Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers

Sarmila Bose, a dedicated advocate for a genocidal regime

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Jamal Hasan

She came like a whirlwind causing a little tsunami in the US capital. The day was March 15, 2011 and the place of occurrence was the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

This Woodrow Wilson Center already became controversial to many expatriate Bangladeshis. A few months ago, Dirk Moses, Woodrow Wilson Australian scholar brought his revisionist theory of the Bangladesh genocide in another seminar called “The secession of East Pakistan in 1971 and the question of genocide”. Moreover, William Milam, the Senior Policy Scholar of the Center, a former US Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh is now under deeper scrutiny. According to some observers, this former American diplomat cherishes strong sympathy for the Pakistani ruling elite. Not too long ago Milam and Bose co-authored an essay in favor of selling American F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

Sarmila Bose’s intellectual and academic research centers on one agenda. That is to blemish the Bengali nationalists and glorify the brutal regime of late Pakistani general Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. For the last several years, in the academic world Sarmila Bose’s pro-Yahya regime slant was so well orchestrated that it got very receptive audience in the Pakistani press. Even the so-called Pakistani liberal media, including the Daily Times of Lahore and Karachi’s Dawn became the favorable launching pads of disseminating her distorted version of the events of 1971. Quite undoubtedly, to many of the retired Pakistani army personnel directly involved in mass killing in the erstwhile East Pakistan, this Bengali Hindu woman’s academic work appeared as a manna from heaven!

We are familiar with the term “self hating Jews”. There may be a few anti-Semite Jews present in the academia. Who knows, there could be one or two Hitler lover Jewish scholars roaming in the academic world also. Sarmila Bose seems to be the only academician of Hindu Bengali heritage who took the painful responsibility of soft-selling a barbaric army dictatorship, which was viciously brutal and merciless to the Hindu inhabitants of the then East Pakistan.

In 1971 she was only twelve year old she wrote in one essay. She might have seen many Hindu refugees taking shelter in her Kolkata neighborhood. Although she was in the pre-adolescent age, she was supposedly a witness to calculated extermination of religious minority on the other side of the border. She wrote in one of her revisionist essays earlier, “Growing up in Calcutta in West Bengal, India, I heard stories about the Pakistan army raping and killing Bengali women during the 1971 war.” She did not stop there; she further wrote, “This paper seeks to bring to scholarly and public scrutiny the deeply problematic representations of sexual violence in narratives of the 1971 war which I discovered in the course of my broader research on the 1971 conflict.1 That rape occurred in East Pakistan in 1971 has never been in any doubt. Every war is accompanied by sexual violence against women. In the case of Bangladesh, the Pakistan army itself has not denied that instances of rape took place. The question is, what was the true extent of rape, who were its victims and who the perpetrators, and was there any systematic “policy” of rape by any party as opposed to opportunistic sexual crimes in times of war.”

On 15th March, 2011 book event in the Woodrow Wilson Center promoting her another revisionist book, “Dead Reckoning: Memories of Bangladesh War”, Sarmila Bose’s premise was very similar to all of her earlier academic works. In the thirty minute time slot allocated to her she taunted the Bengali nationalists and the Bengali nationalistic aspiration with her subdued sarcastic rhetoric. She said, “Bengalis used such semantics like Hanadar Bahini, Noroposhu, Punjabi army to denote the members of the Pakistani army”. She shed her crocodile tear speaking about the brutal leader of the Pakistani killing squad, General Yahya, “Yahya did not personally harbor prejudice against the Bengalis”. The audience was spellbound. Of course, many of us were outraged to observe such shameless act of a hired assassin, who simply played the role of a paid agent of the perpetrators of a crime against humanity.

R. J. Rummel, the notable author of genocide describes the perception of Pakistani army officers towards the Bengalis in his book “Death by government” this way, “These ‘willing executioners’ were fuelled by an abiding anti-Bengali racism, especially against the Hindu minority. "Bengalis were often compared with monkeys and chickens” said Pakistani General Niazi, 'It was a low lying land of low lying people.' The Hindus among the Bengalis were as Jews to the Nazis: scum and vermin that [should] best be exterminated. As to the Moslem Bengalis, they were to live only on the sufferance of the soldiers: any infraction, any suspicion cast on them, any need for reprisal, could mean their death. And the soldiers were free to kill at will. The journalist Dan Coggin quoted one Punjabi captain as telling him, 'We can kill anyone for anything. We are accountable to no one.' This is the arrogance of Power.”

Sarmila Bose showing her “balanced way” of being a so-called objective historiographer skewed very meticulously the events of 1971. A reader after reading her essays may wonder if the Pakistani army were the only villains regarding extermination of Bengali Hindus. Before coming to the Woodrow Wilson Center’s book event we were exposed to one of her such slanted essays titled “ANATOMY OF VIOLENCE: An Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971”, which she wrote a few years ago. She describes on the chapter of atrocity on Hindu population this way, “The minority Hindus, perceived by many in government, in the armed forces and the majority population as pro-India and a traitorous force within the country, were in a particularly vulnerable position during the civil war. Many Hindu villagers in Khulna, for instance, spoke of their harassment at the hands of local Muslims, which got serious enough for them to decide to seek refuge in India. Thousands of them collected what belongings they could and went by boat to a village called Chuknagar, from where they went by road towards the Indian border. At Chuknagar they were relieved of their boats and many of their belongings by local Muslims there, usually for a pittance or nothing. The harassment, hounding out, and dispossession of the Hindu refugees in this area took a turn for the worse on 20 May. On that day, according to numerous eye-witnesses and survivors, a small unit, comprising only 20-25 men, arrived from the direction of Jessore and killed a very large number of adult male Hindu refugees among the thousands thronging the river bank and bazaar of Chuknagar. Once again, women and children were not harmed. Upon the departure of the unit, large scale looting of the refugees' belongings, cash and jewelry, appears to have been conducted by the locals, who disposed of the bodies by throwing them into the river.[27]”

There are numerous instances where the Pakistani occupation force, while capturing a village were selectively destroying Hindu habitats. The Washington based World Bank official Dr. Ziauddin Choudhury was a young civilian officer of the government of Pakistan in 1971. In a recent essay “Forgotten Women of the 1971 War” published in the Daily Star from Dhaka he chronicled, “One afternoon the Army Major walked into my office and informed me that he had reports that a neighbouring village was harbouring a good number of "Hindu miscreants" with "arms". He said he had reports that the armed gangs were plotting to attack the army, and that it was necessary to sort the place out. I knew it was futile to plead with him without jeopardizing my own safety; however, I suggested that his report be further verified by the police. He looked at me as though I had lost my mind! My concern was also elsewhere. My second officer, a seasoned provincial service officer, was a Hindu. I had taken pains to keep him away from any possible encounter with the Pakistan Army, as we were already acquainted with the penchant of this murderous force to summarily dispose of members of the Hindu community, government official or not. A week after the arrival of the Army in Munshiganj, the officer had stated his intention to me to move to a nearby village where the town Hindus had congregated. He moved his family to this village even though I had warned him that moving to a predominantly Hindu village might not be a good idea. The army was more prone to attack such places in the pretext of miscreant cleansing, since according to the Pakistan Army, all Hindus were suspected "miscreants".

We have millions of witnesses still alive who could support the theory that the Pakistani army systematically and methodically targeted the Bengali Hindus to cleanse the land of the pure of “infidels”. Many of us who were adult enough to witness firsthand the 1971 tragedy knew there was a systematic policy of annihilation of religious minority in our native land. Sarmila Bose and Dirk Moses put much of the burden of violence on the inter-ethnic conflict, i.e, the riots among Bengalis and Biharis. But they failed, either deliberately or inadvertently, to do much investigative work in their research methodology to verify the existing dominant view that the ruling Pakistani military junta of 1971 following the pattern of the Nazi regime of Germany conducted a calculated policy of genocide in the erstwhile East Pakistan.

Those revisionist historians promoted by the Woodrow Wilson Center were emphasizing on the bloody episodes of the Bengali-Bihari civilian conflicts subsiding the bigger picture of the killing by state machinery. Sarmila in her presentation on the March 15th gave a self contradictory argument. She said, the violence between two different linguistic groups in the eastern part of Pakistan reminded her of the conflict in the Balkans. We all know there was continuous blood letting between the ordinary Serbs, Croats and the Muslim population. In addition to that, there was a perpetrated genocide conducted by individuals like Radovan Karadzic, a Bosnian Serb. The International Criminal Court decided to prosecute Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who happened to be in position of power in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Oxford scholar deviated from her own argument of comparing the two conflict situations by explicitly soft selling the marauding Pakistani army this way, "the atrocity was committed from two sides of the war. There were war criminals on both sides - perception varies depending on which side someone belongs to." In this particular case, she equated violence among civilians and the methodical pogrom conducted by a state machinery. In her short lecture Sarmila not only distorted the genesis of Bangladesh movement, she outwardly misrepresented the events linked to it. She said, the noncooperation movement in March 1971 was a violent one, which is far from truth.

Not too long ago, the military on the streets of Pakistan under Pervez Musharraf regime refrained from crossing a “red line”. That was the imaginary boundary of not going for wanton killing of unarmed civilians. Pervez Musharraf’s restraint was not manifested in his fellow officers’ game plan of the earlier era on the fateful night of March 25, 1971. Dr. Abdus Sattar Khan, a Pratt and Whitney scientist based in Florida told me his account of that dark night. Dr. Khan was a lecturer in Dhaka University. He miraculously survived the ordeal but witnessed the massacre in the Dhaka University Teachers Quarter first hand. He saw an officer was relaxingly smoking cigarette on the ground as his subordinate soldiers were conducting the killing of the academicians. In the Woodrow Wilson Center event Sarmila Bose expressed her clear antipathy towards the Bengalis of Pakistan because they (the Bengalis) called the Pakistani army as occupation army and noroposhu (human animal). Alas! Sarmila was only a twelve year old naive young girl who failed to understand that after March 25 of 1971 most of the Pakistani army crossed the “red line”, which in later year another Pakistani army ruler Pervez Musharraf avoided in a different setting. In the year 1971, the average Pakistani soldier was immensely brutal to Bengalis, especially the Hindus. The reality was most of the occupation army behaved like a typical barbaric occupation force losing all human qualities.

Most recently one of my close relatives told me his anecdote. In 1971, he was the Chief Engineer of the Pakistan Television in the DIT Building, Dhaka. The TV office was well secured area, part of which was guarded by an auxiliary force called the Militia. One such militia was a nineteen year old man from the North West Frontier Province in the then West Pakistan. This young Pathan jawan had come back from his tour of duty in the “war front”. He told my relative in Urdu, “This nation will not last”. My relative asked him the reason why. In his reply he gave his eyewitness account of inhuman brutality, which academicians like Sarmila Bose may think only common human being can do. The Pathan militia said, some of the jawans in the bunker on a regular basis brought three or four young women from the nearby village. They were kept in the bunker completely naked. Day after day, one after another soldier committed rape upon them. Later on the girls were shot to death. This recurring process continued presumably within the knowledge of the commanding officer. Dr. Sarmila Bose, a senior research scholar at Oxford did not have time to delve the extent of brutality committed by her favorite patrons among the Pakistani army retirees.

Susan Brownmiller, the renowned American feminist and author in her book “Against our will: Men, women and rape” puts the number of women raped from 200,000 to 400,000. She wrote, “Eighty percent of the raped women were Moslems, reflecting the population of Bangladesh, but Hindu and Christian women were not exempt. ... Hit-and-run rape of large numbers of Bengali women was brutally simple in terms of logistics as the Pakistani regulars swept through and occupied the tiny, populous land ..." Brownmiller quotes a description of one such assault which targeted a recently-married woman, as reported by Aubrey Menen: “Two [Pakistani soldiers] went into the room that had been built for the bridal couple. The others stayed behind with the family, one of them covering them with his gun. They heard a barked order, and the bridegroom's voice protesting. Then there was silence until the bride screamed. Then there was silence again, except for some muffled cries that soon subsided. In a few minutes one of the soldiers came out, his uniform in disarray. He grinned to his companions. Another soldier took his place in the extra room. And so on, until all the six had raped the belle of the village. Then all six left, hurriedly. The father found his daughter lying on the string cot unconscious and bleeding. Her husband was crouched on the floor, kneeling over his vomit.”

During the question and answer session at the Wilson Center we had asked the revisionist historian many poignant questions. After the session I met her personally. I did not feel she had any remorse helping the cause of a brutal regime, the main protagonists committing a crime against humanity in a forgotten war. My impression was she was merely a hired assassin ordered to accomplish a mission. I am not sure if she would be successful in the long run.

______________________
Jamal Hasan writes from USA.

Brother in Arms

noreply@blogger.com (Nayeem Hossain) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:49:00 +0000

I used to go to a school in the Dhaka University area. Those who also went to Udayan, might remember the days in our early childhood days when we used to hear the sound of gun shots around the school. I still remember, parents who used to wait for their children will run to the main gate of the school screaming to get in. Sometimes, even the police would take shelter inside the school!! For a while those days were not as visible as in the past. But I guess, when there's cancer in your body, it'll come back soon or later.

The days are back. And this time they are coming with a BANG!! I don't know if the violence has escalated then before or it's because we get media coverage from Dhaka University to Dhonia College that looks as if conflicts have increased, but it seems the cancer has spread everywhere. One thing is for sure, we as a nation have lost our morality. Our violent, zero tolerant mob mentality has spread in all works of life.

Students from middle school to middle aged office goers, everyone is ready to rumble. Not everyone, I should rephrase, because most just keep a blind eye. Those who used to be 'active' on the street have become ruthless.

I started writing with student violence, today lets just stick to this. I am not ready to say it's student politics violence, it has nothing to do with politics. If it wasn't for Awami League or BNP, it would have been for Abahani and Mohamadan. The morality is lost. Pens are replaced by pipe guns and ideology is blown away like a puff of a cigarette. "Boro Bhai" culture is too deeply routed in our country. Everyone wants to become a "Boro Bhai" and is willing to do anything for it. Everyone has to be on the center stage and once the lime light is on you, that's it!! They'll do anything to keep it that way.

Those who say, these boys with guns are derailed by others for their interest, I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry because either they are an interest group, taking advantage of these kids or they are schizophrenic, living in a fantasy world. A guy in his 20s is not the same as my 6 year old nephew. Specially in this age, kids realize the concept of self interest before they learn the word. I also have seen a bit of student politics and none of them seemed to be blind by any misguided ideology. All of them were very much aware of how much their positions were worth and how much they can earn from it.

NONE of these students or these student political wings are fighting for any ideology. No one, none!! And the political parties are also exploiting them as mob bosses use street gangs as debt collectors.

The problem is not with our political parties though. It's us, the entire nation. We all are responsible for this. We systematically destroyed our education system. We have three parallel education system, creating a confused and divided generation. When they cross roads in a university, it's just obvious they are clueless what are they suppose to do there. A student from an urban upbringing and a student from a rural school, who fought every step of life, is not coming with same knowledge or motives.

Some go to the private university just to avoid campus violence and session jam! Some go overseas because that's the best way they can leave the country for good. Some go to a good public university and from day 1 start planning how to come abroad. Their education is paid by public and right after they graduated, WALLAAHH!! Flyin to FreeTown!! Aren't they criminals too?? If my education was paid by Bangladesh, at least before I leave I would have paid back the amount they had spent on me.

So who's left? It's the helpless ones, whose parents work 16 hours to keep them in school or who themselves work 16 hours to stay in school. They can't get out of the country or not able to pay in the private university system. What is there future? They are left in the wild wild west to fight for survival. What would they do?? The answer is in a rap song.."Join the hood, to kill the mood". Either you can be the menu or on the table eating. Most would prefer to be on the table, so we see the Robin Hoods with knives or swords.When teachers are also known by colors they support, there's nothing they can do.

What is the future of our public education system? Why don't we restructure the entire school system. Why don't universities specialize in subjects to concentrate the resources they have. Why do every university need a Science and Arts faculty that they can't support? Wouldn't it be better if we had put our resources for science and research in some schools and liberal arts in some. Students would follow where ever they have to go for education. Medical colleges are a big example. With more resource and limited number of seats, we would have had the best of the minds studying. By reducing number of faculties, you can monitor the quality, focus on things you need to provide. The private universities are often pointed out for not having enough departments, but at least a handful of them has found their niche market to focus and they are not doing bad. It's the share number of universities that are allowed to open left and right and east and south that worries me. Those who can't get into a good subject in a public school or in a private school are jumping on board to these below par universities. Why? What makes you think, having just a degree will get you a job. One thing we all forgot, UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IS NOT A RIGHT, IT'S A PRIVILEGE. We need to change our perspective towards higher education.

Divide the university system in 4 years Bachelors and 4 years technical studies. In 4 years technical studies students will study 2 years of basic subjects and 2 years specialized hands on vocational curriculum. We need skilled people who can work, we don't need a country full of philosophers. Just think, if we can use some of our universities for R&D for local businesses and some schools are also creating able, skilled people to work in production and manufacturing what can Bangladesh do. There are so many sectors in the world, were there is a serious shortage of skilled workers. We can easily penetrate these job markets. The revenue we can earn and the first hand know how we can transfer back to Bangladesh can benefit the whole country.

Unless we unify the school level education systems to one, restructure our university systems, we can't change the present status quo. A generation without any future will find alternatives. We didn't provide any in the constructive world, well the destructive world provided a pretty feasible solution. And so we see everyday the dark lord shout,
"Rise a knight, brother in arms, created by our failure".

Assassination of Dhaka

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:25:00 +0000

It was 1996. I was on a visit of a small village near Gaibandha to gather research data for the Public Administration Training Centre. The local UP chairman clearly appeared suspicious; disappearing during the day and only joining me around midnight. It was towards the end of my stay that he finally satisfied my curiosity. He told me that he didn’t have sufficient budget to run his public office, so instead he chose not to be around during the day. He didn’t have Aladdin’s magic lamp to support the monga-devastated locality, so he wasn’t willing to run for the next election. But, again, he had no choice: there was no one to replace him.

The village symbolizes the future of Bangladesh – that’s what I filed in my report. Sadly, that symbolism seems to be coming alive. The government has finally confessed that the power and water crisis afflicting the country can be solved if only it had Aladdin’s magic lamp. True enough, tackling these huge shortages is next to impossible for anyone, be it Hasina or Khaleda. But is it really necessary for successive governments to blame the former regime for all the past and present mishandlings? It’s so unbecoming of them, losing composure and acting as confused as the domestic help they employ.

But government moaning aside, it surely takes two to tango. I believe Bangladesh politicians are not solely responsible for today’s water and electricity crisis. The mob must share in the blame, being equal sinners in this tragedy.

Spare a moment for Dhaka, a city gone vertical with line after line of apartment buildings. Space meant for a 4-to-6-member family now houses around 40 people. The small family thought it a wise investment to invite a promoter to convert their comfortable single-unit house into a multi-storey apartment block so that they could become landlord of 8 to 10 families. Did no one bother to think of the consequences of this rural-urban migration? Where will additional water, power and gas supplies for 40 more people come from? Who will tackle the over-burdened sanitation system? What about the roads, parking and traffic? And, quite importantly, why were these people allowed to go mega on their residences in the first place?

These questions are mere rhetoric. We all know the answers. We know that these greedy, selfish neo-landlords never owned up their city. The only thing they really owned up was bribery: turning the shameful act into an art by provoking the greed of government servants who in return allowed them to get away with the assassination of Dhaka.

Ironically, these very neo-landlords with their ill-gotten rents have now become the trendsetters. They dictate fashion, accents and coffee-shop mannerism. They are the ones who blame successive governments for crisis which they themselves are responsible for creating in the first place. The four-member family rolls out four cars on the streets of Dhaka and then holds the government accountable for incessant traffic jams. They demand that shopping malls be allowed to remain open till midnight, just so they can buy peacock wings for crows.

And then, when the crisis gets too much to handle they migrate to some western country. Interestingly, once abroad these pseudo-urbanites are happy to make those same sacrifices which they were unwilling to make for their own city and country. They use public transport, make no fuss when malls close at 7 pm, stand in queues; follow every civic rule and then some. But the moment their plane taxis into Dhaka, their arrogance returns. As if this city of romance is nothing but garbage dump: break traffic rules, litter the streets, refuse to stand in queues, spoil the environment, bribe your way out of every offence and expect VIP treatment for this misbehavior. Nothing is impossible for them in Dhaka, just like the old saying: With money not even Royal Bengal Tiger’s milk is beyond reach.

The above mentioned behavioral pattern is just the tip of the iceberg. Much more degeneration lies underneath it, like the social, mental and emotional anesthesia of the children bred with such illegitimate apartment rents.

Holding politicians and the ‘system’ responsible for social and personal failure is a clichéd mantra, mimicked with equal cliché on midnight talk shows. With a handful of exceptions most of the beneficiaries of Dhaka are also the beneficiaries of our corrupt system. Lest you think otherwise, there’s a new cliché too: collecting material benefits through ideological means. The holier-than-thou approach is seen to pay higher dividends. After all, declassed mobs can be easily exploited by raising the ‘with-us-against-us’ slogans. In our case the slogan is modified into pro-Pakistan, pro-India chants.

I have three simple questions. Why can’t we for once be pro-Bangladesh? Why can we not find it in out hearts to give our city, our country a fresh start? Why can’t we try to fix our crisis, instead of waiting for Aladdin’s magic lamp?

Could this perhaps be too much to ask of a nation that doesn’t even shy from cashing in on its patriotism.

Dhaka Media in despair

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:27:00 +0000

Journalism is a profession which symbolizes freedom, and yet that struggle for freedom is still not over in Bangladesh. The BNP government shut down Ekushe Television and forced Simon Dring to leave Dhaka. The 1/11 administration switched off CSB. And now the Awami League has made Channel One its first victim. There may have been legitimate reasons to do so, but as these governments hold more grudges against these media outlets than they are ready to forgive, all the above mentioned closures defy the right of expression.

Simon Dring-led ETV had a strong editorial policy but the then BNP government felt threatened by the immense acceptance and popularity of the then only private terrestrial TV station. The best ever TV newsroom in Dhaka was forced into a wasteland. A group of talented and romantically motivated journalists had to slaughter their dreams and look elsewhere for survival. What they lost in dreams they more or less made up by now being the leading forces in today’s major TV channels. But those Ekushe days never came back. I believe that if they had been allowed to work without such interruptions, TV journalism in Dhaka would have claimed global standards.

But BNP failed to muster such a vision. It stunted the growth of TV journalism by a two-pronged attack: closing down Ekushe and at the same time granting new licenses to unprofessional party workers who saw this profession as a means to whiten their money; the same money and media power that was then used in favor of BNP. Maintaining a Fox TV-type mouthpiece in a democratic society can be justified in the name of ‘liberty’ but the butterfly effect caused by the assassination of ETV led to today’s professional loopholes which allowed the Awami League government to target Channel One. Had BNP then given licenses to professionals instead of money launderers, no subsequent authority would have had the precedented means to shut down Channel One today.

On the other hand, while both CSB and Channel One had dozens of bright, young journalists, porous editorial policies could not provide any beacon of guidance. On top of that the managements of those two channels failed to ensure steady financial support. Hence, we saw the rise of meaningless talk shows and a culture of politically incorrect live feeds. In such a situation any government can be marginally excused for taking advantage of such unprofessionalism. Vulnerable channels would be wise to learn from this latest round of media witch hunting.

The present government argues that as the once jobless ETV journalists could find jobs, it shouldn’t be a problem for those left high and dry by the closure of Channel One, especially now that there are dozens of new channels floating around. But I wonder how many channels can survive on the same stagnant amount of advertisement.

Most big sponsors have their own TV channels to run their advertisements, and the few lone fish should be pragmatic enough to realize that unless you attract stable viewership no investor will part with their money.

Investors in Bangladesh generally do not have the patience for steady returns: they want instant profit and media is a slow earner. Even then media profits are more in terms of power and indirect monies rather than hard cash. So it requires a lot of skill, patience and vision to balance out owner’s interest and editorial independence. What to talk of Dhaka, even stable TV channels in rich, democratic countries cannot escape this conflict. Running a media outlet in Bangladesh has sadly become synonymous with losing a big chunk of ethics for small chunks of money. This is one reason why the post of the Head of News has become a game of musical chairs slumped under the weight of compromises.

Even the most successful of media houses in Dhaka can only afford to pay their staff half of what their contemporaries earn in India or Pakistan. They forget that our young journalists are not coal miners. When owners are awarded licenses without proven business ethics, they are bound to turn media houses into coal mines. The wave of death surrounding young journalists in Dhaka speaks of the level and extent of their exploitation. For proof, just go through the medical reports of News Editors in Dhaka. The last one year alone has seen a dramatic rise in the number of heart attacks and deaths of News Editors.

And we should not forget the fifth columnists within the journalist community: those placed at top positions who enjoy the perks of invitations to neo elite clubs. They are the middlemen, hired with the specific mandate to facilitate media owners’ interests through the poor corridors of newsrooms. Young promising reporters give their best in this worst kind of situation, but day after day of handling egocentric palace conspiracies they become too exhausted to be creative.

Just feel the dichotomy: media owners wear designer suits, dine at five star hotels, drive Prados, abuse their press power to gain political or economic benefits, yet they expect lowly-paid journalists to uphold the middle class myths of honor and sacrifice. Owners don’t want to be burdened with professional remuneration packages but they do want the moon.

But the possibility of a silver lining is still alive. Change can yet come. The second generation of investors, with western education, are stepping in. They are likely to be more open to positive changes. So is the new breed of young journalists which is gradually taking over the helm of media. More importantly, thanks to virtual revolution the audience seems more conscious than ever before.

There can be no escaping the fight for respectful survival. Dhaka journalists are ready for it. The more the government abuses their freedom, the more they are adamant to hit back. Owners of media houses will have to get rid of their medieval feudal attitude and learn the value of an independent media.
On an endearing note, hats off to those few houses that continue to maintain professionalism despite all odds, hats off to those few who deliver unbiased news even while sitting on chairs that might collapse anytime.

Education: back to the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:58:00 +0000

Our present education system has been relegated to the status of merely a degree-awarding mechanism that is inherently immune to the quality of students it produces. It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when education was inspirational and full of romanticism for life. To name a few, teachers like Sardar Fazlul Karim, Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Abdullah Abu Sayeed and Syed Manjoorul Islam were true mentors and role models who shared common aim: to shape lives.

But somewhere along the line, we rebooted ourselves and started to weigh life on the scales set up by corporate induced media reality. This alternate way of life, however, lays no merit on education. It’s just like an army ruler diverting part of the education budget towards defence, thus inadvertently down-playing the importance of education in the development of a nation.

Khan Ata in his portrayal of a philosopher king in Abar Tora Manush Ho tried to convince our freedom fighters to return to classrooms. Such few characters are occasionally honored in our media for their wisdom and chivalry, but to no avail. Teachers have been rendered ineffective and useless; reminiscent of old black and white films in which they symbolize poverty and sorrow. In today’s Bangladesh, a teacher could at best be an object of a corporate campaign ‘sada moner manush’ or receive invitations to state banquettes where their presence is needed to convince the world that reactionary intellectualism is still alive.

Reality is starkly differently. Teachers are routinely manhandled by the very students they teach. Political greed is forcing students away from classrooms and onto delinquent paths.

Our public universities largely breed civil servants with small salary packages as compared to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They either surrender to the god of corruption or to fate. Trapped by fear of uncertainty, enormous talent is wasted.

Private universities, on the other hand, generate corporate managers with moderate earnings. Their highest achievement is being able to visit coffee shops, wear trendy costumes and live a watered-down version of the American dream. This group anticipates Baishakh just as it enjoys Halloween.

Then there are the madrassahs which produce only zealots. They exist in limbo: caught in the dream of Muslim brotherhood yet choosing to bomb their opposers in the name of religion.

These three streams of society live in parallel reality; cross paths at traffic signals or during Friday prayers. There’s nothing to show for any education: no respect, no tolerance, and no peace. And in this entire game, patriotism is used as a punching bag.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I believe we have reached the limit of desperation. No education, no future. It is as simple as that. The nation awaits an education policy that will revive the glory of education and, more importantly, educators.

Teachers should be given the honor and privilege that they historically and culturally deserve. It’s hard to believe now, but even in Bangladesh real education flourished at a time when teachers were accorded the status of being ‘the wise men’ of society. We need to redevelop that mindset. We need to inculcate among masses that teachers are not mere imparters of information; rather they are those who guide us through the web of knowledge towards wisdom.

And in order to do that the first step is to make this profession more lucrative as compared to other sectors. Remunerations and perks for our educators should at least be brought at par with corporate and bureaucratic scales. This step alone will be enough to attract those intelligent and visionary students who are passionate about teaching but reluctant to make a career out of it.

Once teachers are released from the stress of making ends meet, they will have more dedication, energy and time for their students. Bangladesh is running out of everything: energy, water, patience and peace. The time has come for the government to realize that the multi-faceted crisis facing Bangladesh cannot be solved without capable and honest leaders. Luckily, this is not a chicken & hen dilemma. We know for a fact that sound education is the only means to evolve a nation capable of handling itself.

Another point of concern is that the criminalization of politics and failure of state mechanism are at a climax. Both the Awami League and BNP should stop spoiling their student cadres and start vocational trainings for them so that these young party activists can be turned into revenue earners instead of living lives based on extortion and petty handouts.
The people of Bangladesh have been ready for a long time to make sacrifices for the sake of good education for their children. It’s now up to policy makers to pre-empt calls for social revolt.

Road to social justice! No left, no right

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:19:00 +0000

The 1971 war criminals’ trial is finally on the move to provide closure to victims’ families. Those from Bangladesh who sold their soul to the rulers of Pakistan and collaborated with the Yahiya regime are set to be tried for crimes against humanity. They are not only accused of loots, kills and rapes but also of helping foreign forces in identifying and eliminating freedom fighters and intellectual patriotic assets.

Their treason notwithstanding, Bangladesh came into existence. But they didn’t give up; were neither apologetic nor repentant. Instead the traitors took to vengeance and collaborated with a discontent faction of the Bangladesh army to assassinate the Father of the Nation and prominent national leaders.

Vengeance later took another twist with the torturing of religious minorities and aboriginal communities in the name of God. The spirit of Islam was exploited to generate global terror. Offshoots of the same vengeance sprouted up under the shadows of BNP’s pro-right mindset, having been disgusted with Awami League’s village politics and its political idiosyncrasies. Thus, we saw another wave of crimes against fellow humans on the pretext of Shariah. But nature probably has had enough of this. It is being impelled to bring the perpetrators face-to-face with their crimes, even after 35 to 40 years. All the extrajudicial and political killings of leftists, freedom fighters, students and civilians in last 40 years could have been avoided if only the war criminals of 1971 had not been allowed to establish the myth that in Bangladesh everything is permissible, even crime.

Bangladesh is rife with success stories of crime and corruption. Awami League and BNP have both earned Champion’s Trophy term after term for encouraging cardinal vices. And that’s the yardstick dangling in front of our youth. They are a generation with potential worth gold, yet teetering at the crossroads between white and black. Really, it’s sad that despite knowing the difference between good and bad, our youth can still be tempted to waver in their choices. They have come to think that the road to crime and corruption at least has a success span of 35 to 40 years, and if they are very good at being very bad, they might even not be prosecuted in their lifetime.
An entire generation saw freedom fighters and honest to God patriots die without treatment while the corrupt, dishonest and selfish leaders would fly out to Mount Elizabeth or some other five-star hospital abroad. This comparison alone is enough to make it easy for the young of mind to choose the road that drives through Mount Elizabeth. But the criminal trials of ’71 and ’75 are proving to be Aesop’s proverbial dog in the manger. It’s like nature wants the accused to live longer so that they are fit enough for the gallows.

News has it that top BNP leader Tareq Rahman plans to build a health city of global standard in Bangladesh. A profitable project, no doubt, but only if our corrupt top guns find it as comfortable as Mount Elizabeth. Digressing back to nature, space and time are forever big avengers of justice. Awami League’s call for ‘Digital Bangladesh’ has already made the free flow of information irreversible, allowing the youth unadulterated access to facts related to events like the trial of Bangabandhu’s killers, the ongoing war criminals’ trials, extrajudicial killings and nationwide corruption. With historical truths just a click away, each young internet user is gradually becoming as empowered and vigilant as a freedom fighter of 1971.

This had to happen. Through the rise and fall of nations history has proven that nature intervenes when the state of affairs go from bad to worse. No longer can the ruling elite of Bangladesh live in denial. Despite reaping the fruits of political polarization and dynastic democracy, BNP leader Tareq Rahman and AL think-tank Sajib Wajed Joy are both tech-savvy enough to pre-empt the winds of change.

Not all of the 40 years of our existence were in vain. Bangladesh has, after all, nurtured a deprived-of-rights but conscious generation striving to hold onto the secular traditions of our society. Those who died unattended in government hospitals uttered till their last breath that truth and justice were no myths, that nature didn’t wield unequal yardsticks whether it came to AL, BNP, Jamaat or any other person or group. We sympathized with those thoughts, but were never quite sure of their manifestations. But now those very thoughts are beginning to take shape, at least we have started questioning faults in the system at every step. I believe the age of reckoning and enlightenment has arrived in Bangladesh, a moment of awakening at the crossroads: that there can be no left or no right on the highway to social justice.

The US based Islamist organizations and expatriate Bangladeshis

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:11:00 +0000

The US based Islamist organizations and expatriate Bangladeshis

By Sajjad Jahir

Bangladesh was born in blood and tears. Most of the population of this land experienced a horrendous brutal occupation perpetrated by alien invaders, who happened to be Muslims by religion. The Two Nation Theory once unified the country of Pakistan, but gradually Bengalis were disenchanted and disillusioned by the hollowness of the religious doctrine of Pakistan’s basis. The twenty fifth March’s crackdown of the Pakistani military force made it clear to ordinary citizens of Bangladesh one simple matter. The Pakistani oligarchy with their perception of racial superiority and religious purity were not serving the interest of the Bengali Muslims.

The liberation of Bangladesh opened the door for Bangladeshi people’s migration to outside of the country. Many of the semi literate ones went temporarily to find menial works in the Middle East. A good number of educated folks thought of embracing Western societies as their own.

After migrating to the Western world, Bangladeshi Muslims like people from quite a few other Muslim majority countries started to face identity crisis. Are they Americans first or Muslims first? Or, are they Bangladeshi-Americans or Muslim-Americans? All those questions remain unresolved. Although most of the Bangladeshi immigrants in America do not have any sympathy for Islamist parties back home, a god number of them begin to nurture positive view about the US based Islamist organizations. Because of their uncertain future in a Western society, Bangladeshi Muslims strive to cling to the religious aspect of their self identity. The Saudi influenced mosques, Sunday’s Arabic schools for children and weekly Halaqa session gradually pull them far from Rabindranath Thakur, Lalon Shah and Jibanananda’s paradigm. In reality, the new generation of the Bangladeshi-Americans gradually lose connection to their forefathers’ secular Aboho Bangla past. In this backdrop, the US based Islamist groups have big audience to grab. Gradually, more and more Bangladeshi Muslims living in America were starting to cultivate sympathetic view about groups like CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, MPAC or MSA. They perceived those organizations as their future guardians. The two logics can come into play. Primarily, CAIR as an assumed civil rights organization can rescue them when chips are down. Secondly, religious organizations like ISNA or ICNA can salvage their Muslim self. Many of the Bangladeshi parents of Muslim background were afraid their offsprings may become too much Westernized. They did not want their children drown in “alcoholism, sexual promiscuity” or other “decadence” of a Western society. In their eye, only Islam can save them. So why not take shelter in the platforms of ICNA or ISNA?

When a single message critical of any of those Islamic fundamentalist leaning petro-dollar soaked Wahhabi front organizations comes to the notice of a confused Bangladeshi-American of Muslim heritage, he or she has to defend them by thinking “it must be a neo-con or a Zionist propaganda”. CAIR’s controversial past, some of their leaders’ shady background is well documented. That does not give any impact on the psyche of the new devotees from the land of Bengal. When a high profile ICNA leader’s alleged war criminal role in the Pakistani army occupied Bangladesh came to be open, many Bangladeshi-Americans thought this could be an aberration. Consequently, Bangladeshi-Americans of Muslim origin show a serious dichotomous world view. On the one hand, they have high regard for secularism in their ancestral land; on the other they strengthen Islamist groups in a secular society like in USA. Many of them may abhor Jamat-i-Islami in their native Bangladesh. But they feel at ease attending Bangladesh Jamaat’s counterparts ICNA, ISNA’s conferences.

The month of March is a month of remembrance for Bangladeshis all around the world. This is the month Pakistan’s brutal army unleashed a reign of terror in their ancestral homeland. In this same month the country’s Independence Day is observed. This year, the government of Bangladesh has declared to start the war crime trial. Many of the alleged war criminals belong to the Islamist party Jamat-i-Islami and their auxiliary death squads, namely, Al-Badr and Al-Shams. The leaders of Jamat-i-Islami of Bangladesh are obviously alarmed. Their presumed conference calls to the overseas comrades made one issue clear. Thwart the upcoming trial by hook or by crook. They found one ready volunteer in the process. An alleged war criminal living not far from Washington DC played the first dice. He linked up with a fellow activist in the West coast. The ball was rolling.

On 22nd March of this year, an interesting event took place in the US capital. A renowned leader in the USA’s Islamic circle, Pakistani-American Dr. Agha Saeed initiated a press conference on Bangladesh. That took place at the Washington DC’s Press Club. The 22nd March press conference drew a handful of people; only over a dozen were in the audience. Agha Saeed initiated the press conference, which was called “American Muslim Taskforce News Conference on Human Rights Violations in Bangladesh”. The question is what constitutes the American Muslim Task Force? In their press release the Taskforce is introduced as an umbrella organization that includes American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), MAS-Freedom, Muslim Student Association-National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Its observer organizations include American Muslims for Civic Engagement (AMCE), Islamic Educational Council of Orange County (IECOC), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). In short, this was a conglomeration of Who’s Who of the Islamist organizations in America (read Wahhabi influenced).

There is a good possibility that a sizable percentage of Bangladeshi-Americans who want to see the Jamaati war criminals tried in their homeland, had sympathetic view about one or more than one of the above organizations. By happenstance, the 22nd March Press Conference made it clear that all those so-called Islam loving organizations are simply playing in the hands of Bangladesh Jamaat. It also exposed the ulterior agenda of CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, MPAC etc. They are friends of Jamaati war criminals, the Islamist killer machines of 1971’s Bangladesh. And last but not the least; it is now very much obvious that these groups are out there to see Bangladesh as a fundamentalist utopia.

In short, the Jamaati plan to muddy the clear water ultimately backfired.

The art of life

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:17:00 +0000

He knows how to live life, artfully. I am truly impressed with this man who passionately follows his calling to teach. Rushing towards the classroom with a book or two in hand, rolled-up sleeves, impeccably creased trousers and sandals, he appears without fail more smartly dressed than is expected of a philosopher. Add to this an expression of rapture in anticipation of the upcoming class and you have a romantic hero of the ‘70s in your midst. Students are always greeted with a smile that promises another logic show or another magical hour in a big classroom of a small town college in Ishwardi.

He continues to provoke an ocean of questions in the minds of his little learners and thus invariably runs late for lunch; the last of his students’ queries always lingers till the doorsteps to his house. After lunch he takes a 15-minute siesta which is synchronized with his mind clock and then half-an-hour of self study before the next class. Senior students await the hour when the logic of mathematics will melt into philosophy and synthesis will create antithesis.

Life, for him, became a pilgrimage for wisdom ever since he met his teacher Nikhil Sen at the Kolkata University. Ignoring the prevalent and narrow-minded definition of success, he instead learnt to challenge life. He didn’t sit for the competitive examination, refused to take up just any job and even rejected his family business in favor of Kant, Hegel and Hume. Of course Uttam and Shuchitra have always been his repose, just like the boat-outings with his wife on moon-lit rivers and daily evening walks for clandestine smoking away from the house.

Though I am a great fan of his wisdom but I was, at one point, skeptical of its real life implications. His school of truth, beauty and goodness seemed quite unreal in the environs of Dhaka. The principal of a college in Dhaka had once requested him to come over to the metropolitan. He courteously refused, knowing all too well the amount of time he would have to waste in proving his wisdom over and again. He was right: Dhaka is now rated as the worst city in the world after Harare in terms of habitability.

He has served tours at Pabna Edward College, Sylhet M.C. College and Rangpur Karmickel College. At the end of his institutional teaching career he took his students to Kanchanjangha to celebrate his innings. Kanchanjangha could have been an inspiration from Satyajit Ray or perhaps a symbol of his philosophy of truth, beauty and goodness.

On my insistence he wrote three academic books but then stopped writing because of his belief that teaching itself is media; dozens of his students have happily taken up teaching as a profession. And then there is the station master at the Ishwardi rail station, also one of his students, who met us with a smile, took us to his office and offered tea. I was amused at his courtesy and knowledge; he worked on his computer the whole time during our conversation. There and then I decided to make contentment my goal: surely through teaching.

Recently, I rang up this person who knows the art of life to share with him my happiness. He told me that he knew I would eventually find my way to teaching. He also told me how he has taken up another assignment to guide and teach his grandson: “He’s good in both Bangla and English but still a bit weak in Mathematics. His has an ear for music and I want him to be equally good in Mathematics even if he decides to go to a music school. He would need that for higher studies no matter what course of education he chooses.” I was surprised to hear him discuss his new student’s weakness in Mathematics. Nothing is small to him. Perhaps that’s why he could master the art of life, by seeing big in small and small in big.

Much Ado About Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:31:00 +0000

I am almost as old as Bangladesh. While I may not be considered young anymore, my country is still a child. Thirty-nine years is nothing but the age of teething in the life of nations. The country still needs to be handled with care. Before its birth, the people of then East Pakistan had dreamt of a secular and equal society with a passion that drove them to walk on the fiery path of freedom. Bengalis had to fight back the linguistic and cultural aggression of Pakistan, and keep up the struggle against discrimination and inequity.

Sher-e-Bangla, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi, Maulana Bhashani and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, among many others, fearlessly led the march towards independence. Even though Bangabandhu may appear to some as a revolutionary leader, he initially tried all democratic ways to end the sufferings of Bengalis. But when the rulers of then West Pakistan stubbornly refused to respect his people’s will, Bangabandhu had to go for independence.

Like Gandhi and Jinnah, Bangabandhu changed the course of South Asian history by giving the people of Bangladesh the right to chart their own destinies. But whereas in India Gandhi is considered above any political reproach and in Pakistan Jinnah gets equal respect from all political quarters, the same cannot be said of Bangladesh where honoring Bangabandhu depends solely on political egos. Deep political polarization questions even his patriotism, let alone popularity.

In India not even the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party dares to question or criticize Gandhi or no Congress politician claims superiority of Nehru over Gandhi. In Pakistan even the People’s Party cannot pull off comparing Bhutto to Jinnah. Yet, in Bangladesh efforts to denounce the Father of the Nation by aimless comparison with Ziaur Rahman continue unabated.

On March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujib addressed the nation in which he gave the final signal for an armed struggle for freedom. The declaration of independence was made a couple of weeks later on March 26, 1971, but that was just a formality. The people of Bangladesh already knew in their hearts what was announced that day.

As a journalist I have worked with several veteran broadcasters and radio engineers who were instrumental in establishing the then clandestine radio station, Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, in 1971. These broadcasters and engineers have repeatedly confirmed publicly, and to me personally, that then Major Ziaur Rahman was invited by broadcaster Belal Mohammad to read out the declaration of independence as a mark of the army’s support to our freedom fight. On March 27, 1971, veteran broadcaster Abdullah Al Farooq witnessed Ziaur Rahman reading out of the same declaration on behalf of Sheikh Mujib. History will always laugh at the immature attempts of BNP to portray that reading of the declaration by Ziaur Rahman as an act of independent or individual announcement of freedom. After all Ziaur Rahman was an unknown voice on the airwaves at that time; he fought the war of independence as a sector commander under the military leadership of General Osmani and the civilian leadership of Sheikh Mujib.

After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Bangladesh became mired in conspiracies, coups and counter coups. To hold the fledgling nation together, a socialist leader, Colonel Taher, released Ziaur Rahman from house arrest and convinced him to take over the reins of the country. (The fact that Colonel Taher was later court martialled and sentenced to death under the very leadership of Ziaur Rahman is a story for another time.) As Sheikh Mujibur Rahman already had the status of being the Father of the Nation, attempts by BNP to snatch that status is nothing but futile and divisive. If such an accolade is necessary for the continuation of hereditary politics then perhaps Ziaur Rahman can be honored as the Brother of the Nation. BNP supporters and their Jamaat friends would do really well to learn from their Indian and Pakistani counterparts that giving respect to the Father of the Nation is synonymous to paying tribute to the birth of a nation.

When Ziaur Rahman himself never claimed the Kalurghat radio address as his own declaration, should the BNP do so? And then there is also the audio evidence of him reading out of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujib. Throughout his years in power, Ziaur Rahman remained silent about Sheikh Mujib, possibly because he had to rehabilitate Mujib’s killers and ‘71war criminals. But he never publicly downplayed Mujib. Yet, BNP MPs have shown no qualms about using uncouth language against the Father of the Nation. The Awami League MPs are no better, using their brute-majority voice in using similar politically incorrect words against Ziaur Rahman. This quarrel has all the echoes of the Lilliputian-Blefuscudian conflict, with enough dough for endless media entertainment.

How come we never see this ferocity of political competition when it comes to ensuring basic necessities like food, shelter, security and human rights? As a result the party in power is left alone to tackle such issues in whatever little time it can spare from this continuous sparring for future votes. This strategy works well for every opposition party: it ensures victory in next elections. What these political parties need to understand is that such an-eye-for-an-eye political tactics have lost their adrenalin factor for the masses, because while they bicker for power, the voters of Bangladesh watch from the sidelines as their loved ones die unattended in government hospitals or their kids fall prey to malnutrition, fall victim to university gun fights, extrajudicial killings, militancy and so on.

Bangladesh recently managed to get the western nod of approval in tackling militancy, but the ongoing extrajudicial killings and unrest in Chittagong Hill Tracts will attract even less investment and earn the country a bad image. But then who cares about image. Dhaka has been assessed as the worst city in the world after Harare in terms of insecurity and traffic woes.

Ideally, our political leader should be spending sleepless nights over such multi-edged crisis, instead of appearing in news clips as wrestlers or soap opera villains. Countries of the same age as Bangladesh have earned at least a middle income status. In today’s modern world, national issues like the honor of the Father of the Nation and freedom fighters or agendas like war criminal trials are tackled by competent legal systems, and not by making a mockery of them.

BNP should maybe think ten times before abusing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or supporting war criminals and militant forces. And Awami League, as a veteran political party, should be more careful about defaming Ziaur Rahman. Both parties are now at the crossroads where they need to decide how they want to be remembered: with respect or with hatred. Hasn’t enough time been wasted for Sheikh Hasina and Khalida Zia to respond to the mass appeal and stop this ‘much ado about nothing’.

শেকড়ের কাছে ফিরে আসা

noreply@blogger.com (Addabaj) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:07:00 +0000

ঠিক দিনক্ষণ গুণে ফিরে আসিনি। তবে এখানে শেষ লেখার দিকে তাকিয়ে মনে হলো গত এক বছরে এদিকে আসা হয়নি কোন লেখা নিয়ে। নতুন করে আসলে ফাঁদতে হয় নতুন কোন অজুহাত বা গল্প। সেরকম প্রথাচারিতার অনুশীলন করে একটা গল্প শেয়ার করতে চাই। বেশ ক'মাস আগে এক অনুষ্ঠানে দেখা হলো প্রজন্ম একাত্তরের এক জনের সাথে। বিজনেস কার্ড হাতে ধরিয়ে বললেন, "ভাইয়া, একদিন আসুন না, আপনার সাথে একটু আলাপ করি"। আমি একজন অতি সাধারণ মানুষ, অসাধারণদের স্পর্শ পেলে নিজেকেও অসাধারণ ভাবতে থাকি। তাই একদিন ফোন করে নিজেই যেচে তার বিজনেস অফিসে গেলাম।

আধা ঘন্টা অফিসে অপেক্ষা করার পর যখন অন্দরমহলে ডাক পড়ল তখন একরৈখিকভাবে আলাপ শুরু হলো কোন বিজনেস নিয়ে নয়। একাত্তর নিয়ে। মুখোমুখি হয়েছি প্রজন্ম একাত্তরের একজন যার বাবা শহীদ হয়েছেন। কি ভাবনা তার? যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার নিয়ে কি ভাবছেন? প্রজন্ম একাত্তরের আবেদন অনেক বেশী। নবীন ও তরুণদেরকে তারা অনেক বেশী প্রেরণা দিতে পারবেন - এ বিশ্বাস আমার প্রবল। আলাপকালে কথা উঠল ব্লগানো নিয়ে। ইয়াহু গ্রুপে এক্টিভিজম আর ৭১'এর এডভোকেসী নিয়ে। কিন্তু আলাপ সচল হয় না। বারবার থমকে দাঁড়ায়। তার আলাপে আশাবাদ ব্যক্ত হয়, কোন প্রতিশ্রুতি প্রকাশ পায় না।

বারবার ঘুরে ফিরে ব্যক্তিগত বিজনেসের আলাপ উঠে আসে যার প্রতি আমার বিন্দুমাত্রও আগ্রহ নেই। কিন্তু আমি নাছোর বান্দা মানুষ। আমি ইনিয়ে বিনিয়ে বিষয়টি আবারও একাত্তরের কাছে নিয়ে আসি। এক পর্যায়ে সে নিজেই বলে উঠে, "জানেন ভাইয়া, আমার বয়স হয়েছে। আজকে বয়স যদি কম থাকতো, তাহলে অনেক কিছুই করতে পারতাম..."। দেয়ালে ঝুলে থাকা তার বাবার ছবিটার দিকে তাকিয়ে নিষ্পলক দৃস্টিতে ভাবতে থাকি এই নির্লিপ্ততা তার বাবার মতো লক্ষ লক্ষ শহীদদের জন্য কতোটা বেদনাদায়ক। এই নির্লিপ্ততা কি প্রজন্মগত শূণ্যতা? হতাশা, অবিশ্বাস অথবা অস্পস্টতার বিশুদ্ধতম প্রকাশ? অথবা পরিকল্পিতভাবে ৭১ নিয়ে বিস্মৃতি ও বিকৃতির বাইপ্রোডাক্ট হিসেবে এই অসংবেদনশীলতার প্রকাশ? এজন্যই যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচারের নিয়ে নতুনভাবে একটি মোমেন্টাম তৈরীর খুব দরকার।

৭১'এর যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার একটি অমীমাংসিত বাস্তবতা। বর্তমান মহাজোট সরকার যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার করার ম্যান্ডেট নিয়ে ক্ষমতায় এসেছে। গত ছয় মাস ধরেই তারা জায়গা আর জনবল ঠিক করে যাচ্ছে। কিন্তু প্রক্রিয়াটা এখনও বড্ডো ঝাপসা আর অস্পস্ট। মার্চ মাসে যুদ্ধাপরাধের কাজ শুরু হবে, শেষ হবে কবে? এমনেস্টি ইন্টারন্যাশনাল, ইউরোপীয়ান ইউনিয়ন আর বিগ ব্রাদার্সরা ওয়াচ করছেন, তারাও এখন স্বচ্ছতা খুঁজছেন। ৭৫'এর পর এখনই সবচেয়ে বেশী স্বচ্ছতার দরকার!!

যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার ঠেকাতে রাজাকার-জামাতী ও তাদের জাতীয়তাবাদী ব্রাদাররা দেশে বিদেশে নেটওয়ার্কিং শুরু করছেন প্রবলভাবে। গত বছর হলো বিডিআর বিদ্রোহ। এবারে একই সময়ে কাকতালীয়ভাবে শুরু হয়েছে পাহাড়ী-বাঙ্গালী যুদ্ধ। দেশ দ্রুত হাঁটছে অনিশ্চয়তার দিকে। স্বাধীনতার বিপক্ষের শক্তি বসে নেই। তারা নীরবে নিভৃতে কাজ করছে। টেইলারের দোকানে মুজিব কোর্টের অর্ডার একটু বেশী পড়বে তা কোন মৌসুমী পূর্বাভাস নয়। যুদ্ধাপরাধী বর্ণচোরারা চিরকালই লেবাস বদলাতে বড্ডো সিদ্ধহস্ত। তার খোলসেই চলবে নতুন করে ধান্ধাবাজি। তাই, ৭১ নিয়ে আলোচনা আর মতামত অগ্রসর করার খুব দরকার। যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচারের দাবীতে দরকার এর সপক্ষে জনমত প্রবলতর করার। দরকার শেকড়ের কাছে ফিরে আসার।

Even a brick has a soul

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:49:00 +0000

World-renowned architect Louis Kahn, who also designed the parliament building of Bangladesh, while defining his philosophy once said that even a brick has a soul. Three of our top leaders – Shaikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia and H.M. Ershad – have spent confinement within the red brick walls of sub-jails adjacent to the parliament house. While Ershad claims to have been a victim of Khaleda Zia’s vengeance, both the women leaders allege that their confinement was an attempt to implement the minus-2 formula. Whatever the allegations and counter-allegations, the common outcome was sabbaticals forced upon all three of them for soul-searching within the red-bricks of Louis Kahn.

Ershad took over power by removing a democratically elected BNP president, Abdus Sattar, after which he went on to shelter war criminals as well as the killers of the Father of the Nation, gifted Bangladesh with a state religion, implemented Ayub Khan-style basic democracy that was nothing but mere eye-wash, and wrote poetry. All this catalyzed the twin processes of criminalization and Islamisation in politics. Then came the mass democratic movement of the ‘90s and Ershad was jailed. It’s easy to assume that he passed his days and nights like Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar by staring at the red bricks. The subsequent 15-year democratic spin ended with the installment of a military supported 1/11 caretaker government in 2007. Khaleda Zia and Shaikh Hasina were in turn relocated to those same red brick premises.

Khaleda Zia was incarcerated for her desire to rule over Bangladesh till her death. She came to power in 1991, and as a means to an end followed in the footsteps of her arch-enemy Ershad by tolerating political criminalization and promoting the killers of Mujibur Rahman. People’s choice ousted her 5 years later but as luck would have it, Shaikh Hasina too failed to hold her party godfathers on a tight leash and had to relinquish power after five years.

BNP won the 2001 polls with a brute majority, and we assumed Khaleda Zia must have learnt from her mistakes. We were again disappointed. This time round her son Tareq Rehman, like Sanjay Gandhi, started a parallel government from his whirl castle. Tareq’s sycophants launched percentage terrorism while simultaneously courting and facilitating the Talibanisation of Bangladesh, and prepared ground for election engineering. Tareq could not play the Nero’s flute as times would not permit him to go that far, so he took to cricket to ridicule an opposition protest. But it had the same effect: Dhaka started burning like Rome. Sadly, Khaleda Zia’s affections for her son turned out to be blinder than that of Indra Gandhi.

Having said that, it’s lamentable the kind of physical abuse Tareq Rehman had to face during the 1/11 administration. Such penance cannot be expected in a modern state. One can simply hope Tareq has realized that no power is absolute. He could have avoided being the target of such harassment had his involvement in politics been fair enough to win the hearts of an apolitical majority. Then there would have been no reason for the masses and the military to support 1/11. If leaders consider relying on political institutions a long winded wait and try to take fate into their own hands, nature inevitably steps in to put things back on course, sometimes rectifying a wrong with another wrong.

One might add that it’s still quite early to judge if lessons have been learnt, but a time-tested maxim does arise: without respect for democracy and people’s will, political ground can overnight turn into ashes.

And what did Shaikh Hasina learn during her confinement within the red bricks of soul? She displayed courage by getting rid of a few party godfathers and power abusers who had made her ’96 government unpopular. She, however, has not been able to stop her party cadres from changing the names of institutions in the BNP fashion, nor restrain their attempts to paint the face of Bangladesh with the colors of Awami League.

Politicians of questionable ethics and pseudo media-intellectuals talk about 1/11 as if they had no contribution to the rise of that undemocratic setup. Such political businessmen and opportunist intellectuals would do better if they learnt to earn their bread and butter just like the hardworking people they claim to represent.

Had there been no Hawa Bhaban (Tareq’s whirl castle), had the BNP not tried to install a favorable caretaker government to engineer elections, had there been an impartial election commission with a fair voters’ list and had the civil bureaucracy not been lego-ised to support election fraud, the political scene today would been much friendlier.

The current Awami League-led grand alliance will have to show conformity with democratic institutions and will have to rely on people’s will alone. It will have to realize that voters are neither supporters of Awami League not of BNP. Voters are only clients of democracy, willing to give mandate to the party that delivers. Neither they nor anyone else wants to see the shadows of 1/11 haunting the collective fate of peace-loving nation.

So far so good

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:53:00 +0000

BNP beneficiaries would say ‘Paradise Lost’; Awami Leaguers would claim ‘Paradise Regained’, while the apolitical ones would assess the situation as ‘So Far So Good’.

Just when the Awami League-led grand alliance stepped out of the pavilion to start governance, Pilkhana tragedy took place, forcing the government into a tight spot. The prime minister handled the conspiracy with the care it demanded, and even though the trial of the perpetrators has been delayed, hopefully justice will not be denied.

The initial cabinet was full of freshmen; AL subsequently got rid of the stereotyped political faces but purging veterans from the playing field has not been an easy task; they are after all a burden of the Awami League legacy. And freshmen, who are trying to prove better replacements, clearly lack the efficiency and political subtlety required to keep up with modern day politics. To be fair, it deserves to be mentioned that the veterans, too, have had serious shortcoming in areas of diplomacy and constructive efficiency.

The new government controlled price hike well during the first six months of attaining power, but syndicate horses are at best wild, and conformity proves less profitable. We well know the mantra of third world laissez faire: pure profit without social responsibility.

Brownouts continue to make life miserable in Bangladesh, yet some credit is owed to the AI-led government’s attempts at stabilizing power supply.

Shaikh Hasina promised to change the old ways; a few sons of old MPs understand this ‘change’ to be a coinage good enough only to lure people. Genetic propensity to grab lands of the retreating parties (post ’47 and again post ’71) cannot be curbed with an up to date election manifesto alone. It needs more than cosmetic ideals. Ironically, in a changed global reality threatening journalists the old fashioned way didn’t work to their benefit either. For seven years tender terrorists and un-studently student leaders had to sit on the sidelines and watch their BNP counterparts succeed through loot, plunder and torture. When their time came, the media didn’t let them enjoy their honeymoon. Central leaders of the Awami League also signaled to the notorious party cadres to behave.

For the first time in 38 years, the Education Minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, has come out with a meaningful policy; overcoming all hurdles he lived up to his promise of providing free books to young learners.

Finance minister, Abdul Mal Muhit, active with economic reforms, has taken peasants’ rights into consideration, urged reforms in the banking sector and offered revised pay scales to public servants. Matia Chowdhury, a legend of political honesty, continues with her success in the agricultural sector, but unfortunately even she hasn’t been able to come out of the political blame game culture. It’s really quite unnecessary to speak ill of the opposition while sitting with a brute majority.

The law and order situation has improved. However, ongoing extrajudicial killings question the credibility of a democratic government. Manpower diplomacy has been average; there are still many needs to be taken care of. The looming threat of recession alone may send more workers back home. Environmental diplomacy, too, has failed to be come through as extraordinary; perhaps because our Prime Minister didn’t voice enough concern over carbon emissions, yet forcefully demanded financial compensation. This could be ignored as a mere reflection of an overall mindset of a poor nation perpetually occupied with making ends meet.

The government’s initiative towards improving relations with India is timely, while our opposition is still trying to sell its anti-India propaganda not realizing that New Delhi and Beijing are emerging realities in the current world order.

Verdict in the Father of the Nation killing case has come as a relief for the conscience of Bangladesh. Now the war criminal trial should be activated to uphold human rights as promised in the election manifesto. Diplomacy with the Muslim world must be strengthened for many reasons, not less of which is that war criminals should be stopped from seeking sympathy in the name of their Islamic outfit.

Militants tried to Talibanize Bangladesh during the BNP-Jamaat rule, but as the people of Bangladesh are generally secular and the media played a constructive role, we got a clean slate from the western world. The AL-led government shares the credit in allowing people to practice Islam peacefully.

Shaikh Hasina claims that her government this time round is truly green and free from corruption. But she should not forget that the British and Pakistani colonial rules successfully cultivated political criminalization in Bangladesh; a process continued by the military rulers. That’s why it’s generally understood that people enroll into politics to earn or to loot. No one can change this mindset overnight. Nevertheless, things are moving towards the better; realizing the end result and having paid the price of political corruption BNP has promised to transform its whirl palace into a light house.

BNP ought to keep its promise or risk losing more votes. One must, however, say that being in the opposition has been an advantage in Bangladesh since 1991: when the party in power fails to deliver people opt for the opposition. So Awami League will have to work hard to maintain popularity, at least till the next elections. By then almost 70 per cent voters will emerge from a generation that holds information in a cell phone. Political coquetry will have become old fashioned by that time. So either you deliver or No Thanks – that’s going to be the political reality in Bangladesh.

Light House

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Society changes at a rapid pace, we constantly surrender to the automation of neo-gadgets. This has been a ceaseless reality since the Industrial Revolution. But Dhaka society is different. The rate of change is more rapid; social inequity speed-rides on the wheels of corruption; values of truth and goodness are as outdated as our parents or teachers who tried to infuse high seriousness and inculcate a belief system that is now as precious as diamonds.

Understanding this metamorphosis of Dhaka, I usually try to interact with the glitterati with caution; knowing quite well that their attitude and mode of socializing changes with their position in the power structure. It’s almost like visiting a house in Dhanmandi or Gulshan after a gap of two or three years and expecting an apartment building in place of the small house surrounded by a piece of green.

But it’s been a great relief to discover that unlike the social stereotypes of Dhaka, our English department teachers have remained as warm as our parents, untouched by the wave of decay that seems to have permeated everywhere else. I wonder if our department is a secluded island or a planet outside the effects of social eclipse.

Syed Manjoorul Islam once wrote a word on the blackboard of the first year class: aesthetics. Many will agree that his gift of aesthetics has been a precious asset in our lives. As a teacher, writer and moderator of our university debating society I have experienced him to be the same loving person over the last two decades who could easily maintain a distance from the temptation of an uncouth reality.

Anis Ahmed was a young teacher in the late ‘80s who used to passionately promote our cultural and theatre activities. He left our department to work as an international broadcaster abroad. Time and space are cruel entities for mercilessly taking a huge toll on our existence, but meeting Anis Ahmed in Washington was like going back to my teen years when I used to talk to him in his department chamber.

Kashinath Roy, an introvert, romantic teacher wearing pyjama punjabi, explained to us the meaning of the word ‘philistines’, narrating the nouveau-riche mannerism with amusing accuracy. We imbibed his clear judgment of our philistine society. I haven’t seen him in the last 15 years but that hardly matters. I can refresh my memory any time and see him walking through our department corridor as if it was yesterday.

Imtiaz Habib left the department disappointed with his future in Bangladesh. His inspiration and outlook on creative writing, and dislike for summarized-notes eaters made him an icon, even for those who couldn’t have him as their teacher.

Fakhrul Alam, Kaisar Hamidul Haq, Shaukat Alam, Anwarul Haq are still our heroes. They always made time for our cricket matches, river cruises and cultural activities. Nazmin Haq would even participate alongside us in our chorus picnics and outings.

Our English department teachers offered optimum attention to every one of their students, in and outside the classroom. Every single student was and is important to them. Before entering into the chambers of living legends like Sirajul Islam Chowdhury or Razia Khan Amin we used to tremble in fear as how to settle a missed tutorial exam. Gifting them the latest edition of Little Magazine often succeeded as an excuse. Can I ever forget Razia Amin Khan who smiled and scolded with affection, “Such a bribe will definitely help get you a chance to retake the tutorial.”

My missing out any name of our teachers hardly matters; Shushil da or Bulbul da could perhaps fill in the gap to encompass the legacy of English department. I have only tried to sketch a few of our role models who were the dwellers of a light house, who changed and gave meaning to our lives. Quite unlike the youth of today who are forced by the ground realities of a crude materialistic society, when we came out of the English department it wasn’t just the degrees we carried with us.

Our role models helped us maintain the romanticism of an atypical way of thought. Whether in civil service, journalism, creative writing and corporate boardrooms or anywhere around the globe, English department alumni are bearing the torch of that tradition infused with individual talent. Our teachers didn’t only offer class lectures or confine our world within the bars of curriculum. They instead deconstructed the syllabus and infused our horizon with depth, confidence and aesthetics. In the wake of burgeoning social inequilibrium and commercialization of education, will this fairytale of our English department be able to continue? I wonder if our new generations will readily sacrifice their lives the way our role models did to carry on the legacy of the English department. Unless we rejuvenate the glory of Dhaka University the relics of the Oxford of the East will be relegated to memories alone; the memories of a ‘light house’.

[photo courtesy: here]

Bangladesh surrendering to a hungry sea

noreply@blogger.com (Maskwaith Ahsan) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0000

By 2025 one-thirds of Bangladesh is set to disappear under water. Tropical cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal and accompanied storm surges take the highest human toll in the country. Between the melting Himalayas and the Khasi-Jaintia Hills in the north and the rising Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean in the south, Bangladesh faces the risk of extinction. Barely a meter rise in sea level will swallow the entire coastal zone of the country and force upon the world a refugee problem beyond solution.

This coastal zone comprises 47,201 square kilometers, which is 32 per cent of the country’s total landmass (almost 5 sq-km more than that area of Denmark). Bangladesh is one of the most crowded nations in the world, with 35.1 million people living in the coastal areas alone. Half of them survive below the darkness of the poverty line. Fishing, agriculture, tourism and shrimp and salt farming are their main sources of livelihood. The mangroves of Sunderbans provide subsistence to 10 million of them. They have never known any other way of life.

If the land vanishes from under their feet they will have nowhere to go; the rest of the country is already bursting at the seams with a density of 1000 people per sq-km. Ironically, Bangladesh contributes a minuscule 0.06 per cent to the global carbon emission, but will have to pay the price with a minimum of 35.1 million lives if the world continues to be the way it is.

On top of this unimaginable tragedy, the gradual rise in sea level is reducing fresh water availability through salt intrusion. Whatever landmass escapes drowning will be largely rendered uncultivable. The initial stages of this salt water contamination forced people to switch from rice cultivation to shrimp farming. For that Bangladesh has had to pay a very high premium: loss of staple food production and hence food insecurity.

The world was a witness to the wrath of Tsunami in areas devoid of mangroves. Bangladesh avoided Tsunami but wasn’t lucky enough to counter Cyclone Sidr. The fact that the fall of Sunderbans will result in loss of biodiversity and a productive eco-system is altogether a separate tragedy.

In the aftermath of the death and destruction left behind by the category-4 Cyclone Sidr in 2007, the courageous people of the coastal belt tightened their belts to give life another start. Little do they know that a one-meter rise in sea-level is ultimately going to turn them into environmental refugees.

As Bangladesh is a small player in the emissions politics, there’s not much it can do to mitigate the effects of green house gasses. What it can do, and is trying so, is to find ways to adapt in the short term. In the long term if global warming is not halted or reduced significantly, Bangladesh could disappear by the end of the century. There’s only so much a country with extremely limited resources can do to protect the future of its people.

For this coastal community there are three matters that require immediate attention: sustaining aquatic livelihood, managing agriculture and building homes that can survive the rise in sea level.

The livelihood of fishermen can be ensured by finding salinity tolerant species of fish and by adopting advanced fish-farming techniques.

For farmers, floating agriculture in low lands must be introduced and popularized. This soil-less farming includes dried hyacinths piled on a floating structure and seedlings planted on it. Salinity tolerant aforestation must be made a part of this attempt.

The third is to ensure construction of houses that can stand the tide of time. In the coastal areas of Bangladesh, houses are usually built on walls of earth, but these dykes are constantly threatened by erosion. With a one-meter rise in sea-level, flood waves can go up to 9 meters. The dykes need to be raised significantly.

One ray of hope remains in indigenous attempts to channelize huge silt and sand from upstream areas to flood-prone and low-lying belts. Experimental efforts in this field gained Bangladesh 600 acres of land in Beel Bhaina, 55 kilometers upstream from the Bay of Bengal. The once flooded area is now cultivable. But a silt diversion programme along the entire coast will be very costly. It requires not only the will of Dhaka, but also foreign assistance in terms of funds and technical expertise. However, even if that is all made possible today, silt diversion alone will not be able to help the people of Bangladesh hold out against the wrath of nature for long. Not only can silt shift with time, there is the additional threat of river flooding when mountain ice begins to melt more sharply.

For the survival of Bangladesh, a two-prong strategy is urgently needed; modifications can come later. In the south, the construction of barriers or levees along the Dutch model, and in the north digging strategic water channels to reduce river flooding. This would have to be accompanied by the construction of well-placed reservoirs for holding the extra fresh river water that could be used for down-river cultivation.

Even the contemplation of such a huge project requires international intervention. The world community must come together and help Bangladesh with funds and expertise to adapt to the effects of climate change. Bangladesh alone cannot avoid the looming threat of death by water.

Moulana Abul Kalam Sued for War Crime

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Source: Daily Star
April 21, 2009

A case was filed yesterday against Moulana Abul Kalam, alleged commander of Al Badr Bahini in Faridpur during the Liberation War, and his brother-in-law on charge of committing war crimes.

Bhakta Ranjan Biswas, son of Madhab Chandra Biswas of Purura Namopara village, filed the case with a Judicial Magistrate's Court against Kalam alias Bachchu Mia, 65, of Saltha upazila and his brother-in-law Mohammad Kazi, 60.

Kalam, the chairman of non-governmental organisation Bangladesh Masjid Council, hosts an Islamic programme 'Apnar Jigyasa' on private TV channel ntv.

Magistrate Motaharat Akhter Bhuiyan received the case and directed the officer-in-charge of Saltha Police Station to investigate it.

According to the case statement, both Kalam and Mohammad Kazi, who joined hands with Pakistani occupation forces, were engaged in killings, looting, rape and arson during the liberation war in 1971.

They also formed peace committees in various areas in the district.

The accused along with 10 to 12 armed men entered Ranjan's house and Kalam shot dead Ranjan's father on the first day of Bangla month of Jaistha in 1971. Kalam also killed Gyanendra Biswas, son of Rajendri Biswas, at his house the same day, alleged the plaintiff.

They set the nearby house of Montu Bakshi on fire with gunpowder and also killed Ohab Sardar, Md Tuku Molla, Kanchu Fakir, Abdul Molla of Kumar Kanda village, Hachen Mia, Baru Khatun of Alampur village, Abdul Omed Molla of Keshabdia village, alleged the complainant.

Kalam also fired shots at Lal Mia of Alampur village, who survived the attack and is still alive, said the plaintiff.

Earlier, another case had been filed under the Collaborators' Act against Kalam alias Bachchu with the Boalmari Police Station on March 23, 1972. He had been on the run for long after the liberation war.

Faridpur Muktijoddha Sangsad Unit Commander Abul Fayaz Shah Newaz told The Daily Star that Kalam alias Bachchu, who had been involved in killings, looting and arson in Nagarkanda, Saltha and Boalmari in 1971, should be arrested and tried.

Faridpur Sadar upazila Chairman advocate Samsul Haque told The Daily Star that Kalam is a 'known war criminal' and must be brought to justice.

UN Welcomes War Crime Investigation

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:56:00 +0000

UN provides welcome support to Bangladesh war crimes investigations
Source: Amnesty International
April 7, 2009

The government of Bangladesh has sought and received UN assistance in its efforts to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity and other serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed in 1971. Four international war crimes experts, Louis Bickford, Priscilla Hayner, Bogdan Ivanisevic and Alexander Mayer-Rieckh, have been named to assist the government.

Amnesty International welcomed the news, having called on the Caretaker Government and political parties in January 2008 to address impunity for violations carried out in 1971 in the context of the independence war.

"The failure to seek truth and justice for crimes against humanity and other serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed in 1971 has encouraged the persistent nature of impunity in Bangladesh," said Irene Khan, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

Demands from civil society for the investigation of the crimes committed in 1971 have been gathering momentum in the past few years. Past governments have taken no action to investigate or prosecute these crimes and no official commission has been established to provide a comprehensive account of the events of 1971.

The Bangladeshi government is also reported to have asked Pakistan and the US, which supported Pakistan during the war, to provide Bangladesh with particular documents related to the war and evidence for the trial.
The exact number of people killed by the Pakistan army and their collaborators during the 1971 Bangladesh independence war is not known. Most estimates put the figure at around one million and a further eight to ten million people, both Hindus and Muslims, fled Bangladesh in search of safety in India.

Among the dead were tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of farmers, fishermen, villagers and factory workers. The forces also targeted intellectuals, Hindus and women. According to some reports, an estimated 200,000 thousand women were raped during the conflict.

To date, no one has been brought to justice for these crimes

"I hope that the initiative to seek UN assistance to address the 1971 war crimes marks the beginning of a process to heal the wounds of this war in the national psyche," said Irene Khan.

Karma Chameleon Salah Uddin Shoaib

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Karma Chameleon Salah Uddin Shoaib, sorry,
Sunita Paul, get your act together please. -Sajjad Jahir

After a lot of soul searching I decided to write this narrative just to let you know loud and clear my assessment of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. Like a meteorite, he rose to the limelight of world’s attention. In the global arena, he became the defender of freedom and human rights and a vocal champion of Bangladesh’s rapprochement with Israel.

I did not hear much about Mr. Choudhury until a few years ago, when I first saw his name in a few web based journals. Nowadays, I see him everywhere, in US Congress’s website, in Youtube. Suddenly Salah Uddin Shoaib became Jim Carrey’s Bruce Almighty. Unfortunately at a closer look this “almighty” does not come across as an intellectual, nor does he appear to be a human rights crusader. I feel he is just a “Karma Chameleon” (to quote Boy George).

How Salah Uddin continues to fool a sizable portion of world’s influential people, is still a puzzle to me. His career in Bangladesh shows his checkered past. If you look into his resume, you will see his service for two notorious individuals. From 1995 to 1999 he worked as the Founder and Managing Director of A-21 TV. This TV station was owned by Aziz Mohammad Bhai, a notorious smuggler and a Mafia don of Bangladesh. Mr. Bhai is no more living in Bangladesh as he had to flee the long arm of the law. It was alleged this tycoon had connection with Islamist Jihadists of India. My clear point is anybody with a little bit of ethical mindset would never work for such a questionable character. We should not skip another gem from the resume. In 1995, Mr. Shoaib Choudhury translated an Iranian book in Bengali “The Rise and Fall of Pahlavi Dynasty”. It is quite evident from the resume that in order to finish the project he had to work closely with the diplomats of Khomeini’s Iran. What a checkered past!

In the resume anyone will see Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury served Inqilab from 2001-2002. This paper was owned by a very despicable individual. He is Maulana Mannan, an Islamist leader. Mr. Mannan was alleged to be the mastermind behind intellectual and professional killing during Bangladesh War of Independence. Like Radovan Karadzic, he changed his façade and became a media mogul. Any Bangladeshi with a little sense of dignity would never work for such a crook. While working for Maulana Mannan’s Inquilab newspaper, Salah Uddin Shoaib constantly hurled epithets on secular activists of Bangladesh. He called Shahriar Kabir, a notable human rights activist, a Mossad agent. Mr. Kabir still has the documentary evidence to prove that. Not only that, Salah Uddin Shoaib virulently attacked Saleem Samad also. Now the question is why and how he was kicked out of Inquilab? Wasn’t he an Islamist to the teeth? In the resume he claimed he was ousted from the conglomerate because of his refusal to attend a pro-Saddam Hussain rally. It is beyond anyone’s comprehension how an intelligent and ever alert person like Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury missed this important piece of information that Inquilab was funded by none other than the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain himself! The story is something like this. Salah Uddin was sent to Singapore to purchase major equipments for Inquilab Television. Instead of purchasing the tools he pocketed the money. Sources say, after the management found out the grand theft, they were starting to take legal measures. In the meantime something happened. What is that?

This is my satirical chain of events that led Mr. Choudhury to the world of bright stars. One night an angel told this dedicated Islamist to be the lone bridge builder between Bangladesh and Israel. He asked the angel what ought to be his modus operandi to attain this noble objective. The angel replied he should make an attempt to travel to Israel carrying hard copies and discs of sensitive documents. Salah Uddin complied. Any tenth grade kid in Bangladesh may be aware that it was dangerous to carry documentation while going to Israel, which was still a forbidden country. Salah Uddin Shoaib is a computer savvy man. He must have known the art of digitizing hundreds of pages of documents. So, why carry those discs and papers to the airport? Isn’t it like this “Arrest me! Arrest me! I am going to Israel with lots of papers”. It goes without saying that the conman was arrested at the Dhaka airport in no time.

That particular incidence came to this juggler like the manna from heaven. He drew big outpour of support from the world’s mightiest and wealthiest of nations. He got a “pro bono” lobbyist within no time. Salah Uddin Shoaib became a widely known name in many parts of the world.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, the human rights crusader and defender of Israel’s right to exist showed his other side of talent. He had been the founder and publisher of a trashy tabloid BLITZ, whose main motto is to sensationalize events. His primary enemies are the liberal intellectuals in Bangladesh. Salah Uddin had special grudge against activists who demand trial of 1971’s war criminals. He cannot go alone in his diabolical venture. Like a ventriloquist, he created a character named Sunita Paul. Many times this “Sunita Paul” did the dirty game for Salah Uddin Shoaib. Unfortunately, Salah Uddin Shoaib did not do a good job in creating a make belief background of this Paul lady. Anyone would burst into laughter seeing the image of Sunita Paul, said to be born in Kochin, India. The picture looks so fake it seems he might have decided to insult the average reader’s intelligence. Wait a second! This Sunita Paul, who is more knowledgeable about Bangladesh than any veteran journalist of that country is caught red handed in a cookie jar! What am I talking about? I found a wise blogger noticed “Sunita Paul” adept in plagiarizing other people’s works. See for yourself at doctorsglove.

Sunita or Salah Uddin Shoaib, how long will you fool people and continue to have the last laugh?

Bangladesh fights rampant corporate corruption

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Source: The Christian Science Monitor
By David Montero
April 1, 2009

For years corporate corruption has thrived as an open secret in this poor congested nation, a force as destructive as the cyclones that ravage the coastline and the arsenic that poisons people's drinking wells. Last week, Bangladesh's newly elected government took its first high-profile swipe at the problem.

Arafat "Koko" Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and a prominent businessman, was formally charged with laundering nearly $2 million in kickbacks, including $180,000 from Siemens Corporation, the German electronics giant. Mr. Rahman and his brother Tarique, although allegedly at the center of many corrupt deals in Bangladesh, were considered untouchable between 2001 and 2006, when their mother held office. The charges against Arafat Rahman are the first involving foreign bribery and could result in a jail sentence of seven years if he is found guilty.

The case highlights a determined move by Bangladesh's government to root out corruption at the highest levels, while tracing its sources through financial institutions and multinational companies abroad. In so doing, it also sheds light on the little studied dark side of international business: the practice of foreign bribery, whereby some of the world's richest companies directly contribute to instability in the developing world by paying off corrupt governments.

"This issue of foreign companies using bribery to get contracts has been a kind of public knowledge," says Iftekhar Zaman, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, the Bangladesh chapter of the Berlin based anti-corruption watchdog. "It's a failure of the companies to oblige the rules and regulations, but it's also incumbent on the government to be able to prevent those avenues of corruption."

The case against Siemens portrays a typical pattern for graft here. Between 2004 and 2006, as mobile phone use soared in Bangladesh, Siemens was pushing for a $40 million telecommunications contract with the Bangladeshi government, according to a case filed by US investigators against Siemens. To outbid its competitors, it hired a Bangladeshi consultant with links to the Prime Minister's son, as well as the telecommunicatons minister and at least four others. A payment of $180,000 was arranged and sent to Arafat Rahman's Singapore bank account, according to public statements made by Siemens as well as the case filed by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which is tasked with investigating graft and preparing charges.

"Over a period of time, as we were investigating some of our cases, we could see that, yes, Siemens ... was paying money to some of our people here. This was all put into a bank account in Singapore, so we had to get the cooperation of that government," says Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, the chairman of the ACC.

It is not a problem specific to Bangladesh. Corporate foreign bribery is a thriving global business, according to studies by the World Bank, which estimates that foreign companies annually pay $1 trillion in kickbacks to corrupt government officials. Two weeks ago, as Bangladesh brought charges against Arafat Rahman, Royal Dutch Shell Corporation reported that it was under investigation by US authorities over allegations that it bribed officials in Nigeria.

The victims of such bribery are not only the companies that lose out. There is growing awareness that bribery can have a direct, destabilizing impact on developing countries. The case of Bangladesh and Siemens suggests how that could work: In court documents, Siemens admitted to paying bribes not only to Arafat Rahman, but to Bangladesh's former telecommunications minister. That minister was Aminul Haque, who served between 2001 and 2006. Mr. Haque in turn was sentenced in 2007 to 31 years in prison for patronizing the Islamic terrorist group, Jama'tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

According to cases filed by the government against Haque, the court ruled that he used JMB as a political tool to eliminate members of political opposition groups beginning in 2004. But by 2005, JMB took on a life of its own and launched a national campaign of violence that left dozens dead. Today Haque is a fugitive, but the group he patronized continues to operate underground and is suspected of involvement in the bloody mutiny that rocked Bangladesh last month.

While there is no direct evidence showing that Siemens' bribe money went to JMB, observers in Bangladesh contend that the possibility of a link underscores the dangers of foreign corporate bribery.

"Many of the [multinational companies] don't care who they're giving money to. They don't try to find out what effect it will have on the life of ordinary people," contends Sultana Kamal, the director of Ain O Salish Kendra, a leading human rights group based in Dhaka. "They should be very careful about it."

Amid growing public awareness and public outrage, Bangladesh's government has in recent years acted with force. In the past two years, the ACC has launched hundreds of investigations into some of the most prominent ministers and businessmen in the country – including the sons of Khaleda Zia. Both brothers were arrested in 2007. They are currently on bail as more charges are framed against them.

"To have Khaleda Zia's two sons and powerful higher ministers accused ... was really the first major cleansing process that started," says Mahfuz Anam, the editor of The Daily Star, Bangladesh's most influential English-language newspaper. "Now, we are far from the end of it, but it's gotten started."

122 Terrorist Groups in Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Source: Daily Star
April 2, 2009

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed yesterday said as many as 122 organisations are involved in terror activities in the country.

Addressing a workshop on 'Anti-Terrorism Act 2009' he said Qawmi madrasas are turning into breeding grounds of religion-based terrorism.

"They are not following the Quran, the Shariah and even laws of the land," he said adding that religious militancy goes against the spirit of religion and Islam.

"The education ministry is conducting a survey on madrasas and it is rational to bring all madrasas under government's control," he said.

The workshop was organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) at its conference centre at Gulshan in the city.

Shafique said Qawmi madrasas will get government facilities if they come under the government's control.

The law minister said the religion-based terrorism began in the country after 1975 when changes were brought to the constitution through martial law proclamation that opened the door of religious politics.

"It would not have been so easy for fundamentalists to take to terrorism if the 1972 Constitution had remained intact," he added.

The minister said, "If the article 38 of the 72 constitution is restored religious political parties automatically would cease to exist."

Without clarifying the question whether the government would restore the constitution of 1972, he said, "Wait and see; the government is only two and a half months old.”

Regarding the madrasa education he said modern education should be introduced in madrasas so that madrasa students could also compete in the job market, business and other fields.

He said merging the money-laundering act with that of the anti terrorism act would help the government fight Islamist militancy as money laundering is linked with terrorism.

Differing with some points of the law minister former adviser to the caretaker government Maj Gen (retd) Moinul Hossain Chowdhury said, “It is not the amendment to the constitution rather it is the economic problem that gave rise to militancy.

"Moinul said the reasons behind Islamist militancy lie with the gulf of difference between rich and poor, our education system, unemployment and overall law and order situation.

BEI President Farooq Sobhan, former IGP Nurul Huda, former adviser to the caretaker government Shafi Shami also spoke.

Bangladesh blocking free expression

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Bangladesh blocking free expression
By Rater Zonaki
Source: UPI Asia Online
March 26, 2009

Hong Kong, China — Freedom of expression and freedom of the media have become key issues around the world, especially with the advent of the Internet, which has broadened the opportunities for innumerable individuals, institutions and communities to express their views without restriction.

Bangladesh has not yet been able to connect the majority of its population with the Internet, however, because of outdated policies and practices. Corporations, non-government organizations and private institutions are more advanced in the use of information technologies than are public institutions.

Public officials are too lazy to check their email regularly. Sending an email to an official address is unlikely to get a response. On most occasions emails are bounced back to the sender.

There are three reasons that Internet communication is ineffective. First, a serious shortage of electricity means that local Internet servers cannot be maintained without interruption in many places. Secondly, the lack of computers with Internet access in many parts of the country means the habit of online communication has not taken hold in Bangladesh. Thirdly, an email does not carry a bribe to a public official, so there is no incentive to respond through this medium.

Moreover, many people who do have Internet access are not yet accustomed to checking their email even once a day. The sender of the message must inform the recipient by telephone to check the email if it is important.

At the same time, there is also a small group of people who cannot think of passing the day without checking their email.

During her election campaign Sheikh Hasina, who is now prime minister, pledged to build up a "digital Bangladesh." She has followed through on this by holding Internet conferences with activists of her party and selected citizens. But so far, the majority of the people can only hope that access to this modern technology with its ease of communication will be expanded to the whole nation, instead of only to politically chosen persons.

Journalists and the print and electronic media always come to the forefront to raise their voices on behalf of the voiceless persons everywhere in the world. The standard of freedom of expression in a country can be judged by its press and the protections afforded to journalists.

Since colonial times Bangladesh had been nourishing freedom of expression as a right belonging to its people. The media contributed immensely to the country’s independence movement and its quest for sovereignty. There were a number of journalists among the 3 million liberation martyrs.

In theory, according to the Constitution of Bangladesh, freedom of expression is enshrined as a fundamental right. However, in reality the opposite is true. Under every regime journalists have faced threats and intimidation and media have been subject to censorship. The atmosphere created in the country compels the media to practice self-censorship when it comes to reporting abuses of power by the armed forces and leaders of the ruling political parties.

In the past decade, a number of journalists who have failed to practice self-censorship have been victims of assassination. The families of these journalists are still waiting for justice; there are allegations that respective governments have provided impunity to the perpetrators of these crimes.

Prior to the parliamentary election in December, 2008, the Bangladeshis expected that an elected government would realize the importance of freedom of expression and protect those in the media. The Bangladesh Awami League also made its pledges in this regard. Ironically, after the election the government has been found reluctant to respect the rights of the press.

For example, the editor of an English national daily newspaper has been under threat for weeks for being too outspoken. His car was chased by six gunmen on two motorbikes in Dhaka on the evening of March 5. Luckily he was not in the car at the time; his driver escaped with his life by speeding off.

A complaint was registered with the local police concerning this incident, but the authorities have not been able to arrest any of the gunmen nor have they taken any initiative to protect the journalist. On the other hand, a politically powerful person reportedly suggested that the journalist "control" his views.

Bangladesh should be facilitating freedom of speech and encouraging its people to express their views independently, without fear or favor. If the conscientious segment of the country's population is held at gunpoint, the future is bleak for the nation and the aspirations of its people.

The government should not fail to protect the journalists who speak out for the ordinary voiceless people. It should extend to the people affordable information technology of the current century, and encourage its active use by public officials.

If the nation wants to achieve progress in terms of democracy and infrastructure, it needs more than just election pledges.
______________________________________

(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong, working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national who has worked as a journalist and human rights activist in his country for more than a decade, and as editor of publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues.)

Bangladesh: Investigate Torture Allegations

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:22:00 +0000

Bangladesh: Investigate Torture Allegations
Source: Human Rights Watch
March 25, 2009

(New York) - The government of Bangladesh should take urgent steps to ensure that those detained in connection with the massacre of 74 people at the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the country's paramilitary border guards, on February 25, 2009, are not subjected to retribution, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and other mistreatment, Human Rights Watch said today.

An apparent mutiny by members of the border guards against their army officers left 55 senior army officers and 19 others dead, including the director general of the border guards and his wife. The government, police, and army have begun parallel investigations into the incident. As of March 24, 693 border guard personnel had been taken into custody.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to conduct a transparent and swift enquiry to identify those responsible for the killings and to prosecute them in civilian courts.

"The massacre has shocked Bangladeshis and deserves the condemnation of the entire world," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But the government should resist demands and threats from the army for summary justice and ensure that all those detained are treated properly."

At least five border guard members and an Islamic imam have died in custody. According to press reports, the authorities claim that the men either committed suicide or died of heart attacks.

Relatives of Mobarak Hossain, one of the detained guards, have publicly alleged that he was tortured to death. Sources at the Dhaka Medical College morgue have told the media that his wrists, arms, knees, and shoulders were swollen and badly bruised. Human Rights Watch has received credible information that several other border guard members in custody have been brought to hospital with signs of torture.

At least 1,800 guard personnel who escaped from the headquarters during the 33-hour standoff are said to be in hiding. While some may have been involved in the attacks, others could well be important witnesses, too afraid to come forward.

"Bangladesh's security forces regularly use torture to obtain confessions," said Adams. "The government should ensure that there is a prompt and independent investigation of these deaths and all other allegations of torture."

While those responsible for the massacre should be brought to justice as soon as possible, Human Rights Watch said that the government should respect its international human rights obligations by ensuring that all suspects are treated properly, detained only in official places of detention, have access to lawyers and family members, and are tried in a judicial process that meets international fair trial standards.

The border guards are not members of the army, and the organization reports to the Home Ministry instead of the Defense Ministry. But Law Minister Shafique Ahmed has stated that those accused of involvement in the massacre may be tried by a military court martial. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has said that the jurisdiction of military courts, if used at all, should be restricted to offenses of a strictly military nature, only when committed by military personnel, and only when the military courts provide full guarantees of a fair trial. The committee oversees the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a party.

"After this massacre and as angry as senior army officials are, there is little or no chance that those accused will get a fair trial in Bangladesh's military justice system," Adams said.

Look back at 1971

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:45:00 +0000

This is an hour-long documentary on the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 presented by the ATN Bangla. Watch it here:

Bangladesh to set up war crimes tribunals

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:27:00 +0000

Bangladesh to set up war crimes tribunals
By Parveen Ahmed
Source: Indpendent on-line

Dhaka, Bangladesh - Bangladesh is setting up war crimes tribunals for long-delayed trials of people accused of murder, torture, rape and arson during its 1971 independence war, with the death penalty possible in some cases, officials said Wednesday.

Bangladesh began war crimes trials in 1973, but they were halted in 1975 when the nation's independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated in a military coup. Subsequent governments failed to address the issue, despite repeated calls for justice from war heroes and families of those slain.

Rahman's daughter, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, pledged during her election campaign to prosecute war criminals. In January, Parliament passed a resolution for their quick trial.

Speaking ahead of the nation's 39th Independence Day, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the process of holding the trials has already started. One or more tribunals would be set up for quick trials under a 1973 act outlining prosecution and punishment for people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law.

Last week, the government issued an order barring war crimes suspects from leaving the country.

An inter-ministerial meeting Wednesday discussed the formation of tribunals and appointments of prosecutors and investigation agencies, State Minister for Home Affairs Sohel Taj said.

"The investigation process has begun. The trials will begin soon," Taj said.

On March 26, 1971, Bangladesh - then East Pakistan - declared its independence from West Pakistan, following years of perceived political and economic discrimination.

Official figures say Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200 000 women and forced millions more to flee their homes during a bloody nine-month guerrilla war. With help from neighbor India, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation on December 16, 1971, with the surrender of the Pakistani army in Dhaka.

A general amnesty was declared after the war for collaborators who were not directly involved in heinous crimes. It did not cover those who had specific charges or evidence of crimes against them. - Sapa-AP

Hunted in Bangladesh, Suspect in Britain

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Hunted in Bangladesh... the terror suspect freed twice by courts in Britain
By Fay Schlesinger
Source: Mail On-line
March 26, 2009

Faisal Mostafa, pictured in 2002, is facing allegations that his orphanage was in fact an arms factory and terrorist training camp

A British charity worker twice cleared of terror charges in this country is being hunted in Bangladesh after explosives were seized at an orphanage he founded.

Security forces there claimed last night that the orphanage set up by Dr Faisal Mostafa, from Stockport, was in fact an arms factory and terrorist training camp.

Mostafa ran Green Crescent, a charity that provided humanitarian aid to families in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The Charity Commission, which awarded it charity status in 2004, last night launched an inquiry. Its chief executive, Andrew Hind, said: 'The matter is of serious concern to us.'

Mostafa, who has a PhD in chemistry from Manchester Polytechnic, was known to security forces in Britain, having been cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions with intent to endanger life at Birmingham Crown Court in 2002.

Six years earlier, he had been cleared at Manchester Crown Court of involvement in a bomb plot campaign.

In July last year he was caught at Manchester Airport trying to board a plane to Bangladesh with a pistol and bullet parts in his luggage.

The father-of-three was given a suspended sentence. On Monday Bangladeshi security forces raided the orphanage Mostafa set up and the attached Muslim school on the remote island of Bhola in South Bangladesh.

Lieutenant Colonel Munir Haque, from the Rapid Action Battalion, said: 'We found small arms - about nine or 10 in total - plus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices and four sets of army uniforms.

'We also found enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Bin Laden.'

He said there were 11 children between the ages of 7 and 8 at the compound.

A teacher and three caretakers were arrested but Mostafa, who is in his mid-40s, was not there.

Police in Bangladesh said they were searching for him.

K M Mamunur Rashid, another officer in the raid, said: 'It is a big Madrassa and we have so far gathered that this whole compound is being used for militant training.'

Mostafa's father, speaking from his home in Stockport, last night strongly denied that his son had any involvement in terrorism. The 73-year-old, who did not want to be named, said: 'This is all an exaggeration.

'He just wants to help children. He is a British citizen and has been in this country since 1969.'

Green Crescent, set up in 1998, last year had an income of £63,000 for 'long-term educational and health projects'.

Saeed Mahmood, of Stockport-based charity Human Appeal International, said: 'Faisal comes in every few months about mainland projects in Bangladesh. We only work with organisations that are registered with the Charity Commission so we had no idea about these allegations.'

A spokesman for counter-terrorism think-tank Quilliam Foundation said: 'If Green Crescent has been involved in militant activity, this will reflect very poorly on the Charity Commission, particularly given that Mostafa, the head of the charity, had previously been put on trial twice for terrorist offences.

'Ineffectiveness by the Charity Commission in identifying and tackling extremist charities leads to the British taxpayer directly subsiding militancy.'

Militants' 'ammo factory' busted

noreply@blogger.com (Deshi Blogger) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:15:00 +0000

Source: Daily Star
March 25, 2009

In a chilling reminder of how the militants are still alive and kicking, the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday unearthed a mini-ammunition factory inside a madrasa-cum-orphanage in a remote village of Bhola.

During the bust, they recovered a huge cache of firearms and ammunition, explosive substances, four pairs of German-made uniforms and booklets on jihad, Moulana Moududi and al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

Besides, the elite crime-busters arrested four suspected militants--Abul Kalam, Abdul Halim, Jasim and Moulana Mohammad Russell.

The raid was still on as of filing this report at 1:00am.

Earlier at night, the coastal district's Superintendent of Police Azizur Rahman told The Daily Star that the arrestees did not yet disclose their organisational identity. But the materials seized suggest they are lined to a banned Islamist group like Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Following up leads, a team of Barisal Rab-8 had been keeping a close watch on Green Crescent Madrasa in Ramkeshob village under Borhanuddin for the last one week.

Then at around 11:00am yesterday, they stormed the building that stands on a four-acre land.

The seizure list includes nine firearms, 2,500 bullets, 3,000 grenade splinters, an explosives blaster, 200 gram gunpowder, bullet-making components and equipment, two walkie-talkies, two bows, two remote control devices, binoculars and a book on how to operate firearms.

Pretty well furnished, the seminary has no signboard. It drew attention of the neighbourhood, but few knew it was a militants' den capable of making improvised explosive devices (IED) and assembling ammunition.

Rab officials said they suspect it might have been used for training militants.

Lt Commander Mamunur Rashid who led the operation told The Daly Star that the madrasa, launched recently, is circled by a trench-like canal to keep off the locals.

In the daytime, the occupants would use a hanging bridge over the canal to get in and out. But they would remove it at night-time so no-one could gain access to the premises.

Referring to the items recovered, Mamun said, "We've found materials needed to assemble bullets. They include percussion caps, cartridge cases and bullet heads. And all these are made in the UK.”

About the blasting machine, Mamun said it is a military item that can detonate wired-up explosive devices planted in the distance. It is usually used in training on how to explode bombs.

"The recovery also indicates they [the militants] have all equipment necessary to make IEDs," he continued.

In primary interrogations, the arrestees told the Rab officials that they were recruited by one Moulana Mohiuddin.

They also said Faisal Mostafa, a Bangladeshi expatriate in London, has been financing the madrasa.

He is nephew of former BNP minister and ex-lawmaker from Bhola-3 Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed.

Faisal, who has been living abroad for over two decades, often comes to Bangladesh. Now he is on a visit to Chittagong.

His father Golam Mostafa, Major (retd) Hafizuddin's cousin, too is settled in London.

Contacted, Faisal's father-in-law Shahidul Haque Naquib Chowdhury, who was the founder president of Bhola BNP, said they are shocked to know of the arms haul.

As far as he is concerned, he continued, Faisal and a few of his friends have been running an NGO named Green Crescent. Their organisation is headquartered in Doulatkha of Bhola.

He said the building has been constructed on a piece of land that he sold to Faisal. He was told it would be used as a vocational training school for orphan children.

The Rab team hauled in 11 students of the madrasa for questioning. But they could not capture Kajal, caretaker of the building, as he has gone to Chittagong with Faisal.

The students told the Rab officials that the madrasa is only a month old.

Those involved in the operation said they can tell from the interior and exterior and tile floors that a handsome amount of money had been spent on construction of the building.