That Video — Two Years On

Elected local Government leader, Upazilla Chairman Sanaullah Nur Babu was chopped to death in broad day light in front of rolling cameras. National TV broadcast the footage. But PM Hasina personally defended the killer and as a result the killer became the most powerful man in that locality.

 

The Guns of Bretton Woods

The following is a documentary on Joseph Kony of Uganda Lord’s resistance Army. The documentary vividly describes the despicable crimes committed by Kony.

The man who was dispatched by the global community- International Criminal Court to be more specific, to investigate and prosecute this Joseph Kony, was Argentine Luis Moreno Ocampo. He led the investigation and prosecution. Before his assignment of leading the prosecution of Joseph Kony, he was instrumental in prosecuting the notorious military junta in Argentina. After Joseph kony, Mr Ocampo prosecuted Sudan’s Omar al Bashir and issued an arrest warrant for his involvement in Darfur atrocities.

So it seems after dealing with monstrous Joseph Kony, murderous Generals  of Aregentina and radical Mullah of Sudan– Ocampo finally seems fit to investigate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government!

 

পাগলের পাল্লায় — The mental

Frankly speaking – Bangladesh this time has fallen at the grip of a grand lunatic. This is however is not that shocking a news. Many countries of the world has been run by grand lunatics many many times in the history of Mankind. However the specialty of this grand Lunatic of Bangladesh i.e., PM Sheikh Hasina is that her supporters and followers are equally lunatic as their leader. When a big part of the nation are blind lunatic followers of PM Hasina — then it becomes a big problem for the country.

 

Ramu, Satkhira, Hathajari: the friendless minorities of Bangladesh

Ramu Upazilla of Cox’s Bazaar district of Bangladesh usually comes to news when mad wild elephants attack localities and trample people to death. But this time, news of a different madness sent a chill through the spine of the whole nation. Through a night long mob attack and violence, dozens of Budhdhist temples, religious structures, monasteries, households were destroyed and burnt to ashes.

This is apparently the first communal attack on Buddhist minorities in Bangladesh. As Hindu and Pahari minorities used to be at the receiving end of almost all communal atrocities in Bangladesh, Buddhists coexisted peacefully with mainstream Muslims for centuries.

 

Photo Contest for our Readers

Look at the Daily Star front page photo above. You will see someone’s photo has been cropped out from next to Michelle Obama. Now we have two question to our readers.

1. Whose photo was cropped out?
2. Why?

Spoiler alert!

The un-cropped version of the photo is over the fold…

 

Not all dog would run and jump after the treat — but does it matter?

Awami League political stalwart Tofael Ahmed and center left political icon Rashed Khan Menon declined a recent offer to be ministers for the last year of Awami League Government. Although some media reporting were laced with a strong element of surprise, there in fact should not be any surprise in this decision.

For Tofael and Menon, the decision was very easy. Although they risked alienating the all powerful elected dictator of the country — Sheikh Hasina and they made their re-election process a tad difficult — they earned much more long term dividends with this decision. First,they know very clearly that being a minister does not guarantee or even facilitate re-election if a fair election is allowed to happen under an anti-incumbency wave.

And then, As the current trend goes, i.e. it is very stylish to curse two major political party leaders and demand a 3rd political ( or even non political force) — Tofael and Menon just earned bumper scores in their resume to be considered for a any future 3rd ( political or non political) force front leader job. And in a phenomenon of reciprocity, while Tofael- Menon gain 3rd force credibility, 3rd force also gains traction with more credible 3rd force leadership contenders.

 

PM Hasina's misdirected Rebuke

Since PM Hasina’s party came to power, bloodshed by public lynching of opposition activists have become a commonplace thing. Invigorated followers of Prime Minister Hasina have been jumping on and making them bloody lump of meat and bone at the sight of any student belonging to opposition political spectrum. At some point when opposition party supporting students became an extinct species in the campuses, PM’s student forces started practicing bloodshed among themselves. In the universities they are being seen killing each other over booty share, in premier medical college of the country they would through their comrade from 4th floor dorm killing him, in nations’ most prestigious Engineering university they would beat the hell out of the teachers and students for protesting against a Vice Chancellor who also happen to be a political thug. Mrs. Hasina never felt much disturbed at all these anarchy, never ever her heart plunged at the bloodied body of innocent victims.

 

When Bangladesh Falls Apart…

The intellectual backbone of Ruling Awami League are their activists supporters among Dhaka University Teachers. As a part of serious infighting among these activists professors, the pro VC and treasurer ( #2 and #3 in DU leadership heirarchy) resigned  after conflict with the Vice Chancelor).

The High Judiciary, infamous for their thuggish partisanship, dirty mouth treatment of respected citizens of the country blasted the speaker of the parliament terming him illiterate and accusing him of treason.

Same day, the ruling party menbers in the parliament, including senior most treasury bench mebers, thrashed the judiciary, calling a judge sadist, pervert and demanded his immediate removal.

 

The Novelist and his upcoming novel

I guess Humayn Ahmed’s upcoming novel “deyal” is going to win the distinction of second most talked about ‘book-in-writing’. ( I give it second place because for hype about a ‘not-yet-written’ novel, the top place all time in the history Bangla literature will unsurpassably remain with Tahmima Anam and her novel ‘A Golden Age’, ever). Dozen of articles and op-eds have already been published in several Bangladeshi outlets ( but nothing compared to New York Times, Guadian, NPR  reviews and dozens of TV interviews of Tahmima Anam gave including BBC radio even before her first ever novel was published). Even this obscure blogger tried to write an amateurish piece in BDNews 24.com opinion page. The full piece is reproduced for AlalODulal readers across the fold.

But on the side of the fold let’s share with you one reader’s comment about the piece. The reader commented,

Humayun Ahmed has received so much help, financial assistance, and favors from the current government that he probably feels obligated to pay off some his debt, which is fine except he shouldn’t try to call his novel a piece of literature. He should, if he is honest, put the testimonial at the beginning of his novel that it is his way of paying off his debt to this government.

As the reader rightfully questions the literature value of this upcoming novel and our court and the government remains very concerned about the historical value, this blogger sees the novel as the litmus test for intellectual honesty of author-film maker Humayun Ahmed.

 

Complete piece is over the fold.

 

 

The Corpses of Ashulia

 

When you call a politician a grassroots politician?

You call a politician grassroots politician when…

 

 

 

 

 

…in response to the abduction of their dear leader, mass people from his roots grab whatever weapon they have at their disposal and proceed to faceoff with the overwhelming forces the state.

 

Today’s Sound Bite

Dhaka University Law profesor Asif Nazrul on the Forced Disappearance of opposition leader Ilias Ali

Bangladesh National Human Rights Commissioner on the forced disappearance of Ilias Ali

Dr Asif Nazrul on Forced Disappearance

PM Sheikh Hasina on forced disappearance of Ilias Ali

 

Alien Invasion on Bangladesh

Over the last few years mysterious things started happening in Bangladesh. In the absence of any earthly explanation of those incidents, there has been serious concerns among informed people of Bangladesh that Bangladesh is at the recieving end of an alien invasion.

The description of the following events will prove, beyond an iota of doubt in anybody’s mind, that a barrage of attack have been unleashed on the people of Bangladesh.

 

Alien Invasion on Bangladesh

Over the last few years mysterious things started happening in Bangladesh. In the absence of any earthly explanatin of those incidents, there has been serious concerns among informed people of Bangladesh that Bangladesh is at the recieving end of an alien invasion.

The description of the following events will prove, beyond an iota of doubt in anybody’s mind that , a barrage of attack have been unleashed on the people of Bangladesh.

It first started with alien kidnapping. First notable victim of such kidnap is an elected official of Dhaka city local government Mr. Chowdhury Alam. Since he went missing from Dhaka city nearly two years ago, he has never been seen again.

A closer look revealed that during this time period, Mr Alam was not the only one being kidnapped by alien. Many young men, opposition activists, stuents from Sylhet and other areas went missing. All but one of those kidnapped by the aliens never came back. The only lucky one who could come back alive, sans all the memory of the time of confinemnet, was the son of a fiery religious figure Mr. Fazlul Haque Amini. It was not clear why the aliens let Mr Hasnath, son of Maolana Amini let lose. However, this event may make a strong case in support of the theory that aliens worship the same God and they had some soft corner for the pastor Mr Amini.

Very soon, along with Kidnappings, killings started to take place. This time another local government level leader of Dhaka city from the opposite political spectrum got killed very msteriously. The aliens were so intrusive and invasive that they could easily penetrate inside the SUV of a powerful ruling party MP inside the compound of Bangladesh’s national parliament building amd kill one Mr Ibrahim in point blank range.

Not only known faces lik Ibrahim or Chowdhury Alam were being killed/ kidnapped in high profile places, mysterious killing started being noticed in all remote corners of Bangladesh like the Bay near Borguna, Joydevpur, Bhanga region of Faridpur district, Dhaleshwaree River near Munshiganj district, Ashulia/ Kuril, Pabna etc.

However one of the daing action of the alien commando forces were that of Sanaullah babu killing. Sanaullah Babu was another elected local government leader in a northern district called Natore. In this event the aliens showed their T – 1000 the nanomorph like ability to take other peoples’ shapes. During this event, which was widely recorded by multiple cameras, the aliens took the shape and look of many ruling party members of that district. Specifically the lead killer took the shape of a popular local Awami league leader Zakir.

Similarly got killed another local government leader, again this time from the opposite political base, Mr. Lokman Hossain.

The aliens did not stop in killing political activists, local government leaders only. An extremely powerful couple, both are senior TV personalities and TV journalists, were stabbed to death inside their apartment. The government could not give any earthly explanation of their gruesome murder– making it the highest profile case of the series of mindless alien assasinations taking place in Bnagladesh.

Within a very short interval, the aliens, without any reason, abducted a diplomat of Saudi Arabia stationed in Dhaka, Bangladesh and killed him in a highly professional manner. This specific killing heralds a new front of attack unleashed by the aliens. The clever war planners of the alien empire knew it very well that killing of a Saudi diplomat in Bangladesh may seriously weaken the position of Bangladeshi migrant labors in Saudi Arabia and harm Bangladesh economically.

The latest incident involving the invading alien force in Bangladesh resembles robbery of Fort Knox. This time the aliens looted a big chunk of money from within the car heading to the home of a powerful minister of Bangladesh. And this brazen loot took place within the highly fortified compound of a paramilitary force of Bangladesh. This specific operation suggests growing confidence of the aliens in hitting anyone, any place anytime in Bnagladesh.

 

March 12 Rally, and Afsan Chowdhury’s Bias

March 12 saw over a hundred thousand people gather to listen to Khaleda Zia speak. They came, despite the fact that all long-distance transportation to Dhaka, including buses, trains, and ferries, had been stopped the last three days, that police was indulging in mass arrests of anyone even suspected of going to the rally, and that on the day of the rally, AL workers armed with weapons were stationed at various points of the city to “discourage” people from attending the rally.

But you wouldn’t know any of that from reading Afsan Chowdhury’s latest. In fact, his piece is a perfect illustration of the iron-clad rules governing BD journalism. All criticism of AL is generic and vague: “AL came out looking like a bunch of scared rabbits”, “the AL who now stands out looking inept”, “But what the AL also did in its failed attempt to contain the crowds from swelling was use its cadres”, “AL had a bad case of nerves”, “AL decided to add to it by making direct broadcasts impossible”, “the party came out looking so novice like, out of depth and touch, hardly the kind of maturity that can handle a political crisis.”

You see, AL is a party governed by a series of inter-changeable drones, and all members have the exact same contribution to policy-making, so it makes no sense to mention the prime minister, or any of her advisers, or members of her cabinet. The party is governed by a hive-mind. Everyone is equally culpable: no need to mention anyone by name.

By contrast, the criticism of BNP is sharp and personal: “Khaleda where her political imagination is limited by her lack of understanding of what people want”, “she however left out was significant which is any reference to the War Crimes Trial”, “It was a very convenient but unpleasant silence on the part of Khaleda Zia”, “Khaleda has declared a number of new programmes including a hartal. So we are back to the hot and heavy season.”

Simple: BNP bad, Khaleda Zia worse.

Finally, this may come as a shock to Chowdhury, but there is no law “that forbids any criticism” of the war crimes trial. There is, however, Section 39 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which is titled “Freedom of thought and conscience, and of speech.”  It protects the right of all Bangladeshis to express themselves as citizens of a free and democratic country. Perhaps he should glance at it.

 

Narayanganj Election: Some More Analysis

Three broad trends significant in this election:

Media Activism: A large section of Bangladeshi media played an extremely enthusiastic part in boosting Selina Hayat Ivy, trashing Shamim Osman, and completely ignoring BNP candidiate Taimur Alam Khandqar. We heard over and over, that Ivy was a successful mayor in her last stint. What were the indications of her success? By how much did corporation tax revenues increase? How many schools and colleges did she build? How many bridges and culverts were constructed during her tenure? We don’t know, because the media didn’t tell us. Instead, they repeated non-stop that Ivy was a “clean” candidate. What that clean means, or will mean in the future, no one knows.

Similarly, Shamim Osman probably got the most intensive media lynching in Bangladeshi media history after Tarique Rahman in 2005 – 2008. Conspicuously absent from the litany of accusations against him was the fact that he committed the most blatant act of political terrorism in Bangladesh’s last 20 years. In 1998, when BNP arranged a road march to Chittagong to protest the peace treaty, it was Shamim Osman who led the attack on Khaldea Zia’s motorcade, and forced her to change her route to Chittagong. It was an event that shocked the nation and dominated media coverage at that time. Yet, this time around, this very significant event was almost absent from the media coverage.

In the same vein, all  the media said about Tamur was that he is a former chairman of BTRC and the past Caretaker Government filed 5 corruption cases against him. What were his successes or failures as BTRC chairman? What is the status of those corruption cases? Are they more or less serious than the ones filed against our current Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, and so on? We don’t know, because the media didn’t bother to tell us.

Army Deployment and BNP: Sheikh Hasina chose an extremely insidious way to remove army protection from the elections. The media coverage of this election was extensive and hysterial for the last few days before the election. Thus, the Election Commission’s request for army was granted. Only, when the time came for the army to deploy, they never showed up.

When BNP then decided to boycott the election, it made things very simple for Ivy. The vote in this election was always going to divided into pro and anti Shamim Osman. With Taimur not participating, the anti-Shamim vote would, instead of being split up, go to just one candidate, Ivy. Even though everyone is going on about how exemplary this election was, there were plenty of indications of irregularity during election day, including Ivy complaining that half of her polling agents did not show up because of threats, and Shamim Osman openly assaulting a Chatra League leader. However, what changed was that while these measures may have been enough to tilt the balance in a three-way race where the anti-Shamim vote would be fragmented, it proved inconsequential in a two-way race.

Decentralization of power: Just two days after Ivy’s election, Lokman Hossain, the mayor of Narsingdi, was assassinated. Lokman Hossain was twice-elected the best mayor in Bangladesh. His assassination, from where it was committed to the modus operandi of the killers, all bear the trademarks of a political hit. A three-day hartal has already been called against the killing. Remarkably, Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju is already mentioned as being involved in this matter.

Bangladesh is slowly undergoing a painful decentralization where young and ambitious mayors are building their own power base and challenging the more senior leaders in their parties. They are using their positions as mayor and chairman to build patronage networks, increase name recognition, and show the people of their area that they can deliver services and infrastructure projects. The ossification of student politics since the ’90s has temporarily stopped the inflow of student leaders into politics, and created a vacuum which is being exploited by businessmen and retired governemnt officials. However, in the end, it is this generation of local government leaders who will make the transition to, and ultimately run, national politics.

 

The Narayanganj Losers, the Zombie and the smart-ass advisor of the PM

May be there soon will be a winner in Narayanganj City Corporation election. But question mounts, will she or he really be a winner eventually or will they represent a victory of their backers?

May be NCC citizens are getting an elected rep, they may be the only winner. But without any clout, control, power, money– in Bangladesh context under current system, a mayor is a talpatar shepai — simply a symbolic city father.

But then rest of it is also a lose lose lose lose game.

If Shamim Osman finally pulls through a victory, fair election or not, the demand for CTG will gain momentum. Sheikh Hasina and her ruling part that backed Shamim Osman will lose by winning.

If Osman loses to Ivy, both Awami League and opposition BNP loses big time. Anti CTG rhetoric will gain traction. Tainted civil society ( We all know who they are- new faces Syed Abul Maqsud, Mizanur Rahman Khan, Rubayat Ferdous with Anams and Motiur Rahmans in the background) will again stat jumping with double vigor. Civil society thinks Ivy is their candidate. Selina Hayat Ivy is civil society’s dream candidate. A hardcore Awami League leader, close to Sheikh Hasina currently at odds with another Awami League candidate not in good terms with the civil society leaders. But by no means civil society’s customized candidates are any good for a long-term healthy grassroots based democracy.

If Taimur wins, BNP also loses. Hasina will say, see we lost election to BNP and we can hold fair elections.

This Taimur Alam Khondokar is a pathetic case. If BNP wants to come back, exactly this sort of candidates BNP must shun. This man is running such a lackluster campaign that even Amar Desh is mentioning him in 3rd sequence after Shamim/ Ivy. He cannot talk, cannot make a point. cannot organize get out the vote, cannot gain on anti Awami League incumbency of Shamim, and capitalize on anti Narayanganj incumbency of Ivy. Only thing he is saying very ineffectively is “EVM mani na”, “EC is bad”. Are vhai he is not running against EC. He is running against Ivy and Shamim. And he must have made this a campaign of a referendum to Awami Leagues misrule.
This man is a failure in all way. He was BRTA chairman. That was shame of a record. I don’t know why BNP can’t find a good new fresh face, young blood. There are so many business leader from N Ganj, so many sports stars. Every time I see him walking along Narayanganj roads, he reminds me of the Zombies at the TV series “the Walking Dead”.

BNP must know that if they keep on relying on these Zombies, whatever misrule Awami League exerts on Bangladesh, they have no chance of winning back Bangladesh.

In CCC election an ex Awami Leagues, soft spoken clean image candidate helped BNP regain CCC mayoral seat.

In that context BNP needed Selina Hayat Ivy as their candidate. An honest, smart and bold young woman. In several debates I watched in TV, she was only one who talked some sense and was found to understand what it means to be a city corporation Mayor.

The latest news from Narayanganj tells us that Government decided to ignore Election Commissions request to deploy Armed forces for election eve / day violence prevention.

What will happen in Narayanganj on the election day — no one except the God and Sheikh Hasina can tell. But this blogger can assume that the election day events will be based on which advisor Sheikh Hasina listened to.

It could be a repeat of Bhola, which will be impeccably hidden under the carpet by a submissive friendly media ( In Bhola style). Shamim Osman will just rob the election by forcefully bagging 99% of rural Narayanganj vote.

Or if Mrs. Hasina this time listens to a different advisor, it could be an “apparent” fair election with Sheikh Hasina niece Ivy winning against Shamim Osman. That means civil society is managed for the time being and for next national election, a good example has just been created — ” FOR HOLDING A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION, NEITHER WE NEED A CARE TAKER GOVERNMENT NOR MILITARY DEPLOYMENT”.

 

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.

 

In deep shit

Government today submitted a supplemental chargesheet in August 21st 2004 Grenade attack on the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina. The attack took 24 lives and injured many including Mrs Hasina herself.

Using the supplemental chargesheet, the mainstream media ( read Prothom Alo and DS) as well as other mainstream yes-media ( Read Amader Shomoy of Naimul Islam Khan etc.) were very glad to remind 21st august events to its readers. Multiple news including gruesome photos of the event on filled todays first pages ( whereas Prothom ALo first page news on the day after 15th amendment was about some irregularities in DMCH) of most print media.

In this supplemental chargesheet, almost the whole state machinery of last government is indicted. However reading the news stories today, one won’t understand the implication and seriousness of the matter.

If it is true, as government submitted in the supplemental chargesheet, that the whole state machinery led by the political leadership, in collusion with Army intelligence chief, the national security chief, the whole police top brass ( three consequetive police chiefs of the country, IG Police/ two other top brass police executives/ police investigating officers in the case), other senior intelligence officer — join hands with an international terrorist outfit like HUJI and try to throw grenade in a public meeting to kill the opposition leader —- then we are in a deep shit. BD has no right to be the 25th most failed state, it should have been at number 1 or two.

And if this is not true, i.e if this is only political persecution/ partisan revenge on the part of the current government— we are still in dire straits, in deeper shit. A citizen of this country has no right to tell that this country is better than 24 most failed dysfunctional states.

And more ominous is when nations’ leading media try to become part of this partisan revenge taking game, become tool of government in pushing forward the heinous design.

 

Acronyms of Bangladesh democracy

Guest Post By Khaled Gazi

BMW = Black money whitening
DNA = Dur niti agomon
OPP = One party parliament
TIB = Thank you India for B’desh (& corruption)
ACC = Awami corruption commission
IJK = Independent-judiciary killing
CHT = Chittagong hoi-choi treaty
RAB = Remand All BNP supporters