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Tag: bangladesh

  • Arrest of Hindu monk in Bangladesh and propaganda in India

    Arrest of Hindu monk in Bangladesh and propaganda in India

    There have been several cases of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh in the past, as well as some of them being victims of violent anger after the studentsโ€™ movement that ousted the government of Sheikh Hasina (not all of them being religious but due to the fact that they were members/workers of Awami League).ย 

    But the sudden outpouring of attacks on Hindu minorities in the Indian social media scapes in the aftermath of the arrest of a Hindu monk, Chinmoy Krishna Das, as testimony of the vulnerabilities of minorities, needs to be taken with some skepticism.

    First, ISKCON itself seems to distance itself from the said monk and had already suspended him weeks ago. The case against the monk does appear a little flimsy, as we have seen in India how activists may be victims of the stateโ€™s oppression, so there should be a demand for fair and transparent court proceedings.ย 

    But most of the evidence, videos, and photos being shared by the Hindutva eco-system, including BJP leaders, appear as part of systematic propaganda by sharing old, unrelated videos and photographs.

    For example, an old video of the โ€œNagin danceโ€ punishment to a thief has been used as Hindus being humiliated and beaten with a call to take revenge.

    Similarly, a video of a fight between students of two colleges has been shared by Suvendu Adhikari and many others as Hindus being beaten to death.ย 

    A video being shared of an alleged attack by a Muslim mob in a village is, in reality, of a recent clash between two Muslim groups over the murder of a cleric, as per media reports and fact-checkers. ย 

    There is another video of a man being beaten to death brutally with the claim that a Hindu businessman Ambuj Sharma, was killed by Islamists in the aftermath of the studentsโ€™ protest, once again urging the Indian government to intervene to protect Hindu minorities.ย 

    Fact-checkers and local reports suggest that there is no report of any person killed by that name. One fact-checker, in fact, pointed out that this video seems to be of an angry mob in the aftermath of the studentsโ€™ protest, killing a (Muslim) police official.ย 

    There are similarly many widespread claims of tens of deaths and burning of houses, but those need to be supported with some evidence and not just wild claims. Meanwhile, we know, though, that a Muslim lawyer was beaten to death by the supporters of the monk (that possibly included Awami League cadre as well).ย 

    There seems to be no remorse or anger against it, rather a spin-off that he was a lawyer defending the monk and hence killed by Islamists. It appears now that the Reuters journalist possibly cooked up the quote; although they have quietly corrected their report, the damage has been done. Indian media and the Hindutva ecosystem in India have lapped it up already. Was this an innocent mistake by the Reuters’ journalist? Or was this part of the larger propaganda plan?ย 

    This is not to say that minorities may not have been attacked, but any criticism of the government must be supported with some evidence. Any such incident must be condemned, and the government must be made more accountable.ย 

    There is video evidence of police pelting stones in Sambhal, mob chanting provocative slogans and dancing in front of mosques during Hindu festivals, and police firing and killing young men protesting against arbitrary โ€œsurvey.โ€ย 

    Least of all, those defending, celebrating, facilitating, and ignoring the everyday attack on minorities in their own country and accusing everyone outside the country who speak on the attack of minorities in India as โ€œforeign interferenceโ€ should look within before protesting. As Raj Kumar famously said, โ€œJinke apne ghar shish eke hote hain, who dusron ke ghar par patthar nahi mara karteโ€ (those living in glass houses should not throw stones at others).ย 

    PS: It is an open secret that the Indian establishment has been comfortable with Sheikh Hasina in power due to her purported secular credentials, ignoring her atrocities on her own people, but by going overboard in its criticism of the present government of Muhammad Yunus, India is behaving like a sore loser. This will harm Indiaโ€™s interests in the long run as common Bangladeshis are increasingly frustrated with how not only India in the past stood by Hasina but has given her political asylum. These shortsighted outbursts and orchestrated protests outside its Deputy High Commission may help the BJP consolidate its base in Bengal but will not only harm its national interests but damage its image in its own backyard.ย 

    Amidst the ongoing rage, Shafiqul Alam, press secretary at the Chief Adviser’s Office of Bangladesh, wrote on Facebook: โ€œโ€ฆWe must tell our stories our way. Else, they (India) will set our narrative according to their liking. Indians should know that smarter people also live in its eastern border, and a few months back these people have ousted a brutal dictatorship in one of the finest revolutions in human history!โ€

  • A Justice Denied as Bangladesh Prosecutes War Crimes

    A Justice Denied as Bangladesh Prosecutes War Crimes

    A special war crimes tribunal in Bangladeshย sentenced an American citizen to deathย last month after convicting him in absentia for perpetrating crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Established in 2010 by the governing Awami League, theย Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunalย (ICT) was tasked with trying alleged war crimes, which occurred during the 1971 war, and bringing to justice those individuals responsible. The ICT ostensibly would play a crucial role in facilitating national reconciliation by confronting the savage atrocities that marred the country’s independence and created bitter divisions within Bangladesh that persist today.

    Unfortunately, the tribunal is unlikely to achieve this critically important goal. Afflicted with a host of procedural and substantive defects since its inception, the proceedings have fallen far short of governing standards of international law. The special court appears to have becomeย politicized, with the ICT’s prosecutions widely regarded as a mechanism for the Awami League to target political enemies. The flawed proceedings have raised difficult but familiar questions about whether a relatively nascent state can administer international justice in a fair and neutral manner. Theย tribunal’s recordย in this regard has been troubling so far, threatening to deny Bangladesh the justice it has sought since its founding.

    It is indeed difficult to overstate the horror that accompanied Bangladesh’s struggle to achieve independence more than 40 years ago. Between March and December 1971, the central government in West Pakistanย unleashed a brutal military campaignย against the country’s eastern wing in an effort to crush Bengali claims of self-determination. Conservative figures estimate that West Pakistani forces, in conjunction with local collaborators, killed 300,000, raped 200,000, and forced 10 million refugees to flee across the border to India for safety. A host of evidence suggests that Pakistani forces and local militia specifically and systematically targeted large portions of East Pakistan’s male population, intelligentsia, and Hindu minority, leading many to conclude thatย genocideย had been perpetrated against the Bengali people.

    Shortly after achieving independence, Bangladesh’s new leaders raised the prospect of trying suspected war crimes arising from the 1971 war by enacting theย International Crimes (Tribunal) Actย in 1973. Led by the country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the government jettisoned these plans, however, after granting a general amnesty to all participants in the civil war as part of a broader reconciliation campaign. His daughter’s Awami League party resurrected the idea nearly four decades later, sweeping into power during general elections in 2008 afterย promising to establish a war crimes tribunalย that would prosecute crimes against humanity and other violations of international law that occurred during the country’s bloody war for independence.

    Initial expectations surrounding the historic proceedings were high. Officials in Dhaka solicited advice from Western governments and international law experts, includingAmbassador Stephen Rapp, the United States Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues, to help ensure a fair administration of international justice. Bangladeshi leaders pledged a trial process that would be impartial, transparent, and consistent with governing standards of international criminal law. The country’s Minister for Law declared that the tribunal would beย “exemplary for the world community… working with full independence and complete neutrality.”

    Unfortunately, the chasm between rhetoric and reality has proven profound. Aย growing consensus has emergedย that theย tribunal’s legal and trial processes are grossly deficient. Most of the accused are members of Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist group closely aligned with the country’s main opposition party. This has compelled many to conclude that the war crimes trials are politically motivated and represent a blatant attempt to weaken Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinsa’s electoral opponents. The tribunal’s judges have been accused of colluding with the court’s prosecutors. Brazen government interference with the court’s deliberationsย has been extensively documented.ย Reports of defense counsel and witnesses being harassed, intimidated, and even arrestedย have become increasingly commonplace. The court’s rules of evidence are inconsistent with international standards, skewed heavily against the defense. Although the ICT has issuedย 10 guilty verdicts to date — eight of which carry death sentencesย — the glaring deficiencies plaguing the proceedings strongly suggest that the accused have been deprived of the most basic requirements of due process.

    The defective proceedings have polarized the country. Contrary to serving as the unifying force government officials trumpeted it would be, the tribunal has instead exacerbated existing tensions, pitting mostly middle-class secularists, who support the prosecutions, against Islamists who denounce them as political theater.ย Deadly riots have accompanied virtually every decision issued by the ICT, as police clash with demonstrators protesting the guilty verdicts.

    Beyond Bangladesh, however, the acute problems daunting the ICT have once again provoked enduring but complex questions about whether developing countries like Bangladesh can adequately deliver international justice, or whether they should allow international tribunals likeย the International Criminal Court at the Hagueย to do so instead. Special tribunals and commissions established in developing countries likeย Cambodia,ย Iraq, andย Sri Lankaย to prosecute or investigate mass killings within their borders have generated more controversy than closure for victims and their families. For those hoping that it would serve as a model for similarly situated nations wishing to achieve both accountability and reconciliation through war crimes prosecutions at home, Bangladesh’s so-called “international” tribunal constitutes a profound disappointment.

    Born in bloodshed, Bangladesh seeks a justice long overdue. Regrettably, the very judicial body responsible for delivering that justice instead threatens to further deny it.

    For Academic Citation:

    “A Justice Denied as Bangladesh Prosecutes War Crimes.”ย The Huffington Post, December 2, 2013.
  • Hundreds of Bangladeshi Tribals Seeking Refuge in India

    Hundreds of Bangladeshi Tribals Seeking Refuge in India

    BeyondHeadlines News Desk

    New Delhi: ย Communal tensions have flared up in the Tabalchari Thana area under Matiranga Sub-District in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh after plain settlers belonging to majority Muslim religious group attacked the tribal villages belonging to the Chakma (Buddhist) and Tripura (Hindu) communities with the aim to grab their lands. Today i.e.ย 3 August 2013, at least five villages namely Sarveshawar Para, Boga Para, Manudas Para, Bhagawan Tilla and Bandar Singh Para under Tabalchari Thana have been burnt to ashes. One tribal was killed, four other tribals were seriously injured and about 500 tribal houses were destroyed in the attacks as per the latest report received by Asian Centre for Human Rights.

    tribal houses burnt in the Chittagong Hill Tracts“The Bangladesh Border Guards instead of arresting the arsonists arrested many innocent indigenous tribal people including Mr Bakul Chakma, Mr Supayan Chakma and Mr Phani Bhusan Chakma, a member of the local Union Council and subjected them to severe torture in their custody.” – stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights.

    About 1,500 Chakmas and Tripuris are currently camping at the gates along the Indo-Bangladesh border fencing in Silachari area under Tripura, trying to find refuge in India. The Border Security Forces who man the gates have so far prevented the fleeing refugees from entering into India.

    Asian Centre for Human Rights urged the Government of India to direct the Border Security Forces to provide shelter to the fleeing tribal refugees from Bangladesh until the situation improves for their return; and further urged the Government of Bangladesh to take immediate measures to ensure safety and security of the affected tribals.