Martialing the Law in Bangladesh

Martialing the Law in Bangladesh

Rumi Ahmed

The military coup of 11 January 2007 is unique in modern history. This is probably the first of a kind where a military coup took place under an impeccable disguise of diplomat supported media sponsored military enforced civil society takeover. Martial law usually follows Military coups and this special constitutional provision of martial law usually provides the very important legal and political protection of the coup leaders.

The problem with 1/11 was that although the coup, thanks to co-conspirator media, was very easy; in the after math, the legal-political protection of martial law was not there. This was, IMO, was the most challenging side of the disguised military coup of 1/11.

There is no martial law; it means that the authority has to use the prevailing laws and processes to achieve the effect of martial law.

Initially a subservient chief justice served the purpose quite effectively. The state of affairs is a bit muddy these days with the ascension of a new chief justice. It will be a matter of time before we will know whether the new CJ will continue to follow the order of the General. (After all, you only can offer presidency to only one person, not two).

In the meantime, in addition to the hiring the chief justice to work as the military government’s button man, the ruling military authority has also engaged a multiple layer of safety network. The layers include, among others,

1. The Chief Justice: Any observer of higher court proceedings of the last 18 months will know that the Chief Justice either threw away all the high court rulings against government or formed-dismissed high court benches to serve his purposes.

2. Carrot and stick. Bring all the most senior lawyers of the Supreme Court in the general’s pocket. Both carrots and sticks were used to do this. Likes of Kamal Hossain, Amirul Islam, Rokonuddin Mahmud were shown the carrot of giving lucrative jobs in the coming govt. Some were coerced into submission. And the rest were made corrupt (media helped a lot) and was put in jail with incredible 35 -40 years jail sentences. Pro BNP Supreme Court lawyers’ assoc leaders like Aminul Haque and Nazmul Huda fell into this category. Aminul Haque apparently was handed 100 + years of jail term so far. The allegations-evidence is ridiculously flimsy. It is also getting clear now a days why Aminul Haque/Nazmul Huda were tried and sentenced with such a high priority.

3. The attorney General’s office, under the direct command of a dozen mid level military officers, served the legal side of government’s political motive. Cases were defended/ not defended; appeals were made or not made based on instructions from the military intelligence office that effectively rules the country now. Delivery of justice and merit of the case was never the factor in government decisions. Recently, the attorney general himself confessed that his office did not appeal the high court bail of right wing political leader Motiur Rahman Nizami as there was no pressure from the government to do so. However, the same office aggressively appealed against the bail of other political leaders jailed under the same case as the government (Military intelligence agency in this case) did not want the other leaders to get bail.

A recent news report detailed how the lawyers representing the government and Anti Corruption Commission under the auspices of Attorney general Office were working under the constant supervision of some army majors. This report, published in a vernacular daily, describes how the government lawyers were grouped in different teams of five lawyers and each group works at the instruction of an army major. The major will decide which case would be defended and which one would not be appealed etc.

4. The government with the help of those sold out senior lawyers like Kamal Hossain etc did their best to keep the lawyers community divided along the political line. A recent judgment regarding the job of ten judges is an example. This case suddenly came up out of nowhere and this issue was not even in the political agenda of the lawyers group representing political ideology of the judges. And interestingly, although the government was the defendant, the Attorney General Office did not move a finger to defend this case.

5. Another layer is letting the media lose against the stubborn judges. A new ordinance on contempt of court was passed early on after the coup of 1/11. With a more than helpful Chief Justice, the meaning and real implication of that ordinance was not very clear at that time. Some recent activities of the most trusted and effective media corps of this government, vernacular daily Prothom Alo, has finally clarified the real meaning of that ordinance.

The conspirators of 1/11 used these media very effectively in priming the public sentiment for a military coup. Now when the higher judiciary is going through a very restless time and thanks to a bunch of irrepressible Judges, government lost a series of very important proceedings, the power house has just played their latest card. A reporter in a vernacular daily started a public deliberation of some sub judies cases with some judges mentioning their name in first pages of the national daily. The recently promulgated contempt of court is ordinance is his shield. An extremely alarming precedence is being created. Partisan newspapers are openly dissecting, criticizing judgments and intimidating a sitting judge about future cases. Then what next? First page story on the scandals of the personal life of the judge’s daughter? I can not over emphasize this; this new precedence Prothom Alo has just created, is very dangerous and suicidal for a nation. This sort of media enforced dirty war on judicial system must be stopped at any cost.

6. We just talked about the latest card that is being played in Prothom ALo now. By no means is this the last card. There should be no doubt in everybody’s mind that if needed, much worse cards will be played against one or two headstrong judge.

Why one need a martial law if so many layers of mechanism are there to be used by the military regime?

—–

This post has originally been published in the blog of this writer.

The Answer of Why I Use The Tag “India is a Bad Neighbor”

BSF kill two BDR men in Chapainawabganj

Fri, Jul 18th, 2008 2:30 pm BdST

Chapainawabganj, July 18 (bdnews24.com) – Indian border guards gunned down two members of Bangladesh Rifles on the Raghunathpur border in Chapainawabganj in the early hours of Friday, a BDR officer said.
The dead were identified as Havildar Abdul Hannan Sarkar, 55, and Lance Naik Krishnapada Saha, 28.
Lt-Col. Golam Kibria Md. Neyamat Ullah, commander of BDR 39 Battalion, told bdnews24.com that a group from the Indian Border Security Force entered about 1300 yards into Bangladesh territory in Durlavpur union, shortly after Thursday midnight.
On a tip, Abdul Hannan Sarkar along with a BDR team rushed to the area and challenged the BSF members. But the Indian border guards opened fire on them killing the two BDR men at the scene, said Golam Kibria.
The incident has coincided with a foreign secretary-level talk between Bangladesh and India in New Delhi, where border security is one of the issues on the agenda.
Senior BDR officials visited the scene.
bdnews24.com/corr/my/rah/1250 hours

You can have a look at the bottom of this blog post. This post is tagged under “India is a Bad Neighbor”. I’ve been using that tag since I’ve started blogging. Some ask me why I have created such a tag like this; what’s wrong between me and India. Now, the news story block-quoted above explains my reasons quite better.

Chapainawabganj is not a locality where fear of man-eater species has been discovered. That’s not a place where international hostile groups carry on their drills and commit acts of terrorism. There is no threat from Bangladeshi security apparatus to attack India. There is no exasperation presently taking place between Bangladesh & India diplomacy. There is no riot anywhere threatening lives of any people. It’s not like Bangladesh Riffles personals look like a target practice card. So, what can be shown as reason of shooting at security forces of a neighboring country? What can be the reason of gunning down two BDR personals at the border? Were those two BDR personals taking preparations of India invasion?

To the date, some thousands of Bangladeshi citizens have been murdered by Indian security wacko group BSF. Border area residents of Bangladesh have been experiencing the tyrannical acts of India since our liberation. Kidnapping, torturing in BSF camps, kidnapping young Bangladesh women and then raping them, are common tendencies of BSF. Being ranked as one of world’s grossest smuggling-friendly frontier military unit, BSF has been doing these crimes and have been becoming the reason of international tension for many years. As the present regime of Bangladesh is not a elected one, rather they have been working as a close ally of India in all senses, it’s not sure how’ll be the reply from the Bangladeshi authority side. The guy, who’s already flushed off all points of Vienna Convention down to his commode, is Indian Ambassador to Bangladesh, the guy named Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty. His words never reflect any prospect of friendship between two nations. So, we do not expect any ambitious reply from Bangladesh against this murder of two BDR personnels. All I can say is, those BDR jawans should have known before risking their lives that their authority is not going to take care of how many of them are killed.

Welcome Aboard Biman

Welcome Aboard Biman

Mahruf Ahmed

12 July 2008

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain Mahmud welcoming both seated and standing passengers on board of “Biman”. We apologize for the four-day delay in taking off, it was due to bad weather, engine problems and a part time job I have in a fast food restaurant in New York.

This is flight 707 to Dhaka . Landing there is not guaranteed, but we will end up somewhere in Bangladesh. And, if luck is in our favor, we may even be landing in your village!

Bangladesh Biman has an excellent safety-record!!! In fact, our safety standards are so high, that even terrorists are afraid to fly with us! It is with pleasure; I announce that, starting this year, over 30% of our passengers have reached their destination.

If our engines are too noisy for you, on passenger’s request, we can arrange to turn them off! To make your free fall to earth pleasant and memorable, we serve complimentary Taree (Bangla alcohol).

For our not-so-religious passengers, we are the only airline who can help you find out if there really is a God!!! We regret to inform you, that today’s in-flight movie will not be shown as we forgot to record it from the television. However, for our movie buffs, we will be flying right next to Emirates Airline, where their movie will be visible from the right side of the cabin window.

There is no smoking allowed in this airplane. Any smoke you see in the cabin is only the early warning system on the engines telling us to slow down! If you see water dripping from the top of your head, don’t think it is raining outside, it could be the AC, that is leaking water and if you notice that you are feeling so hot, that means the AC is not working, please feel free to ask the air hostess for a hand fan.

We apologize for the inconvenience!! In order to catch important landmarks, we try to fly as close as possible for the best view. If however, we go a little too close, do let us know.

Our enthusiastic co-pilot sometimes flies right through the landmark!

Kindly be seated, keep your seat in an upright position for take-off and fasten your seat-belt. For those of you who can’t find a seat-belt, kindly fasten your own belt to the arm of your seat. And, for those of you who can’t find a seat, do not hesitate to get in touch with a stewardess who will explain how to fasten yourself to your suitcase.”

“Thanking you all for choosing “Biman” to fly for the first and last time”. Enjoy your flight.

* * * * *

Mahruf Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-British trainee pilot, presently studying BBA at North South University.

Thousands & millions of Bangladeshis, who are living abroad, always prefer to travel through the airliners of their homeland. Ignoring hilariously poor services, they do not abandon Biman. They can get a far more better service from other airlines at reasonable prices, but still they stick with Biman. Because they don’t like to abandon their homeland’s airliners. But how long the scene will remain like this? Many competitors are in the field. If the situation remains unchanged then it won’t be too long from now when we will have to see our Biman’s being outfaught off the scene.

HC stays Niko case against Khaleda

Dhaka, July 9 (bdnews24.com) – The High Court on Wednesday stayed the proceedings of the Niko graft case against former prime minister Khaleda Zia for two months.

A HC bench of justices Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Mashuk Hossain Ahmed also asked the government and the Anticorruption Commission to explain within two weeks why the case against Khaleda should not be declared illegal.

The court order came after Khaleda Zia filed a writ petition to the court on Monday, for the second time challenging the legality of the Niko case against her and its proceedings in trial court.

The same HC bench on Monday halted the proceeding of two cases, including a separate Niko graft case, against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, for two months.

Senior advocate Khandaker Mahbubuddin Ahmad, Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia and Advocate Abdur Reza Khan represented Khaleda in court Wednesday.

They told the court that the case against their client had been filed and approved by the ACC without following proper legal procedure.

The HC bench held a hearing on the petition Tuesday, asking the ACC to submit documents, regarding the ACC’s filing and approval of the case by 2pm Wednesday.

Khaleda’s petition included a plea to quash the case, alongside a request to halt the case proceedings in the lower court as a primary step.

The former prime minister accused the Anticorruption Commission chairman, two commissioners, a deputy commissioner and the Special Judge’s Court-9 of Dhaka of misconduct in regard to filing and trying the case.

The petition also said said Khaleda, as prime minister, performed her official duties as per ‘rules of business’ when she asked BAPEX to take necessary steps regarding three abandoned gas fields according to guidelines and regulations. But the Niko case had been filed purposely to harass her, she claimed.

Khaleda mentioned that the ACC does not have the jurisdiction to challenge the ‘rules of business’, hence the Niko case filed against her has no legal standing.

The detained BNP chairperson had filed an earlier petition on May 18 to scrap the Niko case against. On May 20, a High Court bench said it was ‘too embarrassed’ to hear the plea. A second bench, on May 27, rejected the petition.

The Anticorruption Commission charged Khaleda and 10 others, on May 5, with scamming the state coffers of Tk 13,700 crore by signing the deal with Canadian company Niko Resources Ltd.

The ACC filed two separate graft cases involving deals with Niko against Khaleda and Hasina on Dec 9 last year.

bdnews24.com/at/my/rah/1651hours