'GUERRILLA WAR' AFTER PEELKHANA! :Govt. accused of obfuscation
Mumtaz Iqbal
Make noise in the East. Strike in the West.
- Mao Dze Dong
The authorities cons-ciously are turning Mao's classic maxim of guerrilla warfare on its head by making noises along all points of the compass not in order to mount a strike somewhere but to sow confusion and buy time to deflect the likely bitter after-effects of the Peelkhana massacre.
The noise generated spans a wide decibel range, from the familiar to the provocative to the seemingly rational mixed with acts of compassion and political artifice.
The familiar noise is trotting out the charge that the religious fundamentalists particularly the JMB had a hand in the massacre. This is a very handy weapon to use, giving the JMB's record of violence and insurrectionary action.
As part of this diversionary measure, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Barrister Abdur Razzaque had to present himself at the CID office on 30 March where he was questioned for three hours about his activities and whereabouts on 25 February.
Pertinent questions no doubt, but these could also be asked of any number of other people. For example, some Awami Leaguers posed this question about Khaleda Zia. But they quickly shut up when she tartly replied that she was in the BNP office.
We know where some of the AL stalwarts including the PM were on that day. We also know about some of the things they did. For example, some AL MPs, a state minister and the home minister parlayed with the mutineers; that the mutineers were fortunate enough to be given an audience by the PM and so forth.
But there is complete lack of information on what was discussed at these parleys and at the meeting with the PM.
Were the mutineers given an assurance that they would not be attacked by the security forces, which is the normal and expected response to a mutiny? At what point in time did the authorities become aware of the massacre? Was it before or after the so-called amnesty was announced in the evening of 25 February? Will the CID also talk to these AL luminaries?
The nation has a right to know the answer to these and other relevant questions. But there is only stony silence from the government as well as some subterfuge. Thus, the Anisuzzaman Committee is not authorized to examine the process of decision making and the validity of decisions taken by the authorities. Will its report then be a whitewash?
The JMB hobby horse was ridden hard by Commerce Minister Lt. Col (retd) Faruq Khan for about a week in mid-March. But this backfired when FBCCI executives complained that seeing a JMB operative behind every bush was harming business.
The well-meaning Minister hastily backtracked, though like a good soldier he was only following orders in fingering the JMB. But sometimes following orders can land a soldier in trouble. Just look at the proceedings of the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials.
The next tack pursued was under what law to try the mutineers. Since over 55 army officers were butchered, there was a widespread feeling that the murderers should receive exemplary punishment. But under what statute? The Law Minister flip-flopped on this issue but did hold out the possibility of trial under the Army Act.
But as circumstantial evidence mounted that those involved may extend beyond both the ranks of BDR mutineers and JMB suspects to include ruling party operatives (See Holiday 27 March Twists in politics of Pilkhana investigations), a vociferous media campaign was launched by AL acolytes demanding that the trial be held in civilian courts.
Was this done out of consideration for justice and due process? Or is the intention to drag out the trial as long as possible so that it drops out of the public sight and becomes a backwater issue, thereby saving the authorities considerable embarrassment? No prize for guessing the right answer.
One of the odd justifications put forward by various quarters including the PM for not taking military action was that it might have lead to a "civil war." Since it takes two to tango, what two parties would have fought this "war"?
The answer given is the army and BDR. But this is absolutely bogus. Civil wars are fought between two political groups with clear cut but opposite and ultimately irreconcilable ideologies. But there were no such ideological differences between the army and BDR.
On the contrary, the BDR demands related entirely to their terms of service and contained nothing ideological. So talking about a "civil war" is wishful thinking and amounts to playing the fear card to cover up the government's inept response.
True, BDR mutinied in various places outside Dhaka. But the balance of strength is so much weighted in favour of the army that such outbreaks would have contained easily.
There is no evidence to suggest that the armed forces particularly the army would not have carried out orders to crush the mutineers, especially after the news of the murder of their officers became known. So the talk about a "civil war" is untenable.
The PM quite rightly has expressed compassion to the family of the murdered officers. Not only will the government give each of them Tk.10 lakhs, but a few days ago she handed each family a cheque for Tk40,000.00, raised by the Bangladeshi banks.
But PM Hasina could not refrain from political grandstanding and artifice on 1 April when she requested BNP chairperson Khaleda to surrender her cantonment house where she was residing, saying that this was allocated to her illegally. A good point, for the law must be obeyed.
But the PM let the cat out of the bag by loftily stating that she would have an apartment building constructed on the surrendered house and that two apartments each would be given to the family of the murdered army officers. Is this a cheap shot to curry favour with the army? What about the family of the non-army officers murdered in Peelkhana? Will they get anything?
The authorities are gambling that time is on their side and that other events such as mounting economic crisis will soon grab the headlines. So a policy of cover up, delay and obfuscation is being mounted to achieve this end. It may work in the short run but all bets are off for the long run.
The author is a free lancer.
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