Suppressed trip, hidden meeting and treatment luxury of Bangladeshi politicians Sunita Paul April 14, 2009 Every other time, when Sajib Wajed Joy, son and advisor of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed visited the country, it was duly publicized by Bangladesh Awami League with due dhamaka. But, this time, when the young self-employed American national arrived in Dhaka, there is visibly nothing! Only a small piece of news stated that he was in Dhaka to see his ailing father, nuclear scientist Dr. Wajed Miah. Check here two points! Sajib Wajed Joy could not bring his former wife Christine Ovemarrie as they already got separated long time back. Secondly, on April 13, 2009, he had two-hour long closed door meeting inside the ministry of Home Affairs with none but Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj, the junior minister for the ministry. Minister Taj left Bangladesh on February 22, just few days before the bloody massacre inside Bangladesh Riffles (BDR) headquarters. When the massacre took place, he simply disappeared and even Bangladesh missions in Washington and New York were unable to say, where he was. Government sources although claimed he was taking treatment of spinal complications, but in reality he was not! Where he was hiding? Why? Sohel Taj recently told Bangladeshi press, while commenting on the garrison residence of BNP leader Mrs. Zia that if it was he, the house would have been vacated instantly. No doubt, the statement was made with political intention. But, why Mr. Sohel Taj and his relatives are continuing to capture a multi-storied building at Dhaka´s Gulshan area, which was illegally constructed by encroaching land belonging to the lake? Is he going to vacate that illegally built building and let the authorities demolish it as they did with Rangs building? What was the agenda of discussion of Joy with junior minister Sohel Taj? The discussion was mostly on fixing strategies of international media campaign centering the BDR massacre. Sohel has provided most of the information to Sajib Wajed Joy, which he received from Abdul Kahar Akhand, the investigation officer with Criminal Investigation Department, probing the BDR massacre case. Joy was very dissatisfied to see long list of Awami League leaders and activists as collaborators and conspirators of the massacre, which came out from the statements of the BDR jawans during interrogation. He gave instructions to Sohel Taj to brief Kahar Akhand on twisting the information for trying to salvage as many as possible BAL men. There were also discussions on strategizing to save Barrister Fazley Noor Taposh, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Sahara Khatun, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mirza Azam, Liakot Sikder and other BAL men. Sohel Taj will be providing a budget to Sajib Wajed Joy from the ´source money´ available with Ministry of Home Affairs for international media efforts and lobbying in building an impression worldwide that the present ruling government was not involved behind the BDR massacre. The next agenda of discussion was to determine the entire purchase programs of the Home Ministry, so that Joy can play ´effective´ role as a lobbyist for foreign companies in supplying various items for the ministry, earning huge amount of ´kick-back´. It is also learnt that, Sajib Wajed Joy held another meeting with the minister in charge of telecommunication ministry with the agenda of obtaining a license to launch a mobile phone company and a massive internet service providing company with permission including Voip facilities. Now, let me go to another topic! For years, it has become a ´fashion´ for Bangladeshi politicians in spending millions of dollars in the name of taking treatment abroad. The latest figures in this list although is junior minister for local government ministry and a prime suspect in BDR massacre case, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, he in rather spending leisure time in Singapore and possibly going to prolong his stay for months, just to avert possible legal consequences. Mirza Azam, another suspect is also trying frantically to leave the country any time. Barrister Taposh is already abroad. According to information, Bangladeshi politicians have spent more than 1 million US dollars in past one year only in Singapore for treatment, leisure and other purposes. It is noteworthy that, every Bangladeshi citizen gets permission to carry only US$ 5,000 each year. In this case, the huge amount of spent money might have been either brought by those politicians through illegal channels or might have been used from their foreign bank accounts. No one ever cared to investigate this matter nor there ever any discussion on this issue, as politicians belonging to almost all the parties involved in such illegal practices. And, finally, one question again! Will the probe report on the BDR massacre ever be released? Or, what will be the ultimate fate of the army probe report, as the ruling government is determined in killing this report by hook or crook. Can the members of army probe team ignore the eyes of the ´mighty´ rulers in Dhaka and finally let the nation know the truth behind the BDR massacre, the killers, collaborators and conspirators? According to latest information, ministry of Home Affairs in Bangladesh was forced to finally issue a letter to Defense Ministry giving consent on trying the killers, collaborators and conspirators of BDR massacre under army law. This is surely a good sign. But, until the report is published and culprits tried, nothing can be said with all certainty in a country like Bangladesh, where politicians are mighty enough in shifting any adverse situation finally in their favor. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/98368 |
__._,_.___