Daily Khabor @ Khabor.Com: Feb 11, 2008

Monday, February 11, 2008

[khabor.com] Project for Accountable Democracy in Bangladesh

Dear All,

Change Bangladesh Organization, USA (www.changebangladesh.org) is supporting a project called "Project for Accountable Democracy in Bangladesh" for creating accountability, transparency and democracy in Bangladeshi politics. It is all of the concern individuals' duty to support it and make a change which is long overdue. Change we can believe and hope which we can attain in future in Bangladesh.

I just like to point out that just complaining about the problems, putting articles in the emails/blogs about the situation in Bangladesh, barking one against others will not bring any change in Bangladesh. People need to talk about the solution and how to bring results based on the reality in Bangladesh.

I also think all concern people read news everyday in various media, so we know what is in the news. It will be just wasting time if we just put the news in the emails/blogs unless we put solution with the news/articles. I hope that everybody understand what I have meant here. Please you do not need to be offended here.

Now if you do all the writings/emails here for fun, then its another story, then I have nothing to say to them. but I think we should devote time here to bring change in Bangladesh with the conviction and support.

You can support this project by visiting and supporting at http://pradib.blogspot.com/

--M. M. Chowdhury (Mithu)

The petition

Today Bangladesh is provided with a rare and golden opportunity to bring about an improvement within the political parties. While elections have been held during the past 16 years, successive elected governments have failed to deliver the fruits of democracy due to corruption, nepotism, hartals and political violence. We, the concerned citizens and friends of Bangladesh , do hereby pledge ourselves towards creating accountability, transparency and democracy in Bangladeshi politics via the following changes.

1. To achieve accountability, democracy and transparency in Bangladesh politics.

- 1.1 Parties must implement democratic practices
-- 1.11 All decision bodies of a party must be elected by and serve at the pleasure of the members of the party
-- 1.12 Term limits must be introduced to ensure fresh ideas and new leaders get a chance to lead the parties
- 1.2 Parties must practice accountability
-- 1.21 Members who are guilty of crimes cannot hold elected office
- 1.3 Parties must implement meritocracy
-- 1.31 Party leadership positions should be based on performance, skills and education
-- 1.32 Nepotism must be banned
- 1.4 Parties must desist from engaging in political violence
- 1.5 Parties must desist from engaging in strikes and hartals
- 1.6 Parties must desist from boycotting parliamentary sessions
- 1.7 Parties should engage in transparency by disclosing yearly financial statements and results of internal elections

2. To see a return of democracy in Bangladesh by end of 2008.

- 2.1 The caretaker government must hold free and fair elections by end of 2008
- 2.2 The army must go back to the barracks upon the assumption of office by an elected government

Our Strategy

As citizens we hope to achieve our goals by engaging, creating awareness and using the subsequent momentum to influence and bring about the accountability, transparency and democracy in Bangladesh politics. Our strategy will be to

1. Engage and create awareness to gain collective support

- 1.1 We will engage in online and offline discussions and meetings to create awareness and gain support.
- 1.2 We will develop online petitions and support groups to create collective support
2. Leverage the collective support to create greater awareness and increase the momentum
- 2.1 We will use the collective support of individuals to gain greater support from organizations
- 2.2 We will use the collective support to create greater awareness

3. Use the collective influence to communicate and engage with political and concerned parties

- 3.1 Communicate and engage with political parties
- 3.2 Demand and support change within the political parties

__._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [khabor.com] Imagine A World Without Islam! - Graham Fuller, former Vice-...

[Take away Islam, and the world would still be left with the main forces that drive today's conflicts, including colonialism, cross-national ideologies, ethnic conflicts and terrorism, says Graham Fuller, a former Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA in charge of long-range strategic forecasting and currently a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).]

Comment: The current professor is correct in his assessment. Allah has summarized his views by declaring:

that the Polytheist, Jews and Christians are the worst of creatures (98:6) and as such, they would continue to make the

world a difficulty place even if Islam ceases to exist.

Regards,

Mohammad Asghar

Who's never won? Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.

__._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Imagine A World Without Islam! - Graham Fuller, former Vice-Chairman

"Jewish guerrillas used terrorism against the British in Palestine. Sri Lankan Hindu Tamil "Tigers" invented the art of the suicide vest and for more than a decade led the world in the use of suicide bombings--including the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Greek terrorists carried out assassination operations against U.S. officials in Athens. Organized Sikh terrorism killed Indira Gandhi, spread havoc in India, established an overseas base in Canada, and brought down an Air India flight over the Atlantic. Macedonian terrorists were widely feared all across the Balkans on the eve of World War I. Dozens of major assassinations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were carried out by European and American "anarchists," sowing collective fear. The Irish Republican Army employed brutally effective terrorism against the British for decades, as did communist guerrillas and terrorists in Vietnam against Americans, communist Malayans against British soldiers in the 1950s, Mau-Mau terrorists against British officers in Kenya -- the list goes on. It doesn't take a Muslim to commit terrorism."

"According to Europol, 498 terrorist attacks took place in the European Union in 2006. Of these, 424 were perpetrated by separatist groups, 55 by left-wing extremists, and 18 by various other terrorists. Only 1 was carried out by Islamists."

"Horrors of the 20th century came almost exclusively from strictly secular regimes: Leopold II of Belgium in the Congo, Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. It was Europeans who visited their "world wars" twice upon the rest of the world - two devastating global conflicts with no remote parallels in Islamic history"

Graham Fuller, a former Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA in charge of long-range strategic forecasting and currently a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).

Imagine A World Without Islam!

17 January, 2008
Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/ghazali170108.htm

Take away Islam, and the world would still be left with the main forces that drive today's conflicts, including colonialism, cross-national ideologies, ethnic conflicts and terrorism, says Graham Fuller, a former Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA in charge of long-range strategic forecasting and currently a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).

In his article entitled A World Without Islam, published in Foreign Policy, Fuller believes that given our intense current focus on terrorism, war, and rampant anti-Americanism it's vital to understand the true sources of these crises. He poses a question, is Islam the source of the problem or does it tend to lie with other less obvious and deeper factors?

Fuller presents his thoughts on Islam in an extended game of "what if." What if Islam had never arisen in the Middle East? What if there had never been a Prophet Mohammed, no saga of the spread of Islam across vast parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa? Would there still be violent clashes between the West and that part of the world? Would the Middle East be more peaceful? How different might the character of East-West relations be?

Fuller ponders a litany of history's major battles and events to drive home his message that while Islam might be a convenient culprit, but global strife, past and present, can't be blamed on any one religion. Europeans would still have wanted the spoils of the Middle East and launched the Crusades albeit under a different banner. "After all, what were the Crusades if not a Western adventure driven primarily by political, social, and economic needs? The banner of Christianity was little more than a potent symbol, a rallying cry to bless the more secular urges of powerful Europeans. In fact, the particular religion of the natives never figured highly in the West's imperial push across the globe. Europe may have spoken upliftingly about bringing "Christian values to the natives," but the patent goal was to establish colonial outposts as sources of wealth for the metropole and bases for Western power projection."

And so it's unlikely that Christian inhabitants of the Middle East would have welcomed the stream of European fleets and their merchants backed by Western guns, he says adding that Imperialism would have prospered in the region's complex ethnic mosaic--the raw materials for the old game of divide and rule. And Europeans still would have installed the same pliable local rulers to accommodate their needs. We doublespeak about promoting democracy in the Middle East as we back autocratic, despotic and undemocratic client regimes there.

On the U.S. occupation of Iraq, he says that it would not have been welcome by Iraqis even if they were Christian. Fuller points out that the United States did not overthrow Saddam Hussein, an intensely nationalist and secular leader, because he was Muslim and other Arab peoples would still have supported the Iraqi Arabs in their trauma of occupation. "Nowhere do people welcome foreign occupation and the killing of their citizens at the hands of foreign troops. Indeed, groups threatened by such outside forces invariably cast about for appropriate ideologies to justify and glorify their resistance struggle. Religion is one such ideology."

The West still would have tried various ways to get control of oil-rich areas, according to Fuller. But Middle Eastern Christians would not have welcomed imperial Western oil companies, backed by their European vice-regents, diplomats, intelligence agents, and armies, any more than Muslims did. Look at the long history of Latin American reactions to American domination of their oil, economics, and politics. The Middle East would have been equally keen to create nationalist anti-colonial movements to wrest control of their own soil, markets, sovereignty, and destiny from foreign grip--just like anti-colonial struggles in Hindu India, Confucian China, Buddhist Vietnam, and a Christian and animist Africa.

On the current Israeli-Palestinian problem, Fuller believes that Jews would have still sought a homeland outside Europe and the Zionist movement would still have emerged and sought a base in Palestine even if the Middle East was Christian. Why, because, he explains, it was Christians who shamelessly persecuted Jews for more than a millennium, culminating in the Holocaust. These horrific examples of anti-Semitism were firmly rooted in Western Christian lands and culture, he says. "And the new Jewish state would still have dislodged the same 750,000 Arab natives of Palestine from their lands even if they had been Christian--and indeed some of them were. Would not these Arab Palestinians have fought to protect or regain their own land?"

The Israeli-Palestinian problem remains at heart a national, ethnic, and territorial conflict, only recently bolstered by religious slogans, Fuller said adding that we should not forget that Arab Christians played a major role in the early emergence of the whole Arab nationalist movement in the Middle East. He recalls that the ideological founder of the first pan-Arab Baath party, Michel Aflaq, was a Sorbonne-educated Syrian Christian.

On blaming Islam for current violence and terrorism, Fuller echoes Robert Pape's argument about the strategic, social and personal motivations work together to encourage suicide terrorism. Pape, in his book Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, argues that nationalism and religious difference between the rebels and a dominant democratic state are the main conditions under which the "alien" occupation of a community's homeland is likely to lead to a campaign of suicide terrorism. He finds that religion plays a smaller part than thought.

Fuller reminds that the West's memories are short when it focuses on terrorism in the name of Islam. He recalls: "Jewish guerrillas used terrorism against the British in Palestine. Sri Lankan Hindu Tamil "Tigers" invented the art of the suicide vest and for more than a decade led the world in the use of suicide bombings--including the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Greek terrorists carried out assassination operations against U.S. officials in Athens. Organized Sikh terrorism killed Indira Gandhi, spread havoc in India, established an overseas base in Canada, and brought down an Air India flight over the Atlantic. Macedonian terrorists were widely feared all across the Balkans on the eve of World War I. Dozens of major assassinations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were carried out by European and American "anarchists," sowing collective fear. The Irish Republican Army employed brutally effective terrorism against the British for decades, as did communist guerrillas and terrorists in Vietnam against Americans, communist Malayans against British soldiers in the 1950s, Mau-Mau terrorists against British officers in Kenya --the list goes on. It doesn't take a Muslim to commit terrorism."

Fuller points out that even the recent history of terrorist activity doesn't look much different. "According to Europol, 498 terrorist attacks took place in the European Union in 2006. Of these, 424 were perpetrated by separatist groups, 55 by left-wing extremists, and 18 by various other terrorists. Only 1 was carried out by Islamists."

Fuller makes a compelling argument that conflict between East and West remains all about the grand historical and geopolitical issues of human history: ethnicity, nationalism, ambition, greed, resources, local leaders, turf, financial gain, power, interventions, and hatred of outsiders, invaders, and imperialists. Faced with timeless issues like these, how could the power of religion not be invoked, he asked.

He also reminds us that virtually every one of the principle horrors of the 20th century came almost exclusively from strictly secular regimes: Leopold II of Belgium in the Congo, Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. It was Europeans who visited their "world wars" twice upon the rest of the world - two devastating global conflicts with no remote parallels in Islamic history.

Some today might wish for a "world without Islam" in which these problems presumably had never come to be. But, in truth, the conflicts, rivalries, and crises of such a world might not look so vastly different than the ones we know today, Fuller concludes.

In short, Fuller has done a great job in spelling out the real root of the contemporary problems which lie in imperialism/colonialism, more than religion, although certainly religion is a part. His paradigm repudiates uninformed and biased pundits and neoconservatives who condemn Islam as the root of all conflict and see "Islamofascism" the sworn foe of the West in a looming "World War III."

By Abdus Sattar Ghazalim He is the Executive Editor of the online magazine American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com E-mail: asghazali@...

----------------------------

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." - Adolf Hitler

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Re: [vinnomot] Re: [khabor.com] Israeli Officials: Musharraf Met Israe l's defense minister Barak

Mosharraf is a Dictator, who can meet whomever he likes, he does not care about public sentiment. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: Mr. Turkman is a secreat Jew, please read his posting b...

This man either have problem in understanding others' language or he
tries to make a fool out of himself! I never said "Quran is full of science
and that all the scientific inventions, including the internet which we
have been using to promote our views, have resulted from the
teachings of the Quran".

He can't give up his natural habit of putting his own words into others'
mouth to fool none but himself! To claim "Quran is full of science"
and "to try to prove the Quran unscientific using lies and deceptions"
are completely two different issues. I was talking about the latter one.
A Muslim cannot try to prove the Quran unscientific FORCEFULLY
[using lies and deceptions] like a diehard JihaDie! It doesn't make any
sense at all. If anyone does so, then he/she is not a Muslim to begin
with. But that's exactly what Turkyman is doing. Even a minimum IQ
holder is supposed to understand this simple logic. I think Khabor
forum should have an IQ test for the new members to be eligible for
posting his/her message! Age can also be checked. Underage or
Overage members are not allowed!

--- In khabor@yahoogroups.com, msa40@... wrote:
>
>
> [ On one hand he (Turkman) is repeatedly saying "AlhamoDo lillah I
am a
> Moslim", but on the other he is spreading lies against Quran,
Prophet Muhammad
> and Muslims! As a Moslim (?) he is trying his level best to prove the
Quran
> unscientific and outdated!!!!On one hand he (Turkman) is repe
>
>
> Comment: No, it does not make any sense, for Muslims must
believe that the
> Quran is full of science and that all the scientific inventions,
including the
> internet which we have been using to promote our views, have
resulted from
> the teachings of the Quran.
>
> And yes, whoever thinks that the Quran is outdated is not only a non-
Muslim,
> he or she also deserves strongest condemnation and death, where it
is
> possible!
>
> Regards,
> Mohammad Asghar
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> **************Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL
Music.
> (http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?
NCID=aolcmp003000000025
> 48)
>

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khabor/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khabor/join

(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:khabor-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:khabor-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
khabor-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[khabor.com] Recent clash between Shibir and BCL

I'm attaching you some pictures from different dailies about the recent incident between BCL and Shibir in Dhaka Polytechnic Institute.

JaiJaidin's caption was Shibir activists chasing student forced him to jump down from 1^st floor of Latif Hostel, but Police was seen just above his floor.

Prothom Alo and Amardesh published same picture with different captions. Prothom Alo doesn't identify them, whereas Amardesh says they are BCL activists.

Nayadiganta reminds us most terrible story on 28 October 2006.

Daily Star and its news report on student clashes in Dhaka Polytechnic institute.

The report says quote:

Clashes between the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islami Chhatra Shibir over a trifling matter overnight left at least 40 students injured in Dhaka Polytechnic Institute yesterday.Male students had to leave hostels by 5:00pm following orders from the authorities. Hundreds of them had to put up with huge inconvenience for having to vacate dormitories at short notice.

During the fight that began the previous night and continued intermittently till 1:30pm, workers of both BCL and Shibir, the student wings of Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami, damaged over 10 classrooms and at least 50 dorm rooms, said witnesses. When a first-year student involved in Shibir politics sat on one of the chairs set aside for the second-year students in the dining room of Latif Hostel at 8:30pm Saturday, Chhatra League activists gave him a beating. In the fallout, a group of Shibir men attacked BCL leader Shahin's room at around 11:00pm, leaving him seriously injured. Shortly afterwards, BCL activists damaged at least four rooms belonging to Shibir activists. The situation came under control after police took position inside the halls and students went to sleep.

Early in the morning yesterday, around 400 workers of BCL gathered in front of Latif Hostel. They brought out procession on the campus, vandalised vehicles plying the Tongi Diversion Road. They also blockaded the road in front of the institute for over half an hour.

Brandishing knives, machetes, and hockey sticks, Shibir and BCL men chased and counter-chased each other for hours. In presence of law enforcers, they beat up their rivals and damaged their rooms. Of the injured, 30 are Shibir activists while 10 BCL. Six of those wounded were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The melee caused panic among the general students who locked themselves in the rooms.

Shibir men had to be taken out of the campus under police escort as the Chhatra League workers were waiting outside. unquote

The pictures in the Daily Star show the police calming down Shibir boys in the hostel gate, police asking the Shibir boys to leave the hostel and in another the BCL students chasng the Shibir boys .The report in the Star I find reasonably balanced .

The report in Naya Diganta shows the repeat of 28^th October inhuman action again on Shibir boys.Any one can see naya Diganta picture in the first page.There is need for voluntary reform of political behavior of most political parties and their student wings. Some parties have created so much hatred against others that brutality is becoming endemic in the students and many political people.This is dangerous for a harmonious and peaceful society.

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] EARN $ 100 DAILY ONLINE - JOIN FREE

EARN $ 100 DAILY ONLINE - JOIN FREE

Earn More than $500 Rs.20,000 per month. It's not cheating. We help you to

earn money easily, simply and quickly Without any investment. No need

credit card or Anything. Believe me, If you Work Harder you can earn more

than $100 Rs.4000 per Day.

It takes only 3 steps taken 1 minute only.

1) http://www.eyeearn.com/9814644.50/signupcb

2) Fill up the application fully.

3) Confirm your payment details.

For More Details and Complete Guidelines Follow the website

http://earnmoneyonline-sfi.we.bs/

__._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Re: [khabor.com] Fw: Solution of Prostitution And Rehabilitation Of Prostitutes--Asia Post editorial dated 5.3.07

I strongly support the view expressed as a comment that

our Ministry of Social Affairs should take necessary steps

to solve this unwanted problem in the society.

Even paying a 'pension' for those 4000 unfortunate ladies

would not be a big burden on the country considering the evil we could

eradicate from our society.

Dr Abu Sayeed

S A Hannan <sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com> wrote:

Solution of Prostitution And Rehabilitation Of Prostitutes

Newspapers have reported that speakers at a discussion yesterday emphasized the need for creating alternative jobs for sex workers before evicting them from their homes. They said it would be tantamount to violation of human rights if the sex workers are evicted without creating any alternative job opportunity through which they could be able to earn a decent living. They also demanded steps for stopping criminal activities conducted by the vested quarters in and around the brothels across the country.

The discussion was organized by the Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh at the conference room of Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) auditorium marking the International Sex Workers Day. Prof HSK Arefeen of Anthropology department of Dhaka University said sex workers are nabbed frequently under Public Nuisance Act which should be amended to protect the interest of the sex workers. Referring to a number of case studies, he said the recognition of sex workers is a demand of the time. "I think they are more transparent in their personal life as they do not show any hypocrisy to earn their living like others in the society," he pointed out. Other sex workers also echoed the same and demanded legal recognition of their profession.

They urged the law enforcement agencies to stop repression on sex workers and their children at brothels across the country. There are 3,816 registered sex workers at five brothels in Khulna and eight brothels in Dhaka and Barisal, said the organisers. Rashida Akhter, Advocate Ruhi Samad Ara Jhumu, Akhter Jahan Shilpi, Sami Afreen Nilu and Kazi Abu Shahed also spoke on the occasion.

Prostitution has been a chronic problem of humanity and because of weakness of political leaders around the world this problem could not be solved. Prostitution debases humanity as a whole and women in particular. It is the root cause of women trafficking .Most of the women are forced into prostitution by a group of agents who procure women by false promises in the name of giving them good jobs. The brothels become centers of crime. Their children who do not have proper identity suffer in every way. Islam and all religions prohibit it People do not want it except some criminals and bad people who go there deceiving their wives and spend money there depriving in many cases their family.

The modern title of sex-workers will not upgrade their status. As for Bangladesh, the report suggests that there are only few brothels in three places with about four thousand prostitutes. It is not very difficult to rehabilitate them. Even life-long pensions for these few people would not be expensive. We believe that the Ministry of Social Welfare should take up such a plan and further registration should not be allowed.

Khurram

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Re: [khabor.com] Fw: Arch of Canterbury Williams Defends his Shari`ah Remarks --report of islamonline.net

Dear All

Assalamualaikum.

Well, some people might start spreading falsehood against the Archbishop

for his comments on Shariah Law, but the trouble is some media have engaged in

false propaganda against Islam in response to that.

Just look at the Sunday British news papers !!

Dr Abu Sayeed

S A Hannan <sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com> wrote:

Dear members,

Assalamu Alaikum.Some ignorant and motivated people are spreading false hood against the Arch Bishop of Canterbury .This always happen when the issue is Islam or its related issues.

We understand that he was only discussing the necessity of recognizing the majority of Muslims wishes to live by Islamic family and personal law.The Arch Bishop deserves praise for his courage for uphoding religious law rather than secular law in pesonal law area.

Shah Abdul Hannan

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1201957716088&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

Williams Defends Shari`ah Remarks

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

Williams is said to be overwhelmed by the "hostility of the response" to his remarks.
CAIRO — Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams has defended his call for the adoption of some Shari`ah aspects in Britain to resolve civil Muslim matters, saying his remarks were "well-researched."
"The Archbishop was not suggesting the introduction of parallel legal jurisdictions, but exploring ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience," Williams said in a statement on his website.

Western Muslims Being Flexible in Shari`ah
His lecture and interview to the BBC on Thursday were a careful exploration of the limits of a "unitary and secular" legal system and how, in an increasingly diverse society, it might be able to accommodate religious claims, added the statement, which was posted late on Friday, February 8.
"In doing so, the Archbishop was not suggesting the introduction of parallel legal jurisdictions but exploring ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience."

The statement said Williams was misunderstood and his remarks were in no way hasty but "well-researched."

"His lecture was well-researched and involved consultation with legal experts, especially people with knowledge and experience of Jewish and Islamic legal systems."

The Church of England's highest-ranking cleric has drawn heavy criticism since he acknowledged that the adoption of some parts of Shari`ah alongside Britain's legal system "seems unavoidable" in certain circumstances.

He said Shari`ah should be introduced as an officially sanctioned legal alternative when it comes to civil issues concerning Muslims such as marriage and financial matters such as inheritance.

The remarks have united all three main political parties, the media and some Muslim groups in opposition.

Support

"The way he has been ridiculed, lampooned and treated by some people and indeed some of the media is quite disgraceful," said Lowe.

The Archbishop has won support from some British Church leaders, who said critics might be getting the wrong end of the stick.

The Bishop of Hulme Stephen Lowe condemned the "kneejerk" response to Williams' call.

"We have probably one of the greatest and the brightest archbishops of Canterbury we have had for many a long day," Lowe told the Guardian on Saturday.

"He (Williams) is undoubtedly one of the finest minds of this nation," he added.

"The way he has been ridiculed, lampooned and treated by some people and indeed some of the media ... is quite disgraceful."

The Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, said Williams was entitled to raise the issue of Shari`ah.

"What has been explosive is that his examples have referred to Shari`ah law, which is an emotive concept in our society. He is saying these Shari`ah councils in some places already exist informally.

"It might be better to formalize them under British law, to make sure they do correspond to British law. But there are real practical difficulties," he said.

British Muslim leaders have cautiously welcomed Williams's call, saying the Archbishop's comments have been misunderstood.

They said the debate is getting out of control because people failed to understand that Williams meant the civil not the penal aspect of Shari`ah.

Williams' online clarification did not stop another slew of critical, front-page headlines Saturday, including at least two public calls for the 57-year-old former university theologian's resignation.

Much of the debate has been center on the potential for division between ethnic communities in Britain at a time when the government is trying to promote a more cohesive society based on shared values.

Friends of Williams told the BBC that he was in a state of shock and dismayed by the criticism.

They said Williams was overwhelmed by the "hostility of the response" to his remarks.

Khurram

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Profile of Insurgency in North East India

Profile of Insurgency in North East India

Isha Khan

Formation: Asom Sanjukta Mukti Morcha or the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was formed on April 7, 1979 by Bhimakanta Buragohain, Rajiv Rajkonwar alias Arabinda Rajkhowa, Golap Baruah alias Anup Chetia, Samiran Gogoi alias Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain and Paresh Baruah at the Rang Ghar in Sibsagar to establish a "sovereign socialist Assam" through an armed struggle.

War Cry: Joi Ai Asom

Leadership:

Arabinda Rajkhowa is the 'Chairman' of ULFA. 'Vice Chairman' Pradip Gogoi was arrested on April 8, 1998 , and is currently in judicial custody at Guwahati. 'General Secretary' Anup Chetia is under detention in the Bangladeshi Dhaka after being arrested on December 21, 1997. The outfit's founding member and ideologue Bhimakanta Buragohain, 'Publicity Secretary' Mithinga Daimary and 'Assistant Secretary' Bolin Das were arrested during the military operations in Bhutan in December 2003. Earlier, 'Cultural Secretary' Pranati Deka was arrested at Phulbari in the West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya.

Other leaders are: Bhimkanta Buragohin, Pradip Gogoi alias Samiran Gogoi, Mithinga Daimari, Pranati Deka and Ramu Mech ,Mithinga Daimary (real name Dipak Das),The cultural secretary of the Ulfa, Pranati Deka hails from Nalbari district. She is the wife of the group's finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika. She was first arrested from a Mumbai hospital in 1996. Later, she was released on bail in 1998 only to be arrested again at Phulbari, Meghalaya in 2003 while trying to escape.

The ULFA has a clearly partitioned political and military wing. Paresh Barua heads the military wing as the outfit's 'commander-in-chief'. Following the military operations in Bhutan in December 2003, most of its top leadership reportedly operates from unspecified locations. According to reports, ULFA is in the process of relocating its camps in Myanmar, Mon district of Nagaland, Garo hills of Meghalaya and Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

Areas of Activity and Influence

The ULFA's organisational structure is divided into four zones:

East Districts(Purb Mandal)
West Districts(Paschim Mandal)
Central Districts(Madhya Mandal)
South Districts(Dakshin Mandal)

Sanjukta Mukti Fouj (SMF):

A military wing of the ULFA, the Sanjukta Mukti Fouj (SMF) was formed on March 16, 1996 . SMF has three full-fledged battalions (Bn): the 7th, 28th and 709th. The remaining battalions exist only on paper - at best they have strengths of a company or so. Their allocated spheres of operation are:

7th Bn (HQ- Sukhni) Responsible for defence of GHQ
8th Bn Nagaon, Morigaon, Karbi Anglong
9th Bn Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar
11th Bn Kamrup, Nalbari
27th Bn Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar
28th Bn Tinsukia, Dibrugarh
709th Bn Kalikhola

Links and camps:

The ULFA sought shelter in the forests on the Indo-Bhutan border from the early 1990s and established several camps in the forest areas of southern Bhutan. Over the years, it reportedly developed linkages with several officers and personnel of the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) and Police - which ensured, among other things, a steady flow of rations, logistical support as well as aid and contacts for money laundering. The ULFA's Bhutan set-up had a reported strength of around 2000 cadres spread across the outfit's 'General Head Quarters', it's 'Council Head Quarters', a 'Security Training Camp' and a well-concealed 'Enigma Base'. Numbering around 13 in all, the major camps of the ULFA in Bhutan included:

1. Mithundra
2. Gobarkunda
3. Panbang
4. Diyajima
5. Pemagatsel Complex
i. Khar
ii. Shumar
iii. Nakar
6. Chaibari
7. Marthong
8. Gerowa
9. Sukhni (Merungphu): 'General HQ'
10. Melange
11. Phukaptong: 'Council HQ'
12. Dalim-Koipani (Orang)
13. Neoli Debarli

Most camps and other establishment of the ULFA were in Sandrup Jongkhar, a district in southern Bhutan that borders Assam's Nalbari district. The RBA is reported to have destroyed all the outfit's camps and observation posts during the military operations launched in December 2003.

In 1986, ULFA first established contacts with the then unified National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) of Myanmar for training and arms. ULFA linked up with the Kachins through the 'good offices' of the Naga rebels. It learnt the rudiments of insurgent tactics from the Kachins (who reportedly charged Rupees 100,000 per trainee). Subsequently, links were established with Pakistan 's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Afghan Mujahideen. Reports indicate that at least 200 ULFA activists received training in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bangladesh authorities arrested its leader Anup Chetia on December 21, 1997 . He is currently under detention at the high-security Dhaka Central Jail. The main charges against Chetia include illegal entry into Bangladesh, possession of two forged Bangladeshi passports, possession of an unauthorised satellite telephone and illegal possession of foreign currency of countries as diverse as the US, UK, Switzerland, Thailand, Philippines, Spain, Nepal, Bhutan, Belgium, Singapore and others. Two other accomplices, identified as Babul Sharma and Laxmi Prasad, were also arrested along with Chetia.

ULFA gradually expanded its network to include operational control of activities and the receipt and shipment of arms in transit before they finally entered India. Owing to greater vigil along the known routes of ULFA arms flow, the group has, in recent times, been making attempts to set up bases in Meghalaya, especially in the West Garo Hills to coordinate the transit of arms.

ULFA has for long maintained close linkages with the Pakistan's ISI which procured several passports for Paresh Baruah and other ULFA cadres. Several ULFA cadres have also received arms training from the ISI at various training centres in Pakistan, close to the Afghanistan border. ULFA had also announced its support for Pakistan during the Kargil war. They described the Pakistani intruders - primarily Pakistani Army regulars and Afghan mercenaries - as 'freedom fighters'.

Reports indicate that the ULFA's mouthpiece, ULFA's a website newsletter Swadhinata also known as 'Freedom', receives editorial support from ISI inside Pakistan. It was in 'Freedom' that the ULFA first supported the Pakistanis during the Kargil war. The ISI has provided ULFA cadres with arms training, safe havens, funds, arms and ammunition. Training has been given at camps in Pakistan and Bhutan.

At least 300 ULFA cadres were also trained at Rawalpindi and other locations in Pakistan. The training included courses in the use of rocket launchers, explosives and assault weapons. Paresh Baruah has been regularly visiting Karachi since 1992-93. He is also reported to have met Osama bin Laden in 1996 during a visit to Karachi.

The ULFA leader was reportedly taken to a camp on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where he not only received assurance of military help in the form of arms and ammunition, but also assurances of co-operation and logistical support of all international organisations owing allegiance to bin Laden, including the International Jehad Council, the Tehrik-ul-Jehad, Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami (HuJI), apart from the Al Qaeda.

The ISI has also trained ULFA terrorists in counter intelligence, disinformation and use of sophisticated weapons and explosives. Pakistan has facilitated the visits of Paresh Baruah and other ULFA leaders to Singapore , Thailand and other countries, and a channel for the transfer of funds and arms has been created. The ISI largesse enabled ULFA to buy arms in Cambodia, paying for these in hard currency routed through Nepal. The ISI also 'introduced' ULFA to LTTE transporters who, for a fee, undertook to transport arms from Southeast Asia into Myanmar. In April 1996, Bangladesh seized more than 500 AK-47 rifles, 80 machineguns, 50 rocket launchers and 2,000 grenades from two ships off Cox's Bazaar. Four Tamils were among those arrested

Co-operation between various terrorist organisations in India's north-east and foreign groups was formalised with the formation of the Indo-Burmese Revolutionary Front (IBRF) in 1989. The IBRF was made up initially of the NSCN-K, ULFA, United Liberation Front of Bodoland, Kuki National Front (KNF) (all from India) and Chin National Front ( Myanmar). Paresh Baruah is reported to have paid a substantial sum of money to the Kachins for the first large consignment of weapons from Thailand.

Manerplaw in lower Myanmar on the border with Thailand is the stronghold of the rebel Karen National Union which, in 1993, is reported to have delivered, from the Cambodian arms market, AK-56 rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled guns and anti-tank rifles to the ULFA. The organisation's cadres have identified an arms dealer as an ethnic Kachin and wife of an assassinated Manipuri rebel Themba Song. The Communist Party of Burma is known to have gifted some weapons, mainly Chinese-made M10 rifles, to ULFA and Naga terrorist organisations.

Arrested ULFA cadres have claimed that Baruah used to smuggle heroin, procured in Myanmar into Assam as part of "a personal operation". According to surrendered ULFA cadres, the ULFA terrorists had also crossed over into China via Bhutan and established contact with the Chinese Army.

The group, on the basis of these contacts, had a rendezvous with a Chinese ship on the high seas in March 1995 during which a weapons' consignment was transferred to them. A further consignment ultimately landed up in Bhutan in 1999, though it was actually acquired in 1997. ULFA also runs profitable narcotics business in Myanmar and Thailand. A close nexus between ULFA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had also been reported. The LTTE is reported to have trained various ULFA cadres in explosives handling.

ULFA as a Revolutionary Organization:

United Liberation Front of Assam, ULFA, a revolutionary political organisation was born on the lawns of the historic Rang Ghar of Sibsagar on 7th April 1979.

ULFA'S aims & objects :

To liberate Assam , (a land of 78,529 square K.M.), through Armed national liberation struggle from the clutches of the illegal occupation of India and to establish a sovereign Independent Assam.

ULFA represents:

ULFA represents, as its name implies, not only the Assamese nation but also the entire independent minded struggling peoples, irrespective of different race-tribe-caste-religion and nationality of Assam. The struggle for national liberation of Assam never is a separatist or secessionist movement. Assam was never a part of India at any point of time in history. The fact is independent Assam has been occupied by India , and deploying occupation forces they are oppressing our peoples and persecuting them. ULFA itself and all freedom fighters of Assam are neither planning nor conspiring to break up India! We are not conducting any armed operation inside India . Freedom fighters of Assam are only trying to overthrow Indian colonial occupation from Assam.

The armed struggle for self-defence: The people of Assam are confronting with various problems. Among those, the National identity problem is basic. The communal riot that was followed by the partition of India and Pakistan was responsible for the influx of foreigners from the Indian sub-continent in large scale and thereby caused a real threat to the demographic composition of Assam. India has all along encouraged this influx because of a population base having ethnic affinity with main land India is always favourable to their long term security perspective. This is one of India 's major aspects of colonial occupation of Assam.

In economic sphere, India has been engaged in large-scale exploitation. Despite its rich resources, Assam remains one of the most backward states. Therefore, the question of real threat to the national identity of the people of Assam under the colonial occupation and exploitation of India has become the basic problem. As a whole, the problem has become a question of life and death to the people of Assam.

The people of Assam confronted with the aforesaid problems such as influx of foreigners and massive exploitation of its natural resources and determined as national identity problem after summing up them. Against the gross injustice for sheer survival as a nation, as a people and as individuals, the people of Assam many times launched democratic and unarmed peaceful movement. However, India ruthlessly suppressed and crushed them ignoring the value of democratic movement. Though the people of Assam and leadership of the struggle have a strong stand for peaceful and amicable solution of the conflict, India has always been trying to force a military solution.

Indian military operation in Assam:

The main intention of this operation is to suppress the legitimate aspiration of the people of Assam , and their basic and fundamental human rights i.e., national self-determination. There are endless lists of gross human rights violations during this period by Indian occupation forces. They have killed hundreds of innocent people, hundred more have disappeared in their custody and many of our womenfolk have been raped while many more hundreds have been severely tortured to become handicapped. It is the reflection of direct consequence of colonial repressive policy of India. Today, Assam is an occupied country under Indian's martial law and an undeclared war inside Assam is running on. Any thing may happen at any time inside this war theatre. Colonial India 's this repressive policy compel to the freedom fighters of Assam to take up arms for self-defence. So, armed national liberation struggle of Assam is a democratic struggle for the survival of a Nation.

ULFA commander Paresh Barua:

One of the 'most wanted' north-east terrorist leader, the 45-yr-old ULFA 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua is a versatile radical who has been successful in evading Indian forces for long despite non-stop efforts by the latter. Wanted for a series of robberies, killings and extortions, he is believed to be currently based in Bangladesh or Bhutan. Trained in guerrilla war by ISI, Kachin Independent Army (KIA) of Myanmar and NSCN, he can handle all kinds of weapons, travels on forged passports and identity cards and lives on money obtained from extortion or robbery.

Also known as Paban Barua and Pradip Barua. He, he is 173 cms in height, has black hair and black eyes, a scar on the palm of his right hand. On May 10, 1985 he and some others raided a bank in Guwahati and shot the manager and stole a sum of Rs 27, 549.62 in cash. Often dubbed as 'braveheart' by many ULFA sympathisers, he has had brush with death several times, including in Dec 2000 when he was seriously wounded in a factional gun-battle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. But there is other side of Barua story too. Born on May 1, 1957 , he is a very good football player, can speak a number of languages including English, Bengali, Hindi, Naga and Singpho and of course Assamese, his mother tongue.

Insurgent Outfits in North East India

Arunachal:

National Liberation Front of Arunachal: Koj Tara Dragon Force (ADF)

Assam:

United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) :Paresh Baruah, Arbinda Rajkhoa,
Anup Chetia, Daimari, Pradip Gogoi
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)
United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS)
Bodo Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF)
Dima Halim Daogah (DHD)
Karbi National Volunteers (KNV)
Rabha National Security Force (RNSF)
Koch-Rajbongshi Liberation Organisation (KRLO)
Hmar People's Convention- Democracy (HPC-D)
Karbi People's Front (KPF)
Barak Valley Youth Liberation Front (BVYLF)
United Liberation Front of Barak Valley

Manipur:

United National Liberation Front (UNLF)
People's Liberation Army (PLA)
People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK)
Manipur People's Liberation Front (MPLF)
Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP)
Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL)
Manipur Liberation Tiger Army (MLTA)
Iripak Kanba Lup (IKL)
People's Republican Army (PRA)
Kangleipak Kanba Kanglup (KKK)
North East Minority Front (NEMF)
Kuki National Front (KNF)
Kuki National Army (KNA)
Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA)
Kuki National Organisation (KNO)

Mizoram:

Hmar People's Convention (HPC)
Hmar People's Convention- Democracy (HPC-D)
Hmar Revolutionary Front (HRF)
Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA)
Zomi Revolutionary Volunteers (ZRV)
Indigenous People's Revolutionary Alliance(IRPA)
Kom Rem People's Convention (KRPC)
Chin Kuki Revolutionary Front (CKRF)
Bru National Liberation Front

Meghalaya:

Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC)
Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC)
People's Liberation Front of Meghalaya (PLF-M)
Hajong United Liberation Army (HULA)

Nagaland:

National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) - NSCN(IM)
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) - NSCN (K)
Naga National Council-NNC (Adino)

Tripura:

National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT): Biswamohan Debbarma,
Nayanbashi Jamatia
All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) : Ranjit Debbarma
Tripura Tribal Volunteer Force (TTVF)
Tripura Liberation Force (TLF)
All Tripura Volunteer Force (ATVF)
Tripura National Army (TNA)
Borok National Council of Tripura (BNCT)

West Bengal:

Kamtapuri Liberation Organisation (KLO)

Source: Indian and ULFA websites

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Of Illusory Democracies, Rogue States, And Accelerating Humanity’s Demise

Of Illusory Democracies, Rogue States, And Accelerating Humanity's Demise

By Jason Miller

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world….

---Louis Armstrong

In an increasingly frightening and unstable world, there is one nation we know will stand firm and resolute in its commitment to freedom, human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Without the relentless, selfless efforts of the United States, humankind would plunge into a seething cauldron of tyranny, slavery, chaos and endless war. Besides Israel, severely weakened as it is by the constant strain of fending off the barbarian hordes seeking to "wipe it off the map" and Great Britain, incessantly pressured by its Leftist, pacifist neighbors to appease and negotiate, the home of the brave wages its courageous struggle virtually alone.

But fear not. The time draws nigh when an aspiring superpower will stand firmly alongside the United States in its defense of humankind. India, the world's largest democracy and a haven for the free market economics of Capitalism, is forging a deep alliance with the United States.

What a wonderful world it will indeed be when two nations, each of which was forged in the crucible of revolution against the imperial tyranny of Great Britain, can ally themselves to fend off the twin evils of terrorism and Islamofascism as they unite to spread democracy and corporate benevolence.

As Robert Blackwill, ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003, deputy assistant to the president, deputy national security advisor for strategic planning, and presidential envoy to Iraq from 2003 to 2004, noted in The National Interest(1):

"Not only do our vital national interests coincide, but we share common values as well. The policies of United States and India are built on the same solid moral foundation. India is a democracy of more than one billion people—and there are not many of those in that part of the world. Indian democracy has sustained a heterogeneous, multilingual and secular society. In the words of Sunil Khilnani, the author of The Idea of India (1999), India is a "bridgehead of effervescent liberty on the Asian continent." George W. Bush fastened onto the genius of Indian democracy very early on, long before he was president. This has now become an even more central element of American foreign policy, given the march of freedom across the Greater Middle East and the president's emphasis on the growth of pluralism, democracy and democratic institutions in that region."

After considering the above, if resplendent roses and deciduous trees of all manner are not overwhelming your imagination with a stunning display of vernal regenerative beauty, better check your pulse.

Yet closer examination indicates that a number of the exaltations heaped upon the United States' new confederate in the Far East are both unwarranted and highly disingenuous.

Admittedly, one can find a degree of ambivalence concerning the deepening relationship between the United States and India in our daily doses of agitprop. Yet by and large, the corporate media applauds what it portrays as an expanding partnership between the world's most powerful democracy and its most populous democracy.

Their propagandistic deception begins with the simple use of the word democracy. Neither country qualifies as a constitutional republic, let alone a true democracy. Rife with election fraud, Corporatism, gross wealth disparities, militarism, belligerent expansionism, toxic nationalism, and a laundry list of traits characterizing a fascist state, the United States could easily qualify as one of democracy's greatest foes. India does not lag far behind.

Hype and spin aside, determined investigation and fastidious scholarship by people like Bangladeshi barrister M.B.I. Munshi, researcher Isha Khan, and many others reveal the ugly realities behind India's corporate media façade. India and the United States do share a number of commonalities, but few of them relate to "democracy", "liberty", or "solid moral foundations".

While it is true that both nations were founded by noble people who wrested themselves free of the yoke of Great Britain's imperial oppression, like degenerate trust fund children, the heirs of liberty have defecated on their family's reputation and squandered their fortune.

India's Monroe Doctrine

Providing painstaking documentation in his 2006 book, The India Doctrine, M.B.I. Munshi clearly exposes India's unwritten and unacknowledged ambitions to realize Akhand Bharat (a unified India). India's desire to attain superpower status is no secret, but its power elite and decision-makers are loathe to admit their tenacious pursuit of imperial supremacy of the subcontinent.

As Munshi's exhaustive research demonstrates, India's policies, attitudes, and actions toward its neighbors are quite analogous to the machinations of the United States throughout Central and South America. Replete with its own version of the Monroe Doctrine (Akhand Bharat) and an intelligence agency called RAW (their version of the CIA), India has a long-term commitment to wielding undue power and influence throughout the subcontinent.

Of the Wealthy, By the Wealthy, and for the Wealthy

In his recent book, In Spite of the Gods: the Strange Rise of Modern India, Edward Luce notes:

This is a country where 300 million people live in absolute poverty, most of them in its 680,000 villages, but where cellphone users have jumped from 3 million in 2000 to 100 million in 2005, and the number of television channels from 1 in 1991 to more than 150 last year….India's economy has grown by 6 percent annually since 1991, a rate exceeded only by China's, yet there are a mere 35 million taxpayers in a country with a population of 1.1 billion. Only 10 percent of India's workers have jobs in the formal economy.

Luce's brief assessment above merely provides a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg. India has embraced the "Washington Consensus" with such fervor that the tenets of American Capitalism are virtually a religion amongst the power elite in Delhi

In his Yahoo Finance fluff piece, Why What's Good for India is Good for Us(2), which is laden with hosannas for India's emergence as a powerful democracy with free markets, economist Charles Wheelan points out that a third of the world's impoverished reside in India and concludes that the American Way is their ticket to prosperity.

Never mind the fact that free trade, deregulation, privatization, the emasculation of organized labor, militarization, an insatiable demand for growth, and corporatization are destroying the environment, condemning at least half of the world's population to abject poverty, maintaining a state of perpetual war, and have caused the United States to devolve into a failed state. India represents another billion workers and consumers to power the engine of capitalism. Consequences be damned! There are profits to be realized!

Israel's Second-Best Friend?

Heavily tainting its credentials as a nation modeling and promoting democracy is India's close relationship with Israel, a state with a foreign policy that is perhaps more belligerent, hubristic, and criminal than that of the United States, if such an "accomplishment" were possible. In 2005 India bought nearly $2 billion worth of weaponry from Israel, which qualified them as the Israeli "defense" industry's number one customer. India officially recognized Israel as a state in 1992 and has since become Israel's second-largest trading partner(3). While the Indian government enriches Israel (a nation engaged in the ruthless oppression and collective punishment of the Palestinians), further destabilizes the subcontinent with its heavy militarization, and prioritizes spending on weaponry over humanitarian needs, a third of their population wallows in profound economic misery.

It's Just Another "Goddamned Piece of Paper"

Perhaps one of the most telling hypocrisies entangled in the intricate web woven by the ruling elite of Washington and Delhi is the Bush-Singh nuclear agreement. Barring unlikely resistance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the United States will begin supplying India with uranium sometime this year. While the United States will almost certainly go to war with Iran to squash its attempt to develop nuclear capabilities, it is preparing to provide India with nuclear materials. Rogue states that it is, the US is unilaterally altering the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by denying Iran, a party to the treaty, its right to develop nuclear power, and enabling India, which has not signed the NPT, to further its nuclear program. Coupling this with Ehud Olmert's recent admission that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal denudes the deeply duplicitous agenda of the United States (and its allies) and further destabilizes our world in a profound way.

Did Blackwill write of "solid moral foundations"?

Please do hold the music, Mr. Armstrong. Those illusory springtime blossoms accompanying the US-Indo alliance wither rapidly in the face of relentless wintry blasts of truth concerning the widespread, persistent human rights violations and social injustices in India:

Ostensibly armed with "rights and liberties", most people in India grapple with an archaic and ineffective justice system. The poor and middle class are subject to a woefully inadequate judiciary and law enforcement apparatus which is heavily biased toward the wealthy and powerful(4). (Sound familiar, America?)

The Indian government is a slow, inefficient and deeply corrupt bureaucracy. (Feel the resonance on this one too?)

While the rigid caste system has relaxed to some degree, the Dalits (aka "Untouchables") still face tremendous discrimination at the hands of the Brahmins (the Hindu elites). Even after the valiant efforts of the late Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a Dalit who rose to great prominence and became the principal architect of the Indian Constitution, true social justice for the Dalits is still but a tantalizing mirage(5).

Despite laws banning the traditional mandatory dowry, India's National Crime Record Bureau has determined that there is still one dowry death every 77 minutes! The rampant consumerism and materialism engendered by India's love affair with the US socioeconomic system has heightened demands made by grooms and their families. Often, when a bride's family is unable to "deliver the goods", the groom brutalizes or kills his wife. Like many of the laws India has passed to uphold human rights, the legislation banning the practice of dowry demands is rarely enforced(6).

Another tragic result of dowry demands is the wide-spread practice of infanticide. Many Indians consider having a daughter to be a huge liability. Since 1987, ten million female infants have died at the hands of parents unwilling to face the hardships imposed by the deeply ingrained dowry system. One common technique parents employ to murder these precious innocents is to pour sand in their mouths just after they are born(7).

Representing another egregious violation of human rights (and yet another feeble effort by the government to protect the victims) is the existence of an estimated 12 million child laborers in India. That figure comes from the power brokers in Delhi. Various NGO's and charitable organizations assert that the number of Indian children enduring the deprivation of their childhood, hard work for ridiculously paltry wages, and physical beatings is much higher(8).

The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

One of the oft-heard reasons that the United States and India constitute a match made in heaven is that India is an ideal ally in the "War on Terror". Remember that the United States and its collaborators are actually waging a war on Islam. They are the enemy because a large number of Islamic people have the sheer audacity to dwell in a region possessing a significant percentage of the world's remaining oil reserves and in and around the land the Zionists, with British and American complicity, elected to steal.

Mother India is certainly doing her part to quell the "Muslim rabble". Aside from her close alignment with Israel and the United States, her ongoing war with Pakistan over Kashmir, and her pursuit of domination of her Muslim neighbors on the subcontinent (i.e. Bangladesh), she is home to a pathological strain of Hindu nationalism known as Hindutva. A spokesman for RSS, perhaps the most radical Hindutva organization, stated:

"The entire world acknowledges that Israel has effectively and ruthlessly countered terror in the Middle East. Since India and Israel are both fighting a proxy war against terrorism, therefore, we should learn a lesson or two from them. We need to have close cooperation with them in this field."

In February of 2002, Hindu nationalists slaughtered between 2,000 and 5,000 Muslims and left another 150,000 homeless in the Indian state of Gujarat. In her book, The Gujarat Genocide, Garda Ghista observes:

"Even after the initial 72 hours, the violence continued with the active support and collaboration of local police,"

And noted author and human rights activist Arundhati Roy wrote this of the Gujarat massacre:

"We're sipping from a poisoned chalice—a flawed democracy laced with religious fascism … Gujarat has been the petri dish in which Hindu fascism has been fomenting an elaborate political experiment." (9)

Recently, the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee conducted a study on India's minority populations. The results are now in the hands of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Consider some of the report's findings relative to the Muslims of India [who encompass 140 million people or about 15% of the Indian population] (10):

In rural areas: 94.9% of Muslims living below poverty line fail to receive free food grain.
Only 3.2% of Muslims get subsidized loans.

Only 2.1% of Muslim farmers have tractors, while just 1% own hand pumps.

54.6% of Muslims in villages and 60% in urban areas have never been to schools. In rural areas, only 0.8% of Muslims are graduates, while in urban areas despite 40% of the Muslims receiving modern education only 3.1% are graduates. Only 1.2% of Muslims are post-graduates in urban areas.

While West Bengal has 25% Muslim population, only 4.2% are employed in state services. In Assam, with a 40% Muslim population, only 11.2% are in government employment. Kerala has 20% Muslims, but only 10.4% of government employees are Muslim.

In Karnataka, where the Muslim population is 12.2%, 8.5% are employed in government services. While in Gujarat, of the 9.1% Muslim population, 5.4% are in state jobs; in Tamil Nadu, against a 5.6% Muslim population, 3.2% are employed in government.

Though West Bengal is known as a political bastion of the left bloc, the ones who have always spoken strongly against parties entertaining communal bias, the state has zero% Muslims in state PSUs. While Kerala has 9.5% in state PSUs, Maharashtra has only 1.9%.

Though the Sachar committee was not able to secure data regarding the presence of Muslims in the armed forces, it is fairly well-known that their percentage here is not more than three.

Muslims form only 10.6% of the population in Maharashtra, but 32.4% of the prison inmates here are Muslims. In New Delhi, 27.9 % of inmates are Muslims, though they form only 11.7% of the population here. While in Gujarat, Muslims form 25.1% of the ones imprisoned, they form 9.1% of the population. In Karnataka, Muslims form 12.23% of populace and 17.5% of those imprisoned.

It would appear that India deals with its "Muslim problem" in much the same way that the United States deals with its "Black problem".

Careful scrutiny of the consummation of the US-Indo relationship and India's meteoric rise toward superpowerdom via American Capitalism raises serious doubts about our collective sanity as we perpetuate an exploitative system conceived in the minds of men whose thinking was heavily shaped by their imperialistic and colonial socioeconomic paradigm. Concluding mass psychosis becomes even more probable when one considers that corporate personhood, monopolies, plutocratic tyranny, and unbridled avarice have so perverted what might have evolved as an ethical and sustainable socioeconomic system.

Why are so many people so deeply committed to an economic scheme which truly rewards so few? Driven by greed, ruthless competition, and oppression, this virulent system is truly beneficial for the mere handful of the world's 6.5 billion human beings who parasitically monopolize most of the available wealth. Paradoxically, in a world still abundant with resources, a large percentage of the population wages a constant (and for many futile) struggle to attain the necessities of life.

Our ugly manifestation of Capitalism has relegated most of the human race to some form of slavery, serfdom or indentured servitude. It is an irresistible force devouring Mother Earth's resources faster than she can renew them, befouling the environment with toxins and pollutants, and causing the extinction of animal and plant species at an alarming rate.

So the next time a think tank propagandist or corporate media pundit crows about India's conversion to the "American Way", remember that their sophistry amounts to a twisted celebration of the demise of humanity and the Earth.

From birth, it is burned into our cerebrums that the "freeing individualism" of Capitalism and the "stifling collectivism" of Communism are the only socioeconomic models from which we can choose. This is a despicable lie. We are not intellectually constrained to adhere to an ill-conceived economic philosophy hundreds of years old. Nor are we bound to its antithesis, which Marx formulated as a radical reaction to the harsh brutality of Capitalism. Somewhere between these two extremes lies a synthesis that could incorporate the best of both.

As human beings, we have been blessed with highly developed frontal lobes. If we are to survive as a species, we must use this gift to find a viable middle ground between Capitalism and Communism…hence enabling some semblance of Mr. Armstrong's "wonderful world".

Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself intellectually and spiritually. He writes prolifically, his essays have appeared widely on the Internet, and he volunteers at homeless shelters. He welcomes constructive correspondence at willpowerful@hotmail.com or via his blog, Thomas Paine's Corner, at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/

Sources and Further Reading:

(1) http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/
Articles/May%202005/May2005Blackwill.html

(2) http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/economist/2074

(3) http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10862

(4) http://www.worldproutassembly.org/
archives/2007/01/india_without_d.html

(5) http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-rawat021206.htm

(6) http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/
2006/10/indian-brides-pay-high-price.html

(7) http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2728976&page=1

(8) http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/10/news/child.php

(9) http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com
/2007/01/global-fundamentalist-wars.html

(10) http://makkah.wordpress.com/2006/12/29/
marginalization-of-muslim-minority-in-india/

http://www.countercurrents.org/miller120207.htm

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: Epaar Bangla, Opaar Bangla :In quest of a cultural bridge

A Rejoinder

By Tayeb Husain, Sweden

(This write-up I pen in response to Mr. Md. Anwarul Kabir's article. I am afraid, I have written many unpleasant things about Bengali culture and due to that some may find in me a fanatic Muslim who is trying to nullifying the cultural unity of the Bengali speaking people. The fact is far from the truth. I do not adhere to any religion and religion has never been a concern in my personal or social life. Here I am trying to find out the truth and nothing but the truth about Bengali culture and warning others not to be carried away by emotion and thereby ignoring the religious fanaticism that is deeply ingrained in the psyche of the Bengali speaking peoples. Unity of Bengali speaking people should be our objective but that is impossible without recognizing where the problem lies and try to take action to solve it first. What I have written here is my personal views based on my observation of Bengali society at large).

I highly appreciate Mr. Md. Anwarul Kabir's sincere desire for building a cultural bridge between two Bengali speaking people. But the serious and immediate problem is Mr. Kabir's name, especially the first surname (Mohammad). It indicates that he is a Muslim. Similarly Gauranga Mitra, the student he met in Calcutta or Kalkatta, is a Hindu by all means, and to be exact, GENERALLY. Exception may be there but exception can not be any example when we talk about a society or a nation. I do not say so because I care much about religion but I surely and sincerely do care to find out the truth without being charged with emotion or sentiments.

The fact is, people in the Indian Sub-continent at large were and even today very much are, either Hindu or a Muslim and there is very little in-between. A man like Pundit Nehru, the father of Indian secularism, could not even go over it. Rabindranath was a confused Hindu very much so even though he had Muslim chef and relished Muslim dishes. Religious fanaticism, unfortunately, was and is deep in the psyche of the people of the sub-continent. Mr. Kabir disapproves Jinnah's two nation theory and may I ask him, if two nation "theory* is not acceptable or valid, on what basis Bangladesh claims her independent existence? And talking about culture, may I point out that cultural division in Bengal started, indeed, the day Baktiar Khilji established his kingdom in Bengal around 1204. Again, India was divided, I firmly believe, NOT because Jinnah wanted so but it was the Bengali Hindus (the upper caste I mean) who did not like to be governed by the majority Muslims in Bengal whom the minority upper caste Hindus considered 'inferior' people.

If Bengali Hindu leaders joined Fazlul Huq or encouraged other Muslim leaders against division of Bengal (i.e. if they supported united Bengal) the history of the sub-continent would have been different. In 1905 the Hindus who waged war against Lord Curzon's division of Bengal and brought the colonial government to their knees, did not raise a finger when the same Bengal was divided in 1947. Public memory is too short but for emotional Muslim Bengalis it seems to me that their memory chip is fully blank.

Now let us turn to Bengali culture. "Culture is the chronic life style of a group of people often referred to as ethnic people. Culture consists of systematic distinctively visible patterns of behaviours and thoughts that are passed on from one generation to the next. This definition of culture includes beliefs, values, food habits, language, accent, socio-economic activities, political and social organisations as well as the usage of technology and the equipment".

Bengali culture as per the definition must be the faiths and values of the Bengali people. Language could be added to it in narrow sense. Two religious groups are dominant in Bengali speaking area, the Muslims and the Hindus and no doubt that their faiths make their cultures different. A practising devote Calcutta Muslim finds it much easier to mingle with a Malaysian Muslim rather than his next door Hindu neighbour. The question of a Hindu mingling with a Muslim was a rare thing in the past; the situation is almost the same even today. Food habit, dress-code and even the words they use in their language differ widely between these two communities. Mr. Kabir calls his elder sister 'Appa' and elder brother's wife 'Bhabi' whereas the equivalent words to these salutations for a Hindu Bengali are 'Didi' and 'Bau-di'. Am I right Mr. Kabir?

Names of personal relationships are concrete examples how the Hindu and Muslim culture differs. Dada, Bou-di, Didi, Jamai-Babu, Jatha, Kaka, Khuro, Pishi, Mashi, etc. are some of the Hindu words and nomenclature of very personal relationships of the Bengali Hindus. No Muslim uses these words except but to please a Hindu now and then. Muslims have their own words for these personal relationships (Bhai, Bhabi, Apa, Dulabhai, Chacha, Khala, Phupu, etc.). Likewise some other literal words are also not the same as the Muslims use in Bengal. Such words are: Jol, Jhol, Mangsho, Bhagawan, Paap, Punya, Swarga, etc. On the other hand, Muslims have their alternate words for the same in Bengali. The Muslims words for above are: Pani, Surua, Gosht (or Goshto or Gosh), Allah, Gunah, Soab, Behest, etc.

These are examples of minor nature but the emphasis on it both the Hindus and the Muslims put can not be ignored by any neutral observer. The literature created by the Hindus in Bengali language is distinctively different than their Muslim counterparts. It includes theme, family language, substance, religious pitch, etc. remarkably different from each other. The Bengali Hindus always looked down upon the Muslims and behaved as if the Muslims do not exit and they need not be considered for anything. Tagore was once asked why there is no Muslim character in his literature. His blunt answer was that he knew nothing about them (except, as evidence suggests, he knew well how to collect rents from his majority Muslim tenants with iron hands). The Muslims (but except a few) developed due to this behaviour towards them some sorts of disdain to Hindu population at large and to their religion in particular.

The Bengali or Bangla culture is primarily based, in many ways, on ignorance or low level education, limited technological advancement, less demanding attitude towards life, passivity to challenges, etc. Moreover, we must remember, such a culture is strongly influenced, in most cases, by its religious cultural aspects anywhere. Although there are a few exceptions but even today an individual Bengali-speaking person, generally speaking, is either a Muslim or a Hindu. Indeed, religion has played a very strong role in the development of the Bengali life style since the ancient times. If it were not so, Bangladesh would have merged with India in 1972 when the country was created by direct Indian military intervention.

Indian objective was not to make an independent Bangladesh; her first choice was to unite East Pakistan with India, second preference if the first was not possible was, to make it a vassal state and, her last option, was to make an independent friendly state if and when the first and second alternatives did not work. Indian diplomat J. N. Dixit has recorded the fact correctly in his book the "Liberation and Beyond". India did not build fence with her boarder with Pakistan, her arch enemy. Why the fence around Bangladesh? How many Bangladeshi are killed each year by Indian security forces in Indo-Bangla boarder? This is savage and barbarian behaviour both by the Indians and the Bangladeshis. No where today solders at boarders are so trigger-happy as it is in the boarder between India and Bangladesh. Cultural bridge is good but ground work for it, both the Bengali speaking people, must build first.

The river is deep and isolated bumpy rock all around, attempting to build a straight bridge without proper survey and removing all hindrance could be dangerous. With economic development India can not have any interest except dominating and subduing Bangladesh and how the weak and vulnerable country can take the initiative to make a bridge by levelling the bottom of a treacherous river is a big question. A bridge is a good thing and there must be a bridge based mutual respect and a sense of solidarity for each other's economic, social and political interest. Do both Bangladesh and West Bengal have it? Do the Hindus in Bangladesh and the Muslims in West Bengal or in India have this respect for each other or do both the communities in these two countries get equal rights in every aspect of their life?

Religious differences between the Hindus and the Muslims, not only in Bengal but in the whole Indian sub-continent, are fundamental, paramount and unmistakably provocative. The Muslims believe in one God (Allah) concept which is completely separated from his creation. Their faith teaches survival of the individual soul after death. Muslim attitude towards life is essentially echoing positively in many respects and very much individualistic. His worship is simple and austere and neither idols nor pictures are allowed in it. Hinduism, on the other hand, is very complicated, luxuriant in its ideals and forms and plentiful in symbols. The creator and his creations are one and indivisible in Hinduism and individual matters very little in this religion.

As for equality of men, it is a concept very foreign to Hinduism. The caste system of this social practice is again a very confusing element that has tormented human souls at all times and of which there is no parallel in any other religious practices. Hindus sometime believe 'Ahingsha Param Dharma' (non-violence is the highest religious duty) whereas the Muslims prefer 'an eye for an eye' if the opponent wrongfully superimposes unwanted demand. The Muslims bury their dead as it is done by the Jews and the Christians.

The Hindus choose to cremate them. In short, the Muslims have a clear-cut, democratic, and simple religion whereas the Hindus have a religious practice which is abstruse, essentially undemocratic, and highly complicated. The Hindus and the Muslims, not only in Bengal but in the whole Indian sub-continent, do not prefer inter-marriages while avoid mingling socially and have lived within their own social and cultural fortification since the Muslim religion was firmly implanted in India thousand years ago. I am not talking about Mr. Kabir, a university teacher in Bangladesh or my good friend in Sweden Prof. Maini who cherishes eating beef steak with me (but he make is very well I must say) but ordinary Muslims and Hindus in Bengali speaking regions of the Indian sub-continent. Mr. Jinnah's "Two Nations" theory was solidly based on these fundamental differences of the Hindus and the Muslims and it is very doubtful if we can ever prove that the theory was wrong without being hypocritical or attempting very deliberately to deceive our sense of judgement of things.

This analysis, however, is not an attempt to display 'an intellectual show' or to undermine a good case in the public forum (on Bengali culture) but it is humbly presented for clarity of understanding and judgement of things in the right perspective. The objective of this write-up is also not to discourage Hindu-Muslim social contact and cultural tolerance or even amalgamation if possible. In these days religious fanaticism must not be fancied and nobody should be discriminated or unfairly treated for his faith, colour or cultural variance. As a writer of this note I sincerely believe what I said but surely I am deadly against propagating mutilated history even if that propagation is for a good cause. As a matter of fact, we must know and recognise that Bengali speaking people has two distinct cultures within the Bengali speaking region.

A multi-cultural society is colourful, vibrant and interesting provided one respects the other and vice-versa. Fighting on cultural question is very much wrong and an act of primitive behaviour. Bengali speaking people need not and must not fight on cultural issues and cultural bridge must be built with everybody irrespective of religion, race and language. West Bengal shares with Bangladesh the language and racially Bengali people are the same people. What both Bangladesh and West Bengal need most is to develop mutual respect and tolerance to each other on religious and cultural questions. That is also the only way both the Bengali speaking people can coexist peacefully and prosper economically, socially, politically and culturally.

(Any response to this write-up is welcome but please do make it, if any, through NFB only. No direct personal contact, please.)

Tayeb Husain
Sweden
E-mail: th12sw@yahoo.com

http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=187111

Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> wrote:

Epaar Bangla, Opaar Bangla :In quest of a cultural bridge

By Md. Anwarul Kabir, Bangladesh

My recent visit to Kolkata has instigated a sort of dismay assessing the imbalanced mode of exchanging cultural aspects between two parts of the Bengal, namely Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. In economic realm, it is evidential that there is a wide gap in trades between Bangladesh and India. We import more commodities from India than we get the opportunity to do export to that country. Perhaps, this imbalance in trades reflects our weak and submissive foreign policies which, in turn, consequences huge loss of our hard earned revenues.

However, exploring the cultural realm one may wonder at the fact that although both the people of Bangladesh and the Bengalis in India, especially of West Bengal share the same cultural heritage, the harsh reality is that in exchanging cultural discourses we lag far behind. In this case also, we are mainly the recipient and contribute less in framing the common cultural dimension for the both parts of Bengal.

The above proposition appears to be true when one walks through the College Street, the biggest book market of Kolkata and browses for books of contemporary Bangladeshi writers. In this famous book mall, it is not that easy to get the books published from Bangladesh. Even the books of Bangladeshi popular writers like Shamshur Rahman, Humayun Ahmed, Taslima Nasrin, Syed Shamsul Haque, Showkat Ali, Rizia Rahman, Imdadul Hoque Milon, Al Mahmood, Nirmulandu Goon are not available due to some restrictions on book import from Bangladesh imposed by the Indian administration.

In contrast, books of most of the popular Bengali writers of India are readily available in the book market of Bangladesh. In New Market and Nilkhet areas of Dhaka, bookshops lavishly display books of Indian popular Bengali writers like Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shrishendu Mukhopadhyay, Samresh Majumdar, Buddhadeb Guha, Sanjib Chattopadhyay which signifies their popularity among the readers in Bangladesh. The market demand of Indian books in Bangladesh has reached to that extent that even the pirated copies of these books are being sold openly in Dhaka market. Obviously due to this we get exposure to the advancement of Indian Bengali literature. But unfortunately we can hardly observe the reverse scenario in Kolkata market. Due to lack of availability of books published in Bangladesh, the readers in India get little chance to assess the dynamism in the arena of our literature.

However, there is a huge demand of Bangladeshi books among the readers of West Bengal. In this context, my discussion with some of Bengali youngsters at the famous Coffee House has revealed that Bengali readers of West Bengal are very much eager to read Bangladeshi books, especially those on literature. Gauranga Mitra, a student of Kolkata University has lamented, "Dada, irony is that, though you also write in Bangla, we hardly get any chance to read your books. A few book stores in Kolkata sell Bangladeshi books." "Why is the West Bengal government reluctant to import books from Bangladesh?", while I raised this question, Subimal Basak, a dedicated editor of a little magazine has pointed out, "The central government (of India) is cautious about Bengali nationalism. They don't want us to develop any strong cultural tie with Bangladesh!"

Perhaps, Subimal has rightly analysed. Once undivided Bengal played important roles in politics, economics and other cultural aspects in the context of all India. Gopalakrishna Gokhale(1866-1915), an eminent Indian statesman whom Gandhi regarded as his mentor assessing the contributions of the Bengal to the Indian socio-economic, politics and cultural aspects once commented -- "….What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow." His evaluation, indeed, was fully justified if we objectively analyze the socio-political aspects of the Bengalis at that time comparing with those of other communities of the subcontinent. Even in the last decades of British Raj, Calcutta (Kolkata) as the capital (from 1772 to1912) of undivided India was the Mecca of India starting from cultural and political dimensions.

In political front we can cite many names of those days like Desh Bandhu Chitra Ranjan Das, Subash Bose, M N Roy, Comrade Muzaffar Ahmed, Abul Hashim, Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Hoque, and many others of Bengali origin who were at the focal point of Indian politics. In cultural front, Bengali reformers, philosophers, litterateurs of those days were marked as toppers in the context of undivided India. Raja Ram Mohon Roy, Iswar Chandra Bidya Sagar, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Michael Modhusudan Dutt, Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibanananda Das, Satyajit Roy, Abbas Uddin, Jainal Abedin and many other names can be stated at a stretch who contributed much in shaping and placing the Bengali culture in a distinguished position in the world context. However, if we objectively analyse, since the partition of India in 1947 the dominance of Bengal in all India context has been diminishing with time. The reasons behind this are manifolds. The Delhi centric post independent politics of India and rise of Hindi culture have driven away the prominence of Bengal and Bengali culture in Indian socio-economic and cultural fabrics. Division of Bengal can also be regarded as one of the delimiting factors that has reduced the importance of Bengal in Indian context.

However, here in Bangladesh, if we assess the cultural aspects then we can justifiably claim that we have been contributing much to the total advancement of Bengali culture since our independence. During the dark period of Pakistan (1947 to 1971), no doubt, our achievements were negligible due to the then governments' hostile attitudes in this respect. In fact, during the Pakistan regime, the governments viewed many aspects of Bengali culture as anti-Islamic and so they tried to formulate different schemes (for instance inclusion of more Arabic/Urdu/Persian vocabularies and exclusion of Sanskrit words from our Bengali scripts, restriction on Rabindra Tagore's songs) to undermine our cultural aspirations. But after independence, the situation has been totally reversed and in true sense as Bangladesh has emerged as a nation state, it gets a new dimension of cultural practice.

It may be mentioned here that due to socio-political and geographical boundaries with the West Bengal, Bangladesh has produced different flavour of Bengali culture than that of West Bengal. However, this difference does not imply any sort of superiority or inferiority complexes. Rather, an objective analysis suggests that since our independence in cultural domain we have achieved significantly. Our literature-- poetry, short stories, novels and fine arts, no doubt, have reached the world standard. Many Indian intellectuals are highly appreciative about our endeavour in Bengali literature and fine arts. In this context, the comment of Môhashsheta Debi, an Indian noted intellectual, social activist and novelist can be cited. Appreciating the contributions of Shamshur Rahman, Al Mahmood, Sayed Shamsul Hoque to Bengali poetry she categorically mentioned that, "At this time if any Bengali poet deserves Nobel Prize then he should be Poet Al Mahmood of Bangladesh". Not only the literature and fine arts, our songs, lyrics, dramas have found their new horizons through continuous evolution over the time. Even with all limitations gradually our cinematography has been achieving its new form and uniqueness.

At the time of partition of India when East Bengal joined Pakistan as its eastern wing following Zinnah's so called religion based two nations theory and several occurrences of riots between Hindu and Muslims in the subcontinent before and after partition, created antagonistic attitude between the Muslim majority Bengalis in erstwhile East Pakistan and Hindu majority Bengalis of West Bengal. However after the emergence of Bangladesh based on secular Bengali nationalism, it had been expected that eventually a congenial relationship would prevail between the people of Bangladesh and West Bengal having same ethnic identity. But harsh reality is that the legacy of the past hostility is still haunting the psyche of the Bengalis of both sides of the border.

My interactions with the common people in Kolkata have revealed the fact that many Indian Bengalis perceive a stereotype notion towards Bengali Muslims of Bangladesh. Perhaps this notion has its origin in the Muslim communities in West Bengal who are very conservative and live in closed societies. But in practice, the Bengali Muslims of this part of the Bengal inherently are more moderate and secular. In this context, my discussion with a Bengali businessman who migrated from Tangail to Kolkata in 1956 is worthwhile to be noted. This sexagenarian gentleman, Mr. Sudhir Chandra Das worked hard in the refugee camp in Kolkata during our liberation war. He has pointed at the rise of Islamic extremism in the independent Bangladesh, especially after the brutal killing of Bangabandhu. Indexing at the activities of Bangla bhai, Shaeikh Abdur Rahman and their associates he has argued that unless these religious bigots received supports from the grassroots, they could not had carried out their mayhems in the name of Islam. However, I have succeeded to make him understand the reality in Bangladesh and stated that at the grass root level the extremist groups have received little support. Now it has been revealed that most of the brutal activities of the Islamic extremist groups were in fact state patronised and Islamic extremism as an ideology has got little footings at the grass root level.

Proper cultural exchange is a powerful tool for minimizing hostility between two nations or communities. However, it is quite surprising to note that even at this present information era, India is not that much liberal in exchanging information, particularly with Bangladesh. On the other hand, Bangladesh is very liberal in this context. For instance, Bangladesh has very lenient policy in allowing the cable operators to transmit all the electronic media (almost all channels of the Indian TV) of India. But in West Bengal, the cable operators usually do not transmit any Bangladeshi TV Channel presumably due to some restrictions imposed by the Indian government. This, in turn, largely deprives the Indian people and the people of the West Bengal in particular to understand the Bangladeshi people and their culture more vividly. Assessing the overall situation of bilateral scenario of cultural exchange with Bangladesh, it can be stated that Indian policy in this case is more inclined to a sort of cultural intrusion or aggression than creation of healthy cultural exchange.

In conclusion, we need to consider the impact of globalisation on cultural aspects. High human mobility on the globe at present time has produced trans-national Diasporic culture. In this context, years ago Ketaki Kushari Dyson, a noted non-resident Indian writer and researcher once in a conversation with the present writer commented, "The Bengalis of India have their greater identity of Indianness and nurturing of Bengali culture will not demean their nationhood." In support of her assertion, we can argue that the formation of European Union in the closing decade of the last century has not diminished the individual identity of its member countries. Rather, it has paved the way for the member countries to understand each other in better ways minimising hostilities and cultural distances. So, on part of India this is not prudent to envision that the development of a common or Diaporic Bengali culture will be a challenge to integrity of India. In fact, if the people of the Bengal across the border can have opportunity to exchange cultural aspects in true sense then it will help much in enhancing bilateral relationship between India and Bangladesh. Intermingle of cultural aspects of both parts of Bengal eventually will create a brilliant confluence of Bengali culture and which, in turn, will recreate the past glory of the Bengali nation in the global cultural spectrum. So, the conscious people of both parts of Bengal should give a serious thought over the issue.

-----------
Md. Anwarul Kabir is an educationist, working at the Computer Science Department of AIUB and a freelance writer. He can be reached at kabir@aiub.edu

http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=186649

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: [vinnomot] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Re: [Dahuk]: Breaking news - No stall for Islam ic Book Publishers

and good news for pro indians

"mohiuddin@netzero.com" <mohiuddin@netzero.com> wrote:

That's very sad news for devout Bangaladeshi Muslims. Anti-Islamist's of Bangladesh will be more than happy to hear this story that no stall was alotted for Islamic book stores.

_____________________________________________________________
Click here for free information on starting a business from your home.

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] When seculars use religion as a tool to go to power

Dear all,

I want to attract your attention to the sub ject.Sah Muajjem Hussain Ex deputy prime minister in a meeting said' a patient was died in hospital for diorea and MONI SING , PONKOJ, DILIP borua started to pray zanaza...

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: [ALOCHONA] Hasina and her gang Looted the BCS job

They want all BCS as 20th BCS

raf <asif_ashraf_m@yahoo.com> wrote:

http://www.ittefaq.com/content/2008/02/08/news0838.htm

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=22511

This links said the truth of my previous issue/mail. You may see the same incident some other dailies. Chhatro league never will against Mukijoddha Quota. Because, this is their best way to enter BCS job, even though many of them born after 1971.

By any means the quota should not exceed 5%. The Rotten student politics should be banned in BD. Because, they only talk for their GODDESS, not for students/country. They all are absured who do students politics in BD.

Aisf

Japan

Asif Ashraf <asif_ashraf_m@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear All,

May be you found the demand of DU students against Muktijoddha

job quota. I fully supoort this demand.

Because:

Hasina and her gang Looted the BCS job giving 30 % in Muktijoddha quota. They wanted the whole BCS and their family in their court. Is not it??

Students should make fruitful demand to make it less than 5% in anyway. May be any one can understand the logic of my writing. Need to explain?? I found this is only one students movement for themselves only as well as for the betterment of country in 17 years. Rotten student politics will never say anything against it as they are sold to Hasina and/or Khaleda. Students should go in action to get the chance of CTG regime. Otherwise, they will not get any chance while the Goddess party/parties return again in power.

Asif

Japan

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Re: [khabor.com] Fw: my writing--"Eve teasing ebong simi rumider mrittur michil

Our political leaders and so called weman leaders and HR activists should react sharply in every case of torture on weman.Farzana mahbub should going on writing such articles.

S A Hannan <sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com> wrote:

Those Who Know Bangla

Dearmembers,

Assalamu Alaikum.Please read this article on eve-teasing by a perceptive and sensitive ( to human suffering ) writer Farjana.

Shah Abdul Hannan

----- Original Message -----
From: farjana mahbuba

To: jajaborrr@hotmail.com

Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 8:00 AM

Subject: my writing

                          assalamu alaikum.

                          Here is the link of my writing "Eve teasing ebong simi rumider mrittur michil" published in
                          today's JJD.
                          http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=53726
                          I would be very glad to get your valuable opinion on it.

                          Thanking you,
                          Farjana Mahbuba.

Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! Learn more.

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1265 - Release Date: 2/7/2008 11:17 AM

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Re: [khabor.com] Rape Cases Rattle India's Tourism Industry

KINTU IRINE APU (amenesty int) TO KICHUI BOLE NA!

Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> wrote:

Rape Cases Rattle India's Tourism Industry

Things could not be worse for the Indian tourism industry. Recent incidents of rape and sexual molestation or harassment of visiting foreign women have had an impact on the tourist inflow.

Seven cases were reported in the first month of the year.

A Swedish teenage was molested at a New Year's Eve party at Kochi in Kerala state, while a number of tourists were also heckled. Three foreign women reported sexual harassment in Goa. Also in Goa, two British women claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the owner of a resort.

The Indian government called the incidents isolated, but a recent BBC report on one of the British women raped in Goa stated, "She is just one victim among thousands. The numbers are horrifying. On average across India there are 53 rapes a day, and recently released government statistics suggest that it is the fastest growing crime in the country."

While the issue may be affecting industry revenues, it has also brought out the fact that Indian policing has virtually collapsed. Women tourists are no longer safe in the country.

The impact of the incidents abroad has been bad. The American and British governments have warned women not to go to India for their summer break.

Crime statistics for 2006, released by the Home Ministry's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), show that 18 women are victims of crime every hour. The number of rapes a day has increased nearly 700 per cent since 1971, when such cases were first recorded by the NCRB. The number has grown from 7 to 53 rape cases per day.

Several sexual attacks have been reported in Rajasthan, the jewel of Indian tourism. It is one destination where culture speaks for itself and where the spirit of India is evident in its people, ambience and buildings.

With a record arrival in 2005-06 of more than 1.2 million foreign tourists and 17 million domestic tourists, Rajasthan has been one of the most popular destinations for tourists, especially those from France, Britain, Germany, the US, Italy, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and Bangladesh.

Today Rajasthan is the tourist-rape capital of India. Just before Christmas, an American national was molested in Pushkar and a British journalist was raped in Udaipur. Earlier, a French woman was raped, also in Pushkar. In 2005 in Rajasthan, a German tourist was raped by an auto-rickshaw driver and his accomplice in Jodhpur.

"Rajasthan has always been considered a very peaceful state, but the recent rape and molestation cases have been affecting its image," a tourism department official admitted recently.

There have been other incidents of rape elsewhere in India. Tourism department officials are "concerned," but things may have gotten out of hand. A tourism department official was recently quoted saying, "The reports could deter potential visitors to the country. We have asked states to report to us what happened in these incidents."

Travel guidebooks have started advising women traveling to India to wear "loose, long clothes" to avoid unwelcome attention.

India attracts around 5 million tourists every year. As a face-saving exercise the tourism industry plans to create complaint centers and dedicated phone numbers for tourist security in all the major tourist destinations. The tourism ministry has decided to hire retired defense personnel for security and to deploy police in the top 10 destinations frequented by foreign travelers. But whether these actions will help remains to be seen.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=381718&rel_no=1

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: [Sonar Bangladesh] Re: [Dahuk]: The truth about the Jessore massacre

Alamgir Bhai,

many thanks for this nice posting.For your kind information the bal supporter (a razzak panir montri) awarded Rajaker Khetab to late Major MA Jalil who was the Sector commander for sector 9 of our liberation war.,They are very liberal in giving the khetab Rajaker!!!

Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@yahoo.com> wrote:

Friend Ayubi

Mrs. Sharmila Bose already got the only and the only holy "Khetab of RAZAKAR" from the Bangladesh Awami League(BAL) supporters. Her fault is that she has contested the number of Shahids(Martyrs) and Birangona(raped women) as claimed by BAL.

Friends, BAL has again proven that they are really secular. They did not spare a non-muslim women from crowning the Khetab of RAZAKAR. But these dubious character followers of BAL do not honour their Beai Murderer "Mosharraf"of khulna with the title they love and use in everydays breakfast table on everybody against their politics of destruction.

Just for political and self interest they distorted the facts of great Mukti Judhdha forcefully with the help of impotent Shoe Jon, Shoe Shill, Shoe Nagorik etc etc. But perhaps they forgot that History never forgives anyone and put h/her in the position s/he deserves.

Now the respected Harvard student and teacher and researcher of internatinal repute Mrs. Sharmila Bose has put BAL on the docket of "Crime against Humanity and Genocide" .

Friends, as we have seen that the Internationa Court of Justice is trying the generals,politicians and others from all the fighting communities of erstwhile Yogoslavia ( Serbs,Croats and Bosnians ). Why can't we ??????

So, I urge the self proclaimed people of free conscience,Manobadhikar Kormis, Shoe Shashoner jonno Ain er pokhkher lokeyra should form a jote to start comprehensive inquiry leading to identify the culprits responsible for "Crime against Humanity and Genocide" . Tobey Kochuri Pana clean kortey giey jodi "Koi Mach" dhora porey tobey karo dosh thakbey na.

So, friends with extra conscience please shun your difference and stop "Chunga Fukaing" for tainted leaders and do something for the people atleast once in your life time and for which the nation will remmeber you till time immemorial.

Faruque Alamgir

Salahuddin Ayubi <s_ayubi786@yahoo.com> wrote:

If history is not wrritten the way we the BAL want
then it is deemed as distortion of history. Does any
one have any commneent?
Aybui
--- Imaam Chowdhury <imamca@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060319/asp/look/story_5969733.asp
> The truth about the Jessore massacre
>
> Jessore
> Map of Bangladesh
>
> Map of Jessore District (Present time)
>
> The massacre may have been genocide, but it wasn't
> committed by the Pakistan army. The dead men were
> non-Bengali residents of Jessore, butchered in broad
> daylight by Bengali nationalists, reports Sarmila
> Bose
>
> BITTER TRUTH: Civilians massacred in Jessore in 1971
> ? but by whom?
>
> RECOGNITION DENIED: Father and son killed in Dhaka
> in 1971
> The bodies lie strewn on the ground. All are adult
> men, in civilian clothes. A uniformed man with a
> rifle slung on his back is seen on the right. A
> smattering of onlookers stand around, a few appear
> to be working, perhaps to remove the bodies.
> The caption of the photo is just as grim as its
> content: 'April 2, 1971: Genocide by the Pakistan
> Occupation Force at Jessore.' It is in a book
> printed by Bangladeshis trying to commemorate the
> victims of their liberation war.
> It is a familiar scene. There are many grisly
> photographs of dead bodies from 1971, published in
> books, newspapers and websites.
> Reading another book on the 1971 war, there was that
> photograph again ? taken from a slightly different
> angle, but the bodies and the scene of the massacre
> were the same. But wait a minute! The caption here
> reads: 'The bodies of businessmen murdered by rebels
> in Jessore city.'
> The alternative caption is in The East Pakistan
> Tragedy, by L.F. Rushbrook Williams, written in 1971
> before the independence of Bangladesh. Rushbrook
> Williams is strongly in favour of the Pakistan
> government and highly critical of the Awami League.
> However, he was a fellow of All Souls College,
> Oxford, had served in academia and government in
> India, and with the BBC and The Times. There was no
> reason to think he would willfully mislabel a photo
> of a massacre.
> And so, in a bitter war where so many bodies had
> remained unclaimed, here is a set of murdered men
> whose bodies are claimed by both sides of the
> conflict! Who were these men? And who killed them?
> It turns out that the massacre in Jessore may have
> been genocide, but it wasn't committed by the
> Pakistan army. The dead men were non-Bengali
> residents of Jessore, butchered in broad daylight by
> Bengali nationalists.
> It is but one incident, but illustrative of the
> emerging reality that the conflict in 1971 in East
> Pakistan was a lot messier than most have been led
> to believe. Pakistan's military regime did try to
> crush the Bengali rebellion by force, and many
> Bengalis did die for the cause of Bangladesh's
> independence. Yet, not every allegation hurled
> against the Pakistan army was true, while many
> crimes committed in the name of Bengali nationalism
> remain concealed.
> Once one took a second look, some of the Jessore
> bodies are dressed in salwar kameez ? an indication
> that they were either West Pakistanis or 'Biharis',
> the non-Bengali East Pakistanis who had migrated
> from northern India.
> As accounts from the involved parties ? Pakistan,
> Bangladesh and India ? tend to be highly partisan,
> it was best to search for foreign eye witnesses, if
> any. My search took me to newspaper archives from 35
> years ago. The New York Times carried the photo on
> April 3, 1971, captioned: 'East Pakistani civilians,
> said to have been slain by government soldiers, lie
> in Jessore square before burial.' The Washington
> Post carried it too, right under its masthead: 'The
> bodies of civilians who East Pakistani sources said
> were massacred by the Pakistani army lie in the
> streets of Jessore.' "East Pakistani sources said",
> and without further investigation, these august
> newspapers printed the photo.
> In fact, if the Americans had read The Times of
> London of April 2 and Sunday Times of April 4 or
> talked to their British colleagues, they would have
> had a better idea of what was happening in Jessore.
> In a front-page lead article on April 2 entitled
> 'Mass Slaughter of Punjabis in East Bengal,' The
> Times war correspondent Nicholas Tomalin wrote an
> eye-witness account of how he and a team from the
> BBC programme Panorama saw Bengali troops and
> civilians march 11 Punjabi civilians to the market
> place in Jessore where they were then massacred.
> "Before we were forced to leave by threatening
> supporters of Shaikh Mujib," wrote Tomalin, "we saw
> another 40 Punjabi "spies" being taken towards the
> killing ground?"
> Tomalin followed up on April 4 in Sunday Times with
> a detailed description of the "mid-day murder" of
> Punjabis by Bengalis, along with two photos ? one of
> the Punjabi civilians with their hands bound at the
> Jessore headquarters of the East Pakistan Rifles (a
> Bengal formation which had mutinied and was fighting
> on the side of the rebels), and another of their
> dead bodies lying in the square. He wrote how the
> Bengali perpetrators tried to deceive them and
> threatened them, forcing them to leave. As other
> accounts also testify, the Bengali "irregulars" were
> the only ones in central Jessore that day, as the
> Pakistan government forces had retired to their
> cantonment.
> Though the military action had started in Dhaka on
> March 25 night, most of East Pakistan was still out
> of the government's control. Like many other places,
> "local followers of Sheikh Mujib were in control" in
> Jessore at that time. Many foreign media reported
> the killings and counter-killings unleashed by the
> bloody civil war, in which the army tried to crush
> the Bengali rebels and Bengali nationalists murdered
> non-Bengali civilians.
> Tomalin records the local Bengalis' claim that the
> government soldiers had been shooting earlier and he
> was shown other bodies of people allegedly killed by
> army firing. But the massacre of the Punjabi
> civilians by Bengalis was an event he witnessed
> himself. Tomalin was killed while covering the Yom
> Kippur war of 1973, but his eye-witness accounts
> solve the mystery of the bodies of Jessore.
> There were, of course, genuine Bengali civilian
> victims of the Pakistan army during 1971. Chandhan
> Sur and his infant son were killed on March 26 along
> with a dozen other men in Shankharipara, a Hindu
> area in Dhaka. The surviving members of the Sur
> family and other residents of Shankharipara
> recounted to me the dreadful events of that day.
> Amar, the elder son of the dead man, gave me a photo
> of his father and brother's bodies, which he said he
> had come upon at a Calcutta studio while a refugee
> in India. The photo shows a man's body lying on his
> back, clad in a lungi, with the infant near his
> feet.
> Amar Sur's anguish about the death of his father and
> brother (he lost a sister in another shooting
> incident) at the hands of the Pakistan army is
> matched by his bitterness about their plight in
> independent Bangladesh. They may be the children of
> a 'shaheed,' but their home was declared 'vested
> property' by the Bangladesh government, he said, in
> spite of documents showing that it belonged to his
> father. Even the Awami League ? support for whom had
> cost this Hindu locality so many lives in 1971 ? did
> nothing to redress this when they formed the
> government.
> In the book 1971: documents on crimes against
> humanity committed by Pakistan army and their agents
> in Bangladesh during 1971, published by the
> Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, I came across the same
> photo of the Sur father and son's dead bodies. It is
> printed twice, one a close-up of the child only,
> with the caption: 'Innocent women were raped and
> then killed along with their children by the
> barbarous Pakistan Army'. Foreigners might just have
> mistaken the 'lungi' worn by Sur for a 'saree', but
> surely Bangladeshis can tell a man in a 'lungi' when
> they see one! And why present the same 'body' twice?
>
> The contradictory claims on the photos of the dead
> of 1971 reveal in part the difficulty of recording a
> messy war, but also illustrate vividly what happens
> when political motives corrupt the cause of justice
> and humanity. The political need to spin a neat
> story of Pakistani attackers and Bengali victims
> made the Bengali perpetrators of the massacre of
> Punjabi civilians in Jessore conceal their crime and
> blame the army. The New York Times and The
> Washington Post "bought" that story too. The media's
> reputation is salvaged in this case by the
> even-handed eye-witness reports of Tomalin in The
> Times and Sunday Times.
> As for the hapless Chandhan Sur and his infant son,
> the political temptation to smear the enemy to the
> maximum by accusing him of raping and killing women
> led to Bangladeshi nationalists denying their own
> martyrs their rightful recognition. In both cases,
> the true victims ?Punjabis and Bengalis, Hindus and
> Muslims ? were cast aside, their suffering hijacked,
> by political motivations of others that victimised
> them a second time around.
>
----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Sarmila Bose
> Dr Sarmila Bose has alternated between academia and
> media in her professional work. She majored in
> History at Bryn Mawr College and obtained her MPA
> (Kennedy School of Government) and PhD in Political
> Economy and Government from Harvard University. She
> has held teaching and research positions at Harvard,
> Warwick
=== message truncated ===

__________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Removal of controversial Judges is Urgent - Dhaka Seminar

Who are the host of the seminar? Pro Indian/pro bal supporters?

Who spoke there br Amir ?who is one of Kamal .Rokon, Amir Gong led vandalizing in the supreme court?

And MR ASMA BOB ?WHO was caught red handed with 250,000.00balot papers before the election 2001

Mind it Judges termed' Controversial' by the criminals are pride of the nation.

They are 'controversial' because want the criminals punished.

Salahuddin Ayubi <s_ayubi786@yahoo.com> wrote:

Lawyers do not decide who is competent and who is
incompetent judge. There has to be criterion and
procedure to evaluate performance of judges and that
has to be done by independent authority and done in a
trnsparent manner. Lawyers should concentrate on the
job they do best and not interfare in in the working
of the judiciary.
Salahuddin Ayubi
--- Syed Aslam <Syed.Aslam3@gmail.com> wrote:

> *Senior Lawyer **says 'Controversial Judges' must
> go*
>
> *Dhaka, Feb 9 (bdnews24*.) Supreme Court Bar
> Association president barrister
> Amir-ul-Islam Saturday recommended formation of a
> "judiciary reforms
> commission" to strengthen the country's judicial
> system.
>
> Speaking at a seminar on "The removal of
> controversial judges is urgent"
> aimed to attract the attention of the president,
> chief adviser and chief
> justice at the National Press Club, the senior
> lawyer said: "The country is
> now passing through a critical time. An independent
> and clean judiciary is
> essential for the success of democratisation."
>
> "It's time for implementation. A judiciary reforms
> commission has to be
> formed on an emergency basis to remove controversial
> and inefficient
> judges."
>
> "At the same time, transparency has to be ensured in
> the appointment of
> judges. It is not proper to appoint judges through a
> secret meeting of a
> few. Some criteria have to be fixed for judges'
> appointment, including
> advertisements, written tests and interviews."
>
> The discussion was organised by the Citizens Rights
> Movement, a
> nongovernmental organisation. A 10-point charter of
> demands was presented at
> the discussion with a suggestion to establish a
> welfare and ideal state.
>
> Citizens Rights Movement secretary general Tusar
> Rehman presented the
> keynote paper.
>
> On talk of forming a national government, Amir-ul
> Islam said: "It is risky
> to do anything beyond the constitution. We have to
> proceed towards democracy
> from our present situation. We have to get over the
> critical juncture."
>
> ASM Abdur Rab, president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal,
> said: "It's sad that as
> per the statement of the chief justice there is no
> one to redo the damage to
> the judiciary. The Supreme Judicial Council has to
> be made effective to
> remove spineless, corrupt judges."
>
> Former lawmaker Faruq Khan mentioned that there is a
> provision in the
> constitution to remove the controversial judges and
> said: "I don't think
> that it's necessity to form a new commission.
> However, there should be a
> commission for appointing efficient judges in
> future."
>
> Dr Zafarullah Chowdhury of Ganosasthya said: "There
> should be a provision
> for publishing the wealth statement of judges to the
> public."
>
> Writer Syed Abul Maqsud said: "Reforms to the
> judiciary are inevitable."
>
> bdnews24.com/mhc/eh/ad/1700 hours
>

__________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Rape Cases Rattle India's Tourism Industry

Rape Cases Rattle India's Tourism Industry

Things could not be worse for the Indian tourism industry. Recent incidents of rape and sexual molestation or harassment of visiting foreign women have had an impact on the tourist inflow.

Seven cases were reported in the first month of the year.

A Swedish teenage was molested at a New Year's Eve party at Kochi in Kerala state, while a number of tourists were also heckled. Three foreign women reported sexual harassment in Goa. Also in Goa, two British women claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the owner of a resort.

The Indian government called the incidents isolated, but a recent BBC report on one of the British women raped in Goa stated, "She is just one victim among thousands. The numbers are horrifying. On average across India there are 53 rapes a day, and recently released government statistics suggest that it is the fastest growing crime in the country."

While the issue may be affecting industry revenues, it has also brought out the fact that Indian policing has virtually collapsed. Women tourists are no longer safe in the country.

The impact of the incidents abroad has been bad. The American and British governments have warned women not to go to India for their summer break.

Crime statistics for 2006, released by the Home Ministry's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), show that 18 women are victims of crime every hour. The number of rapes a day has increased nearly 700 per cent since 1971, when such cases were first recorded by the NCRB. The number has grown from 7 to 53 rape cases per day.

Several sexual attacks have been reported in Rajasthan, the jewel of Indian tourism. It is one destination where culture speaks for itself and where the spirit of India is evident in its people, ambience and buildings.

With a record arrival in 2005-06 of more than 1.2 million foreign tourists and 17 million domestic tourists, Rajasthan has been one of the most popular destinations for tourists, especially those from France, Britain, Germany, the US, Italy, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and Bangladesh.

Today Rajasthan is the tourist-rape capital of India. Just before Christmas, an American national was molested in Pushkar and a British journalist was raped in Udaipur. Earlier, a French woman was raped, also in Pushkar. In 2005 in Rajasthan, a German tourist was raped by an auto-rickshaw driver and his accomplice in Jodhpur.

"Rajasthan has always been considered a very peaceful state, but the recent rape and molestation cases have been affecting its image," a tourism department official admitted recently.

There have been other incidents of rape elsewhere in India. Tourism department officials are "concerned," but things may have gotten out of hand. A tourism department official was recently quoted saying, "The reports could deter potential visitors to the country. We have asked states to report to us what happened in these incidents."

Travel guidebooks have started advising women traveling to India to wear "loose, long clothes" to avoid unwelcome attention.

India attracts around 5 million tourists every year. As a face-saving exercise the tourism industry plans to create complaint centers and dedicated phone numbers for tourist security in all the major tourist destinations. The tourism ministry has decided to hire retired defense personnel for security and to deploy police in the top 10 destinations frequented by foreign travelers. But whether these actions will help remains to be seen.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=381718&rel_no=1

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Fw: my writing--"Eve teasing ebong simi rumider mrittur michil

Those Who Know Bangla

Dearmembers,

Assalamu Alaikum.Please read this article on eve-teasing by a perceptive and sensitive ( to human suffering ) writer Farjana.

Shah Abdul Hannan

----- Original Message -----

From: farjana mahbuba

To: jajaborrr@hotmail.com

Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 8:00 AM

Subject: my writing

                          assalamu alaikum.

                          Here is the link of my writing "Eve teasing ebong simi rumider mrittur michil" published in
                          today's JJD.
                          http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=53726
                          I would be very glad to get your valuable opinion on it.

                          Thanking you,
                          Farjana Mahbuba.

Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! Learn more.

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1265 - Release Date: 2/7/2008 11:17 AM
__._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Re: [khabor.com] Re: Mr. Turkman is a secreat Jew, please read his posting b...

[ On one hand he (Turkman) is repeatedly saying "AlhamoDo lillah I am a Moslim", but on the other he is spreading lies against Quran, Prophet Muhammad and Muslims! As a Moslim (?) he is trying his level best to prove the Quran unscientific and outdated!!!!?!!!! Does it make any sense?]

Comment: No, it does not make any sense, for Muslims must believe that the Quran is full of science and that all the scientific inventions, including the internet which we have been using to promote our views, have resulted from the teachings of the Quran.

And yes, whoever thinks that the Quran is outdated is not only a non-Muslim, he or she also deserves strongest condemnation and death, where it is possible!

Regards,

Mohammad Asghar

Who's never won? Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.

__._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Re: Mr. Turkman is a secreat Jew, please read his posting below my writings

Dear Readers,

Mr. Delwar Mazumder has rightly exposed Turkman's evil agenda. Other
people have also exposed his lies and deceptions many a times. On one
hand he (Turkman) is repeatedly saying "AlhamoDo lillah I am a
Moslim", but on the other he is spreading lies against Quran, Prophet
Muhammad and Muslims! As a Moslim (?) he is trying his level best to
prove the Quran unscientific and outdated!!!!?!!!! Does it make any
sense? He has also lied in the name of Allah and Prophet Muhammad but
he never regretted for that.

We do not see any problem if he admits the fact that he is not a
Muslim. But he is not going to do that. Because his intention is
evil. He is not a normal person. How in the world a Muslim can
forcefully prove the Quran unscientific and outdated, and at the same
time try to promote 10 commandments??? Does it make any sense at all?
Maybe this idiotic agent doesn't know that Muslims have no problem
with 10 commandments in the first place! Because Muslims already
believe in Moses (P) [as a Prophet] and his message.

So, please beware of him.

--- In sa7rong@yahoogroups.com, S Turkman <turkman@...> wrote:

Actually you have shown ignorance of Islam and knowledge of our
Prophet Moses and God's Basic Commandments, which have been explained
in Qoraan a lot more elaborately also. I did not distort anything and
am 'AlhamoDo lillah' a Moslim. I had answered yours or someone else's
similar message before but you were probably asleep and didn't read
it.

All I wrote was that we should go back to Basics of Islam instead
of 5 Pillars that are being preached to us by our Mollaas. I can't
find this word 5 Pillars of Islam in Qoraan or Hadith. They are an
invention of our Mollaas.

Could you tell me, where Qoraan says, Lie, Cheat, Steal, kill etc
that is a part of 10 Commandments or the Basics of Islam?

Delwar Mazumder <delwar98@...> wrote:
Mr. Turkman,

Thank you very much for showing your real ugly face. Why did you
hide your real face? Just simply say that you are a Jew. You always
promote Judaism and brush Islam.
Where did you get 10 commandments? Did Allah SWT. reveal 10
commandments to Prophet Musa (PBUH)? Allah SWT. revealed the Holy
Book Towra to Musa (PBUH).
Do you have any clear knowledge about Islam? You have some
knowledge to brush Islam and Muslim, but not to follow Islam.

You advised to go back to Towra not to the Holy Qur'an. Why? Is the
Qur'an distorted? Is there any distortion in the Qur'an? Can you show
me any distortion? I challenge you.
Where as your holy book Towra is distorted, for that Allah SWT.
revealed the Qur'an. There are Hundreds of versions of Old testament
and new testaments and each one is
different from another. Can you show me any distortion in the
Qur'an? The Holy Qur'an is the final revelation to the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) for entire humanity and
Allah SWT. says that He will protect it from any kind of
distortion, because after that Allah SWT. will not send any more
revelation. Why are you suggesting the people to go
back to Prophet Musa (PBUH)? The people of Musa (PBUH) lost
everything and created a new religion Judaism. You are one of the few
followers of that religion.

---------------------------------
To: khabor@yahoogroups.com; notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com;
gopalsengupta@...; aminul_islam_raj@...; dina30_khan@...;
Diagnose@yahoogroups.com; vinnomot@yahoogroups.com;
sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; banglarnari@yahoogroups.com; al-
azhar-students@yahoogroups.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com;
odhora@yahoogroups.com
From: turkman@...
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:56:22 -0800
Subject: [khabor.com] Is Bangladesh a Failed State? The Failed States
Index 2007 : The Ran

No.
Our Mollaas are responsible because they are Guardians of our
Character thru Religion. They claim to be the replacement (SujjaaDah
Nashin) of Prophets. Since they have strayed-away from Gods Path by
dumping the Basics of Islam for 5 Pillars of Islam that they have
invented themselves, we have not hope left from them.

We should go back to the Basics of Islam that had not changed since
days of Prophet Moses (Moosau). You can not build your character by
following the 5 Pillars of Islam because they do not include any of
the below.

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS of Allah

1. You shall not have other gods before me ...!
2. You shall not make graven images and bow down to them ...!
3. You shall not call my name in Vain ...!
4. Remember the Sabbath Day (the day of rest & Worship) ...!
5. Honor thy Parents ... !
6. You shall not Kill ...!
7. You shall not commit Adultery ...!
8. You shall not Steal ...!
9. You shall not bear false witness (or lie) ...!
10. You shall not covet (desire enviously, what belongs to somebody
else) ...!

Only # 4 can not be found in Qoraan because Friday was declared the
day of Worship instead of Saturday as it was for Jews. Mollaas put
all emphasis on you coming to their Mosque instead of preaching any
of the above because that's the only way they can make money off you.

Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@...> wrote:
Dear AR

I agree with you. For this such ludicrous position of our beloved
nation it is the great politicians are totally responsible. But
interesting is that they (politicians) do not have any repentence for
such sorry condition rather they get a sadistics pleasure while our
nation is awarded the "The most Corrupted Nation" or "Failed State"
laurels.

You are correct that all patriotic people should unite to endeavour
to salvage our poor motherland from such tainted situation. None
should take the opportunity to flash the news with joy or blame some
other quarter for such failure. Let us unite with one agenda " it is
my Bangladesh and I love my Bangladesh, oh my Bangladesh" .

Faruque Alamgir

MMVIII <a.risc@...> wrote:
Dear Mr. Gopal Sengupta

Such rankings are a shame to all Bangladeshis. We may not like it,
but facts support the ranking.

And now the million dollar question: what are we gonna do about it?
Should we go about our business as usual, blame it on our rivals and
demand their annihilation? Or should we join hands to pull Bangladesh
out of this ranking?

What will it take to bring some sense to our leaders?

AR

---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo!
Search.

---------------------------------
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

---------------------------------
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! MSN Messenger

--- End forwarded message ---

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khabor/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khabor/join

(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[khabor.com] Love SMS For You

• Expect the people you love to be better. It helps them to become better. But don't get upset
when they fail. It helps them keep trying.

• The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist
them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in
them.

• Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.

Click Here To Get More Collection of Love SMS

Regards __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

[khabor.com] Fw: Arch of Canterbury Williams Defends his Shari`ah Remarks --report of islamonline.net

Dear members,

Assalamu Alaikum.Some ignorant and motivated people are spreading false hood against the Arch Bishop of Canterbury .This always happen when the issue is Islam or its related issues.

We understand that he was only discussing the necessity of recognizing the majority of Muslims wishes to live by Islamic family and personal law.The Arch Bishop deserves praise for his courage for uphoding religious law rather than secular law in pesonal law area.

Shah Abdul Hannan

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1201957716088&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

Williams Defends Shari`ah Remarks

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

Williams is said to be overwhelmed by the "hostility of the response" to his remarks.

CAIRO — Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams has defended his call for the adoption of some Shari`ah aspects in Britain to resolve civil Muslim matters, saying his remarks were "well-researched."

"The Archbishop was not suggesting the introduction of parallel legal jurisdictions, but exploring ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience," Williams said in a statement on his website.

Western Muslims Being Flexible in Shari`ah

His lecture and interview to the BBC on Thursday were a careful exploration of the limits of a "unitary and secular" legal system and how, in an increasingly diverse society, it might be able to accommodate religious claims, added the statement, which was posted late on Friday, February 8.

"In doing so, the Archbishop was not suggesting the introduction of parallel legal jurisdictions but exploring ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience."

The statement said Williams was misunderstood and his remarks were in no way hasty but "well-researched."

"His lecture was well-researched and involved consultation with legal experts, especially people with knowledge and experience of Jewish and Islamic legal systems."

The Church of England's highest-ranking cleric has drawn heavy criticism since he acknowledged that the adoption of some parts of Shari`ah alongside Britain's legal system "seems unavoidable" in certain circumstances.

He said Shari`ah should be introduced as an officially sanctioned legal alternative when it comes to civil issues concerning Muslims such as marriage and financial matters such as inheritance.

The remarks have united all three main political parties, the media and some Muslim groups in opposition.

Support

"The way he has been ridiculed, lampooned and treated by some people and indeed some of the media is quite disgraceful," said Lowe.

The Archbishop has won support from some British Church leaders, who said critics might be getting the wrong end of the stick.

The Bishop of Hulme Stephen Lowe condemned the "kneejerk" response to Williams' call.

"We have probably one of the greatest and the brightest archbishops of Canterbury we have had for many a long day," Lowe told the Guardian on Saturday.

"He (Williams) is undoubtedly one of the finest minds of this nation," he added.

"The way he has been ridiculed, lampooned and treated by some people and indeed some of the media ... is quite disgraceful."

The Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, said Williams was entitled to raise the issue of Shari`ah.

"What has been explosive is that his examples have referred to Shari`ah law, which is an emotive concept in our society. He is saying these Shari`ah councils in some places already exist informally.

"It might be better to formalize them under British law, to make sure they do correspond to British law. But there are real practical difficulties," he said.

British Muslim leaders have cautiously welcomed Williams's call, saying the Archbishop's comments have been misunderstood.

They said the debate is getting out of control because people failed to understand that Williams meant the civil not the penal aspect of Shari`ah.

Williams' online clarification did not stop another slew of critical, front-page headlines Saturday, including at least two public calls for the 57-year-old former university theologian's resignation.

Much of the debate has been center on the potential for division between ethnic communities in Britain at a time when the government is trying to promote a more cohesive society based on shared values.

Friends of Williams told the BBC that he was in a state of shock and dismayed by the criticism.

They said Williams was overwhelmed by the "hostility of the response" to his remarks.

Re: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA

Dear Mr. Saifur R. Osmani (Jeetu),

You have done a wonderful positive thing. I hope that through massive publicity, you will be able to justify to the USPS. We are asking our friends and families in the U.S. and elsewhere to ask their friends to start to use the stamp to generate demand.

Good luck with your venture.

Syeed Milky

Dhaka, Bangladesh

----- Original Message ----
From: "osmani@aol.com" <osmani@aol.com>
To: khabor@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 1:48:10 AM
Subject: Re: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA

Dear Mr. Momen,

Thank you very much for your e-mail. We have go to long way and we'll not stop until our victory achieved. This is the beginning of our mission. Thank you for your advice and I'll keep posted if any development from the USPS. I'll continue to promote for our 'Ekushey' stamp. I' m planning to have a committee will other spoken language speaking representative i.e., Chineese, Korean, Arabic, Russians, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu etc. What do you think? This will boost up the awareness about the spirit of 'Ekushey' and also give them the opportunity to contribute with their good ideas. Our hands will be more stronger than before, if other countries can join in.

The design of stamp might change as because of the international participation but we have to have somewhere 'Central Saheed Minar's ' picture on the stamp as because of the origin of the Language movements in Bangladesh. We might have to justify to the USPS and we all needed to be vocal on that issue. Let me know, if you need any help without any hesitation. Cell: 213.400.4948

THANK YOU.

Regards.

Saifur R. Osmani (Jeetu)
Los Angeles, California.

Note: I'm trying to get the promotional advertisemnt through our satellite bangla Television channel in USA to promote the stamp. If you have any sources to do something, please do so.

-----Original Message-----
From: amomen@frc.mass. edu
To: khabor@yahoogroups. com
Sent: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 8:41 am
Subject: Re: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA

Dear Mr. Osmani:

I thought it is a great idea .....you did superb. You deserve our thanks and gratitudes. We are proud of you.

We all should try to buy it so that eventually the USPS picks it up as their regular stamp as you stated (I know I was requested to buy EID stamps and we did and as a result USPS continued printing it). Don't worry for the critics. The stamp is beautiful and it represents our pride, the Ekusey...... it's not personal. You took the leadership.. ..you had the vision. We should support and encourage you and we will do. Do what you think is right and I hope, all Bangladeshi origins in the U. S. would try to help you. If your motive is right, Almighty God will help you. There is no doubt in my mind. However, make sure that if the sale is 'reasonable' the USPS 'surely' picks it ups their stamp. Let them give you a guarantee.

We shall buy it and I agree with you that we would spread out the word to our friends and family to buy it. Thank you again,

Momen

----- Original Message -----
From: osmani@aol.com
Date: Saturday, February 9, 2008 10:45 am
Subject: Re: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA
To: khabor@yahoogroups. com

> Thank you Momen Bhai for your e-mail. Lets teamed up to make it
> success together. Let spread out the words. I have been receiving
> positive comments by e-mail. A group of people wants to discredit
> that it is not actuall approved by USPS and that's not true. If
> the stamp is not approved by the USPS do you think the US postman
> will deliver the letter. What a joke? Why they don't understand
> what makes the difference, it goes to the same 'first class
> delivery' mail .. no difference. They might have some other intension.
>
> Momen Bahi, if you have better answer for those group, please
> share with me. You might hear some negative comments to kill this
> effort even before it born. My vision is clear and I believe I did
> the right thing. No one can stop us. If you have any questions,
> please let me know.
>
> Regards.
> Saifur R. Osmani (Jeetu)
> Los Angeles.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: abdul momen <abdul_momen@ hotmail.com>
> To: khabor@yahoogroups. com; bangladeshiamerican s@googlegroups. com
> Sent: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 3:14 pm
> Subject: RE: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank you Mr. Osmani. If we all buy it, it could be printed by the
> USPS. Great.
>
>
>
> To: khabor@yahoogroups. com
> From: osmani@aol.com
> Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 04:12:06 -0500
> Subject: Re: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear Mr. Momen,
>
> Thank you that you've appreciated about our dream stamps:
> 'INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY' 41 cents first class mail
> stamps as PC postage stamps which you can buy online only.
> Currently, this stamp is available online as the beginning of the
> process 'step one'. Our goal is to get the approval from United
> States Postal Services (USPS) "Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee"
> to carry the same stamp from the local post office.
>
> This is the beginning of our journey, if we want to see the stamps
> in our local post office we have to sale 1 million stamps which
> means 1 million votes in favor of the stamps. There are some
> requirements by the United States Postal Services (USPS) and
> "Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee" the we have to fulfill. " As
> you've mentioned about the "Eid" stamps and you saw at the local
> post office. That stamps had also go through the process which I
> have mentioned earlier.  Behind the story of EID stamps as I
> recall: EID stamp was innagurated 1st September 2002 at ISNA
> conference in Chicago : USPS said, if I million stamp sold EID
> postage USPS will carryy every year. Guess what? The American
> Muslims took it as challenge and purchased over 7 million stamps
> in USA. We still have the EID stamp alive in the local post
> office. We have to go through the same path and needed support
> from all nationals .
>
>
> US Postmaster General Mr. Alexander Laserof said, there is PC
> postage available through our approved vendors for this stamp and
> it will be considered at the decision making process how many
> people have used and wanted to see the stamp as ' International
> Mother Language Stamp (February 3rd, 2008, Ittefaq).
>
>
> The idea of releasing the stamp through www.zazzle.com/ osmani
> company will bring us three things:
>
>
> 1. One "International Language Day" stamps could count as 'ONE
> VOTE' in favor of "International Language Day' stamps for the
> Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee board to be considered at the
> decision making process.
>
>
>
> 2. An awareness about the importance of what is "International
> Language Day' specially for the American and other nationalities
> in USA.
>
>
>
> 3. Took the first step to one step closer for the 'Citizen
> Advisory Committee' to approve the stamp in next year 2009 if we
> can reach at least 1 million votes by purchasing the stamps
> to approve the stamps for local post office.
>
>
>
> Zazzle.com is a business web site approved by USPS and the only
> authority to release customized PC postage through some selective
> companies. We have taken zazzle company as a vehicle to sell the
> stamps legally and each stamps  could considered as one single
> vote in favor of the stamps. Its like having million signature
> drive to support the stamps.
>
> I though the month of February will be the perfect month to
> release the 'Ekushey' stamps. On January 31st 2008 the official
> announcement was made in Los Angeles. Please tell your friends and
> family to use the 'International Language Day ' stamps as their
> day to day postal need. It is true we're paying extra to purchase
> the stamps from zazzle. But we don't have any other choices to
> release the 'Ekushy' stamps overnight other than USPS approved PC
> postage vendors. Sometimes we buy 41 cents stamps from the local
> grocery stores more than the face value of the stamps. Once we get
> the approval for the stamps from 'Citizen Advisory
> Committee'  than we may not need anymore PC postage.
>
> We need your support . I would like to request you to give your
> feed back or any suggestion and comments in this matter. Please
> also send the web link to your friends and family to accomplish
> our goal.
>
> Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions in
> this matter, please contact me direct: 213.400.4948.
>
> Regards.
>
> Saifur Rahman Osmani (Jeetu)
> Los Angeles, California.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: abdul momen <abdul_momen@ hotmail.com>
> To: khabor@yahoogroups. com
> Sent: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 7:04 pm
> Subject: RE: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Whoever did it, he/she should be thanked. Very perceptive.. ..very
> good idea. Thank you very much.
>
> Many a time I receive mails (through US Postal Service) from
> friends and relatives having US stamps and these stamps have
> 'photos of their own birthday kids; their newborn; girl or boy, or
> at times 'photos of wedding couple or family gathering', etc.
> Those are not available in the US Post Office. I hope, this one is
> not one of those private stamps.
>
> I shall appreciate if you let me know whether these 'Ekusy" stamps
> are more like that of the 'EID' stamps that we buy from the US
> post office. Can I buy it from the Post Office? Thank you,
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To: khabor@yahoogroups. com
> From: Salmamoon@yahoo. com
> Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 15:35:26 -0800
> Subject: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The US postal service has published a first class postage stamp on
> "International Mother Language day" showing the Shahid Minar.
>
> Here is the pic of the stamp and the link:
>
> http://www.zazzle. com/int_l_ mother_language_ day_stamp_ postage-
> 172085307194848201
> Regards
>
> Shamim
>
>
> Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo!
> Search.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Climb to the top of the charts! Play the word scramble challenge
> with star power. Play now!
>
>
>
>
> More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-
> get your "fix". Check it out.
>
>
>
>
> ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______
> More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -
> http://webmail. aol.com

More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail!

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. __._,_.___

khabor..........We Know Bangladesh Better.

__,_._,___

Daily Khabor @ Khabor.Com

Advertise

Monday, February 11, 2008

[khabor.com] Project for Accountable Democracy in Bangladesh

Re: [khabor.com] Imagine A World Without Islam! - Graham Fuller, former Vice-...

[khabor.com] Imagine A World Without Islam! - Graham Fuller, former Vice-Chairman

Re: [vinnomot] Re: [khabor.com] Israeli Officials: Musharraf Met Israe l's defense minister Barak

[khabor.com] Re: Mr. Turkman is a secreat Jew, please read his posting b...

[khabor.com] Recent clash between Shibir and BCL

[khabor.com] EARN $ 100 DAILY ONLINE - JOIN FREE

Re: [khabor.com] Fw: Solution of Prostitution And Rehabilitation Of Prostitutes--Asia Post editorial dated 5.3.07

Re: [khabor.com] Fw: Arch of Canterbury Williams Defends his Shari`ah Remarks --report of islamonline.net

[khabor.com] Profile of Insurgency in North East India

[khabor.com] Of Illusory Democracies, Rogue States, And Accelerating Humanity’s Demise

[khabor.com] Re: Epaar Bangla, Opaar Bangla :In quest of a cultural bridge

[khabor.com] Re: [vinnomot] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Re: [Dahuk]: Breaking news - No stall for Islam ic Book Publishers

[khabor.com] When seculars use religion as a tool to go to power

[khabor.com] Re: [ALOCHONA] Hasina and her gang Looted the BCS job

Re: [khabor.com] Fw: my writing--"Eve teasing ebong simi rumider mrittur michil

Re: [khabor.com] Rape Cases Rattle India's Tourism Industry

[khabor.com] Re: [Sonar Bangladesh] Re: [Dahuk]: The truth about the Jessore massacre

[khabor.com] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Removal of controversial Judges is Urgent - Dhaka Seminar

[khabor.com] Rape Cases Rattle India's Tourism Industry

[khabor.com] Fw: my writing--"Eve teasing ebong simi rumider mrittur michil

Re: [khabor.com] Re: Mr. Turkman is a secreat Jew, please read his posting b...

[khabor.com] Re: Mr. Turkman is a secreat Jew, please read his posting below my writings

[khabor.com] Love SMS For You

[khabor.com] Fw: Arch of Canterbury Williams Defends his Shari`ah Remarks --report of islamonline.net

Re: [khabor.com] International Mother Language day in USA

Blog Archive

Useful Web Links

Advertise

Advertise

Advertise

Monday, February 11, 2008

Blog Archive

Useful Web Links

Advertise

Subscribe To

Advertise