ leaders feel the JIB could be behind the crackdown as it wants to marginalise other Islamic groups and grab a bigger share in governance.

The politics of religion is precisely why The Daily Star hoped in its editorial, "Let not this be a one-off step but the first of a genuine attempt to not only curb but in fact completely uproot extremism from our midst."

PAKISTAN: Bibi's Annual Pilgrimage

Bhutto met "friends" around Washington to bring them up to date on her plans. But she didn’t get high-level attention from the Bush Administration despite all the buzz about democracy. Her supporters said she was, in fact, "insulted" when the State Department came up with only an "office director" level diplomat for a meeting in place of Christina Rocca, assistant secretary for South Asia, who was under the weather. The meeting was fixed but Bhutto didn’t show up and didn’t send a message either. There was much heart burn all around with US officials saying in a somewhat imperious tone that she was given the access at the "level considered appropriate" for a former prime minister. "We don’t see anything out of the ordinary" in this, said one official, refusing to concede that others might read a whole message in the medium.

Bibi's Annual Pilgrimage

Buoyed by the "doctrine of democracy", from which she hoped Pakistan would not be exempt, Benazir Bhutto got a reality check from the Bush Administration's Mush fixation.

SEEMA SIROHI from Washington

Benazir Bhutto has mellowed with age and matured with time. She has also sharpened her political skills in exile. She timed her annual pilgrimage to Washington amid talk of new political arrangements in Pakistan and to pointedly remind Americans that she had "heard" George Bush’s inaugural address, the one about ending tyranny in the world and bringing freedom and democracy. She called it the "doctrine of democracy" from which Pakistan could not be exempt or the doctrine loses credibility.

"Bibi" -- as she is referred to by many -- speaks with confidence and at a recent get together she sparkled with wit and wisdom. The charm offensive floored the nearly all-male audience as she joked about "deals" and "dheel" [leeway] -- deal being the tentative talks with the military government about the future and the "dheel" being the release of her husband Asif Zardari after eight years in prison. Gone was the shrillness of earlier days and in its place was a more well-rounded politician who knows she deserves better. She exuded hope and clear future ambition. She knows she can win elections in Pakistan -- if she is allowed to return and campaign openly in a free and fair electoral environment.

This is where the Americans can help, given their hefty links with Pakistan. Bhutto met "friends" around Washington to bring them up to date on her plans. But she didn’t get high-level attention from the Bush Administration despite all the buzz about democracy. Her supporters said she was, in fact, "insulted" when the State Department came up with only an "office director" level diplomat for a meeting in place of Christina Rocca, assistant secretary for South Asia, who was under the weather. The meeting was fixed but Bhutto didn’t show up and didn’t send a message either. There was much heart burn all around with US officials saying in a somewhat imperious tone that she was given the access at the "level considered appropriate" for a former prime minister. "We don’t see anything out of the ordinary" in this, said one official, refusing to concede that others might read a whole message in the medium.

Neither the Bush Administration nor the American bureaucracy seems to have much love for Bibi. They consider her immature, even corrupt and somewhat irresponsible. "She trades on the idea that she is the chosen one," said one official. Who doesn’t? Currently the chosen one in Pakistan is a general who speaks the language of moderation one day and fumes the next. The Bush-Mush policy fit has been expedient and official Washington has found adequate accommodation with the general. But it doesn’t quite mesh with Bush’s inaugural address, which was noted around the world for its lyrical paean to democracy. So the US bureaucracy is shifting gears and readjusting the priorities a bit.

Since January, official US statements on Pakistan have changed with the restoration of democracy occupying a higher profile. Americans say they want the 2007 elections in Pakistan to be held according to "international standards" with participation from political parties. They can see that Musharraf is becoming unpopular at home and any long-term engagement with Pakistan will have to include relations with mainstream political parties. Circumstances on the ground have also forced the Americans to look at the reality -- if political parties continue to be marginalized, the mullahs will only gain in stature and power. Already ruling one province and in coalition in another, the religious parties are strengthening their position.

Early contours of the blueprint for a democratic Pakistan will include Bhutto’s party but will it include Bhutto herself? The Americans at this stage are unwilling to give her any assurance that she will be allowed to return to Pakistan, campaign and run for a seat. They want her to wait peacefully and allow the assembly to complete its five-year term, a feat that Musharraf can then flog in his campaign. She obviously doesn’t want him to have that benefit and would like elections to be held earlier.

Sitting in the home of a well-to-do Pakistani American supporter of her party, Bhutto tackled tricky questions about her party’s behind-the-scenes negotiations with Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s emissaries with aplomb. In fact, her campaign has begun at least among overseas supporters. So impressive was her demand for justice, free and fair election and an end to political persecution by the general’s regime, a woman sitting next to me said "Amen" when Bhutto finished.

Bhutto was prepared with facts and figures to support her case that an average Pakistani is worse off under the military dictatorship despite the "gifts" coming from the Americans and the post-9/11 swelling of funds from overseas Pakistanis. "The elections of 2002 have failed. The states are not happy, the working classes are not happy. Today 33 percent of the people are below the poverty line and 24 percent live on subsistence level. That is a staggering 57 percent of the people," Bhutto told a packed room filled with supporters.

No wonder the general is afraid of her return. She is in a position to rally her troops and rejuvenate her party. It will be hard for the Americans to justify her continued exile given that even Hosni Mubarak is talking of a multi-candidate election in Egypt.

ANALYSIS:Ominous call to arms in South Asia

India's defense purchase strategy has changed, with Indian planners now focused on the specific goal of neutralizing Pakistan's nuclear-warhead capability, and once this is achieved, the military balance will turn significantly in India's favor.

Ominous call to arms in South Asia
Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The arms race has begun anew in South Asia, with defense planners in New Delhi eyeing controversial deals, while Pakistan's neglected and cash-strapped military bosses in general headquarters in Rawalpindi are having to come up with alternative strategies to counter developments in India.

India's defense purchase strategy has changed, with Indian planners now focused on the specific goal of neutralizing Pakistan's nuclear-warhead capability, and once this is achieved, the military balance will turn significantly in India's favor.

A top military strategist told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity that this new Indian planning covers a three-to-four-year period, with the key being the proposed purchase of the United States' Patriot missile defense system, which is capable of warding off nuclear attacks. US officials from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency were recently in India to give a presentation of the system, much to the indignation of Pakistan.

The Indian Air Force is also evaluating four different fighters to replace its ageing MiGs: the F-16, the Mirage 2000-5, the MiG 29-M2 and the JAS-39 Gripen. Pakistan's navy does not have a warhead-delivery system, and its F-16s - which have nuclear-launch capabilities - could be contained by a plane such as the Mirage 2000-5.

Pakistan's military decision-makers are now in deep consultations with the Foreign Office and the Inter-Services Intelligence's Kashmir cell to overhaul policies in light of what they see as new ground realities in which they believe India will keep the Kashmir issue in limbo and make breathing space for itself under the cover of confidence-building measures, all the while planning to entrap Pakistan in a new strategic game.

The Mirage 2000-5 of Dassault Aviation of France is a multi-role combat fighter with advanced avionics, including multiple-target air-to-ground and air-to-air firing procedures. Its radar provides multi-targeting in air defense and can simultaneously detect up to 24 targets, and then track and scan the eight highest-priority threats.

The Mirage 2000-5 is a response to the US-made F-16s, which make up the last remnants of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The PAF acquired 40 F-16s in the late 1980s, but by 2004 many had been destroyed in accidents, while others were cannibalized due to a lack of spares; now only a few are left.

Pakistan has been traumatized by what it sees as a US betrayal in reneging on a contract to supply about 70 F-16s in the late 1980s. US officials say the planes were held up because of congressional laws that required Pakistan not to go nuclear, and that Islamabad crossed the line in the sand, fully aware of the consequences, by doing just that on May 28, 1998.

Washington has since squared its accounts with Islamabad by returning (in cash and goods) the money Pakistan had advanced toward the purchase of the F-16s. But the episode has scarred Islamabad, and its military rulers still make periodic pleas to the US for F-16s.

After Pakistan tested its nuclear weapons, the US refused to sell it military hardware. Then came September 11, 2001, and the emergence of Pakistan as an important ally in the "war on terror", and the ban on arms sales was lifted. Pakistan's planners then went for purchases with the mindset that Pakistan's missile-based rocket program was its deterrent against any Indian military might, and India would not dare pursue a conventional war in the presence of nuclear warheads.

Pakistan's purchases included submarines, missiles and tanks and other conventional weapons and hardware. India, meanwhile, changed its plans to center on the anti-missile Patriot system and the Mirage 2000-5, or a similar such plane.

"It does not mean a dead end for Pakistan," a military expert told Asia Times Online. "It is simply the start of a new arms race in the region, on the same pattern previously between the US and the former USSR. US arms were superior in quality and precision, which the former USSR lacked, but it countered the US arms threat with a quantity of various types of missiles of inferior quality, lacking in precision but well advanced in range.

"Anti-missile Patriots are not impossible to be developed in Pakistan, but obviously it could push for new clandestine operations, like access to the black market, to get the technology and materials required. Obviously, it would be a lesser match, but it would tactically suffice to maintain the military equilibrium in South Asia," the expert said.

"There is no end to the measures and counter-measures, and that is exactly the secret behind the profitability of the world superpower's military production complexes," he added.

Syed Saleem Shahzadis Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times

INDIA: Intelligence demands distance

From Dhar’s book it is clear that half a century after India became a democracy, the IB continues to operate in a Byzantine fashion reminiscent of Chanakya’s secret service. On the orders of prime ministers, the IB has even bugged telephones in Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime ministers have been known to keep tabs not just on political opponents but even on ministerial colleagues. In one instance the telephone of a prime minister’s aide in the PMO was bugged since an IB official, still loyal to the previous government, continued to report back to his former masters.

Intelligence demands distance
COOMI KAPOOR

Who does the director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) report to? Technically, the home ministry, but a succession of IB directors have zealously established a special status through a one-to-one daily meeting with the prime minister in which political gossip often overshadows security issues. Former IB joint director M.K. Dhar’s recent book, Open Secrets, reveals what many of us have long suspected, that IB personnel act as political secretaries and fixers at large for the prime minister of the day with no concern for the constitutional rights of citizens.

From Dhar’s book it is clear that half a century after India became a democracy, the IB continues to operate in a Byzantine fashion reminiscent of Chanakya’s secret service. On the orders of prime ministers, the IB has even bugged telephones in Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime ministers have been known to keep tabs not just on political opponents but even on ministerial colleagues. In one instance the telephone of a prime minister’s aide in the PMO was bugged since an IB official, still loyal to the previous government, continued to report back to his former masters.

It will be interesting to see whether the government permits Dhar’s book to go unchallenged. If Dhar is indeed exaggerating, then the government can rightfully haul him up for defaming our premier internal intelligence agency. But the maverick agent’s hair-raising accounts have the ring of truth. In parts it reads like a mea culpa since Dhar personally took part in many of the dirty tricks he describes.

Established by the British, the IB is one of the very few organisations in the country with an agent in every district. But while a colonial power was understandably apprehensive that the natives might be up to mischief, there surely is no justification for the state in a democracy to snoop on its citizens on issues which have nothing to do even remotely with national security.

Because of its phenomenal strength and vast reach, the IB headquarters is so overloaded with information and trivia that it is difficult to sift the wheat from the chaff. IB agents, like astrologers, have perfected the art of protecting their backs by constantly issuing vaguely worded warnings about threats from untraceable militants. That way they can always say, “We told you so”, after a major incident. The classic example of the IB actually receiving a message but failing to act on it was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Intercepted messages between the LTTE headquarters in Jaffna and LTTE cadres in Tamil Nadu, indicated that the Tigers planned to kill Gandhi either in Delhi or Chennai. For two months, however, the transcripts of the messages gathered dust at the IB headquarters since nobody had the time or inclination to try and decode them.

Morarji Desai as prime minister had talked of winding up the IB and RAW since he felt they had no place in a democratic set-up. But his threat was never carried out. In ’89, as chairman of the parliamentary estimates committee, Jaswant Singh had recommended that these two intelligence bodies should at least be made accountable to Parliament, so as to bring about some degree of transparency in their functioning. But, once in power, the BJP was content to continue with the status quo.

If the IB serves as spy and handmaiden to the powers that be, then the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is accountable to Parliament, has degenerated into a convenient tool for politicians to settle scores with their opponents. It is a familiar pattern. The moment a government changes hands, the CBI is busy making out chargesheets against key players in the earlier regime. And when the first regime returns to power, the CBI is equally adept at covering its tracks and giving a clean chit to the very people it had dubbed guilty earlier. Not so long ago, the CBI had registered cases against Mayawati in the Taj corridor case, Satish Sharma for petrol pump allotments, Shibu Soren for taking a bribe and Tehelka for violating the Official Secrets Act. Now the CBI is busy providing disingenuous reasons why these very same cases should be wound up. The CBI for obvious reasons did not think to appeal against the acquittal by a Lucknow court of the then home minister, L.K. Advani, in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Now the Manmohan Singh government wants an explanation for the CBI’s negligence.

CBI officers have mastered the art of appearing to be busy in political investigations while actually dragging their feet. The best example of this is the Bofors case, in which investigations have waxed and waned for 17 years. Significantly, all major breakthroughs in the case have came from leaks to journalists and not due to the efforts of our premier investigating agency, which the authorities in Switzerland and Sweden are clearly sceptical about. With the Congress-led UPA in power, the CBI has now been instructed by the law ministry to sit back and allow the frozen bank accounts of Ottavio Quattrocchi to be released. Significantly two additional directors in the CBI, one of whom was active in the Bofors investigations, have been transferred.

During the hearing in the hawala case, the Supreme Court, duly aware of the CBI’s lack of independence and the dangers of political policemen, ruled that the Central Vigilance Commissioner should be involved in the selection process of the CBI director. But the government neatly circumvented the court’s order. During NDA regime, the PMO simply sat over the CVC’s panel of three names for over a year and appointed an acting director in the meanwhile. The CVC finally got the message and included the acting CBI director in the new panel of candidates, and he was promptly appointed. This gentleman, on reaching superannuation, was given a post-retirement sinecure. The retiring IB director and the RAW chief were similarly rewarded. When the heads of intelligence and investigative agencies are susceptible to such carrots, there is little chance of objectivity in the functioning of the organisations under their command.

Clearly there is an urgent need for introspection to decide how best these sacred cows can be insulated from political manipulation.

BANGLADESH: Murder and democracy

There is no doubt that the assassination of my father is part of a larger and systematic campaign of terror in Bangladesh, one that seeks to destroy the forces of moderation, democracy and freedom, and convert Bangladesh into a "Muslim state." A reign of terror has been unleashed on opposition party leaders, religious minorities, journalists, progressive intellectuals and writers, and women's rights activists. To the utter amazement of many, both in Bangladesh and abroad, the BNP-Jamaat government in Bangladesh has steadfastly held to the position that all is well in the country. The government has failed to effectively investigate the many grenade and bomb attacks that have occurred over the past four years, thereby providing encouragement to the perpetrators of these attacks. Instead, the primary focus of the Bangladesh government has been on suppressing protest and dissent.

A reign of terror spreads in Bangladesh
By Nazli Kibria The Boston Globe

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Murder and democracy

BOSTON My father, Shah A.M.S. Kibria, was assassinated on Jan. 27. He was 73 years old. In his lifetime he had held various senior positions in Bangladesh and abroad, including finance minister of Bangladesh, undersecretary general of the United Nations and executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and foreign secretary of Bangladesh. At the time of his death my father was a leading member of the opposition in Parliament and a regular newspaper and magazine columnist.

On the day of his murder, my father had gone to address a public meeting in his constituency of Habiganj, Sylhet, in the northeast part of Bangladesh. As he was leaving the meeting, grenades exploded; three people, including my cousin Shah Manzur Huda, were instantly killed. My severely injured father died in an ill-equipped ambulance in which he was placed to make the three-hour road journey from Habiganj to Dhaka, the capital. My mother, who was in Dhaka, received news of the attack just half an hour after it occurred. She, along with opposition party leaders, frantically tried to contact the government authorities to request helicopter transport to Dhaka for my father so that he could receive medical treatment. But their requests went unanswered.

As I was reading through my father's columns and other published writings from the past year, I was overwhelmed by an eerie sense of foreboding. I turned to my husband and said, "He knew it was coming, he wrote of his own death." In article after article, with growing anxiety and dismay, my father pointed to the spiraling decline of the country. He noted the unchecked lawlessness and the growth in the forces of religious extremism and of state-sponsored political violence. In the wake of his assassination, his prescient commentaries haunt us.

On Feb. 4, I stood, along with my family, outside our family home in Dhaka to participate in a silent protest demonstration. Thousands of people - men and women, young and old, rickshaw pullers and lawyers, and many with no political party affiliations - joined us. Fellow protesters came up to me and remarked, "They did not just kill your father, they killed us." I heard from them that my father's killing has come to symbolize their desperate struggle to overcome the powerful and dark forces that threaten the heart and soul of the country.

There is no doubt that the assassination of my father is part of a larger and systematic campaign of terror in Bangladesh, one that seeks to destroy the forces of moderation, democracy and freedom, and convert Bangladesh into a "Muslim state." A reign of terror has been unleashed on opposition party leaders, religious minorities, journalists, progressive intellectuals and writers, and women's rights activists.

To the utter amazement of many, both in Bangladesh and abroad, the BNP-Jamaat government in Bangladesh has steadfastly held to the position that all is well in the country. The government has failed to effectively investigate the many grenade and bomb attacks that have occurred over the past four years, thereby providing encouragement to the perpetrators of these attacks. Instead, the primary focus of the Bangladesh government has been on suppressing protest and dissent.

Expatriate Bangalis are being continually warned to avoid tarnishing the country's image abroad. At the very least, the role of the government in the current reign of terror in Bangladesh is one of complicity.

The fact that the current political crisis in Bangladesh has not, thus far, attracted much attention in the United States does not make it any less pressing. I would urge Americans who are in positions of power and influence to put Bangladesh on their radar screen now, before it is too late. There is still time for a peaceful, diplomacy-centered resolution to the political crisis in Bangladesh, a country that is home to the fourth-largest concentration of Muslims in the world.

My mother, brother and I are asking for an independent international investigation team to be immediately sent to Bangladesh to look into the grenade attack on my father and the circumstances of his death. The killers of my father must be brought to justice. The achievement of this goal would, I believe, be an important step toward restoring political democracy in Bangladesh and of reviving the hopes and dreams of its 141 million citizens.

BANGLADESH: Arrests of Islamic Militants Raise Questions about Terror

Despite political disagreements about why the government decided to act now against these two Islamic militant groups - there is general agreement that they pose a threat. But is the nature of that threat related in any way to international terror organizations? Zachary Abuza is the author of the book, "The Rise of Militant Islam in Southeast Asia." He sees parallels between the attitude of the Bangladesh government today and that of the Indonesian government, before the 2002 terrorist bombings on Bali by a militant group linked to al-Qaida.

Bangladesh: Arrests of Islamic Militants Raise Questions about Terror
Patricia Nunan, New Delhi

Bangladesh has banned two extremist Islamic groups and arrested 70 of their members this month - admitting a problem the country has long denied. The question now being asked is whether Bangladesh's homegrown militant groups could be linked to any global terrorist organizations.

In the past month, the Bangladesh government arrested 70 militants from Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and banned the two radical Islamic groups.

The suspects have been charged with sedition for their alleged roles in a series of killings, robberies and political violence and bombings across the country.

The charges do not include attacks on opposition party members, such as an assassination attempt on the former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

Abdul Jalil, the general secretary of the opposition Awami League, says his party is pleased, as it has been trying to convince the government for years to move against militant organizations. He thinks the difference now is Dhaka is under international pressure to do more to crackdown on militancy in the age of anti-terrorism.

"By doing this, they have accepted the reality. But still then the people of Bangladesh doubt that the arrests and taking action against all these fundamentalist parties is [anything] but an eyewash to the foreign world," he said.

Critics say the government has been reluctant to act because of tensions within the ruling coalition - which for the first time include two Islamic parties: Islami Oikya Jote and Jamaat-e-Islami.

The government denies this is an issue. But some experts note there has been a so-called " Islamicization" of Bangladeshi politics since Islamic parties entered the government in 2001.

Ali Dayan Hasan, the Bangladesh analyst for Human Rights Watch - based in Pakistan, said "Jamaat-e-Islami is an international organization. It has a political wing that operates in Pakistan. And it is an ideological international religious organization. It has very clearly stated
political aims. Those political aims go against the grain of pluralism and democracy and secular politics, as we understand it… And the second you have that sort of political outlet as a member of the government, you have to start catering to its demands."

Bangladesh was founded as a secular state in 1971, when it broke free of neighboring Pakistan. The vast majority of its 141 million people are moderate Muslims.

And members of the ruling coalition say there are no designs to change the system. Abdur Razzak is a spokesman for the Jamaat-e-Islami and he denies his party wants more Islam in government.

"It has been taking part in the elections of this country since 1979. It has been represented in the parliament in one way or another. Jamaat believes in rule of law, multi-body systems, democracy, human rights, independence of judiciary - you name it," he said.

Despite political disagreements about why the government decided to act now against these two Islamic militant groups - there is general agreement that they pose a threat. But is the nature of that threat related in any way to international terror organizations?

Zachary Abuza is the author of the book, "The Rise of Militant Islam in Southeast Asia." He sees parallels between the attitude of the Bangladesh government today and that of the Indonesian government, before the 2002 terrorist bombings on Bali by a militant group linked to
al-Qaida.

"What is coming out of the Bangladesh government sounds hauntingly like what is coming out of the Indonesian government before the Bali attacks. You're getting this constant mantra about how they're moderate; it's a tolerant, secular society that has no tradition of Islamic radicalism. And I think that really belies some of the evidence we've seen," he said.

That evidence, says Mr. Abuza, is anecdotal but worrying. Bangladeshi radicals have fought alongside the hard-line Islamic Taleban in Afghanistan. And there are some Bangladeshis who support Osama bin Laden - the head of the al-Qaida terror network, which has declared a holy war on the United States and non-Muslims.

But despite those tentative links, Mr. Abuza, along with Human Rights Watch and Bangladesh government and opposition leaders, say there is no compelling evidence to suggest that al-Qaida is using Bangladesh to hide or train operatives for its campaign of global terror, as it did in Afghanistan.

There is more concern that smaller militant organizations - possibly regional groups from northeastern India or Pakistan, fighting against their own governments - could be taking advantage of what had been the government's apparent reluctance to act against them. That would make Bangladesh a refuge for militant organizations seeking to hide or train for their own operations.

Christine Fair is a South Asia analyst for the independent policy group, the United States Institute of Peace, based in Washington. "I don't think it's in the realm of the far-fetched to say that other militant organizations can take advantage of local political environments to train, to conduct operations, that is completely in the realm of possibility. And you don't have to have an overarching al-Qaida connection for that to happen," she said.

Many are now waiting to see how the Bangladesh government handles the trials of the 70 militants it arrested this month as a means of gauging its commitment to fighting political violence and terror within its own borders. It may be the key, some warn, to ensuring that Bangladesh is not seen as the new haven for other militant organizations seeking to carry out agendas of their own.

INDIA: Adopting Double Standard on Democracy in Neighboring States

India didn't stand by its friends in Bangladesh when it mattered, and now that nation is an anti-India, Islamic fundamentalist hotbed. In Sri Lanka, India confused friend with foe, and alienated all constituencies. A patronizing attitude toward Nepal, fostered in part by a large amount of Indian aid, has turned a growing number of influential Nepalese against India. In staging the royal coup in defiance of India's express warning, the monarch called India's bluff. States have understood: It doesn't pay to be India's friend.

India Adopting Double Standard on Democracy in Neighboring States
Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI, March 6: The growing warmth in US-Indian relations is getting strangely reflected in India's adoption of US-style dual standards on democracy.

Over the decades, the United States has had a penchant to cozy up to dictators in strategically located or resource-rich nations while advocating democracy to others. It built up the Shah of Iran, Mobutu Sese Seko in Congo, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Suharto in Indonesia and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Unmindful that its blind support of the previous Pakistani military dictator helped rear what later became al-Qaeda, Washington today toasts President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan as a model ruler and friend, showering his regime with billions of dollars in aid.

Still, in a pretentious vision to spread democracy, US President George W. Bush used the words "liberty" and "freedom" more than four dozen times in his recent inaugural address.

Now, New Delhi and Washington have joined hands to promote democracy in Nepal while keeping mum on the strengthening of Pakistan's one-man junta. When Musharraf reneged on his pledge to quit as Army Chief by Dec. 31, the US looked the other way. India has also kept quiet despite having helped Pakistan return to the British Commonwealth on the basis of that pledge.

Like Washington, India is also treating Pakistan as deserving of special favors. One recent example is its decision to open negotiations on an overland gas pipeline from pariah Iran through renegade Pakistan, after de-linking the project from Islamabad's continued refusal to establish even normal trading ties with India. The pipeline, yielding hundreds of millions of dollars in annual royalties through transit and other fees, will be a major foreign-exchange earner for Pakistan.

In contrast, India has taken a tough, menacing stance against Nepal, putting on hold all military aid and senior-level visits after the monarch there seized direct power. To be sure, a despotic king with a wayward son as heir to the throne gives India little comfort. But India's security had come under pressure during Nepal's faltering democratic experiment, which not only helped nurture a spreading Maoist insurrection in the countryside but also allowed Pakistani intelligence to set up safe houses in the Nepalese capital and stage the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 in December 1999. A Maoist triumph in Nepal, which has open borders with India, would be like the Talibanization of a member-state of the European Union.

By suspending cooperation with Nepal, India risks playing into the hands of an overly ambitious China, which has been adroit at seizing any opportunity that a state's isolation may open up, as it has shown in Myanmar, Iran and elsewhere. With a vastly upgraded infrastructure in Tibet and links with several Nepalese players, Beijing has developed leverage over Nepal, which former leader Mao Zedong had described as one of the fingers of the Tibetan palm, the other fingers, according to him, being Bhutan and three Indian states -- Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir. China occupies one-fifth of Kashmir and, in its maps, shows Sikkim as independent and Arunachal Pradesh as its territory.

On balance, genuine democracy (not the palace-dictated type disbanded by an aggrandizing king) remains India's best bet in Nepal. The same is true in Pakistan, where military rule has usually fattened India-hating, Punjabi-dominated governing elites ready to try out their fantasies on the battlefield.

India emulates the US dual standard on democracy, but in an inverse way -- it badgers buddies and flatters foes. One proffered reason for calling off the summit meeting of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February was that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was loath to shake hands with the Nepalese monarch and provide him political respectability in the aftermath of the palace coup. King Gyanendra could return the compliment by sending New Delhi a framed picture of Singh, all smiles like a Cheshire cat, fawningly clasping Musharraf's hand with both his hands in New York last fall.

When another neighborhood autocrat, Premier Wen Jiabao of China, makes his much-trumpeted visit to India in the spring, he can be sure no Indian will dare raise issues of human rights, political prisoners and press freedom with him. Those issues India has set aside for friendly but vulnerable states like Nepal and Bhutan.

Randall Schweller, in his book "Deadly Imbalances," classifies nations with a built-in craving for revision or hazardous gain as "wolves" and "jackals," and status quo states as "lambs" or "lions." India eminently qualifies as a "lamb," wedged between "wolf" China and "jackal" Pakistan. Lamb-like, India is wary of backing friends but eager to please enemies.

India didn't stand by its friends in Bangladesh when it mattered, and now that nation is an anti-India, Islamic fundamentalist hotbed. In Sri Lanka, India confused friend with foe, and alienated all constituencies. A patronizing attitude toward Nepal, fostered in part by a large amount of Indian aid, has turned a growing number of influential Nepalese against India. In staging the royal coup in defiance of India's express warning, the monarch called India's bluff. States have understood: It doesn't pay to be India's friend.

While seeking to penalize Nepal in the name of democracy, India has been inexplicably silent on the European Union's move to lift its 15-year ban on arms sales to the world's largest autocracy, China. Having forged a strategic partnership with the EU, India has every right to speak up on an issue that concerns both its love for democracy and its security. Yet, it is not even hinting that, as a condition for lifting the EU arms embargo, China demonstrate respect for human rights as India would have Nepal do.

While the US and Japan exert pressure on the EU, India quietly watches from the sidelines the outcome of an issue with significant implications for Indian security. If China gets state-of-the-art weapon systems, the balance of power across Asia would be undermined and India's security would come under greater pressure.

Contrast India's reticence with China's outspokenness. Although India has so far not considered buying the US Patriot antimissile system, China was quick to react last week to reports of preliminary Indian-US discussions, warning that such a sale would not be "conducive for the maintenance of peace and stability."

But when the EU contemplates selling sophisticated arms and technology to Beijing, India does not say a word on the move's potential impact on peace and stability, or about the need for China to come clean on its illicit nuclear transfers to Pakistan and missile sales to Islamabad and Tehran.

As the only thriving democracy in a vast region stretching from Jordan to China, India can rightly be proud of its deeply-rooted democratic traditions. It is spot on in seeking the emergence of "the whole of South Asia," in the recent words of its foreign secretary, as "a community of flourishing democracies."

Democracies, by structure and disposition, have a partiality toward cooperation and conciliation. But in preaching democracy to others, India needs to appreciate the value of consistency, courage and credibility.

The writer is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. This article was published in The Japan Times

BANGLADESH: Terrorists? Yes, But Al-Qaeda? NO

After having initially described the arrested leaders and cadres as terrorists, the Government is now trying to play down the gravity of their past acts of terrorism. At the same time, it continues to deny, as it was doing before February 23, that survivors of Al Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (IIF) have been given sanctuary in Bangladesh territory; or that an organisation called the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), which is a member of Osama bin Laden's IIF has been active in Bangladesh and training recruits from the Arakan area of Myanmar and other South-East Asian countries or that the local madrasas and international Islamic universities have become the breeding ground of jihadi terrorism.

TERRORISTS? YES, BUT AL QAEDA? NO
B.Raman

Terrorists in Bangladesh territory? Yes, of course. But Al Qaeda in Bangladesh? No, definitely not.

2. That is the latest position of the Government of Begum Khaleda Zia, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, in the face of growing international pressure spearheaded by the member-countries of the European Union (EU) to act against terrorist groups operating from Bangladeshi territory.

3. The Government banned, under international pressure, the Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB), which also operates under the name the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB), on February 23 and arrested some of its leaders and cadres, but not the most important --- Moulana Abdur Rahman, a former activist of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), which is a member of Khaleda Zia's ruling coalition, who is now the Amir of the banned organisation, and Siddiqur Rahman also known as Bangla Bhai (Bangla brother), its operational chief.Till February 23, the Government denied the very existence of these organisations and of Bangla Bhai, who used to be described by it as a figment of the media's imagination.

4. Faced with the threat of aid curtailment from the EU countries, the Government has now been forced to admit that these organisations and Bangla Bhai existed and were creating a state of anarchy in Bangladesh. However, its action has been half-hearted and does not seem to be due to its conviction on the need to put a stop to the use of its territory by all terrorist organisations---domestic or international--- and to closely monitor the functioning of the large number of Saudi and Kuwaiti funded madrasas and international Islamic universities which have come up in its territory to spread Wahabism among the Muslims of Bangladesh and South-East Asia.

5. While the Government now admits that some of the activities of the banned organisations such as acts of violence directed against non-Muslims and secular-minded Muslims amounted to terrorism, it is trying to avoid blaming them for acts of political terrorism directed against the leaders and cadres of the opposition parties, such as their repeated attempts to kill Sheikh Hassina, former Prime Minister, and the recent assassination of Shah M.S.Kibria, a former Finance Minister, who was a close personal friend of the Indian Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh. It was reportedly Kibria's assassination that set off alarm bells ringing in New Delhi and contributed to the decision of Dr.Singh to postpone his visit to Dacca to attend the SAARC summit.

6. After having initially described the arrested leaders and cadres as terrorists, the Government is now trying to play down the gravity of their past acts of terrorism. At the same time, it continues to deny, as it was doing before February 23, that survivors of Al Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (IIF) have been given sanctuary in Bangladesh territory; or that an organisation called the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), which is a member of Osama bin Laden's IIF has been active in Bangladesh and training recruits from the Arakan area of Myanmar and other South-East Asian countries or that the local madrasas and international Islamic universities have become the breeding ground of jihadi terrorism.

7. The Bangladesh branch of the HUJI of Pakistan has been active since the 1990s and one of its leaders had signed bin Laden's fatwa of 1998 calling for attacks against the US and Israel. The annual reports titled the Patterns of Global Terrorism of the US State Department have been repeatedly referring to the activities of the HUJI from Bangladesh territory. Even its latest report submitted to the US Congress on April 29,2004, says as follows:

Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh (HUJI-B)(Movement of Islamic Holy War) :

Description

The mission of HUJI-B, led by Shauqat Osman, is to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh. HUJI-B has connections to the Pakistani militant groups Harakat ul-Jihadi-Islami (HUJI) and Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM), who advocate similar objectives in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir.

Activities

HUJI-B was accused of stabbing a senior Bangladeshi journalist in November 2000 for making a documentary on the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh. HUJI-B was suspected in the assassination attempt in July 2000 of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Strength

HUJI-B has an estimated cadre strength of more than several thousand members.

Location/Area of Operation

Operates and trains members in Bangladesh, where it maintains at least six camps.

External Aid

Funding of the HUJI-B comes primarily from madrassas in Bangladesh. The group also has ties to militants in Pakistan that may provide another funding source.

8. Since 9/11, there have been persistent reports from secret as well as open (the US "Time" magazine and the "Far Eastern Economic Review", for example) sources that at least 200, if not more, survivors of the Al Qaeda and other components of the IIF, many of them originating from South-East Asia, have shifted to Bangladesh and have been given sanctuaries there by the HUJI (B) and other jihadi terrorist organisations. There have also been reports that due to the increasing monitoring of the activities of the Pakistani madrasas by the US intelligence, recruits from S.E.Asia are now being taken to the madrasas in Bangladesh for religious education and training.

9. On December 10, 2003, a Canadian media organisation disseminated edited extracts of a report on the internal security situation in Bangladesh prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which it had obtained under the Access to Information Act. The extracts as disseminated by it said that the Government of Bangladesh was not doing enough to prevent the country from becoming a haven for Islamic terrorists in South Asia and expressed its concern over the activities of extremists suspected to be connected to Al Qaeda of Osama bin Laden. It said that the Government of Bangladesh was unwilling to crack down on terrorism and referred to the likelihood of dangers to Canadian aid agencies in Bangladesh.

10. .In a statement issued on December 11, 2003, the Bangladesh Foreign Office strongly denied the contents of the CSIS report. It said: "The contents of the report are far from the reality on the ground. The Government remains firmly committed to combating terrorism. Some quarters are bent on tarnishing the peaceful image of Bangladesh."

11.In a separate statement issued at Ottawa the same day, the Bangladesh's High Commissioner in Ottawa, Mohsin Ali Khan, denied that his country had become a terrorist haven and asserted that his Government was very "conscious of its responsibility to protect its citizens. We condemn terrorism in any country, in any form, in any place. Bangladesh is against any terrorist attack and it will not allow its soil to be used by any terrorist group."

12. This position has now been reiterated by the Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan in a statement issued on February 26,2005. He said: "There maybe some local goons, working in the name of religion, who are being hunted down. There is a difference between international terrorists and local goons.There are no international terrorists in the country. "

13. An oft-reiterated contention of the Bangladesh authorities is that if there were Al Qaeda or pro-Al Qaeda terrorists in Bangladesh territory, by now they would have been invoved in some act of international terrorism somewhere or the other. According to them, the fact that there have been no instances of the involvement of terrorists based in Bangladesh in any act of international terrorism showed that there were no international terrorists based in its territory.

14. It needs to be recalled here that the Pakistani authorities used to take up a similar position and deny the presence of pro-Al Qaeda international terrorists in their territory. The investigation into the explosions near the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in August,1998, showed that some of the perpetrators had gone from Pakistan or Afghanistan. This weakened Pakistan's denials. The international community ultimately found after 9/11 that the planning for the 9/11 terrorist strikes in the USA had been made from Karachi and other places in Pakistan by terrorist elements such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, whose presence and activities in Pakistani territory Islamabad used to deny.

The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Amnesty and Bangladesh’s human rights defenders

We all know by now that ‘human rights’ itself is highly abused term, and they are being used to justify intervention by the imperial powers. India’s ruling class through their media also argues that as the South Asian regional power India should intervene into Bangladesh militarily to rescue her from the failed state of governance. Under this highly sensitive international and regional context the human rights defenders will have to be extremely careful in phrasing their text and arguing for their case. They should not become tool for imperial and regional intervention of any sorts.

Amnesty and Bangladesh’s human rights defenders
Farhad Mazhar

Transparency & accountability

An English language daily reported on March 2, 2005, that Amnesty International would release on the day its report entitled ‘Bangladesh Human Rights Defenders under Attack.’ It was both a national and international launch, and the report mentioned somewhat sweepingly that the Amnesty document cited ‘hundreds of human rights defenders ... received death threat” and that ‘scores of them have been attacked and many killed’ and that several journalists have had their hands or fingers cut (as in the old imperial days or the medieval times which are still in vogue in some countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran for that matter, parenthesis editor’s), ands that ‘many have to had to leave their homes,’ etc. The ‘failure of the government’ to prevent and bring to book some of these instances of violence, both establishmentarian as also private, has been identified as the cause of the abuse of human rights defenders. ‘Abusing the human rights (HR) defenders in Bangladesh has been continuing alarmingly due to the failure of the government’, the report says.

The newspaper reporting the content of the AI report mentioned only the name of ‘Dr. Quazi Faruk Ahmad of Proshika, but no other victims who were claimed to be killed or maimed. The newspaper report, citing the document, also failed to mention the names of those who had to flee their homes to escape reprisals, so to speak, in their onerous mission of defending human rights. As examples of abuse suffered by the human rights defenders by the present government, the daily quotes from the report ‘arrest and torture and harassment through filing case after case on the ground of unsubstantiated criminal accusations (as) against Dr. (sic) Quazi Faruk Ahmed of Proshika, one of the leading NGOs in Bangladesh.’ There are, according to the report, 18 cases against Quazi .

Next day, New Age reported, ‘Amnesty’s report on human rights draws sharp reaction.’

While on a seminar, organised by Amnesty International in the city, the report said that with a view to finalizing the draft after consultations with some very select group of participants, some of whom wear political stripes. The consultation meeting was non-transparent, and it consequently led to ‘a number of discussants,’ according to the report in this newspaper, ‘who attended the seminar on the first day’ to dub the report as politically insensitive, lacking in global perspective and the local context. It was also critiqued and rubbished for ‘partisan’ preferences, and the AI’s lamentable of what state, religion, secularism, human rights’ and other such concepts mean by the book. It is a very serious charge indeed against an internationally-reputed human rights organization.

The sharp division on Amnesty’s report in Bangladesh in the civil society and the erosion of its credibility have negative implications for all human rights defenders in Bangladesh; and it does not matter where they stand with regard to this report.

A re-examination of Amnesty’s controversial text would, therefore, be an exercise which only Amnesty can undertake to restore its credence as well as credentials.

United Nations and ‘human rights defenders’

A literal meaning of the definition ‘human rights defenders’ may be misunderstood unless it is seen in the perspective of the Human Rights Declaration as it evolved in the United Nations systems in 1984 and further amplified with the adoption of a text by the UN General Assembly in 1998. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The text is known as the “Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”(General Assembly resolution 53/144 of 9 December 1998). It is abbreviated as “The Declaration on Human Rights defenders”.

At its fifty-sixth session, the Commission on Human Rights requested the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Representative on human rights (vide resolution 2000/61 of 26 April 2000).The responsibility was defined largely on the basis of the Declaration.

The Declaration recognizes that the definition of a human rights defender must be broadly understood as encompassing also those striving for the promotion, protection and realization of social, economic and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights. This is the reason why NGOs having no explicit role in defending human rights are covered under the head of ‘human rights defenders’. The Special Representative, Ms. Hina Jilani of Pakistan, the appointed Special Representative, stated in her first annual report (E/CN.4/2001/94) that she believed that her mandate was broad enough to include, for example, those defending the right to a healthy environment, promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, or engaging in trade union activities, etc. A broad definition that ultimately blurs the precise sense of the term ‘human rights defenders’ is already a debatable issue among the human rights activists; but by maintaining objectivity and evidence-based reporting, human rights activities are dealing with these expanded definitions.

For example, if someone is accused of financial corruption or some other crimes and cases are being filed against the person, should it be reported as repression of human rights defenders? All NGOs are accountable for their financial dealings of public money and the role they play in society to the people as well as to the due process of law. In that case, we must demand a fair and transparent trial for the accused or provide clear evidence that the accused is innocent and indeed a victim of government’s wrath. Secondly when a case is already in the court on what basis or evidence could we claim that it is based on ‘unsubstantiated criminal accusation’? We must not interfere in the due process of the law. Nevertheless, we must vehemently oppose the practice of the government to ruin an organisation when the chief of the organisation is accused or arrested. For one person, an organization must not be victimised. So, the issue is not merely a person, it is the life of an organisation that is thrown into jeopardy. It can not be acceptable, no matter if the accusation is substantiated or unsubstantiated. It is our task to stand by the side of the victims of an organisation who are innocent and our dear colleagues in the struggle for the human rights, including social and cultural struggle.

Amnesty International as an external agency must also reflect if it is at all prudent to disregard the law and the due judicial process of a small country like Bangladesh, unless we take up the issue separately. Undermining the legal system of a country to defend an accused portraying as a victim simply because some one is happened to be a ‘human rights defender’, according to UN definition is actually abuse of the term ‘human rights defenders’ and misuse of the purpose of the Declaration. It assumes that just because some one is human right defenders by UN definition can not commit any financial or other crimes and State law of the land can not bring him to justice. This is a pathetic position of Amnesty International.

The mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, as set out in Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/61, is:

a) To seek, receive, examine and respond to information on the situation and the rights of anyone, acting individually or in association with others, to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms;

b) To establish cooperation and conduct dialogue with governments and other interested actors on the promotion and effective implementation of the Declaration; and

c) To recommend strategies better to protect human rights defenders.

The Declaration is addressed not just to states and to human rights defenders, but to everyone, reminding that we all have a role to fulfill as human rights defenders and emphasizes that there is a global human rights movement that involves us all.

The Declaration is not, in itself, a legally binding instrument. However, it contains a series of principles and rights that are based on human rights standards enshrined in other international instruments that are legally binding - such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

However, the significance of the declaration lies in the fact that it was adopted by consensus by the General Assembly and therefore represents a very strong commitment by States to its implementation.

In this context our task in Bangladesh will be to create enabling policy and legal environment so that we could adopt the Declaration as binding national legislation. While many of us as human rights defenders suffered and still suffering in the hands of all the regimes of Bangladesh, it is absolutely irresponsible and disservice to the cause of human rights and the human rights movement in our country to take ideological and partisan position in any text we prepare for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or for that matter for media and public consumption. It may sabotage our principal interest to promote and defend the universal human rights as enshrined in various international covenants. We must be strategically neutral and objective and must not load the text leading into partisan and ideological polarization, while the Amnesty’s report, it seems clear, was not being prepared keeping it in mind.

The Declaration relating to the rights of human rights defenders does not create new rights, but provides support and protection of human rights defenders in the context of their work. The Declaration outlines some specific duties of states and the responsibilities of everyone with regard to defending human rights, in addition to explaining its relationship with national law. It is important to note that human rights defenders have an obligation under the Declaration to conduct peaceful activities.

The declaration accords Rights and protections accorded to human rights defenders in Articles 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13 of the Declaration.

Similarly in articles 2, 9, 12, 14 and 15 make particular reference to the role of States and indicate that each state has a responsibility and duty with regard to human rights. The Declaration also emphasizes that everyone has duties towards and within the community and encourages us all to be human rights defenders. Articles 10, 11 and 18 outline responsibilities for everyone to promote human rights, to safeguard democracy and its institutions and not to violate the human rights of others.

Article 11 is very important since it makes a special reference to the responsibilities of persons exercising professions that can affect the human rights of others. Articles 3 and 4 outline the relationship of the Declaration to national and international law with a view to assuring the application of the highest possible legal standards of human rights.

If any of us for some reason has been abused because of our explicit political partisanship, because of our taking side in the power game to realise personal aspirations we should be careful not to mix up those cases with other genuine cases of human rights defenders.

Abuse of the rhetoric of ‘human rights’

We all know by now that ‘human rights’ itself is highly abused term, and they are being used to justify intervention by the imperial powers. India’s ruling class through their media also argues that as the South Asian regional power India should intervene into Bangladesh militarily to rescue her from the failed state of governance. Under this highly sensitive international and regional context the human rights defenders will have to be extremely careful in phrasing their text and arguing for their case. They should not become tool for imperial and regional intervention of any sorts.

Experts have been reminding us that it is doubly difficult for countries like Bangladesh in the era of globalisation to reconfigure the state to response to the demand of the universal human rights that impinge on the principle of ‘nation-based citizenship and the boundaries of the nation’.

Globalisation does not only imply economic, informational or cultural globalisation. Hardly people notice that internationalisation of various legal regimes, including universal human rights, has direct implication for the sovereignty of the states, nations and cultures. It reconfigures the structure, power as well as the capacity of the states in general to address issues related to citizen’s rights as was envisioned in the early ages of the modern state formation. Professor Saskia Sassen of Urban Planning at Columbia University and also serving at the faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs, argues, ‘international human rights, while partly rooted in the founding documents of certain nation-state, are today a force that can undermine the exclusive authority of the state over its nationals and thereby contribute to transforming the interstate system and international legal orders’ (Sassen 1996; p- 89). These are very crucial issues for the human rights defenders; Amnesty will have to earn a more contemporary mind and learn to be well informed professionally to deal with states like Bangladesh, Nepal and other small countries and nations which are already vulnerable in the present world order.

Amnesty will have to realize the nature of the struggle we, as human rights defenders, are facing in dealing with our community, despite the death threat, torture and repression. We could win the battle within our communities only by maintaining our organic and historical link with the spirit of our communities defined by language, religion, and culture and material life. The issue of ‘external actors and agents’ is a serious matter indeed, we do not want people of Bangladesh view Amnesty as agent coming from without with different agenda except human rights. This will be fatal for our local struggles.

I was reading the press conference of Abbas Faiz of Amnesty International on 5 March 2005 in news papers. It was sad to see how he is more interested in phrasing his position in accordance with the colonial and imperial discourse of George Bush and Tony Blaire, blaming the people of Bangladesh for ‘spiralling religious militancy’. But when asked if he has compared the situation of Bangladesh with other countries in the world or in the region, he could not say a word. Hardly one could get any sign of understanding of the difficulties under which the human rights defenders are fighting in Bangladesh. We have no choice, no matter how difficult it is, but to fight against both the ‘crusaders’ and the ‘jihadis’; we must stand stoutly against war, violence and terror of all types coming both from state and non state actors’ without losing organic relation with our communities. It seems Amnesty of Abbas Faiz would like to fight for the ‘crusaders’ backed by fire power and all the modern arsenals to kill the people around the world, by further complicating our realities and aggravating the situation for the human rights defenders grounded within their own communities. By becoming a means of international and regional propaganda Amnesty International sadly demonstrating that the organisation is less interested in promoting human rights, but rather taking sides in the global battle fields.

ISLAM: Unveiling Secularism

Since September 11, under the pretext of the war on terror, the West has undertaken a host of measures specifically aimed at Muslims living in the West. These measures include arbitrary arrests, physical torture, imprisonment without trial, surveillance of mosques, muzzling of Imams, and deaths in police custody. Some have even been forced to become spies. Muslims have also witnessed the endless vilification of Islam by the western media. All this has left an indelible impression on Muslim minds that secular democracies in the West are incapable of guaranteeing Muslims the peace and security to practice their religion.

Unveiling Secularism
Abid Mustafa

On the 3rd of March the British Court of Appeal ruled that Shabina Begum could wear her Jilbab (gown) to school, instead of the school uniform. Commenting on the verdict Lord Justice Brooke said, “Her freedom to manifest her religion or belief in public was being limited.” The announcement differs from France’s decision to ban Muslim girls wearing hijab from schools and Germany’s decision to outlaw Muslim women from wearing hijab in public offices. One may think that at last, Muslims in Britain can find some solace under British secularism. Think again! A day before the verdict, Home Office minister Hazel Blears said that UK Muslims should accept that people of Islamic appearance are more likely to be stopped and searched by police. The number of searches targeting Asians has risen by 300%, since the introduction of anti-terror laws. It is a regular feature of western governments to eschew religious freedom in return for demonstrating intolerance towards Muslims and their right to practice Islam.

Since September 11, under the pretext of the war on terror, the West has undertaken a host of measures specifically aimed at Muslims living in the West. These measures include arbitrary arrests, physical torture, imprisonment without trial, surveillance of mosques, muzzling of Imams, and deaths in police custody. Some have even been forced to become spies. Muslims have also witnessed the endless vilification of Islam by the western media.

All this has left an indelible impression on Muslim minds that secular democracies in the West are incapable of guaranteeing Muslims the peace and security to practice their religion.

The plight of Muslims living under secular dictatorships supported by the West is much worse. In countries like Uzbekistan, Muslim males are routinely arrested for having a beard or visiting the Mosques too often. In Turkey,
Muslim women who opt for university education are forced to abandon their hijab.

But the fiercest punishment is reserved for those who seek to criticize these tyrannical regimes; imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killings can routinely be found in such countries. So we also find Muslims living in the Muslim world convinced that secularism is flawed and unfit to govern them.

Even non-Muslims living under secularism feel that their religion is vulnerable. Many Christians in the West view gay bishops, women priests, illegitimate children, and the commercialization of Christmas as malicious attempts by secular fundamentalist to subvert Christian values and replacing them with secular ones.

Likewise, secularism has failed to protect the Christian sects in Northern Ireland and safeguard the lives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim people living in Palestine. India, the largest secular state in the world, is prone to religious violence where Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are all victims of secularism. So, just like Muslims, non-Muslims are also looking for an alternative system that can provide them with an opportunity to practise their religion in peace.

Islam is the sole ideology in the world where people of different faiths can worship and perform their religious duties without experiencing reprisals or insecurity. In practice this is secured by the Caliphate state. In the past the Caliph safeguarded the rights of non-Muslims and Muslims alike, without discriminating between them. Take the case of Palestine: under the shade of the Caliphate, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony, a feat unrivalled in the history of mankind.

By pressing ahead with the forced secularization of Muslims, Christian and Jews, western governments run the risk of alienating them. Instead, the West should re-evaluate its policy of coercive assimilation and critically address the broader question of our time - as to whether secularism can really guarantee the rights of people belonging to different faiths.

Email to Dak Bangla from Abid Mustafa who writes from London

BANGLADESH: Islamic Miltancy - The Likely Reaction to Indian Domination - Part 2

Some will continue to insist upon a connection between the JMJB, AHAB, the government and the bomb attacks on the AL meetings and other cultural functions. They will also insist that the JMJB and AHAB are true representatives of a growing Islamist menace that intends to take power by force in Bangladesh. Common sense would point out that there cannot be any conceivable reason why a government deriving such benefits by being in power would so selflessly allow itself to be overthrown and replaced by a theocracy. It also makes no sense why Islamists would take on a jihadist guise when two Islamic parties occupy positions in government (although representing a tiny element within the cabinet and parliament) and could expect further gains through the democratic process as happened in Iraq recently. It also confounds me what attraction these jihadists would have in attacking the opposition unless they assumed that the real power of government resided in the opposition leadership and not in the Prime Minister and her Cabinet.

ISLAMIC MILITANCY – THE LIKELY REACTION TO INDIAN DOMINATION PART 2

MBI Munshi

THE LAST LINE OF DEFENCE

The second line of defence (in the eventuality that the first line would succumb to military pressure from a hostile India) would appear to be organized Islam. Not the type of revolutionary Islamists
(however nominal in belief and ability) that are now being rounded up but the democratic and politically organized Islamic groupings in society. This does not necessarily imply a call to an established political banner but a looser and informal coordination would suffice (something that already exists through Friday Prayers and other mosque based religious activities). This is why I take issue with those that see the present move against the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh
(JMJB) and Ahle Hadith Andalon Bangladesh (AHAB) as a victory against Islam in Bangladesh. If that were the case and if this is the route that they would like to take us, then we would become a virtually defenseless country and India and their European backers know it. The mistake of the government was to assume and hope that a rag tag army of fraudulent and unreliable Islamists (Mr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah recently informed us that they may be an imported brand from India – anything
imported from India has to be suspect, right?) would be a practical and real substitute for planning, strategy and tactics. Through the governments inexcusable act of reckless passivity (in what had been a successful cleansing of Indian backed communist rabble) it has managed to undermine Islam (our second and probably last line of defense) and given India and its friends a whip hand to flay us with. This would, of course, make the conspiracy theories involving Indian participation
in the funding and training of these groups seem a great deal more credible and even justifiable (Bangla Bhai's escape to India puts the final piece into the jigsaw and the last nail into the theory of
impending Islamic revolution – at least and until India decides to go too far and opts for military confrontation and invasion). It would also make the government appear even more ridiculous and comical as I have already indicated in the first part of this essay and I do not wish to burden it further with its embarrassment while it continues to plod along in its search for conspirators in the wrong places and under the wrong premises.

DRAWING WRONG CONCLUSIONS

Due to the governments inept handling of this matter people will be more inclined to draw simplistic conclusions that the attacks on opposition party meetings and the bomb attacks on the Grameen and Brac regional offices as well as at the Shah Jalal shrine in Sylhet (and all the other bomb attacks carried out over the last 6 years) are the same in kind and necessarily perpetrated by the same people. If this view were to gain ground it would make the government complicit in all these acts due to their failure to apprehend the culprits or even determine their identity. With the slow and hesitant action against the JMJB and AHAB this has compounded the problem and taken the issue
to a higher level of concern. Probably the only reason that this conclusion has not yet been drawn is the fact that many of these bomb attacks started during the last AL government who were able to do even less than the present one. Also with the formation of RAB, Cobra and Cheetah forces as well as the involvement of local intelligence services in the investigation as well as foreign investigators (Scotland Yard and the FBI) it should have been a simple matter of identifying the culprits of the bomb attacks on the AL meetings and the Shah Jalal shrine unless of course the perpetrators are not indigenous to Bangladesh or if the planning and financing were conducted outside the country. This has become a more credible thesis after the assassination of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri by a massive car bomb detonation that has been attributed to a foreign power.

Some will continue to insist upon a connection between the JMJB, AHAB, the government and the bomb attacks on the AL meetings and other cultural functions. They will also insist that the JMJB and AHAB are true representatives of a growing Islamist menace that intends to take power by force in Bangladesh. Common sense would point out that there cannot be any conceivable reason why a government deriving such benefits by being in power would so selflessly allow itself to be
overthrown and replaced by a theocracy. It also makes no sense why Islamists would take on a jihadist guise when two Islamic parties occupy positions in government (although representing a tiny element within the cabinet and parliament) and could expect further gains through the democratic process as happened in Iraq recently. It also confounds me what attraction these jihadists would have in attacking the opposition unless they assumed that the real power of government resided in the opposition leadership and not in the Prime Minister and her Cabinet.

By expressing these views I am opening myself up to the accusation of complacency and some have already alleged that I have expressly denied the existence of Bangla Bhai in a previous article. The truth of the matter is that I described Bangla Bhai as a phenomenon which a section
of the press in Bangladesh and India had created into a mythical and even legendary figure through their lurid and sometimes fictional description of his exploits. It is clear to us now that he could not
have done as much damage as he has done without administrative support and connivance. It was the government's decision to convert a temporary expedient into a permanent solution to the problem of the communist outfits of the North West that transformed this into a much more serious problem especially in light of the disclosures about Indian involvement with the groups. Under the right circumstances, such as Indian intervention or interference in Bangladesh or the resurgence of leftist terrorist groups, could a jihadist organization tap into the public discontent and find willing recruits for an Islamic revolution to throw out the intruders or rain fire on their heads. Let us pray that India does not miscalculate.

POSTSCRIPT

Another recent take on this issue has been provided by Mr. M Shahidul Islam whose analysis starts from a different angle or perspective from mine but the conclusions are essentially the same and which illustrates the large area for miscalculation by those who intend to destabilize Bangladesh and rob it of its sovereignty and independence:

"Bangladesh is neither in the grip of Islamic fanatics, nor is an Islamic revolution lurking in the horizon. Yet such a prospect becomes more probable as more and more accusations are leveled against the nation and its people. If anything, the ongoing instability is a prelude to something that might enable vested quarters within, an