Culture of conspiracy and vengeance

It's been 37 years since Bangladesh won its independence, but we are still grappling with the malaise of a desperate political culture aimed at power and wealth. Known to be a brave and patriotic nation, we poured our blood and sweat for freedom and a flag.

1971 – a red letter year in the history of this world – witnessed the emancipation of a nation from the shackles of colonial hegemony. We thought that was enough; that years of struggle was over. The thousand-year-old Bengali culture had all the emotion, warmth and zeal to ensure happiness for the bereaved families of our freedom fighters and the loving people living in the valley of poverty and pathos.

1971 is perhaps the only year in the history of Bangladesh when the nation was able to demonstrate the strength of its unity. Our great leader Bangobandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman walked on the same fiery path taken by Gandhiji, Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro by living up to his dream of freedom. He refused to acknowledge death threats, believing that his beloved people could never turn into enemies.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman even refused to entertain the idea that his countrymen could fall victim to western conspiracies and kill their very symbol of freedom. Occidental theories of colonialism also marked other precious lives of our national leaders who were part of the 1971 war of freedom.

Thus started the divide and rule of Bangladesh; a gross division of political philosophy gave vent to a series of killings, coups and counter-coups. All this while, the masterminds sitting across the Atlantic were cooking up delicious recipes for a unipolar world of McDonalds.

The moment a charismatic General (Ziaur Rahman) started looking for friends in an alternative world order, western game theorists to upped the stakes by alluring a few ambitious natives into removing this emerging South Asian leaders from the game board.

The imperial designs of divide and rule were so imprinted onto our system that they diffused all patriotic attempts to unite the country along the path of equity and self-sufficient development. Our freedom and economic sovereignty were made vulnerable to continued foreign intervention. The traitors were, sadly, none other than our very own.

With the bank of patriotism and politics badly pilfered by western imperialists, radical Islamists saw an opportunity to take over whatever else was left. In the name of counter-hegemony they stealthily geared up to forward their agenda. The western forces and Islamist radicals joined forces with each other to brand Bangladesh a politically failed state.

So, we became divided; into Hutus and Tutsis, Lilliputians and Blefuscudians, Awami League-led Grand Alliance and BNP-Jamaat Coalition, each side polarized into blind power struggle.

Shortly before and after the liberation war, our countrymen used to pray for the release of patriotic political leaders imprisoned by Pakistan, but now our masses can be seen and heard cursing policy-makers, politicians and exploiters for abusing democracy to make their fortunes. Elections are now nothing more than a civil war of vote to earn a blank cheque from the silent majority.

Bangladesh is a one-dollar-a-day-per-capita-income country, where parties are only concerned with political tribesmanship; no one cares about the social mortality rate of mother and child, and the healthcare degradation of those living in grey poverty. In our 37 years we could not envision the importance of development bound politics; election manifestoes prepared by partisan, outdated intellectuals could not carry out the commitment to nation-building; all attempts to institutionalize democracy could not withstand the onslaught of political chaos; and the arena has been left wide open to the shouting and screaming power mongers who roar like wrestlers demanding an eye for an eye.

I wonder if democracy ever meant people's rule, if it ever meant respecting each other's opinion or representing people to change their fate. It is, perhaps, utopian to imagine our political leaders reconciling for the sake of living up to their commitment to the nation.

This could be a pseudo observation on my part that I have never seen Republicans and Democrats fighting on the streets of Washington. The only clash I did witness on a street in Vienna was between expatriate Awami League and BNP followers. The Austrian police asked me the reason for the clash. I could not answer, I didn't have any.

70 politicians, 44 others so far jailed on graft charges

70 politicians, 44 others so far jailed on graft charges
By: Md Moneruzzaman
Source: New Age
October 21, 2008

A total of 114 people, including 70 politicians, have so far been convicted of corruption by special judges’ court all over the country under the anti-corruption drive of the military-controlled interim government.

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday submitted the list of the convicts to the home ministry. Of the 70 convicted politicians, 41 are from Bangladesh Nationalist Party, 25 from Awami League, three from Jatiya Party led by Anwar Hossain Manju and one from Islami Oikya Jote.

According to the commission’s statement, the 114 people had been sentenced after completion of trial in 100 corruption cases filed by the commission.

The commission has so far lodged 710 cases, as of October 15, and 495 of the cases are now under investigation, and chargesheet in 84 cases now await the commission’s approval, according to the statistics available with the commission.

It said the High Court has so far stayed proceedings of 632 cases. The charge sheet of 262 cases have so far been submitted in Dhaka special judges’ court for trial. Trials of 37 cases have been halted following stay order issued by the High Court.

The convicted BNP politicians are former ministers M Morshed Khan, Nazmul Huda, Shahjahan Siraj, Aminul Haque, Amanullah Aman, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, Salahuddin Ahmed and Shahajahan Omar, former lawmakers Mosaddak Ali Falu, Ziaul Haque Zia, Monjurul Ahsan Munshi, Ali Asgar Lobi, Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Rashiduzzaman Millat, Naser Rahman, Md Shahjahan Chowdhury, Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu, Hafiz Ibrahim and Shahrin Islam Tuhin, Sigma Huda, Aman’s wife Sabera Aman, Nasir’s son Mir Helaluddin Ahmed, Morshed Khan’s son Faisal Morshed Khan, Siraj’s wife Rabeya Haider, his son Rajib Siraj, Lalu’s wife Shamsunnahar Zaman, Omar’s wife Mehjabeen Farzana, Hafiz’s wife Mahfuza Sultana, Zia’s wife Nasima Haque, his son Mushfiqul Haque Zia, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury, businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun, his wife Shahina Yasmin, Doctors Association of Bangladesh secretary general AZM Zahid Hossain, his wife Rifat Hossain, former Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation chairman Taimur Alam Khandker, telephone board CBA leader Firoz Miah, Sonali Bank CBA leader BM Bakir, his wife Nazma Hossain and ward commissioner Mohamamd Chowdhury Alam.

The convicted politicians from Awami League are former ministers Mohammad Nasim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, former chief whip Abdul Hasnat Abdullah, former lawmakers Kazi Jafarullah, Joynal Abedin Hazari, Sheikh Helal Uddin, HBM Iqbal, SM Mostafa Rashidi Suja, Haji Selim, Makbul Hossain, and Shamim Osman, Awami Swechchhasebak League general secretary Pankaj Devnath, Munshiganj Awami League president Mohammad Mohiuddin, former minister Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury’s son Shahdab Akbar Chowdhury Labu, Nasim’s wife Laila Arzumand Banu, Pankaj’s wife Monika Devnath, Helal’s wife Rupa Chowdhury, Iqbal’s wife Momtaz Begum, Suja’s wife Khodeja Rashidi, Maya’s son Sajidul Haque Chowdhury Dipu, Selim’s wife Gulshan Ara Begum, Makbul’s wife Golam Fatema Tahera Khanam, his son Masudur Rahman and Masud’s wife Salma Rahman.

The convict politicians also include Jatiya Party faction chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, his wife Tasmima Hossain, cousin Mahmud Hossain and Islami Okkay Jote president Mufti Shahidul Islam.

The other convicts include former secretaries ANH Akhter Hossain and Ismail Zobiullah, former public service commission chairman Mahfuzur Rahman, former chiefs forest conservator Munshi Anwarul Islam and Osman Ghani, former prime minister Khaleda’s assignment officer Firoz Mahmud Iqbal, former administrative officer of the Prime Minister’s Office SM Ahsan Habib, former National Broad of Revenue member ATM Sarwar Hossain, Akhter’s wife Nazneen Banu, Firoz’s wife Imtiaz Begum, Sarwar’s wife Nazma Sarwar, Zabiullah’s wife Ayesha Zabiullah and Ghani’s wife.

A businessman and Oriental Bank chairman Obaidul Karim was also convicted of corruption charges.

The convicts also include Janakantha editor Atiquallah Khan Masud, Masud’s wife Shamima Khan, former additional inspector general of police Shahidullah Khan, his wife Mahmuda Khannam, Fatullah police station officer-in-charge Ashraf-Ul-Islam, former police constable Golam Azam, post office officials Shamsul Karim Khan, Farid Ahmed Patwary, Sufia Begum, Abu Siddique Mizi, Shahjahan and Krishna Kumar Das, Rajuk authorised officers Mozaffar Uddin and Harun-or-Rashid, Titas Gas engineer Shahid Miah, former Roads and Highways administrative officer Abul Kalam Shamsuddin, Agricultural Extension Department project director Javed Iqbal, land ministry’s stenographer Kutub Uddin, former Sonali Bank managing director Muhammad Tahmilur Rahman and an Tariqul Rahman Prince.

Ten others were also sentenced to imprisonment for different terms in Brahmanbaria last week.

Military invades Bangladesh's judiciary

Military invades Bangladesh's judiciary
By Rater Zonaki
Source: UPI Asia On-line
Date: October 14, 2008

Hong Kong, China — The judiciary in Bangladesh is being seriously undermined by the military, to the point that it can no longer carry out its functions. Judges and courts are subject to illegal, unconstitutional and even criminal practices.

Among the more serious recent incidents, two handmade bombs were discovered in the residence of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader, who until last week was head of a High Court Division dealing with petitions challenging detention orders against politicians and businessmen. In late September a bomb exploded in front of the house of Justice Tariqul Hakim, another Supreme Court judge. Luckily neither judge was injured.

Anonymous letters threatening assassinations were also sent to three senior lawyers – Barrister Rafique-ul Haque, Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Barrister M Amir-ul Islam – as well as the present and past presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Rafique-ul Haque, who is a former attorney general of Bangladesh, lamented the situation during an urgent meeting of the Supreme Court Bar Association last Sunday. “An army major sits in a room on the second floor of the Supreme Court building where no one is allowed to enter,” he said. He explained that this major handles the case list for the Supreme Court judge – meaning that only those cases the military-backed government approves of will be given a hearing.

Barrister Haque also explained that the chief justice has reconstituted the benches of the High Court Division, assigning junior judges to deal with sensitive criminal cases and sidelining more competent senior judges. It is generally understood that this was done under military pressure.

These incidents expose the vulnerability of judges and lawyers at the highest levels of the judiciary. Not even the Supreme Court of Bangladesh can confront the military authoritarianism in an organized manner.

These incidents have occurred whenever the military-controlled government has faced serious challenges from the highest levels of the judiciary, especially regarding enquiries into the legality of its actions in the past 21 months of emergency rule in Bangladesh.

The government, which grabbed power illegally, has no legitimate authority to rule the country. It is already unhappy with the decision of the High Court that declared its promulgation of ordinances to be beyond its constitutional powers. Also, under emergency laws, the current rulers have disallowed decisions by the Supreme Court on granting bail to certain accused persons.

It appears that over-ambitious high-ranking officers of the armed forces are behind these incidents. The armed forces of Bangladesh shamelessly believe that by invading the civil institutions they can achieve more, especially if a powerful institution like the judiciary is sufficiently suffocated. The people of Bangladesh seem headed for an even more disastrous era under the grip of the armed forces.

If the armed forces dictate to the highest judiciary, how can their abuse of power be curbed? Should the judiciary entertain or tolerate these ongoing military invasions? What role is the chief justice of Bangladesh playing to stop the humiliation of the judiciary at the hands of the military? Why is the lawyers' community silent while its professional dignity and sanctity are under serious threat? Why does the Supreme Court not hold the armed forces accountable for grabbing power and occupying civil institutions illegally?

People who are aware of the situation in Bangladesh know that corruption and abuse of power with blanket impunity are among the biggest setbacks to the country's journey toward democratic stability. At the same time, the existing system allows people to become involved in corruption, either by choice or by force, due to the lack of transparency and accountability by civil servants and politicians who are close to the military rulers.

This does not mean that only a few members of a specific professional community are responsible for leading the country toward disaster or capable of improving things overnight.

Officers of the armed forces are accustomed to taking orders and following commands. However, such practices are useless in civil institutions. Many decisions taken by the military in civilian circumstances are not based on rationality or on a constructive assessment of the consequences of these decisions. This is true because the military officers have no respect for civilians and civil institutions. Most people agree that the armed forces are absolutely incompetent to solve civil problems by adopting military rules and regulations.

The Bangladeshis and the international community who are committed to the rule of law should think seriously whether it is time to remain silent or to act to ensure the survival of Bangladesh's judiciary and other civil institutions. Remaining silent could kill all hope of justice ever being restored to its rightful place in Bangladesh.
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(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national with a degree in literature from a university in Dhaka. He began his career as a journalist in 1990 and engaged in human rights activism at the grassroots level in his country for more than a decade. He also worked as an editor for publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues and contributed to other similar publications.)

Military must not dominate civil administration

BANGLADESH: Military must not dominate civil administration
Source: Asian Human Rights Commission
Date: August 29, 2008

The government of Bangladesh has directed its civil administration to work in collaboration with the officers of the "Joint Forces" stationed across the country.

The government made the decision on August 25, after having reshuffled its administration by appointing 35 new Deputy Commissioners (DCs), the apex bureaucratic authorities in the district administrations. The government briefed the media on its policies on the proposed local and general elections, implementation and monitoring mechanisms and emphasized the need for friendly relations with the local people. Cabinet Division Secretary Mr. Ali Imam Mazumdar chairing the meeting on 25 August directed the officers to work together with the SPs (Superintendents of Police) and the commanders of the Join Forces across the country.

The direction to the administrators asserting collaboration with the Joint Forces which comprises of officers of the armed forces and which is dominated by the army, practically renders the civil administration officials subordinate to the army. It also generates multiple suspicions regarding the government motives behind such controversial directives. This adds to the already adopted government policy of placing the armed forces over the civil administration. This is a small picture of the ongoing disaster in the governance in Bangladesh. Here are some facts:

The Ministry of Home Affairs is headed by Major General (Retired) M A Matin. Major General (retired) Ghulam Quader, former director general of National Security Intelligence, has been made adviser to the Ministry of Communications. Brigadier General (Retierd) M A Malek is the Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Ministries of Social Welfare and Telecommunications

Founding Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion, allegedly the arbiter of hundreds of extra judicial killings, and former head of the Bangladesh Police Mr. Anwarul Iqbal has grabbed the position of the adviser to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. Another Major General (retired), ASM Matiur Rahman previously occupying the Ministry of Health was later asked to resign from his position for poor performance.

Immediate past army chief Lt. Gen. (Retired) Hassan Mashud Chowdhury is the chairperson of the Anti Corruption Commission while Colonel Mr. Hanif Iqbal occupies the position of Director General (Administration).

Brigadier General (Retired) Muhammad Sakhawat Hussain is in the constitutional position of Commissioner of the Election Commission. Bangladesh Army has been given official responsibility to prepare the voter list for the whole country. The army deputed its Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of Armed Forces Division Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he had been serving as the Chief Coordinator of the National Coordination Committee for deciding the corruption cases.

Major General (retd) Manzurul Alam chairs Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission while Colonel Md. Saiful Islam takes the position of the Director General and Lieutenant Colonel Shahidul Alam is the Director of its Spectrum Management Department. Lieutenant Colonel Shahidul Alam is the Project Director of a World Bank funded project while Major Rakibul Hassan is a Deputy Director of its Systems & Services Department.

Captain of Bangladesh Navy Mr. A.K.M Shafiqullah is occupying the position of the Director General of the Department of Shipping while Commodore Mr. A K M Alauddin occupying the position of the Chief Engineer and Ship Supervisor.

Navy Captain Mr. Yeaheya Sayeed is a Director of Chittagong Dry Dock Limited, an enterprise of the Bangladesh Steel & Engineering Corporation and also a Member of the Chittagong Port Authority. Captain Mr. SY Kamal is Member (operations), Captain Mr. Ramjan Ali is Deputy Conservator of the Chittagong Port Authority, and Captain Mr. Zahir Mahmood is Deputy Conservator of the Port of Chalna Authority in Khulna.

Brigadier General Md. Rafiqul Islam is the Director (signals) of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd.

Major Gen (retd) Manzur Rashid Chowdhury has been made the newly formed Truth and Accountability Commission's member.

Even the sports sector is not safe from their interference. The current army chief General Moeen U Ahmed grabs the positions of the Chairman of the National Sports Council and the President of Bangladesh Olympic Association. The chief of air force Vice Marshal Ziaur Rahman Khan heads Bangladesh Hockey Federation while the naval chief Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam heads the Swimming Federation. Major General Ahsab Uddin, the General Officer Commanding of the 9th Infantry Division, is the President of the National Shooting Federation. The chief of general staff of the army Major General Seena Ibn Jamali is the President of Bangladesh Cricket Board with Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Md. Abdul Latif Khan as Vice President. Lieutenant Commodore A K Sirker is occupying the post of General Secretary of the Basketball Federation.

These are very few out of the numerous positions occupied by the officers of the armed forces in the civil administration and autonomous institutions of Bangladesh. All information on such events is not available as the authorities suppress information to skip criticism.

Moreover, the armed forces have been deployed in all the district headquarters of the 64 districts of Bangladesh since the state of emergency besides the decades' long full-fledged militarization of three districts in the hill tracks of Chittagong region. Initially, the government deployed armed forces in all the upazillas (sub-district units) as soon as the emergency was imposed.

The DCs have been severely humiliate because army Majors being much junior to them have been placed in the districts levels. These Majors hurl abusive and exert illegal influences before the DCs, making the district heads embarrassed and frustrated. “People should no longer have patience and resist the audacity of these uncivilized Majors”, commented a DC, who did not wish to be identified.

All the national level policy decisions are made, changed and influenced by the top officials of the armed forces. The "National Coordinating Committee", which oversees the corruption issues staying atop all administrative setups, recommends the Anti Corruption Commission as to who will be charged and who will not be. The top officers of the armed forces occupy the coordinating body.
The Rapid Action Battalion, also drenched with the officers of the armed forces on deputation, is extended to the district and upazilla levels with their own setups besides the regular police force.

The police who are supposed to be responsible for maintaining law and order in the country have excessively been supported by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the armed forces during the state of emergency. So, in reality, all the forces arrest people. The common people have access only to the police stations for enquiring on the whereabouts of the arrested and detained persons, and none of the law-enforcing agencies explain to anyone whenever arrests are made. When the armed forces and RAB arrest, detain and torture people the police remain out of the picture and none of the police stations record any case regarding such incidents. Even the lawyers rarely agree to assist the victims by drafting and lodging a complaint with the Magistrate’s Court, which is last resort for the vulnerable people to seek redress following a denial by the police.

According to reports, the armed force officers frequently make phone calls to the Magistrates and Judges regarding pending cases to address the issues meeting the interest of the officers. Magistrates also cannot ignore fearing the security of themselves, their families and relatives. However, none of these magistrates agreed to disclose it officially other than "off the record". The condition of the prosecutors is worse than that of the judges and magistrates. The offices of the prosecutors and attorneys are filled up with members of the intelligence agencies and in special cases the officers of the armed forces, who insist and direct them to lead the proceedings as the agencies wish.

Surprisingly enough, under the coverage of emergency provisions, officers of the armed forces remain present in the courtrooms and relevant offices of the courts during, before and after the trials as members of "Task Force". They visit the courts and the relevant offices to monitor, dictate and insist the staffs for the cases they are more interested.

The military remains far away from any mechanism of accountability unlike any other organizations of Bangladesh. Thus, the armed forces enjoy absolute impunity for their unlawful actions supported by the laws made by the government during the state of emergency.

The existing situation evidently shows the silent but gradual, and eventually complete, militarization in Bangladesh. The joint forces deployed across the country frequently intervene into many local and private institutions including the activities of the media, NGO, and human right activisms though they are not eligible and competent to do so. These unlawful attempts have already demoralized the concerned professionals. As a consequence of regular interventions by the armed forces into their work, they cannot contribute to the society and to their respective fields by accomplishing their official responsibilities.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is highly concerned about the all out militarization in Bangladesh. The military cannot be capable or substitute of the civil administration in any place of the world because of their training with arbitrariness. The armed forces are accustomed to command rather than being accountable to any civil authority. The ongoing huge militarization has been destroying the fabrics of democracy and rule of law in the country. AHRC urges the civil society and human rights groups in the country and the international community to insist the authorities of Bangladesh to immediately demilitarize all institutions the armed forces have been occupying illegibly.

The begums are back

The begums are back
Source: The Economist
September 18, 2008

Back to square one as the army admits defeat

Zia, free at last, and back in the battle. IT IS a spectacular military retreat. “You can smell the burning tyres,” says one Dhaka-based diplomat. Since the army seized power in January 2007 and installed a technocratic interim government, it has tried and failed to end an era of dominance by Bangladesh’s two squabbling former prime minsters, Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League.

Yet, after a year in jail on charges of corruption, Bangladesh’s battling begums are back. On September 11th the government freed Mrs Zia on bail. Five days later, it cleared legal hurdles for the return of Sheikh Hasina from America, where she went for medical treatment following her release on parole in June. She is expected back in Bangladesh early next month.

Both leaders still face charges. But prosecutors are unlikely to take action against them without the approval of the government, which is no longer trying to bring their political careers to an end. So, barring an extraordinary upset, one of them will be Bangladesh’s next prime minister.

It is an astonishing volte-face. The begums alternated in power from 1991-2007 and are blamed for the fiercely antagonistic, corrupt politics that led the army to step in. First it tried to exile them and create a “third force” in Bangladeshi politics; then it jailed them and tried to split their parties, hoping that new leaders might emerge. But the begums’ parties are held together by two things: patronage and personality cult. They are unviable without their leaders: hence the BNP’s offer to Mrs Zia this week to lead the party “for life”. She declined.

The good news is that Bangladeshis, for the first time since 2001, will get the chance to elect a government. For once it will be almost impossible to rig the poll. The election commission has purged 12m duplicate, deceased or otherwise bogus names from voter rolls. On September 22nd it will unveil a firm date for the election, long promised for December. And the government is soon to announce steps to lift the 20-month old state of emergency.

It is troubling, however, that Bangladesh’s transition to multiparty democracy has in effect been entrusted to the two politicians who made it unworkable in the first place. They have refused to talk to each other for decades, though the government says it is working on getting them to “sit across the table”.

The price the government had to pay to prevent the parties boycotting the polls is the return of total impunity to Bangladesh. For five years from 2001, Bangladesh led international corruption rankings. But this month the government freed Mrs Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, the main trophy of its anti-corruption drive. The begums’ coteries have been released on bail. It seems likely that the convictions of those jailed for corruption will be overturned.

Some in Dhaka worry that all of this might be too much for the generals to stomach. The army still has to secure its own safe passage into the multiparty era, but has little clout over the resurgent political parties. The two years Western governments quietly granted it to fix the country’s messy politics are drawing to a close. Neither foreign governments nor Bangladeshis want to see its rule extended.

But there are hints that the generals might not leave politics altogether. A banned Islamist militant group, the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which the army previously claimed to have crushed, is reported to have threatened members of the emergency government. This week the home ministry gave warning of worsening law and order. The general’s retreat seems inevitable, but such scares suggest it might not be total.

Religious Freedom Report 2008: Bangladesh

Bangladesh International Religious Freedom Report 2008
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Source: U.S. Department of State
September 19, 2008

The Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion. It provides for the right to profess, practice, or propagate all religions, subject to law, public order, and morality. It also states that every religious community or denomination has the right to establish, maintain, and manage its religious institutions. While the Government publicly supported freedom of religion, attacks on religious and ethnic minorities continued to be a problem during the reporting period. As opposed to previous reporting periods, there were no reported demonstrations or attempt to lay siege to Ahmadiyya institutions, but there were instances of harassment. Demands that Ahmadis be declared non-Muslims continued sporadically, but the Government generally acted in an effective manner to protect Ahmadis and their property. Religion exerted a significant influence on politics, and the Government was sensitive to the Islamic consciousness of most citizens.

There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the Government during the reporting period. Citizens were generally free to practice the religion of their choice. Government officials, including the police, were nonetheless often ineffective in upholding law and order and were sometimes slow to assist religious minority victims of harassment and violence. The Government and many civil society leaders stated that violence against religious minorities normally had political or economic motivations and could not be attributed only to religious belief or affiliation.

There were reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious belief or practice during the period covered by this report. Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities experienced discrimination and sometimes violence by the Muslim majority. Harassment of Ahmadis continued along with demands that Ahmadis be declared non-Muslims.

The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In meetings with officials and in public statements, U.S. embassy officers encouraged the Government to protect the rights of minorities. Publicly and privately, the Embassy denounced acts of religious intolerance and called on the Government to ensure due process for all citizens. The Ambassador and Charge d′Affairs made several visits to minority religious communities around the country. The U.S. Government sponsored the successful visit of a prominent U.S. Muslim cleric who spoke to audiences about Qur'anic interpretations that support tolerance and gender equity.

Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 55,126 square miles, and its population is 154 million. According to the 2001 census, Sunni Muslims constitute 89.7 percent of the population and Hindus account for 9.2 percent. The rest of the population is mainly Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) and Theravada-Hinayana Buddhist. Ethnic and religious minority communities often overlapped and were concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and northern regions. Buddhists are found predominantly among the indigenous (non-Bengali) populations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bengali and ethnic- minority Christians lived in many communities across the country; in cities such as Barisal City, Gournadi in Barisal District, Baniarchar in Gopalganj, Monipuripara in Dhaka, Christianpara in Mohakhal, Nagori in Gazipur, and Khulna City. There also are small populations of Shi'a Muslims, Sikhs, Baha'is, Animists, and Ahmadis. Estimates of their numbers varied from a few thousand to 100 thousand adherents per group. There was no indigenous Jewish community, nor a significant immigrant Jewish population. Religion was an important part of community identity for citizens, including those who did not participate actively in prayers or services.

The majority of individuals classified as foreign residents are returned Bangladeshi émigrés, who practice Islam. There are approximately 30,000 Rohingyan refugees practicing Islam in the southeast around Cox′s Bazar. There was no reliable estimate of the number of missionaries. Several faith-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operated in the country.

Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but provides for the right to practice, profess, and propagate any religion, subject to law, public order, and morality.

In January 2007 President Iajuddin Ahmed announced a state of emergency and appointed a new caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, the former Bangladesh Bank governor. In July Ahmed announced that elections would be held by the end of 2008, after the implementation of electoral and political reforms.

While the Government publicly supported freedom of religion, attacks and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities continued during the reporting period.

While the right to propagate the religion of one's choice is guaranteed by the Constitution, local authorities and communities often objected to efforts to convert persons from Islam.

In general, government institutions and the courts protected religious freedom. The Government ran imam training academies and proclaimed Islamic festival days but did not dictate sermon content, select or pay clergy, or monitor content of religious education in Islamic religious schools, or madrassahs.

Since 2001, the Government has routinely posted law enforcement personnel at religious festivals and events that are easy targets for extremists.

Shari'a (Islamic law) was not implemented formally and was not imposed on non-Muslims, but played an influential role in civil matters pertaining to the Muslim community. For instance, alternative dispute resolution was available to individuals for settling family arguments and other civil matters not related to land ownership. With the consent of both parties, arbitrators relied on principles found in Shari'a for settling disputes. In addition, Muslim Family Law was loosely based on Shari'a.

In 2001 the High Court ruled all legal rulings based on Shari'a known as fatwas to be illegal. However, the ban had not been implemented because of a pending appeal filed by a group of Islamic clerics, which remained unresolved at the end of the reporting period.

On March 8, 2008 the head of the Caretaker Government announced a women′s development policy. This announcement triggered violent protests from some Islamist groups that argued the policy sought to give men and women equal inheritance rights, contravening principles laid down in Shari′a and the existing Muslim Family Law. Although government advisers (ministers) publicly refuted the claim, the Government formed a committee of Islamic scholars to review the policy. The committee, headed by the top religious leader at the national mosque, recommended a set of changes o the policy. The Government, however, had not acted on the recommendations by the end of the reporting period and the development policy remained unimplemented. Some women′s rights activists called for implementation of the policy without any changes and criticized the Government for forming the review committee.

While Islamic tradition dictates that only muftis (religious scholars) who have expertise in Islamic law are authorized to declare a fatwa, village religious leaders at times made declarations in individual cases and issued fatwas. Sometimes this resulted in extrajudicial punishments, often against women, for perceived moral transgressions.

Family laws concerning marriage, divorce, and adoption differed slightly depending on the religious belief of the persons involved. Each religious group had its own family laws. Muslim men may marry up to four wives; however, a Muslim man must get his first wife's signed permission before taking an additional wife. Society strongly discouraged polygamy, and it was rarely practiced. In contrast, Christian men could only marry one woman. Under Hindu law, unlimited polygamy is permitted and while there is no provision for divorce and legal separation, Hindu widows could legally remarry. There are no legal restrictions on marriage between members of different religious groups. Marriage rituals and proceedings are governed by the family law of the religious group of the parties concerned; however, marriages are also registered with the state.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs administered three funds for religious and cultural activities: the Islamic Foundation, the Hindu Welfare Trust, and the Buddhist Welfare Trust. The Christian community consistently rejected government involvement in its religious affairs. The Hindu Religious Welfare Trust received a total of $1.45 million (98 million taka) from the Government for the year ending June 2008, much of which was dedicated to temple-based literacy and religious programs. Trust money also was used to repair temples, improve cremation pyres, and help destitute Hindu families afford medical treatment. Approximately $36,000 (2.5 million taka) in government funds was spent on annual Puja worship celebrations.

The Buddhist Welfare Trust, founded in the 1980s, received $42,500 (3 million taka) from the Government in the year ending June 2008. The trust used funds to repair monasteries, organize training programs for Buddhist monks, and celebrate the Buddhist festival Purnima. There was no public criticism of how the money was proportioned or distributed.

The Government observed major religious festivals and holy days of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians as national holidays. The Bangladesh Christian Association has lobbied, so far unsuccessfully, for the inclusion of Easter as a national holiday.

Non-Muslim religious bodies were not required to register with the Government; however, all NGOs, including religious ones, were required to register with the Government's NGO Affairs Bureau if they received foreign financial assistance for social development projects. The Government could cancel the registration of NGOs suspected to be in breach of their legal or fiduciary obligations and to take other actions, such as blocking foreign fund transfers, to limit their operation.

Religious Studies were part of the curriculum in government schools. Children attended classes in which their own religious beliefs were taught. Some parents claimed that government-employed religious teachers, especially those leading classes on minority religious beliefs, were neither members of the religious group they taught nor qualified to teach it. Although transportation was not always available for children to attend religious study classes away from school, in practice schools with few religious minority students often worked out arrangements with local churches or temples, which then conducted religious studies outside school hours. There were at least 25,000 madrassahs, some of which were funded by the Government and others privately funded. There were no known government-run Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist schools, although private religious schools were permitted and existed throughout the country.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Constitution provides for the right to profess, practice, or propagate any religion; however societal pressures discouraged proselytism. Foreign missionaries were allowed to work, but like other foreign residents, they often faced delays of several months in obtaining or renewing visas. In the past, some missionaries who were perceived to be converting Muslims to other religious groups were unable to renew their 1-year religious worker visas. Some foreign missionaries reported that internal security forces and military intelligence closely monitored their activities.

There were no financial penalties imposed on the basis of religious beliefs; however, religious minorities were disadvantaged in access to military and government jobs, including elected office. Four advisers, including the only non-Muslim adviser, resigned in a caretaker government shake-up in January 2008. The Chief Adviser subsequently appointed Raja Devashish Roy the head of the Chakma people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, as a Special Assistant with the rank status of a State Minister. Roy, a Buddhist, was responsible for the Chittagong Hill Tracts Ministry and the Forest and Environment Ministry. The Chief Adviser also appointed a Hindu, Manik Lal Samaddar, as Special Assistant with responsibility for the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry and the Science, Information and Communication Technology Ministry. Minority communities in general, though, remained underrepresented in the higher ranks of government. One notable exception was the government-owned Bangladesh Bank, which employed approximately 10 percent non-Muslims in its upper ranks. Selection boards for government services often lacked minority representation. Employees were not required to disclose their religious affiliation, but it generally could be determined by a person's name.

Many Hindus have been unable to recover landholdings lost because of discrimination under the now-defunct Vested Property Act. The act was an East Pakistan-era law that allowed the Government to expropriate "enemy" (in practice Hindu) lands. The Government seized approximately 2.5 million acres of land, affecting almost all of the Hindus in the country. In April 2001 Parliament passed the Vested Property Return Act, stipulating that land remaining under government control that was seized under the Vested Property Act be returned to its original owners, provided that the original owners or their heirs remained resident citizens. The Government was required to prepare a list of vested property holdings by October 2001, and claims were to have been filed within 90 days of the publication date. In 2002 Parliament passed an amendment to the Vested Property Return Act, which allowed the Government unlimited time to return the vested properties and gave control of the properties, including the right to lease them, to local government employees. By the end of the period covered by this report, the Government had not prepared a list of such properties.

According to a study conducted by a Dhaka University professor, nearly 200,000 Hindu families have lost approximately 40,667 acres of land since 2001, despite the annulment of the Vested Property Act the same year.

Under the Muslim Family Ordinance, female heirs inherit less than male relatives, and wives have fewer divorce rights than husbands. Laws provide some protection for women against arbitrary divorce and the taking of additional wives by husbands without the first wife's consent, but the protections generally apply only to registered marriages. In rural areas, marriages often were not registered because of ignorance of the law. Under the law, a Muslim husband is required to pay his former wife alimony for 3 months, but this was not always enforced. There was little societal pressure to enforce it, and case backlogs made it difficult, if not impossible, to get redress through the courts.

Abuses of Religious Freedom
Feminist author Taslima Nasreen remained abroad during the period covered by this report, while criminal charges were pending against her on allegations of insulting the religious beliefs of the country's Muslims. In October 2002 a court sentenced Nasreen in absentia to a year in jail for her "derogatory remarks about Islam." Her books remained banned but were openly sold by street hawkers.

On March 15, 2008, the Special Branch of police in Brahmanbaria prevented the Ahmadiyya from holding a religious convention. The convention ultimately was held peacefully after the Special Branch lifted its objections following intervention by higher authorities. A similar incident occurred at Shalshiri in Panchagarh district on March 21, 2008.

On September 17, 2007, Alpin, the satirical weekly magazine of the newspaper Prothom Alo, published a cartoon that some considered blasphemous against Islam. After demonstrations in several cities, the Government banned the sale of the edition, ordered copies to be seized and destroyed, and detained the cartoonist, Arifur Rahman, who was eventually released by the court. The Government provided protection to the Prothom Alo offices to prevent demonstrators from approaching and urged imams to calm the public. The editor of Prothom Alo apologized for the cartoon's publication and fired the editor in charge of Alpin. Protests and demands for the firing and arrest of Rahman and Prothom Alo publisher Mahfuz Anam continued the following week, although the Government took no action against them.

Following the incident with Alpin, Shaptahik 2000 published an article by Daud Haider, an author who fled the country in 1974 after publishing a poem that some considered blasphemous. The Government confiscated all copies of Shaptahik 2000, and the editor apologized.

There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.

Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States.

Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government took steps to promote interfaith understanding. For example, government leaders issued statements on the eve of religious holidays calling for peace and warned that action would be taken against those attempting to disrupt the celebrations. Through additional security deployments and public statements, the Government promoted the peaceful celebration of Christian and Hindu festivals, including Durga Puja, Christmas, and Easter.

The Government helped support the Council for Interfaith Harmony-Bangladesh, an organization created in 2005 with a mandate to promote understanding and peaceful coexistence. This initiative came in response to a bombing campaign in the fall of 2005 by an Islamist extremist group seeking the imposition of Shari'a law. The organization has helped facilitate dialogue and panel discussions on religious matters; some of these activities have been covered by the local media.

Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There were reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious belief or practice during the period covered by this report. Clashes between religious groups occasionally occurred. Violence directed against religious minority communities continued to result in the loss of lives and property, but the motives--religious animosity, criminal intent, or property disputes--often were unclear. Religious minorities were vulnerable due to their relatively limited influence with political elites. Like many citizens, they were often reluctant to seek recourse from a criminal justice system perceived to be corrupt and ineffective. Police were often ineffective in upholding law and order and were sometimes slow to assist religious minorities. This promoted an atmosphere of impunity for acts of violence against such minorities. However, persons who practiced different religious beliefs often joined each other's festivals and celebrations such as weddings. Shi'a Muslims practiced their religious beliefs without interference from Sunnis.

Religious minorities were not underrepresented in the private sector.
Reported incidents against religious minorities during the reporting period included killings, rape, torture, attacks on places of worship, destruction of homes, forced evictions, and desecration of items of worship. Many of these reports could not be verified independently. There also were reported incidents of members of the Muslim community attacking each other on holidays, due to a perception that some events were un-Islamic. The Government sometimes failed to investigate the crimes and prosecute the perpetrators, who were often local gang leaders.

Attacks against the Hindu community continued. According to the Bangladesh Buddhist-Hindu-Christian Unity Council, during the period from July 2007 to April 2008 there were a total of 58 killings, 52 attacks on or occupation of temples, 39 incidents of land grabbing, and 13 cases of rape.

Ain-O-Shalish Kendro (ASK), a domestic human rights organization, in one of its investigation reports stated that Advocate Biman Chandra Bosak, Vice-President of Joypurhat District Bar Association, was severely beaten up by a group of eight or nine persons (two of whom wore Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) uniforms) at his village in Joypurhat district on the night of April 2, 2008. According to the report, the attack on Bosak occurred after he filed a case against a Muslim neighbor who tried to seize some land that was dedicated to a Hindu deity. The local RAB commander denied involvement of his personnel.

According to another ASK investigation report, three Muslim neighbors tried to grab part of the homestead of non-Muslim Harolal Coch in Kaliakoir of Gazipur district on February 7, 2008. The report claimed that the local police refused to file his official complaint.

In contrast to the previous reporting period, there were no reports of the military conducting widespread evictions of Hindus from their land. During the previous reporting period, the military attempted to evict 120 families, 85 percent of them Hindu, from land in the Mirpur area of Dhaka abutting the military cantonment. A temple is also located on the property. The eviction was being carried out on the basis of a 1961 land purchase agreement by the military. The land owners challenged the land acquisition and eviction in court. At the end of the reporting period the case was still pending.

According to the national daily Janakantha, on March 20, 2008, a religious icon representing the Hindu Goddess Murthi of the Siddeswari temple in the Village of Shekhor Nagar was demolished during a Puja worship celebration. Police arrested one individual in connection with the incident.

According to a local media outlet, two Hindu temples and nine religious icons were destroyed in Faridpur District.

In April 2007 leaders of the Catholic Khasia community in Moulvibazar complained to the local government about harassment by local Forestry Department officials, who oversee the Monchhara Forest where many Khasia live. They stated several forest officials had filed false cases against members of their community, including the head of the local Catholic mission, in order to intimidate them. A meeting between Khasia community leaders, Forest Department officials, and Kulaura subdistrict officials in early 2008 resulted in a government promise that the Khasia would not be harassed if they lived on their own land and refrained from occupying Forest Department land. The conflict, however, continued as the Forest Department filed fresh cases against some Khasia alleging they had occupied government land.

The Forestry Department continued to be involved in other allegations of abuse against minority communities living in national forest areas during the reporting period. In 2007 the Government arrested several high-level Forestry Department officials and charged them with corruption. Since these arrests, no new charges have been filed against indigenous groups living in the forests, and harassment has been curtailed considerably.

Reports of harassment and violence against the Christian community were recorded during the reporting period. According to Christian Life Bangladesh (CLB), members of a Muslim fundamentalist group attacked two Christian men at Rangunia in Chittagong on April 12, 2008, as they were showing a film to build social awareness about arsenic pollution, child marriage, and other social ills.

Members of a banned insurgent group called Shanti Bahini in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) attacked Chengko Marma, a member of CLB′s community awareness team in Khagrachhari Hill District on September 6, 2007. According to CLB, the Buddhist-dominated Shanti Bahini targeted the Christian man because of his religious beliefs. In another incident, the CLB reported the daughter of a Christian evangelist who converted some local Hindus was raped by Muslim men in Mymensingh in April 2008.

In the northern district of Nilphamari, police on July 26, 2007, arrested Sanjoy Roy, a church pastor, after a mob pressured the police to take action against him for converting 25 Muslims to Christianity, CLB stated. Roy was released after 2 days in custody and most of the converts returned to Islam.

Human rights groups and press reports indicated that vigilantism against women accused of moral transgressions occurred in rural areas, often under a fatwa, and included punishments such as whipping. During 2007 religious leaders issued 35 fatwas, demanding punishment ranging from lashings and other physical assaults to shunning by family and community members, according to ASK.

There were approximately 100,000 Ahmadis concentrated in Dhaka and several other locales. While mainstream Muslims rejected some of the Ahmadiyya teachings, the majority supported Ahmadis′ right to practice without fear or persecution. However, Ahmadis continued to be subject to harassment from those who denounced their teachings.

Since 2004 anti-Ahmadiyya extremists such as the International Khatme Nabuwat Movement Bangladesh and a splinter group, the Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh (KNAB), have publicly demanded that the Government pass legislation declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. The Government rejected the ultimatums and successfully kept protesters a safe distance from all Ahmadiyya buildings. Since the proclamation of a state of emergency in January 2007, the anti-Ahmadiyya groups have not held demonstrations. However, discrimination against Ahmadis continued. On August 24, 2007, local authorities in Kushtia stopped religious classes organized by the Ahmadiyya community inside their mosque.

In December 2006 the Awami League upset many of its minority and liberal supporters when it signed an electoral pact with the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, a splinter Islamist group tied to violent Islamist militants. The agreement committed a future Awami League-led government to recognizing some fatwas and an official declaration that the Prophet Mohammad is the last prophet, a direct challenge to the Ahmadiyya community. Ahmadis and liberal citizens criticized the agreement as politically expedient and inconsistent with core party principles. Following this criticism and open rebellion among senior party leaders, the Awami League quietly allowed the agreement to lapse after imposition of the state of emergency.

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with officials at all levels of the Government as well as with political party leaders and representatives of religious and minority communities. During the period covered by this report, the Embassy emphasized the importance of free, fair, and credible national parliamentary elections by the end of 2008 with full participation of all ethnic and religious communities. The Embassy continued to express concern about human rights, including the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. Embassy staff traveled to various regions investigating human rights cases, including some involving religious minorities, and met with civil society members, NGOs, local religious leaders, and other citizens to discuss concerns about violence during the next election. They also encouraged law enforcement to take proactive measures to protect the rights of religious minorities.

Embassy and visiting U.S. government officials regularly visited members of minority communities to hear their concerns and demonstrate support.

The Embassy assisted U.S. faith-based relief organizations in guiding paperwork for approval of schools and other projects. The Government has been willing to discuss such subjects and has been helpful in resolving problems. The Embassy also has acted as an advocate in the Home Ministry for these organizations in resolving problems with visas.

The Embassy encouraged the Government through the Ministry for Religious Affairs to develop and expand its training program for Islamic religious leaders. After an initial pilot program, the U.S. Government provided, among other topics, orientation sessions for religious leaders on human rights and gender equality. For the third year in a row, the U.S. Government sponsored the visit of a prominent U.S. Muslim cleric to tour the country and speak. He visited the northwestern city of Rajshahi and also addressed groups in Dhaka about Qur'anic interpretations that support religious tolerance and freedom and that promote gender equality.

During the reporting period, the U.S. Government continued to make religious freedom, especially the problems facing the population in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a topic of discussion in meetings with government officials. Embassy officers visited the Hill Tracts over the course of the reporting period and met with senior government officials to relay concerns over the treatment of minorities.

Democracy and governance projects supported by the United States included tolerance and minority rights components.

Bangladesh politics heading for uncharted water!

Suddenly, Bangladesh politics heading for uncharted water!
By A.H. Jaffor Ullah, USA

The capricious politics of Bangladesh, which was in doldrums like a boat in a river without any wind to move it in the forward direction, got the much needed gusty wind now — but the direction of the move is unfortunately in the opposite direction. It seems as if the riverine nation with its huddled masses is heading for uncharted water! Thanks to the invisible power that is ensconced in the cantonment, which had been propelling the government run by a bunch of oligarchs for the last 20 months.

Many political observers both inside and outside the country are puzzled by this new direction. Gone are the tough words that used to emanate from General Moeen, the silent dictator who made the coup possible on January 11, 2007. Also, gone are the strongly worded messages from advisors that used to grace the pages of Bangladesh’s newspapers. What lies ahead for this godforsaken nation of 160 million impoverished is quite uncertain.

The outgoing government of Khaleda Zia tried to engineer an election coup by placing election officials allover the nation sympathetic to her party. She also tried to manipulate the selection of advisors of the caretaker government that would conduct the upcoming parliamentary election. This was going on in the aftermath of Khaleda Zia government’s expiry sometime in late October 2006.

President Iajuddin Ahmed, who was a Khaleda Zia’s stooge through and through, took marching order from Hawa Bhavan, the epicenter of Khaleda Zia’s party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He took the onerous job of the chief advisor of the newly minted caretaker government violating the constitution of the land. That however did not ruffle feathers in him or in BNP leaderships. The opposition parties including the Awami League headed by Sheikh Hasina Wajed took to the streets in retaliation to Iajuddin’s move. Consequently, a state of anarchy was engendered.

While all these were going on, the military of Bangladesh who is the arbiter of politics in this impoverished nation, received a warning shot from the United Nation. The U.N. officials knew that an army coup might come anytime soon. To thwart this unwelcoming development, the U.N. officials told the army in no uncertain term that if an army coup is stage, Bangladesh army stand to lose any future lucrative contract from the U.N. as peacekeeping force. This overseas job brought a steady source of extra income for army officials and foot soldiers who participate in the peacekeeping force in disputed areas throughout the world.

The Bangladesh military did not want to lose the contract; therefore, they engineered a silent coup to topple Iajuddin and the advisors from the caretaker government. The chose Fakhruddin Ahmed, an ex-employee of the World Bank, and a handful of ex-military officers and civilians to form the second consecutive caretaker govern for which there is no constitutional mandate. However, in Bangladesh, when the military talks everyone listens.

During the trying times of Bangladesh I penned an article a week after the silent military coup, which was published on January 19, 2007 eight days after the inauguration of the military-backed Fakhruddin Government, in which I clearly pointed out that the new caretaker government, had the tacit approval from the army. To my knowledge, mine was the first article to label the present government as the military-backed unconstitutional government. This extrajudicial government was legitimized because the civil society gave their approval through Center for Policy Development - a non-governmental organization headed by some powerful members of the civil society. This newly minted government also had the approval of Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen bank chief, whose popularity was cresting at the time due to the Nobel Peace Prize which he and his organization received sometime in late October 2006.

The caretaker government promised to make a level playing field for all political party by reconstituting the election commission, a demand waged by the opposition parties. They also promised to clean up the politics by arresting leaders who made theirs misbegotten wealth through bribe-taking, malfeasance, and influence peddling. The civil society gave their approval to this and the nation witnessed a mass arrest of politicians.

The military-backed caretaker government also railroaded the Islamists to walk the gallows for killing two judges in Jhalokati, a town in south Bangladesh. They did not allow the Islamists to talk to the press lest a can of warms comes out to implicate the military and BNP in the spate of bombings allover Bangladesh in August 2006 in which nearly 300-400 homemade bombs were blasted, synchronously. The August 21, 2004 bombing of Awami League’s meeting in Dhaka is an unsolved murder but many observers believe that it was a handiwork of a consortium composed of Islamists, BNP goons and persons from Kurmitola cantonment. It makes hell of a lot of sense as to why the Islamists were sent to gallows so quickly.

The military-backed government spoke mostly through Barrister Mainul Hosein and General Matin. Later, an ex-general Mashhud Chowdhury who got the portfolio of the chairman of a revamped anti-corruption department (ACC or DUDOK in Bangla) became the mouthpiece of the government. This anti-democratic and repressive government ruled Bangladesh tightfistedly for the last 20 months promising to reform many institutions and the politics but instead of solving the problems it has exacerbated the situation. The developmental projects mostly financed by WB and foreign governments came to a standstill. The productivity had slowed down and the economy hardly expanded with an anemic rate of growth.

The military-backed government promised to wipe out corruption from the government and politics. But it miserably failed. The government arrested in excess of 250,000 ordinary people calling them political hooligans. These incarcerated people were languishing in jail without facing the court. The government also arrested a few notable industrialists and newspaper publishers but failed to prosecute them. In April 2007 the government took a new initiative to send the two leaders, Ms. Hasina and Ms. Zia, in exile but for whatever reasons failed to execute the plan. Then the government tried to break the major parties without much success. It also tried to float new political party one time through Grameen Chief, Muhammad Yunus, and another time through an obscure politician by the name Ferdous Qureshi. This mischievous plan did not bore any fruit, though.

During Khaleda Zia’s five years stint at the helm many of her party men including her two worthless sons have amassed billions of Taka (Bangladeshi currency) through bribery, extortions and whatnot. And we thought finally these vile groups of politicians will pay a price receiving stiff jail sentencing and they will be barred from entering politics rest of their lives. But how wrong was I.

On September 11, 2008 when the world was remembering the victims of 9-11, I read Dhaka’s newspapers to learn to my amazement that Khaleda Zia's corrupt son was released from the jail and he was sent to U.K. for treatment. Khaleda Zia who was the protagonist in Bangladesh's “tragic” political drama was also released from the jail. Sheikh Hasina is also out on furlough now visiting America for medical treatment. The general secretary of Awami League, Mr. Jalil, was also freed from the jail. To add insult to injury, hardly a week ago a few other corrupt BNP politicians were let loose from the confinement by the military-backed government.

All of these new developments, which hardly make any sense, are telling a telltale sign. Why the government did make its volte-face? Did they realize at long last that it will be an arduous job for them to reform the existing political parties?

This writer has always expressed a concern for the oligarchs who ruled Bangladesh rather unconstitutionally for the last 20 months. During that time, the Harvard “trained” army General gave enough hints that democracy as practiced in Bangladesh needs to be reformed. The General being the servant of the government overstepped his authority to pontificate his fellow countrymen.

I have the slightest clue now what prompted this government to give up their reform movement. Maybe, under pressure from Big Brothers abroad the military is finally willing to host the parliamentary election. This is also perplexing to know that all the champions of the reform movement - the CPD, Muhammad Yunus, and the rest of the Civil Society Movement is maintaining their reticence. Rather than maintaining their deafening silence this is the time they should open their mouth to protest the unleashing of corrupt politicians from jail. Why it took so long to take the corrupt politicians to court? Where are Barrister Mainul Hosein, General Matin, and General Mashhud Chowdhury at this critical juncture, now that the nation needs to hear their strongly-worded warnings? Should not they vociferously complain the government’s unwise decision to turn the clock backward?

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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA
E Mail : jhankar@bellsouth.net

Islamic militants held in Bangladesh

DU teacher, 10 others held as militancy suspects
Source: New Age
September 19, 2008

The police arrested 11 members of Hizbut Tahreer, including three university teachers, in the Rajshahi city Thursday on suspicion of militancy and allegation of attempts to breach emergency rules.

They also seized leaflets, banners and posters of the Islamist outfit along with a microbus and mobile handsets from them. Professor Dr Sayeed Golam Mowla of the management department of Dhaka University, Ahmed Zamal, a chemistry teacher of South East University in Dhaka and Mamun Ansari, a teacher of the Northern University were among the arrested.

‘We arrested the members of Hizbut Tahreer suspecting militancy’, Akramul Hossain, assistant commissioner of city Special Branch of police told reporters. Other arrested persons are Masud Kawsar, Omar Faruk, Moniruzzaman Masud, Saddam Hossain, Akhter Hossain, Jahidul Islam and Mojammel Haque — all students — and microbus driver Jahangir Alam.

Plain-clothes policemen arrested them as they were about to hold a press conference at City Press Club at Sonadighi Mor in the city Thursday morning. They first captured Jahidul Islam and Mojammel Haque, two students of the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, in front of the City Press Club at about 12:30 pm.

The rest nine arrests were made within few minutes at the same venue and all of them were brought to the Boalia Model Police Station for interrogation. ‘We produced all of them before the court’, Humayun Kabir, assistant commissioner of Boalia told New Age.

They were charged with distribution of political and anti-government leaflets under the emergency, the police said. The leaflets urged the people to take oath in the month of Ramadan to overthrow the present government and establish Khilafat— the authority of Allah on earth, the police said.

Hizbut Tahreer members were found distributing such leaflets propagating the same opinion among the people in front of Saheb Bazar Bara Masjid after Tarabih prayers at night, sources said.

Our DU correspondent reports, student activists loyal to Hizbut Tahreer brought out a procession in the Dhaka University campus Thursday denouncing the arrest of their central leader Dr Sayeed Golam Mowla, a professor of management at the university.

They, under the banner of Bangladesh Chhatra Mukti, demonstrated in front of the vice chancellor’s office demanding immediate release of Professor Mowla. Later, activists of some left-leaning student organisations and Awami League-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League also brought out a procession urging the students in general to resist the fundamentalist forces including Chhatra Mukti. They vowed not to allow any kind of fundamentalist students’ platform in Dhaka University campus.

Two ladies: Seeds of their discord?

Two ladies: Seeds of their discord?
Mozammel H. Khan
Source: Daily Star
August 15, 2008

IT is a very common utterance, especially by the so-called neutral citizens of our republic, that the two ladies are the root of all our evils. It is true that their animosity against each other has reached such a level that they are not even on talking term to each other. In the process our "neutral citizens" are in the mind-set of making the two ladies equally responsible for the animosities developed between them over the years.

Recently, Barrister Rafiq-ul Huq, the legal counsel for both, has spoken in blunt terms that they should sit together and resolve their differences in the interests of the country. A similar sentiment was echoed by adviser Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman in a recent remark when he said: "The government hopes the two leaders will not only respond to this move, but also take initiatives on their own to this end."

However, any keen observer of our political landscape would be skeptical as to the tangible and lasting success of any such move without the logical identification of the causes of the discord and the required pragmatic steps to remove them before any such meeting takes place.

The seed of discord between them, not by any means the ideological difference between two political parties -- a common phenomenon in any democracy -- was sowed on the fateful night of August 15, 1975.

Over the next few years it would be one's husband who would reward the self-confessed killers with diplomatic jobs and would incorporate the infamous indemnity act into the constitution to give them impunity from the dreadful acts and prevent any future prosecution.

When she assumed the premiership of the country, instead of any attempt of reconciliation, she went further to re-write the history of our nation, especially of the culminating chapter, through absolute marginalisation of the contributions of the leader under whose clarion call and name the liberation war was fought.

The devastating addition to the discord took place with the declaration of August 15 as the day of national mourning by the AL government in 1996, when she started publicly celebrating the tragic day as her birthday.

She was surely not re-incarnated all of a sudden, and as a former PM and the widow of a former president, her birthday was on record on multiple documents, albeit there was no records of her celebration. It reflected the worst possible mental depreciation of any human being, more so for a public figure who at that time was the leader of the opposition and a former PM of the country.

With her second assumption of the premiership of the country, she put the last nail in the coffin of reconciliation. Without referring to her atrocious governance vis-à-vis treating her political opponents, history was re-invented, the way she wanted to please herself.

The text- books were re-written with fictitious stories to prevent our next generation from learning the true history of the birth of our nation. The day of national mourning was abolished. A documentary was made, allegedly by her son, which was telecast over BTV on two consecutive days in 2006 portraying the supreme leader of our independence as a villain, not a real hero as known at home and abroad.

An adviser to her, a former seasoned diplomat and DS contributor, confided to me, a few months before his sudden death, that she was deprived of any possible cabinet position, only because in his published memoir he referred to Sheikh Mujib as Bangabandhu and depicted the undistorted history of our liberation war of which he was an active participant as a diplomat posted in a key western capital. The antipathy toward that name is so intense that even a co-counsel, a BNP loyalist, who represented her with Barrister Rafiq, termed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hospital as PG Hospital the other day, probably to avoid any possibility of falling out of favour of his leader.

There was also deliberate effort by the past BNP regime neither to bring the convicted killers of Bangabadhu and members of his family to final justice nor to bring the absconding convicts back home to heal the wounds.

Any human soul, when in distress, usually regains one's human sense. It was also expected out of Khaleda Zia, especially when she gave a call for unity of all the political forces from custody. However, her followers' public celebration of her so-called birthday, following the declaration of the current CTG to revert August 15 back as a national day of mourning, only testified that nothing has changed for her vis-à-vis her attitude towards Sheikh Hasina.

It was extremely disheartening to spot a bureaucrat-turned-politician, at the fag end of his life, whose presence in BNP was not guided by any ideological dogma whatsoever, but only because AL could not promise him a nomination in 1991, enjoying the birthday cake at the jail gate. But such is politics in Bangladesh.

One-sided illustrations might provoke any reader to ask if Sheikh Hasina did nothing wrong to hurt Khaleda Zia. Yes, she certainly did, probably more than her due share -- but all of it through her verbal jabs, creating only transient wounds.

If meeting of the two ladies has to bring any fruitful outcome for smooth functioning of our democracy, Begum Zia has to publicly pledge not to undo the reverting of her wrongdoings by the current CTG in regard to our true history and the national day of mourning if she becomes PM again.

Finally, she has to pull herself out of her disrespect and cease the controversial public celebration of her birthday on the national day of mourning. These are the bare minimum required from her to create a congenial environment for meeting of the ladies, failing which any number of meetings between the two will end simply in fiasco and the nation will be back to square one.
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Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is the Convenor of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh anti-graft drive crumbling

Bangladesh anti-graft drive crumbling
Source: Khaleej Times
September 15, 2008

DHAKA- The anti-corruption drive launched in early 2007 by the army-backed government in Bangladesh is falling apart due to sloppy legal work and lack of expertise, observers say.

The government arrested scores of top politicians, including two former premiers and dozens of ex-ministers and lawmakers, after it declared emergency rule and took power in January 2007 following months of political violence.

It said the crackdown was aimed at cleaning up graft-ridden politics in Bangladesh, ranked the world's most corrupt nation by Berlin-based Transparency International.

But since June, the country's High Court has ordered the release of more than 50 "very, very important" detainees including ex-premiers Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Khaleda Zia, deputy prisons chief Shamsul Haider Siddiqui said.

"The government filed a huge number of graft cases. But its investigators were not prepared or trained in the relevant anti-corruption laws," veteran human right lawyer and law professor Shahdeen Malik said.

"In most of the graft cases, procedural requirements were not followed. Many cases became weak long before they reached court," he said.

"As a result, many corruption cases are unlikely to end in convictions."

Borhanuddin Khan, an Oxford-trained professor who heads the law faculty at Dhaka University, agreed, blaming "legal technicalities rather than the merits" for the implosion of many of the government's cases.

"They enacted the emergency power laws and the anti-corruption laws in haste. But there were lapses in the laws and technicalities which made it easier for the top suspects to get out of custody," Khan said.

Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League party, was released on parole in June. Her arch-rival Zia, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was freed on bail last week. The charges against both are still pending.

Observers said they were freed under deals struck by the government to secure the participation of their parties in general elections to be held by the end of 2008 -- a step towards restoring democracy here.

But their lawyer Rafique ul Haque -- who has defended scores of high-profile politicians detained under the anti-corruption drive -- says more than a dozen cases against them are without foundation and simply a means of harassment.

"If you ask me about the merit of these cases, the answer would be nil. There were no proper investigations. These cases are meant to harass them," Haque said

"They were put in jail unnecessarily. These cases will never result in punishment. Instead of punishing the two, the government has made them more popular.

Hanif Iqbal, a spokesman for the anti-corruption commission, conceded, "There are some problems but the cases are still on."

"If there are mistakes in the corruption cases, these are inadvertent and are due to lack of expertise, experience and exposure," he told AFP. "We had hiccups but we are trying our best to amend them."

Khan, of Dhaka University, said the government's campaign was waning as it had lost much of the anti-graft zeal it displayed in the initial months after it took power. "The government now looks much more ready to compromise than before," he said.

Khaleda meets Nizami

Khaleda meets Nizami
September 12, 2008
Source: Bdnews24.com

Dhaka, Sept 11 (bdnews24.com) – BNP chief Khaleda Zia met "exclusively" with Jamaat-e-Islami leader Matiur Rahman Nizami at her cantonment home Thursday night, a source close to the former prime minister said.

The meeting between the two top leaders of the four-party alliance followed the former prime minister's statement hours earlier that she would join both electoral dialogue and the general elections planned for December.

"BNP and the four-party combine will fight the elections together and again form the government," she told party colleagues at the Naya Paltan headquarters in the afternoon after her release from year-long detention.

Both parties boycotted the latest rounds of talks with the government and the Election Commission prior to Khaleda's release on bail.

The source, who refused to be named, said the Jamaat chief drove to her Mainul Road villa late evening. No other aides were known to have joined their meeting, said the source at her Mainul Road home.

Four Pledges for Khaleda's Release

4 pledges secured release?
Source: Daily Star
September 12, 2008

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her elder son Tarique Rahman's release through seemingly transparent legal procedures, was actually part of a 4-point deal with the government, authoritative sources claim.

They say the army-backed caretaker government had a lengthy negotiation with Khaleda Zia who was totally cold towards the present regime but finally gave in and agreed to cooperate with them.

Under the agreement, Khaleda agreed to take part in dialogues with the government and also participate in the upcoming general election.

And accordingly, just five hours into her release, the former premier announced the four-point conditions put to her.

The BNP chairperson, for now,

claims that there is no split within the party. Meanwhile sources say she will soon take the steps to unite the party by accommodating the reformist leaders.

Sources say Khaleda Zia agreed to declare immediately after her release that BNP would join the current dialogue with the Election Commission and government, participate in the December parliamentary election and keep her son Tarique away from the upcoming parliamentary poll by sending him abroad for treatment and keeping him away for at least a few years.

And finally, that Khaleda would withdraw the expulsion order of ex-BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and joint secretary general Ashraf Hossain and accommodate the pro-reformist faction of the party.

The BNP leadership, of course, claims there was no deal regarding the releases of both Khaleda and Tarique, and that they were released completely on the merit of the legal process.

A competent source within the government said that Khaleda, prior to her release from the makeshift sub-jail, agreed that she would first make it clear to the public that Tarique is to go abroad for treatment and remain away from politics till he recovers fully.

A top ranking BNP leader, not wishing to be named, admitted that Tarique's absence from the next election was part of the deal between Khaleda and the government.

He, however, said that the BNP chairperson would not remain in the sidelines but be a frontrunner in the December election.

Khaleda’s release and beyond

Khaleda’s release and beyond
Source: Editorial, New Age
September 12, 2008

FORMER prime minister Khaleda Zia’s release on bail yesterday is indeed a welcome development, particularly because of the military-controlled interim government’s decision to show respect to the court orders granting her bail in all the cases. Given that this regime has shown a tendency to place arbitrary roadblocks on the release of corruption suspects, often re-arresting them from the jail-gate in hastily put-together cases after the courts have granted them bail, we could not be sure whether the court orders would be followed through this time around. At the same time, it is now an open secret that the release of both Sheikh Hasina in June and Khaleda Zia yesterday took place following intense negotiations leading to agreements between them and the present regime, the contents of which are altogether unknown to us. We believe the people have the right to know what negotiations and agreements have taken place.

We have long argued that while the government must pursue through legal avenues those who have allegedly engaged in corruption, regardless of their power or profile, it should not stand in the way of corruption suspects seeking and being granted bail by the courts. In our view, there was little reason to drag Khaleda Zia to jail in the first place and even fewer reasons for her prolonged incarceration. The same was the case with Awami League president Sheikh Hasina. The emergency government could easily have pursued the cases against the two leaders without jailing them for such long periods. After all, there was little, if any, chance that they would attempt to abscond. At the same time, there is hardly any justification left to keep incarcerated other corruption suspects who are yet to be convicted or acquitted by the courts. We, therefore, urge the government to allow everyone indicted on bailable charges to seek bail from the courts and to honour the decisions of the courts in the bail petitions.

Now that Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina are both free, at least for the time being, while the cases against them are under trial, a new responsibility falls on the two leaders. While it is true that the present regime has been an incompetent manager of the state and has further complicated the political process rather than levelling the electoral playing field, it is also true that the people of this country do not wish to return to the politics of the past. At the same time, while the people have never supported the imposition of reforms on the parties from the outside by an unelected regime, they understand nevertheless that the parties must internally democratise by bringing about major reforms. All this time, both the BNP and the Awami League have said that internal reforms would be brought about under the leadership of their top leaders once they are released from jail. Now that both the top leaders have been released, they owe it to the people of this country, who have stood by them through thick and thin, to bring about the kind of reforms within their parties that are necessary and to change the essentially corrupt nature of our politics.

The release of Tarique Rahman

The release of Tarique Rahman
Shamsuddin Ahmed
Source: The New Nation
September 10, 2008

The release of Tarique Rahman on Wednesday has certainly amused the BNP cadres and bemused the nation. He was accused in 13 corruption and extortion cases and set free on bail when undergoing trial by the special court. Son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, senior joint secretary general of BNP Tarique was supremo of the Hawa Bhaban and earned bad name for running parallel government during the BNP regime. The way BNP former state minister Ehsanul Haque Milon, former Adviser Barkatullah Bulu and former woman MP Bilquis Islam were subjected to mob beating on Wednesday has amply manifested the character of the JCD and Jubo Dal built up by the leader of the Young Turks Tarique Rahman. Their fault, they favoured reforms in the party.

Former minister Anwar Hossain Manju has been convicted, in absentia, and sentenced to jail for five years for keeping few cans of bear and bottles of wine. His closed friends felt wounded by the conviction of Manju, a non-alcoholist, chief of his faction of Jatiya Party, one of the owners of mass circulated daily and also owner of a couple industries. It is natural that he required to host foreign friends at his home and serve them with drinks they take as normal.

Barrister Maudud Ahmed, another former minister, has been accused in a number of cases, including one for having forbidden hard drinks in his house. He could have the similar fate of Manju had not the proceedings of his alcohol case been stayed by the higher court.

Manju and Maudud are among the scores of high profile politicians and business leaders who have been brought to book during anti-corruption drive launched soon after the caretaker government of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed was installed in the January 11, 2007 change over. They were undergoing trial by special courts on charges of corruption, extortion and abuse of power. In the midst of trial former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Awami League, facing about a dozen corruption and extortion cases, was released on parol and allowed to leave the country, understandably with the change of winds in the national politics. That opened the floodgate. Many more politicians and business tycoons have been enlarged on bail and proceedings of the cases against them halted by the order of the High Court. Tarique Rahman is the latest corruption suspect released on bail. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia undergoing trial in a number of cases is also expected to be released soon.

Conviction of Manju and setting free Hasina, Tarique and others remind the keen observers of a satirical cartoon. The cartoon depicted a minister-in-waiting brought before the king three men, with handcuff and rope round the waist. The first man, the minister told the king, was caught cursing you. "Off his head," came the order. The second man was caught stealing bread. "Feed him to the lions." The third was caught falsifying documents, money laundering and pilfering 700 million in corporate loans. "Hire him," roared the king.

Release of political leaders detained on corruption charges has indeed caused ACC Chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury to lament. "The image of ACC is affected," he admitted referring to the recent bails granted to the accused in corruption cases and stay orders on the cases against them. People want punishment of the corrupt elements and they will certainly not like it, said the chairman.

The government wants the nation to understand that the detained politicians are released to bring all the political parties to the election planned for December. For, the caretaker government is under severe pressure from within and without the country for holding the election with the participation of all parties. But the major parties, especially the Awami League and the BNP, would not take part in the election without release of their detained leaders. So, they are set free.

Now Hasina, Tarique and their associates are free for taking part in the election. We have before us examples of recent democratic elections in Thailand and Pakistan. Followers of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand, overthrown and discredited for corruption, won the election. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a protégé of Thaksin, last week declared emergency in the face of mass upsurge but the military declined to salvage him. Some two lakh people laid siege on the government administrative building and vowed they would not withdraw until Samak steps down.

In Pakistan, PPP won the election held in February. It entered into alliance with Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif and forced President Parvez Musharraf to step down. PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is now poised to become the President of Pakistan through election by the parliament on September 6. Zardari, known as 'Mr 20 percent' (taking commission during PPP rule) was debarred from the parliamentary election because of corruption case against him. Only recently attorney general of Pakistan got the money laundering case against Zardari withdrawn in Switzerland. Investigation found he had funneled 60 million dollars ill-gotten money.

Reputed columnist Mr Cowasjee wrote in daily Dawn on August 31, "I have been inundated with e-mails calling upon me to come to the aid of the country and save it from Zardari." He wondered how the armed forces feel at Zardari's becoming the President for he will also be the Commander in Chief and have his finger on the country's nuclear button. This has frightened the people of the world and the people of Pakistan, he added.

We believe that none would like the situation of Pakistan in Bangladesh. We have been assured by US Ambassador Moriarty who told the Amcham luncheon meet on May 21, "US does not want to see a repeat of Pakistan President Gen Parvez Musharraf government's nemesis in Bangladesh."

Chief of our Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed who was wholly behind the January 11 change over had pledged to free the nation from corruption and dynastic politics. In his statement on April 2 last year he said, "…..we have to read the resolute character of Bangladeshi people that enabled us to overcome the perpetuation of dynastic rule for a transparent and accountable Bangladesh."

Bangladesh rulers kind to prisoners?

Bangladesh rulers kind to prisoners?
By Rater Zonaki
Source: UPI Asia On-line
September 9, 2008

Hong Kong, China — Many critics blame the current military-controlled government of Bangladesh for excessively abusing human rights, especially gross human rights violations during the state of emergency. The more the authorities are disinterested in accepting this reality, the greater is the attempt by human rights defenders and the media to criticize the government.

Many people seem to be too critical of the government all the time, which is rather unfair. However, government authorities, in all fairness, have taken some noble decisions against people and parties involved in abusing human rights. Some stories of government "kindness" deserve attention.

Since the state of emergency began, the government has been "kind" to the people of Bangladesh. They detained around 200 top politicians and businessmen and managed to lodge complaints against targeted politicians filed by public institutions and private individuals. Some were even prosecuted by a special anti-corruption tribunal.

Related to this is the case of Bangladesh Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil, who was arrested on May 28, 2007 by the armed forces and detained without any charge throughout the year until implicated in a graft case lodged by the Anti-Corruption Commission on Dec. 18 with the Ramna police station. On Jan. 1, 2008, he was shown as arrested. While in detention, Jalil feel ill, which prompted a group of medical doctors to suggest that he be released to seek treatment abroad.

Then, the government appeared to be "kind" to the veteran politician by considering his case on humanitarian grounds and, on March 2, 2008, released him on parole without any formal intervention from the court, which could grant bail considering his health condition and subsequent requirements. Although the initial release order was for one month, it was extended to six after several requests by Jalil’s relatives.

Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was arrested on July 16, 2007 and detained in a "sub-jail" with a number of graft cases against her. She had injured her ear and eye in a grenade attack during a public meeting in Dhaka on Aug. 21, 2004. While she was in detention, a group of doctors and members of a medical board formed by the government suggested that she travel to the United States for certain treatment that was not available any other place in the world.

This "kindness" of the government was exposed when it decided to release Hasina by an "executive order" instead of a judicial order. The initial release order was only for eight weeks, but was extended by a month following a request on behalf of the former prime minister. On Sept. 4, the government set a new record for its "kindness" by spontaneously extending the release order of Hasina for an additional month in the absence of any application or official request from anyone.

Mohammad Nasim, a former minister, was convicted by a special corruption tribunal and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on Oct. 8, 2007 in a graft case. Another tribunal convicted him for three years for concealing information related to his wealth in a report submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission. Recently he suffered a brain stroke and was admitted to a private hospital in Dhaka. On Aug. 15, 2008, the government released him so that he could seek treatment abroad, making it the first ever instance of a convicted person released to seek medical treatment abroad.

The mere suggestion by medical doctors to take someone abroad for treatment raises question about the credibility, standard and impartiality of the country's health professionals.

In the prisons of Bangladesh, dozens of convicted or prisoners under trial are seriously sick and many die while still in prison. For example, in 2006, around 52 prisoners died due to various reasons including health-related issues, according to credible reports. However, these poor people always fail to attract the "kind" attention of the government before their death. In all cases, prison authorities issue a press release or comment when contacted, which states that the person fell sick while in prison and so the prison staff took the person to a hospital where doctors declared him dead. All stories of death in prison have similar ends.

The same authorities that release rich and influential persons from prison without any legal papers exercise double standards toward the poor. They never feel that poor prisoners who are sick need to receive medical treatment either in the prison itself or in a public hospital. Existing laws are either flawed or do not apply to poor prisoners.

Authorities should realize and ensure that laws are applied equally toward all citizens, regardless of their social status and financial condition. Releasing prisoners on humanitarian grounds without proper legal and medical documents raises serious questions about the abuse of governmental power.

Misusing power is a clear violation of Art. 27 of the country's constitution, which enshrines the right to equal treatment before the law.
____________________________
(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national with a degree in literature from a university in Dhaka. He began his career as a journalist in 1990 and engaged in human rights activism at the grassroots level in his country for more than a decade. He also worked as an editor for publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues and contributed to other similar publications.)