Bangladesh: Death for Merchants of Death

S. BINODKUMAR SINGH

After forty-three years, justice finally caught up with Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) ameer (chief) Motiur Rahman Nizami (71) as the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1), one of the two War Crimes Tribunals constituted by the Sheikh Hasina Wajed Government, sentenced him to death on October 29, 2014, for atrocities during the Liberation War of 1971. Nizami was found guilty on eight of the 16 charges brought against him. The four charges which brought him death included involvement in the killing of intellectuals; the murder of 450 civilians; rape in Bausgari and Demra villages in Pabna District; the killing of 52 people in Dhulaura village in Pabna District; and killings of 10 people and rape of three women in Karamja village in Pabna District. He was also sentenced to imprisonment for life on the charges of involvement in the killing of Kasim Uddin and two others in Pabna District; torture and murder of Sohrab Ali of Brishalikha village in Pabna District; torture and killing at Mohammadpur Physical Training Centre in Dhaka city; and killing of freedom fighters Rumi, Bodi, Jewel and Azad at Old MP Hostel in Dhaka city.

Nizami, at that time, was the President of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the students’ wing of JeI, the precursor of the present-day Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), and was also ex-officio chief of Al-Badr, a paramilitary wing of the Pakistan Army in 1971. As a leader, he not only took part in crimes against humanity, the judgment reads, but also delivered provocative speeches to incite thousands of his followers to commit similar crimes during the Liberation War. However, instead of being punished for the heinous crimes, President Ziaur Rahman permitted Nizami and other leaders of the JeI to revive the party in 1978. The JeI subsequently emerged as the largest Islamist party in the country and Nizami established himself as a key leader, organizing the ICS. He became JeI ameer in November 2000, and also served as the Minister of Agriculture (from October 10, 2001, to May 22, 2003) and Minister of Industries (from May 22, 2003 to October 28, 2006) in the Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led Government between 2001 and 2006.

Nizami was first arrested on June 29, 2010, in a lawsuit for hurting religious sentiments. After three days, he was shown arrested for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. Subsequently, on May 28, 2012, he was indicted on 16 specific charges for his involvement in War Crimes. It took around 29 months to go from the indictment to the sentencing, as the verdict was deferred three times in the past.

Earlier, on January 30, 2014, the Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 had awarded the death penalty to Nizami in the sensational 10-truck arms haul case of 2004, the country’s biggest ever weapons haul case. On February 7, 2014, the verdict on the arms haul case was transferred to the Chittagong High Court for confirmation of its sentences. Nizami filed an appeal with the Chittagong High Court seeking acquittal from the charges and, on April 16, 2014, the Chittagong High Court accepted the appeal. The case is still pending in the High Court.

Meanwhile, as in earlier cases, soon after the verdict, cadres of JeI and its student wing ICS went on rampage across the country. 30 persons, including 28 JeI-ICS cadres and two Security Force (SF) personnel have been injured in violence across the country, thus far. 71 JeI-ICS cadres were also arrested from various parts of the country for bringing out processions. The JeI called for a countrywide hartal (general strike) on October 30, November 2 and November 3

The verdict has attracted some negative international attention. Calling for a commutation of Nizami’s death sentence, the European Union (EU), in a statement on October 29, 2014, declared, “The case of Motiur Rahman Nizami has now reached a stage where an execution of the death sentence constitutes a serious threat.” On October 29, the United States (US) reiterated its support to bringing to justice those who committed atrocities during the Liberation War, but demanded that the trials should be fair and transparent maintaining the international standards.

On the other hand, minutes after the news of Nizami’s death penalty reached the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka city on October 29, Gonojagoron Mancha (People’s Resurgence Platform) activists erupted into exhilarated cheers. Showing victory signs, they demanded the immediate execution of the verdict, chanting slogans like “we demand hanging”.

Meanwhile, on November 2, 2014, ICT-2 sentenced JeI central executive committee member Mir Quasem Ali (62) to death after finding him guilty on two charges, one for abduction, torture and killing of 15-year-old freedom fighter Jasim of Sandwip Sub-District in Chittagong District; another for abducting, torturing and killing Ranjit Das alias Lathu and Tuntu Sen alias Raju of Chittagong town in Chittagong District. Quasem, considered one of the top financiers of JeI, faces 14 charges, including murder, abduction and torture committed in Chittagong city between November and December 16, 1971. He was allegedly the chief of the Chittagong Al-Badr and was indicted on September 5, 2013, after being arrested on June 17, 2013.

Thus far, the two ICTs conducting the War Crimes Trials, which began on March 25, 2010, have indicted 18 leaders, including 13 JeI leaders, three BNP leaders and two Jatiya Party (JP) leaders. Verdicts against 12 of them (including Nizami and Quasem) have already been delivered, in which nine persons have been awarded the death sentence (including Nizami and Quasem), while three have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Remarkably, in the first-ever execution in a War Crimes case, JeI Assistant Secretary Abdul Quader Mollah (65), who earned the nickname Mirpurer Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur), was hanged on December 12, 2013, at Dhaka Central Jail, against his conviction on charges of atrocities committed during the Liberation Wars of 1971. Of the six other convicts who were awarded death sentences, three – Al-Badr leaders Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Khan and Chowdhury Mueenuddin, and JeI leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad – were awarded sentences in absentia. The verdicts against JeI leaders Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, are currently pending with the Appellate Division.

Significantly, former JeI Chief Ghulam Azam (92), who led the JeI during the country’s Liberation War in 1971, died at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in Dhaka city after suffering a stroke on October 23, 2014. Azam had served a year and three months of his 90-year jail term for crimes against humanity. Protest rallies by opponents of JeI were held during his funeral at Baitul Mokarram National Mosque in Dhaka city, demanding that his body be sent to Pakistan for burial there. Ziaul Hasan, chairman of Bangladesh Sommilito Islami Jote, an alliance of progressive Islamic parties, observed, “The janaza (mourning procession) of a war criminal can never be held at the national mosque.”

The verdict against the JeI chief is a body blow to the organization. The Government is already considering banning JeI, which was debarred on August 1, 2013, from contesting elections. Awami League (AL) Joint Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif on October 29, 2014, noted, “The verdict has once again proved that JeI was involved in war crimes with a political decision.” With its very existence now under threat, JeI attempts to retaliate violently are imminent, and likely to vitiate the security environment of the country.

Compounding the problem are the recent activities of other Islamist extremist and terrorist groups, particularly the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). On September 22, 2014, the Detectives Branch (DB) of the Police claimed that 25 top leaders of JMB and seven other Islamist outfits, including Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Jamaatul Muslemin, Majlish-e-Tamuddin, Hizbul Zihad, Hizbut Tahrik, Jamaatil Muslemin and Dawatul Jihad, discussed a regrouping plan at a meeting in a remote char (riverine island) area at Sariakandi sub-District in Bogra District on May 5, 2014. More recently, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested JMB’s chief coordinator Abdun Noor and four of his close aides from the Sadar sub-District Railway Station in Sirajganj District on October 31, 2014. 49 primary detonators, 26 electronic detonators, four time bombs, 10 kilograms of power gel, 155 different kinds of circuits, 55 jihadi books and a power regulator were recovered from the JMB cadres. During preliminary interrogation, the JMB operatives confessed that they were planning to carry out large-scale bomb attacks across the country, particularly in Dhaka city.

Remarkably, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), currently investigating the October 2, 2014, Burdwan (West Bengal, India) blast case, on October 28, 2014, uncovered a suspected plot by JMB to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and carry out a coup. The JMB had also planned to assassinate BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. Earlier, on October 27, 2014, Indian investigators had revealed that the JMB module in Burdwan had managed to transport six consignments of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to Bangladesh, to be used for terrorist activities in the country.

The War Crimes Trials, and the cumulative verdicts against leaders of extremist parties and groups that have been at the core of destabilization in Bangladesh over the past decades, have been crucial in turning the country around after years of mounting chaos that had brought it to the very brink of failure. This process needs to be sustained, indeed, accelerated, despite the backlash of extremist entities, if the gains of the recent past are to be consolidated.

First published in South AsiaIntelligence Review, Weekly Assessments & Briefings, Volume 13, No. 18, November 5, 2014

S. Binodkumar Singh is a Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

Bangladesh: Justice and Blood

SANCHITA BHATTACHARYA

ON FEBRUARY 5, 2013, at least three people were killed and another 35 were injured when cadres of the Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI) and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), protesting against the ongoing War Crimes (WC) Trial, clashed with the Police during the party enforced country wide dawn-to-dusk hartal (general shut down) in Chittagong District. Two ICS cadres (Imran Khan and Afzal Hossain) and Shafiqu, a factory worker, were killed during a clash with Police. Police later arrested 15 ICS cadres from the same District. Protests and demonstrations, disrupting normal life and commercial activities, were also reported from other Districts, including Dhaka, Comilla, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Satkhira, Bogra, Natore, Bhola, Chuadanga and Dinajpur, in which at least another 65 persons were reported injured.

Earlier, on January 31, 2013, six persons, including four JeI-ICS cadres, one Policeman and a civilian, had been killed during nationwide protests and demonstrations. In Bogra town (Bogra District), four JeI-ICS cadres were killed in a clash with Police; while another clash in the Manirampur sub-District of Jessore District saw one Police Constable killed. In Feni District, an auto rickshaw driver succumbed to his injuries after his vehicle was attacked by JeI-ICS cadres. In Jessore District, 20 people, including Policemen, were injured in clashes. Protests and demonstrations, disrupting normal life and commercial activities, were also reported from the Districts of Dhaka, Jhenaidah, Sylhet, Chittagong, Lakshmipur, Barisal, Moulvibazar and Sirajganj.

Since the constitution of International Crime Tribunal (ICT), on March 25, 2010, Bangladesh has experienced a resurgence of street violence and protests, resulting in the death of 13 people, including seven JeI-ICS cadres, five civilians and one Policeman, and injuries to another 818, including 404 Policemen, according to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management. As many as 2,691 JeI-ICS cadres have been arrested for their involvement in violence over this period.

Significantly, protests and demonstrations, culminating in street violence, have intensified in the aftermath of recent judgments pronounced by the ICT-2 against two of the seven JeI leaders indicted for war crimes during the Liberation War of 1971.

On January 21, 2013, a death sentence was meted to JeI leader Moulana Abul Kalam Azad aliasBachchu, by ICT-2 (constituted on March 22, 2012), for war crimes. The prosecution had stacked eight charges against the expelled JeI leader including: abduction and torture of Ranjit Kumar Nath; abduction and torture of Abu Yusuf Pakhi; murder of Sudhangshu Mohan Roy; murder of Madhab Chandra Biswas; rape of two Hindu women; murder of Chitta Ranjan Das; genocide of Hindu majority in Hasamdia village of Faridpur District and abduction and torture of an unnamed Hindu girl. Azad was found guilty on seven of the eight charges, including ‘genocide’, and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck till dead. However, the judgment noted, “Since the convicted accused has been absconding the ‘sentence of death’ as awarded above shall be executed after causing his arrest or when he surrenders before the Tribunal, whichever is earlier.”

Azad had escaped from Dhaka city on March 30, 2012, and went into hiding seven hours before an arrest warrant was issued by ICT-2, on April 3, 2012. According to an unnamed official of Detective Branch of Police, Azad fled to India crossing the Hilli border in the Dinajpur District of the Indian State of West Bengal illegally, and proceeded to Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh in Pakistan, where he is currently believed to be staying. He was, however, indicted in absentia by ICT-2 on November 4, 2012.

Following the judgment, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, on January 25, 2013, declared, “You know he (Bachchu) has been awarded death penalty… he’ll be brought back home as soon as possible through diplomatic efforts after being sure of his hideouts… We are carrying our coordinated efforts to that end.”

Meanwhile, on February 5, 2013, ICT-2 awarded life term imprisonment to another JeI leader Abdul Quader Molla on war crimes charge. Molla, who was arrested on July 13, 2010, in a criminal case and on August 2, 2010, was shown arrested in connection with War Crimes, was indicted by ICT-2 on May 28, 2012. The ICT-2 convicted Molla on five charges including the murder of a student, Pallab, of Bangla College; the murder of pro-Liberation poet Meherun Nesa, her mother and two brothers in the Mirpur area of Dhaka city; the murder of Khondoker Abu Taleb, also in Mirpur; the murder of 344 civilians in Alubdi village, in Mirpur; and the murder of Hazrat Ali, along with five members of his family in Mirpur area. The final verdict found the accused guilty of ‘crimes against humanity’ and sentenced him to imprisonment for life and for a second sentence of 15 years which was, however, ‘merged’ into the sentence of life imprisonment.

War crime trials for another seven indicted persons continue. They include five JeI leaders – nayeb-e-ameer (deputy chief) Delawar Hossain Sayeedi (indicted on October 3, 2011); former JeI chief Golam Azam (indicted on May 13, 2012); present JeI chief Motiur Rahman Nizami (indicted on May 28, 2012); JeI ‘general secretary’ Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed (indicted on June 21, 2012); JeI ‘assistant secretary’ Mohammed Qamaruzzaman (indicted on June 4, 2012); as well as two Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) political figures and lawmakers – Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (indicted on April 4, 2012) and Abdul Alim (indicted on June 11, 2012).

Conspicuously, reiterating that the ongoing WC trials cannot be stopped by the anti-Liberation forces by unleashing attacks and enforcing hartals, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on January 31, 2013, categorically reiterated that the war criminals would not be spared. Sheikh Hasina said the present Government is pledge-bound to try the war criminals responsible for killing three million people and shaming many women during the Liberation War. Sheikh Hasina declared, “We’ve got a verdict against one war criminal…the verdicts against the other war criminals will come one after another and no war criminal would be spared.”

Significantly, massive and sustained protests, which commenced just hours after Molla’s sentencing, and that are still continuing, were initiated against the ‘leniency’ of the sentence imposed, and demanded the death sentence for the accused. By February 8, 2013, in what has been described as ‘Bangladesh’s Tahrir Square’, nearly 100,000 people had gathered in the Shahbag Avenue of Dhaka, demanding the death penalty for Molla. On February 10, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni joined the ongoing popular pro-WCT protests, even as protestors submitted a six-point demand, including the death penalty for Molla and all other war criminals, to the Speaker of the National Parliament, Abdul Hamid.

The six point demand also included trial of all political parties, forces, individuals and organisations trying to save war criminals and conspiring to foil the WC trials; and revocation of the state's power to declare general amnesty for the persons convicted by the tribunals. Earlier, on February 6, 2013, residents of Thakurgaon, Chandpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Mymensingh, Rangpur and Manikganj Districts formed human chains and took out processions demanding capital punishment for Molla.

With their very existence at stake, anti-Liberation forces can be expected to continue their efforts to discredit and subvert the WC trials and decisions. The country can, consequently, be expected to experience cycles of disruption and violence, certainly till general elections that fall due between October 26, 2013, and January 24, 2014. However, the recent and protracted mass demonstrations in favour of the trials and protesting against the ‘light sentence’ of life imprisonment imposed on the second convict, Abdul Quader Molla, have set a new dynamic into motion, and will give the Sheikh Hasina Government greater strength. The outcome of the elections of end-2013 or early 2014, however, will remain pivotal: if a hostile regime is, once more, elected, it would be likely to allow the WC trial process to fall into neglect, and to reverse the present judgments – unless the process of appeals and execution of sentences has already been completed by this stage. The present sentences are, of course, major milestones in the long, slow journey to justice for the atrocities of the 1971 Liberation War, but they are yet to secure their legitimate goal, and bring closure to this hideous phase of Bangladesh’s history.

 

First published in South Asia Intelligence Review, Weekly Assessments & Briefings, Volume 11, No. 32, February 11, 2013

Sanchita Bhattacharya is Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

Sustained Consolidation

S. BINOD KUMAR SINGH

SHEIKH HASINA’S Awami League (AL)-led Government, which came to power on January 6, 2009, has consolidated its secular commitments through 2012, reining in Islamist extremist groups and targeting the Left Wing Extremist (LWE) movement in the country. Overall political stability has been established, though some untoward incidents have, nonetheless, occurred; these have largely been instigated by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) with the principal objective of disrupting the ongoing War Crimes (WC) Trials.

According to partial data collected by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), the country witnessed 18 terrorism/insurgency-related fatalities in total, including 17 militants and one civilian, in 14 incidents of killing through 2012 (data till December 9). Three Islamist terrorism linked fatalities occurred, including one civilian and two terrorists; in 2010, six such fatalities were recorded, including three civilians and three militants. This is a significant contrast with 2005, when Bangladesh experienced 35 Islamist terrorism linked fatalities, including 26 civilians and nine terrorists.

15 LWE-linked fatalities were recorded in 2012. These included, 12 leaders – Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) regional leaders – Khalilur Rahman, Mohammad Abdur Rashid, Rahat Ali, Abdul Jalil, Nayeb Ali, Motaleb Hossain, Mostafizur Rahman, Anowar Hossain; Gono Mukti Fauj (GMF, ‘People’s Freedom Army’) regional leaders Tofazzal Hossain, Bidhan Chandra Biswas, Motaled Hossain; and Biplobi Communist Party (BCP) leader Ohidul Islam Rajib – as well as three cadres of PBCP. There were 24 LWE fatalities, all of militants, in 2011; and 50 killings, including 46 militants, three Security Forces (SFs) and one civilian in 2010. Pabna District stood out as the principal LWE centre in 2012, with seven fatalities and eight incidents of arrest in the District.

Meanwhile, SF personnel in Bangladesh arrested 1,616 extremists belonging to various Islamist groups such as JeI, ICS, Jama'at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), and Hizb-ut-Towhid (HT) in 2012 (data till December 9), as against 578 such arrests in 2011; 958 in 2010; and 23 in 2009. Dhaka District proved to be the epicenter of Islamist activities, with 32 incidents of arrest; followed by 20 such incidents in Chittagong and 19 in Rajshahi District. A majority of the persons arrested belonged to the JeI and ICS, as they took to the streets demanding the release of their top leaders, who are being tried for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. A total of 1,244 cadres belonging to the JeI-ICS were arrested in 77 incidents throughout 2012 (data till December 9).

Major Islamist extremist arrests included:
November 19, 2012: Police arrested 107 JeI-ICS cadres in five Districts, including Dhaka, on charges of attacking law enforcers and for vandalism.

November 6, 2012: Police arrested 207 JeI-ICS leaders and cadres from different places of the country for attacking the law enforcers and carrying out ‘destructive activities’.

October 21, 2012: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested eight HT cadres from PTI Road in Barguna District.

August 12, 2012: RAB arrested 35 cadres of HuT from a restaurant in Dhaka's Panthapath while they were holding a “secret meeting” to plan “subversive activities” and a “massive showdown” after the eid holidays.

July 19, 2012: RAB arrested 17 cadres of HuT from different parts of Dhaka while they were holding an anti-government rally and distributing leaflets containing anti-state propaganda.

May 25, 2012: RAB arrested four cadres of HuT, including its ‘regional commander’, in Shibganj sub-district of Chapainawabganj District, while they were in a secret meeting preparing to distribute books and leaflets.

March 5, 2012: RAB arrested two leaders and a member of JMB, identified as Mohammad Asaduzzaman alias Hazari, ‘chief’ of JMB Khulna divisional unit, Mohammad Wahab, ‘head’ of JMB Savar zone and JMB member Anwar Hossain, from different parts of Dhaka City. RAB also seized several JMB publications and leaflets from the possession of the arrestees.

January 9, 2012: A close aide of executed JMB leader Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, identified as Emdadul Haque Uzzal, was arrested in the Uttara area of Dhaka City.Police also recovered from his possessions several publications of the banned organisation and some books giving instructions on how to make bombs and operate firearms such as AK-47s.

January 8, 2012: RAB arrested Abu Talha Mohammad Fahim alias Bashar, the ‘finance wing chief’ of the JMB, and his accomplice Mohammad Abdul Alim, from Achintola Bahrampur village in Rajshahi District.

Meanwhile, a total of 34 LW extremists including 14 leaders – PBCP ‘leaders’ Motalib Hossain, Jalem Uddin, Mohammad Shahidul Islam, Korban Ali, Mozam Daktar, Ashkar Ali, Hasan Ali, Sabuj Ali, Yadul Islam, and Nuhu Mia; GMF ‘leaders’ Zillur Rahman, Hanif Biswas and Monirul Islam; and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Gano Bahini (JSD- Gano Bahini, National Socialist Party-People’s Army) leader Saheb Joarder – were arrested through 2012. By comparison, there were 66 such arrests in 2011.

The WC Trials , which commenced after the constitution of the International Crimes Tribunal – 1 (ICT-1) on March 25, 2010, by the AL-led coalition Government, has indicted nine high-profile political figures thus far, including seven JeI leaders – Nayeb-e-Ameer (Deputy Chief) Delawar Hossain Sayeedi (on October 3, 2011); former JeI chief Golam Azam (on May 13, 2012); present JeI chief Motiur Rahman Nizami (on May 28, 2012); JeI General Secretary Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed (on June 21, 2012); JeI assistant secretaries Mohammed Quamaruzzaman (on June 4, 2012); and Quader Mollah (on May 28, 2012); and former JeI member Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar (on November 4, 2012) as well as two Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) political figures and lawmakers – Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (on April 4, 2012) and Abdul Alim (on June 11, 2012). A second Tribunal, ICT-2, was created on March 22, 2012, to speed up the trial process.

JeI and ICS cadres have been trying to disrupt the ongoing WC trials from the very beginning, since most of the indicted leaders are from the party. The JeI-ICS combine carried out a nine-day countrywide agitation programme, commencing November 5, 2012, to protest the campaign of ‘repression’ against party leaders and workers, and demanding the release of its top leaders. Many JeI and ICS cadres were arrested in the aftermath of this and other agitations, for attacking the Police in various places. Issuing a note of warning on November 14, 2012, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared, “Launching attacks on the Police by the JeI-ICS trying to obstruct the trial of war criminals will only accelerate the trial proceedings. The more the attacks the faster will be the pace of the trial. No jumping and leaping will work. The trial of war criminals will be held on Bangladesh’s soil.” Indeed, on November 25, 2012, Industries Minister Dilip Barua even urged the Election Commission (EC) to cancel the registration of JeI as a political party as it has failed to fulfil conditions set by the EC. The conclusion of the WC trial before the next elections, due before the end of 2013, is an urgent imperative. In case the BNP comes to power after the 2013 elections, it is inevitable that a concerted effort to suppress the history of the atrocities of 1971 will ensue, and the current WC Trials would be subverted.

Another alarming internal problem is the constitutional provision of a Caretaker Government (CG), which was introduced in the 1996. The AL-led Government, with the passage of the 15th Constitutional Amendment Bill on June 30, 2012, overturned the 16-year-old requirement that general elections be overseen by a non-partisan CG. The BNP-led opposition alliance announced, on November 28, 2012, that they would blockade roads countrywide on December 9, to press for a return of the CG to oversee the next parliamentary polls. Indeed, on December 9, 2012, violent clashes, among BNP-backed blockaders, Police and AL workers, were reported from across the country, including Sirajganj, Dhaka, Narayanganj, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Lalmonirhat and Laxmipur Districts. At least two persons were killed (one each in Sirajganj and Dhaka towns) and more than 290 people, including 40 Policemen, were injured during the clashes. Over 70 homemade bombs went off, around 50 vehicles, including five Police vehicles, were set ablaze and 150 others were vandalised.

The Government’s stand, however, is that the it has strengthened the EC so that it could perform its duty properly, and all 6,000 different kinds of elections held under the present Government over the last four years were free and fair and there were no complaints against any of the polls. The Government stated that all future elections would also be held peacefully and fairly.

Bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh came into sharp focus through 2012, and have witnessed further improvements. The first meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) was held in New Delhi, India on May 7, co-chaired by Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and the then Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna. The Joint Statement issued after the meeting noted that "the legal framework for bilateral security cooperation would be completed with the signing of the extradition treaty.” In a recent development, a joint statement released after the meeting between Union Minister of Home Affairs (UMHA) Sushilkumar Shinde and his Bangladesh counterpart M. K. Alamgir in New Delhi on December 4, 2012, stated that both sides have agreed that the Extradition Treaty will be finalized and signed in January 2013 during the proposed visit of UMHA to Dhaka. According to the statement, both sides agreed not to resort to firing unless fired upon or attacked by terrorists or armed criminals.

During the Home Minister level talks, Bangladesh Home Minister Shahara Khatun stated, on February 24, 2012, that United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) leader Anup Chetia, currently lodged in a Dhaka jail, would be handed over to India by Bangladesh immediately after the legal process for his deportation was completed. As a result of co-ordinated border plans between the two sides, Bangladesh RAB arrested one of the top rebel leaders of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) from Khagrachhari District of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), on February 16. Meanwhile, Bangladesh, on July 30, handed over Champion R. Sangma, co-founder and ‘chairman’ of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), to India. Further, from September 19, the Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB) and RAB launched an intensive operation to track down ULFA (Anti-talks) leader Drishti Rajkhowa. The Sheikh Hasina Government’s strong steps to crack down on terrorist elements on its soil have undoubtedly opened up prospects of increasing cooperation in other areas, between India and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, during the 13^th Home Secretary-level talks between Bangladesh and India, held on October 16-17, 2012, at Dhaka, discussions were held on the implementation of Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Combating Terrorism, Agreement on Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking, ratification of Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)-1974 by the Government of India and protocol signed in 2011. Both sides agreed to allow developmental work, including the construction of Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) and Land Custom Stations (LCSs), within 150 yards of the zero line. They also agreed to constitute a high-level team to monitor the development of border infrastructure.

Dhaka has also taken a number of visible measures in 2012 to curb both Islamist and left wing extremism. The Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2012, was passed in Parliament on February 16, 2012. According to the Act, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit can provide Financial Intelligence Units in other countries with information relating to the financing of terrorism, when so required or requested. The Act also included provisions relating to atomic, chemical and biological weapons; to the arms and ammunition used for terrorist activities; and interventions by terrorist and subversive organisations in the financial sector. Earlier, on March 13, 2012, the Speedy Trial Tribunal – 4 sentenced JMB leader Mamunur Rashid alias Zahid to death for detonating a bomb in the Gazipur District Police Superintendent's office in February 20, 2009, in which 16 people were injured.

In another landmark judgement on March 18, 2012, a Dhaka court indicted BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia's "fugitive" elder son Tarique Rahman and 29 others on charges relating to the August 21, 2004, grenade attack on an Awami League rally, finally formally launching the trial for the attack.

Bangladesh’s achievements on the counter-terrorism and internal security fronts, as well as in improving relations with India, through 2012, have been remarkable. Nevertheless, a note of caution remains to be sounded as the residual capacities of the JeI-ICS are still significant, and their alliance with the BNP remains sound. Against this backdrop, the BNP’s call to start fresh protests from December to bring back the CG system will be the litmus test for the Sheikh Hasina Government.

 

First appeared in South Asia Intelligence Review, Weekly Assessments and Briefings, Volume 11, No. 23, December 10, 2012

S. Binod Kumar Singh, Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management