Fakruddin is more preferable than moyeen to US

Lots many people think that US is responsible for the instability in the present world, like Pakistan, Iraq, Korea. The main strength Of Moyeen U ahmed is USA. I think US is not going to support any regime that goes against the sentiment of Bengali people in this time when the nation wants to ban jamat.and by this time if Bush get change from presidency then the dream of Moyeen will be more illusive. US has been badly identified to support army in third world. so USA will chose Fakruddin more than moyeen.

May be Moyeen u ahmed is not going to be the president now. All of them knows very well that they are not able to continue the Gov anymore. They cant bring food for people . They have compromise against the sentiment of Bengali nation. The support behind CTG before 1/11 is not the same today.


i think BNP including reformist Jamat & CTG will be an alliance .BNP will try to free khaleda by joining with Jamat & CTG, as jamat & BNP bron from same womb. Here with help of US back fakruddin BNP will try to come in power.
now fakruddin started to shouting that Election will be held soon. Because Now Its quite impossible to continue the Gov for this regime. In the name of anti-corruption Moyeen U ahmed & mainul is responsible the most. History will remind it why these people did this harm to our mother land .

No crime remains unpunished.

A conspiracy against Bangladesh

Read about a conspiracy against Bangladesh

"In the footsteps of Musharraf: Moeen U Ahmed to become president"

http://www.e-bangladesh.org/

Pakistan, Bangladesh Terrorists Plan Joint Attacks, India Says

Pakistan, Bangladesh Terrorists Plan Joint Attacks, India Says
By Paul Tighe
Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Terrorists from Pakistan and Bangladesh are collaborating to carry out attacks in India and using the Bangladeshi border as a crossing point, the head of India's frontier security force said.
``A strong nexus has emerged'' between Pakistani-based groups and those in Bangladesh, A.K. Mitra, director-general of the Border Security Force, said yesterday, India's state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported. ``We have authentic reports that militants are using Bangladeshi territory for entering India clandestinely through porous borders.''
Pakistani terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are working with Bangladesh's Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami, Mitra said. In the past six months, police arrested 14 members of the two Pakistani groups as they tried to enter Indian territory, he said.
Indian media linked bomb blasts that killed at least 40 people in the southern city of Hyderabad in August to Bangladeshi nationals or militant groups. Bangladesh responded by saying the Indian charges were ``disturbing'' and pledged its commitment to fight terrorism.
India handed Bangladesh a list of 141 militants and criminals it wants detained when security officials held five days of talks in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, last month. The meeting discussed India's call for extending security fences along the 4,095-kilometer (2,545-mile) border, the BSF said at the time.
Security Measures
The Indian-Bangladesh border has 2,979 kilometers of land and 1,116 kilometers of river frontiers, Doordarshan reported.
The BSF has been able to fence only 66 percent of the land border and only 277 kilometers has floodlights, the broadcaster said. India's Tripura state has 13 border posts patrolled by aircraft along its 857-kilometer border with eastern Bangladesh.
A total of 6,617 Bangladesh nationals were caught crossing the frontier in the first 10 months of this year, Mitra said, according to Doordarshan. The BSF detained 9,679 people in 2006.
India's western border with Pakistan is ``relatively alright,'' Mitra said, according to Doordarshan. He was speaking during a visit to Agartala, the capital of Tripura, yesterday.
Militant groups in northeast India, such as the United Liberation Front of Assam and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, are operating out of Bangladesh, the Indian government has said in the past. Anti-Indian insurgents use more than 140 camps in Bangladesh, Mitra said.
These groups have developed links with Pakistan's Inter- Service Intelligence, Doordarshan cited Sriprakash Jaiswal, the minister of state for home affairs, as telling lawmakers yesterday in New Delhi. Pakistan rejects Indian charges that it supports groups fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir.
India and Pakistan established an anti-terrorism panel as part of their talks on improving relations that began in 2003.
Saarc Meeting
India is today hosting a meeting in New Delhi of foreign ministers of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, known as Saarc, to discuss anti-terrorism measures. The group includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal.
Saarc nations agreed in October to boost their fight against terrorism by preventing funding to extremist groups and improving police cooperation, including India helping Sri Lanka tackle the insurgency by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net

Bangladesh pardons jailed teachers

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh pardoned four university teachers on Monday, six days after they had been jailed for inciting violent student unrest in August, which forced the army-backed government to impose curfew in major cities."President Iajuddin Ahmed has approved the clemency considering mercy petitions filed by their (teachers) respective wives," a senior official of the Presidential Palace told Reuters.The clemency came after a series of silent protests by teachers and students of major universities in the country.

Although rallies and marchers were banned by the army-backed interim government that assumed power in January following weeks of deadly political violence, the teachers and students continued to wear black badges and held silent rallies on their campuses for last few days.A Bangladesh court sentenced the teachers of the Rajshahi University, located about 187 miles northwest of the capital Dhaka, last Tuesday to two years in jail for inciting violent student unrest in August.Four other teachers from the Dhaka University, the country's biggest, are being tried on similar charges by another court, officials said.The four have been detained for allegedly instigating student unrest in the capital. Following the clemency granted to their colleagues at Rajshahi, the four Dhaka University teachers are also expected to be exempted of the charges.

A man was killed in Rajshahi and several hundred were injured there and in other cities as students fought battles with police, in defiance of a state of emergency in force since January.Authorities ordered an indefinite curfew in Dhaka and five other cities in late August following violence sparked by an alleged assault on some students by army troops during a football match on the Dhaka University campus.

The curfew was lifted after a few days later but all major universities in the six cities remained closed for up to two months

(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed, writing by Anis Ahmed)

Gore gets Nobel, warns of ominous threat

OSLO, Norway - Al Gore received his Nobel Peace Prize on Monday and urged the United States and China to make the boldest moves on climate change or "stand accountable before history for their failure to act."

In accepting the prize he shared with the U.N. climate panel, the former vice president said humanity risks sliding down a path of "mutually assured destruction."
"It is time to make peace with the planet," Gore said in his acceptance speech that quoted Churchill, Gandhi and the Bible. "We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war."
Gore shared the Nobel with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for sounding the alarm over global warming and spreading awareness on how to counteract it. The U.N. panel was represented at the ceremony by its leader, Rajendra Pachauri.
"We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency — a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here," Gore said at the gala ceremony in Oslo's city hall, in front of Norway's royalty, leaders and invited guests.
Gore urged China and the U.S. — the world's biggest carbon emitters — to "make the boldest moves, or stand accountable before history for their failure to act."
His remarks came as governments met in Bali, Indonesia, to start work on a new international treaty to reduce climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions. Gore and Pachauri plan to fly there Wednesday to join the climate talks.
The governments hope to have the new pact, which succeeds the Kyoto accord, in place by 2012, but Gore has said the urgency of the problem means they should aim to come to an agreement by 2010.
Before his speech, Gore said in an interview with The Associated Press that he believes the next U.S. president will shift the country's course on climate change and engage in global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
"The new president, whichever party wins the election, is likely to have to change the position on this climate crisis," Gore said in the interview. "I do believe the U.S., soon, is to have a more constructive role."
He said it was not too late for Bush administration to join efforts to draft a new global treaty limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
"I have urged President Bush and his administration to be part of the world community's effort to solve this crisis," Gore said. "I hope they will change their position."
The Bush administration opposed the Kyoto treaty on climate change, saying it would hurt the U.S. economy and objecting that fast developing nations like China and India were not required to reduce emissions.
In his speech, Gore urged nations to impose a CO2 tax, and called for a moratorium on the building of new coal plants without the capacity to trap carbon. He directed special attention to the United States and China, the world's biggest emitters of carbon emissions.
"While India is also growing fast in importance, it should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters — and most of all, my own country — that will need to make the boldest moves, or stand accountable before history for their failure to act," Gore said.
"Both countries should stop using the other's behavior as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment."
Pachauri described in his speech how a warming climate could lead to flooding of low-lying countries, disruptions to food supply, the spread of diseases and the loss of biodiversity.
The impact "could prove extremely unsettling" for the world's poor and vulnerable, he said, and ended his speech with a question for the Bali conference: "Will those responsible for decisions in the field of climate change at the global level listen to the voice of science and knowledge, which is now loud and clear?"
Each Nobel Prize includes a gold medal, a diploma and a $1.6 million cash award.
The Nobel Prizes, first awarded in 1901, are always presented Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of their creator, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel.
The other Nobel awards — in medicine, chemistry, physics, literature and economics — will be presented at a separate ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.
In Stockholm, the winners of the science Nobels receive their awards Monday from Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf before being treated to a lavish white-tie banquet at City Hall.
The 2007 awards in medicine, chemistry and physics honored breakthroughs in stem cell research on mice, solid-surface chemistry and the discovery of a phenomenon that lets computers and digital music players store reams of data on ever-shrinking hard disks.
Three U.S. economists shared the economics award for their work on how people's knowledge and self-interest affect their behavior in the market or in social situations such as voting and labor negotiations.
One of the economics winners, Leonid Hurwicz, 90, and the literature prize winner, 88-year-old British writer Doris Lessing, could not travel to Stockholm. They will receive their awards at later ceremonies in Minnesota and London, respectively.

Bangladesh at high risk from deadly bird flu - USAID

DHAKA (Reuters) - The United States is increasing funding to help Bangladesh fight bird flu, saying the densely populated country is at high risk of pandemic if the virus jumped to humans, a top U.S. aid official said on Sunday.
"Bangladesh is particularly in high risk because of its dense population. If this virus transmits to people it would be a pandemic," U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator Kent R. Hill said in Dhaka.
Bird flu was first detected near the capital in March and has since spread mostly to northern districts and forced authorities to cull 274,000 chickens and destroy nearly 3 million eggs.
About 4 million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming, but so far there have been no cases of human infection, government and health officials said.
"USAID has already committed $3 million to fight bird flu in Bangladesh. And in coming days it will rise to $5 million," Hill told a news conference during his three-day visit to Bangladesh to review USAID's health programmes in the region.
From 1971 to 2006, USAID has provided Bangladesh more than $5 billion in development assistance, with over half of that amount in food aid. In 2007, USAID provided $78 million in development assistance to impoverished Bangladesh.
Hill said USAID will provide $173 million over the next five years to fund programmes supporting maternal and child health, family planning, tuberculosis eradication and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
USAID has provided $19.5 million in emergency aid for survivors of a deadly cyclone that hit Bangladesh last month, killing more than 3,200 people and affecting more than 8.7 million.
"In the coming days more funds will be allocated for the rehabilitation (of the cyclone survivors)," Hill said.

We want fair election in 2008 & Withdrawal of emergency state

Torture and extrajudicial killings in the form of alleged "crossfire killings," were serious problems before the caretaker government came to power, and have continued under its administration ::

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/bangladesh1206/

Other violations, which stem from emergency rules that undermine basic due process rights, or the large number of arbitrary arrests and detention without proper judicial oversight, are a direct result of the caretaker government's policies. While certain restrictions on some rights during properly declared states of national emergency are permitted under international law, it is far from clear that the measures under the government’s emergency law are limited to "the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation."Bangladesh: Protecting Rights as Vital as Ending Corruption Press Release, August 1,
2007 ::
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/01/bangla16556.htm

Bangladesh: Release Journalist and Rights Activist Press Release, May 11, 2007 ::http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/11/bangla15906.htm

Bangladesh: Elite Force Tortures, Kills Detainees Press Release, December 14, 2006 :: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/12/13/bangla14844.htm

Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Torture and Extrajudicial Killings by Bangladesh’s Elite Security Force Report, December 14, 2006

http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=banglahttp://sotacit.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/everything-you-need-to-know-about-general-moeen-u-ahmed/

These three, seemingly unrelated issues are converging to make the lives of our citizens miserable. Since this military regime has taken over inflation has been skyrocketing. This has been a direct consequence of the actions and policies of this regime, in particular the arbitrary arrests and the continued state of emergency. Now we have been hit with a natural disaster and people’s suffering is multiplying.General Moeen Ahmed has tried to take this opportunity to try to blame the politicians for this suffering.Most businessmen are either fleeing the country or their business has slowed dramatically because their trading partners have. No one knows who will be arrested next.a dozen businessmen have been extorted by military officers. The amounts demanded are staggering even compared to the corruption of the last BNP-Jamaat government; 20, 30 even 50 lakh Takas (US $29,000 to $72,000) per instance. Slowly our fine military is being corrupted again, just as they were during the terms of Generals Zia and Ershad. All it takes is a few rotten apples.

Sheikh Hasina is being detained under the Emergency Powers Rule, 2007, not under the criminal code of Bangladesh. There is no due process under the emergency powers. Right to bail and right to appeal are denied and the detention can be extended indefinitely even without a trial. Trials are conducted by special tribunals in camera (only the judge is present, there is no jury and the proceedings are closed to outside scrutiny) and summarily (normal procedures such as conducting discovery are not allowed.) This is a violation of international human rights laws, in particular Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

They are just following Minus-2 plan.Law Advisor Mainul Hossain claimed that the people will be responsible if this government fails. The fact is this government has already failed. They should either hold elections immediately or step aside and hand over power to a constitutional caretaker headed by a retired Supreme Court Justice. Bangladesh cannot afford this regime any longer.

North Korea-Russia Relations: A Strained Friendship

Russia regards a denuclearised North Korea as in its interests but is likely to remain relatively marginal in the six-party talks that seek an end to Pyongyang’s weapons program.
North Korea-Russia Relations: A Strained Friendship,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the bilateral relations between Moscow and Pyongyang as they impact on regional and global security and affect the North’s proliferation behaviour. Relations between the two countries have been marked by unrealistic expectations and frequent disappointments, but common interests have prevented a rupture.
Russian President Putin has mostly been unable to assert himself prominently in North East Asia, and North Korea has received neither the unalloyed political support, nor the economic backing it seeks. Energy is a major mutual interest, but there is unlikely to be much growth in bilateral cooperation unless the nuclear crisis is resolved.
“Since Putin visited Pyongyang in 2000, diplomatic initiatives have come undone, and economic projects have faltered”, says Daniel Pinkston, Crisis Group Senior Analyst. “Russia is arguably the least effective participant in the six-party nuclear talks”.
Russia has more influence in the region than it did in the 1990s but not enough to change the equation on the Korean peninsula. It regards de-nuclearisation of the North as in its interests and considers its relations with the other countries in the six-party talks more important than its ties to Pyongyang. It has shown interest in building energy and transport links through North Korea, but investments have been hindered by the North’s unreliability. Although Pyongyang has discussed economic cooperation, it has failed to reform its economy sufficiently for foreign investment. However, it is interested in technical and scientific aid and wants Russia to balance China’s growing influence.
The North’s economic troubles might be moderated by Russia’s support in energy, transportation and direct aid. North Korean professionals could begin travelling again to Russia to gain experience and scientific know-how, and Russian businesses could benefit from refurbishing North Korea’s industrial infrastructure.
The slow realignment of Russia’s and North Korea’s diplomatic and economic interests is likely to continue. North Korea needs a resolution of the nuclear crisis to get aid and better relations with the U.S., and Russia needs regional stability to encourage economic projects among neighbours and to continue rebuilding its global prestige.
“Despite the considerable mutual economic and political interests, however, progress is likely to be inhibited by lingering suspicions and hesitancy to seize opportunities”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director.

The speech Awami League President Sheikh Hasina delivered at a press conference of the grand alliance at Sheraton Hotel in the city yesterday

Following is the full text of the speech Awami League President Sheikh Hasina delivered at a press conference of the grand alliance at Sheraton Hotel in the city yesterday:

On October 29 last year, President Iajuddin Ahmed appointed himself as the chief adviser to the non-partisan caretaker government in violation of the constitution. We said from the beginning that he is neither neutral nor non-partisan. We had placed 11-point proposal before him in order to prove himself to be neutral, but he did not implement those.

The chief adviser and 10 other advisers subsequently offered a package proposal signed by them. The proposals included resignation of SM Zakaria and Mudabbir Hossain Chowdhury; appointment of two new election commissioners and entrusting one of them to act as the chief election commissioner; depoliticisation of the administration; and bringing changes to the attorney general's office, replacing all law officers and bringing changes to the top posts of intelligence agencies.
But when we accepted the package proposal, he opposed the council of advisers-agreed proposals under the directions of Hawa Bhaban.
Yet, we tried to participate in the elections for the sake of democracy. After our candidates from the grand alliance submitted nominations, we noticed that the chief adviser has started implementing election engineering under the dictates of BNP-Jamaat.
Sixty-five days, out of 90 days, have already passed, but President Iajuddin Ahmed has not taken any steps to prove his neutrality as the chief adviser to the non-partisan caretaker government.
The chief adviser has established a shadow government of BNP-Jamaat instead of a non-partisan caretaker government.
The nationally and internationally unacceptable Election Commission has failed to prepare a correct voter list.
There are only 19 days to go to the elections as per the current schedule. But a correct and flawless voter list is yet to be published.
Now it is learnt that a voter list will be published after January 7. Under the voter list rules and regulations, there is a provision that the voter list should be displayed in public for 15 days for scrutiny before publishing the full electoral roll.
If the election is held on January 22, there will be no time to earmark 15 days for scrutiny and for subsequent correction and publication of the list.
It is clearly stated in Article 121 of the Constitution that "There shall be one electoral roll for each constituency for the purposes of elections to parliament, and no special electoral roll shall be prepared so as to classify electors according to religion, race, caste or sex."
But according to newspaper reports, the Election Commission has distributed three types of voter lists -- the list of 2000 and the updated and supplementary list of 2000. And the voters' names, their fathers' names and the voter serial numbers do not match. In many cases, the lists show different information regarding name, age and profession of the voters against the same serial number and the holding number.
Many voters whose names are on the list of 2000 have been dropped. Names on pages after pages in the voter list have been crossed off, while a huge number of false voters have been included.
We fear that the presiding and polling officers will be given the list which does not contain the names of grand alliance leaders, activists and supporters and the minorities.
Additional polling centres have been set up without any advertisements. In many cases, polling centres have been set up four or five miles away, so that voters favouring grand alliance cannot cast their votes.
The judiciary and the administration still remain politicised. Charge sheet has been submitted against eminent lawyers such as Dr Kamal Hossain, Barrister Amir-Ul Islam and Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud in an unusual hurried way.
The Election Commission is not applying the law equally for all. As part of the election engineering, the commission has unjustly rejected the nomination paper of Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad.
The caretaker government has protected, instead of arresting, the criminals who attacked the houses of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leaders, including Badruddoza Chowdhury.
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the police are being used to arrest, harass, torture and kill the leaders and activists of the grand alliance. The false cases filed against our leaders and activists in the last five years have now been used to arrest grand alliance leaders and activists.
No list of real criminals has been made. Instead of recovering illegal arms or arresting the arms holders, the authorities are collecting licensed arms from the citizens, thereby causing insecurity for them.
The National Security Intelligence agency and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence are being used to implement the election engineering.
The administration has not been depoliticised. Rather, 20 personal secretaries of BNP-Jamaat ministers have been appointed deputy commissioners. Skilled and efficient officials are still serving as officers on special duty (OSD).
The chief adviser is trying to deprive the people of their right to vote at the instructions of BNP-Jamaat. He is conspiring to elect the thieves and the corrupt elements belonging to BNP-Jamaat who have plundered public assets and amassed huge wealth overnight.
Our statement is very clear. We want a free, fair and peaceful election according to the constitution. For this a congenial atmosphere should be created. It has been proved that the president as the chief adviser is not interested in creating an environment conducive to election. So, he must step down as the chief adviser. And a new chief adviser must be appointed according to the constitution.
In accordance with the package proposal, a new chief election commissioner has to be appointed and the Election Commission has to be recast. Over 300 partisan officers appointed in the Election Commission and as district and upazila election officers have to be removed or made OSD.
Every eligible voter has the right to vote. A draft voter list has to be published. According to the electoral laws, there should be at least 15 days to scrutinise the voter list before the publication of the final voter list.
A full voter list has to be published for each constituency.
All voters have to be given ID cards.
Transparent ballot boxes have to be used in the election.
Old polling centres have to be used as per the election manual.
Candidates have to be consulted before the appointment of presiding and polling officers.
Rab activities have to be suspended until elections. Extra-judicial killings must be stopped. A list of real criminals must be made in order to arrest them and recover their arms.
In accordance with the package proposal, changes have to be brought to the attorney general's office, all law officers have to be replaced and changes have to be brought to the top posts of intelligence agencies.
Effective measures must be taken to depoliticise the administration. Identified partisan officials have to be made OSD. They have to be replaced by competent and neutral officers.
All election candidates, including Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, whose nomination papers have been rejected illegally, have to be allowed to take part in the election.
A new election schedule must be announced after update of the voter list in order to implement the aforementioned measures so that an environment conducive to fair election can be created.
Because it is more important to have an acceptable election with the participation of people than an election held within the fixed schedule. The people will neither accept nor allow rigged polls. The grand alliance wants an election that will reflect the people's verdict.
President Iajuddin wants to hold an election without a valid voter list after illegally assuming the post of the chief adviser. We cannot legalise such an election. Therefore, we, the grand alliance, have decided not to participate in the stage-managed January 22 elections.
Article 58 (D) of the constitution calls for a free, fair and peaceful election. We will go to the polls with the people after creating an environment conducive to a free, fair and peaceful election in Bangladesh.
We will enforce blockade programme across the country on January 7 and 8 to press the demands for the publication of a correct, flawless and updated voter list and the resignation of Iajuddin Ahmed as the chief adviser. If the demands go unheeded, we will lay siege to Bangabhaban for an indefinite period.
We call on the administration, police, Bangladesh Rifles and the armed forces to stand by the people and assist in the struggle to restore the people's right to vote. We will continue any sorts of movement to protect the people's right to vote.