Islamist wants to change National Anthem

বেদনাদায়ক পনেরোই আগষ্ট

 

আমার সকল নিয়ে বসে আছি

সর্বনাশের আশায়’

রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর

-তারেক মাহবুব

আজ দুঃখ ভারাক্রান্ত হৃদয়ে ১৫ই আগস্ট , জাতীয় শোক দিবস সম্বন্ধে লিখতে বসে শতবর্ষ আগে কবি গুরুর লেখা এই গানটির কথা বার-বার মনে মনে পড়ছে।  রবির ভাষায়ই বলতে হয়, 'সাত কোটি বাঙালির হে বঙ্গ জননী, রেখেছ বাঙালি করে মানুষ করোনি।' পাকিস্তান কারাগার থেকে মুক্তি পেয়ে ১৯৭২ সালে রেসকোর্স ময়দানে বিশাল জনসবায় বঙ্গবন্ধু তার ভাষণে কবিগুরুর এই পংক্তিটি উল্লেখ করে বলেছিলেন, “কবিগুরু আজ মিথ্যা প্রমাণিত হয়ে গেছে, আমার বাঙালী আজ মানুষ হয়েছে।"  আসলে কবিগুরু যে মিথ্যা হন নাই, বঙ্গবন্ধু নিজের জীবন দিয়ে সেটা প্রমান করে গেছেন।

আজ আমি লজ্জিত, মৰ্মিত, এবং ভাষাহত।  নিজেকে বঙ্গসন্তান হিসাবে পরিচয় দিতে বড় অসহায় এবং কলঙ্কিত মনে হচ্ছে।  আমরা কেউই কখনো ইতিহাস থেকে কোন শিক্ষাই গ্রহণ করিনি, আর কখনো গ্রহণ করব বলে মনে হয় না।  অর্ধ শতাব্দী পূর্বে ক্ষণজন্মা এই মহাপুরুষটি নিজ জাতির সঠিক পরিচয়টি  মূল্যায়ন করতে যে ভুল করেছিলেন আজ এত বছর পরে এসে তার কন্যাও একই প্রকার ভুল ক'রে বাঙালি জাতিকে অকুল সমুদ্রে ভাসিয়ে গেলেন।

আজ আমি ভূতপূর্ব সরকার সম্মন্ধে খুব একটি আলোচনা করব না।  তাদের হিসাব-নিকাশ তারাই দেবেন, অন্যায় করলে তার বিচার হবে। আমার প্রশ্ন হল বঙ্গবন্ধুকে অপমান ক'রে আজ আমরা নিজেদের চরম দৈনতার পরিচয় দিয়েছি।  যে মানুষটি আজ সবুজ বাংলাদেশী পাসপোর্ট নিয়ে যুক্তরাষ্টে এসে নীল পাসপোর্টধারী হয়েছে, সে হয়ত ভুলে গেছে বঙ্গবন্ধু না থাকলে ওই সবুজ পাসপোর্টটি থাকত না।  যে ছেলেটি বঙ্গবন্ধুর ভাস্কর্য এর উপরে উঠে বীরত্ব প্রকাশ করছে, সেই মহামানবটি না থাকলে হয়ত পাকিস্তানের কোন এক বিদ্যালয়ের দ্বিতীয় শ্রেণীর ছাত্র হিসাবে পড়ালেখা করতে হত।  তাকে তখন আর কোটার বিরুদ্ধে আন্দোলন করতে হত না, কোটার জন্য আন্দোলন করতে হত, আর সেই আন্দোলনের মূল বিষয় হোত পূর্ব পাকস্তানীদের জন্য কোটা চাই। ধানমন্ডি ৩২ নম্বর কোন প্রাইভেট সম্পত্তি নয়, ওটা জাতীয় সম্পদ। পাকিস্তান নামের জানোয়ারগুলোও সেই বাসা অক্ষত রেখেছিল, আমরা বাঙালীরা সেটা ধ্বংস করে দিলাম। এই লজ্জা রাখি কোথায়।  বঙ্গবন্ধু কোন একক দলের নেতা না, উনি সমগ্র জাতির নেতা।

আজ শেখ হাসিনা সরকারের দুঃশাসনের জন্য যদি বঙ্গবন্ধুকে দায়ী করা হয়, তাহলে তো মুসলিমদের বিভিন্ন ব্যার্থতা ও অপকর্মের জন্য নবী মোহাম্মদকে দোষ দিলে সেটা কি কোন অন্যায় হবে? বাংলার ইতিহাসে আজ পর্যন্ত্য সব সরকারই ক্ষমতা থেকে পালা বদলের পর স্বৈরাচারের তকমা গায়ে লাগিয়েছে। যখন কেউ বলে শেখ হাসিনার হাতে রক্ত তখন তারা ভুলে যায় ২১শে আগষ্টের গ্রেনেড হামলার কথা।  খন্ডকালীন স্বরাষ্ট উপদেষ্টা ব্রিগেডিয়ার সাহেব যেদিন বললেন যে গুলিতে মানুষ মারা গিয়েছে সেই ৭১ ক্যালিবারের রাইফেল বাংলাদেশের কোন আইন শৃঙ্খলা বাহিনী ব্যবহার করে না বা তাদের হাতে সেই অস্ত্র নেই।  কয়েকদিন পরেই দেখলাম তাঁকে স্বরাষ্ট উপদেষ্টা থেকে বদলি করে পাট ও বস্ত্রণালয়ের উপদেষ্টা করা হয়েছে।  আন্দোলন হয়েছিল বৈষম্য বিরোধীতার জন্য এবং স্বৈর শাসনের বিরুদ্ধে। আন্দোলনকারীদের দাবী আগেকার প্রশাসনের সময়ে কথা বলতে দেওয়া হোত না।  তবে এখন কেন ১৫ আগস্টে ৩২ নম্বরে যেতে দেওয়া হল না। কারো ইচ্ছা হ'লে সেখানে যাবে, তাকে বাধা দেওয়া কি স্বৈর শাসনের মধ্যে পরে না।

প্রতিবেশী দেশে মহাত্মা গান্ধীকে অসম্মান করার মত দুঃসাহস বিজেপি বা আরএসএসের মত ডানপন্থী, হিন্দু জাতীয়তাবাদীও দেখায়নি। কারন তারা জানে গান্ধী শুধু কংগ্রেসের নেতা নন, উনি সমগ্র ভারতবর্ষের নেতা।  জীবনের প্রয়োজনে মধ্যপ্রাচ্যের কয়েকটি দেশে বহুদিন কাটিয়ে এসেছি। সেখানে প্রত্যেকটি দেশে বিশালাকৃতির রাজার ছবি বিভিন্ন সরকারি ভবনের বাইরে বিরাজমান।  এজন্য কারো কোন ধর্মীয় অনুভূতিতে আঘাত লাগে না। যত ধর্মীয় অনুভূতির আঘাত  আমাদের মধ্যে। অথচ নারী কেলেঙ্কারিতে জড়িত এক হেফাজতি নেতা হঠাৎ জেল থেকে ছাড়া পেয়েই সুযোগ বুঝে কাদিয়ানীর বিরুদ্ধে বিষোদ্গার বক্তৃতা দেওয়া শুরু করেছে।  কি অদ্ভুত এই দেশ এবং ততোধিক অদ্ভুত ধর্মীয় নেতারা। ইসলামিক আইন মানতে হলে তাকে অর্ধেক মাটিতে পুঁতে পাথর মেরে হত্যা করার রীতিমত নির্দেশ আছে।

 শুধু এই ঘটনাগুলিই নয়, কান পাতলেই  শুনতে পাই সুন্নীরা বলবে "শিয়া" বা 'খারাজী"  মুসলিম না।  ওদেরকে নন-মুসলিম হিসাবে ঘোষণা দেবার দাবী তুলে তাদের পবিত্র কোরান শরীফ পর্য্যন্ত পড়তে বাঁধা দেয়। অপর পক্ষে শিয়ারা বলবে সুন্নিরা মুসলিম না। হুজুররা তো কথায়-কথায় বলে ৯০% মুসলমানের দেশ বাংলাদেশ।  এখন কোটি টাকার প্রশ্ন হচ্ছে  এই শিয়া, আহমদিয়া, কাদিয়ানী, বা খারেজীরা কি ওই ৯০% এর  মধ্যে অন্তর্ভুক্ত? ওদেরকে বাদ দিলে আদৌ কি ৯০% থাকে?  যতক্ষণ হিন্দু আছে ততক্ষনই আমরা মুসলিম। ওদের তাড়ালেই আমরা শিয়া, সুন্নী, ওয়াহাবি, সালাফি, হানাফী, কাদিয়ানী, আহলে হাদিস, মাজারি, কওমী, ফুলতলী, ফুরফুরী, আটরশি, মাইজভাণ্ডারী হয়ে যাব।" এরা সবাই একে অপরকে কাফের হিসাবে গণ্য করবে।

মনে পড়ে আফগানিস্তানের কথা, ৭০ দশকে দেশটি একটি উদীয়মান জাতি হিসাবে পরিচিতি ছিল। সৈয়দ মুজতবা আলীর লেখা আফগানিস্তান ভ্রমণের বই থেকে শুরু ক'রে বিভিন্ন ইতিহাসবিদের তথ্য থেকে জানা যাই সেকুলার আফগানিস্তানের কথা। একটি প্রগতিশীল জাতি কিভাবে ধ্বংস হয়ে যায় তার বাস্তব উধাহরন আফগানিস্তান, আর পাকিস্তান নামের দেশটি অনেক আগে থেকেই দেউলিয়া হয়ে বসে আছে।  আমার ক্ষুদ্র বুদ্ধিতে বলে বাংলাদেশ অতি দ্রুততম সময়ে সেই পথের দিকে এগিয়ে যাচ্ছে। কোন এক বিখ্যাত মনীষী বলে গেছেন , "কথা ছিল ধর্ম মানুষকে রক্ষা করিবে, যেদিন থেকে মানুষ ধর্মকে রক্ষা করা শুরু করিল সেদিন থেকে গন্ডগোল শুরু হইল"।  

Painful Fifteenth of August

 I'm sitting with all of me 

hoping for destruction.' 

Rabindranath Tagore 

On this significant 15th of August, National Mourning Day, I am reminded of a poem by the notable Bengali poet Rabindranath Thakur, popularly known as Kabi Guru written a century ago. The moving words of the poet resonate: "Seven crores of Bengalis, O Mother of Bengal, made them Bengalis, not human beings." The father of Bangladesh nation Bangabandhu referred to this line in his 1972 speech at a large public gathering in Racecourse Maidan after his release from a Pakistani prison. He proclaimed, "Kabi Guru's statement has been proven wrong today; my Bengalis have become human today." This day, marked by Bangabandhu's ultimate sacrifice, showed that Kabi Guru Rabindranath's assertion was valid. 

Today, I am grappling with a profound sense of shame, heartache, and disbelief. It pains me to acknowledge my connection to Bangladesh, as we appear to be repeating past mistakes without learning from them. Just as a great leader misjudged the true essence of our nation half a century ago, today, his daughter has made a similar error, leading the Bengali nation astray. We must learn from history to avoid such missteps in the future. 

I prefer not to delve into the affairs of the previous government. They will be held accountable for their actions, and if they are found to be wrong, they will face the consequences. What troubles me today is disparaging Bangabandhu, which reflects our utmost malice. The individual who once held a green Bangladeshi passport and later obtained a blue one in the United States may have overlooked that the existence of the green passport is indebted to Bangabandhu. The young man perched atop the Bangabandhu statue, displaying his courage, might have been a second-grade student in a school in Pakistan if it weren't for the influence of that remarkable individual. Rather than protesting quotas, he would advocate for them, specifically for the rights of East Pakistanis. It's important to note that Dhanmondi number 32 is not merely private property but a valuable national asset. Even the Pakistani beasts kept that house intact; we Bangladeshis destroyed it. Where is this shame? Bangabandhu is not the leader of a single party; he is the leader of the entire nation. 

Is it fair to hold Bangabandhu responsible for the shortcomings of Sheikh Hasina's current government? Would it be akin to blaming Prophet Mohammad for the actions of Muslims? Throughout Bangladesh's history, every change in leadership has ushered in a new era of oppression. When critics point fingers at Sheikh Hasina for violence, they tend to overlook the 21st of August grenade attack.

The former home affairs advisor of the current interim Bangladesh government Brigadier General (Retired) M. Sakhawat Hossain recently talked about the firearm used in the recent violent outburst in the cities in Bangladesh. Brigadier Hossain said, “Those arms used were not issued by any law enforcement agency in Bangladesh”. Following this disclosure, the advisor was rapidly transferred from the Home Ministry to the Jute and Textile Ministry. While the movement aimed to address discrimination and autocracy, there were rumors of dissent being suppressed. Why were individuals prevented from visiting 32 Dhanmondi on 15th August? Without any doubt this restriction appears to align with autocratic tendencies. 

Even the right-wing Hindu nationalist parties of India, such as the BJP or RSS, are careful not to show disrespect towards Mahatma Gandhi. They recognize Gandhi not only as the leader of Congress but also as a leader of all of India. I have spent several days in various Middle Eastern countries out of necessity. In each country, large portraits of the monarchs are prominently displayed outside government buildings and public areas. This careful display of respect shows that the religious sentiments of others are not disrespected as much as our own. 

However, a custody Hefazat-e-Islami leader involved in the women's scandal seized the opportunity and started giving venomous speeches against Qadiani after being released from jail—what a strange country and even more strange religious leaders! Not only this incident, I hear some Bangladeshi religious zealots began to say, " “Shia" or "Kharazi" are not Muslims.” They claim to declare them as non-Muslims and prevent them from reading the Holy Qur'an. On the other hand, Shias will say that Sunnis are not Muslims. It is said that Bangladesh is a country of 90% Muslims. The question may arise out of these 90%, are those Shias, Ahmadis, or Kharejis included? As long as there are Hindus, we are Muslims, irrespective of being Sunni, Wahhabi, Salafi, Hanafi, Qadiani, Ahle Hadith, Mazari, Qaumi, Fultali, Furfuri, Atarshi, Maizbhandari. Ironically in reality they all regard each other as infidels.

Remember Afghanistan? In the 1970s, the country was known as an emerging nation. From Syed Mujtaba Ali's travel book to Afghanistan, we know about secular Afghanistan from the information of various historians. Afghanistan is a real example of how a progressive nation can be destroyed in the name of religion, and a country called Pakistan has long been bankrupt. I can see Bangladesh is moving towards that path at the fastest time. A famous thinker has said, "It was said that religion will protect people; from the day people started protecting religion, chaos started." 

"If you want to destroy a country, make the people of the country fight in the name of religion; the country will be destroyed automatically." 
_____________

Tarek Mahboob, Contributor

 

Bangladesh coup: An Interview at the Duran

Unconstitutional Capture of Power by Dr. Yunus in Bangladesh

Dr. Muhammad Yunus took over the power of the country called Bangladesh amid violence and killings. The people of Bangladesh did not elect him to become the ruler of the country. It requires a lot of effort to form a political party and get elected by getting the mandate of the people to go to the helm of power. So, he conspired to achieve his goal. In fact, he has been conspiring for a long time to capture the power of this small country. This time he and his able backers have become successful by creating a violent atmosphere throughout Bangladesh.

Many students, common people, and police lost their lives for no good reason. The movement against the government started with a demand to abolish or reform quotas for government jobs. It was not supposed to turn into a violent form. In fact, there was a well-prepared and deliberate stratagem to turn this movement into a brutal conflict to bring about the downfall of the Government under Sheikh Hasina. There was a secret plan involving some of the top-ranking student coordinators, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, and many of his cohorts. In Bangladesh, there is a group of people who share the same conman characteristics like Dr. Yunus. Just to name a few, I can mention Dr. Asif Nazrul, Dr. Bodiul Alam Majumdar, Brigadier Gen. (retired) M. Sakhawat Hossain, retired foreign secretary Tauhid Hossain, Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, and several others. These are vocal minority people who want to grab power by hook or crook. The quota movement was a great opportunity for them to unseat a democratically elected government and finally occupy the power that they cherished so dearly.

The student leaders or coordinators (as they call themselves) were successfully able to turn the movement into a violent form by attacking police stations and chanting provocative slogans such as, we are Razakars (paramilitary forces created by Pakistan in 1971 to kill the freedom fighters and those who supported Bangladesh independence). It was like chanting slogans “we are Nazis” on the streets of Tel Aviv. The marauding mob attacked law enforcers and shots were fired both by the police and by the protesters. Unfortunately, the blame went onto the government and on Sheikh Hasina. In the digitalized Bangladesh (thanks to Sheikh Hasina for her priority and efforts on this), the blaming of the government became viral. To make the situation worst, the corps of Dr. Yunus came out onto the streets of Dhaka to accelerate the ouster of the government. The quota movement was eventually transformed into the one point ousting the government movement. In a matter of days, Sheikh Hasina had to leave Bangladesh for India, and a democratically elected government of Bangladesh fell apart.

Unfortunately, all these conspirators including Dr. Yunus have brought serious problems for a small country Bangladesh which was thriving vigorously under the able leadership of Sheikh Hasina. The power-hungry mob headed by Dr. Yunus has turned Bangladesh close to a failed state. In Bangladesh, now there is worse law and order, uncertainty in the markets, harassment everywhere, forced resignation of professionals, inferno in the minority villages, and so on. The rabble of Dr. Yunus will eventually turn Bangladesh into a completely failed state.

Sheikh Hasina had her focus on the development of the country and on the prevention of the Islamic terrorists, specifically after the attack and killings in Holey Artisan Bakery in 2016. She was aware of the previous conspiracies perpetrated by Dr. Yunus but she failed to understand the extent of all his henchmen who were currently preparing for the ouster of her government. The henchmen of Dr. Yunus very carefully orchestrated and executed their plan by creating a chaos out of no issue at all.  In the midst of the chaos, the former elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had to step aside and leave the country.

To maintain the continuity of the government, the President of Bangladesh could have allowed the parliament to decide on the formation of a new cabinet. But the henchmen of Yunus captured the Parliament House, prime minister’s residence called Ganabhaban, and the streets of Dhaka. The president and the chief of the army had to submit to the elite oligarch gangs of Dr. Yunus. They had to give the power to the gang leader Yunus. This has entangled Bangladesh into a non-democratic system of rule under the leadership of a renowned con artist named Yunus for a long time to come. He didn’t receive any mandate from the people of Bangladesh but there is no problem for this shameless individual named Yunus to rule Bangladesh which was trying hard to continue following the constitution of the country.
_______________

Samir Arsalan, Freelance Writer

Bangladesh towards uncertainity

Bangladesh witnessed a planned upheaval to remove Sheikh Hasina, but it's indeed a part of the international conspiracy. The agitation and protest were well crafted, and she left Bangladesh on August 5th when the Military didn't extend their support to her and forced her to leave the country dramatically. Sheikh Hasina didn't foresee what was coming as they carefully unsettle her government. The following analysis is quite telling as it implicates the West for causing its hegemony to take over a stable government and replace it with their handpicked cronies. Bangladesh is entering a new phase where the puppets will breed democracy. 

Jamat Unleashed Unprecedented Violence

Source: Daily Star, 04 Mar 2013

19 more killed

Jamaat-Shibir unleashes another wave of terror in 5 districts during first day of hartal

Star Report

Stick-wielding Jamaat-Shibir men run riot, vandalising different business centres at an intersection in Bogra town yesterday.Photo: STAR

It was all lies -- outright and outrageous -- but it worked. Jamaat's propaganda machine used a photoshopped image of Delawar Hossain Sayedee's face on the moon yesterday to entice people to unleash a second wave of terror that left at least 19 people, including a policeman, dead in five districts.

Bogra witnessed the worst, as Jamaat-Shibir men assembled locals through repeated announcements over loudspeakers that "Sayedee's face was seen on the moon and it's your holy duty to save him; otherwise, we all will go to hell”. Around 4 in the morning, they launched into attacks on police in different upazilas.

At least nine people were killed in Bogra, six in Joypurhat, two in Rajshahi, one in Satkhira and a policeman in Jhenidah in a deadly spate of violence throughout the day.

Three women were among the dead in Bogra, as Jamaat men used women and children as a human shield during the attacks on law enforcers.

The situation worsened to such an extent that the local administration had to seek the army's help to protect the Shahjahanpur Police Station in Bogra.

At least 63 people have died since Jamaat-Shibir activists went on the rampage on Thursday after a war crimes tribunal sentenced Sayedee to death.

Yesterday was the first day of Jamaat's two-day hartal to protest Thursday's police action.

Meanwhile, Border Guard Bangladesh personnel were deployed in the capital around 8:00pm to ward off violence.

In Bogra, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir tricked hundreds of villagers into taking to the streets in the early morning, and launching attacks on law enforcers.

They clashed with law enforcers, attacked a police station and six outposts, vandalised and torched different offices. At least four people, including three women, died in Shahjahanpur upazila, three in Bogra Sadar and two in Shibganj upazila.

The violence that began around 4:00am came to a halt after four hours following news of troops deployment. However, army personnel were called back around 6:00pm.

People in different upazilas said they heard announcements over loudspeakers in the early hours on Sunday that Sayedee's image was seen on the moon.

Moved by the announcements, hundreds of people, mostly from Shahjahanpur, Kahalu, Shibganj and Dupchanchia upazilas, came out of their houses and started marching towards Bogra Sadar upazila headquarters, protesting the death penalty to Sayedee.

A few thousand people attacked Shahjahanpur Police Station near the Bogra Cantonment, around 6:00am.

"They beat up policemen indiscriminately in a surprise attack,” Mahmudul Alam, officer-in-charge of the police station, told The Daily Star.

Police opened fire to bring the situation under control, said Bogra Superintendent of Police Mozammel Haq.

Four people died there.

Atiar Rahman, an inspector of the police station, identified the four as Arjinba Begum, 45, Monjila Begum, 48, Achhia Begum, 45, and Abdur Rahman, 60.

The protesters set fire to the house of Momtaz Uddin, president of district AL unit, in the town.

The vandalism continued for nearly 50 minutes. Three more persons died in clashes in Bogra Sadar.

Their identities could not be known.

Section 144 was imposed in Bogra municipality from 7:00am to contain violence, and it would remain in force until further orders, said Arifuzzaman, nezarat deputy collector in Bogra.

In a statement, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) condemned attacks on the house of FBCCI director Momtaz Uddin, business establishments and the office of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Joypurhat witnessed a spate of violence, as pro-hartal activists clashed with police in Panchbibi and Sadar upazila. At least six persons were killed and 30 others were hit by bullets during the clashes.

The dead are Nasir Uddin, 18, of Bashkur village, Hasib Uddin, 50, of Baramanik, Forman Ali, 30 of Rasulpur, Abdul Hakim, 32, of Salaipur, Mojidul Islam, 35, of Kashra village, and Abdul Bari, 24, of Rahmatpur village.

Five of them were killed in Panchbibi and the other in Joypurhat sadar, said sources.

Jamaat-Shibir activists swooped on police in front of Joypurhat Palli Bidyut Samity office around 11:00am, prompting police to fire shots. One person was killed on the spot.

Another group of Jamaat men gathered at Panchbibi Bazar to lay siege to the Panchbibi Police Station. As they marched towards the police station, BGB and police personnel fired shots, leaving two persons dead.

Three of the injured later died at Panchbibi Health Complex.

Md Hamidul Islam, superintendent of police in Joypurhat, confirmed that three persons died in the clashes.

However, Fazlur Rahman, Jamaat ameer in Joypurhat, said six persons were killed during the clashes in Panchbibi and Joypurhat.

Section 144 was imposed in Panchbibi and Joypurhat sadar following the clashes.

OTHER DISTRICTS 
Jamaat men launched attacks on law enforcers at Godagari upazila in Rajshahi, leaving at least two persons dead and 30 people injured.

The dead are Rafiqul Islam, 12, of Godagari municipality, and Mojahid Hossain, 45, activist of Jamaat municipality unit and Imam of Mohishalbari mosque, said Wahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Godagari Police Station.

Section 144 was slapped in the municipality for an indefinite period after the clash, said Godagari Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tuhinur Alam.

Witnesses said the clash erupted when more than 500 Jamaat-Shibir men barricaded the Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi highway with logs, and burnt tyres around 9:00am.

Another group of pickets chased law enforcers at the cinema hall intersection, damaged vehicles and threw brickbats at police.

At one stage, the pickets fired shots and threw cocktails at the law enforcers.

In retaliation, police and BGB personnel fired over 100 rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the attackers, said OC Wahidul.

Pro-hartal activists also put up barricades on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi road at Abhoyer intersection, on Rajshahi-Naogaon road in Mohonpur upazila and Rajshahi-Natore road at Kharkhari around 9:00am.

In Jhenidah, Jamaat-Shibir men hacked to death a policeman and gouged out his eye at Sanatanpur police camp in Harinakundo upazila.

They attacked the police camp, forcing the on-duty policemen to retreat to the headquarters. They soon caught up with the policemen and hacked them indiscriminately.

The Jamaat activists hacked Constable Omar Faruque to death and gouged out his eye.

Several seriously injured policemen were admitted to the hospital.

Nearly 3,000 Jamaat-Shibir and BNP activists also brought out a procession in Harinakundo upazila.

Jamaat men vandalised establishments in the upazila and set fire to government offices. Police lobbed teargas canisters and fired rubber bullets to disperse them.

At least one person was killed and seven others, including three BGB members, were injured in a clash between BGB personnel and Jamaat activists at Raichhpur in Sadar thana, two kilometres away from Satkhira town.

Lt Col Abu Basir of BGB in Satkhira said Jamaat men attacked two BGB vans near the border around 12:00pm, prompting the BGB personnel to fire shots.

A Jamaat supporter was killed and three BGB members were injured in the incident.

A clash between Jamaat men and Awami League activists ensued at Nalta, when ruling party men tried to prevent Jamaat-Shibir activists from carrying out vandalism.

In Chittagong, clashes and gunfights between Jamaat men and Rab personnel left at least 14 people injured at Shekher Khil in Banskhali upazila.

Vehicular movement on Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway remained suspended, as Jamaat-Shibir men barricaded the highway with logs.

Meanwhile, pro-hartal activists in Pabna put up barricades on the Dhaka-Pabna and Pabna-Kushtia highways after Fajr prayers. They also attacked the house of an AL union unit president and five shops at Ataikula.

Jamaat-Shibir men also felled hundreds of roadside trees and blocked the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf-Arakan road since Saturday night. They also swooped on law enforcers at Ukhia upazila in Cox's Bazar, leaving at least five policemen injured.

What's happening in Bangladesh?

Courtesy of: Station 71.13

Saiydee sentenced to death

Death Sentence Given to Bangladesh Islamist Sparks Fatal Clashes

Source: Bloomberg News
Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal sentenced a senior member of the country’s biggest Islamic party to death, sparking fatal violence nationwide.

A panel of judges yesterday found Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee guilty of committing crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s independence struggle in 1971, Syed Haider Ali, a prosecutor, said in comments on live television.

The tribunal’s first verdict since protesters began occupying a Dhaka square to demand capital punishment for the guilty was followed by clashes between activists of Jamaat and security forces, which the Daily Star newspaper reported left as many as 13 people dead, three of them policemen.

The International Crimes Tribunal’s rulings have reopened wounds from the war more than four decades ago that led to the founding of Bangladesh. Thousands of protesters demanding the most severe punishments for those convicted have occupied Shahbag square in central Dhaka since judges sentenced another Jamaat leader to life in prison on Feb. 5.

Sayedee, 73, who was in court when the verdict was delivered, faced 19 charges including the murder of civilians, collaborating with the Pakistani army to kill and torture unarmed people, torching homes and carrying out atrocities against the Hindu community, according to a court document detailing the indictment. Eight charges were proved beyond reasonable doubt, Ali said.

“It’s a victory day, it’s a day of joy. Through this verdict, the nation is seeing the resurgence of liberation war spirits,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters at the tribunal premises in Dhaka amid heightened security.

Fight Continues

Sayedee was sentenced to death on two specific charges of killing unarmed people in the southern district of Pirojpur, Alam said.

The judges -- led by Justice A.T.M. Fazle Kabir -- said in their summary of the verdict that international law imposed no statute of limitations on war crimes.

Demonstrators led by Imran Sarkar, convener of a group known as the Bloggers and Online Activists Network, called for the death penalty for Sayedee as they poured into the capital’s financial district of Motijheel Feb. 27.

“We won’t give up the fight until we get justice,” Sarkar said in a statement to the media. The protesters later relocated to Shahbag, the rallying point for anti-Jamaat activists. Jamaat called for a national strike, demanding Sayedee be freed.

Dhaka Rallies

At the end of British colonial rule in 1947, East and West Pakistan were separated by 2,000 kilometers (1,241 miles) of Indian territory. Pakistani troops in 1971 attempted to quell a nationalist uprising in the east that was triggered by the jailing of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had led his Awami League to victory in elections. The war ended nine months later with the creation of Bangladesh after Indian forces helped defeat Pakistan’s army.

As crowds swelled in Shahbag, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed Feb. 17 empowered the tribunal to punish any organization whose members carried out crimes during the independence fight. The move sparked reports the government was preparing to ban Jamaat, an extremist group which sided with Pakistan during the war and whose members account for nine of the dozen people facing the tribunal.

Previously judges could only put individuals on trial. In another change, prosecutors can now appeal any of the panel’s verdicts.

Historic Wrong

In a sign of the widespread anger the alleged mass murders, rapes and abductions four decades ago can still provoke, the Dhaka protest site has drawn bloggers, writers, singers, teachers, students, and the country’s cricket team. Police say the gathering has at times swelled to 100,000 people.

While the prime minister says the tribunal is about righting an historic wrong, opponents have called the trials politically motivated. Jamaat is an ally of Hasina’s main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and won nearly 5 percent of votes cast in the nation’s parliamentary election in 2008, according to the Bangladesh Election Commission.

The Shahbag protests began after the tribunal Feb. 5 gave a jail term to Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah.

The protesters defend their call for the death penalty for the guilty by saying that people like Mollah would be freed from jail if Jamaat once again has a role in government.

Sayedee was involved in the abduction, confinement and rape of women, including Hindus, in Pirojpur, according to the court document. He also forced some Hindus to convert to Islam, an act the court considers a crime against humanity.

Al-Jazeera on Shahbag Movement

The Stream - Bangladesh's rising voices is presented by Al Jazeera's English Channel featuring Shahbag Movement . It shows how the young generation has pioneered this momentous event through virtual advocacy. Watch this 35 minute long video presented on 19 February 2013:

Bangladesh's Tahrir Square: Blogger's Death Ignites More Protests

By: Eko Armunanto 

Source: digitaljournal

Bangladeshi activists attended a rally to demand the execution of Jemaah Islamiah leader Abdul Quader Mollah and others convicted of war crimes involving the nation's independence war in 1971 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Rajib Haider, the initiator of the movement who wrote a blog devoted to them, was attacked outside his home Friday night after returning from that rally in Shahbag Square. Haider's family said he was stabbed to death for standing up to Islamists and drawing people to the protests. Police said they had detained five suspects.

Some expatriate Bangladeshis have flown home to support the call for the death penalty. Children have been filmed with the slogan "We want death by hanging" painted across their cheeks and torsos. Jon Boone's report for The Guardian said the rally was involving hundreds of thousands who has been camped on the streets for 10 days demanding the execution of war criminals. It described the movement as Bangladesh's Tahrir Square. "On Saturday, an even larger crowd thronged the square to attend funeral prayers for Haider, many vowing to avenge his death or breaking down in tears as his coffin passed", Anis Ahmed told CNN.

Abdul Quader Mollah was found guilty this month of crimes including massacres, torture and rapes during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, another eight members of Mollah's Jemaah Islamiah party are also on trial, as are two members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, including a former government minister. The estimation was that anywhere between 300,000 and 3 million people were killed by the Pakistani army and their allied local militias. Bangladesh formed the eastern part of Pakistan until it gained independence in 1971.

Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was elected Prime Minister on a platform of making the prosecution of war crimes a priority of her government - Bangladeshis were angered that Quader Mollah was only given a life sentence. Public fury grew further when Mollah, nicknamed the "Butcher of Mirpur" for his crimes, flashed a "V" for victory sign when he came out of the courtroom. Jemaah Islamiah said the war-crimes trials were being carried out with ill political motive as it begun after more than 40 years of independence, while demonstrators vowed to continue protesting at Shahbagh and asked the government to ban Jemaah Islamiah, which sided with Pakistan and opposed the 1971 founding of Bangladesh.

The agonies of Bangladesh come to London

Source: The Guardian
By: Nick Cohen

The Shahbag junction in Dhaka has become Bangladesh's Tahrir Square. Hundreds of thousands of young protesters are occupying it and raging against radical Islamists. Even sympathetic politicians cannot control the movement. The protesters damn them as appeasers, who have compromised with unconscionable men.

Theirs is a grassroots uprising for the most essential and neglected values of our age: secularism, the protection of minorities from persecution and the removal of theocratic thugs from the private lives and public arguments of 21st-century citizens

Naturally, the western media show little interest in covering the protest. The indifference is all the more telling because the Shahbag movement is a response to a crime westerners once deplored, but have almost forgotten.

The young in Dhaka have revolted over the war crimes trials of members of Jamaat-e-Islami. That useful leftwing term "clerical fascist" might have been invented to describe what they did. In 1971, the oppressed "eastern wing" of Pakistan rose against its masters to form Bangladesh. The Pakistani army responded with a campaign of mass murder and mass rape, which shocked a 20th century that thought it had seen it all. George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, the Bonos of their day, organised benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden. The murder of Hindus and Christians, the flight of refugees and the chance to weaken Pakistan pushed Indira Gandhi into one of the finest actions of her murky career. She sent the Indian army to liberate the tortured land.

The Pakistani occupiers were helped at every stage by Islamist activists. Jamaat took its inspiration from Abul Ala Maududi who has as good a claim as anyone to be the founder of political Islam. Maududi wanted a global war to establish a caliphate. The break-up of Muslim Pakistan impeded the prospect of a world revolution. To prevent this reverse, his followers formed death squads to slaughter the intellectuals, engineers, administrators and teachers who could make an independent Bangladesh work. The outcome of a belated trial of handful of Jamaat war criminals has set Bangladesh on fire.

As with popular revolts throughout history, Bangladeshi liberals are in two minds about the Shahbag demonstrations. On the one hand, they cannot fail to admire the determination of the young to state loudly and clearly that "religion-based politics had poisoned society", as Zafar Sobhan, editor of the Dhaka Tribune put it. On the other, the demonstrators are saying with equal force that they want the death penalty, that most anti-liberal of punishments, applied to the war criminals without mercy.

Do I hear you say that Bangladesh is far away and the genocide was long ago?

Not so far away. Not so long ago. And the agonies of Bangladeshi liberals are nothing in comparison to the contradictions of their British counterparts.

The conflict between the Shahbag and Jamaat has already reachedLondon. On 9 February, local supporters of the uprising demonstrated in Altab Ali Park, a rare patch of green space off the Whitechapel Road in London's East End. They were met by Jamaatis. "They attacked our men with stones," one of the protest's organisers told me. "There were old people and women and children there, but they still attacked us."

The redoubtable organiser is undeterred. She and her fellow activists are going back to the park tomorrow for another demonstration. Her friends are worried, however. They asked me not to name her after unknown assailants murdered Ahmed Rajib Haider Shuvo, one of the leaders of the Dhaka rallies, on Friday.

Whitechapel was where socialists and Jews confronted the British Union of Fascists in clashes that leftists mythologise as a grand moment of anti-Nazi solidarity. While they still talk about the Battle of Cable Street and remember 1936, it is far from clear to me where today's British left stands in relation to modern struggles against ultra-reactionaries.

Liberal muliticulturalism contains the seeds of its own negation. It can either be liberal or multicultural but it can't be both. Multiculturalism has not meant a defence of all people's rights to practise their religions and speak their minds without suffering racial or sectarian hatred. As events have turned out, it has led to official society picking the pushiest group of "community leaders" and honouring them.

In the case of British Islam, the anointed group was Jamaat-e-Islami, even though its British members included men accused of war crimes in Bangladesh. It was as if the establishment had decided that Opus Dei represented British Catholicism or Shiv Sena represented British Hinduism or the most bigoted form of orthodoxy represented British Judaism. The scoundrel left led the way down this murky alley, as it leads the way into so many dark places. Ken Livingstone and George Galloway have backed the Jamaat-dominated East London mosque, and Islamic Forum Europe, the Jamaat front organisation that now controls local politics in Tower Hamlets.

But to concentrate on the dregs of the Labour movement is to miss the point. Whitehall has been as keen on dealing with the allies of war criminals. Many East Enders have noticed that the Metropolitan Police seems less than anxious to follow up reports of menacing "Muslim patrols" or threats to drinkers at gay bars.

The moderate Muslims at the Quilliam Foundation told me that the status Britain had given to Jamaat helped push British Bangladeshis away from social democratic politics and towards radical Islam.

The British-Asian feminist Gita Sahgal launched the Centre for Secular Space last week to combat such indulgence of theocratic obscurantism. She told me that Jamaat perverts traditional faith and she should know. Not only did she name alleged Jamaat war criminals living in Britain for Channel 4 in the 1990s, she is also Jawaharlal Nehru's great niece and a distant relative of the Indira Gandhi who sent the army into Bangladesh. I admire Sahgal and Quilliam hugely, but they are mistrusted, even hated by orthodox leftwingers. The feeling is reciprocated in spades and perhaps you can see why.

Many do not want to talk about Bangladesh massacres that moved liberal opinion to outrage in the 1970s, just as many did not want to talk about Saddam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds in the run-up to the second Iraq war. These are politically inconvenient genocides they would rather forget.

The most bracing effect of the demonstrations in Dhaka and London is that the terror is not being forgotten and liberals are being forced to pick sides. Let us hope that they stop picking the wrong one.