First Burning Homes, Now Border Patrols

November 21, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Naimul Haq

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Nov 20 (IPS) – In late August, Mohammad Saifuddin (not his real name), together with his wife, three daughters and son, fled the carnage of communal violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine province and headed for the border of neighbouring Bangladesh.Horrified by attacks on the minority Rohingya Muslims by the majority Buddhist community this past summer, the Saifuddin family embarked on what they described as a “horrific” five-day-long journey to reach the nearest border town of Teknaf in the Cox’s Bazar district of southeast Bangladesh, some 200 kilometres away.

Six other families accompanied the Saifuddins on a perilous journey that involved crossing the Mayu River and meandering across hilly forests.

“We moved during the night to evade detection. The journey seemed endless with the children unable to continue walking. At times we had no food or water, and were sometimes completely lost,” Ejaz Ahmed, who brought his wife and family across the border, told IPS.

But instead of arriving on safe soil, as they had hoped, the refugees have met strict border control and a hostile local government, highlighting the precariousness of life for this stateless Muslim population in Southeast Asia.

No rest for refugees

Sparked by reports in late May that three Rohingya Muslim men had allegedly raped a Buddhist Rakhine woman, the violence left thousands of families from the farming and fishing villages of Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Minbya and Mrauk U homeless, with no access to food, water, medical supplies or shelter.

Within a month 83,000 out of a population of about 800,000 Rohingyas had fled their ancestral homes in Rakhine. By June, 95 people had been killed.

Some of the survivors now living around the camps in Bangladesh told IPS they had no choice but to flee.

“I saw my neighbours being dragged out of their homes and beaten to death. We fled to escape being killed,” Rehana Begum told IPS.

Mujibor Rahman, a vegetable shop owner in Kyauktaw village, said “On a dark night in June a dozen men attacked our local market where they picked up young Muslim men and (stabbed them) with rapiers. Many died on the spot while others were left moaning on the ground.”

But stories of these “genocide-like” conditions have failed to sway the Bangladeshi government, which has tightened border security at all points of entry.

Authorities have given Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) strict instructions to deny entry to any “intruder” from Myanmar, whether travelling by boat or on foot.

As a result, scores of Rohingyas are said to be languishing on the other side of the roughly 270-kilometre land border in makeshift camps.

BGB Commander for Cox’s Bazaar, lieutenant colonel Mohammad Khalequzzaman, told IPS that since August over 1,300 Rohingyas were sent back through the Tumbru and Ghundum border points.

In total, some 2,600 Rohingyas have been sent back since the first wave of refugees arrived about four months ago. The Home Ministry in Dhaka estimates that number could rise to nearly 10,000 by early next year.

“We have intensified our patrols around the Naf River”, which forms one of the borders between the two countries, Coast Guard Station Officer Commander Badrudduza told IPS.

Armed BGB members and coast guards in speedboats are patrolling the Naf, searching for refugees. But the vast Bay of Bengal, which lies to the south of Bangladesh and southwest of Myanmar, still facilitates several points of entry for those who arrive in dilapidated wooden boats, mostly at night.

“It’s very dangerous to take such a coastal route. Coast guard troops from both countries often shoot at us,” Mohammad Kalam Hossain, who recently arrived in Teknaf with a group of 26 men, women and children from Ponnagyun, a coastal fishing village in south Rakhine, told IPS.

“In the last two weeks more people fled, fearing fresh attacks. The only safe place for us is Bangladesh,” Mohammad Jahangir Alam, a fisherman from Myebon village, told IPS.

Those who do manage to enter Bangladesh are in perpetual fear of being caught by the intelligence or being reported to the police.

Since they speak the local dialect and bear a strong resemblance to Bangladeshi people, many refugees are able to slip into village and town life undetected.

But once caught, refugees receive “no mercy”. “The authorities will force you to disclose the whereabouts of others, and send (everyone) back. That’s why we try to avoid exposure during the daytime,” Julekha Banu, who escaped to Bangladesh in September, told IPS.

Legal quagmire

Though the issue is only now receiving front-page coverage in international media, the plight of Rohingya Muslims dates back several decades, ever since the ruling military junta in Myanmar stripped them of their citizenship.

During a 1978 military assault known as the King Dragon Operation, 200,000 Rohingyas were driven from Rakhine State to Bangladesh, where they lived in squalid refugee camps for decades.

A similar purge in 1991-92 sent another 250,000 Myanmar nationals of Rohingya ethnicity streaming across the border.

Though Burmese officials at the time identified those refugees as their own citizens, political leader Aung San Suu Kyi is now referring to the refugees as “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, a fact the Foreign Ministry here has vehemently denied.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Dhaka, speaking under condition of anonymity, told IPS that Bangladesh is already stretched to its limit, with two refugee camps, Ukhiya and Kutupalong, housing over 30,000 displaced Rohingyas. An additional 200,000 Rohingyas are estimated to be living in Bangladesh as undocumented immigrants.

This legal quagmire has effectively rendered the Rohingya people ‘stateless’, with limited access to employment, education, healthcare and public services in either country.

Speaking to IPS on the phone from Geneva, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, said, “The situation… is very critical. I am concerned about the Rohingyas who have no homes, food, water or medical care… They require immediate humanitarian aid.”

He added, “Bangladesh should fulfill its obligations under international law by respecting and protecting the human rights of all people within (its) borders, regardless of whether they are recognised as citizens.”

In August Quintana was refused entry into Bangladesh to see the situation here.

Meanwhile, refugees continue to live in limbo, unsure whether they will be allowed to stay or forced to return to a nightmare, which took place “under the nose of the Yangon regime”, according to survivors.

“This is our new home,” a refugee woman in Cox’s Bazar told IPS. “Please let us stay here.”

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


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Bangladesh ‘Fixes’ Grameen Microcredit

August 15, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Naimul Haq Reprint | | Print | Send by email

DHAKA, Aug 15 2012 (IPS) – Laboni Vhoumik’s lingerie manufacturing unit in the Gopai village of Noakhali district, about 180 km outside the capital, is a forceful argument in favour of the Grameen Bank microcredit model that fosters female entrepreneurship and relies on it.

But the Grameen Bank is itself under threat of creeping government control that has kicked up a storm of protests by entities ranging from women’s rights groups to the state department of the United States.

Vhoumik, 36, started out in 2003 with nothing to commend her except tailoring skills. Today, she runs a production unit which employs 12 women and supplies quality undergarments to several major retailers in Noakhali and the adjacent districts.

Joining a local non-government organisation (NGO), Noakhali Rural Development Services (NRDS), helped Vhoumik to borrow Taka 4000 (then about 45 dollars) to buy her first sewing machine.

“We counsel and offer free training to promote such small entrepreneurships. The idea is to ensure that the borrowed money is properly utilized,” Mohammad Kaiser Alam, NRDS microcredit programme coordinator, told IPS.

Vhoumik now earns about 238 dollars a month, which is considered handsome in her village. She also has large savings and recently paid for some major repairing of her home.

Her group of 65 members discusses social and family problems as well as members’ progress with their business or problems or outstanding loans.

Members rarely default as the group is responsible as guarantor for the loans.

But this simple business model that has worked to lift thousands of Bangladeshi women out of poverty is now under threat because one of its pioneers, the Grameen Bank, is undergoing changes at the helm that will allow greater government control.

The government owns three percent of Grameen Bank, but by suitably changing the ‘Grameen Bank Ordinance’ the new state-appointed chairman will be able to appoint its chief executive officer.

“This represents a de facto imposition of government control of the bank; in other words, the poor women, who are also its owners, are being deprived of their right to manage their own bank and are being made powerless,” says a statement issued by 60 of Bangladesh’s leading civil society representatives.

“Grameen Bank is unique in the world for being owned by impoverished women. Representatives of the 8.4 million women borrowers sit on the board of the bank and have participated over the years in its decision making, unlike any other bank in the world,” the statement said.

Shireen Huq, one of the signatories to the statement, told IPS “there is no reason to believe that the changes (to Grameen Bank) are being made with good intent.”

Huq, a leading women’s rights activist and founder of the NGO ‘Naripokkho’, said the proposed amendment to the Grameen Bank’s constitution gives the chairman of the board the authority to form a three-member selection committee. “In other words, the majority board members will be in effect disenfranchised.

“The government’s appointment of a person known for his animosity towards Prof. Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank’s founder) as the chairman did not bode well for the institution,” Huq told IPS.

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A press statement on Aug. 5 by Patrick Ventrell, acting deputy U.S. state department spokesman, said Washington was “deeply concerned about recent actions the government of Bangladesh has taken to give the government-appointed chairman of the Grameen Bank Board control over the selection of the bank’s new managing director.”

“This move would diminish the role the largely female borrower-shareholders play in shaping the direction of an institution that has made a difference to millions of impoverished women in Bangladesh, and indeed around the world,” the statement said.

“We are concerned that the latest actions by the government could threaten the future of the bank which was founded by Nobel peace prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus,” Ventrell said.

The plan by the government to increase its role in Grameen Bank has sparked a furious debate in Bangladesh that has pitted economists who favour microcredit as a development tool against those who believe that it is not effective enough.

Prof. Abul Barkat, who head the economics department at Dhaka University’s told IPS that microcredit reaches only small portion of the poor people. “Hardcore poor who need most attention remain out of the reach of such services and who are considered having no potential of repaying loans.”

“Out of Bangaldesh’s 150 million population, 98.9 million are poor, 47 million are middle class and 4.1 million are rich people. Out of the 98.9 million, 50 percent form the hardcore poor and remain in the lower bottom. Microcredit only reaches the upper half of the poor who are the potential target group of the NGOs,” the economist explained.

According to Barkat economically the upper half of the poor (49.4 million) who get microcredit facilities “bounce in their own orbit” and they ”neither come out of poverty nor slide down to the hardcore poor group.”

Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, another noted economist, told IPS that he has rarely seen poor people getting significant benefit from microcredit programmes. “One of my own studies shows only seven percent of the borrowers actually coming out of poverty from microcredit.”

Ahmad, who currently chairs Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation or PKSF, said his 2008 study showed that fewer than ten percent of the total 23 million borrowers in the country actually came out of poverty. “This means that microcredit programmes are not always sustainable in poverty alleviation.”

But, the PKSF itself was launched by the government in 1990 to build on the success of private players and now has over 250 partner organisations (small NGOs) and has 8.6 million borrowers.

Mohammad Hasan Ali, founder and executive director of Pally Bikash Kendra, an NGO that operates microcredit programmes in the northwestern districts, told IPS that the steady growth in borrowings and repayments showed the robustness of the model.

“Surely the poor are borrowing because they are getting some benefit in one way or another,” Ali said.

What is important, most economists agree, is that the small borrowings made through NGOs have eliminated traditional village moneylenders who charged usuriously high rates of interest and increased the debt burden of the poor.

The real success of microcredit, economists say, lies in the fact that it integrates other programmes like health and hygiene, education, water and sanitation, social safety, legal aid, human rights and other basic issues with the lending process.

S. M. Ali Aslam, executive director of ADAMS, an NGO operating in the southwestern districts, told IPS, “There is no doubt that the NGOs took the leadership in providing financial security to the poor when the state failed to offer any secure economic programme.”

Aslam added that that foreign donors continue to support microcredit programmes in Bangladesh “because they work.”

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


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Caught Between Diarrhoea Bugs and Arsenic

May 18, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA, May 18, 2012 (IPS) – Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of providing access to safe drinking water for its 160 million people by 2015 is a tough call for Bangladesh, which is caught between arsenic contaminated groundwater and diarrhoea-causing microbes in its ponds and rivers.

Yet, with a programme of using simple hand pumps and involving the women in affected communities, Bangladesh has managed to ensure that 98 percent of its rural population now has access to safe drinking water.

"Despite widespread arsenic contamination, over 98 percent of the rural population now has access to safe drinking water," avers Mohammad Nuruzzaman, chief engineer of the department of public health (DPHE).

"All the 1.3 million hand-pumped tubewells we have installed for the rural population are arsenic-free. We are constantly monitoring them through regular testing in our 14 regional laboratories," Nuruzzaman told IPS.

Hand pumps access water that is closer to the surface and has had less time to absorb arsenic. Also, very deep tube wells that reach water 500 metres below ground level are usually safe because arsenic deposits at that depth are likely to have been depleted.

"Through constant monitoring, we are adapting and improving our approach, but UNICEF will never be happy until all water supply is made safe from arsenic," Pascal Villeneuve, representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangladesh, told IPS.

UNICEF has special reason to be anxious about arsenic in groundwater because the U.N. body was responsible for promoting Bangladesh’s tube well programme in the 1950s, which turned disastrous with the discovery of high arsenic contamination of groundwater in 1993.

"Currently, the Bangladesh government and UNICEF are partners in implementing the largest hygiene behaviour change programme in the world," Villeneuve said. "This will ultimately reach 30 million people and is already reaching 20 million."

Under this programme, arsenic mitigation is "mainstreamed," Villeneuve explained. "Communities are being equipped with knowledge and skills to avoid arsenic poisoning while some 20,000 arsenic-safe water points are to be installed, reaching over two million people in areas that are most affected."

Nurul Islam, project director of the programme, told IPS that the role of women is crucial. "The programme is mainly designed to empower women in 600 affected communities so that they can make decisions and demand the best options available."

S.M.A. Rashid, executive director of the NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation, told IPS: "We promote women’s participation in the arsenic mitigation project and build the capacities of women in affected communities so that the victims can decide how best to solve their problems."

Rainwater harvesting, sand filters, traditional dug wells and alternate tube wells are among range of options on offer with beneficiaries needing to pay just ten percent of the costs.

Groundwater arsenic was first discovered in 1993 in the northwestern district of Chaipainawabganj but the issue remained buried until 1996 when doctors from the Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH) joined scientists from the School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India, to go public.

Dipankar Chakraborti, research director at SOES, told IPS: "The government in Bangladesh had thought that sinking deep tube wells would solve its water problems, but 40 percent of the wells turned out to be contaminated with arsenic."

Chakraborti, who has been carrying out tests on hundreds of water samples sent to him from Bangladesh, said many tube wells in the country still show dangerous levels of contamination – though the magnitude of the problem is far less than initially thought.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater occurs in many parts of the world, including locations in India, Thailand, China, Argentina, Chile and the United States. But nowhere has the problem been as severe as in Bangladesh.

Arsenic contamination in Bangladesh was not officially acknowledged until the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine jointly conducted a series of tests in 1995.

The enormity of the problem emerged as water samples in parts of the country revealed arsenic at concentrations of 250 parts per billion (ppb), though this is mostly limited to underground layers between 10 and 150 metres. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems concentrations exceeding 10 ppb to be toxic.

During the late 1950s, UNICEF, with the good intention of reducing infant mortality from surface water-borne diseases, introduced tube well technology. As deaths from diseases such as cholera and shigella declined, millions of tube wells sprang up across the country with disastrous consequences.

About 22 percent of all tube wells in the country are still arsenic contaminated, according to Mahmud Shamsul Gafur, who works for WHO which once described Bangladesh’s situation as the "largest mass poisoning of a population in history."

"From what we know there are 38,430 patients suffering from various degrees of arsenic poisoning," Gafur told IPS. "It is commendable that there is now a massive government-led awareness programme with the close involvement of women who are the worst sufferers."

Traditionally, in Bangladesh, fetching water is a woman’s chore. Since the advent of tube wells, women have also taken on the responsibility of their maintenance and repair.

Arsenic poisoning can – apart from severely damaging the circulatory and respiratory systems, and causing kidney, bladder and liver diseases – be disfiguring. Women who suffer from the typical skin lesions tend to shy away from public gaze.

Arati Karmaker, who lives in Dakobe village of Khulna district, and has skin lesions caused by arsenic in drinking water, says she is socially isolated. This mother of three always wears a full-sleeved blouse and uses a shawl to cover the disfigurement.

"I opted for a deep tube well which is safe and can be used by other affected families in my neighbourhood," she said.

Some experts say solving Bangladesh’s arsenic problem calls for a return to surface water, which is easily treated for microbes by boiling and does not call for the use of expensive filters. Concentrated arsenic sludge, the byproduct of filtration, presents another serious problem – that of safe disposal.

"If we do not return to using surface water quickly the problem could turn catastrophic," says Prof. Mahmudur Rahman at the DCH. "By drilling so many tube wells we disturbed the underground environment and put ourselves in this crisis."

But surface water sources in densely populated Bangladesh have been drying up and half of the country’s original 300 rivers have vanished. For now, the best option is still the simple hand-operated pump and constant vigil for arsenic contamination by women in the communities.

*With inputs from Sujoy Dhar in Kolkata

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


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HIZBUT-TAHRIR ( HT) STEPS UP ATTEMPTS TO SUBVERT BD ARMY

January 22, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy

B.RAMAN

It is learnt from reliable sources that the Bangladesh authorities suspect that the Hizbut-Tahrir (HT), Party of Liberation, banned in October 2009 had links with 16 middle-level officers of the Bangladesh Army involved in the plot to stage a coup against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which was discovered in December last.

2. The discovery of the plot was announced at a press conference at Dhaka on January 19,2012, by the Bangladeshi army spokesman Brigadier General Muhammad Masud Razzaq. He said that the Army had specific evidence that up to 16 current and former Bangladeshi military officers "with extreme religious views" were involved in a "heinous conspiracy". The plot was instigated by Bangladeshi conspirators living abroad, he said.

3. He further said that two retired officers, Lieutenant Colonel Ehsan Yusuf and Major Zakir, have been arrested, but did not say when. He added that the authorities were looking for a serving officer, Major Ziaul Haq, who had fled his post after the arrests of Yusuf and Zakir.

4.Giving details about the alleged plot, Razzaq said that Ziaul Haq had circulated emails to different serving officers detailing a plan to overthrow the Government on January 9-10. The Army authorities have accused the HT of helping to circulate the messages. It has been reported that a major general (name not known), who headed one of the country’s largest cantonments, was recalled to Dhaka, following the discovery of the plot. Details of his exact role in the plot are not known.

5.In a leaflet disseminated on January 20,2012, the banned HT said: “Hizb ut-Tahrir organized public speeches outside mosques across the country after Jummah prayers today where speakers called upon the people to protest against the Hasina government’s plot to subjugate the Muslim Army of Bangladesh to US-India. The speakers said Hasina was brought to power by the Americans, in partnership with India. The Americans have a design to prevent the return of the Islamic Khilafah in this region and contain the rise of China. For this purpose she prefers a strategic partnership with India in order to secure her strong presence in this region and tighten her grip over the Muslim countries within the region. These two enemy countries are using the government, the opposition, and some in the military leadership in Bangladesh as agents to solve the long standing issues with India which will free India’s hands. This will facilitate India to join hands with America in implementing her design to prevent the return of Islam and contain China. And they are working to remove all obstacles to this plan and anyone who exposes or speaks against this evil plan. It was for this reason that bright officers of our army were massacred in Pilkhana in which Hasina collaborated. It was for this reason that Hasina banned Hizb ut-Tahrir and is pursuing a policy of brutal repression against the party. And now she is executing a policy of whole sale purge of the army through abductions, arrests and dismissals of officers who stand on the side of Islam, and the country’s sovereignty and security. The speakers called upon the sincere officers in the army to remove Hasina and the current ruling regime from authority at once; and to transfer the authority to Hizb ut-Tahrir which is a sincere and aware political party. Hizb ut-Tahrir will establish the Khilafah state which will eject USA, Britain, India and their allies from Bangladesh. The Khilafah will build this country as the starting point for becoming a global super power. This is by securing the basic needs of the people and solving the long running problems faced by the people such as poverty and unemployment, industrializing the country’s economy, building the army as a strong and advanced fighting force, and unifying with the Muslim Ummah. “

6.In another leaflet addressed to the people of Bangladesh, the HT has said: “O Muslims! You have been victims of Indian aggression for decades. This enemy state killed your officers in Pilkhana, she built the Farakkah dam, she deprives you of your rightful share of water from the common rivers, and she kills your brothers and sisters in the border. And your current rulers have failed to stand up to the Indian aggression against you. There exists only one way of resisting the enemy – establishing the Khilafah state. So stop wasting your time and effort in looking for solutions from the current democratic system and the agent political parties – Awami League, BNP and others. You have to take one action and only one action – call upon the people of power to remove the Hasina overnment and hand over power to Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is the only party offering you the vision of becoming a leading state in the region and the world. We will establish the Khilafah state, and implement the Qur’an and the Sunnah. We will bring an end to your economic plight, and industrialize the economy. We will build a strong advanced military. And we have the action plan ready to regain India as a Muslim land, under the Islamic rule, which is the only true assured way of stopping Indian aggression permanently.”

7. The HT has been active among lower and middle level officers of the Armies of Pakistan and Bangladesh and has been trying to instigate a coup by them in order to introduce Islamic rule in the two countries and eradicate US and Indian influence. After establishing Islamic rule in Pakistan and Bangladesh, it wants to extend its activities to India to help the Indian Muslims. ( 21-1-12)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )

Copyright © 2012 B. Raman – South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG).

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BANGLADESH: Child Smugglers Risk Life for a Few Dollars

June 28, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Sujoy Dhar

BENAPOLE, Bangladesh, Jun 28, 2011 (IPS) – Thirteen-year-old Jamal is a Bangladeshi bootlegger who carries goods from Haridaspur town in the Indian state of West Bengal to the border district of Jessore in southwest Bangladesh, playing cat-and-mouse with Indian frontier guards every day.

But luck ran out for the otherwise nimble-footed Jamal when, one day a few months ago, his hand got caught in the barbed wire fence as he tried to flee a chasing Indian trooper.

As Jamal tried to free himself from the wire and cross over to Bangladesh, the burly North Indian sentry pulled him back to the Indian side. The barbs dug into Jamal’s skin, drawing blood and scooping out a shred of his flesh in the tug of war.

"The border guard then stomped over my palm with his heavy boot," recalls Jamal (not his real name). Wounded and bleeding, he managed to return to the safety of his side of the border, Bangladesh, suffering no more than the physical pain. But he was worried about the day’s losses of about 300 taka (four dollars).

Life along the India-Bangladesh border has become a dangerous game for poverty-stricken children trying to make the most of their location by bootlegging. On either side, poverty has produced a large number of young local smugglers, transporting anything from cattle to fruit and narcotics to chocolates.

But children pay a high price for earning a living. "Many children face abuse – physical or sexual – while women engaged in the trade often end up offering sexual favours to border guards to avoid legal hassles and prosecution," says Tariqul Islam of Rights Jessore, a group working to protect the children and trafficked women of Bangladesh.

The abuses, said to be mainly perpetrated by Indian troops of the Border Security Force (BSF), continue despite criticisms from human rights groups.

Last December, an 81-page report titled "Trigger Happy: Excessive Use of Force by Indian Troops at the Bangladesh Border" by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch found numerous cases of indiscriminate use of force, arbitrary detention, torture, and killings by the BSF. But very few of the cases were investigated and none of the perpetrators punished.

The BSF guards the Indian side of the border, is better armed and outnumbers its Bangladesh counterpart known as Border Guards Bangladesh (previously Bangladesh Rifles or the BDR).

These two forces are tasked with guarding the porous 4,096-km border, including more than 1,100 kms in the southern part of India’s West Bengal, which has its share of child smugglers.

One of them is Raju Barman, who lives near the border town of Hili in South Dinajpur district in West Bengal. "I have to avoid the eyes of four to five Indian border guards every day to take my consignment to the other side," says Barman, a fifth grade dropout. "I earn 70 rupees (1.5 dollars)."

Barman explains he delivers Indian goods to his Bangladeshi counterpart, a boy named Selim, on the other side of the border, and makes as many as five trips on any given day. And then he would also take Bangladeshi goods from Selim to sell in India, although Indian goods are more in demand on the other side. "We are often caught and get beaten up, but we still go. We are poor," says Barman.

While the BSF usually lets the younger boys go after roughing them up, the teenaged boys and young women in the trade are vulnerable to sexual assault too, rights activists say.

Authorities in Bangladesh acknowledge the abuses on the border but admit to helplessness. "We know of the trafficking and the child carriers, but our resources are limited," says Mohammad Nurul Amin, the Jessore district magistrate and deputy commissioner.

"We are offering some monetary support for families to send their children to school and (also) offering free books," he says.

On the Indian side, the BSF’s new South Bengal Inspector General Ashok Kumar says they are also encouraging children to go back to school.

"We are also adopting one school under every border outpost to bring the children back to school and provide them facilities," Kumar says.

But asked about the abuses, Kumar, who had been commended for his humane approach to problems in previous postings, could only say, "I will try to find out the truth and see what can be done."

A senior BSF official requesting anonymity says unless the governments of both countries take up the issue, nothing can be done to stop the violation of child rights.

"The big bosses are not paying serious attention to the problem. If they are not serious about stopping smuggling, they should make it an open border," the official says. "It is a tragedy of the system." The volume of trade in the border areas is substantial. A Central Law Commission Report in India back in 2000 said illegal trade between India and Bangladesh was around five billion dollars. Official trade between the two countries amounts to less than three billion dollars.

Locals allege that border guards of the two countries are in cahoots with smuggling syndicates. Human rights activists say the border is dotted with illegal "ghats" (ports) through which smuggling takes place. Every ghat has an owner or group of owners called "ghat maliks" (port owners) controlling the trade. Ghat maliks, activists say, are shadowy figures that appear to be connected with powerful and influential people.

The goods smuggled from the Indian side are mostly cattle, fruits, fertilisers, pesticide, salt, spices, sugar, and "bidi" (hand rolled local cheap cigars). Then there are also medicines and narcotics, such as the popular intoxicant Phensedyl, a cough syrup Bangladeshis drink as liquor. Other goods include garments, electronic equipment (often those which reach India from China), DVDs, and motorcycle engines.

Smuggled from the Bangladesh side are usually fish, oil, mobile handsets and soaps besides gold, fake currency, metals and small arms.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


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Q&A: "Microfinance Is Much More Than Just Credit"

March 23, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Kanya D’Almeida interviews MARY ELLEN ISKENDERIAN of Women’s World Banking

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23, 2011 (IPS) – A day after U.S. assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs Robert Blake appealed to the Bangladeshi government to reconsider its dismissal of 70-year-old microfinance guru Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank, IPS spoke with the president and CEO of Women’s World Banking (WWB), currently the most comprehensive network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the world.

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, who has worked with WWB for well over a decade, believes that what she calls a political smear campaign against Yunus has no bearing on the tangible changes provoked by MFIs.

She dismissed the notion, which is swiftly gaining momentum in many quarters, that microcredit is ineffective as a sustainable method of poverty alleviation and must be replaced.

Iskenderian argues that the long-term positive impact of MFIs and their projects in the global south will help to close the poverty gap and empower rural, third world women – a population who shoulders the brunt of structural inequality.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: How has Muhammad Yunus’s dismissal from Grameen Bank affected WWB?

A: We were very concerned about what the general public might think and what this confusion would do for the "microfinance brand" so to speak – it’s extremely unfortunate that his dismissal has nothing to do with microfinance and is in reality nothing but a politically motivated move against the founder of Grameen Bank.

Bangladesh is a place in which you can literally track the positive impact of microfinance efforts on poverty reduction and it’s very disheartening that political officials are attempting to discredit this.

Q: How has WWB dealt with this media blow?

A: We’re trying as hard as we can to get the word out about how effective microfinance has been. Today microfinance is so much more than just credit – we are working on a whole range of other products that can add a level of security to low-income households to soften the repeated blows of poverty.

Q: How does WWB respond to the barrage of critique that has come at MFIs and the MF industry in recent years? Does WWB share any of the concerns of critics of MF?

A: We feel that there is a much bigger story that isn’t always being told in its entirety. While giving women access to credit achieves short-term goals – such as allowing women to build small businesses – the long-term changes created by women who choose wisely how to expend the income generated form these activities is often ignored.

For example, a woman who owns her own business often makes wise investments that lead to structural change over a longer period of time – the education of her children, for instance. Those changes happen much more slowly than the few months dedicated to a controlled study allow you to see.

The impact of a family allowing a girl child to be educated rather than pulling her out of school to contribute a small amount of income towards the household is enormous – but it cannot be observed and recorded during the duration of a research study. Some of the critique, despite being well- intentioned, does not present an accurate picture of the kind of change microfinance is capable of inducing.

Q: Are there any examples that saliently address these critiques?

A: I would look at one of our earlier members, Sewa Bank in Gujarat, India, which does not just dispense credit but also mobilises savings. One of the most salient aspects of this is that institutions who can take deposits not only ensure their clients greater stability and security, but the institutions themselves can secure a stable source of low- cost local currency funding by way of deposits.

Sewa is not only interested in providing enterprise credit and agricultural credit but is also taking savings and making highly successfully pension-products so that women can save for the long term. Sewa also provides healthcare on the ground, through what they call the ‘barefoot doctors’, as well as health insurance.

Sewa is a great example of the kind of institution in our network that is very focused on a woman’s life cycle needs. As the CEO of Sewa always says, "poverty is like a game of chutes and ladders" – by which she means unpredictable events can destroy everything a woman has built in her life and MFIs like Sewa can protect against that kind of catastrophe.

Q: Does WWB believe in alternatives such as peasant cooperatives? Are you dedicated to bringing more women from the grassroots to the decision-making table at the highest level?

A: Absolutely. You’ve hit the nail right on the head. We think one of the most worrying trends is that as more private and commercial banks come into the picture, fewer and fewer women are visible in the ranks and staff of microfinance at the executive level, the senior level and even at the loan officers’ level.

The question then becomes, how can you design a product to help poor women without consulting women on the issue? WWB is very strict in any product launch that we do with our members. We do market research as a first step and talk to the community organisations and to grassroots leaders to find out what they’re actually looking for.

Since women tend to save more than men we always consult with women when designing savings products. Most of these women need confidentiality because they don’t want their husbands or neighbours to know they’re saving. So coming up with saving mechanisms where women can formally save money in their own name without the knowledge of the community needs to be built into our product design.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Finance, Interview, Politics Tagged With: , , ,

BANGLADESH-LIBYA: Garment Industry Pledges to Employ Evacuated Labourers

March 16, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA, Mar 16, 2011 (IPS) – Bangladesh’s garment factories and overseas recruiting agencies have pledged to employ a substantial number of Bangladeshi expatriates returning from politically volatile Libya, following the violent crackdown on opposition forces by Muammar Gaddafi’s regime there.

In its latest move to help evacuees form Libya, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Abdus Salam Murshedy told IPS the sector could possibly hire up to 50,000 of these returning workers.

"The idea of the proposed employment opportunities is to boost the morale of the repatriated returnees," Murshedy said, stressing the need for skilled workers locally. "Based on their knowledge and category of work we can absorb them. However, those who have no skills we plan to train."

At present, about 25 percent of machines in the factories are lying idle in the absence of skilled operators, Murshedy said.

BGMEA, which represents woven knit and sweater garment manufacturers and exporters, already employs some 3.5 million workers – mostly women. The ready-made garment sector brings in roughly 78 percent of Bangladesh’s annual foreign exchange.

Following the BGMEA announcement, Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) President Mohammad Abul Bashar said that during an emergency meeting a proposal was approved to employ the evacuees at various factories owned by the members of the association.

BAIRA was formed to protect the welfare of Bangladeshi migrant workers, as well as its approximately 1,100 member agencies.

"Many of our members own factories and mills. As part of our social responsibilities we have requested them to find jobs for the returnees," Bashar told IPS.

BAIRA members are discussing not just jobs for the returnees, but also bank loans for returnees to start small businesses, Bashar said.

He also said that BAIRA is looking into prospects to send some returnees to Malaysia where he says there is a huge demand for migrant workers from Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the government is making efforts to form a database of all the evacuated people sent back from Libya. Upon arrival at the airports the returnees are required to give information about the nature of work they did, the company they worked for, and their home addresses.

"We are trying to form database information of all the returnees from that country," Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told IPS. "Only after completion of such data can we plan to offer them jobs." The government is now providing each Bangladeshi evacuee about 14 dollars in cash, a food packet, and free transportation from the airport to the nearest bus-stand.

Meanwhile, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Abul Kalam Azad said his organisation is creating a fund for the evacuees. But he did not mention when and how the money would be offered to them.

Mostafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a national policy advocacy and research organisation here, noted that 34 percent of those who had gone to work in Libya were poor. "Most of them borrowed money for going to Libya. So, they should be provided with loans with simple interest," Rahman told IPS.

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) representative Asif Munir pointed out that 6,577 Bangladeshis were evacuated with the help of IOM between Mar. 1 and 10. He said that IOM expected over 19,000 more by Mar. 21.

At least 50,000 Bangladeshi nationals were working in Libya, according to government estimates. But BAIRA and other organisations say that the number is closer to 100,000 – most of them in the city of Benghazi.

Although international agencies like IOM and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are helping the migrants, according to reports by various Bangladeshi correspondents reporting from the Libya-Egypt border, thousands of Bangladeshis are now desperately looking for shelter and a way out to return home.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Economy, Politics, Report Tagged With: , , , ,

BANGLADESH: Govt Under Pressure After Sacking Yunus

March 4, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Farid Ahmed

DHAKA, Mar 4, 2011 (IPS) – The Bangladesh government is drawing flak from the international community for removing microcredit pioneer and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank that he founded and led.

The Central Bank of Bangladesh on Wednesday removed Yunus, 70, from his post as the managing director of the Grameen Bank, stating that he had overstayed. He was "unlawfully" holding the position that he should have relinquished 10 years ago, a top bank official said.

Yunus challenged the legality of the order a day later, while his supporters closer home and abroad questioned the government’s intent and the process it followed.

"The central bank has removed Professor Yunus as managing director of the bank and I’ll act accordingly under the bank’s law," said Muzammel Huq, chairman of the board of directors of the Grameen Bank. He had recently been appointed by the government, that holds 25 percent stake in the bank. Huq told IPS that the deputy managing director will hold the bank’s top post in the interim.

Yunus ignored the order and joined work on Thursday at the Grameen Bank headquarters in Dhaka and stayed till late evening, the bank’s spokeswoman Jannat-E-Quanine said.

"Grameen Bank is taking legal advice," the bank stated on its website on Wednesday, adding that the institution has been complying with all applicable laws. "It has also complied with the law in respect of appointment of the Managing Director. According to the Bank’s legal advisors, the founder of Grameen Bank, Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, is accordingly continuing in his office," the statement added.

An economics professor known as the "banker to the poor", Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in 1983. It attracted worldwide attention for its easy, small credit to unemployed women who cannot give any collateral. The model was replicated across the world as an anti-poverty measure, earning Yunus and the bank the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Prof Anu Muhammad, who teaches economics at Janhangirnagar University, a critic of microcredit, told IPS that the government move was aimed at discrediting Yunus. "If age is an issue, why did the central bank wait for 10 years?" he asked. "I don’t believe the move has a good intention…it can’t change the lot of the people mired in poverty and caught in the vicious cycle of debts."

Many believe Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is unhappy with Yunus.

Last November, a Norwegian television documentary raked up an old controversy of the Grameen Bank transferring aid money from Norway to another Grameen entity to avoid tax under changed norms in the 1990s.

Though the Norwegian government in December cleared the charges, the Bangladesh government formed a committee to review the bank’s activities.

In January Hasina accused Yunus of playing a "trick" to evade tax and charged micro-lenders with "sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation."

Observers feel this statement could have come in retaliation to earlier criticism by Yunus. Soon after a military-backed interim government came to power four years ago amidst violence, Yunus told the French news agency AFP that politicians were in "power to make money."

Yunus also tried to launch a political party when leading politicians were either on the run or behind bars on corruption charges. His party never took off.

Sheikh Hasina, who was jailed by the military-backed interim government, won a landslide victory in the general elections in December 2008 and formed the government.

Yunus recently fought a defamation case over his statement and faced two fraud charges for which he had to seek bail. He said that the charges were politically motivated.

Friends of Grameen, an international alliance led by former Irish president Mary Robinson, last month alleged that the Yunus was being subjected to "politically orchestrated vilification."

Norwegian international development minister Erik Solheim deplored the sacking of Yunus: "This is a very sad development. What we see is a brutal internal power struggle in Bangladesh," he said in an interview with the Norwegian news agency NTB.

Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith met foreign diplomats on Thursday to explain the rationale for the action against Yunus. He later told journalists that it did dent the country’s image, but the government had no other option. He insisted that there was no vendetta behind the action.

"We have called his attention to the issue several times. The central bank also sent letters in this regard but to no avail," he said.

U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh James F Moriarty told reporters after his meeting with the minister: "The United States is deeply troubled. Both Professor Yunus and the government can find a way now and work out their disagreements."

Meanwhile former military dictator, H.M. Ershad, a major ally of the ruling party, made a press statement supporting Yunus: "Humiliating a man of his stature in his own country would bring the country no honour."

After the court hearing of his petition challenging his removal on Thursday Yunus told reporters: "It’s not a big deal who is the managing director of Grameen Bank…the bank which has about eight million beneficiaries across the country should not be affected in any way."

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Development, Featured, Politics Tagged With: ,

BANGLADESH: Women Find a Way Out of Poverty

February 24, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

DHAKA, Feb 24, 2011 (IPS) – Twenty-one years ago, Munni Akter and her husband Shafiuddin could hardly afford two meals a day.

The couple lived in Savar, some 35 km from here, and had no income. That is, until they turned to the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Brac), the world’s largest non-government organization working to reduce poverty.

"I was almost lost and had no skill to earn. But a neighbour told me that Brac lent money for small businesses for which they required no guarantor," 37- year-old Munni recalled.

"My husband and I wasted no time and appeared at the local Brac office to borrow money. Soon we found ourselves with some money to start vending on the streets and make profit," Munni added.

From the initial 5000 taka (40 dollars) she borrowed in 1990, her business has grown. Today, Munni has a small factory on the first floor of her two- storey concrete home in Dashkkhin Krinshnapur in Savar making sweetened puffed rice which is sold as far as 300 km southeast to the port city of Chittagong.

She employs 26 workers, and after paying labour, electricity and other costs, she has a clean profit of 1,000 dollars.

Millions of poor women like Munni have used loan money to successfully run their own businesses and free themselves from the curse of poverty, thanks to microfinance institutions like Brac.

Founded and introduced in the late 1970s, microfinancing is Bangladesh’s success story. Recent studies suggest that over 11 million Bangladeshis have benefited from borrowings, making the country the global leader in the successful use of microfinance programmes.

Getting a loan from a microfinance institution (MFI) is hassle-free and client- friendly. These MFIs knock on the doors of their clients and require no formal paperwork. Anyone who lacks skills or assets will qualify for a beginner’s loan that can lead to an advanced stage and bigger loans.

In Munni’s case, after her first 5,000-taka loan, she took several more and successfully used them to expand her business selling sweetened puffed rice.

Since Munni paid back all her loans on time, she qualified for a second stage of borrowing known as Progoti where the borrower need not belong to a group. She was able to secure a loan of 450,000 taka (6,342 dollars) in three phases, the last tranche given in March 2010.

Despite debates about the differences between "getting out of poverty" and "staying out," numerous studies have revealed that this Bangladeshi invention designed for the poor has worked. More than 40 other countries now replicate the Bangladeshi microfinance models.

MFIs offer small loans at reasonable interest rates of up to 18 percent yearly, mostly to women who would not qualify for conventional loans.

Take the case of Urmi Begum and Raxmi Rani Dey. Being street beggars, no bank or moneylender would have loaned them money. But they managed to borrow from Bangladesh’s third largest microfinance institution, Association for Social Advancement (ASA) in Rajshahi district, some 300 km northwest of the capital.

Using the loan from ASA, they both set up small grocery shops in local markets.

"Now that I have paid back loans, the tin-shed-shop belongs to me, since June 2010. I make between 100 and 150 taka a day from selling vegetables, enough to look after my disabled husband and two sons," said Rani.

To help them start or improve small-scale businesses, women who participate in the microfinance programmes are organized in groups known as samity.

Each groups consists of about 20 to 30 members, and meets once a week or once a month to discuss various issues. The members also guarantee each other’s loans.

The group meetings are also an opportunity to educate women on various aspects of business. The women are also taught to save, which is an important part of microfinancing.

"In my group, a few of my fellow colleagues did not save money to repay loans, and so they had difficulties seeking fresh loans," said 40-year-old Sultana Razia, who runs a small dairy farm selling 36 litres of milk everyday.

Rezia started with a small, risk free loan of 120 dollars, and was trained on how to become a successful dairy farmer. After four years, Rezia is the only supplier of fresh milk in her neighbourhood in Madrashapara in Savar. She has repaid all loan installments and often lends money from her profit to her employees.

Most of the MFIs have good loan recovery rates ranging from 85 to 98 percent.

This is because majority of the MFIs also run advocacy and capacity-building programmes on the proper use of borrowed money and savings.

Today, microfinance, combined with health, education and other rights-based advocacy programmes, has significantly contributed to an increase in female enrolment in schools and colleges.

In many parts of the country, surveys show that over 90 percent of girls from borrower-families attend school, compared to less than 60 percent from non-participants of microfinance programmes.

More than 2,000 MFIs work with the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh. The lion’s share of the MFI’s activities is in big NGOs like microfinance founder Grameen Bank, Brac, and ASA and similar institutions.

According to Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), the body which disburses and monitors all loans to its partner organizations (POs), it disbursed 1.5 billion dollars to 195 POs from 1990 up to November last year.

"Microfinance has substantially helped improve the quality of life of the poor in Bangladesh," said Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former Bangladesh Bank Governor and also former managing director of PKSF, an apex body of more than 250 microfinance institutions.

Salehuddin, who took part in several major researches on microfinance in Bangladesh, told IPS, "The impact of successful borrowings is evident. Wages, employment, food security, coverage in health, education, sanitation and other basic needs have increased many times in the rural areas."

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Development, Gender, Poverty, Report Tagged With: ,

Wear in Bangladesh What You Like

November 20, 2010 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN

By Tony Henderson

IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis 
 
DHAKA (IDN/Pressenza*) – Bangladesh’s religious state tendencies were undone in August 2005 when the country’s High Court declared constitutional amendments during military rule as illegal and unconstitutional.

Later in January 2010, after a legal battle, the Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the High Court thereby allowing restoration of the original nature of the 1972 Constitution which defines Bangladesh — a Muslim-majority nation of 150 million people — as a secular democratic country.

"The original 1972 constitution of the founding president of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was a secular constitution," says Bangladesh Consul General in Hong Kong, Ashud Ahmed. "However, over time, the constitution had been amended and had departed from its original secular spirit."

This issue cropped up from a seemingly innocuous case of verbal harassment earlier in 2010 when a school headmistress, Sultana Arjuman Banu, took a government official to court for calling her an "uncultured prostitute" because she did not wear a burqa. The court asked the official to unconditionally apologise.

The burqa had become a topic of debate not only in the Bangladesh parliament but also in educational institutions. The judgment is the fourth passed by the courts, all unequivocally upholding a woman’s right not to wear a burqa if she does not want to.

The first order came in March. The high court then banned police from hassling women who did not wear the garment after nine teenage couples were arrested in a park in northern Rangpur district, because the girls were not in burqas.

In April, a court ruled that women teachers could not be forced to wear the garment in their educational institutions. In Septemebr the order was extended to all students following reports that the principal of a state-run college in northern Bangladesh was forcing the girls to wear burqas.

The Dhaka High Court on October 4 ruled that no woman in Bangladesh should be compelled to wear a burqa against her wishes. "Attempts to coerce or impose a dress code on women clearly amount to a form of sexual harassment," a court statement said, in what is being seen as a landmark verdict for human rights in the Muslim majority country.

"But even as the courts and the Awami League government are paving the way for greater freedom for women, more and more seem to be taking to the veil," reported The Telegraph, Calcutta (India).

The newspaper quoted Mehtab Khanoum, a psychologist who teaches at Dhaka University, saying that many more girls were being seen in burqas these days compared to 1983, when she first started teaching. "The burqa isn’t necessarily a custom of purdah. It’s seen by many as a security blanket. Law and order here is such that women feel they will be teased less if they are veiled," she said.

"Also, I have noticed that as we are progressing technologically, as a society we are going backwards. As children have access to more technology, parents are becoming stricter. I see it as a direct link to why more girls are covering up."

Khanoum, who is also heard on radio talking on women’s issues, said there a lot of pressure on young girls to dress modestly and behave politely. "Sleeveless blouses, jeans and T-shirts are still frowned on. Court orders cannot change society."

Salma Haidar, a 23-year-old woman shopping in a mall, corroborated what Khanoum said. "My burqa makes me feel good and safe. I started wearing it a few months ago because my family said I would be safer in it," she said.

But Ishrat Jahan, a computer science student, would not agree that women in burqas were teased less. "That’s a myth. They are teased the most, along with those who are overtly modern. Eve-teasers try to lift the veil to see what the girl is trying to hide," she said, laughing.

"With the growing exposure to Internet and satellite TV, I’ve noticed many women going all out to cover everything but their eyes. Some modify their burqas, which looks really trendy. But these court orders haven’t made any difference. Girls who used to wear burqas still do."

Others like Fahida Islam, a 19-year-old television presenter who wears a hijab, a headscarf concealing the hair and neck, felt Bangladeshi women should embrace Islamic customs more. "My hijab is my freedom," she said in an interview to a foreign news agency in September.

Nevertheless, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said that the original spirit of the constitution including secularism had been restored as a result of the Supreme Court judgment, upholding the right of all women in Bangladesh to choose what they wear.

"That is a moot question," explained Bangladesh Consul General in Hong Kong, Ashud Ahmed, "because, another school of legal thought has it that the change still has to be debated and agreed upon in parliament."

"The original 1972 constitution of the founding president of Bangladesh, Prime Ministe Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was a secular constitution," he says, adding: "However, over time, the constitution had been amended and had departed from its original secular spirit."

The original constitution of 1972 embodied four fundamental principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism.

“When the military government of president Ziaur Rahman’s regime took over they came up with amendments that changed the nature of the constitution by allowing religion-based political parties and which included a phrase in Arabic that changed everything."

The words were: ‘Bismillah-ir-Rahman-Ir-Rahim’, or, ‘in the name of God, the most merciful, benevolent’, placed in the preamble.

"Bangladesh is now a secular state as the Appellate Division (of the Supreme Court) verdict scrapped the Fifth Amendment to the constitution. In this secular state, everybody has religious freedom, and therefore no man, woman or child can be forced to wear religious attires like burqa, cap and dhoti," a high court bench stated on October 4, 2010.

The court comprising judges A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain, however, made it clear that no citizen can be prohibited from wearing religious attires either, if he or she wished to don them.

*Pressenza International Press Agency www.pressenza.com is a cooperation partner of IDN-InDepthNews. Tony Henderson is a freelance writer based in Hong Kong since 1980. He contributes regularly to Pressenza. (IDN-InDepthNews/18.11.2010)
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