War criminals of Bangladesh and the dark hole of the main opposition

| by Swadesh Roy

(September 28, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) The followers of accused war criminals of Bangladesh are trying to destabilize the law and order situation of Bangladesh. On 19th September evening, a group of followers of the war criminals set fire to more than thirty vehicles including a police car in the capital Dhaka. In addition, they vandalized several hundreds of cars and business houses in more than twenty districts of the country. It has been made clear; their main target was the police force. They attacked on the police and more than fifty policemen were injured on that day. Six of them are critically injured. They are admitted to hospital now.

These accused war criminal groups are also the leaders and followers of a so called political party of Bangladesh. The name of the party is Jamate Islami Bangaldesh (Jamat). This party is a self declared collaborator of the Pakistani military ruler in 1971. In 1971, Pakistani Military killed the civilian, even children and women in Bangladesh.

The terrorist group also attacked the common people and shops by the side of the street. All over the country, more than two thousand of the followers of war criminals are involved in this vandalism. Newspapers of Bangladesh published lot of news on that event. It shows that, it was a long-term pre-planned attack. The terrorist group also took training for more than one month and used gas grenade on this attack.

Government of Bangladesh has already taken a strong hand to control this terrorist group. Police and elite police force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) already arrested more than seven hundred followers of the accused war criminals. A government source of Bangladesh told that, government will continue this arrest program. Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said her government would not tolerate any type of terrorism. She has given a speech in United Nations Assemble on 20th September. In this speech, she said that, her government would not allow any type of terrorist to use the land of Bangladesh. It is proved that, the present government of Bangladesh is not allowing any type of terrorism in the soil of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has deported most of the leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). They were running their terrorist activities to take shelter in Bangladesh. Another terrorist group Harkatul Zehad (HUZI) is trying to build-up their strength in Bangladesh but the present government has already banned their activities. Besides, government has arrested most of their main leaders in the mean time.

These accused war criminal groups are also the leaders and followers of a so called political party of Bangladesh. The name of the party is Jamate Islami Bangaldesh (Jamat). This party is a self declared collaborator of the Pakistani military ruler in 1971. In 1971, Pakistani Military killed the civilian, even children and women in Bangladesh. They also raped the women of Bangladesh. Documents say that, in 1971, 3 million people were killed in Bangladesh and half million women were reaped. Jamat also helped this killing and raping. However, it happened forty years ago but the government of Bangladesh has started the trial of the accused war criminals from last one and a half year ago. The trial of the accused war criminals are going to the International Tribunal of the Violation of Human Rights. It is going on for one and a half years. The accused war criminals now understand that, they may be convicted. So they have no chance to overcome it through the court. That is why they are going to destabilize the country’s law and order situation. They are thinking that, if they can destabilize the law and order situation then the continuity of this present government may be hampered and that can give them the opportunity to escape this trial.

They tried with their full strength in 19th September but they failed. Besides, people condemned them more. On the other hand another incident of 20th September has proved that, the common people of Bangladesh are not in favor of terrorism. Some of the members of HUJY went to distribute leaflet but people caught them and handed over to the police. So, ultimately the attempt of the followers of war criminals has gone against them. On the other hand government has employed its power. They have used all their power against that terrorism. So this incident expresses two things simultaneously; one is, government has shown its position against any type of terrorism. Second is, people have shown their mind set that, they are against war criminals. However, the main opposition party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) could not understand it. They have made a mistake. They called a daylong strike with Jamat on protest of government’s hard handling of this terrorism. Some sources of the main opposition party said, the liberal group of BNP was against it. They were not in favor of the strike. Their chairperson did it by consulting some pro- Jamat persons of her party. Liberal persons of the BNP are thinking that, it is a big setback for them because their party is internationally known as an alley of terrorist party. Last time they were in power with the Islamic fundamentalist. During their time, Bangladesh was made a hub of the terrorist and many terrorist activities happened at that time. Besides, many international terrorist groups, including the people of Laden took shelter in Bangladesh. They were nursing the Indian extremist group ULFA. That is why, United States and India are not happy with them. Now the liberal people of the BNP want to come out from that era. They were trying to pull out the party from that position; but in the mean time their chairperson declared strike with Jamat and it was again proved that, BNP is also the alley of the terrorist group.

Why the leader of the main opposition has done it? It is a vital question for the future politics of the BNP. Some people can think that, it is a mistake. BNP chairperson has made this mistake by a provocation of some people; but reality is not that. Now it is clear that, the court of Bangladesh is going to trial many terrorist occurrences that happened during the time of BNP and its ally were in power. Investigations of these cases are showing that, the elder son of the BNP chairperson Mr. Tareque Rahaman is an accused person of these cases. In the mean time, some of investigations say that, elder son of the BNP chairperson is the master mind of some cases. For that reason, BNP chairperson could think that, now it is necessary to destabilize the county otherwise her son can be convicted. So she is in favor of the terrorism of Jamat. If BNP chairperson thinks in that way, it is a big mistake for her party and it is a bad sing for the country. This decision will help to push Bangladesh in favor of terrorism. So some cautious people are thinking that, Bangladesh government should tackle this situation with a strong hand while on the other hand, liberal people of the BNP have to try to pull out the party from the dark hole of the Jamat; even from the dark period of the elder son of BNP chairperson. 

(Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor, The daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com )