And Then the World Changed.........

It wasn't easy, steering a car through the narrow streets of old Karachi. Tiny beads of sweat formed on Bobby Uncle's forehead as he craftily navigated the big hooded vehicle. Much to the amusement of passers-by who looked on with unabashed curiosity at the strange contraption making its way through the brick-paved alleys, he continued to struggle with the giant steering wheel. Short and thin, he seemed dwarfed by the car he drove. It was the kind of motor car they had only seen in a cinema hall. Usually, a donkey cart or, if there was a special festival, a small taxi would occasionally grace their streets--but to see an actual bright and shiny motor car make its way down the narrow paths of their neighbourhood was not just cause for curiosity, but an actual thrill.Some shouted at him to get the evil invention of the West out of their mohalla while others slapped the bonnet, screaming directions. “Here, here, take a left, back up a little, brother. Arre! Watch out for the pole!” the lads shouted advice while the children jumped up and down, trying to catch a glimpse of the interior.Munna, Bobby Uncle's five-year-old nephew, ran out in the alley to see what the commotion as all about. He nearly fell into an open manhole in his excitement when he discovered that it was his very own uncle who was the owner of this glossy motor car. He ran back inside the house, announcing at the top of his lungs to his deaf grandmother, his baby sister, his next door neighbour and his mother who was busy preparing the afternoon meal, the arrival of the shiny contraption into their family.“A motor car! A real motor car, I've seen Bobby Uncle drive up in one.”“Are you making up stories again, Munna?” asked Munira, his ten-year-old neighbour who spent more time in their house than she did in her own.“I swear on your Dad's grave, he has a real live motor car!” replied Munna.“Oye! You son of the devil!” she screamed at him, “How many times have I told you not to do that. My father is alive, thank Allah.”“What are you shouting at my son for?” Munna's mother came to his rescue.“Look at him, Apa! He does it deliberately to upset me, sending my Pa to the grave when he is alive!”“Oh, come now. He probably picked it up from the rogues on the streets,” she consoled. “Munna, stop disturbing the women and go and play outside.” She shooed him out.Outside, Bobby Uncle was still struggling with his Chevy. Turning corners with a Chevy in the maze of narrow alleys that formed the old town was no joke. Bobby Uncle was half leaning out of the front window while well-wishers hung onto the sides, offering their expert advice. Suddenly the car lurched forward and then, with a grueling screech, it shuddered to a stop. Bobby Mama fell forward over the steering, knocking over a roadside seller's wares. The seller cursed him, but Bobby Mama was too embarrassed by the dead engine to care about the seller's loss. To save face Bobby Uncle announced to the neighbours that he had stopped the car there because it was the best parking spot in the neighbourhood. The fact that it blocked old woman Hajjin's doorway and the turning into the next lane, seemed of little concern to him.He tooted the car's shrill horn and Munna's Hindu neighbour, Luxmi, rushed out with a pooja thali to ward off the evil eye. Other neighbours like the deaf Jewish musician and short-sighted Parsi uncle also stepped out of their stooped doorways to look at the novelty in their neighbourhood. When Munna's Amma saw the motor car she couldn't stop gushing to anyone who'd listen, what a success her brother was. She would go on for hours and Munna's poor father regularly bore the brunt of her praise for her brother and his motor car. Especially when they had to travel by bus on the rare occasions that they left the neighbourhood.The car was grand--to that everyone agreed. Nobody seemed to care that it never started. It coughed and groaned but never ran. The rides by the sea that Munna and his other had been looking forward to would have turned into haunting complaints had it not been for the car's sleek new radio. Every Saturday, Munna's mother and other women from the neighbourhood would get into the car and tune in to All India Radio. They would listen to the gossip about movie stars, and sing along with Indian film songs banned by the strict Islamic regime. A stranger to the neighbourhood would find it very odd and perhaps a little spooky to see a car bulging at the seams, its windows covered with dupattas in respect of the veil, shaking from side to side with music drifting out. But while the women held a weekly gathering in the car the men met up at night. At nine p.m. sharp, the neighbourhood men would gather round the car and Bobby Uncle would tune the radio to the World Service.Beep. Beep. “This is BBC London,” the announcer's voice would boom out, “You are listening to Muhammed Shafi with the latest news in Urdu.” A silence would descend on the mohalla as the men concentrated on happenings around the world.These were the days before television made its way to Karachi and radios were a luxury of the rich. But the dedication to the nightly news was due more to strict media control by the state. The country was under the grip of a Martial Law leader who edited the news himself. If it was a dry day and the President wanted it to be a wet one, you could be sure the announcer at Radio Pakistan would read out news of rain. With parched skin and dry throats people would curse the dictator and turn to other sources of information, like independent newspapers. But not everyone could read and this is where Bobby Uncle's radio came in.He had a passion for gatherings which he referred to as mehfils. Being an unmarried man with no family other than his sister, he would cling to company. These nightly gatherings with him in the driving seat made him feel very important.Dressed in starched white kurtas the men would bathe, change and hurriedly eat their dinner in time to get a good listening spot around the radio. Luxmi's husband would close his shop early and bring along his son who always dressed like heroes on the big screen, with slick hair and tight trousers. Parsi Uncle would also arrive early with his own chair as he didn't like to stand. Parsi Uncle had a radio in his house but the women in the neighbourhood said it was an excuse to get away from his bossy wife, Munizeh.Munna, too, would tag along with his father. Most of the children would be shooed off as they inevitably found some cause to make a noise. But Munna, being Bobby Uncle's nephew, would park himself on his lap and listen to the entire bulletin until he fell asleep. Munna found the announcer's voice very pleasant and soothing. He was too young to care about what Nixon said or how many people died in Gaza, but Mahpara, the female presenter's voice, would make him dreamy and transport him of faraway journey to strange lands. Of course, he knew there really was no America or Ireland, at least that's what Munira had told him and Munira was older than him. Munira didn't go to school because she was a girl and had two older brothers who needed education more than her. They would make it up to her by giving her a grand wedding some day, her mother said, when Munira protested. But even without a proper education Munira was smart--she knew the names of all the prophets and most of the holy words.Sometimes when her mother let her off kitchen duties before eight, she would sneak to the back wall and try to listen to the car radio. The next day she would show off her knowledge of the bulletin to Munna. “Do you know who stole the sewer lids off our alley?” Munna would shake his head and she would say wisely, “It was America. It comes in the dead of night and steals the lids of our sewers so disease and illness spreads and we drop off like flies.”“America is a country, not a person. Bobby Uncle told me so,” Munna would say.“Oh, you're such a child!” Munira would tease him and run off.While Munira thought the West was behind all the evils in their neighbourhood, thanks to the Ustani who taught her the Holy Book, the men at the nightly radio gathering seemed to think that India was behind all the trouble in their country. The Bulletin always had a few shift-the-blame stories, and most of the time the next-door enemy was the root cause of evil.But lately the gatherings around the car radio had grown more somber. Conflict with India was escalating and there was tension in the air. Men would gather around the car at eight and stick around after the bulletin to discuss matters. Intolerance seemed to be on the rise. Luxmi no longer came to Munna's house and her son Gopal did not attend the news sessions at night. There was a rumour that some over-zealous religious fanatics had burned the temple by the sea.Most of the uncles who didn't go to the mosque did not show up after that night. And the next day when the broadcaster with the sweet voice announced that Indian soldiers had killed Pakistani villagers along the border, Munna noticed that none of his Hindu and Christian friends came out to play.Munna was too young to understand all this but he knew that he missed his friends and neighbours. The car radio that had brought them together seemed to have created an immeasurable distance between them. Even Munira seemed withdrawn. She had stopped blaming America for all that went wrong. Instead she blamed it on the religious minorities in the country. “It's all Luxmi's fault,” she would say. “She could be an Indian spy, you know! She probably gets a commission to steal the sewer lids so there is disease and illness in the neighbourhood and we all drop off like flies.”Munna listened with his head cocked to one side. He found it hard to believe that sweet, plump Luxmi who always gave him sweets when he passed by her door, could be the enemy. But Munira was right. She did look different from the rest of the women in the mohalla. She wore a fiery red dot on her forehead and worshipped little dolls that Munna secretly longed to play with. She was different--so were the other people whom Abba and his friends referred to as 'Minorities.'Still, Munna found it hard to hate them. It was easier to hate the men in parrot green turbans who went around burning temples and churches and shouting slogans against white-skinned foreigners but then Munna was only a little boy. He was too young to pick and choose whom to hate and whom to admire, but deep in his heart he knew one thing for sure--in the days to come when people had been divided into categories of Mohajirs, Masihs and Sindhis by invisible lines and uncrossable borders, he would miss his old mohalla in the city by the sea, where difference did not mean distance.

Light and shadow :Photography exhibition by Prism

Photographic Forum; Prism arranged a weeklong photo exhibition at the Drik Gallery, which ended on August 21. A total of 70 photographs taken by 25 photographers were on display. The weeklong exhibition was titled "Aloy-Kaloy Aanka". "The basics of photography lie behind the concept of light and shadows. That's why, we selected the title 'Aloy-Kaloy Aanka', referring to the relationship between light and darkness," said Md. Rafiqul Islam, convenor of Photographic Forum; Prism. "Earlier we arranged two more exhibitions with the same title," added Rafiqul Islam.Prism started its journey in 1998 as an institution through a publication titled "Photography Kolakoushal O Monon". Later, the present, former students of Prism and their photographer friends with the same frame of mind came together and formed a new platform, which is 'Photographic Forum; Prism'. Since then, the forum has been organising photographic excursions, contests and exhibitions regularly. A panel of judges -- including Golam Mostofa, Dr. Rashidunnabi and Shankar Sawjal -- selected six out of the 70 photographs on display for the awards at the exhibition-competition. The awards were conferred in categories such as best photographs (three), certificate of merit (two) and special jury award (one).Kaoser Ahmed, K.M. Jahangir Alam and Mohammed Golam Sarower received the best photographs awards. Works by Emu Imran and M. Yousuf Tushar were selected for the certificate of merit while Elius Hasan Elu won the special jury award.Scenic beauty, womanhood, childhood, abstract themes, cultural practices of different communities, architecture and terracotta plaque were some of the themes of the entries.Mohammed Golam Sarower's award-winning photograph depicts a woman washing clothes on a floating boat. Sarower's other works on display at the exhibition highlight the diverse cultural practices in different regions of Bangladesh.Elius Hasan's special jury award winning photo captures a familiar rural image -- a woman holding her child around her waist, looking towards the nearby kheya ghaat. A photograph, taken by Noor Ahmed Gelal shows thousands of people fishing together -- giving the event a festive look.Spider's web or making a flute out of bamboo, architectural heritage of Old Dhaka and working at a dockyard are some of the subjects. "The forum wishes to arrange such exhibitions every year from now on," said Rafiqul Islam.

Investigation of 21st Aug grenade attack :The errant IOs must be put in the dock

THERE is no doubt that there was a deliberate effort to divert the course of the investigation of 21st Aug grenade attack, during the tenure of the erstwhile 4-party alliance government. It needs little convincing also that the process of the police investigation, and the way other investigations related to it were handled, was politically motivated, and subsequent developments have clearly pointed to the alleged role of the then home minister. This was a blatant effort to influence the course of justice a cognizable offence under our law.
There were several elements that were involved in this shady business. One of those, the role of the police investigators, has not only been acknowledged by the police authorities, the delinquent persons had also been identified. No less a person than the IGP had acknowledged the complicity of the three IOs, and we were given to understand that these people would be brought to justice.
Thus we are a bit surprised by the remarks of the police chief that the police are not in a position to initiate legal proceedings against the three investigating officers, since they have already retired. One wonders whether those responsible for upholding the rule of law, comprehend the gravity of the matter and the serious implications had the devious action been successful and had not the caretaker government ordered reinvestigation of the case. The travails of Joj Miah are too well known to be recounted once again. Surely some innocents would have gone to the gallows.
Hence, we could not disagree more with the IGP's contention. As far as we know, no government servant is immune from being held liable for any of his or her actions during service, which have the potential for inflicting, or had caused harm to the nation, even after retirement. The police chief's comments suggest that the three officers might go scot-free in spite of committing a criminal offense. We feel that nothing should stand in the way of getting these three police personnel to account for their act.
However, there is much more to it than merely bringing these people to justice. There are some fundamental questions related to national security that must be answered. It is difficult to believe that the police tampered with the investigation on their own. We would like to know who all were behind them, and what was their motivation, and who were they trying to protect. Unless we get answers to these questions our security may be at stake. And that is why the deviant IOs must be proceeded against to get to the truth of the matter.

'Punish Aug 21 masterminds thru' proper probe'(Rallies held, human chains formed in several dists)

Speakers at rallies in Satkhira, Rajshahi, Khagrachhari and Barisal have demanded punishment to perpetrators and masterminds behind the August 21grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004 in Dhaka.

They also demanded action against officials who tried to divert the probe during the BNP-Jamaat government to save the real culprits.
In Satkhira, Jubo League, youth front of the Awami League (AL), formed a human chain and held a rally yesterday demanding arrest and punishment to the culprits including the masterminds, reports our correspondent.
At the rally held at Shaheed Ala Uddin square, speakers said the then four-party alliance government led by BNP-Jamaat did not bring the culprits to justice as elements in the alliance were involved in the incident.
They demanded bringing masterminds behind the attack to justice and immediate arrest of the officials who had plotted 'Joj Mia drama' to cover up the dreadful incident.
They also demanded formation of a special inquiry commission for a fresh probe into it.
They urged the government to declare Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman as Father of the Nation.
With Jubo League leader Khondakar Arif Hasan Prince in chair, it was addressed by, among others, former AL lawmaker Monsur Ahmed and district AL General Secretary Nazrul Islam.
Rajshahi University (RU) unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) has urged the caretaker government to take steps for proper investigation into the August 21 grenade attack, reports our RU Correspondent.
Demanding punishment of the attackers, BCL RU unit leaders in a statement on Thursday said the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government had created obstruction to the investigation into the incident.
They warned of launching a tougher movement with general people if the culprits are not punished.
Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology unit of BCL at a rally on the campus demanded proper investigation into the August 21 grenade attack and punishment of the attackers.
At a discussion held at Kumarpara office, the city AL leaders demanded punishment of the attackers and masterminds behind the incident and compensation to the victims' family members.
They also held a special prayer session seeking salvation of the departed souls of party leader Ivy Rahman and other victims of the dreadful attack.
Our Khagrachhari Correspondent reports: District Awami League leaders in a meeting on Thursday demanded proper investigation into grenade attack on their party rally on August 21 in 2004 in Dhaka to ensure punishment of the criminals.
Terming Jamaat-e-Islami as 'sponsor' of all Islamist outfits involved in killings and terrorist acts, they demanded a ban on the politics of the anti-liberation force.
President of Khagrachhari district Awami League Zatindra Lal Tripura presided over the protest meeting held at their party office in the hill town.
Among others, district AL Secretary Mohammad Zahedul Alam, Organising Secretary Mongkaching Chowdhury, District Jubo League Joint Convener Aungsa Marma, district Chhatra League President Mongshi Prue Chowdhury Apu and Secretary Didarul Alam spoke.
Earlier the party formed a human chain in the hill town where several hundred people participated.

Our Barisal Correspondent adds: Barisal district and city Awami League held a meeting at district Bar Association Auditorium on Thursday afternoon demanding fair investigation, speedy trial and punishment of the attackers and the godfathers behind the August 21 grenade blasts. Acting city AL President Muhammad Hossain Chowdhury presided.

CHT farmers eye a wonder crop :Non-perishable coffee opens up bright prospect as fair price and processing ensured

Farmers in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are eyeing a surprise cropcoffee.
The new value added crop with export potential have opened up good prospects following facilities for processing and marketing, thanks to the efforts by CHT Development Board (CHTDB).
Many farmers had harvested the crop on limited scale in last three years but their enthusiasm was dampened as there was no processing facility.
They did the processing in their own way, using indigenous methods. Mac Foundation, a Dhaka-based company, has come forward to buy the coffee from farmers and process it in a scientific way, according to sources in CHTDB.
The farmers are happy as cultivation of the crop is easy and prices are good. The yield is satisfactory and the price is higher than other crops.
Talking to The Daily Star, some farmers in remote areas of Khagrachhari and Bandarban said it is much more profitable than traditional crops like pineapple and other fruits, ginger and rice.
"I earned about Tk 20,000 by selling about 60 kilograms of coffee last winter. I hope I will get more this year", said Nur Hossain of Barpilak village in Ramgarh upazila in the district. Coffee harvest begins in September-October.
The company offers prices between Tk 320 and Tk 350 per kilogram, he said.
Nur Hossain is among 450 rehabilitated farmers, who got three acres of hilly land each from government.
As the lands are not suitable for rice cultivation, he had raised a mixed garden of pineapples, guava and other fruits. He also planted 200 coffee seedlings, given for free by CHTDB to promote its cultivation in 2001.
Rangachula Chakma, another rehabilitated farmer in Babuchhara village in Dighinala upazila said he got 40 kg coffee from his garden. "All the plants are very lively now due to sufficient rain and if the weather remains favorable, my coffee plants are sure earn me much more than pineapple", he said.
Lalmunseean, of Munnapara in Ruma upazila in Bandarban district said he prefers coffee cultivation because it is not perishable like pineapple, guava and other fruits. He got 80 kg processed coffee last year and expects more then 200 kg this year as weather is favorable.
The CHTDB distributed coffee saplings in 2001 under a Tk 1,288 crore rehabilitation programme. Over 450 households including 100 Bangalee families have so far been rehabilitated in eight upazilas of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban on 1350 acres of government land since 1999, said project director Md. Shafiqul Islam.
They were supplied with saplings of coffee, orange, pineapple, banana, papiya, safeda, mango (amropali) and litchi to raise mixed garden, he told this correspondent.
Among all the crops, coffee proved most profitable for farmers, he said. Shafiqul Islam said about 400 kilograms of coffee were produced in the three hill districts last year. The yield may be between 3, 000 and 4,000 kilograms in the coming harvesting season.
The region can be turned into a coffee producing area, which will change the lot of the poor people, he said. A coffee plant bears fruits four to five years after plantation and the yield continues for 25 to 35 years, agriculture officials said. Lands in CHT are suitable for coffee cultivation, they added.

Rajshahi city AL expels Dulu, Labu

Rajshahi City Awami League last night expelled two of its front ranking leaders including its president Masudul Haque Dulu for contesting in the August 4 city corporation election against party leader AHM Khairuzzaman Liton. Liton was elected mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation.
The city AL unit in its executive committee meeting also expelled vice-president of the city unit Mostaque Ahmed Labu, Dulu's close associate.
The expulsion orders would be sent to AL central committee for its approval, said meeting sources.
Twelve other Dulu's men including three city AL vice- presidents were also asked to explain why they would not be expelled from the party for 'breaking party rules'.
The vice presidents are Bazlar Rahman, Mir Iqbal Hossain and Tabibur Rahman Sheikh.
The other leaders are Shamsur Rahman, Mir Abul Kalam Azad, Khairul Bashar, Salauddin Raju, Menajjul Hossain, Mansur Zaman, Khairul Kabir, Wares Ali and Saiful Islam.
They were asked to show cause within seven days.
The decisions were taken unanimously at the executive committee meeting that was presided over by the unit's vice president Rafik Uddin, said city AL acting general secretary Shafikur Rahman Badsha.
Among the 71 members of the committee, 56 were present in the meeting, the sources said.
Badsha told newsmen that the actions came mainly as Dulu contested in the mayoral election against his party man while others assisted him in election campaign, defying the city AL unit's approval of AHM Khairuzzman candidature.
They are also blamed for violating many other party decisions and for inaction in party activities in the past, he said.
Before the decisions, Dulu and Labu were asked to show cause on August 10.

Students among 1,450 sued, probe starts

Three cases were filed yesterday against 1,450 people including Rajshahi University (RU) students and locals in connection with the Tuesday night's violence that led to closure of the university.

Meanwhile, the eight-member probe committee formed by the RU syndicate started investigating the incidents yesterday.

Mahabubul Alam Konok, an employee of bus service provider 'Hanif Enterprise' at a ticket counter at Binodpur Bazar, filed a case with Motihar Police Station against RU student Humayun Kabir and 500 other unnamed university students on charges of damaging and torching the counter.

Following a syndicate decision, RU acting Registrar Prof Muhammad Shafi filed a case with Motihar Police Station against 400 unnamed outsiders for hurling brickbats at the vice chancellor's residence and damaging RU vehicles and properties.

Sub-Inspector Masud Pervez of Motiher Police Station filed another case against 550 people including RU students and locals on charges of attacking policemen and destroying public property.

However, police are yet to arrest anyone.

Earlier, RU closed the university indefinitely on Wednesday following Tuesday night's violent clashes between university students and local transport workers that left 60 people including teachers, students and policemen injured.

The RU authorities asked resident students to vacate all 16 dormitories by 12:00noon the same day.

Probe committee convener Prof Dr Delwar Hossain of Applied Physics Department told The Daily Star that the committee will submit its report after the university reopens.

RU proctor Enamul Haque and assistant proctors visited the injured students at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) and RU medical centre.

Meantime, leaders of RU units of Bangladesh Chhatra League, Progotishil Chhatra Jote and Bangladesh Chhatra Union (BCU) met the university proctor separately and demanded the authorities reopen the university immediately.

BCU at a press briefing said they would go for a movement if the authorities do not reopen the university within a week.

Local businessmen at a meeting at Binodpur Bazar urged the authorities to provide them with compensation and take stern actions against the people responsible.

When contacted, RU VC Prof Mamnunul Keramat said the authorities suspended all classes and examinations indefinitely for the safety of university students.

Our political history is riddled with tales of conspiracy and murder. Most unfortunate, however, is the precedent that has been set over the decades, of killers getting away with impunity.


Four years ago on August 21, 23 people were killed in a series of grenade attacks at an Awami League (AL) meeting being held in front of the party office at Bangabandhu Avenue. Though the prime target, former prime minister and the then leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina, survived with ear injuries, a number of central AL leaders, including Women's Affairs Secretary Ivy Rahman, were killed, over 200 people injured. Injuries ranged from splinter wounds, loss of eyesight and limbs. Some of the victims still carry the splinters, which could not be removed, inside their bodies.

Less than six months later, on January 27, 2005, former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and four other AL activists were killed in another grenade attack on an AL rally in Habiganj; about 70 others were injured. Despite allegations of a controversial investigation, the trial began in May 2006 but was halted due to a High Court (HC) stay order. The case is now pending at the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal.

Of the 10 accused in the Kibria case, eight are in detention and two absconding. All 10 are Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) men, one of them is the district BNP vice-president AKM Abdul Quayum, who was later expelled from the party. Links have also been made to the Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (Huji), but Kibria's family and party members claim that the masterminds behind the killing have been left out of the investigation and have urged the caretaker government to fairly investigate the murder.

As for the August 21 attacks, case proceedings finally began last month after police filed a chargesheet against 22 people, including former deputy minister for education in the BNP-led alliance Abdus Salam Pintu and eight absconding Huji members. This came out after an intense and long drawn out drama surrounding the investigation. The initial probe was carried out under the direct supervision of Lutfozzaman Babar, state minister for home affairs at the time. The 20 persons arrested following the investigation, which included a student and an AL leader and ward commissioner, however, were not found guilty in the later investigation. Another twist was brought about with the confessions of Joj Miah and two others who claimed that a criminal gang had carried out the attacks. These confessions were later found by the present administration to have been obtained

by force, and by paying Joj Miah's family a few thousand taka monthly. At one point, even a "foreign enemy" was implicated in the incident. Even after the usual blame game and all the twists and turns in the investigation process, doubts still remain as to whether the real culprits behind such a well-planned and deadly attack have been identified.

                                                                   In a nation that has witnessed the killing of its national leaders, including its founding father, almost from its birth, these killings do not come as a shock. The trend of killers getting away with impunity has been set early in our history. The same killers who on August 15, 1975 murdered Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 21 members of his family and household, including children and pregnant women, also assassinated four national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of the government-in-exile, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed, finance minister M Mansur Ali and minister for home affairs, relief and rehabilitation AHM Qamruzzaman -- inside a prison cell, on November 3, 1975. The latter massacre was a part of a contingency plan in the event that a counter-coup occurred, basically, to wipe out a whole leadership whom the killers did not see fit to govern the nation. Not only were the perpetrators not punished for their crimes, but they were actually allowed to escape and even rewarded by the State with promotions and diplomatic postings abroad.
 
 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated along with most of his family on August 15, 1975.

On May 30, 1981, President Ziaur Rahman, who ultimately came to power after the coups and counter-coups of the 1970s, was assassinated by a faction of army officers, in approximately the 20th coup attempt against Zia himself. The killing of Brigadier Khalid Musharraf, Colonels Huda and Haider in November 1975, as well as the execution of Col. Abu Taher by Zia and the hasty trial and punishment of Zia's own killers, were also said to be politically motivated.

But the culprits of the Bangabandhu and jail killings were, for 21 years, covered by the Indemnity Ordinance passed by the government under president Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed, which was later legalised in parliament. Only in 1996 after the AL came to power was the ordinance repealed and a murder case filed on October 2 of that year. In November 1998, 15 former army officers were awarded the death penalty by the trial court in the Bangabandhu murder case. The HC later upheld the death sentences of 12 ---------

Poisonous fish

Potka (Puffer fish) is a poisonous fish. The skin and visceral organs of Potka fish carry acute toxic substances, named - TTX (Tetrodotoxin) and STX (Staxitoxin). Scientists have shown that these toxins are about 1200 times more lethal than Cyanide, having strong resistance against heat. Very small amount of these toxins require to cause death of a human being.


For avoiding such dangers, removal of poisonous visceral organs and skins of Potka fish should be ensured by adopting proper processing techniques. But consumers rarely follow the methods.

So, besides raising public awareness, the cultivation and marketing of Potka fish should be prohibited throughout the country.

THREE militants belonging to the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh were charged on October 7,2007 for carrying out serial bombings in four cinemas in Mymensingh on December 7, 2002. The carnage killed 21 people and injured or maimed around 200 others. The charge sheets, however, did not include anyof the 40 individuals, including political leaders and intellectuals who were detained soon after the blasts, following intervention by top leaders of the then ruling allaince pointing fingers at the detainees.

The detainees were also tortured severely in custody. They included Awami League (AL) leader Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Mymensingh AL president Principal Motiur Rahman, writer-journalist-human right activist Shahriar Kabir, columnist Professor Muntassir Mamoon and Reuter journalist Enamul Hoque Chowdhury.

Likewise, charges were finally pressed on June 12, 2008 in the sensational August 21 grenade attack case against 22 persons, including top Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu.

The development came after years of drama during the rule of BNP-Jamaat government over investigation into the grisly attacks on an AL rally in Bangabandhu Avenue in 2004. However, the masterminds behind assassination attempt on AL chief Sheikh Hasina remain undetected even after charges have been pressed in two cases filed in this connection.

The government investigators acknowledge that although 22 people have been charge-sheeted, the key planners of the grisly grenade attack are still untraced.

While the BNP-Jamat government was still at the helm, an investigation was conducted under the direct supervision of Lutfuzzaman Babar, the then state minister for home, and 20 persons including a student, Shaibal Saha Partha, and AL leader and ward commissioner Mokhlesur Rahman were arrested.

Here again, none of these arrestees who had to undergo a lot of harassment and tortures, a usual phenomenon in the dark era of the alliance government's mal-governance, were found guilty in the latest investigation.

The drama got a twist with the then government's claim about the "confessions" of one Joj Miah, that a criminal gang carried out the attack. The present administration later found that, as per the then government's desire, those confessional statements were obtained using force. The CID investigators and the supervising officer involved were found to have paid Joj Miah's family a few thousand taka per month.

Even the one-member judicial probe committee of Justice Joynul Abedin, formed by the then government, pointed at a foreign "enemy" country's involvement in the incident, a ludicrous assertion to say the least. These are only two highly horrifying cases out of many, where the government authorities apparently manipulated the criminal investigations and the judicial probes.

In tune with the usual utterances of their supreme leader after every carnage carried out on the opposition leaders and the secular institutions, the BNP lawmakers in parliament in presence of erstwhile Prime Minister Khaleda Zia blamed AL for perpetrating the grisly attack on its own rally.

Firstly, should the multi-faceted crimes of this magnitude against the independence and objectivity of the criminal investigation system of the state and humanity go unpunished? In his address to the nation on April 12, 2007, the chief adviser (CA) of the CTG, while outlining his government's priorities made a solemn pledge to the nation: "We are making all-out efforts to uphold citizens' rights, rule of law, and justice in all sectors controlled by the state so that the people of Bangladesh can one day say with pride, 'the messages of justice do not cry in seclusion in this country, ' " he said.

It is, therefore, only incumbent upon the current government to investigate, publicly expose, and bring to book the individuals who were responsible for ordering the phony investigations, and detaining, remanding and torturing the innocents, thereby removing any trace of trust on the criminal investigation system.

Secondly, what redress has the state meted out to those innocent people who had to undergo psychological and physical torture at the hands of the state machinery? To draw a parallel, it would be pertinent to cite the landmark story of one Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen.

Arar was arrested by US agents at New York's JFK Airport on the basis of inaccurate information provided by Canadian police (RCMP) linking him to terrorists. He was sent to his native Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for a year before being released.

The Canadian government formed a one-member judicial commission to assess the actions of Canadian officials in dealing with the deportation and detention of Maher Arar. In its report, the judicial commission disclosed that there was no evidence that Arar was ever linked to extremist groups and found that the FBI and U.S. security officials were given an inaccurate and unfair picture of Arar by the RCMP, and that this portrait dogged his entire time in a Syrian jail.

Following the publication of the report, the chief of RCMP made a somber apology to Maher Arar and his family and resigned. The Canadian parliament issued a unanimous apology for the detention and torture of Arar. Notwithstanding the fact that his party was not at the helm of state when the incident occurred, the Conservative PM of Canada Stephen Harper issued a formal public apology to Maher Arar and paid him $12.5 million in compensation for his ordeal.

Probably in 1998, the Bangladesh Supreme Court (SC) fined the government Tk.100, 000 compensation for each of the opposition detainees who were detained for a few weeks under the special power act, albeit the defense counsels did not ask for it. The victims, in that case, did not suffer any mental or physical torture either. However, the SC never repeated the practice.

At the dawn of a new beginning, as stated by the CA of the CTG in more than one speech, it would perhaps be in the fitness of things for him to initiate a process of redress for the wrongs done to those who had been detained and tortured at the dictum of those who betrayed the trust vested on them by the citizens of the republic, and absolutely ruptured the fabric of trust in the criminal investigation system.