February 25: Tribute to our stellar guide

My eyes would light up the minute he walked into the room, and that was not uncommon in my household. My brother Col. Mojib had that affect on a lot of people, and many of his young colleagues told me how profoundly they admired him. He had a special way of showing care and respect, which made everyone feel that she or he was a very special and an important person. I was always amazed to observe his oratory skills and love for the country. I learnt patriotism from him. 

The last time I spoke to Col. Mojib was on February 24. I called to praise his command for the beautifully orchestrated parade. I never felt such a blow in my heart when I was told that my brother Col. Mojib was killed with his other fellows. When the news broke I rushed to BDR HQs but couldn't communicate with my brother. I called many other officers who I knew but that also went in vain. 

I still give way to a flood of tears when thoughts of him rush in. I lost my mother in 2007 to cancer and my father earlier in 2001 but nothing has ever hurt like losing my brother, my guide and confidante. On that black day I lost everything that was my foundation and strength. I thought I was going to lose my mind or simply die from a broken heart, but I didn't. I managed to get through all the pain. I owe this endurance to my brother too, who was an example of strength. On the black days of February 25 and 26 in 2009, despite the cruelty and harsh actions of the scoundrels, they failed to beat our brothers' self-dignity and love for the motherland.

The whole nation felt the pain and cried together. We all were so surprised by the incident and felt such a great loss that it spun our lives into other directions. With death, I believe many of us have to find something to replace that deep, dark void of heartache and loss but, this time, all the martyrs left behind the example of altruism and self-sacrifice for us to see and move on. From them we learned inspirational patriotism and a higher concept of honour and human dignity than anyone in recent time could have ever taught us.

Col. Mojib felt a deep sympathy for the section of the population who remain half-fed, and for the youth. Once, after returning from a mission to capture a notorious criminal, he found that the man's poor children were not going to school due to poverty. The very next day he called the local commissioner and handed over education materials for the children and requested the commissioner to do his best so that they remained in school. His heart ached for not being able to help them adequately. 

He had an extraordinary confidence in our youth, as they were the future of the country. As time goes on my respect for him enhances manifold. He was the one person that I knew would always be there by my side, giving me strength and courage to get through life. He didn't judge, he just listened with understanding and love, and always gave his honest opinion. Having someone like this in life is a special gift and he was a gift to many.

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 3 years now. I had a chance to speak to the martyrs' loved ones; their wives, children, parents, brothers, sisters and friends. They all said the same things: "Our lives were changed forever on the day we lost our best sons of the soil." We will never forget what they meant to all of us but, deep down, we feel that we were lucky because we had been blessed to have such wonderful persons around us. 

My brother even today is constantly giving me strength to live a life for the country. The vigour I require to live far away from my motherland also comes from him. Someday soon, I will return where my brother is sleeping in peace with all his colleagues. Col. Mojib is responsible for making me the person I am today, and with that part of him still in me, I will never truly be alone. I knew that he would always be there for me no matter what. Its now my turn to prove whether I really have learnt anything from the life he lived. 

Our brothers, martyred military officers, had proven time and time again that their courage and their characters were strong enough to withstand any challenge that came their way. Their strength and perseverance are an inspiration to everyone who knew them. In dedicated service to our motherland they sacrificed their lives. To show respect to our fallen heroes we will make sure the culprits are brought to justice. We will march forward the way our heroes refused to give up. You all are in our hearts dear brothers; Col. Mojib Trust along with many others will remember you all today with special events. Far away from your motherland, in Canada, your friends and colleagues will hold special programmes to show their respect to all of you. 

Our youths are blessed by what our martyred officers have left for them, the lesson of patriotism. I hope they (our youth) will always live their lives with the realisation that it is not only about them and what they may be able to do, but what they can do for the country. 

We all, including our government and civil society, assured the nation that our fallen heroes will not be forgotten and we as a nation will keep getting inspiration from their life and works. It is time now to ask ourselves, what have we done so far to remember them? How are we showing respect to them? We often get so caught up in ourselves that we fail to see anyone else but ourselves. Let's not forget, we have a promise to fulfill, and we all know what promise we made to our fallen heroes. 

Today, on Shaheed Shena Dibosh, let us send our gratitude, respect and remembrance to the fallen heroes. 

Dear brothers, you are for us the bright stars that show the way to travelers when the sky is dark and the ways unsure, and we will come back to you for strength and direction. Today, on February 25, with this piece we remember all the martyrs with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts. 

BY :  M. Emamul Haque.

 

Torture at Border : 8 BSF jawans to face court martial

The Indian Border Security Force has initiated court martial proceedings against eight of its personnel seen in a video torturing a Bangladeshi youth in West Bengal state's Murshidabad district last month.

The suspended eight personnel, according to BSF chief Utthan K Bansal, were found "prima facie" guilty after a court of inquiry was conducted into the incident. 

The personnel can put up their defence during the court martial.

"The staff court of inquiry [into the incident] has been completed. Now, we are ordering a court martial where the record of evidence will be taken. That is the procedure under the BSF act. After that, the presiding officer will decide the level of punishment," the BSF director general said yesterday.

"Prima facie, they have been found guilty. Now, the extent of the guilt and what defence they [the eight jawans] have to put forward...all that is part of the court procedure and once we have that, we will further take action. The presiding officer will decide the punishment," he added.

Captured by a mobile phone, the footage was on aired Indian television channels last month, showing the BSF troopers stripping and kicking Abdul Sheikh, 32, of Abasia in Chapainawabganj.

He was allegedly smuggling cattle across the border when BSF troops had intercepted him.

The eight personnel belong to the 105th battalion of the border guarding force and the incident took place in its Charmurasi boundary outpost in Murshidabad. 

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More work to do for Teesta

Manmohan tells Shahara; Delhi reassures Dhaka of steps for no border firing at talks of home ministers. 

 

India yesterday assured Bangladesh that efforts were on to bring down the incidents of Border Security Force firing along the border to zero and that the issue with the proposed treaty on Teesta water sharing would be resolved.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed this to Bangladesh Home Minister Shahara Khatun, who called on him at his residence in New Delhi yesterday morning. 

"We are trying to resolve the Teesta issue," quoting the Indian premier Shahara told representatives of Bangladeshi media later on. She had a separate press conference for Bangladeshi newsmen.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's foreign affairs adviser Gowher Rizvi, who was also present, said the Indian prime minister conveyed that "some progress has been made towards solving the Teesta issue but more work is needed".

The Teesta treaty could not be signed during Manmohan's visit to Dhaka in September last year following last minute objection from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She even pulled out of Manmohan Singh's entourage to Dhaka. 

Shahara said she told Manmohan that "the people of Bangladesh want the Teesta issue to be resolved soon". 

She said the Indian prime minister told her that the agreement on land boundary demarcation and exchange of enclaves, signed by the two countries during Manmohan's Dhaka visit, would be placed before the Indian parliament for ratification during its budget session due next month.

After her talks with Manmohan, Shahara had one-on-one talk with her Indian counterpart Palaniappan Chidambaram and then delegation-level talks. Shahara led a 12-member delegation to New Delhi.

During a joint media interaction with Chidambaram at the Taj Man Singh hotel, Shahara said she raised the issues of border firing and killings by BSF during the talks and India assured that steps would be taken so that no killing or torture of Bangladeshis takes place in future.

"We have discussed how to avoid future border firings and killings of Bangladeshis," she said. 

Chidambaram said, "We have reiterated that we do not intend to continue border firings and killings and both the sides identified 23 vulnerable border outposts where the two countries will strengthen the presence of border guards and resort to joint consultations.

"If we can do that, I'm sure there will be no more firing and the incidents of border firing and killing will be brought down to zero,” he added.

The Indian home minister said "there has been a dramatic decline" in border firing incidents in the eight months, since his visit to Dhaka in July last year. 

"Only three incidents have taken place--one in November and two in December last year in which four people were killed who were cattle smugglers,” he claimed.

Chidambaram said he had handed over a dossier to Shahara explaining the circumstances in which BSF had to resort to their guns.

"In each case, one of our jawans on the border was grievously injured and his colleagues fired to save him," he said, adding, "We regret these incidents but there are cases in our view in which there was no option other than firing.

"We don't want this to continue and in the last seven weeks, there has been no incident of firing.”

Shahara said Bangladesh raised the issue of BSF Director General UK Bansal's remark during an interview with the BBC where he was quoted as saying that border killings would not stop completely. She said the Indian side gave her the transcript of the interview and said Bansal never said what he had been quoted to have said. The Indian delegation claimed that the media interpreted his words that way.

Interestingly, UK Bansal reiterated to Press Trust of India Thursday that firing at the Bangladesh-India border cannot be stopped completely and BSF jawans can fire in self defence.

Shahara said she had also brought up the issue of handing over of two killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risaldar Moslehuddin Khan. Bangladesh shared some information about them with the Indian side.

Chidambaram said the West Bengal government is trying to locate the two. He made it clear that finding a legal way to hand them over to Bangladesh, after they are found, would not be a problem even with the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries. "…but the main problem is tracing them," he said.

Shahara said the Bangladesh delegation discussed the issue of border management, including the deal on land boundary and exchange of enclaves and unresolved issues relating to this, and trafficking in women, children and drugs and 6.5km of un-demarcated border between the two countries.

Referring to the recent torture of a young Bangladeshi man by BSF personnel in Murshidabad of West Bengal, a video clip of which was shown on Indian TV channels, Shahara said India has taken punitive action against eight BSF personnel and "I thank the Indian government for that".

She said both sides deliberated on the impediments to the implementation of the 1974 Indira-Mujib agreement on land boundary and exchange of enclaves. The Bangladesh home minister said the Indian side told her that it would be possible to implement the agreement "at the earliest and we hope to take relevant steps towards that".

She said India had proposed Bangladesh imposing night-time curfews along the border to stop illegal movement of people. 

Highly-placed Bangladeshi sources, however, said Dhaka would examine the proposal but curfew at night in border areas could create difficulties for the poor people there. 

Shahara hoped that the home minister-level talks between India and Bangladesh would become an annual event henceforth and "I invited Mr Chidambaram to visit next year".

She said India had brought up the issue of handing over United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) leader Anup Chetia, who has served his sentence term in Bangladesh for intrusion without valid documents, and "we told them as the court case process against him is over, he will be handed over".

"You will see a solution in near future. We are committed to handing over these people to India and we have no intention to hold him back," added Shahara.

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Efforts on to bring down BSF firing to zero, Delhi assures Dhaka

India on Friday assured Bangladesh that efforts are on to bring down the incidents of BSF firing along the border to zero level. 

New Delhi also assured Dhaka that the issue of proposed treaty on sharing of waters of Teesta river would be resolved.

Home Minister Shahara Khatun received the assurances while she separately met with her Indian counterpart P Chidambaram and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"We are trying to resolve the Teesta issue," Shahara quoted Manmohan as saying when she called on him at his official residence.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's foreign affairs adviser Gowher Rizvi who was also present added that the Indian premier conveyed that "some progress has been made towards solving the Teesta issue and more works need to be done".

The Teesta treaty could not be signed during Singh's visit to Dhaka in September last year following eleventh-hour objections from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 

Shahara said she told Manmohan that "the people of Bangladesh want the Teesta issue be resolved soon". 

She said the Indian premier told her that the agreement on land boundary demarcation and exchange of enclaves, signed by the two countries during Singh's Dhaka visit, would be placed in the budget session of Indian Parliament, which begins next month, for ratification.

Earlier at a joint media interaction with her Indian counterpart P Chidambaram at the Taj Man Singh hotel after one-to-one and delegation-level talks, Khatun said she had raised the border firing and killing by BSF and India has assured that steps would be taken so that no killing or torture of Bangladeshis takes place in future.

"We have discussed how to avoid future border firings and killings of Bangladeshis," she said. 

Chidambaram said, "We have reiterated that we do not intend to continue border firings and killings and both sides identified 23 vulnerable border outposts where the two countries will strengthen the presence of border guards and resort to joint consultations".

"If we can do that, I'm sure there will be no more firing and the incidents of bordering firing and killing will be brought down to zero," he added.

The Indian home minister said, "There has been a dramatic decline" in border firing incidents in the last eight months since his visit to Dhaka in July last year. 

"Only three incidents have taken place – one in November and two in December last year in which four persons were killed who were a part of cattle smugglers," he said.

Chidambaram said he handed over a dossier to Shahara explaining the circumstances in which BSF had to resort to firing.

"In each case, one of our jawans on the border was grievously injured and his other colleagues fired to save him," he said. "We regret these incidents but there are cases in our view in which there was no option other than firing."

He said, "We don't want this to continue and in the last seven weeks, there has been no incident of firing."

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HASINA FOR YUNUS’ TOP WORLD BANK JOB! :: Decade’s Biggest Joke

It must be the biggest joke of the decade that Bangladesh Prime Minister, widely known for her role in removing Muhammad Yunus from Grameen Bank, is now proposing to the European Union for making him the head of the World Bank (WB). 

She made the proposal at a meeting with a visiting delegation of European MPs who had their earlier meeting with Dr Muhammad Yunus expressing high appreciation for his innovative micro-credit programme and social business theory. 

However, the people and probably her party men doubt whether it is at all an honest proposal on the part of Sheikh Hasina who had bitterly criticised Dr Yunus as "blood sucker" of the poor. 

Sheikh Hasina, possibly out of her disgust for and fear of Professor Yunus, recently accused the Nobel laureate of obstructing the Padma Bridge funding. On several occasions in recent years, she tried to project herself in close proximity with Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen by showing total disregard for the only Nobel winner in her own country.

Widely criticised

However, Sheikh Hasina has been widely criticised in and outside the country for her handling of the Yunus affair. Many have even suggested that the World Bank's refusal to go ahead with the Padma project had something to do with Dr Yunus, who has allegedly used his powerful friends in Washington to lobby against Bangladesh's case. Professor Yunus has all along denied any such possibility.

Muhammad Yunus has said that he could not meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina even after trying to seek an appointment with her and that forcing him out from the Grameen Bank was totally unnecessary.

"We've never had a face-to-face meeting although I've tried to seek an appointment so that I could see her, but it never happened," Yunus said in an interview published in the India Ink section of the New York Times web site on Wednesday.

Explaining his relationship with Sheikh Hasina, Dr Yunus said, "She never explained so I don't understand what went on, just speculation of various types in the press. One is that she feels I'm a political threat, I don't know why I'm a political threat. This is again speculation. She never said that I'm a political threat. Probably she would say, "Why should I think he's a political threat, he's not in politics. Who is he? He is nothing."

Grameen Bank at risk

On his removal from Grameen Bank, he said "It was totally unnecessary. It makes no sense. There is no meaning to it. But it puts Grameen Bank at risk, and that's what worries us".

"They removed me and still they couldn't find a replacement. We're worried about the future of the bank. Because after all this, the bank is owned by poor people. The borrowers own 97 per cent of the shares of the bank and the government owns only 3 per cent," Dr. Yunus added.

Since the Western world including the European Union and the US have been consistently expressing concern for Grameen Bank and speaking high about Professor Yunus, Sheikh Hasina perhaps tried to give an oblique reply by suggesting the top World Bank job for Yunus so that her future political threat is away from the country. 

If really some thing happens positively for Dr Yunus in the World Bank, Sheikh Hasina and her admirers would be happy to say that after all it was she who promoted the idea first. A clever move indeed.

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Mild drought caused Maya collapse in Mexico, Guatemala

Relatively mild drought conditions may have been enough to cause the collapse of the Classic Maya civilisation, which flourished until about AD950 in what is now southern Mexico and Guatemala. 

Scientists have long thought that severe drought caused its collapse. 

But Mexican and British researchers now think that a sustained drop in rainfall of only 25-40% was enough to exhaust seasonal water supplies in the region. 

The findings were published in the journal Science.

The research was conducted by the Yucatan Centre for Scientific Research in southern Mexico and the University of Southampton in the UK.

Scientists used advanced modelling techniques to estimate rainfall and evaporation rates between AD800 and 950, when the classic Maya civilisation went into sharp decline. 

They found that a relatively modest decline in rainfall was enough to deplete freshwater storage systems in the Yucatan lowlands, where there are no rivers. 

Future warning?

 

"These reductions amount to only 25 to 40% in annual rainfall, but they were large enough for evaporation to become dominant over rainfall, and open water was rapidly reduced," Professor Eelco Rohling of Southampton University told the Press Association.

"Societal disruptions and abandonment of cities are likely consequences of critical water shortages, especially because there seems to have been a rapid repetition of multi-year droughts," he added. 

The reconstructed droughts are similar in extent to some predictions for the near future of the same region as a result of climate change. 

"There are differences too, but the warning is clear - what seems like a minor reduction in water availability may lead to important, long-lasting problems," Professor Martin Medina-Elizalde said. 

"The problem is not unique to the Yucatan Peninsula, but applies to all regions in similar settings where evaporation is high," he added. 

Archaeologists have long been intrigued by the collapse of the Classic Maya civilisation, which flourished for around six centuries and developed sophisticated architecture, mathematics and culture. 

Other studies have variously blamed social unrest, disease and deforestation for its demise. 

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Censorship goes global

Repressive governments, militants, and criminal groups across the globe are leveraging new and traditional tactics to control information.

They aim to obscure misdeeds, silencing dissent, and disempowering citizens, according to Attacks on the Press, a yearly survey released recently by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

As demonstrated by Syria's media blackout or Egypt's unplugging of the Internet, local suppression of information—whether by technology, legal persecution, or violence against journalists—has global repercussions.

"Navigating political unrest, environmental disaster, and other disruptions cannot be done effectively when information is censored," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "In a globalised information age, censorship is a transnational violation must be emphatically countered."

CPJ found that in the Arab world, journalists face unpredictable new threats, and in Asia intimidation has a chilling effect. In Africa, investigative reporting is considered a threat to development; in Latin America, state media serves as a politicised weapon against the independent press. Worldwide, internet crime laws put journalists in potential peril.

Attacks on the Press, the definitive annual assessment of the state of press freedom worldwide, features analytical essays by CPJ experts along with an overview of media conditions in more than 100 countries and regional data on anti-press violations. The book also documents individual cases and provides a census of journalists killed (46) and imprisoned (179) in 2011.

KEY REGIONAL TRENDS

Africa: As China becomes a key trading partner and expands its influence in the region, investigative reporting by African media is being portrayed by some governments as detrimental to economic development. Repression is happening in the form of injunctions, amendments to laws, and seizure of footage. The watchdog role of a free press is being publicly tarnished and critical reporting deemed anti-patriotic. Over the past 10 years, at least 301 African journalists have fled their homelands in fear of violence and imprisonment — more than double the number of exiles from any other region.

Americas: The use of state-owned media to advance political goals has become a notorious trend in politically polarised countries in Latin America. In addition to delivering political propaganda, these outlets are serving as platforms for smear campaigns against critics, including journalists. Elected leaders have invested in large multimedia holdings, building impressive press conglomerates that further political agendas and exclude or vilify critical voices. Meanwhile, in Mexico, anti-press violence continues to spread, unpunished. As the Calderón presidency winds down, a mechanism to protect journalists remains an empty promise and the investigation of journalist murders remains in the hands of often corrupt state authorities.

Asia: Censorship in Asia is multifaceted, from official repression to violence that is regularly met with impunity. Since 1992, the region has seen 156 unsolved journalist murders. For the past two years, Pakistan has been the deadliest country in the world for journalists, leading many into hiding or exile. In the Philippines, a trial seeking justice for 32 journalists and media workers murdered in 2010 has stalled, a testament to the government's inability to deliver due judicial process and the impunity plaguing the region. Meanwhile, in China — despite vibrant debates on microblogs that give mainstream media the pulse of grassroots anger — authorities keep a tight grip on information with imprisonment, secret detentions, and Internet blocking.

Europe and Central Asia: The gap between countries that uphold press freedom as a core value and those that curb a critical, inquisitive press is widening. Within the EU, Hungary has set a dangerous precedent by adopting a new media law and constitution that challenge fundamental European values. Regionally, the protection of sources has become a major battleground, as some governments are eager to defang investigative journalism. Street protests have proven risky, while populist and nationalistic movements along with criminal organisations intimidate the press. In its external relations, the EU neglects press freedom in dialogue with powerful countries such as China and Russia, where imprisonment and impunity in journalist killings, respectively, remain the norm.

Middle East and North Africa: Amid upheaval, the success or failure of popular uprisings rests with control of the national narrative. Journalists therefore find themselves the targets of new and evolving threats, with prolonged politicised trials diminishing while assaults and fatalities rise. While citizen-generated footage gives traditional media, political cover to address sensitive subjects, authorities and their surrogates are making equally astute use of new technology to disseminate their messages, silence, and intimidate. Iran's revolving-door prison policy drives many journalists into exile. 

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