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Sunday, September 16, 2012

[chottala.com] An appeal to the community members about Bangla School



Dear

Community Members,

"এসো আমরা বাংলা শিখি"

Bangla School has reopened on Saturday, Sept 08 2012 after 7 weeks of summer vacation with its dignity and pride as it always has been in past 21 years. As all we know, Bangla School is one of the very successful and prospective project of BCCDI have been teaching Bangla Language and cultural heritage to our next generation in the Greater Washington area since 1991.

 Since its journey of mission began and till now thousands of parents, teachers, organizers, well- wishers and the patronizers has contributed and devoted their valuable time and efforts to rise this organization as one of the cultural training institute for our generation those are born and brought up here. 

In last 21 years, thousands of students has very successfully learned Bangla language and practiced Bengali rich culture from this institution, implied in their own life and made proud of their family, also very proudly flourished that in multi-cultural environment.

I believe, since then Bangla School became as one of the pioneer national institution for Bengali Community in this area and an identity of our rich culture, the symbol of our heritage and the milestone of creating generation in true believer of our original value. These all were possible; because of great efforts of a group of cultural enthusiasts and generous people from this area. This whole process were initiated and dedicated by some white hearted people ( Shada Moner Manush) of our community those were worked as the vanguard of our cultural existence in aboard.

 

There was a time, BCCDI was the only organization, organized all large and challenging cultural programs in the community with the help and coordination of community cultural enthusiasts, and the whole community enjoyed the program. At the same time our generation had chances to participate in the program with their performances, they learned and enjoyed along with their family.

BCCDI's main objective is to relate our new generation to our true culture, so BCCDI introduced, Bengali new year celebration to get our generation familiar with traditional "Bangla Nabo Borsho" celebration, introduced "Pitha Utshob" to get our generation involved to learn about our thousand years old Pitha culture, "Upohar Bangladesh Mela" the annual cultural show of  Bangla School students for them to showcase their performance that they learned from Bangla School throughout the year and present the performances as the gift to their parents. So, that was the whole reason, for naming this program "Upohar" the gift.

Beside that; Bangla School students also celebrates our national days such as "Language Day" "The Omar Ekushe" honoring our language martyrs those who gave their live in 1952 language movement to safe our mother tongue, the  "Independence day" and the "victory Day" of Bangladesh.

Other than BCCDI programs, BAAI since last 25 years have been conducting some community events such as Community Picnic, Eid-prayer, Eid-reunion, all national days and some other essential community service based tasks. But now a day, community has grown up tremendously and a huge Bengali population moved in this area whether immigrated by family or moved in this area with job or business. The economy and the beauty of the Greater Washington area attracted lots of people to move in Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland. So it has extended to a very large Bengali population in this area.

 

Since community spreaded out very widely, so at the same time many individual organizations also founded to conduct various cultural activities in the community. It is to mention that, many of the organizations were very success in arranging different cultural events in the community and were able to gather substantial number of the audiences in their shows and that put them to become a successful leader or a culturally succeeded person in the community.

 In individual instances, they obviously deserve respect and honor for their work well-done but if we really think community as a whole, what we got as a result of our future or did we were able to stand together to solve any national issue or did we have done anything to protect our generation those are growing here not learning own culture but having diverse culture in their brain?

If we think, our soul and will is one and that really devoted to rescue and preserve our culture and heritage for our future generation. And also, if we want our culture to live in our generation's heart and want our language and culture live long, then obviously as a parents we have a huge responsibility to draw a road map for their future. Then they will carry the flag following the given map. But if we fail, then it will be the same case as many other languages are disappearing from the globe because of negligence and heedlessness.

So, it is my appeal to all of you not as Bangla School president but as a parent of three kids, to the community expatriates, scholars, cultural enthusiasts, wealthiest, IT professionals, Medias, business personals, community leaders to come forward to up-lift and protect this institution for our future generation and also for our future existence in abroad.

Let's we are not doing anything that could harm Bangla School's interest and conflicts it's in many other way. This organization need all of your support and without your support and suggestions would not be possible to continue its journey of mission. This organization needs attention of social conscious person, language and cultural expertise and above all whole community members to revive it for our generation. Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation.

"Our little support and sacrifice could help grow a better generation  with the true value"

Sincerely,

Mizanur Bhuiyan

 A member of the community

 and

A father



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[chottala.com] Where Shall We Go: No Light in the end of the Tunnel

Where Shall We Go: No Light in the end of the Tunnel

By F R Chowdhury, UK

Mr. A B M Musa is one of the senior-most journalists in Bangladesh. In
a recent gathering he advised everyone to shout "s/he is a thief" as
soon as any one connected with the Government is sighted. I am sure
that Mr Musa also knows very well that there are still some honest
people in the country working for the Government. Apparently one would
say that Mr. Musa should not have made such irresponsible utterances.
But when you think more deeply you can understand how frustrated Mr.
Musa felt with the present state of affairs.

Next day I read something very interesting. Mr. Musa writes about a
shipwrecked person in an island full of snakes, crocodiles and other
dangerous animals. Then he sees a ship passing-by and waves in
desperation. God responded to his call when he found a boat coming
from the ship. The man in the boat gave some recent newspapers and
said "you should read them and decide if you want to go back
Bangladesh or remain in the island".

When a very respected and elderly journalist like Mr. Musa writes and
speaks like that, it is time for us to look at things to its fullest
context and think if there is a limit to it or will it go on endless.
First let us talk about monetary corruption. I would not like to go on
details but would just touch upon a few of them. By now there is
hardly anyone in Bangladesh who has not heard about the case of
Hallmark group. I understand they took well over four thousand crores
of taka from the state-owned Sonali Bank and there is little hope that
the bank can recover that money. Yet the finance minister calls it
just a minor incident.

Another company known as "Destiny" took money not only from banks but
also from innocent public in general. Some of those involved have even
run away from the country. By market manipulation some people also
made quick money out of stock exchange and most of it has gone out of
the country. BEXIMCO group took full advantage of the inflated price
of their share to take a huge loan from the bank against shares as
security. The price of those shares is now not even 1/10th of the
negotiated deal. There is another very interesting case of a mortgaged
ship being sold without any reference to the bank. Such things can
only happen in Bangladesh.

Now let us talk about the most sensational case – Padma Bridge
project. Some people were too eager to make quick money and on the
assurances of various contracts took in advance a large sum of money.
I believe the transactions took place in Canada. When the Canadian
Police started investigating the matter, a young Bangladeshi (also
Canadian national) couple slipped out of Canada and returned to
Bangladesh. The World Bank who initially promised to finance most of
the project withdrew from the project. The WB provided the Government
some vital information relating to the corruption. The government
initially tried to laugh it out by saying how could there be any
corruption when contract have not been awarded. Then for a few days
the Government kept on blaming Professor Yunus for the WB decision.
Then slowly the cats started emerging out of the bag. One minister has
already resigned and another adviser is on the verge of resignation.
Perhaps the root of the corruption goes beyond that and it cannot be
resolved so easily.

Corruption is now deep rooted at every level of the society. A
minister's APS was caught with a car full of money in sacks on way to
minister's house. The minister resigned. He was still kept in the
cabinet as a minister without any portfolio. The Anti-corruption
Commission gained full confidence of the government by declaring the
minister innocent. The nation soon came to know the identity of two
new patriots. They are none other than the ministers who resigned on
charges of corruption. If you want to know how wide spread and deep
rooted the corruption network is then you have to visit any of the
government departments or agencies who are supposed to provide service
to the people. Let us start with local police, hospital, port office,
customs office, land registry and record office, and then go to
relevant offices for gas, electricity, water and to primary school for
admission of children. You will soon know that there is only one
solution to your problems and that is money. The railway minister
admitted his inability to recover railway lands because of the
influence of very powerful elements. Similarly the rivers and canals
are being filled up by influential people for their use.

We will now take a quick look at the law and order situation. Almost
every day one or two dead bodies are recovered from rivers and drains.
Police said to have identified the body of garment labour leader
Aminul Islam like that. The young journalist couple were murdered in
their own bedroom perhaps because they knew too much about government
corruption. A BNP leader along with his driver was hijacked from his
car never to be seen again. There are others who die in so-called
"cross-fire" (extra judicial killing). Countless people die on the
roads when a minister advocates for driving licence to be made easier.

But the present Government can be proud of some of its success. It
took no time to change the name of the Dhaka Airport to remove the
name of Zia from it. It successfully evicted Khaleda Zia from her
cantonment house. It hanged most of those responsible for 1975
changes. It brought in the constitutional changes to hold election
under the present government instead of a non-party care-taker
government. However, their claimed success of dealing with BDR revolt
is most debatable. Men in arms revolt is nothing short of sedition.
There can be no negotiation or compromise with them. Call for
surrender of arms and submit them to lawful authority. Everything else
comes after that. The elite forces of the country are maintained to
defend the country and they should have been allowed to take necessary
action to restore normalcy. The so-called political negotiation with
the mutineers resulted into a great loss for the country. One can
become a politician overnight but it takes lot of tax-payers' money,
years of training, hard work and dedication to become a colonel or
brigadier. The nation can never excuse those responsible for the
massacre.

We also suffered in the hands of the opposition when they were in
power. We do not know where is the end and where shall we go.

By F R Chowdhury
UK
E Mail : fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=389739


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[chottala.com] Bush Caught Lying About September 11th



Bush Caught Lying About September 11th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Sm73wOuPL60



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[chottala.com] Freedom for Independent Bangladesh



Freedom for Independent Bangladesh

Major Faruk Ahmed (Retd)

 Introduction

Bangladesh has been achieved by sacrificing blood of millions through a national armed struggle in 1971. Though we have apparently achieved Independence, our nation is yet to attain freedom from the shackles of misrule, poverty, corruption, violation of democracy and human rights. In spite of claiming to be independent; our dependence on other countries for technology and necessary commodities has made us an import-dependent nation.

People are being treated by ruling regimes as experienced during colonial period.  Repression on the people by ruling authority has surpassed the previous record under West Pakistani rulers. Killings and disappearances in the hands of govt agencies and political rivals, rape, torture, exploitation, deprivation of justice and freedom of speech etc are so rampant that most of the people live under intimidation. More than 80% of the population lives in abject poverty, millions are unemployed, back dated education system lacking skill development training – is one of the fundamental problems.

Country is almost fully dependent on foreign goods, vehicles, machineries and aids. Corruption is institutionalized in every sector. National interests are surrendered to hegemonic powers. Country is incapable of pursuing independent foreign policy due to weakness of the ruling regimes. Top political party leaders are seemingly in competition of surrendering everything to India in order to get blessings of India.

Due to foreign-sponsored terrorism and violence; our National security and sovereignty is under threat. As a whole, Bangladesh is facing a real challenge of existence as a sovereign country.

Based on above, it is essential for us to assess how far our spirit of the War of Independence has been achieved and what programme is needed for real freedom.

This paper will endeavour to briefly highlight followings:

a.   What were the spirits of the nation in the Liberation War?

b.   Major hindrances in materializing Independence.

c.   Programmes needed to achieve real freedom-25 points.

 
What were the spirits of the nation in the Liberation War?

a.   Achieving self-determination and establishment of democracy. People wanted to manage own state of affairs independently as a sovereign nation and establish rule of democracy.

b.   Achieving freedom. Due to injustice, economic deprivation and cultural domination, people wanted freedom by followings:

(1)  Establishment of justice and equality.

(2)  Achieving economic development.

(3)  Achieving cultural freedom.

Major hindrances in materializing Independence

a.   Leadership Crisis. Nation is seriously facing a 'sense of direction' from our political leadership. Our leaders have miserably failed to prove that they are better than those of pre-Independence West-Pakistani rulers. Capturing and sticking to power is the only mission and vision with which added the motive of acquiring billions of Taka by corruption. They could deliver a very little to the nation. None of the political parties has ousted those known corrupt and criminal godfathers from the central committee. As a result, in most of the cases; voters have no option other than voting any one of those criminals nominated by the concerned political parties.

The leadership qualities that we expect to see such as- patriotism with strategic vision and mission, dedication to the socio-economic development; ruthless to corruption, terrorism and violence; strong administrative skills, forcefulness to establish rule of law, having perception of threats to national security, respect to human rights and freedom of speech, respect to democratic norms and values, knowledge of the world affairs and regional politics, a sense of belongingness to all citizens of the country irrespective of own party affiliation, diplomatic skills and forcefulness in dealing with matters of national interests, having interest in achieving self-reliance in science and technology, dedication to ensure welfare of citizens, leading the nation in comparison to other developed nations and a strong personality to unite the nation based on national issues etc. are seldom visible among most of the top leadership of the country.

The leadership qualities of patriotism, awareness for national defence and security, motivation for national unity, respect for multi-party democracy and freedom of speech, drive for development, diplomatic ability and farsighted vision regarding regional politics displayed by Martyred President Zia is exceptional.

b.   Misrule and injustice. Since Independence, misrule and injustice have become writings of forehead of our nation. During 1972-1975, it was a reign of tyranny and corruption in which around 34000 opposition activists were murdered by the infamous Rakkhi Bahini of Awami Govt. Nation experienced demise of democracy in the hands of Sheikh Mujib as he banned all political parties including Awami League and established one-party rule of BAKSAL.

c.   Massive Corruption. It is not the general people but for the uncontrolled corruption committed by ruling party elites, Bangladesh earned the title of 'Number 1 Corrupt Country in the World' thrice. Corruption in Padma Bridge Project, looting of Share Market twice, corruption in Railway, corruption in Destiny Group and looting of thousand crores of Taka from Sonali Bank etc are the few examples of how the country's fate is looted by a few criminals under the patronization of ruling regimes.

d.   Surrender of national interests. Awami League Govt signed various overt and secret treaties with India leasing country's vital assets such as sea-ports, river ports, roads and railways etc as corridor to India at the peril of our economic and security interests including national sovereignty. One-tenth portion of the country (CHTs) has been handed over to India-trained terrorist group (PCJSS) which has conducted racial mass murder in CHTs. Political leaders such as HM Ershad, Chairman of Jatiyo Party, declares in India that how much water of Teesta River has been given to Bangladesh – is not a factor at all; Bangladesh needs a treaty only. All these demonstrate how our ruling regimes have surrendered our national interests and how the opposition parties performed their roles as mere silent spectators letting all these grave loss to happen.

Programmes needed to achieve real freedom- 25 Points

As has been briefly described above, that the people of this land suffered economic deprivation, cultural subjugation and their democratic right was violated by West Pakistani rulers. The brutal massacre of 25th March 1971 conducted by West Pakistani military forced us to resist and go for separation. But our spirit of Independence has not been fulfilled yet due to hegemonic behavior and threats posed by our neighbor including misrule, corruption and human rights violations being committed by own regimes in power. The country is ruled by the fortunate 1% not according to the desire of the 99% population who are subjugated, deceived, deprived and sucked.

The nation desperately needs freedom from all these injustice, backwardness and foreign domination which can be achieved by followings:

a.   Protection of national security and sovereignty.

b.   Institutionalization of democracy.

c.   Emancipation from poverty, unemployment and backwardness.

d.   Establishing rule of law and equality.

e.   Preservation of Human Rights by ending extra-judicial killings and torture.

f.     Ensuring freedom of speech and organization.

g.   Ending corruption.

h.   Rooting out terrorism and violence.

i.     Preservation and development of own national culture.

j.     Ensuring freedom of religion and ending discrimination among citizens based on religion, ethnicity or political affiliation.

k.    Pursuing independent foreign policy and maintenance of national interest.

l.     Coming out of anti-state treaties and MOUs signed openly and secretly.

m. Ensuring due share of international river waters.

n.   Achieving self-reliance in technology through research and development.

o.   Modernizing education system to world standard and introducing skill-development training.

p.   Protection and preservation of environment.

q.   Protection, preservation and best utilization of natural resources.

r.     Enhancing international trade, tourism and communication.

s.   Ensuring uninterrupted gas and electricity.

t.     Improving road, rail and waterway communication.

u.   Ensuring employment of all youths and export of skilled labours.

v.   Patriotic and able leadership for establishing rule of law.

w.  Achieving national unity based on national issues.

x.   Strengthening of national defence and security.

y.   Propagation of patriotism.

As these programmes are self-explanatory; as such, description is avoided. But we need to formulate a comprehensive plan to implement these programmes of national interests if we want to achieve real freedom. Such programmes need to be identified jointly by the ruling regime and the opposition to take the country forward.

Conclusion

We have to realize the external threats our nation facing today. Defending our national security and sovereignty should be the prime objective of today's national politics.We need to identify the hindrances we face in materializing the Independence and overcome those. We also need to identify the measures needed to achieve real freedom and take appropriate measures to accomplish those.

So long we fail in placing our motherland above any party or individual interest; spirit of Independence will never be accomplished and real freedom will remain a dream for ever.It is only our love and commitment to our people and the country that can overcome all problems our nation is facing today.

Writer: Major Faruk Ahmed (Retd)
Email: farukbd5@yahoo.com

http://www.voiceofbangladesh.info/details_all.php?id=188&table_name=essays&writer_id=43


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