AL’s new ‘conscience’ Abdul Jalil and sacking of 7 army officers’
Awkward relationship: Photo: New Nation
AL’s now disgruntled General Secretary, one of the senior leaders who are upset at not get any party post or any ministry, has taken the role speaking the unspeakable things in Bangladeshi politics. Jalil Shaheb, after opening the can of worms on DGFI, has now spoken about milbus in Bangladesh. MilBus, in other words, Military Business, a term coined by Pakistani author Ayesha Siddika, refers to military’s commercial interest. Abdul Jalil has asked for transparency and spoken against transforming our military into a commercial entity. A fellow blogger has said the following about the recent outburst — ‘
I think he believes that after what was done to him in military custody, there is nothing anyone can do to him that is worse. He knows that he will never be a minister under SH, and he knows that he is still the most popular and senior AL leader north of Jamuna. So, he doesn’t have much to lose – he is financially set for life – he is pretty much beholden just to his own conscious. Interesting to see what he does with himself the next five years. Moreover, if he is saying it, a lot of people must be thinking it.
Someone also has said that this is about blackmailing the party chief — ‘Give me a dignified exit or I will continue to put you in a difficult spot’. How difficult a spot is this?
The leaked army recording from three months ago clearly highlighted that military personnel strongly disapproved any thing remotely negative about any aspect of the army or army personnel being discussed in the parliament. If you need a refresher, here it is. The quote was the: ‘What have we done to your party that your leaders are always bad mouthing us in the parliament?’ My hunch? This will not go very well inside the army or among the top tier of army at the least. Mind you, I believe in matters concerning defence forces, utmost importance needs to be given in terms of what’s discussed in public and what’s not. However, there should be transparency on everything that does not concern our national security. Military business is one such area where transparency will not jeopardise our national interest and here, I believe, Jalil has some merit in asking for more transparency and accountibility in terms of giving government contracts to the military.
Similarly, the recent sacking of army officers have generated some buzz.
The government has recently dismissed seven officers of the Bangladesh Army
without showing any reasons.The dismissed officers include a brigadier general, three lieutenant
colonels, a major and two captains. Six of the seven were dismissed on June
7 and the other, the brigadier general, on June 23.
Without any official guideline on this, the June 7th firing seems to be a case of a fall out from that infamous meeting with the PM. A fellow blogger commented:
Firing of the younger seven officers are outrageous. If they indeed conspired coup, yes, court martial them. But we must know if indeed they planned coup or not. This sort of actions are very damaging to the professionalism of the army and very painful for the victim.
Another blogger retorts:
You know, summary dismissal of majors and captains isn’t really all that unusual in the army. The reason these 7 are getting airtime is because of their ‘beadobi’ [with the pm and army chief]. but if you abstract from pilkhana, and think about what actually happened at senakunjo, is it really all that surprising that these officers are dismissed?
I am not sure if it is a ‘very very bad move on AL’s part’. should this kind of thing happen? no. does it happen in bangladesh? all the time. does anyone care? no. will it matter politically? doubt it.
However, circumstances about the June 23rd firing is not so clear cut yet. Hoping for more information and media highlight on this. I wrote about the Alu Bakhara case and the firing of a civil servant before here. However, in this case, the family association of the brigadier general ( son of Golam Azam) has been mentioned in the New Age report.
The likelihood is that we will never know the real reasons behind these and future such decisions unless media plays a more active role and the opposition plays A role in the Parliament. These decisions may very well be legal and justified but again because they are so tied to the existing politics in Bangladesh, they will always be perceived as political firings. If this dust does not settle, there would be constant murmuring inside the institute about the objectivity of such decisions. If army is not kept above political partisanship or at the least not perceived to be above partisanship, we will have a high price to pay in future — just like we have a paid a high price for destroying some of our other institutions in the past.
[...] Voice blog discusses the sacking of seven army officers in Bangladesh and comments: “If army is not kept above [...]
I think it is particularly important that in the case of Brig Azmi the cause of sacking should be made clear to avoid the suspicion of political victimization – a sentiment clearly expressed by the angry army officers during the session with PM at Shenakunja. In the absence of transparency, unhealthy speculation may fill the vacuum and we must try to avoid that.
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http://www.samakal.com.bd/details.php?news=14&action=main&option=single&news_id=1329&pub_no=30
Asif I Just want to put this link as one reference only. There are so many news are coming in Media. Just remember those days of post 1/11. who is Brig Bari or who is Amin. why name of such people come on media Just because of their fatality. Another duo Moinul and Matin became mouth piece of all unconstitutional work.
Now Actual truth is coming up and these people must be brought under Justice.
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The army should be purged of all officers who are directly involved in international terrorism, gross human rights violation, links to war criminals and corruption of the highest degree. The last failed rag-tag caretaker government was an embodiment of these traits. Be it Bari, Amin, Matin, Mashud or that rascal Moinul (a civilian) they all should investigated and if found guilty should be jailed. BNP, JAMAAT and the last CTG have ruined the image of the concept. IT SHOULD BE ABOLISHED RIGHTAWAY!
The ELECTION COMMISSION can do a better job if the Awami League cooperates and strengthens it. AL has nothing to fear. In case the AL allows it to conduct elections on its own it will have five years to do so in a credible manner. People just dont want to see another CTG. The last one had increased their misery.
Bangladesh has borders with two big countries. Both have a sizeable modern armed forces which will not tolerate illegal arms trade by military inteligence using Bangladesh as a corridor for foreign terrorists. Defence analysts have opined that both the countries have acquired sophisticated weapons to flush out any terrorist sanctuary in neighboring countries if required. Bangladesh must not allow herself to become a international terrorist hub like in the past under the Nizami-Khaleda terrorist-nurturing goverment. Some of the weapons meant for Indian and Burmese rebels have also been used in assassination plots against polticians in Bangladesh by the nefarious millitary intelligence and their allies the peudo-Islamic fascists.
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Abdul Jalil, the sitting Gen. Secretary of AL defies party discipline and still holding on as Gen. Sec !!!! He bust the DGFI mole holes in the Govt, but the moles still live on . Army Officers speaks up in Darbar and looses their jobs ! What did Sheikh Hasina expect to hear in a Darbar ? Why was it arranged ??? Army is a disciplined force. It has it’s own procedures to address insubordination or indiscipline. Dismissal is an action usually taken against serious breaches. I hope proper procedures were followed to dismiss them . Or no point talking about rule of law and democracy.
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Azmi and other army officers should be investigated if they had any links with the assassination attempt on Hasina and the top brass of the Awami League leadership in 2004.
The war criminals and their infiltrators in the army are still active and they must be pinned down by the national and international terrorism fighting organisations. These were bred and fed in the past by the rudderless, reactionary BNP and their Islamic fundamentalist allies.
These venomous network of global terrorists are the biggest menace to mankind. They must be wiped out from every nook and corner of the earth until the last animal is eliminated to free the world of the scourge of violent inhumane terrorism earning a bad name for Islam.
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good blog.
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