Mr. Motiur Rahman, please explain yourself
On reading the special editorialwritten by Matiur Rahman, Prothom Alo editor, the day his masterMoeen U. Ahmed retired as Army Chief, a number of questions came up. Actually, what came up first was disgust at the incredible level of smugness that was on display as Matiur Rahman pretended that the change of government that took place on January 11, 2007 did not happen with his direct knowledge and collusion. But eventually, on a second and third reading, some questions did come up…
Continue reading at In The Middle of Nowhere…
মতিউর রহমান সাহেবকে ধন্যবাদ দিতেই হয় কারণ এই একদা-বামপন্থীর লেহনপন্থী আচরণ থেকেই রাজনীতি বিষয়ক ব্লগিং দুনিয়ায় আমার পদার্পন। আনহার্ড ভয়েসেস দুনিয়ায় আমার প্রথম কমেন্ট ছিল রুমি ভাইএর একটি ব্লগেপোস্টে, যেখানে প্রথম আলো ও ডেইলী স্টারের “সরকারী মুখপাত্র”-মূলক সাংবাদিকতা নিয়ে আলোচনা হচ্ছিল।
মতিউর রহমান সাহেবের পুরনো সেই এডিটোরিয়ালটির তুলনায় সাম্প্রতিক এডিটোরিয়ালটি বেশি ইন্টারেস্টিং। এখানে লেখার শুরুর ভাগটা কেন যেন জেঃ মঈনের পক্ষে কৈফিয়তদানের মতন ঠেকছে। শেষের ভাগে ডিজিএফআইএর প্রসঙ্গে কিছু কথা বলে গা গরম করা হল, তবে এক্ষেত্রে জনাব মতি জেঃ মঈনের তুলনায় আমিন-বারীর প্রতি একটু হলেও বেশি সহানুভূতিশীল বলে মনে হল। রাজনীতির বিষয়ে কপ্চাকপ্চি করতে গিয়ে মতি সাহেব টর্চার, মিডিয়ার সাপ্রেশান, হিউম্যান রাইট্স অ্যাবিউস ইত্যাদি প্রসঙ্গগুলো নিয়ে কিছু বলেননি, নাকি বলতে লজ্জা পেলেন। লজ্জার কথা বলছি এই কারণে যে, আমার পক্ষে এটা ভুলে যাওয়া খুবই কষ্টকর যে ২০০৭ সালের অক্টোবার মাসে যখন মলম পার্টি নামক ছিনতাই বাহিনীর দৌরাত্ম চরমে, সেই মাসের শেষের দিকে আমাদের স্কুলের একজন বড় ভাই এবং একই সাথে আমাদের ইউনিভার্সিটির একজন ফ্যাকাল্টি ইন্সট্রাক্টার, দেওয়ান রাহাত করিম মুকুল মলম পার্টির হাতে নিহত হওয়ার ঠিক পরেরদিন প্রথম আলো এক সম্পূর্ণ কাল্পনিক পরিসংখ্যান তুলে ধরে দাবি করেছিল তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকার বিগত সরকারগুলোর তুলনায় অপরাধ কমাতে সাফল্য দেখিয়েছে। তারপর আমি সহ আরও অনেক ল্যাবরেটরিয়ান প্রথম আলোর সম্পাদক, সেই রিপোর্টের রিপোর্টারকে বেশ কিছু উত্তপ্ত মেইল পাঠাই। কিন্তু সেগুলোকে মঈন-ফখরু-ইয়াজ-এর অনেক অনেক দুষ্কর্মের মতই ওভারলুক করা হয়েছে। আমরা জনাব মতিউর রহমানের দীর্ঘায়ু কামনা করি।
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According to recent both; electronic & print media, 1/11 was strictly due to the pressures and 48 hours ultimatums of the Dhaka based foreign envoys on 1/9 and subsequent ultimatum by the UN Head of the Military Attachee on the morning of 1/11, the rest is history. Such pressures in the Bangladesh context is uniqie and examplary as normally the West abhors Military intervention in any country, in case of Bangladesh this perhaps is an exception!!! Even Author Mr. M U Ahmed in Book, is alleged to have quoted this and his counter arguments.
The bottom line is these are all hearsay, I have no documentary evidence whatsoever to substantiate my said claim/s.
Do have a great day, take care!
cheers
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Most of the defenders of 1/11 regime often happen to claim that there was at least public support for it at its initial stage. Now, we can logically claim that that public support was a setup apart. Exploitation politicians’ imprudence (apart) and exploitation of threats of countrywide anarchy were key things behind the setup. Personalities, institutions, civil bodies worked behind it. Because if we can assume that certain institutions those hail issues like “promotion of honest statesman”, “assurance of true public representation”, “transparency in state-running processes” etc. amid a democratic process of a country, well these institutions along with their approach manner will be often well taken. If we look back and get to define the civil society members who were among the backers of evil 1/11 regime, were almost all somehow party to such institutions or movements. And what appears as an ‘initial public support’ of the 1/11 regime, has been the sole contribution of those backers who barked at talk shows , fought cases at courts, stood with voice in public gatherings, both prior to and after the 1/11 takeover of the then Lt-Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed.
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Another thing I must add, people like Dr. Kamal Hossain, Debapriyo Bhattacharya, Beboshayider Neta Anisul Haque, or institutions like Prothom Alo, Daily Star had at least a hold over what appears to be a controller of public sentiment, at least up to the stage the 1/11 regime started seeming bitter to all. And they have arguably lost their hold over controlling public sentiments at least up to a level after the 1/11 regime departed with a lot its background stories uncovered fully or partially.
Although the 1/11 regime never became that unpopular to receive shoes at frequently public places as some people assumed it to had become, it was almost clear to people that its existence along with the commitments was just a facade of some evil operations being done over Bangladesh. Moeen’s appointment at any of the posts abroad, statements like “A trial over Moeen is beyond imagination” from Syed Ashraful Islam, will strengthen the allegations and other public perceptions over evil means the 1/11 concept has.
“Time really does matter” has rather been strictly proved in Bangladesh, as we really don’t mind having shouldn’t-be-forgotten or shouldn’t-be-let-get-away matters smoothly forgotten and let get away, those people and institutions who once indiscriminately lied and backed fake things, may try to rehabilitate themselves into positions they once had. But this time it’s going to be difficult, eh?
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I don’t care who was behind it. But it was inevitable. This cleanup was necessary to break the backbone of forces that allied with war criminals of 1971.
BNP had no legitimacy to hold on to power through rigged elections manned by shameless immoral people. The state apparatus was made a tool to turn the country into a fascist dictatorship.
Zia’s wife, sons and relatives indulged in rampant corruption. Nefarious people like Pinto, Falu, Harris and others became Khaleda’s favourites. Khaleda Zia and er sons also were directly involved in illegal arms shipment through Bangladesh and state sponsorship of Islamic fascism to terrorize secular, progressive political parties.
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The army had no other option. Otherwise Bangladesh would have become another Somalia. The people who acted as stooges of the army were all BNP beneficiaries. Like BNP’s three tier setup in administration and police the repeated shuffling and fall of advisers like house of cards brought in more and more BNP loyalists into the unconstitutional CTGs. Almost all of them had close ties with the BNP.
Khaleda Zia’s misrule and romance with Al Shams, Al Badr and Razzakars of !971 brought its downfall which was more disgraceful than Ershad’s.
It needs to be found out why staunchly anti-Awami League people like Fakruddin, Ifthekar Choudhury, general Matin, Barrister Moinul Hossain and others betrayed BNP and Khaleda Zia.
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It’s interesting although it ain’t new that BNP’s ties with Jamaat-e-Islami have often been used as key point to contentiously take side of Army’s unlawful intervention in January 2007. There is no reason to think that the 1/11 perpetrators had an allergy of BNP’s ties with Jamaat-e-Islami.
The phrase the Army had no option gives an idea that the four months long political violence (October’06-January’07) was the only one in the history of this land. A so easy gateway of a nation’s Army to her power like it was in 2007, can be noted by other Gen. Moeens of the third world that the only thing they have to do is to assure one of the major (or more, or both) parties will exert a hell out on the streets and then the presidential palace will be full of military jeeps saying the Army had no option. I mean if this certain way of army’s intervention in national politics is supported, argued for and contentiously backed, there actually remains no necessity of spare some hundred more words to discuss the issue.
Another interesting part is BNP’s close ties. I hope the definition of BNP’s close ties have been dramatically changed.
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Moin U Ahmed deserves credit for the following:
1. Ultimately returning power to the people by holding the fairest ever and widely acclaimed election. Long live democracy!
2. Helping build a reformed trustworthy Election Commission.
3. Creating a historic and memorable voter list that wiped out more than a crore (100,00000!) fake voters created by Khaleda Zia and her cronies sitting at the then pro-BNP partisan Election Commission.
4. He was the first Army Chief who acknowledged Bangabandhu as the father of the nation and Ziaur Rahman as a gallant freedom fighter.
If he had done anything wrong he should be forgiven for letting democracy blossom again in this land.
BNP is crying wolf to hide the deep divide and poliical disarray within herself. This party is totally out of toch with reality. It has to work very hard to rebuild its badly damaged image.
Instead, it seems that it is hoping for some kinda unconstitutional means to grab power.
The government should be very alert as the Nizami-Golam Azam criminals might try to hatch another conspiracy to foil the trial of the war criminals.
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If Bangladesh was indeed heading towards civil war on Jan 10, 2007 and that was averted on Jan 11, 2007, then shouldn’t the credit go to the new people who came on the scene, e.g. Dr. Fakhruddin, Ifteqar Ahmed Chowdhury, Maj. Gen. Matin, and so on? Moeen was Chief of Staff reporting to Iajuddin on January 10, and Moeen was Chief of Staff reporting to Iajuddin to January 12.
I also did not know that the election of December 29, 2008 was General Moeen’s gift to Bangladesh. If anything, I thought we, the people of Bangladesh, had something to do with it.
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Everything that led to 1/11 happened because of BNP-Jamaat Alliance’s blueprint to convert Bangladesh into a lawless haven for terrorist activities.
It had allowed all kinds of terrorist activities to flourish. Not a single act of terrorism was investigated and made public. The BNP-Jamaat period not only championed unbridled corruption but was also an era of cover-ups of terrorist activities. The whole world knows it.
Army had to intervene to pull Bangladesh out of the quagmire created by total mismanagement of the failed BNP-Jamaat criminal racket at the bidding of EU and US. I see nothing wrong in it. Otherwise we would by now have become another SWAT VALLEY case.
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What actually unconstitutional means to grab power does mean? It means someone to get to the power after an array of unconstitutional operations done (may be by someone else) over the administration. In addition, the definition can be stood strong if those unconstitutional deeds are to receive ratifications by the newly formed government immediately after they take office. If we have learned anything throughout the time of coming of our ages, that’s what an unconstitutional mean to grab power does mean. And if it is, it’s someone other than BNP to have been credited.
Giving contentious support to what Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed did can be attributed as nothing but Stockholm Syndrome. Some or many people haven’t been disappointed after completely unlawful and unconstitutional sudden intervention of a man and suspension of people’s fundamental rights for indefinite period of time. People haven’t been disappointed (with influence of Shushils or not) at once because they were confused that whether they had lived better in past couple of months in the then atmosphere. It’s been a failure of politicians, not politics. And what Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed was after has not been just politicians, he was after politics along with all the apparatuses he could have had a control over, legitimately or else.
Now it can be an argument that which one was to be chosen, an extremely disputed and to-be-tampered 22 January election and anarchy afterward or what Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed has ultimately done? For sake of argument, let leave a benefit of doubt to Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed only for his breaking in Bangabhaban on 10 January, 2007 although it’s alone can be a good point to sue an army chief. But what about he and his errand men started doing afterward? Was it necessary to arrest Sheikh Hasina without a minimum honor and dignity a former Prime Minister could have asked for? I have photos that how she was taken to court. Was it a necessity to send uniformed and gunned personnels to local Airliners’ offices with instructions that no ticket for Sheikh Hasina? No need to add some more lines on what’ve been done to a lot other people, both in or not in politics. Differences have to be understood between cleaning/repainting a wall and creating a hole on a wall. What Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed has tried to do throughout his claimed 1/11 period, should be recognized as something else than just cleaning up the politics. And as it was something else than just cleaning up politics, politics was not cleaned.
It’s not really learning rocket science for an army chief to realize Bangabandhu as the father of all Bangladeshis and Ziaur Rahman as a gallant freedom fighter. Not only will the army chiefs, each and every people of Bangladesh will have to recognize Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as father of the nation, architect of Bangladesh and the one we will remain grateful to forever. Not only will the army chiefs, each and every people of Bangladesh will have to recognize Ziaur Rahman as a gallant freedom fighter and a loved President.
However creating the voters list and initiating the process of a regular updating of the database have been highly appreciable. Credits go to each and every person associated with this effort, both from Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Election Commission Secretariat.
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I wonder why the badly defeated BNP doesn’t return to the parliament. I am disgusted to see daily meeting of rejected BNP leaders many of whom were behind Moin Ahmed, daily appearing at the Gulshan office for substance-less press conferences. BNP has become a wayward party that has lost its sense of direction and leadership.
People have elected a new government through the fairest poll ever in Bangladesh fore the next five years. It would be suicidal for BNP to go for street agitation.
They should immediately go to the parliament to voice their opinion even if it means they have to stay satisfied with the last row benches. Awami League has been too nice to them.
The people have elected 30 or so BNP members to talk in the parliament. It is disgraceful to see MPs taking advantages of privileges but not fulfilling their moral obligation to the people.
It would have been better if the JP had got just 4-5 more seats and become the opposition.
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I must say to some of the commentators here “Welcome to Bangladesh”, the commentators who appear to have never seen a house in Bangladesh without opposition before, never before seen an opposition taking advantages of privileges but not fulfilling their moral obligation to the people, never seen street agitations getting suicidal before etc.
And considering the oppositions, they shouldn’t think that their becoming absentee in house for indefinite amount of time can be excused just because their predecessor did the same or worse. They also shouldn’t think their pulling hell on streets (if they have plans to do so in near future) will be justified and excused just because their predecessors did the same or worse. They just can’t keep themselves absentees and satisfied saying “active parliament requires a participatory opposition and it’s ruling party’s responsibility to activate the parliament”. Responsibility belongs to them too.
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There are so many points on which the opposition could have taken the AL government to task in the parliament.
How could the rail crossing mishap taken place? The police, illiterate unlicensed bus drivers and railway authorities are to blame.
What is the government doing to seriously address the Tipaimiukh dam issue with their Indian counterparts?
Discuss the pros and cons of the budget.
Cooperate with the government on mutually agreeable issues.
These are just a few things the BNP could have done inside the parliament without sitting idle at the Gulshan office. That would have been an intelligent move. On the contrary, their irresponsible behaviour is detaching them from the masses and public opinion is now more strongly in favor of the ruling party than it was in December, 2008.
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There is no doubt that BNP should take its strong position in the house. The only reason they have behind their series of seminars and other public gatherings is to reach the people as much as possible. I guess this purpose can be served better if BNP plays active role in the parliament. No matter how much seats they have, they are the opposition and the ruling party can’t really go without letting the opposition have floors for certain amount of time. Their hypothetical remarks like no atmosphere for opposition to play participatory role, the ruling party ain’t sincere to have us in the house etc., will be justified if they get to the house and if such things really take place. Otherwise their sincerity may face questions.
More than over the news clips on their seminars, people will have eyes over what’s being talked inside the house where BNP is not present right now. Party activities are equally important but everything has its right places and national issues which BNP appears to have been concerned about should be taken to the house, beside party practices over them.
I actually don’t feel like to recognize the ruling party as too inflexible over the row about front seats. Yes, it’s a responsibility of the majority to assure that the house remains sound and active; hence they have to assure that the opposition stays in the house. But the opposition on other hand with a much lower number of seats shouldn’t expect the treatment which they could have received with some more seats. It’s a matter of trade off from both the sides where the opposition will have to move considering their number of seats.
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BNP and its cronies in all professions were responsible for violating the constitution. In its aftermath came the illegitimate unconstitutional 1/11government run by very low key people like Fakruddin and others who totally failed.
Fakruddin was a ?deputy secy/joint secy when he left the country in the seventies. He was also a NSF member at DU during the time that led to our independence war. While in Nairobi, Kenya as a WB official he and his wife regularly frequented killer Dalim’s residence there while Dalim (the self-confessed assassin of Bangabandhu) was serving as the then BNP foreign minister Mustafzur Rahman appointed ambassador to Kenya. Therefore it is ridiculous to think that Fakruddin and his family would work for AL.
He had never been a DC or secretary in the administration. How could he deliver as a CA? Its like promoting a clerk to the post of presidency. He also included many of his relatives in the unconstitutional setup. The biggest beneficiaries were his opportunist brother- in- laws Ifthekar (who should be investigated for the expenses incurred by the foreign ministry), Enam Ahmed Choudhury (privatization board chairman under BNP and a staunch BNP loyalist who never raised the issue of Khaleda’s release) and Farukh Choudhury (an adviser to Sheikh Hasina whose role during Fakruddin’s time was dubious and was publicly heard criticizing Sheikh Hasina on many instances and never raised the issue of her release). But Hasina seems to have identified the vipers around her.
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Mr Matuiur Rahman is fighting for a change in our attitude. He is using his newspaper to bring changes amongst us. But I guess the newspaper and the editor himself need a radical change.
We buy newspaper to read news and views. Not the advertisements. If you buy Prothom-Alo… you will find only the advertisements from the top business houses. Even you will find controversial “Destiny 2000 Ltd” has occupied two broadsheets. This unfair.
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