Wed 23 Jan 2008
Shahidul Alam on Rule Of Law:
To convict and then provide presidential pardon, is an act of self-deification by the government.
Rahnuma Ahmed on Image Warfare:
The publication of the first photograph, the censored one, created disorder in the world of images.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
All in the name of law and order and amazingly won’t see much outrage from the NRB bretherns here..
As the freed students were arriving on the campus as they were being released in phases, teachers, friends, guardians and others put garlands around their necks and hugged them, some of whom were still bearing marks of torture, that they claimed had been inflicted on them by law enforcing agencies during their detentions. All the freed students, especially the ones who are now free only on bail, were showing visceral fear of law enforcing agencies when journalists were asking them about their experiences in detention.
Rafiqul Islam Sujon, who was sweating even in the winter morning, was struggling hard to stand upright. On Monday, he was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was having problem breathing yesterday amid the festivities, and was stumbling as he tried to walk. Blood was oozing out of his mouth as he was trying to speak.
Sujon said it felt good to be free. “But I can’t talk much, its very painful for me to talk,” he said in a faint voice with much effort.
Another freed student Liton Mahmud said Shahbagh police tortured him, after he had been taken to the police station. He had been arrested by Bhoirab police on September 8 and was handed over to Shahbagh police. “Police tortured me and broke my the pinky on my left hand. They did not even arrange for my broken finger’s treatment. As I managed to get medical attention myself they even took away the medical documents.”
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20374
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Bravo to All The Students who raised their voice on behalf of the 15 koti manush of Bangladesh.You have again proved that Bengalis cannot be put under boots and baton.
Bravo to this military backed CTG for making BD the 2nd largest prison cell of the world.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:54 am
How the govt. handled this case was shameful to a certain extent and what the military did, especially in the Aziz Super Market Bldg, is the worst in the history of Bangladesh including the period in East Pakistan.
If the student and the teachers have been brought to justice, so should be the army personnels involved in the atrocities. They should be identified and tried in the army court and the verdicts published in the public media. If we are to accept that certain students or teachers instigated and provocated violence, we should also believe that army interference in the university and the Shahbag area was barbaric, brutal, and unacceptable in a civilized society.
I am not in favor of handing blanket immunity to all the teachers and students. Not every teacher is ‘jatir bibek’ and not every student is a vanguard of democracy. I have plenty of first hand stories to tell about those. But if we are calling for the so called ‘rule of law’, justice will be done when members of the law enforcing agencies including the army will be held accountable for their misdeeds. If teachers and students are not above the law, so is not the army and the police force.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:36 am
What we see today is the result of a semi-literate band of army-men getting drunk on absolute power.
I have myself lived the experiences of casual flouting of civility as well as of the rule of law by none other than our soldiers in uniform on the streets as described by Shahidul Alam. Their whole attitude is that of an untouchable race, reminiscent only of the dark Pakistani colonial days.
Thank you, Mr Alam, for such a moving essay on the simple facts of our everyday life.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:23 am
His statement reminds me of the communist manhunt in United States. Why should any student be labelled a Shibir person and as a “respected” DU teacher shouldn’t Mr. Anwar be encouraging and working towards a peaceful campus life? Listing of chatra shibir is an attempt which can result in innocent students being labelled, stigmatised and harrassed - resulting in lawlessnes
The Daily Start reports:
” Prof Anwar for listing Shibir men doing politics at DU Unb, Dhaka
Prof Anwar Hossain, one of the four Dhaka University teachers released from jail, yesterday urged the students to make a list of Chhatra Shibir members doing politics on the campus and launch another movement for the trial of war criminals. “
January 25th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
#2 Borsha
“Bravo to All The Students who raised their voice on behalf of the 15 koti manush of Bangladesh”…………I did not raise my voice on behalf of the 15 cores people of BD I just raised the voice for the sake of my future. We did raise our voice only 8 people, 15 cores people has not been arrested so their is no point to raise the voice for them.
January 27th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Mamun Haroon, how does listing Chhatra Shibir members lead to lawlessness? I have argued in another thread that I am against banning religion-based (or be more precise, Islamist) politics. But just as someone should be free to pursue Islamist politics, others should be able to point out the Islamists.
And what is wrong with asking for the trial of war criminals? To argue that such a trial will disturb peace is like saying you know that someone has raped your sister or killed your brother but you don’t want to ask for trial because etate mohollar shanti noshto hobe (this analogy was first made by fellow blogger Mash).
—
Meanwhile, a very balanced article on the way the whole DU verdict has played out by Mizanur Rahman Khan in today’s Prothom Alo.
http://www.prothom-alo.com/mcat.news.details.php?nid=ODAxMDg=&mid=NA==
January 28th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Jyoti,
There’s nothing wrong with asking for the trial of War Criminals, I myself am for it.
Mr. Anwar Hossain asked “other students” to carry out the task of labelling their fellow students as being Shibir members. Who is going to be in charge of this list making exercise? What is Mr. Anwar Hossain going to do with this list? How will he ensure that the list is accurate? Can he gurantee that individuals in the list will not become the victim of hate crimes?
Students or any individual should be allowed to pursue their political views without being singled out and be the victim of some undeclared consequence.
Why does Mr. Hossain want to make the list, what is he going to with the list? I can only think of one thing - he will urge his followers to punish these students in some way.
Mr. Anwar Hossain is a highly politicized professor.
Here is a sample:
http://amadershomoy.com/online/news.php?id=226166&sys=1