Children Park – a type of real social business

(example of MOON PARK & MOON HOUSE)

This was also published in The News Today 09 Dec 2010 and other blogs

http://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=14376&date=2010-12-09

http://www.bdcomcn.com/English-Articles/children-park-a-type-of-real-social-business-of-moon-park-a-moon-house.html

 http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=343086  



Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, of Bangladesh while addressing the prize giving ceremony of a painting competition at Dhaka Osmani Smriti Auditorium on October 18, 2010, has directed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to recover all the children’s parks in the capital. The prime minister, according to UNB Dhaka, vowed to establish a safe and prosperous Bangladesh for every child.

Yes, there is no doubt that concerned authorities would try their best to recover all government children parks, no matter how successful they would be to maintain and keep the campaign according to given directives from the highest executive of the government. But I, like many others, am little wondered as to how much those local influential illegal occupants have gone regarding places like Children parks too. There is no need to emphasize the requirement of children parks for the over all development of a total Children. Considering their importance’s, government did their parts and hopefully would continue doing the best in this regard always. But we being the brothers and sisters, parents and relatives, teachers and lovers of every child also got to think and do exactly in the same way as our Prime Minister thought and gave directives.

Because the government can not establish more and more children parks all of a sudden, and because we all also have the morale and social responsibilities too for all the children, so, we got to also do some thing, either individually or being in a group. We may think of taking following measures to ensure so that more and more children get the facilities of Children parks:

1. Authorities of schools and other educational institutions may consider establishing children parks at their own premises, no matter how small or big those could be. They should also ensure the proper maintenances of all existing children parks.

2. Those who, specially at rural area, can effort to make few items of children park at their own premises may also make such facilities available for their own and local children. There are few such items directly related to physical exercises which don’t need lot of space, cost or electricity. Besides, such can be made with collective efforts too. Some one may also think of making the same at their roof top at city location too. The idea is so that every child gets the minimum facilities of Children Park.

3. Many rich people of our society already have hundreds and thousands of “Farm Houses” (bagan bari in bengali pronunciation) of their own. Those are indeed their spare houses out side the city areas mostly for their personal leisure and pleasure. Of course I am not trying to say any thing against their farm houses, however, would like to humbly suggest so that they could also think of making those, whole or part of those, in to some thing like children park for the local children and thus allow local children to play there either free of cost or with little ticket money. We always talk about social responsibilities and social businesses. Arranging such facilities for the children could be one of the best social responsibilities. Again the concepts of social businesses often emphasized by our Noble Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus are known to the whole world and also widely discussed. So, from that point of view too, some token ticket money may also be charged from incoming children, however, the ticket fee got to be within affordable limit of those rural parents too.

Frankly speaking, I won’t suggest any of above if I won’t believe on those totally. I use to always think in the past about these children park facilities for our rural poor children. That is the reason I tried to establish two such children park at my own according to my personal interest, planning, limited economic capabilities and efforts. Spending my pension money, I have established one Children park named Moon Park at village PIRUJALI in General Area Hotapara, Gazipur. The area is near writer Humayun Ahmed’s Nuhash Polli and really green and comfortable in all seasons.

Well, for this case, I tried to establish and experiences by myself first and then now trying to suggest some thing for others too. It is said in the religion also that you try to do the same first before you suggest the same to others. When ever, I heard or read about the social businesses expressed by noble laureate Dr. Yunus, tried to think and identify as to how many types of social businesses could there be, specially for a country like Bangladesh? I also tried to think always as to what maximum social benefits can be offered with what minimum charges from different types of social businesses. Well, there can be many different types, but, for me, I have desired to do some thing related to children’s health, enjoyment, excitement, mental growth, physical exercise etc, and so thought of establishing one children park for them as part of so-well-discussed social business.

Now at this stage, being little encouraged by the noble directives of honorable prime minister of Bangladesh, I have only one aim of mentioning this as an example and that is, so that others who are interested may also establish such children parks at different parts of our country. Besides, those who are already having their Farm Houses (bagan bari) may also become interested as well as feel responsible to tern their those farm houses, part or whole, into children park for the local rural children and allow them to play either free of charge or with little token ticket money.

“Moon Park” is a small eco friendly green garden which is also used for picnic or outing spot for those city people who may afford to rent it and be interested to enjoy the green nature as part of their rest and refreshment. However, the focus is always given to the local children’s playing and that is why the word “park” is associated with it’s name. Any one may be wondered to know that a local child may visit and play at Moon Park with only taka ten ($ US 10 cents only) per person. The Moon Park was inaugurated on 14 April 2010 (pohela boishak) through arrangement of boishakhi mela (local fair organized on the bengali new year) where all the incoming children along with their parents, friends and relatives were allowed to go inside and play with free of charge. Surprisingly the total presence on that very single day crossed the figure 2500 (almost 100% children of that general area) which really proved in my mind that, yes, our children really need such facilities. I also felt very comfortable inside for being able to make one such park for our rural children. The smiling faces of our rural deprived children are still in my memories, pictures of which can also be shared by readers from below web link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/113734232071731875096/MoonPark#

“Moon House” is also another such place, same eco friendly garden with children park facilities where children can not only play but also see life birds and fishes. No matter how many facilities children are enjoying inside but only taka 30 ($ US 40 cents only) is charged per person. It is designed to be a real safe house for the playing of children and that is why the word “house” is associated with it’s name.

It may be mention that the eco friendly green gardens of both Moon Park and Moon House are also attracting foreigners and as such contributing to the tourism in Bangladesh too. Hope the scope of tourism in this sector would also increase in future.

I hope both Moon Park and Moon House would be able to contribute for children’s playing in the long run as part of social businesses in real sense. I also hope that many other persons having similar feelings like me would also try to do some thing better for our children which are so necessary for their total development. Children would carry us forward, they are our future hopes and so we must do our best to do best for them.

For those who may be interested to know about Moon House and Moon Park for their picnic or outing purposes may also brows below web link:

http://www.moonhousemoonpark.com/

 email: moonhouse.moonpark@gmail.com,

By Sushanta Das Gupta and Kh.A.Saleque.

Morning dawned brightly and beautifully for Bangladeshis living in different countries of the southern hemisphere with the news that two friendly neighbours Bangladesh and India have finally broken through all impasse to build long lasting forward looking relationship. PM Sheikh Hasina is on a state visit to India. The two countries have inked three agreements and two MOU to boost co-operation – security, power, trade and connectivity, water sharing and resolution of all other long standing bilateral issues and concerns which unnecessarily soured relations. PM Hasina also received Indira Gandhi Peace Award from Indian President Mrs Protiva Patil.

It is worth remembering that India sheltered millions of refugees during our liberation war when occupation Pakistan army unleashed genocide. India also provided training and arms to our freedom fighters and Indian army fought alongside with us in liberating our dear home land. Several Indian soldiers also laid down lives to help assist Bangladesh liberation. Bangladesh government operated in exile during the war. But such invaluable bond of fraternity became sour for several unnecessary irritants emanating poor political vision and commitment, lack of trust and faith among them. Religious fundamentalism, influence of some international community , and to some extent big brotherly attitude of big neighbour often contributed to misgivings.

Days have changed. New decade has emerged with new hopes. Now with two positive looking democratic government in state power – congress in India and Awami League led Mahajote in Bangladesh doors and windows have opened to forge understanding to barrier across past impediments for pursuit of common good – bilaterally, globally and regionally.

In the 50 point historic communique issued after the summit meeting at Hyderabad House PM Hasina and PM Manmohon have pledged commitment to working positively for solving all issues with the spirit of mutual respect, understanding and cooperation.

Indian government has categorically committed that nothing that harms Bangladesh will be done at Tipai Mukh.The PMs also vowed to work positively to reach an agreement regarding sharing of Teesta river water. The JRC meeting to expedite this and also on issues related to Feni, Muhuri, Khowai, Dharala and Dudkumar rivers will be held at a convenient time in the current quarter of 2010. Actions on Dredging of Ichamati river and protection of Mahananda, Karotoa, Nagar, Kulik, Atrai , Dharala and Feni rivers were also agreed to be worked out.

India appreciated the urgency of Bangladesh government to regenerate required water flow in all rivers and agreed to support Bangladesh initiatives to dredge rivers for flood control, navigation and access to ports. India agreed to provide dredgers on urgent basis.

PMs also agreed to resolve maritime boundary disputes through mutual discussions. They acknowledged the initiation of proceedings under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and in that context India welcomed a visit of a Bangladesh delegation.

Issues related to land boundary disputes were agreed to be resolved keeping in view the spirit of 1974 Land Boundary agreement. It was agreed to convene Joint Boundary Working Group to address this issue.

Bangladesh agreed to let India, Nepal and Bhutan use Mongla and Chittagong port by rail and road for trading.It was also agreed that RohanpurSingabad broad gauge railway link will be available for Bangladesh for transit to Nepal. Bangladesh informed India of its intention to convert Radhikapur Birol railway line into broad gauge and requested railway transit link to Bhutan as well. To facilitate smooth trading of goods , it was agreed that trucks from Bhutan and Nepal would be allowed to enter about 200 metres into the zero point at Banglabandha at Banglabandha-Phulbari land customs station. Necessary arrangements will be mutually agreed upon and put in place by both countries.

Countries agreed to jointly combat organized terrorism, insurgency and criminal activities. Countries earlier signed to exchange convicted criminals .PMs assured each other that the territory of either will not be allowed for activities inimical to the other, and resolved not to allow their respective territories to be used for training, sanctuary and other operations by domestic or foreign terrorist/militant and insurgent organisations and their operatives.

Both prime ministers agreed that the respective border guarding forces will exercise restraint, and underscored the importance of regular meetings between the two border security forces to curtail illegal cross border activities, and to prevent loss of lives.

Apart from above Bangladesh and India earlier signed three agreements and two MOUs. Bangladesh under power trading agreement will import about 250MW power from Indian eastern grid. The actions required for Grid connectivity will be completed soon.

Power trading agreement is the stepping stone to set up regional power grid and energy ring. The countries of this region have enormous untapped energy resources which if jointly explored and exploited can provide energy security of the entire region for several years. Bangladesh is in desperate situation now due to massive corruption and mismanagement of energy sector over the last 7 years.Bangladesh is suffering worst ever power and energy crisis now.

India also agreed to allow 42 additional Bangladeshi exportable commodities access into Indian market tariff free. This will act significantly to improve trade imbalance.

India also agreed to provide 1 Billion US dollar loan to Bangladesh. for a 20 year term at 1.9% interest whereas World Bank loan interest is 5%.

India will also provide 300 Scholarships to meritorious Bangladeshi students. Dohagram and Angorpota enclaves with get power supply and fly over will be built for Teen Bigha.

It was also agreed that Ashuganj of Bramanbaria and Sheelghat of Asam will be used as port of call. A joint team will work out the required infrastructure and the carrying costs of over dimensional cargo from Ashuganj.India will make required investment. Contractors of both countries will be eligible for works. The Agartala –Ashuganj Rail Link will be set up under Indian grant.

The issues between India and Bangladesh have been accumulated over the last 35 years since 1975. Unfortunately previous governments either for shallow vision or for inferiority complex did not really honestly and sincerely tried to resolve these issues. Communal feelings of some section of people in both countries also acted as barriers, bureaucrat in both countries also always tried to keep things hanging. It is a very encouraging sign that ice has melted.

If two governments remain honest and committed there is nothing which can barrier the building the bridges of good healthy neighbourly relation for the greater interest of the great people of the region. Days will come soon when barbed-wire fencing will be removed and people will move like free singing birds across.

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Sushanta Das Gupta, the editor of E-Bangladesh and Kh. A. Saleque (Saleque Sufi) is the ex-Director (Operation) GTCL and writes from Australia.

I was chatting with some of political friends today evening, some of my friends are hard-core BNP minded. They challenged me to show them some of the news links by which I can prove Tarique Rahman a corrupted guy. I laughed at them and told them if they had any eyes to see , they only could see news of Tarique’s corruption.

While thinking to give my friends some of the news or blog post links, I thought why I should not archive them in a post so that people can see them at a glance.

Oh my God!!! I just googled by the key word “Corruption of Tarique Rahman”, I got thousands of news links as well blog posts. How can I archive them?

A video clip.
I tried them to categorized into three types; news links, article links and blog posts; but it would turn more pages to cover them up. That’s why I am just archiving few of them. I don’t know if the corruption archives of Tarique Rahman could open my friends’ eyes.

-The Prince of Bogra by Tasneem Khalil.

-The Story of Anarchist Tarique Rahman by Prothom Alo.

- One more corruption case against Khaleda Zia, son by Hamropalo.com.

- Tarique Rahman sued for evading tax by The New Age.

-Tarique Rahman’s Dawood Ibrahim underworld links by Hasibul Haque, Blogger News Network.

-An apology to Tarique Rahman by The Daily Star.

-The rise and fall of Tarique Rahman by Zafar Sobhan.

-Tarique Rahman – flawed heir apparent? by By Alastair Lawson, BBC News, March 8, 2007.

-NBR rejects Tarique, Koko’s bid to legalise money by Bangladesh News.

-Tarique took millions out of country by the Daily Star.

-হাওয়ায় মিলিয়ে গেছে তারেকের ছায়াসঙ্গীরা!, দৈনিক যুগান্তর।

- ১২ শীর্ষ ব্যবসায় বেনামে অংশীদারিত্ব ।। ব্যবসার জন্য মামুন ও সেলিমকে তারেক রহমান দিয়েছিলেন ৫৮২ কোটি টাকা , আমাদের সময়।

- বিদেশী ব্যাংকে তারেকের দুই হাজার কোটিরও বেশি টাকা , দৈনিক ইত্তেফাক।

-তারেক-মামুন দু’বন্ধুর ব্যবসা আর দুর্নীতি চলেছে সমানতালে, দৈনিক যুগান্তর।

- তারেক রহমানকে ‘মামা’ ডাকতেন বাংলাভাই, দৈনিক ভোরের কাগজ।

-রাজনীতিবিদ-কর্মকর্তাদের ২৪৩ কোটি টাকা ঘুষ দিয়েছেন ঠিকাদাররা, দৈনিক নয়া দিগন্ত।

-দুর্নীতির রাজপুত্র, দৈনিক যুগান্তর।

Well, I had more links which can be shown to my friends to open their eyes. I have more with Tarique’s younger brother’s corruption here for my friends too. But I don’t want my friends to get upset to read more about their prince of corruption in Bangladesh.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor of E-Bangladesh.

Members of the Bangladesh Armed Forces prepare to return to the barracks as the Caretaker Government decides to withdraw the army from across the country. Dhaka, November 05 2008. Photo:Munir uz Zaman, DrikNEWS.

The festive mood has returned to the country. The two battling begums have exchanged pleasantries breaking all the ice. Finally the all-inclusive national election is nearing. The Candidates have already started their campaign. The people are busy permuting and combining their assumptions as who is going to rule them next. Overall they are satisfied because the Caretaker Government has kept their promise and are expected to hand over the power to the elected government. The military is going back to the barracks.

The script is perfect so far. If it is followed, Bangladesh is going to be a wonderful example of an implied democracy in the world. But there are some incidents happening alongside which are so disturbing that one fears it could turn the whole progress upside down. These are happening simultaneously, in regular intervals. A part of the media alleged to be the spokesman of the military backed caretaker government (CTG) is fueling these controversies.

Lets look back a few weeks ago. A bunch of hoodlums ran havoc in the premises of the Zia International Airport. In the banner of a religious joint they demolished the sculpture of Lalon Shah- an Icon of Bangladeshi culture. Showdowns like these are totally forbidden in the emergency rule, which is true for most political parties, but it happened there and escalated further. Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini, who actually leads the Qaumi madrashas with the dream of an Islamic revolution in Bangladesh held a press conference and threatened that if elected, they are going to destroy each and every sculptures in the country along with the monuments of our liberation war. He even dared to abuse the Shikha Anirban- the flame of eternity burning as the symbol of our independence. Not to mention he has used unpleasantly words against the incumbent advisors of the CTG. curiously, he simply got away with it with even no questions asked!

In a separate incident the students of Alia Madras has, most of whom are members of Jamaat-e-Islamis’s student wing Islami Chatra Shibir made a chaos in Dhaka university area. They picketed and injured general students to press a demand regarding their admission quota in the university. Many thought that it was staged to put a pressure on the CTG to drop down the arrest warrant of the Jamaat leader war criminal Ali Ahsan Mujahid as it coincided with the time. People were alarmed that these were the threats that could disturb the peaceful living and stability of the country again which was absent during the emergency rule.

Amidst the election vibe, another dramatic story is unfolding. A few days back we were informed that the banned extremist group Jamaatul Mujahedin of Bangladesh (JMB) had re-united and are planning a mass violence. Tipped by intelligence authorities security forces arrested some militants and have discovered their dangerous blue print. A couple of days back the CID concluded that the Harkat ul Jihad al Islami (Huji) were indeed involved in the 2001 bomb blasting at Ramna Batmul and the final report is going to be submitted along within a few days accusing 14 of the militant leaders. On June 11, 2008 charges were finally made against 22 persons including top Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu for the grenade attacks on Sheikh Hasina on 21st august 2004. Though Mufti Hannan is behind the bar, it is widely known that he still rules the militants and operates them from there.

The latest news is the Government has warned Awami league leader Sheikh Hasina about her vulnerable security system. Even Khaleda Zia and other VIP candidates are equally informed to tighten their security. There are posters all across Bangladesh from extremist groups condemning Awami League and BNP. A recent poster by Hizbut Tahrir says “stop the politics of Awami League and BNP who are pawns of USA and India. Engage in the politics to establish Khilafat in the country.”

We really don’t know whether all of these are really a part of the puzzle. But we can predict what such an assassination threat can mean to the nation from the example of Pakistan. During the fag end of military rule when Pakistan was nearing the elections, the militants assassinated the popular politician Benazir Bhutto, who returned from exile to take part in the elections and was tipped to be the winner. Although the incident didn’t bring any positive result to general Musharraf and he could not stop quitting the office. But it was alleged that the militants were used by the military and possibly with the help of some foreign intelligence agency to prolong their rule.

In Bangladesh, a likely occurrence can easily happen if those extremist forces are not strongly dealt with. The failure of the government to take actions against those who use religion to force their political agenda and thereby giving them impunity can have drastic results. Let us not take back the country in the dark ages for the sake of power play and averting controversial issues to remain popular. It will bring disastrous consequences to the country.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

[Read posts by Sushanta Das Gupta]

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

And the second one is named as “A Sky Crash”:

The cartoons tell us lot of things about our life. You will be amazed to watch them.

It is important to encourage him to keep going with his normal drawing activities and to bring him in normal life.

Please share your messages to him in the comments section.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

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

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

[Speech of Dr. Anwar]

And though the Government have done nothing to console the brave freedom fighter, Dr. Anwar Hossain gave him the honour by disclosing a short description about the corruption at the Chittagong Customs House by some army officers. As we were being told by him, a packet was delivered at his office at the Faculty of Biological Sciences, Dhaka University. It contained the copy of the letter sent by an employee of the Chittagong Customs House.

In the letter the sender(s) says that a group of Army officers who were given the responsibility of reforming the Chittagong Customs House were engaged in severe forms of corruption. The group is led by Brigadier General Nasir Hasan and includes Major Tarikul, Major Quddus, Captain Arif, Captain Moyeen, Captain Delwar etc. This group has already collected over 15 crore Taka from various businessmen, importers, stock holders and CNF Agents of Chittagong in the form of ‘chada’ or extortion.

The long letter told the story about how the face of the crusaders against the corruption has been fading away. It also recalls the nightmares of the past, the long army regime who turned corruption in to the form of an institution. The army-corruption in Chittagong Custom House is in fact tip on the iceberg! We don’t know what the reaction of Gen. Moyeen U Ahmed, his neutral Caretaker Government and their domestic parliament, named ‘Prothom Alo’. But people were really happy to see Hossain’s way of honouring the freedom fighter Aman. He congratulated him for being in the centre of the collaborators like the war days and telling the whole truth about their activities and demanding their punishment.

Dr. Anwar took it as a good omen as people are reacting. But alongside Anwar warned about the Governments real intentions as their recent activities show as if they are actually protecting the war criminals. If so, Aman was only an instance, because a million Amans are there who would do anything to uphold the true spirit of 1971. And the consequence will be vague.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

 A Danish TV documentary has revealed miserable working conditions and environmental violations at companies in Bangladesh that act as suppliers to GrameenPhone, which is co-owned by Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor and firms founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

The documentary shows miserable working conditions at several firms supplying Telenor-owned GrameenPhone. Hard-hats were donned when Telenor came to inspect. PHOTO: TELENOR Telenor’s Baksaas with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Together, they own GrameenPhone, although Yunus has wanted Telenor to reduce its stake. PHOTO: TELENOR

Related stories:

Telenor may cut stake in Grameenphone – 03.04.2007

Yunus to help Norway launch micro-credit in Africa – 02.04.2007

Telenor rejects Yunus offer – 29.03.2007

Hundreds hail prize winners – 11.12.2006

Telenor conflict puts a damper on Peace Prize party – 10.12.2006

‘Deeply honoured’ Peace Prize winner slams war in Iraq – 10.12.2006

Nobel Peace Prize winner came as a surprise – 13.10.2006

Banker for the poor wins Nobel Peace Prize – 13.10.2006

It’s an embarrassing labour scandal for Telenor, which itself is majority-owned by the government of Norway, a country that prides itself on championing fair labour conditions and human rights.

It also reflects poorly on Grameen Telecom and Grameen Bank, which own 38 percent of GrameenPhone (Telenor has 62 percent) and which were founded by Peace Prize-winner Yunus not least to help lift people in Bangladesh out of abject poverty through the micro-credit system.

The documentary, made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann and to be aired on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Thursday evening, reveals shocking working conditions at the firms supplying GrameenPhone. Employees were shown working with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals virtually without protection. Workers were as young as 13 years, a clear violation of child labour laws. The firms were caught allowing polluted wastewater to spill into nearby rice fields.

And in one case, a worker was killed when he fell into an unsecured pool of acid.

Telenor, clearly believing that the best defense is a good offense, opted to reveal some of the findings of the documentary even before it was aired. Telenor officials claim they were shaken by the documentary’s findings, and admit they failed to adequately monitor the operations of GrameenPhone’s suppliers.

“We are deeply moved by the case, and the human side of it,” Telenor chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas told reporters. He called the labour violations “completely unacceptable,” claiming Telenor had trained the firms in health and safety issues. “But we’ve clearly been bad about following up afterwards,” Baksaas admitted.

He neglected to mention the worker fatality, but confirmed it when questioned by a reporter from Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

Telenor and the Norwegian state have generated huge profits on GrameenPhone, which has as many as 20 million customers, but Baksaas said he didn’t feel badly that the operation earns a lot on the work of poor employees. “We haven’t taken out substantial dividends on what we’ve earned in Bangladesh,” Baksaas said. “The money has gone into investments that are building up the country.”

Norway’s government minister in charge of business and industry, Dag Terje Andersen, wrote in an e-mail to Aftenposten that the working conditions shown in the documental “assuming they are accurate, clearly are unacceptable.”

Andersen claimed, however, that Telenor has worked actively for years to make its own ethical regulations part of all operations, also those at suppliers. “It looks like the follow-up on the part of Telenor was inadequate,” he wrote. Telenor has since conducted inspections at five suppliers of mobile telephone masts, and has fired one of them.

Telenor and Yunus have been involved in a long-simmering conflict over ownership of GrameenPhone. Yunus has wanted Telenor to reduce its stake.

Note: The article belonges to  AFTENPOSTEN.

Photo: Md. Tawfik

[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK]

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

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

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

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

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

The eye raising questions are:

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

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

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

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

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

It appears that Bangladesh has become a country of torture under the present caretaker government where no law and human right exists as mentioned in the chilling testimony of Human Rights Watch Journalist Tasneem Khalil  who was kidnapped and tortured by the DGFI people in the same way as Tawfiq. The people in power, mainly, the DGFI are working with impunity like the Gestapo to pick up anyone at their will, torture, and then fabricated anything against them without any judicial processes involved.

Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, in his letter to Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed  urged that Bangladesh has obligation under international law to stop torture and to make the protection of human rights as much of a priority as its fight against corruption. Adams emphasized that the caretaker government should discipline or prosecute, as appropriate, members of the security forces, including the DGFI, the army and paramilitary forces such as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police and other government officials, regardless of rank, who have been responsible for arbitrary arrests and torture or other mistreatment of persons in detention.

It’s an unrest request to all concerned Bangladeshi citizen to put forward this news and pressure the caretaker government to save the life of Tawfiq and thousands of other innocent people who dont have any one to stand for them.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

[Read posts by Sushanta Das Gupta]

Update: Tasneem Khalil’s interview by Arafatul Islam of DW-WORLD is added.

[An E-Bangladesh commentary.]

Human Rights Watch, the international Human rights watchdog that conducts research and advocacy on human rights published today an exclusive report on tortures in Bangladesh. This report presents the testimony of Tasneem Khalil, a Bangladeshi journalist and the representative of CNN and Human Rights Watch in Bangladesh, recounting his torture at the hands of Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).

Human Rights Watch says:

“To our knowledge, this is the most detailed public account of a case of torture in Bangladesh available anywhere. It demonstrates the nature of ongoing state-sponsored violence in Bangladesh, including the torture of critics of the current government.
What happened to Tasneem Khalil – which, sadly, is not uncommon – makes clear that when it comes to human rights a critical part of what was promised is not being fulfilled. After one year, the state of emergency not only remains in place but is being used to limit political party activity and restrict freedom of expression and assembly, with torture a frequent consequence for those who do not toe the line and end up in the custody of the security services.

Increased domestic and international pressure to end such abuses cannot await elections or formation of a new government. The fundamental rights set out in the Constitution should be immediately restored and respected. Ending illegal arrests and torture should not await an election. These should be a top priority of the interim government. Those members of the security forces who have been responsible for such egregious human rights violations should be brought to justice.”

Read the horrid accounts of abuses against Tasneem Khalil here . Read how he was terrorized and maligned after his release due to international pressure only to find recluse in exile. You can also download the full report (pdf format) available in the Human Rights Watch Website.

[Sushanta Das Gupta, UK]

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

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

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

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

Censorship imposed at every political convulsion

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

Privately-owned television stations, which enjoy growing popularity in the country, were the main target of crackdowns. The government in September ordered the suspension of CSB News whose management had allegedly forged a document to obtain a frequency in October 2006, and police closed the station, but the decision was probably linked to the broadcast of footage of opposition demonstrations, in defiance of warnings from the authorities. According to the Daily Star, members of the government even accused the station of inciting students to demonstrate in Dhaka.

The written press did its best to resist pressure from the authorities. Mahfuz Anam, editor of the privately-owned Daily Star, said in an editorial in January, “As long as we have not received a written order from the government, we will consider them illegal (…) Friends of democracy never silence the press, it is only done by dictators. The people of Bangladesh will never accept dictators”. But in September, the management of Prothom Alo was forced to apologise and to sack the deputy editor of its humoristic supplement, Aalpin, under pressure from conservative clergy after cartoonist Arifur Rahman drew a sketch which included wordplay on the name Mohammed, gently poking fun at the habit of people in some Muslim countries of putting the name Mohammed before their usual name. Police arrested him and seized all copies of the magazine, which was accused of “hurting the people’s religious sentiment”. The copies were ritually burned in front of one of the capital’s mosques.

During the year, privately-owned dailies, such as Prothom Alo, Inqilab, Amader Shomoy, Jugantor, Daily Star and Shamokal were also victims of judicial harassment. The newspapers had to employ a large number of lawyers to keep their editors and journalist out of prison in the face of around 100 defamation suits.

Journalists tortured by members of the military

Several journalists were tortured for investigating the security forces. Tasneem Khalil, journalist and blogger (tasneemkhalil.com), was detained and tortured in May after openly criticising the army for the spread of extra-judicial killings. The Human Rights Watch consultant and contributor to CNN was forced to flee the country. Jahangir Alam Akash, correspondent for the newspaper Sangbad, and for CSB News and German radio Deutsche Welle in Rajshahi, who had been investigating the ‘execution’ by the army of a student leader, was arrested by soldiers on 24 October. He was released on bail on 19 November and spoke about the hell he had lived through at an army camp. “Officers and soldiers tortured me for several hours: electric shocks, blows to my legs. I couldn’t walk for a week,” he said.

Police, acting under emergency laws, arrested two journalists in March in Moulvibazar in the north-east, after local politicians laid a defamation case against him. A correspondent for the Daily Star, Asduzzaman Tipu, spent one month in prison after being falsely accused of extortion.

No fewer than 15 journalists were arrested on the same evening when a curfew was imposed in August and around 30 others were beaten by police and soldiers deployed in the capital. The chief news editor of the privately-owned Baishakhi TV, Anis Alamgir, was beaten up by soldiers, while a photographer with the daily Dinkal was seriously injured by police. The authorities apologised by nobody was punished for the assaults.

On the other hand, the anti-crime struggle allowed the arrest of suspects in the murders of journalist Gautam Das in 2005 and of Shamsur Rhaman in 2000. And several politicians, including Shahidul Islam, former member of Parliament from the Kushtia region, responsible for attacks on journalists in 2006, were taken into custody.

Although weakened, Jihadist groups continued to threaten journalists. An Islamist group threatened an attack on the Jatiya press club in May and in April extremists sent a letter containing death threats to a journalist on the daily Bhorer Kagoj, in Chittagong in the south-east of the country.

Finally, even though no journalist was killed for their work in 2007, the authorities did not fully clear up the circumstances of the death in March of Jamal Uddin, correspondent for the news agency Abas and local newspaper Dainik Giri Darpan, in Rangamati in the south-east, whom the authorities said had committed suicide. The president of the Rangamati press club said the journalist’s body bore marks of blows all over his body, which had been found lying at the foot of a tree, with a rope around his neck.

Reporters Without Borders has also published the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007. Bangladesh ranks 134th amongst 169 countries.

The International Media have shown growing concern over the recent rise in human rights violations in Bangladesh. One thing is evident, that no matter how much secrecy the military government tries to impose over its violation of human rights, the world is hearing about it. Because of the ready availability of information due to the internet and other channels of communication, we can now learn about the misrulings and outrages committed by this military government.

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Sushanta Das Gupta is the Editor, E-Bangladesh.

[Read posts by Sushanta Das Gupta]