Dear Mr. WCI
Apart from me there are only two other individuals on this mailing list.
I am not clear whether you are in support of the comments made on
shada kalo or whether you are simply trying to elicit some opinion
from me against the article.
While I am ambivalent about the legal proceedings against Sheikh
Hasina and the other politicians and certainly do not always agree on
the course taken or adopted by this government I think a few
clarifications are required from me.
In my opinion the remarks made by Dr. Abdul Momen in the shado kalo
blog are merely another piece of propaganda by the AL and their Indian
backers. The facts presented in the article are distorted and have
been manipulated to enhance the AL leaders position. As for the
statements issued by the 'Internationally reputed attorney Payam
Akhavan', it frankly really doesn't matter what an expensive Canadian
lawyer says or thinks about our laws because he is being paid
handsomely to say those things even if they are irrelevant to the case
at hand.
The following remarks made in the article show that it is merely an AL
propaganda ploy -
"However, one serious problem that military leadership cannot accept
of Sheikh Hasina is that she proved that even a ˜partly free, highly
polarized, resource-starved, densely populated new multi-party
democracy in Bangladesh can achieve significant growth rates in spite
of natural or man-made odds. It is a fact that during her tenure in
spite of floods, droughts, strikes and hartals, Bangladesh achieved
its highest GDP as well as per capita income growth rates and it also
maintained the lowest inflation rate in its 36 years history--- all of
which are in bad shape now."
This is entirely untrue. To achieve the economic miracles suggested
here the AL nearly bankrupted the economy. The AL governments of
1971-1975 and 2006-2001 were probably two of the most brutal and
callous in the history of our country. Both Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and
his daughter had unleashed a campaign of terror throughout the nation
during their regimes. At the same time I cannot exonerate the last BNP
government for being probably the most inept, corrupt and incompetent
administration since independence.
That the article also finds inspiration from Indian intelligence
appears in the following statement –
"The young officers believe this as a ploy of the foreign-trained
experts to corrupt the nation's military as they believe that by
engaging military into RAB, a Rapid Action Battalion authorized to
kill without due process, military discipline is being compromised.
They are afraid that their over exposures and hasty decisions to take
civilians jobs could create more fear and uncertainty leading the
nation into bankruptcy. No wonder the economy is stagnating, its
investment plummeted and its inflation rate reached double digits
causing enormous suffering to its nationals. The troops are still
happy as they get free meals but their relatives, sons and daughters
of the land are increasingly finding difficulties."
This is an attempt to undermine the discipline of the armed forces
and render them ineffective as a fighting force which has been the
principle goal of India since the time of our independence.
In reference to the cases against Sheikh Hasina there is certainly
some suspicion of tampering but not only by the governing authorities
but more obviously and crudely by the AL. Mr. Azam Chowdhury in his
statement to the police mentioned Sheikh Hasina's name at least 6
times but then he later changed or retracted his original story. Was
this due to threats of reprisal from the AL? As for the confession of
Sheikh Selim we all remember the interrogation CD that was released on
the internet where he showed no remorse for the death of 11 innocent
commuters caused by the firebombing of a bus by AL thugs. Can such a
person actually be believed and how much sympathy should we have for
this despicable fellow? As for the six 'highly reputed attorneys'
called by the court to be Amicus Curae (friends of the court) many of
them have allegations of corruption against them and the others have
had long political careers with one or other of the parties now under
investigation. In other words, their expressions and opinions are
tainted by political bias and prejudice and would lack credibility in
any court of law.
What should be of more concern is that the court headed by Justice
Shah Abu Naim Mominur Rahman actually accepted them as Amicus Curae
which raises even more suspicions and doubts as he is the brother of
Brigadier General Shah Abdul Hannan of the BNP. The ruling of the
court is therefore highly dubious and cannot be taken as a legal
statement on the facts of the case. The ruling by the court is in
nearly all respects a political determination based on biased and
prejudiced opinion.
The second case raises some further interesting issues. The donation
to the Bangabandhu trust should in itself disqualify any tender bid
for government contracts because any reasonable person would conclude
that the gift can be interpreted as an attempt to manipulate the
selection process. In most Western countries this would certainly have
raised some questions and probably resulted in the annulment of the
deal. It is however, on the second matter of the donation to the Dhaka
Cantonment Board which will be the real test for the government.
Unless it decides to take on the issue of the corruption nexus that
existed between the political parties, business and the military these
cases will appear contradictory and lack credibility with the public.
Regards
MBI Munshi
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
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