Bangladesh: Bloggers discussing cinema, politics, health, photography and history

(First published in Global Voices Online)

The Bangladeshi film industry nicknamed Dhallywood used to produce decent films for the Bangladeshi society. But with the competition of superior quality pictures from Hollywood and Bollywood, which conquered Bangladesh market and the people with the help of cheap bootleg VCD/DVDs, Dhallywood was in trouble in the last decade. Keeping the strict censorship rule in a predominantly Muslim society in mind, the Dhallywood producers invented new ways to attract viewers with saucier and violent scenes as well as stories and using colorful explicit posters.



Shafiur of imperfect world 2008 shares 8 posters from his collection of almost 500 posters to let us have an idea of what Dhallywood offers now- a- days. Click on the image to view those.

Politics

“The rule of law is essential for society to live without fear. For it to apply, it must start at the top.”

World renowned photojournalist Shahidul Alam comments the above in a photo essay on the existing rule of law (or the absence of it) in Bangladesh. Click here for the photo essay.

Health

Recently an email about maltreatment and death of a patient in a Dhaka clinic was widely circulated among the Bangladeshis. Life in Eskaton posts it to portray the sorry state of the private clinics who are just cash mongers and negligent in service.

The blogger shares another story about his father’s MRI investigation in a diagnostic center in Dhaka. Being a heart patient he had to take some cautions. His mother detected that from a display in a board and rushed to alert doctors before they proceeded with the investigation.

He asks:

"Lucky for us, my mother is a sensible woman. And a person who could read English instructions being used as decorative items inside the hospital. What if it was some innocent man from a rural area who can’t read? How can one accept negligence of this magnitude from doctors who appear so smart and intelligent?"

Photography



Russell John posts in BP Blog (Official Blog of Bangladeshi Photographers) a collage of 110 photos which are on display in the Sidr Aid Photography Exhibition 2008 being held in Dhaka.

History

There is a controversy in Bangladesh brewed by the dynastic political descendants of two architects of Bangladesh’s liberation - the father of the nation and ex-prime minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and ex-president General Ziaur Rahman, on the issue of who declared the independence of Bangladesh. We have seen text books have been rewritten during the tenure of BNP (headed by Zia’s wife Khaleda Zia) and Awamy League (headed by Shiekh Mujib’s daughter Sheikh Hasina) claiming their versions of the history.

Blogger Mashuqur Rahman and freedom fighter and liberation war historian M. M. Rahman Jalal did an extensive research on this and published the revealing facts. Please read the post to find out the truth.

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Indoor politics is back in Bangladesh: what next?

At last the stranglehold on Bangladesh politics has been relaxed for the better. Today the chief of Caretaker (interim) Government has declared in a televised speech to the nation that:

* announced an end to a long-running ban on indoor politics from Monday.
* no more cases would be filed and nobody would be harassed in connection with the incidents at Dhaka University and other public universities across the country late August.
* the national taskforce on corruption would not publish any new list of corruption suspects after the current month.
* there may be some mistakes his government made as there were mistakes by any government.
* repeated his pledge to transfer power to elected public representatives after arranging the elections by the 2008 deadline.



(video courtesy Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers)

But what sort of politics can we expect when the supreme leaders of the major political parties are behind bars? There are already split within major parties. The Economist slammed the apparent minus two solution and comments:

this is not a country preparing for a return to democratic politics. The BNP is in a mess. Hours before her arrest, Khaleda Zia expelled Mannan Bhuiyan, the BNP's secretary-general, for “a conspiracy to split the party”. The League, for its part, has found it impossible to part with Sheikh Hasina, who remains popular. No self-respecting politician will enter the fray while the army runs the show. Mohammad Yunus, a Nobel-prize-winning microcredit pioneer once seen as a potential candidate to fill the political vacuum, floated a party earlier in the year, but has scrapped plans to enter politics.

...diplomats say that the present regime is “the only game in town”. The generals' secular stance and tough opposition to Islamist extremism still make them attractive to Western governments. But with the two big parties decapitated, the fear is that the Islamists, both the mainstream and a more radical margin, will profit from the political vacuum and growing economic discontent.

Update: Zafa analyzes the speech in a writeup in E-Bangladesh.

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Khaleda Zia behind bars

People say that there is never a dull day in Bangladesh politics. Today early in the morning the military-backed (care-taker) interim government in Bangladesh had arrested former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on corruption charges. His son was also arrested on the same charge. Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying has detailed timeline of the events leading to her arrest. It was surprisingly a televised even as the news of the arrest was leaked and the media was trailing the security forces convoy rolling to her house.



Earlier in midnight a case was filed against her where she was accused of favoring her son misusing her power by awarding contracts to a local company, when she was in power. Her elder son is already behind bars also facing corruption charges. She will share a makeshift detention center in the parliament compound with her longtime political rival Sheikh Hasina who is also detained on charges of corruption.

Dozens of high profile Bangladeshi politicians and businessmen are behind the bar because of the governments ongoing battle against corruption and cleansing of the politics in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is under a state of emergency since January 11, 2007, when this interim government was formed.

The Bangladeshi blogosphere has mixed feelings over this issue. Shafiur is delighted hearing this news and distributing misti (sweets) on the net. He is sarcastic about this:

She and her son Koko have not been upfront about their various financial activities, and so it is hoped they will be helped to become more transparent in special quarters set aside for them.

People were discussing after the arrest of Sheikh Hasina about one and a half months ago why no charges were being brought against Khaleda Zia. There are also speculations that a certain quarter is trying to get rid of these political icons and use the space to clinch power. The Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers comments:

Finally, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the mother of all corruption, has been arrested by the army backed care taker government. They're now trying to balance their action by arresting Khaleda Zia.

Khaleda Zia told in an exclusive interview with bdnews24.com hours before the arrest:

"I'm not afraid of arrest. People are with me. The case against me is false."

Dhaka blog comments on Khaleda Zia's remarks:

I just don't like politicians from every party crying out "the cases against me are false" and "conspiracy" every time they suffer political intimidation. If there were really these many "conspiracies" in Bangladesh, our GDP would have shot up a bit more!

But the question still remains whether this will pave the way towards restoring democracy in Bangladesh. Rumi writes in Drishtipat Blog ironically:

A significant number of people have been blaming two main political leaders for all the vice of Bangladesh. Now as both the causes of the all the evil are effectively contained in jail cells, so a sun of eternal lasting peace is supposed to rise in the horizon today. People should start living in immense joy, peace and happiness. No more there should be any chaos, corruption, poverty, lawlessness, hunger, crime in this country. There would be everlasting peace.

People commenting on this post also had mixed reactions. While some were gleeful and lauded the government one questioned:

Interesting to see that we, Bangladeshis, judge situation by heart; not by brain. None of the allegations are proved against KZ or SH, though some bloggers are ready to hang them till death!

The country is suffering from high inflation and recent unrest after riot broke out with students and police over withdrawing an army camp from a university campus led to declaration of curfew. The care-taker government promised holding of election by end of 2008 after completing a massive new voter ID project.

(Cross-posted in the Global Voices Online & E-Bangladesh)

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Which came first? The fallacious arguments:

The controversy regarding the first proclaimer of independence of Bangladesh lingers on as the BNP government (led by Khaleda Zia, the wife of late president Ziaur Rahman) reprinted the history of the Liberation war with an amendment. The new one states that he is the first proclaimer of independence which was not clearly stated in the earlier version. The proclamation issue is rather controversial as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in his famous speech on March 7, 1971 declared sovereignty from Pakistan and declared that if he could not give any formal order in time, let the people defend their country themselves at their discretion. On March 26, 1971 following the crackdown of Pakistani Army, Zia, then a Major of Eighth East Bengal Regiment mutinied with his fellow officers and soldiers in Chittagong. He found his way to the rebel radio broadcasting center Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. He proclaimed Bangladesh as an independent country on March 26, 1971 and it is said that he did it first without mentioning Sheikh Mujib's name. It was the local Awami league leaders who persuaded Zia to give the proclamation on behalf of Sheikh Mujib and thus his famous March 27, 1971 speech was aired numerous times. There are other such claims to add further controversy about which one is the first proclamation. In 1977, Zia (then President) undertook the project to collect Liberation War documents and compile them into a comprehensive historical documentation. Renowned journalist and poet Hasan Hafizur Rahman edited the book titled 'Bangladesher Swadhinota Juddho: Dalilpatra' (The Liberation War of Bangladesh: Documents). Publication of its 15 volumes completed in 1986. Zia never had any urge to portray himself as the first proclaimer or make any fuss about it.

Now the point is, our political acrimony between the Sheikh Mujib's Awami League & Zia's BNP is so unhealthy, that the both parties failed to give respect to the both undisputed leaders. You cannot undermine the efforts of one of them. Zia's first proclamation did not include Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's name but it did not mean that he had any apprehension about Mujib's leadership. And it is really unfair of the Awami League supporters to ignore Zia's initiatives to proclaim formally when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was already in army custody on March 26, 1971.

I really see no merit in establishing one leader above another leader. They all played their part just like every countrymen and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the undisputed father of nation.

I hope that the Awami league supporters cease to undermine Zia's contribution and wish that the BNP supporters try not to erase Sheikh Mujib and the past putting Zia on the top. And no matter who proclaimed first, the both leaders are in our hearts; Bangladesh is independent now and we have to look forward for progress.

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