The Bengal Legend: Shamsur Rahman

If Robindranath Tagore was the last poet in the Bengali tradition, Jibanananda Das was the first of a new breed. And this new breed, in the trend of Bengali modern and post modern poetry, has been unarguably continuous with the powerful contributions of Shamsur Rahman.

Shamsur Rahman emerged in his time as the most popular poet of modern Bengali literature. Popularity apart, Shamsur Rahman had distinguished himself as an extraordinary poet presenting a paradigm hitherto best chosen. It is a fact that his most familiar poetic diction, choice of words and thematic preferences took not much time to reach the heart of the readers. Today it can be said without exaggeration that the poetry of Shamsur Rahman has become the defining essence of modernism in 21st century Bengali poetry.

Shamsur Rahman was born on 24th October 1929 in Dhaka. He studied at Pogos High School [matriculation in 1945], Dhaka College and Dhaka University. Shamsur Rahman wrote most of his poems in free verse, often with the rhythm style known as Poyaar or Aakhsharbritto. It is popularly known that he followed this pattern from poet Jibanananda Das. He also wrote poems in two other major patterns of Bengali rhythmic style, namely, Matrabritto and Shorobritto. 

Of Bengali modern poets, poet Shamsur Rahman was equally popular in both Banglas. Surely, his early poems bear the influence of Jibanananda's and some other poets like Satyendranath Dutta and Buddhadeb Bose. However, before long, he thoroughly overcame all influences and created a post modern poetic diction. However, as his style and diction matured, his message appeared to touch urban hearts. In fact, he gave huge attention to liberal humanism, human relations, romanticised rebellion of youth, the emergence of consequent events in Bangladesh, and opposition to religious fundamentalism in his poetry and writings and these were considered mostly comprehensible. His poetic talent has reserved a crown for him in Bengali modern poetry. 

Bengali literature received a big blow with the death of Bangladesh's poet laureate Shamshur Rahman in 2006. 


Shariful Alam

Digital distractions

Imagine you are sitting in your living room, looking at your friend's new photos on Facebook. Old friends start to send instant messages, and you have your email account open on a different window. Other links are also open, where you are browsing for information. Your television is also switched on and your cell phone rings, you pick it up, and while conversing, you try to read and send a text message. Looking obliquely from the corners of your eyes at the computer screen and someone enters your room and you finish your important family talks.

You must be thinking that this is exactly what you do. It doesn't take much imagination to conjure up this scenario, because in this era of technology, all of us go through this situation. But a growing body of research suggests that people are paying a mental price for their addiction to electronic gadgets.

Today's office workers face a lot of distractions. There are some with a Facebook obsession and others who check multiple e-mail accounts throughout the day. Inside office cubicles, workers can surf the web or text without worrying about whether anyone is looking over their shoulder. 

It is also common for students to browse the internet with their cell phones in classrooms and while riding CNGs three-wheelers or rickshaws. 

Digital distractions are everywhere.


We have so many ways of communicating that it's nearly impossible to simply answer a call, research something online or jot down a note without transitioning to other tasks.

PC World recently published an article saying the biggest digital distracters are calls and texts from our cell phones, emails, instant messages and social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter.

The article is great because so many of us don't realise how much time we drain on these forms of remote communication. They've become so deep-seated in our day to day lives that, for some of us, it's hard to imagine what the world would be like if we didn't know whether someone has changed his/her profile picture or not, or what your cousin and friends abroad are doing. 

In 2009, David McCandless, a writer, conducted a survey, The Hierarchy of Digital Distraction, to spot the attention-grabbers. The iPhone and e-mail topped the list. 

The hierarchy showed the entries at the top of the pyramid wins attention over the lower levels. Landline still has a place, but it is thoroughly trumped by anything coming in on your iPhone.

Facebook makes a surprisingly low showing, occupying only the lowest two levels of the hierarchy.

At the very top of the pyramid is the ultimate arbiter of them all: significant other closing the laptop lid on your fingers. At the very bottom? Any kind of actual work.


Nevertheless, we cannot controvert the fact that rapid advances and continuous innovation in technology have made the world a smaller place. The internet has made it possible to access information and communicate free of charge with a person sitting at the other end of the world at the click of a button. 

It is amazing how technology has slowly entered our lives and become a part of our daily activities, even without our conscious knowledge.

When using technology, we should keep in mind the best and worthy use of it. Our goal is a harmonious balance between our daily productive lives and feeling like we are still clued in on the world around us being completely digitised.

Let us see whether the points below can help us come up with ways to take away the distraction part from the equation. 

Schedule your surfing -- Give yourself a block of time to catch up on all your Facebook contacts, personal email, and news feeds. 

Create a schedule that allows you to check in with your inbox, friend's list and social networking friends on a reasonable basis. 

Limit yourself to one email account, Facebook page and instant message screen name. 

If you are constantly refreshing a favourite site or pressing send/receive on your mail client, then you are not actively engaged -- you are probably avoiding your long-term priorities, which show you are wasting time and energy.

While you are trying to read something online, do not log on to social networking sites. Stick to that very topic, do not open more than four or six links on different topics or else, you will end up remembering nothing.

Settle on a schedule that works for you. We all have different priorities, commitments and levels of activity. Determine how much time you can comfortably spend “plugged in” to these digital distractions and work from there. 

If possible, make more time for people, not people's emails, status updates or instant messages. When we engage with people face-to-face, we're able to dive a lot deeper into conversation, resulting in a pleasant experience for both parties. 

Limit the number of times you check your phone while you are really working on something online.

A break from work should be a restorative action, chatting with a friend online about your project isn't a break. It's a distraction.

Distractions exist because we allow it. It's human nature to wonder what we're missing and we want to be the first to receive an update from a loved one or a piece of gossip from a well-placed source. E-mails, text messaging, push updates, and chat sessions may make us more productive than we've ever been -- in fact, they may be vital in helping us do our jobs, but for many, it may reduce the ability to focus on a single task for more than a few minutes at a time. Rather than multitasking, we are being distracted.

Shariful Alam 

Digital Bangladesh: Farmers wise up online

A big chunk on the map of Bangladesh happens to comprise of rural areas. Thus, the dream of a 'Digital Bangladesh' can never be achieved by leaving behind the interests of our rural co-habitants. Everyone has the right to information and development. But Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) took the provision of this right one step further by providing them with a very modern solution to the problems of our rural farmers by launching their e-krishok campaign. The campaign provides farmers with information and advisory services, so that the farmers can increase their income as well as generate new sources of income.

Bangladeshi farmers have to go through numerous hardships. Natural calamities cannot be avoided. However, if the farmer knew when to expect one and thereby take appropriate preventive measures, maybe  some of his crops could be saved. Besides natural calamities, he is always running the risk of crop infestations and rainfall that is either too low or too high, thereby producing poor yields. Due to poor education, many farmers may be following the practices of his fore-fathers blindly, without looking for better agricultural methods or practices.

Without proper information, a farmer whose crops have been infested by pests, for example, would think that this is the end and that his crops are only destined to die. This would mean a bad income that year, and no food for his family.

So what if this farmer was armed with easy access to the correct information at the correct time? This could lighten his load by ridding him of numerous uncertainties during his agricultural process and thereby raise his family's living standards. A better living standard for the farmers would mean a more developed Bangladesh. This is the prime aim of the e-Krishok campaign.

Through e-Krishok, farmers can get information and advice not just on agricultural issues, but also on other issues relevant to the Bangladeshi farmer, like animal husbandry, fisheries, rural cottage industry and handicrafts.

BIID , with support from UNDP, has teamed up with Grameenphone by setting up Community Information Centres all over the country. In the pilot phase, 10 Centres had been opened in various locations, but the aim is to scale this up to more than 1000 locations in the country.

So how does this e-krishok campaign work? When a farmer faces a problem or needs information relating to an agricultural or animal husbandry issue, he only has to visit his nearest community information center and using the e-Krishok agricultural services, the farmer can get reliable and correct information as to what he should do. The farmer has to inform the entrepreneur of the CIC the nature of his problem or the kind of information he is looking for. The entrepreneur then searches for the solution on http://www.ruralinfobd.com or if the solution is not available there, he e-mails the information of the problem to the agricultural expert of e-Krishok. The agricultural expert will get back to him with a solution via an e-mail. This way, the farmer can get a solution to his problem within a 24 hour time span.

BIID is also engaged in the process to build the capacity of the CIC entrepreneurs to provide better services and facilities to the customers thereby adding value to the user experience of the customers. The District Commissioner Offices are leading the initiative of training on using the Computer, Internet and all other ICTs with the support of a 150 trainers pool. More and more people are getting trained on how they will run their telecentre and what will be their role. This again would help in raising employment opportunities in the rural areas.

The achievements of this campaign are after setting up more than 100 information centres were as follows:

Around 1400 farmers could be reached either directly or indirectly through the campaign. They now have around 1200 registered members. A total of around 6000 queries of framers have been handled by the CICs and around 1800 farmers have reported to have benefited from applying the information or advice of the CICs.

Initially, it is but natural for the farmers to be cautious and mistrustful of anything new, especially something that they do not understand. However, the e-Krishok campaign has shown the farmers that they can rely on ICT to improve their livelihoods through better techniques and practices.

Here's to a greener 'Digital Bangladesh'.

Shariful Alam

Toxic chemicals in food chain

We are alarmed at the news item that scientists have discovered high concentration of toxic chemicals like cadmium, lead and chromium in fertilisers that are being used by our farmers for better yield of agricultural produce. Zinc, cadmium and lead are basic ingredients for manufacturing batteries and tin but zinc fertiliser is being used in Bangladesh for the last three decades to save soil from sterility. 

Experts are of the opinion that such harmful chemicals, if used for a long time, find their way into the food chain and thereby put human health at considerable risk. On top of that, if the situation is not reversed toxic chemicals are likely to endanger microscopic organisms and eventually the entire agriculture ecosystem of the country. Prof Dr ABM Faroque of the department of pharmacy of the University of Dhaka has to say that once in food chain, cadmium and lead could affect liver, kidney and cause blood cancer and thalassemia. Chromium in blood could affect human reproductive system resulting in the birth of deformed babies. The vulnerability of the consumers therefore is obvious and it needs to be addressed without further loss of time. 

Some good words must be said about the Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI) which has been able to identify highest 40,258 ppm (parts per million) cadmium and 31,292 ppm lead in zinc sulphate, whereas the allowable level of cadmium and lead is only 10 ppm and 100 ppm respectively. Furthermore, the experts suspect that manufacturers use expired battery cells, waste of tin or steel as zinc for low cost. We wonder with so much risks in evidence around how the various government agencies responsible for checking such things could remain oblivious to the danger for such a long time! 

There is no scope for debate on the importance of launching a massive laboratory testing campaign pertaining to chemicals and other substances being used in crops, vegetables, bottled water, soft drinks, confectionary items and other varieties of finished foods. Such action no doubt would go a long way in ensuring safety of the health of the citizens of the country. We are reassured by the fact that agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury has spoken about taking action against fertiliser adulteration. We only hope her words would be translated into action very soon.




Shariful Alam

5th amendment judgment open the Pandora's Box

The recent judgment of the Supreme Court cancelling the Fifth Amendment to the constitution has opened the door for challenging the legality of the controversial secret trial of Bir Uttam Colonel Abu Taher.

Taher's relatives and the lawyer who moved the petition challenging the trial's legality narrated the background of their coming forward. They said the perspective has changed after the Supreme Court's historic verdict that declared illegal the governments and military rule and martial law regulations between the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975, and April 9, 1979.

Khandker Mushtaque Ahmed, Abu Sadaat Mohammad Sayem and Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman led the governments during that period.

"This changed perspective prompted us to correct the historic wrong of executing Teher in a farcical trial under a Martial Law Tribunal," Prof Anwar Hossain, brother of Col Taher, told The Daily Star yesterday at his Dhaka University home.

Taher's trial is controversial. His wife Lutfa Taher not only termed it illegal when she was talking to The Daily Star over the telephone, she also sees it as "the killing of Taher in the name of a secret trial".

Lutfa wanted to seek justice for the last 34 years but she could not as she did not get even a single document of the sedition case against Taher or the proceedings of the trial in the tribunal. The tribunal had awarded Taher, former army officer and, also a sector commander during the Liberation War, death penalty and imprisoned 16 others on different terms.

"As I am sure injustice was done to Taher, I was trying to file a case against this trial but we did not even get a single document from the administration in the last 34 years…that is why I could not challenge it," Lutfa said, adding that cancellation of the fifth amendment has created an opportunity for her to challenge the secret trial and ask for documents of the trial through the court.

Lutfa, Prof Anwar and Fatema Yusuf, wife of Taher's bother Abu Yusuf Khan Bir Bikram who was also sentenced to life imprisonment in the hush-hush trial, are the petitioners of the case filed with the High Court Monday.

Taher was arrested on November 24, 1975. The sedition case was file with Mohammadpur Police Station on June 4, 1976.

On June 14, 1976, the then president Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem constituted a Martial Law Tribunal and published a gazette notification.

According to the gazette, the chairman of the tribunal was Col Yusuf Haider from the Army and four other members were Wing Commander Mohammad Abdul Rashid from the Air Force, Acting Commander Siddique Ahmed from the Navy, Mohd Abdul Ali, first-class magistrate (Sadar South), Dhaka and Hasan Morshed, first-class magistrate (Sadar North), Dhaka.

The trial was held inside Dhaka Central Jail.

The tribunal took less then a month to complete the camera trial of the sedition case and delivered the verdict on July 17, 1976. In the wee hours of July 21, 1976, Taher was executed within 72 hours of the verdict delivery.

Since Taher's arrest, Lutfa was not allowed to see her husband for even a moment until a few hours before his execution.

Prof Anwar was one of the 16 convicted by this tribunal and sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment. He said they were produced before the tribunal on June 21, 1976, a week after constitution of the tribunal.

After the first appearance before the tribunal, it adjourned proceedings for a week and resumed on June 28.

"The hearing on the case against Taher and others were completed on July 14 and the tribunal gave its verdict on July 17," Anwar said.

Taher refused to beg mercy from the people in the administration, said Anwar.

Soon after knowing about the verdict, Lutfa through Taher's lawyers had sent a petition to the then president and chief martial law administrator (CMLA) Abu Sadaat Mohammad Sayem, army chief and deputy chief martial law administrator (later CMLA) Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman, and secretaries to home and law ministries with a prayer to reconsider the death penalty.

A day after Lutfa's prayer on July 19, a section officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs sent a letter to Lutfa Taher saying, "The president has not been able to accept your prayer."

Lutfa had also written a letter to the home ministry seeking permission to see Taher as she was not aware of her husband's whereabouts after the arrest.

"But I did not get any reply from the administration," Lutfa said.

"I got a few censored letters from Taher when he was detained and at that time I could know in which prison Taher was in. And then I rushed to that jail but heard that the authorities had moved him to another jail and they declined to tell me the name of that prison," Said Lutfa.

She said many illegal things had been legitimised by the fifth amendment.

Leading jurist Shadeen Malik, counsel for the petitioners, told The Daily Star, "All the martial law regulations were protected by the fifth amendment. As now the Supreme Court has cancelled the legality of the fifth amendment, the martial law regulations are no longer protected by the constitution, and it can be challenged like any other law."

The tribunal that tried Taher and others was constituted under the Martial Law Regulation-16 of 1976.

Shahdeen said they have challenged a few provisions of the Martial law Regulation-16 which contradict with the constitution. Like having a trial in secret, getting people involved with it to take oath of secrecy and having no provision for appeal against the verdict of the tribunal.

"Any provision introduced by any martial law regulation that contradicts with the constitution can be challenged and the cancellation of the fifth amendment opened avenues for challenging all such things." he said.

He also said the cancellation of the fifth amendment paved the way to challenge the legality of the trial of Taher. Otherwise, they had to challenge the fifth amendment first and then the secret trial.

Shahdeen said, "It would be interesting if anyone now claim compensation for their conviction and imprisonment under an unconstitutional law."

The three petitioners, including Taher's wife and brother, did not pray for compensation.

"We are not thinking about compensation, we want justice to free ourselves of the stigma which had been imposed on us through a farcical trial based on a false sedition charges," Anwar said, adding, "Due to the constitutional protection of such wrong actions, the history of that period has not come into the light…now the time has come to tell the new generation the true history."


Shariful Alam

Trial of war criminals in Bangladesh

BETTER late than never. Thirty-nine years after its independence, Bangladesh is going to bring to justice the anti-freedom groups and people that committed atrocities on the people of Bangladesh in collaboration with the then Pakistan army. 

It is true that questions have been raised by some small groups about the need for trial of war criminals after so many years of independence. However, the vast majority of people want trial of the war criminals at the earliest. 

Immediately after liberation things were in an awful state due to lack of experience of a national government, lack of training and capability of officers and staff of erstwhile provincial government of East Pakistan in handling an extremely tricky and intricate matter like arranging trial of war criminals. 



The few officers and staff who were available were extremely occupied in reconstruction works relating to a war-ravaged economy, and in the rehabilitation of nearly ten million returnees from India. Thus, it was not possible for a nascent democratic government to handle a complex task like the trial of war criminals. 

The present government of Bangladesh has started the trial. It has repeatedly declared its commitment to implement the programs and philosophy of the war of independence. It is not surprising at all if it faces strong hindrance created by the opposition. The trial of war criminals appeals strongly to our intelligence, emotion and rationalism. During the war of independence a large number of international communities supported our cause strongly. To them, we feel small because we have not done proper justice to the families of the shaheeds. 

For the present government, this is a golden opportunity for dispensation of justice through successful trial of war criminals. Accusing the opposition of hatching conspiracy is not very helpful. The behaviour of the government should make them popular. 

The present government appears to be proceeding properly with the trial of the war criminals. It is also trying to mobilise support, not only within the country but also of the international community. It has been successful to a fair extent so far. 

In a recently held international seminar, attended by experts and eminent personalities from Europe, Asia and America, the following observations were made:

- Bangabhandhu was assassinated because no trial of war criminals was held;

- The trial must be transparent and free from politicisation;

- Secularism is the main key to development;

- Fundamentalism is increasing in Bangladesh. Citizens of Bangladesh should work together to stop it;

- The massacre of 1971 was genocide. To stop such killings (such as killings by Islamic terrorist organisations, grenade attack on Shiekh Hasina or the murder of Mr. Kibria etc) there must be trial of the war criminals. Otherwise, such killings will continue. 

It is absolutely clear that this is the most opportune time for the government to complete the trial because never before had we seen the people of Bangladesh want a transparent and free from politicisation trial of war criminals with one voice.


Shariful Alam

Urban 'Organic' farming should start now

Let me tell you a story. Imagine after 20 -25 years, the fossil fuel stock nearly gone. Some stock is still present in first world but these are restricted who can afford the high cost. Country like Bangladesh, the fossil fuel leaded agro-fertilizer and irrigation system clasped day by day. Daily vegetable, fruits and other necessary agro-product are limited merchandise from village. 

The urban daily food supply percentage is regularly lower then any time past and the food crisis began. People who have to live here for their livelihood can't back to village. The urban system will fall down. What will be the situation? Is it like the manuscript of a Hollywood Movie? No, it is neither a Hollywood movie nor a bad dream of a naturalist, a geologist or a scientist. It is true and it will happen within 20 years or hardly 30. 

Total world fossil fuel index tells us the statistics. In Bangladesh, it will also happen within the predicting years. So we should have to take some steps now.  A good percentage of the urban people in Bangladesh have purchased land as a future investment and those lands are mostly unused. Urban farming can be easily started from there. And the farming would be organic based, because though this concept is old but it is not usually used in rural Bangladesh in the name of productivity and cost effective.

Urban farming is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around (pre-urban) a village, town or city. Additionally, urban farming can also grip husbandry, aquaculture, agro-forestry and horticulture. These actions also take place in pre-urban areas.

Urban farming is usually exercised for income-earning or food-producing activities though in some communities the main impulsion is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and food safety in couple of ways: first, it enhances the amount of food available to people living in cities, and, second, it allows fresh vegetables and fruits and meat products to be made available to urban customers. A frequent and competent form of urban agriculture is the bio-intensive technique. Since urban agriculture promotes energy-saving local food production, urban and pre-urban agriculture are normally seen as sustainable practices.

 Thus we can start implementing urban agriculture in Bangladesh with a view to ensuring food security and a good source of employment for many.

                          

Shariful Alam

Pakistan Disaster Response: The Failure of military based administration

Floods have isolated about 800,000 people in Pakistan who are now only reachable by air and aid workers need at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to the increasingly desperate people, the United Nations said.

The appeal Tuesday was an indication of the massive problems facing the relief effort in Pakistan more than three weeks after the floods hit the country, affecting more than 17 million people and raising concerns about possible social unrest and political instability.

"These unprecedented floods pose unprecedented logistical challenges, and this requires an extraordinary effort by the international community," said John Holmes, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said hundreds of health facilities had been damaged and tens of thousands of medical workers displaced and the country's chief meteorologist warned that it would be two weeks until the Indus River — the focus of the flooding still sweeping through the country — returns to normal levels.

Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said high tides in the Arabian Sea would slow the drainage of the Indus into it, but that those tides would begin changing Wednesday. He said the Indus would reach peak flood stage late this week.

"The flood situation is not yet over," Chaudhry said.

The floods began with hammering monsoon rains in the northwest and have swept southwards.

Many of those cut off are in the mountainous northwest, where roads and bridges have been swept away.

The United States has deployed at least 18 helicopters that are flying regular relief missions, but the United Nations said it would need at least 40 more heavy-lift choppers working at full-capacity to reach the estimated 800,000 stranded in the country.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that about 700,000 Pakistanis have been forced into makeshift settlements just in the southern province of Sindh.

While there have been no major disease outbreaks because of the floods, aid agencies are increasingly worried, saying contaminated water and a lack of proper sanitation were already causing a spike in medical problems in camps for the displaced.

"Pakistan and its people are experiencing the worst natural calamity of its history," Gilani said at a meeting on health issues in the flood zone. "As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with spread of epidemic diseases."

More than 3.5 million children are at risk from waterborne diseases, he said, and skin diseases, respiratory infections and malnutrition are spreading in flooded areas.

The problem is compounded by the flood's impact on the country's medical system — which has long been badly overstretched and underfunded. Gilani said the floods had damaged more than 200 health facilities, and that about one-third of the country's 100,000 women health workers have been displaced. Those health workers are the main primary medical care to millions of rural Pakistani women.

Dr. Jahanzeb Orakzai, Pakistan's national health coordinator, said a team has been formed to oversee the response to any flood-related health emergencies.

"Health problems usually arise in flood-affected areas after four to six weeks, and we need to be alert and prepared to tackle the situation," he said.

The aid group World Vision said it could be three months until some families are able to return to their homes.

"People are in urgent need of almost everything: shelter, health clinics, clean water, sanitation and livelihood support," Mike Bailey, the group's regional manager for advocacy said in a statement.

Local charities, the Pakistani army and international agencies are providing food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced, but millions have received little or no help.

On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari defended the government's much-criticised response to the floods, but acknowledged recovery would take a very long time.

"Three years is a minimum," Zardari said in an interview Monday with a small group of foreign reporters in Islamabad.

On Tuesday, officials announced that the government would give 20,000 rupees ($230) to every family affected by the floods, with a statement from Zardari's spokesman calling the payment "initial assistance."

Since the floods first swept the country, the Taliban and al-Qaeda have been relatively quiet. But on Monday, three bomb attacks rocked the northwest, one of which killed the head of an anti-Taliban militia on the outskirts of the main city of Peshawar.


Shariful Alam

Bangabandhu -Bang-alee's Greatest Hero

Bangabandhu

Friday, 15 August, 1975, is one of the saddest days of our history. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, our greatest patriot, was killed on that day. His dear wife, three sons and only brother were also killed along with him. It reminded us of the dark night of March 25, 1971. The Father of the Nation, loved and respected in Bangladesh and the world over as a great hero, a great leader of independence, lay dead on the stairs of his famous residence at Road Number 32, Dhanmandi Residential Area. He was only fifty five. 

Bangabandhu, of all people, didn't deserve a death like this! He was our greatest politician. His love for his country and his people was beyond question. Who could kill our greatest patriot? A certain Major Dalim was claiming credit for his death! Who was he? We had never heard of him before! Khandakar Mushtaq has become the new president. My God! What a traitor!

Who killed Bangabandhu? They who control world politics like people who obey them. They don't like nationalist leaders and freedom-loving patriots like Bangabandhu or Allende. Thus Allende dies but General Pinochet lives on and makes life miserable for his countrymen. There are many such instances in the Third World. If you want to kill a great leader, make him unpopular through planted journalists, corrupt and disgruntled bureaucrats and dismissed soldiers. Use some of them during his killing. Then get obedient people to rule the country and serve your purpose. No wonder our Supreme Court has ruled that the governments which succeeded Bangabandhu and his cabinet were not legal. They had captured power by sheer force. They were not bred by democracy. 

Bang-alee loved and respected the martyred Bangabandhu even more. He had his tragic flaws but he was our greatest hero, wasn't he? He was our greatest hero of the past, the present and the future. My thirty seven-year-old heart profusely bled for him. A budding young man wept over the death of his land's greatest patriot.


Shariful Alam

My First Blog post....

At last, I am starting by blog. Though I am a old net user, I never think to be a blogger myself. After going through some blog site, I found it interesting. Here is the media, I can express myself in my way. No bindings, no Jurisdiction, no threat at all. Here me and myself. Wow.. what a feelings. It is cool. I think anybody can spend his lazy time or even active time writing blogs. I heard some philosopher said " Man sometimes do somethings, he never think to do" Now I realize, he told a true.

To day is the 13th day of Ramadan. All muslim believers, mostly practitioner spend the Arabic Holly month by fasting  in days and other religious activity at night. In this month, muslim believers try to control themselves. For that, country like Bangladesh (where muslim is the highest percentage of population), people behaves politely and the surroundings are quite good. After ifter (breaking fasting after sun set) and prayers, the shopping mall and market are crowded by shoppers, mostly for new dresses. Businessman are waited for the time for 11 months. After the holly Ramadan, Eid is the main festival of muslim society.

No more to day.

Shariful Alam