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  #1  
Old Wednesday, April 10, 2013
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Default Bangladesh Affairs (Important Articles)

Bangladesh on the brink

Toby M. Cadman


Days of bloody riots in Dhaka are spreading throughout the country; scores are dead, thousands injured. Bangladesh has a long history of civil unrest, but the current situation is approaching historic proportions. In the past, unrest has led to military coup. Six months ago, another coup was unthinkable; now it is a possibility increasingly being discussed.

Yet while some have compared the protests to the Arab Spring, nothing could be further from the truth. In Cairo, people ousted a dictator and demanded democratic reform. In Dhaka, the demonstrations comprise two camps: the larger is made up of those seeking immediate execution of people convicted of war crimes related to the 1971 war of independence; the other is made up of those who believe the war crimes tribunals are show trials allowing the government to eliminate leaders of a critical political party that threatens to shift the balance of power in upcoming elections.

I am a member of the defence team, but was expelled from the country for complaining about the lack of due process. I am not a politician. I support no political party in Bangladesh. But I do support the rule of international law and believe that the ongoing defilement of that rule not just threatens the lives of presumed innocent defendants, it also is placing the country on the brink of chaos. The 1971 war pitted the two Pakistans against each other. Bangladesh became an independent state and the Pakistan military received effective amnesty. Bangladeshi collaborators received no amnesty.

The Awami League-led government created the War Crimes Tribunal in 2010, basing it loosely on tribunals like Nuremberg. The government rejected suggestions from the international community of the necessity for transparency, strict adherence to legal precedent and involvement of unbiased outsiders. The government wrote its own rules. Charges were brought against 11 suspects out of an estimated total of 1,600. Each defendant held leadership roles in the opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami. In the history of Bangladesh, elected governments have rotated between Awami and BNP led coalitions. Historically, each time BNP held power, its majority relied on a Jamaat coalition seat. Without its votes, the BNP is unlikely to regain power.

Early procedural actions by the tribunal raised concerns among bodies, including the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Foreign lawyers, including myself, were prohibited from participating in the defence team, prosecutors were given great latitude and defence lawyers limited in the ability to cross-examine and present evidence.

Last year, a series of tapes and emails surfaced that seemed to suggest collusion between the chief judge of the tribunal, the prosecutors, outside pro-government consultants and indications of direct instructions from the cabinet for quick convictions and death sentences.

The evidence seemed to confirm the international community’s concerns and led to the resignation of the judge. But his replacement stuck to the original playbook and the convictions are now coming down.

Demonstrations followed the first conviction, with pro-government mobs demanding the tribunal forego appeals and move straight to the gallows. A second conviction with a life imprisonment sentence roused the mobs and demonstrations turned to riots. But with the recent conviction of Jamaat leader Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the country is exploding. And, while there are indications the police took a policy of turning a blind eye toward pro-government rioters, they now seem to have lost control.

As someone who prosecuted war crimes in Bosnia, I understand the need for justice. However, I do not believe that there can be justice under the current tribunal, which is at best suspect, at worst a tool of a government looking to execute politicians for electoral gain.

What is required now is immediate and effective action to ensure that the trials of the accused before the tribunal are suspended pending an independent, international investigation into the serious allegations of gross misconduct against members of the tribunal, including judges and prosecutors, as well as senior members of the Bangladeshi government and undeclared third parties. It is unclear what steps, punitive or otherwise, the UN Human Rights Council will take in Geneva over the coming weeks. It will also be deliberating on Syria, Burma and Sri Lanka. Arguably, two weeks ago, Bangladesh paled in comparison to these, but the events of the past several days paints an entirely different picture.

Bangladesh is descending into sectarian conflict every bit as serious as its competitors for attention and has now matured into a fully-grown problem for the UN. Failure to find a resolution could see the country descend into civil war.

The writer is a London based international barrister specialising in war crimes, international terrorism, extradition and human rights. This article has been reproduced from CNN.com

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...inions/columns
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  #2  
Old Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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Bangladesh’s identity crisis

| Moonis Ahmar |


VARIOUS Islamist groups in Bangladesh are demanding that a new anti-blasphemy law be formulated under which the death penalty can be awarded to those who defame Islam and the Prophet (PBUH).

It has been rejected by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Nevertheless, the demand and the scale of the emotion and controversy it has stirred up serve to deepen political polarisation in the country. There is little doubt that the end result will be an intensification of the divide between secularists and Islamists.

In a fresh wave of protests launched by the Islamist group Hefajat-i-Islam (‘protecting Islam’) against bloggers that they consider anti-Islam, hundreds of thousands of people held rallies in Dhaka and other cities and towns across the country.

They criticised the Awami League government for not taking severe action against those who, in the recent past, augmented their purportedly anti-Islam activities through online social networks and blogs.

Islamist groups are adamant in their demand and say that they are committed to sustaining their pressure on the government to formulate laws which can award the death penalty to those found guilty of insulting Islam.

But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has unequivocally rejected these demands. During an interview given recently to the BBC, she said that “the country is a secular democracy, so each and every religion has a right to practise their religion freely”. Where is Bangladesh headed and how is the deepening schism between secular and Islamic groups impacting the country’s political landscape? How can Bangladesh deal with contradictions in its constitution which considers Islam the state religion but also mentions secularism in Article 12 of the constitution?

On June 30, 2011, the Bangladesh parliament passed the 15th Amendment bill which retained Islam as the state religion along with ‘Bismillah’. That augments the predicament: how can it be a secular state when Islam has been declared the state religion?

In a secular state, religion is a private affair and the state pursues a neutral approach on religious matters. Having a state religion would seem to indicate the overturning of the secular nature of the state.

Expressing their dismay over the compromise made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on retaining Islam as the state religion, two senior ministers in her cabinet — A.M.A. Muhith and A.K. Khandaker — argued that the amendment contradicted the first constitution of Bangladesh, promulgated in November 1972.

This original constitution of Bangladesh focused on the secular identity of the country. In 2010, two verdicts given by the Bangladesh Supreme Court had declared the fifth and eighth amendments, made in the constitution during the regimes of Gen Zia-ur-Rehman and Gen Hussain M. Ershad, unconstitutional, null and void and restored the four pillars of the state mentioned in the 1972 constitution: democracy, nationalism, socialism and secularism.

These amendments had not only made Islam the state religion but also allowed religion-based politics, which enabled the Jamaat-i-Islami and other religious parties to return to the position that had been denied to them under 1972 constitution.

The verdicts had termed the fifth and eighth amendments as having transformed Bangladesh into a “theocratic” state. But the Sheikh Hasina regime failed to completely undo these amendments. Not only has Islam been retained as the state religion but religion-based politics are also allowed.

Secularists in Bangladesh say that the Awami League government has missed the opportunity to secularise the country, particularly with the SC ruling available on the record.

Yet secularising the country by restoring the 1972 constitution to its original pillars of democracy, nationalism, socialism and secularism may open up a Pandora’s box, resulting in violent confrontation between secularists and Islamists.

Already, it is possible to detect polarisation in people’s views over the ‘long march’ from Chittagong to Dhaka under the banner of Hefajat-i-Islam. In order to counter Hefajat-i-Islam, a secular group known as Gono Jagoron Moncho (‘mass-awakening platform’) has been formed, thus escalating the threat of collision between the two groups. The situation will only get more complex over the future.

Bangladesh, which has so far been considered a moderate Muslim country, certainly has meagre scope for religious extremism. But back-to-back events in the recent past, such as the attempts made by the Awami League regime to marginalise religious parties, particularly the Jamaat-i-Islami, in politics have been counterproductive.

The issue of bloggers perceived as anti-Islam has been exploited by Islamic groups to reassert their position by holding countrywide protests, many of which have turned violent. But what is obvious from the prevailing confrontation between Islamists and secularists is the country’s identity crisis. Will Bangladesh have an Islamic identity, secular identity or an identity based on Bengali or Bangladeshi nationalism?

When Gen Zia-ur-Rehman became the president of Bangladesh and launched the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, he replaced the slogan of Bengali nationalism propagated by the Awami League with Bangladeshi nationalism.

Bengali nationalism promoted the ethnic identity of Bengalis while undermining the existence of other ethnic groups and religions. Bangladeshi nationalism contained a blend of culture and religion so as to differentiate it from secular Bengali nationalism.

The erosion of the secular character of Bangladesh deepened when Gen Ershad declared Islam as the state religion. However, the promotion of Bangladeshi nationalism and the declaration Islam as the state religion by the martial law regimes of Gen Rehman and Gen Ershad aimed to provide legitimacy to their undemocratic rule.

The use of religion for political purposes, while undermining democracy and secularism, served the purpose of the country’s military dictators but provided enormous space to Islamic forces. The legacy of generals Zia and Ershad still haunts Bangladeshi secularists in terms of promotion of religion and allowing religion-based parties to enter the mainstream political arena of Bangladesh.

The writer is a professor of international relations at the University of Karachi.

amoonis@hotmail.com

http://dawn.com/
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Old Sunday, May 19, 2013
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Can Pakistan, BD move beyond apologies

Osman Khan

Our Pakistani friends referred more to as ‘friends’ of hostile near and distant neighbors rather than their own country, are having a ball of a time in Pakistan despite their anti-Pakistan rhetoric obliging their hosts while being abroad on invitations.
In the coterie of such ‘friends’ that recently assembled in Bangladesh to receive personal awards or on behalf of their elders who had contributed in one way or the other towards Bangladesh’s independence, a lady belonging to the art circle of Pakistan was demanded Pakistani establishment to apologize to Bangladesh on the purported atrocities carried out on Bangladeshis by Pakistani armed forces deployed then in East Pakistan.
At home the same lady has been rewarded for harboring anti-state views through her induction as the health minister in the care taker government in Punjab under Mr. Najam Sethi, whose own loyalties to the state of Pakistan were put to question in 1990s when he was arrested more than once, only to be released under American pressure.
In the absence of national accountability of such people, the coterie only gets bolder in discrediting their own country abroad. No wonder, they routinely get invited by Indian and Bangladeshis to make their anti-Pakistan aspersions and comments look authentic through well thought out cultural and academic activities in their countries.
In their misdemeanor, they tend to become a party to their hosts’ anti-Pakistan ventures that are only meant to castigate Pakistan and its armed forces and the ISI on various issues.
Our self boasted spiteful media and art related personalities were recently in Bangladesh attending a ceremony that the latter organized to what it called was held to honor the friends of Bangladesh who had helped their causes in 1971 that resulted in creation of Bangladesh.
On the occasion while talking to media persons the ‘friends’ earned accolades from host country’s officials, journalists and academicians when they in a state of predisposition asked their own country to apologize to Bangladeshis on the purported atrocities carried out by Pakistani armed forces back in 1971.
While demeaning their own country they forgot their Pakistani brethren whose dear and loved ones lost their lives against heavy odds in hostile environments to save their country from breaking up. Every year in December, these Pakistanis seek justice against those (Bangladeshis) who massacred their blood relations remains of whom have not been returned to them by Bangladeshis.
Who would take to task the vicious Mukti Bahinis who raped and mercilessly butchered personnel of the armed forces and other left over Pakistanis? Our erstwhile friends of Bangladesh should have taken some time to ponder on the intensity of the trauma that the families of those Pakistanis have to pass through every year who had lost their blood relations in the then East Pakistan at the hands of Indian sponsored Mukti Bahinis before asking their own country to apologize.
Currently, an Indian hired American lobbying firm is working hard wooing US Congressmen to work towards approving a bill that would demand Pakistan to apologize to Bangladesh for the purported atrocities carried out by Pakistan’s armed forces in the Eastern wing of United Pakistan.
The ‘friends’ must have felt happy on the move and who knows they may also visit US and meet Congressmen to join hands with them in demanding Pakistani apology.
While these Indian sponsored anti-Pakistan moves continue, a huge number of Bangladeshis gathered at Times Square in New York on 13th of this month and protested against the dictatorial moves of Awami League’s leader Sheikh Hasina Wajid, the present head of the government in Bangladesh. The protestors raised their concerns on the brutality of Bangladeshi government against Muslim leaders and the wide range of abuse of human rights being committed by her government in Bangladesh.
The participants of the rally carried huge play cards and raised slogans in an effort to bring to attention of the international community on the naked civilian terrorism being carried out by Hasina Wajid’s government against its own people.
Some of the slogans read; ‘I have the right to speak, Don’t torture me’, ‘save Bangladesh’, Stop injustices in Bangladesh’ and ‘Bangladesh at war with its own people’. The rally was addressed by various speakers conspicuous amongst which was Nihad Awad {Director of council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)}. In his address on the occasion he pointed out that the existing Bangladeshi Tribunal’s workings were proven tainted with outside influence (India) but still, it meted out death penalties. Other speakers that addressed the rally included representatives from the ‘Muslim Ummah of North America and Dr, Sheikh Ubaid, co-chair of Muslim Peace Coalition, USA.
A Resolution was also passed on the occasion demanding that Bangladesh government; cease crackdown on peaceful rallies in Bangladesh; stop the intimidation campaign against independent journalists and opposition’s politicians; release all the journalists who are in jail immediately particularly Mr. Mahmoodur Rahman, editor of the newspaper, Amar Desh; disband the present war crimes tribunal which in fact is a Kangaroo court; establish a truly independent international tribunal against war crimes to provide justice for both Bengali and Bihari victims and to punish perpetrators from all sides; vacate the death penalty awarded to opposition leaders and Islamic scholars by the Kangaroo court; set up a truth and reconciliation commission so that the great nation of Bangladesh can start the healing process and move forward; form an independent commission to investigate the murder and arson that took place in the last few months and prosecute the perpetrators including those belonging to law enforcement agencies.
Para:2 of the same resolution demanded of the US government to force Bangladeshi government to follow the rule of law and appoint a new and true international war crimes tribunal as it was done for Bosnia, Rwanda and Sierra Leon by the UN. Furthermore, a truth and reconciliation commission be established to start the healing process in Bangladesh.
Pakistan needs a proactive approach in convincing Bangladesh to prosecute all those who mercilessly killed Pakistanis including children and women at the fag end of the war in Bangladesh to provide justice to the affected families. We have slept over the issue for far too long.
Our failure to pursue the case has provided an opportunity to anti-Pakistan elements inside and outside the country especially in India and Bangladesh that traditionally exploit our soft approach towards the issue.
Till the time the case remains pending, the naysayers of Pakistan and Bangladesh amity will only flourish in their grandeur designs to keep both the countries at bay with each other.

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/
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