Friday, August 22, 2008
How do we get over this clannish hysteria?(Social thinkers must put their heads together to find an answer)
WHEN the backlash to a trivial matter has such upshots as injuring 60 people, damaging private and public property, shutting down traffic and closing of a university sine die then there must be something seriously wrong with our collective psyche. We have the discomfiture for the umpteenth time to comment on a series of errant outbursts, this time originating in a coach conductor's ham-handed treatment to a student of Rajshahi University. The student was allegedly forced out of a Dhaka-bound bus for demanding a seat he has paid for. The behaviour of the bus conductor was reprehensible calling for disciplinary action, no doubt. What should have been the normal option for the student to exercise was to approach the coach authority to lodge a formal complaint with, ask for refund of the fare and furthermore demand compensation for the journey missed. Instead, he reported the incident to his fellow students which had the effect of agitating them to attack Rajshahi-Dhaka bus ticket booth at Binodhpur Bazar. This in turn triggered a retaliatory strike by the workers of transport services and other local businesses. At each point of the way there was a trouble-shooting potential to calm the agitating students and the workers. Just as the university authorities, if they were agile and serious enough, could effectively persuade the students to keep their cool on an assurance of taking up the matter with the coach authorities so also the latter should have intervened with their workers making sure that they didn't take the law into their own hands. We attribute the creation of the law and order situation to the manifest sense of irresponsibility on the part of the students, the mindless behaviour of the workers and their employers and the combined failure of the university authorities and the local administration to get a move on timely. Let the inquiry instituted be not a barren exercise in blame-trading; something should come out of it as a preventive recipe.The paramount question that we must find an answer to is: Why can't we rise above petty-fogging and clannish mentality in dealing with things that can be perfectly soberly handled with a positive and constructive attitude. If we can't do it, clannish reprisals will make the society descend into total anarchy. The sociologists and community leaders must put their heads together to find a solution out of this vicious circle.
Lessons of August 21
TWO years is plenty of time for political amnesia to set in. There is a meme going around the chattering classes that the more the current government continues to play hardball with the BNP, the greater the sympathy generated for the party, and all its sins from its last tenure in office are being white-washed away in the public's mind.
This is entirely possible, though, of course, mostly conjecture and wishful thinking on the part of the party die-hards. No one really knows whether the voting public has forgiven the BNP for its shambolic reign or how the party would fare in open national elections against the AL or anyone else.
Contemporaneous reports and the available polling data suggested that prior to the aborted elections of 2007, the BNP was extremely unpopular with the voters due to its misrule of the previous five years, and that had free and fair elections been held that the AL-led alliance would most likely have come to power.
August 21 seems to me to be a good time to revisit the tenure of the last BNP government, and to ponder for a moment what the country looked like then, for those with short memories.
After all, what price parliamentary democracy when a grenade attack kills 22 opposition party leaders and workers, including Ivy Rahman, the party's women's affairs secretary, only narrowly missing the leader of the opposition herself. Lest anyone forget, this was the political climate we were living in prior to 1/11, when opposition leaders had to worry about actually being physically eliminated.
Nor was August 21 the only political assassination attempt. Let us not forget that two of the senior-most and most popular AL members of parliament, Shah A.M.S. Kibria and Ahsanullah Master, actually were assassinated during the last BNP tenure.
Nor were these killings the only incidents of political repression. Senior AL leaders Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Mohammad Nasim were beaten unconscious in the streets when at the head of non-violent rallies, and the beating and abuse of opposition party workers was a daily occurrence
Nor should we forget the treatment meted out, first to the BDB when it was formed in 2004 and then to the LDP in 2006. The two break-away parties had their public meetings broken up by stick-wielding BNP cadres and saw their businesses and homes fire-bombed and burned to the ground as retribution for having the temerity to try to split from the BNP to form their own party.
So when one hears BNP stalwarts and stooges intoning piously about the glories of democracy, it is a little hard to take them seriously. The last BNP government, though democratically elected, was as little democratically inclined a government as we have ever seen in our history (and we have seen a few).
Nor was the BNP (perhaps wisely) willing to leave it to chance the next time. People may bemoan the missteps of the current EC, but they pale in comparison with the machinations of the Justice Aziz-led EC that were intended to deliver the 2007 elections to the BNP, if anyone cares to remember.
Prior to 1/11, we were well on our way to a stolen election, which would have given the BNP another five years at the helm to complete the process of dismantling the country's democracy that the party had begun in 2001.
Anyone thinking that an incoming BNP government in 2007 would have been democratic in its inclinations or actions, or would have ruled with any semblance of respect for democratic principles, is either the casualty or the perpetrator of a cynical propaganda job. But then, the BNP always did excel at revisionism.
I haven't even gone into detail about the hallmarks of the BNP rule, the 900-plus extra-judicial executions (many committed to advance the business or political interests of party leaders), the tens of thousands of arbitrary arrests, custodial abuse and mistreatment, malicious denial of due process and bail, a mockery made of the judiciary. Any of these sound familiar?
Now, the current caretaker government has hardly covered itself with glory. It has made mistake after mistake, and continues to do so. The injustices of the past BNP rule -- from extra-judicial executions to denial of due process to custodial abuse -- have all been continued, and many of the abuses that were rife under the BNP have taken even worse form under the current dispensation.
The anti-corruption drive has been a shambles. The current government has signally failed to deliver on almost every item on its original agenda. At the end of the day it may be able to boast of one or two achievements, such as the new voter roll and certain institutional reforms, but it seems likely that the damage done in the past two years may well outweigh the good, and that we will spend the next several years fixing all the problems that were created during the last two.
But the mistakes of the current government and our opposition to military rule should not blind us to the deeply undemocratic and authoritarian government we would have been subject to had the BNP been permitted to steal the 2007 elections.
We can all agree that we do not want military rule. We can all agree that we do not want continuation of the current unelected government beyond the end of this year. We can all agree that we want a democratically elected government that will move the country forward and will not have its hands tied by any unelected entity.
But be careful what you wish for. Do not think that a government which is filled with deeply undemocratic and authoritarian leaders who have nothing but contempt for the voters and no compunction about stealing elections or repressing their political opponents is any solution to the problems we face as a nation.
One of the hopes post-1/11 was that leaders such as these would finally be brought to book for their crimes committed against the people of Bangladesh. So compromised was the judiciary that the hope that these criminals would ever be brought to account through judicial means under a political government was laughably naïve. As if there was rule of law and due process during the last BNP government and all one needed to do to receive justice was to file a case!
So we hoped that under the current government that the criminals would be brought to book. Now we know that that hasn't happened. For whatever reason, the current government has been either unable or unwilling to prosecute the really serious crimes of the previous five years, and has seemingly made a hash of its inexplicable prosecutions for much more minor offences.
But that doesn't mean that the crimes committed were not serious or deserving of prosecution. There are countless Bangladeshis who suffered severe and actionable injustice at the hands of the last government. Do they not deserve their day in court?
They would never get it under the BNP, had the party been permitted to steal the last election. And now we know that they will never get it under this government, either. But that doesn't mean that those who committed the crimes against the people of this country deserve to walk free.
So, as we move forward, hopefully, to elections and to a democratically elected government, and bring the curtain down on the current government, let us not forget the lesson of August 21.
That lesson is that a political party that resorts to violence and thuggery against its opponents, steals elections, and has no respect for democracy is hardly much of an improvement over the current situation.
I look forward to the upcoming elections and will be glad to see this non-democratic interregnum come to a close. But if the elections bring to power those who are undemocratic in their inclinations and their actions, we won't have much to celebrate.
This is entirely possible, though, of course, mostly conjecture and wishful thinking on the part of the party die-hards. No one really knows whether the voting public has forgiven the BNP for its shambolic reign or how the party would fare in open national elections against the AL or anyone else.
Contemporaneous reports and the available polling data suggested that prior to the aborted elections of 2007, the BNP was extremely unpopular with the voters due to its misrule of the previous five years, and that had free and fair elections been held that the AL-led alliance would most likely have come to power.
August 21 seems to me to be a good time to revisit the tenure of the last BNP government, and to ponder for a moment what the country looked like then, for those with short memories.
After all, what price parliamentary democracy when a grenade attack kills 22 opposition party leaders and workers, including Ivy Rahman, the party's women's affairs secretary, only narrowly missing the leader of the opposition herself. Lest anyone forget, this was the political climate we were living in prior to 1/11, when opposition leaders had to worry about actually being physically eliminated.
Nor was August 21 the only political assassination attempt. Let us not forget that two of the senior-most and most popular AL members of parliament, Shah A.M.S. Kibria and Ahsanullah Master, actually were assassinated during the last BNP tenure.
Nor were these killings the only incidents of political repression. Senior AL leaders Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Mohammad Nasim were beaten unconscious in the streets when at the head of non-violent rallies, and the beating and abuse of opposition party workers was a daily occurrence
Nor should we forget the treatment meted out, first to the BDB when it was formed in 2004 and then to the LDP in 2006. The two break-away parties had their public meetings broken up by stick-wielding BNP cadres and saw their businesses and homes fire-bombed and burned to the ground as retribution for having the temerity to try to split from the BNP to form their own party.
So when one hears BNP stalwarts and stooges intoning piously about the glories of democracy, it is a little hard to take them seriously. The last BNP government, though democratically elected, was as little democratically inclined a government as we have ever seen in our history (and we have seen a few).
Nor was the BNP (perhaps wisely) willing to leave it to chance the next time. People may bemoan the missteps of the current EC, but they pale in comparison with the machinations of the Justice Aziz-led EC that were intended to deliver the 2007 elections to the BNP, if anyone cares to remember.
Prior to 1/11, we were well on our way to a stolen election, which would have given the BNP another five years at the helm to complete the process of dismantling the country's democracy that the party had begun in 2001.
Anyone thinking that an incoming BNP government in 2007 would have been democratic in its inclinations or actions, or would have ruled with any semblance of respect for democratic principles, is either the casualty or the perpetrator of a cynical propaganda job. But then, the BNP always did excel at revisionism.
I haven't even gone into detail about the hallmarks of the BNP rule, the 900-plus extra-judicial executions (many committed to advance the business or political interests of party leaders), the tens of thousands of arbitrary arrests, custodial abuse and mistreatment, malicious denial of due process and bail, a mockery made of the judiciary. Any of these sound familiar?
Now, the current caretaker government has hardly covered itself with glory. It has made mistake after mistake, and continues to do so. The injustices of the past BNP rule -- from extra-judicial executions to denial of due process to custodial abuse -- have all been continued, and many of the abuses that were rife under the BNP have taken even worse form under the current dispensation.
The anti-corruption drive has been a shambles. The current government has signally failed to deliver on almost every item on its original agenda. At the end of the day it may be able to boast of one or two achievements, such as the new voter roll and certain institutional reforms, but it seems likely that the damage done in the past two years may well outweigh the good, and that we will spend the next several years fixing all the problems that were created during the last two.
But the mistakes of the current government and our opposition to military rule should not blind us to the deeply undemocratic and authoritarian government we would have been subject to had the BNP been permitted to steal the 2007 elections.
We can all agree that we do not want military rule. We can all agree that we do not want continuation of the current unelected government beyond the end of this year. We can all agree that we want a democratically elected government that will move the country forward and will not have its hands tied by any unelected entity.
But be careful what you wish for. Do not think that a government which is filled with deeply undemocratic and authoritarian leaders who have nothing but contempt for the voters and no compunction about stealing elections or repressing their political opponents is any solution to the problems we face as a nation.
One of the hopes post-1/11 was that leaders such as these would finally be brought to book for their crimes committed against the people of Bangladesh. So compromised was the judiciary that the hope that these criminals would ever be brought to account through judicial means under a political government was laughably naïve. As if there was rule of law and due process during the last BNP government and all one needed to do to receive justice was to file a case!
So we hoped that under the current government that the criminals would be brought to book. Now we know that that hasn't happened. For whatever reason, the current government has been either unable or unwilling to prosecute the really serious crimes of the previous five years, and has seemingly made a hash of its inexplicable prosecutions for much more minor offences.
But that doesn't mean that the crimes committed were not serious or deserving of prosecution. There are countless Bangladeshis who suffered severe and actionable injustice at the hands of the last government. Do they not deserve their day in court?
They would never get it under the BNP, had the party been permitted to steal the last election. And now we know that they will never get it under this government, either. But that doesn't mean that those who committed the crimes against the people of this country deserve to walk free.
So, as we move forward, hopefully, to elections and to a democratically elected government, and bring the curtain down on the current government, let us not forget the lesson of August 21.
That lesson is that a political party that resorts to violence and thuggery against its opponents, steals elections, and has no respect for democracy is hardly much of an improvement over the current situation.
I look forward to the upcoming elections and will be glad to see this non-democratic interregnum come to a close. But if the elections bring to power those who are undemocratic in their inclinations and their actions, we won't have much to celebrate.
Four years after August 2004 blasts :Investigations must focus on identifying masterminds
BACK in 2004, the nation was left reeling from shock when bomb blasts at an Awami League rally left as many as 22 people, including the veteran politician Ivy Rahman, dead and scores of others grievously injured. Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina sustained injuries that have required treatment.
Four years on, the questions that arose in the aftermath of the blasts have remained unanswered to a large extent. There are the hard facts that keep alive a collective sense of outrage regarding the public recollection of what happened on August 21, 2004. Evidence that could have helped identify the criminals behind the explosions was washed away within hours of the tragedy. The BNP-led four-party alliance government proved sadly unwilling to pursue meaningful investigations that could have yielded concrete results and indeed was seen to indulge in activities that detracted from the need for justice. In short, a clear attempt at a cover-up was made, to the embarrassment of an entire nation. Not even foreign investigators were able to break through the wall of non-cooperation put up by the alliance government.
In the past few months, under the caretaker government, some headway has been made in identifying the elements involved in the August 2004 blasts. Individuals taken into custody have confessed to being involved in the incident that was clearly the gravest attack not only on a political rally but also on the national conscience. While we agree that the government has advanced the investigations a very significant part of the way, we also feel it necessary, in the interest of justice, that such investigations be directed at identifying the masterminds behind the explosions.
With reports emerging of politicians of the then ruling coalition playing a role in the making of the tragedy, it is of critical importance that the depths be plumbed to ferret out the truth. It is inconceivable that only those who exploded the bombs were involved. Realities such as the destruction of unexploded grenades at the site of the blasts together with the discovery of similar grenades inside Dhaka central jail clearly point to the involvement of people on a bigger scale. It is the enormity of the crime that demands a more concrete and purposeful inquiry. Who stood to benefit from elimination of a major political leadership structure? Who pulled the strings from behind?
There are a few other issues that come with this need for a swift administration of justice in the August 21 outrage. A large number of those who survived the blasts but have nevertheless been reduced to paralysis or have gone about with grenade splinters in their bodies have remained ignored by the authorities. That is an untenable situation and the government must move quickly towards helping these unfortunate men and women. Adequate compensation as well as provision of medical assistance must be ensured for them.
Unless the entire tragic happening of August 2004 is dealt with by the law, to the satisfaction of the nation, we cannot ensure rule of law and democratic governance in this country.
Four years on, the questions that arose in the aftermath of the blasts have remained unanswered to a large extent. There are the hard facts that keep alive a collective sense of outrage regarding the public recollection of what happened on August 21, 2004. Evidence that could have helped identify the criminals behind the explosions was washed away within hours of the tragedy. The BNP-led four-party alliance government proved sadly unwilling to pursue meaningful investigations that could have yielded concrete results and indeed was seen to indulge in activities that detracted from the need for justice. In short, a clear attempt at a cover-up was made, to the embarrassment of an entire nation. Not even foreign investigators were able to break through the wall of non-cooperation put up by the alliance government.
In the past few months, under the caretaker government, some headway has been made in identifying the elements involved in the August 2004 blasts. Individuals taken into custody have confessed to being involved in the incident that was clearly the gravest attack not only on a political rally but also on the national conscience. While we agree that the government has advanced the investigations a very significant part of the way, we also feel it necessary, in the interest of justice, that such investigations be directed at identifying the masterminds behind the explosions.
With reports emerging of politicians of the then ruling coalition playing a role in the making of the tragedy, it is of critical importance that the depths be plumbed to ferret out the truth. It is inconceivable that only those who exploded the bombs were involved. Realities such as the destruction of unexploded grenades at the site of the blasts together with the discovery of similar grenades inside Dhaka central jail clearly point to the involvement of people on a bigger scale. It is the enormity of the crime that demands a more concrete and purposeful inquiry. Who stood to benefit from elimination of a major political leadership structure? Who pulled the strings from behind?
There are a few other issues that come with this need for a swift administration of justice in the August 21 outrage. A large number of those who survived the blasts but have nevertheless been reduced to paralysis or have gone about with grenade splinters in their bodies have remained ignored by the authorities. That is an untenable situation and the government must move quickly towards helping these unfortunate men and women. Adequate compensation as well as provision of medical assistance must be ensured for them.
Unless the entire tragic happening of August 2004 is dealt with by the law, to the satisfaction of the nation, we cannot ensure rule of law and democratic governance in this country.
Aug 21 mourned, in tears:AL pledges to try real culprits if voted to power
Awami League (AL) yesterday observed the fourth anniversary of August 21 grenade attack on its rally in the capital pledging that if voted to power in the next polls, it would bring to book the masterminds and others involved in the carnage.
The party also demanded immediate arrest of those intelligence officials who had plotted the 'Joj Miah drama' to cover up the dreadful incident and formation of a special inquiry commission for a fresh probe into it.
At least a dozen grenades were hurled on the rally apparently in an attempt to kill AL President Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister and eldest daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Hasina narrowly escaped the attack that left 24 people including party leader Ivy Rahman killed and around 500 others injured.
Many of the injured are maimed and are living a painful life with so many splinters in their bodies.
Yesterday's programme began with placing of wreaths at a temporary memorial in front of AL central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital at 5:10pm. Acting party president Zillur Rahman first placed wreaths.
At 5:12pm, several thousand people stood up and observed one minute's silence in memory of the party leaders and activists killed in the grenade blasts.
Family members of those killed in the blasts placed wreaths with lighted candles in their hands to pay their tributes to their loved ones. Some of the injured victims also visited the spot to recall the tragic memories. Photos of the deceased were displayed on the Bangabandhu Avenue to mark the day.
Expressing frustration, some of the family members said they are yet to get justice for the killing of their loved ones. "We want nothing but justice and exemplary punishment to the masterminds," said Mazharul Islam Mamun, son of Rafiqul Islam, a victim.
Leaders of Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Ganotantri Party, Samyabadi Dal, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote, AL's front organisations and many other organisations also placed wreaths at the temporary memorial in observance of the day.
Tight security measures were taken in the area. A large contingent of uniformed and plainclothes police stood guard on high-rise buildings there. Police checked every one entering the area.
People gathered on Bangabandhu Avenue to pay homage to victims of the carnage.
Later, the AL held a discussion marking the day. Zillur said August is the month of mourning for them as Bangabandhu also was assassinated in this month. And grenade attack on an the AL rally was carried out in this month to eliminate the entire AL leadership, he said.
He alleged that the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government was involved in the attack and that is why they did not bring the culprits to book. He demanded that the caretaker government bring masterminds behind the attack to justice.
AL Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu demanded a reshuffle in the administration as, he said, officials appointed by the BNP-Jamaat coalition would not probe the incident properly.
Abdur Razzak, another presidium member, said, "If a government led by our leader Sheikh Hasina is formed following the next election, it will bring the masterminds to book."
Tofail Ahmed said, "It is sad that the present government did not carry out a neutral probe into the incident.
Suranjit Sengupta demanded a special inquiry commission to probe the grenade attack.
Two other Presidium members-- Syeda Sajeda Chowdhuryand Motia Chowdhury-- also spoke.
Joy Of Childhood
Few open spaces in the city make it difficult for children to find a place to play. Only the posh residential areas have a touch of greenery. Children living in slums or coming from low-income families can now simply dream about parks and playgrounds. But still nothing can stop the joy of childhood. They themselves improvise their own modes and spots of games. They make their toys and find their friends. Instinctively they find happiness in life out of the dwindling means of funs in the 'concrete jungle’
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