By M S KHAN
The Economist on December 13, 2013 reported: “The evidence on which the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) convicted Mr Mollah was flimsy. The charge for which he [was] hanged, of killing six members of one family, was based on the testimony of a single witness, who was 13 at the time and was apparently hiding under a bed nearby. There was no corroborating evidence. In the years since, Mr Mollah became known as the “Butcher of Mirpur”, but whether he was guilty of these murders or others may never be known.”
Facts as happened: 1) During 1971 the military of Pakistan tried to crush the separatist movement, 2) Mukti Vahini resorted to mayhem against Urdu-speaking Muslims, 3) Bengali and non-Bengali people opposed to separation formed armed volunteer groups supported by Pakistani military, 4) armed clashes started between opposing groups, 5) during armed conflict a lot of people were slaughtered on both sides, 6) the 1971 war broke out leading to surrender of Pak military, 7) now Mukti Vahini got free hand to butcher opponents including Bengali Muslims, 8) after creation of Facts Bangladesh it was hard time for anti-separatist people, mainly Jamaat Islami, 9) Sheikh Mujib agreed with Bhutto to take a new start leaving the past behind, 10) however the Jamaat was harassed as a political group, 11) soon people were disenchanted with the autocratic rule of Mujib and military got chance to murder him and his family except Hasina Wajed, 12) after a lapse of 40 years, Hasina started prosecution of war criminals.
Why? This is a big question. Now again some facts: 1) Hasina has failed on all fronts in bringing relief to the poor in Bangladesh, 2) as per the Economist report and Hudson study, her defeat is imminent in the next election, 3) as per the same in-depth study of Bangladesh situation, corruption is rampant, party loyalists have been inducted in judiciary and police force, even the four sitting judges of the so-called International Tribunal and the investigating officer have sought membership of Hasina Wajed’s party and are wishing to hold political position.
The Economist commented: “Now they have got what they wanted. On September 17th the Supreme Court upgraded Mr Mollah’s sentence from life imprisonment to death. And in November the election commission confirmed a court ban stopping the Jamaat from taking part in elections next month. These elections will enfeeble the ICT, which would not survive a change of government: four prosecutors and the head of the court’s investigation agency have already applied to be candidates with the AL, even while they continue to serve in their current roles.”
Hasina has formed a new circle of her cronies, pushing away senior leaders, around 1100 adversaries including her party workers have been murdered, mostly in fake police encounters, as per human rights Odhikar findings. As per the Hudson Institute study, Awami League has become a party of cronies. It says: “Freedom of expression has declined also within the AL. Purging party stalwarts perceived as traitors and rewarding loyalists led to the formation of a new central working committee on 10 August 2009, more than half of whose 73 members were either new entrants or previously inexperienced in national politics. Sheikh Hasina has surrounded herself with an inner circle comprising her sister, son, daughter and a group of close unofficial advisers. “A fly couldn’t enter through the bubble that surrounds her; how can we be expected to speak to her?” asked a central AL leader. A veteran leader said that the AL’s position on national and government policies is no longer decided by relevant party working groups and cells but by Sheikh Hasina and her advisers. He cited the scrapping of the caretaker government requirement as a case in point. Sheikh Hasina scrapped it even though most of the members of her central committee and the parliamentary special committee on the constitution were against it; nobody dared to protest for fear of reprisals.”
Seeing her defeat imminent, Hasina Wajed is trying to divert the attention of the nation by pushing the nation into revenge frenzy. For this she has mobilised hooligans with anti-Islamic tendencies who are managed to gather at Shahbagh in Dhaka with police backing. The Awami League has turned into a den of hooligans and criminals. As per Hudson study, “Hopes of a reformed AL have all but disappeared. The party’s wings, including its student wing, the Bangladesh Chatra League, have returned to the violence and criminality that have been the traditional hallmarks of political incumbents.”
According to a leading Dhaka-based human rights group, “A majority of the 135 political killings in 2011 involved AL members killing internal rivals for party nominations, lucrative state contracts or territory. This trend was brought under a harsh public spotlight after the murder of Lokman Hossain, the popular mayor of Narsingdi, on 1 November. The family publicly accused the brother of Posts and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju and some ten others of involvement in the murder, which they allege was motivated by a clash over government contracts and drug dealing.”
So far as the Mollah case is concerned, facts as revealed by Bangladesh newspaper New Age are: 1) the sole witness Momena Khatoon in her first statement said that she was not present at home when her family members were slain, next time she was picked up as witness by the police but she did not name Abdul Quader Mollah; in the Tribunal for the first time she named Mollah.
Other facts are that: 1) 40 years back she was 13 years old living with her family far away from Dhaka, 2) Mollah was a student in Dhaka, 3) He was never accused of murder or any other heinous crime during Sheikh Mujib and later governments rather he was appointed as faculty of Islamic Studies during Mujib period; later on he served as teacher and respected as an Islamic person. He was a talented editor of the Bangla newspaper Sangram. His became a popular leader of Jamaat. He along with other prominent leadership of Jamaat was dragged in war crime for the first time after 40 years by Sheikh Hasina government.
Hasina wanted hasty trial to execute her opponents in the name of war crime to create an emotional atmosphere before election. It is worth mentioning that in December 2012 issue of the Economist, a telephonic conversation of the chairman of the Tribunal and his Bengali friend in Brussels has been quoted. The Chairman told his friend that Hasina Wajed has become frenzied, she is pressurising to complete the trials by December 2012 itself.
And the last fact, Mollah remained well composed, free from guilt consciousness and told the members of his family to be rest assured that Allah is their protector. He said it was his good luck to die as Shaheed in the way of Allah and he prayed for the wellbeing of the people of Bangladesh with hope to become Islamic despite all odds. Only an innocent person can remain calm and quite, expressing high ambition before going to gallows.
Link: Radiance Weekly