16 rights groups call for Commission of Inquiry

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Bangladeshi blogger and social activist Ashif Entaz Rabi hosted a TV talk show about a slaying of a publisher by Islamic extremists, he faced a torrent of threatening phone calls. He says young men with earpieces started loitering outside his workplace, and a militant website urged followers to "send this Ashif to Allah."

But Bangladeshi authorities told him they couldn't protect him, saying he'd need the kind of security usually reserved for the prime minister to keep him safe. Instead, they told him to take care of himself, and write something good about Islam and the government.

Rabi, 37, is in Washington at the invitation of a human rights group, calling attention to the dozens of writers and bloggers who fear they could be the next victim of a wave of savage attacks on liberals and religious minorities in Bangladesh. The violence has had a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the traditionally moderate Muslim nation.

Tuesday [marked] World Press Freedom Day, and a coalition of rights groups are calling for a U.N.-backed inquiry into the killings because Bangladesh's government has failed to address the situation. They say "an atmosphere of complete impunity" in the South Asian nation is emboldening the killers. Since the beginning of 2015, at least nine intellectuals, academics, writers, bloggers, and activists have been hacked to death in targeted assassinations.

Rabi attended the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the weekend, and is due to meet Tuesday with a top State Department envoy on human rights, Tom Malinowski, to discuss the deteriorating climate of tolerance in Bangladesh. He'll also be hoping to find a way to secure sanctuary in the U.S. for himself and his immediate family.

"It's better that the international community do something rather than just make statements. It's no use just issuing letters, as the prime minister (of Bangladesh) does not care," Rabi told The Associated Press on Monday.

Secretary of State John Kerry called Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, urging Bangladesh to protect those at risk. He also offered U.S. support for the investigation into the slaying last week of Xulhaz Mannan, a U.S. Agency for International Development employee and gay rights activist.

Since December, the U.S. has said it is considering providing temporary sanctuary to some individuals at immediate risk, although it remains unclear whether that will happen.

A broader concern for Washington is that transnational jihadist groups could gain a foothold in Bangladesh despite the nation's traditions of secularism, free speech and respect for its Christian and Hindu minorities.

Nearly all the attacks have been claimed by groups like the so-called Islamic State and various affiliates of al-Qaida. The government, however, has denied that these groups have a presence in Bangladesh, and has blamed the violence on the political opposition.

While there have been some arrests, authorities have struggled to make any headway in naming those planning the attacks.

Rights groups charge, however, that top officials have condemned the targeted individuals for their writings.

"When a government willfully shirks its responsibility to protect its citizens and hold accountable those guilty of such brutal attacks, the international community has to step in," said Suzanne Nossel, a former U.S. official and executive director of PEN American Center, which is among 16 international rights group calling on governments to support the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

It's unclear if there would be adequate international support for such action, which would require a government to propose it, and a majority at the 47-member council to back it. Such commissions have been established to investigate mass rights abuses, as in North Korea, Syria and Libya, rather than the kind of targeted killings happening in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's constitution enshrines free speech, but Rabi, who started his career as an editor of a satirical cartoon magazine, is no stranger to threats and intimidation.

When he began blogging in 2008, he said it provided a new way to highlight abuses of power that mainstream media shied away from. He wrote and organized demonstrations about the plight of Bangladeshi migrant laborers on death row in Saudi Arabia, safety failings in the garment industry, and even about the risk of an Islamic militant dying in police custody.

He said he has toned down his writings and activism since 2013, when the spate of slayings began, but after he hosted a show about the killing of a publisher of secular books in October, it attracted a rash of death threats. He said police told him to register a formal complaint about the threats but offered him no protection.

র‌্যাব-পুলিশ দিয়ে সরকার ক্ষমতায় টিকে আছে: নূরুল কবীর

ইংরেজি দৈনিক দ্য নিউ এজ এর সম্পাদক নূরুল কবীর বলেছেন, ‘একজন নাগরিক হিসেবে আমি বলবো বর্তমান হত্যাকাণ্ডের পেছনে সরকারের হাত রয়েছে। তার প্রমাণ ইতোপূর্বে অভিজিৎ এবং দিপনের বাবা আমাদের পরিষ্কার করে দিয়েছেন।’

শনিবার একটি টেলিভিশনের টক শোতে  তিনি এসব কথা বলেন। তিনি বলেন, র‌্যাব-পুলিশ দিয়ে সরকার ক্ষমতায় টিকে আছে।

নুরুল কবীর বলেন, ‘বাংলাদেশে বর্তমান সরকার সঠিক নির্বাচিত সরকার নয়। আমরা পত্রিকা এবং মিডিয়ার মাধ্যমে এটাও শুনেছি যে, ২/৩ জন পুলিশ কর্মকর্তা বিভিন্ন সময় মাইক দিয়ে ঘোষণা দিয়ে দাবি করেছেন যে, ‘বর্তমান সরকারকে ক্ষমতায় এনেছি আমরা এবং ক্ষমতায় রাখছি আমরা’।

তিনি বলেন, ‘সরকার যে ‘উন্নয়ন না গণতন্ত্র’ স্লোগানটা দেন, স্লোগানটা কার? এই স্লোগানটি পাকিস্তানের সামরিক বাহিনীর প্রধান আইয়ুব খানের। যার বিরুদ্ধে এই দেশের মানুষ ৯ মাস সংগ্রাম করেছে। বর্বর পাকিস্তান সরকার সেই সময় স্লোগান দিত- গণতন্ত্রের চেয়ে উন্নয়ন আগে দরকার। আর তাই তৎকালীন সময়ে পাকিস্তানের সরকার কিছু স্থাপনা দেখিয়ে জনগণকে বলতো, দেশ উন্নয়ন হচ্ছে। ঠিক তাই করছে বর্তমান সরকার। বর্তমান সরকারও কিছু ব্রীজ কালভাট দেখিয়ে বলছে দেশ উন্নয়নের দিকে ধাবিত হচ্ছে।’

তিনি বলেন, এই সরকার অন্যায়ভাবে নির্বাচিত হয়েছে যার ফলে আওয়ামী লীগের সঙ্গে জনগণ নাই। শুধু মাত্র কিছু অসৎ লোক আছে। বর্তমান সরকারের সঙ্গে জনগণ নেই তার কারণ আ.লীগ ৫ জানুয়ারির ভোটারবিহীন নির্বাচনের মধ্যে দিয়ে জনগণকে হারিয়েছেন। তাই আ.লীগকে ক্ষমতায় টিকে থাকতে হলে ২টি শক্তির ওপর ভরসা রাখতে হয়, তা হলো পুলিশ, র‌্যাব এবং সেনাবাহিনী। কারণ, তাদের কাছে অনেক ক্ষমতা আছে এবং তারা অস্ত্রসহ থাকে। যার কারণে যেকোন সময় মানুষের ওপর বল প্রয়োগ করার ক্ষমতা রাখে। তারা বিরোধী দলের আন্দোলন-সংগ্রাম ভেঙ্গে দিতে পারে। তারা মেরুদণ্ড ভেঙ্গে দিতে পারে। তাই সরকার এদের সঙ্গে থাকে।

দ্বিতীয়ত, শুধুমাত্র পুলিশের শক্তি দিয়ে আজীবন ক্ষমতায় থাকা যায় না। তাই অনেকদিন ক্ষমতায় টিকে থাকতে হলে আন্তর্জাতিক কিছু শক্তির প্রয়োজন পড়ে। তাই তারা যুক্তরাষ্ট্র, ভারত, চীনসহ বেশ কিছু শক্তিশালী রাষ্ট্রের সাহায্য নিচ্ছে।

বর্তমান সরকার আন্তর্জাতিক রাষ্ট্রগুলোকে বোঝাতে সক্ষম হয়েছে যে, বাংলাদেশে একটা মৌলবাদী রাজনীতির উত্থান ঘটছে, আমরা একটা ধর্মনিরপেক্ষ দল, তাই এই উত্থান কে ঠেকানোর জন্য আমাদেরকে ক্ষমতায় রাখ। তাহলে আমরা আন্তর্জাতিকভাবে তোমাদের সঙ্গে থাকব।

তিনি আরও বলেন, আমরা  কিছুদিন আগে চট্টগ্রামের শফী হুজুরকে বর্তমান প্রধানমন্ত্রীর প্রশংসা করতে দেখেছি। এখন শফী হুজুরের যে রাজনীতি, নারীদের প্রতি তার যে দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি এবং তার যে গণতান্ত্রিক দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি সেটাও আমরা সবাই জানি। সেই তিনিই যখন বর্তমান প্রধানমন্ত্রীর প্রশংসা করেন তখন আমাদের কিন্তু বর্তমান সরকারের ধর্মনিরপেক্ষ গণতন্ত্র সম্পর্কে প্রশ্ন থেকেই যায়।

তিনি বলেন, এই যে বায়োমেট্রিক নিবন্ধন বিষয়টা সম্পর্কেও আমাদের সকলের একটু পরিষ্কার হওয়া দরকার। আমরা কি জানি এই বায়োমেট্রিক নিবন্ধন বিষয়ে সরকার কাদের অনুসরণ করছে।

তিনি বলেন, পৃথিবীতে মোট ৪টি দেশ এই বায়োমেট্রিক নিবন্ধন চালু আছে। তাদের মধ্যে পাকিস্তান, আফগানিস্তান, ইরাক এবং সংযুক্ত আরব-আমিরাত। এই ৪টা দেশকে অনুসরণ করে নাগরিকের ব্যক্তিগত তথ্যের জন্য বায়োমেট্রিক নিবন্ধনের মাধ্যমে জনগণকে জোড় করছে, যা কোনো ভাবেই সঠিক নয়। এই ৪টি রাষ্ট্র কোন গণতান্ত্রিক রাষ্ট্র নয়। তাহলে আমাদের গণতন্ত্র কোথায় ?

The wages of a noxious mix

By Fazal M. Kamal

Regardless of whatever entertaining but ineffectual verbiage administration leaders may spew and regardless of the incredibly inane—and entertaining too—stuff law enforcement honchos may regurgitate, the dreadful reality in Bangladesh is that nothing that they declare is of any consequence in stemming the trend of random murders that seems to persist unrelentingly.

As recent times have been worse than before, with more being killed almost at will in various parts of the country, it appears, that in spite of a whole lot of revelations (if prevarication can be euphemistically called that) and repeated assurances, the powers that be have been unable to substantiate their aural pronouncements with tangible results. Like actually getting the murderers.

That purported law enforcement personnel across the world have some rotten apples among them, isn’t anything surprising. That in many countries—both advanced and not-so-advanced—rogue elements in the police forces are known to engage in atrocious behavior sometimes leading to torture and death of innocent persons, is also not an unknown or unheard of fact of life in the real world replete with human flaws.

Given that backdrop, the inefficiency, a lack of discipline, an obvious absence of appropriate training mingled with politicization and avarice can and in fact do create both a toxic environment and brutal modus operandi for law enforcement entities which often lead to offensive declarations (to state it mildly) that can only be described as unbridled hubris. Consequently, the benefits from such noxious bodies are barely discernible, if at all.

In the Bangladesh instance, it’ll be most inadvisable to ignore the very recent uptick in mayhem and murder especially given the perception that anything’s possible in this country, and that it’s easy to, literally, get away with murder. And in view of the facts it’s, at the very least, difficult to deflect these and similar beliefs plainly because over the years murders, rape, torture, et al have received indulgent passes, astounding the citizenry.

As Prof. Ali Riaz of Illinois State University stated: “The official explanations for these incidents have been quite confusing and somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, the government has insisted that these are unrelated incidents and that they do not pose any challenge to the security of the country; on the other hand, it has claimed that these are ‘homegrown’ militants who are engaged in these heinous acts. While the country's home minister does not see any cause for concern for the safety of citizens, the chief of police has asked the citizens to create their own ‘security circle.’”[!!! -- Couldn’t help adding those exclamation marks given the contents of official statements.]

Simultaneously, compounding the confusion, administration leaders have often—and within hours of a murderous incident—declared that these are the handiwork of the political opposition. This has by now become an extremely predictable ploy with clockwork regulatory but comprehensively failing to convince anyone except only the author of these bizarre contentions themselves. 

Here, then, is one reaction to this game plan: “The government is increasingly targeting the opposition and closing off its legitimate political activity, but it’s precisely that polarized political environment and limiting of the opposition’s space to participate in the political process that is creating new space for the extremists,” observed Lisa Curtis, a South Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center in Washington.

And in an opinion piece London journalist Gwynne Dyer asserted: “She [Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina] also insisted that these murders were the work of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), or more precisely of its political ally, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party. She firmly denied that foreign extremist forces such as Islamic State or al Qaeda (which would certainly approve of the killings) were active in the country.” 

Having stated that background Dyer concludes, “This probably seems to Ms Hasina to be sound, practical politics, in a country where 90% of the population is Muslim. … It's also good politics for her to blame the violence exclusively on the opposition parties, since admitting that foreign Islamists are involved would mean that she was failing in her duty to defend the country. But the result of her pragmatism and passivity has been a rapid expansion in the range of targets that are coming under attack by the extremists.” 

Of course, it’s a known fact that not all the victims were “atheist bloggers” or “irreligious thinkers” because some of those murdered, in reality, had absolutely nothing in common with “atheists” or “bloggers” but were law-abiding and God-fearing individuals who were simply going about their business. And then, there are the yet-unsolved (and possibly never-to-be-solved) cases of young women raped and killed.

But that’s a whole other story.

In the meantime, let’s be clear here: To the honorable members of the Cabinet: No, these cannot by any stretch of anyone’s imagination be isolated episodes; they’ve been occurring with shockingly tragic frequency. And to the law enforcement kahunas: The people of the country expect salubrious effects from your actions and words; not pontification in any shape, size or color primarily because that isn’t any segment of your mandate.

ENDS