E-Bangladesh

Only ten months ago the so called cartoon blasphemy incident shocked many Bangladeshis. The Bangladeshi media tried to bury the episode and many of us may have forgotten the incident as well as the victim, the cartoonist Arif. E-Bangladesh traced him and published an exclusive interview of him on 27 of May 2008.

Recently he released his first two animated cartoons in his Facebook space. The first one is named as “A Flower”:

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At the time when the Military backed Caretaker Government and their obedient media are continuing ‘the war against corruption’, a letter about the corruption of an Army personnel has been circulating places. May be the writer(s) thought that it would be really appropriate to send the letter to the very people who tuned up their dreamy vocal against the corruption. So the writer(s) addressed it to the army chief General Moyeen U Ahmed and sent some copies to the Chief Advisor’s Office, The Chairman of the ACC, the DGFI etc. A copy was sent to the national daily ‘Prothom Alo’ too, who claim to be leading the citizen’s movement against the corruption and act as the spokesman of TIB lead by Dr. Mozaffar Ahmed and Dr. Iftekharuzzaman. But may be the sender(s) didn’t want to risk the letter to be sent under the carpet. So the anonymous writer sent a copy to Dr. Anwar Hossain too.

No wonder that the ‘Prothom Alo’, which is publicly established as ‘the parliament’ of this military-backed Government, killed the letter and labelled it red to uphold their so called credibility just to regulate their corporate interests for the time ahead.

But ‘unfortunately’ the letter and the scandal are now flying in the open. Because Dr. Anwar Hossain published it on 28 July in Chittagong while giving a speech to the general people and freedom fighters who gathered to form a human chain in front of the Shaheed Minar demanding the trial of the war-criminals of 1971. It was organized by ‘Ekatturer Ghatok-Dalal Nirmul Committee, Chittagong. The human-chain was a memorable event, because freedom fighter Sheikh Mohammad Ali Aman, who was recently assaulted by the followers of the collaborators of the liberation war for telling the truth about their activities, had participated.

[Speech of Dr. Anwar]

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Farmers are now forced to sink the shallow pumps nearly 15-20 ft deep in the soil in order to get the much needed water for irrigation. This year the water level in Bogra district has gone down dramatically and even there is a shortage of water in the existing tube wells. Bogra, Bangladesh. April 27 2008.

Photo- Shafiq Islam, Bogra/*Drik*NEWS.

Dead Dolphins are found on the sea beach of Cox’s Bazaar. Dogs are eating those dead Dolphins. More than fifty dead dolphins found from last week at the same place. No Government official has been commented yet why this is happening. Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh. April 24 2008.

Photo- Mohammad Islam, Cox Bazar/*Drik*NEWS.

Rice shop at Kawran Bazar. Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo-Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Alma earns Taka 2000 to 2500 per day by begging. However, she has to pay 700 taka per month as house rent. Since her husband’s death seven years ago she says she is helpless with her nine years-old physically handicapped boy Almas. These recent days have been very difficult for her since she can neither manage food, house rent nor buy medicine for her ill child. She says she has heard that the government has special allowance for disabled children and she has been trying to enlist her son’s name with the local chairman who has continuously refused her request. Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Mafizur Rahman, who was once a carpenter, cannot work since his accident caused by a truck. His eldest son is the sole breadwinner of a family of seven. As his son is a day laborer even there are days he cannot earn a single penny. His monthly income varies from 2000 to 3500 taka per month and with a house rent of 700 taka per month it has now become impossible to survive when rice costs taka 35 to 50 per kilogram. Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

After a long time Shakil has come to visit his grandmother’s house where his mother Salma used to rear goats. But over the last few months the price of goat food has doubled reduces scope for profit. The income from this source is also gradually dwindling.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Dal at a grocer’s shop at Kawran Bazar. Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik/NEWS.  

“Tell the government to kill us. Rice costs 50 taka and news reports yesterday stated that it is soon going to be 70!” mourns Fulbanu, who has to support her family of seven members with taka 4500 per month. Dholpur , Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Mohammad Amirul Islam a forty five years old rickshaw puller earns about 6000 taka per month. He could have earned more if he didnÂ’t have to pay more money to the rickshaw owner on the pretext of recent price hike. Once he had planned to own his own rickshaw but now that is only wishful thinking as he faces trouble in maintaining his family with only his limited income. Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Minara begum (40) works in a day care centre in a slum. Her husband pulls rickshaw and together they earn seven thousand taka per month. But what with the house rent and other expenses it has become impossible for them to stay in this city with such a high price of daily necessities. Price of daily necessities is increasing but not their income. Dholpur, Dhaka , Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Oil shop at Kawran Bazar.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Asma (35) pays 3800 taka for her one room. Her husband Sultan Molla (now admitted in a hospital) used to work as a driver of a private car. Her elder son earns the same as his father (7000 taka per month). Asma says she has not been able to pay tuition fees of her children for the last two months. She has already borrowed some money from her neighbors. Sukrabad, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Rashida Begum (45) sells tea and other groceries in a temporary roadside shop. “The money I earn from this shop is not enough. If I buy rice then I find I have no money to buy vegetables. In the past even during our worst days we did not face such problems. At least we could buy rice and some vegetables then.” Rashida earns 6000 to 7000 taka per month. She has to pay 2800 taka for house rent which has increased in the last two months on the pretext of increase in prices. With the rest of the income she can not manage either food for the family or medicine for her husband. Sukrabad, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

“Yesterday I went to BDR market to buy rice. I had to wait for five hours only to return empty handed. To save 10 taka per kilo I just lost my five hours which I could have used to earn more,” says Munni, a thirteen years old girl who works in a brush factory to support her family of nine members. Both she and her younger brother Dulal together earn nearly 2000 taka per month. With food as the main item on their budget she cannot even imagine to save money for her paralyzed fathers’ treatment. Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photo- Tanvir Ahmed/*Drik*NEWS.

Photo: Md. Tawfik

[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK]

I just came through an email alert that was sent as a comment in one of our posts. While I was moderating it I thought it might be posted as a separate thread. It speaks about the illegal detention of Md. Tawfiq by DGFI for nearly four days. Md. Tawfiq was called in 4th of March around 10 PM and kept behind all of the sights until 7th of March. Few people might call one of our reports which stated the final list of 80 people as part of the drive against high-profile corruption suspects declared by the national coordination committee on corruption and serious crimes (NCC). We found the name of Md. Towfik in the published lists in other categories. But the issue  discussed here is not the corruption, it is the issue whether a citizen of Bangladesh can be detained illegally for four days or not.

Md. Tawfiq, a director of Bangladesh telegraph and Telephone Board, was called by DGFI on 4th of March ,Tuesday around 10 PM to see them in their Dhaka cantonment headquarters. As a law abiding citizen, he went there and for the next 4 days, there was no information on him from the DGFI as I was informed by an authenticated source. Not even his wife or family was informed of his location or condition which is a blatant violation of Bangladesh Constitution.

On the 7th March, he was produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate by Ramna police station. He was shown arrest under Article 54 (suspicious activity) and was said that he was arrested from his residence on the same day. That is to say that his illegal detention by DGFI for nearly four days where he was tortured severely was kept secret from the court.

His wife, in a press release yesterday, mentioned that she saw signs of torture in the uncovered areas of his body when she saw him in the court and asked the President and the chief advisor of the caretaker government of Bangladesh to save the life of her husband.
 
A fabricated false report was published in some Bangladesh newspapers on the 8th March alleging that Tawfiq was involved in illegal VOIP business in Bangladesh. The report is full of inconsistencies, doesn’t hold any truth, and the allegations falls apart even at the tiniest scrutiny.

It appears that Md. Tawfiq is the victim of some vested interest group in BTTB and Caretaker Government who took the advantage of current lawless situation in Bangladesh to realize some big plan in the telecom sector of Bangladesh.

The eye raising questions are:

1. If he was arrested by Ramna police on Thursday and was produced before the court next day, when did the joint forces interrogate him to find all the information that was published against him?

2. If the allegations published by the joint forces were true, why he wasn’t charged by any one of them?

3. Why he was picked up by DGFI and tortured  without any judicial procedure?

4. Why the police shown him arrest four days after he was detained by DGFI on no apparent allegation against him (Article 54 is just suspicious activity and is bailable).

5. Who is responsible for his illegal custody and torture by DGFI?

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[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK]

Reporters Without Borders has released their 2008 Annual Report on Bangladesh. Among their major concerns this year are the rise of the military government, the lack of freedom of press, threats to media personnel and the torture of journalists:

Bangladesh - Annual report 2008
Area: 144,000 sq km.
Population: 144,460,000.
Languages: Bengali, English.
Head of state: Iajuddin Ahmed.

A drop in the number of physical assaults and death threats was eclipsed by dozens of cases of arrests, maltreatment and censorship committed by the army against independent journalists. The interim government and the military put an end to political disorder but at the price of serious violations of press freedom.

There was a sharp decrease in the number of journalists physically attacked or receiving death threats from political militants and criminals. On the other hand, arrests increased markedly, with almost 40 cases in 2007. And the army, the real power in the country, committed serious press freedom violations aimed at silencing independent journalists. The government constantly stated that the media had a role to play in the fight against corruption and social injustice, but these good intentions were confounded and, in a new development, self-censorship began gradually to be applied to political issues. “Some asserted that the media was becoming the parliament in the absence of a government formed by elections. Others welcomed the emergence of a fourth estate. But one thing in the media was missing: critical articles on the current administration, clearly demonstrating the existence of censorship and self-censorship”, the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC), a Reporters Without Borders partner organisation, said in one of its recent reports.

Censorship imposed at every political convulsion

A state of emergency was declared on 11 January and the country’s TV and radio were ordered to stop broadcasting their news programmes for two days. When the government faced student demonstrations at the end of August, it banned stations from broadcasting talk shows and political programmes. Army intelligence services officers summoned editorial heads and threatened them with draconian criminal proceeding, including under Article 5 of the State of Emergency Regulations. CSB News and Ekushey TV were ordered by the Press Information Department not to broadcast “provocative” reports and commentaries. A management figure at ATN Bangla told Reporters Without Borders, “The ban on talk shows is a disaster. While there is no parliament, political broadcasts are the best way for citizens to comment on the government’s decisions.”

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[Dhaka Correspondent]

Sheikh Hasina, former premier and detained Awami League president, on Saturday expressed her disagreement to get medical treatment in the country as she feared threat on her life.

Hasina expressed the disagreement to her personal physician ABM Abdullah when he went to give her a check-up in the special jail set up at the Sangsad Bhaban’s premises in the morning.

‘The former prime minister is afraid of taking treatment in the country on security grounds and wants to go abroad for treatment,’ Abdullah told E-Bangladesh on Saturday.

The Awami League’s presidium on Saturday said the party, if the government agrees, would arrange in the USA the treatment of Sheikh Hasina’s ears which were badly damaged due to the deafening sound of the explosion of grenades launched on her rally on August 22, 2004.

Terming the present condition of Sheikh Hasina ‘very ill’, physician Abdullah said that he had visited her in response to the jail authority’s request and tried to make her understand the necessity of her immediate treatment.

During the one and a half hour of check-up, Hasina told him that she feared attempts on her life, pointing out the various assassination attempts that had taken place on her in the past, said Abdullah.

‘Moreover, she has been taking treatment abroad for a long time and proper treatment for her ear complaint is not possible in the country,’ he said.

The doctor said Hasina has been suffering from dust allergy but her blood pressure was under control on Saturday.

He also said that Hasina’s hearing aid has gone out of order totally and it is not possible to repair it in the country.

‘The hearing aid is the latest state-of the art device made in the United States which cannot be repaired in Bangladesh,’ Abdullah added.

He, however, said that the AL president has complete faith in the four-member medical board formed by the jail authority for her treatment.

Abdullah, chairman of the medicine department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, said that he had advised the jail authorities to get Sheikh Hasina admitted to the hospital for proper medical treatment.

‘If she gets admitted to the hospital we will visit her round the clock, but now we can visit her only when allowed by the jail authority,’ he said.

Awami League’s acting president Zillur Rahman strongly demanded that the government should arrange necessary treatment for Hasina as per her desire, and said his party was ready to foot the bill for her treatment abroad if the government gives the green-light.

‘The physical condition of our president is very bad. America is the best place for her treatment. We will take the responsibility for her treatment abroad if the government allows her to go to America,’ Zillur told reporters at his Gulshan residence in the morning.

He also refuted the government’s justification that a detainee could not be allowed to go abroad for treatment and cited the example of Rab (ASM Abdur Rab, leader of a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal) who was permitted to go abroad for treatment while still in detention.

‘It is a feeble excuse that detainees cannot be allowed to get overseas treatment. When I was in jail along with Rab, the government allowed him to go abroad for treatment,’ Zillur pointed out.

[Dhaka Correspondent]

Sheikh Altaf Ali, civil aviation and tourism secretary, has been made an officer on special duty after an agreement was signed between Bangladesh and India in New Delhi to double the Indian flight frequencies to and from Dhaka.

The establishment ministry on Saturday issued a gazette notification to the effect.

Altaf, who led a government delegation in Delhi in the past week, singed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian authorities on the increase in flight frequencies of Indian airlines, including Air India and Jet Air, from 30 to 61 a week amid protest lodged by the Bangladesh national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited, according to sources.

Altaf, also a director on Biman’s board, could not be contacted for comments.

[Dhaka Correspondent]

The Awami League will oppose any move to hold the upcoming general elections under the state of emergency and the delimitation of constituencies before the polls in its second phase of dialogue with the Election Commission, scheduled for February 25.

The senior leaders of the party discussed the overall situation of the country  at an informal meeting held at the Gulshan residence of acting president Zillur Rahman on Saturday morning, and decided to hold a presidium meeting on February 22 and central working committee meeting on February 24 to finalise the proposals for the dialogue, said meeting sources.

They expressed concern over the remarks of the law adviser over holding the polls under the state of emergency and decided to oppose any such move during the talks with the EC and the proposed dialogue between the government and political parties, the meeting sources said.

The law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser, AF Hassan Ariff, at a press briefing on Thursday said, ‘The Emergency Powers Rules need to be relaxed for holding the elections as it hinders the election process.’ But he also opined that there was no constitutional bar on holding elections under the emergency.

‘The comment shocked and astonished us,’ Zillur Rahman told reporters after the informal talks, adding that the AL had not expected such a comment from a person who has been trained in law.

He also said that holding elections under the emergency was unexpected not only to the AL but to everyone as well.

‘The chief adviser, the chief election commissioner and even the army chief assured us several times that the emergency would be lifted in phases before the polls. We oppose any move to hold elections under the state of emergency,’ AL presidium member Amir Hossain Amu told E-Bangladesh Correspondent after the meeting.

He iterated that the AL would oppose any such move during the dialogues with the Election Commission and the government.

‘We will oppose the Election Commission’s move for delimiting the constituencies before the upcoming polls as the decision has created a lot of controversy,’ said AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed after the meeting.

Another presidium member, Matia Chowdhury, told E-Bangladesh that the AL leaders during the informal meeting discussed the party’s preparations for the second phase of dialogue with the EC and the party’s position on the unsettled issues proposed by the EC in the reform proposals.

‘We have accepted about eighty per cent of the Election Commission’s reform proposals as they were similar to the 31-point reform proposals of 14-party alliance. We will try to narrow down the remaining gap between the Awami League and the EC on the unsettled issues,’ said Matia after the meeting.

Meeting sources said that the AL would not oppose the proposal for registration of political parties, but the registration process must be simplified.

Tofail Ahmed told the leaders that the Election Commissioner had requested the AL that the delegation should not have more than five members, but Zillur Rahman had asked Tofail to tell the EC that all the presidium members should be included in the delegation, said sources.

The AL also decided to hold a meeting with the Ganatantri Party on Monday as a part of the inter-party talks between the AL and the components of the alliance, aimed at submitting identical proposals during the dialogue with the EC and the government.

Presidium members Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury and Kazi Zafar Ullah were also present at the meeting, along with others