Habib Siddiqui

Apartheid is the worst thing that can happen to any nation, especially those folks who are in the receiving end of injustice and discrimination. In our times, there is hardly a state that is as criminal as the state of Israel is in terms of practicing this unholy apartheid system on its indigenous Palestinian people. The worse problem is the Government of Israel tries to portray itself as a democracy. What a joke! It can't be a democracy where the indigenous people are not allowed to live freely. It is also an expansionist, colonial enterprise that has become so arrogant that it does not mind biting the very hands that have been feeding it for years. That arrogance and criminal mindset has to be defeated for good. Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) are the only ways that the rogue state of Israel can be defeated to change its apartheid character. I, therefore, support the student initiative everywhere towards divestment from Israel.

More than 22,000 mercenaries are operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. These unaccountable hired guns have shot civilians and participated in torture at Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities, thus putting to risk our service men and women in the harm's way. Of these mercenaries, the greatest harm done to our national security and international image is that of the Blackwater, which now goes by the name Xe Corp. It is the poster child for everything that's wrong with military contractors. They've killed civilians, they've stolen weapons, they've billed the U.S. government for a prostitute, and they've changed their name multiple times to they can keep getting contracts. The "Stop Outsourcing Security Act", introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the House (H.R. 4650) and Bernie Sanders in the Senate (S. 3023), would prohibit hiring private mercenaries like Blackwater to perform tasks traditionally done by the military. Both the Houses must pass these reso...

Dear President Obama, I have been a great supporter of your presidency since before you got elected as the President of our nation. I continue to believe that your intentions are good. However, more and more it is becoming difficult for many like me to say that you are for a change in global injustice and against war when in reality you have escalated war in Afghanistan. I understand your dilemma like that of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. But know that Afghanistan will not find a real solution with a war ravaging over her that sees the Afghans losing their loved ones in war and bombs dropped from American planes. They have to go back to their traditional ways, something that was there before the communist rule and the Soviet invasion. That can happen again, and we can facilitate that, through honorable negotiations of the Afghan people where everyone has its due share of government, and the government formed is neither dominated by a particular ethnic community nor by our puppets...

The values that I grew up with and learned as a child born in South Asia nearly half a century ago are quite different than the ones preached and practiced today in the West. In our zeal to be called civilized we have automatically assumed it to equate with modernity. Thus, in our political jargon when our western leaders talk about being civilized they mean how well we have adopted the modern western way of life. That means, to be civilized you should have not just an ordinary wired telephone but a wireless/cellular phone, TV, cars, computers and other amenities of the western modern life – running faucets, western habits and consumption patterns. Minus those modern amenities, you simply are not civilized. But that is not enough! You have to also mimic western way of life. On the top of that list comes women’s liberation. That is, if women in your culture are not ‘liberated’ by discarding the traditional garb or dress, you must be ‘oppressing’ your females, and you are uncivilized! It...

The Crossfire Controversy in Bangladesh By Dr. Habib Siddiqui In recent days, following a photo exhibit on “Crossfire” at the Drik Gallery, Dhaka, much noise has been made in the media about human rights violations in Bangladesh. Last Monday an anti-government group even hosted a news conference in the National Press Club, Washington D.C. Extra-judicial killings are unacceptable anywhere. Having said that let's not be oblivious of the hard facts in our world. Such killings are quite common everywhere and are routinely practiced by most governments to weed out elements within the society that they consider dangerous, who might otherwise escape from a faulty judicial system. As I write this essay, Los Angeles Police officers fatally shot late Saturday night an unarmed autistic man, Steven Eugene Washington. The officers said that they thought Washington was pulling out a weapon from his waistband area, but he turned out to be unarmed. The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on ...

It is sad to see the ruling AL govt in Bangladesh is not keeping up with its election promises to let the crime-Czar ACC do its task uninterrupted and uncoerced. The ACC is run by a very honest bureaucrat, Golam Rahman; and many there are very capable people to do the task with right kind of provisions made by the govt. But if it is allowed to work without the biting teeth and nails, it would turn out to be a joke. There won't be any weeding out of corruption from Bangladesh. The Mahajote government ought to know that that is not why our people have put them into power. They must never weaken the ACC's power, if they are sincere. Any curbing of the ACC's power would show that they are insincere and only care about protecting themselves. People will not forgive such a deliberate breach of election promises. Let the government read the writings on the wall. It is never too late to correct its mis-steps and stupid decisions.

Ann Coulter is a symbol of hatred, bigotry and xenophobia in our media. She got much publicity in the post-9/11 era with her hate speech against Muslims, and became an overnight celebrity amongst the racists and neocons, who looked upon her as a model or diva. But to the vast majority of global citizens, she was like a female devil, worse than a whore and a beast. It was sad to see that Canada, where I studied for two years, had allowed this bigot to appear in university campuses . Shame on those 'conservative' student bigots who have not learned the basics of humanity and yet claim to be civilized. At the first stop on her 3-campus tour, which includes U of Calgary, Coulter addressed hundreds at the University of Western Ontario. Coulter told the crowd that Muslims should be banned from airplanes and instead use 'flying carpets.' When one Muslim student asked how she should travel, as she didn't own a flying carpet, Coulter told her to "take a camel." Jus...

From the published reports in the Save Bangladesh, it is clear that Muslim human rights groups like the AMT and the CAIR have been exploited by organizers of this news conference to put pressure on the Mahajote government to rescind its decision and election promise to try the war crimes of the liberation war. The subject of war crimes remains a very divisive one in Bangladesh, which saw some 3 lakh, i.e., three hundred thousand (and not million; a mistranslation of Sk. Mujib’s Bangla word 'lakh' in English to 'million' got the currency later) people killed and thousands raped. It was a savage war bringing in sometimes the worst in humanity. It is true that Bangabandhu out of his magnanimity had declared a general amnesty to those accused or convicted for minor crimes; and that they, under the Act, were all set free. But those accused of rape, murder, arson or plunder were not pardoned. In other words, the general amnesty kept the scope of prosecution and trial of those...

Extra-judicial killings are unacceptable anywhere. Having said that let's not be oblivious of the hard facts in our world. Such killings are quite common everywhere and are routinely practiced by most governments to weed out elements within the society that they consider dangerous, who might otherwise escape from a faulty judicial system. Consider, for instance, the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) where some 700,000 Indian soldiers are now stationed to do the administrative 'police' work. With their unsheathed bayonets they are supervising every five meters, all the time, all year round. Or look at the eastern Indian states where the government of India is in a war against the locals, who are conveniently dumped as the Naxalites or Maoists. There under the name of Operation Green Hunt, the Indian paramilitary forces are doing the ‘army’ job, hunting down the so-called Maoists. Before Operation Green Hunt, the state government armed tribal militia, which, backed by police in a...

I could not agree more with Danny Gallagher's informed comments about CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour. She is probably the best known TV journalist in the world today. Her knowledge of the area she travels and covers, the issues she discusses or raises and hard-probing questions she asks surely make her the best in her business. Her joining the ABC TV is a huge gain for the ABC TV and a great loss for the CNN. I am sure that as a seasoned real journalist, away from the charlatans like Barbara Walters who give a bad name to journalism, Amanpour would be able to prove her worth even when discussing domestic issues in the USA.

French voters gave Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party a hammering in the run-off elections for regional councils. The left opposition won everywhere except Alsace and two overseas regions. I am glad that the French people are waking up to the harms brought about by President Sarkozy, a person of less than mediocre IQ and full of ego, racism and xenophobia. His remarks in Africa were so undiplomatic that only a moron could have delivered such a talk. His anti-Islam pogroms is making France look bad in the eyes of the world. He ought to be dumped for good. I hope that the recent failure of his party in the regional election is a real sign for Sarkozy's Waterloo.

This is from a friend who sent to me: Question: Which country alone in the Middle East has nuclear weapons? Answer: Israel . Question: Which country in the Middle East refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections? Answer: Israel . Question: Which country in the Middle East seized the sovereign territory of other nations by military force and continues to occupy it in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions? Answer: Israel . Question: Which country in the Middle East routinely violates the international borders of another sovereign state with warplanes and artillery and naval gunfire? Answer: Israel . Question: What American ally in the Middle East has for years sent assassins into other countries to kill its political enemies (a practice sometimes called exporting terrorism)? Answer: Israel . Question: In which country in the Middle East have high...

By now everyone must have heard about how the US Vice President Joe Biden was diplomatically smacked by the Israeli government. Many have blamed the hard-line conservative Israeli interior ministry for ill-timing the announcement about Israeli government’s decision to build 1600 housing complexes in the Occupied West Bank, but not the decision itself. That is, in their estimate, if the Government of Israeli (GOI) had announced the decision at a different time than Biden’s visit to the Holy Land the apparent embarrassment could have been avoided. I simply don’t accept such an explanation! How could a clear violation of international laws and repeated UN resolutions be acceptable practice if it were done at a different time? As I said elsewhere, the US government cannot expect the GOI to take it seriously on its opposition to the settlement activities when it continues to reward the rogue state year after year with billions of dollars of economic and military aid for every such unlawful ...

In the last 62 years, the state of Israel has transformed itself from a colonial, settler Jewish state to a Zionist expansionist empire, albeit without an emperor, in the heart of the Middle East where through its racist and apartheid policies and programs it has ensured that the only way the indigenous Palestinian people could live there is by relegating upon themselves a third-class status, which is worse than what the Apartheid regime had imposed upon the Black indigenous people of South Africa. That transformation was aided and facilitated by the powerful western states, the Jewish Lobby, their pro-Israeli politicians, donors, sympathizers (thanks to the Holocaust industry and the Hollywood), merchants and promoters of war. The Israeli leaders and its ‘Amen Corner’ within the Capitol Hill have been abusing the U.S. promise to stand by a “secure” Israel as a blank cheque to undermine the stated American aims for the region. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of settlers almost quadru...

The coming Tuesday, 16 March, will be the 7th year since Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, was killed by an Israeli Army bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian building in the Rafah refugee camp. A court case brought by her family has begun in Israel. The civil action against the Israeli defence ministry will decide whether damages should be paid for her death in Gaza at the age of 23. Her family has maintained that a full investigation was never carried out. In an interview with the Democracy Now, her family says that Israel may not allow Rachel Corrie’s Palestinian doctor and the witnesses in Gaza to testify for the case. There is strong possibility that the driver who murdered Corrie will also not be allowed to take the witness stand. Well, those of us who have been following the “only” democracy in the Middle East for quite some time are not surprised by such legal stonewalling from the apartheid state. It was not too long ago that the Israeli gover...

There is no doubt that our people are somewhat dissatisfied with either the slow pace of the inquiry and trial of the captured culprits or the published government reports on the Peelkhana tragedy. Bangladesh is however not unique in such lengthy trial processes. We notice the same slow paced process with the trial of the alleged masterminds of 9/11 here in the USA; it is taking 7-8 years now. However, our public wants faster, transparent and fair process to unearth the truth. Many Bangladeshis do suspect that the government wants to put a lid into the fact-finding process so that the real truth may never come out. A section suspects that some folks within the Awami League were involved in the murder plan. A few others also see the RAW connection to weaken our armed forces. Early in the process, a govt minister even suspected Islamist connection, only to be rejected in the subsequent CID inquiry report. A much circulated internet posting even mentioned that beside MPs like Nanok, Azam...

Last Thursday a U.S. congressional panel approved a resolution declaring, what it called, the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians genocide. The U.S. foreign affairs committee endorsed the resolution with a 23-22 vote even though the Obama administration had urged Congress not to approve it. The resolution now goes to the full House, where prospects for passage are uncertain. Turkey has always maintained, and rightly so based on objective investigation of the matter by unbiased historians that the Armenian toll in 1915-16 has been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest, not genocide. Turkish government has pulled its ambassador home as a protest of the U.S. congressional panel decision. While the death of those Armenians during World War I has often been dubbed as genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks, it should be noted that the Ottoman Empire was a distant memory since 1908 after the Young Turks, run by the Freemasons, had taken effective control of the falli...