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According to a report by the Independent/UK (August 26), America is investigating whether Israel has broken secret agreement with Washington by using cluster bombs in the Lebanon conflict. The Americans investigating the Israelis (hey, don’t laugh, it’s very rude)! So, let’s see if we got this right: first America gives Israel all those advanced weapons, including cluster bombs, and then it tells us that it is going to investigate Israel to see if it had used those cluster bombs? Well, if Israel wasn’t supposed to use those cluster bombs, what was it supposed to do with them? Cook Chicken Tikka Masalla? And does America seriously expect us to believe that it didn’t know Israel was going to use those cluster bombs in Lebanon?
   You know, Charlie Chaplin was good, but clearly he wasn’t as good as George Bush’s gang of loonies, liars and comedians.
   Azad Miah
   Oldham, UK

Bid to enter IGP’s house

I was thrilled to read that VAT officials dared force their way into the residence of the IGP (New Age, 25 August). That’s too much. Well, in the right case, except the residence of the president of the country, the VAT officials have adequate legal rights to enter the premise which is suspected to be involved in tax evasion. However, that will require a warrant to be issued by an appropriate officer.
   To be honest, it is not very clear from the New Age report under what circumstances the VAT officials ventured into the residence of the inspector general of police. It is puzzling to read that ‘… the officials had actually entered the house of the police official defying the obstruction of the on-duty police guards’. No sensible tax-man would do that. That the VAT officials were arrested and detailed is demoralising. That they have been suspended is all the more demoralising.
   It seems suspension was resorted to as a matter of punishment. But the relevant government rule provides for suspension only when the charged persons are powerful enough to influence the course of inquiry (Discipline and Appeal Rule 1985).
   As the reported is worded, the residence of IGP appears to enjoy immunity under VAT law. It does not. Even the police is not empowered under any law to arrest VAT or customs officials while discharging their duties. It is also a piece of information for me that the IGP is authorised to have a telephone operator at residence. The whole story sounds fishy.
   Can New Age carry out an investigation into the matter and inform its readers of what actually led to the arrest of the VAT officials? Did they deserve suspension?
   Tamanna Hassan
   Ottawa, Canada

Maritime law and Supreme Court

This has reference to my earlier letter captioned ‘Maritime Law and the Int’l Liner Trade of Bangladesh’. It is a matter of grave concern that in spite of the order of the Supreme Court (Appellate Division) in relation to staying of imposition of Chittagong Port Congestion Surcharge is utterly disregarded by shipping lines serving the international liner trade of Bangladesh. They are continuing to levy the charge in contempt of the highest court of the country.
   I do not know whether the matter has been brought to the notice of the court but since the news was covered by your newspaper, I suppose you emphasise the issue again for the court to take notice enabling it to issue a suo moto against all concerned as well as the Chittagong Port Chairman for its failure to enforce the rule.
   We may be a developing country but none should dare to ignore the Courts of Law of a country in which they operate. It is in the greater interest of the country that the court as well as the regulatory authorities took appropriate actions in dealing with carriers that take advantage of the weak governance and jeopardise our international trade. The carriers are under no obligation to serve the trade but their recent actions in imposing Congestion Surcharge would tantamount to violating the Trade Practices Act in other countries. The international liner trade or the feeder trade in particular is a perfect example of the economic theory of ‘Contestable Market’ as there is no bar on their entering or exiting the trade.
   I suppose the shippers community of Bangladesh e.g. BGMEA and other trade bodies should face the malpractice by the so-called carriers/feeder operators head on.
   Khandaker R Zaman
   Dhaka

Stop this blood bath

The reported suicide committed by an young British soldier, Jason Chelsy, on August 14 in London, fearing that he would be sent to Iraq and asked to kill children over there, throws enough light over the mass killings taking place both in Iraq and Afghanistan occupied by the USA, not sparing even women and children in these countries as well as in Palestine and Lebanon where Israel waged a deadly war with the help of the superpower. His previous horrid experience in other countries where he served in the so-called peace-keeping force compelled this young soldier to go to this extreme in order to escape the ordeal of war crimes.
   If one reads this along with other earlier reports about UN peace forces killing innocent people and raping women in countries where they were serving as ‘dutiful soldiers’ protecting the lives and property of the citizens, puts in question the credibility of peace forces per se. Once again, the legitimacy for the existence of world bodies like UN and UNSC under these circumstances should be challenged. Moreover when more and more people are killed day by day in the present Arab world (and they themselves are shedding a lot more of one another’s blood in fights instigated by the occupying forces), the world leaders must rise to the occasion to stop this blood bath, instead of witnessing silently the erosion of one civilisation by endless wars envisaged by the Western powers supported by their ‘profitable’ allies.
   Dr Abdul Ruff Colachal
   Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India