Last Sunday night on Talking Point on NTV Europe ably presented by Syed Neaz Ahmed where we discussed what the Interim government should do in light of recent events in Bangladesh, and  probashi (otherwise known as Non-Resident Bengalis – NRBs) issues frequently came up.

Voting rights – for many years various regimes in Bangladesh have promised to permit probashi aboard to be able to vote in their home constituencies in Bangladesh. But this has not been operational via the Foreign Service yet in London we see many other natives of other countries voting in their ancestral homes at their consulates and embassies. Whilst the Interim government is looking at the present democratic set-up in Bangladesh, why not look at making this finally happen now?

Which does bring up the issue of the treatment of probashi in the Middle East. Whilst they have much more temporary status than us in Europe and North America, they clearly need protecting and defending by the Bangladeshi foreign consulates, particularly in regards their employment rights.  This needs to be foremost in the minds of the interim government in their dealing with Middle Eastern states and trust we can at least see a new approach.

Probashi investment in Bangladesh is a substantial source of investment funding if not at least hard foreign currency! As they have been sending remittances back to Bangladesh for many decades now from Europe, North America and especially from the Middle East. It appears too many it could all be better used as has been the case in with flows of remittances into China, India and Mexico as well.

and then we have the issue of all the ill gotten gains of aboard through money laundering from Bangladesh. The probashi would be very useful in chasing up these ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials aboard like in London, New York & Paris and other cities around the world. If only via officials in these cities and countries. Some real progress can be made here but it needs coordinating with the relevant public authorities.

And finally the funding and training of RAB ( Rapid Action Battalion) from aboard – scrutiny of this needs to be undertaken, given the role that has been played by them in judicial killings over many years and also over the recent upraising as well.  This maybe best done by the probashi in the relevant countries concerned, in their democratic set-ups.

So l am glad l had an opportunity to give a good airing to the matters and trust the Interim government of Bangladeshi under Prof Yunus will also take on board the issues and concerns of the probashi around the world as outlined above particularly in Europe, Middle East.

At the air pollution monitoring station along the side of the Westway off Wood Lane,W12 – we could we similar monitors at Marylebone & Paddington

After all the commotion about the expansion of ULEZ into Outer London, it maybe time to bring back the focus to Central London on air quality issues.

But first we need to known about the latest research of the impact of ULEZ in Central London. For example, it was only recently we got confirmation after many years of the impact of LEZ, which preceded the ULEZ launched under the first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone in Feb 2008 at  Ally Pally in North London. The LSE Study concluded that London’s LEZ had improved the exam performance of school pupils at the end of ket stage two. A Cambridge University study of ULEZ in Central London, children switch to walking and cycling to school after introduction of London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone. This is on top of the wood burning stoves contribution to air pollution in recent times. 

I for one would like to see the impact of the Westway coming into Central London from the West with its trail of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV). Particularly in light of the impact of the Elizabeth Line, may well have had there as we see less private cars coming into London not just from Outer West London but also the Thames Valley. In this respect it helps that we have air pollution monitoring station at the side of the Westway just off Wood lane, W12. It would even better if we had similar monitoring stations in Paddington, North Kensington and Marylebone. 

There is also the impact of increasing numbers of SUVs on the roads of London and its still not clear how many vehicles came into Central London’s many office developments during peak time. This all the while private vehicles users are switching to electric cars as the second hand car market for them has taken off and the infrastructure for electric vehicles is improving.

I hope to have the opportunity to make this contribution at Westminster City Council September Air Quality consultation meeting of residents. 

This summer so far British Bangladeshis have had to endure being insulted by British politicians; seeing race riots in the North similar to what the NF use to do along Brick lane and finally our ancestral home returning to the worst days under military regimes in Bangladesh during the 1970’s. The latter was of course a source of much embarrassment at school for me!

For some reason during the General Election 2024 a few national politicians like Jonathan Ashworth MP for Leicester South cited Bangladeshis asylum seekers as one of the worst abusers of the system when only the previous month the governments of the two countries entered into an agreement on how to send back failed Bangladeshi asylum seekers to Dhaka. His rant on BBC Newsnight against South Asian asylum seekers clearly contributed to him losing his parliamentary seat subsequently as he learns the hard way, you should not insult your voters. 

Soon after the GE of 2024 was concluded with a Labour landslide, trouble brewed after the tragic killing of three girls in their dancing class in Southport. The fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in the seaside town of Southport, in the north of England, followed by the worst unrest the UK has seen in more than a decade. Immediately after the attack, social media posts falsely speculated that the suspect was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a boat in 2023, with an incorrect name being widely circulated. There were also unfounded rumours that he was Muslim.

The day after the Southport riot, violent protests in London, Hartlepool and Manchester broke out, which police linked to Southport. More took place throughout the week – with many targeting mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. Mercifully when the riots were meant to come to London, the Far Right lost their bottle! 

Through out this time, we had student protests building up in Bangladesh in particular in Dhaka over the quota system for civil service jobs for the descendants of Freedom Fighters from the 1971 war of liberation.  Which all lead to the toppling of the PM Sheikh Hasina Awami League government and an interim government in place with heavy military backing, which for me brought back memories of the military coups in Bangladesh throughout the 1970s and also the 1980s. 

So you can see how it feels very much back to the seventies for British Bangladeshis in the UK. 

I have been going to anti-Racist demos since my school days during the seventies and this must be the first time both the Police and mainstream media have welcomed our actions in light of the threat posed by the far-right threat to London last Wednesday night. 

Now over the years l have had my disagreements with  Police Commissioner Mark Rowley but l totally agree with the statements he made on BBC Radio 4 the following morning “… l think the show of force from the police and frankly the show of unity from communities together defeated the challenges that we’ve seen.”  It’s not often you get the Met Chief praising Londoner’s show of unity. 

Much more disturbing has been Elon Musk and parliamentarians fanning the flames with misinformation. How ever dangerous the circumstances were, we were not on the point of a civil war that is for sure. 

What is clear is that the far right bottled it when communities and the police get together and read the situation well. But let us not be complacent as this is an ever present threat easily fanned by outside forces.  And let us not forget the victims of Southport. 

Letter published in Westminster Extra https://www.westminsterextra.co.uk/article/sir-mark-was-correct-about-the-police-show-of-force

After incredibly momentous week in Bangladesh, the importance of student politicians can not be understated enough in the country to the outside world. 

Students have been at the vanguard of political protest in Bengali politics. They have a particular place and touch a nerve in the Bangladeshi psyche. They led the protests against the Bangla language being banned in the official business of Pakistan in East Bengal from 1947 onwards and were numerous among the February 21st 1952 language martyrs. They also played an active role during the 1971 Liberation from the Pakistan army.

At the end of this week, Bangladesh student leaders will have ousted a prime minister, negotiated with the military, successfully advocated for Prof Yunus to lead a new interim government, and then secure two slots in that interim government for themselves – what an achievement for youth politics!  

Students against Discrimination based in Dhaka University campaigned against the quota system for jobs in government, now have two members in the interim government, Nahid Islam and Nasif Mahmud. Nahid Islam will head the country’s Telecommunications Ministry, while Nasif Mahmud was chosen to lead the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

While law and order issues are the immediate concerns of most citizens in the country, as well running an free and fair election will be the main concerns of the interim government, watch this space in Bangladeshi politics for the future leaders of the country. 

With the imminent closure of the Crown Post Office at Eccleston Street, Belgravia, we have had a change in government that should see its salvation.

In the Labour manifesto we are told, “The Post Office is an essential service in communities across the country. Labour will look for ways to strengthen the Post Office network, in consultation with sub-postmasters, trade unions and customers, and support the development of new products, services and business models, such as banking hubs, that will help reinvigorate the high street…”

What better way to strengthen the post office network and reinvigorate the high street, then saving a much loved Crown Post Office in SW1 from closing at the end of August?

Please sign the petition below and get your local politicians to act very quickly, most of whom are of the same political persuasion as the new government now!

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-closure-of-ecclestone-street-crown-post-office?share=24e0de95-d550-471a-8d3c-f7bff42119ca&source=&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=

Letter published in Westminster Extra this week 

Having come out of a regeneration meeting recently in Church St, l came to the conclusion that West End Gate development with over 500 units of accommodation will be up well before phase A in Church Street is completed. As we were being told it won’t be finished by 2030 now and with the old Paddington Green Police Station all but demolished now, we will soon see the building works beginning there. 

This was difficult to hear after all the promises made on Site A in Church Street ward particular when the council wanted to get the GLA approval to get more monies and thus additional units of residential accommodation. 

Site B works look further down the road than ever, which should give ample opportunity to sort out Broadly St Gardens and the works to Green Spine. Both these need regular maintenance but do not seem in place since the new facilities were opened up!  The Lisson St road closure has worked well and l would like to see it extended beyond Bell St to the subway which get us to the Edgware Rd tube station. As its another major way into Church St and appears to have been forgotten. 

But if the public toilets on Church St are anything to go by we  are in for a long wait. As over the last few years we have seen them closed and lying empty for a long time, then the works seem to go for longer and now it’s been revamped it’s again been lying empty since the beginning of the year. What is going on with the loos? The projects on the Triangle have really not been going to plan at all and thats before l even mention the management of the street market itself. 

Not surprisingly many of us came out thinking, it is not so much regeneration that is being offered but redevelopment of the locality.  And l have not mentioned the state of the market! As locals need to take charge of it all. 

Whilst reading Empireworld by Sathnam Sanghera (one of my summer reads), l am struck by the futility of the Commonwealth in todays world when we have the BRICS forming and leading on economic reforms in the global economy.

Take for example, the cost of borrowing money for an ex-British colonial country from Africa. It has been established the borrowing costs during 2020-2024 would be almost 10 times more of an African country than a developed country like Germany, going by bond yields comparisons. For a Latin or Carribean country, its almost seven times more and for an Asian it would be almost five times more! This from the very global financially system largely built around British and American banking system, an example of how British imperialism shaped the globe.  

So if you were a nation state who has experienced the British colonial rule, who would you want to join – the Commonwealth or the BRICs?  Not surprising the answer is the later. Whilst the Commonwealth is a great gentlemen’s club headed by the King Charles, l am not sure what practical help it is at all to its member states any more. As Sanghera concludes in his book the Commonwealth has outgrown its evolutionary usefulness.  This while the BRICs can’t stop the applications coming into their new club as they bring together the world’s most important developing countries, to challenge the political and economic power of the wealthier nations of North America and Western Europe. 

So in 2022 we have Togo & Gabon join the Commonwealth which were never part of the British empire, l am sure they will be wondering why they bothered when everyone else seems to be trying to join the BRICs. 

Many of us in the Bangladeshi diaspora have had a number of sleepless nights during the awful crackdown of student protests in Dhaka and other major cities of Bangladesh over the past week. For some of us, it brings back memories of what the people had to face in 1971 with the liberation of the country from the Pakistan army.

Firstly, it should be noted the student protests were not limited to just the public universities but also the private ones which is very rarely the case. Ironically the latter were set up to offer degree courses without the interference of student politics! They now also find themselves embroiled in student politics over the quota system which reserves a significant percentage of government posts for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 and other categories.

Before the imposition of a news, social media and telecommunications blackout on the outside world and the instruction of ‘shoot on sight’ orders to the police, l managed to phone relatives in Dhaka and got a very clear message from my nephews and nieces studying at universities in Dhaka: “We don’t want the quotas of civil servant jobs.” They said this even though they could have benefited, being the descendants of freedom fighters themselves.

These student protests are not just about these quotas for jobs in the civil service, which has been an issue for a number of years and was actually withdrawn in 2018 by the present government, only to be brought up again by freedom fighters’ families. It was taken to the Supreme Court and reimposed only for the Court on Sunday to reduce the percentage of down to 5 per cent. So that should have been the end of the matter.

But it’s not just about the quotas for jobs but a lot else, including the incredible violence launched against the students, both from the authorities like the police and their Rapid Action Battalion, an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police, as well as the student arm of the Prime Minister’s political party, the Chhatra League. This has led to over 100 deaths officially and many fear a lot more than this.

The students are demanding the resignation of both the Home Minister and Chief of the Police and for the Chhatra League, an arm of the ruling Awami League, to be closed down. Other issues the students are campaigning on include rigged election allegations, the cost of living and corruption. Other political parties are attempting to gain from the dire situation making it increasingly a movement against the Prime Minister herself, Sheikh Hasina. Along with the fatalities have come some serious infrastructural destruction to the new metro train stations, something the PM and her ruling party are very proud of as part of developing the economy of the country.

Students have been at the vanguard of political protest in Bengali politics. They have a particular place and touch a nerve in the Bangladeshi psyche. They led the protests against the Bangla language being banned in the official business of Pakistan in East Bengal from 1947 onwards and were numerous among the February 21st 1952 language martyrs. They also played an active role during the 1971 Liberation from the Pakistan army.

The attack on Bangladesh TV offices last week was very similar to the takeover of Chittagong Radio Station on March 26th 1971 for the famous historic declaration of independence. That night of March 26th also saw many killings in Dhaka as the Pakistan Army launched their Operation Searchlight to extinguish Bengali nationalists. That seems to have been exceeded last week by some who were there on both occasions.

Allegedly from some local papers in Dhaka, we hear that between July 15th and 21st last week over 800 people have been killed. This would be more than the sum total of all the people killed in popular agitations from 1972 to 2022. During the 1980s and 1990s, with the various anti-Ershad movements, and the caretaker governments in the 1990s, fewer than fifty people were killed.

The verdict is still out on whether this could be a rerun of the 1971 liberation struggle as some of my older cousins suggest, or just another rerun of political turmoil in Bangladesh that we had to endure during the 1980s and 1990s. But we will know soon enough which way things are heading for the country that desperately wants to move on developmentally and is on the front line of the global climate crisis – all this while 30,000 Bangladeshis left the country in five days last week.