Reality now obtaining here is weird in that this wretched country under the present regime of majority of the lawmakers absolutely unelected—-formed in the course of a farcical charade of a so-called capricious election (!) through coercion and terrorisation by party cadres and members of the Awami League (AL) student, youth and labour fronts as well as the police and other disciplined forces, minus the participation of may be 85 per cent voters, thus rendering it a ridiculous pretence—- continues putting out of its mind the misdeeds in the last five years. In addition to huge plunders, gargantuan bank scams and stock market swindle, citizens’ safety and security were terribly ignored ad nauseum.
Panicky people of the country could have heaved a sigh of relief and thanked the smart looking ubiquitous policemen (both uniformed and in civvies), the smart RAB elite force personnel, other crime busters etc if the BELA chief Syeda Rizwana Hasan’s husband Abu Bakar Siddique could be rescued and abductors’ gang could be captured by law enforcers who have shown their astounding prowess in shooting and killing so many unarmed ordinary civilians, mostly rural folks, last year.
A senior scribe of the Daily Star wrote on April 20, 2014 about the safe return of abducted Abu Bakar Siddique, husband of Ramon Magsaysay Award winner BELA chief lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan, from the clutches of his captors, after 33 hours following the direct intervention of the prime minister.
The fact was otherwise. Certainly, the media did its due job and the law enforcers tried hard; but the kidnappers left him blindfolded near Ansar Camp in Mirpur in Dhaka city around 11:20 pm on 17 April. Then he hired a rickshaw from there to come to Kazipara from where he hired an auto-rickshaw to reach home. His vehicle was stopped by police at Kalabagan near his residence from where he reached home. Rizwana said that some unidentified callers gave some information and she shared those with the investigators. It was learnt that one of her recent campaigns was to save Dhanmondi playground. Asked if her work had any link with her husband’s kidnap, Rizwana said such possibilities could not be ruled out.
It is an important question worth asking whether this is an essential corollary of the AL regime which has a chronically patent attitude of not only ignoring outlaws and criminalisation, but also taking a cavalier attitude to crime control. The country is witnessing a sharp rise in “abduction by law enforcement agencies” also known as “forced disappearance” with at least 41 people subjected to such incidents in the first two months of 2014, says a news report dated 5 March. The number was 53 last year, according to statistics of rights bodies prepared from reports published in newspapers. The victims include politicians, businessmen, students, teachers, and leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and the main opposition BNP.
As long as two years have elapsed since Mrs. Tahsina Rushdir, wife of BNP leader M. Ilyas Ali, went to the highest executive of our beloved People’s Republic, Sheikh Hasina, shed tears and entreated for search and safe return of her husband who went missing from Banani in Dhaka. No action followed. BNP alleged a government agency and RAB had picked up Ilyas from his car on April 17, 2012. Ilyas came in the spotlight when he was a student of Dhaka University during the regime of military dictator HM Ershad. He was elected the general secretary of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of BNP, during the party’s first tenure after the fall of Ershad.
Today’s crime situation in Bangladesh harks back to the period from 1972 to 1975 when law and order reached the nadir. Soon after the country’s Liberation, earned at the expense of millions of lives, during the first term of the Awami League (AL) there were bloodcurdling atrocities perpetrated by the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini militia force men and the then ruling AL party cadres to suppress the voice of dissent that resulted in the killings and enforced ‘disappearances’ of thousands of people. At that time the late lamented journalist Nirmal Sen wrote, perhaps in 1973, in his column under the nom de plume ‘Oniket’: “I demand guarantee of natural death” (Aami swabhabik mrityur guarantee chai).
Headlined “Bangladesh: End Spate of Extrajudicial Killings: Opposition Members Killed in Post-Election Crackdown” the statement of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), dated January 27, 2014, says, “We are seeing a frightening pattern of supposed ‘crossfire’ killings of opposition members in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government needs to ensure proper control of the security forces and order an independent and credible investigation into these deaths.” Brad Adams is the Asia director, HRW.
In the mundane world of humdrum reality, ordinary citizens never demand anything whatsoever beyond the bare minimum from a government, be it under a potentate or whatever. The body politic questions: Of what worth is the AL government that does not arrest and punish armed goons some of whom are affiliated to its party?
Last but not least, Sheikh Hasina’s law enforcers should honestly probe and indict all murderers including those of journalist couple Sagar and Runi.
Source: Weekly Holiday
