Shuchinta

[Photo/Banglar Chokh: Selim Reza Newton, Moloy Bhoumik, Dulal Chandra Biswas, Abdullah Al Mamun.]

by Tasneem Khalil [Reposted from E-Bangladesh.org]

In Bangladesh, mouths are not moving these days, it seems. Well, there are exceptions: tongues busy licking military boots stained with blood, tongues moving fast singing hymns for monsters in khaki. For the rest, 160 million men and women, putting a plaster over the lips is the fashion statement of the day, silence has become the best policy. Smartest policy, some say.

In post-1/11 Bangladesh: a human rights advocate is a criminal, an university student is a criminal, a professor is a criminal, a politician is a criminal, a democrat is a criminal, a jute-mill worker is a criminal, a journalist is a criminal, a tea-stall-wallah is a criminal, a cartoonist is a criminal, a garments worker is a criminal, a hungry survivor of cyclone demanding relief is a criminal…

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

– Henry David Thoreau

In Bangladesh, mouths are not moving these days, it seems. Well, there are exceptions: tongues busy licking military boots stained with blood, tongues moving fast singing hymns for monsters in khaki. For the rest, 160 million men and women, putting a plaster over the lips is the fashion statement of the day, silence has become the best policy. Smartest policy, some say.

It all started on January 11, one eventful evening that saw messiahs coming out of the cantonments, trucks after trucks, clad in olive, armed to their teeth. Bangladesh saw the birth of a new religion: “reform,” with a stylish birthday: “1/11,” with a ear-splitting mantra: “keep your mouths shut,” and one supreme law: “who dares, pays.” Barracks became prayer-halls and “Emergency Power Rules,” the holy book.

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Yet, they dared and now have to pay the price. Four professors of Rajshahi University have been sentenced with two years of rigorous imprisonment for bringing out a silent procession on the campus on August 21 violating the “Emergency Power Rules.” Silence, in this case, apparently proved lethal to the military-led interim government.

The Daily Star, one of the leading pro-government newspapers in Dhaka, has published an account of the verdict. Slightly off topic but may prove interesting to readers: two editorials in the newspaper Wednesday are “Upbeat on revenue collection” and “Recovering siphoned off money.”

A speedy trial court of Rajshahi yesterday sentenced four Rajshahi University (RU) teachers to two years’ rigorous imprisonment for violating Emergency Power Rules (EPR) 2007 by bringing out a silent procession on the campus on August 21. The court also fined the teachers — Moloy Bhoumik of management department, Dulal Chandra Biswas, Sayed Selim Reza Newton and Abdullah Al Mamun of mass communication department — Tk 1,000 each, in default of which they will have to suffer one month more in jail. Two other accused in the case — former RU vice chancellor Prof M Saidur Rahman Khan and syndicate member and convener of RU Progressive Teachers’ Society Prof M Abdus Sobhan — were acquitted. Both the teachers were released from Rajshahi Central Jail at 1:30 pm following the verdict. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ruhul Amin, who was the judge of the speedy trial court, pronounced the verdict at 11:35 am in a packed courtroom.

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Judge Ruhul Amin said the accused had three charges for EPR violation against them — taking leave en masse on July 26 to protest Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina’s arrest, bringing out a silent procession on the campus on August 21, and holding a secret meeting to instigate violence the next day. The judge said photos published in a Bangla daily prove that the accused four teachers were involved in the silent procession on August 21. “As there was a state of emergency in the country, bringing out of the procession violated [the EPR] rules,” he said.

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He added that the prosecution could not prove the charges of observing a strike in the name of leave en masse and holding a secret meeting to instigate students to attack law enforcers. “There is no law against taking leave en masse and there was no evidence that these teachers took such leave… The photos of the secret meeting was taken from behind. The investigation officer could not identify anyone except Prof M Abdus Sobhan in the photo, nor could he say what was told in the meeting,” the judge said.

On August 21 this year, a few RU teachers brought out a silent procession on the campus, protesting the previous day’s police attack on Dhaka University students. RU students called a strike the next day. A rickshaw puller was killed on that day, around 200 including police and journalists were injured, vehicles were torched and properties including the vice chancellor’s residence were damaged during day long clashes between the police and students on and around the RU campus. The student demonstrations also demanded withdrawal of the state of emergency and removal of the police from the campus.

On August 23 night, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested Prof Saidur Rahman and Prof Abdus Sobhan, and Moloy Bhowmik the next day. The then officer-in-charge of Motihar Police Station Khondoker Ferdous Ahmed filed the case against the three teachers on August 26. The teachers were placed on remand and taken to the Joint Interrogation Cell in the capital on August 28. The charge sheet of the case, including the names of Dulal Biswas, Selim Reza Newton and Abdullah Al Mamun, was submitted on September 1. The three teachers surrendered before the court four days later.

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[Emphasis added.]

Meanwhile, another newspaper, New Age has presented us with the latest gem from the chief clown in General Moeen U Ahmed’s facade cabinet, Mainul Hosein: “In building a just and orderly society, law and its application are more important than anything else. A just society is built by just laws enforced justly.” Alright, Hiru, coming to you later.

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A few clicks away from this blog, Rumi Ahmed has posted a translated letter from one of the sentenced professors: “If I am jailed” (Letter to my wife). Money quotes.

I want to sit in the rocking chair at home and read, I want to watch television with you, I want us to sit together and plan new pieces of writing. But first of all, I want to start working on a collection, writings on student protests, the loyal caretaker government, World Bank, IMF activities, our imprisonment, on the all-pervasive culture of fear that has been carefully crafted.

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This “collaborator” regime wants to set instances. It wants to hurt people. It wants to build a culture of fear. It wants to strip the land naked and sell off all resources to foreign companies. It wants to create a donor-driven code for our universities, it wants to occupy our universities. Look at how the American warships have arrived, without having been invited. They have built a temporary base in Barisal. And look at the jolpais (army) who have planted themselves at the head of institutions. And the Pakistani army medical corps, they too have come, surely for the the first time since 1971?

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Much is said in the name of the land, its people. Those who rule the country are selling it off, they are enslaving its peoples, and it is they who speak in the name of the people. How farcical can things get, how super-real! And all the while, the ordinary people, and those who are with them, they become breathless, they are panting like TB patients.

No, I am not banking on his freedom by taking this case to a higher court. Since the Bangladeshi chief justice remains an impotent anti-thesis of his de jure Pakistani counterpart Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, these professors are going to rot in prison. Well, some day sun may shine again and burn the moths. Till then.

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Here is a piece of information, unreported. Twelve detained professors from Dhaka and Rajshahi Universities do have a chance. Yes, they can win their freedom if they are interested enough. An offer is on the table from General Moeen U Ahmed himself seconded by his lackey chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed. This came Wednesday as the vice chancellor of Dhaka University, SMA Faiz, met them in their offices. Quoting from an email to E-Bangladesh.

Just a while ago I got some really bad news. There was a meeting between the VC of Dhaka University and army chief yesterday (that is December 4). They proposed two options. The teachers will ask for mercy and give in writing that they are sorry for their protest and activities or they will be convicted and be sentenced for jail. These are the options… Please tell the whole world how we are being treated… By the way, law adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein was directly involved with the verdict of Rajshahi case. And here they are planning the same.

[Edited for clarity.]

Now, the New Age report referred before also reported a statement by Mainul Hosein: “There was a legal opportunity for the government to be considerate towards the Rajshahi University teachers convicted of Emergency Powers Rules violation if they appealed to proper authorities.” If you are good with puzzles arrange the pieces.

Justice, order? Blackmail, thuggery, abomination.

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In post-1/11 Bangladesh, ruled by the prophets of “reform,” elements of “justice” and “order” is rather strange if not barbaric.

And… on and on…

In post-1/11 Bangladesh: a human rights advocate is a criminal, an university student is a criminal, a professor is a criminal, a politician is a criminal, a democrat is a criminal, a jute-mill worker is a criminal, a journalist is a criminal, a tea-stall-wallah is a criminal, a cartoonist is a criminal, a garments worker is a criminal, a hungry survivor of cyclone demanding relief is a criminal…

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And Wednesday four such “criminals” were sentenced with imprisonment. And the one who wrote a letter to his wife wrote, “I lay on my prison bed and wondered. I kept telling myself that such things had repeatedly happened in history, from the time of Socrates. No, I could not break down. I would have to be strong. I would have to resist the injustice. I must hold my head up high. I must not bend.” No, they did not bend, they did not break down, they were strong.

The photo posted above has a message, in their smiles and in their eyes behind the glasses. Four just men, four warriors have been marched into the prison of the tyrant. But, they have asked us to hold our heads high, they have asked us to resist, they have asked us to fight back against the collaborators.

In this epic struggle for justice and democracy, who is going to join them?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 10:37 am and is filed under Tasneem Khalil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.