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We will go to polls if our demands met: Khaleda: Level playing field not yet created, 40 leaders of BNP still in jail, of she says

Huge rush of supporters of candidates in front of
Awami League office seeking nomination for the Jatiya
Sangsad election yesterday. NN photo

Staff Reporter

BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia yesterday demanded of the government to implement its seven-point demand for holding free and fair election in the country.

“We want go to the polls if the caretaker government meet our demands and create level playing field,” she said at a mammoth rally at the historic Laldighi Maidan in the port city Chittagong that was organised by local BNP.

Begum Zia arrived at the Maidan at 4pm after driving to the port city at 1:45pm amid crowd cheering greeting her.

The rally formally started at 3pm. Chittagong city BNP convenor and former Member of Parliament Syed Wahidul Alam presided over the rally.

Joint Secretaries general Abdullah Al Mamun and Goyasher Chandra Roy, Salauddin Quader Chowdury, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Brigadier (Retd) ASM Hannan Shah, Rabeya Chowdhury, Mohammad Shahjahan, Golam Akbar Khandaker, Barkat Ullah Bulu, Begum Rosy Kabir, Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury, Shahjahan Chowdhury, Jafarul Islam Chowdhury, Sarwar Jamal Nizam, Gazi Mohammed Shahjahan Jewel, Mostafa Kamal Pasha, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, Ahmed Khalil Khan, Azizul Bari Helal and Saiful Bari Babu of BNP and Shamsul Islam, city ameer of Jamaat, singer Asif among others, spoke on the occasion.

Sharply criticising the role of the caretaker government, Begum Zia said that it could do nothing other than wasting time and mounting sufferings of common people over the last couple of years.

“We went backward at least 20 years within only last two years and time has come to get united again to restore democracy through movement,” she added.

BNP Chairperson urged the government to accept their demands immediately and hold election for transferring power to an elected government for protecting the country’s independence and sovereignty.

“We want to go to polls but a congenial atmosphere is yet to create. An environment congenial to a fair election would be created if our seven-point demand are met,” said Khaleda Zia in her first public meeting since the easing of emergency rules on political activities.

She said the government has met all the demands of the others except BNP’s.

“They (government) claimed that they had accepted all our demands but there is no sign of implementation,” she mentioned.

She demanded implementation of BNP’s seven- point demand including complete of lifting the sate of emergency, cancelling provisions of the Representation of the People’s Order (RPO) and release of the detained leaders of the party.

The BNP Chairperson alleged that the government has not created a level playing field for all political parties expected to participate in the election.

“The government has created level playing field for one party and uneven field for BNP,” she added. She said that although leaders of a particular party were released but about 40 senior leaders of BNP are still under detention.

“I was confined to the special jail for one year. I don’t know why I was kept detained,” said the former prime minister.

She accused the caretaker government of crushing the people’s political rights.

The government wants to go for selection in the name of election by keeping the state of emergency in force.

Criticising the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) for urging the district commissioners to hold an election like that of 1970, She said, free and fair election is not be possible under the present Election Commission (EC).

Begum Zia in her 35- minute speech claimed that the EC did not keep word what it promised with the BNP and its allies.

She said the people of the country started casting doubts on the present EC.

The BNP chief said she had done no injustice while in office. But she said the government had converted the country into a mass-jail by picking up her party’s innocent leaders and activists.

“I had been detained in jail for nearly one- year and my family has deliberately been destroyed, even my two son’s have been disabled,” she mentioned adding that she did not make any comprise with the government even in the face of torture.

“I was born in Bangladesh and would die in the country and never leave my country,” she said adding that she could not leave the country in her own interest by keeping the people in danger.

“No matter how much conspiracy is webbed, you know what is true and what is false,” she mentioned.

She said, internal and external forces were making conspiracies to plunder the country’s mineral resources to turn it to a nation without backbone.

She called upon all to resist all conspiracies by uniting themselves for saving the country and democracy.

Justifying her innocence and wrongful arrest she said that she had not committed any crime and finally been released by the order of the country’s High Court.

Referring to Sheikh Hasina’s remarks that the election must be held on December 18 no matter who comes or not, Begum Zia questioned why they (Awami League) had jeopardised the elections on January 22 in 2007 by creating anarchy and chaos with oar and pole (logi- baitha) that virtually collapsed the country.

“We will take a set of measures if voted to power,” she pledge.

Earlier Begum Zia directly went to the circuit house for rest and refreshments and later exchanged views with the local BNP leaders on a number of issues.

It is her first visit to Chittagong since the current military-installed interim government took power and her release on bail from detention on a slew of graft charges.

The convoy of Begum Zia from the capital to the port city passed through the cheering crowds holding banners and festoons at Siddhirgonj, Kanchpur bridge intersection, Meghna bridge, Daudkandi, Gouripur, Ilyotgonj, Chandina, Nimsar Bazaar and Moynamoti along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

What’s in the name?: DU female hall work stalled

Md Jamal Uddin

A row over the naming of a female hall has stalled the construction work of the proposed dormitory of Dhaka University.

A total of Tk 21 crore has been allocated for the construction of a female hall and the development work of Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall in 2006.

The government has so far released Tk 6.15 crore in two phases and the remaining allocation will be released after the beginning of the construction work.

If the construction work of the dormitory does not begin within June 2009, the money of Annual Development Project will have to be returned, said an official of the university.

Sources said former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, also BNP Chairperson, announced the construction of a 500-seat female hall on the Railway land opposite Curzon Hall in 2003 to reduce the female students` seat crisis.

According to the announcement, the Senate meeting of the university on June 28 in 2005 had passed the proposal to build a new hall for the female students named after Begum Khaleda Zia.

Despite repeated government reminders the construction work remained stalled due to the grouping of teachers, sources said.

A section of the university teachers blamed the Vice Chancellor Prof SMA Faiz for not taking necessary steps in this regard being influenced by some pro-Awami League Blue Panel teachers.

They claimed that the authority should start the work of the dormitory named after Begum Khaleda Zia.

Prof SMA Faiz said, "The incomplete eviction drive on the land is hampering the construction work not the naming of the hall. Because, our main target is to build a hall for the female students to ease seat crisis."

Pullout of warship is on Myanmar moves troops along eastern border

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh apparently avoided a naval confrontation with Myanmar through diplomatic initiatives and also safeguarded its sovereignty in territorial waters, as the neighbour has started withdrawing battleships from the disputed waters.

The government, however, vowed to do “everything” to protect its territory from intrusion as Myanmar moved some troops in the frontiers along the southeastern Bangladesh at the same time.

Defence sources said Yangon overnight withdrew two warships leaving the two missile boats at the scene but reports were received that they moved some troops along Bangladesh border.

Meanwhile, the South Korean company, engaged by Myanmar, was wrapping up its hydrocarbon exploration mission that it began in Bangladesh water.

“We will do everything to maintain our sovereignty and territory,” Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told national news agency BSS.

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed late Thursday reviewed the situation in a meeting joined by home and foreign advisers, army, navy and air force chiefs and senior civil and military officials.

Dr Iftekhar said, he talked to envoys of South Korea and China, a close ally of Myanmar, while Bangladesh ambassadors to the two countries were continuing talks with authorities in Seoul and Beijing to resolve the crisis.

The crisis erupted last week with the intervention of Yangon in the Bangladesh waters defying an earlier understanding.

Officials earlier said, South Korean Daewoo had already initiated the process of dismantling of the installation from the scene in the sea, while Bangladesh and Myanmar’s war ships were still positioned in the area.

“(But) we will keep our presence in the region until we are confident about their (Myanmar’s) intention,” the Foreign Adviser said while defence sources said five Bangladeshi navy vessels including a frigate and 2 missile boats and two Myanmar missile boats were staying in close proximity, while the Korean rig continued the withdrawal process.

Foreign ministry officials, without elaboration, said the three-member high powered delegation led by foreign secretary Mohammad Touhid Hossain was expected to return home today after three days of talks with military junta in Yangon.

The delegation went to Myanmar in a bid to pursue the secluded country to suspend the hydrocarbon explorations in the area until the settlement of the maritime boundary.

Foreign ministry officials said, the Foreign Adviser was in communication with some foreign diplomats in Bangladesh and some Bangladeshi ambassadors abroad in the past two days as Dhaka engaged diplomatic channels abroad seeking other “concerned countries” role in revolving the crisis.

“This is indeed good news, if true, and would mean that our initiatives have paid off,” Dr Iftekhar said referring to the South Korean company’s reported move.

The foreign ministry also received a letter from Daewoo Company stating that the dismantling process had begun which might take a few days to complete.

Shape of Obama’s new team

Rahm Emanuel, Lawrence Summers and Robert
Gates

Agency, Washington

Although Barack Obama will not take office until 20 January 2009, he is already moving to fill the key posts in his administration.

With the US economy still in crisis, and US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is expected to act quickly to fill national security and economic posts.

He is also likely to reach out to Republicans and independents to attempt to build a centrist administration.

The selection of the next Treasury secretary will arguably be the most important appointment for the president-elect.

The treasury secretary will have almost unlimited authority to spend the $700bn allocated by Congress to help avert a financial meltdown.

Among the top contenders for the job of secretary of the Treasury are Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, and Paul Volker.

Larry Summers was Treasury secretary under President Clinton and more recently president of Harvard University. He is known for his outspoken views which have sometimes landed him in trouble, but his international experience would be a plus in dealing with a global crisis. Paul Volker would be a less partisan choice. He was chairman of the Federal Reserve in the l980s, he clashed with Ronald Reagan and his supply-side economics philosophy of tax cuts.

Timothy Geithner is the head of the New York branch of Federal Reserve, which has been deeply involved in the recent series of financial bail-outs. He is also a former Clinton administration Treasury official.

If president-elect Obama wanted to reach into Wall Street, the traditional place to find Treasury Secretaries, he might call on New Jersey governor and former Senator Jon Corzine. Mr Corzine was a former boss of Goldman Sachs, like his successor Hank Paulson, the current Treasury secretary.

Another Wall Street possibility would be Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, one of the few banks to survive the sub-prime crisis relatively unscathed.

Lower down, Obama is likely to retain Jason Furman, his chief economic advisor, as head of the National Economic Council. Furman, a protege of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, is known as a budget deficit hawk and a strong supporter of free trade.

And there are reports that he will name Penny Pritzker, the billionaire Chicago business tycoon who was head of his campaign finance organisation, as Commerce Secretary.

Overall, the range of choices suggest that Obama will be governing from the centre, with people with experience in dealing with the financial crisis at the top of his list.

However, he may attempt to reward his support from the trade unions by appointing Andy Stern of SEIU as labour secretary.

Stern was an early supporter of Obama when other trade unions backed Hillary Clinton. Another possibility would be former Democratic House leader Richard Gephardt, who has strong union links.

There is speculation that President-elect Obama will want to ensure a bi-partisan approach to foreign policy by appointing prominent Republicans to key positions.

This could involve reappointing Robert Gates as defence secretary to help ensure a smooth transition during a time of war.

Alternatively, the president-elect might want to reach out to two moderate Republican Senators, Richard Lugar of Indiana or Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who retired this year, and appoint one of them as Secretary of State.

Both were sceptical of the Bush administration's approach to the Iraq war. Lugar has also played a prominent role in anti-proliferation efforts.

If he appoints a Democrat, the 2004 presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, or New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a former energy secretary, appear to be on the short list.

As national security advisor, Obama might appoint Jim Steinberg, a former Clinton official who now works at the Brookings Institution, or Dennis Ross, Clinton's Middle East envoy.

Susan Rice, who was one of Obama's key foreign policy advisor, is reportedly being considered for the post of UN ambassador.

It is not clear whether Samantha Power, the Harvard professor who has written on the US response to genocide, will play a role in the new administration. She resigned as an advisor in March after calling Mrs Clinton a monster.

However, Obama may want to acknowledge the importance of the global justice movement in his coalition by choosing someone beyond the "realists" who make up the majority of his foreign policy team.

Obama is believed to be keen to encourage diversity in his first cabinet, and may also want to include some Democratic governors from Republican states to emphasise his appeal for national unity.

Among the top contenders are two women governors: Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, who may be under consideration at the Department of Justice, and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, an early supporter of Obama, as head of Health and Human Services. Also in the running is former Governor Tom Vlasik of Iowa, who may be agriculture secretary.

And Obama may want to find a role for former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle, who lost his seat in 2004, who has excellent Congressional connections.

But there is unlikely to be a role for Colin Powell, Bush's first secretary of state who backed Obama in the election.

For press secretary the president-elect may call on Robert Gibbs, a campaign aide whose combination of a jolly personal style and steely on-message discipline impressed reporters.

Obama's chief of staff will be Rahm Emanuel, the tough Chicago congressman who is a major political operative.

And his campaign strategist David Axelrod, the architect of his election victory, has also accepted the job of senior White House adviser - a post previously held by Karl Rove.

Alleged extortionist dies in custody

Staff Reporter

A young boy accused of an extortion charge fell sick at the court premises and died in police custody at Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.

Ratan Ahmed, arrested by RAB from Mirpur on Thursday in an extortion charge was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) from the court at about 11:00am where doctors on duty declared him dead.

Police said members of RAB-4 caught Ratan red-handed, while taking extortion money of Tk 10,000 from a businessman behind Sony Cinema Hall in Mirpur-2 Thursday night. Later, he was handed over to Mirpur police.

Mohiuddin Ahmed Officer in-Charge of Mirpur Police Station told the New Nation, "After filing a case against Ratan we sent him to the court yesterday morning where he fell sick and was immediately rushed to DMCH where doctors declared him dead."

But, the victim's family members alleged that Ratan became sick as the RAB men tortured him so severely that ultimately claimed his life.

Rejecting the allegation, a RAB official said Ratan has long been demanding Tk 5 lakh from Shahjahan Ali, a businessman of Shah Ali Market, over phone and making threats on his life.

"We caught Ratan at about 8:30pm and handed him over to police at 10:30pm. He was with us for two hours and during the time Ratan was completely fit," he said.

News analysis: Silent revolution in American society

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

The Barack Obama victory in the US presidential election sent people around the world to cheers because of the "change we need" he promised. And Obama echoed the sentiment of the humanity when he in his victory speech made mention of the perils of two wars, an earth threatened and the global economic crisis that he has vowed to face.

This world appeal of Obama gives the most powerful nation on Earth an opportunity to regain moral leadership of the globe by ending the vicious cycle of hate, mistrust and the use of force rather than reason that reduced the world order to a domain where might was right during the last eight years.

The most important thing that made possible the creation of a setting for a new beginning for not only America but also the world has been the greatness of the US electorate which chose to make the first African-American their President because he promised the most longed for 'change.'

As predicted by many, the Obama victory sent to tears many including Jesse Jackson who had made a failed attempt at the US presidency not in a very distant past. It is a silent revolution in the American society which has thrown its weight behind the right cause that Obama promised. The issue at stake was important and also the man who proved forceful enought to carry it forward. The African Americans have every reason to feel extremely happy at Obama's win, but since they comprise only about one-eight of the American electorate the victory was possible because of overwhelming support of the majority white voters.

One of Britain’s influential black figures Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, earlier did suggest that guilt over transatlantic slavery was behind Mr Obama’s support from middle class whites. However, Trevor Phillips was also quoted as saying that "A vote for Obama is a pain-free negation of their own racism.”

The November 4 voting proved that the Americans have risen well above that. Time magazine’s John Klein has written, 'But this election was about much more than issues. It was the ratification of an essential change in the nature of the country.’

John Klein writes, “Obama's victory creates the prospect of a new "real" America. We can't possibly know its contours yet, although I suspect the headline is that it is no longer homogeneous. It is no longer a "white" country, even though whites remain the majority. It is a place where the primacy of racial identity - and this includes the old, Jesse Jackson version of black racial identity - has been replaced by the celebration of pluralism, of cross-racial synergy.”

“After eight years of misgovernance, it has lost some of its global swagger t but also some of its arrogance. It may no longer be as dominant, economically or diplomatically, as it once was. But it is younger, more optimistic, less cynical. It is a country that retains its ability to startle the world - and in a good way, with our freedom. It is a place, finally, where the content of our President's character is more important than the colour of his skin”, John Klein adds.

The world now eagerly awaits the transition of power in the White House and translation of 'the content’ of character of the US President-elect into real actions to bring back sanity to his country as well as the rest of the world.

4-party sticks to 3 demands

Rafiqul Islam Azad

The BNP-led four-party alliance is learnt to be sticking to three demands, the withdrawal of state of emergency, amendment of some provisions of the RPO and deferment of Upazila polls for its participation in the ensuing parliamentary elections.

Insiders said the withdrawal of emergency is considered important to ensure the participation in the elections of at least 26 of BNP’s former ministers and MPs and two former MPs of Jamaat and IOJ and the amendment of the Representation of People Order (RPO) is sought to facilitate the participation of retired civil servants in the polls and ease certain requirements for a candidate.

The seven-point demand of the alliance has been zeroed in on the three demands that has been set as pre-conditions to their joining the elections.

The former ministers and MPs who will not be able to contest the polls due to conviction under the state of emergency include Begum Khaleda Zia’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, former ministers-Barrister Nazmul Huda, Barrister Aminul Haque, Shajahan Siraj, Morshed Khan, former state ministers Barrister Shahjahan Omar, Aman Ullah Aman, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud and Ziaul Hoque Zia, former MPs-Salauddin Ahmed, Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Ali Asgar Lobi, Eng Monjurul Ahsan Munshi, Rashiduzzaman Millat, Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu, Mosaddek Ali Falu, Hafiz Ibrahim, Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker and M Naser Rahman.

Among other party leaders, former Jamaat MP Shajahan Chowdhury and former IOJ MP Mufti Shahidul Islam will also be ineligible to fight the polls on the same grounds.

Talking to The New Nation, the leaders of BNP, Jamaat-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) observed that they are ready to take part in the parliamentary polls but they want fulfillment of their demands first.

BNP Vice President and former minister MK Anwar said during the dialogue the government stated that it had agreed to six out of the seven demands.

“Now, it is up to the government to say about implementation of the demands,” he said.

Terming some provisions of the RPO unconstitutional, the BNP leader argued that the provisions should be repealed.

Jamaat-Islami Secretary General and former minister Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed said the government should implement the demands of the alliance to create a level playing field to hold free, fair and credible elections.

“We are waiting for government response regarding implementation of our demands before taking the decision to participate in the polls,” he categorically said.

Islami Oikya Jote Secretary General Maulana Abdul Latif Nezami alleged that though the government has released many leaders of the Awami League but there are still over fifty alliance leaders in jails.

He termed such behaviour of the government contradictory and emphasised the need for ensuring level playing field for all parties for acceptable polls.