Is deposed Sheikh Hasina held incommunicado in India?

SALEEM SAMAD

News from Delhi is trickling down that Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been held incommunicado at a safe house in an airforce based near Delhi.

The sources cannot confirm whether she was under house arrest at Hindon Air Base, soon after she fled Bangladesh on 5 August.

However, the sources confirmed that she is confined at the safe house after Bangladesh Chief Advisor Dr Muhammad Yunus of the Interim Government spoke over the phone days a week after the Nobel laureate took oath of office in the first week of August.

Hours of the Yunus-Modi phone conversation all her incommunicado and communication devices were disrupted and she cannot speak to anybody.

Yunus told Indian news agency PTI that Sheikh Hasina, who was toppled after the Monsoon Revolution in August, warned her to shut her mouth and request Delhi bigwigs not to allow her to speak.

Sources said she is not allowed to stroll outside the safe house compound and not permitted to go to a military supershop to buy essentials which is within walking distance.

Her daughter Saima Wazed, who is the Regional Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia office in New Delhi has not been able to reunite with her mother to embrace her even after she was in exile for a month in the Indian capital.

Saima in posts on Twitter (X) has given several excuses for her tight schedule of a series of regional planning meetings, which was the reason not to hug her mother. Her elder brother Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who lives in Washington DC, soon after her arrival at the Air Force base announced that he would visit Delhi to meet her mother. He also said the meeting would be crucial to understand her future course plan.

Unconfirmed news said that he was asked not to arrive in Delhi, as he was likely not to meet her.

Phones in the safe house are disconnected and she is unable to contact her loved ones. Both her son and daughter are conspicuously silent over Hasina’s incommunicado in India.

Hasina is accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, who is a British citizen. She is also stranded with her at the safe house.

Incidentally, her daughter Tulip Rizwana Siddiq is a British Labour Party politician who is presently Britain’s city minister, responsible for overseeing the financial services sector.

Tulip seems to have avoided influencing the British government to intervene in her aunt Hasina’s case and rescue her mother (Rehana) from unofficial confinement. It is unclear whether Rehana has sought counsellor service from the British High Commission in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Yunus in an indirect threat to Delhi in an interview with PTI categorically said that the Iron Lady (Hasina) should be extradited to Bangladesh and face the music of justice for the deaths of nearly a thousand students and youths during the July massacre.

If deportation is requested to South Block, it would be a slap on Narendra Modi. It is too early to understand how South Block will reverse to damage control mode if they are adamant about keeping the Iron Lady for her safety and security.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 7 August 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Muhammad Yunus Has Read The Writing On The Wall

SALEEM SAMAD

Commemorating the Monsoon Revolution by the students who deposed Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina, the Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus made a scornful remark. He told Delhi to shut Hasina’s mouth while living in exile in India.

In an interview with the Indian news agency PTI, Dr Yunus also gave a message that the Iron Lady would be extradited to Bangladesh to face the music of justice for the deaths of more than nearly a thousand students and youths during the July massacre, the enforced disappearance, extrajudicial deaths of opponents and critics.

“She [Hasina] has to be brought back, or the people of Bangladesh won’t be at peace. The atrocities she has committed must be addressed through a trial here,” said the inventor of microcredit, the founder of Grameen Bank.

This was a slap on Delhi’s ‘Sarkar’, which India did not expect from the interim government – a big embarrassment for India.

Hasina hastily fled, when the students and protesters on August 5 marched to Gonobhaban, the official residence of the Bangladesh Prime Minister. Tens of thousands from east, west, north and south joined the rally, the Bangladesh Army responsible for her security, forcibly whisked her away to a military airfield, a kilometer away and air dashed her to an air force base, adjacent to Dhaka International Airport. She boarded a transport plane and flew to Delhi, sinking her party’s boat (election symbol). She also abandoned thousands of leaders and millions of members of her party, the Awami League.

In the absence of a backup plan, the dumbstruck leaders and members of the Awami League either went into hiding and many tried to leave the country. Few managed to fly away. Some paid a hefty price to human traffickers and crossed the porous international border to India.

At Hindon Air Base near Delhi, where the Bangladesh Air Force transport plane landed, there she is still living in a safe house for a month. After hectic negotiations with several “friendly” Western countries, one after another her requests were turned down.

A top Indian diplomat stationed in Dhaka said what India would do when all countries have refused her applications for refugee status (political asylum).

The United States promptly revoked her 10-year multiple visa. Bangladesh’s new regime invalidated her Red and Green passports. Hasina is a stateless person. Delhi is now in a fix!

It is understood that Hasina is apparently under house arrest. She is not allowed to venture out of the safe house to take a stroll around the place, nor allowed to buy essentials from a military super shop nearby.

Her daughter Saima Wazed, who is employed as Regional Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia office in New Delhi, has not been able to meet her.

Saima in posts on Twitter (X) has given several excuses for her tight schedule and unable to hug her mother. Her elder brother in Washington DC had announced to visit Delhi and meet her mother. Unconfirmed news claims that Sajeeb Wazed Joy was asked not to arrive in Delhi, as he may not be able to meet her.

Many political observers say after Dr Yunus had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian authorities decided to sever all communications with the outside world and stay away from her.

Phones in the safe house are disconnected and she is unable to contact her loved ones as well as her party central leaders, who have fled the country. Both her son and daughter are conspicuously silent over Hasina’s incommunicado in India.

Except for Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval, none of the Indian officials and opposition leaders has paid a courtesy call to their loyal guests. This gives a clear message that India is uncomfortable with the status of their guest.

Dr Yunus will have an opportunity to meet with Modi at the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit in Bangkok this weekend. He will once again raise the issue of Hasina with Modi.

BIMSTEC links five countries from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka) and two from South-East Asia (Myanmar and Thailand).

Earlier, he cautioned Indian media not to play the Hindu card and invited journalists from India to visit Bangladesh. Indian media was agog on the persecution of Hindus, vandalism of Hindu business establishments and desecration of Hindu temples in expressing anger after the downfall of Hasina.

In a clever decision, Dr Yunus urged foreign journalists, especially Indian journalists to visit Bangladesh. Indian media has stopped beating in the bush.

In several interviews, Dr Yunus has told the international media, that the elections will be held only after a series of reforms are made to block autocratic government from taking control of the state institutions, which has been politicized and exploited by the ruling parties.

The politicization of state institutions – especially the judiciary, bureaucracy, law enforcement agencies and state media – was nothing new. Both the Begums – Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina – kept the institutions on their lap to dominate and dictate terms with loyalists.

The interim government has entrusted a think tank and several pundits to the White Paper Committee, which is responsible for identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The White Paper Committee on the economy has sought public opinion through social media. They sought feedback on the accuracy and reliability of government statistics; current challenges in macroeconomics; review of GDP growth; inflation trends and their impacts; poverty, inequality and vulnerability; internal resource extraction; assessment of priorities in allocation of government expenditure; foreign exchange balance and credit capacity, evaluation of mega-projects, actual condition of the banking sector; energy and power sector situation; business environment and private investment; illegal money and money laundering; labor market dynamics and youth employment; foreign labor markets and migrant workers’ rights.

Plans are afoot to make the election commission an independent institution and reforms of the electioneering system would allow inclusivity and transparency.

Hasina during her tenure failed to hold free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024, which were all flawed.

She deliberately kept the opposition out of the electioneering and jailed 10,000 leaders and members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami – an Islamist party – accused of terrorism and attacks on government properties, which enabled the government to keep the opposition languish in prison for a long time.

The Yunus administration has repealed the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, stressing that the organisations are not involved in terrorist activities. This decision has invited backlash from Mukti Bahini, the 1971 war veterans and secularists.

Dr Yunus, who is chief adviser of the interim government, in an address to the nation on September 5 in commemoration of a month of minus Hasina’s autocratic regime, said the biggest challenge now is to heal the wounds created by misrule and autocracy.

He appealed for unity and coordination. “We all pledge that, as a nation, we will not allow the blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices of our injured brothers and sisters to be in vain.”

He pledged, “I want to assure them that we will never betray the dreams of the martyrs.”

First published in the Stratheia news portal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 6 September 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

America, India both lost its influence in Bangladesh

Cartoon: Sadatuddin Ahmed Emil, The Daily Star

SALEEM SAMAD

A bombshell article published in the Washington Post on 15 August claims that India pressed the United States to tone down its criticism of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and to scuttle any fresh sanctions against her neighbouring Bangladesh.

The article jointly by Gerry Shih, Ellen Nakashima and John Hudson says that both countries must fall back, whether they mishandled Bangladesh.

The story goes a year before her government was toppled in the first week of August in a student uprising, Indian officials began to lobby their U.S. counterparts to stop pressuring Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 years with an iron fist.

American diplomats had publicly warned the 76-year-old Hasina for jailing thousands of her rivals, critics, dissidents and journalists ahead of a parliamentary election held last January.

Earlier, the Biden administration had sanctioned Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime police unit Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) accused of committing enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of suspects and had threatened to impose visa restrictions on those who undermined democracy or committed human rights abuses.

In a series of parleys, Indian officials demanded that the United States tone down its pro-democracy rhetoric. If the opposition were allowed to gain power in a free, fair and inclusive election, Indian officials argued, Bangladesh would become a breeding ground for Islamist militancy posing a security threat to India.

In several engagements, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in November in New Delhi.

While Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval also played a key role in presenting the Indian case during a visit to Washington that autumn.

These diplomatic engagements stirred a magical potion in the cooking pot. Soon after some “White House officials considered the downside of antagonising India, which made a series of appeals to the U.S. that it moderate its pressure on Hasina,” writes the prestigious newspaper publishing for 147 years.

“You approach it at the level of democracy, but for us, the issues are much more serious and existential,” said an Indian government adviser on the condition of anonymity.

The American foreign policy bigwigs concluded that after the private parleys between top officials of the United States and India, “This is a core concern for us, and you can’t take us as a strategic partner unless we have some kind of strategic consensus.”

Finally, when Biden visited New Delhi in September 2023, he took a selfie with Sheikh Hasina and her smart daughter Saima Wazed, several analysts got a message of thaw between Dhaka and Washington.

Well, the Biden administration substantially softened its criticism and shelved threats of further sanctions against Hasina’s autocratic regime after the flawed January election, disappointing several civil societies in Bangladesh.

Now, after protesters defied the army’s curfew orders and marched on Hasina’s official residence, compelling her to flee to India, policymakers in both New Delhi and Washington went backstage to preview whether they mishandled Bangladesh.

The policymakers in the State Department believe that the ground reality often fails the balancing act in Bangladesh, as there are many places where the situation on the ground is complicated and you want to work with the partners you have in a way that is not inconsistent with what the American people expect.

The United States was in a dilemma regarding diplomatic engagement with Bangladesh vis-à-vis keeping India in good humour. Biden administration viewed India as a crucial partner in countering China.

Its smaller neighbours in South Asia increasingly view India itself as a meddling, aggressively nationalist power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India’s meddling in Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka backfired. The episode and kept a safe distance to avoid further embarrassment.

Several sources in Washington told the writers of the article that in the months leading up to the January election, divisions emerged within the U.S. government over how to handle Bangladesh.

Many former senior diplomats, who were assigned in Dhaka, and the State Department recommended a tougher stance against Hasina, particularly since President Joe Biden had campaigned on restoring democracy in Bangladesh.

Other U.S. officials felt there was little to be gained from further alienating Hasina and risking the safety of U.S. diplomats, including Ambassador Peter Haas, who had received threats from Hasina’s political henchmen.

The Post journalists wrote that for India, the dramatic developments in Bangladesh have turned a spotlight on its decade-long, all-in bet on Hasina, even as she grew autocratic and unpopular.

In January, after Hasina claimed victory in a flawed election, keeping thousands of opposition leaders in jail or hiding, Indian officials did not hesitate to the election results, fuelling calls from the opposition and like-minded groups for a boycott of Indian imports.

Jon Danilowicz, a retired U.S. diplomat who served as deputy chief of mission in Dhaka said, “New Delhi and Washington have to show some humility and acknowledge they got Bangladesh wrong by not siding with the Bangladeshi people and their democratic aspirations.”

After the elections, which were neither free nor fair, some criticised the U.S. for not imposing more restrictions on Bangladeshis, falsely attributing this to Indian influence, remarked Danilowicz.

The anti-quota movement spearheaded by the students of Dhaka University spread to all state universities and scores of private universities, and the “helmet behind” [vigilante recruits from Awami League’s students and youths] backed by riot police attacked the street protests.

The street protests turned violent and turned into anti-government uprisings which killed more than 600 people, according to the. Hasina made a hasty decision to flee the country and took refuge in India, at a Delhi military base.

After Hasina’s ouster, Indian officials have publicly changed tack and expressed willingness to work with the inventor of microcredit Dr Muhammad Yunus.

Last week, Modi sent his “best wishes” to Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning banker who took charge of Bangladesh’s interim government, even though he criticized India for backing Hasina. Yunus has called for new, free, and fair elections once the country's stability is restored.

As India grapples with the shock of suddenly losing one of its closest allies, Indian foreign policy circles and media have been awash with speculation that Washington orchestrated the removal of Hasina, who has long had a chilly relationship with the United States. U.S. officials have staunchly denied the claim.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 18 August 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Worries in Delhi grow if Yunus demands extradition of Hasina

SALEEM SAMAD

The delay in ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking asylum or stay in destination to North America, the United Kingdom or Europe, has caused the elites in India’s South Block and Indian Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi to bite their nails.

Every day passes, Delhi is getting jittery for the unwelcome VVIP guest, who arrived unnoticed on a special military flight from Dhaka to Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, near the Indian capital Delhi.

On August 5, Sheikh Hasina flew in a helicopter from the Prime Minister’s official residence Gonobhaban to Kurmitola Air Base. She departed on a Bangladesh Air Force C-130J transport aircraft (Flight No. AJAX 1431) and flew her to India.

After a safe landing at 5:45 PM, Hasina’s transport plane landed at Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad. Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval received her upon arrival and held an hour-long meeting high-level discussion. The agenda mostly centred around the current crisis in Bangladesh and her immediate plans.

Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world was elected to power for a fifth term only seven months ago in January. Her uninterrupted 15-year tenure as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister came to a dramatic end on August 5, when she fled the country amidst a mass street uprising of students and also joined by millions of people.

The unrest, which began with protests over job quotas on 1 July and escalated into calls for Hasina’s resignation, reached a tipping point with violent clashes in the first week of August.

The police and ‘Helmet Bahini’, armed vigilant gangs recruited from Awami League killed at least 400 people in the streets during the Red Revolution which lasted for the last six days of the student protests.

Hasina promoted her nephew General Waker-Uz-Zaman as the chief of the Bangladesh Army keeping in mind that she would protect her and her autocratic regime.

The military chief declared Hasina’s resignation in a national broadcast and stated that the military would establish a caretaker government to restore order. He also announced the formation of an interim government.

Hasina was the first leader and head of government who fled the country to avoid the wrath of the angry students and the public.

The following day, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar convened an all-party meeting to discuss the Bangladesh crisis. The meeting was attended by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Jaishankar said the government is in a “wait-and-watch” mode, but hands-on and in touch with the Bangladesh Army. He said Sheikh Hasina’s presence in India is a courtesy move to ensure she settles down, recovers, and feels comfortable enough to discuss her plans.

He also described that Hasina is in a state of shock and the government is giving her time to recover before it speaks to her over various issues, including her plans.

Jaishankar told the Indian parliament that Hasina has “requested at very short notice” to come to India following her forced resignation as Bangladesh Prime Minister.

The parliament was informed that an estimated 19,000 Indian nationals of which about 9,000 are students. The bulk of students returned in July.

Indian foreign minister also referred to an address by Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman – made last Monday, shortly after Hasina stepped down – in which he said, “I have met opposition leaders… we have decided to form an interim government…” and appealed for the violent protests to end.

The interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Dr Mohammad Yunus arrived in Dhaka in the afternoon (Thursday) and took the oath of office in the evening. He also announced a 15-member Adviser in his interim government.

For the restoration of democracy, a tentative date of election will be announced by the inventor of micro-credit.

Earlier, in an exclusive interview with NDTV from Paris, where Yunus attended as a Special Guest at the Paris Olympics and had a minor operation a vile warning that “India’s north-east, Myanmar will be affected if Bangladesh becomes unstable.”

Yunus for the last 12 years faced several legal harassments and was even awarded six months imprisonment in a labour case.

Several times, Hasina humiliated Yunus and even said he is a “bloodsucker” and profits from exorbitant loan interests from disadvantaged rural women.

She blamed Yunus for jeopardising the financial support of the World Bank for the construction of the mega project, the Padma Bridge. In a hate speech, at the inaugural event of Padma Bridge, said she wished to dip the Nobel laureate and ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia into the yawning Padma River.

Hasina has nowhere to go in the next several weeks, she will stranded in a guest house on the outskirts of Delhi and India feel embarrassed to have her for long, which possibly dent the renewed bilateral relationship between two neighbours – Bangladesh and India of emerging new government under the rule of Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Several political observers understand, that Yunus after holding the reign of Bangladesh, is likely to appeal to global leaders to urge India to deport Hasina to stand trial for crimes committed against the people during her 15 years of repressive rule.

If Delhi bigwigs do not concede to Yunus’s appeal to send back Hasina, not only bilateral relations and trade would be affected, but would also would spark an anti-India campaign resulting in a call for ‘Boycott India’ and would also more persecution against Hindus in Bangladesh, which will difficult for the interim government to neutralise.

First published in The Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 8 August 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad

Why does Prof Yunus demand a mid-term election in Bangladesh?

SALEEM SAMAD 

In a bombshell opinion, the country’s lone Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has reached out to world leaders, including the Indian government to restore democracy in Bangladesh.

In an exclusive interview with India’s prestigious daily, The Hindu, Yunus suggested that Bangladesh should hold a mid-term election within a ‘short time’ to overcome the crisis by restoring democracy with a public mandate. Democracy laid down all solutions.

Prof Yunus, inventor of social business and pioneer in micro-credit for the poor, appealed for the international community, particularly India, to reach out to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to call for calm. India and Bangladesh are historical friends and should urge to restrain from committing crimes against the people, he remarked.

Dr Yunus condemns the killing of students and the common public as an ‘invading force’ from another country. We see police firing innocent students raising their hands and shooting at close range because they have the power to shoot to kill. That’s what we see, he said.

Regarding the recent student protest in Dhaka, the economist condemned the killing of students and innocent people by the police, paramilitary and army.

“The issue is democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the role of the judiciary. People have the right to express their views and the Government has no right to kill them for their views,”

Angered by the law enforcement exercise of excessive force to quell the student protest, he said, “Demonstrators were not out there to kill anybody. Their demand may be unpleasant to the government, but that doesn’t allow the government to shoot them to kill.”

The Noble Laureate appealed to the world leaders to observe the random killing in Bangladesh. He urged all members of South Asian countries to investigate the recent incidents in Dhaka as neighbouring countries.

Dr Yunus is hopeful that global leaders can use their informal relationships and informal channels to restrain our leaders and make them aware of the serious departure from the norm of democracy.

Without dubbing Bangladesh as governed by an autocratic regime, he questioned the legitimacy of the government of Sheikh Hasina, which held three sham elections sans the opposition to participate in the elections – which lacks the credibility of inclusive elections.

Yunus, literally rubbed salt into the wound, for reaching out to global leaders to ensure calm in Bangladesh has irked the government.

The government in a loud voice said Yunus’ rhetoric at the time of “ferocity of the crisis” this month has been deemed as an “anti-state” statement.

“Of course, the election is the ultimate solution to all political problems. When something doesn’t work, you go back to the people to seek their instructions.

They are the ultimate owners of the country. Make sure it is a genuine election, not an election of a magician,” Prof Yunus spoke to Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor of The Hindu from the French capital, where he was attending as a special guest at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

“Whether you’re freshly elected or you’re not elected, or you are abusing your position without the consent of the people, does not matter in a democracy. You are a government responsible for protecting people, not killing people. You cannot just pick up somebody because he belongs to the opposition party, so he is liable to be arrested,” he retorted.

Yunus did not hesitate to ask, why the army is tackling students. Pointing his finger at Hasina, he said that democracy can’t flourish with a magician.

“Why do you have to bring in an army to tackle the student demonstration? Now you say, there are some enemies inside. Who are those enemies? Identify them and deal with them, not by killing students,” added Dr Yunus.

Yunus, despised by Hasina, mentioned that the people in Bangladesh have committed themselves to democracy and to stay with democracy.

If democracy fails, Dr Yunus believes that the politicians should go back to the people again to get the mandate of the people, credibility of the people, the government doesn’t have any credibility left at this moment.

Hasina won a fourth consecutive term amid controversies after the main opposition party and allies boycotted the election in January this year. Her tenure will go down with Guinness World Records for becoming the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world.

In the latest “block raid”, over 9,000 people were arrested including leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) for allegedly spearheading recent street violence, vandalism and arson of government properties, including two pride mega-projects and several government buildings.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the arrested leaders, members and supporters of the opposition are being tortured and maimed before being brought to court and are being tortured again after obtaining remand orders.

The challenger of Hasina also urged the government to “Get the people’s mandate, freely and fairly. That’s it. Democracy cures problems by getting people’s instructions because the state belongs to the people, not to some people in the government.”

In the interview with eminent Indian journalist Suhasini Haidar, the economist claimed that Bangladesh authorities have been suppressing the locals with bullets alike foreign forces evading from another country.

“I cannot bear to see it, I can’t see millions of Bangladeshis living in terror. Democracy puts people’s lives as the highest priority. Democracy is about protecting people, all people, irrespective of religion, political opinion, or any other differences of opinion. If a citizen is about to kill another person, the state’s first responsibility is to protect the person under attack,” he said criticising the incumbent regime in Dhaka.

Meanwhile, fourteen missions in Dhaka, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and the European Union (EU) in a joint letter to Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, urged the protection of human rights and fair trials for those arrested in the wake of last week’s violent clashes.

On the other hand, India and China have stated that this is an internal affair of Bangladesh.

First published in Northeast News portal, Guwahati, India, 28 July 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Will Hasina save Bangladesh from anarchy?

SALEEM SAMAD

Never before in the history of Bangladesh (since 1972), in any student uprising, anti-government movement or people’s revolt so much blood has been spilt in street violence.

The panic-stricken government of Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving woman prime minister of Bangladesh in the world suddenly imposed shoot-on-sight orders during curfew hours, the blanket blackout of internet and mobilised army to quell the rioters on 18 July evening. Rumours of declaring an Emergency Rule were also heard.

Hasina, who won a fourth consecutive term after January elections that were apparently not free or fair, had previously imposed and then withdrawn the quota.

Educational institutions have been closed indefinitely. Broadband internet has been partially opened after a week. There is no deadline for when mobile internet will be restored. Several messaging apps, including Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, YouTube and many international news media remain blocked.

The students at Dhaka University and four other universities in the outskirts of Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet since 1 July began their protest for reforms of job quota in government jobs.

Earlier a judgement of the High Court challenged the government’s decision to cancel all categories of job quota sparked the students to take to the streets.

On 21 July, the Supreme Court, hearing an appeal from the government, ruled to reduce the quota in government jobs, allocating 5 per cent for descendants of independence war veterans and 2 per cent for other categories of third-gender (Hijra) and physically challenged persons.

Possibly the political historian will be able to explain whether anywhere in the world, such a huge price the people had to pay for a higher court verdict.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina squarely blamed the anarchy on the shoulders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).

BNP has not only boycotted the January 2024 election but also announced to resist the electioneering. JeI did not have any say, as Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s verdict scraping its legitimacy in participating in any elections.

“Bangladesh has been troubled for a long time due to unfettered security force abuses against anyone who opposes the Sheikh Hasina government, and we are witnessing that same playbook again, this time to attack unarmed student protesters,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The government instead of mentioning the death tolls, is more concentrated in describing the anarchy, mayhem, vandalism and arson of state properties listed as Key Points Installations (KPIs). Like the two stations of the newly built Metro Rail, the elevated expressway was pride mega project of Hasina.

The Shetu Bhaban, which houses the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) head office, state-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) and several other government buildings also took the full brunt of the severity of the frenzied mob.

Hasina asked the members of the public and law enforcement agencies to hunt for the perpetrators who have destroyed her pride projects. Her call will surely encourage a witch-hunt of alleged suspects to settle individual scores against their rivals.

Nearly a thousand students, journalists, passersby, and bystanders were wounded. Scores of children who were not in the street protest were killed or critically wounded. Harrowing tales of children are appearing on the front page of leading newspapers in Bangladesh.

More than 200 people, including students and innocent, were shot and killed.

According to the independent newspaper Prothom Alo, 5,000 people were arrested and slammed in hundreds of cases of arson, terrorism and attack on law enforcement officers. The majority of the detained persons are innocent.’

Independent media rights researcher and journalist Pullack Ghatack said at least four journalists were shot and killed by police during the clashes.

While 187 journalists in print media, news portals and television were mercilessly assaulted by police, student protesters and rioters. Once the full fact-finding is concluded the number of wounded journalists from all over the country would climb to 300, Ghatack said.

A huge number of casualties was the result of excessive force by law enforcement officers and troops with lethal weapons. The riot police violated the rules of engagement with the agitating public.

Firearms are not an appropriate tool for the policing of assemblies; they must only be used when strictly necessary to confront an imminent threat of death or serious injury, says Amnesty International.

There was a severe absence of crowd control engagement by the police, anti-crime force Rapid Action Battalion, paramilitary Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and armed paramilitary auxiliary force Ansar Battalion confronted the defiant students and violent protesters.

The situation went out of the hands of the law enforcement officers when the “Helmet Bahini”, a ‘gladiator’ wing recruited from the Chattra (student) League and Juba (youth) League of the ruling Awami League went berserk.

The ‘Helmet Bahini’ wearing motorbike helmets and armed with metal bars, batons, hockey sticks, unauthorised firearms, mostly handguns, shotguns, and crude home-made bombs were mobilised in scores of hotspots in the capital Dhaka, port city Chattogram (former Chittagong) clashed with students and protesters.

Amnesty International claims video and photographic analysis confirm police unlawfully used lethal and less-lethal weapons against protesters.

Amnesty International and its Crisis Evidence Lab have verified videos and photographic evidence of three incidents of unlawful use of lethal and less lethal weapons by law enforcement agencies while policing the protests.

Amnesty International urges the Government of Bangladesh and its agencies to respect the right to protest, end this violent crackdown and immediately lift all communications restrictions.

An independent and impartial investigation into all human rights violations committed by security forces, including the high death toll of protesters, must be urgently conducted.

Amnesty urged that “An independent and impartial investigation into all human rights violations committed by security forces, including the high death toll of protesters must urgently be conducted and all those found responsible must be held fully accountable. Victims of unlawful police use of force, including those who have been injured and family members of those who have been killed, must also receive full reparations from the state.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Türk on the student protests called on the Bangladesh government to urgently disclose full details about the crackdown on protests amid growing accounts of horrific violence.

Türk also urged the government to ensure all law enforcement operations abide by international human rights norms and standards, according to a press release published on the UN Human Rights Office of The High Commissioner’s website.

An Awami League intellectual and a popular talkshow star Shubash Singha Roy confidently said this anarchy has proved that Bangladesh needs Sheikh Hasina and has once again proved that she can handle crisis efficiently.

“Now is the time for influential governments to press Sheikh Hasina to stop her forces from brutalising students and other protesters,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

First published in the International Affairs Review, New Delhi, India on 26 July 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Bangladesh curfew and internet blackout were an overkill

SALEEM SAMAD

The helms of affairs of government and security agencies during the rage of countrywide student protests in the last seven days, in panic, overreacted. The advisers who are small ‘g’ gods of lesser version hurriedly advised the authorities to clamp down with an indefinite curfew and blackout of the internet to contain the student’s protest, which local rioters joined.

PROTEST TURNS BLOODY

There is no denying that excessive force by law enforcement agencies in streets battling the protesters has shot and killed more than 200 in five days, according to an independent newspaper Prothom Alo. The situation remains calm in all the hotspots.

Another thousand were wounded and maimed. They are groaning and moaning in pain, agony, trauma and aftershock lying in hospital beds. Nearly 700 innocent passersby caught in between the conflict inflicted wounds on their eyes from shotgun pellets randomly fired by riot police. Eye surgeons operated upon 278 with pellet wounds.

HELMET BAHINI

The hundreds of dead and wounded took a direct hit from riot police backed by “Helmet Bahini” a hooliganism wing of Chattra League and Juba League of ruling Awami League battling student protesters.

The ‘Helmet Bahini’ was the second line of defence, besides the police to protect the Awami League leaders to counter the agitators. The armed hooligans after the face-off with the protesters had their anger ventilated and made them run for their lives from the campus dormitories in different universities.

Scores of ruling party students and youth members also known as “Golden Boys” had to publicly admit they had resigned from Chattra League in allegiance with the legitimate student protests. The posts on Facebook went viral on social media.

CRACKDOWN

In a crackdown, police arrested and detained nearly 1500 suspects. Among them are shopkeepers, delivery boys, returning home from work, and of course bystanders. Police in their dragnet have hardly been able to arrest the looters, rioters, and hooliganism.

Well, the police arrested scores of leaders from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) blaming them for instigating the riots in a bid to topple the government.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has squarely blamed BNP and JeI for vandalism and arson causing havoc on government Key Points Installations (KPIs), including two stations of Metro Rail, a pride of Hasina’s mega project. The Shetu Bhaban, houses the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority building and several other government buildings.

The government claims that the widespread destruction was pre-planned by the opposition and terrorists, which had planned to destabilise the government—a valid argument for a curfew and shutdown of the internet to foil the plan.

Dr Asif Nazrul, a law professor at Dhaka University in an OpEd urged the government to provide at least one evidence of opposition and Islamist conspiracy, which was foiled.

TIMELINE

The student protests which began on 1 July marched from the Dhaka University campus. The following days the students blocked the Shahbag Square, where historic protests were held and the government accepted the demands in the past.

The apex court on 4 July did not support the High Court verdict that invalidated the 2018 circular on cancellation of quota.

From 5 July, the protest spread to other university campuses and blocked roads and highways in their call for reforms of quota for government jobs.

Soon the road blockade was joined by private universities and also colleges of the country.

On 10 July, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court imposed a status quo on quota for four weeks. Demand to reform quota system for government recruitments under all grades.

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said the quota protesters are flexing muscle against the highest court of the country, which is unwarranted and illegal.

He made a stern warning if the protesters do not stand down, the Chattra League is prepared to face the agitators. While the Home boss Asaduzzaman Kamal said the protesters are ‘crossing their limits’.

Soon the ‘Helmet Bahini’ brutally attacked the student protesters in the Dhaka University campus with batons, metal bars, hockey sticks, and firearms.

COMPLETE BLOCKADE

In the following day, the students in protest of attacks on their comrades called for a nationwide road blockade, and boycott of classes and class exams in all universities. Tens of thousands of students poured into street intersections in all major cities and towns. The country came to a standstill, despite police obstruction in different places.

The movement by the new generation of students in our public and private universities for the reform of quotas was to ensure equal opportunities for all in our society and to obtain representation in government service.

Barrister Sara Hossain, a human rights lawyer in an OpEd “Bring those who ordered the excessive use of force to account” in an independent newspaper the Daily Star writes regarding the death of students and youths, “This has to be brought to account through a process that is independent, impartial, and effective. We need to see not only those who shot directly at the protesters and others but also those who ordered the firing to be brought to account.”

POLICE BRUTALITY

The blood spilt in the streets has itself turned into violence against the citizens of the country. Coupled with thousands of wounded reported in media has caused irksome among tens of thousands of ‘mango people’.

For the first time, Bangladesh witnessed that sound grenade and tear gas shells were charged from hovering helicopters. The flying machines are owned by the anti-crime force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the police.

RIGHTS GROUP

Prime Minister Hasina, who won a fourth consecutive term after January elections that were not free or fair, had previously imposed and then withdrawn the quota. She has called for dialogue and promised an inquiry into the July 15 deaths. Educational institutions have been closed indefinitely, according to a statement issued by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

On July 21, the Supreme Court, hearing an appeal from the government, ruled to reduce the quota in government jobs, allocating 5 per cent for descendants of independence war veterans and 2 per cent for other categories, reads the HRW statement.

“Bangladesh has been troubled for a long time due to unfettered security force abuses against anyone who opposes the Sheikh Hasina government, and we are witnessing that same playbook again, this time to attack unarmed student protesters,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Now is the time for influential governments to press Sheikh Hasina to stop her forces from brutalizing students and other protesters.”

PARLEYS

Hasina earlier had parleys with business leaders at her official residence Gono Bhaban. The worried business leaders urged the government to withdraw the curfew to enable the opening of the industries. They also urged the authorities to restore the internet as soon as possible.

On Wednesday, Hasina held a courtesy dialogue with the pro-government editors and senior journalists under the banner of Editors Guild.

She had no remorse for the dead students and others’ blood spilt from police brutalities.

TRAGEDY

Shafkat Samir (11), a fifth-grade student, was closing a window of his home to stay safe from the rampant firing of tear gas shells during massive clashes at Kafrul in the city’s Mirpur area on Friday afternoon. In the blink of an eye, a bullet pierced his head, entering through his eye and killing him instantly.

Later the harassment and legal threats by law enforcement officers, Samir’s father Sakibur followed their advice and signed a form stating that “I have no complaints over the incident, and I don’t want to file a case. After taking my son’s body, I will go to bury it.”. The form also says “I followed the police’s suggestion and convinced Sakibur to sign a letter stating that he had no complaints and would not file a case.”

First published in Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 25 July 2024

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter: @saleemsamad

Why the world is silent about persecution in Balochistan?

SALEEM SAMAD

At the onset of the Holy Ramadan month, Muslims all over the world were busy with fasting rituals, and the global protest against the occupation of Balochistan on 27 March 1948 was not heard across the globe.

Balochistan, for 76 years has endured institutionalised persecution and atrocities of Baloch ethnic minorities.

The Baloch people have been living in pain and agony under Pakistan’s occupation. The exiled Baloch has taken to social media @Twitter (now X) to remind that Balochistan was forcibly annexed by Pakistan against the will of the people.

Not much has been written and published in the international press. Not enough voice has been raised at any international forum regarding appalling human rights abuses, missing persons, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial deaths, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by state actors – Pakistan security forces.

Before the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, Balochistan consisted of four princely states under the British Raj – Kalat, Lasbela, Kharan and Makran, which is known as Balochistan. Two of these provinces, Lasbela and Kharan, were fiduciary states placed under Khan of Kalat’s rule by the British, as was Makran which was a district of Kalat.

The rulers of Kalat State first were under the subject of Mughal emperor Akbar in Delhi and after 1839 to the British.

Only three months before the creation of Pakistan (in August 1947), Muhammed Ali Jinnah, and the first Governor-General of Pakistan had negotiated the freedom of Balochistan under Kalat State from the British.

The series of meetings were held between the Viceroy, the British Crown’s representative based in New Delhi, Jinnah and the Khan of Kalat regarding the future relationship with Kalat State and Pakistan.

The parleys ensued in a communiqué, popularly a Standstill Agreement on 11 August 1947, which stated that: The Government of Pakistan recognised Kalat as an independent sovereign state in treaty relations with the British Government with a status different from that of Indian States.

The ruling Muslim League elites of Pakistan led by Jinnah had a change of heart and unilaterally decided to merge Balochistan with the Pakistan Union on 27 March 1948. The hashtag #27MarchBlackDay is viral on social media.

A Baloch journalist Malik Siraj Akbar remarked, “The Black Day in Balochistan is a reminder of the struggle for freedom and justice that continues to this day.”

For decades, exasperated Baloch people have been ferociously protesting the forcible conversion of the Baloch population into a minority in their homeland.

Armed militants of the fiercest Marri and Bugti tribes, waged armed struggles and politically challenged the forcible inclusion of the resource-rich province into Pakistan in March 1948.

Pakistan army forcibly occupied the Balochistan capital Quetta, raided the Amar Palace of Mir Sir Ahmad Yar Khan Ahmedzai, Khan of Kalat, who was also the President of the Council of Rulers for the Balochistan States Union and was forced to sign a document of accession to Pakistan.

In 1958, Pakistan military officer Tikka Khan brutally suppressed the first nationalist movement by the Baloch people and the military commander was dubbed the “Butcher of Balochistan”.

After 23 years, the hawkish Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan was rechristened as “Butcher of Bengal” for his role in the genocide in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

The province is vastly rich in natural resources, including oil, gas, copper, and gold. Despite huge deposits of mineral wealth, Balochistan is one of the poorest regions of Pakistan and also the largest province of Pakistan.

“Balochistan is a rich land with poor people because the state has never invested in its development,” stated Naela Quadri Baloch, an outspoken human rights defender and a senior member of the Balochistan government in exile.

Today the resources are plundered by the Pakistan junta in collaboration with China, in the name game of the mega debt-trap Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was fiercely resisted by the armed Baloch nationalists.

Amnesty International in a report stated that despite several pledges to resolve the country’s crisis of ‘disappearances’, Pakistan’s new civilian government has not yet provided information about hundreds of cases of people believed to be held in secret prisons in undisclosed locations by the military establishment.

International political think tanks say that there is no global support for the Baloch movement for freedom because an independent Balochistan would result in more violence and destabilisation.

First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

Shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh flout 50,000 workers' rights

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladesh is the third-largest destination where ships come to die. The country specialises in shipbreaking and the graveyard has been in Sitakundu, Chattogram since the 1970s.

Every day, the huge cargo ships are shredded by unskilled labourers. The labourers do not comply with work safety guidelines, which are not strictly enforced. The labour laws are a far cry in the shipbreaking industry.

The industry directly employs 50,000 people and another 1,00,000 indirectly and provides around 80 per cent of the country’s steel.

The ship scrapping industry is a dirty and dangerous economic activity amid poor transparency and inadequate monitoring systems by the regulatory authorities.

Shipbreaking in Bangladesh is strongly criticised by both international and national NGOs due to its dirty and dangerous practices. Concerns include abysmal working conditions, fatal accidents, exploitation of child workers, and severe pollution of the marine environment as well as the dumping of hazardous wastes.

The causes of death at the shipbreaking yards are many, including suffocation, explosions, falls from great heights and crushing due to falling parts of the ship.

As a result of working in hazardous conditions, shipbreaking workers are more likely to suffer accidents. These accidents are rarely reported due to the lack of transparency on the part of employers and the government.

Hundreds of workers are wounded and maimed every year. None of them receive adequate compensation. The wounded and maimed workers have never been provided proper medical care and do not speak about rehabilitation, according to award-winning environment defender Syed Rizwana Hasan, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).

BELA has been monitoring labour and environmental issues at the shipbreaking yards for more than two decades. “They work long gruelling hours without holidays, and trade unions are prevented from effectively organising them. When workers attempt to unionise or protest conditions, they are fired, harassed and intimidated,” she said.

Dozens of workers in the Bangladesh yards have died in recent times according to local NGOs, rights groups and media, but more still will suffer early deaths from their exposure to asbestos pollution.

A 2019 survey of shipbreaking workers estimated that 13 per cent of the workforce are children. Researchers noted, however, that this number jumps to 20 per cent during illegal night shifts. Many workers interviewed began working at the age of 13.

The authorities have minimum wage compensation for factories which is rigorously implemented in export-oriented industries.

However, the average daily salary is between BDT 400 and 600. The workers have been fighting for their labour rights because they do not receive official minimum wages, and do not have access to health facilities or the employer compensate the costs of their treatments, lamented Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), an NGO working in Sitakundu.

The hospital building set up by the Bangladesh Shipbreakers Association (BSBA) is operated in conjunction with a private clinic and can only provide treatment for minor injuries. Many workers succumb to their injuries on their way to the closest specialised government hospital in Chattogram city.

Multinational shipping firms appear to have distanced themselves from these deaths in part by selling their end-of-life vessels to so-called cash buyers, many of them are based offshore and their ownership is kept secret.

Accidents are commonly caused by fire and explosions, falling of heavy objects, electrocution, falls from height as well as mental and physical stress and fatigue, the YPSA monitoring report found.

Workers consistently said that they are not provided with adequate protective equipment, training, or tools to safely do their jobs. Workers described using their socks as gloves to avoid burning their hands as they cut through molten steel, wrapping their shirts around their mouths to avoid inhaling toxic fumes and carrying chunks of steel barefoot.

As per the Ship Recycling Rules 2011, “no person shall be allowed to be employed in a shipbreaking yard without appropriate training certificate”.

Besides not having appropriate training and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while working in dangerous procedures.

However, most of the time the workers do not receive any compensation even if they are not able to work anymore due to their injuries, like amputation of limbs or other life-threatening injuries.

Despite laws existing in Bangladesh to protect both workers and the environment, these are poorly implemented due to the weak enforcement management of the both Department of Environment and the Department of Labour and are deliberately ignored as a result of political pressure.

The environmental laws and guidelines are regularly flouted by the shipbreaking owners who have political clouts, supervisors and private buyers for illegal markets who also work as the yard’s henchmen. 

The president of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association Abu Taher is in denial mode of large-scale asbestos poisoning among ship-breaking workers. There is no asbestos victim in the industry, as the ships built after 2000 do not carry any asbestos.

"It has been a conspiracy to shut down the prospective ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh," he accused the media and NGOs of false narrative against the industry.

Several shipbreaking workers have only now started to manifest symptoms of asbestosis such as chest pain and lack of breath asbestos symptoms usually appear many years after the initial asbestos exposure. Despite their weak health condition, most of the sick workers continue to dismantle vessels to feed their families.

In Bangladesh, the life expectancy for men in the shipbreaking industry is 20 years lower than the average.

First published in The Daily Messenger, 19 March 2024

Saleem Samad is Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger and an award-winning journalist. An Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Hellman-Hammett Award. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Canada continues refusal to deport Mujib’s assassin

SALEEM SAMAD

AS The nation celebrates the 104th birth anniversary of the architect of Bangladesh's independence Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh laments that Canada, among the country’s foreign friends, is unfortunately dilly-dallying to extradite the assassin of Bangabandhu, who is the architect of Bangladesh's independence.

Months back, a fresh diplomatic rift ensued between Canada and India over Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian-Indian and leader of an outlawed Khalistan killed by unknown assailants at a Sikh temple in Surrey in the province of British Columbia in mid-June has dominated news headlines.

Four months after the assassination of the Khalistan nationalist leader, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suddenly stood up the House of Commons at Parliament Hill and told lawmakers in Ottawa that his government possessed “credible” allegations which pointed fingers toward Indian intelligence potential link to the assassination.

Canada allows hate speech by radical Sikhs in the name of freedom of speech and expression, which is not only a double standard but a hypocritical government.

Canada’s allies are still quiet! Trudeau expects condemnation from the West while asking India to cooperate on the murder of confessed extremists for an independent Khalistan.

The anti-Indian terror campaign for a separate territory for the Sikhs has been aided and abetted by the dreaded Pakistan spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).

Well, his government has yet to share evidence blaming India behind Nirjhar’s death, who was chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and is unlikely to get ‘cooperation’ from New Delhi.

Ottawa has refused to extradite a couple of “most-wanted” Sikhs for crimes committed in India and elsewhere.

An Indian born Ashok Swain @ashoswai, Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden tweets: “Modi has made Canada, India's new Pakistan!”

Pierre Trudeau (father of Justin Trudeau) turned down India’s request to hand over a Sikh militant named Talwinder Singh Parmar, the head of the terrorist organisation.

The ‘person of interest’ has been blamed for placing a bomb on an Air India flight in 1985. The bomb exploded midair, killing 329 people, 268 of them Canadian citizens.

Millions of immigrants who adopted Canada as their new home, do not know that Canada is a haven for Nazi war criminals and other wanted criminals living with impunity.

The politicians and former officials of their home countries have been laundering money accumulated from loot, corruption and illegal cartels with a “no question asked policy” of Canada for new arrivals.

Nearly a thousand suspects indicted for war crimes, according to the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals by Justice Jules Deschênes (1985-1986) are believed to be living in Canada.

The Royal Commission was able to establish that identified Nazi war criminals, for crimes committed in Germany and marauding Nazi occupation forces during World War II were given permanent residency. The Nazi war criminals brought huge wealth looted from Europe and especially from Jews.

The book ‘Unauthorised Entry: The Truth about Nazi War Criminals in Canada, 1946-1956’ by Howard Margolian published in 2000 brings fresh waves among Canadians about what the war crimes advocacy groups, the media, and even a royal commission have suggested that Canada has given refuge to such criminals.

On the recommendation of the Commission, Canada enacted the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, 2000. Under the new legislation, one Rwandan immigrant was found guilty of committing genocide and sentenced to life in prison in May 2009.

The Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Programme investigated 200 war crimes suspects is currently residing in Canada.

Notwithstanding India’s repeated requests over the years to extradite the “most wanted” extremists, who have harmed India, Canada decided not to comply, or give any explanation.

On the other hand, Bangladesh made repeated requests in more than 20 years to deport the ‘most wanted’ army officer S.H.M.B. Nur Chowdhury, held responsible for the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence hero of Bangladesh in a military putsch on 15 August 1975. The 73-year-old fugitive has been living in Canada since 1996.

“That’s why he is safe in Canada,” writes Charlie Gillis, a Canadian journalist, “The assassin among us.”

Nur told a state broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) denying the allegation of taking part in the murder of Bangabandhu and said as a junior military officer he obeyed orders of his superiors.

Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina pleaded with her counterpart Justin Trudeau at several meetings on the sideline at global events to deport her father's assassin. Her appeal fell on deaf ears though.

A new Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Heather Cruden in September 2011 in an explosive statement said that “Canada will not expel any suspected criminal to face a possible execution abroad.”

“Our government has a clear policy that we cannot extradite people to a country where there is [a] death sentence,” she told reporters in Dhaka.

The diplomat has rekindled a long-running dispute between Canada and Bangladesh, during which Bangladeshi officials have at times accused Canada of giving refuge to the most wanted fugitive for 27 years.

Canadian Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs sings the same tune. A policy statement says something like this: “Bangladesh judiciary is not independent and deportation or extradition of a certain person will jeopardise their safety and security would be compromised by a politically motivated justice system.”

“There are possibilities of being harmed when the person is forced to return to his country of origin,” the Canadian government explains.

Canada provided a typical argumentative debate on the request for the deportation of Chowdhury, who was indicted in absentia for the murder of Sheikh Mujib and has been sentenced to the death penalty by a special tribunal in Dhaka in 1998 and declared him a fugitive. His name appears in the red list of Interpol.

Canadian media have intermittently kept the issue alive. This may have impacted the rejection of Chowdhury’s asylum case and the demand for extradition by the Bangladeshi government.

All his hope to live in Canada has been dashed after all the gates of the legal system have been exhausted. Chowdhury’s asylum case has been denied repeatedly.

Media reported that the fugitive rarely ventures outside his apartment except to buy groceries. He once faced angry Bangladesh nationals who condemned him for killing Mujib and demanding punishment. He lives in seclusion in Etobicoke, Toronto.

In a brazen move, Ottawa wanted to negotiate with Washington DC to send rogue military officer AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, to a third country (preferably Canada), who swears that he didn't play a role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujib.

Ahmed's asylum case in Los Angeles, USA has been rejected multiple times in appeal courts. US authorities decided to deport him, which was indeed a surprise for Bangladesh.

The fugitive was deported to Bangladesh and the verdict was executed by hanging for the crime he had committed decades ago.

On 29 May 2007, Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice addressing the Speaker of Parliament urged Ms Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that a “former Bangladesh diplomat with a Canadian connection is facing imminent deportation from the U.S. to Bangladesh where he will be executed after a political trial was held in absentia,” as documented in the Parliament Hill online archive.

“Given this humanitarian issue and that Mr Mohiuddin Ahmed has immediate family in Canada, would the minister be prepared to review this case, to provide Mr Ahmed with the protection this case would warrant and help secure the suspension of his deportation until this case can be reviewed?”

However, Finley assured the members at Parliament Hill that Canada has “one of the most welcoming and fair immigration systems in the world.”

Commonly, most people know that hundreds of international victims of torture have found safety in Canada including dissidents, opposition, journalists, writers and academicians.

Nevertheless, this statement has been contradicted by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International. A damning joint report blames Canada to have incarcerated thousands of people (between the ages of 15 and 83), including those with disabilities, on immigration-related grounds every year in often abusive conditions.

“Canada’s abusive immigration detention system is in stark contrast to the rich diversity and the values of equality and justice that Canada is known for globally,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.

Of course, Canada had forced several immigrants to their country of origin, who fled the country after they were brutalised and tortured by security agencies.

In the case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen was a victim of rendition and tortured in Syria after the United States turned him over as an Al-Qaeda suspect in 2002.

Arar, a telecommunication engineer was boarding a flight back home to Canada from Tunisia at JFK Airport in New York. He was detained for 12 days in New York and was secretly transferred to Syria.

US authorities alleged he was a member of the international terror network Al Qaeda and said they acted on data supplied by Canadian police.

Amnesty says in Syria, he was held in degrading and inhumane conditions, interrogated, and tortured for a year.

After media and rights groups’ outcry, Canada was forced to bring him back and had to pay a compensation of $10.5 million.

Similar incidents occurred with dissident Noura Al-Jizawi, a Syrian-born immigrant in Canada who was flagged as a security risk when she applied for a Permanent Resident (PR) card. Also, an Egyptian-born Joseph Attar, a Canadian citizen returned home serving 15 years imprisonment in Egypt on spying charges. 

In February 2007, Ottawa formally apologised for the role officials may have played in the torture and abuse of three Canadians Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin in Syria in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. A commission of inquiry found that Canadian officials were indirectly responsible for what happened to the three men.

Possibly for now, Nur Chowdhury’s prayer to Allah has kept him away from being guillotined for his crime. The diplomatic engagement to bring the rogue military officer back to Dhaka to face the music of justice remains frustrating for the coming years will be in deep freeze.

First published in The Daily Messenger, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 17 March 2024

Saleem Samad is the Deputy Editor of The Daily Messenger. Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X) @saleemsamad