The 3rd world view

Picture of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:42:00 +0000

From a Budapest restaurant: they grill aubergine

Hitler in today's Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:09:00 +0000

During my stay in Germany I have visited in many museums, memorials and a concentration camp, one thing is missing in these deliberately is the prominent display of Hitler's image. I haven't seen any statue or portrait anywhere. Hitler's real bunker was discovered years ago but it has not been converted to any museum for public display.

What I have heard that there are two concerns. One is that the Germans have a sort of collective guilt for what he did during the second world war (including the holocaust) and the other one is that he is also revered by the neo-nazis. Germany is one place where you can get prosecuted for carrying any sort of Nazi symbol (I know of a report which said an Indian women got into trouble for carrying Swastika like Hindu religious emblem in her locket). So any impersonation of Hitler is generally avoided.

When Madam Tussauds announced that they will be including Hitler's wax figure in their new branch in Berlin it created much debate. According to Der Spiegel:

Michael Braun, of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told the Thursday edition of the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel it was "distasteful beyond comparison." Green politician Alice Ströver called the Hitler wax figure "tasteless, disgusting and in bad style."

And the inevitable had to happen:

On Saturday morning, just seconds after the new branch of Madame Tussauds wax museum opened its doors for the first time, a visitor brushed aside two security guards, jumped over the desk at which Hitler was sitting, and tore the Führer's head off.

The man, a 41-year-old from the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, was just the second visitor to enter the museum. "Never again war!" the man yelled as he attacked the wax figure.
(Der Spiegel)

That explains a lot about the public sentiments.

Picture of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:32:00 +0000

"The system of communism has failed in every senses. However it will be very hard to get rid of communists, for there is nobody as dangerous as the usurper of a failed system, who abandons the system but guards his loot and the power position." - written in a monument in front of the Hungarian Parliament

Dot sub and the Multilingual Web

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:49:00 +0000

dotSUB is a browser based tool which lets you subtitle any video into and from any language in a collaborative way to let them be understood globally. From its about page:

The goal was to create a tool that was as simple to use as the Google search bar, with no downloads, that could engage the power, methodologies and thinking of open source, wikipedia, social networking, creative commons and web2.0 user involvement to substantially remove language and cost as a barrier to cross-cultural communication using video.

Michael L. Smolens is the founder and CEO of dotSUB and I met him in Budapest. He showed us more features in the coming release of dotDUB which enables any user to translate a transcription to any language using machine translation and use it and let the others edit it to perfection.

Look at this video Dr. Muhammad Yunus Banker to the Poor which has been translated in more than 60 languages in the world including Zulu. The Bengali version was translated in parts by other(s)and me and I edited to completed it.

Looking back at the GV Summit '08

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:52:00 +0000

It has been a fascinating 7 days in Budapest meeting more than a hundred bloggers and more activists, Gurus, techies and journalists from all over the world. Words cannot describe the moments I had with these wonderful people. So I will highlight here what others had to say about it.

Mialy Andriamananjara from Madagascar described it as United Nations of Bloggers:

I met some amazing people at the summit. Everybody had this international mindset, spoke at least two languages fluently, and had lived, not just visited, in 30 countries!

Neha Viswanathan, the South Asian editor of Global Voices is a amazing entertainer and you never feel bored when she is around. She literally made everybody dance to Bollywood music. She tells how it felt in the company of strangers:

To be able to put a face to an email id and to watch their quirks unfold is delightful. We otherwise tend to border on the morbid - covering censorship issues, conflicts, inflation, politics and the lot. But to see these strangers be able to have so much fun, watch them collapsing into laughter every ten minutes over the silliest of things is comforting.

The humble molecular biologist Lova Rakotomalala from Madagascar says:

I learned an awful lot of new procedures, shattered a few of my prejudiced views, met incredibly knowledgeable yet very low-key people.

Steve Sharra from Malawi probably said how I feel about all of this the best: " You sometimes find yourself a bit pessimistic about the fate of the world, yet, an event like this summit makes you believe that maybe, just maybe, we have a chance to be efficient about increasing our understanding of the world and each other".

The legend Joi Ito, also a board member of Global Voices Online says in his blog:

It was amazing to see so many countries and regions discussing issues face to face in combinations that only the UN would come close to.

Global Voices is a super-important part in fixing what I call the "caring problem". There is a systemic bias against reporting international news in most developed nations. When pressed, many editors will say that people just don't want to read articles about other parts of the world. This is because most people don't care. They don't care because they don't hear the voices or know people in other countries. I think that by providing voices to all over the world, we have the ability to connect people and get people to care more.

Patrick Meier, a friend of GV tells:

This was also the most international conference I’ve been to, the diversity was simply astounding: Belarus, Japan, Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya, Morocco, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore, Iran, Tunisia, Syria, Bangladesh, China, Bolivia, Madagascar, Colombia, Venezuela, Canada, France, Brazil, India, US, UK, Australia, Thailand, Germany and several more!

A delightful addition in this year's summit was the Rising Voices project and everybody was talking about this project after the session where bloggers and manager from the projects presented their works.

Global Voices Co-Founder Rebecca MacKinnon was brought to tears listening to the presentation:

Rising Voices is funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation. It gives micro-grants to promote blogging among groups of people who are - for various reasons, cultural, economic, linguistic, gender - not taking advantage of the opportunity to express themselves online. After Global Voices was created, there has always been concern by many people in our community that blogospheres in most countries are dominated by wired elites - and that unless we conduct more active outreach, Global Voices is really "Global Elite Voices." Rising voices it our first stab at addressing that problem.

Ethan Zuckerman, the other co-founder of Global Voices was blown away by Rising Voices' success:

Collins Oduor, from the REPACTED community theatre project in Nakuru, Kenya, starts his presentation with a story - my paraphrase of it:

"A young girl is very sociable and likes to play with all the children in the village. Her mother is worried that she’s too friendly and doesn’t want her playing with the boys in the village. So she tells her daughter, “You can’t climb trees with the boys because they will look up your dress and see your underpants.” So the next day, the girl takes off her underpants and climbs the tree."

Oduor ends his story with the single word, “Communication” and the room breaks into laughter. REPACTED specializes in communicating through community theatre. The productions use a wide range of techniques to get communities talking about HIV/AIDS.

Voices Bolivianas, led by Christina Quisbert and Edward Avilla, focuses on the voices of indigenous people, especially indigenous women in Bolivia.

I’m blown away every time I read about the work the Rising Voices grantees are doing. It’s a huge treat, and a major inspiration, to see folks like this on stage.

Ethan also discussed about the innovative collective decision making process which was used in the GV internal meeting.

Evegeny Morozov writes a brilliant article in Open Democracy:

Today, the greatest threat to freedom of expression online is not web censorship but mistreatment of bloggers. This trend again connects bloggers both with their antecedents in the communist-era dissident movements and their fellow-citizens living under authoritarian rule. In facing the threat, many bloggers share the same complex of emotions and reactions (including fears, doubts, and the self-censorship that often follows) that haunts other citizens. This reality was reflected in a recurrent theme of the Budapest conference: "bloggers are not aliens".

Evgeny's article in the Economist on blog standard is also a good read.

This was really a fantastic opportunity for me to meet and learn from all these great bloggers. Thank you Global Voices and I am proud to be a part of it since 2005. Needless to say my Facebook friends have grown after the summit.

Embassy warning

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:21:00 +0000

A German Football fan reacts:

We find it really good that you warn your citizens who are currently in Germany before the football game between Germany and Turkey and that you tell them to stay away from areas where fans could maybe celebrate the game. That way, we can all avoid having to explain fellow Americans that football is not the game with the strange pille (pills) where some boring Weicheier (extra sensitive morons) are dressed in complete Schutzanzügen (protection dress) and run against each other for two seconds just to stop again and beratschlagen (consult) for half an hour what they should do next. Thank you.(Translation mine)

Well this is not new. A mere elephant can trigger such warnings from an US Embassy and I did not know football is also elephant's favorite.

Arrest of a 88 year old Nazi War Criminal in India

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:56:00 +0000

"Nazi war criminal held on Goa border" -this is the kind of story that make you raise your eyebrow.

A German intelligence wing succeeded in nabbing Johann Bach – who was responsible for World War II genocide of Jews – in the jungles of Khanapura on the border of Goa and Karnataka (India).

...The 88-year-old Bach was posted as a senior adjutant at the Marsha Tikash Whanaab concentration camp in East Berlin and was responsible for the genocide of more than 12,000 Jews in World War II.

Perus Narkp, the intelligence wing received a lead which informed about an old foreigner wanting to sell an antique, priceless 18th century piano. A similar piano had been reported missing from an East Berlin museum (in close proximity of Marsha Tikash Whanaab concentration camp) after World War II.

If a war criminal can be prosecuted after 64 years then I see nothing wrong in demanding the trial of collaborators war criminals of the liberation war in Bangladesh.

Update: It turns out to be a prank. Perus Narkp is an anagram of super prank and it got the whole Indian media.

Global Voices Citizen Media Summit, Day Two:

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:54:00 +0000

Today is an important and interesting session in the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit Budapest. All the great projects the Global Voices Online is doing are being displayed and discussed.

Please check the live summit blog for more details.

Rising Voices is a successful initiative which provides micro grants to project small communities across the world to help them engage in the global conversation via blogging, videos, photos etc. and tell their stories. Watch this video to learn more about them:

Global Voices Citizen Media Summit

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:01:00 +0000

Today is the first day of the Citizen Media Summit 2008. I am sitting in a room filled up with approx 200 bloggers, activists, geeks, journalists and citizen journalists from across the world.

You can catch it live at the summit blog. There is even a Webcast and you watch it if your connection is fast.

You can also follow the live twitter feed for the summit.

From the Global Voices Advocacy Summit in Budapest

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:42:00 +0000

Arrived Budapest yesterday. Its a buzzing European city and it has a live night life. Of course the Euro 2008 football craze contributed to it and I watched the game in a roadside bar with big screens with some of the fellow GVers . I felt sorry for the Turkish fans (wearing Turkish jerseys) right in front of the TV screen. At one point of time the live broadcast was off and we were being showed result which went from 2:1 to 2:2 and 3:2 for Germany in minutes. Extra ordinary scenes were in the bar where both of the supporters cheered.

A large number of activists have gathered in Budapest to discuss about threats to online free speech and finding out ways towards a global anti-censorship movement.

The morning session of the Global Voices Advocacy summit has started and in the opening remarks the co-founder of Global Voices Online Ethan Zuckerman thanked everybody who came to the summit. Sami Ben Gharbia, the Advocacy director of Global voices noted that some activists could not make the summit due to visa problems and other restrictions.

Some pictures from the summit as it progresses:

Rob Faris listening to Rebecca MacKinnon

Some of the panelists

Some of the participants

Please check for the updates in the summit website or in the Global Voices Advocacy site.

From text to graphic

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:57:00 +0000

Wordle is a new Web-based tool which turns any text into a word cloud. Here is a Wordle version of the Bangladesh Genocide Archive first page (click image to enlarge):

The Google Sari

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:51:00 +0000

NewLaunches.com writes:

Satya Paul a leading fashion designer showed a Saree with Google on it in one of his recent shows.

Girl Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:31:00 +0000

Via BRAC Blog

Today's Links

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:57:00 +0000

* General Command.

* Bangladesh 'losing on corruption'.

* Bangladesh: Violent politics risks huge growth potential

* The 5 best places to invest

* Bangladesh is set to disappear under the waves by the end of the century.

Today's Links

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:09:00 +0000

* A Jewish State in Germany as an Artwork.

* So you want to become a German citizen?

* Obama is a hawk.

* Package reads “Product of Bangladesh”

* Bangladesh makes Internet use free for primary schools

* Bangladesh's per capita income goes up to $599

Euro 2008 football matches - watching online - free streaming videos

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:40:00 +0000

The Euro 2008 is the new fever in Europe. I am feeling it here in Berlin everywhere. Almost all shops are offering goods with Euro 2008 memorabilia and competitions. Some people are carrying their country's flags in cars. The pubs and restaurants have placed big screens for fans who flock there during the match. The streets become empty during a match. It is a festive environment.

And nothing more joyous can be for the Turkish fans who yesterday pulled out a thrilling last minute victory against Czech Republic (3:2) after being 0:2 down. The millions of Turkish immigrants in Germany celebrated in style. In Berlin Kurfurstendamm the party went on till dawn.

Today is an important match for Germany. They must win against host Austria to go to the next round. The other match will be between Croatia and Poland. Their match will also make a difference on who will qualify for the quarter final.

The tournament is taking place in Switzerland and Austria from 7-29 June 2008 and being aired live in many countries throughout the world. We were able to watch the tournament in German state TV so far. But since yesterday both the matches of the day are at the same time so only one match is being shown.

That prompted me to find some online links to watch the play online.

* Tournament schedule

* Official Euro 2008 website.

# Free video streaming links:

* Live Video at UEFA site

* Live Footy

* UEFA Euro 2008

* Watch Live Online TV Channels for free

* Free TV streaming: ThaiTV7 & ThaiTV9

* Euro2008sa.com

* Live Football Streaming

* LiveSats.com

# P2P clients

* Sopcast: Please download Sopcast from here. Then find live video cricket broadcasts from the channels list and click on any one of them. Wait a few moments and you can watch clear free live video of the match in full screen mode.

Here is a list of free TV channels around the world who are broadcasting the match.

* TVU Player - another peer-to-peer apps stream (check your usage instructions if you are using internet in a dorm or an institute)

* Here is a tutorial to install and use p2p clients

# Online Audio and commentary

* BBC Sports

* ITV (Video for UK viewers only)

# Highlights:

* Euro 2008 highlights in YouTube

* LiveSoccerTV

Inflation

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:29:00 +0000

A typical dinner in a Zimbabwe restaurant can be cost you in billion figures. I wonder what calculator they use.

Picture credit: Amit Varma of the India Uncut

Look into my eyes - by Outlandish

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:55:00 +0000

-Lyrics

Today's Links

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:48:00 +0000

* Nepal: The April 2006 Uprising, the Constituent Assembly and the Abolition of the Monarchy.

* Mittal Group plans to build Satellite Town in Chittagong.

* Is Bangladesh returning to normalcy?

* ANALYSIS- Ex-PMs regain grip on Bangladesh politics.

* US is low key about alleged Bangladeshi crackdown.

An appeal

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:02:00 +0000

During the Bonian war in July 1995 an estimated 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić during the Bosnian War. The Srebrenica massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II. (Wikipedia).

Prior to the genocide, the United Nations had declared Srebrenica a UN protected "safe area", but that did not prevent the massacre, even though 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers were present at the time.

The father, mother and brother of Hasan Nuhanovic and the husband/father of the Mustafic family were among the people who were actually forced to leave the Dutch UN contingent's compound at Potocari and were effectively hande dover to be killed by the Bosnian Serbs under Ratko Mladic. Hasan and the Mustafic's are bringing a civil action in the Dutch courts on 16 June to hold the Dutch government to account for their failure to protect their relatives. Here is the press release. Please circulate it.

PRESS RELEASE

Amsterdam, 1 June 2008:

THE DUTCH STATE FAILED IN ITS DUTY TO PROTECT CIVILIAN VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE AT SREBRENICA

Civil action due to be heard at 10 a.m. on 16 June 2008 in the District Court at The Hague (Prins Clauslaan 60, The Hague, Netherlands).

On 16 June 2008 the District Court at The Hague will hear the first civil action brought against the Dutch State by relatives of the victims of genocide at Srebrenica. Hasan Nuhanovic and the family of Rizo Mustafic are seeking to establish that the Dutch state is responsible for the failure of Dutch troops acting under a United Nations mandate to protect their family members massacred at Srebrenica in July 1995.

Hasan Nuhanovic, a U.N. interpreter who lost his father, mother and younger brother, and the family of Rizo Mustafic, an electrician employed by the Dutch battalion of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), claim that the Dutch government failed to protect the lives of their relatives after the safe area established by U.N. Security Council Resolution around the town of Srebrenica in Eastern Bosnia was allowed to fall into the hands of the Bosnian Serb Army.

The Nuhanovic and Mustafic families were among thousands of refugees who sought protection inside the compound of the U.N. base at Potocari but were then delivered by the Dutch UNPROFOR forces into the hands of Serb General Ratko Mladic. Dutch soldiers in U.N. blue helmets are alleged to have watched on as women and young girls were taken away and raped and men and boys separated before being taken away for summary execution.

In a tort action against the Dutch state in which much of the legal debate revolves around the division of responsibility between the United Nations and national states, the plaintiffs' lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld will argue that the Dutch government and the Dutch command within UNPROFOR were responsible for the gross negligence shown by Dutch troops, were primarily concerned for the safety of their national contingent and showed scant regard for the safety of the civilian population entrusted to their care.

Please see the full press release here.

Update: Srebrenica Families’ Anger at Removal of Judge:

It is unclear why Judge Bart Punt has left the case, which is to be heard at the Hague District Court on June 16. However, victims’ families are outraged that he is going after working on it for three years, and fear it could affect the final verdict.

In January 2007, families welcomed an interim decision by Judge Punt which supported the view that Dutch soldiers at Srebrenica should have evacuated Mustafic along with them because he was employed by the UN. Instead, according to the claimants, a Dutch personnel officer sent him away and he was captured by Bosnian Serbs.

In 2002, Dutch prime minister Wim Kok and his government resigned after a report found the state partly responsible for the fall of the UN-protected area.

Untapped investment opportunities in Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:17:00 +0000

The World Bank calls it the Bangladesh Paradox. The Bangladesh economy has steadily accelerated in recent years, with growth reaching 7 percent in 2006. The country scores particularly well on socio-economic indicators. Global banks and multilateral institutions present a highly optimistic outlook: Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch have identified Bangladesh as a key investment opportunity. This impressive growth occurs in a climate of political restructuring. A caretaker government is implementing reforms toward privatizing many state-owned enterprises. The Dhaka Stock Exchange Index is at a 10-year high, up 66 percent this year, making it Asia's top performer after China. And the stock market is expected to double in size in 2008.

Discover why market-oriented reforms, strong socio-economic indicators and highly favorable demographics are poised to render Bangladesh one of the world's most exciting investment opportunities

- Asia Society

Swimming in Berlin this summer

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Berlin is a city of lakes. Berliner Zeitung has published an investigative report on the quality of approx. 40 bathing locations in Berlin and found out the following (click to enlarge):

(Hat tip: Bowlerised)

The mud fight begins

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:24:00 +0000

After the nomination of Obama became clear for the US presidency he has been target of right-wing quarters in creative smear campaigns.

One such thing is quoting Malik's half brother in Kenya and labeling him a militant Muslim.

Good thing is that the Barack Obama campaign has launched a website to fight the right-wing smears against Barack Obama. The website is called "Fight The Smears" (Hat tip: Mash).

Drill here, drill now

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:14:00 +0000

We, therefore, the undersigned citizens of the United States, petition the U.S. Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices (and diesel and other fuel prices)* by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries.

Approximately 700,000 people have signed.

I wish they could start a revolution of going green instead. But looks like the technology is still a long way from there. And its now US's turn to start using their resources. Probably they are waiting for the moment when all oil resources will be wiped out, they will rule the world with their reserves.

Laws and implications

noreply@blogger.com (Rezwan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:24:00 +0000

Bangladesh government has introduced a tougher law to combat religious terrorism in the country. The Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2008 passed this week empowers:

* The Central Bank to freeze the accounts of a suspected terror financier.
* judges to impose death penalty for terror financing and staging murder to create panic and jeopardize the country's sovereignty. Special tribunals will be constituted to deal with such offenses.
* Anyone resorting to murder, kidnapping or damaging property to create panic among the people and jeopardize the country's security by using explosives, arms and chemicals, will be charged with committing terrorist offense.

These will provide a deterrent to the terrorist outfits who are funded from terrorist cocoons like the Middle East and not surprisingly UK.

Although considering the population Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country it enjoys much liberal legal and cultural environment since its inception. The common perception of many who knows Bangladesh less is that it is one of these monarchy or religious party controlled state with Sharia in place. Quite contrast to that most of the Bangladesh's legal system are based on the British laws (imposed during the colonial era) and some renovations. India and Bangladesh recognizes some religion specific rules regarding marriage and inheritance. But Pakistan adopted full Sharia law in their legal systems in 1979.

Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan after a bloody liberation war in 1971. The Pakistani army carried out a genocide of many Hindus and Bengali Muslims who were deemed not proper Muslims and secessionists.

The fundamental principles of Bangladesh constitution of 1972 were:
- Democracy
- Nationalism
- Secularism
- Socialism (this principle was generally considered for social justice particularly for the disadvantaged.)

According to the section on fundamental rights, all men and women are equal before the law, without discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. The Constitution also guarantees the right to assemble, hold public meetings, and form unions. Freedom of speech and of the press are ensured. Persons who have been arrested must be informed of the charges made against them, and they must be brought before a magistrate within twenty-four hours.

Bangladesh was fundamentally a secular country when it was born. The Islamic parties supported Pakistan during the war and was a party to the crime the Pakistan Army committed in 1971 in the name of curling insurgency. So after the war many of their leaders went on to hiding and returned to normal life after a mass pardon.

Then the father of nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman inclined towards Socialism and was assassinated in 1975 by a military coup. Military dictatorship (and autocratic puppet democracy by military rulers) ruled Bangladesh till 1990 when democracy was truly restored. The leaders of the Jamaat returned to Bangladesh during the rule of the military rulers Zia and Ershad and some were even helped to restore in politics. For an example is the case of Abdul Kader Molla, who became known as "the Butcher of Mirpur," a Dhaka suburb which in 1971 was populated mainly by non-Bengali Muslim immigrants. Today, he is the publicity secretary of Jamaat e Islami Bangladesh. In 1996 the more progressive political party Awami League joined hand in hand with Jamaat e Islami to make a electoral pact to contest the election against then ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

"The Constitution as originally framed in 1972 explicitly described the government of Bangladesh as "secular," but in 1977 an executive proclamation made three changes in wording that did away with this legacy. The proclamation deleted "secular" and inserted a phrase stating that a fundamental state principle is "absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah." The phrase bismillah ar rahman ar rahim (in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful) was inserted before the preamble of the Constitution. Another clause states that the government should "preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity."

State support for Islam, including recognition of Islam as the state religion in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in June 1988, has not led to official persecution of other religions. Despite agitation by Jamaat e Islami (Congregation of Islam) and other conservative parties, there was no official implementation of sharia (Islamic law) as of mid-1988".(source)

In fact in 2001 a Bangladesh court banned Fatwa which was a blow to the Islamists.

So there are many Bangladeshi laws to safeguard the society from religious fanatics and restrictions on freedom of expressions. But in effect many people do not know of their rights. In rural areas mosque based religious leaders are respected and people are afraid to counter their unlawful acts.

A couple of months ago Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, chairman of Islami Oikkojote (Islamic confederation) had the audacity to proclaim a Fatwa in a press release that by announcing the new National Women Development policy (promoting equal right of women), the caretaker government has spoken against the Koran, and are thus considered apostates.

His Fatwa was unchallenged and in fact the Government took no steps other than a meek protest.

So it remains to be seen whether the new laws are not politically manipulated and thus become truly effective. People has to be aware of these regulations to fight the bigotry and Jihadi ideologies.