Historically they have always been behind PMDs. The Phulbari open pit mining coal project of Asia Energy Corporation (AEC) is one of them (for a detailed discussion on the project, see meghbarta.org). Therefore, the US envoy's strong support for the project is consistent. We also understand the British and Australian envoys' concern.

However, I was shocked to see a series of articles, written by Bangladeshis, living at home and abroad, in The Daily Star and some other dailies. I wonder how informed, educated people, who are supposed to know about development around the world, about human potential and human suffering, to have the ability to identify right and wrong, to understand cost and benefit, could be so insensitive, so cruel to the people of their own country?

For them the cries of thousands of people to cancel Asia Energy's disastrous project are comparable to the irrational move by a group of students for postponement of examination dates, the displacement of 100,000 people from their lives and livelihoods is comparable to displacement of hundreds to build a highway.

For them, this is capitalism and development, therefore, we have to accept it. For them, Asia Energy was going to contribute toward development in Bangladesh, and the people of that area and the national committee were the troublemakers, anti-development tall-talkers. For them, Asia Energy's views and promises are trustworthy, but analyses and views of experts opposing the open pit mining (OPM) are not even readable, not to mention about the views of local people.

In all those articles we find sentences from AEC's long promises, but no mention of the facts, figures, or analyses which reveal OPM's anti-people and anti-environmental nature. For them, giving away a coal mine to a foreign company is a much better choice for Bangladesh then to keep it for utilization by the country. For them, the best utilization of coal could be to allow the company to take a huge part of it because that would bring some royalty income, and the development of roads and ports. For them, it is foolish to think of developing our own expertise and ability for the fullest utilization of natural resources. They are in favour of the fullest extraction of coal and its drainage to give maximum profit to a foreign company and, therefore, against the fullest utilization of coal resources for the people and the country.

I am aware of corporate power; there are piles of records showing how corporates create lobbyists, how they spend huge amounts of money in public relation activities. Also, I am aware of ideological hegemony, of so-called "developmentalism" in corporate terms. These writers, clearly imbued with corporate vision and interest, were so upset with the victory of the people that they could not keep their words in check. They used slang and expressed the worst possible hatred of the organizers and participants of that uprising, and gave wrong facts and impressions to the readers.

For the benefit of readers, therefore, I feel obliged to give a narration of the occurrences before and after August 26. This program on August 26 was not a sudden one. It was the result of a series of events; the company's moves to ensure maximum profit as well as the people's reaction to ensure their own safeguards.

The people of Phulbari are not so foolish that they will dance to the tune of "anti-development," "anti-state conspirators," and "talkers" like us. Actually, it was they who initiated the struggle as a reaction to the moves of AEC, and they eventually contacted us when they were looking for a national body that was working to preserve national interest and peoples lives.

It was the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port that had been working hard on scrutinizing deals on natural resources since 1998, and raising their voices against bad deals.

On the people's invitation, we first visited Phulbari in mid-2005, and after witnessing their fear we investigated AEC's documents. Studying AEC's own documents, we discovered the intensity of danger for the people in the region and to the country's economy. In October 2005, we had a meeting with experts and had intensive discussions on our working paper: "Phulbari Coal Project: Whose Fain Whose Losses." That was the beginning from our part. By then, AEC had submitted the EIA (but before submitting that they were given environmental clearance).

Discussion and debates continued. As the days passed, we became more and more certain about the disastrous nature of the project. We embarked on a road march from March 23 to take the facts to the people of other regions as well. On March 25, there was a big gathering of about 20,000 to 25,000 Bangali and Saontal women and men in Phulbari.

In "Phulbari Declaration" of that road march we stated categorically that:

"Bangladesh does have the need for coal, need for fuel, need for electricity, need for development and these are presented by the plunderers as arguments justifying the project. We want to clearly emphasize that these are precisely the same reasons why we are making the demand for scrapping the project. The project is intended to transfer ownership of the valuable coal and other mineral resources from the hands of Bangladesh people to the plunderer, an inexperienced and imposter company named Asia Energy.

"If the project is implemented the coalmine will become AEC's property, a small portion (proposal was one-third) of extracted coal, to be purchased at an exorbitant price, will be offered to Bangladesh. Besides, the open pit mining method will result in destruction of a prosperous area comprising of the thanas of Phulbari, Parbatipur, Birampur, and Nawabganj, the cessation of all agricultural and other economic activities, extinction of schools, colleges, hospitals, places of worship and loss of archaeological treasures, including eviction of lakhs of people, and desertification of a vast area of about 600 sq km. And pollution of rivers, canals and wetlands in the vicinity. Those who attempt to portray this project of destruction and plunder as 'development,' and propagate the view that foreign investments are essential ingredients of 'development,' are committing a crime.

"On the one hand the life of people in Phulbari and surrounding thanas would be ruined, while on the other, AEC would gain a huge sum through plunder. Those who are prepared to indulge in such vicious profit making through siphoning of non-renewable resources, born 270-280 million years, are the enemy of the people. At the different meetings and contacts held during the three-day march, a demand has been raised for putting the people's enemies to trial. This august assembly declares that we shall never let our lives and property be sacrificed at the altar of racketeers' profit schemes. We shall not let local and foreign plunderers plunder our precious coal resources.

The people of Bangladesh, and particularly the people of Dinajpur, are ever vigilant guardians of their resources. We pronounce the following demands, from this mammoth gathering of Phulbari, to the government of Bangladesh:

• All secret agreements with AEC shall be scrapped.
• The ministers and bureaucrats responsible for this give-away contract must be penalized through forfeiture of property, and be subject to exemplary punishment.
• The recently promulgated coal policy aimed at facilitating plunder and appropriation by AEC and Tata shall be annulled and a new energy policy shall be prepared for maximum utilization of oil-gas-coal resources by building a skilled human resource and institutional base.

This meeting demands immediate expulsion of Asia Energy from Phulbari or else the people would be forced to take stern steps including 'gherao' unless the demands raised in this meeting are fulfilled immediately."

Therefore, we, together with the inhabitants of the area, informed the company and the government about the people's opinion much earlier. Nevertheless, neither the government nor the company showed any respect to the people's will. They proceeded with the plan to create havoc. While the government was saying that no final contract had been signed, the AEC was expanding their fieldwork, trying to bribe people in many ways and therefore made people suspicious and terrified. In that perspective, the gherao program of August 26 was declared with the hope that both the parties would take necessary steps to cancel the project before the dateline. They did not.

On August 26, 60,000 to 70,000 people were marching in Phulbari to say NO to AEC's big open pit mining (OPM) project. People wanted to give a strong message to AEC that they were unwanted in the region, and also in the country. They were clear in expressing their verdict that no OPM would be allowed in the area. People were angry, nevertheless disciplined. They were gathered under the banner of the National Committee.

Police and BDR created a barricade in front of Choto Jamuna River Bridge about a kilometer from the Asia Energy office. Before reaching there at around 3.30 pm, we were first hit by several tear gas shells and were lathi-charged, but, after the initial chaos, we gathered again and marched towards the barricade. We stopped there and on behalf of the people I read out the declaration and Engineer SM Shaheedullah concluded the program. It was around 4 pm.

That declaration of the gherao program said:

"Since, Phulbari coal project is an arrangement to take away coal resources from the people to hand over to a foreign company, and since OPM, a profitable means for coal extraction for the company, would destroy the region and would create a disaster for the peoples lives and livelihoods, we are hereby declaring the peoples verdict that we do not want a project that would destroy our lives, ecology and livelihoods. We do not want a project that would plunder our resources. We will not give one inch of our land to plunder our resources. This project must be cancelled immediately. We urge the government to protect people's lives and resources, not a company's interest.

"In order to grab resources Asia Energy has been engaged in the area in fraudulent activities, bribing, conspiring, and cheating. In order to create chaos and violence in a peaceful rally, the company and its collaborators tried to spread rumours and panic for the last few days. We are hereby declaring people's verdict, this company is thoroughly anti-people and its existence will cause more harm and violence here, therefore it must stop all its activities tonight and must leave this place. They are completely unwanted here.

"If they do not leave by tomorrow morning they will face social boycott. No shop will sell anything to them, no transport will take them, and no neighbourhood will allow them to carry out criminal activities. If Asia Energy do not leave this place immediately and if the project is not cancelled immediately we will go for further programs."

The huge rally endorsed the declaration and the whole program ended peacefully. We came down from the temporary stage and with the local leaders walked down to the other side of the barricade. Only 200 yards from there a group of people wanted to hear more about the program. I was explaining, and suddenly, at that moment, we heard sound of gunfire from the bridge. BDR did that.

It was around 4.30pm. There were about a hundred people on both sides of the bridge, they were curious to see what was happening there. Nothing happened there to rationalize firing on the people. We have reason to suspect that the firing by BDR was deliberate, the "authority" had prior plans to kill people to create terror in the area.

They probably thought we would break the barricade and would not be able to control the gathering, so firing on us would be justified. However, since we did not break the barricade and did not create any violence despite provocation, the plan was going to be spoiled, and therefore on our return they hurriedly went into action. About 20 people were hit by bullets, 5 persons were killed and several hundreds were injured.

Killing did not stop people from saying NO, rather protests spread countrywide. Women, young and old, came out from their weak shelters to face aggressive BDR. We found the streets full of agitating people, a majority of whom were women . From day two, people from adjacent thanas started coming in thousands to express their solidarity. After four days, being unable to stop the spreading anger, the government was compelled to sign an agreement with the National Committee, where they made commitment for not allowing open pit mining any time anywhere in the country. The government also declared that it would take necessary actions to cancel Phulbari coal project and to say good-bye to AEC. It was a victory for the people; it was a victory for the country.

The people who are embedded with companies like AEC used to see and enjoy the power of plunder. But we witnessed people's power, power of the powerless, and power of collectivity. Embedded persons may see this as disaster since, for them, corporate interest must be put above everything else, no matter what happens to people or the country. For them, whatever FDI corporates do to maximize profits that must be the best for people, there is no other alternative.

Experiences of many countries of Africa and South America, rich in resources but ugly in poverty and repression, is irrelevant to them. They consider people's cry against genocidal projects as "politics" and harmful for "economics." But facts and figures, the science, clearly show that natural resources in Bangladesh, like in many other countries, have turned into a liability, and a source of danger for the people, not due to lack of FDI but because of it.

A vicious local-global alliance has been working on plundering in the name of FDI.

People are not always passive and fatalist like this alliance wants them to be. People of Phulbari, by sacrificing their lives, have halted the process of making PMDs in Bangladesh. That is their best gift to the country. They have written the people's verdict in blood: people will not accept any FDI that goes against the interest of the people; second, people will not honour any contracts secretly signed by the commission agents, keeping people in the dark and against their will; and third, natural resources are common good, this cannot be privatized for corporate profit, but must be used for the people's need.

Anu Muhammad is the Member Secretary of National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port.