Bangladesh: Politics of hate, An ancient vendetta continues to eat away at public life

Nov 18th 2010 | DHAKA

MORE than two years after the army aborted a dismal interregnum and released from jail the leaders of the country’s two rival political dynasties, the politics of hate and attrition grind away in Bangladesh. The thanks go mainly to the personal vendetta of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, one of the two leaders, against the other, Khaleda Zia.

On November 13th Mrs Zia was evicted from her home of nearly 30 years in Dhaka’s cantonment area. The move triggered a hartal, a protest strike called by Mrs Zia’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Violence broke out between her supporters and those of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL). The country’s third political force, the army, has backed the High Court’s eviction order. Shrewdly, Sheikh Hasina has allocated the vast plot surrounding Mrs Zia’s home for housing for the families of 57 military officers killed in a mutiny early last year, soon after the AL swept to power.

The eviction is part of the League’s mission to break the BNP’s back. It is obsessed with airbrushing from history the legacy of the political dynasty founded by Mrs Zia’s late husband, General Ziaur Rahman, hero of Bangladesh’s war of independence against West Pakistan in 1971.

In February the government renamed Dhaka’s Zia International Airport after a respected Sufi saint. It has decided to “reprint” the 1972 constitution to reflect a landmark Supreme Court ruling in July which, among other things, declared null and void the rule of various military governments, including General Zia’s, following the assassination in 1975 of Bangladesh’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. (Sheikh Mujib, as he is usually known, happens to be the father of Sheikh Hasina.) In October a court issued an arrest warrant for Mrs Zia’s younger son in a money-laundering case. Four corruption cases stand against Mrs Zia, while 13 cases against Sheikh Hasina, filed during the army interregnum, have been withdrawn.

Yet the BNP was in a shambles even before the recent onslaught. The party has just 30 seats in a 300-strong parliament, which it boycotts. It is split: Mrs Zia can count only on the support of a minority of BNP leaders. Meanwhile, the leaders of the BNP’s main ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party, have all been jailed. They stand accused of alleged atrocities during the country’s war of secession, and face possible execution. The alliance has hurt the BNP’s reputation, particularly internationally, says Moudud Ahmed, a former prime minister and Mrs Zia’s lawyer. Yet the BNP needs Jamaat-e-Islami’s electoral support.

Mrs Zia’s only hope is that people will get fed up with rising prices, power shortages and the open encouragement by Sheikh Hasina’s government of the kind of predatory capitalism not seen since, well, Mrs Zia’s rule in 2001-06. The government’s high approval ratings are on the slide. At some point, Mrs Zia appears to calculate, mass adulation will attach to her eldest son and heir apparent, Tarique Rahman, now in British exile. Yet Mr Rahman, who left army custody with a snapped spinal cord in 2008, is the symbol of Mrs Zia’s kleptocratic rule. He is loathed even among the BNP’s leaders.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Hasina’s vendetta has the support of the Indian government, with whom Bangladesh’s relations are much improved. The end to Mrs Zia’s political dynasty has become almost a tenet of national security for India, which sees her family meddling in India’s domestic affairs. This month Mr Rahman’s right-hand man told investigators that the Pakistan embassy in Dhaka and the United Liberation Front of Asom, a militant group fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic Assamese in India’s north-east, paid the BNP (for which, read Mr Rahman) and Bangladeshi spooks some $10m for the secret transshipment to Indian insurgents of ten truckloads of arms.

Western governments also oppose Mr Rahman’s return. They supported the thinly veiled army coup in January 2007, which prevented the BNP from stealing an election. The coup also brought in a crackdown on fringe groupings of Islamic extremists courted by the former BNP government. Continuing the crackdown is a centrepiece of AL policy.

Despite the government’s sliding ratings, popular support for Sheikh Hasina’s clan dwarfs that for Mrs Zia’s. And with such a tailwind, it is extraordinary how the League remains stuck in a divisive politics based on personal grievances that go back nearly four decades. Time, you might think, to get on with governing.

main news: http://www.economist.com/node/17525830?story_id=17525830

Amnesty International on ARBITRARY ARRESTS of Opposition in Bangladesh

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT


23 February 2010

For immediate release

AI Index: ASA 13/005/2010



BANGLADESH: POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ARBITRARY ARRESTS HAMPER IMPARTIAL INVESTIGATION OF CAMPUS VIOLENCE



The government of Bangladesh must refrain from arbitrary mass arrests, which appear to have been directed only at the opposition student activists. Criminal investigations must be impartial, regardless of the suspect’s political affiliation or party membership. Moreover, the authorities must ensure that the detainees are brought promptly before a court and allowed to challenge the legality of their detention, that they are not at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, and that they have access to their lawyers, families, and proper medical care.


Last week more than 300 supporters of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami, were arrested in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong and other cities. The majority of them were picked up from dormitories or rented accommodation in and around university campuses. It is not known if any of them have been charged with a recognizable criminal offence.


The arrests followed a wave of violence at major university campuses in Bangladesh, where rival student activists of the ruling Awami League party and opposition parties have fought each other over control of university halls of residence. At least four students, one from Dhaka, two from Rajshahi, and one from Chittagong universities have been killed in the midst of these clashes since early February.


The death of the first student on 2 February at Dhaka University was due to violent clashes between two rival factions of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League. No members of this group appear to have been investigated for his death. The government’s apparent reluctance to investigate in this case further highlights the political motivations underlying its response to the violence at the universities.


Bangladesh Chhatra League members have also been involved in clashes with the Islami Chhatra Shibir at Rajshahi, Chittagong and other university campuses. While members of the Islami Chhatra Shibir have been the main targets of the mass arrests, Bangladesh Chhatra League activists have continued to clash and attack opposition supporters, with no accountability.


Amnesty International acknowledges the responsibility of government authorities to prevent violence at the university campuses and bring those responsible for the killings to justice. However, the one-sided manner in which the police have carried out the arrests so far indicates that criminal investigations into the violence are unlikely to be impartial or fair.


Raids on student residences have been carried out at random and any Islami Chhatra Shibir supporters found there have been detained. People have reportedly been arrested arbitrarily as police have made no efforts at the time of arrest to separate ordinary student members of the Islami Chhatra Shibir from those suspected of involvement in the attacks.


The majority of the detainees are being held in jails. More than 70 of them are detained at the Dhaka Central Jail; up to 100 at the Rajshahi Central Jail; and up to 70 at the Chittagong Central Jail. More students have been picked up from other cities. According to reports, lawyers were not allowed to meet them, so they have effectively been deprived of the right to appoint legal counsel and apply for release on bail.


Between 30 and 35 of the Islami Chhatra Shibir detainees are reportedly in police custody under interrogation. Torture in police custody is widespread in Bangladesh. Detainees in police custody have no access to lawyers or family visits during the period of their remand even though there are legal provisions for such access.


The government’s politically motivated response to the violence has allowed attacks by members of the ruling party’s student wing to continue, including against news reporters covering these attacks. Bangladesh Chhatra League activists attacked and injured 11 journalists working for different Bangladeshi dailies who were covering Bangladesh Chhatra League’s incidences of beating of other students on the Rajshahi university campus on 11 February.


Background


Violence at university campuses is a frequent occurrence in Bangladesh. Groups involved in the violence are student wings of the main political parties. These student groups are mainly Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL, affiliated to the Awami League, which has the majority of seats in Parliament but rules in coalition with 13 much smaller parties); Islami Chhatra Shibir, (Shibir, affiliated to Jamaat-e-Islami, currently in opposition), and Bangladesh Chhatra Dhal (BCD, affiliated to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, currently in opposition). These groups have in the past reportedly kept arms and have used violence leading to deaths and injury of people. Political parties have pledged, but failed, to disarm them. None of the political parties has condemned the violence carried out by their own members, while often only blaming their opponents for the violence.

main article: http://goo.gl/AblRe

Amnesty International on Mirza Abbas's home torture

Bangladeshi security forces used excessive force during raid
Victims of the raid described sustained and unprovoked beatings

Victims of the raid described sustained and unprovoked beatings

© Amnesty International

Amnesty International has photographed male and female victims' injuries

Amnesty International has photographed male and female victims' injuries

© Amnesty International

30 June 2010

Bangladeshi security forces used excessive force during a raid on the house of a senior opposition politician on 27 June, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) carried out a violent attack on those gathered peacefully inside the house of Mirza Abbas, a leading Bangladesh National Party (BNP) politician and former mayor of Dhaka, according to testimony given to Amnesty International.

Victims of the raid described sustained and unprovoked beatings of activists and Mirza Abbas' family members, denial of medical treatment after arrests, and the eliciting of signatures on blank forms as a condition of release, which Amnesty International suspects are for the purpose of falsifying confessions.

Amnesty International has photographed injuries to male and female victims of the beatings.

More than twenty people were injured during the raid, including Mirza Abbas’ wife Afroza Abbas and his 85 year old mother.

BNP supporters had gathered at Mirza Abbas’s house after he been arrested and accused of involvement in violence during a general strike called by the party.

"The government should immediately investigate the circumstances surrounding this violent raid and ensure that any people hurt by security officials receive justice and appropriate compensation,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Bangladesh researcher, from Dhaka.

Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to order security forces to comply with their obligations to exercise restraint and avoid the use of excessive force as the country faces a series of clashes during protests.

At least 80 people have been injured over the past two days as police clashed with striking textile workers and protesters contesting the arrest of three top leaders of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party.

The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), called for a national strike on 27 June. The strike, which was generally orderly, sparked off clashes between the police and demonstrators in some parts of the country, including in Dhaka.

Hundreds of people have been arrested on allegations of involvement in violence, including Mirza Abbas.

“There has been no evidence that the people in Mirza Abbas’ house were violating any law or in any way threatening anyone, so the violent actions of RAB seem totally unjustified,” said Abbas Faiz. “Given RAB’s history of using of excessive, even lethal, force, this incident demands an immediate and strong reaction from the authorities.”

The RAB claims that the security forces entered the ground floor office of Mirza Abbas after people had thrown pieces of bricks at them from that direction.

However, video footage taken by journalists and viewed by Amnesty International shows no sign of people attacking RAB officers in or around the house, but rather, shows RAB personnel attacking people inside the house.

One woman told Amnesty International that she was in the courtyard fetching water when RAB personnel stormed in and grabbed her: "They beat me on my back, the back of my thighs, my arms and my shoulders with a baton. I fell on the ground but the RAB people continued beating me."

She said four or five men beat her until she lost consciousness, and that she did not go to hospital out of fear of arrest there.

Another woman said she was handcuffed in front of the house, then was tied up with a rope and dragged into the courtyard where she was beaten.

She was detained for eight hours by police, denied medical treatment, and only released on condition that her husband sign a blank piece of paper that they feared would be used to manufacture false evidence.

A woman who ran to the bathroom to hide from the security forces told Amnesty International that the RAB chased her, forced the bathroom door open, dragged her out and began to beat her. "I kept asking why they were beating me, but they did not stop and did not answer."

A RAB official who spoke to Amnesty International said "perhaps there should have been more restraint; if there have been excesses, these would be investigated."

However, the government has so far ignored calls from BNP politicians and at least one MP of the governing Awami League to address RAB excesses in the raid.

"The government of Bangladesh must stop praising security forces for carrying out human rights violations, and instead make them accountable to the rule of law," said Abbas Faiz.

Amnesty International also called for investigations into any criminal attacks carried out by demonstrators during the general strike to be carried out through the criminal justice system, not punished by security forces outside of the due process of law.
main article: http://goo.gl/eGpXL