8 quotes found
"Bangladesh had emerged as a secular state on the grave of Pakistani religious ideals [but] pro-Pakistanis captured power after the 1975 assassination of Bangladesh's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman [and inserted] discriminatory clause(s) between Muslim and non-Muslim [that were not included] in the original constitution of Bangladesh. ...After the assassination of Bangabandhu, two military rulers. General Ziaur Rahman and General H.M. Ershad removed the roots of the country's secular, non-communal and humane ideals. They changed the constitution to serve a vested quarter and thus eliminated the clause of equal rights for the Hindus, Christians and Buddhists along with Indigenous ethnic communities like Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Maug, Hajong, etc. In the original constitution, which was written in 1972, Article 12 in Part II enshrined 'secularism and freedom of Religion' in the section called Fundamental Principle of State Policy. General Ziaur Rahman's military government totally erased this part of the constitution and that was how the religious and ethnic minority groups became second- class citizens to suffer state discrimination.’"
"The fierce persecution against the religious minorities that started soon after the October, 2001, general elections still continues even after the lapse of one year. The main opposition Awami League and a large section of Bangladesh's civil society have opined that the election was 'unacceptable' to them as the voting was influenced in many ways, including intimidation of opposition supporters and religious minorities. ....The issue of communal torture has many dimensions in Bangladesh. If we take the recent incidents of communal atrocities in Bangladesh and link them only to elections or politics then it will not be fair or accurate. We need to know the historical, political, geographical, economical, cultural and psychological aspects of communal problems of Bangladesh to understand it in its entirety."
"Despite the level of achievement already attained, debate over the constitutionality of generating funds for the sovereign wealth fund undermine investor confidence in the country’s political commitment towards building a buffer for a potential collapse in the price of oil."
"The recent probe on the fuel subsidy has raised significant concerns about Nigeria’s effectiveness to curb leakages and prevent extra-budgetary spending. In addition to this is the delayed passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, which is holding back substantial investments in the sector and risks further undermining production levels."
"The key stumbling blocks have been related to the bankability of individual projects, and there are a number of factors feeding into this. The first one is cost recovery: the power sector is one example where many investment projects exist but the returns are affected by electricity tariffs that are well below market levels"
"I do not think that the deficient lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) has anything to do with the willingness of banks to lend."
"There is little guarantee that interests rates would result in a significant boost in bank lending. The reasons for the current lack of lending are more structural. To get to the point where interest rate cuts would affect lending would be hugely destabilising to the country’s macroeconomic health. So, for the time being, there is no clear-cut argument for monetary easing."
"The literature of East Pakistan will be written in the dialect of East Pakistanis. That language shall have no respect for Sanskrit grammar or the so-called Bengali grammar."