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EDITOR
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Editorial
‘Fortnightly’
পাক্ষিক |
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BHRC Human Rights Report
Total 274 persons killed in March,
2015
The documentation section of
Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) furnished
this human rights survey report on the basis of
daily newspapers and information received from its
district, subdistrict and municipal branches. As per
survey it appears that 274 peoples were killed in
March, 2015 in all over the country. It proves that
the law and order situation is not satisfactory.
Bangladesh Human Rights Commissions extremely
anxious about this situation. In the month of March,
2015 average 9 people were killed in each day.
The Law enforcing agencies and related Govt.
departments should be more responsible so that
percentage of killing may be brought down to zero
level. To institutionalize the democracy and to
build human rights based society the rule of law and
order must be established everywhere. Through
enforcing rule of law only such violation against
human rights can be minimized. It appears from
documentation division of BHRC:
Total 274 people's killed in March, 2015,
Political killing 35, Killing for dowry 7, killing
by family violence 36, Killed due to social
discrepancy 49, Killed by Law enforcing authority
12, Killed due to doctor negligence 1, Assassination
16, Mysterious death 55, Killed due to BSF 3, Women
&Child Killed due to Rape 6.
Killed by several accidents: Killed by road accident
226, Suicide 43.
Besides victims of torture: Rape 20, Torture for
Dowry 7.
When Mamata met Modi: Was Teesta on the agenda?
Barrister Harun ur Rashid
Thursday, March 19th, 2015
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of Bengal, met
on March 9th Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the
first time since he took power in last May. The main
purpose of her meeting was to seek financial
assistance from the Prime Minister to debt-stressed
West Bengal.
It is reported that at the 20-minute one-to-one
meeting between the two leaders, the current state
of India-Bangladesh relations and the pending
issues- the Teesta water-sharing deal and land
boundary agreement- with Bangladesh came up. Mamata
was understood to have apprised Modi of her talks
with Bangladesh leadership, including Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, during her visit to Dhaka last month.
It is reported that she took a positive approach on
inking the Teesta water pact and extended her help
to implement the Indo-Bangladesh Land Border
Agreement.
She also told reporters in Kolkata that she had
written separate letters to Modi and External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj about the outcome of
her recent visit to Bangladesh.
Last month while visiting Dhaka for three days, West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked
Bangladesh to "keep faith" in her over a Teesta
water-sharing deal that Bangladesh has long wanted
to be concluded. The chief minister reportedly said
the water-sharing issue a problem for everyone
concerned.
Mamata Banerjee had appointed an expert committee
headed by Dr. Kalyan Rudra to study the Teesta
water-sharing issue. It is believed that Rudra's
report was in favour of Bangladesh but the Chief
Minister had reservations on the report which
remains unpublished. In recent months, Indian High
Commissioner to Bangladesh reportedly met and
discussed the issue with Dr. Rudra.
It may be recalled that on 17th September last year
Foreign Office spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin while
addressing the Press over the talks of Bangladesh
foreign minister meeting with his Indian counterpart
said India requires political consensus over Teesta
issue. .He said, water was a "sensitive" issue that
needed to be addressed in a manner which was fair,
equitable, and none of the party was negatively
impacted.
Teesta is the most important river in northeast of
Bangladesh and is the 4th largest river of the
country. The upper stream Indian states- West Bengal
and Sikkim- have plans to irrigate an area of 9.22
lakhs hectares of land and reportedly water has
increasingly been withdrawn every year from Teesta
river. However at present more than 1 lakh hectares
have come under irrigation project, further
depleting water for Bangladesh.
The plan affects adversely about 21 million
Bangladeshi people who live in the basin of river
Teesta while only 8 million live in West Bengal and
half a million live in Sikkim state. The population
ration is 70 for Bangladesh: 30 for India.
The river originates in the Sikkim Valley of the
Himalayan Range within India. Sikkim reportedly has
built five dams, building four dams and 31 more on
the upper region of the Teesta River.
West Bengal claims that Sikkim with its ambitious
water projects depletes water on the down stream
flow of the river and West Bengal wants that the
Central Water Commission which is a premier
technical organisation of India in the field of
water resources and is presently functioning as an
attached office of the Ministry of Water Resources,
Government of India, can help solve the problem. If
Pawan Chamling, chief minister of Sikkim state can
be persuaded to by the Modi government to release
more water to West Bengal, West Bengal is able to
share water with Bangladesh.
It is reported that the New Delhi asked the chief
minister of West Bengal to prepare a draft a text of
Teesta Water sharing agreement which could satisfy
the all the parties including Bangladesh.
Bangladesh wants that water of a common river should
be used on equitable basis where the minimum
historical flow has to be maintained for the life of
the river and no withdrawal of water can be harmful
to lower riparian Bangladesh as provided in Article
9 of the 1996 Indo-Bangladesh Treaty on the Ganges
River.
7th March: The pinnacle of a relationship
That year 1971, as we all know by now, threw up a
number of dates that will remain forever etched in
the history of Bangladesh, and command its people's
reverence. Particularly 26th March and 16th
December, commemorated respectively as the dates of
Independence and Victory, stand out in the popular
consciousness, constitutionally enshrined as
indelible landmarks in the emergence of Bangladesh.
They are marked on every calendar and appear on the
'Important Dates' column of every diary, not to
mention the annual holiday sheet. Yet there are many
- or at least maybe the 10 lakh or so who made their
way to the Racecourse on March 7 that year- who in
thinking back, will find it hard to name any other
day, or date, or moment, that can take that
afternoon's place as the pinnacle of Bangladeshi
nationalism.
I mentioned the million-or-so who came. They came,
on that soggy March afternoon, from all corners of
the country. And having arrived, spread out again,
away from the rudimentary stage that had been
erected in vast concentric circles, till as far as
the eye could see. I weigh those words today - some
44 years later, and almost shudder at how literally
I mean it. It so poignantly contrasts the countless
number of times one may utter the same words, with
such casual disregard for their meaning. No here
were gathered 1 million human beings, and their
pulse beat as one. Being the great, natural leader
of men that he was, Sheikh Mujib - Bangabandhu after
all, with all the instinct for his people's feelings
implied by that name - captures it in an instant,
and in maybe 15-20 minutes, delivers it back with
such authority and conviction, the truth of his
words stinging the air. It is inconceivable to have
been there and not come away from it completely
convinced of his leadership. That day, he could have
said we'd go for parting the sea, and we would have
taken turns carrying the staff with which he'd do
it.
In light of the unsavoury nature of all the
politicking in recent times, I've been recalling his
leadership, that particular relationship with his
people that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
enjoyed, that has never quite been reproduced since
on these shores. Ziaur Rahman brought his sense of
integrity and great personal fortitude to the
position for a while, but that 'relationship' I'm
talking about is built over many more years. The
peoples in Bengal started making a friend, at least
his acquaintance as he made his way around the rural
heartland in the east on his bicycle, many a year
before he became Bangabandhu. They called him
Mujibur, a staid spelling that rendered it almost a
different name to the endearing call of 'Mojibor',
which is how they started coming to know this
fellow, wiry and bespectacled, with a sincere face
that encouraged people to talk to him. Just around
the time Suhrawardy spotted his strengths as a
trusted organiser of the people. That's when Mujib
started a lifelong conversation with the people he
left as Bangladeshis at his death. A leader so in
tune with the ebb and flow of his people's feelings,
can never betray that privilege. Only a leader like
him could speak his nation's mind, as he did on 7th
March, 1971.
I had made my way there with my friend, the dearly
departed Mishuk Munier, and his brilliant father,
Prof. Munier Chowdhury, the martyred intellectual,
who were our neighbours on the DU campus. I clearly
recall how we milled about on the great expanse of
the Maidan like ants, the day's din a cacophony of
speculation as to what was to come. Would we hear a
categorical declaration? Were the 6-points to stand?
What about the violence that had gripped the country
in the preceding week, with the military effectively
deployed?
To have been there was to have lived a bit of
Liberation. Bangabandhu took the stage, and
instantly everyone in every corner sat (or stood)
transfixed, hanging on every word that poured out of
his soul in all directions, washing over this great
sea of humanity that had seemingly obliterated the
green of the Maidan. He spoke to his people (After
"I come to you with a heavy heart", "You know
everything, and you understand everything"). He
spoke of them, their miseries, the injustice and
cruelty to which they were subjected ("The weapons I
paid for to defend the nation, are today turned
against my own people" and "How my mothers have been
made sonless"). He trusted them ("Bangalira, act
using your judgement!"). He confided ("I speak to
Yahya Khan on the telephone"). And assuredly, with
the cacophony building up, he spoke by them, and
they spoke by him.
The honesty in the relationship can be told by how
twice, or maybe more, but twice that I recall, he
very pointedly broke his chain of thought to remind
us all, his fate was uncertain, and so to continue
their struggle still ("Even if I'm not there to
command you!"). This was after all, this time
around, "the struggle for independence".
Today, we hear the term "crisis of leadership" being
used to try and make sense of the political impasse
that is gripping Bangladesh. Squeezing it dry of the
vitality its young demographic demands to make their
mark in the world. With 24 years now since the
advent of democracy, the time is ripe for a leader
who has a touch with the population, who knows their
buttons and soft corners, how to win them over,
without resort to deception. Who recognises their
troubles. The country needs a period of
self-introspection, overseen by a leader they trust.
Looking around, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
Bangabandhu's daughter, represents our best bet to
make that happen.
Top
Maldives: A New Democracy in
Crisis
While the azure blue waters of the
Indian Ocean around the capital Male' give an
impression of peace and serenity, the former
President Nasheed is arrested and unceremoniously
dragged to jail on trumped up charges of 'terrorism'
activities. Denied legal representation on time he
is sentenced to 13 years imprisonment by a bench of
Judges of dubious reputation. The world is shocked
by President Yameen's brutality. Nasheed was the
country's first democratically elected President. In
2008 he had defeated autocratic Gayoom, who had
ruled for 30 years. He was ousted in 2012 by a coup
that Nasheed claims was engineered by Vice President
Waheed and Gayoom.
A presidential election was then held in 2013, in
which Nasheed secured 45.45% of the votes while
Yameen, Gayoom's half brother won 25.35% and Gasim
24.07%. Since no candidate won 51% a second round
was held. It was fraught with discrepancies, delays
and illegalities. Supreme Court Judges violated
Article 107 of the Constitution, despite the
Speaker's protest, and again violated Articles 262
and 268 to allow Yameen to win the election.
As president, Yameen has acted as an autocrat but
recently found that his ruling coalition collapsing
like a house of cards. He began to purge political
opponents. His defense minister was jailed and
warrants of arrest were issued against senior
members of the opposition. Former President
Nasheed's sentence is an integral part of this
"broad sweep".
Nasheed, had already once been jailed for over 6
years for introducing democracy to the country. He
was declared an Amnesty International "Prisoner of
Conscience". After his 2008 defeat of Gayoom in a
fair presidential election he gained international
recognition by his climate change initiative to make
Maldives "Carbon Neutral by 2020". He dramatically
influenced the 2009 UN Copenhagen Conference, being
named by Time Magazine "Hero of the Environment".
Now Yameen has peremptorily discarded Nasheed's
policy and proposes drilling for oil in the pristine
waters of the Maldives, despite the risks to its
vital tourist industry.
The arrest and jailing of Nasheed is only the latest
act of Yameen's misrule. The Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court and a former Auditor General were
dismissed by quick legal amendments which reduced
the Supreme Court bench from 7 justices to 5 and
empowered Yameen to appoint a new Auditor General.
Ali Hamid, whose sex tapes with prostitutes at a
hotel in Sri Lanka leaked online in 2013 has now
been appointed as Chair of the Judicial Service
Commission.
The situation has become so murky that Ibrahim
Luthfy, Maldives Human Rights Envoy in Geneva,
resigned citing Nasheed's illegal arrest and
Yameen's questionable actions and connection with
criminals and violent gangs.
Hugo Swire, Minister of State in Britain's Foreign
Office has expressed deep concern at former
President Nasheed's trial and sentence as ''not
conducted in transparent and impartial manner or in
accordance with the legal process". The USA has also
protested. Human Rights Body of UK has proposed
"targeted sanctions" as well as a "boycott of
tourist resorts owned by senior member of the
regime". It was also proposed that the Commonwealth
should suspend Maldives for violation of human
rights. A local Human Rights Group, "Maldivian
Democracy Network" has identified eleven issues of
concern related to Nasheed's sentence, ranging from
alleged witness coaching to the criminal court's
refusal to provide Nasheed time to mount a defense.
India's request to Yameen to release Nasheed and
begin a process of national reconciliation failed
and Prime Minister Modi dropped a planned visit to
Maldives. Relations between New Delhi and Male' have
clearly deteriorated. Indeed there seem reasons to
suspect Yameen has a hidden agenda in favour of
China. Yameen signed the Maritime Silk Route
Agreement with China and a large GMR contract of
US$500 million has been taken away from an Indian
firm and given to China. In September 2014, China's
President Xi Jinping visited Maldives. China has
shown interest in converting two islands into
transshipment ports and in the development of the
country's 2nd international airport at Haanimadhoo.
Misreading the people's pulse
Few are responding to
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's call of indefinite
blockade plus hartal. While the nationwide blockade
is meant to halt long-distance transportation such
as bus, train and launches, the hartal or the
general strike is also aimed at shutting down shops
and businesses in the main cities, including capital
Dhaka. Signs that the protests are petering out are
getting bigger every day. Dhaka, the capital city of
more than 15 million people, experience heavy
traffic snarls and clogged streets, unusual scenes
on a hartal day. During the early part of the
campaign traffic used to be light on Dhaka streets.
Now the picture is different. Shops and businesses
open as usual with shoppers crowding them. The call
of hartal remains visible only on newspaper pages
and television screens but it has no reflection on
the city's shops and footpaths, which are used as
business centres. Yet, Khaleda has vowed to continue
the campaign and she is doing exactly so even though
it is not working.
The campaign aimed at forcing Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina to sit for a dialogue with the BNP-Jamaat-led
20-party alliance to discuss ways for holding a new
election under the supervision of an administration
acceptable to all parties has started since January
5. In her latest media appearance after a gap of 56
days last week the opposition BNP leader reiterated
her demands that the government amends the
constitution to allow an acceptable-to-all
election-time administration. This means she wants a
restoration of the neutral non-partisan caretaker
government to supervise the new election she has
been asking for. In that sense she has said nothing
new. However, a few political commentators have
started finding something new in Khaleda's latest
press statement. She, they argue, has given enough
indication that she is ready to accept Hasina as the
prime minister in the election-time administration.
Critics, however, say if Khaleda is prepared to
accept what the commentators think then she should
come out of vagueness and reveal her mind in clear
terms.
There are problems though. Khaleda has come to a
stage from where she cannot dictate the terms. By
committing one tactical error after another she has
unintentionally made Hasina stronger and undermined
her party's credibility with the people. Not many in
her own party believe that she is on the right
track. With the public ignoring her programmes of
blockade and hartals that have seen deaths of more
than 130 people in arson and petrol bomb attacks
Khaleda has put her leadership in question.
What does Khaleda want? Where does she want to lead
the country? Does she really care about the
sufferings her anti-Hasina campaign is causing to
the people? These are the questions high in the
public mind. Meanwhile, the BNP leader has proved
insensitive in her latest remarks that the public
sufferings caused by her mindless protests are
temporary. She has asked the people to bear with her
to reach what she says a bigger goal: democracy.
The people, on the other hand, are getting disgusted
with Khaleda's movement. They care more about their
livelihood than their right to vote. The issue
before the people of Bangladesh today is not about
vote. It's rather all about their fight for
survival. Why should a farmer who watches his crops
rot in the farm because of Khaleda-imposed blockade
and hartal support her cause? For a person fighting
for his livelihood the right to vote should not be
an immediate issue. True, Bangladeshis love to vote
and take any election as a cause for festival. But
this is not the time for a vote. More importantly,
Bangladeshis appear to be satisfied with the
government they have with Hasina as the prime
minister. To make a change they don't mind waiting
until 2019 when the next general election is due.
Khaleda may be right in her emphasis on vote but she
has failed to correctly read the people's pulse on
whether they want it right now.
The fading memories of a disaster
It was four-year ago that people in Japan all of a
sudden found themselves in a precarious situation
that hardly anyone could expect befalling to a
country that not long back was virtually conquering
the whole world with its cutting-edge innovative
technology and aggressive business maneuvers. Though
Japan at the time of disaster was already in the
tight grip of a prolonged recession, the country was
still holding its much admired position for being at
the forefront of scientific and technological
advancement. The neon-lit cities were flooded at
night by shiny and glittering images, while
entertainment districts did not go to sleep at all
throughout the night. The carefree mood of earlier
pre-bubble days, though watered-downed to a certain
extent due to economic downturn, was still
predominant in big cities. Shoppers and onlookers
were all over around the posh Ginza district of
Tokyo, while small Japanese-style pubs were full of
regular customers talking loud after being charged
by alcoholic consumption. And country's ever
increasing nuclear reactors were running full speed
to provide the supply of enormous volume of electric
power needed for keeping the economic machine
running without any interruption.
That entire vibrant mood had taken a sharp downward
turn right from the moment tragedies started
unfolding after the big earthquake hit the
north-eastern coastal belts in the afternoon of
March 11, 2011. The jolt was indeed a very big one,
spreading panic among Tokyo residents as high-rise
buildings were moving sideways and the whole of
capital's transport system coming to a sudden
standstill. And the aftershocks of both - the big
quake itself and those of its immediate impacts had
indeed been much wider with fallouts that nobody
could anticipate earlier.
I remember having a strange experience of
encountering the so called "phantom quakes" for an
extended period of almost a month after the
disaster. Though nothing in reality was happening, I
felt as if a big aftershock was shaking everything
around. My initial thought had been that, the fear
that originated from experiencing the quake was
still sending signals and thus causing the
hallucination. And I wrongly thought it was only me
having such a peculiar experience, unlit I heard
others too were talking about this phantom quake
phenomenon. Only then I could realize how deep the
sense of fear was running in the society and also
realized how deep a scar the disaster had left for
the community.
Later, as the bigger picture of a much greater
tragedy started unfolding with video images of the
impact of tsunami waves gusting through the
neighbourhoods reaching each and every household,
many had a sense of relief realizing how lucky they
had been for being located further from the places
where big tragedies were unfolding. And then arrived
the news of nuclear disaster and thus robbing from
them the luxurious sense of safety for being at a
safer distance. All of a sudden everyone started
feeling panicky once again, sensing as if the threat
and vulnerability associated with another looming
crisis which was unseen and could not be felt from
outside, but with the capability of wracking havoc
much more devastating, was turning real. However,
with the passage of time, all such bitter memories
started to fade bringing back the touch of normalcy
to our life. First it was the "phantom quakes" that
we no longer felt disturbing our mind. And then, the
fear about being contaminated by something invisible
and deadly too gradually faded. And finally, many of
those who became staunch anti-nuclear overnight
after experiencing the disaster, reconverted slowly
to same old disinterested bystanders of earlier
days, happily hanging on to a life style of "que
sera sera".
Four years on, life in Japan is now going on again
as if nothing that big and scary happened during our
lifetime. As the media is continue debating over the
pace of recovery and effectiveness of financial and
other assistance for the victims, many are still
stranded to a life of misery. According to official
figures released by the National Police Agency, a
total of 15,891 people are confirmed to have died in
the disaster, with another 2,584 still listed
missing. Those listed missing are presumed to have
washed away deep into the sea and no remains of them
have been located anywhere. It is for the families
of missing that the tragedy still looms large. The
absence of a body to mourn makes the process of
moving on much harder for many of them. In Shinto
and Buddhist ritual, the spirits of the dead remain
trapped until going through a normal funeral
process, and no funeral can be arranged without a
body. So, all over around the disaster regions,
there are ghostly tales being circulated about
trapped souls desperate for breaking away from the
cycle of life. That is why many of the relatives of
the missing are still in desperate search for bodies
of their beloved ones.
A section of Japanese media listed Takayuki Ueno as
one of those unlucky relatives. Every weekend since
the disaster he continues combing a desolate beach
not far from where his home was once standing, with
the hope of finding at least the bones of his
three-year-old son.
.
84pc coastal people
unaware of salinity in groundwater
Although salinity, which poses a
threat to human health, is on the rise in coastal
aquifer due to the sea level rise, a new study
reveals that most of the coastal people (84 percent)
are not aware of the presence of salinity in
groundwater in the country's coastal region.
Salinity has been affecting health of coastal
inhabitants, including spread of diarrhoea,
dysentery, itching, sore and other skin troubles.
The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE)
and the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) conducted
the study titled, 'Joint Action Research on Salt
Water Intrusion in Groundwater in the Coastal Area'.
Starting from September 2010, the study was
completed in December 2014. But the final report of
the study is yet to be prepared.
Under the climate change condition in the year of
2050, area of fresh water zone (salinity less than
1000 pm) will decrease compared to present
situation. Within the saline zone, areas under
severe salinity will increase by 14 percent by 2050,
predicted the study.
The study was carried out in parts of three
districts of Khulna, Jessore and Satkhira with about
1534 square kilometres, aiming to assess salinity
extent and intrusion, and aquifer vulnerability in
the area.
JAR Study project leader M Rezaul Hasan said
salinity has been increasing in the coastal aquifer
due to sea level rise caused by global climate
change, but the people of the coastal region are not
aware of the presence of salinity in groundwater as
they are habituated with salinity. The use of saline
water for shrimp culture by the coastal people has
been identified as a major reason for increasing
salinity in the shallow aquifer.
At the present condition, the study identifies that
the low-salinity zone (less than 1000 ppm, or parts
per milligram) lies along the western part of the
study area while the high salinity zone (more than
1000 ppm) along the southern and eastern sides.
About the long term simulation for climate change
options for 2050, the study indicates that the
propagation of salinity from river to aquifer takes
place.
Coastal aquifers are vital sources of fresh water
throughout the world. Bangladesh, especially the
low-lying coastal areas, is likely to be in extreme
vulnerable condition under the current scenario of
changes in climate condition because of its
geographic location and low-lying topography.
This scenario is likely to be worsened by reduced
dry period flow and increased abstraction of water
for domestic, industrial, irrigation and other
needs.
Rezaul Hasan said the study predicts that aquifer
saline zone will increase by 2.27 percent by 2050
while fresh water zone will decrease by 3.44
percent.
"But severe salinity zone will increase by 14
percent by 2050 accelerating fresh water crisis in
the coastal region, which is a great concern for
us," he added..
.