Ghulam Azam taken into custody

A major step forward in the trial process.

 

The arrest of former ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Ghulam Azam on Wednesday adds a vital phase to the trial process begun against the war criminals and those who committed crimes against humanity in 1971.

This is an important turning point in the trial process. Just as men like Tikka Khan were perpetrators of war crimes, Ghulam Azam symbolised betrayal and collaboration with the occupation forces of Pakistan and of crimes committed by Al-Badr, al-Shams, etc. 

As the ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, he was instrumental in aiding the Pakistani forces to form the al-Badr and al-Shams killer squads. 

These storm troopers were created to annihilate freedom fighters, political leaders and workers, commit arson, and carry out loot, plunder and rape. He was allegedly behind the creation of Razakars as the ancillary force of a murderous Pakistani regime.

What we particularly recall with horror is the heinous snuffing out of Bengali intellectuals just hours before the dawn of independence with the ulterior motive of crippling the new nation.

Without any prejudice to the trial process, now that this man has been taken into custody, the law should take its own course to bring him to justice. Though he is responsible for a shameful betrayal of his countrymen and committed crimes of historic proportions against humanity, we would like to see a fair and just trial against all the accused persons in the International Crimes Tribunal. 

That the trial could not take place during the last forty years is a national shame. Successive governments either deliberately adopted a laid back attitude or were reluctant to initiate any process of trial. We recall here with anger that President Ziaur Rahman abolished the Collaborators' Act and allowed the return of Golam Azam to Bangladesh, thus facilitating a restoration of his citizenship.

Ghulam Azam was among those who did not show even a hint of remorse for their vicious betrayal of the people even in an independent Bangladesh and went about doing their politics defending their past role. They deserve nothing but our scorn. 

Thus, it is with a sense of accomplishment that we view the trial of the war criminals, however belatedly our process of repaying our debts to the martyrs can be said to have begun.

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A good initiative

Personal visits are good, but the system needs to be fixed.

The communications minister deserves compliments for giving his personal attention to many things in his ministry that are virtually in a state of decay. The other day he was at the BRTA office to see for himself the condition there. And we are not surprised to learn of his reaction at finding most of the things there in disorder.

Of the many things that were not working, or were there that should not have been, were 'dalals' using both money and links in the BRTA office, to get vehicle documents renewed, newly issued etc. And many of the officers were absent from their work places - quite a normal phenomenon in our country we must add. There were many things that the local heads of the office should have done without having to be directed by the minister, for example, increasing the number of booths for the public. It only shows that those in charge are least interested in enhancing the quality of service that they are obligated to provide to the public.

In fact several departments in the ministry of communications, particularly the BRTA, are reported to be hot bed of corruption. Much of the ailments that afflict the transport sector, we are constrained to suggest, stem from this office. There is a strong nexus between the crooks and certain category of officials at the BRTA that collude to issue fake documents including vehicle registration and licenses. 

But we feel that while such visits are necessary these may prove to be very temporary and short-lived palliatives unless something more permanent was done. What we have in mind is the correction of the systemic flaws. And the system should set up in a manner that it should function normally and have mechanism for internal oversight. There too must be strong action against those that are guilty of dereliction of duty.

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Journalist-bashing MP Must Be Called To Account

The assault of a woman journalist by Kamal Ahmed Majumder, a lawmaker of the ruling Awami League, on the premises of Monipur High School and College at Mirpur in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday is not only unbecoming of a people's representative but also borders on criminality on more counts than one.

According to a report front-paged in New Age on Wednesday, the journalist, of the private television channel RTV, was pushed and hurled abuse at when she sought Majumder's comment on the allegation that the school was charging extra for admission. She also alleged that the lawmaker's associates 'encircled' her and her colleagues after they had come out of the school and sexually harassed her.

Moreover, the lawmaker, according to witnesses, ordered his associates to 'shoot down' the reporters, as he came out after a meeting with guardians. Suffice it to say, Majumder seems to have allowed arrogance to get better of him, and not only cut a sorry figure of himself but also bring the institution that he represents, i.e. parliament, into disrepute.

It is pertinent to recall here that guardians have long been protesting against the school realising Tk 20,000 in development fee with Tk 5,000 in admission fee fixed by the government.

According to media reports, similar allegations were also raised in 2011. By refusing to talk to the journalist and, worse still, assaulting her, unleashing his musclemen on her and making threats, the AL lawmaker has not only obstructed her journalistic pursuit for the truth, and thus perpetrated an attack on press freedom, but also seemingly betrayed his indulgence in, if not complicity with, the school's practice of realising additional fees from the students, which runs counter with the government's policy on school admissions.

Moreover, if the allegation of the journalist in question of sexual harassment by the lawmaker's associate is true, he cannot simply shirk his responsibility. Besides, as a people's representative, he is expected to uphold the law and uphold public interest needless to say, he has defaulted on both these obligations.

It is encouraging that the education ministry's response to the incident has been prompt. The ministry on Tuesday commissioned a committee to investigate the incident and submit its report within two working days. The inquiry committee appears to have begun its work in earnest, visiting the spot on the very day it was instituted and talking to the people concerned.

The education minister has, meanwhile, expressed his regret about the incident. Overall, the response of the government has thus far been beyond question. However, it needs to understand that the incident needs to be inquired thoroughly, transparently, competently and acceptably. If the lawmaker is found to have been involved in the incident as alleged, he must be called to account and punished.

A decisive and demonstrative action against the lawmaker would, on the one hand, go a long way to prove the government's commitment to the rule of law and, on the other, be deterrent to similar incidents in the future.

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3 Years of Government : Connectivity, transit dominated diplomacy

Govt focused on improving ties with India. 

Regional connectivity, transit to India, fight against terrorism and climate change debate dominated Bangladesh's diplomacy in the past three years of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.

Even though Hasina tried to focus on a greater role for Bangladesh in the international arena, especially in the global climate change negotiations, Dhaka's diplomacy centred mainly around its closest neighbour India, according to foreign policy analysts.

Hasina braved opposition criticisms in her courageous move to warm up Dhaka's otherwise cold relations with New Delhi. She cracked down on the Indian insurgents using Bangladesh territory for operations in the northeast, arrested their top leaders and handed them over to New Delhi. Her foreign policy advisers also went out of the way to mobilise public opinion in favour of providing India the road transit facilities New Delhi has been asking for since Bangladesh's independence in 1971.

Bangladesh has yet to give India full-fledged road transit facilities, but it has already been allowed to tranship goods from West Bengal to Tripura by using both river and land routes. Providing transhipment facilities to India without charging any extra fees has sparked criticisms even from those who favour boosting road and railway connectivity with India.

Hasina went ahead with improving ties with New Delhi amid criticisms that Dhaka's friendly overtures have not always been reciprocated by it.

India's decision to allow duty-free access for Bangladeshi garments, round-the-clock access to Tin Bigha corridor and the signing of $1 billion loan deal were overshadowed by New Delhi's failure to sign a promised deal with Dhaka on the sharing of the Teesta water during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's much-hyped visit to Bangladesh in September last year.

The Indian move to build a dam at Tipaimukh on the Barak river not far from Bangladesh's Sylhet district has triggered more protests in Bangladesh testing the diplomatic nerves of Hasina and her advisers.

Critics say the dam will greatly harm Bangladesh's rivers and ecology, which India denied.

However, not all were lost with India.

Dhaka and New Delhi have signed a landmark land boundary agreement to exchange the enclaves, adversely possessed lands and for demarcation of 6.5 kilometre undemarcated border, problems the two countries have inherited since the British rulers left the sub-continent in 1947. The two countries also signed thousands of pages of documents on strip maps between them.

While Bangladesh forged greater relations with India, its ties with Pakistan, another regional power, has hit the lowest point. There have hardly been any exchange of high-level talks and visits between the two countries in the past three years since Hasina's Awami League-led Grand Alliance came to power in 2009.

In a sign of growing tension, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni used her first meeting with the newly-appointed Pakistani High Commissioner Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi to ask Islamabad to offer a formal apology to Dhaka for the genocide the Pakistani military committed during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh. The meeting took place on November 20 last year at the foreign ministry.

The United States has been another major focus of Bangladesh's diplomacy in the past three years.

Even though the removal of Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus from his Grameen Bank upset Washington, Hasina's strong policy of zero-tolerance for terrorism earned her appreciation from the western powers.

Hasina still needs to work hard to heal the bruises Dhaka's relations with Washington have suffered over the Yunus issue. Diplomatic circles here say US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is delaying her trip to Dhaka because of Dhaka's maltreatment of Yunus, a recipient of America's highest civilian honour.

The foreign ministry has so far failed in its efforts to arrange a bilateral meeting between Hasina and US President Barack Obama. In her recent meeting with Dipu Moni, the US secretary of state urged Bangladesh to ensure that the media and NGOs are allowed to work freely.

On multilateral plane, Bangladesh was elected to different important bodies in the UN system, including the Human Rights Council and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

Dhaka has also been at the centre of the global negotiations on climate change and its impact on the disaster-prone countries. Vulnerable to global warming, Bangladesh has been active in pushing the developed nations to create the climate fund and disburse the money so that countries like it can cope with the change.

Dhaka's role in UN peacekeeping continued to be appreciated.

Regionally, Bangladesh's dispute with Myanmar on the Rohingya refugee issue has remained unresolved even though Dhaka's diplomats are hoping for an early solution following Hasina's recent visit to that country.

Dhaka has also moved for international arbitration on its maritime boundary disputes with India and Myanmar.

The foreign ministry deserves credit for the repatriation of thousands of Bangladeshis from Libya at the start of the anti-Gaddafi protests. But Dhaka, according to diplomatic observers, has made little progress in expanding the manpower market in the Middle East, the traditional destination of its manpower, and Malaysia.

Dipu Moni made over 100 often costly foreign visits in the past three years aiming to strengthen bilateral ties and promote multilateral diplomacy amid doubts over the benefits Bangladesh gained. 

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No good news in politics

Caretaker, EC issues give birth to confrontatio. 

 

Politics has turned more volatile and confrontational over the last three years. People fear that possible political unrest ahead of the next parliamentary polls might erupt because of the sudden cancellation of the caretaker government (CG) system.

The cancellation of the CG has already created a political stalemate as the BNP-led opposition parties have unequivocally announced they will not participate in the next parliamentary election if the CG system is not restored. 

The opposition parties, as they have already declared, will make efforts to strengthen the anti-government street agitation in the coming days to have the demand realised. 

The government and ruling AL policymakers in response keep rejecting the opposition camp's demands, believing that the cancellation of the CG has outplayed their rivals as the party itself will remain in office during the next parliamentary polls. 

And in defence of its political stance, the ruling AL may strengthen its efforts to counter the opposition on the streets. The face-off could lead to political violence in the coming days. 

The way the ruling AL-led government unilaterally abolished the CG system in June 2011 was nothing but the outcome of the pervasive culture of confrontation in politics. 

It rejected outright the demands raised by the opposition as well as a number of non-partisan eminent citizens for retaining the CG system in the interest of holding free and fair parliamentary elections. 

The Supreme Court in May declared unconstitutional and void the provision relating to the CG system, but it also stated that two more parliamentary polls could be held under the system. 

Government policymakers vehemently defended and relied on the verdict to reject the demand for retaining the CG system, although there was a controversy over the clarity of the apex court's verdict.

The government action in respect of the cancellation of the CG and non-action on some other issues clearly makes a mockery of the ruling AL's own electoral pledges to bring about changes in the culture of confrontation in politics, which has made parliament ineffective, hampered rule of law, and marred good governance.

In the wake of political violence on the streets in 2006 and 2007 centering around the ninth parliamentary polls, the AL in its electoral manifesto pledged that tolerance and decency would come into political culture and efforts would be taken to formulate a code of conduct acceptable to all.

The AL also pledged reforms for ensuring democratic practices within political parties, and promised to take all measures necessary to make parliament more effective.

But all pledges remain only on paper. The government has yet to make any move to implement the electoral pledges in order to bring about a qualitative change in political culture. 

And as a result political culture has remained bereft of any change. Even the animosities between the two arch rival camps -- AL and BNP -- are on the rise on some fronts, contributing largely to a diminishing of hope for a political consensus among them about the mode of holding the next parliamentary polls after expiry of the incumbent government's tenure. 

Given the developing situation, New Year 2012 will mark the fourth year of the AL-led government in office. The government might not be able to offer anything pleasant in people's political lives since the legacy of yesteryears' political events is set to dominate the next political course. 

The New Year may witness much heat in the political arena centering on the formation of the next Election Commission (EC) after the expiry of the incumbent EC in early February this year.

The formation of the new EC now appears to be much crucial after the cancellation of the CG that earlier took office after the expiry of a partisan government's tenure and provided all support to the EC to hold parliamentary polls since1996. 

So, the government's any unilateral move to appoint people of its own choice as chief election commissioner and election commissioners may add fuel to the opposition parties' street agitation.

In light of the bitter memories of political deadlocks the country has suffered in the pastover EC-related controversies, people aware of political developments have already voiced concern about a further deterioration of the political situation.

The rival ruling and opposition camps may not be equally blamed for the unchanged political culture and for growing anxiety and fear in the public mind. But neither of them has demonstrated the political will necessary to initiate responsible and constructive politics in the last three years.

Instead, many senior leaders and MPs of both parties were seen uninterruptedly engaging in a war of words, even to the point of making derogatory remarks and exchanging tirades in and outside parliament, thus contributing largely to a polluting of the political atmosphere. 

Thanks to the ruling party's indifference to its own electoral promise of making parliament functional, the main opposition BNP seems to have opted for holding parliament hostage to its demands in order to make political gains. 

They have been frequently boycotting the House, making it unable to function effectively. In so doing, the BNP has also ignored its electoral pledges made before the last polls to take tough measures to put a stop to the House boycott culture. 

In brief, one can say that the way things are moving across the political landscape shows a similarity with the events that led to the declaration of a state of emergency in January 2007.

Still, solutions to all the problems lie in the ruling and opposition camps' political will which is the driving force for change. And it is their political will that can offer people good news in the New Year, removing all anxiety from their political lives.

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