US Advisory to travel to Bangladesh

US State Department issued a level-4 Travel Advisory to ask US citizens and officials not to travel to Bangladesh due to civil unrest, crime, and terrorism. This is the highest level of advisory from the US State Department.  US State Department 

Updated to reflect Level 4: Do Not Travel and the Department’s ordered departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members.

Do not travel to Bangladesh due to civil unrest, crime, and terrorism.

Country Summary: On August 5, 2024, the Department ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members. Travelers should not travel to Bangladesh due to ongoing civil unrest in Dhaka. Violent clashes have occurred in the city of Dhaka, its neighboring areas, and throughout Bangladesh, and the Bangladeshi Army is deployed nationwide. Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport temporarily paused operations on August 5. Travelers should check with their airlines to confirm status for future flights.

Travelers should be aware of petty crimes such as pickpocketing in crowded areas. Crimes such as muggings, burglaries, assaults, and illegal drug trafficking constitute the majority of criminal activity in Bangladesh’s major cities, but there are no indications foreigners are being targeted because of their nationality. These crimes tend to be situational, based on time and location.

Terrorist attacks can happen with little or no warning, with terrorists targeting public areas such as tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, restaurants, places of worship, school campuses, and government facilities.

Because of security concerns U.S. Embassy personnel in Bangladesh are subject to some movement and travel restrictions. The U.S. government may have limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Bangladesh due to these travel restrictions, a lack of infrastructure, and limited host government emergency response resources.

Jamat Unleashed Unprecedented Violence

Source: Daily Star, 04 Mar 2013

19 more killed

Jamaat-Shibir unleashes another wave of terror in 5 districts during first day of hartal

Star Report

Stick-wielding Jamaat-Shibir men run riot, vandalising different business centres at an intersection in Bogra town yesterday.Photo: STAR

It was all lies -- outright and outrageous -- but it worked. Jamaat's propaganda machine used a photoshopped image of Delawar Hossain Sayedee's face on the moon yesterday to entice people to unleash a second wave of terror that left at least 19 people, including a policeman, dead in five districts.

Bogra witnessed the worst, as Jamaat-Shibir men assembled locals through repeated announcements over loudspeakers that "Sayedee's face was seen on the moon and it's your holy duty to save him; otherwise, we all will go to hell”. Around 4 in the morning, they launched into attacks on police in different upazilas.

At least nine people were killed in Bogra, six in Joypurhat, two in Rajshahi, one in Satkhira and a policeman in Jhenidah in a deadly spate of violence throughout the day.

Three women were among the dead in Bogra, as Jamaat men used women and children as a human shield during the attacks on law enforcers.

The situation worsened to such an extent that the local administration had to seek the army's help to protect the Shahjahanpur Police Station in Bogra.

At least 63 people have died since Jamaat-Shibir activists went on the rampage on Thursday after a war crimes tribunal sentenced Sayedee to death.

Yesterday was the first day of Jamaat's two-day hartal to protest Thursday's police action.

Meanwhile, Border Guard Bangladesh personnel were deployed in the capital around 8:00pm to ward off violence.

In Bogra, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir tricked hundreds of villagers into taking to the streets in the early morning, and launching attacks on law enforcers.

They clashed with law enforcers, attacked a police station and six outposts, vandalised and torched different offices. At least four people, including three women, died in Shahjahanpur upazila, three in Bogra Sadar and two in Shibganj upazila.

The violence that began around 4:00am came to a halt after four hours following news of troops deployment. However, army personnel were called back around 6:00pm.

People in different upazilas said they heard announcements over loudspeakers in the early hours on Sunday that Sayedee's image was seen on the moon.

Moved by the announcements, hundreds of people, mostly from Shahjahanpur, Kahalu, Shibganj and Dupchanchia upazilas, came out of their houses and started marching towards Bogra Sadar upazila headquarters, protesting the death penalty to Sayedee.

A few thousand people attacked Shahjahanpur Police Station near the Bogra Cantonment, around 6:00am.

"They beat up policemen indiscriminately in a surprise attack,” Mahmudul Alam, officer-in-charge of the police station, told The Daily Star.

Police opened fire to bring the situation under control, said Bogra Superintendent of Police Mozammel Haq.

Four people died there.

Atiar Rahman, an inspector of the police station, identified the four as Arjinba Begum, 45, Monjila Begum, 48, Achhia Begum, 45, and Abdur Rahman, 60.

The protesters set fire to the house of Momtaz Uddin, president of district AL unit, in the town.

The vandalism continued for nearly 50 minutes. Three more persons died in clashes in Bogra Sadar.

Their identities could not be known.

Section 144 was imposed in Bogra municipality from 7:00am to contain violence, and it would remain in force until further orders, said Arifuzzaman, nezarat deputy collector in Bogra.

In a statement, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) condemned attacks on the house of FBCCI director Momtaz Uddin, business establishments and the office of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Joypurhat witnessed a spate of violence, as pro-hartal activists clashed with police in Panchbibi and Sadar upazila. At least six persons were killed and 30 others were hit by bullets during the clashes.

The dead are Nasir Uddin, 18, of Bashkur village, Hasib Uddin, 50, of Baramanik, Forman Ali, 30 of Rasulpur, Abdul Hakim, 32, of Salaipur, Mojidul Islam, 35, of Kashra village, and Abdul Bari, 24, of Rahmatpur village.

Five of them were killed in Panchbibi and the other in Joypurhat sadar, said sources.

Jamaat-Shibir activists swooped on police in front of Joypurhat Palli Bidyut Samity office around 11:00am, prompting police to fire shots. One person was killed on the spot.

Another group of Jamaat men gathered at Panchbibi Bazar to lay siege to the Panchbibi Police Station. As they marched towards the police station, BGB and police personnel fired shots, leaving two persons dead.

Three of the injured later died at Panchbibi Health Complex.

Md Hamidul Islam, superintendent of police in Joypurhat, confirmed that three persons died in the clashes.

However, Fazlur Rahman, Jamaat ameer in Joypurhat, said six persons were killed during the clashes in Panchbibi and Joypurhat.

Section 144 was imposed in Panchbibi and Joypurhat sadar following the clashes.

OTHER DISTRICTS 
Jamaat men launched attacks on law enforcers at Godagari upazila in Rajshahi, leaving at least two persons dead and 30 people injured.

The dead are Rafiqul Islam, 12, of Godagari municipality, and Mojahid Hossain, 45, activist of Jamaat municipality unit and Imam of Mohishalbari mosque, said Wahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Godagari Police Station.

Section 144 was slapped in the municipality for an indefinite period after the clash, said Godagari Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tuhinur Alam.

Witnesses said the clash erupted when more than 500 Jamaat-Shibir men barricaded the Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi highway with logs, and burnt tyres around 9:00am.

Another group of pickets chased law enforcers at the cinema hall intersection, damaged vehicles and threw brickbats at police.

At one stage, the pickets fired shots and threw cocktails at the law enforcers.

In retaliation, police and BGB personnel fired over 100 rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the attackers, said OC Wahidul.

Pro-hartal activists also put up barricades on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi road at Abhoyer intersection, on Rajshahi-Naogaon road in Mohonpur upazila and Rajshahi-Natore road at Kharkhari around 9:00am.

In Jhenidah, Jamaat-Shibir men hacked to death a policeman and gouged out his eye at Sanatanpur police camp in Harinakundo upazila.

They attacked the police camp, forcing the on-duty policemen to retreat to the headquarters. They soon caught up with the policemen and hacked them indiscriminately.

The Jamaat activists hacked Constable Omar Faruque to death and gouged out his eye.

Several seriously injured policemen were admitted to the hospital.

Nearly 3,000 Jamaat-Shibir and BNP activists also brought out a procession in Harinakundo upazila.

Jamaat men vandalised establishments in the upazila and set fire to government offices. Police lobbed teargas canisters and fired rubber bullets to disperse them.

At least one person was killed and seven others, including three BGB members, were injured in a clash between BGB personnel and Jamaat activists at Raichhpur in Sadar thana, two kilometres away from Satkhira town.

Lt Col Abu Basir of BGB in Satkhira said Jamaat men attacked two BGB vans near the border around 12:00pm, prompting the BGB personnel to fire shots.

A Jamaat supporter was killed and three BGB members were injured in the incident.

A clash between Jamaat men and Awami League activists ensued at Nalta, when ruling party men tried to prevent Jamaat-Shibir activists from carrying out vandalism.

In Chittagong, clashes and gunfights between Jamaat men and Rab personnel left at least 14 people injured at Shekher Khil in Banskhali upazila.

Vehicular movement on Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway remained suspended, as Jamaat-Shibir men barricaded the highway with logs.

Meanwhile, pro-hartal activists in Pabna put up barricades on the Dhaka-Pabna and Pabna-Kushtia highways after Fajr prayers. They also attacked the house of an AL union unit president and five shops at Ataikula.

Jamaat-Shibir men also felled hundreds of roadside trees and blocked the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf-Arakan road since Saturday night. They also swooped on law enforcers at Ukhia upazila in Cox's Bazar, leaving at least five policemen injured.

Death Sentence Given to Bangladesh Islamist Sparks Fatal Clashes

Source: Bloomberg News
Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal sentenced a senior member of the country’s biggest Islamic party to death, sparking fatal violence nationwide.

A panel of judges yesterday found Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee guilty of committing crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s independence struggle in 1971, Syed Haider Ali, a prosecutor, said in comments on live television.

The tribunal’s first verdict since protesters began occupying a Dhaka square to demand capital punishment for the guilty was followed by clashes between activists of Jamaat and security forces, which the Daily Star newspaper reported left as many as 13 people dead, three of them policemen.

The International Crimes Tribunal’s rulings have reopened wounds from the war more than four decades ago that led to the founding of Bangladesh. Thousands of protesters demanding the most severe punishments for those convicted have occupied Shahbag square in central Dhaka since judges sentenced another Jamaat leader to life in prison on Feb. 5.

Sayedee, 73, who was in court when the verdict was delivered, faced 19 charges including the murder of civilians, collaborating with the Pakistani army to kill and torture unarmed people, torching homes and carrying out atrocities against the Hindu community, according to a court document detailing the indictment. Eight charges were proved beyond reasonable doubt, Ali said.

“It’s a victory day, it’s a day of joy. Through this verdict, the nation is seeing the resurgence of liberation war spirits,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters at the tribunal premises in Dhaka amid heightened security.

Fight Continues

Sayedee was sentenced to death on two specific charges of killing unarmed people in the southern district of Pirojpur, Alam said.

The judges -- led by Justice A.T.M. Fazle Kabir -- said in their summary of the verdict that international law imposed no statute of limitations on war crimes.

Demonstrators led by Imran Sarkar, convener of a group known as the Bloggers and Online Activists Network, called for the death penalty for Sayedee as they poured into the capital’s financial district of Motijheel Feb. 27.

“We won’t give up the fight until we get justice,” Sarkar said in a statement to the media. The protesters later relocated to Shahbag, the rallying point for anti-Jamaat activists. Jamaat called for a national strike, demanding Sayedee be freed.

Dhaka Rallies

At the end of British colonial rule in 1947, East and West Pakistan were separated by 2,000 kilometers (1,241 miles) of Indian territory. Pakistani troops in 1971 attempted to quell a nationalist uprising in the east that was triggered by the jailing of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had led his Awami League to victory in elections. The war ended nine months later with the creation of Bangladesh after Indian forces helped defeat Pakistan’s army.

As crowds swelled in Shahbag, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed Feb. 17 empowered the tribunal to punish any organization whose members carried out crimes during the independence fight. The move sparked reports the government was preparing to ban Jamaat, an extremist group which sided with Pakistan during the war and whose members account for nine of the dozen people facing the tribunal.

Previously judges could only put individuals on trial. In another change, prosecutors can now appeal any of the panel’s verdicts.

Historic Wrong

In a sign of the widespread anger the alleged mass murders, rapes and abductions four decades ago can still provoke, the Dhaka protest site has drawn bloggers, writers, singers, teachers, students, and the country’s cricket team. Police say the gathering has at times swelled to 100,000 people.

While the prime minister says the tribunal is about righting an historic wrong, opponents have called the trials politically motivated. Jamaat is an ally of Hasina’s main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and won nearly 5 percent of votes cast in the nation’s parliamentary election in 2008, according to the Bangladesh Election Commission.

The Shahbag protests began after the tribunal Feb. 5 gave a jail term to Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah.

The protesters defend their call for the death penalty for the guilty by saying that people like Mollah would be freed from jail if Jamaat once again has a role in government.

Sayedee was involved in the abduction, confinement and rape of women, including Hindus, in Pirojpur, according to the court document. He also forced some Hindus to convert to Islam, an act the court considers a crime against humanity.

Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh

By Joseph Zeitlyn, Contributor / February 13, 2013

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

A protest that has at times swelled into the hundreds of thousands entered its ninth day today in Bangladesh’s capital, touched off by the outcome of a war crimes trial that has awoken an astonishing struggle over this country's identity and the role that religion plays in its fractious politics.

“God is Great,” cried out Abdul Qader Mollah, as he was sentenced to life behind bars on Feb. 5 in Bangladesh’s controversial war crimes tribunal. Known as the "butcher of Mirpur," Mr. Mollah was convicted of heinous crimes committed in 1971 during the country’s blood-soaked independence struggle from Pakistan. He has also been one of the leaders of the largest Islamist party here, the Jamaat-e-Islami. 

After the sentencing, protesters gathered in downtown Dhaka, crying foul that Mollah had not received the death sentence. This soon galvanized a vibrant protest movement against the ongoing influence of conservative, politicized Islam in one of the world's most populous Muslim nations.

“The current movement is aimed very explicitly at the Jamaat's role in 1971,” says Zafar Sobhan, editor of the Dhaka Tribune. But “it was clear that the future that the youths protesting ... envision is one without Islamist politics, returning to Bangladesh's secular roots, and recognition that religion-based politics had poisoned the society.

“They don't want to see the Jamaati-style Islamism either gain further currency in the society or more power politically,” he says.

Crowds continued to grow all week after the verdict. Soon a junction previously known simply as Shahbagh had become "Shahbagh Square," in reference to Tahrir. The calls of the protest morphed from macabre lynched effigies to calls for Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to be banned and associated businesses boycotted.

“Us pushing for the death sentence is the tip of the iceberg; this is a way to begin to unravel religion from politics,” says founding protester and blogger Asif Moihuddin, who was recently stabbed by Islamist thugs because of the content of his blog.

The 1971 independence struggle pitted indigenous Bengali identity against those wishing to remain a part of Pakistan, a country founded with an Islamic identity.

 JI represents two things in Bangladesh, says Mr. Sobhan. “The first is their Islamist political philosophy. The second is their role, both as a party and individually, as collaborators with the Pakistan Army in 1971,” and as such, the current protests have drawn on a potent secular patriotism.

The protests “are not an antireligious movement; we are not against Islam,” says Mr. Moihuddin. “We are against intimidation in the name of Islam and religion interfering in politics.”

For their part, the JI have called the protests “fascist in nature,” in a recent press release.

"Of late we have learnt that the demonstrators are planning to attack commercial and philanthropic organizations having distant relationships with Jamaat,” says JI spokesman Abdur Razzaq. He also worries that "the judges of the tribunal will be intimidated" by the protest.

As for calls to disband his party, Mr. Razzaq sees politics at play: "This idea was first floated by a partner of the ruling coalition with communist/socialist leanings."

But there are some indications that the protesters are attempting to avoid co-option from political parties. Last Wednesday, a ruling party politician was pelted with bottles when he attempted to address the crowd. “I don't want the politicians here, they are poison,” says protester Sadab Hossein.

“This verdict gave us an opportunity to hold both the government and JI accountable to the people on an issue we can assemble round,” says Moihuddin. “If we don’t stop them now, who’s to say where it ends.”

He insists he will continue to protest at Shahbagh, despite receiving death threats.

There are already indications that the ongoing disruption could touch off violence. Counter-riots from JI's student wing, known as Shibir, have broken out, with live ammunition, Molotov cocktails, and running battles with police in other parts of the city.

The US based Islamist organizations and expatriate Bangladeshis

The US based Islamist organizations and expatriate Bangladeshis

By Sajjad Jahir

Bangladesh was born in blood and tears. Most of the population of this land experienced a horrendous brutal occupation perpetrated by alien invaders, who happened to be Muslims by religion. The Two Nation Theory once unified the country of Pakistan, but gradually Bengalis were disenchanted and disillusioned by the hollowness of the religious doctrine of Pakistan’s basis. The twenty fifth March’s crackdown of the Pakistani military force made it clear to ordinary citizens of Bangladesh one simple matter. The Pakistani oligarchy with their perception of racial superiority and religious purity were not serving the interest of the Bengali Muslims.

The liberation of Bangladesh opened the door for Bangladeshi people’s migration to outside of the country. Many of the semi literate ones went temporarily to find menial works in the Middle East. A good number of educated folks thought of embracing Western societies as their own.

After migrating to the Western world, Bangladeshi Muslims like people from quite a few other Muslim majority countries started to face identity crisis. Are they Americans first or Muslims first? Or, are they Bangladeshi-Americans or Muslim-Americans? All those questions remain unresolved. Although most of the Bangladeshi immigrants in America do not have any sympathy for Islamist parties back home, a god number of them begin to nurture positive view about the US based Islamist organizations. Because of their uncertain future in a Western society, Bangladeshi Muslims strive to cling to the religious aspect of their self identity. The Saudi influenced mosques, Sunday’s Arabic schools for children and weekly Halaqa session gradually pull them far from Rabindranath Thakur, Lalon Shah and Jibanananda’s paradigm. In reality, the new generation of the Bangladeshi-Americans gradually lose connection to their forefathers’ secular Aboho Bangla past. In this backdrop, the US based Islamist groups have big audience to grab. Gradually, more and more Bangladeshi Muslims living in America were starting to cultivate sympathetic view about groups like CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, MPAC or MSA. They perceived those organizations as their future guardians. The two logics can come into play. Primarily, CAIR as an assumed civil rights organization can rescue them when chips are down. Secondly, religious organizations like ISNA or ICNA can salvage their Muslim self. Many of the Bangladeshi parents of Muslim background were afraid their offsprings may become too much Westernized. They did not want their children drown in “alcoholism, sexual promiscuity” or other “decadence” of a Western society. In their eye, only Islam can save them. So why not take shelter in the platforms of ICNA or ISNA?

When a single message critical of any of those Islamic fundamentalist leaning petro-dollar soaked Wahhabi front organizations comes to the notice of a confused Bangladeshi-American of Muslim heritage, he or she has to defend them by thinking “it must be a neo-con or a Zionist propaganda”. CAIR’s controversial past, some of their leaders’ shady background is well documented. That does not give any impact on the psyche of the new devotees from the land of Bengal. When a high profile ICNA leader’s alleged war criminal role in the Pakistani army occupied Bangladesh came to be open, many Bangladeshi-Americans thought this could be an aberration. Consequently, Bangladeshi-Americans of Muslim origin show a serious dichotomous world view. On the one hand, they have high regard for secularism in their ancestral land; on the other they strengthen Islamist groups in a secular society like in USA. Many of them may abhor Jamat-i-Islami in their native Bangladesh. But they feel at ease attending Bangladesh Jamaat’s counterparts ICNA, ISNA’s conferences.

The month of March is a month of remembrance for Bangladeshis all around the world. This is the month Pakistan’s brutal army unleashed a reign of terror in their ancestral homeland. In this same month the country’s Independence Day is observed. This year, the government of Bangladesh has declared to start the war crime trial. Many of the alleged war criminals belong to the Islamist party Jamat-i-Islami and their auxiliary death squads, namely, Al-Badr and Al-Shams. The leaders of Jamat-i-Islami of Bangladesh are obviously alarmed. Their presumed conference calls to the overseas comrades made one issue clear. Thwart the upcoming trial by hook or by crook. They found one ready volunteer in the process. An alleged war criminal living not far from Washington DC played the first dice. He linked up with a fellow activist in the West coast. The ball was rolling.

On 22nd March of this year, an interesting event took place in the US capital. A renowned leader in the USA’s Islamic circle, Pakistani-American Dr. Agha Saeed initiated a press conference on Bangladesh. That took place at the Washington DC’s Press Club. The 22nd March press conference drew a handful of people; only over a dozen were in the audience. Agha Saeed initiated the press conference, which was called “American Muslim Taskforce News Conference on Human Rights Violations in Bangladesh”. The question is what constitutes the American Muslim Task Force? In their press release the Taskforce is introduced as an umbrella organization that includes American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Its observer organizations include American Muslims for Civic Engagement (AMCE), Islamic Educational Council of Orange County (IECOC), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). In short, this was a conglomeration of Who’s Who of the Islamist organizations in America (read Wahhabi influenced).

There is a good possibility that a sizable percentage of Bangladeshi-Americans who want to see the Jamaati war criminals tried in their homeland, had sympathetic view about one or more than one of the above organizations. By happenstance, the 22nd March Press Conference made it clear that all those so-called Islam loving organizations are simply playing in the hands of Bangladesh Jamaat. It also exposed the ulterior agenda of CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, MPAC etc. They are friends of Jamaati war criminals, the Islamist killer machines of 1971’s Bangladesh. And last but not the least; it is now very much obvious that these groups are out there to see Bangladesh as a fundamentalist utopia.

In short, the Jamaati plan to muddy the clear water ultimately backfired.

Bangladeshi war criminals in the USA

Audacity of the supporters of Bangladeshi war criminals in the USA

During 1971 Bangladesh's war of liberation, a handful of hardcore Islamic militants carried on genocide in Pakistan occupied Bangladesh. In the name religion, they helped the brutal Pakistani army to perpetrate mass murder of innocent citizens and rape of women. Mr. Abul Kalam Azad is one of such notorious war criminals. Unfortunately, that despicable mass murderer is now a "respectable Islamic scholar" in Bangladesh. This happened because of certain historical events. On August 15 1975 the founding father of Bangladesh, the secular nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with his family members and other party members in a pro-Pakistani military coup. After the coup, the country suddenly went to pro-Pakistani (to some extent soft on Islamism) direction.

Abul Kalam Azad and many brutal Islamist killers of 1971 emerged from their hideouts. Some of them were inside the country living underground. Some of them were living in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. After 1975, the country of Bangladesh witnessed the expansion of Islamist and war criminal lobby, which were rejected by the people in 1971. One after another Bangladeshi military generals with a pro-Pakistani political persuasion ruled the country with iron fist. On the one hand they curtailed democratic freedom to a large extent, on the other the war criminals of 1971 were given enough opportunity to organize and strengthen their constituency. Thus Bangladeshi Islamist lobby gradually got a strong foothold in a number of Western countries. It goes without saying, their tentacles reached the heartland of the United States. That is why, Abul Kalam Azad does not have any problem visiting USA quite frequently. He was in this country in August of last year (2008)(source: deshivoice).

He is back in USA a few days ago. On January 24th, 2009 he had the golden opportunity to give a speech in the Muslim Community Center mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland. Presence of a few demonstrators in front of the mosque let him know loud and clear that his fundraising activity to strengthen Islamist lobby will not go unchallenged.

On 25th January, 2009, this killer of 1971, was invited to speak in a Mosque's Fundraising Dinner in New York. The program was scheduled in a basement of Tajmahal Restaurant, in Hillside, Jamaica, New York. Before the evening the place was crowded by expat Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. In the meantime a number of expatriate Bangladeshi activists staged a demonstration outside the restaurant. One after another activist was rendering speech detailing the war crime this "Islamic scholar" committed in nine months of 1971. As one of the concluding speakers was finishing his speech, a few supporters of Abul Kalam Azad started to hurl insults to the speakers. They were quite amazingly accompanied by another very notorious mass murderer of Bangladeshis, now a US citizen, Ashrafuzzaman Khan.

A scuffle broke out between the two parties. One of the activists was seriously injured. His nose was bleeding visibly. In the meantime the police came to scene. One of the supporters of Abul Kalam Azad/Ashrafuzzaman Khan was arrested. An updated report says, the "Islamic scholar" could not make it to give his fundraising sermon. The owner of the restaurant, a freedom fighter of Bangladesh war of liberation, did not mind to cancel the event thus losing six thousand dollars in this economic crisis period.

Below you will find the first link to the press conference of the activists regarding the incidence. Please note, the speeches were given in Bengali:



Now you will see the link to the scuffle and police intervention:

Bangladeshi Workers in Kuwait

The US based National Labor Committee has recently published an investigative report on the plight of the Bangladeshi laborers in Kuwait. These workers were trafficked to Kuwait and forced to a sub-human living standard. The report says,

“Hundreds of thousands of foreign guest workers—among them 240,000 Bangladeshis—have been trafficked to Kuwait, where they are immediately stripped of their passports. Many work seven days a week for wages of just 14 to 36 cents an hour, which means they are being cheated of up to 84 percent of the 90-cent-an-hour wage they were guaranteed when they purchased their three-year contracts to work in Kuwait. Workers who ask for their proper wages are beaten and threatened with arrest and forcible deportation. The workers are housed in squalid, overcrowded dorms with eight workers sharing each small 10-by-10-foot room, sleeping on narrow, double-level metal bunk beds”.

Kuwaiti companies have cheated these poor laborers and denied them of basic human rights. Kuwaiti Government kept their blind eyes and neglected to address these inhuman conditions of these poor workers. But is Kuwait a poor country? No, not at all. The NCL report adds, “Kuwait is not poor. Quite the opposite: It is the world’s seventh largest oil exporter. Kuwait’s GDP is expected to grow 6.8 percent this year to $172.4 billion. Kuwait’s trade surplus is running at $84 billion this year. Government revenues for the current fiscal year (April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009) are also projected to grow by 40 percent, to reach approximately $129 billion. Even after all conceivable expenses, the Kuwait government should end the year with a fiscal surplus of $66.21 billion.

Kuwait does not need to exploit desperately poor foreign guest workers. They have the money to treat all workers in Kuwait with a modicum of dignity.

Ninety percent of Kuwait’s private sector workers are non-Kuwaiti. Sixty-three percent—or 2.3 million people out of a total population of 3.4 million—are expatriates. Hundreds of thousands of foreign guest workers have been trafficked to Kuwait from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

In 2007, Ambassador Mark Lagon and the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons demoted Kuwait to “Tier 3”—the lowest level, for being among those countries doing the least to prevent the trafficking of human beings.

The government of Kuwait however, does take care of its own people. When inflation skyrocketed in 2008—(it’s expected to reach 13.5 percent by year’s end)—the government moved quickly. In June 2008, any Kuwaiti public sector employee who was earning $45,000 a year or less, received a $188 a month wage increase. For those who had been earning $45,000 a year, this meant receiving a $2,257 increase, bringing their new annual wage to $47,397. The government was well aware that Kuwaitis earning just $45,000 were struggling in the face of inflation, especially given the soaring food costs.

However, when it came to the foreign guest workers in Kuwait, who were earning an average of just $903 a year and who were surely suffering due to the soaring cost of food, there was no similar concern by the government, despite the fact that the guest workers were earning less than two percent of what “low income” Kuwaitis were earning. The compounded inflation rate between 2006 and the end of 2008 is expected to reach 23.3 percent, and is causing the guest workers tremendous hardship”.

The NCL urges everyone to SEND A LETTER TO SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZA RICE URGING HER TO TAKE ACTION FOR GUEST WORKERS AT CAMP ARIFJAN. Here is a draft of the letter that you can send:
_______________________________
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice:

I urge you to call upon the Government of Kuwait to end the trafficking of hundreds of thousands of foreign guest workers to Kuwait, where they are stripped of their passports, forced to work long hours, often seven days a week, while being cheated of half their wages. The workers are housed in squalid dorms. Some of these victims of human trafficking are actually working on a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

As you are well aware, Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait cost the lives of 294 U.S. troops, with another 458 wounded. Moreover, 183,000 veterans of the Gulf War are now permanently disabled! This was a very heavy price to pay. The U.S. also has a defense pact with Kuwait to guarantee the security of the Kuwaiti people and government. This gives the Government of United States a very powerful voice, which the Kuwaiti Government must take seriously. I urge you again to call upon the Government of Kuwait to end the heinous practice of human trafficking, to assure that all guest worker passports are returned to them and to finally guarantee that the legal rights of these hundreds of thousands of guest workers be respected.
These workers, including those working on U.S. military bases, should also be made whole again and paid the back wages of which they were cheated.

Thank you for your concern and efforts to end human trafficking.


Sincerely,

________________________________
Read the in-depth report here: Guest Workers Trafficked to Kuwait

Jamaat man held for instigating labour unrest

Jamaat man held for instigating labour unrest
Source: New Age
August 26, 2008

The police on Monday arrested Masiur Rahman, president of Gazipur sadar unit of Sramik Kalyan Federation, labourer unit of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, at Chandana under Gazipur sadar for allegedly instigating labour unrest in the area.

Another Ramzan Ali, who was with Masiur, was also caught for questioning. The police said worker of Nightingale Fashion Garments of Konabari under sadar upazila ransacked the factory, demanding 20 per cent hike in their salary on Sunday.

Police said Masiur, along with others, instigated the labour unrest. Humayan Kabir, manager of the factory, filed a case against 41 persons, including Masiur, accusing them of damaging assets worth Tk 50 lakh. The police on Sunday arrested 16 persons in connection with the case.

Dhaka University Observed Black Day

New Age reports on August 24, 2008, Teachers and students at Dhaka University on Saturday rallied for withdrawal of all cases filed against them in connection with the August 2007 campus protests. They also wore black badges observing August 23 as ‘black day’ against state repression on the campus.

Students at the university held protests on August 20, 2007 when some military personnel attacked them over an altercation during a football match in the university playground. The protests continued till August 22 and the government closed all public universities and colleges on August 23 for an indefinite period.

The state filed six cases against teachers and students of Dhaka University and common people, but later decided not to continue with five of them. The government at the time decided to continue with the case against seven of the 25 accused in the case of setting fire to the military vehicle.

The students accused in the case of setting fire to a military vehicle held a solidarity rally at the Aparajeya Bangla were all campus student organisations, including Bangladesh Chhatra League, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation, expressed their solidarity and demanded withdrawal of the case.

A number of teachers including the university teachers’ association general secretary Anwar Hossain, former association president AAMS Arefin Siddique, and association’s executive committee member Muhammad Samad expressed solidarity with the students.

Anwar said the August 2007 protests were the outburst of the sentiment of all students at the university, but a few students are suffering now because of the movement.

He suggested the military intelligence should not consider the university students to be their opponents. ‘We do not consider them our opponents.’ ‘If the government does not withdraw the case, the teachers and students will make the government to withdraw it as they did in the past,’ he said.

‘It is a constitutional right for every citizen to live without fear. So our students also have the right to continue their education without fear,’ Arefin Siddique said at the rally. He asked the university authorities to ensure legal and financial support for the students.

The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president, Azizul Bari Helal, Chhatra League president Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Chhatra Union general secretary Manabendra Dev, university unit Samajtantrik Chhara Front general secretary Moloy Sarkar, and university unit Bangladesh Chhatra Federation general secretary Saikat Mallik joined the rally.

The Progressive Students’ Alliance and the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front also brought out processions on the campus marking the day. The teachers association held a discussion at the Teacher-Student Centre in the afternoon. 'We are observing the day as a ‘black day’ in a mark of protest,’ said the association’s president Sadrul Amin.

Bangladeshi workers held in Kuwait

Bangladeshi workers held in Kuwait
Staff Correspondent
Daily Star
July 29, 2008

Kuwaiti Police yesterday arrested some Bangladeshi workers after they went on a rampage while protesting low wages, poor working conditions and other exploitations over the last couple of days.

According to the Arab Times, about 2,000 Bangladeshi workers, employed by Al-Jawhara Company for Stevedoring and Cleaning in Hassawi in Kuwait, destroyed six vehicles and injured five camp officials on Sunday.

The protesting workers also attacked the company office in Jleeb Al-Shyoukh on Saturday evening.

Police finally brought the situation under control, clubbing the demonstrating workers, reported AFP.

Shahriar Kader Siddiky, labour counsellor of Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait told The Daily Star yesterday, "I have received reports that special forces of Kuwaiti police have made some arrests. "

He was not able to say how many had been arrested.

Thousands of cleaning workers employed by some 15 to 20 companies and assigned jobs under various government projects in Kuwait have been protesting for the last few days. The protests turned violent Sunday with a few groups of workers turning violent.

Siddiky said, "Officials of Kuwait's labour ministry have agreed to most of the demands by the workers, including fixing the minimum wage at 40 Kuwait Dinars (KD) per month. Some workers are now demanding that the company owners give this in writing," Siddiky said.

It has been reported lately that the ministry would send inspectors to labour camps to take stock of workers' living conditions and address their grievances.

Meanwhile Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday met with the Kuwaiti envoy to Dhaka Abdullatif Ali Al-Mawash and discussed the issue of the protesting Bangladeshi workers.

Iftekhar later told the press that Bangladesh and Kuwait are friendly countries and should be able to address issues of mutual interest amicably.

The workers have been complaining against poor wages, poor working conditions, overtime without pay, lack of sick leave and vacations, etc. The workers also claim that employers force workers to pay extra for health and residency -- costs they say should be borne by the companies.

According to the Arab Times, workers reportedly damaged furniture, computers, printers and other office equipment. Jleeb Al-Shyoukh is home to thousands of Bangladeshi cleaners, who live in squalid camps and most get paid as low as KD 18 a month (1 dinar = Tk 258).

A worker told the Arab Times that anger among the workers has been simmering for a long a time now. The workers had earlier warned the five supervisors working against their interests.

The scuffle occurred when some workers confronted the supervisors as to why certain deductions were being made from their already low wages. The supervisors reportedly threatened the cleaners.

Another worker said that they had taken their problems and demands to the company but it had all fallen on deaf ears.

“We know it is wrong to take the law in our hands but our situation is worsening by the day,” he said.

Al-Jawhara company's operations manager K John said that the government is partly to be blamed for the low wage situation, Arab Times reported.

“The workers demand health insurance, which is KD 50 per person, while it is only KD 10 for domestic maids. This makes it difficult for companies to provide it," John said.

“The municipality itself pays around KD 23 per cleaner, and the government can't expect us to pay more than that. Our workers receive anywhere between KD 20 and KD 70.”

John said that work tender is another complication where small players make abysmally low quotes to win the tenders which messes up the quality of this sector, which also complicates the situation.

Other Bangladeshi workers employed in Kuwait have also been in the news recently for protesting low wages and poor working conditions.

73 Bangladesh civilians killed by Indian border guards

Official: 73 Bangladesh civilians killed by Indian border guards this year

DHAKA, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain Sunday said it is unacceptable that 73 Bangladesh civilians has been killed this year by Indian border guards and he has raised this with the Indian side.

"I told my counterpart (External Affairs Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon) that India is our friendly neighbor. Such huge number of the civilians' killing is unacceptable," he told reporters here on his return from the Foreign Secretary level talks held in New Delhi on July 17.

Touhid said the Indian side recognized Dhaka's concerns and they agreed to work out a mechanism at the Home Secretary level meeting to be held here in August to stop the civilians killing along the border.

Touhid said during the talk, the two sides agreed on border rivers bank protection and a joint technical committee will meet soon to prepare a common design of the bank protection embankment.

Besides, the issues concerning the trade imbalance, sharing of waters of the common rivers, exchange of enclaves, demarcation of the maritime boundary and sharing information on terrorism and bird flu were also discussed.

In terms of the killing of two Bangladesh Rifles personnel by the Indian Border Security Force in northern border last Thursday night, Touhid said it's unwarranted and the Foreign Ministry lodged a strong protest against the incident with the Indian government.

Deadline to Free Teachers

Dhaka University Teachers Association issued a deadline of December 12th to release all the arrested university teachers and students in Bangladesh. The military government is simply playing with fire as they are holding these teachers and students with fabricated charges for inciting agitation. They need to release all of them before it gets too late for the arrogant military junta. Autocracy may rule couple of years but may not survive longer than that. If they have forgotten, they can read the headlines once again what happened in December of 1990 when General Ershad knelt down to the people's uprising. BDnews reports,

Dhaka, Dec 7 (bdnews24.com) – Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) at an emergency general meeting Friday evening demanded the release of all arrested university teachers and students by Dec 12.

The meeting said DUTA would be compelled to take up a "tough action programme" if the detained teachers and students of both Dhaka and Rajshahi universities were not released by the deadline. The meeting also drew up a two-day programme that includes the wearing of black badges by the teachers on Sunday and a mourning procession by the teachers from the Aparajayo Bangla monument at 11am Monday.

Acting DUTA president Tajmeri SA Islam told reporters: "If the detainees are not released by the Dec 12 deadline we will be compelled to go for a tough action programme." On whether the students would stand by them in such a programme, Tajmeri said: "This is solely a teachers' programme. I won't comment beyond that."

Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, Prof Aktaruzzaman, Prof Md Samad, Prof MM Akash and DUTA acting general secretary Dr Mamun Ahmed were among the nearly 150 teachers present at the DUTA University Club meeting room.

The meeting, which discussed the overall situation, began at 7.00pm and continued for two and half an hours. The teachers also sought cooperation of the university authorities to conduct legal matters related to the arrests.

Four Dhaka University teachers and 15 students were arrested over a period of time following the August student unrest on the campus. A Rajshahi court sentenced four RU teachers to two years in jail on Dec 4 for violating emergency powers rules during the student protests at Rajshahi University.

Protest against yellow journalism

Ekattur'er Golpo is a youth initiative in the Washington DC metro area to promote awareness about Bangladesh’s history and rich cultural heritage among the post-71 generation in the DC metro area. It is a non-political, not-for-profit endeavor that features excellent annual cultural shows for Bangladeshi expatriates in the DC metro area. They spend all their proceeds to support humanitarian causes in Bangladesh. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Liberation War Museum and a project that ensures food security for 300 families in Bangladesh. On December 1st, they held their annual cultural show at George Mason University that attracted cheerful crowds. Recently, this pro-71 group has become victim of yellow journalism by a Bangla on line news publisher in DC area called Khabor.com. In order to show our support to this pro-71 Ekatturer Golpo, we're republishing their Press Release excerpt from an electronic discussion group:

71-er Golpo aspires to celebrate Bangladesh 's rich history and diverse cultural heritage through creative expression. We seek to kindle the imagination of a new generation of Bangladeshis and Bangladeshi- Americans and inspire active citizenship.

The 71-er Golpo team is condemning the news article on the front page of Khabor on December 2, 2007. The article titled "71-er Golpe Rajakarder Prettatta" (The Ghosts of Anti-Liberation Forces in 71-er Golpo) is malicious, baseless and demonstrates extremely poor journalism standards .

We denounce the article on the following grounds:

• Mr. Shibbir Ahmed, the author of this article and the Editor of Khabor, expressed discontent at being stopped short while asking a question about anti-liberation forces (rajakars) during the show and went on to state that the organizers of 71-er Golpo are in affiliation with "rajakars". Whereas in reality, the organizers indulged Mr. Shibbir Ahmed's longwinded statement during the Q&A session. Mohammad Wasiul Islam Gorki, who was channeling the questions from the audience, indicated that the session was over the time limit but allowed the speaker and moderator to address the question. One of the organizers wrapped up the discussion with a final question. Mr. Shibbir Ahmed misrepresented the situation in his news site and went on to make baseless allegations to defile the image of 71-er Golpo.

• In the same article, Mr. Harun Chowdhury, a correspondent of Thikana, who was NOT present at the event, alleged that 71-er Golpo distorts history and the organizers are in cohorts with "rajakars". These claims were unsubstantiated and malicious. None of the organizers of 71-er Golpo were born during the liberation war and do not have any political affiliations. So the question of association with "rajakars" is a complete fabrication.

• Mr. Shibbir Ahmed has abused his position as a journalist to launch a smear campaign to undermine 71-er Golpo and made unsubstantiated and baseless claims that the organizers are affiliated with anti-liberation forces (rajakars). It is worth noting that the 71-er Golpo team has made a consorted effort to go beyond partisan politics and present the history of the liberation war to the new generation through the personal accounts of freedom fighters. Moreover, 71-er Golpo is a youth-led voluntary endeavor. Irresponsible and fabricated comments made in the article are extremely disheartening and will prevent young people in our community from taking initiative.

Defamation is a punishable offense in the United States. We call on Mr. Shibbir Ahmed and Mr. Harun Chowdhury to corroborate their claims with evidence OR retract the article and issue a public apology to 71-er Golpo on Khabor.

We would like to add that this is our third year organizing the 71-er Golpo event. This year's event has been the most successful by far given the participation and support of BCCDI, BABA and members of the Bangladeshi and Bangladeshi- American community. We would like to reach out to the community for feedback so that we can continue to improve our event in coming years. Each year the proceeds of 71-er Golpo are used to support various worthy causes. This year's proceeds will be donated to BRAC's Cyclone Sidr relief fund, the Liberation War Museum and a SATU project that ensures food security for 300 families in Bangladesh.

To learn more about 71-er Golpo please visit our website at http://www.71ergolpo.com/

71-er Golpo Team

Pinprick cartoons & blasphemous cats

Pinprick cartoons & blasphemous cats
By Shamsuddin Yusuf
October 1, 2007
Source: altmuslim.com

In Bangladesh, a cartoon controversy says more about the country's political polarisation than it does about religious offense

Another cartoon controversy has hit the Muslim world. But this time, it is not part of the European dynamic made familiar by the 2006 Denmark crisis and its lesser known Scandinavian cousin this year. This time the action is unfolding in Bangladesh, home to the world's fourth largest Muslim population (after Indonesia, Pakistan and India). And this time, it’s about more than blasphemy.

Last month, Bangladesh authorities arrested twenty year old cartoonist Arifur Rahman, on charges of blasphemy and sedition for a cartoon he drew in the satirical magazine Alpin ("pin prick"). In it, he depicts an imam telling a small boy that he should always add the prefix "Mohammed" before a name, which leads to the boy referring to the cat in his lap as "Mohammed Beral (cat)." Islamist parties quickly denounced the cartoon, the government arrested the hapless cartoonist, and the editor of Alpin was immediately fired.

Things might have rested there, but the intervention of smaller Islamist groups, such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir, led to demands that the parent newspaper of Alpin, Prothom Alo, be shut down, and its editor and publisher, Motiur Rahman and Mahfuz Anam, sacked. This was no insignificant demand - Prothom Alo is the largest circulation newspaper in the country, and Rahman and Anam two of Bangladesh's most powerful media personalities.

After Friday prayers, Hizb-ut-Tahrir activists burned copies of the newspaper, and clashed with police. Peace talks were brokered between Prothom Alo and religious leaders, leading to a public apology from Rahman to the khatib of the National Mosque. The uneasy calm that followed in Dhaka was threatened by the discovery of another allegedly blasphemous reference in a literary magazine published by Prothom Alo, Shaptahik 2000, by the exiled poet Daud Haider. Worried about fresh trouble, the magazine was instantly pulled from newsstands and banned. The issue is not over yet.

Bangladesh has a long history of blasphemy related controversies, starting the year after its independence from Pakistan in 1971. Cultural icons, practices, and language were key motifs in the country’s struggles against Pakistani rule (Bengali poets Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam were re-appropriated as "Hindu" and "Muslim" respectively). After Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, the culture wars became a key dividing line between Islamist and "secular" (or religious freedom) politics. In this trajectory, controversies targeted blasphemous writings by Haider (exiled in Germany), Taslima Nasreen (subject of global attention after a fatwa and bounty, now exiled in India), Ahmad Sharif (prosecuted in court and forced to apologise) and Humayun Azad (nearly killed in a brutal machete attack, but succumbing to related injuries in Germany later on).

In all these cases, electoral politics are often a bigger factor than genuine, widespread religious sentiment. The country's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has used blasphemy controversies to bring itself to national prominence, forcing governments to negotiate with them amidst the uproar. Even though Islamist politics were banned in the aftermath of the country’s independence – Jamaat supported Pakistan during the 1971 war and formed death squads targeting leading Bangladeshi professors and intellectuals – Jamaat has been able to rehabilitate itself through these kinds of mass mobilizations. By 2001, Jamaat entered the government for the first time, securing two powerful ministries. Since then, Jamaat has found itself benefiting politically from recurring blasphemy controversies that serve to stoke religious fervor in their political base.

In the latest controversy, similar motives may be at play. The current Information Minister, Mainul Hossein (who issued the arrest order), owns the daily Ittefaq, one of Prothom Alo's rivals. With Prothom Alo's critical stance against Islamists, it has garnered many sworn enemies.

Currently Bangladesh is under an army-backed caretaker government, with a promised transition to democracy in 2008 looking increasingly shaky and uncertain. The military has vowed to crush corruption, arresting the leaders of both main political parties, as well as numerous party bigwigs. But some complain that Jamaat-e-Islami has been left alone in the current anti-corruption drive, because of sympathy within the Army. The manner in which the government gave in to blasphemy demands, and the light touch given to cartoon demonstrators (even though all protests and rallies are supposed to be banned under a "state of emergency") seems to give further evidence of the caretaker government’s bias.

Recently, unrelated riots on national university campuses were sparked by altercations between students and the Army, resulting in a draconian crackdown and more power to military hardliners. The Prothom Alo controversy has to be seen and analyzed within that context. As with similar cases worldwide, these issues have little to do with piety or protecting the Prophet - and more to do with political maneuvers galvanised under the name of Islam.
_______________________________________
Shamsuddin Yusuf is a writer and activist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Which side Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury does really belong to?

Which side Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury does really belong to?
Source: Commentary at e-Discussion Group

This is a million dollar question. For some years, the mysterious Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury from Bangladesh has been fooling many secularist Westerners. That includes friends of Israel as well. Salah Uddin acted as if he was the epitome of anti-communalism and the only pro-Israel humanist Bangladesh could ever produce. He cried victim as if he got the wrath of Bangladeshi Islamists. When his crying game was unfolding in Bangladesh's political stage, quite ironically he could not gather any friend from the Bangladeshi secularist camp. For obvious reasons, nobody from that lobby ever trusted him. Suffice it to say, even most member from the religious minority or the liberal intelligentsia did not care for him much. It was too difficult to give him the benefit of doubt considering the fact that it was Salah Uddin himself who had the audacity to call Bangladeshi human rights activist Shahrirar Kabir a "Mossad agent" on the record. His comment was published in the Islamic fundamentalist Bengali daily INQILAB, which was part and parcel of his one time employer. Many close observers of this chameleon think he was the best con man Bangladesh could ever produce.

But Salah Uddin Shoaib's real agenda can not be suppressed anymore. Lately, the Bangladesh cartoon fiasco and the subsequent monkey dancing of the Bangladeshi Islamists drew condemnation of the secularists and anti-Islamists worldwide. In this situation, Salah Uddin's pet project, his weekly BLITZ sided with the Islamists. Instead of helping the cause of free speech and religious tolerance in Muslim countries, he simply sided with the cause of bigotry and blind fanaticism perpetuated by global jihadists. The author Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury basically recommended the arrest of the editor of the Bengali daily PROTHOM ALO, the publisher of the cartoon. What a audacity! The catchy title of the piece is self explanatory- Blasphemous Daily Star group. Blitz writes on September 19th:

"Here a questions appears very prominently. Why the government is reluctant in arresting the editor and publisher of Prothom Alo? Is this because they are considered to be very close to the present government? In this case, normally people might raise question, as to where is the rule of law".

Wait a bit... Now look into the article by Mahmudur Rahman, a notable Islamist who published similar view in his writing published in the Jamaat sympathizer Bengali daily NAYA DIGANTA. Mahmudur Rahman not only blamed the PROTHOM ALO editor, he wrote highly of jihadi politics in Bangladesh and Afghanistan. After reading the two articles, someone can easily derive to the conclusion that Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is indeed a stooge of the global Islamists.

Clashes as Islamic protesters defy Bangladesh emergency

Source: AFP
September 21, 2007

DHAKA (AFP) — Street clashes broke out in Bangladesh Friday as Islamic activists defied emergency rule to protest over the publication in a major newspaper of a cartoon deemed offensive to Muslims.

Thousands of protesters joined the rally in the centre of the capital Dhaka, an AFP photographer at the scene said, even though demonstrations are strictly prohibited under the country's eight-month-old state of emergency.

Police baton-charged some of the activists as they tried to break through barricades put up to prevent them reaching the offices of Prothom Alo, the newspaper that published the cartoon and Bangladesh's biggest daily paper.

Demonstrators chanted slogans demanding the execution of newspaper editor Matiur Rahman and burned effigies of him and copies of the Bengali-language daily.

"More than 9,000 people protested against the cartoon in front of the national mosque and tried to march to the Prothom Alo office," said a police official speaking on condition of anonymity.

A doctor at the city's main hospital said five people had been treated for "very minor" injuries.

The cartoon appeared in Prothom Alo's weekly satirical magazine "Alpin."

Its cartoonist, Arisur Rahman, 23, was detained earlier this week and later remanded in custody by a court.

Matiur Rahman on Thursday apologised for the cartoon, which showed a small boy adding the name Mohammed to the name of a cat.

International press freedom body Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of the cartoonist.

The protests came as Bangladesh's military-backed emergency government seized copies of another magazine for allegedly insulting Islam.

"The government has banned the Eid issue of the Bengali language weekly magazine Shaptahik 2000 for publishing an autobiographical article where the writer desecrated the holy shrine Mecca," said Shahenur Mia, senior information officer at the home affairs ministry.

Mia declined to elaborate, but the Daily Inqilab newspaper said the author, Daud Haider, who has lived in Germany for 30 years, compared Mecca to a brothel in India.

"The government has ordered the seizure of all copies of this issue of the magazine," added Mia.

Bangladesh, with a population of 144 million, is the world's third-largest Muslim-majority country. It has been under emergency rule since January 11 after elections were cancelled over vote-rigging allegations and an army-backed government took power.

The temporary government has promised to reinstate democracy by holding fresh elections in late 2008 after cleaning up the nation's corrupt politics. Last month Reporters Without Borders criticised the government for being heavy handed towards the media.

It said its record had been "badly marred" by censorship and violence by security forces against journalists during a spate of unrest.

Release Cartoonist Arifur Rahman

Mukto-Mona Condemns the Arrest of Cartoonist Arifur Rahman
September 20, 2007
Source: Mukto-Mona

The September 17th arrest of Prothom-alo Aalpin cartoonist Arifur Rahman over a cartoon is an act of barbarism by a military regime in cahoots with religious obscurantists. A simple play on words that does not have any reference to any religion except in the jaundiced minds of raving fundamentalists seems to have offered a cue to a regime that excels in jailing those it finds inconvenient, to take the liberties of an artist away. Arifur Rahman finds himself in the august company of academicians from Dhaka university, inconvenient politicians and, indeed, anyone whom the Bangladesh military and its fundamentalist cohorts dislike, in prison. And, with him imprisoned, the baying by the fundamentalists for his blood seems to have reached a crescendo that sounds rather like a Taliban kangaroo court.

Thanks to the army & fundamentalists' combined efforts, Mr Rahman's life is now threatened inside or outside prison. What should have been a funny cartoon for people to laugh at has suddenly turned into a matter of life and death for a man whose only attempt was to provide readers amusements. Mukto-Mona demands the immediate release of Mr Arifur Rahman and for protection to be provided to him so that he does not suffer any harm. The military led government of Bangladesh is squarely responsible for Mr Rahman's persecution and needs to ensure his immediate freedom and safety. Failure to do this would be yet another disgraceful step towards turning Bangladesh into a theocratic dictatorship.

Mukto-Mona Moderation Team.

Demonstration in London for Bangladesh

Picture Courtesy: UK Indymedia

Demonstration in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in London took place today. Here is the updated news from UK Indymedia:

"There was a demonstration outside the Bangladesh high Commission in London today to protest against the manner in which student protests are being crushed in that country and also against the arrest and torture of academics on bogus charges of incitement. The protests occuring in Bangladesh against the 7 month old non-party caretaker government are as a result of the inhumane uprooting of roadside traders, markets and slums, the continually rising price of essentials and the privatisation of many industries at the dicate of the egregious IMF and World Bank..."

International News Coverage on Bangladesh

Imposing curfew in Bangladesh has drawn international media coverage. The Army backed CTG has faced the biggest difficulty to maintain law and order as students along with general public are protesting police brutality. We're going to update you as new information will be available.

• BBC News
• CNN World
• Washington Post
• Guardian Unlimited
• Voice of America
• E-Bangladesh

Curfew traps hundreds of thousands

Government's issued curfew that stranded thousands of people. They've also shut down mobile phone line that's casuing fear and havoc. Read this breaking news from bdnews24:

Dhaka, Aug 22 (bdnews24.com) -- Hundreds of thousands of people walked home as the news of the curfew spread amid a flare of emergency-time violence that swept much across of the country.

The order derailed public transports. Buses stayed off the roads. Only rickshaws and some autorickshaws plied on, but they were too inadequate for thousands of passengers waiting by the side of the road to reach home before the curfew starts at 8pm Wednesday.

The government ordered all universities and colleges in divisional towns to shut indefinitely and asked students to leave dormitories by 8pm Wednesday, according to a notice.

"The curfew will continue until further notice," the government said in a statement.

The sudden order caught thousands of students off-guard. Many of them moved out of the dormitories and many stayed back as they had nowhere to go.

bdnews24.com correspondents saw hundreds of students lug their bags down the road in and out of the Dhaka University campus.

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