Lieutenant General (rtd) Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy moved houses over 20 times, spending some nights in a slum, to avoid being picked up by Bangladesh law enforcement authorities after giving an interview in July critical of Bangladesh’s current political and military establishment.
Speaking from his own home where he has now returned, Sarwardy told Netra News:
“They were looking for me to correctly identify and kill me. Somehow, they could trace me in one house. I left. I changed to about 23 houses in different places outside Dhaka, far away. It was very terrible day and nights I passed. … [I stayed in] different places, including slums can you believe it.”
At one point whilst in hiding, he says he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, asking “why are they going to kill me.” She however never replied.
The retired military officer said that he returned home after receiving an indication from a senior army officer that his life would not be at risk if he did so.
Although Sarwardy says that he is no longer hiding, he says he is still afraid.
“I am still not feeling secure to move with all constitutional and citizens’ rights. I am not free to move. Even doctors in private hospitals are afraid of giving me treatment. I cannot seek a job. I have been forced to leave a job,” the retired Lieutenant General said.
Sarwardy told Netra News that the key point he wanted to make in his original Facebook live interview with the US based journalist Kanak Sarwar which had forced him into hiding, concerned the lack of democratic rights within the country.
“People do not have the right to speak. There is no democracy, people do not have the right to exercise democratic rights. There is no fair election. So, the government have to depend on police military and other organisations. That is what was crux of the issue and I said that I will wait for people to rise and stand for the country and sacrifice.”
He was however very disappointed that he received no support from individuals or organisations.
“I stood for my country and not for myself. And very unfortunately none of the media organisations, especially journalists in Bangladesh, none of the politicians in Bangladesh, none of the intelligentsia in Bangladesh spoke or stood for me. That surprised me,” he stated. “At least one organisation should have at least said “lets us work together”, but nobody [did].”
He denied he had any connection with China, saying that he was surprised by the rumours, but said he supported greater involvement of China in the country. “Bangladesh people would like to see a more balanced cooperation between India and China in Bangladesh. Bangladesh media, business, military, administration, everything is dominated by India, why is China not showing an interest, except business, to develop its relations with people of Bangladesh.”
He concluded by saying that, “I want to fight, I want people to rise. I want my people to really bring a change this time. And It is possible. One leadership. One man is good enough to turn the tide.”
Background Reading:
Retired Lieutenant General in hiding after criticising army chief and government on Facebook live interview (Netra News, July 16th, 2020)General Sarwardy’s interview refocuses attention on the appointment of General Aziz Ahmed as army chief (Netra News, July 18th, 2020)
The Bangladesh military’s hold on the country’s media (Netra News, July 21st, 2020)
Netra News
Medium blog by Netra News.
