Firearms smuggling increases: 60 syndicates active, pol cadres key buyers
Smuggling and illegal trading of various types of local and foreign-made firearms have increased in the country as cadres of different political parties are the main buyers of those weapons,intelligence sources said.
Talking to The New Nation on Wednesday, the sources said the demand for firearms have increased from across the border as those are used in criminal activities such as murder, robbery and extortion.They said syndicates from both sides of the border control such smuggling of firearms. Despite strong security measures, gunrunners are bringing in the firearms amid rising demand from political cadres.
In the capital Dhaka alone, they said, 60 syndicates are now operating to deal with the illegal firearms. These syndicates keep constant contacts with the gunrunners from across the border.The smugglers sell small firearm sand explosives to terrorist groups in Dhaka, Chittagong and other places across the country. Gangsters prefer small weapons because these are less risky tocarry than the heavy ones.
According to a key intelligence agency, Indian-made small arms named 'Belgharia', 'Moyur' and 'Chhakka' are being smuggled into the country through the southwestern frontier, which is easier for transportation. Besides, single shooter gun,revolver, pistol and rifle also the country through the northeastern border.
On an average, each firearm is sold between Tk 25,000 and Tk.1 lakh. Unsuspecting low-income people are often used as carriers of the smuggled firearms. Smuggling and illegal trading of different types of local and foreign-made firearms have almost doubled in 2011than the previous year in the country's south-western region, added the intelligence sources.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion(Rab) teams recovered 4,000 different types of smuggled firearms in last three years,Police said arms smugglers are particularly active in at least 60 pockets in 18 bordering districts. Even some political activists are on the list of illegal arms smugglers, the sources added.
The eight-shooter gun, swan-off rifle, sub-machine gun, light machine gun and pistol, smuggled into the country, are mostly made in China, USA and Czech Republic.
Indian-made arms like pipe gun,one-shooter gun, musket rifle and revolver are also being smuggled into the country and their demands are high due to its cheap price and availability,sources said.A sub-machine gun costs Tk 2 lakhto Tk 3.5 lakh, light machine gun Tk 1.5 lakh to Tk 1.8 lakh and a foreign-made pistol Tk 80,000 to Tk 1.5 lakh.
To make arms smuggling safe,gangs usually use consignments of fruits, eggs, rice, vegetables and other items as cover up. It is alleged that border guards of India and Bangladesh often ignore routine checks because of underhand dealings.
Sources said smugglers from both the countries maintain close ties. They are well-organized and also have 'good relations' with security forces.
The weapons are supplied to other parts of the country as per the demand of the buyers, said a smuggler, adding,a good number of firearms also reach outlawed party cadres and gangs.Different types of arms are being smuggled daily into Bangladesh through its south-western borders, said an illegal arms trader.
According to Bangladesh Development Partnership Centre (BDPC), a non-government institution, there are nearly 0.4 million unauthorized firearms in the country and of them about 0.2million are being used in terrorist activities.
BDPC says political party cadres control about 50 per cent of the illegal arms while 30 per cent by smuggler sand 20 per cent by outlawed outfits and robbers in the coastal areas.
The intelligence agencies have advised the government machinery to take immediate steps to put a stop to the smuggling of firearms and explosives that may be used in terrorist activities by political cadres.The agencies said such smuggled firearms may also be used by the underground outfits to create instability in the country.
http://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=35844
[ALOCHONA] Declaration of Independence: The Controversy Continues
Declaration of Independence: The Controversy Continues
Obaid Chowdhury
alaldulal@aol.com
Awami leaders never tire of telling all and sundry that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) of Bangladesh before his arrest on the night of March 25, 1971. Even their administration-orchestrated court verdict and the constitutional fixing do not seem to be enough.
I do not recall Sheikh Mujib ever claiming to have made the UDI, nor did he deny or contest what then Major Ziaur Rahman did from the Chittagong Radio Station on March 27, 1971.
During this past month of March, the Awami supported electronic media started and ended with one message: Ebarer sangram muktir sangram. Ebarer sangram shwadihinotar sangram…of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered on March 7, 1971. It was not an UDI, as some Awami zealots would like to coin. Other than this, there was nothing shown in the media or said in public as evidence to demonstrate that he made the declaration of independence.
In a recent talk show, Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed went a step further. He said, if I heard it correctly, Sheikh Mujib prerecorded the UDI, which continued to be announced from the midnight of March 25, 1971, further claiming that many people heard that announcement. He, however, he did not mention which radio station made that broadcast.
Even though Mujib was conducting negotiations with the Pakistani leaders from March 17 onward, he said to have instructed Tofail and others to prepare for the war. Not only that, Mujib had already made arrangements with India to provide necessary assistance for shelter and the conduct of the liberation war for the freedom fighters, Tofail asserted.
Bangladesh wartime Prime Minister, Tajuddin Ahmed met Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on April 4 and 6, 1971. There was no mention at that time of any prior arrangement between Sheikh Mujib and Indira Gandhi. Tajuddin had to sign a 7-Point agreement---an examination of the agreement will testify that it was a total sellout---before India committed to help him.
Assuming that, as an alternative option, Mujib made that arrangement with India, in case his negotiations with the Pakistani junta failed. But what arrangement did he make to save the lives of unarmed Bengalis from the military crackdown? The daily arrivals of planes and ships in Dhaka and Chittagong with troops and armament were no secret. Nor should the intended purpose of that ominous military buildup be unclear to him.
Do Tofail and other Awami starwarts want to imply that Sheikh Mujib allowed the genocide to take place before he decided to declare the independence? And, a declaration nobody heard?
After the massacre of 7000 Bengalis, as quoted by an eyewitness in the International Herald Tribune on March 30, 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman of 8 East Bengal Regiment, took a huge risk on himself to make the declaration of independence from the Kalurghat Betar Station on March 27. Millions in Bangladesh and outside heard it, thanks to a foreign merchant ship, which picked up the message and relayed it worldwide. For the first time, people got a clear political direction and took to fighting for the independence. Resistance so far by Bengali military and Para-military elements and others was largely for self-defense.
There were a few versions of UDI in circulation so far. One was that ASM Abdur Rob, then a revolutionary student leader, coerced Sheikh Mujib to sign the UDI prepared by him. It was then given to the loyal BDR signalers at Peelkhana with request to transmit to AL leaders in Chittagong. It was unclear, however, how those loyalist elements could transmit the message when they themselves were under attack by the Pakistanis. Rob had appeared in a number of interviews, and, I never heard him say that Shiekh Mujib made the declaration.
According to Dr. Aftab Ahmed, a former Chatra League leader and a professor of Dhaka University, Tajuddin Ahmed and a few other top AL politicians went to the residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the night of March 25 with a draft UDI. The supreme leader declined to sign it on the ground that the Pakistani leadership would then brand him a traitor, suggesting that he was still a Pakistani at heart. Additionally, Mujib did not heed their repeated requests to leave his residence so that he could give leadership to the liberation war.
Mujib was arrested soon afterwards. According to many, he surrendered. His family, including today's Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina, enjoyed the royal treatment of the Pakistan military, while the rest of the country was burning and people suffering.
***
There is no dearth of evidences that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was hopeful of a resolution in the constitutional issues, and that he would soon be able to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. "War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh", a well-researched book by Richard Sisson and Leo Rose (1990) has given details of the negotiations between the Presidential Team and the Awami League in Dhaka on March 17-24, 1971 and what Sheikh Mujib was aiming at.
One may also click on the link below for an article by Syed Badrul Ahsan, published in the Daily Star on March 24, 2012. The writer is known to be diehard Mujib follower.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=227543
Badrul Ahsan wrote, "On this day (March 24) in 1971, the Awami League leadership stayed busy all morning working out the finer details of the economy-related issues of a proposed governmental structure for Pakistan. The Awami League still believed that a constitutional way out for a transfer of power from the junta to the elected representatives of the people was possible."
At the end of the meeting on March 24, "General Peerzada said that another meeting could take place in the morning the next day, March 25. When Kamal Hossain inquired about the time of the meeting, Peerzada said he would call and let him know."
"By the evening (on March 25) though, it had become clear to the Awami League that the regime had little intention of transferring power to an elected government."
Yet, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman waited the whole day for the call from the president. Alas, the "call never came."
So, where was the time for Sheikh Mujib to make the UDI, much less pre-record it, as mentioned by Tofail?
"Lokkho Praner Binimoye" by Major Rafiqul Islam gave some developments in Chittagong in March 1971. Lieutenant Colonel M. R. Chowdhury, Major Ziaur Rahman, Captain Rafiqul Islam and others had several secret meetings to decide the course of actions to counter the military buildup in Chittagong. They thought they needed a political blessing for any action, should they deem necessary. Accordingly, they sent Captain Amin Ahmed Chowdhury to Dhaka to inform the political leadership of the alarming situation, further requesting permission to take countermeasures to save lives of the Bengalis. The message was conveyed to Sheikh Mujib through Colonel MAG Osmany around March 17. Reportedly, Mujib angrily retorted that he would not tolerate any military adventurism by the Bengalis when he was talking with the Pakistani leadership for a solution. A disappointed Captain Amin returned to Chittagong. Amin, now a retired Major General, may speak up.
So, did Sheikh Mujib really make the UDI? Major Rafiq, now an Awami League lawmaker, avoided the question in a talk show sometime back.
Nobody denies the need for a correct portrayal of the history of Bangladesh and its liberation war. If we distort it today, in the name of correction, future generations will not condone us, and the perpetrators will be condemned to the garbage of history. The truth will surface and prevail in time.
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."---Abraham Lincoln.
Obaid Chowdhury
New York, USA
April 4, 2012
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
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Rebellious officers move to end Indian hegemony in Bangladesh
(Global Review Special)
January 20, 2012
http://globalreview.ca/asia.php
"It all started in a cold February morning three years ago when 19 Indian commandos garbed themselves in the uniform of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifle (BDR) soldiers and entered the BDR headquarter compound in Dhaka at 8.11 AM on February 25, 2009.
In one of the most inhuman conspiracies the world has ever witnessed, the Indian commandos had their pre-scheduled rendezvous with the collaborators from within the BDR ranks and slaughtered 57 of the 155 military officers gathered to conduct the annual darbar (meeting with soldiers) in the ornate Darbar hall of a colonial era fortress at the heart of the nation�s capital.
"The marauding attackers minced and mutilated bodies, raped women and children as young as 12 years old. Evidence unearthed in the investigations that followed showed how a cabal from the ruling Awami League (AL) connived with the mutineers and the intelligence apparatuses of India to destroy Bangladesh�s armed forces as part of a grand design to settle what the strategists in Delhi fondly labeled the �Eastern question.�
"All strategies are expected to be humane, but this was perhaps one of the rare conspiracies in human history by any government against its own armed forces, and, it embodied a grand design by Delhi to neutralize the Bangladeshi military in order to set Indian hands free to focus solely on China and Pakistan.
"Amidst intense Indian meddling, the constitution of the nation was allowed to get tramped in 2007- deferring a scheduled election indifinitely- and the military's higher echelon was used to declare emergency rules in order to engineer an election mechanism to bring to power a pro-Indian regime. Economically, the game plan aimed at reaping windfall rewards by turning Bangladesh into an Indian hinterland.
"Ever since, the young officers of the Bangladesh army kept reacting to a series of anti-national-interest policies of the Bangladesh government, with great risks. In October 2009, one Major and five Captains of the army�s elite para- commando unit were framed into a faked grenade attack on a ruling party MP, Fazle Nur Taposh, who is also a cousin of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
"Although an army-led investigation report discovered Taposh�s involvement in the BDR mutiny, the fake attack did not carry any emblem of military artisanship; the drama having caused no injury to Taposh or his associates and proving an amateurish conduct aimed solely to create headlines and pretexts to nab the aggrieved army officers. At least 132 officers, their ranks ranging from Gentleman Cadet to General, were sacked under a host of pretexts since the 2009 mutiny while at least three Lt. Colonels and two Majors were arrested.
"The third anniversary of that mutiny being only weeks away, the military is once again found fuming with anger over the indifference of the government to bringing to justice the political masterminds of that grisly crime.
"The latest episode - which is yet another expression of anger displayed through internet/phone conversations among many of the aggrieved officers - led to the arrest last week of one Major General, one Brigadier General, two Lt. Colonels, four Majors and a Captain. Days ago, another Major was nabbed, but he managed to flee from custody and notified his colleagues how he was interrogated by an Indian officer on issues he termed as �sensitive to Bangladesh�s sovereignty and national security.�
"After prolonged silence, the government finally decided to leap into the public domain with the news of a failed coup attempt. A press briefing organized by the army on January 19 confirmed that two retired officers � Lt. Col. Ehsan Yusuf and Maj. Zakir � have been arrested and the authorities are looking for another fugitive serving officer, Maj. Ziaul Haq. Brig. Gen. Muhammad Masud Razzaq, who had conducted the press briefing, said the military has specific evidence that up to 16 current and former Bangladeshi military officers �with extreme religious views� were involved in a �heinous conspiracy� to overthrow the government."