Hello
(An analytical guide for the true
Bangladeshi patriots)
By Javed S. Ahmad
(Dated 12-18-04)
Back home after 19 years! I came for only a couple of months in 1999, but had to rush back. This time, I intend to stick around a bit longer.
Did the country change since my departure? Yes it did, big-time!
In 1987, when I left the country for the
Followings are some of my observations and analyses regarding the issues that are still persist in this country even after 19 years.
Load shading: I find it totally unbelievable that the load
shading still takes place here in
The rural areas did not industrialize as it was expected and
predicted by our economists and planners. Most of the industries that developed
after the deployment of electricity are in and around the main city areas,
namely
At that time, I thought, our power supply was fully capable of handling the growth. But I was wrong. In reality, the Power Development Board (PDB) could not keep up with the growth that created huge demand for the service. And the result was, “Load Shading”. As time went by, people began to use more and more modern electrical equipments and appliances like refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. that uses a lot of electricity. I also thought that the government will be doing load shading to handle the situation temporarily until enough power supply was arranged. But no, I was wrong again! There were no attempts for a permanent solution. However, the power expansion project in the country continued.
In the mean time, even more interesting and stranger things have happened. Seeing no hope from the government, private enterprises introduced generators, IPS, UPS, and what have you to get some relief from this “Load Shading” nightmare. And the government on the other hand, at the request of the privileged few, came up with the concept called “Export Processing Zones or EPZ”. The idea is to keep uninterrupted power supply to industrial areas so that the productions for exports are not hampered. By doing so, they have actually created a discriminatory system depriving the other entrepreneurs that are scattered around the country who also needs that essential power supply to make a living and to develop their business ideas. Unfortunately, not everyone have access to the EPZ’s. Last month, I just wanted just to visit the Comilla EPZ when I was passing by the area, but I was not allowed in. Yes, no visitors are allowed.
Considering the situation, I can only conclude that our government really doesn’t have any clue on how to resolve the problem. If they really had any, they would have done something by now. In that case, please allow me to offer some solutions:
It should be clear to us that, without established and
uninterrupted power supply,
Fluctuations in power supply and constant and regular use of
load shading causes the electrical appliances to get damaged.
T & T:
The good thing is, we do not get as many wrong number calls as we used to get back then, but it didn’t totally stop though. One could consider oneself lucky if the system works without trouble all year long. Most of the time, our telephone system doesn’t work. And when it does, we get constant radio signals and cross connections, which makes it very difficult to use the service. But, hey! We are all paying for it regardless!
Corruption in this industry had gone so wild that one feels lucky to get repair service done on time and without bribing the technicians. Harassment of subscribers is quite random in this industry. As a result, many are giving up on T & T phones and switching to mobile or cellular phone services. And T & T doesn’t mind losing the customers. They will, when the time will come when the company would have to be closed for not having enough clients to pay for their wages.
Now this same T & T is attempting to take the responsibility of implementing the coming fiber optic network. Oh please, don’t worry about it, fix your own problems first!
The mushroom of new mobile phone companies has created a jungle out there. Now when we call a valid number through T & T, we get a message that goes “This number is available”. Holly cow! How can a number be available for use when it is already in use?!
In two occasions, I had to call upon my ISP tech support to help me to get my dial up internet connection to work. After some long hours of research and investigation, the conclusion was, the problem is mainly due to the faulty T & T phone line which causes the connection to terminate. Gosh! I can’t use the phone, and now I can’t even use the internet?
Seriously folks, this needs to be looked after immediately before the whole situation goes out of hand. Are you telling me that we do not have enough resources and trained telecommunication engineers to solve these problems? Or is it the money that we don’t have? What about the revenues this industry generates without providing any service? Where are they going?
Quite frankly, if the industry cannot keep up with the
demand, it should simply be clamped down. We will all switch to mobile
technologies. If T & T wants to stay in business, then I guess it is wise
to implement a nationwide wireless communication system instead of the old
system that is in place that is outdated anyway!
Insecurity: Back then, when I was young and free, once in a while in our daily gossips among our friend circle (it was basically a tea and chanachur meeting) we used to discuss different issues that were the main focus at that time. I still remember, when most of us concluded that, a day will come when the economic disparity between the rich and the poor will be so great that the rich would live in fear in the cities because of the possible threat that would come from the poor due to the wealth gap.
Indeed, after 19 years, this is now coming true. Now people are selling their old private dwellings to move into protected apartment buildings to live in security, guarded 24 hours by trained guards. It is now impossible to live in old styled independent homes due to the increase of thieves, robbery and burglary. Even an unarmed guard is no longer a deterrent to this threat.
This was a threat inevitable. Not just economic disparity, population increase has also greatly contributed to this problem. Do our sociologist, public administrators, economists, and politicians have any remedy for this growing problem? Are they thinking? Do they know what to do next?
Government need to come up with a social program that would pay some unemployment insurance or welfare to the unemployed mass of people. Or else, the situation would soon go out of hand resulting in nationwide chaos.
Acid Attacks: It is sad to note that the Bangladeshis are still
throwing acids at each other on silly emotional issues that are not pardonable.
Back in 1987 and earlier, it was a trend that took root, and that the tree of
hate is still very much alive and well. The concept of acid terrorism probably
has found its way into
Only recently, our government has taken serious measures to
prevent this crime that destroys lives of individuals. This incident alone
shows how barbaric this nation has become that doesn’t care to take measure on
time on such an issue that is so criminal in nature that brings shame on the
entire nation. Did you hear of this kind of criminal act happening anywhere else
in the world, except in
Ask the victim of this crime how he or she want the criminal to be punished, I’m sure they would want either death sentence or a similar treatment. I say, they should be hanged in public so that everyone could see what the criminal had done and what punishment he or she received for it. Few public hangings, that’s all is required for people to take notice and abstain from it.
These are the major issues that I could recall from my memory that I still see happening in this poor little country of ours. Now let’s focus on the new problems that our nation is now facing.
Skyscrapers and Urban Development: Elevation has been made easy by the use of the foreign imported elevators; as a result, the buildings are getting taller. On the surface, it looks like a good solution to accommodate the growing urban population. Along with it, apartment dwellers are now enjoying all the western invented costly living facilities and benefits for comfort and ease. These apartments have opened up the doors of luxury living in a third world country that practically survives through international donations and begging. But the reality is, unplanned development of real estate around the country is creating a new threat in our drainage and sanitation system causing environmental pollution. The cities are developing without any proper planning.
Although most of the buildings are designed by the trained professional architects, but those architects and civil engineers involved in a project are not paying any attention to the environmental effects. As such, they are filling up the canals, lakes, rivers, and drainage system that are ultimately causing permanent damage in city drainage and sanitation systems. That’s exactly why we see blockage of water when it rains a lot, and during floods. If, instead of filling up of the ponds, lakes, canals, and drains, the building were built on pillars and columns, then this problem would not have been so severe. Yes, it would be costlier to build a structure on pillars, but that would have resulted in a better living condition, while keeping the landscape unchanged.
A recent trend is stealing of land by filling the river banks. This practice alone would cause a serious environmental imbalance if not stopped immediately.
Now the situation is such that many of the structures that
are built would have to be brought down in order to resolve the problems. Otherwise,
there wouldn’t be any permanent solution. So what should we do? Should we call
up the American bombers to level us up like they did to
Traffic Jams: When a road is shared with ancient slow and
modern day speedy transports, the result is bound to be a chaos. And that
exactly what has happened to the city streets of
On the same road rickshaws, auto rickshaws, motorcycles, rickshaw vans, cars, trucks, busses, microbuses, tempos, domestic animals, human beings, bicycles, push carts, pretty much every kind of living beings and transport systems (new and old) are trying to find their way at their own speeds. And the result is a huge traffic jam. In pretty much every intersection of the city roads you will witness this.
In case you are wondering, “Well, maybe there are no traffic policemen there to control the traffic!” Nope, they are there alright, but helpless. Their training and skills are totally useless and ineffective in those situations.
In my observation, the traffic policemen are not really ineffective, but careless. They simply do not care to do their job. Even if they do, after a while they get tired and finally give up to this unending process of jams.
In some occasion, instead of making things better, they have actually complicated the traffic conditions by putting some unnecessary barriers on the streets. In many parts of the city, you will notice that some crossing ways have been blocked, as a result, a transport now have to run few more kilometers just to make a turn to get on the other side of the road. And guess what happens at that turning point, yes, again a huge jam.
Instead, if they left the crossing ways open as they were meant to be (as per the original lane plans) then in fact the jams would be reduced. Because, at that time, a transport would have a choice to make turns and change lanes based on his or her judgment and available options. The simple formula is more turning options means less jams.
Another reason for delays as I’ve noticed is that the traffic police (when they really try to do their job) do not give same time intervals for their halts. Sometime they hold traffics for unusually long period of time in which case, most drivers just shut down their engines and wait. They rule of thumb should be, every street should be blocked for same interval of time as would an automatic traffic signal light do!
It is true that a permanent solution could never be reached until the slow moving transports are separated from the fast transports. And I can tell you this, turning a street into a VIP lane would not solve the problem either. Who are the VIP’s anyway? What does “VIP” mean in a poor little starving country that survives on grants and donations?
Temporarily, we could depend on the traffic lights removing all the traffic policemen from the streets. We could deploy some sergeants with motorcycles to give a chase, catch and give tickets to the vehicle drivers who would break the traffic rules. For that, we need steady power supply. You know! It would probably cost the government less to fix and put up the traffic lights at all major intersections than the salaries paid to the ineffective traffic policemen. Yes, some jobs will be lost. But hey, what can we do? The present system is not working!
Those who say that the rickshaws would have to be removed from the city street, should also think of the unemployment this would create for many individuals who make a day to day living to support themselves and their families. As well as the problem this removal would create to the passenger who regularly depends on these tri-cycles to commute to their work and back to home. The hard reality is, no matter how much of inconvenience this rickshaw contributes on traffic jams, this is still an affordable alternative transport system for many. In order to displace the rickshaw pullers, we need to find a way to rehabilitate them in some other employment options, as well as give an affordable option to the passengers who uses rickshaws as transport on a regular basis.
The funny thing is though, even in this road conditions, people are buying expensive luxury imported cars, but no place to drive them! I’ve heard of someone who bought a BMW just to keep it parked in his garage. Even if you are lucky enough one day to drive, when ever you are caught in a jam, all the poor beggars would surround your car seeking handouts, because they are certain that you are “the rich one”
The first and new flyover at Mohakhali .has been opened recently
with the hope that it would reduce the traffic jam there. But what has happened
now is, the jam has now moved on the bridge. Few days ago, while I was coming
from Uttara to Dhanmondi via that flyover, I was stuck in a traffic jam for
almost an hour on that flyover! So, that flyover did not solve the problem at
all, it may have complicated the mess even more. Read the article “Eber Ekti
Underpass Nirman Joruri” by Dr. Mohammad Ali Akbar Mollik published on
What we really need is electric Sky Trains that would run
automatically without any attendants every ten minutes over the streets. Yes,
it has to go OVER our heads and NOT underground. Any underground project is
risky for
Pollution: When I came for a couple of months (between April
and June) in 1999,
Now, after six years, the city looks much better. Most of those construction works are now complete, therefore, not much of dust flying in the air. Old gasoline run baby taxis are no longer in the streets that used to cause the emission of deadly poisonous fumes. And the dry heat, well, can’t help it, that’s the climate here during the time of the year. Overall condition has greatly improved compared to the situation I have seen in 1999. Okay, I’ won’t discuss the mosquitoes here.
Now we have Compact Natural Gas (CNG) run metered baby taxis
made in
This year it has been raining a lot, as a result, due to clogged or blocked drainage systems the water found no way out. As such, the level of water had risen causing flood in the many parts of the cities as well as in the rural areas. The economic loss has been huge.
Many crops have been destroyed due to heavy rain, resulting in shortage in vegetable supply. The short supply of vegetable and rice caused the price to go up immensely. But the price of fish got lower as they managed to swim across their boundaries only to get caught in the mosquito nets of the joyful crowd who tried to make a way for survival in this adverse situation.
What is the outcome of all this? It was an environmental pollution. The next wave of terror that followed was the spread of feared Dengu fever, diarrhea, skin diseases, hepatitis, etc. The city water supply also got polluted transmitting the diseases at every home in the city through the water supply system. What a way to spread terrorism, eh?
Terrorism: A new breed of terrorists have been born and raised in this country whose background can be traced to a group of people who are identified as poorest in the society. Some among them are educated terrorists, who have chosen this way to make a living due to not finding any other legal means for survival.
But soon, to counter that growing threat a new breed of counter terrorist group has also been created who are now chasing the so called terrorists to death and in hiding. The government supported and funded groups called the RAB, Cobra, and Cheetah are doing their job with bravery following the Napoleon motto, “Leave no enemies behind.” At times, the Rapid Action Battalion fails to perform rapidly due to our traffic jams in and around the city. In some occasion, on their way to action, they often got into fights with common people during their “rush hours”. What these folks really need to jump into action rapidly is some helicopters. Only with the help of helicopters this battalion can reach their destination rapidly. Otherwise, it would be more fitting for them to change their name from RAD to SAD, meaning Slow Action Battalion.
In the past, many high ranking police officers indicated that catching the criminals and terrorists is not at all a big deal for the police department if they are allowed to perform their duties independently without any political influence.
In many occasion, the police department caught the criminals
red handed, yet they were released on bail and never had to go for a trial due
to the secret backing of the powerful filths in the society – governmental and
private, both. The systems of bailing out the criminals haven’t changed in
Today’s RAB, Cobra and Cheetah are said to be an advanced version of the police department, but in actuality are a composition of highly trained military personnel (or commandos) geared toward civilian protection. These agencies are meant to remain out of control and reach of the societal ill systems and without any kind of interference. But some are now seeing them as “Rokkhi Bahini” or a legal terrorist group armed and supported by the government currently in power, and is challenging their legitimacy. No matter what, the common suffering people are in support of them. This arrangement would work well until corruption catches up with them too. Now the question is, do we still need the frail, corrupt and outdated police department that cannot function in today’s political system? Probably not, right? Because, when the RAB, Cobra, and Cheetah close their operations and hand over the duty to the police department again, the result will be the same. Yes, new terrorists will be born right under the nose of our police department as it did before. A cycle that never stops in a third world nation.
I don’t think these newly formed agencies will be able to operate or meant to operate for long. This is probably a short term strategy to clean up the mess (mainly from the opposition party) quickly especially before the election. Am I right?
Ex-General Hossain Mohammad Ershad after coming to power following the coup of President Ziaur Rahman did the same thing to deal with the terrorists. But at that time he used the armed forces creating offices of “Chief Martial Law Administrators” or CMLA’s around the country to handle the crisis. It worked well too for the first term of his rule. But on his second term, he too ended up creating some terrorists to replace them.
Before killing the criminals on “crossfire’s”, our law and enforcement agencies should collect the information to create a list of their sponsors. Because, the process would remain incomplete if the sponsors are left free to create and fund more terrorists down the road. They need to be dealt with and eliminated too. Our law and enforcement agencies should not over look the fact that some folks among their employers who are currently in the government also creates and funds the terrorist. Their “list” should include all the terrorists including their own.
It is not uncommon to see a counter terrorism organization
like these go out of control every now and then. In an organization where
secretiveness is a nature, things are bound to go out of control once in a
while. We see this happening even in CIA, FBI, MI5, MI6, Mossad, Shinbet and
many other worldwide secret agencies, where acting upon false flags and false
information is random. Most of the common folks automatically assume that these
organizations are engaged in good and moral activities. But the reality is
quite the opposite. They are mostly engaged in espionages interfering in
freedom of other people and nations. If you get a chance, read Bill Moyers’s
“The Secret Government”. Many other audio video materials are also available
that documents the secret activities of CIA, FBI, MI6, etc. worldwide defying
human rights and destroying independent foreign nations. Remember what happened
to
Controlling a secret agency is not an easy task. The secret nature of the agencies gives ways to different illegal activities without any accountability. Our directors and controllers of secretive and detective agencies should keep this in mind. Because, some silly mistake could result in complete cancellation of the project with a possible backfires form the general public.
Not just internal terrorism, our borders are at risk too!
According to one of our military analyst retired Brigadier General M. Shakhawat
Hossain, only 10% of the smuggled weapons are captured and recovered. Weapon
trading is a multi billion dollar business. Usually the weapon manufacturing
countries are involved in this trade. In third world countries they get
involved in this trade through local proxies. In other words, some big and
powerful weapon manufacturing countries are behind this arms trade supported
and managed by rich and powerful local people, which is not at all good news
for
Remember the grenade attack on the Awami League meeting in
Intolerance & Human Rights:
Unlearned prejudices have caused an increase in intolerance. In other words,
people here in
In a civilized and a free democratic society, all
inhabitants are ensured their basic civil rights. But in
When we see a poor person begging in the street, it only tells us that how badly our nation has failed in its mission as a free nation and a democratic society. Otherwise, why is that person begging in the street even after 33 years of independence?
In fact, I’ve always pondered on the democratic system that we have, and often asked myself, does this system really work? From my observation and understanding, I do not have a shadow doubt in my mind that the democratic system that we practice is quite false and unworkable. The whole system is hypocritical and conspiratorial.
This system creates bureaucrats, burgeons and terrorists leading toward chaos. It is NOT meant to maintain peace and harmony of a nation and between nations. It creates divisions instead of unity. It maintains hate instead of love. It exploits unsuspecting innocent citizens in manipulating their minds. This system simply doesn’t work.
I know what you are thinking! You are thinking only US style
democracy would work in
Now you all know who Donald Rumsfield is, right? But did you
know that he has been in the government since the Nixon Administration or even
earlier? Yes, both Kissinger and Rumsfield were the advisors to the president
during Nixon time. And they are still in the government! Yes,
To add further, you should also know that both Kissinger and
Rumsfield were behind the mastermind of Apollo 11 Moon Landing hoax. The world
has been told a big lie about the “Man on the Moon”. The truth is, Apollo 11
never landed on the moon! This truth came out from a documentary prepared by
Passionate Eye program shown on Canadian TV channels under the title “Dark Side
of the Moon”. Recently, Star World TV channel also showed a similar program which
has also been seen in
What makes
Now coming back to the main point, what kind of system would
work for
What we really need is existence of public councils and forums. People of different walks of life should automatically become part of the appropriate council based on their academic background, experiences, and interest. For instance, there should be a Council of the Economists, where all the economists and those who are interested in contributing in this area would be members. They will discuss and debate issues nationally to come to a solution when a problem arises. Similarly, there should be a Council of Public Administrators, where the public policies would be analyzed and created. And so on.
Yes, we do need a national representative or a leader or a president, but we definitely DO NOT need any prime minister, or a long line of ministers for different departments; plain and simple. Only the experts in the respective fields and areas will deal with issues in question in open public forums, not in secret board meetings.
All participation would be on volunteer basis and no one will get paid to participate. Now tell me, in a process like this would there be any need for elections? Or Strikes? Political groups? Yes, there will be no need for any political parties. The whole nation would work as a single force aiming at improving their conditions nationwide.
No need for village chairman, or what ever. Just eliminate
those posts and positions; as too much of power delegation means too much of
corruption. Spreading and channeling of power results in creation of too many
terrorists around the country.
Our “Henry Kissinger of
Another side of intolerance is the religious intolerance. When fanaticism takes root in a religion then it allows breeding of intolerance.
Although majority of the citizens of
The situation can be compared with
Just pay close attention to all the troubled spots in the so
called Muslim world, what you will see is most of the religious problems are in
the countries which claims to be Islamic but did not integrate Arabic language
as one of their languages of preference. As a result, we find Ahmadia groups
with its roots in
The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic and it is preserved in Arabic, the Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam was an Arab and spoke Arabic, all his sayings and traditions have been recorded in Arabic. Then on what argument and understanding we the so called non Arabic speaking Muslims earned the right to learn and practice Islam ONLY on the basis of translations? What if the translations and its interpretations are wrong? Who would correct us? How would we know which part of the teachings are NOT influenced by our old traditional practices and cultural rites mostly of Hindu origin?
Due to this very reason, the Islam that we practice today in
When I inquired about the response to the Arabic language
programs at different institutions in
Bangladeshi Muslims should leave the Ahmadias and the Hindus alone in peace. Islam teaches tolerance, where is that tolerance if you all claim to be Muslims? If you are so certain that they are wrong then why not invite them in a fair public debate in an open forum? If you can’t take them out intellectually and peacefully, then just leave them alone. Let them practice their religion in peace the way they understands it, as you do. Being a Muslim is NOT an open license to threat others beliefs. Religion is a personal and an intellectual matter. As the Qur’an declares,
002.256. Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And God heareth and knoweth all things.
Public Education: The process of dehumanization comes through ignorance and intolerance. We have an education system that doesn’t pay attention to moral aspects of human rights.
Our government has privatized the education to an extent that the education has now become a business. Instead of serving a needful right of a citizen they are capitalizing on it. As a result, we are creating a mass of degreed people with no proper knowledge base.
The difference of tuition rates are so varied that only the privileged few can afford to go to a private school. For the low income populace, the old and frail schools are the only alternative.
Undoubtedly, the quality of education in
Some, if not all, private schools are doing well. But the opportunity is limited only to the rich who could afford to send their children there. Otherwise, in most cases, the public schools are on the verge of extinction. The teachers of the public schools are working for awfully low wage with no future in sight. Yet, in many occasion, they do not get paid on time sometimes for months!
In some European countries and in
In
Many of our so called scholars are the products of this very
system that allowed them to move up the ladder and become VIP’s of the society.
Many also took advantage of the discounted educational system and foreign
scholarships by betraying the nation to settle in a so called developed country
after completion of their studies abroad. It is probably true (as they like to
argue) that most of the people who betrayed the nation received training and
education in such fields that have no prospect in
It is okay for a privately sponsored student to choose to settle down in a foreign country, but it is betrayal for a publicly sponsored student to settle down in a foreign country after receiving all the support, services and privileges from its government. Some however, wants to pay back the amount they have used to get the education as compensation, but what they do not realize is that it is not the money alone that is in question, but his or her integrity as well. He or she also failed on their commitments and honor to return to serve their country. The question is what good of a slave that person is in a country that accepted them?
It was good to notice that many new private schools have popped up to educate the growing population, but it turned out to be that most of those schools does not meet the minimum requirements laid down by the University Grants Commission. Out of 59 such schools, only 9 turned out to be in compliance with the UGC requirements. This proves the dire condition of our education system. What about the students who are attending those schools in question? Will their degrees get recognition? Will they find jobs with those degrees?
Adverse economic conditions can cause one to be hateful,
jealous, and greedy.
The Submarine Cables: I found some people in the IT sector in
What is that threat? It is the threat of immorality through pornographic materials.
The Internet is now the database of pornographic materials.
From a technocratic point of view,
With a high speed uninterrupted connections one can download pretty much anything from the net. Now a days, pornographic audio-visuals are freely available for free downloads. And this would allow anyone with the facilities to watch a hardcore sexual movie or “blue films” in his or her own bedroom in privacy.
What’s wrong with it? This would create addiction to sexual
transgression at individual level, and then will spread in the entire society.
Sex could become an addiction if it goes out of control. Availability of
immoral sexual films, videos and other materials would result in promiscuity in
the nation. Sex would become a common recreational factor like it is today in
the Western world and neighboring
Sexual crime is still under control in
We are already experiencing an increase of sexual
perversions in our movie industry. FDC is now openly making sexually illicit
movies to compete with the foreign imported pornographies from Hong Kong, that
are openly shown in public movie theatres around the country. It didn’t stop
there, along with it, the prostitution industry is also flourishing around the
country (say Narayangonj for instance). What a way to liberate women in
If this continues, you can rest assured that the deadly
virus HIV will freely spread in this country and would soon go out of control. Recently,
Michelle Cedebe, Director of UNAIDS program in
What
It is true that in today’s world of information super
highway, Information Technology or IT can play a major role. Due to not having
the proper internet service facilities
Export Processing Zones: I don’t know who came up with this idea, but it turned out to be a good idea to solve some of the problems at least temporarily. No matter how much of load shading is going on in the rest of the country, but in EPZ’s the power supply is uninterrupted and steady. This is done to help the manufacturing industries to continue their commercial manufacturing activities that would benefit the economy through exports. Good, but it is a discriminatory plan.
Industrialization is a bad idea for an agrarian country like
Large countries like
Not just that, industries pollute environment too! Some
areas in Savar,
Next year, when the garments quota system will be eliminated
for
International
Monetary Fund (IMF) has already given a warning signal to
Another trend that is taking its root in
002.275 Those who devour usury will not stand except as stand one whom the Evil one by his touch Hath driven to madness. That is because they say: "Trade is like usury," but God hath permitted trade and forbidden usury. Those who after receiving direction from their Lord, desist, shall be pardoned for the past; their case is for God (to judge); but those who repeat (The offence) are companions of the Fire: They will abide therein (for ever).
003.130.
O ye who believe! Devour not usury, doubled and multiplied; but fear God; that ye may (really) prosper.
004.161.
That they took usury, though they were forbidden; and that they devoured men's
substance wrongfully; - we have prepared for those among them who reject faith
a grievous punishment.
For Muslims, dealing with Riba or Interest is a not allowed. By introducing the concept of credit and loans what they are doing is giving people false hopes that they won’t be able to fulfill. They are trying to induce the unsuspecting common innocent folks into a trap which will suck them out completely for good, just like the IMF and World Bank does to a nation. The idea is, “Here, take this US$100.00 and pay me back US$120.00, in a month and I don’t care how you do it. If you fail, you are in trouble”. This is exactly the concept of this loan business. Yet, many will walk into this trap willingly. And that’s exactly what they want because that’s where the money is for them! Even after losing some money in defaults, they will still make huge amount of money through incredibly high interest rates. And the people taking these services would have to work harder just to pay off those loans.
US dollar is not worth the value it enjoys. Realizing this
fact, Iraq’s Saddam Hossain switched to Euro (other than oil and gold, that was
one of the reasons for removing him from power), Mayalsia’s Mahathir suggested
dropping of the US dollar in international trades, and most recently Cuba’s
Castro also announced not to deal with the US notes anymore. Yes, US dollar is
a risky currency that can drop in its value any moment. So, beware! We must
look for an alternative international currency to depend on. US dollar is NOT
the only international currency.
Recently I have read some of the articles of Professor
M.M.Akash of the department of Economics,
TV and Media: Some new TV channels have showed up on the
horizon in
Hindi language is now understood by majority of the people
here in
But no one pays any attention to the fact that this same India has already taken away its waters that naturally flowed into Bangladesh violating the international laws when they created the Farakka dam, took away the Talpotti islands creating naval bases there that falls within the borders of Bangladesh. Now Tata is looking for a way to get into the economy in a big way to exploit our coal and gas resources.
No one in
We must not forget how we lost the Indian sub-continent to
the English folks. They also came to do trade with us in the name of East India
Company, but later they gradually took over the entire continent to rule for
over 200 years. And before leaving the continent, they divided it into several
independent countries. Even that they didn’t do properly,
I guess I can understand the excitements that
The answer is a simple one. Now
What brings those foreign reserves to
Super Malls:
Recently I went to see the
The city shoppers are already having a lot of choices to
shop from! A shopper in Uttara no longer comes to Dhanmondi or New Market to
shop or vice versa. The customer base is now divided as per their residence and
the shopping facilities available there. And this economy does not produce the
number of shoppers needed to support all the malls that are coming up everyday.
Most working people in
That’s not it; most of the products available in the market are imported. Meaning, a huge sum of foreign currency is now stuck in these products that need to be sold ASAP. What a waste of hard earned foreign currencies. And how much of foreign aids has been invested to erect those shopping malls? How will they be recovered? Yet, our power supply is insufficient; our water supply is polluted, our drainage and sanitation system is improper, our traffic control system is outdated, our employment growth is coming to a nil, human rights conditions and life security is at risk, etc., etc., etc. But the priorities are elsewhere.
General Post Office (GPO): GPO was once a profitable project of
the
Yes, I’m talking about the private courier business. They
have taken over most of the domestic courier services in
Jute Mills: What ever happened to our golden fiber, most of our
jute mills are now closed. One of the main exports of Bangladesh is now a
legend long gone. The last news I had about this industry was that India was
importing our fiber to re-export them with the label “Made in India”, taking
the name and fame of the jute that was originally produced in Bangladesh. Some
experts say,
No matter what
Manpower Export: To replace the worldwide aging population,
demand for young people is growing in many developed countries. As a result,
“immigration” is now one of the top games.
By some silly moves,
Why are we losing the opportunities in human resource
exporting? My analysis tells me that we could blame our big shots in the
government who are extremely poor in diplomacy and ignorant about the
international affairs. Listen up folks,
The Muktijoddha Craze: Another recent noticeable craze is about the Muktijoddha. Government has suddenly gone crazy in building and erecting sculptures and parks at different places in the country. After 33 years of independence, why this sudden craze?
The government is investing crores of taka in these projects that should go in developing the failing and badly needed infrastructures of the country. What return does the government expect from these investments? Will the freedom fighters come back to life because of these investments? Will the surviving Muktijoddha’s and their family member benefit in anyway because of them? How many of those freedom fighters are alive today anyway?
You may want to pay a close attention to this news, “Dokhol
Dushon Ar Nodibhangonaer Kobolae Duti Buddhijibi Sritishoudho” published on
If keeping the memories alive is the main objective for
creating these monuments and sculptures, then it needs to be done through
education by incorporating all the historical information in our history books
and literatures, and NOT by creating new worshipping places. This Hindu idea
should be rejected in the Muslim majority nation. The money could be well spent
in many developmental activities for the well being of the entire nation,
instead of spending them in these meaningless projects. However to make these
locations as historical sites, we could “preserve” them as they were in their
original form for the sake of preserving our national history. And for that we
do not need a lot of money.
Oil, Gas and Petroleum: We are witnessing two major wars of the
century that are directly related to oil, gas and petroleum (war on terrorism
is just a pretext) in
UNOCOL is already here, which is mainly an American oil
company of which Hamid Karzai, the president of today’s
Next was
We have been enjoying our freedom and independence for over
33 years now. Oil has been discovered in
Conclusion: In a global village, competition for survival is
intense. It is an undeclared war ground where everyone is struggling for a
piece of the pie. For a poor country like
Today,
Another factor that is important to note is, no matter how
much we say we are a “religiously neutral country”,
“…a possible “ISLAMIC STATE” within Europe which will not be tolerated, we will continue to follow this policy…we must at all costs make sure that no state that can be deemed “Muslim” is allowed any say on the West’s policy actions in this area, especially that of Turkey…in best interests of a stable Europe in the future, whose value system is and must remain based on a “Christian-Civilization” and ethic. This view I must inform you is also felt in every other European and North American government…The Muslims in the West must be made to see that they can not oppose our view of the world in the “New World Order” and that by the inaction of the “So-called” Muslim governments of the world, in doing nothing to oppose the destruction of the Muslims…we control their governments.”
Considering the above quote, it should now become easy for us
to understand why EU and the
005.51.
O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and
protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst
you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a
people unjust.
005.55. Your (real) friends are (no less than) Allah, His
Messenger, and the (fellowship of) believers,- those who establish regular
prayers and regular charity, and they bow down humbly (in worship).
005.57. O ye who believe! take not for friends and
protectors those who take your religion for a mockery or sport,- whether among
those who received the Scripture before you, or among those who reject Faith;
but fear ye Allah, if ye have faith (indeed).
005.80. Thou seest many of them turning in friendship to the Unbelievers. Evil indeed are (the works) which their souls have sent forward before them (with the result), that Allah’s wrath is on them, and in torment will they abide.
060.001. O ye who believe! Take not my enemies and yours as friends (or protectors), - offering them (your) love, even though they have rejected the Truth that has come to you, and have (on the contrary) driven out the Prophet and yourselves (from your homes), (simply) because ye believe in God your Lord! If ye have come out to strive in My Way and to seek My Good Pleasure, (take them not as friends), holding secret converse of love (and friendship) with them: for I know full well all that ye conceal and all that ye reveal. And any of you that does this has strayed from the Straight Path.
I still remember the day I went along with a cousin of mime
to talk to a bank official to discuss the possibility of getting a loan for a
paper tissue producing industry. But when the time came for actual process,
both of us thought, does
Then again, with a friend, I looked into the possibility of exporting fish to foreign countries. But then our conscience objected, should I really export the fish that could feed your own people? But does the fish exporters today care about its own people? I guess not.
Alas! Bangladeshis today do not have any heart or
conscience. They would export anything for foreign currency even if there is a
shortage of it at home. Greed has taken over our conscience; we no longer care
about our country. All we care about is me, me and me. Unfortunately, this is
the case for most nations today not just
In order to protect
For instance,
Only the so called Muslim countries are still resisting the
invasion of the Dajjal system. That’s why we see the system of Dajjal using all
their powers to crush the resistance.
It is now time for you to choose your sides just like US President George Bush said “You are either with us or against us.” So, which one will it be? George Bush or Allah? Think about it before it’s too late.
002.209.
If ye backslide after the clear (Signs) have come to you, then know that God is Exalted in Power, Wise.
009.071.
The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of another: they enjoin what
is just, and forbid what is evil: they observe regular prayers, practice
regular charity,
and obey God and His Apostle. On them will God pour His mercy: for God is Exalted in power, Wise.
002.111. And they say: "None shall enter
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Recommended readings: (Most of the following books are
available at Katabon Islamic Book Store at Katabon Masjid,