Bangladesh : Post-mortem of Sheikh Mujib killing trial vis-a-vis AI’s appeal
by M. Shahidul IslamHistory may be written by the victors, but the rules of law can and should offer differing interpretations of history when needed. Unless that becomes evident, any meaningful debate on as historic and sensational a matter as the Sheikh Mujib killing trial is likely to remain less convincing to observers at home and abroad. Besides, various sections of the government having rejected on November 23 the Amnesty International's (AI) appeal against the execution of the five former army officers convicted for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975, such utterances could prove prejudicial to the discretion the Honoura

Commentary : US Intelligence Policy and India's Political Culture
by Vijay Vikram I've been reading two very interesting documents that provide an insight into the worldview of the American intelligence community - the CIA's Strategic Intent (2007) and the National Intelligence Strategy of the United States (2009) that is published by the Directorate of National Intelligence. The latter, charged with coordinating the vast intelligence apparatus of the United States and its myriad heads, agencies and organisations is now run by Admiral Dennis Blair - whom I remember making some eminently sensible appraisals of Asian security at an

Bangladesh: Sheikh Mujib Murder Verdict - Executions by Firing Squad in January
MORE than 30 years after two Bangladeshi colonels flew to London to confess on television to having helped kill Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding president, the Supreme Court on November 19th rejected an appeal by five army officers convicted of the murder. The verdict was expected, but praised as an historic chance for politicians to bury their obsession with Bangladesh's past and focus on the present. More likely, partisan pressure will keep the past alive.Officials say executions by a firing squad will be carried out by January. Sheikh Mujib's daughter, the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has vowed to hunt down six absconding officers al

Bangladesh: Cheap mobile sets frustrate crackdown on terrorism
by Mizan RahmanCheap Chinese mobile phones being used extensively have frustrated Bangladesh's ongoing campaign to track down militants and terrorists across the country. The National Monitoring Centre (NMC), a government mobile and land phone watchdog agency, has failed to identify criminals, including the leaders and activists of terrorists and militant groups, as they use the cheap Chinese mobile phone sets for conducting their activities. Already the intelligence and the

Pakistan: Blackwater's Secret War
by Jeremy SchillAt a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-pl