[ALOCHONA] Fwd: Goom Or Enforced Dissapperance : A Dangerous Development in the Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh

Dr KMA Malik's HR paper in Amar Desh

Zoglul Husain

Ilias Hossain reports on the keynote paper (report being almost translation of the English text of the paper) presented by Dr KMA Malik in the London seminar of 10 May 2012:

(Please click to read Amar Desh report 19 May 2012)
http://www.amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2012/05/19/145740

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 16, 2012 at 8:24 PM
Subject: Goom Or Enforced Dissapperance : A Dangerous Development in the Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh
To:


Goom Or Enforced Dissapperance : A Dangerous Development in the Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh

By Dr. K. M. A. Malik

Introduction:The current government led by Awami League (AL) came to
power in early 2009, with a manifesto that included zero-tolerance on
human rights abuses. Bangladesh Constitution prohibits human rights
violations and it is obligatory for the state organs to respect the
principles of universal human rights.

Unfortunately, the government has failed miserably to protect human
rights for all its citizens. A well documented report by Odhikar
reveals that the Human rights situation in 2011 deteriorated very
seriously compared with previous years (www.odhikar.org).

The areas of general concern:

In recent years, the rights issues in Bangladesh have been discussed
covering the following areas:

Suppression of political opposition, curtailing media freedom, attacks
on journalists,
Restricting dissent and criticism of government policies by threats
and physical attacks,
Unlawful detention and torture in remand,
Using police and security services as party tools,
Politicization of judiciary, restricting the scope for justice,
Increasing political, administrative and economic corruption,
Patronizing criminality and violence by ‘party cadres’,
Mass withdrawal of criminal cases out of ‘political consideration,
Presidential clemency to party cadres convicted for murder,
Violence against women, garment and domestic workers,
Attacks on religious minorities and inter-ethnic violence,
BSF atrocities along the border,
India's water aggression, etc.

All these issues together with the very sensitive issue of the BDR
massacre trial have been highlighted, in varying degrees, in different
media, both nationally and internationally. Unfortunately, none of the
stories have enhanced the good image of Bangladesh and her rulers in
the international stage.

International rights organisations such as Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, Asian Human Rights Commission, etc., have
expressed grave concerns at the rights situation in Bangladesh, but
the government has not taken any concrete actions. Utterances by
different ministers and government leaders tend to give the impression
that ‘everything is fine; they forget that it is not their words but
actions that are under public and media scrutiny, both at home and
abroad, and that the much sought after democracy, rule of law and a
truly civilized society would remain only pipe dream if remedial
measures are not taken to improve the overall rights situation in the
country.

Goom or Enforced disappearance

In a short essay, it is not possible to a full picture of all the
aspects of Human Rights Abuses in present Bangladesh. (All details can
be found in the Odhikar Reports, www.odhikar.org). I shall, therefore,
very briefly deal with the most recent concern of GOOM or Enforced
disappearance, which was once associated with ˜death squads or
˜vigilante groups operating in some South and Latin American countries
during 1970s.

Political and social violence has been more or less a curse for
Bangladesh from the beginning. The government and their party
followers have resorted to all types of legal and illegal means to
marginalize, intimidate, harass, defeat and, on some occasions, even
to kill, some of their respective opponents or enemies, which led to
cycles of violent confrontations and political and social instability.
This evil culture has continued over the years, with ups and downs,
but truly it never ended. When the regime in power (whether civil or
military) became unpopular and lost public support, they resorted more
to ‘hard line tactics for suppression of all opposition and
perpetuating their misrule. Even all the ˜elected governments showed
this tendency in the past.

The Elias Issue and the dubious government role

But, apart from the old culture, the country is now faced with a new
threat of extreme concern – that of GOOM or ˜enforced disappearance.
The culture of ‘GOOM’ has been going on for a while, with little
notice from national and international media, but this has now become
the greatest concern after the ‘forced disappearance’ of Mr. Elias
Ali, an ex-MP and a powerful leader of BNP. Elias Ali along with his
driver was picked up at midnight about 3 weeks ago by some
unidentified persons. Nobody knows about the identity of the
miscreants, but it is widely believed that they are members of the
security agencies or of a pro-government vigilante group. So far,
there is no concrete news on the whereabouts of Elias Ali and his
driver; we do not know if they are dead or still alive. Mrs. Elias Ali
met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for help, but so far the promise
to help find Mr. Ali has remained unfulfilled.

The government has not only failed in their duty to find Mr. Ali but
several AL leaders have made some very rude remarks about the personal
character of Elias Ali, even suggesting that the BNP leader Khaleda
Zia might be responsible for the disappearance! Obviously, BNP and its
allies, already ˜under seige by the government (thousands of their
party leaders and workers being charged with allegations of
corruption, extortion, terrorism, etc.) and fighting for their
political and organizational survival, reacted very strongly and
decided to challenge the government both inside the courts and on the
streets.

The Elias issue has thrown the country into a new phase of controversy
and uncertainty. Even the US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton
expressed deep concern during her visit to Dhaka last week and asked
for proper investigations into the disappearance of Elias Ali and the
trade union leader Aminul Islam. Ironically, this caused anger within
the ruling circles, some of them even accused Secretary Clinton of
unwantedâ interference.

Alarming rise in the Goom incidents

The disappearance of Elias Ali is politically the most explosive
event, but this is not the first or the last incident of this type of
crime. Enforced disappearance started from the beginning of the
current government and has only increased during the last 3 years.
The rights group Ain-O-Salish Kendra says that at least 22 people have
disappeared during the first four months of this year. According to
Odhikar, 30 persons were victims of enforced disappearance in 2011, 18
in 2010 and 2 in 2009; this shows an alarming increase in such
incidents. In comparison, extra-judicial killings by law enforcing
agencies fell from 127 in 2010 to 84 in 2011. This suggests that “a
shift is taking place by which citizens are placed outside legal
protection and legal trials by terminating them. The State might have
adopted the GOOMâ tactic because of the national and international
outcry against extra-judicial killings.

The daily New Nation ran a horror story yesterday (09 May, 2012). It
says that Police have recovered 100 bodies from different parts of the
capital city and 60 bodies from different Thanas of Dhaka district
during the last four months. The skeletons, bodies or parts of bodies
were recovered either from the rivers Turag and Buriganga or from
canals and open-fields. Most of the victims could not be identified.
“The actual number of unidentified bodies would be much higher as
all of them could not be traced after they went missing. Many of the
bodies might have been dumped into rivers which were carries away by
strong current.† Nobody knows if all or some of the dead bodies
belong to the victims of enforced disappearance (at the hands of state
organs) or they were victims of ordinary ‘disappearance’
(perpetrated by non-state actors such as underworld criminals or
terrorists).

Who are the culprits?

The government denies that any of the state agencies is involved in
˜enforced disappearance or any other type of extra-judicial killings.
But it does not explain the disappearance of the driver of the car
carrying 7 million taka in cash allegedly bound for the Minister
Shuranjit Sengupta' residence about a month ago. The minister' APS and
other passengers of the car came out of hiding a few days after the
incident, but the driver still remains disappeared. One or two
witnesses of the sensational Saudi diplomat murder case are also
without trace. Involvement of the state is clearly suggested.

The government may deny it, but there is widespread public perception
that some rogue elements within the government and/or within the
security establishment or even some foreign special forces are
involved in this type of crimes. Their aim is not yet totally clear,
but in the absence of transparent governance and in an atmosphere of
all pervading lust for absolute power on the part of some people,
conspiracy theories thrive. People cannot differentiate the truth from
falsehood or propaganda. Even the topmost political leaders become
suspect in the public eye due to their short-sightedness or stupidity.
This causes political process to fail and creates a destabilising
situation that invariably invites undesirable outside actors to usurp
political power.

Crusader 100?

One very dangerous story found its way in some print and internet
media recently. In short, it says that about 100 AL activists were
secretly trained in 2009 by Indian R&AW in different techniques of
covert operations. Code named “Crusader 100† this group maintains
safe houses or operation bases in secret locations in Dhaka and carry
out abductions, torture and killings of targets selected from the
opposition groups.
(http://www.free-press-release.com/news-raw-trained-crusader-100-in-action-in-bangladesh-1335098104.html)

It is difficult to prove the truth or falsehood of such story, but in
the prevailing circumstances of unending distrust and suspicion, and
from the past records of ˜joint efforts by the Indian Intelligence
Agencies and some elements with AL camps, operations of such death
squads or vigilante group cannot be totally discounted. It is not
improbable that the enemies of Bangladesh would try to discredit all
political forces and lead the country to a failed state status, so
that a direct foreign intervention could be justified at a future
time.

The current government has lost much of its popular support due not
only its failure to solve the ever increasing economic and social
crises, but also to what is seen as the policies of appeasement and
subservience towards New Delhi. It is assumed that it lets the Indian
security forces and intelligence agencies enter Bangladesh territory
‘in discreet manner to hunt for anti-Indian elements within the
country and gradually eliminate them. This is also consistent with the
ruling elites dictatorial actions and with their not-so-hidden agenda
for establishing one-party dynastic rule.

The Goom culture must stop

The use of GOOM culture as a weapon against selected targets is a
dangerous development and must be discouraged and condemned by all
people with a minimum degree of sanity. This is something different
from and more dangerous than the usual violent confrontation with
political opposition, and unlawful detention, custodial torture, and
extra-judicial killings by the state law enforcing agencies. The
killings of alleged criminals and terrorists, mostly by stage managed
incidents of cross-fires or encounters by Police and RAB, have led to
these forces being termed as ‘death squads.

We do not know exactly who is playing the new game of GOOM in
Bangladesh and what it wants to achieve by playing this dangerous
game. It is an urgent duty of all patriotic citizens of the country,
irrespective of party or political affiliations, to remain vigilant on
this latest danger and to put pressure on both the government and
opposition parties to unmask and punish the criminals. The barbarian
crimes of enforced disappearance in Bangladesh must be stopped.

------------------
* The essay is based on the keynote paper presented at London Seminar
on Human Rights in Bangladesh  organized by Bangladesh Centre for
Social Development, UK, on 10 May 2012.

** Dr. K. M. A. Malik is a retired professor of Dhaka University and
lecturer, Cardiff University. He may be contacted via e-mail:
kmamalik@...

http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=381929

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