Biman DC-10 Taking Off From Manchester

Among the three-engine airliners, aviation-lovers mostly appreciate DC-10, the epic McDonnell Douglas airliner. Particularly the 3rd turbofan engine, mounted on the top of its rear fuselage, is the main reason of the adoration. Not a lot of wide-body commercial airliners have a 3rd engine mounted on the top of their rear fuselages. Though FedEx has the highest number of DC-10s (60), as commercial passenger carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines holds the highest number of DC-10s (4).

Many of us may have guessed in recent years that the name 'Biman' has a worldwide fame among the aviation lovers which is extensively associated with its poor service, crash (though minor) records etc. But the fact is, the aviation lovers familiar with the name 'Biman', most of them have heard it because of its association with DC-10. Known as the 'old iron bird', DC-10 is something to most of the aviation lovers which they know is old, they know it is no more widely used, still they love it. As all the four DC-10s of Biman Bangladesh Airlines are actively operated, especially in long-haul flights with transits in the Middle East, Biman automatically gets introduced to the aviation lovers interested in DC-10.

Police Crackdown On Barisal BNP Rally

Countrywide processions, centrally declared by the main opposition BNP, were held in all the district headquarters by the local BNP units starting from last Wednesday. Barisal unit of BNP held a prescheduled rally on Saturday in front of its office at city's Sadar Road, where police suddenly intervened to distract the crowd. The sudden crackdown by police left with 10 injured activists of BNP, among whom 10 more were taken to custody. Later, on Sunday, cases were filed against 450 BNP activists, accusing them of vandalism.

Media Reports On Khaleda’s Eviction Questionable

In the beginning of World War Two, when the entire world knew that Germany is about to invade Poland, due to the propaganda carried out by Goebbels, the German people on the other hand, knew that Poland is coming to invade Germany. This Nazi Goebbels is not only a name, it's a tendency, and it's a weapon. By feeding the news that Begum Zia "will leave her house voluntarily"  on  Saturday, November 13, 2010, an operation to evict former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia could take place even inside such a protected area like the Dhaka Cantonment. In front of the Jahangir Gate, ISPR stopped the journalists and briefed them three times from a makeshift stage. The tendency of this current incompetent government is to hide the true incidents and feed the people with false stories to run the nation. Whoever spreads this kinds of news sensibly, tries to manipulate the belief of the general people. By feeding people with false information, the government tried to scatter and obscure their known world. But the general people not only kept their eyes open, they also kept their value judgment awake. For this reason the hartal on Sunday following Khaleda's eviction on Saturday was successful without almost any picketing.

On Friday, November 12, 2010 the entire journalist community got the information that the next day there will be an operation to forcefully vacate house number 6 of Shahid Mainul Road where Begum Khaleda Zia has been living for almost four decades now. The intelligence officers sent a typed report to their embedded journalists, the gist of which was - the former Prime Minister was ready to voluntarily vacate the house. Also mentioned were on which dates, which truck had carried Begum Zia's belongings from the house. As usual, the next day every newspaper reported that on Saturday Begum Zia will leave the house voluntarily. But no report carried a direct statement of Begum Zia or someone saying on her behalf that Begum Zia will leave the house on Saturday.  The TV channels began live broadcast of the incident continuously.  But at dawn, police, RAB and security officers in civil dress entered the house for forcefully evicting Begum Zia.

Many people still believe that the spread of the propaganda through the media that Khaleda Zia was willfully leaving her house helped the government to justify its barbarous act of forcefully evicting the wife of the declarer of Independence and the first-elected President and three times Prime Minister of Bangladesh herself Begum Khaleda Zia without allowing her to change her clothes.

During one-eleven, in a similar manner the made-up reports and CDs containing the confessional statements of arrested political leaders were published/broadcast just like a bombshell. This time also the same process has been and/or will be followed.

But later on, the political leaders stated in court that they never made such confessions. During that time, the current Prime Minister was manipulated by the people who are now her trusted operators. But my question is, the journalists may get tips from the intelligence agency, but shouldn't they verify the truth of the information! The fear of which is actual information and which is not is always present in the world of information.  It is important to keep track – who is providing the information?  The nature of the government is to manipulate the position of truth and false within a moment.  However, it is useless to tell that journalist anything who loses his head over government's politics. On Saturday, no matter how many times the journalists were told that there is eviction operation going on in Begum Zia's house, they ignored the statement and attached more importance  to what ISPR had to say. Only if they had asked the ISPR, "If Begum Zia is leaving voluntarily, allow us to visit the spot," ISPR would have refused. They could have also asked why were there police for someone who is willing to leave voluntarily or whether Begum Zia has rented trucks to carry her belongings from the house. Had they gone to Shahid Mainul Road on Saturday, they could have seen how Begum Zia's staff and their family members were forcefully put into a car and taken elsewhere and kept confined, the government's presence at the place with trucks, how the door was broken, the carrying of VDO cameras during the operation, and the visit of senior officials after the completion of the eviction operation.   At one stage of the operation, when Begum Zia wanted to talk with the journalists over phone, they set-up a jammer and disabled the tele-network in the area.

Jammers are also required in eviction operations! Nevertheless, on Saturday night, when at a press conference Begum Zia's tearful statements before the nation put a hard slap on government propaganda side by side with informing the nations about the truth, the villains immediately became active. On Sunday, they took the embedded journalists into the historic house they opened up a house inside the cantonment for the journalists to see! Vile attempts to belittle Begum Zia's character not only made a laughing stock of these journalists but the publication of pictures by them showing the door knobs of Begum Zia's bedroom to have been broken by force also deeply angered the concerned government officials. 

Quite a few journalists complained secretly that on Monday they were seriously reprimanded either personally or over phone.  When one of the reprimanded editors claimed that the ISPR had sent pictures of broken door-knobs to them, the other side remained silent. Besides, there are also complaints of censorship having been imposed on the TV channels on the following Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  The journalists were pressurized by detective agencies and local MPs to publish/broadcast the news that the hartal has not been observed. Nowadays, the journalists are being physically tortured almost every day. The conviction of a Chhaatro-League leader for killing a journalist in Chittagong by running a truck over him is the latest news. On top of that, the media is in a bad shape as they are either being forced to not publish the truth, or publish false news.

According to reliable source, measures were taken to demolish the house no 6 of Shaheed Mainul Road before Eid with bulldozers, but the decision to wait was taken due to the ruling by the Appellate Division. Everybody is curiously waiting to watch anew Goebelles' next episode of the drama and the performances of the actors regarding the "Zia Family Dream House".

What Begum Khaleda Zia will do with the people agitated with the misrule of the government, is still to be seen. Where there is a tradition of releasing prisoners before the Eid, the government does not even want to give Begum Zia that much right. Not only has she been separated from her house, she is also separated from her family. Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman are abroad because of illness they are also oppressed with many cases. Even Begum Zia's favorite grand-daughter Zaima is also not with her. But, despite such adverse situations, BNP Chairperson remains immensely calm. Maybe the tune of the famous British song (by Lina Gilbert Ford in 1994) is playing in her ears....

Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home
There's a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.

The New CNG Run-Auto Fare: Govt Must Ensure Enforcement At Any Cost

The government's declaration to cancel the license of CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers and road-permit of these vehicles, if seriously implemented, may help to address the long-standing problem of excess fare being paid by the helpless commuters since 2002, when this vehicle was first introduced on the roads of capital Dhaka, although passengers and drivers of the said transports have expressed deep skepticism about the successful implementation of the newly-announced fares for CNG-run auto-rickshaws by the government from January next year.

This is for the fourth time that the fare of the CNG-run auto-rickshaw has been revised by the government since its introduction in Bangladesh. Though unfortunate, but from the very beginning, neither the owners nor the drivers have ever stuck to the approved rates. The complaint of higher charges by the drivers from the passengers and by the owners from the drivers has always been there.

The decisions, taken at a meeting on Thursday, with communications minister Syed Abul Hossain in the chair, re-fixed the fares and daily rents of auto-rickshaws plying on the roads of Dhaka and Chittagong, with effect from 1 January 2011. Senior officials of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and representatives of auto-rickshaw owners and drivers, along with others, were present at the meeting.

As per the revised fare, commuters will have to pay Tk 25 instead of current Tk 14 for the first two kilometres (km) while the charge for each subsequent km will be Tk 7 instead of Tk 6 and the waiting charge per minute will be Tk 1.25 instead of Tk one. The auto drivers will have to pay per day Tk 600 instead of Tk 450 per CNG-run auto-rickshaw to its owners as non-refundable deposit money.

The charges were last revised in April 2008, raising the fare for the first two kms from Tk 13.5 to Tk 14. The original fare fixed in 2002 for the first two kilometres was Tk 12 and Tk 5 for each ensuing kilometre, and the driver's daily rent to the owner was fixed at Tk 300. But, unfortunately, the drivers have always been charging minimum Tk 10-20 more than the fixed rates from the passengers on the plea that they have to pay at least Tk 200 more than the fixed rate as rent to the owners.

Md Mozammel Haque Khan, Secretary, Roads and Railways Division, told the reporters after the meeting that the government took the decision to revise the fare in response to the demands of the auto-rickshaw owners and drivers, and after taking into consideration the present market price, and also for the sake of passengers who usually complain that the drivers charge much more than the approved rates. What the Hon'ble Minister has said is nothing new. These complaints from respective parties have always been there and respective fares have also been raised in not too distant a past. But, what the government needs to see is how far the moves have been successful and whether they have gone in favour of the suffering commuters or not.

Currently, a person travelling in a CNG-run auto-rickshaw from Banani to Gulshan 1 has to pay minimum Tk 70 to 80 on normal days. Now, with the raised fare if the passenger has to pay minimum Tk 100, then the government move would only go in vain. In fact, most of the drivers and passengers have long forgotten the government rates as charging and paying higher fares have become the norm in this country.

A CNG auto-rickshaw driver observed that unless the government took effective measures to stop the owners of CNG  driven vehicles from charging higher deposit money from the drivers it would never be possible for them to run the vehicles as per the  government designated rates. He also noted that unless measures to ease the traffic congestion, withdraw the six-hourly closure of CNG filling stations and increase the number of auto-rickshaws in the city were taken on a priority basis, the success of the government measure rested on doubts.  

It is thus very important that the owners should not be void of conscience they must think of all the players in the game and not only about themselves. They must not give the vehicles to whoever pays the most. According to BRTA, there are around 30,000 drivers in the city and only 13,000 auto-rickshaws which has given rise to an unhealthy competition among the drivers to get the vehicles, even if it means paying higher deposits.

Besides, the government should take extra care so that like similar moves taken in the past, this time also, its efforts do not end up without bearing any positive result. In addition to implementing the new rates through a committee, headed by a senior BRTA official, and mobile courts, and cancellation of the driver's license and road-permit of the vehicle, the government should also introduce harsh legal measures for violating the fare rates or harassing passengers. And, in such cases, vehicle's owner registration may also be cancelled.

Khaleda Zia’s Eviction: Anatomy Of A Public Relations Campaign

It's hard to know what the Awami League government was thinking when they decided to evict Khaleda Zia from her home. However, it did not go completely as Sheikh Hasina had planned. Khaleda Zia's televised press conference affected almost everyone. As Syed Abul Maqsud put it in a column aptly titled “The Government Truth”

("The way in which the home was 'voluntarily left' has probably given some people the greatest happiness of their lives. Perhaps a few crores of our people thought to themselves: this isn't too bad. What the rest eight or ten crores thought is unknown to non-psychologists like us. However, we shall find out in December 2013.")

Syed Abul Maqsud's political orientation is not unknown. When columnists of his stripe start talking about December 2013, one must realize that this is the most serious message they can deliver to the Awami League Government. They are politely reminding Sheikh Hasina: This day or have a more day.

As Maqsud noted, the full extent of the reaction to this event shall not be known until well into the future. But the fact that there was a reaction was evident to everyone. Awami League had not expected this they thought they what happened inside Jahangir Gate would, so to speak, stay inside Jahangir Gate. They even issued a Press Statement "thanking" Khaleda Zia for leaving voluntarily. However, once it became apparent that explaining away this action was going to be a bit more complicated than that, Awami League quickly set out to bring this reaction in their favor through a two-prong strategy.

For their own base, they arranged the ISPR drama and planted various items in the Shahid Mainul Road residence. Thus, the entire conversation in the core Awami League vote has been about the contents of the photo that the government leaked to the media through ISPR. This is how one newspaper reported described the unfolding of the drama:

("They took us to particular rooms and said 'Please open and go through everything.' When taking the picture of the door, they told us not to focus on that one particular thing. Instead, we should concentrate on what else was there.")

So, the core got the pictures and stayed happy. What about the rest of us? We have been given the "stay theory."

According to the "stay theory," Khaleda Zia's lawyers are behind this whole incident, since they did not ask for a stay from the High Court. If one believs that, that one must also believe that the lawyers then somehow forced the Government to evict Khaleda Zia from her home.

Of course, this theory is completely false. Not false in some metaphysical, abstract, Kurosawa, post-modern sense. It is false the way you and I think of something as false. It is as false as a thirty-second day of the month, a Four Taka note, or any promise to solve the traffic problem in Dhaka within one year.

Khaleda Zia's lawyers did apply for a stay motion. Mizanur Rahman Khan, in Prothom Alo, confimsas much:

The hearing for whether stay would be granted was adjourned along with the main appeal hearing. So the AG and the Law Minister were not right to say that Begum Zia's lawyers did not "move the stay petition" because firstly, it was moved before the Chamber Judge on 9th Nov, and secondly, on the 10th the hearing for stay was adjourned by the Court till the 29th.

So, please, let there be no confusion: there was a stay motion. This is a fact. Of course, facts have nothing to do with a really good PR strategy. As all true leaders do, Sheikh Hasina took a hand in personally leading off the disinformation campaign herself. In a scene that may have been lifted straight from Satyajit Ray's Hirok Rajar Deshey, she wondered to her ministers, during a cabinet meeting, why Khaleda Zia's lawyers had not asked for a stay order. Her trusted lieutenants were quick to take the cue and follow her (Abed Khan, Mozammel Babu, and Abdul Ghaffar Chowdhury, just to name a few). It is worth noting that the day after Khaleda Zia was forcibly evicted, not a single lawyer in Bangladesh, aside from those who worked for the Awami League government, could be found who would vouch that the law had taken its proper course. Even pro-AL jurists like Barrister Amirul Islam recused themselves from commenting on this matter. Yet, to now somehow insist that our honorable Prime Minister and her non-legal cadre somehow have a better sense of the legal issues involved than Barrister Rafiqul Huq or Justice T. H. Khan is a startling claim. Yet, that is the story that Awami League has decided to peddle.

I don't know how far this PR strategy shall take Awami League. This whole issue was started to distract the nation from Hasina's epic mismanagement of the BDR massacre. It seems like we may need a distraction from the distraction.

Saving Sheikh Mujib And Pre-Empting Future Eviction

Bangladeshi politics is polarised and polarised it to the point of danger. I believe that the way to decrease polarization in this country and come together on a joint platform is to prevent abuse of all our deceased leaders including Zia Ur Rahman and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Politics, as done in our country, has two basic weaknesses. First, politics focuses on accumulating power and benefits. Sheikh Mujib had started his political career emphasizing that "to do service for the people is to do service for Allah." Although his role model was many world leaders including Gandhi, Lenin and Mao, he never mentioned Mohammed (pbuh). I am sure he and a handful of his colleagues were sincere in their quest to make Bangladesh a fairer and prosperous country. But special interests came to the fore. We all know that every government creates its own riches and brings material improvement to its close supporters. Even if leaders or top executives act idealistically and with sincerity, things they do not approve of may occur and lower echelons of a political movement, may cause those ideals to end up in disarray.

The second weakness of politics in our country is its inclination to abuse the values of the masses. Thus, these values are used to exact political benefits. Secularism, nationalism, to a certain extent religion, martyr Zia and Sheikh Mujib are among the most frequently abused values. This in turn does the greatest damage to all of those. 
Sheikh Mujib was a leader. His ability to organize the masses is indisputable. Yet he was a human being like any of us. He had flaws or deficiencies like everyone. He was a child of his own time. He acted according to the mentality, conditions and possibilities of his time. In assessing Sheikh Mujib, we need to take into consideration the tragedies of a collapsing relationship between the east and west part of then Pakistan, the traumas of its administrators, the external pressures and impositions and the misery of an exhausted nation. Yes, Sheikh Mujib was not a democrat because he did not have a democratic environment. At that time, no one could become a democrat. Moreover, even many politicians today are not democratic. BAKSAL was the last straw of his non-democratic aspiration and the single party regime was a repressive regime. Sheikh Mujib was a single man.

  

Fortunately those who came after him has acted in democratic-harmony with the world. Actually, the external developments forced Bangladesh to do so. In this respect, martyr Zia's farsighted decision to introduce the multi-party system was a major step. 
The basic problem was the lack of change in the BAKSAL'ites' mentality. The public could not know what is right. They could not make decisions on their own. The elites of the republic, who assumed authority, established a tutelary system. They needed an ideology. Then, they introduced "Mujib-baad plus secularism" as twin ideology. They stuffed this ideology into the essence of constitutional institutions. They started to portray Sheikh Mujib as a supra-human being. They could not be satisfied with Sheikh Mujib being a leader, a historical personality, because they wanted to use him as a veil to prevent the tutelage from being questioned. No explanation can be made, for Mujib was being used as a justification for all sorts of short sighted decision and harmful actions, although he had declared Parliament as the sole representative of the national will. 
They referred to "secularism" in order to exert pressure on religion and devout people. For them, modernity meant escape from religion. They built walls in front of freedoms, rules of law, democracy and secularism that pay respect to beliefs and wrote "Father of the nation" on them. "If Sheikh Mujib was alive, he would do this or that," they were threatening people. The BAKSALites own actions portrayed Sheikh Mujib as a person who is miles away from faith and spirituality, and then asked us, "Why don't you love him?" and urged us to love him.

The road to learn about the true Sheikh Mujib and adopt universal democratic values must be opened. He should not be used as an instrument for ideological or material gain. "Sheikh Mujib's principles and actions" should be erected in front of democratization. Save Sheikh Mujib from being the Bongobondhu of rather, born again AL, the Bongobondhu of neo-BAKSAL'ites and the 'Father of the Nation' of pro-tutelage groups. Let him be a part of history as a joint value of society.

Insult and humiliation by evicting a former prime minister in front of the whole world, wife of a former head of state, commander in chief, above all a freedom fighter, by the state, is the result of pro tutelage politics in Bangladesh. It is in no way sign of democracy or tolerance. Sawing the seed of vicious cycle and vengeance will be in no one's benefit but tutelary politics.

Manmohan’s Visit - 2011: Investment Scenario In Bangladesh Likely To Get Priority

Investment in Bangladesh is likely to be discussed during the visit of Indian premier Dr Manmohan Singh, said a foreign ministry official.

"Trade issue is included in the joint communiqué but it is likely to be widened," he said.

The official said it is expected that the Indian premier will visit Bangladesh early next year.

Dhaka wants full cooperation from India in implementing joint communiqué which was declared by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Premier Dr Manmohan Singh in January, he added.

The main challenge for the Indian premier is to show the Bangladeshis that New Delhi is sincere enough to resolve all the disputes between the two countries, the official said.

Bangladesh and India has many disputes over non-tariff barriers, border related problems, water sharing of common rivers, maritime border and border killings.

Dhaka should raise its legitimate trade demands to remove all NTBs (Non-tariff barriers) so that Bangladeshi products can enter the neighbouring country without any hassle, he said.

"Other issues including common river water sharing, border and maritime border disputes should be resolved for wider cooperation between the two parties," he added.

Bangladesh will raise NTB issue before the Indian side and try to solve it as soon as possible, the official said adding, "Imports of jute bags are facing problem due to NTBs and if any other products are facing the same problems we will raise the issue."

There are some progresses in implementing the joint communiqué including importing of electricity import from India, he said adding, "But many things need to be done."

About port development in Bangladesh, the official said it will depend on regional integration as it is yet to known how many cargoes will be diverted to Chittagong and Mongla from India, Bhutan and Nepal.