The first day in SPS was the day of my interview. It was in a class-room on the first floor of the Administrative Building, where the Principal’s Office was situated. Now the building has been demolished. I still recall that our Principal Bro. Jarlath D’Souza and Late Teacher F. Rodrigues (Headmistress of Primary Section) were conducting the interview. A blue colored cane-table round in shape was the center of attraction; some toys and some small household articles like knives, match boxes, clock, etc, were kept on the table. I was asked to identify those and that was my admission test. I do not know how I performed but the aftermath was that soon after I was admitted in KG-I. Late Teacher Spirito was our teacher, Late Teacher Khan, who was a Burmese lady was our teacher too, she often spoke in Urdu. We had a large counting frame in the classroom, hard for us to reach, our teacher used to move the ping-pong ball like colored wooden beads from one end to other. Our day would start with counting numbers together at the top of our voice from 1 to 100. Mrs. Khan carried a penknife in the lock of her thami. She was always busy sharpening our pencils with her penknife. During recess time, we had to eat our snacks in the classroom and were not allowed to go out. If we required to go to the restroom, Ayas would accompany us.

The following year in 1968 I was promoted to KG-II, Mrs. H. Belasso was our teacher. I do not remember much about this class. I used to sit on the bench in the front row being a small boy. It was quite difficult for us to see the teacher and for her also to see us, as she sat on the table on a raised platform just in front of us. We used to do mischievous acts as our teacher could not notice us. I still remember, one of my good dear friend would often sit silently on the cross bar footrest underneath the teacher’s table and when she noticed it, we were rewarded with the fat ruler.

Late Mary Johnson was our teacher in Class I in 1969. Our class room was on the first floor. The room was situated at the extreme north of the administrative building. This room had three doors and it was quite easy to freak out to the verandah when our teacher was not in class. We started to learn Bangla in this year. Miss. Nirupama Parey was our teacher, she now resides in Australia. I still remember that we struggled with the various ‘Sha’s in the Bangla alphabet. It was in this year, that men first set their foot on moon. “That’s a small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. In 1970 I was in Class II, Miss. Evelyn Gomes was our teacher. It was in this year on the Independence Day on 14th August, we had experienced the lunar expedition of Apollo 11, in a documentary screened in the school field. This was a thrilling experience for us to experience the triumph of modern rocket science on the screen.

Gradually the political arena of the country turned to turmoil. Demonstrations, protests and processions became a daily event. Being a minor, it was quite difficult for me to grasp the situation. To my utter surprise, one evening I saw our Teacher Mrs. Henrietta Bellasso and Late Teacher Peter Shaha was in the front of a procession on the road. Another sad event of this year was the death one of our students of Class III, who was drowned, during annual class picnic.

As much as I can recollect, during late Sixties and early Seventies each year we celebrated the School Feast Day on 5th of October, as the St. Placid’s Day, commemorating the day of birth of St. Placid who was born on this day in 515 AD. We used to rehearse frequently the School Anthem “Let’s Loudly Sing, the Praise of our Alma Mater”, and we sang the School Anthem on the Feast Day in the ceremony.

The School Flag with the yellow cross on blue background was designed by our Teacher Lucy Rebeiro, she now resides in Montreal, Canada. Our Principal’s room always adorned with the School Flag and I believe it is still there.

During the historic liberation war in 1971, I was in Class III. Late Teacher Patty Rodrigues was my class teacher. She was an exceptional teacher. She was very much practical, and was not satisfied with the students what they learnt, but more interested in putting that into practice. Once in the Civics Class I had been poorly graded in one of my answers about how to make use the lawn of your house. I had written exactly what had to be written, however, upon my enquiry for the low grade, she responded that she had been visiting my home and never seen any flower garden in front of my home as such I could not expect any better marks from her. For the Geography Class we had to make landscape with clay models for the exams. Carry clay from home, we used to make a model of a volcano on a cardboard, working in the backside verandah facing the graveyard.

Our school closed indefinitely due to strike from 3rd March in 1971 and we were not able to go to school until July, when the Pak Army ordered to reopen the schools. We used to go to school but not regularly, the attendance was poor. Our Hindu friends were totally out of the scene, so as our Teachers from the Hindu Community. Gradually our Urdu Speaking classmates started to move to the then West Pakistan and we continued to go to school till end of October. During that time a couple of bomb blasts blew away the big electric transformer in front of the Church. This lead us to stop going to school. We was not allowed to come to school thereafter for safety reasons. Curfew was imposed at night. A tense situation prevailed until the day of our independence on 16th December 1971. I still remember that the Pak Army visited our school on several occasions during the period of liberation war, the reasons were unknown to us, perhaps they would come looking for our teachers whom they suspected to be subversive. Our Teacher Ms. Kallani Ghosh, Late Teacher Kanango, Late Teacher Dewanjee and some other teachers went on hiding as soon as war broke out, they had undergone a lot of unbearable hardship during the war. The Victory Day on 16th December was a great sigh of relief for us.

After our independence, we didn’t have to wear Jinnah Cap on Fridays anymore when the National Anthem was sung, and we had a new National Anthem for which we had to rehearse almost everyday at our assemblies. The good news was that we all got auto-promotion to the next class, without any examinations. This opportunity was for all the students in that year.

The sad part was that in 1972 the medium of the school was changed from English to Bangla as per the instructions of the Government. We had to start afresh with Bangla in all subjects, and this was quite difficult for us, as we were not been able to read Bangla as free flow. I still remember that our Teacher Mr. Robert Rebeiro used to teach us Bangla times table in class IV along with Bangla Numbers. Indeed, the Bangla joint alphabets were strange to us.

Due to the change of the medium of instructions, the students who were in class IX & X and even class VII and VIII were given the opportunity to appear for the SSC Examinations in English Medium at once. A large group of students seized this opportunity and appeared for the SSC within the next couple of years. Soon after this the SSC Examinations were no more held in English.

We had a sad feeling after joining to school in 1972 that most of our Urdu Speaking friends had left for Pakistan, and those who were remaining, they also gradually left the country through RedCross flights arranged under their Repatriation Program. It was a also a matter of joy for us to find most of our friends from the Hindu Community returned back to School.

In 1972 St. Scholastica’s School which was a co-education school in the primary section, disallowed boys in their school from that year, as a result there was an influx of boys from St. Scholastica’s School admitting en masse to St. Placid’s School.

St. Placid’s School began to change dramatically. The teachers who were teaching us in the English Medium School had to gradually leave the school. Some migrated to the West and some had better opportunities in the emerging NGO Community expanding their network in the war ravaged country. New teachers were appointed. The School had undergone some years of teething period to adopt the new medium of instructions.

The extra curricular activities touched new horizons, formation of Red Cross Volunteers, the Judo Training Class, the involvement of boys in school farming brought new dimensions, in addition to Boy Scouts and Cubs. The staging of plays once again started but now all in Bangla. In 1977 our class performed “Hobu Rajar Deshe”. Our Bangla Teacher, Mr. Binoy Bhushan Barua, inspired the boys for the drama.

The Annual Sports of the school had always been an attraction which usually held during the month of February. Practice for the Sports Meet and the competition amongst the Houses kept the students busy. Unfortunately, the Annual Aquatics Sports gradually lost its place in the Annual Calendar of the School.

The School Band and PT Demonstration was one of the main attraction of the Sports. I was in the PT Group right through Class VII onwards to Class IX. We had extensive practice sessions each day and had the final display during the Annual Sports Day. We also performed during National Days at the Chittagong Stadium. Buses were sent to school to bring us to the stadium and we were rewarded with snacks of nimkis, jilapees and rashgollas packed in small brown paper packets. Our Late Teacher Fazlur Rahman was our PT Instructor.

Our school basketball team was one of the best school team in the country. They carried the name of our school, length and breadth of the country. St. Gregory’s High School of Dhaka was always our contender. SPS won the National Championship in the Inter School Basket Ball Competition in 1977.

We are indebted to our beloved teachers of St. Placid’s High School, who trained our minds, provided quality education for us, so that we could stand steady on our own feet in this competitive world.

Our Alumni who are spread throughout the world share the common thought and aspiration, that let the flag of our Alma Mater be held high in the realm of education in this country and beyond.

Under the scheme the Government subsidies partial and full salaries of the teachers of non government schools. The matter of reviewing the list was kept in abeyance for several years, until last week a fresh list of 1022 institutions were made.

The ministers were outraged with the list of the institutions, their allegations were that the list didn’t contain much of their recommended institutions, whereas a lot of institutions were enlisted which were recommended by the opposition MPs.

The Education Minister defended that the list was made, by abiding strictly the policies laid down. However, it was decided that the list would reviewed within the next 3 months.

Now such a decision, evolves a lot of question of politicizing the educational institutions. The matter of good governance comes into question. The institutions should be considered not by the merit of recommendations, but by the performances it makes. Eligibility should be weighted only by merit not by who has recommended it, after all the students studying there, does not belong to any political party but to the nation. Why should be they deprived, on the plea of their respective authorities who hold different political views.

This is a matter of pity for Bangladesh that we lag behind Afghanistan also in this respect. The MPR of Afghanistan is 29 percent while Bangladesh is 28 percent. How could it be possible for a war ravaged country.

Maldives leads this region with 143 active SIMs/ 100 people as the undisputed leader in mobile connectivity in South Asia, while Sri Lanka secured the second position with 52 active SIMs per 100 people.

Pakistan is 50 SIMs per 100 and Bhutan is 37 SIMs per 100 people. India is lagging behind which is 29 per 100 people, same as Afghanistan.

This scenario indicates that Bangladesh yet has a good space for the expansion of the cell phone industry. In order to enhance the market, the mobile operators needs to reduce the tariff more so that it could reach to more people especially at the grass root level and on the other side the Government needs to reduce the tax on each SIM connection also, currently it is Taka 800, which is one of the hindrances for the expansion of the mobile industry in Bangladesh.

Though the mobile operators had reduced their rate substantially still there is lot to be done. The interconnectivity rate between the mobile operators needs to be reduced. The first cell phone company used to charge Taka 10 per minute for outgoing and Taka 7 per minute for incoming and the connection fee was more than hundred thousand Taka. I was not a subscriber until 1997/1998 when grameenphone was launched. I still remember I had to pay Taka 24,000 for the connection fee including a mobile set costing Taka 6,000. In those days the outgoing rate was Taka 5 per minute and Taka 3 per minute for incoming. Now the provision of incoming rate has been waived by all the operators and the outgoing charge has come down to less a Taka per minute in some schemes. This is of course a radical reduction in the rate. Cell sets are also cheaper today, you can buy good quality sets within Taka 1,200/- also. Thanks to the China Manufacturers.

The concern of the mobile phone industry here is the foreign investment in this sector, the huge profits in this sector are siphoned away abroad. This needs a better scrutiny.

In Brazil the leaf is used for liver problems and the oil extracted from the leaves is used externally for rheumatism and arthritis pain. In Peru it is used for diabetes. In Haiti, Jamaica and the West Indies, it is used for fever, flu, coughs worms, diarrhea, asthma, heart conditions and hypertension. Thus graviola has been used for medicinal purposes down through the ages.

The reason why graviola is being widely discussed in the scientific world today is for its miraculous property of combating cancer. This plant has literally proved to be a miraculous cure for cancer patients, especially for 12 types of cancer which includes breast, colon, lung, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. Since 1970 research work is in progress and it has been proved that it has thousand times more potentiality to cure cancer affected cells in comparison to usual chemotherapy treatment.

All this has been possible for the unique property of the plant. It do possess a rare chemical called Annonaceous acetogenins, this compound is naturally produced in the leaves, stem, bark and fruit seeds of the plant. Several independent research groups have confirmed that this particular chemical do have the strongest anti-tumorous properties and toxicity against various types of cancer cells. Fortunately, it does not at all affect the healthy cells while killing the cancer affected cells.

It has also been revealed that the extracts of the powerful tree do have the capability to combat cancer cells safely and it does not cause nausea, weight loss and hair loss, as it happens in the case of chemotherapy. It protects the immune system and thus infections are avoided. The patient feels energetic during the period of treatment. The most important thing is that it is 10,000 times stronger in killing colon cancer cells than Adriamycin, the chemotherapeutic drug often used in this purpose.

Now the question comes why such a revolutionary research findings had been concealed from the people so long. It has been learnt that one famous US Drug Company spent millions of dollars for this research for more than a decade and yielded positive results. As US Federal Law prohibits patenting natural substances, this company instead of promoting their research and switching it towards production of medicine from graviola, they invested further more to find a chemical replica of the plant extract so that they could retain the patent of the cancer medicine, with an ulterior motive of ensuring substantial profits. However failing in this process they had purposely prevented publishing all their research findings on graviola and ultimately shelved it. At last one individual researcher of the company disclosed the facts outside. Later Purdue University in Indiana and the Catholic University of South Korea took up the issue and conducted further studies in the field with fruitful results. This has now come close for approval from the FDA and hopefully it will open a new chapter in cancer treatment world wide.

Exporting internet bandwidth to Bhutan and Nepal is of high potentiality and could fetch us substantial revenues. This is because of the advantage we enjoy for our country’s geographical location. The problem is that we do not have any common border with any of these countries, in between there is a patch of Indian soil. Now the question arises whether Bangladesh will be able to negotiate with India for allowing us to lay cables through their land, to reach a third country. I believe this will be a difficult job, as it is understood that India itself would like to take the opportunity to provide such internet connection to these countries.

Now other pertinent question arises, are we now in a position to transfer our bandwidth to a third country? According to the newspaper report currently we are using only 31 % of our bandwidth, apparently it seems that the rest is left unutilized. This would be an acceptable proposal if we had a high usage of internet bandwidth per capita at present. Being a country of around 150 million people, I guess hardly a million people have access to internet. We have to reach out to more and more people with the internet, in order to materialize our vision of Digital Bangladesh. The cost of internet connection is still out of reach of the general people. Still we have to pay on an average Tk.1,000 to stay online to our service provider. The cost is still same as the old VSAT usage. What percentage of our population can afford that, the Government must take steps to lower down the cost of internet usage, then only we will be able to see that the rate of utilization of internet shall increase more and more and there will be no unutilized bandwidth left.

Finally, I would still say not to give up the idea of exporting bandwidth to our neighbouring countries, this could be done only after our optimum utilization of our required bandwidth, perhaps a second submarine line could be installed for this purpose only. The bottom line is that, Nepal and Bhutan along with the development of the information technology, will surely be linked with submarine cables and these has to be routed either via India or Bangladesh. China’s border with these two countries are located in remote Chinese areas as such it will be difficult to connect. Now it will depend on the strength of the Bangladeshi diplomacy, how they could come to a advantages situation and bring revenue for the country from this sector.

The staple food of our country is rice. When we talk about food grain, it is meant rice. The vast majority of the people of the country eat rice as the a staple food. Wheat, potatoes, corn was also grown in the country however, they seldom has been used as substitute of rice, and that is an issue of food security in our country. Down through the ages, the people of this region had been depended on rice.

Bangladesh never exported rice for the last 50 years. Again, since the end of the British Colonial Period in 1947 , Bangladesh never faced severe food crisis, except in 1974. It used to import food grains traditionally, but it never exceeded 15 % of the total domestic production. There are some exceptions, in the year 1999, due to severe floods huge quantity of food stuff had to be imported. We do not produce much wheat, traditionally we import about 2.5 million tons of wheat each year on an average. Rice is not much available in the international market.

In the year 1974 we had a famine like situation in Bangladesh, there were cases of starvation to death also. This was mostly for political reasons, international politics hindered our import of food grains that year, causing severe suffering of the people.

During our liberation in 1971, we had a population of 75 million people and we used to grow 10 million tons of food grains annually. Last year, we had a bumper harvest and the estimated food grain production was around 30 million tons. Now our population is estimated at 150 million people. Our population has increased two folds and the food production has increased three folds in the last 37 years. The per capita intake has also increased by one and half folds. The annual boro rice production has increased to 18 million. This is just the double of 1986 & 1987. Our aman rice production has also increased in the same ratio. We produce mainly these two varieties of rice. During the year 1998-1999, the production of wheat also increased to the extent, where we had surplus, but unfortunately the wheat production decreased from thereon.

In short we can say that the issue of food crisis is not severe as it has been always projected. The trend is that our annual food production is in the marginal level to meet the demand of the country. Whenever there is any disruption in the normal food production, the matter of food shortage arises leading to food crisis.
Bangladesh is prone to natural calamities like the floods or cyclones. Whenever the country is devastated by cyclone or floods, this hampers the food production. In such a situation, if the governmental policy or mechanism for food imports does not synchronize well, then we suffer from food scarcity.
In the years 1988, 1989 & 1999 we had severe floods which engulfed two third of the total areas of the country, in such a situation, one crop had totally failed, however, the huge quantity and rapid grain imports had tackled the situation.

In November 2007, the southern part of the country had been totally devastated by Cyclone Sidr. This was also responsible for the massive crop failure. During the beginning of the year 2008 we were having a sort of food crisis, for the crop failure secondly for the world wide food grain shortage and also the price spiral. This had a very negative impact. The food grain price had nearly doubled and it was very difficult for the poor people to buy food. People at the lower strata suffered a lot, but there were no reports of starvation related deaths. However, situation changed with the next harvest which was a bumper crop. The prices of food grains had come down now.

The other food related issue in Bangladesh is the availability of fertilizers, seeds, proper irrigation system to the farmers. If any of these components fall short, it too has negative impact in rice production. For example, the newly elected Government after being elected at the end of last year, immediately arranged 50% subsidies for fertilizers, again we had a drought like situation here in Bangladesh during this monsoon, the Government immediately had provided free electricity to the farmers for irrigation purpose. These steps augments the food production in the country.

The other issue is that when the price of food goes up the people whom we term as ultra poor, looses the buying capacity, resulting in less food intake. The problem of malnutrition comes up then.
Similarly, in the northern part of the country, when the harvest is over during the winter season, no work is available in the field. Being unemployed the poor people loose the capacity to buy food, though food is available in the market. This is somewhat an annual phenomenon in the northern region, especially in the districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur etc. We term this as ‘monga’ a semi famine like situation. The ultra poor section of the country suffers a lot during that time. Now a days the Government takes much measures to provide work for the people so that they can have some income to buy their food and the situation is improving each year.

The food supply situtation of our country is more or less quite secure. However, we have to be cautious, especially dealing the food production during droughts, floods, cyclones. We have to see that the farmers have easy access ot agricultural amenities always and also they have a fair price of the products. Thus we can maintain a favorable condition in food production in our country.

I was in New Delhi last week and happened to return Dhaka on Tuesday last. When the situation aggravated, in New Delhi, we were concerned what will  happen us at Dhaka airport when we arrive, we were certain that we will be under scrutiny when we arrive at Dhaka airport, since India has been affected severely by swine flu.

Surprisingly, when we arrived at Dhaka airport via Kolkota, we didn’t notice any special measures followed in this respect. We were asked to fill up a yellow form, to indicate whether we had any flu symptoms, this seemed to be somewhat on voluntary basis. Some of the passengers filled up the form and submitted to the officers on duty there, some had rushed towards immigration counters to finish the immigration formalities without filling the forms. Moreover, how can we ensure that a passenger will write the truth in the form, in case he or she has the symptoms.  It is meaningless to  have such screening procedures.

I recall that at Singapore and Hong Kong airports, they have installed  infra red cameras to screen all incoming passengers. Though it is high tech and could be a costly affair, still the authorities should see into this affair, whether this could be installed at our international airports. But for the time being, each of the incoming passengers, especially flights arrived from a swine flu affected country should be examined one to one basis, to prevent it’s infiltration in our country.

I recall that last week when we arrived at Kolkota airport, each of the  passengers were examined physically before the duty doctor at the airport cleared us out.

It had been reported that this incident  was the aftermath of sacking of 50 workers of the factory. The agitating workers came down to the street, stopped the vehicular movement during rush hours of the day. Later the situation was brought under control through the intervention of the police.

Now several questions have erupted in public mind, which seeks answers from the pertinent quarters. The garments factory was established in the residential area like Gulshan, how did it happen when this is an exclusive zone for diplomats and expatriates. Though commercial houses have sprung up in that area like mushrooms, still allowing factories to flourish is a mystery.

Then how long we are going to accept such an improper manner of protest of the workers. The innocent vehicle owners had nothing to do with the garments factories, why they shall become victims of the conflict. Who are going to pay for the damages and how? All these questions shall remain unanswered, as it had been in the past.

Now we need a platform where the workers can properly ventilate their grievances to their employers, instead of exercising these heinous acts to draw attention of the concerned authorities. The answer could be the formation of trade unions by the workers, which could represent the workers lawfully to the employers and find acceptable solutions in conflicts between the two parties.

Newaz Sharif’s deportation have enraged the judicial community in Pakistan. Supporters of Newaz Sharif have filed cases protesting the deportation and surely one can expect a proper remedy since the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary  is a staunch proponent of democracy and opponent of Musharraf.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 now wants to be reelected in the forth coming Presidential Elections without relinquishing his position as army chief. This lead to a huge political and judicial upheaval in the country.

President Musharraf earlier in March sacked the Chief Justice Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhary. The Supreme Court’s verdict of July 20, reinstated the Chief Justice. This was another challenge for President Musharraf. Justice Chaudhary is one of his strong opponents and engaged in judicial battle in restoring democracy in Pakistan. He posed a great threat to President Musharraf not only in assuming the position of the President in the next elections but also to hold it during his present tenure.

The US have special interest in keeping President Pervez Musharraf in power, because he had been loyal to the US in supporting the US lead war against terrorism. Though President Musharraf has proved very little to be successful in wiping out terrorism in his very own country, still he is deemed to be one of US strong ally in South Asia, especially in respect of Pakistan’s role in war against the terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan. The US cannot take any risk of changing the political leadership in Pakistan at this moment, lest the whole campaign could be jeopardized. To address this issue, the US had brokered a deal with exiled former Pakistani Premier Benajir Bhutto, for power sharing with President Musharraf in the next Presidential Elections, where President Musharraf would continue to be the President while Butto would take over as the Premier. This would help the US to maintain the status quo in the region. Benajir Bhutto is more acceptable in the western world to Newaz Sharif. Benajir has been benefited through the deal as corruption charges against her would be dropped. She would manage to return home and participate in the elections. She also demanded constitutional changes to strip off the President with sweeping powers to dismiss the government and also President Musharraf should shed the army uniform.

Newaz Sharif well knew about his fate if returned to Pakistan, for this reason only on the eleventh hour his brother Shahbaz  Sharif had been left out from his entourage to evade possible deportation in Islamabad. It has been learnt that now is wife, Begum Kulsum might take an attempt to return to country to examine the motive of the Government, if she faces deportation, this will work to stir up the local politics, the movement against the Government.

Newaz Sharif had been signaled earlier that at present he is not expected to return to Pakistan and play any role in Pakistani politics, The center-stage has already been pre occupied by President Musharraf and Bhutto, endorsed by the western nations. Initiatives were taken by the Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Muqrim bin Abdul Aziz and Saad Harriri,  son of late Lebanese Premier Rashid Harriri, under the US patronage to arrange for deportation of Newaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia, when he arrives in Pakistan. Both of them visited the capital during the first week of September. Now it has been learnt that the passport of Newaz Sharif has been seized by the Saudi Authorities upon his arrival at Jeddah to prevent him to travel elsewhere and more specifically Pakistan. In fact after Parvez Musharraf came to power, Newaz Sharif had been forced exiled in Saudi Arabia in the year 2000 and having a gentlemen agreement with the Saudi Government that he would not return back to Pakistan within next 10 years and involved in politics. The Saudi Authorities now ensured the embargo on Newaz Sharif’s by seizing his passport and expected to retain it until 2010.

It is early to comment whether the road to democracy in Pakistan is far ahead or just round the corner. President Musharraf’s popularity is now in the lowest ebb. His participation in the reelection is now a controversy. The present constitution does not permit him for reelection, especially while holding the position of the chief of the Armed Forces. Though he is in full command of the military, but his popularity amongst the mass people have evaporated. This is because his unconditional support to US  policy. Pakistan had been historically supportive to the guerilla warfare in Afghanistan against the erstwhile Soviet regime,  that has turned now to fundamentalist Islamic movement. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan also had support of the Pakistani people. The bordering tribal regions were very much involved in supporting the Talibans, now the US lead anti terror military campaign in Afghanistan drew discontent amongst the Pakistani people and President Musharraf is rowing against the popular current, the question is how long he can keep on rowing. Recently, several attempts against his life indicate that the Islamic fundamentalists are looking for revenge for his stand against terrorism.

The civil society’s quest for returning to democracy is increasing rapidly. Recently the judiciary have taken up stand in this matter which seems a serious threat for President Musharraf. Historically Pakistan had been under military regime for majority of the time since its independence in 1947. The possibility of imposing Emergency or Marital Law could have been an option open for President Musharraf but it seems that US is not in favor of such move on the part of President Musharraf, perhaps it might rekindle the democracy movement and destabilize the Government. President Musharraf also have declared that there is no such possibility of imposing martial law or emergency. Though such a step could bless him with unlimited power, imposing ban on fundamental rights of the people, suspending the constitution and postpone the elections, paving the way for him to stay in power for a much longer period. However, on the contrary, in such a situation the possibility of people’s upsurge cannot be ruled out which eventually might lead to his fall.  We look forward to see where Pakistan marches on, whether backward towards the days of military regime for onwards towards the road of democracy.

(This article was written on 25th September 2007)

The government is exploring various means of alternative energy resources, to combat the power crisis. Wind, solar, coal and lately nuclear power has been on the discussion table. With the beginning of this millennium, wind power was explored and two wind power stations had been installed, one in the remote island of Kutubdia and the other in Feni.

About a month ago, Prime Minister’s energy advisor said that they were exploring to add at least 50 megawatt of electricity to the national grid from wind mills. The Power Cell had been instruction to work on this matter as well as the Meteorological Department had been advised to identify suitable locations for the windmills, depending upon the availability of high wind velocity.

On the other hand, a news drew my attention today, after the commissioning of the Kutubdia 1 megawatt wind power project in 2006, the windmill was in operation  only  for  two and half months and it had been out of commission since then as the booster of the engine went inoperative. The spare parts are yet to be imported from China.

A power plant that has been inoperative for so many years only after running for two and half months is really a depressing story. It is evident that no effective measures had been taken to repair it and bring it to operation between these years. On the other hand it has also been reported that the existence of the wind power plant is at stake now, as the Bay of Bengal is swallowing its adjacent embankment, which too needs to be reconstructed soon. The Power Development Board has been persuading the Water Development Board to construct the embankment with no visible results. This reflects the lack of sincerity on the part of the Government to overcome the power crisis of the country. No matter what is the size of the power plant, this should be dealt promptly to convey the message of the seriousness of the Government to overcome the power crisis in the country.