War Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh : War Crimes Trial in Bangladesh: No Kidnapping & No...

War Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh : War Crimes Trial in Bangladesh: No Kidnapping & No...: There are now some alleged war criminals of Bangladeshi origin in UK. Now imagine what will be the reaction of the Economist if Banglade...

War Crimes Trial in Bangladesh: No Kidnapping & No Kidding

There are now some alleged war criminals of Bangladeshi origin in UK. Now imagine what will be the reaction of the Economist if Bangladesh expresses its “intention” of abducting them from UK to place them in trial within the framework of International Court of Justice. I am sure even before Bangladesh attempts to take on such a mission- the Economist would urge the ‘global” community to put a blockade on Bangladesh so that “she comes to her senses” and “comply to the international standards”.

Last month however, in an article on Bangladesh, the Economist wrote- “In 1961 Israel kidnapped Adolf Eichmann from Argentina and put him on trial for crimes committed 20 years earlier. Eichmann had been secretary at the Nazis’ Wannsee conference that led to the Holocaust. His trial in Jerusalem was a model of meticulous process. The prosecutor was Israel’s attorney-general; the defence lawyer, a leading German attorney; the proceedings were broadcast. They were everything the Holocaust was not: open, subject to evidence and challenge, and legal.” Now why should then there be a double standard for Bangladesh???

You may (for obvious reasons) take the article as a propaganda against Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). Economist knows it. So it attempts to refute it with high-sounding phrases such as, “The Economist has no sympathy for the views of Jamaat or its backers. But justice does not exist solely for those with a particular approved outlook.” This statement indicates that the Economist is aware that the article has indeed demonstrated “sympathy for views of Jamat” (Jamat is an Islamist terrorist outfit). Economist wants to mask its position by chanting that “justice does not exist solely for those with a particular approved outlook.” Don’t forget that the Economist just praised an action taken by a state for “kidnapping” an accused from another independent state for an alleged crime “committed 20 years earlier”. Thus the bias of Economist towards Jamat cannot therefore be hidden. Unfortunately this means Bangladesh cannot dare to take up any adventurous means to bring back some of the accused now dwelling abroad - come to think of it so far Bangladesh has not expressed any such intention of kidnapping as well.

It is not clear why the Economist is against Bangladesh while she is merely bringing the accused who are dwelling within her border to justice? For the Economist it is a question of justice not being served as – “The government has interfered in the court’s deliberations. Public discussion of the proceedings has been restricted.” The truth is just the reverse. A quick Google-search is enough to demonstrate that there is no restriction on public discussion on these proceedings (it also makes you wonder Why on Earth Economist raised such a flimsy claim?!?). In fact the media attention is unprecedented over these proceedings ever since the tribunal initiated its activities. The Economist brings in the issue of government’s interference as most of the readers are expected to believe it (Economist assumes that readers are willing to believe that “in a country such as Bangladesh- these interferences are normal”). However, please note that this so called theory of interference is based on accusations brought by paid-defense lawyers and Jamat for no other reason but to undermine the credibility of the trial. It is true that the role of the government is not neutral when the interest of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh is considered. Government’s initiative to organizing the tribunal to bring the war criminals to justice outrages Jamat! But this in no way raises question regarding the neutrality of the tribunal. The government has not interfered with courts’ deliberations- it expressed urgency in getting justice at the earliest. The national parliament of Bangladesh, like any other democracy, has framed and updated the law of the tribunal to make the process “open, subject to evidence and challenge, and legal”. This law and legal process have agitated Jamat- but for no justifiable cause these had also saddened Economist. It wrote, “Sadly, most Bangladeshis are cheering on the tribunal’s flawed proceedings.”

When I wrote “Tribunal in Bangladesh sets Justice as the Priority”- I refuted many of the negative propagandas of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh and I find that it is valid also for of the Economist. The dark grammar of sickening violence of jamati brotherhood is an article which shows whom (a terrorist outfit which is now deploying its killing-squad to spread fear and anarchy in Bangladesh) the Economist is defending and the cost that Bangladesh is paying in her pursuit for justice. The double standards will have to be abandoned before justice comes into the focus of the media merchants such as the Economist.

Killing Spree of Jamat Takes New Turn

Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a terrorist outfit, orchestrated a mob attack on ruling Awami League’s anti-shutdown procession by supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Hifazat-e Islam on Thursday (11^th April 2013) left at least three people dead in Chittagong’s Fatickchari Upazila. The Islami Chhatra Shibir, Jamaat’s student front, had called the shutdown for Thursday demanding release of their President Delwar Hussen. Witnesses said, reports news media, the procession was attacked near Kazir Haat under Bhujpur Police Station at around 1:30pm following a call made on the loudspeakers of a mosque in the area. Three firefighters were also attacked as they tried to extinguish the fire of the vehicles, and a fire service vehicle was vandalised by the attackers. When the procession neared Bhujpur, an announcement was made from the loudspeakers of Kazir Haat’s ‘Boro Madrassa’ mosque saying criminals were approaching to attack the madrasa, ASP AFM Nizam Uddin of Hathazari circle said quoting witnesses. Students of the madrasa and local Jamaat supporters began hurling brickbats at the procession and attacked them with bamboo sticks and sharp weapons.

Regarding the incident, one of the leading dailies of Bangladesh reports, Local Jamaat-Shibir men, including Bhujpur union parishad Chairman Shafiul Alam Nuri, were involved in Thursday’s attacks on law enforcers and an Awami League procession in the union, according to primary police investigation. Nuri and 34 others of more than 5,000 accused in the case filed in connection with the attack were produced before a Chittagong court yesterday.... “From footage, local sources and witnesses, we have confirmed that Jamaat-Shibir men, particularly the Bhujpur union parishad chairman, and its member Taskeer, were involved in the attack,” he said. On Thursday, alleged Jamaat-Shibir men, joined by several thousand villagers, attacked an AL motor procession and law enforcers following a rumour that the marchers had killed a madrasa teacher and were about to attack the Kazirhat mosque and a Hefajat-run madrasa. Three people were killed and more than 100 people, including 15 policemen, four fire fighters and two border guards, were injured in the attack. The attackers also set fire to around 100 vehicles, including 50 motorbikes and a fire-fighting vehicle.

Another report of Daily Star, informs, “Grassroots-level activists of Jamaat-e-Islami are preparing to unleash again vicious protests in the country sensing the international crimes tribunals may convict their former chief Ghulam Azam and leader Kamaruzzaman of war crimes charges. The two tribunals are set to deliver any day the verdicts in the cases against the two top figures of the party. Some district-level senior Jamaat leaders yesterday told The Daily Star that they would enforce hartals and other sorts of protests from the moment the tribunals deliver verdicts convicting the Jamaat leaders.”

The reports reveal few alarming aspects of violence and terror used by Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh in recent months. It is true that Jamat-e-Islami is using medieval forms of violence (such as cutting of veins and limbs or slaughtering its opponents and religious minorities) from its very emergence. However, in recent months, it is using violence within a targeted approach of spreading insecurity at large to dismantle the on going trails of its leaders for crimes against humanity. In this regard, after attacking the uniform and legal institutions, it targeted public infrastructures and utilities so that the government is pressed to negotiate with Jamat. Given this sequential patterns of these waves of violence, it was only a matter of that Jamat had targeted political activists and leading political figures (such as Faruk Iqbal Bipul, Vice-President of Youth League, killed by Jamat on 11th April) . So what’s new?

-         First; jamat is playing with the emotion of general Muslims to create mob attacks by spreading rumors of attacks either on Islam or on Islamic values or on Islamic institutions etc. by alleged groups of “atheists”. It is important to note that as Jamat has no respect for the Islamic values of peace, harmony and tolerance- it has no limitation in fabricating and thereby misleading the mass to meet their violent goals.

-         Second, Jamat has masked its organization within a fake identity of an Islamic-social-movement called the Custodian of Islam (Hifazat-e-Islam). They are using this platform to portray as if those who are not politically linked with Jamat are supporting its cause as it would “protect” Islam. This ploy is revealed through the conversations between Jamat leader and leader of Hifazat-e-Islam telecasted in national news media. In this scandalous recording Jamat was found to instruct the Hifazat leadership.

-         Third, Jamat is not merely carrying out violent actions against political oppositions, at this stage; it is using a strategy of raising death-toll at any cost. This means, along with targeted attacks and killings by its killing-squad- it is pushing misled crowd to attack armed law enforcing authorities to an extent that it leads to causalities at both ends.

-         Last, Jamat is documenting all the killings on visual media and web-casting these to meet two objectives- primarily to spread fear and then to inspire all of its supporters to take on similar path of violence. During the latest attack in Chittagong, when the chased activists took refuge inside a school, Jamat’s killing-squad surrounded them and brutally jumped on them in medieval fashion. At the same time, they were making video clips on modern gadgets which could later found on YouTube. If these footage are viewed by anyone s/he will not have any hesitation in supporting the position of Bangladesh, in its move to ban this terrorist outfit.

Soon another verdict will be announced by the International Crime Tribunal of Bangladesh. This time it is Golam Azam- a man facing a strong probability of receiving the highest punishment for being the mastermind behind the paramilitary force accused of committing genocide during 1971. It is important to note that Golam Azam has been always treated as a war criminal of the Bangladesh liberation war by the general mass because there is no shortage of evidence against him. Jamat-e-Islam did not consider this negative public image of the man as a liability. In fact, Jamat did not choose to remove any of the self-proclaimed or socially branded war criminals from its rank during the last forty odd years. As for example Golam Azam was the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000.

Verdict of Golam Azam is critical as Jamat is certainly looking at this as an opportunity of accelerating its violent campaign. As it is a fascist and undemocratic outfit, Jamat cannot be negotiated through dialogue. It is high time to ban this undemocratic instrument of atrocity. Only then can there be a fair chance of practicing Islam in Bangladesh by real Muslims for whom Islam stands for peace, harmony and tolerance.

The Dark-Grammar of Sickening Violence of Jamati-Brotherhood

The Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh is carrying out atrocities across Bangladesh as its supporters are attempting to foil the on going trial of war criminals. The news media is flooded with images of burnt electric-sub-station and fallen policemen. It is also targeting the religious minorities, ransacking temples and attacking households of Hindu citizens. These rise two questions; firstly, why they are wedging a war against few selected targets and secondly, what to expect next?

The answer to the first question brings us to a strategy tried out globally by an Islamist outfit called Muslim Brotherhood. This organization has been following a very specific approach in applying terror. The same footsteps are followed in Bangladesh by Jamat-e-Islami. This Islamist terrorist organization lines up its targets as follows:

First target the “uniform”. They realize that “uniforms” specifically those associated with the law enforcing agencies are not particularly popular among the mass. People are aware of misconducts and malpractices of the law enforcing agencies (in Bangladesh the Police and Rapid Action Force etc.). This largely makes the “uniform” a hated symbol. The Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh as an obedient disciple of the Brotherhood, began its violent campaign by attacking the police. Recently, when a leader of the Chatrashibir (the student wing of Jamat and an organization recently listed as terrorist) was arrested by police, the supporters of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh deliberately attacked the police and wounded many of these men in uniforms. One of them lost both of his arms down the elbow as a result of explosions orchestrated by Jamat. They continue to attack the police keeping two lessons of global terrorist movements in mind:  

·         Jamat knows that people are disassociated with the law enforcing agencies, therefore people will not take an active role in protecting the police from the attacks of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh- for the same reason; nor would they actively protest against such acts of violence. However, every such attack would spread insecurity among the general mass.

·         Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh knows that rural communities may not be too meticulous in practicing Islam, but are very affectionate towards protection its dignity. Based on this premise, to agitates rural communities it spreads rumors (such as Islam is under attack by the government and the International War Crime Tribunals) to instigate violent mob attacks. As the police is armed and has the constitutional mandate to protect itself against fatal attacks- Jamat-e-Islami knows that the men in uniforms will certainly fire lethal shots once they are fatally cornered. Jamat knows that misinformed community people would be the prime causalities of such acts of self-defense by the police. This would further alienate the police from the mass and spread insecurity along with distrust towards the state. 

Second, target the institutions. Jamat-e-Isalmi Bangladesh is continually undermining the authority of the state regarding the trial of the war criminals. In this regard, Jamat preaches the “supremacy of holy scriptures” to portray an impression that the laws and constitutional provisions of the nation-state of Bangladesh come in conflict with Islamic scriptures. This is an attempt of undermining the laws of the land and thereby making the war crime tribunal irrelevant. Jamat has attacked the vehicle of the law Minister to demonstrate that it targets the state- specifically the institutions that works to deliver justice based on secular legislations. Once again, this is the second strata of violent campaign followed by the global movement of Muslim Brotherhood. Through these negative and violent campaigns make legitimacy of the state and its sovereignty questionable – this in turn makes the mass uncertain regarding whom to pledge loyalty.  

Third, target the infrastructure. This is one of the most sadistic strategies adopted by the Brotherhood. Based on this, Jamat-e-Islam Bangladesh had already attacked bridges and electric plants (sub-stations) to rumble. The terrorist psyche of Brotherhood preaches that once the infrastructures are damaged, people’s access to essential public utilities is cut-off. It recognizes that in the short-run this makes the campaigners (i.e. Jamat) unpopular as expensive public resources are wasted and usual standard of living is hampered. However, Jamat as an adherent follower of Brotherhood, commits to bring down public infrastructures as it knows that, after a while, people start blaming the government for not being effective in protecting its property and not being prompt in re-establishing the broken service delivery mechanisms. People thereby are taken in as hostages – once again this spreads insecurity and alienates the citizen from the state.

Fourth, attack the religious minorities. This is a cowardice and covert approach mastered by all the outfits of Muslim Brotherhood to divide citizens and to engage neighbors in self-defeating conflicts. In Bangladesh, Jamat has attacked the Hindu-temples and Buddhist-pagodas. It has killed, raped and brutalized the religious minorities in the strongholds. Jamat has attacked the religious minorities, like all other Brotherhood outlets, to mobilize emotional supports of the Muslims just because Jamat is an organization of “Muslims”. It attacks the Hindus and Buddhists to mislead the majority by implying that the minorities are attacked because they have masterminded the war-crime-trial just to harass few “Good Muslims”. 

Last, attack the politicians. Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorist strategy keeps this as the last resort. They use the above four forms of violence mainly to negotiate with the politicians in favor of their mission. Important to note that a successful negotiation in favor of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh does not only mean that the trail of the war criminals is discarded; it also means that the democratically elected government is no longer in a position to govern the state of Bangladesh. Only when negotiation fails or does not move in their favor- the terrorist cult called Muslim Brotherhood choose to attack the politicians. Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh has now reached this stage. This is the most critical junction. Once the politicians are attacked, the Brotherhood pushes the agenda of “failed state” to dismantle the democratic system of governance. Thus the outcome of negotiation and the attack on politicians is the same- defeat of democracy at the face of fascistic violence!

Conclusion:

The dark grammar of sickening violence followed by Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh must be unmasked so that we can clearly differentiate Jamat from democratic political forces. The path taken by Jamat clearly indicates that, Bangladesh has reached the final stage of violent onslaught of Bangladeshi branch Muslim Brotherhood when the politicians will be targeted if negotiation does not favor Jamat. An attack on politicians in Bangladesh would also involve attacks on the youthful-peaceful demonstrators of Shahbag Square along with attacks on the religious minorities, women and human rights activists and cultural activists across the country. Negotiation with Jamat will also lead to the same results as it would favor the undemocratic demands of a terrorist outfit that does not acknowledge the very sovereignty of the state of People's Republic of Bangladesh. This further implies that without a comprehensive legal, economic, social and political ban on the organization (on the ground of terrorism and ethnic clinging) - the future of democracy and human rights in Bangladesh cannot be ensured.