Habib Siddiqui

Criminals: The powerful land-grabbing syndicate in the Chittagong metropolitan area include: (1) Jaker Hosain Chowdhury (son of late Kala Miah) of 187 Manu Mianji Lane, Chandanpura, Ctg.; (2) Jashimuddin, s/o Abdul Mannan of Mannan Villa, 1697 K.B. Aman Ali Road, P.S. Bakolia, Ctg., (3) Ekramul Haque Kaderi, s/o Ahmadul Haque of Village Chapra, P.S. Patiya, Ctg., (4) Md. Momtazuddin Manjur, s/o Moktar Ahmed of village Barunchar, P.S. Anwara, Ctg., (5) Md. Mahbubul Ahsan, s/o Md. Nazimuddin Bhuiyan of 155/2 West Kafrul, Dhaka, (6) Md. Wahed Molla alias Md. Zaher alias Md. Jahed, (7) Md. Moinuddin, s/o (late) Md. Azizul of village Farhabad Musabia, P.S. Hathazari, Ctg., (8) Nurul Amin Sanobi, s/o Syed Ullah of village Sonua, P.S. Bashkhali, Ctg., (9) Md. Shahjahan Chowdhury, s/o Raja Mia of village Sreepur Kharandip, P.S. Boalkhali, Ctg. (10) Champaiya alias Abu Hanif (right hand man of the most feared politician Godfather in Chittagong); (11) Md. Abdul Mabud (a notorious money-launderer...

Yousef Munayyer (A New Mideast Approach, Washington Post, Jan. 24, 2008) has correctly pointed out the problems and solutions to the most important issue of our time, i.e., finding a peaceful resolution to the Palestine-Israeli conflict that would allow the two sides to live as peaceful neighbors. Bush's policy tilted so much in favor of the hard-line Israeli government that it was a disaster, and only made things more difficult for the new administration to find a middle ground that could be trusted by both parties. The appointment of George Mitchell was the best thing that could have happened in a long time. As a trusted friend of Israel, who is still admired by the Arabs for his honesty and integrity, he may be able to do something that others had failed so miserably. Who knows at long last we may really see an independent and autonomous Palestinian state living side by side with Israel without being choked and harassed by its powerful neighbor.

Ref: http://www.goodgovernancebd.org/ Mr. Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez has been leading a drive towards good governance in Bangladesh for quite sometime. However, like many other good efforts and initiatives, lodged by many concerned citizens and NGOs, Mr. Parvez's call for good governance thus far has only met deaf ears from those in higher offices. There is no doubt that without good governance, transparency and accountability, no organization, let alone a government -- liberal or illiberal, democratic or not-so-democratic -- can empower its constituents. Unfortunately, the absence of such building blocks has been the modus operandi of many governments, including that of Bangladesh. In the write-up "A Cautionary Note to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," Mr. Parvez has brought up some issues that deserve serious consideration from the newly elected government of Sheikh Hasina Wazed. I pray and hope that in the aftermath of recent election victory (considered to be ...

Ref: http://www.harvardir.org/articles/1784/ Sajeeb Wazed and Carl Ciovacco's piece in the Harvard Internationational Review, Nov. 19, 2008 on "Stemming the Rise of Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh" deserves our attention for articulating ways and means to combating the so-called Islamic extremism in Bangladesh. With the Awami League's overwhelming victory over the BNP-Jamat right wing coalition, one can safely assume that many of the suggestions made by these authors will be implemented to stem that rise. There is little disagreement that religious extremism of any kind -- Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Baha'i, Sikh and Jain - is bad. It is worse when such is allowed in politics. It should not be allowed to dictate public policy under any government. Such a combination can be deadly explosive, resulting in deaths and sufferings of many innocent people. Unfortunately, we had witnessed a good dose of such a Molotov cocktail in many countries in th...