The New Nation - Internet Edition

Caring for job markets

BANGLADESH is in a pressing need for retention and expansion of the overseas job markets. Expatriate workers now earn the highest amount of foreign exchange for the country. Bangladesh Bank statistics show that remittance inflow in July reached a record US$829.5 million that pushed the foreign exchange reserve to over six billion US dollars. Total remittance during the last fiscal year rose to about eight billion dollars and is expected to reach ten billion at the end of the current fiscal. Readymade garment as foreign exchange earner has been relegated to the second position.

Some factors hinder the expansion of the international job market. Poor wages, lack of job security and bad working condition led the Bangladeshi workers in some countries to agitate and this resulted in the deportation of some workers and squeezing of job opportunities. Bangladesh missions abroad have not been proactive to help retain and expand the job markets. A threat to the job market and the flow of remittance thus loom large. The manpower policy of the government should be strengthened to embark on a programme of activities for expanding and retaining job markets. Arrangements for developing skilled workers should be made. Bangladesh missions abroad should follow an aggressive policy to explore new job markets.

The unfavourable balance of payments also shows the need for expansion of the job market. According to reports, gap between export earnings and import bill during recent years has widened substantially due to higher prices of import items. Bangladesh Bank statistics show that import costs during fiscal 2007-08 amounted to US$20.37 billion against export earnings of US$14.11 billion with a trade deficit of US$6.26 billion. The current account balance is still not unhealthy due to high amount of remittance in foreign currency. This source of earning thus needs to be properly nursed.

Chinese biggest browsers

CHINA'S booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest with 253 million people online despite government control on Web use. According to a recent AP report from Beijing, the latest figure on Web use at the end of June is a 56 per cent increase from a year ago. The China Internet Network Information Centre says that the share of the Chinese public using the Internet is still just 19.1 per cent, leaving more room for rapid growth. The United States had an estimated 223.1 million Internet users in June, according to Nielsen Online research firm. The Pew Internet and American Life Project puts US Online penetration at 71 per cent.

China's communist government encourages Internet use for business and education but tries to block access to web sites deemed pornographic or subversive. Web surfers have been jailed for posting material that criticises communist rule that violates vague national security laws. Beijing blocks access to Web sites run by dissidents, human rights groups and some foreign news media. Web surfers were blocked from seeing Google Inc's You Tube and other foreign sites with video footage of anti-government protests in Tibet in March. The same month, the Chinese government threatened to shut down 25 Chinese video sites and punish 32 others for violating new rules.

In financial terms, China's market lags those of the United States, South Korea and other economies. But online commerce, video sharing and other businesses are 'growing rapidly' and have raised 'millions of dollars from investors. The commercial boom has produced success stories such as games site Tencent.com and search engine Baidu.com which are competing with foreign rivals for local market share as Baidu.com earns profit that has soared 87 per cent to 265 million yuan equivalent to US $ 38.6 million during a year.

Career planning in a limited job market

Maswood Alam Khan

I am very fond of train journeys. My colleagues sometimes ridicule me at my extraordinary penchant for trains; some wonder why I eschew comfortable air journeys in favor of time-consuming train journeys even on official tours. Surprising as it was, the cook at my bank's divisional office in Khulna, where I worked for about a year, also used to frown in vexation at my idiocy when I would tell him about the exhilarating pleasures I enjoyed in the whole-night or whole-day train journeys between Khulna and Dhaka. My cook perhaps mused: "Mad caps are plentiful in the world!"

Last Thursday the Chairman of our Bank's Board of Directors Mr. Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled while addressing a batch of trained probationary officers as the chief guest of a certificate awarding ceremony urged the young officers to be extra careful about their career planning. His advice is based on his long experience as a successful banker.

"Pay and perks", Mr. K I Khaled said, "are of course incentives that should drive job seekers to choose their stations." "But", he cautioned, "nowhere in the world can one find job satisfaction exactly commensurate with pay and perks, no matter how many tons of money an employer can offer to his employees." He warned, "One who is not satisfied with his job that consumes the core part of his life can lose his sense of sanity and dignity; the very purpose of living his life may thus be foiled."

Job satisfaction is the key to job performance. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of our jobs that depends on our feelings, our beliefs and our behaviors.

A cause and effect relationship does not always exist between job satisfaction and performance, though two are closely related. Just because two things are related doesn't mean that one causes the other. For example, there is a relationship between the amount of ice cream sold on a given day and the crime rate for that day. On days when ice cream sales are high, the number of crimes committed may also tend to be high. But this doesn't mean that ice cream sales cause crime. Rather, ice cream sales and crimes committed are related because each is the result of the outdoor temperature.

Job satisfaction, therefore, depends on a plethora of factors, the main factor being how as a worker I can fulfill my physiological, safety, social and self-esteem needs as has been espoused by the great American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow. Money is a small player for meeting Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. Money, after all, is a minor contributor for a young army officer who is ever ready for sacrificing his life in a war.

If I am satisfied and happy in my work, I will perform better than someone who is not happy at work. Even if I am satisfied and happy with my work my performance may also deteriorate if my bosses are not happy in their interpersonal relationships. I may also lose interest if I ever come to know that the products the factory I am working in is producing are not as valuable to humans as those produced by a factory where my friend works.

I am ready to work for a lesser pay if I can boast about my company as to their reputation in the business world, a very sensitive factor affecting our egoistic satisfaction---a factor that propelled Mother Teresa into dedicating her entire life as a spinster for the service of the hapless in India thousands of miles away from her home in Poland.

During a recent session meant for our bank's probationary officers where I was giving a lecture on 'performing and nonperforming assets' I stole some moments to infuse into the young minds of the trainees a dose of zeal and inspiration so that they feel proud of Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB), the largest partner of the government for agricultural development of our country.

BKB is the very bank, I told them, that played the most pivotal role back in the year 1977 in infusing collateral-free micro loans in our rural areas under "Taka 100 crore Special Agricultural Credit Program (SACP)" which was in fact the vaccine against the future poverty of Bangladesh---a vaccine that salvaged our country from a bleak future. Absence of that vaccine would have made today's Bangladesh much more devastated than today's Ethiopia by a level of poverty which could be much more deadly than pandemic smallpox.

In the course of my lecture to the probationary officers what I wanted to impress upon them is: "No matter how humble its outlets are and no matter how unassuming its annual financial report is, BKB is the flagship in the battle against the poverty of our country and working for such a righteous organization should be viewed as a sacred mission, a philanthropic assignment neither a man greedy for money nor a woman thirsty for posh interior of an office will undertake as his/her career pathway."

Our exhortations for the young probationers' developing a sense of belongingness with the bank seemed to have worked well as in the certificate awarding ceremony we heard a lady probationary officer named Shupti open her emotive heart to declare: "It is our poor tax payers' money we spent to earn our higher education from colleges and universities. No organization can be better than Bangladesh Krishi Bank where our services benefiting agricultural farmers can at least partially compensate for our debts to taxpayers. I on behalf of all the probationers hereby pledge our wholehearted commitments that we will live up to your total expectations." Bemused at her candid expression of gratitude the whole crowd inside the auditorium cheered and clapped in unison.

In Bangladesh the concept that every graduate should have opportunities to apply their earned knowledge in suitable fields has never been given credence. Career planning has been deemed a low priority and job markets short of enough vacancies have been frustrating young people who are found floundering helplessly not knowing where to find their stations. Nevertheless, many of our youngsters have also been successful careerists.

If you are a fresh graduate you must think about a career right now; earlier you start thinking about what you'd enjoy, the better off you'll be. Learn good speaking and writing skills in both Bangla and English and take courses in computer science and a foreign language to supplement your basic discipline. Leave no road unexplored. In today's world, there are never any guarantees, but some careful planning at the beginning of your career hunting may help lead you to a more secure future.

We have observed that it is always the mediocre talents who do well in their jobs like in a bank or in a corporation. Extraordinarily talented students mysteriously slip over on the rugged pathways of business offices though they excel in jobs in the fields of academia.

Geniuses throughout their academic careers chased for the best trophies in their classrooms, a passion they also try to rashly pursue in jobs only to find themselves skidded out in the race and they are more apt to hop from one job to another landing ultimately themselves an inglorious finality in their career paths.

Job hopping, though a fad in the West, does not necessarily bring good results in our country as job avenues here are extremely limited and the possibility of finding a suitable job is also rare, especially for a novice without relevant experiences. A majority of job-holders are 'round pegs in square holes'.

On the other hand, mediocre students are not extremely ambitious; they are usually content with what they get.

They are more amenable to adaptability. Steadily and silently they climb the ladder up to reach upper levels of hierarchy. They learn how to derive pleasures from little rewards in their jobs; they dare not strive for too many shiny trophies too quickly.

Whatever our jobs, whatever our pays and perks, we should remember that job satisfaction and concomitant performance depend on how we look at our career voyages. Some enjoy journeys by air and some by train; some enjoy jobs in fire brigade, some in a prestigious corporation---and some also in a hospital for treating lepers. Deriving pleasures from every facet of life, after all, depends on the color of the lens we look through. We must look before we can expect to see.

We think those who fly to travel from one place to another are skimming havens in the sky; we assume those who are splurging their money on a classy delicatessen are relishing cookies brought from havens. True, only if they could relish the bliss the way one who cannot afford money would have relished those delights if s/he had money. Tragically the weight of our wallets burdens our minds, blinds our views, deafens our hearing, defuses our smelling, and deactivates our tongues. Many of us walk through the world like ghosts, as if we were in it, but not of it. We have "eyes and see not, ears and hear not."

Those who mocked me and laughed behind my back for my shenanigans with train journeys perhaps deemed me a funny guy, a foolhardy. Well, they are right from their points of view. But I could only feel pity for what they are deprived of when I relish my journeys by trains: the gentle and rhythmic swaying and rocking of the carriage, clicking and clacking sounds of piston-driven wheels, clattering and rattling over steel tracks creating an ambiance to induce my sleep the way I as an infant used to sink deep into a slumber on my cradle---my mother at the bedside singing a lullaby for me.

Double game of our adversaries

Asif Haroon Raja

Today the sole super power finds itself stuck in the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan from where it cannot exit. Had USA been able to subdue any of the occupied countries, Syria might have been axed by now. This is notwithstanding that Iran remains US-Israeli most sought prey. Although USA has for all practical purposes lost the war but egoism refrains Bush to admit it. He and his team of neo-cons are too proud of US military might and still believes that everything is achievable through use of force. While they are putting up a brave front and continue to live in world of fancy that USA is winning the war on terror and express their resolve to taking it to its logical end, the ground realty speaks otherwise. Having spent huge amounts and used massive force killing millions, it has utterly failed to subdue the few thousand ragtag Muslim militants fighting under colossal logistical, technical and operational constraints for the last seven years.

The Republican regime led by Bush has come under extreme censure of the Americans since their falsehood to justify Iraq invasion has been fully exposed. Despite using massive force and killing about million Iraqis, injuring another million and displacing millions the country has not been tamed. Over 4000 American soldiers have lost their lives and 30,000 wounded and their prestige shattered. The army has got afflicted with physiological and mental ailments and incidents of suicide are rising. Americans want US troop withdrawal from Iraq at the earliest. Suffering from acute frustration and humiliation, the US leadership is in a terrible mood. To cover up their failing, crisis in Lebanon were created which to their bad luck backfired and the Israeli forces had to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of Hizbollah. Iranian nuclear threat was then blown out of all proportions as yet another distracting maneuver to deflect the attention of the home audience from its failings in countries of occupation.

Failure to apprehend Osama, Zahawari and Mullah Omar despite world wide hunt organised by CIA has exasperated the American leadership. Time for Bush led Republicans is fast running out and barely three months are left for elections. Republican regime has not been able to show any notable achievement in its second term, be it economy, war on terror or foreign policy and has earned a bad name. Having almost lost war in Iraq, it is seriously thinking of withdrawing its forces and consolidating its front in Afghanistan where the security situation is far from satisfactory. However, the Republicans are desperate to show some good work to be able to swing the polls results in favour of its candidate McCain. It would upturn their fortunes if they succeed in getting hold of Osama, or denuclearising Pakistan without resorting to invasion. It is in this context that America has focussed its entire attention towards FATA which under a calculated media campaign has been projected as the breeding ground for terrorists from where terrorists and suicide bombers are trained and launched. It has also been declared as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban including its top leadership.

Pakistan which has taken the main burden of war on terror and is the chief victim of terrorism has been picked up as a whipping boy. Pakistan has a history of receiving whips without a whimper. India, Afghanistan and America have banded together to deliver lashes to hapless Pakistan jointly and in a coordinated manner. The trio duly aided by Israel never finds itself short of excuses to bash Pakistan. The tools to beat with vary and range from human rights, women rights, child labour, nuclear proliferation, state terrorism, drug peddling, religious extremism, cross border terrorism, linkage with terrorists, rogue elements within the army, lack of democracy etc. Besides the instruments of coercion in its armory, USA also has several carrots in the form of IMF, World Bank and other financial institutions. These are means to neo-colonise third world countries by lending interest based debt. Pakistan too was lured to receive debt from IMF in eighties as a result of which it is now shackled in a debt trap of over $45 billion which it is unable to repay. It even finds hard to pay the annual debt servicing which runs into millions of dollars.

Although Pakistan has all along maintained friendly relations with USA and at one time was seen as the most allied ally of USA, yet it has been put under US sanctions more than any other country in the world. It was put under sanctions during 1965 war, then in mid 1971, in 1979, in October 1990, in May 1998, in October 1999 and in November 2007. A very heavy price was extracted from Pakistan whenever US assistance was provided. USA has a history of leaving Pakistan in a lurch whenever its support was needed the most. After 9/11 when Bush extended a hand of friendship, he assured Musharraf that USA would not ditch Pakistan and would strive to build people to people mutually sustaining lasting friendship. However, in actuality it continued to build strategic relationship with India at the cost of Pakistan. It inked ten-year defence deal and tens of lucrative economic agreements including a civilian nuclear deal with India but extended no such facility to Pakistan.

Instead of feeling grateful for the services rendered by our army in making the task of US-Nato troops in Afghanistan easier, Bush Administration began to express its unhappiness over army's performance and kept pushing Musharraf to do more. It wanted the army to go berserk and eliminate all militants unmindful of casualties and sufferings of the peaceful citizens of FATA. Controlled operations followed by peace deals were scoffed at and it was said that the army didn't have heart to confront the militants. The purpose behind it was to make the army inextricably involved in the cauldron of FATA and create permanent enmity between the tribals and army.

While urging the army to do more, CIA and RAW on the quiet kept playing a dual game by supporting and stoking anti-army elements in FATA. Missiles fired by predators were aimed at disrupting peace deals with the militants. To further foment trouble, RAW began to train, equip and launch terrorists into Baluchistan, Fata and settled districts of NWFP from training camps established in Afghanistan in a big way. Several nationalist groups were instigated in Gilgit to seek an independent state. CIA and FBI elements already present in Pakistan since late 2001 helped RAW agents to find their way and cultivate dissidents from within the troubled spots. Military bases provided to US troops in Baluchistan and along our coastal belt were made use of to destabilize Iran and Baluchistan. RAW had earlier on played this game from 1968 to 1971 against former East Pakistan and then from 1980 to 1990 against Pakistan in alliance with KGB and KHAD. This time RAM, Mossad and MI-6 is providing backup support.

After pasting charges of religious extremism, cross border terrorism, human rights violations in Baluchistan and nuclear proliferation, the army and Frontier Corps were maligned under a well planned agenda. It was alleged that certain elements within these organisations had a soft corner for the militants and were in league with them. After exerting pressure, Musharraf was forced by USA to purge the ISI and our nuclear set ups of all conservative elements and those involved in Afghan and Kashmir Jihad so that penetration into sensitive organisations was made easier. The latest in the firing line is ISI which has been accused of maintaining secret links with Afghan and local Taliban and playing a double game. It was alleged that the ISI train and launch militants across the border to destabilize Afghanistan. It was accused of having a hand in 7 July suicide attack on Indian embassy in Kabul. Admiral Mullen and Stephen Kappes on their visit to Islamabad on 12 July revealed ISI's links with Jalaluddin Haqqani based in Khost. They impressed upon the CJSC and COAS to take immediate remedial steps to control ISI or else suffer the consequences.

This harsh message which was delivered at a time when Gilani was preparing for his maiden visit to Washington put the regime in a spin. None noted as to why such a sudden change of heart about ISI took place with which the CIA had maintained exceptionally close relations for a very long time. The change occurred after power shifted from presidency to the parliament and ISI came under the PM and new COAS. It appears that the ISI of late has started to take preventive measures after learning about CIA's deep involvement in Baluchistan, FATA and Swat which has vexed the plot makers. Having hatched a gory plan to destabilise and denuclearize Pakistan, our adversaries' want the sheep put on the chopping block not to thwart their designs or to even bleat.

The new government however has its own weaknesses since its top leadership is tied to NRO brokered by USA. In his bid to defuse the tense situation Gilani blurted out some statements in quick succession. He reiterated Bush's apprehensions that 9/11 like incident could recur from FATA. He also reconfirmed presence of foreign terrorists in the tribal belt as had been alleged by USA. He resolved to keep fighting the militants and added that war on terror was ?Pakistan's own war'. He pledged not to negotiate with militants who refused to surrender arms. As a follow up of his verbal assurances, he gave a go ahead to launch military operations in Hangu, Swat and Bajaur in stages soon after finishing one in Khyber Agency. Failing to appease the fuming US leadership, a notification was hurriedly issued on 26 July placing ISI and IB under Ministry of Interior.

As a chosen democratic leader of the nation, it was not expected of Gilani to become apologetic and go out of the way to appease Americans. He was expected to shun Musharraf's submissiveness and forthrightly tell Bush of the perverse role played by CIA-RAW-RAM-Mossad combine to destabilize Pakistan. He should have expressed his serious concern over the US drone attack in FATA on the day he was to meet Bush and should have informed his host that in future violation of Pakistan's sovereignty would no more be tolerated and that he should stop lending his ears to baseless accusations leveled by its chief protagonist India and must not blackmail Pakistan. Concerning hackneyed ?do more mantra', he should have told him the army was already performing more than enough, and that it was NATO led ISAF that needed to do more in Afghanistan where things have gone haywire.

About US concerns over the ISI, he should have been told that if other spy agencies are leaving no stone unturned to create chaos and anarchy in Pakistan, why should they expect the ISI to hibernate and lay eggs or perform only US dictated tasks. He should have reminded him that it is CIA which is playing a double game and not ISI. He should have conveyed the fears of Pakistanis that their nuclear weapons would be stolen by USA and not by our so-called extremist forces. He should have had the moral fiber to tell him that all charges leveled against Pakistan from time to time are in actuality applicable to USA, Israel and India. They are the biggest violators of crimes for which Pakistan is accused of. List of their crimes against humanity and their dual standards is too long to narrate.

The Tehrik-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) is on hit list of CIA and RAW because unlike dissident Baloch Sardars and their followers, it hasn't sought their help against Pak army and is single-handedly fighting its battle on two fronts. Threat of Talibanistan (a twisted name of Islamisation) is being overplayed. It is a continuation of efforts of adversaries of Islam to divide Muslims. Fundamentalism, Islamic extremism, terrorism were coined with the same objective. Al-Qaeda was never heard of before 9/11 but now it has become the most notorious organisation the details of which are unknown. Resultantly, secular rulers of Muslim countries parrot US themes by asserting that the biggest threat posed to them is from extremist Muslims. Ironically, Baitullah and Fazlullah and several others desperately wanted by Pakistan security forces have escaped the hawk eye of USA, particularly after they have been seen giving detailed interviews to media? ISI had once given six figure coordinates of Baitullah and yet no Hellfire missile was fired on his hideout by CIA. It seems the duo is playing a double game with TTP as well.

We as Muslims have forgotten the Quranic injunction that Jews and Christians will be friendly to each other but unfriendly to Muslims. Despite having seen their real face and known that Hindus, Americans, Israelis and western nations have ganged up against Pakistan, our rulers continue to blindly trust them. They are deliberately bleeding Pakistan from within to facilitate our adversaries to accomplish their nefarious objectives. The trap has been woven around Pakistan and it is matter of time before the string is pulled. We must wake up and break the web before it is too late.

(The writer is a retired Brig based in Rawalpindi and a defence and political analyst)