A STRATEGIC SHIFT

THE REDIRECTION
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?
Issue of 2007-03-05Posted 2007-02-25

A STRATEGIC SHIFT
In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. More.....

What Dutta said, February 1948

Notes from History
What Dutta said, February 1948
Editorial Desk, Daily Star, On February 25, 1948, Dhirendranath Dutta, a lawmaker from East Bengal in the Constituent Assembly of the new state of Pakistan, rose in the House to move an amendment demanding that the Bengali language be adopted as a medium of expression, along with English and Urdu, in the assembly.
Dutta argued that though Bengali was one of the provincial languages of Pakistan, it happened to be the mother tongue of the Bengalis, the majority segment of Pakistan's population. Dutta went beyond the proposition that Bengali should be a language of the legislature and suggested that it ought to be the language of the state itself. And this is how he put it: More........

What Can IT Industry Do For India?

Web Feb 16, 2007 , Outlook
What Can IT Industry Do For India?
Given what the country has done for Indian IT, it is not silly to ask: what specially can the IT industry do for India (other than what happens automatically without any deliberate pursuit of non-business ends)?

AMARTYA SEN

The Nobel Laureate delivered the Keynote Address at the NASSCOM 2007 India Leadership Forum in Mumbai on February 7. where he spoke on the case for the IT industry to " do even more, indeed in some ways, much more" than what can be seen as its traditional domain.
Some admirations come from near, others from very far. My respect and reverence for the IT industry in general and the extraordinarily dynamic and triumphant Indian IT industry in particular have come, by necessity, from some distance, since I am a dabbler in things far away from IT services and software. When the invitation came to attend this year's NASSCOM meeting and the leadership forum, I thought that this either indicated some mixing up of my identity ("wake up, wake up," I wanted to say, "I teach non-IT subjects at a university!"), or alternatively, it reflected generous interest of NASSCOM leaders to reach out (or as my students say, "hang out") beyond their principality...More....

SC recalls earlier order

New Age, 21 February,2007
SC recalls earlier order that sets aside HC verdict on polls candidate info Shahiduzzaman

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in an unprecedented move on Tuesday recalled an order it had passed only two hours and a half ago setting aside the High Court verdict which made it mandatory for parliamentary polls candidates to submit eight-point personal information along with the nomination papers. On behalf of the four-member bench of the Appellate Division, Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain, who will retire on March 1, gave the judgement, saying, ‘The appeal is allowed. More.....

Ex-private secretary spills .....

Daily Star, 20 February,2007
Ex-private secretary spills graft beans about Khaleda

The Prothom Alo on Monday ran a revealing interview with AHM Nurul Islam, who worked as Khaleda Zia's personal secretary during her term as prime minister in 2001-2006. The interview suggests how Khaleda turned a blind eye to numerous acts of corruption by her son and relatives. The Daily Star has translated the interview considering the importance of the subject and its public interest.

Prothom Alo (PA): Bangladesh topped the international corruption list for five years. The names of several officials from the Prime Minister's Office and people close to it have been linked to corruption. You were working in the PMO for three of those years. What are your comments?
Nurul Islam (NI): According to the country's rules of business, the ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers have been given full responsibility for each ministry. Even then, a minister's corruption cannot be done without the assistance of the ministries' officials. In most cases of corruption in the last five years of the coalition government, ministers have looted state resources with the help of corrupt government officials. If any of these corrupt government officials got into trouble, it was often the case that the other corrupt officials would come to their rescue.........

29 killed, 52,027 held in one month of emergency:
Odhikar , New Age, 12 February
Staff Correspondent

Twenty-nine people were killed by law-enforcing agencies and 52,027 were arrested in the first month of emergency, declared on January 12, said a report of human rights coalition Odhikar published on Sunday.
Eleven of the 29 people were killed in connection with the Rapid Action Battalion, nine with the police, six with the army and three with the joint forces, the report said.
Ten were killed in the ‘crossfire’ of the associates of the crime suspects and the Rapid Action Battalion and four in the ‘crossfire’ of the police. More....

Prof Yunus invites people to write him on party plan

Prof Yunus invites people to write him on party plan
UNB, Dhaka,

Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus today floated a flying letter to the people to elicit their support to his latest novel venture -- a new-generation political party as an alternative for the outworn politics.

The micro-credit trailblazer says if the letter failed to gain strong feedback, he wouldn’t enter into the arena of politics.

Prof Yunus distributed the letter among reporters who went to Zia International Airport to cover his departure for India on a second eventful trip to the neighboring country in little over a week.

Basking in world fame following the winning of Nobel for peace in recognition of his contribution to poverty alleviation through his microcredit innovation, the founder of Grameen Bank today left for Kolkata to receive ‘Shera Bangali 2006’ award. More.............

The JMB Survives

Outlook India
Web| Feb 08, 2007

Bangladesh

The JMB Survives

The much hyped arrests of Bangla Bhai and the visible leadership of JMB have only reinforced the anonymity of the shadowy group of controllers who supported the group behind the scenes in their grandiose plans for a radicalized Islamist Bangladesh.

BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY

On January 28, 2007, authorities fixed February 17 as the date for the execution of six of the seven militants of the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), including its chief, Abdur Rahman, its ‘operations commander’ Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, who is also the chief of the Jagrata Janata Muslim Bangladesh (JMJB), Majlish-e-Shura (the highest decision-making body) members, Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal, Khaled Saifullah and suicide squad member Iftekhar al Mamun. Another convict, Asadul Islam alias Arif, is absconding. All of them have been sentenced to death for their involvement in the Jhalakathi bomb attack that killed two judges in November 2005. There is, however, little chance of the sentence being carried out on the appointed day as all the convicts have filed mercy petitions with the President. Authorities have indicated that, in case the President rejects the petitions, the militants will be hanged in March. President Iajuddin Ahmed, temporarily presiding over the fate of a politically polarised nation that faces an uncertain poll in a few months, is not expected to take a decision on the petitions any time soon.More....

Politics of "Apolitical"

NEW AGE, SUNDAY,11 FEBRUARY
Politics of the ‘apolitical’
Nurul Kabir

That the crude power struggle – power struggle devoid of democratic ideology and without a set of civilised rules of the game – between the two rival political camps pushed the country to an abnormal political situation inviting a state of emergency, and that the people at large are still not unhappy with the incumbents, both overt and covert, in spite of losing sine die the universally acknowledged fundamental rights of citizens are home truths.

The people’s endorsement of emergency is rather evident in their silence about a group of apparently apolitical people taking over state power and making decisions of national importance without having any direct electoral mandate. The people, however, could hardly be blamed for such a ‘non-modern’ silence in these modern times, where the affairs of the state are supposed to be managed by elected representatives under a ‘social contract’ – the clauses of which are laid down in the constitution of a democratic republic. More......