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Monday, April 7, 2008

[chottala.com] Nepal’s divisive king faces the boot

Nepal's divisive king faces the boot
Nepal's King faces the sack
 
'King Gyanendra is a non-entity now. He is the most humiliated man in Asia'

KING Gyanendra of Nepal will be the last ruler from his centuries-old dynasty if the Himalayan nation - as expected - abolishes the world's only Hindu monarchy after landmark elections this week.

The April 10 polls are the culmination of a peace deal between republican Maoists and mainstream secular parties that ended a decade-long insurgency aimed at toppling the monarchy and which claimed 13,000 lives. The ex-rebels and the parties have already agreed the king will step down and that Nepal will be declared a federal democratic republic after the polls, which are to elect a body that will rewrite the constitution.

Maoist leader Prachanda said at the weekend that Gyanendra, 61, can remain in the country as an "ordinary citizen" if he wishes. But while it seems the king has all but already been booted out, staunch royalists have warned of a violent backlash. "If the Maoists can take up arms and come to power, Hindus will also take up arms. It will be worse than the Maoists' war and many people will be killed," royal aide Major General Bharat Keshwer Simha said in a recent interview.

The elections come seven tumultuous years after Gyanendra ascended the throne following the massacre of his popular brother Birendra and most of the royal family by the drink-and-drug-fuelled crown prince, who later killed himself. Conspiracy theories linking Gyanendra and his unpopular son Prince Paras to the massacre have made him "the most unpopular man in Nepal," said Kunda Dixit, editor of the English language weekly Nepali Times.

Gyanendra happened to be away from the palace at the time, while his only son, who was present, escaped unhurt. Paras' playboy reputation has also hurt the king, although his son is said to have become more spiritual since suffering a heart attack aged 36. However, many people in the Hindu nation continue to revere the king as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and consider the monarchy to be important for the small but impoverished country.

"The latest polls have shown about half the population would prefer to keep some kind of symbolic monarchy," said Dixit. "The people make a distinction between a vote for the person of the monarch and the institution of monarchy." Sujata Koirala, daughter of Premier Girija Prasad Koirala and seen as his political heir, said she felt a "cultural monarch" - not the current king - would suit Nepal and its distinct Hindu-dominated culture.

Gyanendra faced huge opposition after firing the government and seizing direct control in February 2005 on the grounds that the parties had failed to end the war with the Maoists. Direct rule lasted 14 months until he was forced to reinstate parliament following weeks of violent pro-democracy protests, during which crowds burnt effigies of him and called him a "murderer."

The move to turn Nepal into a republic would be the final humiliation for Gyanendra, already stripped of his political powers and job as head of the army. The government has passed legislation turning Nepal into a secular state, while the new national anthem contains no mention of the king and many of his properties have been seized by the state.

"He's a non-entity now. He is the most humiliated man in Asia," said Kanak Mani Dixit, managing editor of the respected Himal South Asia monthly. Since Gyanendra returned power to parliament, the once high-profile monarch has virtually disappeared from view and the royal motorcades that used to clog Kathmandu's streets have halted.

This is his second stint on the throne. During upheavals in 1950, he was declared monarch at the age of five after being left behind as insurance when then-king Tribhuvan - his grandfather - fled to India. Gyanendra, educated at a Jesuit school in Darjeeling, India, was once said to be one of the world's wealthiest royals. The crown reverted back to his grandfather when the family returned a year later and Birendra became king in 1972.

"It's Gyanendra who people have a problem with, not the concept of monarchy," said Kapil Shrestha, a political science professor at Tribhuvan University. "People have a hatred for the king... but they're not totally against the monarchy." afp

 

 

 

Prachanda, CPN (Maoist) party chief and former rebel leader, greets supporters while campaigning from door to door in Kirtipur, in the outskirts of Kathmandu yesterday

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=211556&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24

 

 

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[chottala.com] Consul General on Bangladesh Day Parade-2008

Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 11:23:19 -0700
From: abu_zafar63@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Thank you // Bangladesh day Parade-2008 (Consul General)
To: mahbubkhan@ieee.org


Dear Mahbub Bhai,
 
Thank you very much for kind sentiments expressed in your letter. We, the Consulate General believe in working in partnership with our community to advance our national interest and help foster unity in the community. Our participation in Bangladesh Day Parade has once again manifested such interest.  
 
Anyway, I would like to thank you and other members of the community who untiringly worked under your leadership to make the Parade a great success. Hope that you all will keep this up.
 
Was-Salaam
 
Abu Zafar
(Bangladesh Consul General in Los Angeles)
Dear Zafar Bhai,
 
We thank you very very much for your support, help, attendance, and participation in the Bangladesh day celebration with Parade last weekend. We also thank you for inviting many of the Consul Generals of various countries. We also thank your family and colleagues for their attendance and participation.
 
Your participation in hoisting the Bangladesh Flag near the stage and also at the Parade front-stage, your talk at the Seminar, your Awards giving to the Children and to the BUFLA members (particularly to Major Kutubi), your walking in the Parade with the Dignitaries, your attendance at the cultural program with Bhabi, all of these things added high precious values to our Celebration of the Bangladesh Day Parade. It gave us lot of confidence for now and for the future.
 
We feel very happy about how everything went for the Bangladesh day celebration with Parade. The entire Shatto stage area, the assembly area and the booth areas were filled with the big crowd of our beloved Bangladeshi people. All the food booths, clothings and other specialties were good part of the Mela of the Bangladesh day celebration.
 
The Seminar on the Environmental theme with the UNO Award winner Dr. Atiq Rahman, Amader shomoy Editor Mr. Moinul Islam Khan, Dean & professor Dr. Wali Mondal, Mr. Ismail Hossain and yourself was really of high quality and very educational.
 
The children's program was the largest in LA todate with over 225 kids participating in the Arts competition and the Bengali poem recitation competition combined. We are looking forward to an even bigger program for the Kids.
 
The festive view of the Parade opening ceremony with yourself and the County Sherrif on the stage with flag hoisting on the open road and the melodious National anthems in the air, and the many colourfully dressed groups of various organizations of our community with baloons and band party was just so pleasant that I could feel Bangladesh rising up in the land of America !!!!!  The big major road of Los Angeles, the Vermont Avenue was shut down for the Bangladesh Day parade and this road was flooded with Bangladshi people from the 4th Street to the 6th Street, as the Parade continued to move forward on this road.
 
The cultural programs in both days were of high quality and very entertaining, with many local artists as well as with polular Momtaz from Bangladesh, who got many of the audiences dancing on the grass field in front of the stage with her beautiful songs. We hope you enjoyed it.
 
We have declared that we will do this Bangladesh day celebration with Parade again next year on March 28-29, 2009 (Saturday and Sunday) at Shatto Recreation center and on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. We hope you will join us then again.
 
I am also very thankful to all of our community members, all the community leaders, all the organizational leaders and volunteers for their support and attendance in this festive event.
 
Thank you again very much. With best regards,
 
Mahbub Khan
California, USA
408-859-3566
mahbubkhan@ieee.org
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[chottala.com] Plots in Muslim Cemetery available in Frederick, MD

Dear Community Members,
    I wish to convey the following message FYI. 
 
A Muslim Cemetery located on New Design Road, Frederick, MD, will be ready for use soon.  The project has been undertaken jointly by Islamic Center of Maryland, Islamic Society of Frederick, and Islamic Society of Western Maryland.  It is located on a 10 acre section of the 100 acre property jointly owned by these organizations.  
 
     In case you'd be interested in securing burial plot(s) in a Muslim Cemetery, please contact: Islamic Center of Maryland (ICM), 19411 Woodfield Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20879; 301-840-9440, 301-987-9815 Fax; www.icomd.org
     Regards,
                    Sultan


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[chottala.com] Invitation to BdOSN's Celebration of Pohela Boishakh

Invitation to BdOSN's Celebration of Pohela Boishakh

Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) is celebrating upcoming Bangla Noboborsho with lots of events and enthusiasm. All the members and interested people are requested to gather in front of Public Library Gate (Shahbag) on Pohela Boishakh. The program will start from 10 am. Members of BdOSN will distribute leaflets and showcase BdOSN products in public. Everybody is requested to wear colorful t-shirts, flute, drum, camera, big masks and what not with them. There will also be a procession in TSC at 12:00 noon.

-- BPR

--
|=============|
Regards,
Abu Mohammad Omar Shehab Uddin Ayub
Software Engineer, Nilavo Technologies, Banani, Dhaka
Bangladesh Open Source Network, Dhaka
2000 batch, Dept. of CSE, SUST
www.nilavo.com
www.bdosn.org
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[chottala.com] PHP-MySQL Workshop Closes Successfully

PHP-MySQL Workshop Closes Successfully


ICT professionals should always attend trainings beyond office and classroom to develop diverse capacity. Getting familiar with Open Source tools and technologies help him to keep up with the changes in technology world. Professor Lutful Kabir, director-IICT, BUET reiterated on these points last Sunday while awarding certificates to the participants of the four day long PHP-MySQL Workshop. He also urged other organizations to follow BdOSN's example to organize more workshop for capacity building of young ICT professionals. Starting from Thursday, it covered HTML, XHTML, PHP, MySQL, Authentication, Website hosting, Joomla and associated technologies. Thirty one participants including telecommunication engineers, system administrators, security professionals and students attended the workshop. Abhijit Roy, web administrator of BdOSN, coordinated the event and Ferdous Ahemd Tanim took care of logistics. Among others Munir Hasan, GS, BdOSN, Rashid Naim, Mahey Alam Khan, Omar Shehab was present in the closing ceremony. BdOSN is going to arrange workshops of OpenOffice and Ruby On Rails this April.

 

-- Ferdous Ahmed Tanin, BPR


--
|=============|
Regards,
Abu Mohammad Omar Shehab Uddin Ayub
Software Engineer, Nilavo Technologies, Banani, Dhaka
Bangladesh Open Source Network, Dhaka
2000 batch, Dept. of CSE, SUST
www.nilavo.com
www.bdosn.org
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Re: [chottala.com] Pricing public transit: learning from Bangkok (For dhaka)

Dear Mr. Saiful Alam
 
My name is Akram Sarker, living in U.K.
 
Looking for someone from long time which is the same name as yours and he is from Chittagong. Somebody told me that probably he is living in Motreal, Canada and is around 55 to 60 years of age. He used to live here in London long time ago. If you know this person can you please let me know and send me his contact number and address. It will be very helpful.
 
Thanks for your time.
 
Look forward to hear from you.
 
 
Akram

Saiful Alam <shovan1209@yahoo.com> wrote:
Pricing public transit:  learning from Bangkok
Yasmin Chowdhury
When I first visited Bangkok in 1994, I got around the city mostly by bus.  The buses were slow, the streets congested, and I soon learned that I could only make one plan for the morning and one for the afternoon, as it might take a couple hours to move about.
Then the city started to build their skytrain.  I waited with great anticipation for its completion.  It seemed to require a lot more time and a lot more money (OK, just two years of delay and three times over budget) than originally anticipated, and the fares are admittedly quite high, but it was finally built—if never finished.  (I saw an article in a Thai newspaper about people very upset that the planned line to their area had never been built; meanwhile, the pilings leading to the now domestic-only airport have been converted into advertising posts.)
To be quite honest, I love the skytrain.  Sure, the cement structure looming overhead is ugly.  Sure, most of the stations lack escalators, making them inaccessible to those in wheelchairs, and exceedingly difficult for those lugging heavy bags or luggage.  Sure, the two lines only cover a very limited portion of Bangkok.  Sure, it's expensive.  Sure, despite all the hassles, the trains are often packed.  Sure, the stations are congested and I sometimes have to push through people to reach my train.  But at least I can see a little of the city while I travel, and I can now get around to the stops on the line quickly, allowing myself to visit far more places in a day.
Though the skytrain certainly makes moving around the city much easier (if you can afford it), it obviously didn't alleviate the congestion, as the government then opened a very limited subway system.  The first time I tried to ride it, about a year after it opened, it was closed for two weeks due to an accident.  I finally rode it a couple years after that, and discovered that it cost about US$0.50 to ride what it would take me ten minutes to walk.  That seemed outrageous, and I don't love riding up and down long escalators and traveling in tunnels.  Since the Metro doesn't seem to go much beyond the skytrain, I stick to the skytrain.
But now, after spending billions of dollars on those mass transit systems, and despite having an existing extensive bus system, and more roads than most Asian cities of their level of economic development, the government is now planning bus rapid transit—a bit like a street-level trolley, but with buses instead of trams.  Of course, that too is delayed—but the cost is a fraction of that for the skytrain and Metro.
A more careful look at those costs reveals something interesting and of considerable relevance as Dhaka plans its public transit system.  According to various Web sites, the skytrain, which opened in 1999, cost about US$1.5 billion for 24 kilometers.  That amounts to US$62.5 million per kilometer.  Of course, things were cheaper back then. 
Construction of the Metro began back in 1996, but it wasn't finished until 2004.  According to Wikipedia, "The project suffered multiple delays not only because of the 1997 economic crisis, but also due to challenging civil engineering works of constructing massive underground structures deep in the water-logged soil upon which the city is built."  Interesting.  Fortunately we don't have those troubles in Dhaka (ahem!).
As for cost, the Metro cost a mere US$ 2.75 billion for 21 km, or US$130.95 million per kilometer—just over twice that of the skytrain.  Apparently burrowing underground, dealing with flooding issues, providing ventilation, and so on is much more expensive than building above our heads.  Meanwhile, again quoting Wikipedia, "ridership has settled down to around 180,000 riders daily — considerably lower than projections of over 400,000, despite fares being slashed in half from 12-38 baht to 10-15 baht per trip. As of 2006, fares range between 14-36 baht per trip."  With an exchange rate as I write of 32 baht to one US dollar, that's a mighty high fare.  Good thing Bangladeshis are wealthier than Thais (??).
Meanwhile, the anticipated cost for the BRT is 33.4 million for 36 kilometers.  Admittedly, anticipated costs are often far less than actual costs, but still, at US$0.93 million per kilometer, that's a bargain compared to the Metro or the skytrain—even more so when considering it's being built last, when prices are highest.  At 67 times less than the skytrain and 141 times less than the Metro, even with significant cost increases, it will still be far more affordable than its public transit predecessors.
Of course, operational costs are another issue.  Buses require fuel, trains electricity.  Buses tend to require more maintenance, tires wear down frequently, and buses have to be replaced far more often than trains.  While it is cheaper to build a BRT system initially, the higher operational costs might mean that, in the long term, a tram system would be more affordable—tram meaning street-level light rail, not something up in the sky or underground, which greatly multiplies the costs.
Which is all to say, I'm all for public transit.  So, apparently, are Thais:  last I checked, hotels and housing advertise their proximity to the various public transit options.  Apparently people are sick and tired of sitting in cars stuck in traffic jams.  In public transit, you can sit back and read a book while you ride, look out the window (preferably not at tunnels), eavesdrop on your neighbor's conversation, and otherwise amuse yourself without risking crashing into someone once the traffic moves again.
But when considering spending millions or billions on public transit, it would make sense to invest it wisely, in a system that will be the most extensive and least expensive, and thus offer the best value for the money.  At 141 times per kilometer less to build BRT than Metro, we could both have a far more extensive system, meeting far more people's needs, and lower fares.  Sounds like a bargain to me!


AbdurRahim Azad <Arahim.azad@gmail.com> wrote:
A horrendously discriminatory privilege

Tayeb Husain

I read with utmost sorrow the news item in Bangladeshi media that duel citizenship will be offered only to Bangladesh origin British passport holders only. The announcement has been made by none but the Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed during his recent London visit in which he is reported to have said that "from now on, British passport-holder Bangladeshis would automatically retain their Bangladeshi citizenships".

Personally I am against offering such a privilege to Bangladeshi origin foreign citizen, whether one is a British or a Nepalese passport holder, but I strongly believe that if and when government offers any such privilege to the expatriate children it must be to all Bangladeshi origin foreign citizens and not to any particular group only. I consider this "extra privilege offered" to British citizens only is horrendously discriminatory, unfair, unjust, unwise and totally silly. I condemn it clearly and loudly.

Those of us settled in Europe and North America often faces discrimination in job market, in social and cultural life in our adopted countries and we know how painful it is to be discriminated. Now our motherland applies the same discriminatory law while treating us with a privilege. Once again I strongly condemn this discriminatory law and urge the Bangladesh government to withdraw this offer or if the offer must be evoked, let it be available to all Bangladesh origin foreign citizens.

Here I explain why I oppose duel citizenship, voting right and other privileges to Bangladesh origin foreign citizen. I strongly oppose expatriates' voting rights on principles and practical reasons even though it is against my personal interest. I sincerely believe that none should have divided allegiance and one should be fully loyal to the country one lives, earns a living and finally becomes a citizen. This is the basic principle I am talking about.

Voting Rights, Duel Citizenship and Owning property in Bangladesh

Offering voting right to an expatriate is wrong. Bangladesh and many other countries allow/offer double citizenship to immigrants with full rights and responsibilities of a normal resident. Rich western countries do it for certain reasons. For example, many US citizens have Israeli citizenship where they work and help the Israeli nation. They are mostly American Jews. The British and the French also allow dual citizenship and traditionally it has been so due to unholy colonial interest of the colonialist powers but the practice still continues.

Bangladesh is a poor country and it was very generous of her to offer an immigrant from Bangladesh double citizenship and even a Bangladeshi passport knowing it well that the immigrant is a foreign citizen now and has a passport from his/her adopted country. This generosity of Bangladesh has offered good and bad opportunities to many people. To a good person it gives a sense of nostalgia and he/she always fondly remembers his country of origin with deep gratitude and love. Such a decent person returns this generosity of his/her motherland doing good things in return when an opportunity comes. However, these types of people are very few and often very rare. An individual is always after his/her personal interest and there are many who would go to any extent to gain a little extra profit whenever he/she gets an opportunity to do so. There are also certain criminals who use this opportunity to maximise benefits of their many horrendous crimes. Often the generous rules and regulations of the criminals' adopted countries offer these criminals safe haven and the countries of origin of the criminals cannot take any action against them for their crimes committed in his/her country of origin. Many criminals from Arab countries moved to the UK on the pretext of political persecution in their home countries and the same pretext were used by many people from former communist countries to get a safe sanctuary in Western Europe. Some expatriates/immigrants from underdeveloped countries can be classified as political touts and basically, ordinary criminals. Sometimes they are politically connected with political touts at home and very often co-operate with corrupt politicians of their home countries to share their ill earned money or social or political advantages. Some well-established expatriates also go back to their countries of origin to take part in direct politics and hold ministerial posts by offering money to political organisations or directly to party bosses. These people are basically corrupt and live high life in Bangladesh mostly by corruption at the cost of poor Bangladesh.

Now, what can be done or what rights and privileges to be offered to a Bangladeshi immigrant/expatriate? Recently, someone has even proposed in Bangladesh media that two seats of the national parliament should be reserved for the expatriates. I consider it unfair and dangerous for Bangladesh. I shall suggest that except 'No visa requirement' seal at a reasonable fee on the foreign passport of an expatriate no other right or privilege should be offered to anybody as long as he/she carries a foreign passport. The double citizenship business should be cancelled and every expatriate/immigrant should declare his/her assets in Bangladesh if he/she stays in the country more than three months at any given time. No immigrant should be allowed to own agricultural land in Bangladesh if he/she does not cultivate and properly use it for agriculture or farming purpose. Sometime ago I read in the media about an expatriate living in USA asking the government to intervene because a criminal in Bangladesh had grabbed his land. While I do not support any land-grabbing by anybody, I strongly oppose any foreign citizen owning any land in Bangladesh under any circumstances. Bangladesh is a very small country, land per capita in Bangladesh is lowest in the world and under such circumstances no expatriate should be allowed to own agricultural or commercial land in Bangladesh if he/she does not return home and live in Bangladesh permanently.

Regarding jobs in Bangladesh, anybody with foreign passport/citizenship should not be allowed to seek any job in Bangladesh except those foreign experts whom Bangladesh may need for certain special jobs.

Again, anybody who is a Bangladeshi citizen with a Bangladeshi passport but did not live in Bangladesh continuously over a year or so (except those who are abroad on government duty or studying in a foreign country) should not be allowed to vote or to take part in any election or seek any government office. Any one in service with the Bangladesh government with foreign citizenship should be found out, dismissed and in case where any one who has hidden his/her foreign connection while serving the government should be sent out of the country after checking properly his/her assets and foreign links.

By adopting such a strong measure against the expatriates Bangladesh may prove itself very unkind or even hostile towards its 'lost' children but these measures are very necessary to safeguard the interest of Bangladeshi people and to curb the ill activities of a great number of criminals who are Bangladeshi expatriates/immigrants and foreign citizens.
 
 
 



Syed Siful Alam Shovan
shovan1209@yahoo.com


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[chottala.com] Allot a space for one Private University in each Special Economic Zone

Allot a space for one Private University in each Special Economic Zone
This could be an effective way to build partnership between industry and educational institutions.

The title itself is self-explanatory - there is no need to explain it further to make more understandable for the readers.

However, what is not understood is the extreme need for the free flow of information between the practitioners in the industry and the academicians in the educational institutions. Given that the EPZs are developed as premium real estate property and they are leased to businesses which are in the export oriented manufacturing sector, it makes sense to have a private university within each of these zones. This policy, if adopted, could be a perfect opportunity to create a marriage that benefits both. Lets look at different aspects of the proposal in details:

1. Private universities can afford to pay for the premium real estate, so it should not be a problem.

2. This would require some capacity development within the BEPZA Authority to adapt the age old model of labor usage only. The new model will have to updated to the changing nature of our industries - update the labour with knowledge generation. This is not to say that all the labour will be going to those universities, rather the graduates of those universities will be easily recruited by the industries within the EPZ. This would be helpful for the employers also, since the students can do their internships in this industries which makes them perfectly ready for the jobs by the time they graduate.

3. There is an increasing need for the industries in EPZ to develop local capacity - which is demonstrated by the fact that the industries regularly send labours from the host countries to the originating countries like Korea or Japan or Malaysia. With the presence of a well furnished up-to-date private university would enable the industries to transfer some of the training facilities to the university campuses.

The list can go on - but you get the idea. We really really hope that the concerned authorities will listen to this suggestion. We also hope that the big investors and stakeholders in different EPZs (specifically those from Japan, Korea and China) will be willing to adapt to this modification and try out the new model. If this can be done, it could be a hard-wired link that would strengthen the innovation-ecosystem of Bangladesh manifold.


A note to the NBR Chairman, make a portion of the investments/donations in these universities tax deductible.

If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the columinsts in regular traditional media, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence. 
 
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
 
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Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column, please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for publishing the article.
 
Dear readers, also, if you thought the article was important enough so it should come under attention of the head of the government please forward the message to them. Email address for the Chief Advisor: feeedback@pmo.gov.bd_ or at http://www.cao.gov.bd/feedback/comments.php . The more of you forward it to them, the less will be the need to go back to street agitation. Use ICT to practice democracy. It is already proven that this government responds to the feedback.

Also forward it to:


EPZ Authority: chairman@bepza.org_

Education Ministry: http://www.moedu.gov.bd/feedback_form.php
or
info@moedu.gov.bd_

UGC Chairman - chairman@yahoo.com_ (isn't it a bit weird that he is using a yahoo address for official reason?)

Don't forget to send it to the NBR man himself:    bdnbr@mail.com_ (this seems another free domain. it should be changed, too)

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[chottala.com] Use Democratic Possibilities, Involve in Political Process: Ghannoushi

Use Democratic Possibilities, Involve in Political
Process: Ghannoushi
source:
http://www.radianceweekly.com/report.php?content_id=1812&issue_id=100&issuedate=2008-03-16&title=Use-Democratic-Possibilities-Involve-in-Political-Process-Ghannoushi&topic=Vedanti039s-Remarks-about-Sonia-PM-Generate-Political-Heat

Use Democratic Possibilities, Involve in Political
Process: Ghannoushi

Sheikh Rashid al Ghannoushi, the renowned Islamic
thinker, has called upon Muslims to make use of the
democratic possibilities of the pluralistic society
and participate in the political process. The fact
that power and the community have so far proceeded on
two different paths has brought great loss to Muslims,
he said. Sheikh Ghannoushi was delivering the
inaugural address at a seminar on "Islam in the New
World," held as part of the Convocation of Al Jamia al
Islamiya at Santapuram, Kerala.
"Taking part in electoral politics makes it possible
to influence decision-making forces. It is indeed
better to be part of the decision-making process than
to keep from power. At a time when democracy had
elements of profanity and irreligiosity in it,
scholars had reason to be afraid that democracy might
contaminate the Islamic ideology. But in the new world
there is no room for such apprehension any more since
Islam is strong enough to withstand such elements. At
the same time, the West does not encourage
democratisation of Muslim countries. It takes this
attitude because it is afraid that in a democratic
set-up Islam will only grow," he said.
Ghannoushi pointed out that the Islamic world has
demonstrated the meaninglessness of the propaganda
that technology and modern science are alien to Islam.
Evidently, it is possible to acquire technology while
being loyal to the faith.
Ghannoushi urged that jihad should not be used to
tarnish the image of Islam. Jihad is meant for the
fight against colonialism and for struggles for
freedom. Islam is an ideology that respects pluralism.
In a country like India, where freedom exists, there
is no scope for jihad. Muslim organisations must
resolve their mutual conflicts through compromise, and
facilitate unity. Even the European Union could bring
together 35 countries. Ghannoushi asserted that
Islamic renascence would be impossible without
accommodating women.
Former Education Minister of Kerala E T Muhammad
Basheer, Nadwatul Mujahideen General Secretary Husain
Madavoor, KNM Secretary Kunhimuhammad Parappur,
Madhyamam Editor O Abdurrahman, former Ameer
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Chancellor of the Jamia Dr.
M. Abdul Haq Ansari, and Member of Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind Central Advisory Council T K Abdullah also spoke
at the function.


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[chottala.com] Moeen Watch --- tenure extended .....One step at a time

Gen Moeen's tenure extended
by one year

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka

The tenure of General Moeen U Ahmed as chief of army staff has been extended by one year from June 15, 2008 to June 15, 2009 'in the public interest'.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, extended his service tenure, until further order, in the public interest, said ISPR quoting a notification issued by the ministry of defence on Sunday.
   General Moeen was appointed chief of army staff to a three-year term on June 6, 2005. He was also promoted to the rank of lieutenant general with effect from June 15, 2005. Later, he was elevated to four-star general on May 24, 2007.
   Born on January 21, 1953 in Chittagong, Moeen was commissioned to the Infantry after completion of the first short course from Bangladesh Military Academy on January 11, 1975.

source: http://www.newagebd.com/front.html#3

[April 7, 2008]

Previously in 2007 he was elevated to the  rank of 4-star General in the Public interest

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