As described in an earlier post, General Moeen is coming to the United States, with stops in Washington DC, New York, and Boston. Apparently, after leaving the United States, his next destination will be China.
He will move various government officials in DC. He will probably address a Jago Bangladesh meeting in NY. He will address the Kennedy School of Government in Boston.
That he will be leaving the country for such a sustained period of time is quite impressive. Of course, his job was made easier by the cluelessness by the man most likely to have usurped him, Lt. Gen. Masududdin Chowdhury. Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. Masud traded a promotion to Lieutenant General and the office of Principal Staff Officer, which virtually allows one to dictate all activities of the Chief Advisor’s Office, for the command of the 9th Division, the infantry combination based around Dhaka. It was Gen. Masud’s role as GOC of the 9th division that really made the January 11th coup possible, and also made him relevant as an individual army officer. With his role of PSO, he has been effectively sidelined in the Bangladeshi Army, in which today, the command of troops is the only real gurantor of influence.
Given that the Bush administration has not laid any major obstracles in his way so far, the likely reason of this trip is to get sanction for General Moeen’s assumption of the Presidency of our Republic. It ties in well with the consistent rhetoric coming out of this military government and their puppts such as Dr. Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi and Dr. Kamal Hossein suggesting that we make the office of the President more powerful. What they’d probably like is for General Moeen, as president, to have the power to dissolve governments. This power was quitely frequently excercised in the past by Presidents of Pakistan, and I think we all know, from the minus-two plans to their toadying of foreign countries, how this current military government likes to emulate their Pakistani counterparts.
So, in short, General Moeen coming to US to get permission to be President of Bangladesh. Probably, in his mind, this will give him the most leverage to get out of the gigantic hole he has dug for himself. Whether he will be allowed to carry out his plan, of course, will depend on all, every single, of us.
October 10, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Your imagining and speculation is not real facts. It is a fancy blog, but not real life.
October 10, 2007 at 10:56 pm
The silence of General Masud Chowdhury is very surprising. He may have been sidelined ( I doubt), but the other man, Iajuddin, is not sidelined. And constitutionally Iajuddin can sack Moeen any moment. All he needs is backing of one single military unit, who will march to Dhaka in case 9th division attempts to defy the supreme commander. Moeen’s confidence probably comes from the overwhelming support of the current governments’ actovities within the ranks and file of the armed forces.
October 11, 2007 at 3:44 am
tacit,
It seems counterintuitive that General Masud is in such a powerful position and he has no power simply because he has no direct contact with troops. Why is the direct contact so important right now?
Could it be that maybe the two generals are friends and allies and were all along?
October 11, 2007 at 11:06 am
General Masud was placed at the command of the 9th division with the express task of curbing General Moeen. He did this well until January 9th, when he made a tactical decision to change his position. Therefore, I don’t think it’s likely that these two men have been friends or ideological allies; it’s more like an alliance of convenience.
October 21, 2007 at 3:16 am
Well…….Lets wait and See…..Dr. Fakruddin & Gen Moeen is Supported by the People of Bangladesh– who wanna see a Beautiful and Corruption free BANGLADESH ….We wanna get rid of Khaleda- Hasina tribe and Family. We want a NEW BANGLADESH
March 13, 2008 at 11:06 am
Moeen is in essence the most powerfull man in Bangladesh. No matter whatever you say, by the twist of politics the ball has rolled down to moeen’s court. Now, moeen play it dirty for couple of years and all his big talk to eradicate corruption is a pack of lie. Look at his eyes when he talks and you can see his eyes and feel that he is not telling you the truth. We can not blame anyone but us. at least those thugs of hasina and khaleda’s incompetence is gone and new era of moeen and co has started. so. dont expect miracle.
July 12, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Banga Bandhu gave us an invaluable motherland back to us, Pres/Gen Ershad gave us upazila system, garment exports, manpower boom, roads/highways, Hasina gave us nothing but picture of her dad in $10 taka plastic note, ministries to her cousins and bangbandhu’s name everywhere possible and Khaleda gave us horse eggs while gave ministries to servant, smugglers and loose control over adminstration to create room for her prince to run the country from hawabhaban and opportunity to suck our blood who supported bnp and handed over our sacred national flag to razakar, albadr and had jan 22nd election took place, we would have seen the unexpected perheps mninistries to all who opposed our liberation war. And finally, Gen Moeen gave the most expected by millions to bring those that i have described above to justice. I think Gen Moeen should continue for 5 to 10 years with iron hand until we learn what democracy is and perheps put all thes thugs to one jail in the middle of bay of bengal so like guantanamo bay so that these thieves never be able to come to shore. Bravo Gen Moeen. Keep up the good work and never retreat because you are a soldier and you know that a soldier does not retreat and if he does, faces only thing is death. No fake democracy for a quater of a century in bd but to be run with iron feast. Beaside the activists of the political parties, all bangladeshis with you so go ahead and become saddam hussain or may be mohathir. chose one.
July 13, 2008 at 1:11 pm
“And finally, Gen Moeen gave the most expected by millions to bring those that i have described above to justice. I think Gen Moeen should continue for 5 to 10 years with iron hand until we learn what democracy is and perheps put all thes thugs to one jail in the middle of bay of bengal so like guantanamo bay so that these thieves never be able to come to shore. Bravo Gen Moeen. Keep up the good work and never retreat because you are a soldier and you know that a soldier does not retreat and if he does, faces only thing is death. No fake democracy for a quater of a century in bd but to be run with iron feast.”
Yes! And let us become exactly like Musharraf’s failed model of Pakistan! Let us give rise to terrorist insurgencies. Let’s form the NSC and let billions pour into the army from the US/India coalition for being partners in the war against terror! Let us not create industries. Let all our graduates either get shipped abroad as ‘unskilled’ or ‘low-skilled’ laborers or get into the army. Let the less privileged once get recruited by Fundamentalist outfits! All hail US! All hail India! All hail Pakistan! All hail army!
Down with democracy! Down with the founding dream of independence and equal opportunity, tolerance and justice! Down with Bangladesh I say!
July 14, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Fariha, bravo!!! in short one could not reply any better.
August 6, 2008 at 5:38 pm
dear fariah
do you think you perspective will solve the issue. i guess it might. who knows when there are no hopes at that a hope is some hope. but questions remain unaddressed. why we have to do all of these to have a peaceful life. why are we so politically active and yet we make leaders into GODS and start worshipping them and then the next minute we do not hesitate to write that leader off when he/she is in some kind of situation.
we need to wake up and pull our socks. army/political party and leaders are not our main problem; it’s we the public need to wake up.