Archaeological Place
Architectural Edifice
Beach and Island
Botanical Park
Culture and Festival
Forest and Jungle
Government
Heritage
Hill Tracts
Historical Place
Institute and Organization
Museum
Recreation and Sports
Religious
River and Lake
Sea Port
Shopping
Theme Park
Undefined
Waterfall
Zoo
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. The city is known as the city of mosque, muslin and rickshaws. It has attracted travellers from far and near throu
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. The city is known as the city of mosque, muslin and rickshaws. It has attracted travellers from far and near through ages. Dhaka as the capital of Bangladesh has grown into a busy city of about ten million people with an area of about 1353 sq. km. Having a happy blending of old and new architectural trends, Dhaka has been developing fast as a modern city and is throbbing with activities in all spheres of life. It is the center of industrial, commercial, cultural, educational and political activities for Bangladesh.
Several classrooms of Eden Girls’ College vandalised in intra-BCL clash
Several classrooms of Eden Girls’ College vandalised in intra-BCL clash
Several classrooms of Eden Girl’s College were vandalised in a factional clash of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Friday over establishing supremacy in the educational institution, police said.
Witnesses said the clash ensued between the supporters of BCL president of the college unit Jasmine Shamima Nijhum and the supporters of BCL vice-president Champa at about 11:00am, that created panic among the general students.
On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
Campus sources said both the sides attacked each other in line with their alleged bids to establish dominance in admission trade.
Source: Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of bangladesh
Read more:
Hayden turns big chase into cakewalk
Genetically modified food 'unfit for consumption'
Prime Bank chess begins in Natore
Nat'l vitamin A+ campaign on May 29
Cisco sees Bangladesh as fast-emerging IT mkt
Anti-govt Reds reject offer of talks with Thai PM
Messi leads Barcelona behind "ridiculous" form
UCB MD visits CSE
Chevron supports health camp at Bibiyana
Citi holds core banking training
Bangabandhu's birth anniversary observed
Farroque sued for Tk 1.0b for defaming Sajib Wazed
PCB bars national cricketers from foreign competitions
Fiji cyclone damage overwhelming
The new jute revolution
Several classrooms of Eden Girl’s College were vandalised in a factional clash of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Friday over establishing supremacy in the educational institution, police said.
Witnesses said the clash ensued between the supporters of BCL president of the college unit Jasmine Shamima Nijhum and the supporters of BCL vice-president Champa at about 11:00am, that created panic among the general students.
On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
Campus sources said both the sides attacked each other in line with their alleged bids to establish dominance in admission trade.
Source: Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of bangladesh
Read more:
Hayden turns big chase into cakewalk
Genetically modified food 'unfit for consumption'
Prime Bank chess begins in Natore
Nat'l vitamin A+ campaign on May 29
Cisco sees Bangladesh as fast-emerging IT mkt
Anti-govt Reds reject offer of talks with Thai PM
Messi leads Barcelona behind "ridiculous" form
UCB MD visits CSE
Chevron supports health camp at Bibiyana
Citi holds core banking training
Bangabandhu's birth anniversary observed
Farroque sued for Tk 1.0b for defaming Sajib Wazed
PCB bars national cricketers from foreign competitions
Fiji cyclone damage overwhelming
The new jute revolution
Eden Girls' College, Bangladesh
Eden Girls' College, Bangladesh
Eden Girls' College originated from a school for Brahmo Samaj girls. It was established by Shubha Sadhini Sabha (a philanthropic society) in Dhaka in 1873. Initially, the classes of the school were conducted in a private house at Farashganj. In 1878, the school was merged with another private girls' school to form the Dhaka Female School.
Frequent shifting placed the college in an uncertain situation and with an intention to merge with Quamrunnesa School and College, it shifted to the premises of the latter. In 1958, the college sections of these two institutions merged and formed Eden Girls' College. The new college was located at Bakshibazar. The school sections of the two colleges were merged to form Quamrunnesa School at Tikatuli.
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres (73,000 m2) of land at Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar.Named as Begum Badrunnesa Govt. Girls' College. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes.
The official name of the college has been changed to Eden University College since its affiliation with National University of Bangladesh.
[edit] Campus and facility
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres of land at [[Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes. The Bakshibazar section introduced independent degree classes, taking afterwards the name of Government Girls' College, and later, Badrunnesa College.
The Azimpur campus got its independent identity as Eden Girls' College in 1963. In 1972, the college had a large academic building with four wings and about one hundred rooms. Two four-storeyed buildings were added in the 1980s. Apart from these structures, the college has four hostel buildings, a two-storeyed library building, and the residence of the Principal within its boundaries. In 1999, Eden's library had 33,000 books and subscribed to about 1,200 journals and newsletters. Students of the college take part in Rover Scouting and national level sports competitions in the field of hockey, badminton, handball and athletics.[1]
Eden Girls' College originated from a school for Brahmo Samaj girls. It was established by Shubha Sadhini Sabha (a philanthropic society) in Dhaka in 1873. Initially, the classes of the school were conducted in a private house at Farashganj. In 1878, the school was merged with another private girls' school to form the Dhaka Female School.
Frequent shifting placed the college in an uncertain situation and with an intention to merge with Quamrunnesa School and College, it shifted to the premises of the latter. In 1958, the college sections of these two institutions merged and formed Eden Girls' College. The new college was located at Bakshibazar. The school sections of the two colleges were merged to form Quamrunnesa School at Tikatuli.
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres (73,000 m2) of land at Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar.Named as Begum Badrunnesa Govt. Girls' College. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes.
The official name of the college has been changed to Eden University College since its affiliation with National University of Bangladesh.
[edit] Campus and facility
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres of land at [[Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes. The Bakshibazar section introduced independent degree classes, taking afterwards the name of Government Girls' College, and later, Badrunnesa College.
The Azimpur campus got its independent identity as Eden Girls' College in 1963. In 1972, the college had a large academic building with four wings and about one hundred rooms. Two four-storeyed buildings were added in the 1980s. Apart from these structures, the college has four hostel buildings, a two-storeyed library building, and the residence of the Principal within its boundaries. In 1999, Eden's library had 33,000 books and subscribed to about 1,200 journals and newsletters. Students of the college take part in Rover Scouting and national level sports competitions in the field of hockey, badminton, handball and athletics.[1]
Eden Girls' College
Eden Girls' College
Eden Girls' College originated from a school for Brahmo girls established by Shubha Sadhini Sabha (a philanthropic society) in dhaka in 1873. Initially, the classes of the school were conducted in a private house at farashganj. In 1878, the school was merged with another private girls' school to form Dhaka Female School. The same year the school administration took the initiative to bring it under government management and proposed it be called Eden Girls' School after the Lieutenant Governor Sir Ashley Eden. Given its new status, it started functioning at a new location at Laxmibazar.
Eden was the first government girls' school in Bengal. In 1896-97, it had 130 students. It was recognised by the government as an 'excellent high school' of the provinces of Eastern Bengal and Assam. When the school building was damaged in the earthquake of 1897, it temporarily shifted to a private house. Sometime later, it was again shifted to one of the big business houses of Portuguese merchants at sadarghat. Intermediate classes (grades 11 and 12) were introduced in the school in 1926. Since then it got the name of Eden Girls' High School and Intermediate College. ak fazlul huq (Sher-e-Bangla) in his capacity as the education minister shifted the school to a new building on Abdul Ghani Road, later known as Eden Building. In 1947, the government decided to establish its Provincial Secretariat in this building and the college got a new temporary address in a part of curzon hall. Frequent shifting put the college into an uncertain situation and with an intention to merge with Quamrunnesa School and College, it shifted to the premises of the latter. In 1958, the college sections of these two institutions merged and formed Eden Girls' College. The new college was located at Bakshibazar. The school sections of the two colleges were merged to form Quamrunnesa School at Tikatuli.
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres of land at Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes. The Bakshibazar section introduced independent degree classes, taking afterwards the name of Government Girls' College, and later, Badrunnesa College.
The Azimpur campus got its independent identity as Eden Girls' College in 1963. In 1972, the college had a large academic building with four wings and about one hundred rooms. Two four-storeyed buildings were added in the 1980s. Apart from these structures, the college has four hostel buildings, a two-storeyed library building, and the residence of the Principal within its boundaries. In 1999, Eden's library had 33,000 books and subscribed to about 1,200 journals and newsletters. Students of the college take part in Rover Scouting and national level sports competitions in the field of hockey, badminton, handball and athletics
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Eden Girls' College, Bangladesh
Eden Girls' College, Bangladesh
Eden Girls' College originated from a school for Brahmo Samaj girls. It was established by Shubha Sadhini Sabha (a philanthropic society) in Dhaka in 1873. Initially, the classes of the school were conducted in a private house at Farashganj. In 1878, the school was merged with another private girls' school to form the Dhaka Female School.
Frequent shifting placed the college in an uncertain situation and with an intention to merge with Quamrunnesa School and College, it shifted to the premises of the latter. In 1958, the college sections of these two institutions merged and formed Eden Girls' College. The new college was located at Bakshibazar. The school sections of the two colleges were merged to form Quamrunnesa School at Tikatuli.
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres (73,000 m2) of land at Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar.Named as Begum Badrunnesa Govt. Girls' College. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes.
The official name of the college has been changed to Eden University College since its affiliation with National University of Bangladesh.
[edit] Campus and facility
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres of land at [[Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes. The Bakshibazar section introduced independent degree classes, taking afterwards the name of Government Girls' College, and later, Badrunnesa College.
The Azimpur campus got its independent identity as Eden Girls' College in 1963. In 1972, the college had a large academic building with four wings and about one hundred rooms. Two four-storeyed buildings were added in the 1980s. Apart from these structures, the college has four hostel buildings, a two-storeyed library building, and the residence of the Principal within its boundaries. In 1999, Eden's library had 33,000 books and subscribed to about 1,200 journals and newsletters. Students of the college take part in Rover Scouting and national level sports competitions in the field of hockey, badminton, handball and athletics.[
Eden Girls' College originated from a school for Brahmo Samaj girls. It was established by Shubha Sadhini Sabha (a philanthropic society) in Dhaka in 1873. Initially, the classes of the school were conducted in a private house at Farashganj. In 1878, the school was merged with another private girls' school to form the Dhaka Female School.
Frequent shifting placed the college in an uncertain situation and with an intention to merge with Quamrunnesa School and College, it shifted to the premises of the latter. In 1958, the college sections of these two institutions merged and formed Eden Girls' College. The new college was located at Bakshibazar. The school sections of the two colleges were merged to form Quamrunnesa School at Tikatuli.
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres (73,000 m2) of land at Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar.Named as Begum Badrunnesa Govt. Girls' College. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes.
The official name of the college has been changed to Eden University College since its affiliation with National University of Bangladesh.
[edit] Campus and facility
The current campus of the Eden College was developed in 1962 on 18 acres of land at [[Azimpur. Meanwhile, the college opened its degree programme in the new premises, but its intermediate section continued to stay at Bakshibazar. Subsequently, the Azimpur campus of Eden introduced its own intermediate classes. The Bakshibazar section introduced independent degree classes, taking afterwards the name of Government Girls' College, and later, Badrunnesa College.
The Azimpur campus got its independent identity as Eden Girls' College in 1963. In 1972, the college had a large academic building with four wings and about one hundred rooms. Two four-storeyed buildings were added in the 1980s. Apart from these structures, the college has four hostel buildings, a two-storeyed library building, and the residence of the Principal within its boundaries. In 1999, Eden's library had 33,000 books and subscribed to about 1,200 journals and newsletters. Students of the college take part in Rover Scouting and national level sports competitions in the field of hockey, badminton, handball and athletics.[
Women and Girls in Bangladesh
Women and Girls in Bangladesh
Girls are fed last, and less than their brothers. They are
more vulnerable to trafficking, sexual abuse, rape, acid
throwing and other forms of exploitation, including child
labour and child prostitution. Many are married by age
15 and their families must pay hefty dowries. Dowry
violence, such as murder and induced suicide, still
poses real threats to girls.
Girls are less likely to go to university and if they do go,
their dowry increases. Many are mothers by the time
they are 19. Their youth doubles the risk of fatal
complications in pregnancy. About 11,000 women die in
child birth every year. Almost half of all mothers are
malnourished. Women are likely to die before their
husbands.
There were 266 acid attacks reported recently over a one
year period, affecting 322 people1. Of these, 183 were
women, 76 were children under 18, and 63 were men. Marital, family and land disputes,
dowry, refusing sex and marriage were the main reasons for the attacks. Special, speedier
courts have been introduced to deal with acid attacks, which now carry the death penalty.
Dowry and dowry-related violence, such as acid attacks and murder, are still prevalent. A
recent report2 stated that 165 women were killed in one year, 77 had acid thrown on them,
one was divorced and 11 committed suicide over dowry demands. Dowry is officially
prohibited by law.
Girls aged 14 to 17 are more likely to commit suicide, and attempt suicide than boys. The
Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey reported more than 2200 children committed suicide in
one year – or about six per day. Of those six, four were female. Suicide is the biggest killer
among this age group3.
There are substantially more “undetermined” causes for female deaths by injury than for
male deaths. Boys are more likely to be victims of non-fatal violence4.
More than half of married men (55 per cent) feel justified in hitting or beating their wives. In a
health survey, nearly one in two said if their wife went out without telling them, it would justify
violence5.
1 UNICEF ‘Support to the Acid Survivors Foundation and the Kishori Abhijan Project in Bangladesh,’ June
2005.
2 Written statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre on ‘Dowry related violence against women in
Bangladesh,’ distributed at the 61st session of the UNHCR in Geneva, April 5, 2005.
3 Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey Report on Children, UNICEF and Government of Bangladesh, 2005.
4 Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey Report on Children, UNICEF and Government of Bangladesh, 2005.
5 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training,
2005.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
About 55 per cent of married women lack the
freedom to go alone to a hospital or health
centre, or outside their village, town or city6.
Domestic violence remains a huge threat to
the security of adolescent girls. A UNICEF
report found that extreme physical abuse at
home that led to death accounted for more
than 70 per cent of the reported domestic
violence cases involving young housewives
and girls aged 13-187.
Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. More than two-thirds
of adolescent girls are married (of those aged 10-19)8. Nearly two in five girls aged 15-17 are
married, despite 18 being the legal age for marriage9.
More than half the adolescent girls (55 per cent) become mothers by the time they are 19,
and half of these mothers are acutely malnourished. The maternal mortality rate among
adolescent mothers is double the national rate10.
The national maternal mortality rate is one of the worst
in South Asia, at 320 deaths per 100,000 births11. This
means about 11,000 women die giving birth every year.
Most deliveries take place at home away from
emergency obstetric care and without a skilled
attendant.
Almost one in every seven maternal deaths is caused
by violence12.
Nearly half of all mothers are malnourished (45 per
cent)13. Anaemia is a severe public health problem for
pregnant women, which has been estimated at around
46 per cent. Almost one third of adolescent girls also
suffer from anaemia14.
Girls are typically fed less and last. Nationally, 4.8 per
cent of girls aged 12-59 months were malnourished
compared with 3.6 per cent of boys15.
Almost one in every two husbands decides their wife’s
health care (48 per cent). They often solely determine their children’s health care (32 per
cent)16.
6 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training,
2005.
7 UNICEF Bangladesh website: www.unicef.org/bangladesh
8 The State of World Population 2005, UNFPA.
9 UNICEF Bangladesh Country Programme document, 2005.
10 The State of World Population 2005, UNFPA.
11 SVRS 2002, BBS, according to BMMS 2001 by NIPORT, MMR is in the range of 320-400 per 100,000 live
births in UNICEF and BBS Progotir Pathey 2003.
12 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
13 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
14 Anaemia Prevalence Survey of Urban Bangladesh and Rural Chittagong Hill Tracts 2003, UNICEF.
15 UNICEF and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Progotir Pathey 2003.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
Although the life expectancy gap between men and women has narrowed over the last
decade, Bangladesh continues to be one of the very few countries in the world where
women’s life expectancy is lower than that of men: with men at 68.6 years and women 68.0
years17.
Women are put at risk of HIV/AIDS by their partners’ sexual behaviours, despite the fact
Bangladesh’s overall prevalence rate is believed to be less than one per cent. Most married
men who have unprotected sex with sex workers continue to have sex with their wives.
Consistent condom use among sex workers in Bangladesh brothels is four per cent. For
street-based sex workers it is two per cent. Brothel workers have an average of 19 clients a
week, one of the highest turnover rates in Asia18.
Only 57 per cent of girls aged 10-19 years have heard of HIV/AIDS19.
The tertiary education ratio for female to
males is 36:64, below the MDG target of
50:5020. Early marriage is one of the main
causes of poor enrolment and high female
drop-out rates at the higher education levels.
Increasing tertiary opportunities for girls is
expected to boost the mean age of marriage.
Literacy rates in females aged 20 to 24 years
compared to their male peers is 55:71 (up
from 42:65). This is still well short of the MDG
target of 100:100. In 2000, it was estimated
only 43 per cent of women were literate21.
Net primary school enrolment rates have
achieved gender parity, at 81 per cent for
boys and 84 per cent for girls22.
Almost one in five paid agricultural labourers
is female (19 per cent). However, they only
earn 70 per cent of their male counterparts’
wages. In other sectors, women make up 22
per cent of paid employment. Their wages are
less than half the male wage. (Public servants
have equal wages)23
For one in eight women who earn a wage, someone else decides how that wage will be
spent. More than two in five decide with someone else, such as their husband24.
16 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training
2005.
17 UNICEF BCO PowerPoint 2007.
18 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
19 UNICEF and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Progotir Pathey 2003.
20 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
21 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
22 UNICEF Bangladesh Country Programme document, 2005.
23 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
24 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training
2005.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
Female-headed households face serious poverty. Nearly one in every two female-headed
households falls below the poverty line, compared to less than two in five patriarchal
households.25
There were only six women in the previous 300-seat National Parliament of Bangladesh – or
two per cent of the representation26. Both leaders of the main political parties are women:
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of former
president Ziaur Rahman; and the Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, daughter of
former president and Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In local government, about 25 per cent of the elected members are women27.
25 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
26 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
27 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
Girls are fed last, and less than their brothers. They are
more vulnerable to trafficking, sexual abuse, rape, acid
throwing and other forms of exploitation, including child
labour and child prostitution. Many are married by age
15 and their families must pay hefty dowries. Dowry
violence, such as murder and induced suicide, still
poses real threats to girls.
Girls are less likely to go to university and if they do go,
their dowry increases. Many are mothers by the time
they are 19. Their youth doubles the risk of fatal
complications in pregnancy. About 11,000 women die in
child birth every year. Almost half of all mothers are
malnourished. Women are likely to die before their
husbands.
There were 266 acid attacks reported recently over a one
year period, affecting 322 people1. Of these, 183 were
women, 76 were children under 18, and 63 were men. Marital, family and land disputes,
dowry, refusing sex and marriage were the main reasons for the attacks. Special, speedier
courts have been introduced to deal with acid attacks, which now carry the death penalty.
Dowry and dowry-related violence, such as acid attacks and murder, are still prevalent. A
recent report2 stated that 165 women were killed in one year, 77 had acid thrown on them,
one was divorced and 11 committed suicide over dowry demands. Dowry is officially
prohibited by law.
Girls aged 14 to 17 are more likely to commit suicide, and attempt suicide than boys. The
Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey reported more than 2200 children committed suicide in
one year – or about six per day. Of those six, four were female. Suicide is the biggest killer
among this age group3.
There are substantially more “undetermined” causes for female deaths by injury than for
male deaths. Boys are more likely to be victims of non-fatal violence4.
More than half of married men (55 per cent) feel justified in hitting or beating their wives. In a
health survey, nearly one in two said if their wife went out without telling them, it would justify
violence5.
1 UNICEF ‘Support to the Acid Survivors Foundation and the Kishori Abhijan Project in Bangladesh,’ June
2005.
2 Written statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre on ‘Dowry related violence against women in
Bangladesh,’ distributed at the 61st session of the UNHCR in Geneva, April 5, 2005.
3 Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey Report on Children, UNICEF and Government of Bangladesh, 2005.
4 Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey Report on Children, UNICEF and Government of Bangladesh, 2005.
5 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training,
2005.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
About 55 per cent of married women lack the
freedom to go alone to a hospital or health
centre, or outside their village, town or city6.
Domestic violence remains a huge threat to
the security of adolescent girls. A UNICEF
report found that extreme physical abuse at
home that led to death accounted for more
than 70 per cent of the reported domestic
violence cases involving young housewives
and girls aged 13-187.
Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. More than two-thirds
of adolescent girls are married (of those aged 10-19)8. Nearly two in five girls aged 15-17 are
married, despite 18 being the legal age for marriage9.
More than half the adolescent girls (55 per cent) become mothers by the time they are 19,
and half of these mothers are acutely malnourished. The maternal mortality rate among
adolescent mothers is double the national rate10.
The national maternal mortality rate is one of the worst
in South Asia, at 320 deaths per 100,000 births11. This
means about 11,000 women die giving birth every year.
Most deliveries take place at home away from
emergency obstetric care and without a skilled
attendant.
Almost one in every seven maternal deaths is caused
by violence12.
Nearly half of all mothers are malnourished (45 per
cent)13. Anaemia is a severe public health problem for
pregnant women, which has been estimated at around
46 per cent. Almost one third of adolescent girls also
suffer from anaemia14.
Girls are typically fed less and last. Nationally, 4.8 per
cent of girls aged 12-59 months were malnourished
compared with 3.6 per cent of boys15.
Almost one in every two husbands decides their wife’s
health care (48 per cent). They often solely determine their children’s health care (32 per
cent)16.
6 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training,
2005.
7 UNICEF Bangladesh website: www.unicef.org/bangladesh
8 The State of World Population 2005, UNFPA.
9 UNICEF Bangladesh Country Programme document, 2005.
10 The State of World Population 2005, UNFPA.
11 SVRS 2002, BBS, according to BMMS 2001 by NIPORT, MMR is in the range of 320-400 per 100,000 live
births in UNICEF and BBS Progotir Pathey 2003.
12 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
13 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
14 Anaemia Prevalence Survey of Urban Bangladesh and Rural Chittagong Hill Tracts 2003, UNICEF.
15 UNICEF and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Progotir Pathey 2003.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
Although the life expectancy gap between men and women has narrowed over the last
decade, Bangladesh continues to be one of the very few countries in the world where
women’s life expectancy is lower than that of men: with men at 68.6 years and women 68.0
years17.
Women are put at risk of HIV/AIDS by their partners’ sexual behaviours, despite the fact
Bangladesh’s overall prevalence rate is believed to be less than one per cent. Most married
men who have unprotected sex with sex workers continue to have sex with their wives.
Consistent condom use among sex workers in Bangladesh brothels is four per cent. For
street-based sex workers it is two per cent. Brothel workers have an average of 19 clients a
week, one of the highest turnover rates in Asia18.
Only 57 per cent of girls aged 10-19 years have heard of HIV/AIDS19.
The tertiary education ratio for female to
males is 36:64, below the MDG target of
50:5020. Early marriage is one of the main
causes of poor enrolment and high female
drop-out rates at the higher education levels.
Increasing tertiary opportunities for girls is
expected to boost the mean age of marriage.
Literacy rates in females aged 20 to 24 years
compared to their male peers is 55:71 (up
from 42:65). This is still well short of the MDG
target of 100:100. In 2000, it was estimated
only 43 per cent of women were literate21.
Net primary school enrolment rates have
achieved gender parity, at 81 per cent for
boys and 84 per cent for girls22.
Almost one in five paid agricultural labourers
is female (19 per cent). However, they only
earn 70 per cent of their male counterparts’
wages. In other sectors, women make up 22
per cent of paid employment. Their wages are
less than half the male wage. (Public servants
have equal wages)23
For one in eight women who earn a wage, someone else decides how that wage will be
spent. More than two in five decide with someone else, such as their husband24.
16 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training
2005.
17 UNICEF BCO PowerPoint 2007.
18 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
19 UNICEF and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Progotir Pathey 2003.
20 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
21 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
22 UNICEF Bangladesh Country Programme document, 2005.
23 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
24 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004, National Institute of Population Research and Training
2005.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
Female-headed households face serious poverty. Nearly one in every two female-headed
households falls below the poverty line, compared to less than two in five patriarchal
households.25
There were only six women in the previous 300-seat National Parliament of Bangladesh – or
two per cent of the representation26. Both leaders of the main political parties are women:
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of former
president Ziaur Rahman; and the Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, daughter of
former president and Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In local government, about 25 per cent of the elected members are women27.
25 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
26 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
27 Government of Bangladesh and UN ‘Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report,’ 2005.
© Shehzad Noorani/UNICEF
Sleeping ministers, rapes and atrocities in Bangladesh
Sleeping ministers, rapes and atrocities in Bangladesh
Although nine months have already passed since Awami League led 'Grand Alliance' government [a combination of leftists and Islamists] came in power through a questioned landslide victory, according to Dhaka's popular vernacular tabloid daily Manabzamin, twenty ministers and junior ministers in the cabinet are seen very much inactive.Although nine months have already passed since Awami League led 'Grand Alliance' government [a combination of leftists and Islamists] came in power through a questioned landslide victory, according to Dhaka's popular vernacular tabloid daily Manabzamin, twenty ministers and junior ministers in the cabinet are seen very much inactive.
Two of the ministers of the present government are mostly spending time at home or hospital as they have several physical complications, while some of them do not attend their office even five hours a week. Ministries are forced to send files at their homes for signature.
According to Manabzamin, there is no reflection of the Electoral Manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League in its administration. There are 52 member cabinet in Bangladesh consisting ministers, junior ministers and advisors. The newspaper said, there is 'tug of war' between ministers and secretaries in a number of ministries in Bangladesh, as those ministers are trying to turn these government offices into mere center of party sycophants and touts.
The most effective minister in the preset cabinet in Bangladesh is Abul Maal Abdul Muhit, who is in charge of the finance ministry. He is popularly known as the 'digital minister' in Bangladesh as he already has introduced e-communication system in his ministry where, every citizen of Bangladesh can contact the minister through email and get replies to their questions. Finance ministry in Bangladesh is considered to be the most effective under the leadership of AMA Muhit.
Agricultural affairs minister Matia Chowdhury, who enjoys high esteem of being the most honest politician in Bangladesh is earning wrath of Awami League activists as she rejects all forms of requests from party touts. But now a days, there are even allegations of irregularities against Mrs. Chowdhury. She is alleged of issuing license for dealing in fertilizer only to Awami League cadres.
Commerce minister Lieutenant Colonel [Retired] Faruq Khan has already earned the bad reputation of being the most talketive minister in Bangladesh. Although there are rumors that the commerce minister does not pay any heed to any type of persuation from the party cadres, it is proved that several relatives of him are active in lobbying and they are known to be the 'channels' in reaching the minister in getting any issue settled and done. Faruq Khan is already alleged of according a huge business contract of edible oil and sugar to a non-existent Swedish company.
There are series of allegations against the junior minister in law ministry, Advocate Qamrul Islam. It is reported in press that, he is continuing to take bribes in appointing Public Prosecutors and Assistant Public Prosecutors in Bangladesh.
General Secretary or ruling party and minister in charge of local government and rural development [LGRD], Syed Ashraful Islam attends his office only 5-6 hours a week. His absence in the ministry causes tremendous obstacle in smooth performance of this very important office of the government.
According to some of his close allies, the LGRD minister wakes up from bed everyday at 1 pm. Till he gets prepared, the working hour of the ministry is almost finished. Syed Ashraful Islam is more busy in party activities than taking care of his responsibility as a very important minister.
Labor and manpower minister, Engineer Mosharraf Hussain [who is the father-in-law of Prime Minister's daughter] has failed to make any contribution in creating any job scope for Bangladeshi workers abroad. He also has failed in doing anything in resolving the ongoing labor unrest in various textile and readymade garment industries in Bangladesh.
Junior minister of labor and manpower ministry, Monnujan Sufian [wife of a trade unionist] spends most of the time in her constituency instead of attending the ministry.
Land minister Rexaul Karim Heera and Social Welfare minister Enamul Huq Mustafa Shahid spend most of their time at their homes, as they have several physical complications due to old age. Sons of these ministers were seen active in the ministries concerned in 'looking after' day-to-day activities of the ministries. It was reported in the local media that those sons of the ministers were making good amount of cash through various types of corruption, taking the advantage of their father's undeclared representatives in the ministries.
Leftist leader Dilip Barua, who is in charge of the industries ministry has failed to show any remarkable performance in past nine months. He has already been alleged of corruption while purchasing fertilizer from abroad. It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh imports Urea, Potash and other types of fertilizer from foreign countries worth a few hundred million dollar, each year.
Minister in charge of civil aviation and tourism ministry, Golam Mohammed Quader is working tirelessly despite series of threats from the corrupt trade unionists in several organizations under his ministry, including the nation flag career Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Communication minister Syed Abul Hossain is alleged to be persuing and lobbying in getting various projects for his own company named Shaco Limited. Abul Hossain is known to be a good friend of China.
It is further alleged that, Abul Hossain has virtually forced the energy ministry in issuing the permission in favor of his own company for establishment of 150 mega watt power station in Sylhet district.
Health ministry has turned into an epicenter of war between the minister, junior minister and advisor. Due to such internal battle, there is virtually no performance of this ministry, which already resulted in no initiative from the government in providing vaccine to people during the recent crisis of Swine Flu. There are also reports in Bangladeshi media that the country is already suffering from acute crisis of birth control and family planning materials.
Minister in charge of livestock ministry is presently at the center of serious controversy as several animals are continuing to die at Dhaka zoo during past few weeks. The minister failed to take any action in stopping such dubious death of animals.
From these information it becomes crystal clear that the present government is gradually failing in ensuring good governance. Bangladesh Awami League is not only failing to fulfill its electoral pledges to the nation, but, pushing the fate of the nation towards multiple complicities mostly due to either mafunction or non-functioning of the ministers.
Meanwhile, another leading vernacular daily in Dhaka, Amader Shomoy reported that, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajib Wajed Joy is working as her 'undeclared advisor' since the present government came in power.
In 1996, when Awami League came in power, Joy, who lives in United States committes series of irregularities by proclaiming to be the advisor to his mother. It was even reported in a English language periodical in Bangladesh that Sajib Wajed Joy became owner of huge properties in United States during the tenure of his mother [1996-2001].
Now, here is the most alarming information, which will clearly show the bad governance of Bangladesh Awami League in past nine months. According to Amar Desh, a front ranking vernacular dailly newspaper in Bangladesh, 338 women and children were raped during past nine months in various parts of Bangladesh while 50 women and 22 minor girls were murdered after rape.
The report further said, 68 women and 51 girls were also gang raped during past nine months.
On September 25, 2009, 10 activists of Bangladesh Awami League raped a young girl, on her return from a Hindu temple at Kolapara upazila [sub-district] under Patuakhali district at the Southern part of Bangladesh. Later, an influential ruling party leader of the sub-dustrict, forced the family members of the raped girl to sign in blank papers to stop them from lodging any complaint with police. None of the perpetrators were ever arrested since the brutal rape of the Hindu girl.
At Pirojpur district [Southern part of Bangladesh], Ahsan Kabir Mamun, information secretary of the district committee of the student wing of Bangladesh Awami League abducted a school girl and videographed while raping her with the help of his friends. It may be mentioned here that, while Awami League was in power in 1996, a leader of its student's wing arranged a grand party at Jahangir Nagar University to celebrate the completion of his 'raping 100 female students'. Later, instead of punishing this perpetrator, Awami League awarded him with a job at National University. Since Awami League came in power in 2009, such rapes have again started in various university campuses and residential halls in Bangladesh.
Although nine months have already passed since Awami League led 'Grand Alliance' government [a combination of leftists and Islamists] came in power through a questioned landslide victory, according to Dhaka's popular vernacular tabloid daily Manabzamin, twenty ministers and junior ministers in the cabinet are seen very much inactive.Although nine months have already passed since Awami League led 'Grand Alliance' government [a combination of leftists and Islamists] came in power through a questioned landslide victory, according to Dhaka's popular vernacular tabloid daily Manabzamin, twenty ministers and junior ministers in the cabinet are seen very much inactive.
Two of the ministers of the present government are mostly spending time at home or hospital as they have several physical complications, while some of them do not attend their office even five hours a week. Ministries are forced to send files at their homes for signature.
According to Manabzamin, there is no reflection of the Electoral Manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League in its administration. There are 52 member cabinet in Bangladesh consisting ministers, junior ministers and advisors. The newspaper said, there is 'tug of war' between ministers and secretaries in a number of ministries in Bangladesh, as those ministers are trying to turn these government offices into mere center of party sycophants and touts.
The most effective minister in the preset cabinet in Bangladesh is Abul Maal Abdul Muhit, who is in charge of the finance ministry. He is popularly known as the 'digital minister' in Bangladesh as he already has introduced e-communication system in his ministry where, every citizen of Bangladesh can contact the minister through email and get replies to their questions. Finance ministry in Bangladesh is considered to be the most effective under the leadership of AMA Muhit.
Agricultural affairs minister Matia Chowdhury, who enjoys high esteem of being the most honest politician in Bangladesh is earning wrath of Awami League activists as she rejects all forms of requests from party touts. But now a days, there are even allegations of irregularities against Mrs. Chowdhury. She is alleged of issuing license for dealing in fertilizer only to Awami League cadres.
Commerce minister Lieutenant Colonel [Retired] Faruq Khan has already earned the bad reputation of being the most talketive minister in Bangladesh. Although there are rumors that the commerce minister does not pay any heed to any type of persuation from the party cadres, it is proved that several relatives of him are active in lobbying and they are known to be the 'channels' in reaching the minister in getting any issue settled and done. Faruq Khan is already alleged of according a huge business contract of edible oil and sugar to a non-existent Swedish company.
There are series of allegations against the junior minister in law ministry, Advocate Qamrul Islam. It is reported in press that, he is continuing to take bribes in appointing Public Prosecutors and Assistant Public Prosecutors in Bangladesh.
General Secretary or ruling party and minister in charge of local government and rural development [LGRD], Syed Ashraful Islam attends his office only 5-6 hours a week. His absence in the ministry causes tremendous obstacle in smooth performance of this very important office of the government.
According to some of his close allies, the LGRD minister wakes up from bed everyday at 1 pm. Till he gets prepared, the working hour of the ministry is almost finished. Syed Ashraful Islam is more busy in party activities than taking care of his responsibility as a very important minister.
Labor and manpower minister, Engineer Mosharraf Hussain [who is the father-in-law of Prime Minister's daughter] has failed to make any contribution in creating any job scope for Bangladeshi workers abroad. He also has failed in doing anything in resolving the ongoing labor unrest in various textile and readymade garment industries in Bangladesh.
Junior minister of labor and manpower ministry, Monnujan Sufian [wife of a trade unionist] spends most of the time in her constituency instead of attending the ministry.
Land minister Rexaul Karim Heera and Social Welfare minister Enamul Huq Mustafa Shahid spend most of their time at their homes, as they have several physical complications due to old age. Sons of these ministers were seen active in the ministries concerned in 'looking after' day-to-day activities of the ministries. It was reported in the local media that those sons of the ministers were making good amount of cash through various types of corruption, taking the advantage of their father's undeclared representatives in the ministries.
Leftist leader Dilip Barua, who is in charge of the industries ministry has failed to show any remarkable performance in past nine months. He has already been alleged of corruption while purchasing fertilizer from abroad. It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh imports Urea, Potash and other types of fertilizer from foreign countries worth a few hundred million dollar, each year.
Minister in charge of civil aviation and tourism ministry, Golam Mohammed Quader is working tirelessly despite series of threats from the corrupt trade unionists in several organizations under his ministry, including the nation flag career Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Communication minister Syed Abul Hossain is alleged to be persuing and lobbying in getting various projects for his own company named Shaco Limited. Abul Hossain is known to be a good friend of China.
It is further alleged that, Abul Hossain has virtually forced the energy ministry in issuing the permission in favor of his own company for establishment of 150 mega watt power station in Sylhet district.
Health ministry has turned into an epicenter of war between the minister, junior minister and advisor. Due to such internal battle, there is virtually no performance of this ministry, which already resulted in no initiative from the government in providing vaccine to people during the recent crisis of Swine Flu. There are also reports in Bangladeshi media that the country is already suffering from acute crisis of birth control and family planning materials.
Minister in charge of livestock ministry is presently at the center of serious controversy as several animals are continuing to die at Dhaka zoo during past few weeks. The minister failed to take any action in stopping such dubious death of animals.
From these information it becomes crystal clear that the present government is gradually failing in ensuring good governance. Bangladesh Awami League is not only failing to fulfill its electoral pledges to the nation, but, pushing the fate of the nation towards multiple complicities mostly due to either mafunction or non-functioning of the ministers.
Meanwhile, another leading vernacular daily in Dhaka, Amader Shomoy reported that, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajib Wajed Joy is working as her 'undeclared advisor' since the present government came in power.
In 1996, when Awami League came in power, Joy, who lives in United States committes series of irregularities by proclaiming to be the advisor to his mother. It was even reported in a English language periodical in Bangladesh that Sajib Wajed Joy became owner of huge properties in United States during the tenure of his mother [1996-2001].
Now, here is the most alarming information, which will clearly show the bad governance of Bangladesh Awami League in past nine months. According to Amar Desh, a front ranking vernacular dailly newspaper in Bangladesh, 338 women and children were raped during past nine months in various parts of Bangladesh while 50 women and 22 minor girls were murdered after rape.
The report further said, 68 women and 51 girls were also gang raped during past nine months.
On September 25, 2009, 10 activists of Bangladesh Awami League raped a young girl, on her return from a Hindu temple at Kolapara upazila [sub-district] under Patuakhali district at the Southern part of Bangladesh. Later, an influential ruling party leader of the sub-dustrict, forced the family members of the raped girl to sign in blank papers to stop them from lodging any complaint with police. None of the perpetrators were ever arrested since the brutal rape of the Hindu girl.
At Pirojpur district [Southern part of Bangladesh], Ahsan Kabir Mamun, information secretary of the district committee of the student wing of Bangladesh Awami League abducted a school girl and videographed while raping her with the help of his friends. It may be mentioned here that, while Awami League was in power in 1996, a leader of its student's wing arranged a grand party at Jahangir Nagar University to celebrate the completion of his 'raping 100 female students'. Later, instead of punishing this perpetrator, Awami League awarded him with a job at National University. Since Awami League came in power in 2009, such rapes have again started in various university campuses and residential halls in Bangladesh.
Fresh news of minority persecution in Bangladesh
Fresh news of minority persecution in Bangladesh
Advocate Robindra Ghosh, President-Bangladesh Minority Watch [BDMW] sent a number of informative reports on fresh persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh.
Abduction of a Christian girl:
Silvia Sarker [Merry], aged about 12 and a student of 8th grade was abducted on July 30, 2009 on her way to home from school in Barisal district [southern part of Bangladesh] by a group of armed youths. Silvia Sarker is a student of local Sreemati Matrimongal Girls High School.
BDMW informs that a group of culprits named Al-Amin Faria [24], Shamim Faria [22], Shahadat Faria [20] amd Sattar Faria [50] of the locality abducted Silvia Sarker at around 1:00 pm from a place which is two kilometer away from the local police station. A first information report [formal case] was lodged on August 2, 2009 by Julian Sarker, father of the Christian school girl, under section 7/30 of the Women and Children Repression Act. Case number 3. In the first information report, it was alleged that the victim was abducted for forceful conversion to Islam and was forced to marry a Muslim boy. She was subsequently raped by her abducter. Local newspapers carried news of this abduction. Police failed to rescue the girl from the captivity of the abducters.
Though police arrested two of the accuseds, but they later were released on bail from the court and started giving threats of dire consequence to family members of the abducted girl.
Attack on Hindu temple:
A group of influential locals under the leadership of one Ibrahim attacked 'Lord Shiva Temple' at Dhamrai sub-district, under Dhaka district of October 8, 2009. Attackers demolished deities, looted valuables and injured 10 Hindus including the priest of the temple. Subsequently a case was lodged with the local police station by the priest Mongal Chandra Mondal [a local Hindu], but police did not arrest any of the attackers for reason unknown.
Forceful conversion of a Hindu girl:
The Trend of fraudulent conversion by Muslims personifying Hindu adolescent girls increased abnormally at Joypurhat [northern part of the country] in Bangladesh. In those areas, a sense of insecurity prevails amongst the Hindu communities due to such unabated trend. The local administration also failed to provide adequate protection to victim families of Hindu communities.
Purnima Rani – daughter of Dulal Roy of Chitra Para-Joypurhat town was missing for weeks. She was not rescued by police as her abducters were patronized by local leaders of the ruling party. In this area, police regularly deny to register complaints of abduction and forceful conversion.
Another Hindu girl named Nabami Sarkar – daughter of Akhil Sarkar as well Krishna Rani, Mina Debnath, Shikha Debnath and Prativa Rani [all Hindu girls] were forcefully abducted for conversion into Islam by influential locals.
At the frantic bid of the human rights and minority rights groups, local police rescued Purnima Roy daughter of Dulal Roy on October 9, 2009 and produced her before the court. The court sent her to judicial custody.
In another incident, a Hindu girl named Krishna was abducted by a Muslim boy and later was raped in captivity. Local finally were able to rescue the girl in a critical condition. Though a case was lodged, there was no action by the police against the perpetrators. It is alleged that, local politicians belonging to the ruling party are putting pressure on police in remaining silent on such cases of abduction and conversion, as many Muslims consider conversions as a 'Holy task'.
Most of the Hindu parents of girl children are in serious fear, as such abduction and forceful conversion may happen with their girls any moment.
Trend of forceful conversion of religious minorities to Islam is increasing in Bangladesh especially after the increase of activities of Tablighi jamaat as well as provocative sermons by Muslim clergies in the mosques. These clergies and Tablighis offer heaven for the person and his parents and fore-parents for a successful conversion of a religious minority girl or boy into Islam.
According to Bangladesh law, abduction and forceful conversion is a criminal offense. But, none were ever convicted by any courts of law in the country for forcefully converting any minority girl into Islam. In most cases, the abducted girls are converted into Islam and subsquently married to a Muslim boy. Before trial starts, these abducted girls mostly become pregnant. So, they fail to speak out against such crime, fearing finally being abandoned both by her 'husband' as well members of her family and community. Several females, who were victims of such notoriety finally ended up in local brothels, being totally abandoned by everyone.
Establishment of a rehabilitation center for such minority girls, who are abducted, violated and finally rescued but abandoned by the families and societies should be established in Bangladesh for the greater cause of humanity.
On the other hand, Bangladeshi government should also introduce strict law for the incidents of attack on religious temples or worship places by any citizen of the country
Advocate Robindra Ghosh, President-Bangladesh Minority Watch [BDMW] sent a number of informative reports on fresh persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh.
Abduction of a Christian girl:
Silvia Sarker [Merry], aged about 12 and a student of 8th grade was abducted on July 30, 2009 on her way to home from school in Barisal district [southern part of Bangladesh] by a group of armed youths. Silvia Sarker is a student of local Sreemati Matrimongal Girls High School.
BDMW informs that a group of culprits named Al-Amin Faria [24], Shamim Faria [22], Shahadat Faria [20] amd Sattar Faria [50] of the locality abducted Silvia Sarker at around 1:00 pm from a place which is two kilometer away from the local police station. A first information report [formal case] was lodged on August 2, 2009 by Julian Sarker, father of the Christian school girl, under section 7/30 of the Women and Children Repression Act. Case number 3. In the first information report, it was alleged that the victim was abducted for forceful conversion to Islam and was forced to marry a Muslim boy. She was subsequently raped by her abducter. Local newspapers carried news of this abduction. Police failed to rescue the girl from the captivity of the abducters.
Though police arrested two of the accuseds, but they later were released on bail from the court and started giving threats of dire consequence to family members of the abducted girl.
Attack on Hindu temple:
A group of influential locals under the leadership of one Ibrahim attacked 'Lord Shiva Temple' at Dhamrai sub-district, under Dhaka district of October 8, 2009. Attackers demolished deities, looted valuables and injured 10 Hindus including the priest of the temple. Subsequently a case was lodged with the local police station by the priest Mongal Chandra Mondal [a local Hindu], but police did not arrest any of the attackers for reason unknown.
Forceful conversion of a Hindu girl:
The Trend of fraudulent conversion by Muslims personifying Hindu adolescent girls increased abnormally at Joypurhat [northern part of the country] in Bangladesh. In those areas, a sense of insecurity prevails amongst the Hindu communities due to such unabated trend. The local administration also failed to provide adequate protection to victim families of Hindu communities.
Purnima Rani – daughter of Dulal Roy of Chitra Para-Joypurhat town was missing for weeks. She was not rescued by police as her abducters were patronized by local leaders of the ruling party. In this area, police regularly deny to register complaints of abduction and forceful conversion.
Another Hindu girl named Nabami Sarkar – daughter of Akhil Sarkar as well Krishna Rani, Mina Debnath, Shikha Debnath and Prativa Rani [all Hindu girls] were forcefully abducted for conversion into Islam by influential locals.
At the frantic bid of the human rights and minority rights groups, local police rescued Purnima Roy daughter of Dulal Roy on October 9, 2009 and produced her before the court. The court sent her to judicial custody.
In another incident, a Hindu girl named Krishna was abducted by a Muslim boy and later was raped in captivity. Local finally were able to rescue the girl in a critical condition. Though a case was lodged, there was no action by the police against the perpetrators. It is alleged that, local politicians belonging to the ruling party are putting pressure on police in remaining silent on such cases of abduction and conversion, as many Muslims consider conversions as a 'Holy task'.
Most of the Hindu parents of girl children are in serious fear, as such abduction and forceful conversion may happen with their girls any moment.
Trend of forceful conversion of religious minorities to Islam is increasing in Bangladesh especially after the increase of activities of Tablighi jamaat as well as provocative sermons by Muslim clergies in the mosques. These clergies and Tablighis offer heaven for the person and his parents and fore-parents for a successful conversion of a religious minority girl or boy into Islam.
According to Bangladesh law, abduction and forceful conversion is a criminal offense. But, none were ever convicted by any courts of law in the country for forcefully converting any minority girl into Islam. In most cases, the abducted girls are converted into Islam and subsquently married to a Muslim boy. Before trial starts, these abducted girls mostly become pregnant. So, they fail to speak out against such crime, fearing finally being abandoned both by her 'husband' as well members of her family and community. Several females, who were victims of such notoriety finally ended up in local brothels, being totally abandoned by everyone.
Establishment of a rehabilitation center for such minority girls, who are abducted, violated and finally rescued but abandoned by the families and societies should be established in Bangladesh for the greater cause of humanity.
On the other hand, Bangladeshi government should also introduce strict law for the incidents of attack on religious temples or worship places by any citizen of the country
The Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) recently reported the abduction and forced conversion of a Bangladeshi Hindu girl to
The Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) recently reported the abduction and forced conversion of a Bangladeshi Hindu girl to Islam; two human rights organizations, Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) and Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) also investigated it. At 12:45am on 13 June, Koli Goswami was asleep in her bed when five Muslims broke into the family home in Ghosai Chandura, located in northern Bangladesh. They vandalized the home and grabbed the 21-year old the college student. She cried out, but the men easily overpowered her and covered her head to muffle the screams. When others in the house came to her aid, the perpetrators drew their guns, started shooting, and carried off the girl even as she struggled to break free. Her family has not seen her since that night three months ago.
Westerners believe that forced conversion belongs to a bygone age, which is why when presenting these incidents in Washington, it is critical to provide more than horrific allegations—which, by the way, the Bangladeshis routinely deny. Verified details, separating fact from hyperbole, and demonstrating some sort of government complicity are key. In this case, bizarre and contradictory actions by the police only confirm the Bangladeshi government's support for anti-minority violence and the ethnic cleansing of its Hindu population.
According to human rights activist Rabindra Ghosh, who investigated this case, police deny that any crime occurred and refuse to pursue a case; this despite physical evidence of a break-in, which they admit having; the family's video taped testimony; the legal complaint lodged by the girl's guardian; and the family's pleas for them to help locate and recover their daughter. Police told GHRD and BDMW representatives on site, "It is not kidnapping. It is love affairs between kidnapper and victim." Kidnapper? Victim? That hardly sounds like a love affair. Yet, police continue to insist that even while refusing to explain the basis for their conclusion, including their investigation, or why they dismiss the physical evidence that refutes their claim. Nor do they explain why it took five men—including an accused murderer currently charged with murder—to "convince" Koli to leave home.
These actions prompted my organization, Interfaith Strength, to investigate the matter under the direction of Bikash Halder, its Indian representative. Halder dispatched four men to the family home where they spoke with Koli's uncle and guardian, Professor Beraj Goswami. He claims to have faced nothing but corruption, duplicity, and collusion in the crime from the police. When he filed a complaint immediately after the kidnapping, he expected quick action given the nature of the crime and the family's obvious distress. Instead, he met with the police denial—but still insisted that producing Koli would clarify what happened that night. Instead, they produced suspect "affidavits and other so-called marriage of conversion documents," dated from the time of the girl's captivity. The only way to determine their veracity would be for Koli Goswami herself to testify in a safe environment that the documents were not force on her under duress.
Instead, Goswami's told Halder, the following sequence of events occurred. First, the Investigating Officer agreed to help him in exchange for a 25,000 Taka bribe, which Goswami paid. He ordered him to return to the Nandail police station on 21 June and wait while the police retrieved his niece. After quite some time, they returned instead with an older woman covered in a Muslim Burkha and hence impossible to identify. She said she was Koli Goswami's mother and that she and her daughter converted to Islam because of a love affair—something Koli's real mother disputed numerous times. Goswami denies that the woman was his sister-in-law, but cannot fathom the attempted deception since he could learn the truth by speaking to the woman he knew to be Koli Goswami's mother. There is a final, rather chilling element to the 21 June meeting: the local Awami League MP, Major General (Retired) Abdus Salam, was present during the episode and threatened Goswami should he proceed with the case any further or dispute the conversion.
Curiously, while the police did not produce Koli that day, they now claim that she was present at a secret hearing before a magistrate the next day, about which the family was never told until after it allegedly occurred. They cannot confirm that their daughter was there or that it even took place. Goswami "protested vehemently" and told Halder that as a result "we are afraid we may further be attacked and our adult daughters abducted."
What is not in dispute is: there was a home invasion; a family's daughter was taken and has not been seen since; the alleged perpetrators have been identified and at least one is a known criminal; and the police refuse to pursue a case. We also know that a magistrate and the police claim that Koli has converted to Islam, and a government official from the ruling Awami League warned the family to stop fighting it.
As noted in an earlier Pioneer article about an anti-Hindu pogrom in Dhaka, "normal legal protections are suspended for Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh."
Abductions, rape, and forced conversion of young minority girls is up under the current Bangladeshi government; prosecutions are non-existent. This attack on the Hindu gene pool is a key element to ongoing ethnic cleansing. As such Bangladesh's Hindu population continues to decline—down to nine percent from almost one in five Bangladeshis at the time of independence. Incidents like these proceed with a wink and a nod from the government and silence from the international community. We can only hope that it wakes up to these atrocities before Bangladesh's Hindus suffer the same fate as Pakistan's.
Westerners believe that forced conversion belongs to a bygone age, which is why when presenting these incidents in Washington, it is critical to provide more than horrific allegations—which, by the way, the Bangladeshis routinely deny. Verified details, separating fact from hyperbole, and demonstrating some sort of government complicity are key. In this case, bizarre and contradictory actions by the police only confirm the Bangladeshi government's support for anti-minority violence and the ethnic cleansing of its Hindu population.
According to human rights activist Rabindra Ghosh, who investigated this case, police deny that any crime occurred and refuse to pursue a case; this despite physical evidence of a break-in, which they admit having; the family's video taped testimony; the legal complaint lodged by the girl's guardian; and the family's pleas for them to help locate and recover their daughter. Police told GHRD and BDMW representatives on site, "It is not kidnapping. It is love affairs between kidnapper and victim." Kidnapper? Victim? That hardly sounds like a love affair. Yet, police continue to insist that even while refusing to explain the basis for their conclusion, including their investigation, or why they dismiss the physical evidence that refutes their claim. Nor do they explain why it took five men—including an accused murderer currently charged with murder—to "convince" Koli to leave home.
These actions prompted my organization, Interfaith Strength, to investigate the matter under the direction of Bikash Halder, its Indian representative. Halder dispatched four men to the family home where they spoke with Koli's uncle and guardian, Professor Beraj Goswami. He claims to have faced nothing but corruption, duplicity, and collusion in the crime from the police. When he filed a complaint immediately after the kidnapping, he expected quick action given the nature of the crime and the family's obvious distress. Instead, he met with the police denial—but still insisted that producing Koli would clarify what happened that night. Instead, they produced suspect "affidavits and other so-called marriage of conversion documents," dated from the time of the girl's captivity. The only way to determine their veracity would be for Koli Goswami herself to testify in a safe environment that the documents were not force on her under duress.
Instead, Goswami's told Halder, the following sequence of events occurred. First, the Investigating Officer agreed to help him in exchange for a 25,000 Taka bribe, which Goswami paid. He ordered him to return to the Nandail police station on 21 June and wait while the police retrieved his niece. After quite some time, they returned instead with an older woman covered in a Muslim Burkha and hence impossible to identify. She said she was Koli Goswami's mother and that she and her daughter converted to Islam because of a love affair—something Koli's real mother disputed numerous times. Goswami denies that the woman was his sister-in-law, but cannot fathom the attempted deception since he could learn the truth by speaking to the woman he knew to be Koli Goswami's mother. There is a final, rather chilling element to the 21 June meeting: the local Awami League MP, Major General (Retired) Abdus Salam, was present during the episode and threatened Goswami should he proceed with the case any further or dispute the conversion.
Curiously, while the police did not produce Koli that day, they now claim that she was present at a secret hearing before a magistrate the next day, about which the family was never told until after it allegedly occurred. They cannot confirm that their daughter was there or that it even took place. Goswami "protested vehemently" and told Halder that as a result "we are afraid we may further be attacked and our adult daughters abducted."
What is not in dispute is: there was a home invasion; a family's daughter was taken and has not been seen since; the alleged perpetrators have been identified and at least one is a known criminal; and the police refuse to pursue a case. We also know that a magistrate and the police claim that Koli has converted to Islam, and a government official from the ruling Awami League warned the family to stop fighting it.
As noted in an earlier Pioneer article about an anti-Hindu pogrom in Dhaka, "normal legal protections are suspended for Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh."
Abductions, rape, and forced conversion of young minority girls is up under the current Bangladeshi government; prosecutions are non-existent. This attack on the Hindu gene pool is a key element to ongoing ethnic cleansing. As such Bangladesh's Hindu population continues to decline—down to nine percent from almost one in five Bangladeshis at the time of independence. Incidents like these proceed with a wink and a nod from the government and silence from the international community. We can only hope that it wakes up to these atrocities before Bangladesh's Hindus suffer the same fate as Pakistan's.
Obituary of Mrs. Hasin-ara Ahmed and Master Syed Zarif Ahmed
Obituary of Mrs. Hasin-ara Ahmed and Master Syed Zarif Ahmed
Mrs. Hasin Ara Ahmed (Bulbul) wife of Late Syed Daliluddin Ahmed (Dulal), Ex-Deputy Director of Export Promotion Bureau, GoB and daughter of Late Dr. Abdul Latif who was the first Indian Principal of the Bengal Veterinary College, Belgachia, Calcutta before partition and older brother of Late Dr. Ataul Hakim, Ex-Professor of the Department of Mathematics, University of Dhaka, originally from Potia, Chittagong passed away on Tuesday 3rd March 2010 at Chittagong Metropolitan Hospital. Her grandson Master Syed Zarif Ahmed, son of her youngest son Syed Zunaid Ahmed also passed away the day earlier. Their death came following a car accident injuries in Potia, Chittagong on the 28th February 2010.
She left behind her elser Sayed Javed Ahmad, Chief Operating Officer of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL), daughter Syeda Sahla Ahmed, wife of Mr. Fazle Rahman currently residing in Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia and youngest son Syed Zunaid Ahmed, Marketing Manager of Bengal Plastics Limited.
Both of them were buried in the family graveyard at Quepara, Rauzan, Chittagong.
Mrs. Hasin Ara Ahmed (Bulbul) wife of Late Syed Daliluddin Ahmed (Dulal), Ex-Deputy Director of Export Promotion Bureau, GoB and daughter of Late Dr. Abdul Latif who was the first Indian Principal of the Bengal Veterinary College, Belgachia, Calcutta before partition and older brother of Late Dr. Ataul Hakim, Ex-Professor of the Department of Mathematics, University of Dhaka, originally from Potia, Chittagong passed away on Tuesday 3rd March 2010 at Chittagong Metropolitan Hospital. Her grandson Master Syed Zarif Ahmed, son of her youngest son Syed Zunaid Ahmed also passed away the day earlier. Their death came following a car accident injuries in Potia, Chittagong on the 28th February 2010.
She left behind her elser Sayed Javed Ahmad, Chief Operating Officer of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL), daughter Syeda Sahla Ahmed, wife of Mr. Fazle Rahman currently residing in Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia and youngest son Syed Zunaid Ahmed, Marketing Manager of Bengal Plastics Limited.
Both of them were buried in the family graveyard at Quepara, Rauzan, Chittagong.
Rulers popularizing Tareq Rahman
Rulers popularizing Tareq Rahman
There is a saying that, Bangladeshis have a very short memory and they are equally quick in liking and disliking any individual. On the other hand, there is also track record that, by nature, people of Bangladesh always are inclined in turning sympathetic to any politically, socially or otherwise oppressed individual. I am sure; those in ruling position in Bangladesh are not unaware of this fact.
I decided to write this commentary after reading an article by a sycophant columnist belonging to the ruling party, who leave crocodile tears for Bangladesh – trying to project him as the exclusive proprietor of the word 'patriotism', though this man, continues to live in a foreign country for decades, thus finally proving that, he is nothing but an alien opportunist, who sells his mind and pen to mere material benefits.
In a vernacular daily he wrote an article criticizing Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia's decision in placing her son into the second most important position in the party. He tried his best to prove that, Tareq Rahman, though was included in the party's important portfolio, he might not be welcomed by the people of Bangladesh, for series of corruption charges that he has been facing since the military backed interim government seized in power. He also wrote in that article that, "people of Bangladesh will wait to welcome Tareq Rahman to Bangladesh with warrant of arrest for those pending charges in Dhaka courts".
Well, I have no reason to defend Tareq Rahman. He surely has committed series of wrong deeds in the past, by giving shelter and patronization to bunch of corrupts and culprits, who surrounded him at the infamous Hawa Bhaban, which was the most powerful political office of the previous BNP-Jamaat coalition government. He has surely abused and even polluted the good name of his father, President Ziaur Rahman, who is known as a clean person in Bangladeshi politics, who never got caught into minimum level of corruption. Whether someone will agree or argue, it is a fact that, President Ziaur Rahman restored multi-party politics in Bangladesh as well re-opened the door to free flow of media, which were completely sealed down by the government led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. There is truly very less of goods things about the cabinet members of Bangabandhu and most importantly his ambition of one-party authoritarian rule in the country will remain as the black part of the history of Bangladesh.
People loved and admired Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He led the war of liberation of this country and subsequently people of Bangladesh felt absolutely comfortable in seeing him as the administrator in the first government, which was formed after Bangladesh attained liberation from Pakistan. But, unfortunately, Bangabandhu paid real heed to some bad suggestions of few sycophants, who were surrounding him. It was those elements, who might have provoked this real Hero of the history of the country in adopting a anti-people autocratic rule which might have ultimately turned Bangladesh into a country of Stalinist or Maoist proto-type system.
Now, after so many decades, when Bangladesh Awami League was elected into power with a landslide victory [though political opponents claim, the election was engineered by the military backed interim government in setting this party in power with the underhand negotiation of letting the masterminds of the January 1, 2007 political upset in the country in finding 'safe exit' or at least not putting them into trial for series of misdeeds and even serious forms of corruption], the same set of sycophants are back into the show.
The mentioned writer is a member of that particular species. There are many, who have suddenly flocked into Bangladesh, after Awami League came in power.
As I mentioned, people of Bangladesh, by nature are sympathetic towards oppressed people, as this nation has suffered decades of oppression under British and then Pakistani rule. The way ruling party and its sycophants are continuing bad campaign against Tareq Rahman, they actually are making one point very clear that, this man has become one of the prime targets of oppression of the present government in Bangladesh. On the other hand, if Tareq Rahman will take lesson from the past and try to correct his wrongness and finally prove himself as the most competent leader of the nation, I will never be surprised. Because, most people though never take lesson from the past, a few really does. And, once people can take lesson from the past and erase all wrongness in him, he, instead of being hated or disliked by the people, ultimately succeeds in becoming the most popular leader in any nation.
All such campaigns against Tareq Rahman by his political opponents are practically aimed at placing Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wajed [Joy] into the post of potential next Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Recently, Sheikh Hasina has included Joy into politics and it is greatly rumored that, a most important position in Bangladesh Awami League is already left vacant to accommodate Joy into it.
Now after entering politics, Sajeed Wajed Joy paid a visit to Bangladesh. I never saw, if he went to National Monument at Savar, which was erected in the memory of the martyrs of our liberation movement. I even did not see, if Joy went to Shahid Minar, which is the symbol of language movement of the country. There was no news, if he even went to the graveyard of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or his late father Dr. Wazed Mia. I am sure, as an aspirant politician, Joy will realize the severe mistakes he already committed right after stepping into politics. And if his political opponents will now raise fingers saying, this young man, who is a citizen of United States, in fact, does not have any respect or admiration for the martyrs of liberation war or language movement, what answers possibly the Awami League and its band of sycophants can come with?
Bangladesh Nationalist Party is also criticizing inclusion of Joy into politics saying, he is a foreign national. They are suggesting Joy to leave his foreign citizenship before entering Bangladeshi politics. They are even bringing the issue of Sajeeb Wajed Joy's wife, Christine Ovemarie, who also is an American citizen and their only child Sophia.
But, possibly the present ruling party in Bangladesh does not see any problem in placing any foreign national into any important political or official portfolio, though, such placements, especially into official positions are against the constitutional provisions of Bangladesh.
Ahmed Tareq Karim, Bangladeshi high commissioner in India is an American citizen. Bangladesh's permanent representative in United Nations is holding U.S. passport. Bangladeshi ambassador in Russia is also a foreign national. One of the advisors in the Energy Ministry is also holding U.S. citizenship. I am sure, there are many in the list, which either I am missing to mention here or even beyond my knowledge. So, if official positions can be offered to foreign nationals, why not an American citizen Sajeeb Wajed Joy can join politics in Bangladesh, whose political goal will be to become the Prime Minister of this country – one day?
Finally, I want to quote from a very recent remark by Sajeeb Wajed Joy during a lecture in Dhaka, where he said, the national 'brand' of this country will be 'Digital Bangladesh'. I am sure, Mr. Joy is aware of the fact that, since her mother became the Prime Minister in this country, the frequency of daily power failure in the entire country has greatly increased. In the capital city, the dwellers are left with power supply 5-6 hours every day. And it was reported in the media that the frequency of such power failures will increase in the coming months. Hopefully, Mr. Joy won't argue saying, this power failure is the first step towards implementing his branding as 'Digital Bangladesh'.
by http://www.weeklyblitz.net/599/rulers-popularizing-tareq-rahman
There is a saying that, Bangladeshis have a very short memory and they are equally quick in liking and disliking any individual. On the other hand, there is also track record that, by nature, people of Bangladesh always are inclined in turning sympathetic to any politically, socially or otherwise oppressed individual. I am sure; those in ruling position in Bangladesh are not unaware of this fact.
I decided to write this commentary after reading an article by a sycophant columnist belonging to the ruling party, who leave crocodile tears for Bangladesh – trying to project him as the exclusive proprietor of the word 'patriotism', though this man, continues to live in a foreign country for decades, thus finally proving that, he is nothing but an alien opportunist, who sells his mind and pen to mere material benefits.
In a vernacular daily he wrote an article criticizing Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia's decision in placing her son into the second most important position in the party. He tried his best to prove that, Tareq Rahman, though was included in the party's important portfolio, he might not be welcomed by the people of Bangladesh, for series of corruption charges that he has been facing since the military backed interim government seized in power. He also wrote in that article that, "people of Bangladesh will wait to welcome Tareq Rahman to Bangladesh with warrant of arrest for those pending charges in Dhaka courts".
Well, I have no reason to defend Tareq Rahman. He surely has committed series of wrong deeds in the past, by giving shelter and patronization to bunch of corrupts and culprits, who surrounded him at the infamous Hawa Bhaban, which was the most powerful political office of the previous BNP-Jamaat coalition government. He has surely abused and even polluted the good name of his father, President Ziaur Rahman, who is known as a clean person in Bangladeshi politics, who never got caught into minimum level of corruption. Whether someone will agree or argue, it is a fact that, President Ziaur Rahman restored multi-party politics in Bangladesh as well re-opened the door to free flow of media, which were completely sealed down by the government led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. There is truly very less of goods things about the cabinet members of Bangabandhu and most importantly his ambition of one-party authoritarian rule in the country will remain as the black part of the history of Bangladesh.
People loved and admired Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He led the war of liberation of this country and subsequently people of Bangladesh felt absolutely comfortable in seeing him as the administrator in the first government, which was formed after Bangladesh attained liberation from Pakistan. But, unfortunately, Bangabandhu paid real heed to some bad suggestions of few sycophants, who were surrounding him. It was those elements, who might have provoked this real Hero of the history of the country in adopting a anti-people autocratic rule which might have ultimately turned Bangladesh into a country of Stalinist or Maoist proto-type system.
Now, after so many decades, when Bangladesh Awami League was elected into power with a landslide victory [though political opponents claim, the election was engineered by the military backed interim government in setting this party in power with the underhand negotiation of letting the masterminds of the January 1, 2007 political upset in the country in finding 'safe exit' or at least not putting them into trial for series of misdeeds and even serious forms of corruption], the same set of sycophants are back into the show.
The mentioned writer is a member of that particular species. There are many, who have suddenly flocked into Bangladesh, after Awami League came in power.
As I mentioned, people of Bangladesh, by nature are sympathetic towards oppressed people, as this nation has suffered decades of oppression under British and then Pakistani rule. The way ruling party and its sycophants are continuing bad campaign against Tareq Rahman, they actually are making one point very clear that, this man has become one of the prime targets of oppression of the present government in Bangladesh. On the other hand, if Tareq Rahman will take lesson from the past and try to correct his wrongness and finally prove himself as the most competent leader of the nation, I will never be surprised. Because, most people though never take lesson from the past, a few really does. And, once people can take lesson from the past and erase all wrongness in him, he, instead of being hated or disliked by the people, ultimately succeeds in becoming the most popular leader in any nation.
All such campaigns against Tareq Rahman by his political opponents are practically aimed at placing Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wajed [Joy] into the post of potential next Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Recently, Sheikh Hasina has included Joy into politics and it is greatly rumored that, a most important position in Bangladesh Awami League is already left vacant to accommodate Joy into it.
Now after entering politics, Sajeed Wajed Joy paid a visit to Bangladesh. I never saw, if he went to National Monument at Savar, which was erected in the memory of the martyrs of our liberation movement. I even did not see, if Joy went to Shahid Minar, which is the symbol of language movement of the country. There was no news, if he even went to the graveyard of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or his late father Dr. Wazed Mia. I am sure, as an aspirant politician, Joy will realize the severe mistakes he already committed right after stepping into politics. And if his political opponents will now raise fingers saying, this young man, who is a citizen of United States, in fact, does not have any respect or admiration for the martyrs of liberation war or language movement, what answers possibly the Awami League and its band of sycophants can come with?
Bangladesh Nationalist Party is also criticizing inclusion of Joy into politics saying, he is a foreign national. They are suggesting Joy to leave his foreign citizenship before entering Bangladeshi politics. They are even bringing the issue of Sajeeb Wajed Joy's wife, Christine Ovemarie, who also is an American citizen and their only child Sophia.
But, possibly the present ruling party in Bangladesh does not see any problem in placing any foreign national into any important political or official portfolio, though, such placements, especially into official positions are against the constitutional provisions of Bangladesh.
Ahmed Tareq Karim, Bangladeshi high commissioner in India is an American citizen. Bangladesh's permanent representative in United Nations is holding U.S. passport. Bangladeshi ambassador in Russia is also a foreign national. One of the advisors in the Energy Ministry is also holding U.S. citizenship. I am sure, there are many in the list, which either I am missing to mention here or even beyond my knowledge. So, if official positions can be offered to foreign nationals, why not an American citizen Sajeeb Wajed Joy can join politics in Bangladesh, whose political goal will be to become the Prime Minister of this country – one day?
Finally, I want to quote from a very recent remark by Sajeeb Wajed Joy during a lecture in Dhaka, where he said, the national 'brand' of this country will be 'Digital Bangladesh'. I am sure, Mr. Joy is aware of the fact that, since her mother became the Prime Minister in this country, the frequency of daily power failure in the entire country has greatly increased. In the capital city, the dwellers are left with power supply 5-6 hours every day. And it was reported in the media that the frequency of such power failures will increase in the coming months. Hopefully, Mr. Joy won't argue saying, this power failure is the first step towards implementing his branding as 'Digital Bangladesh'.
by http://www.weeklyblitz.net/599/rulers-popularizing-tareq-rahman
According to regional media, 27,000 Bangladeshi women and children have been forced into prostitution in Indian brothels only during 1997. Bangladesh
According to regional media, 27,000 Bangladeshi women and children have been forced into prostitution in Indian brothels only during 1997. Bangladesh and Nepal are the main sources of trafficked children in south Asia, while women from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are regularly trafficked to Indian and Arab brothels. More than 200,000 Bangladeshi women were trafficked from 1990 to 1997, with 6,000 children trafficked, abducted or reported missing during that time. Children were mostly used as Jockeys of Camal race in United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries, while women ended in various brothels in those nations as well in brothels located in Mumbai, Madras, Kolkata and Delhi in India.
Bangladeshi police estimate that more than 15,000 women and children are smuggled out of the country every year.
About 300,000 women and children have been trafficked to the Middle East in the last 10 years. Different human rights activists and agencies estimate 200-400 young women and children are smuggled out every month, most of them from Bangladesh to Pakistan. A women lawyers' association estimates that on an average, 4500 women and children from Bangladesh are being trafficked to Pakistan each year and at least 200,000 women have been trafficked to Pakistan over the last 10 years. The Indian Social Welfare Board estimates that there are 500,000 foreign sex workers in India - 2.7% of sex workers in Kolkata alone are from Bangladesh. Trafficked girls are sold to Indian brotherls for US$ 150-300 each while children are sold for US$ 100-120 each. Later some of them [and most of the children] are trafficked to Middle East and sold in brothels or to Arab sheikhs for US$ 1000-3000 for each girl while US$ 700-1000 for a boy. It is alleged that, Arabs not only use the minor boys as jockeys of camal race, but sexually abuse them on a regular basis as well.
In cross border trafficking, India is a sending, receiving and transit nation. Receiving children from Bangladesh and Nepal and sending women and children to Middle Eastern nations is a daily occurrence.
On the other hand, India, along with Thailand and the Philippines, has 1.3 million children in its sex-trade centers. The children come from relatively poorer areas and are trafficked to relatively richer ones. In India, Karnataka, Andha Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are considered "high supply zones" for women in prostitution. Bijapur, Belgaum and Kolhapur are common districts from which women migrate to the big cities, as part of an organised trafficking network. Districts bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka, known as the "devadasi belt," [Slaves of god belt] have trafficking structures operating at various levels. The women here are in prostitution either because their husbands deserted them, or they are trafficked through coercion and deception Many are devadasi [Slaves of god] dedicated into prostitution for the goddess. In one Karnataka brothel, all 15 girls are devadasi.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Bangladeshi women and children are held in foreign prisons, jails, shelters and detention centers awaiting repatriation. Many have been held for years. In India, 26 women, 27 girls, 71 boys and 13 children of unknown gender are held in Lilua Shelter, Calcutta; Sheha Shelter, Calcutta; Anando Ashram, Calcutta; Alipur Children's Home, Delhi; Nirmal Chaya Children's Home, Delhi; Prayas Observation House for Boys; Delhi; Tihar Jail, Delhi; Udavam Kalanger, Bangalore; Umar Khadi, Bangaore; Kishalay, West Bengal; Kuehbihar, West Bengal and Baharampur, West Bengal. Kolkata [Calcutta] is one of the key transit points for the traffickers for Mumbai [Bombay] and to Pakistan. Approximately 99 per cent women are trafficked out of Bangladesh through land routes along the border areas of Bangladesh and India, such as Jessore, Satkhira, and Rajshahi districts [southern part of the country].
About 5,000-7,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked to India every day. 100,000-160,000 Nepalese girls are prostituted in brothels in India. About 45,000 Nepalese girls are in the brothels of Mumbai and 40,000 in Kolkata. Many of the girls are barely 9 or 10 years old. Around 200,000 to 250,000 Nepalese women and girls are already in Indian brothels. The girls are sold by poor parents, tricked into fraudulent marriages, or promised employment in towns finally to end up in Indian brothels. They're locked up for days, starved, beaten, and burned with cigarettes until they learn how to serve up to 25 clients a day. Some girls go through 'training' before being initiated into prostitution, which can include constant exposure to pornographic films, tutorials in how to 'please' customers, repeated rapes etc.
Trafficking in women and girls is easy along the 1,740 mile-long open border between India and Nepal. Trafficking in Nepalese women and girls is less risky than smuggling narcotics and electronic equipment into India. Traffickers ferry large groups of girls at a time without the hassle of paperwork or threats of police checks. The procurer-pimp-police network makes the process even smoother. Bought for as little as US$ 70, girls have been known to fetch up to US$ 800 in later transactions. Police are paid by brothel owners to ignore the situation. Girls may not leave the brothels until they have repaid their debt. Most of them get infected to HIV, tuberculosis and other Sexually transmitted diseases. Moroever, many of them bear children from prostitution.
The areas used by traffickers to procure women and girls are the isolated districts of Sindhupalchow, Makwanpur, Dhading and Khavre in Nepal where the population is largely illiterate.
Women and children from India are sent to nations of the Middle East daily. Girls in prostitution and domestic service in India, Pakistan and the Middle East are tortured, held in virtual imprisonment, sexually abused, and raped.
In Indian city of Mumbai, girl children as young as 9 are bought for up to US$ 2,000, at auctions where Arabs bid against Indian men who believe sleeping with a virgin cures gonorrhea, syphilis and other sexual diseases.
According to various reports, there are approximately 10 million sex workers in India, while alone in Mumbai, the number is above 100,000. Mumbai has turned into a favorite place of Arab sheikhs. There are more than 400,000 child prostitutes in India. In Mumbai, 95% of the children of sex workers finally enter the sex trade.
The red light district in Mumbai generates at least US$ 700 million a year in revenue, with 100,000 prostitutes serving men 24/7 a year, averaging 6 customers a day, at US$ 3 each. The largest red light district in India, perhaps in the world, is the Falkland Road Kamatipura area in Mumbai.
There are many dhabhas, or small-scale brothels, along the Solapur-Hyderabad highway in India, which provide women as an "additional service" to truck drivers and motorists. The women and girls in the dhabhas, or brothels, along the Solapur-Hyderabad highway, are threatened, harassed, forced to serve men, or local thugs, freely and beaten by men and police. Local farmers also sexually abuse them on a regular basis. Police do not register any complaints of assault.
Eunuch Lane in Mumbai has more than 2,000 eunuchs in prostitution. The eunuchs, have deep religious roots in Hinduism. As young boys they are abandoned or sold by their families to a sex ring and taken into the jungle, where a priest cuts off their genitals in a ceremony. The priest then folds back a strip of flesh to create an artificial vagina. Some Indian men believe they can't contact HIV from the Eunuch.
Although prostitution is legal in India, running brothel, soliciting or seducing for the purposes of prostitution are all punishable offenses. There are severe penalties for child prostitution and trafficking of women.
The devadasi [Slave of god] tradition, still prevalent in many parts of India, continues to legitimise child prostitution. A devadasi is a girl married to a god, and hence at all times believed to be blessed. As such, she becomes the concubine of the influential members of the community or even the priest.
50 million girls and women are missing from India's population, the result of systematic sex discrimination, such as abortion of female fetuses, which is officially banned. In 12007, more than 75 widows were burnt alive when their husbands' bodies were cremated in a ritual known as "sati" [virgin] based on the belief that a Hindu woman has no existence independent of her husband.
Although dowry is legally banned, at least 5,000 women are victims of "dowry murders," in which they are killed by their husband or his family members because of "insufficient" dowries. At least 12 women "die" every day from bazzier kitchen fires, which are typically concealed dowry murders. The dowry system has also led to an inflating female infanticide. especially among very poor families. Few of these cases are ever even brought to trial.
In India a very large percentage of marriages are arranged. The custom of arranged marriage is a legitimized institution. In a majority of cases the bride has little or no say. She and the bridegroom are virtual strangers. In many rural communities the bridegroom does not even attend his own wedding. The sex act [between the two] is nothing but a rape. The Indian woman's acceptance of the inevitable has, sanctified this abhorrent practice, and, subsequently legitimized it.
Prostitution in Bangladesh is shrouded in mystery. The law treats the woman as a victim, and the pimps and customers face a possibility of a death sentence. Thus, the law is beautiful, but when it comes to implementation, the women are picked up for soliciting, which is a penal offense enacted during the days of the British colonial period in 1860. According to another law, the Suppression of the Immoral Traffic Act of 1933, the earnings of the prostitutes, if spent on pimps is illegal. Unfortunately, this law is not in force, although there are lawyers who believe the law is operative. The act is not enforced, yet some lawyers believe it is enforced. This contradiction exists because prostitution is a topic that is not discussed in decent society.
There are cultural and socioeconomic factors or practices in Bangladesh that encourage or lead to prostitution. In Bangladesh, Muslims believe that unless the parents and guardians marry off their daughters and wards they can't go to heaven. Girls become vulnerable to any person who desire the girls without any accompanying demand. Under the Sharia law [Islamic religious law], it says that a marriage is legal with a proposal and acceptance in the presence of two witnesses. For the peasants this is more powerful than a simple legal document. Often, without much ado, the girl is married to the man. In more than one case, such males are flesh traders who dupe these innocent girls into false marriages. Soon, the "brides" find themselves in the brothels or sold into prostitution. Under religious laws there are no requirements for registration of marriages [though Bangladeshi municipal law decrees otherwise], so most people ignore the legal requirement and opt for the marriage to be performed under the religious law. As the religious laws are also a part of Bangladesh's municipal law, it creates legal contradictions conflicting with the Constitution and which has led women activists to demand a secular common law for all citizens irrespective of religion. The activists hope that this secular law will benefit the citizens and in particular the women in achieving their rights and remove discrimination against women on grounds of religious and cultural differences.
Under these conditions, a girl may be married off to a total stranger and find herself in a brothel the next day. Or she can be trafficked across international borders. Girls are trafficked to Pakistan, using all the travel routes, namely, air, sea and mostly land routes. In the latter case, India becomes the transit county, and on many occasions the receiving country. Pakistan is both a receiving country and a transit country for the Middle East, especially The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Pakistan has visible slave markets where these trafficked women are paraded and buyers choose the ones they fancy. The minimum price is US$ 70. The fairer, taller, and prettier they are, the more desirable they are, the higher the price. The maximum price is put on virgins. In Pakistan, the Bangladeshi women and children rate higher than those of other countries for the purpose of prostitution and sexual slavery. The Sri Lankans and Filipinos rate higher as domestic help. It is quite common to find the Pakistani males obtain sexual favors from their female household helps with impunity while their wives and other family members turn a blind eye. They don't see anything wrong with such activities. Bangladeshi girls face two kinds of problems if they are caught in Pakistan. Pakistan has amended its Foreigner's Act to raise the punishment for illegal entry into the country to life in prison. Even a 10 year old girl can languish in jail, while facing a trial, which might sentence her to life imprisonment because she has been smuggled into Pakistan and caught as an illegal entry.
Another serious issue is that after being sold for US$ 800, and being 'enjoyed' by Pakistani men in a village outside the capital city, the girl faces Islamic law, if she is caught. Under the Hadood Law, the penalty for fornication outside of marriage is being stoned to death. This is the fate of every Bangladeshi girl who gets caught in Pakistan.
In Bangladesh there is a special law named, The Cruelty to Women and Children [Special Provisions] Act, 1995, which prescribes death or life imprisonment for trafficking in women and children for any purpose, including sexual purposes. But, the more stringent the law, the more loopholes through which the traffickers and customers manage to escape. In most cases, rather the law penalizes the women, but allows the man to go free.
Custodial rapes of women are rampant in Bangladesh as well as South Asian society. Custodial rapes include rapes by employers, guardians and law enforcing agencies. Local laws do not contemplate any independent/special definition of rape as custodial rape though Bangladeshi law has provided for rape of wives below the age of 16 years to constitute rape. In a proposal for amending the earlier mentioned special law, it was demanded inclusion of custodial rape as an offence, as well as to make the principal officer equally liable for the offence committed by his subordinates, even if he was not present at the time of commission of the offence. In one case, a Hindu girl fell in love with a Muslim boy, and they married in a shrine, under Sharia law. The police intercepted them and arrested the girl claiming she was being trafficked. They separated the boy and the girl. They said they had to do a blood test to determine her age. The girl, named Shima, was locked in the office of the Officer in Charge of the Police Station for the night. She was raped the whole nightlong. In the morning she was found bleeding very badly, and she died. When she died they burned her, cremated her, destroying all the evidence. Many NGOs demonstrated about this crime. Police said she had died of natural causes.
Rights groups filed a case against the investigating officer for destroying/tampering evidence. After the news leaked out, women and human rights organizations pressured the police to initiate criminal actions against the perpetuators of the offence. As expected in this case, the accused persons were acquitted for "lack of evidence" and they got the "benefit of doubt." It is quite speculated that, the Shima murder case will never see justice.
According to statistics, there are roughly 150,000 sex workers in Bangladesh. Most of the Islamist groups are demanding immediate ban on protitution and eviction of brothels. They in fact evicted a number of brothels in Bangladesh, few years back. But, all such evictions finally forced the sex workers in coming on streets for bagging or becoming floating sex workers. Bangladesh has a rehabilitation center for sex workers. But, in most cases, the sex workers sheltered in the rehabilitation centers are regularly raped or sexually abused by the male employees. There are even instances of trafficking of these women to various foreign destiantions through organized racket.
A report published with USAID assistance said, "Most reports reviewed suggest that, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of Bangladeshi children and women being trafficked into India and other countries. The causes of trafficking and the factors leading to this apparent increase are multiple and complicated. These factors are embedded within the socioeconomic structure of the country and require an in-depth analysis. However, for the present purpose the factors have been categorized into two groups. The 'push' factors, the first group: there are the conditions in the environment of the 'sending' communities or countries that ensure a supply of people for trafficking. These factors include low employment opportunities, low social status of women, economic and social vulnerability of women and children, urbanization, migration, etc. The second group refers to the set of 'pull' factors that support the demand for trafficking activities. These include wage employment and bonded labour, labour migration and prostitution, and cultural myths. All these factors have been explained in this report.
"Traffickers adopt different strategies and tricks to allure and enroll young children
and women [and their families] into the trafficking process. The procurement process for trafficking in women in the sex industry in Bangladesh involves the entrapment of women to be sold to brothels nationally or to neighbouring countries, especially in India. Inside Bangladesh, the procurers' places of hunting are the river ports, especially the Sadar Ghat area of Dhaka, bus stations, and the railway stations across the country. The traffickers at these locations look for migrants who come from rural areas for job or poor young people abandoned by their families; they allure them with false promises of wealth and better prospects. The victims from these spots are usually sold to Bangladeshi brothels. Procurement of victims from villages and towns in the border areas of the country is more frequently associated with the purpose of supplying sex workers for the sex industry of India or Myanmar. Several case studies incorporated in this report explain the trafficking and procurement processes."
Describing trafficking routes, the report said, "Review of different literature showed that some 18 transit points along the India-Bangladesh border are used for smuggling children and women out of the country. The border areas of Khulna, Jessore, Satkhira, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, and Sylhet are frequently used as land routes for trafficking.
"In the northern region, the districts of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Thakurgoan, Dinajpur, Naogoan, Chapai Nawabganj, and Rajshahi, and in the south, Jessore and Satkhira are the areas in which women and children are most susceptible to trafficking. Cox's Bazaar is also a common site for recruitment of children and women to be trafficked, because there are three Muslim Rohinga refugee camps in this district from where the traffickers collect victims. Usually, the traffickers use different routes at different times to avoid police and other law-enforcing agencies. However, for entering India through Kolkata, the two most common routes are the Benapol borders in Jessore through which almost 50% of the trafficking take place and Satkhira."
Trafficking of persons into bonded sweatshop labour, forced marriage, forced prostitutions, domestic servitude, and other kinds of work is a global phenomenon that takes place within countries and regions and on a transcontinental scale. Trafficking in women is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world with an estimated one to two million young women being trafficked annually for the purpose of forced labour, domestic servitude, or sexual exploitation.
The International Organization for Migration [IOM] estimates that, in 1995 alone, about 500,000 women were trafficked to the countries of the European Union from poorer regions of the world. So, it is not a problem of developing countries alone.
Although the concept of trafficking is often used for describing kidnapping and enslavement of women for the commercial sex industry, different government and international agencies have adopted much broader definitions of the term to include other forms of trafficking and affected groups, such as children trafficked for child labour and organ donation. The problem is usually under-reported because of the difficulties involved in tracking such clandestine activities. In recent years, the issues relating to trafficking have become more prominent and are being discussed more openly. There are more efforts also to understand the underlying dynamics of trafficking of women and children. This may be related to increase awareness and concerns about human rights, violence against women, and about the role of commercial sex in human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]-related epidemics. The question of trafficking has figured prominently in the agenda of recent international meetings, such as International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, World Summit for Social Development in 1995, and Fourth World Conference on Women at Beijing in 1995. Accordingly, there is also a growing interest among the policy-makers and programme managers to identify effective options for preventing such exploitation of women and children and in designing appropriate interventions for them.
Trafficking in Asia accounts for a large share of the global volume of trafficked women and children. In the last two decades, the number of trafficked women and children in Asia has increased alarmingly. South Asia is considered the most vulnerable region for trafficking because of its large population, large-scale rural-urban migration, large populations living in conditions of chronic poverty, and recurrent natural disasters. Women and children are sold, traded, exchanged for sexual slavery and prostitution, and bonded labour across borders, such as from Bangladesh to India, Pakistan, and the Middle East; from Nepal to India; from Burma to Thailand; from Vietnam to Kampuchea; and from the Philippines to Japan. Amongst Asian nations, Japan hosts the biggest sex industry market for Asian women, and many of them are Filipinos and Thais. The sex industry accounts for 1% of the GNP, and equals the defense budget of the country.
Bangladesh, like other neighbouring countries, is at risk of entering into the HIV/AIDS era. Prostitution of Bangladeshi girls in foreign countries, with a background of trafficking, is one of the major reasons for a great threat of this pandemic disease in the country. The association between trafficking and the threat of HIV/AIDS conjures up a picture of a looming disaster that can affect the whole direction of development in such a less-developed country, like Bangladesh, and can have a significant impact on economic and social structure. Labor-intensive work will be affected due to the shortage of a healthy and productive workforce. A study in Africa found that, in areas with a high prevalence of HIV, crop yield is less. Soil fertility is declining. Pest and plant disease is spreading which results in a lower yield. Crops of low-nutritional value are replacing labour-intensive traditional crop. Support systems will falter with growing high demands, overburden of caregivers will aggravate the situation, and the society will have to bear the economic burden of caring for orphans.
Trafficking also deprives the trafficked population of the opportunity to pursue education and develop socially and psychologically to achieve their full potential. Thus, it deprives a nation of vital human resources for development and contributes to the persistence of a vicious circle of exploitation and poverty that generates a mal-distribution of wealth and results in feminization of poverty.
Most studies outline the health consequences of trafficking and the physical and emotional aspects of violence, human rights abuse, and sexual exploitation. Further research on morbidity and mortality effects of trafficking and its impact on overall national productivity is needed. There is also very limited and inconclusive information on the consequences of organ transplant and employment of children in sports, such as camel races.
The situation is already volatile. Every concious citizen of the world should focus on this important issue. We have common obligation of saving those women and children from being trapped into horrible life.
Funded by Nike, Inc., the Nike Foundation is committed to the empowerment and advancement of adolescent girls in the developing world. The Nike Found
Funded by Nike, Inc., the Nike Foundation is committed to the empowerment and advancement of adolescent girls in the developing world. The Nike Foundation believes adolescent girls are a key driver of positive change, and applies its assets, networks and knowledge to unleashing their untapped potential. With physical and financial security, girls can become the world’s most transformative population, influencing not only their own futures, but those of generations to come. The Foundation works with leading local, national and international organizations to raise awareness and incite action to remove the barriers to health, education, economic opportunity and justice facing girls today.
“We at the Nike Foundation are very excited about working with Save the Children in Bangladesh and Malawi to demonstrate the benefits of investing in girls — both as a means to improve the lives of girls themselves and the positive impact that this will have on their communities,” says Maria Eitel, President of the Nike Foundation. “The Nike Foundation sought Save the Children as a partner given its overall capacity and scale as well as its solid track record of working with adolescent girls.”
“This important partnership with the Nike Foundation gives us the opportunity to empower tens of thousands of adolescent girls in Bangladesh and Malawi,” says Charles MacCormack, President and CEO of Save the Children. “We are delighted to be working with the Nike Foundation to meet the needs of adolescent girls in Bangladesh and Malawi and give them a strong voice so they may build a bright and healthy future.”
Nike Foundation and Save the Children Team Up to Empower Adolescent Girls
Nike Foundation and Save the Children Team Up to Empower Adolescent Girls
The Nike Foundation and Save the Children have embarked on a partnership aimed at empowering adolescent girls in Bangladesh and Malawi. The Nike Foundation recently awarded Save the Children a three-year $1.58 million grant.
Bangladesh and Malawi are two of the most impoverished countries in the world. Poverty in both countries is exacerbated by chronic food insecurity in several regions of each country. Malawi also suffers from a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which has progressively eroded the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor. Some of the most pressing issues that affect women, and adolescent girls in particular, in Bangladesh and Malawi are early marriage; pregnancy; and physical and sexual violence. Additionally, inadequate and insufficient health and education services and economic opportunities prevent adolescent girls from thriving and contributing to society.
In partnership with the Nike Foundation, Save the Children plans to empower adolescent girls ages 10-19 through improved skills and access to quality education, health and financial services so that they are valued in their communities and have a stronger sense of their abilities and rights. In the long run, it is anticipated that this will result in a reduction in household poverty. The program, entitled Strengthening Girls’ Voices, will be integrated with ongoing food security programs in Bangladesh and Malawi funded by the U.S. government.
BHUBANESWAR – A man in Orissa’s Bhadrak district has been arrested for allegedly raping his daughter for over a decade and forcing her to undergo seve
BHUBANESWAR – A man in Orissa’s Bhadrak district has been arrested for allegedly raping his daughter for over a decade and forcing her to undergo several abortions over the years, police said Monday.
Bishnumohan Panda, a 58-year-old resident of Rajgurupur village, was arrested after his daughter complained to the police Saturday with the help of villagers, said Damodar Mohapatra, in charge of the police station in the village. The 32-year-old victim, who is now married and has two children, alleged that her father first sexually exploited her when she was studying in Class 9 and continued to do so for years, threatening her with dire consequences if she complained to anyone.
“Though my father later married me off to a poor man, he wanted my husband and me to stay at his home so that he could exploit me further,” the victims said in her complaint. “She also alleged that she was forced to undergo many abortions by her father in the past,” Mohapatra told IANS.
Bishnumohan Panda, a 58-year-old resident of Rajgurupur village, was arrested after his daughter complained to the police Saturday with the help of villagers, said Damodar Mohapatra, in charge of the police station in the village. The 32-year-old victim, who is now married and has two children, alleged that her father first sexually exploited her when she was studying in Class 9 and continued to do so for years, threatening her with dire consequences if she complained to anyone.
“Though my father later married me off to a poor man, he wanted my husband and me to stay at his home so that he could exploit me further,” the victims said in her complaint. “She also alleged that she was forced to undergo many abortions by her father in the past,” Mohapatra told IANS.
Billy. This is so incredibly lovely, both the pictures and the words. I just read the book “The Help” and I am reminded of what was to me, the saddest
Billy. This is so incredibly lovely, both the pictures and the words. I just read the book “The Help” and I am reminded of what was to me, the saddest thing in the book. It was when one of the black maids who is telling her story is talking about all the many white children she took care of. The intense love the children all had for her (and she for them) was innocent of any anything but the purity of that emotion. And then there was the moment she always dreaded when the children would be made aware of race, and the love, while still there, changed. By the way, the book is flawed but worth the read for anyone who even vaguely remembers those horrible days.
I especially love the picture of the beautiful girls in their beautiful dresses. The one looking over her shoulder and back to you is a heartbreaker.
This is why I teach Kindergarten. The joy, humor, wonder my students feel is contagious. They are amazed at everything they are learning about the wor
This is why I teach Kindergarten. The joy, humor, wonder my students feel is contagious. They are amazed at everything they are learning about the world. They are so accepting of differences then too. It makes me sad when I see these same students in 5th grade as they are getting ready to leave our school. A lot a them have had a complete change of attitude. They are jaded, angry, intoleratant. What happens? If only we could hang on to the joy and innocence of childhood for a little longer.
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girls bangladesh
I document the ravages of illness, hunger and poverty, creating the stark images afforded those issues. But there are always children, and in the midst of oppressive forces the children are undaunted. Their spirit lifts them, and in turn me, above the tumult that surrounds us.
children, unfettered by the politic of adulthood, making the same discoveries of wonder and amazement and offering up their dreams in a smile. Illness and sadness also affect them, but lacking guile and intrigue they live without irony, expecting the best of the world.
Somewhere along the line it changes: Cultural demands intrude and
There is only one child in the world
There is only one child in the world
and the child’s name is All Children.
—Carl Sandburg
Standing on the side of the road to Jericho a small child with his camel waits for tourists to stop and give him a few coins for a ride. In other parts of the world the camel is gone and a lemonade stand takes its place.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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