Fri 24 Aug 2007
Collateral Damage, No Matter Who’s In Power
Posted by Eyshob_Dinratri under Crisis Management , I-Witness
Four Seasons Restaurant burnt, Sat Masjid Road, Dhanmondi
Blogger Reazur’s comments pushed me to post the photos I took yesterday. I was hesitating because the CTG could use photos like this to strengthen their “evil forces” argument. But these photos are not intended to prove or disprove the CTG/Army or Protesters legitimacy. They are simply to point out that no matter who is the target (BNP/AL/BNP/CTG_Army), and who is the opposition (AL/BNP/Secularism/Democracy) the methods of hartal, jalao porao, and lay-waste-to-country-to-prove-it-ungovernable ensure that no matter which force is in power (Army today, BNP yesterday, AL the day before), it is Bangladesh that suffers the collateral damage.
Four Seasons Restaurant burnt to ashes, Sat Masjid Road, Dhanmondi
# Reazur Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 11:03 am
EYE WITNESS account of the destruction of “Four Seasons” restaurant, Dhanmondi
This is an eye witness report of the violent activities that took place on Wednesday, August 22nd before the curfew started which involved the destruction of “Four Seasons” restaurant, situated at Dhanmondi Saat Masjid road opposite to Shankar Bus stand. The “four seasons” restaurant was opened recently and it’s a very neat place with a glass exterior. It is apparently not owned by anybody from the CTG. My parents live there, so they got to see the incident with their own eyes from the balcony of our rented apartment. My parents rushed to the balcony when they heard the sound of glass breaking. They saw a group student and some picketers breaking the glass exterior of the restaurant. The waiter and authorities of the restaurant were trying frantically to stop them but they were outnumbered. Then, mob took the furniture of the restaurant out on the street and put it on fire. Then, a small patrol of police came and tried to disperse the crowd, but they were chased by the mob. Then, the local people and waiters from the restaurant joined with the police and chased the picketers away. We have no association with the restaurant but I noticed that my parents and sister was very sad that such nice place was destroyed without any reason. This incident did not make it to the print or electronic media. Ask your relatives or friends living in that area to verify the incident. To me these incidents demonstrate the kind of public support these mob of students/hawkers/political goons have. The attack on square hospital is another incident that makes me really sad… why would somebody who is upset with price hike of essentials attack hospitals and public property. (As suggested by BBC report) I think the hawkers joined the students of Dhaka College in Nilkhet area because they were evicted couple of months ago without proper rehabilitation. I wish the government were not so hasty with those evictions of poor people.
Xindian Restaurant, Road 27, Dhanmondi
Xindian Restaurant, Road 27, Dhanmondi
Kozmo Cafe, Sat Masjid Road
Sat Masjid Rd Intersection, Dhanmondi
[Photos: Eyshob_Dinratri]
Eyshob_Dinratri adds:
Something strange about the targets of attack in Dhanmondi. Four Seasons restaurant burnt to ashes. Every available flammable item burnt. But nothing around it touched. On Road 27, Xindian restaurant attacked. Facade smashes, windows broken. Nothing else nearby broken. Etc, Persona Adams, other restaurants on Rd 27 that are much fancier than Xindian untouched. Thing is, Xindian & Four Seasons have the same owner. Are personal scores being settled in the chaos?
August 24th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Heard Star Kabab was also attacked (either the one on Dhanmondi Rd 2, or Sat Masjid). Not confirmed though.
Is Square Hospital attack confirmed?
August 24th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
very disturbing images. the “students” who are repsonsible for this should be ashamed. so should those who pay them to take stick and rocks to the streets, as well as those who cheer them on from the blogs.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
These were evil forces, simply evil forces. Let me say like you Eyshob_Dinratri what instructions evil political parties leaders, corrupt business men and leftists had passed to their students wing as saying, ” jei agun jolse, shei agun jeno na thame”.The instructions wer passed on 21 August 2007 at 3.30 pm.
Shame on to you evils.
ALO
August 24th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Poring over these blogs and accounts, I am somewhat reassured that the “the local people and waiters from the restaurant joined with the police and chased the picketers away”. At least there is public morality still held on to, to ward away this jalao-porao bahini that pulls us down so often.
I can understand that the “dirt poor of the city” have legitimate grievances, but I’m realising from these posts more & more how much they are being exploited by political forces. They have always been the victims of politics and of the law.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Thanks for posting my previous post in this thread.
This kind of collateral damage should not be acceptable anymore… when is culture of bhangchur and jalao/porao going to end?
August 25th, 2007 at 1:54 am
It is going to continue as long as some intellectual and hard core fanatics of both political parties continue to throw their weight behind anarchy. As long as they continue to value their party more than they value their country. as long as they think only through this sort of destruction can they bring about some change, this will continue.
August 25th, 2007 at 2:32 am
Many private banks were also vandalized.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:36 am
regarding post #1
Square HQ was attacked and glasses were broken.
I could not confirm the news about the attack on SQ hospital.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:47 am
Just wanted to remind everyone that our two great parties AL/BNP are capable of devising meticulous plans and execute them for their own advantage.
I will give two examples:
Abdul Jalil’s much talked about proclamation to unseat the elected BNP government by April 30 2006, which was foiled by the BNP Government. The planned movement was backed by business people and a large NGO.
BNP successfully planned it’s blueprint to rig the 2007 by hijacking the Caretaker Government. Even after handing over power they controlled the police and many branches of the government.
Our politicians are masters at organizing stealth movements and manipulating branches of government to serve their own interest. So we should not jump to conclusions that AL/BNP had nothing to do with the recent rioting.
Many have also complained about the methods used by the police to deal with the rioting. Tear Gas, batons, Water Cannons,Rubber Bullets etc. are used by every democracy to deal with violent mobs. Some western democracies use additional tools like Tazers and Mace.
Issue of some teachers being detained.
If the government has information that the detained teachers were involved in organizing the riots, then it becomes incumbent on the law enforcement authorities to interrogate these individuals, Otherwise they would be failing their duties to the public.
The teachers, instead of brining out a procession to fan the flame, should have tried to calm things down through peaceful dialogue. We did not see any DU elder speak out againts jalao porao.
August 26th, 2007 at 3:21 am
star kabab next to dhaka city college pretty trashed unfortunately. square too.
how does one go about apprehending and punishing the guilty parties? its always the grunts that are physically challenged. the puppeteers are mostly left alone.
Unless….
August 26th, 2007 at 10:49 am
They are criminals. The thanas have very good insight into criminals, they just dont usually have the power to arrest them. We need more CCTV, and these vandals need to be punished and made examples of.
August 26th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I dont thing the security forces know what to do with their existing kit. What were those ugly blue tanks (with attached spades?!?) doing everywhere.
‘Rubber bullets’ are misleading, and in BD context, coud be easily mistaken for real gun fire and reciprocated.
and the over liberal use of tear gas in the gausia area(at least) on day 2. Riot quelling should be an artform for the BD cops, maybe a collaborative research project between DU and the police is in order. Police in our part of the world are designed very colonially. Theres an police commission report from 1989 out there if anybody is serious about that aspect of Our Mess.
DU elders and gandalfs(and gandalfs to be) are just completely disgusted with the political scenario to descend to the field. Risks are too high, i believe they should just continue being dons and ripen untill we realise what to do with them.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
#9 - Boisakhi
You have legitimate anger, frustration about the failure and criminal activities of the leaders of the past three elected governments. But, let’s not give carte-blanche to an unelected, self proclaimed good doer government. That’s how we create monsters.
Again, historically (I start counting years from 1947) our democracy never took off because of the army interventions in a regular basis. Look back, who started buying and selling of politicians? Who imported muscleman culture in DU politics (khoka, pachpattu etc.)? Once those politicians lost their virginity, they become shameless and eventually they have “dui kaan kata”, so they walk through the middle of the road.
I do not have (for that matter no one else has) a proven package to get out of this vicious cycle. But, I firmly believe that destroying AL, BNP and other political institutions by conspiracy will only take us to a darker future. If AL/BNP/Jaamat cannot fulfill the demand of the time, let people reject them in favor of any other viable democratic alternatives.
I am dead against the conviction that military is a superior section than the rest of the society (politicians, students, teachers, businessmen, bureaucrats, police, judges etc.). If any different, when unchecked, they are far more dangerous than any other social/professional group because of their privileged status, disciplined structure, organized muscle power, and inherent nature of their training. On the other hand, the very same qualities make them valuable in national crisis situation, whether it is a cyclone, flood, Katrina, 01/11 or stopping the racist governor at University of Mississippi (1962).
Now, on AL/BNP conspirator on 08/20:
May be you are right that powerful groups tried to ride the wave of popular protest. But believing, they could bring out >100,000 people in the midst of emergency in a notice of 24 hours, is giving them too much credit. While it is important to track the opportunity seekers, at the same time it is too naive to dismiss the whole rebellion as a conspiracy of few.
On teachers detained:
This is a mistake, in Government’s part. Even if they are instigators, leave them alone now for tactical reasons. If you want some success in anti corruption drive, let’s not dilute it by attacking every possible one. Please read Dr. Anisuzzaman’s reaction on the 08/20 incident (prothom alo, forgot the date). While he praised DUTA for standing by the students, he censured them for getting involved in national issues and their childish urge to students not to vacate the dorms. Now all those rational people will turn against this Interim Government (they no longer fits the legal definition of CG) once the plain clothed people take away university teachers.
Finally, a concise, powerful quotation from a posting on the discussion of ‘What next — National unity government, early election or status quo?’, (#34, Kaiser Kabir):
“Let political evolution take its own course within a strengthened legal and institutional framework (i.e. point no. 1).”
August 27th, 2007 at 1:40 am
RE# 10
Please read the below articles, which is reinforces my view.
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=1631
http://amadershomoy.com/news.php?id=195111&sys=3
http://prothom-alo.com/index.news.details.php?nid=MTAwNTA=
August 27th, 2007 at 5:06 am
There is nothing in the world absolutely good and education is no exception to this universal rule. So there is beneficial as well harmful education. Education that doesn’t instill in morality and ethics is the evil education. Our learned society is the liabilty for the nation because they didn’t have moral elements in their education. Almost 100% people of upper echelon is corrupt.
Even all the judges are crooked, corrupt and liars. And it has been confessed while the Chief Justice commented that judges read their verdicts looking at carrots.
Despite katrina on corrupted politicians, it seems, the people won’t learn and change. They love corruption, conspiracy, anarchy and are desperatly trying for status quo.
I don’t see any future for us. We are just born to suffer. The only solution, I can think for us, if The Bad Destructive Gene of Our Nation is mutated to good one by God or the Nature.
Thanks.
August 27th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Our so called politicians or pseudo-democrats time and angain invited the military even from Pakistan period. Folks, recall, the speaker of the then East Pakistan parliament speaker Mr. Shahed Ali Patwary was killed in the praliament house beating up by chairs.
We don,t have anything to take pride in but the legacy of politcal mostani. In otherwords, our political tradition is, everything of the mostans, by the mostans and for the mostans.
It was never with the good men. Hope, this government will get the political field cleaned up of mostans or monsters. Mother of Jalao/Porao/Shutdown-the-nation-style movement is in jail and others we will get the due, we hope.
Thanks.