Global Voices » Bangla

Bangladesh: Titas is the Name of a Murdered River

Rezwan — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:18:40 +0000

The Titas River is a trans-boundary river of south-eastern Bangladesh and it is more known to the Bengalis by a famous novel and a movie titled “A river named Titas“, which depicts the life of the fishermen on its bank.

River Titas, which is the source of livelihood for many people, is now endangered. In Ashuganj town of the Brahmanbaria District of Bangladesh a long diversion road has been hurriedly built through the Titas river and its tributaries and canals obstructing its flow in many parts.

Local media reports that it was done to facilitate transhipment of Indian goods on heavy vehicles as the existing roads and bridges are damaged and cannot bear the load of these huge carriers. Netizens are outraged by the developments.

A road through Titas river. Image courtesy Sharat Chowdhury

Here is a picture of the same place taken on 2008.

Mahfuzur Rahman Manik reports [bn]:

সম্প্রতি সামাজিক যোগাযোগের ওয়েবসাইটগুলোয় (ব্লগ, ফেসবুক) একটা ভিডিওর ব্যাপক ছড়াছড়ি। তেমন কিছু নয়, একুশে টিভিতে প্রচারিত সংবাদের ভিডিও। ‘ট্রানজিট’ নিয়ে প্রচারিত তিন পর্বের এক পর্ব। সেখানে উঠে এসেছে আখাউড়া ও ব্রাহ্মণবাড়িয়ার সংযোগস্থলে তিতাস নদী দ্বিখণ্ডিত হওয়ার করুণ কাহিনী। ভারতকে ট্রানজিট সুবিধা দেয়ার নামে তিতাসের মাঝখানে রাস্তা বানিয়ে কীভাবে তাকে মেরে ফেলা হচ্ছে তার প্রমাণ ভিডিওটি। যারা কখনো তিতাস দেখেননি কিংবা নদী বরাবর কীভাবে রাস্তা বানানো হলো তা দেখার কৌতূহল থেকেও অনেক ইন্টারনেট ব্যবহারকারী এতে ঢুঁ মেরেছেন।

Recently the social networking sites (Blog, Facebook) are flooded with a video. Nothing extra-ordinary, but a a news report on Ekushey TV. Its the first episode of the three part fetaure on “transit”. the video is the proof how a road was built dividing Titas river and killing it in the name of providing transit facility. Many internet users are watching this video, especially those who have never seen Titas or those, who are simply interested to see how a road can be built dividing a river.

একুশে টেলিভিশন প্রচারিত সংবাদটি বলছে, তিতাস নদীর ওপর বাঁধ দেয়ায় চারপাশের লাখ লাখ হেক্টর জমিতে ফসল উত্পাদনের ওপর বিশাল প্রভাব পড়ছে। এ নদীর ওপর নির্ভর করে যারা জীবিকা নির্বাহ করেন, তাদের জীবনে এসেছে অনিশ্চয়তা। বিশেষ করে জেলেদের অবস্থা খারাপ। সেখানকার মানুষ ঘরে ফসল তুলতে পারেন না। হাজার হাজার হেক্টর জমি তলিয়ে গেছে পানিতে। পরিবেশ বিপর্যয় তো রয়েছেই।

The Ekushey TV report divulges that the cultivation in the surrounding thousands of hectares of land has already been effected. Those who depends on this river for their livelihood face an uncertain future. Especially the fate of the fishermen are doomed. Thousands of hectares of cultivated fields have been submerged and many crops are damaged. The environmental damage is enormous.

Blogger Kallol Mostafa went to the site and reported [bn]:

ভারতের ত্রিপুরার পালাটানায় ৭২৬ মেগাওয়াট ক্ষমতার একটি বিদ্যুৎ প্রকল্পের প্রয়োজনীয় ভারী যন্ত্রপাতি ৯৬টি ওভার ডাইমেন্সনাল কার্গো’র (ওডিসি) মাধ্যমে পরিবহনের জন্য ৩০ নভেম্বর ২০১০ এ ভারত ও বাংলাদেশের মধ্যে একটি সমঝোতা স্মারক স্বাক্ষরিত হয়। [..] আশুগঞ্জ বন্দর আর আশুগঞ্জ থেকে আখাউড়া সড়ক পথ ওডিসি পরিবহনের অনুপযুক্ত হওয়ায় বন্দর উন্নয়ন, ৪৯ কিমি রাস্তা মেরামত ও ১৮ মিটার পর্যন্ত প্রশস্ত করার জন্য ভারত এককালীন ২৫.৫০ কোটি টাকা প্রদান করবে বলে ঠিক হয়। [..] এই রাস্তায় তিতাস নদী ও বিভিন্ন খালের উপর যেসব ব্রীজ ও কালভার্ট রয়েছে সেগুলো এত ভারী কার্গোর ভার বহনের সক্ষম নয়। তাই রাস্তা মেরামত ও প্রশস্ত করণের পাশাপাশি ভারতের আসাম বেঙ্গল কেরিয়ার বা এবিসি ইন্ডিয়াকে দ্বায়িত্ব দেয়া হলো ব্রীজ ও কালভার্টগুলোর পাশ দিয়ে “বিকল্প রাস্তা” তৈরী করার।

A memorandum of understanding was signed on November 30, 2011 to provide transit facility to 96 over-dimensional cargoes (ODCs) which will carry heavy machinery for a 726 Megawatt power plant in Trpura, India. [..] It was decided that India will pay 255 million Bangladeshi Taka to upgrade 49 kms of road by making them 18 meter wide. However, the bridges and culverts on these roads are not able to carry the heavy loads of these ODCs. So besides up-gradation of the road, the Asam Bengal Carrier (ABC) company was awarded a contract to build alternative roads besides those bridges and culverts.

A makeshift road near the culvert on a canal of Titas river. Image by Niloy Das. Courtesy Dinmojur Blog

The whole article has been shared many times in social networks. Kallol also shares [bn] his frustrations and anger:

দুনিয়ার আর কোন দেশের শাসক শ্রেণী এইভাবে নিজ দেশের নদী-খালের মাঝখান দিয়ে বাধ নির্মাণ করে আরেক দেশের মালামাল পরিবহনের ব্যবস্থা করেছে বলে আমাদের জানা নাই।

I am not aware of any other country who has diverted its rivers and canals with dams and built roads through them to facilitate transit of goods of a neighboring country.

Some bloggers took an initiative to carry out a visit to the site. A Facebook event [bn] was created.

Kowshik provides [bn] the scope of the visit:

আমাদের রাজনীতি নেই, আমরা রাজনীতি বুঝি না - কিন্তু সব গেলো সব গেলো বলে আহাজারি করতে পারি! সেই আহাজারীর মাত্রা আরেকটু বাড়াতে আগামী ৩০শে ডিসেম্বর তিতাসের খণ্ডিত বুকে গিয়ে জানতে চাই সেখানকার মানুষদের কি মতামত!

We have no political intention, we don't understand politics but we can cry for our loss. To extend that cry to another level we want to go to the divided Titas and ask for local people's opinions.

Kowshik also provided frequent updates [bn] of the bloggers' initiatives.

Here is a three part videocast showing interviews of bloggers and locals:

(Part 1: Featuring Ali Asif Galib [bn])

(Part 2: Featuring Sharat Chowdhury [bn])

(Part 3: Featuring Ali Mahmed [bn])

Blogger Sharat Chowdhury shares his experience [bn] of actually being there:

আমরা দেখি নদীর বুক চিড়ে রাস্তা বানানো হয়েছে। ট্রানজিটের রাস্তা। আমাদের নতজানুতার পথ। এই পথ দেখে আমাদের কষ্ট হয়, ঘৃণা হয়, অবিশ্বাস গাঢ় হয় সরকারের বিবেচনা বোধ আর সদিচ্ছার প্রতি।

We see that roads have been built dividing the river. The roads for transit, the road to our submissiveness. Our heart aches seeing this road, we loath. Our mistrust on the government deepens.

Sharat adds:

এই মুহুর্তে প্রতিবাদ প্রতিরোধ ছাড়া আর কোন পথ নেই। ব্লগাররা কাজ করতে পারেন স্থানীয় অপনিয়ন লিডার হিসেবে। কেবল রাজধানী-কেন্দ্রীক আন্দোলনের বদলে আমরা এমনও দেখতে পারি যে ব্রাম্মণবাড়ীয়া, আশুগঞ্জের ব্লগাররা প্রতিবাদ জানিয়েছেন স্থানীয় প্রশাসনকে। অবহিত করেছেন স্থানীয় মানুষদের। সংগঠিত করেছেন। এটা আমাদের করতেই হবে।

Now we have no options except protesting the road constructions. Not only the capital centric protests, we would like to see that the local bloggers are protesting to the local government. We would like to see them organize locals and making them aware. We have to do it.

Bangladesh: A Bold Protest Against Dowry

Rezwan — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:21 +0000

For centuries dowry has been part of the social system in many parts of the world and in developing countries it is seen as a financial burden for the bride's family. In several South Asian countries it has been prohibited by law in the past century, but dowry is still widely and illegally practiced.

Each year we hear about dowry-related domestic violence which may end up in the killing of wives by some husbands. A recent protest against dowry is being much discusses and lauded in the social networks in Bangladesh.

11/11/11 was chosen as the dream wedding date of the bride Farzana Yasmin, who works in an insurance company, and the bridegroom Shawkat Ali Khan Hiron, who is a head master of a government primary school. The wedding duly took place last Friday [bn], but during the reception Farzana's in-laws demanded a TV set, refrigerator, motorbike and a few more things as ‘gifts' from the bride's family in presence of the guests.

The bride was stunned to see that her new husband was voicing support for their demands and sent ripples across the country by divorcing him right at the wedding. The relatives of the bridegroom tried to solve the dispute into the night but Farzana stuck to her word.

The bridegroom later wrote in a Facebook status that the truth is that his marriage ended and he apologized to the guests. He also claimed that he did not ask for a dowry. He then launched a smear campaign [bn] against the bride on Facebook. Netizens widely protested this and the hate filled posts were later removed.

Farzana explained:

Dowry has become a cancer of society. I've read in newspapers about it and have always wondered why this happens. [..] When it happened right before my eyes, something happened inside me. I felt like speaking up against it and doing something about it…. [..] Maybe I haven't changed the lives of ten people, but I want people to take the lesson that girls can do something.

She asked that if she, being an educated girl cannot take this decision, who can?

Here is a video of an interview [bn] she gave to local media (uploaded by Priyochannel).

Unheard Voice blog posts translations from the interview:

So what if I got divorced? I don’t need it. I can live by myself. I can never build a home with a man like this… Girls think once you get married you can never leave. They make comments like, how could she get divorced. Why should I live inside a hell when I know it is… We speak against dowry, but it still happens. If I don’t protest now, another five women will not protest against this… You see all these protests, rallies, but it still continues. This society continues to be ruled by men. How could a teacher ask for dowry? What will society learn from a teacher like that? And he is a government teacher. And government talks against dowry. These people need to be punished, they need to be socially ostracized. I am proud to say I walked out, even though I was dressed as bride.

Farzana at the interview. Image courtesy Kowshik

Kowshik was there during the interview and wrote about it in BDNews24.com blog [bn]

তার যুগান্তকারী ঘটনা শুনছি। ফারজানাকে দেখে সজাগ হতে হয়। এমন সাহসী সিদ্ধান্ত ক’জন নিতে পেরেছেন? যৌতুকের দাবী মেটাতে গিয়ে নির্যাতনের শিকারের ঘটনা আমরা অহরহ শুনি। কিন্তু এভাবে ঘুরে দাঁড়াবার দৃষ্টান্ত বিরল।

Listening to her remarkable story. One has to be amazed by her deeds. How many people can take such a brave decision? We hear about domestic violence related to dowry all the time. But such bold stand is a rare phenomenon.

Kowshik's post attracted many comments. Gias Uddin Bhuiyan congratulated her and said:

তিনি যে এই সাহসী পদক্ষেপটি নিয়েছেন তা প্রতিটি ঘরে ঘরে প্রতিটি মানুষের মনে রাখা উচিত এবং সকলের জীবনে তার প্রতিফলন ঘটানো উচিত। শুধু তাকে বাহবা দিলেই দায়িত্ব শেষ হবে না।

Every person in every home should remember this bold step taken by her and the lesson should be applied in our lives. The responsibility doesn't end only by congratulating her.

Pankaj Chowdhury said:

ফারজানা তোমাকে অনেক অনেক ধন্যবাদ। তুমি দেখিয়ে দিয়েছ মেয়েরা বাজারের পন্য নয়। মেয়েরাও মানুষ তাদেরও স্বাধীনতা আছে।

Farzana, many thanks to you. You have shown that women are not products at markets. They are also human beings and they are independent.

Muktadir S. Hossain comments on an article in the Daily Star:

This is just the beginning. For all those beggars who look for dowry, this is a warning.

Manzor H. sarkar writes:

My full admiration for this girl's guts and courage and her decisive refusal to the compliance with this century-old stupid tradition or practice of dowry in our sub-continent. She fully realised what type of marriage was going to be installed. It looked like more to a sale deed rather than a bond of matrimony based on mutual trust and love.

The reality is that Farzana is just one odd amongst millions of women who have to live through the ordeals of dowry. When will society wake up?

South Asia: Celebrating the 7 Billionth Child

Rezwan — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:12:32 +0000

On the 31 October, 2011, the earth welcomed a newborn child named Oishi. Her birth in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka carried a special message - she is the 7 billionth child of the world.

The Editor.net reports:

The 7 billionth child of the world is here in Dhaka. The lucky parents of the child are Mohsin Hossain and Tonni Hossain. They had hoped for a boy child as their third child. And this 3rd child is the 7 billionth child (symbolic) of the world.

The beautiful girl child was born on 12:01 AM at the early hours in Azimpur Maternity and Child Care Hospital.

It is difficult to identify exactly which child is the 7 billionth one, so a symbolic celebration is happening around the world. UNFPA selected Oishi to carry the honor in Bangladesh.

The website adds:

This birth was celebrated publicly - with cake and candles. The hospital was crowded with people who gathered to catch a glimpse of the child. Sponsored by the 7 billion action program, this program was a publicity event.

Posha Pakhi at group blog Somewhereinblog.net carried the news with a post titled “The 7 billionth child was born in Dhaka“. The post attracted many comments:

Journo opined [bn]:

Welcome the the 7 billionth child from Bangladesh. Hope she will live as an enlightened person.

Mithapur wished the child and questioned the justification of selecting her and mentioned jokingly [bn]:

One question: How did they calculate that she is the 7 billionth

If the line would read -

The world's 7 billion (instead of billionth) children born in Dhaka

It can happen one day, isn't it?

Atiq cannot tell the difference between 7 billion and 7 billion plus one:

I don't understand all the fuss between 7 billion and 7 billion plus one numbers. Why so much discussion on this? Everybody is born with a number everyday.

My prayers for every one of them.

Although the world cheers at Oishi's birth, it did not cheer her parents much. Because Oishi is a girl child. Her parents wanted a boy this time [bn] (the first two are girls).

Sri lankan mother Danushika Perera cuddling her newly born baby. Image by Rohan Karunarathne. Copyright Demotix (31/10/2011)

Not only in Bangladesh, similar celebrations took place in many countries of the world. In Sri Lanka UNFPA celebrated the birth of Muthumani, the girl child of Ishara Madushanka and Danushika Dilani Perera.

Similarly in India Plan International celebrated the birth of Nargis as the 7 billionth child of the world.

LiveIndia.Com reports [Hi]:

In Lucknow, the capital of Uttarpradesh state in India, a baby girl named Nargis was the symbolic seven billionth child to be born during the early ours of Monday. She was named as Nargis.

Although the growing number of world population has been seen as a wake up call for the world, Muthumani, Oishi and Nargis give us the message that the girl-children should not be neglected in the future.

Bangladesh: Occupy Dhaka, Joining the Movement Against the 1%

Rezwan — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 20:32:59 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Occupy Wall Street, the peaceful protest against financial corruption and capitalism that started last month in New York City's financial capital, has already spread in many countries of the world. People have joined under the motto: “We are the 99% who will not tolerate the greed and corruption of the remaining 1%.” And the statement is also being resonated in some streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.

In a photo essay in Demotix Safin Ahmed reports about a protest in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street Movement in Dhaka on October 19, 2011 :

The People Solidarity Movement from Bangladesh gives solidarity to the global occupy Wall Street movement by holding a protest.

Activists chant and wave placards and banners supporting the global movement against the banks, and corruption. Image By Safin Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (19/10/2011)

Blogger Rasel Parvez writes [bn] about the need of such protest and asserts that the movement should be non-violent:

আমাদের জীবনযাপনে রাষ্ট্রের আরও সক্রিয় আন্তরিক অংশগ্রহনের দাবীতে আমাদের একমত হতে হবে। আমরা ৯৯% মানুষ রাষ্ট্রের ক্রমাগত উদাসীনতা, উপেক্ষায় বিক্ষুব্ধ এবং আমাদের ভেতরে এই অভাববোধ বিষয়ে সচেতনতা জন্মেছে এটা নিশ্চিত করতে হবে।

একই সাথে সহিংসতা এড়িয়ে চলতে হবে। অকুপাই ওয়ালস্ট্রীটের অবস্থানে অংশগ্রহনকারীদের সবচেয়ে বড় সম্পদ তাদের শৃঙ্খলাবোধ, গত ১ মাসেও তারা সহিংসতা দেখান নি।

We have to agree on the fact that the government should be more active and earnest in ensuring our livelihoods. We, the 99%, are outraged by the the long negligence and ignorance by the state and we are now building awareness.

We have to avert violence. The greatest asset of the occupy wall street movement is their discipline, they have not resorted to violence in the past month.

Soon more organizations joined the cause and planned a “Occupy Dhaka” [bn] movement on October 22, 2011 at Teacher and Student Center (TSC) square inside Dhaka University Campus which was promulgated using Facebook and Twitter.

The Poster for We Are 99% (Occupy Dhaka)

Renowned teacher, economist and activist Anu Muhammad urged everybody [bn] to join the protests to take back Bangladesh:

Click image to view the leaflet in Bangla

দেশে দেশে একই শ্লোগান দিয়ে মানুষ উঠে আসছে রাস্তায়। শ্লোগানের মূল কথা দুটো; একটি, নিজের পরিচয় ঘোষণা: ‘আমরা ৯৯%’। আরেকটি, আন্দোলনের লক্ষ্য ঘোষণা: ‘দখল কর….’! কি দখল? দখল ক্ষমতার কেন্দ্র, দখল নিজের দেশ, দখল নিজের জীবন। প্রকৃত অর্থে নিজের জীবন, সম্পদ ও দেশ দখল করেছে শতকরা ১ ভাগ লুটেরা, দখলদার, যুদ্ধবাজ সন্ত্রাসী। লক্ষ্য এসব দখলমুক্ত করা। কেননা দেয়ালে পিঠ ঠেকে গেছে।[..]

ক্ষমতার কেন্দ্র অটুট রেখে সরকারের বদলে কিছুই বদল হবে না। এটা যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের শিক্ষা, এটা বাংলাদেশের শিক্ষা। মানুষ এখন তাই দখল করতে চাচ্ছে ক্ষমতার কেন্দ্র। বাংলাদেশেও মানুষকে বাঁচতে হলে, নতুন ভবিষ্যৎ নির্মাণ করতে হলে, দ্বিজোটীয় বিভাজনের ঘোরে লুটেরা, দখলদার সন্ত্রাসী শতকরা ১ ভাগের যে শৃঙ্খল, তা থেকে মুক্ত হতে গেলে এই মেরুকরণকেই নতুন রাজনীতির কেন্দ্রে আনতে হবে। বাংলাদেশে এই লড়াই নতুন নয়, জনগণের শতভাগ মালিকানায় দেশ ও তার সম্পদ প্রতিষ্ঠার চলমান লড়াইয়ের অন্তর্গত শ্লোগানই হল: আমরা ৯৯%, দখলমুক্ত কর বাংলাদেশ।

A placard. Image by Kowshik Ahmed. Used with permission.

In every nation people are coming out in the streets chanting the same words. The slogan has two parts; one, identify ourselves: ‘We are 99%'. The other part; set the goal of the movement: ‘Occupy..' Occupy what? Occupy the center of power, occupy your own country, occupy your own lives. In reality your lives, natural resources and country are being controlled by 1% looters, acquirers and war mongers. Our goal is to free those because we are pressed back at the wall.

Changing the government keeping the power centers intact will not change anything. This is the learning from the US, This is the learning from Bangladesh, too. So people want to occupy the center of power. If the Bangladeshis want to live, build a new future, get themselves free from the two feuding, corrupt and occupier political alliances then they have to re-polarize the politics. This struggle in Bangladesh is not new, if the citizens want that their country and the resources will be controlled by them then the slogan of the movement is applicable to them: We are the 99%, free Bangladesh from occupation.

Kowshik Ahmed posts pictures of the protests in BDNews24blog and in a Facebook Album. He also posts a video showing the rally.

Bloggers and online activists expressing solidarity at TSC. Image by Kowshik Ahmed. Used with permission.

An anonymous blogger at Sachalayatan describes about today's protest in Dhaka:

হাজার হাজার মানুষ ওয়ালস্ট্রিটে অবস্থান নিয়েছে কর্পোরেট তন্ত্রের প্রতিবাদে। আজ শনিবার ঢাকায় টিএসসিতে সেই আন্দোলনের সাথে সংহতি জানিয়ে একত্রিত হয়েছিলেন কয়েকশ উচ্চকন্ঠ মানুষ। [..] আজ বামধারার রাজনীতিকরা এই প্রতিবাদের সামনের সারিতে আছেন। কিন্তু এই জায়গাটা এমনকি তাদেরও না। এই জায়গাটা আমাদের। আমরা যারা বিকল্প ধারার মিডিয়াতে- ব্লগে, ফেসবুকে সচেতন হয়ে উঠছি ক্রমশ, সেই আমাদের। বাম মানুষগুলোর সাথে, তাদের পুরো দৃষ্টিভঙ্গির সাথে সহমত না হবার পরেও, সেই সচেতনতার ছাপ তাদের মধ্যে দেখতে পেয়ে, আজ আমরা ‘অকুপাই বাংলাদেশ' এর সাথে সংহতি জানাচ্ছি।

এই প্রতিবাদগুলো, এই স্লোগান আর মিছিল সফল হবে কী হবে না আমার জানা নাই। ফেসবুকের ওয়ালপোস্টে আর ব্লগিঙে গতি পেতে থাকা এই নতুন প্রজন্মের আন্দোলন আগামিকাল বা পরশু সাফল্য নিয়ে আসবে কি না জানা নাই। কিন্তু একটা বিশ্বাস আছে। একদিন, ঘুমিয়ে থাকা মানুষেরা জেগে উঠবে। একদিন সবাই রাস্তায় নেমে আসবে। একদিন ১% মানুষের হাতের পুতুল হবার বদলে, ৯৯% মানুষ নিজেদের মতে চলবে। সেই দিন জেগে উঠে তারা দেখবে, তাদের আগে আমরা ছিলাম। আমাদের উপর দায়িত্ব, তারা জেগে ওঠা পর্যন্ত এই প্রতিবাদ সামনে এগিয়ে নিয়ে যাওয়া।

Thousands of people gathered in Wall Street to protest against Corporatism. Today Saturday a few hundreds of vocal Bangladeshi citizens expressed solidarity with that protest. [..] Today the left leaning politicians are in the fore front of this protest. But this place is not even theirs. This place is ours. This place is for those who are becoming aware by sharing the news and expressing themselves using the alternative media - blogs and Facebook. We do not share the ideology of the left, but we see the awareness in them. So we are with them in solidarity with the “Occupy Bangladesh” movement.

We cannot tell whether these protests, these slogans and rallies will be successful. We do not know whether this movement of the new generation generating Godspeed by posting in Facebook or blogs will bring success in the coming days. But we believe in one thing. One day, the sleeping citizens will be awake. One day everybody will be in the streets. One day, instead of being a puppet of the 1%, the 99% will be on their own. That day they will rise and realize that we were before them. Our responsibility is to carry this movement till they wake up.

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Bangladesh: Beheading of 8 Bangladeshi Workers in Saudi Arabia Sparks Rage

Rezwan — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:39:08 +0000

Nothing can justify a capital crime, but capital punishment cannot ensure a cure or deterrent for such crimes. Bangladeshis were shocked to learn that eight Bangladeshi migrant workers were beheaded in public in Saudi Arabia on 7 October, 2011, under Qisas (an eye for an eye) law for being involved in robbing a warehouse and killing a security guard, Hussein Saeed Mohammed Adulkhaleq, an Egyption national. Three other Bangladeshis were sentenced to prison terms and flogging.

As videos of similar Saudi beheadings [Warning: Graphic content] were widely circulated in social networks, netizens were enraged about this horrific punishment questioning about the process of the trial and the role of the Bangladesh Government in ensuring these poor migrant workers' rights.

Zahid Masudul Abedin writes [bn]:

কিছু ব্যতিক্রম বাদ দিলে প্রায় সব দেশেই হত্যার শাস্তি মৃত্যুদণ্ড। আমাদের দেশেও তাই। কিন্তু এই মৃত্যুদণ্ডটাও যে কত ভয়ঙ্কর ভাবে কার্যকর করা যায় তারই যেন একটা উদাহরণ জনসমক্ষে শিরশ্ছেদ। বুঝলাম আইনের সঠিক প্রয়োগ করা উচিত কিন্তু এই মধ্যযুগীয় বর্বরতা কি এই যুগে ত্যাগ করা যায় না?

Almost every nation in the world exercises capital punishment. Our country also belongs to the group. But how brutallly the execution of punishment can be is evident from this type of public beheading. I understand that the law must be properly implemented, but can't we refrain from this kind of beastliness from the middle ages?

Mosaddik Uzzal questions [bn]:

ফাঁসি রহিত করা হোক এমন আইন আমরা চাইনা। কেননা এই মৃত্যু দণ্ড ব্যবস্থা না থাকলে সমাজে অপরাধের সংখ্যা বেড়ে যাবে। তাই বলে ১ জন কে হত্যার জন্য ৮ জন কেন জীবন দিল? এই কেমন আইন?

We are not against capital punishment, because this may increase the rate of crime in the community. But why eight people had to die for one person's death? What kind of law is this?

Niaz Murshed Chowdhury [bn] has some points to ponder:

এ দৃশ্য সৌদি আরবে এতটাই হরহামেশা ঘটে থাকে যে এটা তাদের কাছে কোন প্রতিক্রিয়া সৃষ্টি করে না। বরং সৌদি নীতি নির্ধারকরা যুক্তি দেখায় এভাবে প্রকাশ্যে শিরশ্ছেদ তথা “আল্লাহর আইন” বাস্তবায়ন মানুষকে সাবধানী করে। এটা সমাজে অপরাধ প্রবণতা কমায়। এই একই যুক্তি গত চব্বিশ ঘণ্টায় ইন্টারনেটে দেয়া মতামতের কল্যাণে বহু মানুষের কাছ থেকে জানতে পারলাম। অনেকেই এটাকে বর্বরতা নয় বরং সমাজ থেকে অপরাধ কমানোর কার্যকরী একটা উপায় বলে মনে করেন। সব কথাই শুনলাম, সব কথাই বুঝলাম। কিন্তু এটা বুঝলাম না, ১৪শ বছর আগে করা এই “আল্লাহর আইন” কেন এখনও সৌদি সমাজ থেকে হত্যার মত অপরাধ বিলুপ্ত করতে পারলো না? কেন ২০০৭ সনে ১৫৮ জন এবং ২০০৮ সনে ১০৮ জনকে শিরশ্ছেদ করতে হলো? ১৪শ বছর কি “আল্লাহর আইন”-এর জন্যে যথেষ্ট ছিল না সমাজ থেকে এ ধরনের অপরাধ বিলুপ্ত করতে?

These (horrific) scenes are so ubiquitous in Saudi Arabia that they do not create any reactions among the Saudis. Rather the policy makers vouch for this punishment saying that implementing “God's Law” warns people, makes them careful. It reduces crime in the society. I have read the same kind of logic in many internet postings. Many believe that this is not barbarism, rather an effective tool to reduce crime in the society. I have read and understood all this, but could not fathom why the “Gods Law” initiated 1,400 years ago could not eradicate capital crimes like killing from the Saudi communities? Why they had to behead 158 persons in 2007 and 108 people in 2008? Was not 1400 years enough for the “Gods Law” to eradicate these kinds of crimes?

According to news reports [bn] the Bangladesh government had tried through diplomatic channel since 2007 to seek pardon for the eight Bangladeshis. Even the president of Bangladesh wrote a letter to the Saudi King asking for forgiveness. The Saudi foreign office replied that only the victim's family can forgive the perpetrators. The Bangladesh government did seek forgiveness from the victim's family in Egypt but they refused.

Swadesh Roy writes in the Times Of Assam:

The persons who were beheaded, their trial were basically far from international standard. All proceedings were in Arabic. Accused persons could not understand it. The court did not arrange any system to help the accused understand it. Besides, most defendants had no defense lawyer. Eventually, for the language barrier and lack of any help from the lawyer, they could not defend themselves. So, it is not a trial of any international standard, it is actually a mock trial.

Niaz mentions that confession through tortures and framed cases are regular affairs in such mock trials. He also quotes from the Amnesty report:

The Egyptian man was killed during a clash between the Bangladeshi workers and a group of men who allegedly were stealing electric cable from a building complex where the Bangladeshis worked.

He asks why the media is ignoring these “group of men” and why they had been absent in the trial process?

And of course there are some people who are more equal than others. Niaz mentions the hypocrisy existing in the Saudi Law presenting the case of William Sampson, who survived such capital punishment because he was a British national. Sampson wrote in the Guardian:

Finally released in August 2003, after 964 days of solitary confinement, torture and dehumanising terror, I harbour no illusions about what saved me: my passport. …Meanwhile, of course, Saudi's poor migrant workers from Somalia, Bangladesh, the Philippines or Pakistan are virtually doomed if they face a capital charge.

Manob O Manobota [bn] has this to say to the King of Saudi Arabia:

আপনি কি জানেন, এ অভিযুক্তরা সবাই তাদের মনের কথা আপনার বিচারকদের কাছে জানাতে পেরেছিল নাকি রায়টি একতরফা হয়েছিল?

Do you know whether these convicted did have the liberty and means to tell the truth to your judges or the verdict was made without due process?

Pushpita [bn] questions the Bangladeshi government:

কিছু কি করা যেতোনা. এই অসহায় শ্রমিকদের জন্য? কারো কি কোন দায়িত্ব ছিলনা?

Couldn't anything be done for them? Did not anybody have any responsibility?

It may be noted here that Indonesia has banned the sending of maids to Saudi Arabia after a migrant worker from West Java was beheaded in that country for killing her employer, who abused her.

Unheard Voice points out that there are many more Bangladeshis waiting to be beheaded:

These men didn’t have any power, money, influence. They hold green colored passports that have very little international leverage and they work and live under conditions just above slaves. When they die, they are easily replaced and forgotten. 16 more are waiting in line to take the 8’s place.

Rubana Haque is in grief seeing the silence of the world:

Strangely, the world seems unsure and divided on the concept of peace. On one hand, three outstanding women have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their contribution to the non-violent movement in their countries: Liberia and Yemen, and on the other hand, eight of us have just been beheaded in the most violent manner in Saudi Arabia.

While Saudi Arabia seeks to secure justice through capital punishment in its soil, the Nobel committee has commended these three women for strategically voicing out their protest. Point is, when will the world wake up to shun the violent governments and when shall we all stand united on the idea of peace, the chimera of our modern times?

Bangladesh: Bloggers Will Not Be Silenced

Rezwan — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:14:30 +0000

The Jagannath University of Dhaka, initiated in 1858, is one of the oldest public educational institutes of Bangladesh. Many people in the country cannot afford expensive private tuition and depend on these public educational institutes for their higher studies.

Recently on the prescription of World Bank the government has ventured to curtail subsidies in education by privatizing the public colleges and universities and Jagannath University has become one of their first experiments.

Student protests

Parvez Alam [bn] provides the background of the recent protests and demonstrations by the students of Jagannath University:

জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় শ্রেফ শুরু মাত্র, এরপরে দেশের প্রত্যেকটা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়রে ধরা হবে। একটা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের ক্ষেত্রে বাস্তবায়ন করতে পারলে বাকিগুলাও আস্তে আস্তে করে ফেলা হবে।

Jagannath University is just the start, gradually every public universities in the country will be affected. If they succeed to implement it here the others will follow.

On September 25, 2011, police cracked down on the students of Jagannath University as some of them resorted to vandalism during protests. Tough action was taken against students including mass arrests.

Activists from the Facebook group “Bloggers and Online Activists on National Interest” (জাতীয় স্বার্থে ব্লগার -অনলাইন একটিভিস্ট) [bn] condemned the police brutality and supported the 4 point demand and the protests of the students of the Jagannath University.

Asif Mohiuddin. Image courtesy Arfan Ahmed/Unmochon

Among several bloggers, Asif Mohiuddin, 28, an IT specialist, wrote [bn] about this issue extensively and was one of the key organizers of the protests of the ‘Bloggers and Online Activists on National Interest' forum on September 30. He signed off his post with this:

জয় আমাদের হবেই। আমরা আমদের শিক্ষাকে পণ্যে পরিণত হতে দেবো না। আমাদের শিক্ষা হোক সকলের জন্য।

We will win. We will not let education be a product. Let our education be (affordable) for everybody.

Asif Mohiuddin arrested

Police cracked down on the September 30 event too and arrested a number of students who were later released on bail. On October 1, 2011, news broke out in the blogs that Asif Mohiuddin had been arrested. Kowshik Ahmed reports [bn]:

গতকাল অনলাইন অনলাইন ব্লগার অ্যাক্টিভিস্ট গ্রুপের অন্যতম সংগঠক আসিফ মহিউদ্দীনের বাসায় ডিবি পুলিশ খুঁজতে যায়, না পেয়ে পরিবারের সদস্যদের কাছে তাকে থানায় রিপোর্ট করতে বলে। আজকে আসিফ মহিউদ্দীন তার বোনকে নিয়ে থানায় রিপোর্ট করলে, পুলিশ তাকে আটক করে। যারা কোনো গ্রহণযোগ্য কারণ দেখানো হয়নি, তবে শোনা যাচ্ছে তার মোবাইল কল ট্রাক করা হয়েছে।

Yesterday police from the Detective Branch went to the home of Asif Mohiuddin, one of the key organizers of ‘Bloggers and Online Activists on National Interest', and he was absent. They told his family members that he should report to the police station immediately. Asif went to the police station today with his sisters and they detained him. No reason had been given for his arrest, but his phone calls are being tracked.

Poster for a protest demanding release of blogger Asif.

The blogosphere had exploded with reactions and everybody was demanding release of Asif. Arthohin wrote:

What did Asif do? Did he burn anyone’s property or create chaos or break the law? Well he broke the law for sure and that is why he was picked up by the state police. He wrote and questioned actions of the government and [the] government cannot take it. So that is [the] crime.

Voyal Agnipurush demanded that he should be arrested too so that there would be nobody available to protest government actions.

Kowshik provided regular updates of the situation and a protest gathering was called on the 2 October in the city demanding Asif's release.

Asif remained detained for the night and on October 2 news started to arrive that he soon may be released. Omi Rahman Pial informed [bn] that he was yet to be arrested officially but was detained for questioning.

The police eventually released Asif after 18 hours of detention but what angered the online community is the statements of the police and the way he was released.

According to BDNews24.com Asif had to submit a bond saying that he will not call rallies online on the Jagannath University movement issue in blogs or on Facebook. The police repeatedly advised him: “Don't write. You have a job, get married. No one's ever achieved anything by writing,” and other gems like “Freedom of speech, ethics — these things make no sense in life.” According to news one detective allegedly told him: “The state will see whether you are on its side or against it. If you're against it, you'll be struck down.”

Blogger and journalist Biplob Rahman questions [bn]:

এ অবস্থায় প্রশ্ন জাগে, দেশটা কী শেষ পর্যন্ত পুলিশী রাষ্ট্রে পরিনত হচ্ছে?

Question arises, is the country becoming a police state?

Kowshik [bn] opines:

সরকারী আমলাতন্ত্র সম্ভবত বিকল্প মিডিয়ার শক্তি সম্পর্কে অনভিজ্ঞ। আসিফ মহিউদ্দীন মাত্র একটা নাম – তবে ভার্চুয়াল অঙ্গনে এখন লাখো আসিফ মহিউদ্দিন সরব হয়ে আছেন

The government seems to be unaware of the power of the alternative media. Asif Mohiuddin is just one name - there are thousands of Asifs vocal in the virtual world.

Bangladesh: The Facebook Status Controversy

Rezwan — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:28:12 +0000

Facebook is becoming a popular social media in Bangladesh like the rest of the world. It is not only limited to interaction between friends but also used as an useful tool to disseminate news and information. More importantly Facebook is also being used to discuss political views.

Bangladeshi Facebook users frequently express their opinions, anger, rights, likes and dislikes and some of them are filled with emotions. Once someone posted this status in a Facebook wall which became viral: “I may be poor, but I have a Status”. Now this slogan also has a separate Facebook page.

Image by Flickr user Christy Sheffield. CC By-NC 2.0

But sometime your Facebook status can bring peril. Ruhul Amin recently has been in trouble because of his Facebook status. The recent death of prodigies Tareq Masud and Ashfaque Munier in a road accident has lead many users venting their reactions and anger in Facebook. Ruhul also expressed his strong reactions which led to actions against him as initiated by the Bangladesh High Court.

What was Ruhul's status? BDNews24blog [bn] quotes from the web news network BDNEWS24.com:

The Highcourt has asked why Ruhul Amin Khondker, a teacher living abroad, won't be brought to justice because he expressed that the Prime Minister should die.

The blog informs:

Ruhul, a lecturer of The Institute of Information Technology of Jahangirnagar University is now on a study leave in Australia. Ruhul had posted a Facebook status where he expressed “why the prime minister do not die”. This was prompted by the reaction to the death of five persons including internationally renowned filmmaker Tareq Masud and the CEO of the TV channel ATN News Ashfaq (Mishuk) Munier in a road accident near Manikganj. A local newspaper carried the story on the Facebook status of the teacher. The court learned the news and took a Suo motu action.

Mr. Ruhul posted two statuses on his wall. He wrote on Saturday 7.40 pm: “the consequence of issuing driving license without written exam - five dead including Tareque and Mishuk Munier. Everybody dies except the prime minister”. Another status on Sunday morning at 4:59 am read: “Driving License without written exam? Can you imagine this in any civilized society? Where the whole world is becoming strict on issuing driving license, the Hasina government is issuing license without examination.”

The main anger behind the status is the reaction to the news [bn] that the Shipping Minister had requested the Roads and Highways Minister that 21000 applicants (some claim 24000 people) should be provided [bn] driving license without completing all the tests (since many are not literate enough).

The post at BDNews24blog attracted many comments [bn]. Some supported Ruhul and some had other ideas.

Rabbani said:

I also support Ruhul's status and term the rule of the highcourt as a misuse of power and rule of law and it is agaisnt the human rights of common people. Ruhul with his words has protested against the negligence of the political leaders about the 12000 deaths on the road each year.

Mohammad Morshed Alam thinks this law is a blow to the freedom of speech. He comments:

Isn't attack on freedom of speech against democracy? Hasn't this weakened the trust on our judicial system? Dear judges - please refrain from taking away the hast hope of the citizens. (Friday the 19th of August)

Mohsin Rahman says:

The teacher commented from his personal anger which in fact reflects many citizen's thoughts. What the teacher couldn't do was achieved by those judges. The issue has been highlighted and publicized by the media. (Friday the 19th of August)

Hasan says:

I fear to comment on this, if accusations against me are brought for contempt of court! :P (Friday the 19th of August)

Ratan Adhikary says these comments are out of line. He says:

This is way out of line. What Part-time lecturer Muhammad Ruhul Amin Khondoker said cannot be supported in any way. We hope Mr. Ruhul and his supporters become aware of their behavior. (Friday the 19th of August)

Netpoka says:

This type of comment is very indecent. But on what basis is this against the law, can anyone tell? (Friday the 19th of August)

Extreme regulations lead to censorship. Image by Flickr user publik15 (CC BY 2.0).

Anik Iqbal is a blogger. He posted in a group mail of the students of Jahangir Nagar University (published with permission):

I am interested to see whether government can really strongly build the case and justify their argument. but if they decide to go for it, a lot will be at stake. the government's character as the protector of its citizens' personal rights will be in question. again, their attitude might be termed as oppression and silencing people's opinions by force. whether or not they win the case, chances are that it will damage their image, which is already in jeopardy.

Ruhul Amin gave an interview via email to Bangla News [bn] where he provided the context of his statements:

Dear brothers and sisters:

I should not reiterate what we have lost in the tragic death of Tareq Masud and Mishuk Munier. The day they died I was reading online versions of Bangladeshi newspapers. I also tried to find other news items on this. I was moved by the hundreds of comments left on those news items. I was so full of emotion, I compiled some of the quotes and posted in my status.

He added:

I say without any hesitation that I do not have any personal grudge against the Prime Minister and do not pose any threat against her by my status in any manner. I just wanted to share with my friends the reactions of common people on that road accident. So by terming this statement as completely my own statement is against the truth. I have trust on my Prime Minister, especially as a teacher of an independent university. Moreover, if that status hurt others feeling I am truly sorry for that.

Ruhul ends with this:

The misinterpretation of the status has lead to unwanted consequences. I hope the unfortunate matter will end here.

Anik conludes:

I am keenly following the developments. this case, at the least, will decide the future of the flourishing of electronic media and define people's right to share their opinions over this very modern and powerful medium.

Bangladesh: Coming Home For Eid

Rezwan — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:50:09 +0000

Eid is the biggest religious festival in the Muslim majority country Bangladesh, and a key part of the celebration is going home to celebrate with family in distant places.

During Eid, many inhabitants of the capital Dhaka go back to their hometown to spend the holidays with family. Nasirudding Hozza [bn] explains in a post titled “Coming Home For Eid”:

The majority of residents in Dhaka, who have come here for livelihood, have come from other districts. But they miss their home, where their roots are. Their home can be just in the outskirts of Dhaka or in a distant rural village. During Eid they have to get back their home near or far.

People gather at various train stations in Dhaka to leave the city to celebrate Eid with their friends and families. Image by Saad Shahriar, copyright Demotix (15/11/2010).

There are no statistics available on how many people return home during Eid. Nasiruddin Hozza mentions that the population of Dhaka is approximately 9.6 million at present. If 40% of them go home then the number can reach 3.5 million.

That means Dhaka would be half empty by then. Many people start their journey towards home long before the official Eid holidays. The citizens of Dhaka becomes happy, because the bustling megacity seems less crowded.

Facebook user Amanullah bin Mahmud's home town is Sirajganj, far away from Dhaka. He will travel by rented car the day before Eid. But for those who avail public transport, this journey can be a unhappy affair; it's virtually impossible to get tickets, and they have to pay much more.

Uzzal [bn] says in a post titled “My dreams will travel home: on broken roads”:

Queue for advance tickets at Kamalapur railway station. Image by Safin Ahmed, copyright Demotix (12/08/2011).

No tickets are available for bus train or domestic airlines. Those who with high hope queue for the whole night at the ticket counters are not sure whether they will have the last laugh. After a sleepless night enduring countless mosquito bites, if they really get a ticket, imagine how happy they could be. Only those who have gone through this ordeal will understand. But not everyone is lucky. Tickets are quickly sold out once the counters are open. Many dreamers are left stranded empty handed.

He also shared his own experience:

I had to struggle too. But the fight this year was the hardest in my life. I used to avoid the ticket counters of public transport in the recent years. I would travel by a domestic airlines to Jessore, then reach Khulna by airlines bus. Dhaka-Jessore in 35 minutes and to Khulna in 50 minutes more, that's it. This time I was in trouble. The local airlines were booked. I could not manage a ticket, but I have to get home.

Uzzal had to pay a lot extra for his ticket home. Many resorted to Facebook to help others who could not manage a ticket. For example, renowned writer Anisul Haque informed in a Facebook status [bn] that he had extra tickets for five air conditioned seats on the Dhaka- Rangpur express train.

And getting a ticket does not confirm that you can reach home. Blogger Mamu [bn] says in a post titled: “In spite of all have to get home”:

The only ship for Sadarghat-Swandeep route is out of order. There is scarcity of ships in river transport. The roads across Bangladesh are shabby (Editors note: because of heavy rains this monsoon). The traffic jams will add to the misery. The train service do not have enough engines to run extra compartments. The people will face trouble to reach home. Those who start the journey just before the Eid day, God knows whether they will be able to reach home on Eid day.

People risk over crowded passenger ships to reach home during Eid. Image by Maji, copyright Demotix (26/11/2009).

Each year there are accidents in roads and rivers and many die as a consequence. In 2009 hundreds of people died as a passenger ship was drowned in the ricer. D. M. Habib [bn] opines that the government is not doing enough:

A passenger ship with people bound for home during Eid was submerged (in 2009) due to extra load. Hundreds of people died. Each year during the time of Eid, Buses, trains and ships carry extra passengers. The government do not take any step to prevent these. The general public do not follow pre-cautions which lead to deaths. But the government cannot avoid its responsibilities. Proper investigation should be carried out to find out the people responsible for the negligence.

But every year the situation remains the same. As the travelers are greater in numbers comparing to the transports available, people have no choice to take risks to go home during Eid.

Nasirudding Hozza [bn] concludes:

Eid celebrated with family is filled with a lot of happiness because of the struggle to reach home.

Bangladesh: Tragic Deaths Puts the Spotlight on Road Safety

Rezwan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:54:31 +0000

Bangladesh's 3,492 kilometers of national highways and 4,268 kilometers of regional highways have become a death trap for many travelers for a variety of reasons. Statistics show that every year nearly 4,000 people die in around 20,000 road crashes across the country.

The nation was shocked to learn about the death of two of its favourite sons, award-winning film director Tareque Masud and internationally renowned cameraman/television journalist Ashfaque Munier Mishuk. They died in a tragic road accident on 13 August, 2011, while returning to capital Dhaka from Manikganj on the Dhaka-Aricha highway when an oncoming passenger bus collided head-on with their minibus and tore it apart killing five instantly, and injuring several people. Tareque's United States-born wife Catherine Masud was also injured seriously in the accident.

Netizens have been mourning the death of the two ever since. Sahidul Alam breaks the news [The post contains some pictures of the wreckage and people mourning]:

Tareque Masud, one of the finest film makers this nation has produced; Mishuk Munier, a talented cameraperson and a media professional who had both the dreams and the ability to change the way reporting was done, died a brutal death as they were returning to Dhaka having chosen the location for their next film.

Tareque Masud's first full-length feature film Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) won the International Critic's Award at the Cannes film Festival in 2002. It was one of the first Bangladeshi films to widely circulated around the world.

Ashfaque (Mishuk) Munier, the CEO of ATN News, stated his career as a teacher of Journalism at Dhaka University and previously worked for international media such as BBC World, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the Real News. He was also an eminent cinematographer and worked in many of Tareque Masud's films.

Shahnaz at Dhaka Dweller portrays the sorry state of Bangladeshi highways:

Of the things that bother me about Bangladesh, lack of safety on roads is near the top of the list. Poor road conditions, old vehicles, inept drivers and reckless driving make our roads deathtraps - both city roads and highways. Not a day goes by that we don't hear of a road accident claiming multiple lives. And it gets worse in the monsoon season, when heavy rains aggravate the problem.

She goes on:

Our political leaders dutifully express shock at the accidents, pray for the salvation of the departed souls and express sympathy for the bereaved families. Empty promises are made to punish the guilty (bus and truck drivers somehow always manage to escape and evade the law enforcement agencies). Enquiry committees are sometimes formed to investigate the accident. The public never hears the committee reports, and I doubt the government pays any heed to their recommendations - if indeed, any are made.

Asif Anwar thinks that roadside trees blocking the visibility of the vehicles in curvy roads may be a cause of the increasing number of accidents in Bangladesh.

However, a recent article in the Daily Star reveals that breaking rules is the rule of the highways. And the perpetrators do not stop because of the clemency - a driver can only be punished up to 5 years in jail for killing someone on the road.

Faruk Wasif shows his anger [bn] over the lack of road safety in the country and the negligence of the authorities:

সড়কগুলো অপঘাতের জন্য সদাপ্রস্তুত। যানবাহন দুর্ঘটনামুখী, চালকেরা কেয়ারলেস। দেখার কেউ নাই, ব্যবস্থা নাই, শাস্তি নাই। [..] মানুষ মরছে, কিন্তু কোনো জবাবদিহি নাই। জাতি নামক গাভী দোহনে ব্যস্ত শাসকেরা। কিছুতেই তাদের কিছু এসে যায় না।

The highways are inviting accidents. The vehicles are accident-prone, the drivers are careless. There is nobody to bother, no measures to prevent, no justice. [..] People are dying, but there is no accountability. The rulers are busy milking the nation. They don't bother at all.

He hits the nail in the coffin:

এই পোড়ার দেশে কিছুই তাই দাঁড়ায় না। কম মানুষই যাত্রা শেষ করতে পারে। তার আগেই মৃত্যু এসে নিয়ে যায়। বিকাশের ধারা অজস্র যতিতে ছারখার। নৈরাজ্য, অপঘাত, আত্মঘাত আর অবসাদে শেষ হয়ে যাচ্ছি আমরা। আমাদের আত্মবিশ্বাস বারবার তলানিতে চলে যায়। আশার সমাধিতে আমরা অপেক্ষা করি।

Nothing stands in this wretched country. Few people can end their journey before death engulfs them. The path of development is hindered by a lot of stops. We are being doomed by frustration, anarchy, accidents, suicidal thoughts and tiredness. Our self belief is going down. We wait at the burial of hope.

Cartoonist and blogger Sujan Chowdhury has only one question - “How many more?”:

How many more? Image by Cartoonist and blogger Sujan Chowdhury.

Bangladesh: 40th Anniversary of The Concert For Bangladesh

Rezwan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:38:09 +0000

Ever since Bob Geldof and Midge Ure arranged Live Aid, a dual-venue concert to raise funds for relief of the Ethiopian famine on 13 July, 1985, which was aired to 2 million viewers from 150 countries, such benefit concerts have become widely popular in the world.

But in the backdrop of this event was the Concert For Bangladesh, the two benefit concerts organized by musicians George Harrison and Ravi Shankar on August 1, 1971, a fact which is not known to many people. Bangladeshi bloggers celebrate the 40th anniversary of these events and tell the world why it matters for Bangladesh.

Naadir Junaid at Sachalayatan provides [bn] the background of that historical event:

১৯৭১ সালের আগস্ট মাস; এক ভয়াল সময় অতিক্রম করছে বাংলাদেশের অগণিত মানুষ। বিশ্বের বৃহৎ পশ্চিমী রাষ্ট্রগুলি বাংলাদেশে পাকিস্তানী সামরিক বাহিনীর গণহত্যা আর ধ্বংসযজ্ঞের ব্যাপারে সচেতন হচ্ছে না। বাংলাদেশের মানুষের যৌক্তিক দাবী দমন করার জন্য পাকিস্তানী সামরিক সরকার বেছে নিলো নির্মম সামরিক আক্রমণের পথ; অজস্র বাঙালী তাদের ঘরবাড়ি ছেড়ে, কেবল প্রাণ বাঁচানোর তাগিদে ভারতে শরণার্থী হিসেবে আশ্রয় নিলো। শুরু হলো বাংলাদেশের মুক্তিসংগ্রাম। অথচ ক্ষমতাধর মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্র বিশ্বের এই প্রান্তে নিজেদের রাজনৈতিক প্রভাব টিকিয়ে রাখার জন্য নতুন দেশ হিসেবে বাংলাদেশের আবির্ভাবের বিরোধিতায় ব্যস্ত। বাংলাদেশের শরণার্থীদের আশ্রয় দেয়ার জন্য, বাঙালী মুক্তিযোদ্ধাদের সমর্থন করার জন্য ভারতের প্রধানমন্ত্রী ইন্দিরা গান্ধী তখন নিক্সন প্রশাসনের চক্ষুশূল।

It was August 1971; many people of Bangladesh were going through a terrible time. The important Western countries were not becoming aware of the repression and genocide of the Pakistani army in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). The Pakistani army chose to militarily tackle and silence the valid demands of Bangladeshi civilians. Millions of Bangladeshis left their home to run for their lives and many ended up in refugee camps in neighboring India. But the mighty United States kept resisting the advent of a new country named Bangladesh just to maintain their political interests in this region. The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was resented by the Nixon administration because she sheltered the Bangladeshi refugees and aided the freedom fighters.

[..]

Album Cover

এমন পরিস্থিতিতেই ১৯৭১ সালের পহেলা আগস্ট বাংলাদেশকে সাহায্য করার জন্য বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধের প্রতি বিরূপ মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রেই আয়োজন করা হয় এক অসাধারণ কনসার্ট, যা ইতিহাসে স্থান করে নিয়েছে বিভিন্ন কারণে। এর আগে কখনো একদল অসম্ভব খ্যাতিমান এবং বরেণ্য সঙ্গীতশিল্পী কোন দেশকে সাহায্য করার জন্য একসাথে কোন অনুষ্ঠানে অংশগ্রহণ করেননি; ইতিহাসে এমন কনসার্ট এই প্রথম। এই কনসার্ট অগণিত মানুষের সামনে তুলে ধরে সঙ্গীত আর শিল্পের শক্তি, যে শক্তি অতিক্রম করে যায় অনেক রাজনৈতিক শক্তিকেও। নিউ ইয়র্কের ম্যাডিসন স্কোয়্যার গার্ডেনে উপস্থিত হওয়া বহু মার্কিন তরুণ-তরুণী দেখতে পান তাদের প্রিয় সঙ্গীতশিল্পীরা তুলে ধরছেন মানবতা আর বর্বরতার পার্থক্য, আর তাঁরা সবাইকে আহ্বান জানাচ্ছেন অসহায়, অত্যাচারিত মানুষের পাশে দাঁড়াবার জন্য যখন তাদের দেশের সরকারকে বহু নিপীড়িত মা আর শিশুর ক্রন্দন স্পর্শ করছে না। রবি শঙ্কর কনসার্টে আসা অসংখ্য দর্শকদের উদ্দেশ্যে বলেন, “আমরা কোন রাজনীতি করতে আসিনি; আমরা শিল্পী। আমরা শুধু আমাদের অনুষ্ঠানের মধ্য দিয়ে একটি বার্তা পৌঁছে দিতে সমবেত হয়েছি। আমরা চাই আমাদের সঙ্গীত আপনাদের বাংলাদেশের মানুষের তীব্র বেদনা আর মনোযন্ত্রণা অনুভব করতে সাহায্য করুক”।

In this circumstance a concert was arranged on the 1st of August 1971, in the very place USA, which was not in favor of Bangladesh's Liberation War. This concert has been en-grafted in history for several reasons. Never before so many talented and popular artists had gathered to help a population, a country; such event is the first in history. This concert shows people the power of music and arts, which overshadows political powers. Many young men and women standing in the Madison Square Garden had witnessed in front of them how their beloved musicians portrayed the difference between humanity and barbarism, how they appealed to people to stand by the helpless, tortured people when their government was not being touched by the plights of the repressed mothers and the crying children. Ravi Shankar said to the crows: “We have not come for politics; we are musicians. We have gathered to spread only one message. We want you to feel the deep pain and plights of the people of Bangladesh through our music.”

Album Cover of The Concert For Bangladesh

My friend came to me,
With sadness in his eyes,
He told me that he wanted help,
Before his country died,
Although I couldn't feel the pain,
I knew I'd have to try,
Now I'm asking all of you,
To help us save some lives
(Bangladesh: George Harrison)

Naadir remembers that the song ‘Bangladesh' by George Harrison gave him shivers and inspired him, when he listened to it after 20 years and still got the same reaction.

Valobashar Deyal (Wall Of Love) [bn] pays tribute to the musicians:

সবসময়ের শ্রদ্ধা আর ভালবাসা থাকবে এই সব গুনী মানুষদের জন্য,যাদের প্রান কেদেছিল এই আমার মাটি আর মানুষের জন্য ১৯৭১ এর স্বাধীনতা সংগ্রামকালীন সময়ে। [..]

কেন জানি বিশ্বাস হয় সেই সময়ের কনসার্টে যারাই দর্শক হিসেবে অংশ নিয়েছিল তারা সবাই ই আমাদের দেশের শুভ কামনার জন্যই জড়ো হয়েছিল।

Our gratitude and respect will forever be with these talented people; who felt and cried for our people and country in 1971, during our liberation war.

I believe that those who came to the concert had good wishes for our people.

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh
….
And the students at the university
Asleep at night quite peacefully
The soldiers came and shot them in their beds
And terror took the dorm awakening shrieks of dread
And silent frozen forms and pillows drenched in red.. (Joan Baez)

Some 40,000 peoples attended the Concert For Bangladesh and $243,418.50 was collected from the event and was given to Unicef for the war affected children of Bangladesh. The sale proceeds of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh, The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF is streaming the video of the entire concert HERE till 1 August, 2011 11:59PM EDT.

Image Courtesy Omi Rahman Pial

Omi Rahman Pial at Somewhereinblog reminds [bn] everyone of another forgotten benefit concert for Bangladesh, which took place in Kennington Oval in London on the September 18th, 1971. The advertisements for the event titled Goodbye Summer clearly stated that it was “A Rock Concert In The Aid Of The Victims Of Bangladesh”. The artists included The Who, The Face (vocal: Rod Stewart), America, Mott The Hoople etc.

Mosaddik Uzzal informs [bn] that the Bangladesh government will be awarding different merits to foreign friends who helped Bangladesh and Bangladeshis during the liberation war in 1971. The list includes musicians George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Pandit Ravi Shankar among many.

Bangladesh: Indigenous or Not Indigenous, That Is The Question

Rezwan — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:16:51 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

Almost 98% people of Bangladesh are Bengalis and they speak the Bangla language. The minorities include Chakmas, Khasi, Santhal and other tribes numbering more than a million (about 1.2% of total population) who mostly live in the various hilly regions. Chakmas are ethnically Tibeto-Burman, and are closely related to the Himalayan tribes. According to history, they are originally from Arakan (present Rakhine State of Burma) who hundreds of years ago wandered and settled in different parts of India and Bangladesh.

In recent months many Bangladeshi indigenous people have taken the streets holding meetings, human chains and rallies, demanding constitutional recognition of their population. The ‘indigenous' debate arose after some remarks of a special parliamentary committee working to amend the present constitution reverting back to the 1972 constitution. There was no reference of tribal or indigenous people in Bangladesh’s first constitution of 1972 where it was mentioned that Bangladesh would be the land of Bengalis.

The parliamentary committee said that it would recommend recognizing them as “small ethnic groups” and questioned: “Would Bangalees [Bengalis] be termed ‘intruders’ or ‘invaders’ if the ethnic groups are called adivasi (indigenous)?”.

Members of indigenous communities demanded their recognition in the constitution as “indigenous people” instead of tribal or proposed “minority ethnic group” at central Shahidminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image by Abu Ala, Copyright Demotix, 29 April 2011.

The state minister for cultural affairs Pramod Mankin said:

“There is no question that indigenous people would receive constitutional recognition. The debate is in how will they be recognised.”

“The government is reluctant to recognise indigenous people as “indigenous” as it questions ethnicity of the country's native Bangalees.

Monjurul Haque at the Indigenous Bangla blog writes [bn] about the complexity of the situation:

শাসকদের পক্ষে বলা হচ্ছে- ‘পাহাড়িরা পাহাড়ের আদিবাসী নয়’! ‘বাংলাদেশের সংবিধান মানার কারণে পাহাড়েও বাঙালিদের সমান অধিকার’। ‘বাংলাদেশের সংবিধানের আলোকেই পাহাড়িদের বাংলাদেশের নাগরিক হিসেবে সমতলের নাগরিকদেরকেও মেনে নিতে হবে’। অসহায় গরিব সেটেলারদের ধরে ধরে পাহাড়ে পাঠানোর পর বলা হচ্ছে-‘পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামের চাকমারা বার্মার আরাকান প্রদেশ থেকে এসে এদেশে বসতি স্থাপন করেছে এবং তারাই বহিরাগত!’

The authorities are telling - “The people of the hills are not indigenous people. As constitution of Bangladesh applies everywhere, Bengalis have equal rights to lands in the hills.” The people of the hills are also citizens of Bangladesh (not indigenous) - that is also reminded in the constitution. They are sending destitute Bengali settlers to the hills on the ground that “the Chakmas have settled in the hills from their origin – Arakan region of Barma, so they are also settlers”.

It may be mentioned here that the tribals in Bangladesh have been subjected to human rights abuse for long by the Bengali settlers.

Tribal indigenous people of Bangladesh in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Image by Anwar Hussain. Copyright Demotix 7/8/2010.

Shimon Baskey mentions [bn] what the people of the hills think:

আদিকাল থেকে আমাদের নিজস্ব ভাষা, সংস্কৃতি, কৃষ্টি, আচার-আচরণ একই, এর কোনো পরিবর্তন হয়নি। আমরা এই দেশের ভূমিজ সন্তান। আমাদের পূর্ব-পুরুষরা কারো জায়গায় বা অন্যকারো দ্বারা বসতি স্থাপন করেনি। তারা এই দেশের বন-জঙ্গল পরিষ্কার করে নিজেরা চাষের উপযোগী করে ওই অঞ্চলে প্রথম বসতি গড়েছে। দেশ বিভাগের সীমানা নির্ধারণ করার আগেই তারা বংশ-পরম্পরায় সে সব এলাকায় বসবাস করছে।

Since ages our own language, culture, beliefs and rituals are the same, nothing has changed. We are people of this land. Our forefathers did not settle in someone else's land or were inhabited there by someone. They were the first settlers by clearing forests and preparing lands for cultivation. They already had been living there for generations long before boundaries were demarcated.

Sarkar Amin recognizes [bn] the plights of these people:

মঙ-মঙ বান্দরবানের এক পাহাড়ে তোমার সঙ্গে পরিচয়। আমি বাঙালি তুমি পাহাড়ি। তুমি আর্টিস্ট। আমি কবিতা লিখি। আমাদের দ্রুত বন্ধুত্ব হলো। তোমার নিষ্পাপ হাসির আড়ালে কোনো কষ্ট কি ছিল বন্ধু?

সংকট আছে। পাহাড়ের জনতা জাতিসত্তার সাংবিধানিক স্বীকৃতি চায়। আদিবাসী হিসেবে অভিহিত হতে চায়। শান্তিচুক্তির ন্যায়সঙ্গত বাস্তবায়ন চায়। বাংলাদেশের শাসক শ্রেণী আদিবাসীদের শতভাগ সাম্যমূলক অধিকার দিতে এখনো আগ্রহী নয়। দুঃখ ও সংকটের এটাই মুল কারণ।

Mong Mong, I first met you in a hill of Bandarban. I am bengali and you are from a tribe. You are a painter and I am a poet. We become friends at once. Was there a pain deep inside your innocent smile? [..]

There is a crisis. The people of the hills want constitutional recognition of their population. They want to be termed as “indigenous”. They want implementation of the peace accord. But the ruling elites of Bangladesh do not want recognition of equal rights of the people of the hills. This is the main reason of the pain and the crisis.

Jewel Bin Jahir reminds [bn] how the indigenous minorities feel as their language, culture and beliefs are neglected in the constitution:

Image courtesy Wikipedia. Used under a CC License

আমরা আমাদের বিজু, বৈসু, কারাম, ওয়ান্না, সোহরাই দ্বারা নিজ নিজ শ্রেষ্ঠত্ব প্রমাণ করতে চাইনি। আমাদের সাংসারেক, লালেং, শারণা কেন্দ্রিক বিশ্বাস কখনো অন্যের উপর চাপিয়ে দেওয়ার চেষ্টা করিনি। আমাদের আচিক, চাকমা, ককবরক, ঠার, মুন্ডা, সান্তালী ভাষা দিয়ে জগতের অন্য কোন ভাষার উপর আধিপত্য প্রতিষ্ঠার চেষ্টা চালাইনি।

কিন্তু তারবাদেও আমাদের হাবা-জুম, জংলা-জঙ্গল সব দখল হয়ে যায়। আমাদের নিজ নিজ মায়ের ভাষা কোনঠাসা হয়ে পড়ে। আমাদের আপন আপন বিশ্বাস অশূচি হয়ে যায় দাপুটে বিশ্বাসের প্রতাপে।

We had not tried to prove our supremacy by our Biju, Baisu, Karam Wanna, Sohrai (festivals and rituals). We had not tried to impose our Sangsarek, Laleng, Sharna centric beliefs to anyone. We had not tried to overwhelm other languages of the world by our Achik, chakma, Kokborok, Thar, Munda, Santali languages.

But still our Haba-Zoom(plantations), forests and ditches are being dispossessed. Our mother tongues are being ignored. Our own beliefs are deemed as impure, illogical by influential and imposing beliefs.

The debate further escalated as the foreign minister of Bangladesh commented recently that the term “indigenous” for the people of the hills in Bangladesh is a misnomer:

“In the constitution, all minorities were recognised generically as minorities, and through the 15th amendment, the present government has categorised them as ‘ethnic minorities' and no longer only as ‘tribal' people.”

She also said:

“Giving a special and elevated identity to enfranchise only 1.2 percent of the total population of 150 million by disentitling the 98.8 percent cannot be in the national interest of Bangladesh.”

She reminded about the 4000 year old tradition of the Bengalis in this land:

“The ethnic Bengalees are not colonial settlers, neither are they foreigners or non-indigenous to their own native land and never will be.”

Biplob Rahman, a journalist and a blogger protests [bn] the government's stand that there is no indigenous people in Bangladesh. He quotes from Chakma King and member, UN Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues, Debashish Roy's recent rebuttal [bn]:

সাংবিধানিকভাবে ‘আদিবাসী' স্বীকৃতি দিলে মূল ধারা থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন, প্রান্তিক ও অনগ্রসর এই ১ দশমিক ২ শতাংশ মানুষ তাদের প্রান্তিক অবস্থান জানানোর একটি আইনি ভিত্তি পাবে। এই মর্যাদা তাদের কোনো ‘বিশেষ' সুবিধা দেবে না।

If the government recognizes “indigenous people” then this marginalized and underdeveloped 1.2% population will have a legal ground to fight for their rights. However, this recognition will not give them any special rights.

Biplob reminds that the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had given statements on the International Day of the World's Indigenous People several times terming the people of the hills as indigenous people.

He quotes an article of a local newspaper [bn], where it was reported [bn] that:

জানা গেছে, ‘আদিবাসী' অভিধা ব্যবহার করলে সরকারকে বিভিন্ন জাতিসংঘের সনদে স্বাক্ষর করতে হয়। সে ক্ষেত্রে পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামসহ দেশের আদিবাসী অধ্যুষিত অঞ্চলে মানবাধিকার লঙ্ঘনের ঘটনায় জাতিসংঘের সরাসরি হস্তক্ষেপ করার সুযোগ থাকে। এ পরিস্থিতি এড়ানোর জন্যই বাংলাদেশ সরকার কৌশলগত অবস্থান নিয়েছে। এ ক্ষেত্রে এ দেশের প্রভাবশালী রাজনৈতিক দলগুলোর অবস্থান অভিন্ন।

It has been learnt that if the “indigenous term” of any minority population is established then a country is subjected to sign several declarations of United Nations. In that case United Nations can intervene to investigate attacks on human rights of the indigenous population. So the Bangladesh government has taken this stance (of not terming them “indigenous”). In this issue all the major and influential political parties of Bangladesh share same ideology.

Mithusilak Murmu notes [bn] that at present there are certain quotas in the Government services and public education institutions for the indigenous people and wonders whether the present proposal of the Government will lead to change in the practice of the issuance of “indigenous certificates” for the population of the hills.

Around 370 million indigenous people in 70 countries of the world are subject to marginalization and mistreatment. These people in Bangladesh and elsewhere are facing similar problems and are fighting for their identity, land and way of life.

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

Bangladesh: Bloggers Arrested While Protesting Against Energy Deal

Rezwan — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 21:01:32 +0000

Many netizens in Bangladesh are raging with anger as for the first time in the country bloggers and online activists among other protesters were arrested while striking in protest of a recent Production Sharing Contract (PSC) between the Bangladesh government and United States energy giant ConocoPhillips for deep sea gas exploration.

Clashes between police and protesters erupted during the 6 hours general strike called by National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports against the offshore gas deal between the government and ConocoPhillips. Image by Suvra Kanti Das. Copyright Demotix. July 3, 2011

Today's half day long strike called by National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports (NCPOGMR), a left-leaning citizens' group, had disrupted the daily life of the capital Dhaka as most shops, businesses and schools were closed and very few vehicles were on the roads. Police had beaten many protesters mercilessly and arrested them en-mass. Renowned photo journalist and blogger Shahidul Alam updated the situation whole day (accompanied with pictures) in his blog:

Eyewitness report from Nasrin Siraj:

Anu Muhammad, professor of economics of Jahangirnagar University and member secretary of National Committee to protect oil-gas-mineral resources, power and port is arrested from Paltan today (3 July) at 6:53 a.m. While he was walking towards the office of Communist Party of Bangladesh to join the other activists of National Committee for strike campaign, at least 40 anti riot police came forward, grabbed him and took him away in a prisoner’s van. During the arrest he was silent. [..]

Today, from the very morning police started arresting activists of the National Committee. First, at 5:45 a.m leader of Student Union of Jahangirnagar University was arrested from Paltan. All the central offices of left political parties in Topkhana Road and Paltan were surrounded by police from the early morning. Almost all the central leaders of the National Committee are under police custody now.

Breaking News: Nasrin Siraj has since been arrested.

Bangladeshi bloggers had been part of the protest against the energy deal online and offline. A number of bloggers have rallied for the strike yesterday which can be seen in this video. OnnoMonosko Sharat posts pictures of the bloggers protest and writes:

ব্লগের টোকাইরা দলে দলে হাজির হইছিল বিকালে। তাগোরে কেউ পয়সা দেয় নাই। আপ‌্যায়নও করে নাই। নিজে নিজেই আইছে। সমাবেশ করছে, সংহতি জানাইছে। একজন ব্লগারের সাথে থাকে ১০০ ভার্চুয়াল ব্লগার। কারো কারো সাথে থাকে আরো বেশি। কেউ কারও চেয়ে আগাইয়া বা পিছাইয়া নাই..সমান্তরাল।

Bloggers rallying for the strike. Image courtesy Sharat Chowdhury

The bloggers arrived in numbers in the afternoon. Nobody paid them, nor fed them. They came by themselves, rallied, showed support. There are 100 virtual bloggers behind one blogger present. Some have more followers. Nobody is ahead of the other.. all parallel.

Blogger and GV Bangla Lingua translator Kowshik updated us on today's strike in his blog at Somewhereinblog.net [bn]:

আপনারা জানেন বাংলা ব্লগের খ্যাতিমান ব্লগার দিনমজুর নামে মূলত তিনজন তরুন প্রকৌশলী লিখে থাকেন যাদের মধ্যে অন্যতম অনুপম সৈকত শান্ত। তেল-গ্যাস নিয়ে তার বিশ্লেষণধর্মী লেখা আমাদের অনেক চরম সত্যের মুখোমুখি করেছে। একটু আগে প্রখ্যাত এই ব্লগার কনোকো ফিলিপসের সাথে অন্যায্য চুক্তির প্রতিবাদ করতে গিয়ে গ্রেফতার হলেন। এখন তিনি শাহবাগ থানায় আছেন।

I hope you know that the popular Bangla blog Dinmazur is authored by three young engineers and one of them is Anupam Saikat Shanto. His analytical writings on oil and gas reserves have provided an eye-opener for many of us. A while ago this blogger was arrested while protesting against the unjust deal with ConocoPhillips. Now he is inside the Shahbag police station.

A protester inside a prison van. Image by Suvra Kanti Das. Copyright Demotix. July 3, 2011

বাংলা ব্লগোস্ফিয়ারের ইতিহাসে প্রথম কোনো ব্লগার গ্রেফতার হলেন। শান্তর গ্রেফতারের তীব্র প্রতিবাদ জানাই। একজন শান্তকে গ্রেফতার করে আন্দোলন স্তিমিত করা যাবে না - বাংলা ব্লগোস্ফিয়ার এখন অনেক সমৃদ্ধ এবং প্রায় সবাই সোচ্চার এই দমন-পীড়ন আর দেশ বিক্রির চুক্তির বিরুদ্ধে।

This is the first time in the history of Bangla blogosphere a blogger has been arrested. We strongly protest the confinement of Shanto. You cannot stop the protests by arresting one Shanto - Bangla blogosphere is very resourceful now - almost everyone is vocal about this repression and the selling out of national interest.

A local TV channel reported that 24 bloggers were arrested in the day, 23 of them had been released so far. There had been rumors that charges of sedition will be brought against the arrested protesters. During the day individual reports of bloggers/activists being arrested occupied different blogging platforms. More bloggers like Ayon at Choturmatrik posted eyewitness reports with photos.

An online poster demanding release of Dinmazur (Shanto). Image courtesy Kowshik.

Blogger Jobaen Sondhi writes:

কনোকোফিলিপস চুক্তি বিরোধী আন্দোলনে দেশের অনলাইন কমিউনিটির যুক্ত হওয়া চলমান আন্দোলনে নতুন মাত্রা যোগ করেছে তাতে কোন সন্দেহ নেই। অনেকে অপবাদ দিয়ে বলেন ব্লগাররা মনিটরের সামনে বসে অলস সময় কাটায়। কিন্তু তাদের বক্তব্যকে মিথ্যা প্রমাণ করে ব্লগাররা দেখিয়ে দিল প্রয়োজনে তারা রাজপথেও যুদ্ধ করতে সক্ষম। এই আন্দোলন সমগ্র অনলাইন বিশ্বে ছড়িয়ে পড়বে এবং অনলাইনের সংগ্রামে সকলে অংশ নিবেন এটাও প্রত্যাশা করছি।

The campaign against the deal of ConocoPhillips has provided a new dimension to the ongoing activism of the online communities of the country. Many say that bloggers spend idle time in front of monitors. But proving them wrong bloggers have shown that they can also engage offline. We hope that this protest will spread to the world and we will have more support.

বর্তমান শাসক ও বিরোধী উভয় দলই সাম্রাজ্যবাদ ও তাদের বিদেশী প্রভুদের পা লেহনে সিদ্ধহস্ত এটা প্রমাণ হলো এবার। ব্লগারদের উচিত এইসব ‘দেশপ্রেমিক' নেতাদের স্বরূপ উন্মোচনের পাশাপাশি জনগণকে সঠিক পথে অগ্রসর হওয়ার পথ নির্দেশ ও প্রেরণা দেয়া

The ruling party and the opposition both are prone to satisfying their colonial and foreign lords. The bloggers should expose the true faces of these leaders and guide the nation towards the right path.

Vaskar at Amra Bandhu echoes same sentiments:

আজকের হরতাল আওয়ামি-বিএনপি'র ক্ষমতালিপ্সু রাজনীতিবিদদের প্রতি হুশিয়ারী।

Today's strike is a warning to the power monger leaders of Awami League and BNP (editors note: the ruling party and the opposition)

Mahfuz Jewel at Unmochon blogging platform sees hope in these protests:

আধাজ্বর নিয়ে সকাল থেকে আমিও পল্টনে ছিলাম আজকের আধাবেলা হরতালে। [..] হরতাল যখন শেষ হলো দেখলাম পুরো দেশের যন্ত্রণা আমার মাথায় চলে এসেছে। চোখে ঝাপসা দেখছি, কিন্তু এই ঝাপসা চোখেও দেখছি আশার আলো। মানুষ জেগেছে। দেশপ্রেমিক জেগেছে। জাতির বিবেক জেগে উঠছে। জেগে উঠছে সময়ের সাহসী সন্তানেরা!

I was in fever but was on the ground in Paltan during the half day strike. When Hartal (strike) ended I felt that the pain of the whole nation sat on my head. My eyes were blurred, but I saw hope with those blurred eyes. The people have risen. The patriots have risen. The conscience of the nation is awake. The brave youths are marching forward.

You can find a compilation of blog posts [bn] on this debate posted by Haseeb.

Update by Vaskar: Dinmozur has been released.

Bangladesh: Rumana Manzur - A Grim Reminder of Domestic Violence

Aparna Ray — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:37:05 +0000

On 5 June, 2011, Rumana Manzur, an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Dhaka University, became the victim of a horrific case of domestic violence when she was brutally attacked by her husband Hassan Syed, who allegedly beat her mercilessly, tried to gouge out her eyes and bit off part of her nose in a fit of rage. It is being said that their 5 year old daughter was in the room and was a witness to this inhuman act.

A Fulbright scholar from Bangladesh, Rumana was pursuing a Masters degree from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. She was visiting her family in Bangladesh during the summer break when this incident took place. Hassan absconded after the incident and was picked up by the police on June 15 from a relative's house where he was hiding. [The arrest came hours after the High Court took suo moto notice of the case based on media reports and asked the police to appear before it to explain the delay in arresting him].

Image by Flickr user Heraldpost (CC BY-NC).

Soon after his arrest, Hassan gave an interview to journalists where he blamed Rumana for having an extra-marital affair with an Iranian man during her stay in Vancouver. According to reports, he said that a fight broke out between them when she found out that he had deleted this person's name from her Facebook friends list while she was in the bathroom. He denied having assaulted her and said that possibly she got injured during the scuffle.

Rumana now risks losing vision in both her eyes. She was flown to India for treatment but had to return home to Dhaka disappointed after doctors there informed her family of the severity of the damaged caused to her eyes and saw little hope of restoring her vision. Currently Hassan has been remanaded to police custody where he is being questioned about the case.

The Rumana story has shocked Bangladeshi society - both at home and abroad. Her students and colleagues - both at the Dhaka University as well as UBC have come forward in her support and strongly condemned this brutality. Bangladeshi families in Vancouver and the UBC have also sent an open letter expressing their sentiments about the incident.

Much is being discussed and debated both offline as well as online. Friends and supporters of Rumana have set up groups on Facebook such as Justice for Rumana where they are seeking exemplary punishment for her husband. Bloggers too have lent their voice in this demand for justice, expressing anger, outrage and shock.

Taef Ahmad writes in Choturmatrik [bn]:

দশটা বছর সংসার করে, নিজের সন্তানের মমতাময়ী মা’কে সন্তানের সামনেই মেরে অন্ধ করে- চেহারা বিকৃত করে দেবার জন্য কতদুর নির্মম-পাষন্ড হতে হয়? জঙ্গলের নখ-দন্তবিশিষ্ট হিংস্র পশুও বোধহয় আরেকটু বেশি মানবিক!

How cruel and inhuman does one have to be to beat, blind and disfigure a mother before the eyes of her child - after having lived with the woman for 10years and raised a family? Even wild animals living in the jungle are perhaps more humane than this.

Manobi writes on Somewherein blog [bn]:

পাশবিক নির্যাতনের শিকার এই মায়ের অপরাধ তিনি তাঁর পেশার সর্বোচ্চ ডিগ্রী অর্জন করতে চেয়েছিলেন এবং তার যোগ্যতা অর্জন করেছিলেন।

The fault of this mother, victim of this inhuman assault, was that she wanted to earn the highest degree in her line of work and had earned the opportunity to do so.

At Sachalayatan, blogger S.M. Mahbub Murshed expressed his anger at the husband, whom he compared to a cruel animal. Mahbub warns that MSM may soon forget the story but it remains the reponsibility of bloggers to keep this story in the limelight until the culprit is suitably punished. He also urged women to recognise the early signs of abuse in the relationship and take appropriate steps before the situation gets out of hand.

Facebook event - Mass Protest Against Torture Of Rumana Manzur

An online petition has been started to seek speedy justice for Rumana.

Amidst all the expression of outrage, a small segment of netizens have also been blaming Rumana for her current plight. Amongt them a few have even expressed sympathy for Hassan, especially after his initial claims about his wife's ‘infidelity' .

The arguments put forward by the sympathisers mainly veered around the premise that Rumana must have given her husband a solid reason for his uncontrollable anger. Others argued that Rumana is to blame for not walking out of this marriage earlier. Other bloggers have been quick to denounce these arguments using strong words.

Blogger Zakaria Swapan comments[bn]:

প্রথমেই কেউ কেউ রিএ্যাকশন দেখালেন এভাবে - ডাল মে ক্যুছ কালা হ্যায়। যার অর্থ হলো, নিশ্চই মেয়েটি এমন কিছু করেছে, যে কারণে স্বামীটি এমন খর্গ হস্তে আভির্ভূত হয়েছেন। তাদের জন্য উত্তর হলো - আপনি একজন মানসিক রোগী। সেজন্য আপনার মাথায় প্রথমেই এমন একটি চিন্তা এসেছে। আরেক দল আছেন যারা মনে করছেন, মেয়েটি কেন এতোদিন এমন একটি ছেলেটির সাথে ছিল। তাই মেয়েটিরই দোষ। এখন ভোগ করো শাস্তি। আমরা বাংলাদেশে মেয়েদেরকে যেভাবে বড় করি, যেভাবে গড়ে তুলি, তাতে কয়টা মেয়ের পক্ষে সম্ভব সংসার ছেড়ে চলে যাওয়া?

At first a few expressed the reaction that surely there is more to the story. Surely the woman has done something to infuriate her husband to such extent. For those people, my answer is - you surely are mentally ill, that is why such thoughts came into your head. Another group is saying serves her right for staying with such a man for all these years. The way we bring up our girls in Bangladesh, how many women can rustle up the courage to walk out of her marriage?

Other netizens are discussing, not only about this specific case but about the broader issue of marital relationships, domestic violence and the culture of silence that exists around it.

Asif Saleh, writing at Drishtipat Writers' Collective discusses this culture of silence in a post aptly titled ‘Whose face are we saving?'. Asif writes:

Hers was an extreme case, perhaps, and the ‘shobhbhyo shomaj’ (civilised society), as one newspaper called it, has been stunned by the sheer brutality of the crime. But this very ‘shobhbhyo shomaj’ would regularly pressurise the woman to ‘compromise’ (maniye cholo) in the other not so brutal (to-be-more-brutal) cases.

Rubana Huq at Priyo.com points out the irony that despite South Asia having an impressive number of women leaders, the region continues to have such a poor track record as far as women's rights are concerned.According to her, “women are one of the easiest commodities in the market of abuse”.

Blogger Upopadya however feels that an instance of gender related crime should not be escalated to the extent of blaming all men, thereby placing the genders on a path of conflict [bn]:

নারী-পুরুষকে পরস্পরের বিপরীত অবস্থানে আনা বা মুখোমুখী দাঁড় করানো উচিত হবেনা। আমাদের বুঝতে হবে সমাজটা নারীর একার না, সমাজটা পুরুষের একার না, সমাজটা নারী-পুরুষ সকলের

I do not feel men and women should be pitched against each other [through such broad generalisations of painting all men with the same brush]. We have to understand that the society does not belong to women alone or men alone - it belongs to both men and women.

Today, Rumana waits for a miracle that will bring back her vision and allow her to see her daughter's face once again. She wants her husband to be brought to justice. Hassan is still in police custody. And the discussion on domestic violence continues unabated.

Bangladesh: Energy Politics and Selling Out National Interest

Bijoy — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:01:59 +0000

Bangladesh has large reserves of natural gas and some petroleum deposits which is the center of attention of many international energy companies. A recent Production Sharing Contract (PSC) between the Bangladesh government and United States (US) energy giant ConocoPhillips for deep sea gas exploration has sparked renewed debate in the country.

Bangladesh, being a populous country with poor infrastructure, itself is an energy starved country and some people are against the export of its natural resources. Activists from the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports (NCPOGMR) have been campaigning in the country to raise public awareness on this issue.

One of the activists Rahnuma Ahmed writes:

There is a growing national awareness of the issue of ownership of natural resources; of the terms on which production sharing contracts are signed with international oil companies (IOCs); a growing suspicion that exporting extracted gas may not be the best way of solving the nation’s energy shortfall. More precisely, of the hollowness of the government’s reasoning as to why gas blocks need to be, must necessarily be, leased out to multinational companies. More broadly, of whether the nation’s ruling class, regardless of which political party is in power, does act in the interests of the nation, of its people.

A protest arranged by the NCPOGMR against offshore gas deal between Bangladesh Government and US firm ConocoPhillips took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image by Shuvra Kanti Das, copyright Demotix (14/06/11).

On June 16, 2011, ConocoPhillips signed an agreement with Bangladesh government for the oil and gas exploration from two deep-sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal covering an area of 5,158 square kilometres. Two days before the signing (on June 14, 2011) police brutally cracked down on the members of NCPOGMR who were rallying against the deal highlighting corruption and the fact that the share of Bangladesh government of the explorations will be 20% only.

ShahidulNews reports:

The police blockaded the rally near the secretariat, and baton charged the protesters as they approached the barricade. Writer and anthropologist Rahnuma Ahmed was one of several protesters who were injured during the clashes.

Blogger Molla Nasiruddin Hojja writes [bn]:

Injured Rahnuma Ahmed. Image courtesy ShahidulNews.

আমি পত্রিকায় প্রকাশিত রেহনুমা আহমেদের ছবি দেখেছি, যিনি আসলে এক সময় জাহাঙ্গীর নগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের নৃবিজ্ঞনা বিভাগের শিক্ষিকা ছিলেন। তার মাথা দিয়ে রক্ত পড়ছে এবং মুখ রক্তে ভেসে গিয়েছে। কেন সরকার এমনটা করল। এটা ছিল একটা শান্তিপুর্ণ প্রতিবাদ এবং তারা তো অন্য রাজনৈতিক দলগূলোর মত নয়, বহুজাতিক কোম্পানী এবং সরকার মনে হচ্ছে রক্ত চায়। কিসের জন্য, তেল আর গ্যাসের জন্য, সত্যিকারের রক্তের দাম কয়লা, তেল আর গ্যাসের চেয়ে কম।

I saw the picture of Rehnuma Ahmed who was the teacher of Anthropology in the Jahangirnagar University. Blood is flowing from her head flooding her face. Why the government has done this? This was a peaceful protest and they are not like the other violent political parties. It seems that the multinational companies and the government want’s blood. What for? Oil and gas. That’s true, blood is less valuable than coal, oil and gas.

Journalist and blogger Arafatul Islam writes in a post titled “Bloodied Rahnuma, Crippled Human Rights” [bn]:

তিনি কোন রাজনীতিবিদ নন৷ একটি স্বাধীন দেশের নাগরিক হিসেবে স্বাধীনভাবে নিজের মতামত প্রকাশের চেষ্টা করেছিলেন মাত্র৷ ইস্যু কনোকো ফিলিপসের সঙ্গে সরকারের বিতর্কিত চুক্তি৷ আপা মনে করেন, দেশের প্রাকৃতিক সম্পদ ভুলভাবে তুলে দেওয়া হচ্ছে বিদেশিদের হাতে৷ এজন্যই প্রতিবাদ৷ এমন প্রতিবাদীর উপর যখন কোন দেশের নিরাপত্তা বাহিনী নির্বিচারে হামলা চালায়, তখন মেনে নিতে হয়, সেই দেশে আসলে ‘গণতন্ত্রের প্রকৃত চর্চা’ নেই৷ সভ্য দেশের কোন গণতান্ত্রিক সরকার এভাবে মানুষের কণ্ঠস্বরকে চেপে ধরতে পারেনা৷

She is not a political activist but merely wanted to express her opinions as a citizen of an independent country. The issue is the controversial deal between ConocoPhillips and the Bangladesh government. She thinks that the natural resources of the country is handed out to a foreign firm without proper consideration, hence the protest. When police crack down on this protest brutally then you have to admit that there is no practice of true democracy in the country. A democratic government of a civilized country cannot gag people's voice like this.

There are also alternative opinions. Sultan Mohammed Zakaria terms these protests as the bankruptcy of the left politics in Bangladesh. The blogger argues:

[..] We understand from the statements from the concerned government ministry and high officials and independent (not Marxist) energy experts that the contract is okay and it satisfies the international standard. However, there is no let up in leftists’ speculations, and sometimes they are deploying many logics which do not exist in the contract.

[..] On the royalty issue which Anu Muhammad and his team argues that Bangladesh will get only 20% which was dismissed by the Energy Secretary who rather told that BD will get 45% share in the cost-recovery phase and the share will naturally increase once cost has been recovered. However, It will get 20% only in the case where Bangladesh will decline to buy the explored gas and Conoco will have to export it for its cost-recovery etc.

Blogger Dinmozur in a previous post highlighted the terms of PSC especially that Bangladesh will have to buy at the market rate and at the terms of the explorer company. As there is no limit of exploration, the gas will be explored at maximum limit and Bangladesh will not be able to buy beyond its need at a given time. So the reserve will be exhausted soon and maximum gas will be exported making Bangladesh's future uncertain.

A commenter at the post of Dinmojur [bn] says:

আমাদের দেশে এত গ্যাস সংকট থাকা সত্ত্বেও ৮০% গ্যাস রপ্তানি রাখার সুযোগ কে তীব্র নিন্দা জানাই।

We deplore that as per PSC despite the gas crisis in our country 80% of gas reserve can be exported.

Rahnuma reveals more conspitracies:

The chorus of voices to be seen and heard now, had been noticeably absent when cables from US embassy Dhaka, WikiLeaked on 24 December night, revealed that US ambassador James Moriarty had met the prime minister’s energy advisor, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, had sought assurances that US-based Conoco Phillips (from among 7 bidders) be awarded two of the uncontested blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

The attacks did not lessen the morals of the activists and fresh rounds of protests have been called.

This post is co-authored by Rezwan.

Featured Blogger: Sabrina Sultana - Blogging With Her Heart

Bijoy — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:21:45 +0000

Sabrina Sultana blogs from Bangladesh and she loves to write. She is one of the millions of bloggers in this world who express themselves using the Internet. But Sabrina is not like many others; she blogs with her heart.

You might wonder, how can that be true! The reality is that her hands are not active as ours, she can only strike the keys with her two functioning fingers. But her heart is always beating to express herself through writing.

If you want to know about Sabrina and her blog, then let us start the Journey from Chittagong, the port city of Bangladesh where Sabrina was born and currently resides.

Blogger Sabrina Sultana

From her childhood Sabrina loved to write. An article [bn] in the Daily Azadi, a local Chittagong newspaper reveals:

সাবরিনার লেখালেখি শুরু হয়েছিল ১৯৯৮ সালে দৈনিক আজাদীর জনপ্রিয় ফিচার পাতা আজমিশালীতে। প্রথম প্রকাশিত লেখার শিরোনাম ছিল ‘স্বপ্ন কখনো সত্যি হয় না।’

Sabrina’s first article was published in 1998 in the Daily Azadi’s popular feature page, named Ajmisali. The title of that story was “dream never comes true”.

But disaster held her back:

বেণী ঝুলিয়ে দুরন্তপনায় সারা বাড়ি মাতিয়ে রাখা সাবরিনা সাত বছর বয়সে মাসকুলার ডিসট্রফি নামে এক রোগে আক্রান্ত হয়ে চলৎশক্তি হারান। এই রোগ ধীরে ধীরে ক্ষয় করে দিচ্ছে তার শরীরের প্রতিটি অঙ্গ-প্রত্যঙ্গের শক্তি।

The girl used to swing her long braid and enliven the house with her naughty deeds. But she became disabled from the age of seven years when a disease called muscular dystrophy attacked her. Gradually this disease destroyed the movement power of her muscles.

She started to face new challenges as she eventually lost her mobility. She left school and was forced to confine herself within the four corners of a room. But her mind was still awake. When the Internet arrived Sabrina saw an opportunity to look beyond the walls and she started writing again.

Now nobody can stop Sabrina. She is a prolific writer and contributes in different blogs, newspapers, and via social media such as Facebook etc. Sabrina writes on different Bangla blogging platforms like Amar blog, Sachalayatan, Prothom-Alo blog, Choturmatrik, and Shobdoneer [all bn].

You may ask, when her muscles cannot work properly, how can she write?

Blogger Md. Jakir hosain explains [bn] in a post titled name “Let Sabrina be an example”:

ব্লগিং করতে গেলে ভাবনার সাথে সাথে, শারীরিকভাবে কোমরের জোর যেমন থাকতে হয়। ঠিক তেমনি থাকতে হয় চোখের জোর। সাথে সাথে থাকতে হয় দুটি হাত এবং এর আঙ্গুলগুলোর নাচন, শক্ত এবং নিরেট কিবোর্ড এর সারাটা অংশ জুড়ে। সেখানেই সাবরিনার কষ্ট সবচেয়ে বেশি হয়। জিজ্ঞেস করেছিলাম- কি সমস্যা হয়? উনার উত্তর- তেমন কিছু না। হাতের আঙ্গুলগুলো একটু টাইপ করলেই টনটন করে সাথে প্রচণ্ড ব্যথা হয়। অনেক প্রচণ্ড ব্যথা হয়। থেমে পরি একটু টাইপ করেই।আবারও একটু পর শুরু করি। তখনও অবশ্য ব্যাথাটা যায় নি। তবুও লিখতে হয়। এমনও হয় মাথায় ঘুরছে একটি বিষয় নিয়ে লিখা। তা প্রকাশ করতে করতে হয়ত পনেরদিনও লেগে যায়। নিজের সবল আঙ্গুলগুলোর দিকে তাকিয়ে পালটা প্রশ্ন ছুড়ে দেই বিনীতভাবেই- আপনি মুখে বললেন আর অন্য কাউকে দিয়ে লিখিয়ে নিলেই তো হল। উনার উত্তর- এই কাজটুকুন না হয় আমি নিজেই করি।

A blogger needs sufficient physical fitness along with the inflow of a stream of thoughts. The power of the eyes is also key. Combined with the strength of the hand and the dancing power of the finger, these human tools create words on the keyboard. Sabrina feels pain when she uses her fingers. I asked her: “what problems do you face while writing?” She answered humbly: “Not much. But after typing a while pain engulfs the writing fingers. Sometimes I cannot bear the pain. Then I stop for a while, then start again. I still feel the pain but I get used to it and I don't stop. For example, an idea resides in my head but it may take 15 days to publish the story”.

I look at my healthy fingers and ask her; “Isn't it more convenient that you speak, and someone else writes?” She answers: “it's better for me if I do this simple task myself”.

Bangladesh, a populous country of 150 million people do not have proper infrastructures, accessibility and support for people with disability. Public and private offices, educational institutions, public transportation, utility infrastructures, recreation and tourist spots, market places - almost all are inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Sabrina devotes herself to writing for those people who need support.

Sabrina's blog

She speaks for those who are deprived of their rights to lead a normal life. She expresses concern about the rights for the disabled and raises her voice for those who may not express their pains to the world. Sabrina also writes about her own feelings with simple but magical words.

In her profile [bn] she describes things about herself:

আমার কতো দাবি! কতো চাহিদা! কিছুই পাইনা। যেদিকে হাত বাড়াই সেদিকে অন্ধকার। সব জায়গায় নিয়ন্ত্রণ। সামাজিক নিয়ন্ত্রণ। রাষ্ট্রীয় নিয়ন্ত্রণ। প্রাকৃতিক নিয়ন্ত্রণ। সব নিয়ন্ত্রণে আমি বাঁধা আর গুমরে গুমরে কাঁদে আমার আশা আকাঙ্খা। ভালোবাসা!”

I have many demands! So many needs. But I am deprived of them. Wherever I stroll I see darkness. There are restrictions everywhere; social restrictions, restrictions by the state, restrictions placed by nature. I am unable to move with all these restrictions. My hopes and expectations, and also my love are crying in silence.

Sabrina’s dream for now is to do something for the disabled people in Bangladesh. She wrote to her readers [bn] in Choturmatrik blog:

আপনি কি জানেন, আমি কেমন আছি? জানতে কি চান?
আমি ভালো আছি। বরাবরই আমি ভালো থাকারি চেষ্টা করি, ভালো না থাকার এ পৃথিবীতে! শুধু ভালো থাকতে হয় বলে। এই তো, বেশ হাসি মুখেই পার করে দিচ্ছি আমার দিন-রাত্তিরগুলো। কিন্তু ভালো থাকার এবং ভালো রাখার চেষ্টারত এই “আমি”র ভেতরে যার বসবাস আপনি কি জানেন, সে “আমি”টা দিনে দিনে কেমোন যেনো শুকিয়ে যাচ্ছে!?

Do you know, how I am doing? Do you want to know?

I am well. I try to be positive always, in this cruel world, only because I have to be well to live. Don't worry I am living my days and nights with a smile in my face. But do you know that inside this positive mind of mine the real “me” is dying?

Sabrina discovered that “no” is a very active word in her society:

সমাজের হয়েও যেনো ভিন্ন এক জগতের বাসিন্দা আমি। আমারি কোন লক্ষ্য নেই, সমুজ্জল ভবিষ্যতের স্বপ্ন নেই। এমন কোন জায়গা নেই যাবার, যেখানে অন্তত খানিকটা সময় স্বস্থির শ্বাস ফেলা যায়। আমার অধিকারের জায়গাগুলোতে সিলমোহর এঁটে দিয়েছে ছোট্ট একটি শব্দ ‘না’G স্কুল-কলেজ-বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ‘না’। সাংস্কৃতিক কিংবা সামাজিক অনুষ্ঠান ‘না’। বিনোদন কেন্দ্র বা খেলার মাঠ ‘না’। যাতায়াত ব্যবস্থা ‘না’। না, না, না-শুধু ‘না’! আপনি কি অনুভব করতে পারছেন, ‘না’ শুনতে শুনতে হাঁপিয়ে উঠেছি আমি, আমরা? এতটুকু ভাবার চেষ্টা করেছেন কি কখনো- আপনিও হতে পারতেন আমাদের মত একজন কিংবা হয়তো আপনারই কোনো আপনজন। প্রতিবন্ধিতা বুঝি অভিশাপ! তাই যদি না হয়, তবে এদেশের নাগরিক হয়েও যা আপনার অধিকার তা থেকে আমি কেন বঞ্চিত হবো?

Although being a member I am an alien in the society. I have no aim in life, no enlightened future. There is no place for me to go and be in peace for a while. All my rights are negated with a strong word ‘no’. In school, collage and university, there is a word ‘no’. In cultural and social functions, there’s the word ‘no’. In an entertainment center or in the playing field, ‘no’ is visible all the time. To be in a public transport, they say ‘no’. Do you not feel that we are tired of hearing about all these “no’s? Have you ever tried to realize, you could be one of us or one of your loved ones could be like us? Being a handicapped in Bangladesh is a curse! If (you say) this is not true then as a citizen of this country why I am deprived of my rights?

She also wrote an open letter [bn] to the prime minister of Bangladesh in one of her blog posts urging:

আমাদের জন্য এমন কিছু করুন যাতে আমার মতো প্রতিবন্ধীরা আবারো স্বপ্ন দেখার সাহস অর্জন করে। কিছু একটা অবলম্বন করে বাঁচার সুযোগ পায়। যে ভয়াবহ যন্ত্রণার মধ্যে দিয়ে এখন আমাকে দিন যাপন করতে হয় আমি চাই না আর কোন প্রতিবন্ধী মানুষ বা তার পরিবার সে যন্ত্রণা ভোগ করুক।

Please do something for us so that the disabled people like us can dream again. They have the courage to live with their limited abilities. I don't want any disabled person to go through the troubles I face everyday.

In 2009, with the help of some friends, Sabrina initiated a campaign for physically disabled people. Bangladesh Systems Change Advocacy Network (B-Scan) started as a Facebook group believing that a little initiative can achieve big things. Now this organization has its own web site and is working for the disabled people in Bangladesh and their rights.

B-scan has also some offline activities - helping poor and disabled people with money, wheel chair, or whatever the needs are and in most cases members from the Bangla blogosphere donate or help raise fund.

With all of these activities Sabrina never stopped her writing. Writing is her true love, Blogging is her passion. Her passion touches her readers and her efforts did not remain unnoticed. This year in Deutsche Welle BOBS competition Sabrina's blog was nominated in the world's best blog category. Members from the Bangla blogosphere rallied behind her with more than 150 posts to encourage readers to vote for her. In the end she did not win in the user vote category (ranked 2nd highest) or the jury award, but this competition helped her get noticed by local media which have published a number of features on her.

Sabrina is grateful [bn] to everyone for their supports and she finds it useful to voice about the rights of the disabled people in Bangladesh to a growing number of people. In her words:

আমাদের বিশ্বাসের ভিত্তি আরো মজবুত হচ্ছে……আমাদের স্বপ্নের বাংলাদেশ একদিন অবশ্যই প্রতিবন্ধি মানুষের বাস যোগ্য দেশ হিসেবে গড়ে উঠবে।

I can strongly believe now…..our dream country Bangladesh will one day be livable for the disabled people.

Image credit Salma Mahbub