Bangladesh's chain of corruption

RATER ZONAKI

BANGLADESH'S LAW-ENFORCEMENT agencies claim that they have a strong chain of command to maintain law and order in the country. Likewise policymakers and politicians, who are close to the center of power, claim that they are dedicated to the great cause of upholding the rule of law in the country.

However, the opposition – regardless who they are – always criticize the rulers for destroying the concept of the rule of law. And "chain of command" in the law-enforcement agencies exists only in the imaginations of its officers, along with the illusion of rule of law.

A girl we will call Chobi – not her real name – was raped by a man named Sohel in Chhetra village in Kishorganj district on June 13. The rape victim reportedly went to the Nikli police station to register a complaint against the rapist.

The police refused to record the case, as the alleged accused was the son of an influential person in the locality, and had already bribed the police before the victim approached them.

Chobi had to go to the Special Tribunal on Women and Children Repression Prevention of Kishorganj district in order to register her case. The tribunal judge ordered the same police station to record the complaint as a first information report. Then the complaint was recorded with the police.

Police Sub-Inspector Shashank Kumar Sarkar was assigned to investigate the case. A medical report from public hospital doctors who had examined her asserted that Chobi had been raped – a strong starting point for the prosecution.

Chobi’s family was hopeful that the legal process would lead to justice – but they were about to experience a different reality.

The investigating officer demanded 30,000 takas (US$436) as a bribe in order to submit a rape charge against the accused – despite the fact that all evidence, including witness statements and the medical examination report, supported the complaint of rape.

Chobi's poor family, which had already spent a sum beyond their capacity to bring the case this far, was unable to pay the demanded bribe. The family managed to pay 6,000 takas (US$87) and give fish worth 1,000 takas to Shashank. This means that the investigating officer received bribes in cash and in kind for investigating a rape case.

The police officer insisted that the family pay the remainder of the bribe. When they could not do so, Shashank took his revenge by accepting a bribe from the accused instead. He then submitted a report to the court stating that the claim of rape was false.

Chobi, a victim of rape, now has no hope of justice unless the court orders another agency or a judicial officer to reinvestigate the complaint. Yet no one can predict the outcome of another investigation.

Chobi told her story on Sept. 15 at a press conference, where she handed out a written statement to reporters. She also applied to the district superintendent of police, seeking his intervention. The assistant superintendent of police at another police station was asked to inquire into the matter.

However, it is hardly believable that the authorities will take action against the Nikli police or Sub-Inspector Shashank. This is because Bangladesh's whole law-enforcement system follows a chain of corruption rather than a chain of command.

For example, Police Inspector Hashem Ali Khan, who detained human rights defenders in a fabricated kidnapping case at the Paikgachha police station in Khulna, a southwestern district, told the detainees that he had to pay his superior officers when he brought in detainees for a five-day stay. He said he needed money for fuel and other things. He also warned them that they would be tortured if they didn’t pay the bribe he demanded.

A number of police departments and the Ministry of Home Affairs inquired into this matter, which took place in November, 2008. Yet it yielded nothing – inspector Hashem Ali Khan has been enjoying his policing elsewhere.

Due to intervention by the Asian Human Rights Commission, a Hong Kong-based rights watchdog, the Khulna district police authority inquired into a complaint against Sub-Inspector Ayub Ali of the Paikgachha police station.

On June 13 Ayub Ali visited the house of Shahidul Islam, who had been held on fabricated charges and tortured while in detention for four days without any official record or lawful grounds.

The police officer told Shahidul's mother, "Do you know what will happen to me and you now? I will have to pay to settle the matter and I might be transferred. But the police will be here forever, and I will arrange for your son and his advisers to languish in jail for years."

These threatening words carry the truth that any police officer who is accused of violating the law of the land can walk free by bribing his superior authorities. In reality, Ayub was transferred to Kustia district without facing criminal prosecution or departmental action after an inquiry was conducted.

It is an open secret in Bangladesh that police officers consider a particular jurisdiction a good place to work if more crimes take place there. More crimes bring more bribes. Officers must pay bribes in order to be posted to those "good places," the amount determined by the rank of the job-seeker and the possibilities of income from the targeted posting.

The recipients of bribes also include bureaucrats in the ministries, parliamentarians of the concerned constituencies and influential local politicians. Thus a chain of corruption is established from the top to the bottom of society.

The ordinary poor are compelled to pay bribes far beyond their capacity, up to all their assets, while those in power enjoy the taste of corruption and make the country a heaven of bribery.

The Bangladeshi policymakers should accept this article as an open challenge to prove these stories untrue. There are thousands of similar stories across the country. The authorities can win this challenge only if they acknowledge this deep national problem and reform this system and chain of corruption. (END)

First published by UPI, September 22, 2009

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

Glimmers of Hope Amid an Elusive Peace

CATHERINE MAKINO interviews leading Bangladeshi human rights activist SULTANA KAMAL

SULTANA KAMAL dreams of a country "where every single citizen will live in democracy, in equality" and where everyone has "equal share to resources and opportunities." Fulfilling this dream has been her lifelong advocacy as a human rights advocate.

The former adviser to the caretaker government of Bangladesh has served as a United Nations legal consultant for Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong. As a legal practitioner, she is committed to providing legal services to the poor and underprivileged.

Kamal joined the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, which pitted the West Pakistan (now Pakistan) against East Pakistan, resulting in the latter’s secession as an independent state, now called Bangladesh. Among others, she helped collect information for the guerilla forces, Mukti Bahini (Liberation Army), and gave shelter to people displaced by the conflict.

Kamal completed her law degree at Dhaka University in 1978, and later a master’s degree in Women and Development Studies in the Netherlands.

She has played a key role in bringing to international attention the long drawn-out conflict involving the indigenous people living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh. Even after a peace accord was signed in 1997, violations of human rights in the region persisted and peace remains elusive.

Some critics warned that Bangladesh could become the next Sri Lanka, which only recently emerged from a decades-long civil war.

Kamal, who was in Japan in mid-September, shared with IPS her aspirations for her country and what she hoped a developed country like Japan could do.

IPS: What did you hope to achieve for your people by coming to Japan?

SULTANA KAMAL: (My) main objective was to share information regarding the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord, which was signed in 1997 between the government of Bangladesh and Shanti Bahini (the United People's Party of the CHT).

The Accord was to end the armed conflict, which has been going on since 1976 in the region, and to settle questions regarding the rights of the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. These included land rights, natural and environmental practices, rights to their culture and, most importantly, the constitutional recognition of their rights and identity.

I wanted to see greater awareness of the problems of indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, their struggles and demands, which should lead to more support for them by the Japanese.

IPS: Why Japan in particular?

SK: Some Japanese groups are concerned with the rights of the disempowered and disadvantaged, especially indigenous people, who have been engaged in working towards the realization of (those) rights.

IPS: Is your government sincere in its support for the CHT?

SK: The present government of Bangladesh is committed to implementing the Accord, but it is facing challenges from the anti-Accord forces. There is a need to strengthen the people and government's support of the CHT.

This trip to Japan will help us reach the international community and get stronger opinions favourable to the Accord.

IPS: What do you expect from the new government of Japan?

SK: This government is liberal, so we can expect the benefits of a liberal and progressive outlook on (its) international policies. More importantly, we hear that the government will put more emphasis on strengthening relationships with its Asian neighbours, which means more support to the people of Asia who need it most.

IPS: What do you envision Japan will do now that it is under new leadership?

SK: New leadership means new hopes…. not (only) for its own people, but for the (rest of the) world, because Japan is among the league of world leaders.

This time the hope is even greater for Asia as the (Japanese) government is likely to be more forward-looking and has already committed itself to closer ties with (its) Asian neighbours.

IPS: Please tell us about your organization, the Law and Mediation Center or Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK)?

SK: (ASK) started in 1986 as a legal aid centre to provide free legal aid to the disempowered. Since most of the disempowered happen to be women, it had a special focus on them, especially poor women.

It provides legal aid to victims of state or social violence, arbitrary arrest, preventive detention, and community and class violence.

It started in a garage of a well-wisher of the organisation and has since grown into a 17-unit composite programme known as a human rights and legal aid center, or Ain o Salish Kendra.

ASK cooperates with many national, international and regional networks on human rights issues. With the UNECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council) (consultative) status, ASK works closely with the U.N. special rapporteurs and on some government committees as civil society members to give advice. In short, ASK is considered to be one of the most active human rights groups (in the world).

IPS: What is the situation of women in your country?

SK: I am very proud to say that the women have made a lot of progress. But because of the existing patriarchal systems… in both private and public life, women have to face a lot of challenges in realising their rights.

The Constitution of Bangladesh commits to equality in public life for women. It goes further to say that special measures will be taken to bring the disadvantaged groups, including women, at par with everyone, and everyone will be equal before the law.

IPS: Is that happening in reality?

SK: Since in private life, laws based on religions govern people, women are discriminated against in marriage, divorce, guardianship and custody of children and in inheritance.

The discrimination is not only between women and men of the same religion; it is between women of different religions, too. For example, the Muslim women have limited rights to divorce and inheritance, which the women of other religions don't have.

The situation of minority women is even worse, particularly in a conflict situation where their interests and rights are considered secondary to the larger interests of the community which, as we all know, are defined by (traditional) patriarchy.

IPS: What is being done about it?

SK: The women's movement is very vibrant in Bangladesh. The present government also has promised to declare policies for women's development. We can hope for the best, but we know very well that there is no respite from hard work for us to gain what we aspire for.

IPS: What urgently needs to be done in your country?

SK: The most important duty we have now is supporting the democratic processes and be firm on not allowing any anti-democratic, anti-human rights, fundamentalist or corrupt measures, to foil it. Seeing that democracy gets a ground in this country is a job of the people as well as the government. Establishment of justice, rule of law, human rights and security and peace are the priorities now.

IPS: You have given so much energy and time for causes. How has this affected you personally, and have you had to sacrifice a lot?

SK: If I have been able to give my energy and time to causes in my life, I will consider that to be my good fortune. What better use could I put my energy and time to?

The main impact it has had on me personally is that it has taught me to understand and love my country better and to feel a part of the whole of humanity. I don't feel that I have sacrificed a lot. I think I have done nothing more than my duty. (END)

First published in Inter Press Services (IPS), September 22, 2009

Problems galore in Bangladesh

Photo: The exasperated nation has gone back to the beginning and given more than two-thirds of parliament’s seats to the daughter of the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. —AFP/File Photo

KULDIP NAYAR

IT WAS a feeling of humiliation that gave impetus to the people of erstwhile East Pakistan to build a country of their own. That was some 38 years ago when Bangladesh was born.

Scant resources and a large population did not affect its determination to convert the country into ‘Sonar Bangla’. But gradually a mood of uncertainty set in.

The first blow came when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation, was assassinated. He had the support of the people who were willing to offer any sacrifice. The second blow was the military-inspired coup that destroyed an open and democratic society. Elements were unleashed which drove the liberals – and their ideals – to the wall.

Bangladesh needed unity to develop. But it witnessed periods of military rule and authoritarian regimes. Then there were the ever-battling begums, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League confronting Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The exasperated nation has gone back to the beginning and given more than two-thirds of parliament’s seats to the daughter of the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Still, political unity has eluded the country because the BNP has boycotted parliament.

Some developments are ominous. Islamist extremism is rearing its head again. Jihadis are sprouting here and there. That the hanging of Bangla Bhai and his fundamentalist colleagues in 2007 did not evoke any protest is a healthy sign. But he was more of a killer than a religious figure.

The manner in which the fundamentalists have joined hands with the BNP indicates that there is an attempt to mix religion and politics. The Jamaat-i-Islami is their supporter, although it has reluctantly conceded that the liberation struggle contributed to independence. The Awami League may find these forces capturing the imagination of the common man despite the liberal temperament of Bangladeshis.

The other unfavourable development is that Bangladesh, preoccupied with the problem of finding hundreds of thousands of jobs, has neglected its borders. It has become a haven for all the banned organisations in India, Sri Lanka and even Myanmar.




They operate from Bangladeshi soil and find it safe to do so. These organisations include the United Liberation Front of Asom, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other lawless groups.


A concerted fight against them is what Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni promised Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna when they met in Delhi a few days ago. She has signed an agreement to combat international terrorism and crime.

India has, in turn, allowed border markets and given Bangladesh 1,000MW of power, apart from developing the power grid connectivity. After straightening things with the West, India was the first country to which Sheikh Hasina sent her foreign minister to assess how far New Delhi was willing to accommodate Dhaka. It is apparent that Sheikh Hasina cannot be satisfied with an agreement on power. She expects wider and closer economic cooperation.

In fact, after the creation of Bangladesh there was a joint planning board of New Delhi and Dhaka. An outline was prepared on how the economies of the two countries would be dovetailed to benefit each other. Everything has remained on paper since the assassination of Mujibur Rahman. True, New Delhi has its own limitations. But it has a larger economy. It can do much more than it has promised. Perhaps New Delhi can encourage private investors to pump money into Bangladesh or set up joint ventures to produce what India requires.

India has exacted a price in the shape of Dhaka’s undertaking to go after the extremists operating from its soil. But as Sheikh Hasina found during her earlier stint in power, it is not easy to fight them when they have supporters in both countries. Drug trafficking by the militants gives them an income of millions. It is difficult to demolish their network or that of criminals, smugglers and religious bigots because those who use them wield political power as well.

The steps that Dhaka takes against them may stoke anti-India fire, which is already burning fiercely. The anti-Pakistan feeling has been replaced by an anti-India feeling. Still, Dhaka has to face the situation. It cannot be seen running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Bangladesh knows that the failure to tackle the terrorists operating from its soil may cost the country dearly.

New Delhi expects much more than Dhaka can deliver. India also wants it to give its transit rights to reach its north-eastern states and facilities at the Chittagong port for exports. Talks on such matters soured relations in the past. New Delhi will have to sell them to the people of Bangladesh with reason and convince them that these measures are to their advantage.

There is apprehension in Bangladesh over the Tipaimukh Dam project located near the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers in Manipur. Why not suggest a joint board of engineers from India and Bangladesh to supervise the project to remove any doubts?

India needs to reflect on why all the neighbouring countries have distanced themselves from it. No doubt its size deters them. But more than that, their feeling is that New Delhi is becoming increasingly conscious of itself as an emerging world power. It tends to throw its weight about in such a manner that the neighbours are having doubts about its bona fides.

New Delhi must do some introspection because it is not that all next-door neighbours have turned hostile. They are suspicious, something which India must remedy by its deeds. #

First published in The DAWN, Pakistan, Friday, 18 Sep, 2009

Kuldip Nayar is a leading journalist based in Delhi, India and popular columnist in South Asia, specially Bangladesh and Pakistan

Bangladesh urged to ratify the Rome Statute

THE COALITION for the International Criminal Court and its members are calling on Bangladesh to take all necessary steps to accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC as soon as possible. Bangladesh actively took part in the 1998 United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court held in Rome. In 1999, the Government of Bangladesh signed the Statute of the ICC, the first country in South Asia to have signed the treaty.

Asia remains as an underrepresented region at the ICC, with only Afghanistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Tajikistan, Republic of Korea, and Japan as States Parties to the Treaty. Having Bangladesh join this new system of international justice will grant the region a stronger voice and a more meaningful role in making this historic institution- the first permanent, independent court capable of investigating and bringing to justice individuals who commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide- a truly effective mechanism for the protection of human rights and the rule of law.

The month of August target country for Coalition for the International Criminal Court ongoing Universal Ratification Campaign is Bangladesh. The Universal Ratification Campaign is a worldwide effort to promote universal acceptance of the International Criminal Court. Actions are needed to promote awareness of the International Criminal Court; increase media coverage; urge governments to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute; and adopt effective implementing legislation and ratify the ICC Agreement on Privileges and Immunities.

Greater support for the International Criminal Court in the Asian region is needed in order to increase the region’s commitment to the fight against impunity. We ask you to visit our ratification campaign page where you can send a letter to the President of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Md. Zillur Rahman.

Other Related Actions to Support the Campaign
There are a number of other ways to support the ratification campaign in Bangladesh:
1. Modify a copy of the letter available on the CICC ratification campaign pages noted above and send it to the Embassy of Bangladesh in your country.
2. Join the ICC-Asia listserv, which sends periodic updates about the International Criminal Court as it relates to the Asia/Pacific region, by e-mailing the Coalition Secretariat’s Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean Outreach Liaison Michelle Reyes at reyes@iccnow.org, or send a message to icc-info-asia@yahoogroups.com
3. Contact Anaga Dalal at dalal@iccnow.org at the CICC for a model press release that you can use to raise awareness about the Universal Ratification Campaign in your country.
4. Contact Michelle Reyes at the Coalition’s Secretariat office in New York (reyes@iccnow.org) as well as Evelyn Serrano, Asia Coordinator (serrano@iccnow.org) to inform us of any actions you take, or to discuss initiatives. You can also raise awareness of this campaign by sending this email to other organizations in your country.

This CICC ratification campaign page on Bangladesh is accessible at:
http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=

Please do not hesitate to contact the CICC if you have further questions or need more information.

Sincerely,

Brigitte Suhr/Director of Regional Programs

suhr@iccnow.org
http://www.iccnow.org/

Take Action Now!
Write a letter to the President to encourage him to ratify the Rome Statute as soon as possible!

You might like to use the following letter as a guide. Please be sure to “cc” all contacts below when sending your letters.

Send your letter to:

Mr. Md. Zillur Rahman
Honorable President
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Banga Bhaban
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Ms. Sheikh Hasina
Honorable Prime Minister
Prime Minister’s Office
Old Sangsad Bhaban
Tejgaon, Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh
Tel:+880 2 8151157 +880 2 8151157 (PS-I to PM), 8155700, 8111599 (Parliament)
Email: info@pmo.gov.bd

Mr. Justice M. M. Ruhul Amin
Honorable Chief Justice of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Premises
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 9565058

Barrister Shafiq Ahmed
Honorable Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Building: 4 (7th Floor)
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Tel: +880 2 7160577 +880 2 7160577, 9550016, 7164693
Fax: +880 2 7168557
Email: info@minlaw.gov.bd

Dr. Dipu Moni
Honorable Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Segun Bagicha
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Tel: +880 2 9562852 +880 2 9562852, 9562954
Fax: +880 2 9562188
Email: dirfe@mofa.gov.bd

Mr. Mahbubey Alam
Honorable Attorney General for Bangladesh
Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Premises
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Tel: +880 2 9562868 +880 2 9562868
Fax: +880 2 95616568
Email: adv_mahbubeby@yahoo.com

"Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources of Our Country Is the Blood Flown in Our Vein"

Interview with Professor Anu Muhammad

AUDITY FALGUNI

AFTER THE stern clashes between police and the demonstrators of the `National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports (NCPOGMPP) ' on September 2nd, around 50 student and youth activists of different left leaning groups and others were injured. Police launched lethal attack on the protestors who were marching forward to surround (gherao) the Petro-Bangla office protesting the recent cabinet committee approval on 24th August to lease three offshore gas fields to foreign companies. The protestors negated the government decision to award Ireland-based company Tallow Bangladesh shallow water block SS-O8-05 and US oil company Conoco Philipp’s South Asia New Ventures Ltd deep sea blocks DS-08-10 and 11 in the Bay of Bengal. They also raised the demand for the cancellation of around 12 'Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs)' of the Bangladesh government with different International Oil Companies (IOCs) and other relevant claims. Anu Muhammad, Professor of the Economics Department of Jahangir Nagar University and Member Secretary of NCPOGMPP got intensely hurt during the demonstration and was admitted to hospital. Here the excerpt of a brief interview with him is highlighted bellow:

Question: You are the member secretary of NCPOGMPP right at this moment. So, would you please tell us the particular cause behind the recent most demonstration staged by you on 2nd September?

Anu Muhammad: Demarcation of sea territory is one of the most glaring crises of Bangladesh. We have near about one Lakh sq km land boundaries with our neighbouring states. In terms of sea boundaries, the amount is just eight times higher. And, those sea regions are extremely potential in terms of mineral and other aquatic resources. Unfortunately, there are records of usurpation of these sea boundaries by neighbouring countries like India and Myanmar. There are three gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal namely block numbers 5, 10 & 11. Two PSCs were signed at first phase of 2008 during the Caretaker government regime. Under the auspices of these two PSCs, one Ireland based IOCs namely CONOCO-PHILLIPS and another U.S. based IOC named TALLOW were given lease for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. When the caretaker government signed the agreement, we protested vehemently and the government could not implement it. This year the newly elected government has approved the PSCs. The cabinet committee of 'Economic Affairs' has okayed those on 24th August and so we called on for the demonstration on 2nd September. Meantime, our successive governments have signed 12 PSCs with different IOCs in recent years. These PSCs have conferred upon them ownership of around 80 percent of total gas explored and the rest 20 percent lies with our nationalized institutions like BAPEX and Petro-Bangla. These multi-national oil giants deal with or regulate our 12 major gas fields in the Sylhet region. If you look at the atlas of Bangladesh and dissect it into east and west, you would notice that most of the oil fields are located at the eastern side or particularly in Sylhet. Now, the multi-national oil giants earn around 3,000 crore taka from these 12 gas fields. If we could spend just one-tenth of this 3,000 crore take to reshape and strengthen our nationalized oil and gas exploration institutions like BAPEX or Petro-Bangla, we did not need to depend any longer on foreigner consultants and imported machineries! Just imagine that because of irresponsibility and malfunctioning by two multi-national oil & gas companies namely Occidental in Magurchara, Sylhet during 1997 and NAIKO in Tengratila, Sylhet during 2006...around 500 billion cubic feet gas were simply burnt out or wasted! Around 87.50 acres of land in Magurchara were damaged with 176.97 crore taka losses in total. NAIKO drilled in the gas wells earlier declared by Petro-Bangla as unworthy for exploration purpose and caused the disaster. We owe to these two oil giants around 20,000 crore taka. Recently James F Moriarty, the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, mentioned in a speech that U.S. oil giant company Chevron wants to develop Bangladesh through investing in oil and gas exploration, but the government can do nothing for certain quarters. Probably he mentioned us, the leftists! We say in return that honourable Ambassador, first pay us 20,000 crore taka compensation for the Magurchara and Tengratila blow-outs! This year the total budget allotted in the power and energy sector has been 4,400 crore taka. Compensation properly paid for the two blow-outs can fulfill our budget in energy sector for next five fiscal years.

Question: When the movement by NCPOGMPP first commenced and what are your major achievements since the formation of the committee?

Anu Muhammad: NCPOGMPP was established in 1998 and thus it has already completed 11 years' of its journey. I would mention our major achievements one by one. In 1998, when the Awami League (AL) government was in power, the government was initiating to sign and conclude two agreements with the IOCs. The first agreement related to leasing of the Chittagong port to a U.S. Company for 199 years. We then organized a long march from Dhaka to Chittagong port and it largely owes to our movement that government could not avoid to probe in details into the company and then some major loopholes came out. The so-called U.S. Company first told our government that they have the paid-up capital of some thousand crores of taka but later it was found that they have the paid-up capital of only one crore taka. Again, it was not even a U.S.A.-based company and it was actually based in Barbados. What is most important that even if it was a U.S.A.-based company, no patriot should agree to lease out of any of his country's sea port for 199 years! The then Sheikh Hasina government yielded to our movement and the lease agreement, which was on the verge of being finalized, got cancelled. Second, two IOCs...the U.K.-based oil & gas exploration company Shell and the U.S.-based company UNOCOL drafted the design of installation of pipe-line from one of our pertinent gas field Bibyana, Sylhet to Delhi and the designing and lay-out were disbursed on web-site. But, the government was yet to finalize the proposal for gas export. A section of 'hired' consultants, bureaucrats, businessmen, media, U.S. Embassy, Indian High Commission, World Bank and ADB began stipulating Bangladesh is "floating on gas" and it was "best time to export gas." And, if Bangladesh misses the chance, later she might not get handsome price in ever-changing international market. They, in addition, opined that Bangladesh can construct her basic infrastructure including necessary components like education or health sector with the money obtained from gas export. NCPOGMPP then had to wage war at two levels. First, we had to theoretically challenge this propaganda by making people aware about the exact situation of real gas reserve scenario of Bangladesh, dynamics of internal use and demand etc. The IOCs exaggerated that Bangladesh had 100 trillion cubic feet of gas while we had only 12-13 trillion cubic feet of gas reserve in reality...in last several years the amount has reduced to seven to eight trillion cubic feet of gas reserve for internal use. Also, domestic need for gas has been multiplied four or five times in recent years. So, gas export could really doom us! Today the facility of CNG transport could not be availed off if we agreed to export gas. We proved, in addition, with facts and figure that even if we could earn around 1,000 crore taka in total by exporting our gas, we had to buy equivalent amount of oil or petroleum from foreign countries to fill-up the gap. In that case, we had to spend around 15-20,000 crore taka per year. So, NCPOGMPP mobilized people for another long march towards Dhaka-Bibyana, Sylhet. Thus, AL government could not sign the agreements with Shell and UNOCOL. BNP succeeded the AL government in 2001 and they also began playing on the same tune reciting there is no worth of keeping gas under earth. What we should do is to export it and earn money. But, we were firm on our movement and people stood on behalf of us. So, BNP government also failed like its predecessor.

Question: NCPOGMPP has also waged a war on the issue of Fulbari coal mine. Would you elaborate on it?

Anu Muhammad: Sure, that is another landmark of success. The then BNP government came to an agreement with the Asia Energy (AE) company validating the open pit mining in around 135 sq km area of Fulbari, close to the Bara Pukuria coal plant of Dinajpur district. If this agreement was implemented, around 10,000 hectares land of the adjacent areas including Nawabganj, Birampur and Parbatipur Upazila were to be damaged at initial stage. Near about 656.33 sq km area was to be directly damaged. Installation of the physical infra-structure of the proposed coal mine by AE was supposed to commit eviction, damage and destruction of approximately 10,000 human habitats, factories, schools, colleges, religious institutions, railways, highways, vegetation, water reservoirs like ponds, canals and rivers. AE itself revealed that if the agreement was to be implemented, Bangladesh government was supposed to get from AE around 45,000 crore taka in 30 years while they were supposed to obtain 1,50,000 crore taka from us in the same time-frame. Fulbari is a densely populated area with several Bengali and Shantal indigenous villages, their arable lands, trees and water reservoirs. If we go for counting the environmental damage in terms of eco-system and symbioses within nature, you cannot simply evaluate the extent of damage in money. So, on 26th August of 2006 the activists of NCPOGMPP and local people went to surround the AE office in Fulbari and police fired on unarmed people. Three were died, one became permanently disabled and around 300 people were injured. The government signed a three-point demand treaty with us in Parbatipur, Dinajpur on 30th August. The government, however, only implemented some portion of the treaty but our number one demand to evict AE from Fulbaria on an emergency is yet to be fulfilled.

Question: NCPOGMPP has called upon to surround the PM's office on 10th September? What would be your major agendas for this immediate programme?

Anu Muhammad: Our four most urgent demands are cancellation of the PSC model 2008 for the gas fields in the Bay of Bengal which leased out two gas blocks to two multi-national oil giants, cancellation of existing 12 PSCs and re-modeling of them with hundred percent ownership of our national institutions like BAPEX and Petro-Bangla over the explored gas, proper demarcation of sea boundaries and to evict Asia Energy (AE) from Fulbari, Dinajpur and cancel open-pit mining.

Question: Would you involve the major opposition BNP along with you? Leader of the Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia has visited you in the hospital and mentioned she would be with this movement. So, what is your consideration now?

Anu Muhammad: No. The AL, BNP and the 'neutral' care-taker government manifested their willingness to export gas on a regular basis. In Latin American countries like Venezuela, Bolivia or Chile the IOCs did not pay any profit to the respective governments on the pretext of failing to 'recover the production or exploration costs.' The IOCs have drilled for more than 20 years in Chile and drilled a lot of their mineral resources but yet to pay any dividend saying that they could not yet recover their exploration costs. Thus the whole lot might turn into a deception for the poorer states. Hugo Chavez and other Latin American leaders are now fighting this issue. Amar desh er tel gas amar deher rakta! Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources of our country is the blood flown in our vein and we would simply die out if we cannot protect those. #

Shiekh Mujib feared military would kill him, says Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

FORMER PUNJAB Governor Mustafa Khar has revealed that former Bangladesh President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman feared being killed by the Army.

In an interview with a private television channel, Khar said Mujibur Rahman was apprehensive of being eliminated by the military, and he had once asked him to convey his fears to the former Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

"Sheikh Mujibur Rahman once asked me to tell Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that the army will kill him first and then murder Bhutto," Khar said.

Khar said Rahman was not in favour of country's bifurcation, but his party, the Awami League, had several `commitments' with India due to which it was forced to support Pakistan's division.

"It was not possible for Mujib alone to backtrack. He only wanted `true autonomy' for East Pakistan, but he was mistreated, especially during Field Marshal Ayub Khan's regime," The Daily Times quoted Khar, as saying.

He said the former Bangladesh President wanted negotiations on his `six-point' agenda, but party hardliners did not allow him to do so.

Mujibur Rahman, who is considered the father of the nation in Bangladesh, was killed on August 15, 1975 along with his family members and personal staff by a group of junior army officers who invaded the presidential residence with tanks.

Rahman's daughters Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Sheikh Rehana, who were on a visit to West Germany at that time, were left alive. Wajed is the present leader of the Awami League and the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. #

First syndicated by ANI, September 5, 2009

A banyan tree in Dhaka called Kennedy

Photo Tariful Islam Khan: The banyan tree senator Ted Kennedy planted in Dhaka University in February 1972 to replace the original “Bawt Tawla” blown up by the Pakistan Army in March 1971

TAREK FATAH

IN THE late hours of March 25, 1971, as the citizens of Dhaka slept, the Pakistan Army launched a war on its own people. By the time the sun rose, thousands of students in two university residential halls were dead and countless more lay wounded.

Dhaka University had been a hotbed of political activism for decades. To the generals of the Pakistan Army led by president Yahya Khan and his feared commander in then “East Pakistan,” General Tikka Khan, it had to be vanquished. The army also had a score to settle with an old tree on the campus grounds that was rumoured to have cast magical spells of rebellion on the young men and women who mingled underneath it.

After the first massacres, soldiers were sent to kill the giant banyan tree, lovingly known as “Bawt Tawla.” Under its branches, many generations of Bengali students had gathered, conspired and then gone out to change the world.

It was under this tree that the language movement of 1953 was launched. Here in 1968, students had risen up against the military rule of General Ayub Khan, leading to his humiliation.

By the time the sun set on March 25, the Pakistan Army had blown up Bawt Tawla, ripping the very heart out of Dhaka University.

“It was a sad day as if someone had destroyed the very essence of our lives,” says Fuad Chowdhury, a Canadian filmmaker who witnessed the carnage.

“I saw the random killing and shooting of civilians. Canon fire destroyed part of my house, but the next morning when we saw the tree gone, we were devastated,” he adds. “Bawt Tawla was gone forever, we thought. But we were wrong.”

A million lives and two years later, after the Bangladeshis had defeated the Pakistan Army and achieved independence, a white American politician would come to the spot where the old tree stood and plant a new sapling.

Today, almost forty years later, that sapling has grown into a new Bawt Tawla, and under it students mourn the passing of the man who planted that sapling: senator Edward Kennedy.

Ted Kennedy had a huge following all over the world. Some admired him for his charisma, others because he was the brother of JFK and RFK. But in Bangladesh, he was revered because he spoke up when no one else in the U.S. dared to say a word.

In 1971, when the Pakistan Army began its genocide, Islamabad was a close ally of the U.S. President Yahya Khan had facilitated the Nixon-Mao meeting and the White House was not interested in damaging relations with a military junta that provided an effective counter balance to the growing India-U.S.S.R. relationship.

As Pakistani atrocities mounted, the U.S. consul general in Dhaka, Archer Blood, sent an urgent message to the State Department. It read:

“Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities… But we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the ...conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term ‘genocide’ is applicable, is purely an internal matter of a sovereign state.”

Blood said that Dhaka University students were “either shot down in rooms or mowed down when they came out of building…estimated 1,000 persons, mostly students, but including faculty members resident in dorms, killed… At least two mass graves on campus, one near Iqbal Hall, other near Rokeya Hall. Rain [on the night of] March 29 exposed some bodies. Stench terrible.”

Instead of paying attention to the news about the bloodletting, the “Blood Telegram,” as it came to be known, was reclassified as secret, and Archer Blood got transferred out of Dhaka.

As the world seemed to have abandoned Bengalis, one man had the courage to defy his own government, thumb his nose at the Nixon administration and go to the teeming refugee camps where ten million people were living in appalling conditions. This man was then 39-year-old senator Ted Kennedy.

Kennedy toured the camps and heard eyewitness stories of the massacres all over East Pakistan. Back home, senator Kennedy wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Refugees about “one of the most appalling tides of human misery in modern times.” He wrote,

“Nothing is more clear, or more easily documented, than the systematic campaign of terror — and its genocidal consequences — launched by the Pakistani army on the night of March 25th …All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad. America’s heavy support of Islamabad is nothing short of complicity in the human and political tragedy of East Bengal.”

Despite obstruction from the Nixon White House, Kennedy worked both sides of the house, pleading for the end of U.S. support for Pakistan. This finally led to the U.S. Congress passing a bill that banned all arms sales to Pakistan.

On December 16, 1971, the war ended and Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan to become an independent country.

Fuad Chowdhury recalls when two months later, senator Kennedy came back to Bangladesh and planted a tree at the site of the original Bawt Tawla.

“There were thousands of students chanting “Joi Kennedy” (long live Kennedy) as he spoke to us, comparing the Bangladesh revolution to the American Revolution.

“For us, he was a hero then and will always be remembered as the man who stood by us in our darkest days. The banyan tree should now be re-named as the banyan tree called Kennedy.”

Today, the tree Kennedy planted in 1972 has grown as large as the original Bawt Tawla. #

First published in the National Post, Toronto, Canada, September 1, 2009

Bangladesh: The Blowback of Corruption

Canadian company leaves environmental scars, trail of allegations

DAVID MONTERO

Click here for the video story which shows the impact of the disaster on local schools and villagers and the environmental damage still evident today

THIS PAST January, Niko Resources Limited, a Calgary-based energy company, made what must have been an embarrassing announcement: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the company said, was probing the possibility that Niko had made illegal payments to government officials in Bangladesh.

This past January, Niko Resources Limited, a Calgary-based energy company, made what must have been an embarrassing announcement: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the company said, was probing the possibility that Niko had made illegal payments to government officials in Bangladesh.

The Canadian investigation constituted a kind of deja vu for Niko. Two years earlier, from its offices in Calgary, Niko executives had watched a similarly disquieting event unfold: Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), a government regulatory body, arrested about a dozen people connected to Niko, including two former Bangladeshi prime ministers and several high-ranking government officials. In what has become one of the country's largest scandals, they were all indicted for helping Niko to obtain a natural gas contract through bribery.

A Company on the Rise
Founded in Alberta in 1987, Niko made a name for itself by developing natural gas fields in difficult to work places such as India and Bangladesh. The company became something of a darling to the financial press; between 2001 and 2006, its market cap grew from $220 million to $2.5 billion. In the late 1990s, hoping to repeat its success in India, Niko moved into Bangladesh. But the Bangladeshi government disqualified the company from bidding on gas projects, saying it lacked the technical expertise and financial resources.

And yet somehow, by 2003, Niko had signed a lucrative joint venture agreement with the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (BAPEX), a state-owned gas company. The agreement, negotiated behind closed doors, gave Niko control of two vast fields -- Tengratila, near the Indian border, and Feni, in the south -- with a potential value of roughly $750 million.

Citizens groups and the local press were aghast. "Breaching its policy, the government last month secretly awarded the company an unexplored gas field..." Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper reported. More controversies soon followed.

In January 2005, as Niko started drilling a gas well in Tengratila, it accidentally set off an explosion that blew up the field. No one was killed, but the fires destroyed billions of cubic feet of gas and forced thousands to evacuate.

Then, in June 2005, as Niko was trying to contain the first blowout, it set off another explosion. The accidents caused massive protests around the country.

How Niko handled the crisis only added fuel to the fire. At first, it refused to pay for damages, and a legal dispute with the government ensued. Then, in the middle of the dispute, Niko gave BAPEX, its government partner, a $100,000 Land Cruiser. BAPEX, in turn, presented it to the energy minister, AKM Mosharraf Hossain. As it happened, Hossain was in charge of overseeing the explosion compensation claims.

Given the timing, the vehicle immediately caused a stir.

Newspapers, quoting anonymous government sources, reported that Hossain received the car in return for delaying the multimillion-dollar compensation claims then confronting Niko. An editorial in The Daily Star questioned: "The point is -- was it a gift? If it was, how and why was it?"

Days after the scandal broke, Bangladesh's prime minister at the time, Khaleda Zia, forced Hossain to resign. And over the course of the next year, Niko eventually paid out $525,000 in compensation to roughly 620 families affected by the disaster, and another $100,000 to plant trees. The outcry over the "gifted" Land Cruiser and Niko's other controversies seemed, for now, to have gone away.

Rather, a new chapter of trouble was just beginning.

Corruption Out of Control
During the reign of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in power between 2001 and 2006, Transparency International ranked Bangladesh as the most corrupt country in the world for several years in a row. In fact, by 2006, corruption had become so bad that basic services like water and electricity had broken down, leading to violent protests.

The unrest, coupled with political infighting, threatened to destabilize Bangladesh's democracy. So the army stepped in and took control of the government. One of its first acts was to declare a war on the graft committed by the BNP government. Some 1,200 agents of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) were given special powers to investigate, indict and arrest.

In 2007, they opened a case file on Niko.

During its investigations, the ACC uncovered a trail of allegations: According to statements recorded by magistrates in January, Niko had hired businessmen to pay off corrupt officials to win its natural gas contract. The evidence also implicated a former law minister, Moudud Ahmed. To date, none of these allegations has been proven, and the charges are still pending in court.

Among those arrested was the former energy minister, Hossain. (The allegations that Niko gave him a car as a bribe were never proven. But several cases of corruption are currently pending against him in Bangladesh's high court.) Niko has denied any illegal conduct.

Two former prime ministers were also arrested in the case, but the evidence against them was scant, and the charges were dropped. No Canadian executives of Niko were charged, but an arrest warrant was issued for the company's vice president in Bangladesh, Kashem Sharif. He has since fled the country and is now a fugitive.

Lawsuits have piled up. After the Tengratila explosions, the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), a public interest law firm, estimated the true scope of damage in Tengratila at more than $100 million. In 2006, it sued Niko for failing to pay adequate compensation to local people. As a result of the case, the Supreme Court was petitioned to freeze Niko's bank accounts in Bangladesh and withhold payments on gas revenues, causing the company to incur at least $27 million in arrears as of June 2009.

The case brought by the environmental lawyers stalled during the political unrest in 2006. But this year, following the election of a new government, the Supreme Court has called for the case to be concluded as soon as possible. Final hearings are now underway.

In 2008, the Bangladeshi government tried to settle out of court with Niko to pay damages in the two explosions. When Niko failed to respond, the government filed another lawsuit seeking more than $100 million in compensation for lost gas and environmental damages. That case is also pending in court.

Five Years On
Today, five years after winning its controversial contract, Niko maintains only a marginal presence in Bangladesh. Most of its foreign executives have vacated the company's office in Dhaka. The field at Tengratila remains suspended. Only the equipment remains, watched over by a single manager and a few guards.

It remains to be seen how the Canadian government's probe of Niko will play out. Other than confirming that a formal investigation is underway, neither Niko nor the Canadian government has said any more on the matter; it is unclear which allegations of bribery the RCMP may be looking at.

There are concerns, meanwhile, that the Canadian government may not act on whatever evidence it finds. In June, Transparency International described Canada as being one of several governments 'laggard' in cracking down on companies that commit bribery abroad -- a charge Canadian authorities deny.

Niko, in the meantime, would not comment for FRONTLINE/World but in the past has publicly denied any wrongdoing. "We have a code of conduct...," Niko's chief financial officer, Murray Hesje, told the press in January. "We believe we behaved ethically and are unaware of anything illegal that the company's been involved with." #

First published in Frontline World, August 21, 2009

David Montero is a regular contributor to FRONTLINE/World reporting from across South Asia. He has reported on a number of corruption stories in Bangladesh in recent months

Breaking the silence: ensuring justice for women

Photo: Pro-democracy political activist secually harassed by male police officers on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh
WILLIAM GOMES

VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS and individuals have been fighting for decades to ensure justice for women and children in Bangladesh. While progress has been nominal, violence continues to be notable.

Innocent souls are crying for justice. From January to March 2009, 73 women and children were the victims of rape or attempted rape; among those, 29 were gang raped and 13 were between ages 7 and 12. In May alone, 33 women and girls were the victims of rape. Among those, 16 were women and 17 were children under the age of 16. Out of the 16 women, five were victims of gang rape and three were killed after being raped. Out of the 17 girls, five were victims of gang rape and two were killed after being raped.

Between January and March 2009, six serious acts of violence against women were instigated by fatwas. When I discussed this issue with the law minister, he denied the necessity of introducing a specific law to ban fatwas. I repeatedly insisted on the necessity of a specific law to fight fatwa, as well as a law to identify the paternity of a child in cases where it is disputed.

Dowry is another social disease in Bangladesh. From January to March 2009, 44 women faced dowry-related violence; among these women, 23 died.

Bangladesh has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world: 440 per 100,000 live births, according to UNICEF, and more than 20,000 women in Bangladesh die annually from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

In Bangladesh, women do their best to fulfill their duties and take care of all their men's needs; yet, from January to March 2009 alone, 45 women were abused by their husbands or their husbands’ relatives. Very recently, a woman, Parul Akter, who was seven months pregnant, was killed and her body thrown in a river; her two other children are still missing. This is the reality that many women in Bangladesh face.

We can name thousands of ways that women and children are facing oppression and repression in Bangladesh. Confucius said, “We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.” I do agree with that. For almost two decades, Bangladesh’s prime ministers have been women. The number of people who oppose and oppress woman and children are larger than the number of people who are oppressed or suppressed.

Women’s empowerment alone will not solve the problem; we need to treat women as human beings first, rather than simply as women. We need to break the silence and stand up against religious and cultural traditions that encourage the repression of women and children. I dream of a day when a woman will be treated as a human being first, when women will really be empowered and lead the nation toward a more humane way, as they are the source of the human race.

The whole system in Bangladesh is male-dominated, inspired by common prophet religions that have a culture of suppressing woman historically. We need to deal with these oppressors first. Many aw and wonderful steps had taken to bring an end to the suppression to woman and children but hopefully none of them succeed.

Sometimes, a police officer who oppresses his wife in the home is used to investigate a case of oppression against a woman. In this case, the police officer should be brought to trial before anything else. Bangladesh even has cases where, after being raped, the woman gets raped again in the police station by police officers.

More than anything, the religion of Islam encourages the majority of people in Bangladesh in the historical cultural traditions of oppressing women. Laws can change, while religion inspires adherents through heaven and hell; in this light, how will jail or capital punishment be able to make any significant change?

The Prophet Mohammed said, “I was standing at the edge of the fire (hell) and the majority of the people going in were women.” When the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed guide the majority of people in Bangladesh, and the Quran (4:34) orders a man to beat his wife if she doesn't obey him, how will the law prevent the beating of women? Laws and conventions contradict the holy sayings of the Prophet and Allah and will surely fail to ensure the rights of women.

I silently cry for justice for women like Parul, Rahima, Rebeka, Shima, who was raped in front of her father, and Mili Rani, a minority girl who was raped and later committed suicide. All this happened inside of the society before you and me.

We need to break the silence and step up a revival for humanity and justice. #

William Gomes is an independent human rights activist, freelance journalist and a political analyst. He can be reached at cda.exe@gmail.com

Shahidul Alam secures bail for illegal crossing Indo-Bangla border

BREAKING NEWS

CELEBRATED BANGLADESHI photographer Shahidul Alam secured bail from a Kurigram court on Wednesday after the BDR sued him on charges of illegal intrusion in the Indian territory.

DrikNEWS editor Azizur Rahim Peu said the Kurigram judicial magistrate's court granted him bail after he was taken there at around 12:45pm in the case filed with Rowmari Police Station in Kurigram.

He was detained for six hours by Indian Border Security Force on the northern Rowmari-Sahapara border on Tuesday night.

Lt Col Mizanur of Bangladesh Rifles said BSF handed Alam back at around 11.15pm.

Alam, founder of Drik Gallery and chief editor of international photo agency DrikNEWS, was working on a National Geographic assignment on the Brahmaputra river, said Peu.

Sumeru Mukharjee, one of two colleagues that had accompanied Alam on the assignment, told bdnews24.com that they were taking photographs near the border fence on Tuesday.

"As we inadvertently pointed our cameras toward the Indian side, a BSF patrol team called us over."

"Shahidul went to speak to the Indian border guards, while we stayed behind."

Bangladesh Rifles director general Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam had quickly confirmed that Alam was being held at the BSF's Sahapara camp.

He told DrikNEWS that BDR were doing all they could to get the famous photographer released the same night.

He told bdnews24.com that Alam had been detained on the Indian side of the border from about 5pm until his release just after 11pm.

His two colleagues, who remained on the Bangladeshi side in Kurigram district, were unable to contact him for some time.

Local residents and BDR personnel told bdnews24.com that Alam and his two associates went to the Rowmari border with a local guide, where they were caught taking pictures of a barbed wire fence near the 1065th border pillar.

They said the group may have mistakenly strayed into no-man's land.

First published in BdNews24.com, June 17, 2009

Shahidul taken to court for bail

BREAKING NEWS

SHAHIDUL ALAM is on his way to the court in Kurigram. In the same boat are his colleagues, Sumeru Chakravarty and Abul Kashem. Also, police headed by ASI Amir Ali. Since Sumeru is in the same boat, I have been able to speak to Shahidul, and also, to remain updated of what's happening, through Sumeru.

An influential lawyer of the Kurigram Bar Association Advocate Siddiqur Rahman has consented to represent him, the Vice President of the Bar Association Advocate Abdul Khaleque will also be present at the hearing. If they can reach Kurigram court by 11:30, it is expected that the hearing will take place today. By all indications, he is expected to get bail.

I am overwhelmed by messages of support and concern expressed by friends in Bangladesh, and abroad. And the stupendous all-out efforts being made to ensure a speedy bail. My heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you.

Members of Manobadhikar Sangbadik Samity (Journalists for Human Rights Forum) have already reached the court premises. Kurigram Press Club members have been informed, who have said they will be present at the bail hearing, with food! Uttar Bongo Sangbadik Parishad (North Bengal Journalists Council) has also been informed and their members will also show up at the court, to rally support for Shahidul. #

Source: Rahnuma Ahmed, DrikNews

Now Shahidul Alam arrested by Bangladesh border forces for illegally cross Indo-Bangla border

BREAKING NEWS

LAST NIGHT at 3:00 am on Thursday 17 June, renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam telephoned from Rowmari thana (police station) to say he has been shown arrested. A case was filed by sub-inspector Amir Ali (0191-401-8992) of Rowmari thana under the Control Entry Act/4, 1972 Bangladesh (case number 6, dated 17.06.2009).

Shahidul spent the night in custody at the thana. He is due to appear at court on Thursday 17 June, and is expected to appeal for bail from Kurigram court. His camera and phone were confiscated.

The case follows his arrest and subsequent 6 hour detention (including interrogation) on Wednesday 16 June, around 6.10pm, by Indian border guards, BSF, while taking photographs for his Brahmaputra river project, one that encompasses China, Mongolia, Tibet, and India, and has been carried out over several years. While taking photographs in the Bangladeshi side, BSF guards had asked him to come over, and then detained him at Sahapara 21 IPP, across the Memokar Char border, Rowmari, Kurigram. #

Photographer Shahidul Alam spends 6hrs in BSF custody

RENOWNED BANGLADESHI photographer Shahidul Alam was detained for six hours by Indian Border Security Force on the northern Rowmari-Sahapara border on Tuesday.

Lt Col Mizanur of Bangladesh Rifles said BSF eventually handed Alam over at around 11.15pm.

Sumeru Mukharjee, one of two colleagues that had accompanied Alam on an assignment, told bdnews24.com that they were taking photographs near the border fence earlier in the day.

"As we inadvertently pointed our cameras toward the Indian side, a BSF patrol team called us over."

"Shahidul went to speak to the Indian border guards, while we stayed behind."

Bangladesh Rifles director general Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam had quickly confirmed that Alam was being held at the BSF's Sahapara camp.

He told DrikNEWS that BDR were doing all they could to get the world famous photographer released quickly.

Alam, founder of Drik Gallery and chief editor of international photo agency DrikNEWS, was working on a National Geographic assignment on the Brahmaputra river, said a spokesperson for the agency.

DrikNEWS editor Azizur Rahim Peu told bdnews24.com that Alam had been detained on the Indian side of the border from about 5pm.

His two colleagues, who remained on the Bangladeshi side in Kurigram district, were unable to contact him for some time.

Lt Col Mizanur, commanding officer of BDR's Six Rifles Battalion, based at Jamalpur, said he had specially asked his counterpart in India, Sunil Mehta, to release Alam that night.

"Usually, handovers do not take place at night, but Shahidul Alam is a well-known photographer and journalist, and my counterpart agreed to hand him over before the end of the night," the BDR officer said.

Locals told bdnews24.com that Alam and his two associates went to the Rowmari border with a local guide, where they were caught taking pictures of a barbed wire fence near the 1065th border pillar.

The group may have mistakenly strayed into no-man's land, they said. #

First published in BdNews24.com, June 16, 2009

Bangladeshi photo-journalist detained by Indian border forces

NAVA THAKURIA

Guwahati, June 16, 2009: Eminent Bangladeshi photo-journalist Dr Shahidul Alam has been detained by the Border Security Forces (India) today (Tuesday) evening while working on the Indo-Bangladesh border areas.

The founder of Driknews, a portal dedicated for news photographs, Dr Alam was working for his project titled Brahmaputra in the Bangladesh side of the border, claimed Rahnuma Ahmed, the director of Driknews.

Mentionable that the Dhaka based Driknews is, as stated in the portal, an independent body of Drik Picture Library, aims to cover news photography and investigative reporting by disseminating both locally and internationally through the web.

“He (Dr Alam ) called me at 18:21 pm to tell me that the guards had asked him to come over, and then detained him at Sahapara 21 IPP, across the border from Rowmari. His two colleagues remained on the Bangladeshi side,” said Rahnuma Ahmed #

Nava Thakuria is journalist based in Guwahati, Assam. He could reached by phone: +0091-98640-44917 mobile, navathakuria@gmail.com

Should Pakistan extend its hands?

RIPAN KUMAR BISWAS

ALTHOUGH JOHN Demjanjuk was 89 years old and was not able to take flight due to his deteriorating physical and mental health, but was deported from US to Germany in last May. Demjanjuk, who is a native Ukranian and is a naturalized US citizen, is a Nazi war crimes suspect who is charged with being an accessory to the murder of about 29,000 civilians at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in World War II.

Because there is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity, each and everyone who committed genocide must be held accountable for his/her inhumane actions.

The term “war crimes” evokes a litany of horrific images. The world has suffered much genocide in human history, but the worst genocide in the annals of history in 1971 was not simply possible by the state-sponsored Pakistani army against Bangladesh. People suffered such attempted extermination with the help of local allies. What weren’t happened with general Bangladeshis- murder, ill-treatment, torture, mutilation, corporal punishment, rape, enforced prostitution, indecent assault, summary executions, hostage taking, collective punishment, or pillage?

This is not quite the Bangladesh where lives were sacrificed; blood was shed for in 1971. So is it possible for any Bangladeshi to forget the barbaric killings of 1971 and to let bygones be bygones with regard to that atrocities committed by the Pakistani army and their local allies?

While government of Bangladesh has pressed on with the planned war crimes trial with the support of UN, EU, US, and even asked cooperation from Pakistan, a senior Pakistani government spokesperson replied and warned that such attempt would hamper ties and cast a shadow on the two country's relations. “The atrocities during 1971 were a sad chapter and we should not remain frozen in time but should look forward," Masood Khalid, the additional secretary for Asia Pacific of Pakistani foreign ministry, said to a visiting Bangladeshi media group in Islamabad, Pakistan on Sunday, June 07, 2009.

However, on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, the Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka replied in a statement saying Masood Khalid’s remarks have evidently been misconstrued and quoted out of context. Earlier on May 14, 2009, Pakistan replied negatively and rejected Bangladesh foreign minister’s demand for apology over alleged 1971 atrocities. According to Dawn, an English daily newspaper in Pakistan, foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said that under the 1974 agreement Pakistan had regretted the incidents that took place in 1971 and in 2002 the then President Musharraf had also expressed regrets for the 1971 incidents during his visit to Bangladesh. “Let bygones be bygones,” he concluded.

Forgiveness is not in the gift of those who have not themselves been the victims of those who committed atrocious crimes. We could not do anything else than to forgive such a person. But if people believe that their actions were justified, they have to vindicate themselves.

People too are tempted to want to forgive and forget. But when a person or a group is involved against national, racial or religious groups to destroy their political and social institutions, culture, language, national feelings, religion, economic existence, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups, there is no forgiveness for them as they commit moral atrocities.

Forgiving or forgetting does not mean ignoring injustice. Letting go of grudges is one thing, and it takes an immense amount of moral muscle to do so, but the most controversial aspect of the entire subject of forgiveness, concerns confronting not ignoring the great evils perpetrated by people. And in case of war criminals, whoever is merciful to the cruel is indifferent to the innocent. People never forgive, in this view, because forgiving or forgetting is a sign there is a moral escape valve, that to forgive acts of brutality is in effect to endorse and perpetuate rather than combat their evil deeds. The blood of the innocent cries out forever.

So much is certain, that no civilized society, any more than a society at peace, can allow unpunished criminal activities and certainly not war crimes.

War criminals should be hunted down, tried and convicted, no matter how long it may take. By doing so, a message will be sent out to any potential war-criminal that the world community will hunt them down and prosecute them and should expect no mercy. War criminals should be prosecuted regardless of the amount of time that has elapsed. As a way of deterring criminals from their crimes, everyone should know that no matter how long it takes, or how far they go from their original crimes, they will be found and punished. This is important because among other things, such prosecutions allow society as a whole to re-examine the shared values that gave rise to such crimes.

Bangladesh can’t be lenient towards war criminals as the crimes like genocides and the movements against humanity that can make Bangladesh to be an orthodox Islamic republic, negating the concept of secular Bengali nationhood, which was the basis of the liberation war. To further consolidate their grip on the country, the defeated forces of the 1971 liberation war are now carrying out their misleading fundamentalist ideologies across Bangladesh. They don't believe in democracy, rather they use it as a way of surviving, and propagating their views.

Showing respect of millions of peoples’ expectation that influenced the Bangladeshi voters to vote massively in favor of them in December ’08 elections, the present government reasonably asked Pakistan not to make any adverse comment on the trial of those accused of war crimes in the 1971 war since it is an internal matter of Bangladesh and is also beyond diplomatic norms.

However, people in Bangladesh, who are speaking for a war crimes tribunal, their intentions are not to seek revenge and undeserved retribution, rather, they are advocating for the establishment of a realistic and credible examples that will deter future criminal liberators from feeding death and destruction to any human mankind. Because they believe bringing war criminals to justice can have a positive effect in unifying a nation, legitimizing its government, and keeping it on the right path.

Though German government never took responsibility for World War II, but it helped track down war criminals for the Nuremberg Trials and opened its wartime archives to researchers and investigators. Japanese government felt sorry and said that it had no objection to the international tribunal's verdict in 1948 which found the Japanese military responsible for forcing Chinese women to provide sex to Japanese servicemen during World War II.

Pakistan has moral responsibility to try their war criminals as international laws on crime against humanity are also obligatory for them and can extend their hands to Bangladesh. #

First published on June 11, 2009, New York

Ripan Kumar Biswas (Ripan.Biswas@yahoo.com) is a freelance writer based in New York

Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh

Book review: Jihadi terror in Bangladesh

KHALED AHMED

Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: A Complex Web
By Ali Riaz; Routledge 2008; Pp172;
Price £80

In this book he gets to the root of what led in 2005 to a countrywide setting off of 450 bombs that signalled the coming into its own of jihadi Islam

BANGLADESH HAS Harkat-ul Jihad Bangladesh (HUJIB), the Jama’at-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) as functioning jihadi organisations. These three organisations can be traced to a single network. Others include Hizb-ut-Tawhid, Shahadat-i-Hiqma, and Jaish-e-Muhammad. Reliable data about the militant organisations, particularly the profiles of the activists, are not available, but profiles of the militants arrested since the beginning of 2006 indicate that former participants of the Afghan war and disaffected youth are at the helm of these organisations. The top leaders are thus ‘connected’ to organisations outside Bangladesh.

Their attacks have traced a uniform pattern, possibly in response to one central directive. They frequently target specific groups: locally prominent NGOs and NGO-run schools, members of the judiciary, women, and so on (p.31), which conforms to the pattern in Pakistan. Violence against the Hindus in Bangladesh after the 2001 Babri Masjid incident is well documented. Beginning in 2002, the Ahmedis were attacked by Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (KN), an umbrella organisation of the Islamist groups. They have begun a campaign to declare Ahmedis non-Muslims, just like Pakistan.

The BD government, instead of clamping down on the perpetrators of these attacks, has succumbed to their pressure and on January 8, 2004, banned all Ahmedi publications. It also allowed this organisation to attack Ahmedi mosques, and seize their properties, while the police and local authorities helped them pull down the signboards of Ahmedi organisations, more or less as in Pakistan, where the Ahmedis have been constitutionally declared non-Muslims. The Ahmedi headquarters in Dhaka was attacked in 1992, and Imam Shah Alam was killed in Jessore in 2003. (p.35)

The Saudi-assisted Ahle Hadith movement became strong in the 1980s and Bangladesh saw a mushrooming of the madrassas. Between 1972 and 2004, their growth rate was 73 percent. In May 2004, the police chief in Rajshahi was telling the press that Bangla Bhai was assisting the law enforcers in tracking down the left-wing outlaws. Bangla Bhai was a jihadi veteran from Afghanistan whom Pakistan had facilitated and who was eventually hanged once the civilian governments were removed with the imposition of emergency in 2006.

Bangla Bhai, with hundreds killed and maimed at his hands, gave Bangladesh a bad name in the world. But Bangladesh was on the self-chosen course of degradation together with Pakistan. Pakistan did it under its India-driven policy but Bangladesh did it out of sheer liking for violence under Islam. Others too were chosen for patronage. The case of Mufti Rauf is instructive.

Abdur Rauf went to Afghanistan via Pakistan in 1989 and fought alongside the Taliban until the end of 1992. He became a key organiser of a militant group soon after his return to Bangladesh. By his own admission, he imparted military training to madrassa students as a teacher in Madaripur district for about three years. Later he came into contact with the Rohingya rebels in the south-eastern region. In 1995 he was arrested with 40 other militants from a training camp at Cox’s Bazaar but was jailed for only five months (p.52).

Why was Bangladesh soft on terrorists? This is a question all Muslim states have to answer but will not. The question is important because their bias in favour of these terrorists has led to the death of many peaceful citizens.

Geographically, Bangladesh is surrounded almost entirely by India on its eastern western and northern borders, sharing 4,053 km (3,035 miles) of frontier and 193 km (172 miles) of it with Myanmar in the southeast. The Bay of Bengal, shared with India and Myanmar, bounds Bangladesh in the south. Five Indian states border Bangladesh, including four in India’s troubled northeast where dozens of militant groups are fighting for full statehood, greater autonomy or independence. (p.62)

Author Riaz writes: “After the 1975 military coup in Bangladesh, a new identity, called Bangladeshi nationalism, was articulated in a manner that portrayed India as an adversary. Over the following 30 years, the situation has worsened as more issues of difference have been added to an already distrustful relationship. There are four sources of boundary conflicts: (1) non-ratification of the 1974 Indo-Bangladesh Land Agreement; (2) non-delineation of maritime boundaries in the Bay of Bengal; (3) ownership of Talpatty Island referred to as New Moore Island; and (4) sharing of river waters that flow from India to Bangladesh.”

The book says India organised groups inside Bangladesh and gave them material support to conduct a low-intensity conflict till 1997. The military regimes in Bangladesh retaliated by resurrecting a policy begun by the Pakistani government of providing shelter and support to the insurgent groups of Indian north-eastern states (p.63). Bangladeshi masses converted to hardline attitudes towards the non-Muslims after the BJP arose in India and in 1992 caused the Babri Masjid crisis. This helped the Islamists argue that the right course for Muslim-majority Bangladesh would be to pursue an Islamist path. The secularist Awami League failed to present an alternative vision which would underscore national sovereignty, and address Dhaka’s concerns vis-à-vis India.

It further says: “The Indo-Bangladesh fence-construction project has progressed slowly and, to date only about half of the border has been fenced. Bangladesh authorities allege that Indians are violating the 1975 border guidelines which clearly state that any type of defensive work cannot be carried out within 150 yards of the zero line.” (p.64)

Relations with Burma went bad too. Between late 1977 and May 1978, about 200,000 Burmese Arakanese Rohingyas crossed the border and took shelter in Bangladesh as a result of persecution by the Burmese authorities (p.65). Later the Arakanese turned up in Karachi madrassas.

The above-mentioned terrorist organisation HUJIB, run by Shafiqur Rehman who had returned from jihad in Afghanistan, moved to the Chittagong Hill Tracts to help the Rohingya refugees. Subsequently, HUJIB militants acknowledged the existence of various training camps in Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar districts based on madrassas established with foreign funds.

Foreign funds had also gone to the Naga rebels in India’s northeast. When the Indian army went after the Nagas in 1958 the most prominent leader of the Naga independence movement — Angami Zapu Phizo — fled to the then East Pakistan. Phizo was cordially received by Pakistani intelligence officials who helped go on to London to internationalise the Naga demand for an independent state, while his followers began receiving military training inside East Pakistan. (p.66)

Author Riaz reveals that “the Pakistani military intelligence agency had set up a Coordinating Bureau to supervise its covert operation in Nagaland; and that China began providing active support to the Naga movement in 1966 and military training to the rebels in 1967. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) continued to receive support from Pakistani intelligence agencies even up to the 1990s.” (p.67)

In Bangladesh, the presence of Indian intelligence operatives within Bangladesh is a matter of common discussion. RAW has been present and active in Bangladesh even when it was still East Pakistan, although RAW has always denied the allegations. Bangladeshi intelligence is ill-equipped. In December 2002, three army officers and a number of civilians were arrested from the border districts of north-eastern Sylhet and northern Mymensingh for spying for the Indians (p.78).

By 2003, the presence of the ISI in Bangladesh became so conspicuous that the foreign minister of Bangladesh acknowledged it to the press: “ISI and Al Qaeda have their networks throughout the world and they might have their activities in our country too,” commented Morshed Khan on September 19, 2003. It should be noted that Khan had previously denied any ISI presence in Bangladesh. For example, on November 28, 2002, Khan described Indian allegations about the presence of Al Qaeda elements and the ISI in Bangladesh as “unfounded and malicious”. (p.79)

Riaz writes: “Ostensibly, the ISI’s strategy was not only to help the existing north-eastern Indian insurgents but also to build other groups who would be able to keep the border regions unstable, provoke the Indian authorities, and drive a wedge between India and Bangladesh. RAW, on the other hand, was trying to beat the ISI.” (p.79)

The Afghan connection of the Bangladeshi militants is important because it facilitated the organisational structure of the militants without being known outside Bangladesh. Although it is widely known that the radical Islamists who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan alongside the mujahideen have been incorporated into the Islamic movements throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, their impact in other parts of the world, particularly in countries like Bangladesh, is understudied.

Beginning in 1984, a ‘volunteer corps’ was organised to join the jihad in Afghanistan. Some 3,000 people under the leadership of Abdur Rahman Faruki travelled in several batches to Afghanistan to fight alongside other volunteer mujahideen. Over the following four years at least 24 of them died and ten became disabled. In 1988, a delegation of self-proclaimed ulema too visited Afghanistan. (p.82)

As in Pakistan, Islamist terrorists attack the NGOs in Bangladesh. Throughout the 1980s, NGOs, especially through their micro-credit programmes for poor rural women and free primary education programmes as an alternative to madrassas, irked the Islamists. The Islamists responded with critiques of the NGOs, portraying them as aided by ‘Jews and Christian conspirators who undermine Islamic cultural values, spread atheism, convert people Christianity and try to create an aggressively feminist, impure society’. They are helped by Rabita Al-Alam Al-Islami, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, the International Islamic Relief Organisation (IIRO), the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RJHS), etc. (p.83) #

First published in The Daily Times, May 24, 2009

Ali Riaz heads the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University and has written before on Islamism in Bangladesh