Military has to remain strictly professional M. Shahidul Islam Nowhere do nation-states function like sporting clubs to lay open their budgets for scrutiny, nor are they supposed to be wobbling trees that get swayed by blowing winds. All sovereign nations have confidential files, geopolitical visions, masked spies and forward strategies to safeguard vital national interests and they never compromise on these points -- be it the developed West or the South Asian countries including India. Ours is, however, different for unexplainable reasons. Here the government can handcuff the intelligence chiefs for alleged complicity with secessionist forces abroad and feel no qualm in castigating senior officers of the armed forces on charges ranging from attempt to poison certain political leader to having linkage with militants of any hue, true or not. Despite all such provocations, one hopes that our military would stay focused to its mission at this moment when some people allegedly are in a desperate move to destroy our armed forces and the sovereignty of the nation, with external prodding. It is hoped that the conscious section of the society would surely learn how to differentiate between the patriots and the fifth columnists, close ranks and sift facts from fictions. To begin with one should analyze the following news items in order to understand the disinformation being spread the nation, its armed forces and its sovereignty. During FY2008-09, the Bangladesh armed forces have earned from the UN missions a sum of Taka 90.6 billion (US$1.29 billion). This amount is higher than the total defence budget for the same fiscal year which amounted to Tk. 63.06 billion (US$ 935 million). However, the budgetary allocation, the national defence ranks eighth, representing about 6.4% of the overall government spending. The other news relates to the alleged involvement of the President's Military Secretary, Maj. Gen Ahtesamul Hoque with Islamic militants, and his immediate removal from the post. The allegation follows a similar allegation made by Commerce Minister Faruque Khan in the aftermath of the BDR massacre in February that Islamic militants were involved in the incident. Despite the Commerce Minister's retraction of the same allegation subsequently, the scars of that false allegation did much to implicate members of our armed forces with militancy, in support of which there is no evidence as yet. Planned exposure The news of military's substantial earnings from foreign peace mission proves that our armed forces are no white elephant, as claimed by some and they are doing more to improve the nation's economy than those critics. With respect to the alleged complicity of the President's former Military Secretary, we have interesting information to convey to our readers. Our investigation reveals that the exposure against Maj. Gen. Ehtesam is a planned move to further destroy the morale of the armed forces in order to create opportunity for foreign military intervention by implicating many more officers along with him, and also to create more excuses to remove many other experienced officers of the forces from services. Sources say the concerned Military Secretary to the President fell victim to a baseless allegation in which confessions made by some of the alleged militants under repeated interrogation and torture (in custody, when AL was in power) were deliberately leaked to a selective media outlet by two particular police officers who had investigated the incident of an attack on Sheikh Hasina on September 26, 2001. The two police officers are Inspector Gopal Chakrovorty and Inspector Pronob Kumar. Interestingly, they never mentioned anything about Maj. Gen. Ehtesam's involvement with one of the alleged attackers of Sheikh Hasina when the four party alliance government was in power (2001-2007). The fact that they choose to do so now when the military is undergoing moral convalescence following the brutal killing of fellow officers - rape of the ladies and its consequences - no sane person will believe the exposure occurred without instigation from powerful quarters within and outside the government. However, informed sources point out that if any such serious allegation is made against any army officer, on its own the army has to immediately initiate an investigation to find out the truth. It is not known if any such investigation was carried out at that time or anytime later. They also say that it appears strange that despite the existence of such serious allegation, he was subsequently promoted to higher ranks. The present government also appointed him to the sensitive post of Military Secretary to the President and promoted him as a Major General. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Ehtesam has himself filed a formal application to the army chief on October 12, requesting an investigation into the allegation and demanding justice against people who had launched such an onslaught against him, if the allegation proves unfounded. Suspicion and shuffling For unknown reasons, the government is also getting more suspicious of anything concerned with the military and Maj. Gen. Ehtesam is not the only officer to face the wrath of the regime. Since the BDR massacre of February 25-26, dozens of mid-ranking and senior army officers have been sacked without showing any reason, premature retirement and reckless shuffling and shuttling. All these were done in order to destroy their morale and compel others to quit the services voluntarily under unbearable mental torture. For instance, the IG prison, who's a Brigadier General, has been changed three times since the coming to office of this government. The removal of Brig. Gen. Zakir was followed in February by his attachment and an investigation of his alleged complicity in what the authorities said an attempt to poison Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while in captivity. While the PM has proven so far as someone more impervious and outlasting than the proverbial bionic woman - due to her immunity to grenade blast, bullet strike, poisoning and so on - the military is paying a heavy price. The family life of a senior military officer, the trauma on the children in particular of random shuffling and shuttling has been staggering. Meanwhile, at least 25 other senior officers have had more than one posting - some even three - during the last eight months. Many of them now face the prospect of break up with their spouses while the education of their children suffers beyond repair due to unanticipated moves from one place to another, every three months. Worse still, some of the female officers too have not been spared from such deliberate persecutions. A female Captain was sacked recently for having asked a question regarding the BDR massacre which the authorities did not like. |
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