http://www.theeasternpost.org/archive_more_cover.php?id=114&dt=2012-01-25
Bangladesh: War Crimes Trials are the cause behind the failed coup
Report From:By Sohail Arshad
The failed military coup against Sheikh Hasina by the some ex-army officers and the Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir was not a surprise as Sheikh Hasina has been the target of Islamic groups ever since she announced the establishment of the War Crime Tribunal. Many Jamat Islami and BNP leaders have been arrested in this connection.
The previous dictatorial regimes and after that the BNP-Jamat Islami rule in Bangladesh till 2008 saw the emergence of anti-India and hardcore Islamic groups that were hostile to India. The Pakistan based ISI had infiltrated the Bangladesh army that were promoting forces that wanted to carry out subversive and terrorist activities against India from Bangladesh's soil.
During the rule of Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, Pakistan's foriegin policy was to turn Bangladesh a hotbed of terrorism so that India could be engaged in a three pronged undeclared war from Kashmir, from eastern borders and from western coast from where the Mumbai attackers entered India.
During this period the Bangladesh army created and promoted terrorist and separatist outfis like the Hizbul Mujahideen and Hizbut Tahrir and terrorists like Bangla Bhai and giving support to separatist organisations like the ULFA. Hasina government had the knowledge that the ISI elements in the Bangladesh army were trying to dislodge her government and Hasina government brought to light the sinister developments in her country just two days before her India visit in January 2009.
An important minister in her cabinet Syed Ashraful Islam had shocked India by disclosing the fact that the former BNP-Jamaat Regime had arranged a clandestine meeting between the former Pakistan president Perwez Musharrarf and the top leader and founder of ULFA, Anup Chetia while he was languishing in a Dhaka jail. Bangladesh's external intelligence agency, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) had played an active role in arranging the meeting as a section of the DGFI officials was hand in glove with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Not only did Musharraf meet Chetia but also provided funds to him. According to Mr Islam, some officials of the DGFI and politicians of Bangladesh had received money from Pakistan to facilitate ULFA's anti-India activities from Bangladesh. Ulfa is also said to have received 15 truckloads of arms and ammunition from the ISI. It is widely known that ULFA is a separatist militant outfit which has been running militant and destructive activities in India, particularly in Assam. It had carried out a series of blasts in Guahati during the home minister P. Chidambaram's visit on the New Year's Day last year killing about 30 people and injuring dozens. The intelligence agencies had suspected ISI hand in the blasts.
Therefore, in the light of Mr Islam's sensitive statements now it was quite evident that Mr Musharraf funded and sponsored the anti- India terrorist activities from the Bangladesh soil by taking some officials of DGFI and some politicians of Bangladesh into confidence. He had also arranged for the training of gullible Bangla youths in Pakistan who have since come back and waiting to carry out strikes in India. In this way Mr Musharraf was trying to take Bangladesh the Pakistan way. It is now clear that the former Pakistan president had planned to turn Bangladesh into another den of LeT and Taliban.
Sheikh Hasina should be commended for her initiatives to break the ISI-DGFI-ULFA nexus in her country by arresting and handing over top ULFA leaders including Arbind Rajkhowa to India last December and later signing three agreements with India to fight terrorism. Her political wisdom saved this region from becoming another terror zone.
After coming to power she had vowed to purge the ISI elements in the army and curb the militant organisations in her country to take the country back to its securlar roots.
In the general elections of Bangladesh in December 2008, Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League grabbed power with a huge majority. The Awami League had, among other things, promised in its election manifesto to carry out the War Crimes Trial against those who supported and assisted the Pakistani Army in the crimes against humanity in the '71 war of Bangladesh's independence, after coming to power.
The issue of the war crimes in Bangladesh is as old as the history of Bangladesh. It is well known that the East Pakistan fought the war of independence on the issue of language. India supported East Pakistan (Bangladesh) on her request. As a result, the nine-month war ended in a humiliating defeat of Pakistan as its 90,000 soldiers surrendered before India. Ultimately Bangladesh came into existence. But the bloodshed, manslaughter and the worst kind of violence it witnessed during the nine month period was unparalleled in the history of mankind. The anti-partition groups and organisations of East Pakistan had supported Pakistani forces who meted out all kinds of barbarity and cruelty to the 'freedom fighters' and the common people favouring Bangladesh. The members and activists of anti-partition groups in collaboration with the Pakistani Army slaughtered the supporters of Bangladesh, raped women, both Hindu and Muslim and looted their houses and businesses and set them afire. According to an estimate, about 3 million Bangladeshis were killed and five hundred thousand women were raped during the mayhem. As a show of extreme cruelty, the bodies of the victims were cut into pieces, their nails were pulled out, their eyes gorged out and their hearts were pulled out after ripping their chests apart. The women were not only raped but their breasts were sliced off and their private parts were severely mutilated and a section of the people of Bangladesh itself assisted the Pakistani Army in these crimes. There were numerous villages where the villagers were collectively killed for supporting Bangladesh. The Jamat Islami has been accused of being an ally of the Pakistani Army during the bloodshed and manslaughter though the Jama'at leaders strongly repudiate the charge. It is alleged that the members of the outfits like Al Badr, Al Shams and Razakar Bahni and the so-called Peace Committees that fought shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistani Army were mostly associated with Jama'at Islami. The Jama'at leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid currently under arrest was the President of Al Badr force. During the war, a large number of intellectuals, writers and artists were killed in a planned way. In a particular incident, over 150 wrtiers and journalists including the BBC correspondent Nizamuddin Ahmad were killed allegedly by Al Badr volunteers.
Therefore, after the establishment of Bangladesh, President Mujibur Rahman got the War Crimes Tribunal Act 1973 enacted to carry out the War Crimes Trials on the demand of the intellectuals and the general people. The Collaborators Act was also passed to try the collaborators of the Pak Army during the war. 195 Pakistani soldiers and army officers were detained over allegations of war crimes. A large number of arrests were made all over the country. According to an estimate about 100,000 accused were arrested most of whom were released later on the basis of insufficient proof.
However, after Mujib's assassination, the army generals usurped Bangladesh's power. Forgetting the favours India had done to Bangladesh, they started coming closer to Pakistan and under the influence of Pakistan, they gradually integrated the 'war criminals' into the government. The ban that was imposed on Jamat Islami was also lifted within a few years and the military government took Bangladesh towards Islamisation with the help of Jama'at.
But as the dictatorship came to an end in 1992 and democracy came into force, the nationalist elements, secular intellectuals and the 'freedom fighters' started demanding the execution of war crime trials because people had not forgotten the atrocities and brutalities meted out to them. As Sheikh Hasina's Awami League believes in secular ideals, it has had the backing of the secularists and freedom fighters and their heirs. These sections formed associations and started campaigns mobilising public support in favour of War Crime Trials. In this connection, Jahan Ara, a woman whose three sons had been 'martyred' during the battles between Mukti Bahini and the Pak Army, formed 'Ghaddar O Dalal Nirmool Committee'(Traitors and Collaborators Annihilation Committee). 'Sector Commanders', an association consisting of the soldiers and commanders of Mukti Bahini had already come into existence. There is another association called Writers' Forum which comprises writers, intellectuals and theatre artists. All these outfits fervently pushed for the War Crimes Trial. The whole campaign is currently being led by the renowned theatre artist, Shahryar Kabir and a former Mukti Bahini soldier Dr M A Hassan whose brother was also killed fighting the Pak army. Mr Hasan is a living witness to the bloodshed and mayhem during the period and has documented it extensively.
Therefore, bowing to the pressure and demand of the intellectuals, social activists and common people, the Awami League made it an election issue and included the War Crime Trials in its election manifesto in the elections of 2008. As a result, the Awami League came to power with a huge majority. Soon afte the elections, Sheikh Hasina presented a resolution for the War Crime Trials in the Jatiya Sansad (Parliament) which was opposed by Jamat Islami, and the BNP walked out. However, the Sheikh Hasina government went ahead and formed a War Crime Tribunal in March this year. The Tribunal consists of three judges who will be assisted by a team of lawyers and investigators. Dr M A Hasan is an important member of the Fact Finding Team. He has gathered thousands of documents and evidences during the last 19 years and handed it over to the government. The team has presented a list of over 1700 'war criminals.'
As a pre-emptive measure, the government has restricted the accused from leaving the country. The list of the accused has been put up at all the airports, seaports and border passages. Most of the persons on the list are from the Jamat Islami. Three top leaders of Jamat Islami, Matiur Rehman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Md Mujahid and Delwar Hussain were detained last month in connection with a case. In fact, the government had the apprehension that the leaders might escape the country to avoid trials. On July 13, another two assistant secretaries of Jamat, Qamruzzaman and Abdul Qadir Mollah were also arrested in connection with war crimes.
On the other hand the Jamat Islami has repudiated the charges against it saying no leader of the organisation has ever been involved in war crimes, nor have they ever been tried for it. He said that Jamat Islami has also prepared a list of 50 Awami League leaders who had been involved in war crimes. Khaleda Zia led BNP has termed the trials as a tool to suppress the opposition and demanded immediate release of Jamat leaders. It should be noted that Jamat Islami was an ally in the former BNP-Jamat alliance.
During the BNP-Jamat rule from 2001 to 2006 , terrorism and militant Islamism flourished in Bangladesh and took the whole country in its grip. During this rule, 40 terrorist outfits including JMB, Hizbut Tehrir, Hizbul Jihad Islami and Lashkar-e-Taiba strengthened their foothold and the notorious terrorist Bangla Bhai emerged. In 2005, he shook the whole country by conducting 500 bomb blasts in a single day in 63 out of 64 districts of the country in a brazen show of his strength. Later he was hanged on the US pressure.
Since Sheikh Hasina is an advocate of secularism and is opposed to extremism, she has always been a target of the terrorist groups. In 2004, a powerful grenade attack was made on her rally in which 24 of the leaders and activists of her party were killed. Sheikh Hasina was also injured and her hearing faculty was affected. During that period Khaleda Zia's BNP was in power. The accused in the case are the Bangladesh commander ofLashkar-e-Taiba, Mufti Hannan, political advisor of the former Prime Minister Khalida Zia and the BNP Chairperson, Harris Choudhury, the leader of the Bangladehs Chapter of Lashkar-e-Taiyba Maulana Tajuddin and other BNP leaders. This shows that not only political opponents but terrorist organisations like HUJI and Lashkar Taiba are also her enemies and planning to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic country by removing Hasina from their path.
With the crackdown on terrorist organisations soon after coming to power, arresting the leaders and activists of JMB, HUJI and Lashkar-e-Taiba on a big scale, the Hasina government has also waged an ideological war against terrorism and radical Islamism. It has imposed a ban on the renowned Islamic scholar Syed Abul Ala Maududi's books in Bangladesh. The government has ordered the removal of Maududi's books from government libraries associated with 24,000 mosques in the country. The libraries are run by the Islamic Foundation, an autonomous body of the Bangla government. The Director of the Foundation, Shamim Mohammad Afzal said, "Maulana Maududi's philosophy is in conflict with the basic teachings of Islam and is the cause of the growing extremism and terrorism in the country. So, we have decided to remove his books from all the 24,000 state libraries."
As Maulana Maududi was the founder of Jamat Islami, the Jamat believes in his philosophy and ideology and has been working for its propagation. Jamat has termed Hasina government's action as a part of his political agenda and has harshly condemned it. The ban has evoked a mixed reaction in the subcontinent. Some intellectuals and organisations have hailed it terming it as an effective strike at the ideological root of terrorism and extremism in the subcontinent while some other have opposed it saying that it is an attack on human and democratic rights. For instance, renowned Islamic scholar of India, Asghar Ali Engineer said that there are indeed elements in Maududi's writings that promote extremism among the Muslims and that Maududi turned Islam into a political party. Nevertheless, he opposed the ban on his books. On the other hand, a spokesman of National Alliance of People's Movement, Faisal Khan termed it as a right step saying that the concept of the Islamic state in Maududi's writings proved fatal to the Muslim youth. Countless Muslim youth were sacrificed at the altar of Maududi's imaginary Islamic state and their future was ruined. The Editor of Milli Gazette and President of All India Milli Council Dr Zafarul Islam, however, termed the ban as state terrorism saying ban on the books of a great Islamic researcher for political vendetta was condemnable.
However, it is a fact that the ban on Maulana's books is a part of the steps of the Bangla government against Jama'at Islami which is the main accused in the War Crimes Trials. The truth is that through this ban, the government plans to arrest the growing influence and reach of the Jamat in the country because it believes that through these libraries, Jamat it trying to spread and promote the ideology of Maulana Maududi and ultimately seize political power. But in course of this, Sheikh Hasina has antagonised even the section which was on her side in the war on terror. Perhaps there would not have been such a hue and cry if the government had removed Maududi's books from the libraries without imposing a ban as no democratic and secular government is bound to promote and propagate the ideology of a particular religious scholar, that too when it believes that the ideology promotes extremism. However, the common people should have the right to read the books of Maulana Maududi, or Ibn Taiymiyya or Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, based on their choice.
Thanks to the initiation of the War Crime Trials, the ban on Maulana Maududi's books and crackdown on terrorist organisations, Sheikh Hasina has created an army of her enemies and detractors. The threat to her life has grown with the establishment of War Crime Tribunal. Last April, the intelligence agencies of India had warned Hasina of possible attempt on her life. The security arrangements had been tightened in the country after this warning. Then on May 29 again, India warned Bangladesh that Indian diplomats in Bangladesh as well as officers working on various projects in Bangladesh could be targeted. Recently, the police arrested the current chief of JMB, Anwar Alam Khoka alias Bhagne Shaheed, who spilled the beans about the hit list of 12 Awami League leaders including Sheikh Hasina. He also disclosed that they had chalked out a ten year plan to execute the list. Moreover, the ISI agents which have infested the Bangladesh Army and the Directorate General of Forces Interlligence (DGFI) during the army and BNP rule could also try to harm her at an opportune moment.
On the whole, the War Crimes Trials are a big test for the Hasina government as the Islamists and extremist forces will not sit idle during it and will make all efforts to turn the table on the government. The atmosphere in the county at the moment is very volatile and unpredictable. The coup was detected on time with the intelligence inputs from the RAW. At this critical juncture, India should play a good neighbour and extend all its support in the war Sheikh Hasina has waged against terrorism, as a terror-free Bangladesh is in the interests of India.
TAnalysing the failed Coup in Bangladesh
Smruti S. Pattanaik
he news of a coup attempt by 'fanatic' mid-level officers instigated and supported by some Bangladeshi expatriates and retired Army officials that was foiled by the Bangladesh Army did not come as a major surprise. There have been whispers about such a conspiracy in Dhaka's power corridors for quite some time. The fear that such a possibility cannot be completely ruled out re-emerged after the 2009 mutiny by the Bangladesh Rifles, in which 59 Army officers were killed. There were indications that the BDR mutiny might have been instigated by Islamists who feared reprisals from the secular forces that had come to power in the December 2008 general elections. The Awami League government's reluctance to allow an immediate Army operation against the mutineers was touted as a major source of anger among many army officers. Even though there were three inquiry commissions into the 2009 incident, the reason and motivations behind that mutiny have not been established in any conclusive manner.
There are reports that some officers involved in the recent plot were linked to the urban radical Islamist group -- the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) -- which was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2009. HuT has been active in Bangladesh since 2001 and had been campaigning against the Awami League. Its activists were seen distributing pamphlets in various mosques during the military-backed caretaker regime. In spite of the crackdown on them during that period, they had remained active. It needs to be emphasised that like the Jamaat, the Hizbut Tahrir has strong links with Bangladeshi expatriates in the UK, who subscribe to its views. The HuT Bangladesh website reads "O Army Officers! Remove Hasina, the killer of your brothers and establish the Khilafah to save yourselves and the Ummah from subjugation to US-India" (http://www.khilafat.org/index.php [1]).
After assuming office in January 2009, Hasina has taken steps to deal with Islamic radicals. Regular raids, arrests of radicals and seizure of arms and ammunition have paralysed the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and other terrorist groups. The war crime trial for the purpose of which five Jamaat-i-Islami leaders and two BNP leaders were arrested is also in progress. Coupled with these efforts to address the rise of radicalism, the Bangladesh Supreme court declared the 5th and 8th amendments to the country's Constitution as illegal and termed military coups as unconstitutional, thus facilitating the Awami League's objective of restoring the 1972 constitution. The government, keeping in mind the present political reality, has restored the four foundational principles of liberation and Article 12 which dealt with secularism, while retaining Article 2 (b) pertaining to Islam as the state religion. It also retained the article that allowed religious political parties to operate on a non-communal basis.
All this has angered many Islamists who feel that their electoral base will shrink if Hasina continues in power. The Islamists hope that the Army will come to their rescue as they have openly supported military rule in the past.
The Army has always been politically divided along party lines, although traditionally its sympathies have been with the BNP. Nevertheless, in the past, the tussle between officers who fought for the liberation and those who did not has led to as many as 19 coup attempts; the previous unsuccessful attempt came in 1996 and was led by General Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim, a freedom fighter.
Interestingly, the latest arrests of Army officials plotting a coup was made public against the backdrop of Begum Zia, Chairperson of the BNP, alleging at a rally held in Chittagong on January 9 that the government had a role in the disappearance of Army officers and is engaged in confining and torturing them. While Khaleda's statement was publicly refuted by the Inter Service Public Relation (ISPR), the Army admitted that it was indeed trying some officers for dereliction of duty as per its rules. Perhaps, the Army felt compelled to admit to the coup attempt after various media reports revealed the arrest of some Army officials.
According to the ISPR statement, the coup was unearthed in December 2011 when some middle level officers numbering around 16, whom the Army termed as 'religious fanatics', were attempting to recruit sympathizers for carrying out a coup. Some of these officers who were approached informed senior Army officials about it.
At the centre of the controversy is a Lieutenant Colonel who has been arrested and a Major who is absconding. According to media reports, the Facebook profile of the main conspirator, Major Zia, noted that "Army is soon going to bring change". This has to be seen against the backdrop of fears raised by certain quarters in Bangladesh that some cadres of religious parties recruited into the Army during the BNP-led coalition government rule may act as supporters in such a coup.
The coup attempt was not just aimed at derailing democracy but at stopping the ongoing war crimes trial. The BNP, which initially supported the trial, has come out openly against it. It has questioned the objectives of the trial and has been pressing the government to stop it. Initially, some Muslim countries had tried to dissuade Bangladesh from opening the cases in this regard. However, in the face of popular demand to try the people involved in war crimes, the government refused to buckle under such pressure from foreign countries.
To bring about any political change in the country which is currently ruled by a party that has overwhelming majority, it was imperative for the Islamists to enlist the support of the Army. But the fact remains that the Army itself is struggling to wriggle out of its historical legacy of military coups and the resulting stigma. The latest coup attempt by radicals within the army indicates the penetration of Islamists and more specifically that of the Hizb ut-Tahrir whose main support base is among the educated youth, who are highly motivated and belong to affluent families in urban areas. The coup attempt is also an indication of the nature as well as future direction of radicalism whose fulcrum lies in the relatively more affluent urban space rather than in the impoverished madrassas that are generally believed to be a source of fundamentalism in Bangladesh.
Source: IDSA
The previous dictatorial regimes and after that the BNP-Jamat Islami rule in Bangladesh till 2008 saw the emergence of anti-India and hardcore Islamic groups that were hostile to India. The Pakistan based ISI had infiltrated the Bangladesh army that were promoting forces that wanted to carry out subversive and terrorist activities against India from Bangladesh's soil.
During the rule of Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, Pakistan's foriegin policy was to turn Bangladesh a hotbed of terrorism so that India could be engaged in a three pronged undeclared war from Kashmir, from eastern borders and from western coast from where the Mumbai attackers entered India.
During this period the Bangladesh army created and promoted terrorist and separatist outfis like the Hizbul Mujahideen and Hizbut Tahrir and terrorists like Bangla Bhai and giving support to separatist organisations like the ULFA. Hasina government had the knowledge that the ISI elements in the Bangladesh army were trying to dislodge her government and Hasina government brought to light the sinister developments in her country just two days before her India visit in January 2009.
An important minister in her cabinet Syed Ashraful Islam had shocked India by disclosing the fact that the former BNP-Jamaat Regime had arranged a clandestine meeting between the former Pakistan president Perwez Musharrarf and the top leader and founder of ULFA, Anup Chetia while he was languishing in a Dhaka jail. Bangladesh's external intelligence agency, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) had played an active role in arranging the meeting as a section of the DGFI officials was hand in glove with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Not only did Musharraf meet Chetia but also provided funds to him. According to Mr Islam, some officials of the DGFI and politicians of Bangladesh had received money from Pakistan to facilitate ULFA's anti-India activities from Bangladesh. Ulfa is also said to have received 15 truckloads of arms and ammunition from the ISI. It is widely known that ULFA is a separatist militant outfit which has been running militant and destructive activities in India, particularly in Assam. It had carried out a series of blasts in Guahati during the home minister P. Chidambaram's visit on the New Year's Day last year killing about 30 people and injuring dozens. The intelligence agencies had suspected ISI hand in the blasts.
Therefore, in the light of Mr Islam's sensitive statements now it was quite evident that Mr Musharraf funded and sponsored the anti- India terrorist activities from the Bangladesh soil by taking some officials of DGFI and some politicians of Bangladesh into confidence. He had also arranged for the training of gullible Bangla youths in Pakistan who have since come back and waiting to carry out strikes in India. In this way Mr Musharraf was trying to take Bangladesh the Pakistan way. It is now clear that the former Pakistan president had planned to turn Bangladesh into another den of LeT and Taliban.
Sheikh Hasina should be commended for her initiatives to break the ISI-DGFI-ULFA nexus in her country by arresting and handing over top ULFA leaders including Arbind Rajkhowa to India last December and later signing three agreements with India to fight terrorism. Her political wisdom saved this region from becoming another terror zone.
After coming to power she had vowed to purge the ISI elements in the army and curb the militant organisations in her country to take the country back to its securlar roots.
In the general elections of Bangladesh in December 2008, Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League grabbed power with a huge majority. The Awami League had, among other things, promised in its election manifesto to carry out the War Crimes Trial against those who supported and assisted the Pakistani Army in the crimes against humanity in the '71 war of Bangladesh's independence, after coming to power.
The issue of the war crimes in Bangladesh is as old as the history of Bangladesh. It is well known that the East Pakistan fought the war of independence on the issue of language. India supported East Pakistan (Bangladesh) on her request. As a result, the nine-month war ended in a humiliating defeat of Pakistan as its 90,000 soldiers surrendered before India. Ultimately Bangladesh came into existence. But the bloodshed, manslaughter and the worst kind of violence it witnessed during the nine month period was unparalleled in the history of mankind. The anti-partition groups and organisations of East Pakistan had supported Pakistani forces who meted out all kinds of barbarity and cruelty to the 'freedom fighters' and the common people favouring Bangladesh. The members and activists of anti-partition groups in collaboration with the Pakistani Army slaughtered the supporters of Bangladesh, raped women, both Hindu and Muslim and looted their houses and businesses and set them afire. According to an estimate, about 3 million Bangladeshis were killed and five hundred thousand women were raped during the mayhem. As a show of extreme cruelty, the bodies of the victims were cut into pieces, their nails were pulled out, their eyes gorged out and their hearts were pulled out after ripping their chests apart. The women were not only raped but their breasts were sliced off and their private parts were severely mutilated and a section of the people of Bangladesh itself assisted the Pakistani Army in these crimes. There were numerous villages where the villagers were collectively killed for supporting Bangladesh. The Jamat Islami has been accused of being an ally of the Pakistani Army during the bloodshed and manslaughter though the Jama'at leaders strongly repudiate the charge. It is alleged that the members of the outfits like Al Badr, Al Shams and Razakar Bahni and the so-called Peace Committees that fought shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistani Army were mostly associated with Jama'at Islami. The Jama'at leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid currently under arrest was the President of Al Badr force. During the war, a large number of intellectuals, writers and artists were killed in a planned way. In a particular incident, over 150 wrtiers and journalists including the BBC correspondent Nizamuddin Ahmad were killed allegedly by Al Badr volunteers.
Therefore, after the establishment of Bangladesh, President Mujibur Rahman got the War Crimes Tribunal Act 1973 enacted to carry out the War Crimes Trials on the demand of the intellectuals and the general people. The Collaborators Act was also passed to try the collaborators of the Pak Army during the war. 195 Pakistani soldiers and army officers were detained over allegations of war crimes. A large number of arrests were made all over the country. According to an estimate about 100,000 accused were arrested most of whom were released later on the basis of insufficient proof.
However, after Mujib's assassination, the army generals usurped Bangladesh's power. Forgetting the favours India had done to Bangladesh, they started coming closer to Pakistan and under the influence of Pakistan, they gradually integrated the 'war criminals' into the government. The ban that was imposed on Jamat Islami was also lifted within a few years and the military government took Bangladesh towards Islamisation with the help of Jama'at.
But as the dictatorship came to an end in 1992 and democracy came into force, the nationalist elements, secular intellectuals and the 'freedom fighters' started demanding the execution of war crime trials because people had not forgotten the atrocities and brutalities meted out to them. As Sheikh Hasina's Awami League believes in secular ideals, it has had the backing of the secularists and freedom fighters and their heirs. These sections formed associations and started campaigns mobilising public support in favour of War Crime Trials. In this connection, Jahan Ara, a woman whose three sons had been 'martyred' during the battles between Mukti Bahini and the Pak Army, formed 'Ghaddar O Dalal Nirmool Committee'(Traitors and Collaborators Annihilation Committee). 'Sector Commanders', an association consisting of the soldiers and commanders of Mukti Bahini had already come into existence. There is another association called Writers' Forum which comprises writers, intellectuals and theatre artists. All these outfits fervently pushed for the War Crimes Trial. The whole campaign is currently being led by the renowned theatre artist, Shahryar Kabir and a former Mukti Bahini soldier Dr M A Hassan whose brother was also killed fighting the Pak army. Mr Hasan is a living witness to the bloodshed and mayhem during the period and has documented it extensively.
Therefore, bowing to the pressure and demand of the intellectuals, social activists and common people, the Awami League made it an election issue and included the War Crime Trials in its election manifesto in the elections of 2008. As a result, the Awami League came to power with a huge majority. Soon afte the elections, Sheikh Hasina presented a resolution for the War Crime Trials in the Jatiya Sansad (Parliament) which was opposed by Jamat Islami, and the BNP walked out. However, the Sheikh Hasina government went ahead and formed a War Crime Tribunal in March this year. The Tribunal consists of three judges who will be assisted by a team of lawyers and investigators. Dr M A Hasan is an important member of the Fact Finding Team. He has gathered thousands of documents and evidences during the last 19 years and handed it over to the government. The team has presented a list of over 1700 'war criminals.'
As a pre-emptive measure, the government has restricted the accused from leaving the country. The list of the accused has been put up at all the airports, seaports and border passages. Most of the persons on the list are from the Jamat Islami. Three top leaders of Jamat Islami, Matiur Rehman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Md Mujahid and Delwar Hussain were detained last month in connection with a case. In fact, the government had the apprehension that the leaders might escape the country to avoid trials. On July 13, another two assistant secretaries of Jamat, Qamruzzaman and Abdul Qadir Mollah were also arrested in connection with war crimes.
On the other hand the Jamat Islami has repudiated the charges against it saying no leader of the organisation has ever been involved in war crimes, nor have they ever been tried for it. He said that Jamat Islami has also prepared a list of 50 Awami League leaders who had been involved in war crimes. Khaleda Zia led BNP has termed the trials as a tool to suppress the opposition and demanded immediate release of Jamat leaders. It should be noted that Jamat Islami was an ally in the former BNP-Jamat alliance.
During the BNP-Jamat rule from 2001 to 2006 , terrorism and militant Islamism flourished in Bangladesh and took the whole country in its grip. During this rule, 40 terrorist outfits including JMB, Hizbut Tehrir, Hizbul Jihad Islami and Lashkar-e-Taiba strengthened their foothold and the notorious terrorist Bangla Bhai emerged. In 2005, he shook the whole country by conducting 500 bomb blasts in a single day in 63 out of 64 districts of the country in a brazen show of his strength. Later he was hanged on the US pressure.
Since Sheikh Hasina is an advocate of secularism and is opposed to extremism, she has always been a target of the terrorist groups. In 2004, a powerful grenade attack was made on her rally in which 24 of the leaders and activists of her party were killed. Sheikh Hasina was also injured and her hearing faculty was affected. During that period Khaleda Zia's BNP was in power. The accused in the case are the Bangladesh commander ofLashkar-e-Taiba, Mufti Hannan, political advisor of the former Prime Minister Khalida Zia and the BNP Chairperson, Harris Choudhury, the leader of the Bangladehs Chapter of Lashkar-e-Taiyba Maulana Tajuddin and other BNP leaders. This shows that not only political opponents but terrorist organisations like HUJI and Lashkar Taiba are also her enemies and planning to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic country by removing Hasina from their path.
With the crackdown on terrorist organisations soon after coming to power, arresting the leaders and activists of JMB, HUJI and Lashkar-e-Taiba on a big scale, the Hasina government has also waged an ideological war against terrorism and radical Islamism. It has imposed a ban on the renowned Islamic scholar Syed Abul Ala Maududi's books in Bangladesh. The government has ordered the removal of Maududi's books from government libraries associated with 24,000 mosques in the country. The libraries are run by the Islamic Foundation, an autonomous body of the Bangla government. The Director of the Foundation, Shamim Mohammad Afzal said, "Maulana Maududi's philosophy is in conflict with the basic teachings of Islam and is the cause of the growing extremism and terrorism in the country. So, we have decided to remove his books from all the 24,000 state libraries."
As Maulana Maududi was the founder of Jamat Islami, the Jamat believes in his philosophy and ideology and has been working for its propagation. Jamat has termed Hasina government's action as a part of his political agenda and has harshly condemned it. The ban has evoked a mixed reaction in the subcontinent. Some intellectuals and organisations have hailed it terming it as an effective strike at the ideological root of terrorism and extremism in the subcontinent while some other have opposed it saying that it is an attack on human and democratic rights. For instance, renowned Islamic scholar of India, Asghar Ali Engineer said that there are indeed elements in Maududi's writings that promote extremism among the Muslims and that Maududi turned Islam into a political party. Nevertheless, he opposed the ban on his books. On the other hand, a spokesman of National Alliance of People's Movement, Faisal Khan termed it as a right step saying that the concept of the Islamic state in Maududi's writings proved fatal to the Muslim youth. Countless Muslim youth were sacrificed at the altar of Maududi's imaginary Islamic state and their future was ruined. The Editor of Milli Gazette and President of All India Milli Council Dr Zafarul Islam, however, termed the ban as state terrorism saying ban on the books of a great Islamic researcher for political vendetta was condemnable.
However, it is a fact that the ban on Maulana's books is a part of the steps of the Bangla government against Jama'at Islami which is the main accused in the War Crimes Trials. The truth is that through this ban, the government plans to arrest the growing influence and reach of the Jamat in the country because it believes that through these libraries, Jamat it trying to spread and promote the ideology of Maulana Maududi and ultimately seize political power. But in course of this, Sheikh Hasina has antagonised even the section which was on her side in the war on terror. Perhaps there would not have been such a hue and cry if the government had removed Maududi's books from the libraries without imposing a ban as no democratic and secular government is bound to promote and propagate the ideology of a particular religious scholar, that too when it believes that the ideology promotes extremism. However, the common people should have the right to read the books of Maulana Maududi, or Ibn Taiymiyya or Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, based on their choice.
Thanks to the initiation of the War Crime Trials, the ban on Maulana Maududi's books and crackdown on terrorist organisations, Sheikh Hasina has created an army of her enemies and detractors. The threat to her life has grown with the establishment of War Crime Tribunal. Last April, the intelligence agencies of India had warned Hasina of possible attempt on her life. The security arrangements had been tightened in the country after this warning. Then on May 29 again, India warned Bangladesh that Indian diplomats in Bangladesh as well as officers working on various projects in Bangladesh could be targeted. Recently, the police arrested the current chief of JMB, Anwar Alam Khoka alias Bhagne Shaheed, who spilled the beans about the hit list of 12 Awami League leaders including Sheikh Hasina. He also disclosed that they had chalked out a ten year plan to execute the list. Moreover, the ISI agents which have infested the Bangladesh Army and the Directorate General of Forces Interlligence (DGFI) during the army and BNP rule could also try to harm her at an opportune moment.
On the whole, the War Crimes Trials are a big test for the Hasina government as the Islamists and extremist forces will not sit idle during it and will make all efforts to turn the table on the government. The atmosphere in the county at the moment is very volatile and unpredictable. The coup was detected on time with the intelligence inputs from the RAW. At this critical juncture, India should play a good neighbour and extend all its support in the war Sheikh Hasina has waged against terrorism, as a terror-free Bangladesh is in the interests of India.
TAnalysing the failed Coup in Bangladesh
Smruti S. Pattanaik
he news of a coup attempt by 'fanatic' mid-level officers instigated and supported by some Bangladeshi expatriates and retired Army officials that was foiled by the Bangladesh Army did not come as a major surprise. There have been whispers about such a conspiracy in Dhaka's power corridors for quite some time. The fear that such a possibility cannot be completely ruled out re-emerged after the 2009 mutiny by the Bangladesh Rifles, in which 59 Army officers were killed. There were indications that the BDR mutiny might have been instigated by Islamists who feared reprisals from the secular forces that had come to power in the December 2008 general elections. The Awami League government's reluctance to allow an immediate Army operation against the mutineers was touted as a major source of anger among many army officers. Even though there were three inquiry commissions into the 2009 incident, the reason and motivations behind that mutiny have not been established in any conclusive manner.
There are reports that some officers involved in the recent plot were linked to the urban radical Islamist group -- the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) -- which was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2009. HuT has been active in Bangladesh since 2001 and had been campaigning against the Awami League. Its activists were seen distributing pamphlets in various mosques during the military-backed caretaker regime. In spite of the crackdown on them during that period, they had remained active. It needs to be emphasised that like the Jamaat, the Hizbut Tahrir has strong links with Bangladeshi expatriates in the UK, who subscribe to its views. The HuT Bangladesh website reads "O Army Officers! Remove Hasina, the killer of your brothers and establish the Khilafah to save yourselves and the Ummah from subjugation to US-India" (http://www.khilafat.org/index.php [1]).
After assuming office in January 2009, Hasina has taken steps to deal with Islamic radicals. Regular raids, arrests of radicals and seizure of arms and ammunition have paralysed the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and other terrorist groups. The war crime trial for the purpose of which five Jamaat-i-Islami leaders and two BNP leaders were arrested is also in progress. Coupled with these efforts to address the rise of radicalism, the Bangladesh Supreme court declared the 5th and 8th amendments to the country's Constitution as illegal and termed military coups as unconstitutional, thus facilitating the Awami League's objective of restoring the 1972 constitution. The government, keeping in mind the present political reality, has restored the four foundational principles of liberation and Article 12 which dealt with secularism, while retaining Article 2 (b) pertaining to Islam as the state religion. It also retained the article that allowed religious political parties to operate on a non-communal basis.
All this has angered many Islamists who feel that their electoral base will shrink if Hasina continues in power. The Islamists hope that the Army will come to their rescue as they have openly supported military rule in the past.
The Army has always been politically divided along party lines, although traditionally its sympathies have been with the BNP. Nevertheless, in the past, the tussle between officers who fought for the liberation and those who did not has led to as many as 19 coup attempts; the previous unsuccessful attempt came in 1996 and was led by General Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim, a freedom fighter.
Interestingly, the latest arrests of Army officials plotting a coup was made public against the backdrop of Begum Zia, Chairperson of the BNP, alleging at a rally held in Chittagong on January 9 that the government had a role in the disappearance of Army officers and is engaged in confining and torturing them. While Khaleda's statement was publicly refuted by the Inter Service Public Relation (ISPR), the Army admitted that it was indeed trying some officers for dereliction of duty as per its rules. Perhaps, the Army felt compelled to admit to the coup attempt after various media reports revealed the arrest of some Army officials.
According to the ISPR statement, the coup was unearthed in December 2011 when some middle level officers numbering around 16, whom the Army termed as 'religious fanatics', were attempting to recruit sympathizers for carrying out a coup. Some of these officers who were approached informed senior Army officials about it.
At the centre of the controversy is a Lieutenant Colonel who has been arrested and a Major who is absconding. According to media reports, the Facebook profile of the main conspirator, Major Zia, noted that "Army is soon going to bring change". This has to be seen against the backdrop of fears raised by certain quarters in Bangladesh that some cadres of religious parties recruited into the Army during the BNP-led coalition government rule may act as supporters in such a coup.
The coup attempt was not just aimed at derailing democracy but at stopping the ongoing war crimes trial. The BNP, which initially supported the trial, has come out openly against it. It has questioned the objectives of the trial and has been pressing the government to stop it. Initially, some Muslim countries had tried to dissuade Bangladesh from opening the cases in this regard. However, in the face of popular demand to try the people involved in war crimes, the government refused to buckle under such pressure from foreign countries.
To bring about any political change in the country which is currently ruled by a party that has overwhelming majority, it was imperative for the Islamists to enlist the support of the Army. But the fact remains that the Army itself is struggling to wriggle out of its historical legacy of military coups and the resulting stigma. The latest coup attempt by radicals within the army indicates the penetration of Islamists and more specifically that of the Hizb ut-Tahrir whose main support base is among the educated youth, who are highly motivated and belong to affluent families in urban areas. The coup attempt is also an indication of the nature as well as future direction of radicalism whose fulcrum lies in the relatively more affluent urban space rather than in the impoverished madrassas that are generally believed to be a source of fundamentalism in Bangladesh.
Source: IDSA
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