Bangladesh updates

The following text in Swedish is a draft for an article for the Swedish magazine Sydasien. Sorry, all you English speakers! The latest news from Bangladesh this week is that police fired at garment factory workers demanding their overtime pay. The owner of the garment factory refused to pay the salaries and the frustrated workers gathered to demonstrate. The police was called in to calm down the situation, resulting in police shooting dead one young female garment worker and injuring 12 others who were rushed to hospital. The prevailing emergency rule makes it illegal for people to gather for anything that could be labelled as "political activities", and this is the response and defense used by police officials. A panel of three persons have now been set up to investigate the incident further.

Article draft for Sydasien:

Fyra månader av relativt lugn har passerat i Bangladesh sedan parlamentsvalet ställdes in i slutet januari och interimsregeringen med stöd av militären tog över styret av landet. Undantagstillstånd infördes och gäller fortfarande, med restriktioner som innebär exempelvis förbud mot politiska möten både inom- och utomhus, tydlig närvaro av polis och militär samt ett på obestämd tid uppskjutet val. När undantagstillståndet utlystes stoppades alla de politiska demonstrationer, strejker och hartals som dominerade gatubilden i Dhaka under de osäkra månaderna före det utsatta datumet för val i slutet av januari.

Under den senaste veckan verkar det dock som om den lugna situationen förändrats. Ett uppmärksammat fall med en ung man som enligt anklagelser torterats till döds av RAB (Rapid Action Battalion), en svartklädd specialstyrka inom polisen med särskilda befogenheter, ledde till att upprörda människor tog till gatorna för att protestera i den nordvästra delstaten Rajshahi. Ytterliggare en incident som pekar mot att situationen i landet förändrats ägde rum i början av veckan då textilarbetare bestämde sig för att trotsa demonstrationsförbudet då de förvägrades utbetalning av sina övertidslöner. Polisstyrkor sattes in för att få stopp på demonstranterna. Polisen öppnade eld och en ung kvinnlig textilarbetare sköts till döds. Ytterliggare tolv personer fick föras till sjukhus. Då liknande situationer riskerar att skada förtroendet för den sittande interimsregeringen tillsattes redan dagen efter dödsskjutningen en utredningspanel med tre personer som ska undersöka hur situationen kunde urarta och få så ödesdigra konsekvenser.

Inget datum för det kommande parlamentsvalet har ännu fastställts. Den politiska opposition med de ledande partierna Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) och Awami League (AL) pressar på för att valen ska hållas så tidigt som möjligt. Interimsregeringen å andra sidan diskuterar fortfarande praktikaliteter som utfärdande av identitetskort för alla röstberättigade. Ett arbete som av den sittande valkommissionen beräknas ta upp till 18 månader, vilket innebär att valet möjliggörs först i slutet av 2008.

Efter undantagstillståndet infördes med förbud mot politiska aktiviteter bestämde sig ledaren för Awami League att lämna landet för att besöka sin son i USA. Sheikh Hasina deklarerade att det för tillfället inte fanns något för henne att göra i Bangladesh och att det var dags att samla krafter för de nya utmaningarna hon och hennes parti stod inför. När Hasina efter ett par månaders frånvaro bestämde sig för att resa tillbaka till Bangladesh kom hon inte längre än till Heathrow i England, där hon efter att inreseförbud utfärdats av interimsregeringen blev förhindrad att stiga på sin flight från London till Dhaka. Samtidigt som Hasina var fast i London spekulerades det i bangladeshiska medier om huruvida också Khaleda Zia, ledaren för BNP, var på väg att landsförvisas till Saudiarabien tillsammans med sina närmsta familjemedlemmar. Det ryktades att hon besökte sina två söner som sedan ett par månader sitter fängslade som resultat av interimsregeringens anti-korruptionskampanj, och att hennes brorsbarn fick ta avsked från klasskamraterna i skolan. Men plötsligt ändrades direktiven och den sjunde maj fick Hasina grönt ljus för att återvända till Bangladesh. AL-supporters trotsade mötesförbudet och slöt upp för att möta sin ledare vid flygplatsen. Längs hela vägen från flygplatsen till hennes bostad stod människor och välkomnade henne. Khaleda och hennes familj stannade kvar i Dhaka och trots upprepade rykten om att hon inom kort på grund av sjukdom kommer att lämna landet för att resa till Singapore för vård av diabetes är hon för närvarande fortfarande kvar i Bangladesh.

Trots att de båda oppositionsledarna nu är i landet så innebär det rådande förbudet mot politiska aktiviteter att de politiska partierna är mycket försiktiga med att uttala sig, vilket resulterar i att det är svårt att få information om vad som försiggår inom partierna. Fredspristagaren Mohammad Yunus som i februari deklarerade att han skulle starta ett eget parti beslutade redan två månader senare att dra tillbaka sitt beslut. Efter en kort pressnotis i de större bangladeshiska dagstidningarna där beslutet tillkännagavs har Yunus inte offentligt kommenterat saken ytterliggare.

Interimsregeringens pågående anti-korruptionskampanj resulterade i veckan i en första fällande dom. En av de specialinrättade domstolarna för korruptionsärenden dömde Haris Chowdhury, en av Khaleda Zias politiska sekreterare, till tre års fängelse då han vägrat lämna in förmögenhetsuppgifter. De speciella domstolarna har särskilda befogenheter att snabbutreda och döma i korruptionsmål och efter denna första fällande dom väntas många av de hundratals korruptionsanklagade nu ställas inför rätta. Att domstolarna kommer igång och visar medborgarna resultat i form av fällande domar mot välkända, korrupta individer kan ge interimsregeringen det fortsatta stöd och förtroende som den så väl behöver för att kunna fortsätta genomföra reformer i landet.

Interimsregeringen har hittills åtnjutit ett starkt stöd, både från stora delar av den bangladeshiska allmänheten och det internationella samfundet då den lyckades stabilisera landet efter det kaos som rådde fram till undantagstillståndet infördes. Ju längre tid som nu passerar innan ett datum för val fastställs, desto större risk att förtroendet för interimsregeringen minskar. Den senaste veckans händelser med dödskjutningen av den kvinnliga textilarbetaren och de allvarliga anklagelserna om tortyr gentemot RAB riskerar dock att försvåra interimsregeringens fortsatta arbete.

Utmaningarna i Bangladesh är många, interimsregeringen tvingas balansera mellan att upprätthålla lag och ordning samtidigt som fokus måste vara på att så småningom avveckla sig själv. Utvecklingen den närmsta tiden kommer att visa hur väl interimsregeringen lyckas med denna balansgång som är avgörande för hur framtiden kommer att se ut för den fortfarande unga demokratin Bangladesh.

Beautiful Bangladesh

Amnesty International statement on current situation in Bangladesh

Amnesty concerned at death, torture in custody

Written by Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star 13 May 2007

Amnesty International has expressed grave concern over the alleged "tortures and deaths in custody" since the declaration of the state of emergency in January 11 in Bangladesh, it said in a statement. The human rights watchdog called for prompt, impartial and effective investigations into all reports of torture and death in custody and urged the caretaker government to ensure that any official responsible for such heinous acts be punished after a fair trial.
In the statement issued on May 10, it said it believes that the opportunity should now be seized to send a clear and unequivocal message that a climate of impunity, which has previously shielded politicians, law enforcement agencies and other officials responsible for human rights violations from effective prosecution, will no longer be tolerated.
The human rights organisation drew attention to the reported death in custody of Garo community leader Cholesh Richil on March 18, 2007 following torture by law enforcement agencies and demanded "those identified as responsible for the death in custody of Cholesh Richil are brought to justice in a fair trial without delay."
They also demanded that the government allow witnesses to submit evidence without fear and make public the terms of reference of the judicial commission formed to investigate the death of Cholesh and also the report of the commission be made public.
Amnesty International also condemned the reported arrest and torture of Shahidul Islam, founder director of Uttaran, an NGO. They demanded that an independent and impartial investigation into the allegations be instituted, its terms of reference include protection of witnesses and the government make public the outcome of the investigation.
They also recommended that the government establishes clear and enforceable safeguards against abuse of administrative detention procedures during the state of emergency, which Amnesty International says results in torture.

For full statement and report:

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA130052007?open&of=ENG-BGD

More Amnesty reports on Bangladesh:

http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-bgd/index

Updates - Debate on caste in India

Discrimination on the basis of caste has long been forbidden according to the the Indian constitution, but the caste system still plays a significant role in various ways in Indian society. Last year a political decision to increase affirmative action to include also "other backward castes" in the educational system stirred riots and protests throughout the country.

A new area of caste debate is taking place, this time regarding the Indian police force. Last week a committee decided that in order to be promoted, police officers must pass a new assesment test where attitude towards collegues with backward caste will be tested. Today, how long it takes before you can be promoted in the police force is based partly on your caste background. An officer from a lower or backward caste can get promoted a couple of years eralier than his/her higher caste collegues. According to critics of the assesment test and these kind of caste based affirmative actions (sve. positiv särbehandling), once again caste is being used as a political tool for getting votes in the ongoing elections from the large part of the population who belongs to these lower/backward castes.

Political updates

Elections in UP started its sixth and last phase yesterday, the election procedures in large states like Uttar Pradesh takes about one month. Results will come soon. Sadly, politics in many parts of India (as in many other countries of the world) is influenced by corruption, and according to NDTV out of the 984 candidates 162 has a criminal record. Another incident, a rape of an 8-year old girl in a polling both, has caste a shadow over the otherwise relative calm elections.

Former PM Sheikh Hasina returned to Bangladesh on Monday evening and was met by thousands of cheering supporters. Still no news on if she might be arrested according to the charges against her.

The return of a leader?

Time for some updates on political events in Bangladesh. Tonight the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to return after earlier being banned from entering the country after a couple of weeks visit in the US. Hasina left Bangladesh after the care taker government issued state of emergeny and banned all political activities, to spend time with her son and his new born baby in the US. Her political rival, the other former prime minister Khaleda Zia, stayed on in Bangladesh, but for a while it seemed like the care taker government was trying to force her out of the country and rumours had it that she was on her way together with family members to leave for Saudi Arabia.

During Hasinas stay in the US a court in Bangladesh issued a warrant for her arrest on charges of extortion and murder. Khaleda Zia has her eldest son imprisoned on charges of serious fraud and corruption. It remains to be seen if the two leading political figures of Bangladesh will stay in the country and if they might be arrested or not in the near future. Hasina is expected to arrive at the airport this evening, and security measures are on high alert in this politically volatile country.

An interesting twist in the drama of Bangladeshi politics and the current situation is that the son of Hasina, Sajeeb Wazed (who she visited in the US), is a frequent blogger. On his blog he defends his mother against the charges levelled against her and talks about his own aspirations of getting into politics. Check out one of the more interesting political blogs of our modern time: http://www.sajeeb.blogspot.com/ for more updates.

Over to India where parliamentary elections are going on. As always I am struggling to get a grip of the Indian political scene, but updates will come soon on whats going on in the Northern region in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where Congress and BJP are fighting a hard battle. These states are enormous with between 100-200 million voters and also among the poorest and less developed states of the country. The results in elections here have a crucial impact on the political setup on the national level in India.

Daily life - Driving in Dhaka

The guard where I live (with his prayer mat properly rolled out), me and the Swallows jeep which I try to drive as safely as possible on the streets of Dhaka. For driving rules in Bangladesh take a look at www.cfalkman.blogspot.com

How it works

The Swallows India-Bangladesh was formed in 1959 and started development work in India in the 1960s. After the Bangladeshi War of Independence the Swallows started supporting victims of the war through various relief activities. It soon became obvious that Bangladesh was in dire need of more long-term development programmes. Today Bangladesh is one of the countries with most NGOs and a large development sector. During the 1980s it was possible to start working directly together with Bangladeshi NGOs and this tradition has been followed up until today when the lingo of development work is words such as "partnership", "local ownership" and "development cooperation". Ideals that sometime are difficult to live up to in real life, but steps in the right direction. Today the Swallows in Bangladesh fund about 7 local partners, working in different parts of the country. The projects can de divided broadly into agricultural projects and social mobilization projects. The aim of most of the projects is to improve the situation for disadvantaged groups, with a special focus on rural women.

The main function of the Swallows today is to act as a partner and facilitator for discussions, strategies, visions and necessary activities to reach long-term goals of a sustainable and just development. This work is carried out e.g through the Swedish Swallows Friends Network where courses and seminars are arranged on behalf of our partners on issues where they identify a need for more knowledge. Last week a three-day seminar was held on gender mainstreaming.

Promises

After severe criticism I will adhere to a few new rules on this blog. I will try to accomodate all of the requests I have received regarding my blogging so far...

1. More updates - Yes, will happen. From now on one update per week
2. Information about daily stuff - Ok, will do
3. Information about work - Will come (tomorrow actually)
4. More pictures of Gabrielle - Well, maybe
5. Less pictures in general
6. More pictures in general
7. Information about Bangladesh politics - Will come

To my defense I have to say that it has been a busy first month here, but then again there should be lots of things to cover in the blog. I hereby promise to improve :)

It is Saturday evening and a couple of friends just left. The TV is on, showing Indian Idol. Sundays are working days for me so I am off to bed in a little while. But my new blogger life will start tomorrow, pictures and stories from Bangladesh to come.

Blasts in Bangladesh

This morning at 7.30 three minor blast went off at railway stations in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. The blasts left only one person injured and no persons were killed. There are all sorts of rumours about the motives behind the attacks, see the CNN link for more information: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/bangladesh.blasts.reut/index.html

Unfortunatley these kind of incidents are not that uncommon in this part of the world and life moves on as usual.