Abul Kalam Azad and Two Memories

It’s either 2005 or 2006. I am sitting at a family member’s home in Virginia, enjoying the new experience of watching Bangladeshi channels in the US. While surfing channels, the visage of a bearded man, holding forth on some lecture, flashes on the screen.

For the first and last time in my life, I hear the sound of teeth being gnashed.

I turn and ask my family member the reason for his extreme reaction. He tells me his story- of how, as a youth, he had run, futilely, after a Pakistani Army jeep which was driving away with his father. The place was Faridpur. The year 1971. And the man who had guided the Pakistani Army to his home was Bacchu Razakar, now Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the man with the orange beard.

 

What happens in Hathazari, stays in Hathazari?

Mull over this: if a temple is ransacked in the forest, but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

As per bdnews, several temples and shops were burned. This ransacking went on for two days. Bdnews says:

The leaders of the Hindu minority there blamed the ‘indifference’ of the administration for the situation.

The problem is, the facts suggest otherwise. The local level administration tried to hold some meetings and head off any trouble before things got out of hand. Then Anisul Islam Mahmud, the local MP stepped in. Now, he isn’t just your typical Jatiyo Party MP who has trouble even doing something innocuous as taking over a local hospital. Mahmud, along with Ziauddin Bablu, is Sheikh Hasina’s enforcer in Jatiyo Party, and is tasked with making sure that JP Chief H. M. Ershad stays in line. As such, Mahmud has, at all times, the ear of the Prime Minister. When he was not successful (by some accounts, he was chased by local people and had to be rescued by police), Afsarul Amin showed up. Afsarul Amin is the senior representative from Chittagong in this current cabinet, and was probably the best person for the job since former mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury refused to get involved in this matter. Amin, too, failed to get things under control. It took the deployment of a heavy contingent of police and RAB to finally bring the situation under control.

And then, poof. The matter disappeared from our media. No follow-up reports to investigative articles. No allocation of the blame.

Or rather, some allocation of the blame. Four days after the incident, Nurul Islam, another MP from Chittagong and the leader of one of the three factions currently active in Chittagong AL, said this:

চট্টগ্রামে হিজবুত তাহরির, জেএমবি নিয়ে আমি দীর্ঘদিন চিৎকার করছি। শেষ পর্যন্ত তারা হাটহাজারীতে ঘটনা ঘটিয়েই ফেলল। ঘটনার বর্ণনা আমি দিতে চাই না। তবে চট্টগ্রাম-৮ আসনে সন্ধ্যা ৬টা থেকে রাত ১টা পর্যন্ত মন্দিরে মন্দিরে ঘুরে ঘুরে আমি পাহারা দিয়েছি।

I have been complaining for a long time about Hijbut Tahrir and the JMB. At last, they succeeded in causing the incident at Hathazari. I don’t want to go into the details of the incident, but I personally went from temple to temple between 6 pm and 1 am to guard everyone

The column was, ironically, titled “যার কাজ তাকেই করতে হবে”. Islam is silent on whether he thinks it is now his job to patrol the city at night to ensure law and order. Islam’s allegation that HiT and JMB are behind the attacks are also problematic. Both groups are banned in Bangladesh; people routinely get arrested for just owning literature that espouses their cause. That they would go on a violent rampage for two days, and be met with negotiation and discussion from the highest levels of the government, is fantasy, pure and simple.

Then day after, Abdul Mannan, the former Vice Chancellor of Chittagong University, who is now the designated pro-AL voice in Prothom Alo, wrote this:

একবাক্যে সবাই স্বীকার করেছে যারা এই দুদিন এমন একটি শান্তিপূর্ণ এলাকায় ধর্মীয় অনুভূতিকে উসকানি দিয়ে পরিস্থিতি ঘোলাটে করতে চেয়েছিল তাদের উদ্দেশ্য কী ছিল? ইসলামী ছাত্রশিবির চট্টগ্রাম বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের ঘটনাকে কেন্দ্র করে নন্দীরহাটের ঘটনার সূত্রপাতের দিন চট্টগ্রাম শহরে আধবেলা হরতালের নামে বেশ অনেকগুলো গাড়ি ভাঙচুর করেছে। তারা কোনো কোনো এলাকায় যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের দায়ে তাদের অভিযুক্ত নেতাদের মুক্তি দাবি করেছে। সবকিছু একসঙ্গে করলে সহজে এই উপসংহারে আসা যাবে যে এসব কোনো অপকর্মই হঠাৎ ঘটে যাওয়া কোনো বিষয় ছিল না। সবকিছুর পেছনে সুপরিকল্পিত প্রস্তুতি ছিল এবং উদ্দেশ্য একটাই, যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার বানচাল করা।

Everyone fully admits to being curious about the motive of those who instigated this incident in a previously peaceful area. Islami Chatra Shibir destroyed several vehicles on the day this incident started, which coincided with a hartal they had called. In some areas, they have demanded the release of their leaders who are now standing trial for war crimes. If all the dots are connected, we can easily come to the conclusion that this was not a solitary incident. There was a singular and well-planned motive, and that was to foil the trial of the war criminals

ICS, Jamaat’s student body, is currently under a state of siege, much like its parent organization. Awami League has consistently chosen to use overwhelming force anytime Jamaat or Shibir was bringing out even peaceful protests. Again, to suggest that the government would passively stand by and allow Shibir to take control of a key Chittagong suburb for two days and stand by passively is to show a reckless disregard to the ground reality of Bangladesh.

To sum up, we have what is, by all accounts, a communal riot, that the government did its best to nip in the bud. Its conduct afterwards, however, seems to have been less than honorable. That our media has gone completely silent on this story, while printing the self-serving allegations of Awami League politicians and intellectuals, is a stain on the entire industry. That the said politicians and intellectuals pin the blame on different groups only makes this matter more ridiculous. And as for the Awami League government, it would do well to remember one of the eternal truths of politics: it’s always the cover-up, not the crime itself, that gets you.

 

Abductions, Conspiracies, and Bombs in the Morning

Prothom Alo and Daily Star have an unparallelled ability in Bangladesh to focus, day after day, on a single issue, and force some action on that issue. In the recent past, they did it about Limon, the unfortunate victim of RAB crossfire. They did it about the untimely deaths of Mishuq Munir and Tareque Masud. And lately, they had started focusing on the issue of individuals being abducted and being murdered, allegedly by law-enforcement officials in disguise.

Thus, Daily Star has run the following news-reports:

December 14: Rights violation still rampant

December 15: Seven bodies seen floating in the bay

December 16: Secret killing sponsored by the state: Fakhrul claims BNP its main victim, BNP leader killed after abduction

December 17: Disappearances and secret killings: Creating panic among common people, 5 abducted, missing for 10 days

Prothom Alo has run these:

December 14: ১৭টি সংগঠনের মোর্চার সংবাদ সম্মেলন:
‘গুপ্তহত্যা ও গণপিটুনিতে হত্যা নতুন উদ্বেগ সৃষ্টি করছে’, ধলেশ্বরীতে আরও তিন লাশ: গুপ্তহত্যা

December 15: গুপ্তহত্যা: আরও পাঁচজন নিখোঁজ, রাষ্ট্রের সর্বোচ্চ পর্যায়ের হস্তক্ষেপ আশা করছি
সুলতানা কামাল , মুন্সিগঞ্জে নিখোঁজ মানুষের সন্ধানে আরও স্বজন: স্ত্রীরা এসে স্বামীদের লাশ শনাক্ত করলেন

December 16: পাবনায় যুবকের লাশ উদ্ধার
, নিখোঁজ ও গুম: এএফএডির উদ্বেগ
, মুন্সিগঞ্জ পুলিশের ধারণা: বুড়িগঙ্গা দিয়ে আট লাশ এসেছে, গলায় গামছা পেঁচানো বিএনপি নেতার লাশ

December 17: ডিবির পরিচয়ে অপহরণ
ভাঙ্গার পাঁচ যুবক ১০ দিন নিখোঁজ, ‘দলের কাউকে ধরতে হলে পুলিশকে পোশাক পরে আসতে হবে’, বাংলাদেশে নিখোঁজ ও গুমের ঘটনায় উদ্বেগ

December 18: গুপ্তহত্যার তদন্ত করবে মানবাধিকার কমিশন

December 19:
গুম ও গুপ্তহত্যার রহস্যভেদে গণতদন্ত কমিশন হোক

The response from the government about these claims, as it is about most criticism levelled their way by the opposition, was that BNP was behind all these murders and disappearances to foil the International Crimes Tribunal. Yesterday, BNP held a grand rally to honor freedom-fighters and decisively refute the charges that BNP was out to save war-criminals and foil their trials. However, this development became the second-most important story of the day after the bursts of violence that broke out all over Dhaka on the early morning of the same day.

The government claims, and both Daily Star and Prothom Alocarried this version, that BNP carried out these attacks. Daily Star went even further, and dragged out the two biggest scapegoats of recent years, Hawa Bhaban and Jamaat, as the groups allegedly behind this violence.

What is more likely, that BNP would sabotage the organizational meeting it had been concentrating on all month, or that Awami League was desparate to deny Khaleda Zia a stage surrounded by decorated war veterans? Daily Star claims that BNP Acting Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was in the dark about all these acts of violence. Meanwhile, Prothom Alo details show district-level leaders from all around Bangladesh were mobilizing to come to Dhaka. So this criminal master-plot was known to district-level BNP leaders all around Bangladesh, but somehow, BNP’s Acting Secretary-General did not know about it? Ridiculous.

Just like the government is running out of money to carry out its everyday duties, it is also running out of legitimate ways to stifle the entirely legitimate dissent that is bubbling up due to its numerous ill-conceived steps. One hopes that it will soon see sense, and shun the path of violence.

 

A Fresh Look at the Long, Dark Plot: Mufti Hannan, Torture, and Daily Star

About ten months into the current Awami League government’s tenure, Daily Star produced this sensational investigative report. In blaring headlines, it pinned the blame for the August 21 assassination attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tarique Rahman (referred to as Hawa Bhaban bigwig in report), and some other BNP leaders. The assassination attempt was billed as a joint venture between BNP and an Islamic fundamentalist organization.

The timing of this report was extremely significant. Two years ago, it was quite common to hear predictions about BNP breaking apart or an end to the Zia-brand of politics. Rovian dreams of Awami League’s permanent majority was quite du jour. BNP was scheduled to have its annual party council at the end of 2009. A feasible connection between Tarique Rahman and a murder charge would not only put BNP’s leadership transition into question, it would have given the government a huge bargaining chip against the largest opposition party.

Julfikar Ali Manik claimed that a “highly privileged document” from “a top accused of the grenade carnage” was the source of this information. This document finally went public on April 7 2011, when Mufti Hannan was brought in front of a magistrate to give a confessional statement that mirrored exactly what the 2009 Daily Star report had claimed. Important to note, Hannan had already confessed to his own involvement in this crime back in 2007. This additional information was only to pave the way for Tarique Rahman and other BNP leaders to be also indicted for the same crime.

Fast forward to September 27, less than a week ago. Having involved everyone the government wanted to involve, the case starts. Mufti Hanna submits a document stating that his supposed confessions were extracted by torture. How does Daily Star cover the story?

It buries the retraction deep into the story. Which is funny, because the news that the government allegedly extracted a confession from a prisoner in its custody, only so that it can frame opposition politicians, ought to be big news. Amar Desh has reproduced the entire petition, including description of the torture. Eyebrows have been raised for less.

The next day, BNP, quiet understandably, held a press conference claiming vindication and pressing for the name of its leaders to be dropped from the charge-sheet. Again, in the headline, Daily Star made no reference to the alleged retraction. A casual reader glancing at the headline, as I did, would have probably thought it referred to some garden-variety claim made in some rally somewhere, and missed this entire back story.

In an incredible counterattack, to make sure the retraction of the confession was downplayed, Daily Star printed a competing news article claiming that Hannan’s legal petition had no standing. The next day, it got eminent jurist State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam to say the same thing.

Let us look at the legal claims that a confession given under Section 164 cannot be retracted. Section 164 (3) of Bangladesh’s Criminal Procedure Code states:

(3) A Magistrate shall, before recording any such confession, explain
to the person making it that he is not bound to make confession and that if he does
so it may be used as evidence against him and no magistrate shall record any such
confession unless, upon questioning the person making it, he has reason to believe
that it was made voluntarily; and, when he records any confession, he shall make a
memorandum at the foot of such record to the following effect :-
“I have explained to (name) that he is not bound to make a confession and that, if he
does so any confession he may this confession was voluntarily made. I was taken in
my presence and hearing, an was read over to the person making it and admitted by
him to be correct, and it contains a full and true account of the statement made by
him.
(Signed) A. B.,
Magistrate.”

This makes abundantly clear that voluntariness is at the heart of any confession obtained through Section 164. The fact that confessions extracted through torture are illegal are no surprise; the courts of Bangladesh have been very exact in this regard. Our Supreme Court has explicitly held, in State Vs. Abul Hashem, 3 MLR (HCD) 30, that a magistrate cannot record a confession that is extracted through torture. And then, just to make sure, the magistrate has to affix his own signature at the end, verifying that the statement was not produced through torture.

What factors should a court look at to see whether there were any indication of torture or general police coercion? One very important factor is whether the confession is extracted after being in police custody, or whether there is any possibility that the witness may be taken back to remand right after his interaction with the magistrate. In State Vs. Farid Karim, 8 BLT(AD) 87, the fact that the accused was in police custody for unexplained two days before the police produced him for making confessional statement, was one of the important factors in the confessional statement being found involuntary.

Has Mufti Hanna been taken in custody, also called remand, often? According to a very desultory Google search, he has been remanded for 7 days on September 6, 2009, 5 days on September 12, 2009, 3 days on September 23, 2009, for 7 days on December 3, 2009, for 3 days on July 18, 2010, 2 days on August 22, 2010, and 5 days on December 27, 2010 . After making the statement, he was remanded for 1 day on April 26, 2011. That makes for 32 days of remand, and potential police torture, before and  1 day after making this confession statement. During the remand hearing held on August 22, 2010, Hannan tallied the number of days for which he had been in remand at 369 days over the past five years, and begged the magistrate not to grant any more remand. Remand, though, was granted.

Hanna was in police remand for half of September 2009. Presumably, it was this during this period that the document which became Julfikar Manik’s investigative piece was produced.

Even if this confession was made through torture, should we care if such confession statements cannot be retracted? Yes. There exists a plethora of judicial opinion, specifically State Vs. Lalu Miah and another, 39 DLR(AD) 11, which holds that any allegation of torture which forced the confessional statement, is to be treated the same as a petition for the withdrawal of the statement. Now that Hannan has claimed torture in police custody, the judge must decide whether his earlier confessional statement is credible. So the claim that there is no legal basis for withdrawing his confessional statement is without merit.

So why is this about the Daily Star’s coverage of this whole issue, rather than the much serious issue of torture of a prisoner in government custody, in a conspiracy to subvert the opposition political forces. There are two main reasons. The first is that we hear about these human rights violations through newspapers, and especially the Daily Star. If not for the Daily Star, Limon would be rotting in a jail cell or dead by now. So, when the newspaper itself decided to obfuscate the story and shift the focus to legal technicalities like getting permission from jail authorities instead of the much bigger and more serious allegation of torture in government custody, it renders hollow its supposed commitment to human rights and reinforces the suspicion that the news printed in Daily Star is slanted to serve a particular agenda.

Secondly, torture does not occur in a vacuum. No torture can flourish in a society unless it decides, as a whole, that certain individuals or classes of individuals are exempt from the protection of law. It very much seems like Daily Star has made such a finding for Mufti Hannan, which makes the paper, in general, and the relevant individuals, in particular, accomplices to torture. And the insidious thing is that the class of people who can be tortured tends to grow and metastasize at unbelievable speed. You may think that it only includes people with beards, and then suddenly, it also includes young university students out at night. 

This saga is by no means over. While there is an aspect to it that has a purely partisan aspect, this incident also serves as a reflection of the values that we hold as a society. And those values are fraying fast.

 

This is a murder committed by Judges Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Gobindo Thakur

Former Deputy Attorney General M U Ahmed died today under police custody in a city hospital. On August 11, 2011, at the order of high court judges Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Gobinda Thakur, he was arrested and tortured by police until he suffered from a massive myocardial Infarction.

It is evident that everybody living in side Bangladesh is afraid of calling a spade a spade. An environment of fear, extreme fear has been created by these two thuggish judges in Bangladesh. Last in their list of atrocities in the murder of ex Deputy Attorney General Advocate M U Ahmed. This is plain simple muder commited at the beheast of two blindly partisan judges by a brutal murderous police force of Awami League government.

 

Bangla Balderdash

Suddenly ‘Bangali’ and ‘Bangla’ have become high demand hot objects.

Some people and some leaders of the Bangalis living on west part of the Bangali inhabited land, which is currently known as Indian state of west Bengal, do not want the west qualification before the name Bengal. This article describes the phenomenon objectively while this article clearly protrays the childlish shenanigan related to the name change campaign. Athough one main reason for the name change is West Bengal citizens wishes to see their state name mentioned early in the alphabetical list of Indian states instead of being at the fag end because of the unholy ‘W’ at the top of the state’s name — there was no lack of patrons behind this move. Starting from newly elected CM Mamata Banerjee to ‘Times of India’ newspaper empire; there has been great enthusiasm regarding this campaign.

However, with rising tide of Indian nationalistic fervour and ever increasing clout of Hindi in West Bengal, the Banglis belonging to east side of Bangali inhabited land, now called Bangla Desh, a sovereign state, may legitimately ask what kind of Bangla would flourish in the Indian state of Bangla. Will that be the Bangla narrated in Amar Shonar Bangla or like this one “Ami vi Bangali achhe”.

On the other hand in the east side of Bangla land, Bangladesh, Bangali is again the hot item. A recent constitutional amendment mandates everyone in the nation to be identified as Bangalis. Although it may not be the problem with nations majority ethnic group, the Bangalis, the indigenous people living in diferent corners of the country find the 15th amendment constitution stripping them of their ethnic identity.

In this video clip, Mr Shantu larma, an ethnic Chakma and a leader of Chittagong Hill Tract indigenous people, asks prime Minister how she would feel if someone forces her to be identified as an ethnic Chakma.

However, by this newly enacted amendment, one cannot even criticize this sort of constitutional provision. Thanks to this 15th amendment, PM hasina, with the help of partisan thuggish high court Judges Manik and Gabinda Thakur et el, can hand down capital punishment anyone objecting to any clause in the constitution.

A more interesting phenomenon regarding the Bangali nationalism debate is sudden change of heart of our left leaning progressive intellectuals about ‘Bangladeshi’ nationalism. These folks has always found it a religious ritual to come down hard upon late President Ziaur Rahman for replacing “bangali” nationalism of heavenly 72
constitution wth “Bangladeshi” nationalism. But now these folks are all for inclusion of ethic groups in our constitutional identity, which is only possible with Bangladeshi nationalism.

 

Joynal Abedin Faruq

If you are one of the few people who haven’t seen the pictures, see them here.

First we heard that Faruq was bad-mouthing the police.

Then we heard that he was assaulting the police.

A Member of Parliament is brutalized in front of the Parliament building, and yet the Speaker won’t let opposition MPs speak on this issue.

And today, our honorable Prime Minister told us he was vandalizing vehicles.

Lies, lies, and lies. How can there be normal politics in a country when one side is led by a habitual liar?

We all understand and expect political spin. But not lies.

And, we need to make a law that no members of political parties or student political organizations, whether JCD, BCL, ICS, or others, can join BCS, police, army, or any other government service. They cannot work as government teachers, doctors, or lawyers.

We need to start looking for solutions to the underlying structural problems. Outrage and indignation can only take us so far.

 

Very bad precedent you are creating Dear prime Minister Hasina

Indeed, a very bad precedent you are creating Dear prime Minister Hasina.

It started with the arrest of an elected Dhaka City Ward Commissioner ( Councilor) Mr Chowdhury Alam.

Removal of Chowdhury Alam was very important to ruling Awami League Government’s political strategy. Mr Chowdhury Alam, as elected representative from Dhaka’s city center area, was the key field level organizer of all the city center rallies/ programs of opposition of BNP. Awami League takes opposition activities very seriously. They simply don’t want opposition to exist or act in any form. Departure of Mr. Alam came as a big debacle for opposition BNP as Mr. Alam was their key figure in it’s efforts to organize street agitation in Dhaka.

It has been nearly a year Mr. Alam went missing. Nobody accounted for his whereabouts.

In this list of missing under the current regime, Chowdhury Alam definitely was not the only name. The list became long quickly within first two years of this regime.

Last name in this list is the son of an opposition political figure. A rightwing orthodox islamic political leader and a Madrassa principle, Mr Fazlul Haque Amini had been protesting, peacefully, against the new fuggy inheritance policy of the government. A nationwide strike was organized last week and rallies are taking place on regular interval. Government’s top leadership reflected the whole issue personally on Amini. Statements made by the the prime Minister as well as other senior ministers were clear indication of the level of discomfort this government is experiencing in Handling this Amini trouble.

So not sure how to handle Amini, as any direct crackdown on Amini led madrassa based politics may be perceived as attack on political Islam by rural Bangladeshis, this prime Minister seemed to have taken the Chowdhury Alam route. Like Chowdhury Alam, the news broke as an arrest of Fazlul Haque Amini’s son Abul Hasanat by plain clothed policemen. Multiple news outlets carried this news.

And exactly like Chowdhury Alam case, since his abduction, Mr Abul Hasnath remained unaccounted for. Except for denying that he was arrested, there has not been any statement from any corner of the government regarding this incident. There has not been any visible action by law enforcement agencies to solve the problem by rescuing the abducted person. Mr. Amini, the father of the victim, has been complaining that he is regularly been threatened from the mobile phone belonging to his son. Bangladesh law enforcement agencies has the capabilities to track the phone records and locate from where the calls are made. Using this system, they solve most of the crimes these days. The silence from government quarters about the abduction, Prime Minister Hasina’s continued verbal attack on Amini ( Her last statement about Amini was that Khaleda Zia let Amini loose on the government), absolute absence of any action by law enforcement men to rescue or at least trace the abducted — should be enough evidence to suspect government’s hand behind the abduction of Amini’s son.

The government must understand that denying the abduction does not let them off the hook. It is the responsibility of the government to protect the safety of it’s citizen. A man suddenly can be whisked away in broad daylight from mains street Dhaka and Government will not have any say in it — this cannot happen in a civilized society.

Abducted and missing opposition activists and their families have been the historical hallmark of all the fascist governments in history. We don’t want to believe that our country is heading the fascist way. But the series of events, starting from Dr Yunus saga to the abduction of the son of Fazlul Haque Amini force us to fear about impending fascism.

 

Video of The Day

While stock market plunges in record setting numbers daily, prime Minister’s adviser on Financial affairs declares that he can’t care less about the investors in Stock Market.

Celebrated Photojournalist, activist and founder of Drik, Shahidul Alam speaks about the recent sensational photo of Felani, shot by Indian security Forces and overall Indo-Bangladesh relationship.

 

Felani’s Hanging Body, Connectivity and our quiet Government

A new year came upon us, so is the 3rd year of the government of Sheikh Hasina- HM Ershad- Hasanul Inu – Maolana Misbah-Ul-Islam- Comrade Moinuddin Khan Badal. Under siege by police and neo-gestapo RAB; the new years eve was fairly uneventful. At least there was no public display of sexual harassment in the form of a torn clothe student at Dhaka University Student center premises.

There were some upheavals though. The long line for the upcoming World Cup Cricket tickets were lead news/ talking point in the news media. The world cup ticket hoopla was duly followed by nearly 24/7 news coverage of the roller coaster ride of the stock market. TV news as well as the talk shows were all filled with footage of angry investors, bleeding from RAB baton Charge, rallying and pelting stones at nearby cars and government offices. The Government took the challenge politically and made sure that the following day the stock index rebound with a two fold vigor.

 

Bangladesh Supreme Court Devaluates itself

The value of Bangladesh Supreme Court apparently took a big plunge under it’s new leader Justice Khairul Haque.

Few months ago, the market rate of the honor of Bangladesh Supreme Court was 100,000 taka and six months jail sentence. That was under the leadership of former Chief Justice Fazlul Karim.The full bench of the court decided that rate when they sentenced newspaper editor Mahmudur Rahman for a report what they thought was truthful yet contemptuous of court.

So it was a matter of huge public curiosity when the same editor Mahmudur Rahman was brought back to the highest court for a second contempt of court case against him. And again the three men ( two men short this time, as two seniormost judges are not working out of ‘oviman’ as they were superseded by JusticeKhairul haque to be Chief Justice) found editor Mahmudur Rahman guilty of contempt of court.

However there was a difference in sentencing. Justice Khairul Haque led court  only sentenced editor Mahmudur Rahman a fine of 100 taka and no jail term. A major plunge from 100,000 taka and six months jail fixed by previous court.

Well, this is only the first month of Justice Khairul Haque’s Supreme Court. Let’s see what comes next. From 100,000 to 100 taka in a month. Then what?

 

Blind Justice

Lady justice definitely is blind in Bangladesh. At least Judge Shamsunnahar of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 is.

 

Bangladesh Supreme Court Judges have no clothes

1. Bangladesh Supreme Court is imposing a new sort of blasphemy fear in our society. They just jailed an editor for six months and a reporter for a month and fined financial penalty to additional others for reporting some facts which the court even did not try to refute as false. Courts stand was like this, ” be it fact or truth, as long as we six men feel someone has written something which we consider harmful to our image, we shall punish him/ her. And there will be no appeal to this verdict because there is no court above us in this land”.

2. The report in vernacular Daily Amar Desh quoted a senior lawyer and ex justice, Mr TH Khan, as ” Chamber Judge Means Stay (of High Court Order)” as the title . The report chronicled the spate of cases where this chamber Judge Mojammel Hossain, acting on the plea of government’s lawyers, blindly stayed all high court orders without any exception. Cases he stayed included high court rules to cancel police remand ( which means police torture in Bangladesh) although there are previous high court ruling discouraging ‘Police Remand’. The person Daily Amardesh quoted was present in the court as a lawyer. Court did not bother asking him a question. The court did not bother discuss the facts whether indeed chamber judge means stay or not. The Supreme Court did not bother/ dare go into that detail because they knew all what Amar Desh published was true.

 

Socialism: It’s a Wonderful Thing

Photo: Courtesy of Sheershanews.com

 

Supreme Court Strikes Down Government Bar on Amar Desh

Updated: Amar Desh online version again available.

Article 39 of the Constitution of Bangladesh:

39. Freedom of thought and conscience, and of speech.
(1) Freedom or thought and conscience is guaranteed.
(2) Subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of
the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation
to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence-
(a) the right of every citizen of freedom of speech and expression; and freedom of the
press, are guaranteed.

Bangladesh Supreme Court just struck down the Awami League government’s ban on popular newspaper Amar Desh. Amar Desh online version is now available.

 

Where is city councilor Chowdhury Alam?

On June 25, Friday elected Councillor Dhaka City Corporation and opposition leader, Mr Chowdhury Alam was arrested by the police. Per newspaper report, law enforcement men picked him up on his way home from opposition party office.  Since then he is totally untraceable. Nobody, neither Mr Alam’s family members  nor his lawyer/ colleague at Dhaka City Corporation have any knowledge of his whereabouts.

Mr Alam’s family members were in a press conference today along with the elected mayor of Dhaka City corporation. In the press conference, the family expressed their worry about the worst. Over the last year, law enforcement agency members of this government were alleged to have committed many premeditated murders. Bodies of people taken away by law enforcement men are being found buried underground, dumped into marshes etc.

When an arrest is made by the government, by law, the person being arrested needs to be produced before court within certain time. And law enforcement agencies ought to keep family informed of the whereabouts of the person being arrested. Nothing happened in Mr Alam’s case. His family has no clue where Mr. Alam was taken and why he is being detained.  No agency in the government is accepting the responsibility of this arrest. It is very unclear what happened to Mr Alam. But it is very destabilizing to see such a powerful government with such an overwhelming parliamentary majority resort to undemocratic means of kidnapping opposition elected representatives  and detaining them  in undisclosed locations. We certainly hope Mr. Alam did not have to face the consequences his family is most worried about.

Interestingly, the Mayor of Dhaka city raised the concern in a press conference in the afternoon. And late in the evening around 830 PM, several hours after government office closure, the government controlled Anti Corruption Commission came up with a corruption case against the Mayor.

Unfortunately this is only the 18th month for the current ruling party’s ascension to power.

 

Bangladesh Awami League Government Fails in The First Test of Democracy

Today a daylong general strike was called by the main opposition party in Bangladesh. This is first such event in 3 1/2 years. The opposition party BNP had laid out the strike plan last month in protest of certain issues they have pointed out as government failure.

The general strike ( Hartal) is not a very popular mode of protest in Bangladesh. Yet opposition parties resort to this tactic more often than other means as they don’t find the alternatives to hartal as biting. One reason the opposition resort to this sort of general strike is because hartals make the government feel insecure and vulnerable. For this same reason current ruling party Awami League resorted to 303 ( nearly a year) days of general strike since 1991. Otherwise a so called successful hartal is never a testament to opposition’s popularity.

Hartals are now more a test of the mindset of the government than anything else. Accordingly today’s hartal was an opportunity for the government to show how tolerant and democratic they are and at the same time it was a tool of the opposition to trap the government into exposing the government’s intolerant fascistic mindset ( if there is any).

Clearly the following photo assay shows heavy handed repressive acts of the government in a day which otherwise would have been a day of peaceful non-violent exercise of democratic right.

 

A Judge and two ministers

A new Chief Justice has just sworn in. Justice Tofazzal Hossain took oath yesterday but will be at the helm of nations Judiciary for a relatively short term. Future will decide how well he served his role as nations chief judge. However, his promotion clearly breaches a promise made to the nation by this government. Criticizing previous BNP government for manipulation and politicization of judiciary, the current ruling party made a promise to the nation to stop any further manipulation and politicization of judiciary.

As we continue to see the glorious role being played by the high court judges in upholding human rights and rule of law, we also see the ever growing urge in ruling party to see a subservient judiciary.

Justice Tofazzal Hossain has been made chief Justice superseding Justice Fazlul Karim. The time honored tradition of promoting judges according to seniority has again been breached. Definitely the government has a standard which one has to fulfill before one is promoted to higher ranks.

Recent comments made by the full and half ministers for Law about a sitting judge reminds us of the standard government leadership expects.

In threatening and criticizing Justice nazrul Islam Chowdhury for the comments he made in a human rights related meeting, the state minister of law reportedly stated that, ” He was recruited by our government. Such a statement from him is unfortunate. ওই বিচারপতি ১৯৯৬ থেকে ২০০১ সালে আমাদের সরকারের সময়ে নিয়োগপ্রাপ্ত। তার কাছ থেকে এ ধরনের বক্তব্য আসা দুঃখজনক।”

Taking two sentences out of context from a long speech, both the ministers launched attack on Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury. In his long speech Justice Chowdhury discussed in detail on article 70 of our constitution which kind of make sour parliament not the perfect debate ground. At the end of his speech he also brought the issue of extra Judicial killing. He said,

… বিচারবহির্ভূত হত্যাকাণ্ড অবশ্যই বন্ধ করতে হবে। বিচারবহির্ভূত হত্যা বিচার বিভাগের জন্য বড় ধরনের আঘাত। আমরা বিচারপতিরা জনগণের অধিকার রক্ষার শপথ নিয়েছি। কিন্তু আমাদের সামনেই যখন বিনা বিচারে কাউকে হত্যা করা হয়, তখন আমাদের জন্য সেটা আঘাতস্বরূপ। কোনো আইনশৃঙ্খলা রক্ষাকারী বাহিনীর সদস্যের হাতে কাউকে হত্যার দায়িত্ব তুলে দেয়া যায় না। এটা জাতির জন্য আত্মহত্যার শামিল। …যারা সংসদ সদস্য হবেন, তাদেরকে আইন প্রণয়নের বিষয়ে সম্যক ধারণা থাকতে হবে। সংসদ সদস্যদের দায়িত্ব হলো জনগণের মঙ্গলের জন্য আইন তৈরি করা। আইনের খুঁটিনাটি বিষয় নিয়ে বিতর্ক করা। আইনের একটি শব্দ, সেমিকোলন—এসব বিষয় নিয়ে দিনের পর দিন বিতর্ক হতে পারে। কেরানিরা আইনের ড্রাফট তৈরি করে আর সংসদ সদস্যরা সেটা হো হো করে তালি বাজিয়ে পাস করে দেবেন, এটা তাদের দায়িত্ব নয়। অনেক সংসদ সদস্য আইনের ড্রাফটটি অনেক সময় পড়েও দেখেন না। দলীয় লোক আইন উত্থাপন করেছেন, তাই এটা পাস।

…Extra Judicial Killing must stop. Extra Judicial Killing is a rude attack on the judiciary. We, the judges have taken oath to uphold the rights of people. But when someone is killed ( by the state) in front of us, it is a direct attack on us. No law enforcement agency can be given the right to take the life of a citizen. It is like a suicide for the nation. Members of Parliament must have comprehensive knowledge in drafting laws. It is the responsibility of the Members of Parliament to make laws those are beneficial for the people, debate on every nitty gritty of the proposed law. There can be debate day after day about one single word, a semi colon etc in  a proposed law. Parliament clerks will draft the laws and the Members of Parliament will approve it hand clapping and saying Ho Ho, ( without doing any debate)–it is not their job.  Many Members of Parliamen sometimes don’t even read the draft law. They only vote for it as the bill was brought in a member belonging to the same party…

While even we  the bloggers refrain from making harsh comments against a sitting judge, these two ministers did not shy away from making sweeping comments against a sitting judge. While one has threatened to unseat the judge by revoking supreme judicial council, the full minister of law made public statement saying the judge made those comments out of his own ignorance.

The comments of these two ministers make me worry about the future of our independent judiciary. The high court division has been doing great job in upholding the rights of the citizens of the country. The nation is proud of them and hope to remain proud of them.

A recent op-ed my Badruddin Umar also makes a strong case against the minister’s threats against the judge.

 

Remand Benodon

Remand benodon (Entertainment).

In the middle ages and in current age in some countries still in the middle age, one of the most popular entertainments was watching torture and execution of the bed elements of the society, the criminals, and the downtrodden. Citizen from all walk of like will gather in the arena to watch and enjoy the unforgettable entertainment of torture and execution of a bed soul. Elites used to get the courtside seats, the general mass in the back seats. Kids used to accompany the parents.

We think we have come a long way from those dark ages. Did we really? The electrifying spread of Saddam execution video, its popularity– does it ring some bell? What about Bangladesh? If we change the context a bit, I do not see much change in the instinct.
In Bangladesh we have a thing called remand. A man/ woman under any sort of suspicion can be taken to undisclosed place by unidentified law enforcement agency people and can be kept for days to months. IN recent years remand lasted from a day to 4 to five months. During this time, the person being held cease to have any kind of basic right. He/ she can’t access any lawyer/ family. He can’t make any communication with anybody. Nobody would know where the person is being taken. People who have been through remand say that during this time they were subjected to all form of torture literally non stop.

Recently torture in the name of remand has become a household feared word. Remand has gained an added dimension by media’s usage of purported remand confessions to make entertaining news. Although torture in police custody is nothing new in Bangladesh, making that event a national entertainment is probably around three years old.
During the military regime of January 2007 to January 2009, almost all of the nation was drunk in a fiesta of entertainment coming out of so called torture confessions. There were two kinds of entertainment values. First the shear fun of knowing a leader of opposing political views is getting a great thrashing while in remand. And second was from all the earth shattering purported confessions being published in the print media. During last military regime, our print media (except the honorable exception of English Daily New Age), gleefully published all the dreadful crimes the political and business leaders committed. And later all the news headlines proved to be false. Not a single media apologized and retracted all the character assassinations they have committed.
During the days of the current elected government the fanfare of remand continued, but with an added spice. One person is picked to get some good thrashing; government’s judiciary provides a remand. Then thrashing starts. And newspapers, as expected, start publishing all the horror stories.

And if the person in remand happens to be a young woman, nothing can get better than that. Invariably erotically charged stories will come out how that women lived with many men, how she was violated, used-reused, how many people married her and divorced her etc. The stories however keep on changing. If one reads same newspaper on three consecutive days, there will be three conflicting version of the same story.

Remains buried under all these sadistic national entertainment— independent-passionate judiciary, responsible journalism and basic human rights.
Who cares.

 

Bangladesh 2009: Judiciary approved, state conducted torture

Ex state minister for Home affairs and expelled BNP leader Lutfuzzaman Babar has been taken into remand under a directive of Supreme Court chamber judge Mozammel Hossain. Earlier a two judge high court bench directed the government to interrogate Mr Babar in Dhaka Central Jail where Mr Babar is in custody now. This supreme court verdict, indirectly, marks a demarcation line between interrogation and remand. The Attorney General asked for something more than simple interrogation and the appellate divn chamber judge M Mozammel Hossain used his constitutional power to allow the state to do ‘something more’ on Mr Babar. Even Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stated that “…the investigators are empowered to decide the place and mode of the interrogation,..”.

 It is an open secret that remand means torture. Every single person who have been through remand in recent past have termed their remand time as living in hell. A senior BNP leader today described remand as killing someone, by stripping him of his self esteem, hope and physical well being. Senior national leaders including current PM, deputy leader of the house, leader of the opposition, senior ministers, parliamentary standing committee chiefs have said, on numerous occassions and on record, that rermand equals torture.

We used to see a lot of remands during the immediate past military regime. People from both sides of political dichotomy in Bangladesh were tortured in the name of remand. And during that time, on many occasions, high court came to reprieve by blocking remand petitions. Many current ruling party leader benefited from such directives of high court. And that time the military government arm twisted Appellate division to overturn many of the high court blocked remand petitions. It is very unfortunate that a democratically elected government run by a party which claims to carry a liberal ideology will resort to the tactics of a cruel military regime. Today, two persons, Justice M Muzammel Hossain and Attorney general Mahbubey Alam paved way for the state to torture a person.  This report in a mainstream vernacular newspaper describes the cirmstances that led to the unprecedented verdict of the supreme court. It must be taken into heart that a supreme court judge and an attorney general are not merely persons. They are institutions. They represent the state and the constitution. Personal political bias, grudge and political calculations must not guide these sort of institutions to resort to unconstitutional activities like torture. Torture does not bring any good for anybody. Torture can not be a tool of a civilized society. Torture can only take the nation back into the dark middle ages.