In a distinct deja vu sense, Bangladesh’s military backed interim president Fakhruddin Ahmed forcing former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina into exile is reminiscent of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf having successfully exiled two former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to pave the way for a military dominated government.

Corruption ridden politics

With democracy not providing a direction to the nation’s economy, charges of corruption flew thick and fast when elections for new term of parliament were announced. Sheikh Hasina led Awami League’s unholy alliance with Islamist fundamentalists to retain power forced upon a neutral government in the country that was to hold a fair election. Instead, the deteriorating law and order situation was used to usurp emergency powers.

Arrest of both the leaders separately, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, came as a shock to the nation. Khaleda Zia and her sons today face corruption charges, while extortion and murder charges have been levelled against Shaikh Hasina. These powerful women of Bangladesh between themselves have ruled the country for over sixteen years.

Khaleda Zia was the first woman to become prime minister of Bangladesh in 1991 and remains one of the most powerful political figures of the country. She was also the Prime minister of the last elected government before the caretaker government took over in January 2007. Shiekh Hasina, the main political challenger to Zia, came to power in 1996, but lost power to Zia in the 2001 elections.

Any chance for free and fair elections!

The Bangladesh constitution decrees that general elections must be held within six months of the establishment of any caretaker government. However, the proposed elections have been postponed more than once and the Princeton educated caretaker President Fakhruddin Ahmed’s government is taking much time in updating voter records and reforming the election commission. Promising a democratic government, elections have vaguely been proposed ’sometime before 2008′.

Having succeeded in creating a political vacuum, it is being strongly felt that the military backed establishment of Bangladesh is only a stopgap arrangement and with time the power will effectively pass onto the military commanders. Once that transition takes place, chances of holding elections and putting a democratically elected government in power, appears bleak.

Is Bangladesh headed Pakistan’s way

Failed democracies create undemocratic power centers and Bangladesh has proved no different. Ever since the country was violently carved out in 1971, it has had a love hate relationship with democracy. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding Prime Minister was assassinated in 1975 and for the next 15 years, the country passed under military rule. In the footstep of Pakistan’s military dictators, the military dictators of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman and Ershad floated political parties to legitimize their rule.

Absence of democracy and civil rights in Pakistan are out in the open for everyone to gauge upon, and its consequent crisis is apparent. Pakistan is a live example of a country facing an identity crisis. The fundamentalist forces that once it covertly supported are today threatening to dismember the nation and we hope that Bangladesh would learn from this experience. For neighboring countries, Bangladesh remains a concern. What is happening in Pakistan today should not be allowed to be replicated in Bangladesh.

An alarming number of 10,000 people were reported missing in 2006, and the police is clueless about more than half of them.

In a status report on missing persons filed before chief justice G S Singhvi of the AP High Court on the directive of the court last week, DGP MA Basith said 10,018 cases of people missing were registered in police stations across the state in 2006. Of these, 5,542 people could be traced till today.

Stats of the case:

Of the rest of the 4,467 cases that remain unresolved, 3,497 were registered by the criminal investigation department of which 1,585 persons could be traced or recovered, implying that the fate of 1,912 people remains unknown. Of these, Cyberabad police district registered the maximum number of missing persons cases in 2006. Of the 1,623 cases registered in this district, 1,000 people remain untraced. Hyderabad police district registered 1,229 cases of which 870 people could be traced.

A number of steps being taken by the police hint that some sort of a sex racket may be involved in the unresolved cases.

The DGP told the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court:

A lot of them are women lured into prostitution and this includes minor girls forced into trafficking. As many as 28 notorious gangs that force women into trafficking are operating in our state.

Steps being taken:

As far as steps being taken to trace the missing persons as well as arrest the sex racket are concerned, the DGP said special teams were formed during the last two months which conducted raids in known areas of operation like Delhi, Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore, besides regions in the state. Following the raids, 300 victims were rescued and 300 traffickers arrested.

The fact remains that 4,467 is a mind haggering number and merely providing a few reports to the court is the solution that the police can offer and get away with. The fate of these thousands of people remains unknown, and surely their families must be going through severe trauma.

Via: TOI

As a start, veteran CPI leader P Nageswara Rao taking oath as the pro-tem chairman of the 90-member Council.Assembly Speaker K R Suresh Reddy, several ministers and legislators attended the ceremony. Governor Rameshwar Thakur administered the oath at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan. TDP boycotted the swearing in ceremony following their vow to abolish the Council if voted to power in the next elections. Telangana Rashtra Samithi and BJP also boycotted the ceremony.

The Governor is scheduled to address the joint session at 4 pm on Tuesday, following which both the Houses will debate on the motion of thanks to his address. The first session of the Upper House will conclude on April 10 after adopting the motion of thanks.

Via: TOI

Headed by Rajya Sabha member E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, the Standing Committee on Law and Justice Ministry said EC’s proposal is a “major departure from the law”. Tabled in Parliament on Thursday, it said

The committee is constrained to disagree with the proposal of the Election Commission to disqualify citizens from contesting elections on mere framing of charges against them in a court of law for committing certain offences. The committee based its rejection on the Indian laws, offering that only debarred convicts from joining the electoral fray. “There is a lurking fear of the course of prosecution being influenced by the political party in power or due to the failure of foolproof system which may finally lead to the filing of the chargesheet in an appropriate court of law. Merely looking into the chargesheet with supporting evidence and other materials furnished by the prosecution and without giving sufficient opportunity to the accused to defend him and plead his case against the charges so framed, the court can frame charges against the accused

According to the committee, the only way a stay may be enforced on these criminals contesting is

if a case is pending against a person but the accused has absconded and is making the completion of the trial or even the framing of charges impossible. A person, facing a charge by the state, and without utilising the opportunity under Section 227 for discharge, absconds from the proceedings of the court and the court is also satisfied under Section 82 of the CrPC and subsequently publishes a proclamation that such person is absconding, can be considered for the purpose of disqualification from contesting an election

So while chargesheeted criminals can still contest elections, the committee voted that absconders be barred from contesting elections. “People who are absconding from law will have their names struck off from the voters’ list and, therefore, they will not be able to contest the elections,” the committee said. Does this mean the violence associated with elections is not set to increase? Would the people of India get their democratic right of voting on the basis of personal choice, or would they have to succumb to muscle power?

Via: TOI

The crumbling walls of Musharraf’s empire

It seems that in the past two weeks Musharraf’s whole empire has crumbled one wall after the other. There are many who describe his action against the chief justice as the reason. However, while that may well be the point of saturation which acted as the final push, there have been other major issues which are equally responsible for this upheaval.

1. The issue of ‘forced disapperances’

Pakistan has been experiencing a case of state backed ‘forced disappearances’ for a long time now. While in the news since last year, these kidnappings and arrests have been ongoing since long ago. Many controversial arrests and detentions have been made by state agents of allegedly innocent people. While the families of these victims have wailed their hearts out for their loved ones, their pleas have gone unheard. The victims, each arrested on the pretext of the ‘war on terrorism’ and their presence as enemical to the state. Human rights body Amnesty International has taken out several reports regarding their heinous findings about this issue. To quote one of their reports, Pakistan: Human rights ignored in the “war on terror“,

In Pakistan, torture and ill-treatment are endemic; arbitrary and unlawful arrest and detention are a growing problem; extrajudicial executions of criminal suspects are frequent; well over 7,000 people are on death row and there has recently been a wave of executions. Discriminatory laws deny the basic human rights of women and of minority groups.

Although not confirmed, the independent non-governmental organisation, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in May 2006 stated that over 1,000 people have been arrested in the “war on terror” in Pakistan. US President George W Bush has said on several occasions that “our ally, Pakistan, has killed or captured more than 600 terrorists”. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has mentioned some 700 terror suspects arrested. All of these reflect the blatant abuse of power by Musharraf which was so impervious that noone could really do much about it.

2. The issue of Taliban and its Afghanistan border

Since last month, reports have been flowing in regarding the increasing Taliban and Al-Qaeda attacks in Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan. There have been alleged arrests in Pakistan of high level terrorists, but these too have been largely questionable. The volatile border that Pakistan shares with Afghanistan is also a major irritant. In order to control cros border insurgency, Musharraf proposed several plans over a period of time, however, none of these seems to be working out.

Then came the ultimatum from the US. This was a major sign of the growing questionability of Musharraf’s reign. Pakistan, the once trusted ally of the US, was now all of a sudden being accused of housing terrorists and training hubs of the Taliban and AL-Qaeda militants.

Analysts have offered that if Pakistan heeds to US demands, it actually risks internal revolt. On the other hand, if it doesn’t, Musharraf will probably be overthrown. This became a growing reason of internal brewing of tension within Pakistan.

3. The sacking of the Chief Justice: The saturation point

Then came the unfateful strike of Musharraf which may well become the reason of his own demise: his action against the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Gen Musharraf has been trying to force the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a feisty judge with a history of confronting the government, to resign. But in a rare show of defiance by a civilian official, Justice Chaudhry has refused to go, triggering the first big confrontation with the president from the Pakistani establishment.

It is not a coincidence according to me, that the judge being sacked is an active defender of human rights and was persistently involved in solving the case of the peculiar disappearences. While his strategies may have paid off in the past, analysts have begun to say he has badly miscalculated this time. Abbas Nasir, editor of Dawn newspaper said

It was an arrogant move that has eroded his credibility. Everything that has happened since reeks of panic

Is this really the end?

A lot of doubt has creeped up on Musharraf’s reign, however, it still may not point to an end of his career, at least not for sure. He has been getting away with a lot, and he just might be able to wriggle through this time too. There are a lot of factors which are at play, and they all must be considered before any conclusion may be inferred from the above. So the question remains, Is the best bet for Pakistan (Musharraf) still the best bet? Is he the “necessary evil”??

via: The Guardian

The increase in the fine amount for dangerous driving is under process and is likely to increase to five times very shortly. Even the Delhi High Court has taken a very serious view of the fact that the fine has not gone up since 1988

At present, the traffic police books offenders under section 188 of the Motor Vehicle Act, which pertains to ‘dangerous driving’. Under this act, the offenders have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 or six months imprisonment for the first time and a fine of Rs 2,000 and two years’ imprisonment for subsequent offences. This fine amount was fixed in 1988, when the Motor Vehicle Rules were brought into force. Not only this, fines for other offences are also being sought to be incresed, and the case is currently being heard by the Delhi High Court. The increase is probably going to be calculated according to the rise in cost of living since 1988.

India is not the only country to have increased the level of fines for using mobile phones while driving. the British government also realising that use of mobile phones while driving directly impacts the number of accidents hiked the fine for the offence from £30 to £65 last month. However, the United States does not have any laws relating to the use of mobiles during driving.

The price of maintaining a mobile and calling rates may have dropped substantially, but one still has to be careful of how the comfort is utilised. By misusing the advantages at hand, we not only put our own lives in danger, but also of others on the road.

Via: TOI

The opening date of the new international airport at Bangalore, as fixed by the Bangalore International Airport Ltd, is April 2, 2008 As a matter of general policy, the name of the city is retained for naming the airport since passengers and visitors in general, and foreign tourists in particular, find it easier to identify the airport when it is named after the city it services

The new airport would certainly provide a boost to the Indian aviation industry. It would also be a great boon given the fact that Bangalore stands as the country’s IT hub, so one would expect that a lot of business takes place in the city.

Via: The Times of India

According to the directives of the Election Commission, not more than five persons, including the candidate, would be allowed in the room of the returning officer (RO) or the assistant returning officer (ARO) at the time of filing of nominations. The Commission has also ordered that only three vehicles would be permitted within 100 metres of the RO or the ARO office.

Also, since the illegal money spending during elections in order to influence vote banks and create an unfair poll is a serious issue, the EC has directed that expenditure relating to all the vehicles would be included in the candidate’s expenditure if more than three vehicles were found inside the 100 metres area. Nomination papers would be scrutinised on March 21 while names could be withdrawn by March 23. The polling for the first phase would be held on April seven.

The UP assembly elections hold nationwide importance because of the influence they exert on who finally forms the government at the centre. Therefore, it makes the fair nature of these polls even more crucial. The directives of the EC must be fully and strictly implemented, and honestly abided by if the people are to receive their right to free and fair elections in the country.

Via: The Times of India

Analysts have said that the compounds function under a loose command structure and are operated by groups of Arab, Pakistani and Afghan militants allied with Al Qaeda. They receive guidance from their commanders and Mr. Zawahri, and Osama Bin Laden has scanty direct involvement in the operation. Although the camps are still small in size having about 10 to 20 men being trained in each camp, the structure is slowly and steadily gaining strength. The experts also refused to give out too much information as it could prove to their disadvantage. The report, in all, is very different in nature from those in the past few years. Firstly, it majorly focuses on the Al-Qaeda and not Taliban or any other terroristic organisation. Also, this report brings with it the more prominent debate regarding the growing threat of militarisation and insurgency within Pakistan, the long standing ally of the US in the war on terror. The report also brings into question the entire US anti Al-Qaeda operation.

As far as the best solution to this regrouping of one of the most dangerous terrorist organisation goes, there were varied views prevailing in Washington. For instance, the NYT article writes that one counterterrorism official said that some within the Pentagon were advocating American strikes against the camps, but that others argued that any raids could result in civilian casualties. Some also feel that increased pressure by the US could deeply undermine Pakistani President Musharraf’s regime. What may be the most disturbing for the American officials is that Al-Qaeda has been reflecting increased international capability in its operations recently, which effectively increases the intensity of the threat posed by it. Also, intelligence reports offer that most of the trained men are carrying out insurgence attacks inside Afghanistan, which essentially means a serious setback for the US led NATO mission in the Afghan region, if the US does not figure out a way to tackle the growing threat.

Via: The New York Times