Withdraw cases against Mahfuz and Mahmud

An incredibly excessive number of 69 litigations in a week against journalist Mahfuz Anam—-15 sedition and 54 defamation lawsuits claiming a whopping Taka 82 thousand and 651 crore—-have been filed by zealot leaders of the ruling Awami League (AL) headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and pro-AL student body Bangladesh Chhatra League. Furthermore, a Narayanganj court ordered the arrest of Anam on a defamation charge at which journalist leaders have justly expressed disapproval because the parliament scrapped this provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) five years ago.
Anam, editor of the Daily Star, has been sued for confessing that he had published a report based on press release in 2007 implicating Sheikh Hasina in a corruption case, issued by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) of the Bangladesh Army during the tenure of the military-backed caretaker administration of General Moin U. Ahmed and Fakhruddin Ahmed. Far from buying Anam’s admission of guilt, some pro-AL sycophants have gone to the extent of alleging him to have committed sedition, which refers to inciting people to revolt against the authority of a State.
During the trial of the case on payments of about $435,000 from businessman Azam J Chowdhury through AL leader Sheikh Selim from 1996 to 2001, Sheikh Hasina denied the charge, saying that the government’s anti-corruption drive was politically motivated. [Vide report dated 30 January 2008, bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7217980.stm]. It was an irony of fate for her that the AL chief on 15 March 2007 had claimed that Gen. Moin U-Fakhruddin government was the result of her party’s movement. [Vide 15 March2007, opinion.bdnews24.com/bangla/archives/3008].
If publishing the unverified news item is to be deemed to be an act of sedition or incitement to rebellion, then with the exception of the Holiday and the New Age, most of the twenty something major Bengali and English dailies of the country dared not defy the DGFI and printed the same materials day after day.
Looking back, historians might equate Gen. Moeen U’s appearance on the country’s political scene with Nawab Sirajuddowlah’s army chief Mir Jafar Ali Khan with support from the British East India Company. Now retired General Moeen U Ahmed’s army career stalled until BNP was elected to power in 2001. He is from Noakhali close to Feni, birthplace of BNP supremo Khaleda Zia’s father. Gen. Moeen made this geographical proximity his selling-point and started strenuous efforts to curry favor for himself with the BNP power-brokers. [Vide 0 — 2—hero. blogspot. com/2007/10/general-moeen-u-ahmeds-career].
During her previous administration, when it came time to pick a Chief of Army Staff who would serve through the 1996 election, Khaleda Zia opted for efficiency and service seniority over political expediency, and picked Lt. Gen. Nasim over commanders perceived to be more loyal to the government. Lt. Gen. Nasim promptly tried to stage a coup and overthrow the government. Keeping that particular lesson in mind, Khaleda decided this time to pick a general who would know during every second of his job that he was only there thanks to his servility to his political masters. Alas, Gen. Moeen staged a bloodless coup on January 11th and promoted himself to four-star General, and repugnantly became the first Army Chief to have his effigy burnt by Dhaka University students. [Ibid]
There are more scary facts. Indian correspondent Srabanti Majumder writing in the weekly Blitz of India, noted in a report captioned “Bangladesh, Untold story of Sheikh Hasina’s arrest.” It said, “Almost 15 days prior to arrest of Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, a number of leading leaders of the party named Abdur Razzak, Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Sajeda Chowdhury — known as the RATS —met some of the senior military officials at a house in Dhaka’s Gulshan area to ‘minus’ Hasina. [Vide ‘Obama effect’ vis-a-vis Bangladesh dated 24 January 2009, www. Dhaka mirror. Com / column /obama- effect -vis -a- vis-bangladesh].
In those days of extreme adversity and misfortune in Sheikh Hasina’s life and career, it was an unexpected pleasant surprise, her arch rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia—-also in prison then—-was the only soul who had the magnanimity and courage to warn the military-backed administration not to repress and harass Hasina. But unfortunately for Khaleda, her considerateness and courtesy backfired!
Harking back to the one-party BKSAL rule of 1974-75 when all newspapers were banned except four government dailies, the AL has a murky and darkly legacy of muzzling the media. During that regime, one of the most well-known newspaper editors of the subcontinent, Abdus Salam was sacked from the Bangladesh Observer; Enayetullah Khan, editor of the Holiday, and poet Al Mahmud, editor of the Ganokontho, were imprisoned. But on the contrary the BNP—-now headed by Khaleda—-has been media-friendly. “President Ziaur Rahman repealed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s restrictions on the press in 1976, and allowed private newspapers to reopen”, says Censorship: A World Encyclopedia, Derek Jones, 2002; Routledge Taylor & Francis.
During the AL rule from 2009 till date the nation has shuddered to witness horrifying seven contract murders by the RAB personnel; custodial deaths of opposition leaders’ killings in the name of encounters by the RAB, police and other agencies; enforced disappearances of opposition leaders etc. The AL government has shut down Channel One TV, Diganta TV, banned Bengali daily Amar Desh and incarceration of its editor Mahmudur Rahman who has been in jail as a prisoner of conscience for about 900 days in two terms.  After long 48 months the government could not make any headway in probing the murder in their Dhaka apartment on 11 February 2012 of the journalist couple Sagor and Runi. Journalist union leader, senior newsman and opposition leader’s press adviser Shaokat Mahmud has been imprisoned on flimsy charges of arson attack in last August.
Last but not least, indeed democracy and the media are in dire straits here. The government should withdraw all cases against Mahfuz Anam and Mahmudur Rahman.

Source: Weekly Holiday