Respected opposition politicians tortured by government

Everywhere including Bangladesh old people are respected; but this does not seem to be the practice of the Awami League government. Even the PM makes derogatory comments on our lone Nobel Prize winner Dr. Mohammad Yunus. Police in civvies detained pretty senior BNP standing committee members Barrister Moudud Ahmed, M K Anwar and Barrister Rafiqul Islam Miah from the city’s Karwanbazar area on Nov 8 evening.

The arrest was made hours after the BNP-led 18-party alliance the next election under a non-party caretaker government.   A team of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police picked up the three stalwarts of the main opposition BNP as they came out of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel where they went to the hotel to attend a programme marking the founding anniversary of Bangla  daily Prothom Alo. Later, they were taken to the DB headquarters at Minto Road in Dhaka. Abdul Awal Mintoo and Shimul Biswas were detained outside Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan residence early on November 9 last.

It was good to read the article of Editor of the Daily Star Mr. Mahfuz Anam in his column decried the way opposition leaders are being arrested, implicated in cases of murder, use of explosives and violence is not rule of law but terrorising the opposition by abusing the law. What Sheikh Hasina’s government is doing is destroying the whole notion of rule of law by flouting it, bending it, distorting and downright abusing it. It is taking the desire of the people to see strong action taken against the violence unleashed by the recent hartals and using it against the criminals among the BNP rank and file, but instead using it against top leaders who cannot even remotely have been associated with it.

“By so doing the Awami League government is setting a dangerous precedent of how to use the legal system to harass, weaken and selectively imprison opposition leaders before a national election and thereby cripple the opposition.  The ruling party is behaving as if there is no tomorrow, and that political power will never change and a day will not come when it will have to sit on the opposition benches”, he wrote.

The three senior leaders of the BNP, namely, Moudud Ahmed, M.K. Anwar, Rafiqul Islam Mia, and two others, Shamsur Rahman (Shimul Bishwas) and Abdul Awal Mintoo, were sent on an eight-day remand for questioning in the following two cases:

1. On 24th September, 2013, according to the case statement, 54 BNP leaders and activists named in the FIR along with 80/90 other unnamed persons, under the planning and instruction of the detained five BNP leaders, brought out a sudden procession in front of Ideal School and College and stopped the flow of traffic to create panic amongst the public. They also vandalised cars and attacked their drivers in order to kill them. The procession also attacked the police and prevented them from carrying out their duties.

In addition, the accused five detainees on various TV talk shows and in public meetings termed this government as “illegal” and thereby instigated government officials to desist from obeying the law.

2. On 5th November, 2013 the same accused five BNP leaders are supposed to done the same things with similar results, only the location being different.

Earlier, in April 2012, the acting Secretary General of BNP, Mirza Fakhrul, among the better educated politicians in the country, was sent to jail, along with many other top leaders, for torching a vehicle in front of the PMO. In this case M.K. Anwar, Brig. Gen.(retd)  Shah Hannan and former energy minister Khandakar Musharraf were also sued.

In May 2012, Fakhrul and others were also charged with throwing a handmade bomb inside the secretariat.  In this case BNP alliance party leaders Oli Ahmed, a former minister, and Andaleeve Rahman Partho, MP and a barrister, were also sued.

Can it be credible that these leaders who have spent years in politics and had been years in power as ministers, with some being elected members of parliament, can become common thugs and criminals? The reason for the appeal for remand in the two cases filed most recently is that they need to be questioned to dig further as to their future plans to cause disruption and violence.

“Is it credible that these people, given their age, can actually be involved with the type of violence that we  have been recently seeing in the streets? There is no record of these people being involved with terror and violence. In fact they are known for being voices of moderation in intra-party debates.

In both parties there are two very distinct groups.  Just as in AL there are those who take a hardline on the opposition, there are others who preach understanding. The same is true of the opposition as well. The BNP leaders under discussion are known for their moderate positions.

On 24th September, 2013, according to the case statement, 54 BNP leaders and activists named in the FIR (First Information Report) along with 80/90 other unnamed persons, under the planning and instruction of the detained five BNP leaders, brought out a sudden procession in front of Ideal School and College and stopped the flow to traffic to create panic amongst the public. They also vandalized cars and attacked their drivers in order to kill them. The procession also attacked the police and prevented them from carrying out their duties. In addition these five leaders on various TV talk shows and in public meetings termed this government as ‘illegal’ and thereby instigated government officials to desist from obeying the law.

On 5th November, 2013 these leaders are supposed to have done the same things with similar results, only the location being different.

Anam said, “We all know what it means to take one on remand. It is where all means (read illegal and violence) are used to extract information. These methods include torture, or methods verging on torture, which is never admitted by the police or the government. In the best case scenario these age and veteran politicians will be subjected to long stretches of sleep deprivation, high voltage light, high decibel noise, uncomfortable bed, restricted access to toilet and windowless rooms. Taking political leaders on remand was unimaginable till most recently. But gone are the days when politicians were treated with dignity in prison.”

The acting editor of Amar Desh ha sso far been imprisoned twice. It will not be irrelevant to mention here that Mahmudur Rahman, acting Editor of Bengali daily Amar Desh was tortured in different ways during remand. He had to stay in a crammed 12×15 ft. cell where there were as many as 35 accused in the Detective Branch (DB) office. He could not take food, bathe and sleep. Previously he was given electric shock during his 13-day remand as reported in a Bangla daily Naya Diganta dated July 31, 2013.

BNP’s joint secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was arrested at 4 o’clock in the morning of November 30, 2013 while he was fast asleep in their Naya Paltan office. Police climbed on to the balcony on the first floor of the building by using a ladder, broke the lock and stormed into the building in the middle of the night to arrest Rizvi. They ransacked a number of other rooms on the lower floors. Police behaved roughly with Rizvi. He was in a lungi and was not even allowed to put on trousers. Police also rounded up BNP’s Executive Committee Member Belal Mohammad and two television reporters who had been asleep there. (Vide Dhaka Tribune, dated December 1, 2013)

Senior politician Kazi Zafar Ahmed of Jatiya Party (Zafar) said the process of arrest of Ruhul Kabir Rizvi shows that a faction of law enforces violated human rights and committed crimes against humanity which is punishable offence. He demanded of exemplary punishment of the persons who were involved in it.

Source: Weekly Holiday