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  • johnpi 10:20 pm on January 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    Bangladesh election commission moves forward with application of decree outlawing religion-based political parties in that country. Here are several sections of Jamaat-e-Islami’s charter that the commission said must stricken from the party’s constitution:

    Among them, sub-clause 5 of the clause 2 stated that it did not acknowledge any entity other than Allah as the sovereign and the supreme being. The Election Commission said tht this essentially undermined the authority of parliament and the elected legislature.

    And, sub-clause 3 of the same clause mentioned that the party was striving to establish Islamic law. The Election Commisssion observed that the Constitution of the land made no such provision, and, thus, it ran contrary to it (the Constitution).

     

  • johnpi 5:33 pm on January 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    Bangladesh teenager receives 101 lashes for becoming pregnant

    A 16-year-old Bangladeshi girl was who raped 8 months ago was given 101 lashes as punishment for having conceived during the assault, Bangladesh’s Daily Star reports. Meanwhile, the paper notes, the alleged rapist received no punishment.

    The village elders who issued the fatwa against the girl also fined the girl’s father and warned him that his family would be forced into isolation if they didn’t pay.

    According to the Telegraph, the girl was so ashamed that she did not lodge a complaint about her attack. Human rights activists say that she married quickly after the attack, but was divorced not long after when it was revealed she was pregnant. She told the Daily Star that the rapist had “spoiled” her life.

    “I want justice,” she said.

     

  • johnpi 6:49 pm on January 4, 2010 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    Bangladesh bans religion in politics.

    Bangladesh’s dozens of Islamic political parties must drop Islam from their name and stop using religion when on the campaign trail following a court ruling, the country’s law minister said Monday. The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld an earlier ruling by the High Court from 2005 throwing out the fifth amendment of the constitution, which had allowed religion-based politics to flourish in the country since the late 1970s.

    “All politics based on religion are going to be banned as per the original constitution,” Shafique Ahmed told AFP. The verdict does not affect constitutional amendments that made Islam the Muslim majority nation’s state religion in 1988 and incorporated a Quranic verse in the constitution. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is allied with two Islamic parties, said it would appeal the verdict.

    Bangladesh’s original constitution, drafted by the secular Awami League party after the country became independent from Pakistan in 1971, barred the use of religion in politics. “We want to reinstate the original constitution. Secularism was a pillar of the 1972 constitution,” said Ahmed.

     

  • johnpi 11:11 am on December 16, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, bangladesh war of liberation, , ,

    Should members of the pro-Pakistan Al Badr death squads be brought to justice?

    The Al Badrs were groups of anti-independence Bengalis that operated during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of liberation from Pakistan.

    During the Liberation, the professor’s brother had been working as an artist, a trade which the Al-Badrs considered to be anti-Islam and hence anti-Pakistan. In the dying stages of the war, just days before liberation, the professor’s brother found himself at the mercy of the ‘killing squad.’ Many others around the country – including intellectuals, Hindus, artists – considered to be progressive and pro-liberation had already been hunted down and executed by these pro-Pakistan squads. However, after independence, only a handful of these killers were caught and most escaped, never to face trial.

    No, they shouldn’t is the conclusion of the author of this editorial. If enough time passes, it will be forgotten.

     

  • johnpi 8:36 am on December 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , ,

    Bangladesh seeks 15 percent of any UN climate fund.

    Bangladesh says it will ask for at least 15% of any money which rich countries pledge to help developing nations cope with climate change.

    Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud said Bangladesh was entitled to a big share of the money because it was the country most vulnerable to climate change.

    He said 20 million Bangladeshis will be displaced if the sea rose by a metre.

    Developed countries are discussing a so-called climate adaption fund at the UN summit in Copenhagen.

    It is unclear how big any such fund would be, but UN officials have suggested a sum of about $30bn is needed in the short-term.

    Fifteen percent of $30 billion is $4.5 billion.

     

  • johnpi 9:57 am on November 17, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , bangladesh, , ,

    Bangladesh surges in international index for fighting public sector corruption.

    It was singled out as one of the nations in the Asia-Pacific region with the most improvement with a score of 2.4, up from 2.1 (from a downloaded pdf).

    Bangladesh’s score of 2.4 continues to reflect perceptions of rampant corruption, but represents an improvement over its score of 2.1 in the 2008 CPI. This is the result of the caretaker governments nationwide crackdown on corruption during the 2007-08 and the introduction of institutional and legal reforms aimed at strengthening the government’s capacity to tackle corruption. Whether the improvement is to be sustainable will depend on the new government’s ability to strengthen key institutions dealing with anti-corruption, public information and human rights, as well as the judiciary, law enforcement agencies and public services.

    The US dropped from 18th to 19th place over concerns about lack of government oversight of the financial sector (ie Republican ideology and “centrist” Democratic policy).

    Afghanistan and Somalia were at the bottom of the list.

    The index in created and maintained by Transparency International.

     

  • johnpi 3:35 pm on October 22, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh,

    Bangladesh bans Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir.

    Bangladesh banned a controversial Muslim group Thursday for “destabilising” the country, the government said, a day after a bomb attack targeted a ruling party lawmaker related to the prime minister.

    Home Minister Sahara Khatun told AFP that Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh has been banned for “unleashing destructive activities” and work that goes against the “laws of the land”.

    “We took the decision after reports from our intelligence agencies. They are found (to be) destabilising the country,” she said.

    Hizb ut Tahrir is a pan-Islamist group whose goal is to establish a global Islamic caliphate. They have been banned in a number of countries, mainly in Central Asia and the Middle East.

    Hizb ut Tahrir’s Bangladesh coordinator and spokesman Mohiuddin Ahmed said the allegation against his organisation was “completely baseless”.

     

  • johnpi 9:34 pm on October 21, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    Burmese, Bangladesh officials meet to defuse tensions.

    Officials from Burma and Bangladesh met in Maungdaw, in Burma’s northern Arakan State, on Wednesday in a bid to defuse border tensions, according to sources in the region.

    The sources said the two sides, in their second meeting this month, discussed illegal drug and arms trading across the border, troop movements, the Rohingya issue—and the controversial fence Burma is building along sections of the frontier. Bangladesh says the fence violates international law.

    As officials from both sides met, tensions continued to rise, with a number of Bangladeshi fishermen alleging that Burmese troops confiscated their fishing boats on Monday while they were fishing in Bangladesh waters.

    Bangladesh and Burmese warships are patrolling disputed waters of the Bay of Bengal and troop buildups by both sides have been reported in the border region.

     

  • johnpi 8:46 pm on October 17, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , ,

    Bangladesh Expels Rohingyas.

    Bangladeshi authorities have increasingly cracked down on Rohingya refugees living illegally in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar District in Bangladesh and pushed them back across the Burmese border, according to border sources.

    Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Arakan Project, said, “At least 1,200 people have been deported to Burma since January, according to our research, and 190 people were deported in two weeks alone this month.”
    ….

    Lewa believes Bangladesh authorities will push back all Rohingya refugees who are not registered with the UNHCR before Burma finishes erecting the wire fence on its border.

    In August, five people were charged with crossing the border illegally under the Immigration Act and were sentenced to five years in prison at Buthidaung Township in Arakan State after they were arrested by Nasaka, the Burmese border security force, Lewa said.

     

  • johnpi 8:57 pm on October 12, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , ,

    Rates of sexual abuse of India’s children shockingly high.

    Despite a few films, some books, more studies and innumerable news reports on the controversial and shrouded issue of incest and child abuse, it is only the devastating statistics that tell the true horror of what children in India face on a daily basis. With sex trafficking being a profitable business, sexual abuse in the country is as rampant among boys as it is among girls.

    According to the linked report, 53 percent of Indian children face one or more forms of sexual abuse, of which 50 percent is perpetrated by people they know. The author belabors the fact that it is not a social, cultural or class-specific issue. I infer that means it is not an issue that belongs to any one religious community either.

    There are 150 million Muslims in India. Assuming these abuse figures are static in recent history, about 75 million Muslims are walking around India today as child sexual abuse victims and survivors.

    Is there any reason to doubt that child sexual abuse statistics are not equally high in other South Asian nations such as Bangladesh and Pakistan?

     

  • thabet 9:30 am on October 8, 2009 | 28 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , , , , ,

    On a post at Comment is Free which calls for an investigate and prosecute British Bangladeshis who are accused of being involved in war crimes carried out in the 1971 war between West and East Pakistan, Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain says:

    [Question to Bunglawala:] As a prominent member of the muslim community, what is your take on the 1971 war? Do you actively seek bringing justice to muslims in then East Pakistan? Should your own organisation carry extensive research on its members in case some of them commited crimes such as genocide?’

    [Answer from Bunglawala:] I was born in the UK and am not Bangladeshi, so to be honest, I very rarely think about the 1971 war. I reckon it is of much more import to those of Pakistani/Bengali backgrounds than to me.

    I do nothing whatsoever to bring justice to Muslims in East Pakistan. I have enough on my plate here in the UK.

    Which might be a principled response, except back in 2008, Bunglawala wrote:

    It has got to be worthwhile teaching all our children to beware of the deadly hatred that can be unleashed by the relentless vilification of entire communities. The story of Srebrenica should be on our national curriculum.

    Why is calling for the story of Srebrenica to be told despite the fact that he is not Bosnian? And his website, iEngage, has numerous articles on the war crimes committed against Palestinians, despite the fact he isn’t Palestinian. A bit of a weak response from Bunglawala there, which I think only highlights the blind spot British Muslims (mostly Pakistanis) have about the genocidal behaviour of the (West, as it was then) Pakistani Army, and subsequent dismissal of the need to investigate these crimes.

    I expect the original Comment is Free post, which includes allegations of war crimes against a prominent British Bangladeshi, to disappear once he gets around to contacting his legal advisers, and I would agree with the other point made by Bunglawala: if someone has evidence against individuals involved in the war crimes, and currently living in the UK, prominent or otherwise, document it, publish it, and promote it.

     

  • johnpi 6:36 pm on September 10, 2009 | 6 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, eve teasing, , , , , ,

    Global Voices has a post on The Blank Noise Project, which seeks to confront “eve teasing” in India.

    “Eve-teasing” is a term that is used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for sexual harassment or molestation in the street. The Blank Noise Project, which was first started by an art student six years ago, aims to confront street harassment and change public perceptions of it.

    More:

    Blank Noise started as a final year student project by art student Jasmeen Patheja in 2003, and was a personal response to street sexual harassment, which many Indians, male and female, accept as normal or try to ignore. The project initially focused on small workshops, but has since developed into a network of groups around India, who use street interventions, public art and blogging to explore the issue of harassment.

    Earlier this year Blank Noise set up a blog for men called Blank Noise Guy:

    Blank Noise is terribly interested in men!
    The Blank Noise Guy blog is in its first phase, asking men/boys to respond to street sexual harassment. send us your thoughts on street sexual harassment. write to us if you’ve seen it and are feeling thoughtful about how you responded, or even if you engaged with it or caused it (knowingly or unknowingly).

    One of the blog posts up at bnguy is of this Bollywood outtake that basically glorifies ‘eve teasing’: “She has come to the college to study…See friends, what does she think of herself…I have taken an oath that I will break her pride,” sings the leader of a male gang who is following and harassing the female lead.

     

  • johnpi 11:36 am on September 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    Christians attacked by armed Muslim gang in Bangladesh.

    Armed Muslim gangs in Solepur, located close to Dhaka, have been targeting Christians for several weeks, forcing many members of the community to flee the area.

    Forced land sales and motorcycle thefts are rampant in the area and despite the incidents being reported, the police has done little to prevent the targeting of the minority community.

     

  • johnpi 6:51 pm on August 29, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, ,

    Another story on Edward Kennedy’s support for Bangladesh during its war of liberation.

    The date is etched into my memory. February 14, 1972: First day of spring in the newly independent nation of Bangladesh.

    Ted Kennedy arrived at the Dhaka University campus with his wife Joan Bennett and Robert Kennedy, Jr., escorted by popular student leader Abdur Rab. I was a student at the University then. 8,000 of us had crammed into the courtyard, lecture hall balconies and roofs, wildly applauding the 39-year-old US Senator who was among the first to draw world attention to the genocide unleashed by the military government of Pakistan on unarmed Bangladeshis.

    “Even though the United States government does not recognize you,” Kennedy said that morning, “the people of the world do recognize you.” (United States recognized Bangladesh on April 4, 1972).

    “Joi Kennedy,” we roared, a play on the “Joi Bangla” slogan that carried our country to independence. (Joi is Bengali for victory).

     

  • johnpi 8:26 pm on August 27, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, ,

    Death of an old friend.

    Ted Kennedy’s death from brain cancer at the age of 77 has caused an outpouring of grief amongst Bangladeshis. Kennedy consistently occupied the centre stage in American politics for most of his career but for Bangaldeshis he represents one of its heroes who condemned the genocide and repression in East Bengal and his stance for the cause of the independent state of Bangladesh.

    In 1971 US Senator Edward Moore Kennedy spoke out against the US government’s oppostion to Bangladesh’s claim for independence and the Nixon administration’s tacit support of the genocide commited by Pakistan during the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

     

  • johnpi 8:27 pm on August 10, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , , ,

    Bangladesh complains of Myanmar refugee ‘burden.’

    Bangladesh on Monday said hundreds of thousands of persecuted Muslim Rohingyas who have illegally crossed the border from Myanmar have caused major social, economic and environmental damage.

    Foreign minister Dipu Moni said the refugees put a “heavy burden” on Bangladesh, and called on Myanmar’s military junta to stop the Rohingyas from fleeing from their homeland.

     

  • johnpi 6:24 pm on July 30, 2009 | 5 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, ,

    Religion, secularism working in tandem in Bangladesh.

    Secular governance not reducing importance citizens place on religion.

    Despite the return to power of Bangladesh’s Awami League – the political party that won in December 2008 on a platform of secularism, reform, and a suppression of radical Islamist groups – religiosity is by no means waning in the world’s seventh most populous country. A Gallup Poll of Bangladesh conducted this year finds practically all Bangladeshis saying that religion is an important part of their daily lives (100%) – relatively unchanged from the three previous Gallup Polls of Bangladesh.
    ….

    It seems as though the general population is further defining the roles of politics and religion in their country by drawing a distinct line between the two. Support for the secular Awami League, according to Time magazine, is as high as it was when they won an overwhelming victory in the pivotal 1970 election that led to the war of independence from Pakistan. At the same time, religiosity remains strong in this country of nearly 90% Muslims: More people claim to have attended a religious service in 2009 than in years past, and confidence in religious organizations has increased over the years.

    The current government defines the country as “secular with a majority Muslim population,” and not officially as a Muslim state.

     

  • thabet 12:59 am on July 7, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , , ,

    The Independent interviews the NHS doctor who was held hostage and forced into marriage when she visited Bangladesh.

     

  • johnpi 12:16 pm on June 29, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , , , , ,

    Kuwait considers expulsion of half a million people.

    Kuwait is considering deporting about half a million foreign workers – 15 percent of the country’s population – that are unemployed, lacking skills and in the country illegally….

    “There is still a need to have workers, so they are not going to deport everyone, but they will send lower-class workers home: the taxi drivers, people collecting the trash, people like this,” Abu Bakker explained. “It’s better for the country and for the workers because they are not getting their rights.”

    Probably not better for the countries of origin, however. “The vast majority of these immigrants are of East and South Asian descent: Bangladeshi, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani or Sri Lankan nationals.”

     

  • thabet 2:07 am on June 7, 2009 | 5 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , , ,

    Watching Bangladesh lose to India in their opening Twenty20 fixture last night, reminded me of what a Bangladeshi acquaintance once said: despite the war of liberation, the atrocities that were committed by the Pakistanis and the support lent to India, people in Dhaka still watch cricket matches and hope that India will lose and Pakistan will win.

     

  • johnpi 7:46 pm on June 6, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , ,

    Bengali mother caned for talking to Hindu man.

    A Muslim mother has been caned for talking to a Hindu man in Bangladesh, police said Saturday, prompting fresh concerns about a rise in cases of harsh treatment of women under strict interpretation of Islamic law….

    It was the third such reported case in two weeks in the country and stirred concern among women’s groups in Muslim-majority but officially secular Bangladesh about what they say is a rise in brutal treatment of women under locally applied Islamic laws.

    “In the last few months, we have seen villagers invoking Shariah [Islamic law] to mete out barbaric punishments to women,” said Salma Ali, the head of rights group Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association.

     

  • thabet 4:06 am on May 31, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    A former British civil servant is to file a a damages claim alleging that Jacqui Smith was ‘complicit in assault, unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and breaches of human rights legislation over his alleged ill-treatment while detained in Bangladesh’.

     

  • johnpi 9:16 am on May 29, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    Cyclone strands millions in India and Bangladesh.

    Millions of people in India and Bangladesh remained marooned without food or water on Friday, four days after cyclone Aila hit them, and authorities said disease was becoming a serious problem. The cyclone killed at least 275 people, but officials say the toll could mount due to epidemics in the aftermath.

     

  • thabet 8:45 am on May 27, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , ,

    Via Chapati Mystery, comes news that a group of Pakistani activists has released a statement rejecting the Pakistani states’ refusal to apologise for the war crimes committed by the Pakistani army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the 1971 war.

    Conrad notes on the comments to Chapati Mystery:

    Lauda[b]le sentiments though I would assume a considerable part of educated elite opinion in Pakistan now ack[n]owledges what happened in 1971…

    I would be very interested in some kind of survey of Pakistani attitudes to the war and the atrocities committed by the Army, if anyone knows of any.

     

  • johnpi 3:31 pm on May 19, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , bangladesh, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    This comment gave me pause:

    Committee officials arrested more than 2,000 sorcerers in different parts of the kingdom, mostly from African countries.

    I would infer from this that Africans traveling in Saudi Arabia are more likely to be harassed and accused by the muttawa, which seems completely arbitrary and racist, if you look at the prevalence of sorcery in other predominantly Muslim nations.

    (More …)

     

  • thabet 6:32 am on May 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , ,

    As many as 879 children trafficked and used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates are going to receive compentsation worth over Tk 10 crore (about $1.5 million).

     

  • thabet 5:57 am on April 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, green crescent, ,

    Sid at Pickled Politics has closer look at the people behind the Green Crescent charity, which is being investigated for links to terrorism in Bangladesh.

     

  • thabet 1:49 am on March 26, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, ,

    Bangladeshi security services find links between a British charity and an Islamic school on the island of Bhola.

     

  • thabet 2:49 am on March 24, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bangladesh, , , , ,

    Bangladesh has banned certain members of the country’s largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, from travelling abroad.

    These members are suspected of committing war crimes during the conflict that led to the independence of Bangladesh.

    Will there be a widespread amongst Muslims call to bring these war criminals (and those probably still around in Pakistan…) to justice? Unlikely, due to Muslim racism.

     

  • johnpi 8:10 am on March 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 'digital Bangladesh, bangladesh, ,

    Bangladesh blocks YouTube, other social media/file sharing sites – but doesn’t admit it.

    Internet users in Bangladesh are not able to access YouTube since Friday (March 6, 2009) evening. Soon people discovered that other Social Media and file hosting/sharing sites like Esnips, mediafire etc. were also not accessible. Apparently these are blocked by the firewalls at IIG (International Internet Gateway) as these can be accessed by proxy. Speculation is that it has to do with some embarrassing leaks in the wake of the border guards mutiny.

    Some bloggers like Kayes Mahmud are providing proxy links so that others can access the blocked contents. Some are pointing out the hypocrisy of how this is the same government that has hyped “digital Bangladesh.”

    Global Voices blogger Rezwan writes, “Now the question is how to unblock YouTube and other file sharing sites in Bangladesh. We have seen in previous cases that the authorities do not recognize that such bans were carried out in the first place shifting the blame to technical glitches. In the absence of ‘Right To Information Act’ it is hard for a common citizen to ask why it was done.”

     

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