NYT flays Bush over Bangladesh developments

-

http://www.indiaenews.com/america/20070416/47538.htm

NYT flays Bush over Bangladesh developments

From correspondents in Washington, United States, 02:31 PM IST

The Bush administration has come under media attack for the first time for 'ignoring' the emergence of military rule in Bangladesh.

Suggesting that the mass arrests of political activists in Bangladesh and the hounding of its two top politicians could lead to a creeping authoritarianism, the New York Times said military rules offers no answers to grievances that can fuel Islamic radicalism.

Pakistan, it said, was a clear example of this.

Commenting on the situation in Bangladesh, which is now virtually under army rule, the newspaper faults the Bush administration for raising 'little protest'.

'Washington is being dangerously short-sighted. Democracy can be messy, and in Bangladesh it was extraordinarily so. But military rule offers no answers to the grievances that fuel Islamic radicalism, as can be seen from nearby Pakistan.

'By stifling authentically popular mainstream parties and their leaders, military regimes often magnify the political influence of religious extremists,' the editorial argued.

Last week, the newspaper pointed out, Sheikh Hasina Wajed and leaders of her 14-party alliance were charged with murder in connection with violent pre-election protests.

Her rival, Khaleda Zia, is now under virtual house arrest. More than 150 other senior politicians have been detained on corruption charges 'and the timetable for new elections keeps receding'.

'This concept of a militarily guided democracy without democrats is familiar in South Asia. Pervez Musharraf has followed the same script in Pakistan and his countrymen are still waiting, with increasing impatience, for the real democracy he promised them nearly eight years ago,' NYT said.

Both former Bangladeshi prime ministers have much to answer for, including tolerance for corruption and a bitter personal rivalry that has kept the country in permanent turmoil.

But the answer cannot lay in an unaccountable military dictatorship, it said. 'And President Bush, if he truly cares about democracy in the Islamic world, needs to say so.'

(Staff Writer, © IANS)

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smugglers-BDR Affair on Barendra Express

-
Monday, December 7, 2009 Passengers halted an intercity train for three hours at Panchbibi station in Joypurhat yesterday protesting carrying of smuggled goods in trains and alleged harassment by border troops in the name of raids. Hundreds of passengers got down from Barendra Express that runs between Nilphamari and Rajshahi when it arrived at Panchbibi station at around 10:00am and staged demonstration for three hours until 1:00pm. They sat on the rail track just in front of the locomotive of the express train and held a rally, said sources in the headquarters of Bangladesh Railway's west zone in Rajshahi. The agitators said the smugglers were carrying Indian fertiliser at different compartments of Barendra Express since it started from Nilphamari. Half an hour before the train reached Panchbibi, some members of Bangladesh Rifles challenged the smugglers, they said. At this stage, the smugglers spread the fertiliser inside the compartments by cutting sacks and t
Read more

JMB Patron Aminul Jailed; Dulu given 8 yrs RI for arson, looting; Justice delivered to Fazlu; JMB ruled supreme with their blessings; Extortion charges against Minu

-
Image
  http://thedailystar.net/2007/07/27/d7072701011.htm     JMB patron Aminul jailed 24 others also handed 31 years behind bars for helping militants   Anwar Ali, Rajshahi Former post and telecommunications minister barrister Aminul Haque and 24 others were yesterday sentenced to 31 years and six months' imprisonment in the first-ever judgment of a case for patronising Islamist militants. The convicts also include Rajshahi district BNP Secretary Shish Muhammad. The Second Additional Sessions Judge's Court, Rajshahi convicted them for aiding and abetting the militants of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in extorting and torturing people in Bagmara upazila of the district in 2004. The convicts were also fined Tk 25,000 each and in default they will have to suffer three years more in jail. Two accused union council chairmen--Besharatullah and Rafiqul Islam--were acquitted in the case. Judge Rezaul Islam delivered the judgment amid tight security
Read more