“When the Iraq war started in 2003″, types Rezwan, a Bangladeshi living in Berlin, “I was in Dhaka and I read a story in a local newspaper about a man called Salam Pax, an Iraqi, who was writing an online diary about the war and the effect it was having on his everyday life. I read his blog over and over, and started browsing around for others. After a while I started to think about writing my own. I found from many blogs from around the world that there appeared to be huge misconceptions about Bangladesh, mainly due to the absence of Bangladeshi...
August 31, 2007
August 30, 2007
Drama all around
The remanded DU teachers were charged with "giving provocative statements and instigating recent violent protests on Dhaka University campus" and produced to court. BDNews24 reports:A few minutes before arrival in the courtroom, Prof Anwar Hossain expressed sorrow over the "attitude shown to the army" during student protests on campus and sought forgiveness from all in the army—from a soldier up to the army chief. He claimed that the agitated students had attacked security officials and uniformed army personnel, hurting the dignity of the Armed...
India vs England: 4th One Day International Cricket match
England is leading this seven match series 2-1. So far we have seen some brilliant cricket with the prowess of some batsmen of both the teams, especially Sachin Tendulkar and Ian Bell. Indians will be hoping to win this 4th ODI to be held at Manchester. Andrew Flintoff will probably return today for England.For the live streaming audio & video links & ball-by-ball commentary links of this match click here.Meanwhile Bangladesh had left for Kenya to attend a four nation warm up series including the host and Pakistan. Looking forward to some...
August 28, 2007
Curfew ends in Bangladesh but not the discontent
At lasts the curfew which was imposed last Wednesday following the massive unrest started by student protests has been lifted. Now the talk of the town is a report published in several newspapers in Bangladesh declaring the unrest as a co-ordinated attempt to unseat the current Government. What is notable is that the reports quoted unnamed *intelligence* sources and allegations without any references or evidence.For an example, the articles published in the Daily Amader Shomoy and the Daili Amar Desh were true copies. These reports claim that the...
Who is telling the truth?
"Our present government is a national government, army-backed government. That means it is a collective government,"- Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein"The present government is not a national government supported by the army. It is an independent, non-partisan caretaker administration,"- Bangladesh's army chief General Moeen U. AhmedBBC has a sum-up of the current situation titled "photo the Bangladesh army cannot stan...
Today's Links
* Blogs have come of age: 10 years ago, weblogs altered mainstream media; now they're part of it.* Google Sky: Google Earth to launch new service for stargazers.* Attack on Taslima: love of Islam or love of power?* The most complex marriage proposal ever?* More racist attacks reported across Germa...
August 27, 2007
Did we forget the flood?
Photo: Sumaiya Ahmed via Flickr (attribution license)You can also check this brilliant arial photographs of massive flooding through out Dhaka and central Bangladesh in Flickr taken by CujoPhoto.The flood-related death toll went up to 702 yesterday since July 30 this year and most of the casualties were caused by drowning in floodwaters. The flood situation in the country is likely to improve further as the falling trend of the major rivers including...
August 25, 2007
Traveling
I will be traveling in the weekend so will not have the chance to update the situation of Bangladesh. The frantic search for news updates were taking toll of me anyway and this will be a welcome break for me.The Government has decided to relax curfews from 6 am today for 17 hours. Ershad Ahmed posts photos of the street life in Shahbag area taken on Friday evening. Life seems to be normal. There is even a groom's car being decorated. So people are also getting married in this situation. I am sure scores of weddings and other engagements were already...
August 24, 2007
Bangladesh under curfew: Day 2
Bangladesh Open source intelligence monitor reports:* The violence and attacks on security forces have subsided and a relative calm is prevailing all over the country.* The curfew has been relaxed from 8 a.m to 10 p.m for people to go shopping and offer their Friday prayers.* The Army is still out patrolling the streets of Dhaka and there seems no immediate plan for them to return to the barracks.* Media censorship is in force and some private TV...
August 23, 2007
Bangladesh under curfew: Day 1
An important Dhaka street looked like this today at 8:30 AM : Photo Shafiur.Bangladesh was virtually cut off from the world during the night Here are some of the latest as the bloggers are reporting:Journalist Arafatul Islam:* The internet connections were out from 1:30AM at night. Limited connections were live at around 9:30 AM. Some say BTTB servers (state controlled internet gate away) were down. Some say the link to submarine cable was snapped....
YouTube Videos of the Day
Two videos from Jago Bangladesh (Total duration: about 20 minutes).Part 1:Part 2:Bangladesh (1972 - 2006): A Rare Documentary of Corruption to Crakedo...
August 22, 2007
Crackdown in Bangladesh after curfew, blogger and journalists beaten, detained & later released
We have seen dramatic developments today in Bangladesh. The riot went on in the 3rd day and the Government imposed curfew.(Photo courtesy Emela/The Daily Star)More Photos uploaded in Flickr by E-Bangladesh.BDNews24 reports that the curfew has stranded many:Hundreds of thousands of people walked home as the news of the curfew spread amid a flare of emergency-time violence that swept much across of the country. The order derailed public transports....
Curfew in Bangladesh
Background on this issue:* Trouble at Dhaka University* Student riot continues in Dhaka(Photo courtesy The Daily Star: Victorious students bidding farewell to the army posted in the campus)The riot spread outside Dhaka on the 3rd day. At least 50 students and 10 police were wounded in the clashes in Rajshahi, about 230 kilometers (145 miles) northwest of Dhaka. IHT reports:Violent clashes between police and students demanding an end to emergency...
August 21, 2007
Xenophobia against Bangladeshi Workers in Maldives
Bangladeshi immigrant workers consist of about 8% of the total population of Maldives (3,00,000). Their labor is an integral part of the tourism and construction industries of the country. But in recent days there are reports of mob attacks against the Bangladeshi community. Some were also brutally murdered. Now Bangladesh Government has taken up this issue strongly. Minivan News reports:Bangladesh’s High Commissioner has told Minivan News he will consider pulling his country’s 25,000 expatriate workers out of the Maldives, if the government cannot...
Indian tourists were attacked by right wing extremists in Eastern part of Germany
Deutsche Welle reports:Dozens of German youth attacked a group of Indian visitors to a village fair in the eastern German state of Saxony. Twelve people were injured in the incident which took place in the early hours of Sunday.The Leipziger-Volkszeitung daily in Leipzig reported on Monday that the German mob had shouted xenophobic slogans. "If the police hadn't come, something much worse might have happened here," the paper quoted the pizzeria owner as saying.Eastern Germany is also grappling with a resurgence in right-wing extremism after recent...
Student riot continues in Dhaka
Violent student riots continues for the second day in Bangladesh. At least 15 students have been injured. They have set the deadline for withdrawing the army camp at Dhaka University till Wednesday.Drishtipat reports:* Police fired teargas Tuesday to quell protests that spilled into its second day amid a strike at Dhaka University as more than 1,000 angry students marched through the troubled campus.* Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) has thrown their weight behind the students demanding army pullout from the campus* Protests spilled...
India vs England: Cricket One Day Internationals (ODIs) - live streaming audio & video links & ball-by-ball commentary
The both team is set for a long series of ODIs (7 of them). It will be interesting to follow the series as India has already won the Test series from the host England. Lets see whether England can bounce back in the one day series. Ian Chappel said that pace bowling will be the key factor to win the matches.Here is the remaining tour schedule:August:Tue 21 13:30 GMT 1st ODI - England v India The Rose Bowl, SouthamptonFri 24 13:30 GMT 2nd ODI - England v India County Ground, BristolMon 27 ...
Trouble at Dhaka University
The problem started around 3.30 pm yesterday when a petty dispute broke out concerning comments passed by an armed forces personnel during a soccer match on the university gymnasium ground where an army camp is situated. The Daily Star reports:The soccer match was between the departments of public administration and journalism. During a penalty shoot Mehedi Mohammad, a student of the public administration department stood up in front of a group of army personnel, obscuring their view.Army members allegedly abused him verbally and asked him to move...
August 20, 2007
Today's Links
* Saving Bangladesh from global warming.* Take care, Mr. caretaker.* Bangladesh: faces of emergency and human rights issues.* Bus nomenclature.* The world’s strangest laws.* Movie locations guide: Maps and directions to famous filming locatio...
August 19, 2007
August 18, 2007
Taslima Drama in India Update
Taslima Nasrin receives another death threat fatwa.Associated Press Pakistan reports:Majidulla Khan Farhad of Hyderabad-based Majlis Bachao Tehriq while addressing a rally at Tipu Sultan mosque in Kolkata after Juma prayers as saying Taslima has defamed Islam and announced “unlimited financial reward” to anybody who would kill her. Reuters reports:While one prominent cleric said Nasreen had a month to leave, another said she had 15 days. Anyone who killed her would get a cash reward of 100,000 rupees ($2,400), they said."Anyone who executes...
Is your blog really free to express your thoughts?
Blogs have revolutionized freedom of expression of personal opinions reaching out to the world. There is no one to edit what you right other than yourself. But is it really true? We are forgetting the involvement of hosting services or ISPs and BSPS (blog service providers such as Wordpress, Typepad and Blogspot) in the process.This has happened before that blogs were banned or suspended from Service Providers for political reasons or threat from other users. Yahoo! handed over dissidents' information to Chinese Authorities. And recently "the blog...
August 17, 2007
60 years of independence from British rule: where does Bangladesh stand?
Shahpar Selim has written a touching article in Drishtipat blog in which she tries to find how Bangladesh fit into the history of 1947. In her own words:[....]But on this great day when we celebrate the free identity of the subcontinent…whither art thou, Bangladesh? Didn’t we also get independence from the British?[....]Standing here and now, what do we have in common with our siblings, India and Pakistan? Plenty, for sure! I can stand shoulder to shoulder with my Pakistani and Indian friends and feel tremendous pride at sharing a common heritage...
A new blog to fight corruption in Bangladesh
Freedom fighter and Blogger Shahzaman Mazumder, Bir Protik has taken a commendable step. He has opened a blog called Bangladesh Corruption Stories. The ingenuity is that you can directly post to this blog anonymously via e-mail. The e-mail address is: Shahzaman.mozumder.corruptionstories@blogger.com He also advises:Please remember that the subject line becomes the heading of the post while the body of the e-mail constitutes the text of your post. For anonymous postings, delete any signature and other identifying information.So, what are you waiting...
August 16, 2007
Dr. Yunus in Singapore
Singapore’s foreign affairs minister George Yeo writes in Beyond SG blog. He recalls his recent meeting with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate banker from Bangladesh. He says:"By doing something simple with passion and conviction, Mohammad Yunus has done good for millions of people. I find him a great inspiration".I am just wondering when we will see a minister from Bangladesh bloggi...
Blogs, Anonymity, Freedom of Expression
I am pleased to announce the formal launch of E-Bangladesh, Bangladesh's answer to The Huffington Post. Focusing on Bangladesh this aggregated weblog offers latest news and best analysis to its readers, uncensored.I am honored to get one of my articles published there along with notable bloggers and journalists like Tasneem Khalil, Mashuqur Rahman and Saleem Samad. Here is the piece:All over the world, there are regimes that discourage free speech and try to suppress dissidents. They keep an eye on its netizens and in recent years many bloggers...
August 12, 2007
Good Morning Geneva
(A view of Geneva in the morning - The blue strip is the Zura mountains)Writing from Geneva. Arrived here in Friday after a tiring 13 hours drive (1100 km). Yesterday went near the Matterhorn peak (highest point in Switzerland). Could find little time to be online. I am stealing somebody's open network and quickly check some emails. More to foll...
August 09, 2007
Picture of the day
East-side Gallery: Reminiscent of the Berlin Wall 1961-1989View the Berlin Wall East Side Gallery photographed in its entir...
India vs England: 3rd Test (Cricket) at Oval - live streaming audio & video links & ball-by-ball commentary
This match will be interesting because India has the chance to win this series if they can at least draw the match and this will be a series win in England after a long time (probably the last one was in 1986).I will have to again search for the ways to watch the game online. Here are a few of my findings of some relevant links:# Free audio and video streaming links:* BBC Sports -Cricket for complete coverage from the BBC with live audio feeds, video highlights, feature stories, picture galleries, or have your say in the online forum. Please click...
August 08, 2007
Photo stories on Bangladesh
Ihtisham Kabir is back to Bangladesh after more than twenty years of experience in software engineering in Silicon Valley. We see him through his blog "Back to Bangladesh" and know that Photography is his passion. He has recently put together a photo gallery. Check his photo stories and gallery for authentic pictures and narratives on living in Banglade...
August 07, 2007
Bangladesh: Enemy property act , skin color and Floods
In this weeks tour inside the Bangladeshi blogosphere we will discuss an old black law enacted in time of war being put to use by land encroachers and creating human rights abuse on minorities. We will also look at the dark truth that haunts women in Bangladesh and many parts of the world and which is exploited by commercial organizations. These and much more in this week’s round-up:Enemy property act:We take you first to Dhaka Blog where Asif discusses a dark act enacted before the independence of Bangladesh:Following the 1965 war with India,...
August 06, 2007
The national anthem of India is in Bangla language?
The debate is over the national anthem of India Jana Gana Mana, lyrics and music by Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali Nobel Laurate. He is the only Author whose songs are national anthems of two countries, India and Bangladesh. The song is sung in Hindi. Ragib Hasan states [Bangla] that an Indian Government website claims that the hindi version of Tagore's song was taken as the national anthem of India. But Ragib shows that it is actually the Bangla text pronounced in Hindi accent. No Hindi adaptation was done (note: Hindi and Bangla language have...
August 05, 2007
Bangladesh cricket war update
Bangladesh cricket board was taken over by the army to uproot corrupt politicians from the board. They have decided to bring some discipline in the Bangladesh cricket team army style. Their performance was lackluster in the recent Sri Lanka tour. The team will be sent to an "Australian style boot camp" starting on August 11 in the north-eastern Sylhet division under a special military unit as part of their warm up campaign for the Twenty20 World...
Web crash 2007
Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet CrashOfficials confirm that all online data has been lost after the Internet crashed and was forced to restart.(Via Atanu D...
August 04, 2007
Resilience, faith and the survivors of the delta
"One thing Bangladeshis cannot be accused of is making a drama out of a crisis."writes John Sudworth of BBC after visiting the flood effected SirajGanj in Bangladesh. He tells about the way Bangladeshis are tackling this year's flood being more devastating than an average year. They are remaining calm and resilient, trying to carry on with their normal life in waist-deep water.(Picture courtesy the Daily Star)The relief efforts are not as exhaustive...
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