Shahbag Projonmo Chattor

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Gladiators
Sohel bhaia at which end were you? I was in front of the temporary police sub control room. Mood was so angry at times, but shondhar pore it became a lot calmer.

Also amar ekta proshno, where is Khaleda Zia, eto boro ekta ghotona deshe, but bhalo, mondo kichui bole naa ei mohila, eta kibhabe shombobh???

I was between Shahbagh and TSC bro. Close to the old library past Charukola and the DU Mosque. I grew up at the DU campus before moving to the US in 1980, went to U Lab, and it has been great spending so much time there again.

Shombhob. She and other clueless BNP leaders like Hannan Shah are alienating droves of young BCD cadre already at Shahbagh, and are making their party non-competitive in the process, even if Jamaat's 3 million odd votes go to them as theorized come next elections. I think AL will lose many seats to to its own rebel candidates forcing key changes within it, but that's another story.

[Sohel]

Tomorrow will be a historic day in the history of Bangladesh InshAllah. It will be remembered as the day when the culture of intimidation and terror by hartal came to a thrashing end in Bangladesh. We have taken "Joy Bangla" back already, and we'll now begin to take our country back InshAllah.

[Gladiators]

naa maane, welcome na koruk, say something. Even if that is to call this a natok/circus/shorkari propaganda, boluk, amra caretaker mancha ready korchi.

Ei hartal niye apnar shathe ami ek mot - tired of it. Ekhon theke jei dakuk, AL/BNP this should be the response - tomar odhikar hartal daka, amar odidhak hartal naa maana, and if you damage my property I have the right to defend myself.

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Gladiators
naa maane, welcome na koruk, say something. Even if that is to call this a natok/circus/shorkari propaganda, boluk, amra caretaker mancha ready korchi.

I'm not at all surprised by her inaction. She has never been connected to the people and won a re-election because of AL's failure, not the merit of her own party. Rather than distancing her party from Hawa Bhaban and Jamaat, the primary reasons behind their massive defeat at the polls during the last elections, she has pulled them even closer. It has been the same strategy so far, but Shahbagh has changed things dramatically. BNP has to reinvent itself and stand for something substantial for it to be viable, and not just depend on getting negative, anti-AL votes with the Jamaati votes pushing them over the top in highly competitive races.

Ei hartal niye apnar shathe ami ek mot - tired of it. Ekhon theke jei dakuk, AL/BNP this should be the response - tomar odhikar hartal daka, amar odidhak hartal naa maana, and if you damage my property I have the right to defend myself.

Well said, all intimidation and terror by hartal must end regardless of which party happens to be calling for the oshobbhota. There must be ways to picket without intimidating and terrorizing the public, destroying public property, and damaging the economy. Shahbagh will put an end to that InshAllah, and do what the parties themselves never will despite repeated promises.

[Gladiators]

Originally Posted by Sohel
I'm not at all surprised by her inaction. She has never been connected to the people and won a re-election because of AL's failure, not the merit of her own party. Rather than distancing her party from Hawa Bhaban and Jamaat, the primary reasons behind their massive defeat at the polls during the last elections, she has pulled them even closer. It has been the same strategy so far, but Shahbagh has changed things dramatically. BNP has to reinvent itself and stand for something substantial for it to be viable, and not just depend on getting negative, anti-AL votes with the Jamaati votes pushing them over the top in highly competitive races.

1st time voter - but apni ki BNP-ke ektu kom credit dicchen naa, AL might have a bigger static base, but BNP captive vote bank must be also just about 30%. So close to 1/3rd of this country connects with Khaleda Zia.

Ami ekhono undecided, but etuku bolte pari, corruption forgive korte paari, but if AL doesn't listen to the will of the people with regards to Jamaat, I definitely will not be voting for them - doesn't mean BNP ke vote dibo, but not AL.

This is our last chance, ei chance miss korle, aar konodin eita niye kotha bola jaabe na - action neya jaabe na.

[Gladiators]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/wo...ist.html?_r=1&

also

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Gladiators
1st time voter - but apni ki BNP-ke ektu kom credit dicchen naa, AL might have a bigger static base, but BNP captive vote bank must be also just about 30%. So close to 1/3rd of this country connects with Khaleda Zia.

Ami ekhono undecided, but etuku bolte pari, corruption forgive korte paari, but if AL doesn't listen to the will of the people with regards to Jamaat, I definitely will not be voting for them - doesn't mean BNP ke vote dibo, but not AL.

This is our last chance, ei chance miss korle, aar konodin eita niye kotha bola jaabe na - action neya jaabe na.

I contend that BNP gets a lot of negative votes due to people's disappointment with AL. Whatever they have will be greatly impacted by their inaction. People connect more with the memory of the positive sides of Ziaur Rahman than his wife and her family in my opinion.

Personally, I'll never vote for any party of military usurpers aligned with Jamaat and packed with Al-Shams Razakaars. I hope capable Projonmo Chottor candidates will emerge eventually. I'd be more comfortable voting for them than traditional AL candidates. Until then, it will be a matter of voting for the lesser evil in light of my core beliefs and priorities.

[Zunaid]

Let's have the partisan discussions on another thread.

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Zunaid
Let's have the partisan discussions on another thread.

Good idea.

[Rifat]

Hartals are pretty stupid IMO, may Allah take Bangaldesh to launch a new era: a hartal free Bangladesh

[Gladiators]

An interesting article from Pakistan

Shahbag Square — why we Pakistanis don’t know and don’t care
By Pervez HoodbhoyPublished: February 15, 2013

The writer retired as professor of physics from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad

Shahbag Square — where’s that? Abdul Kader Mullah — who’s he?

A bunch of university students in Islamabad, with whom I was informally conversing yesterday, hadn’t heard of either. Of course, they knew of Tahrir Square and Afzal Guru’s recent execution. But they showed little interest upon learning that Shahbag Square was in Dhaka and that, as we spoke, the city was seething with protest. Between 100,000 to 500,000 Bengalis had converged to Shahbag to sing patriotic songs, recite poems and read out episodes from Bangladesh’s history of the Liberation War. At the centre of the protesters’ demands was Abdul Kader Mullah’s fate.

On February 5, the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) found Mullah guilty in five out of the six charges against him. Known as Mirpurer Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur) because of his atrocities against citizens in the Mirpur area of Dhaka, he was charged with beheading a poet, raping an 11-year-old girl and murdering 344 people. The ICT sentenced Mullah, presently assistant secretary general of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, to life in prison. For the protesters in Shahbag Square, this isn’t enough — they want Mullah hanged. On the other side, the Jamaat-e-Islami protested violently and also took out demonstrations. But its efforts to influence global opinion foundered in spite of a well-funded effort.

Curiously enough, Mullah’s case has been taken up by the government of Turkey. President Abdullah Gül sent a letter last month to the president of Bangladesh requesting clemency for all those accused of mass murder. Fortunately, Turkey’s president appears to be an exception and much of the world has shown little regard for genocidal killers.
Pakistan has shown zero interest in Mullah’s fate. The media is silent and the Foreign Office has not issued any statement. This is quite ironical because, like the forgotten Biharis of East Pakistan, Mullah has been abandoned although he subscribed to the Two-Nation Theory and had fought alongside the Pakistan Army for a united Pakistan. In 1971, local political and religious militia groups like Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams assisted Pakistani soldiers in the mass killings of Bengalis, often singling out Hindus. Many militia members were also members of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The disinterest in Shahbag Square epitomises the enormous gulf that separates Bangladesh from Pakistan. The period of our national history — where 54 per cent of the country’s population chose to secede from the other 46 per cent — remains supremely inconsequential to Pakistanis. For them, Bangladesh could well be on the other side of the moon. The question is: why?

Searching for an answer, I browsed through textbooks currently used in Pakistani schools. The class-five Social Studies text (English), taught to 12-year olds, begins with citing the differences between Hindus and Muslims (e.g. Hindus burn the wife after her husband dies but Muslims don’t), the need to be aware of the hidden enemies of Pakistan (religious extremists are not mentioned) and the importance of unceasing jihad. It devotes a total of three sentences to a united Pakistan, the last of which reads: “With the help of India, East Pakistan separated.”

The class-eight Pakistan Studies textbook (English) is still briefer and simply states that, “Some leaders of former East Pakistan with the active help of India managed to break away from Pakistan and established Bangladesh.” The class nine-10 (Urdu) book — by far the most detailed — devotes nearly three pages to explaining the disintegration. The listed subtitles include: a) Incompetent government of Yahya Khan; b) Hindu domination of trade; c) Nefarious role of Hindu teachers; d) Language problems; e) Indian interference; f) The elections of 1970.

Having seen only grotesque caricatures of history, it is impossible for Pakistan’s youth to understand 1971. But how can I blame them? Those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s knew in our hearts that East and West Pakistan were one country but not one nation. Young people today cannot imagine the rampant anti-Bengali racism among West Pakistanis then. With great shame, I must admit that, as a thoughtless young boy, I, too, felt embarrassed about small and dark people being among my compatriots. Victims of a delusion, we thought that good Muslims and Pakistanis were tall, fair and spoke chaste Urdu. Some schoolmates would laugh at the strange sounding Bengali news broadcasts from Radio Pakistan.

Even as they agonise about ‘losing’ the East, many Pakistanis still believe that 1971 was a military defeat rather than a political one. Dr AQ Khan, who met with Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan this week, writes that nuclear bombs could have kept Pakistan intact: “If we had had nuclear capability before 1971, we would not have lost half of our country — present-day Bangladesh — after disgraceful defeat.”

But would this have really worked? Even with a bomb, the Pakistan Army would be surrounded by a hostile population and peppered by the Mukti Bahini’s guerilla attacks. Though armed with tanks and aircraft, the weakness of West Pakistan’s position was irreversible. With a hostile India in between, the logistics of supplying 90,000 troops from a thousand miles away were simply horrendous. India had, of course, refused permission for over-flights, leaving only the sea route. A long war would have left Pakistan bankrupt. More importantly, all occupying forces — including the Indian Army in Kashmir and the Americans in Afghanistan — typically exact disproportionate retribution when attacked. The atrocities of occupiers heighten local resentment and add hugely to the insurgency.

I am still trying to understand our good doctor’s suggestion. Could the bomb have been used on the raging pro-independence mobs in Dhaka? Or used to incinerate Calcutta and Delhi, and have the favour duly returned to Lahore and Karachi? Threatening India with a nuclear attack may have kept it out of the war, but then East Pakistanis would have been massacred wholesale.

History cannot be undone but it’s time to move on. Bangladesh is right in demanding an apology from Pakistan — one which we have so far refused to give. Let us do so now and start a new chapter in the relationship between our two states. If we have the honesty and courage to take this step, as a bonus, the problem of Balochistan might become a tad easier to understand — and perhaps, solve.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2013.

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by Sohel
Tomorrow will be a historic day in the history of Bangladesh InshAllah. It will be remembered as the day when the culture of intimidation and terror by hartal came to a thrashing end in Bangladesh.

Hope so, but what's that making tomorrow historic and how hartal is ending? Any new law being passed against hartal today?

Originally Posted by Sohel
We have taken "Joy Bangla" back already, and we'll now begin to take our country back InshAllah.

We means who, is beginning to take the country back and how?

Punishing warcrimes and banning Jamat would be a good thing for justice and democracy, but is that enough to say we are getting the democracy back? Or there are more things happening?

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by Ajfar
?.......
BANFAN bhai I'm sure doing Rajib's janaja was his families decision. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in Islam you are not suppose to do janaja for someone if he/she committed suicide. If I killed myself, I don't think my parents/family will be able to put aside their emotion and not do my janaja. My guess is that's what happened in this case. I think if Rajib had a say in how his funeral was performed, he wouldn't have wanted a janaja, but considering he is dead his parents decided what's best.

Bhai I also understand that, it was his family's decision. I wasn't talking at all from the religious point of view, and didn't question if he is entitled a janaja or not.

If you know that had he been given a choice, he wouldn't have wanted a Janaja, then wasn't it better to respect him by fulfilling his desire ? Was it necessary by a movement on principle to endorse a disrespect to the departed soul? While the movement is supposed to represent and display respect to individual preferences than forcing a person to do things in a religious way, against his own?

His family could have done anything they want in private and that didn't need to be endorsed by Shahbag.

Is this how we achieve secularism? Showing that, what ever u do and say at the end we will push u to religion...so whats the mesg to the secular thoughts and importance of my opinion. After my death I'm thrown into disrespect against my principle. Isn't it like a Hindu is forced into Islamic funeral after his death? just because he can't say anything, so that's right?

A movement championing a principle of secularism and democracy can't display such disrespect to an individual after his death. For some it may not matter, but it matters to me, because it's matter of principle and respect to an individual for me. We can't mass rape a persons opinion/right on the platform and fight against same thing on the same platform.

[cricket_king]

Originally Posted by Gladiators
An interesting article from Pakistan

Thanks for that.

[BrianLara7]

After the rajakars are hanged, will there be any real changes as far as government corruption is concerned? And no for the 100th time I couldn't care less whether Rajakars are hanged or shot dead for that matter, just punish them and end this story once and for all. I am more concerned about the actual problems of the country that common people have to deal with.

[PoorFan]

The law has been approved in parliament, a step to move forward.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

JS empowers ICTs to try organisations

State, complainants now can appeal against war crimes verdicts

Star Online Report
In a major breakthrough, the parliament on Sunday brought an amendment to the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) law empowering the war crimes tribunals to try and punish any organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami, for committing crimes during country’s liberation war of 1971.

The significant amendment was brought during the passage of the much-talked-about bill which also brought some other changes to International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 to allow the government and informants and complaints to appeal against any verdict of the war crimes tribunals.

Earlier on Wednesday, the parliamentary standing committee on law ministry rejected a proposal to empower any “aggrieved people” to appeal against a verdict of an international crimes tribunal.

The bill, placed before the parliament the same day, had proposed giving the government and aggrieved people the right to appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

Before Sunday’s amendment, the law allowed only the convicts to appeal against any conviction.

Read more in Daily Star

[PoorFan]

Despite BNP saying their party would try war criminals if it comes to power again, they just stay away/silent in parliament at this very moment.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Opposition MPs mum on ICT law amendment

Star Online Report
Lawmakers belonging to the main opposition BNP have taken a different stance during the passage of amendment to the International Crimes Tribunal law.

They remained silent and did not submit any notice proposing sending the bill to the select committee and publicising it eliciting public opinion which they usually do.

They have been boycotting the parliament since March last year.

But despite parliament boycotts earlier, they usually participate in the process of the passage of different bills by submitting notices with their proposals to send the bills to select committee for further scrutiny and publicise the bills seeking people’s opinion on those.

Even on Sunday, 12 BNP MPs submitted such notices regarding ‘Waqf (Asset Transfer and Development) Special Provision Bill’.

Daily Star

[Ajfar]

Hasina went to Rajib's house to pay her respect, and afterward she said Shibir needs to be banned from politics. Now the opposition is pointing finger saying how come Hasina didn't visit Bishwajit's house and said Chatro league should be banned from politics. And just like that the circus continues.

Gladiator, Sohel bhai and whoever else that's directly involved with this movement, I hope you guys look after yourself. I know they don't scare you guys, but definitely be cautious when you are traveling specially at night. Looking forward to see the result from today's failed hortal. I hope this is the start of something new.

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by Ajfar
Hasina went to Rajib's house to pay her respect, and afterward she said Shibir's needs to be banned from politics. Now the opposition is pointing finger saying how come Hasina didn't visit Bishwajit's house and said Chatro league should be banned from politics.

A big valid point.
Oh wait, you are only allowed to talk one way street these days.

[HereWeGo]

Originally Posted by Rabz
A big valid point.
Oh wait, you are only allowed to talk one way street these days.

Politicians will be politicians.......... Raise your valid points, shout about it as much as you want, but don't pollute this movement by questioning its neutrality... I can assure you that if any BNP leaders associate themselves with the movement, people would embrace them well (case in point : Sadek hossain Khoka)....

[Naimul_Hd]

Originally Posted by PoorFan
Despite BNP saying their party would try war criminals if it comes to power again, they just stay away/silent in parliament at this very moment.



Daily Star

No wonder, when we general people ask for war criminals trial, BNP and Pro BNP people label us as 'AL'/Pro AL. Unfortunately, BNP is doing the same mistake over and over again. I hope one day they will realize the power of young generation >>>> the power of Jamat/Shibir !

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by Rabz
A big valid point.
Oh wait, you are only allowed to talk one way street these days.

Originally Posted by HereWeGo
Politicians will be politicians.......... Raise your valid points, shout about it as much as you want, but don't pollute this movement by questioning its neutrality... I can assure you that if any BNP leaders associate themselves with the movement, people would embrace them well (case in point : Sadek hossain Khoka)....

I think RabZ make a valid point - and I don't think he was polluting anything. On the other hand, I have started to notice an increasing polarization, partisan bias, and intolerance among some (not all) of us at the chattor. Leave your baggage behind please. Let this be an inclusive movement. There is room for more than one narrative.

[cricket_pagol]

Originally Posted by Zunaid
I think RabZ make a valid point - and I don't think he was polluting anything. On the other hand, I have started to notice an increasing polarization, partisan bias, and intolerance among some (not all) of us at the chattor. Leave your baggage behind please. Let this be an inclusive movement. There is room for more than one narrative.

I agree with Zunaid bhai as well, please try to celebrate the diversity of opinion, because it strengthen's the movement.

[HereWeGo]

Originally Posted by Zunaid
I think RabZ make a valid point - and I don't think he was polluting anything. On the other hand, I have started to notice an increasing polarization, partisan bias, and intolerance among some (not all) of us at the chattor. Leave your baggage behind please. Let this be an inclusive movement. There is room for more than one narrative.

I am totally in agreement to the fact that his point is valid. However he is bringing partisan politics into a non partisan movement. This movement shall only fail if people stop believing in its neutrality. Sadly people associate the pro-liberation forces with one party only and that is hurting the cause...

[Naimul_Hd]