Articles by Badruddin Umar

Intellectuals and cultural workers of Bangladesh, aligned as they are to various political parties, fail to perform their function as guardians of cultural and moral values. There is a spoils system which rewards the intellectuals for their silence.

alliance, partly because it cannot consider India either as an equal or a suitable partner. Two, it is not in China's interests to join an alliance with a covert or oven antiAmerican purposes because it has its own big stake in friendly relations with Washington.

and angularities of its rulers. We can only identify certain features and try to see which would seem on objective considerations the more likely posture for it to adopt. Some of the confusion in regard to positions taken by the superpowers arises out of a failure to identify the limited range with respect to which a given 'till' policy or preference operates. Possible US support for the Rajiv cegime in relation to the V P Singh challenge must not be confused with a change or modification of its relative priorities with respect to, say, Pakistan. These are policy options at different levels. Enthusiastic US support for Pakistan vis-a-vis India is perfectly compatible with equally enthusiastic US support for Rajiv vis-a-vis the V P Singh challenge.

Presidential Election: Prospects for Change?
Badruddin Umar THE political process initiated by General Ershad to dress up his military rule in a pseudo-democratic garb is now passing through its final phase. It seems that in spite of all opposition noises against it the presidential election will be held as scheduled.

question and answer Sessions. For instance, a lecturer from the local college asked whether the Army was there for the benefit of the local population or to terrorise them? Another asked why the government made proclamations promising jobs, but always went back on them, is it because we are "less than human"? One village elder asked who was the Father of the Indian Nation? The statue of Gandhiji near the Town Hall is still covered with cloth and remains to be inaugurated, although the plaque says it had been inaugurated by the Prime Minister. There were several questions on the status of women and the stand of the human rights movement towards women.