Banner Advertise

Monday, March 21, 2011

[chottala.com] Banning the Fatwa a Miscarriage of Justice!



Banning the Fatwa a Miscarriage of Justice!

 

Dr. R. Raashed

(Ph.D. School of Law, Macquarie University Sydney, Australia)

Managing Director,

Islamic Information Services Australia (Legal and General)

 

The legal system in Bangladesh is an extension of the British Westminister legal regimes and procedures. In a country where some 90% of population is Muslim, it's a failure on the part of the country's political system that this colonial misfit still being forced upon the public some after sixty five years from the independence. Through independence the British colonial rule was rejected by the population yet, the cunning and the shrewd among the nation wouldn't let it depart from its fate. The colonial masters are on foot guarding their agents and interest quarters in Muslim countries. But it is no pride that as a nation we have failed to distinguish between a friend and a foe. Guised under the garbs as the judiciary or executives, the stooges are happy for the servitude and indeed, are colonized at heart. Banning the Islamic Fatwa in the courts of Bangladesh represents a feature for the colonial past and hence, a distinct failure at the same time.

 

As a slogan, the colonial stooges maintain entrenched love and loyalty for what they call the secular and religiously neutral identity. In reality however, their love and bias for the colonial legacies are intense. In the context of Bangladesh, it is to be juxtaposed with what the Qur'an (02:165) puts as Muslims' love for God should have been much stronger. This contrast will explain the reason why the judgment at point instigated the formidable opposition. Given the demography of the country, the judges of the courts in Bangladesh, must reflect the wishes and aspirations of people through their judgments. Banning the Islamic Fatwa would thus represent an assault on public interest.

 

A judgment is never an individual view of the judge on an issue before him/her. Instead it must reflect the realistic application of a legal instrument in its holistic consideration. The legal instrument in this sense is the written law which in every sense is also a trust in the custody of a judge or a tribunal. But a huge gap between the law in this sense and its application is a true picture for most of the judiciary and executives in Bangladesh. This is also true of many other Muslim countries. This article is only an analytical approach to the legal reality in Bangladesh and hence does not intend to hurt the public prestige of the relevant courts. In relation to the judgment banning the Fatwa, its text is important. But its context is rather crucial and thus, demands a neutral readership.

 

Through their judgment of banning Islamic Fatwa in a blanket form, the two judges of the High Court in Bangladesh have in fact struck through the hearts of 90% Muslims in the country. Worse still the duo of the tribunal have failed to appreciate this aspect of their decision. The naivety rooted in this judgment is apparent from the two judges' approach to the law in isolation from the social reality. A shallow approach to law such as this is a liability for the nation it was meant to serve. We may think of a novice in other offices, but in the application of law there is no provision for the apprentice judges. Said simply, the mediocrity has therefore, no place in law and legality. To secure the justice, not only the best and the brightest should practice the law, but also, the legal mechanism in the country must cater for this. Undoubtedly, banning the Islamic Fatwa in a blanket form drew a bad picture of legal reality in Bangladesh. Fortunately, however the Appeal Court did comprehend the gravity of the consequences and suspended its operation pending the outcome of the appeal. It is obviously a very limited comfort. We must accept that those initiating the appeal for this ominous judgment deserve being applauded. The hearing of the appeal is now continuing and hence, the relevance of this commentary.

 

A word of caution: While reaching conclusions, we will not prejudge the religious affiliation of His Hon. Justice Golam Rabbani and his partner in the tribunal Justice Najmun Ara Sultana. The excuse to reprimand this critique under the provision as "contempt of the court" does not arise. The tribunal consist of these two judges banned the Islamic Fatwa in Bangladesh in 2001. It is however, our solid right to judge the merit behind their decision given the damages it caused to the hearts of millions of Muslims in the country and beyond. We already know that the Arabic names do not necessarily make anyone a Muslim or a believer, to be precise. For an individual to be a believer or otherwise is absolutely a personal choice. Hence in our derivations, no expectation would be built on the ground of the two judges' religious persuasion. By accepting the membership to a tribunal, they two judges have obviously adopted the liability for their judgment's professional integrity being critically and vehemently scrutinized. Throughout this commentary, our focus will therefore, remain on this aspect of the judgment's professional cohesion and integrity.

 

We have a reason to presuppose that the two judges in this case are traditionally trained on the issues of law and legality in Bangladesh. Hence, they were expected to uphold the basic principles of justice for all while delivering a judgment in a case of nationwide significance. While making a judgment in such a sensitive case, what went missing was the very essence of the legal sensibility on the part of the two judges. The judgment miserably failed to protect the value system of Bangladesh as a Muslim majority nation that its constitution envisaged to protect. As the judgment of banning the Fatwa was delivered in 2001, the saga of the 5th amendment cancellation in 2010 was never an issue then. This judgment has also failed on being sensitive to the national feelings and emotion of 90% Muslims in the country. We don't dispute that there may well be the cases where the institution of the Islamic Fatwa have been misused. Consequently, the subjects are victimized. It may well be true that not all those issuing the Fatwa in Bangladesh do have the due credentials to do so. This being the reality, the institution of issuing the Fatwa should have been regulated with the appropriate directives being issued by the court to the executives.

 

As a rule of thumb, the legal procedures aim at protecting fairness by de jure (by law) or by defacto (by the issues of fact) mechanisms. The Westminister system of legislature which has been the source of legal culture in Bangladesh is based on this basic principle. By applying a blanket ban on practice of duly made out Islamic Fatwa the two judges of the High Court have clearly failed on this account as well. This failure provided a clear case where the incompetent judges performing to the opposite direction of their appointment and office. This judgment can only be described as substandard. The misuse of Fatwa by those that are not duly qualified may warrant that this institution is regularized. Instead of applying a blanket ban, the court may in fact have won the appreciation of all by codifying the practice. This goodwill however, remained totally absent from this judgment and hence is the challenge of its professional integrity. In absence of this, the only option remaining open is either the misinformed ill will of the tribunal to the institution of Fatwa or worse still, an instance of outrageous incompetence.

 

Let's now focus on the judgment itself and analyse critically its legal aspects. This decision although suspended later on by the Court of Appeal, has recently been brought before the appeal court for the review. At the outset we must accept that the decision on this case is fraught with consequences. This judgment should have cared for the impact it is going to have on the public. Handling the religious emotion without the due care and most importantly, interfering with the fundamental legal instrument of the Islamic fatwa have the impetus to plunge the nation into civil war. The Islamic edicts issued in personal or collective issues, by the duly qualified Islamic scholars can never be eradicated. Anyway considered, it is an issue of natural justice. It is one of the most fundamental pillars of the Islamic Shair'a and hence, above the court of law's jurisdiction.

 

The constitution of Bangladesh provides for the freedom of choice and religion. By the operation of this supreme law as a legal instrument therefore, the constitution also provides the guarantee that Muslims in the country are free to seek the scholarly made out Islamic opinions where relevant, with a freedom to abide by them as well. The judgment has also failed to comprehend the true understanding of the Fatwa in Islam. When put in this perspective, the judgment banning the Islamic Fatwa in fact, defeats the operational provision of Bangladesh constitution whereby it guarantees the freedom of choice and religion. The Westminister system of administering justice represents a series of legislative procedures all of which are committed to reflect the wishes and aspirations of people in a country. This legal principle is engrained and deeply rooted in any democratic system that seeks to emulate the Westminister system.

 

The court of Justice Golam Rabbani and Justice Najmun Ara Sultana has also failed on this ground. Venturing out to impose a blanket ban on Islamic Fatwas is a clear mark of short-sightedness on the part of this judgment. To say the minimum, this type of summary justice reflects the phenomenon as the miscarriage of justice itself in the system. This judgment has rightfully brought about the shame of injustice upon the nation that is paying for these judges. While deliberating, the tribunal has clearly failed to look into the law in its holistic nature and application. Should we then propose that a judgment should be merit checked before delivering? May be we should! A piecemeal approach to the law and its institutions, albeit easy, is bound to defeat the purpose behind the law. The judgment banning the Islamic Fatwa is an outstanding example.

 

It is in this context that when established beyond doubt, the intention of the law makers also becomes a strong legal instrument in the Westminister system of administering justice. Maintaining an overall outlook to the legal institutions needs a sound culture of absolute adherence to legality alone. The seat of justice is in the heart of the judges. But where the judges are corrupt or incompetent, the legal institution administering justice must take all the blames for the failure. The judges are also human beings and thus, are susceptible to being swayed by the fear or favour while fostering a particular orientation in a judgment.

 

It is an open truth that the legal institutions in Bangladesh are found to be cardinally corrupt in public opinion. But is it in fact true that they are indeed corrupt, is a million dollar question! The mechanism for disciplining the deliberate failure on the part of the judges must also be in place. Bangladesh where the judges are appointed along the line of political loyalties, paying back for such appointments is bound to victimize first the conscience of a neutral bystander. Prior to allocating a case that deals with the issues of public conscience and interest, the High Court should therefore, do a bit of in-house cleaning exercise. An audit of competency and neutrality in a judge should therefore precede the final allocation of such a case.

 

A Disqualified Law Minister:

Bangladesh where the merit based appointment of judges is at stake, the audit of competency must determine first, whether a single judge or a tribunal is competent enough to handle the case at hand and comprehend its consequences. The past ideo-political affiliation of the judges should be the deterrent from assigning to them a case that may encroach upon the bounds of neutrality. Once a government dubbed as the most corrupt on earth boasts the law and order, it becomes nothing but a laughing stock. People in Bangladesh are either, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians or nature worshippers. The only fabric that binds them all is belief in a religion, revealed or otherwise. The atheists thus, constitute a sheer minority in the make-up of its population. A minister for women's rights and welfare should be a woman herself. For the same reason, an atheist is an outright misfit for the law ministry. Short of realizing this, a government is either naive or a part of criminal complicity against the public interest.

 

Appointing the law minster of a highly religious nation such as Bangladesh, a self confessed communist who by definition is also the atheist, is an outright misfit and indeed, a grotesque blasphemy. In a sense, this is the hypocrisy on the part of a government that undertakes the obligation to guarantee public aspirations. Instead of interfering with the peoples' choices, this huge inconsistency is the debacle that the High Court should look into first. Without dealing with this inconsistency head on, administration of true justice will continue to be a mirage and daydream. The audacity to uphold the institution of justice at any cost needs the brave-hearted professionalism and the legal scholarship in the judges. When a judgment fails, the justice seekers do pay with their rights. But more importantly, losing the neutrality in the system of justice administration is indeed, a grave ominous sign for a religiously diverse country like Bangladesh. Should we then trust a fox with our chickens? May we then conclude that when the conscience becomes corrupt, justice is lost from the inception?

 

The constitution of Bangladesh needs to be re-done:

Let's now refer back to the judgment of blanket banning the Islamic Fatwa by the tribunal under the scrutiny. From observing the procedures of appeal, it appears that the attorneys on both sides of the application have got their approach to the case totally wrong. The attorney of the plaintiff sought to argue the case from the pure Islamic point of view, which has no place before the court in Bangladesh. The Westminister system of administering justice may therefore be excused if it decides to look at such submissions at askance. In fact, the future of this case lies squarely in arguing it on the basis of law makers' intention behind drawing up the constitution. The holistic approach to this supreme law of the nation will only guide the appeal court that the judgment of the tribunal was dangerously, localized and superficial and thus, needs to being scrapped at once.

 

It is almost annoying to note that the court appointed ten lawyers as amicus curiae (the friends of the court without any substantive credentials on Islamic law. The arguments rendered by some of its members are devoid of legal substance and hence, are ludicrous. To start with, the concept of referring a court to the amicus curia is based in the Vatican and thus rooted very much in the Christian culture of Catholicism. Making such a church based concept the jury in deciding the outcome of the Islamic Fatwa is and outright ridicule! It is a glowing example of ignorance on the part of the High Court in Bangladesh in deciding the prerequisites before setting a competent appeal process.

 

Equally disturbing is the submissions of the attorney for the defendant who in naivety, opted to argue his case also from the localized view of the constitutional provisions. By this approach he in fact failed to establish any real relevance. If it is true that the defense attorney had in fact contribution to draw up the current constitution of Bangladesh, he should have been disqualified on the basis of conflict of interest. His argument is almost blasphemous as to who is the source of the real power by the constitution. Ironically however, the judgment under the appeal hammer of the court, had failed in the first place, to uphold the provisions of the constitution itself.

 

To start with, the constitution of Bangladesh has not gone through the stringent procedures of public plebiscites and hence, it is urgently needed to be done again. In its current form, it can be described as a temporary legal document dedicated to care for the interest of an emerging nation. It clearly lacks the commitment to cater for the wide ranging interests of Bangladesh as a nation. Without undertaking a genuine and widespread public consultation, a constitution will serve nothing but an elitist approach to the law and legality. This is the guilt that Bangladesh as a Muslim nation continued to live for the last forty one years. It will indeed be a national pride for a forward looking government in future to set the foundation of the nation right to re-cast a realistic constitution based on true and wide-scaled public consultation. In fact, it can be a good public agenda for campaigning re-election by a strong political party now. Prior to this, speaking of a true representative justice system in Bangladesh will continue to be a daydream.

 

·         Dr. Raashed is the author for "The Book that Contains No Doubt" due to be published soon!



__._,_.___


[* Moderator's Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [chottala.com] Re: Sarmila Bose’s “Research” Exposed by Mashuqur Rahman



Dear All
 
I think the father of Bangladesh should be Moulana Abdul Hamid Bhashani not Mujib because it was Bhashani
who first thought of the idea of independent Bangladesh and later hijacked by Mujib. If you declare him as the father
of Bangladesh i think the controversy over father of the nation would be over for good.
 
Ataul Karim
(free thinker)

 


From: abid bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com>
To: Syed_Aslam3 <syed.aslam3@gmail.com>
Cc: Khobor <khabor@yahoogroups.com>; notun Bangladesh <notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com>; chottala@yahoogroups.com; Ovimot@yahoogroups.com; Gazi Zakir Hossain <binte04@rogers.com>; Zoglul Husain <zoglul@hotmail.co.uk>; abid bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com>; Helal Ahmed <huahmed@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sun, March 13, 2011 12:47:48 PM
Subject: [chottala.com] Re: Sarmila Bose's "Research" Exposed by Mashuqur Rahman

 

People's Freedom Struggle vs the AL Confusion Continues
Abid Bahar

"Bangladesh's freedom struggle continues" is a line repeated by Mawlana Bhasani one of the great leaders of Bangladesh. True, the life of an emerging nation or an independent nation is as if like the continued survival of the fittest among other nations because to keep a nation sovereign, freedom struggle continues.

1971 war vs the cold war
------------------------------------
Often some people blinded by emotion think it is a one time issue, not in dynamic terms.From this perspective we call the 1971 struggle as the war against Pakistan.Now we truly have a cold war going on with India which is closing rivers one after another, using its puppets in Bangladesh it is building its infrastructure within Bangladesh by Bangladesh's 1 billion borrowed money, fencing the border with its Brahmin Wall and killing our people while we facilitate them transit.

Pakistani razakars vs Indian razakars
------------------------------------------------------
 During the 1971 war we had Pakistan as the agressor and there were the razakars. Now that we have war going on with India, the collaborators like Hasina, Razzak, Faroque, Moinul, Suranjit becomes the prominant Indian razakars. That the devoted AL leaders/ members tend to excuse India for killing and raping our women. The death tool from the new aggression by the BSF is now a thousand and continues to go up. These Indian razakars speak loudly only when it comes to the Pakistani atrocities. True, some AL freedom fighters lack this true spirit of the freedom fighter, Helal Uddin wrote that both Pakistani and now Indian aggressors are condemnable. It seems to me a result of a generation gap. He further wrote: "Your generation saw Pakistan as oppressor and you spoke loud about it as that was the right thing to do. Our generation is seeing India as the oppressor, and we are speaking about it. I do not have any hurt feeling towards the Indian people but the Indian authority who is humiliating us periodically."

Muji's own Confusion Continues in the AL
-----------------------------------------------------------
The confusion is also due to a difference between made in Awami League history of Bangladesh vs. made in scholars' history of Bangladesh. The further remifications are in those areas: (a) AL claim of death in 1971 has been 3 million and the others including historians local and foreign claim is that it is from three hundred thousand to maximun one million.This discripency is a result of the lack of any survey done on it. In some cases according to the Bihari claims that some Bihari dead bodies were shown as Bengali genocide dead bodies.

It is unfortunate that like many confusions Sheikh Mujibur Rahman created (a) for not declaring the independence  due to his signiture in the LFD (b) staying the entire liberation war time in Pakistan, and (c)after his return to put Bangladesh in the world map as the bottomless basket case (d) perhaps he was not good at mathematics or intellectually not so bright to say "three lac as three million", but AL found him as the father of the nation and the best Bengali in thousand years.

People's History vs. the AL history
-------------------------------------------------
In all these the source of contradictions is not  methodological, nor of memory but it has been due to the fascist tendency in the Awami League's hero-worshipping, based on propaganda devoted to make its own ownership history about Mujib and Bangladesh; In the end Bangladesh has the AL's Bangladesh history of how they owned it but the unfortunate Bangladesh does not have its own people's history about the freedom struggle of 1971.


On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 12:13 AM, Syed_Aslam3 <syed.aslam3@gmail.com> wrote:

Sarmila Bose's "Research" Exposed

[Hat tip to Robin Khundkar]

Recently I wrote about Sarmila Bose's apologia for the Pakistan army that was published last September in Economic and Political Weekly. In this week's issue of EPW, two critical comments were published that take to task Ms. Bose's "research". The first comment is from Mr. Akhtaruzzaman Mandal, a freedom fighter whose first-person account of finding Bengali rape victims being held by Pakistani soldiers was disputed by Ms. Bose. The second comment is from Dr. Nayanika Mookherjee, lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University. Ms. Bose had cited one of Dr. Mookherjee's articles to try to cast doubt on the rapes committed by the Pakistan army in their campaign of genocide in 1971.

Mr. Mandal exposes Ms. Bose's "research" with the authority of one who has lived history. Below are some excerpts from Mr. Mandal's comment:

Since Bose knew nothing about this humble freedom fighter and the pride we all bear, she could casually describe me as a muktijoddha accompanying the Indian army. Such description also served her purpose, as she tried to portray me as someone who had no prior knowledge about the land and people of Bhurungamari/Nageshwari, about their suffering and destitution. As guerrilla fighters we were active in the region all through monitoring the day to day developments. We were like the fish in the water, as the saying goes. That is why in my book, not known to Bose, I have also written about few other specific cases of how women had to suffer. But that is another story, quite a long one, let me concentrate here on the accusation made by Bose.  

While doing her "research", Bose never tried to contact me. On the other hand her search for truth took her to Pakistan and she interviewed Lt Col Saleem Zia of 8 Punjab who was stationed in that area and cross-checked my information with this partisan source of hers. Quoting my account Bose writes, "According to Mandal, Bhurungamari seemed like a ghost town. He claims 60 East Pakistan Civil Armed Force (EPCAF) members and 30-40 Pakistani soldiers were captured â€" they had run out of ammunition. He also claims that 40-50 Pakistani soldiers were killed in this battle." Then quoting her Pakistani source she writes, "Brigadier Zia found 30 injured men, who were evacuated, and 36 able-bodied ones. The rest were dead or dispersed and four or five, by his estimate, were captured." The anomaly in the description provided by members from two contending side is not new in any battle account. It is the researcher's job to dig for the truth. But according to our researcher here Akhtaruzzaman Mandal "claims" whereas brigadier Zia "found" and that shows where she is standing as a dispassionate independent scholar. Even in her account about the number of deaths she has not said anything about the EPCAF, who were raw recruits from the villages of West Pakistan and were put into forward position to work as a shield to the Pakistan army.

Now let us take the case of captain Ataullah Khan, the human devil. Bose has been successful in collecting laudable quotes about Ataullah and in her attempt to whitewash the devil's deeds made a jugglery of the location of Bhurungamari and Nageswari depicting them as two sites completely separated from each other. She writes, "According to this fellow (Pakistani) officer, Captain Ataullah had not been in Bhurungamari before and he was based at Nageswari. He had barely got there when he faced the Indian attack." Her research or lack of research has led her to greatly differentiate between Nageswari and Bhurungamari and if only she was interested to know more she could have found out that the distance between the two place is only 15 km and at that time, even with a ferry crossing, it took only 30 minutes for a commanding officer to cover the distance by his jeep. The Pakistani captain being based at Nageswari was a frequent visitor to the forward position at Bhurungamari and he was no stranger there.

Bose never asked any woman, any common man of Nageswari and Bhurungamari, about Ataullah Khan but quoted her Pakistani source at length and writes, "This fellow officer of 25 Punjab described (not claimed: AM) Captain Ataullah as a six-foot plus Pathan officer known for being 'humane'. He further stated that he saw people in Nageswari weep upon hearing the Ataullah's death. According to him, when the Pakistanis were POW's in India after the war, a senior Indian officer had expressed his respect, soldier-to-soldier, to the officers of 25 Punjab and mentioned by name Ataullah, who had become a 'shaheed' (martyr)." In the footnote Bose mentions that, "this inclusion of evidence from the Indian side in the future would be of great value in assessing this and many other aspect of 1971 war". I am happy that she noted the importance of the Indian source which she never tried to use and would request her to look for members of 6 Mountain Division with whom we fought side by side. After 36 long years I cannot remember all of them or their full names, but how can I forget Major General Thappa, Brigadier Josie, Major Chatowal Singh, Captain Shambu, Captain Mitra, Captain Bannerje, Major Bala Reddy, as well as fellow fighters from the 78 Battalion of the BSF and others. Instead of interviewing only the perpetrators of genocide, rape and crimes against humanity she should also try to get evidences from the Indian side.  

As Bose has gathered most of her information from highly dubious one-sided Pakistani sources following atrocious and unbelievable lines, "The picture painted of captain Ataullah by his fellow officer, who knew him, completely contradicts the one given by Mandal, who appears to have only seen his dead body. Clearly, if captain Ataullah had been based in Nageswari and only gone up to Bhurungamari the day the Indian attack started, he could not have been responsible for whatever might have been going on in Bhurungamari. Mandal offers no corroborating evidence for his character assassination of an officer who had died defending his country, and therefore, cannot speak in his own defence."

As a freedom fighter operating in the area we came to know about many of the atrocious acts of Ataullah and this human-devil was not unknown to us. Our informers also brought many news and on that auspicious day we knew very well about the bunker he took shelter in and that is why the Indian army could pinpoint their artillery attack. I have seen his dead body at the bunker and could immediately know that this was the man who brought so much suffering to our people, to the poor civilians and villagers of the area. Ataullah Khan was no soldier defending his country, he was part of a killing machine, doing heinous acts against an unarmed civil population which no professional soldier can ever think of. Such acts can in no way be equated with defending one's country. In that case all the Nazi war criminals will get acquitted as they were "defending" their own country.  

[Read the entire article here]

Dr. Mookherjee, in her comment, discusses Ms. Bose's flawed methodology and bias. Below are some excerpts:

To any student of social science methodology and memory studies, the article reveals how the pursuit of "facts" alone disallows any analytical, sociological, historical and interpretative perspective. That it was published in EPW is a surprise indeed.

It is not clear from the article the extent of the research in Bangladesh, how many survivors the author met, particularly women, what was her position towards these women, i e, her reflexive position. It is clear that she talked to Pakistani military authorities and accepts everything they say to be true but considers all Bangladeshi accounts as predominantly fabricated.

The article accepts every account of Pakistani military authorities as truth while that of Bangladeshis as false and "shrill cries". Particularly if the accounts are of "illiterate" Bangladeshis they can only be false â€" so the space for any "subalterns" is clearly absent, while those within the military paraphernalia provide legitimate authoritative accounts according to the author. Particularly the role of Bangladeshi women either as witnesses or as raped: like the sweeper Rabeya Khatoon or the sculptor Firdousy Priyobhashini is always of suspect to Bose. Also while mentioning the Hamdoodur Rehman commission of the Pakistani government the author does not mention the instances of rapes and the role of General Niazi as cited in the document.

The article cites the case of Ferdousy Priyobhashini who as a single woman had to look after her widowed mother and young siblings and continued to work during the war and becomes the focus of sexual violence by various Pakistani officers as well as Bengali collaborators.

The article interrogates Priyobhashini's account questioning why she stayed back during the war and whether her rape was as a result of coercion or a voluntary sexual act by stating that she "willingly fraternised". By that argument is the article suggesting that Priyobhashini brought the rape upon her since she stayed back? This is extremely problematic and parallels the biases within various rape laws which seem to suggest that women must have brought the rape upon them in different instances.  

By this argument the sociologically nuanced analysis of how single women and their sexuality are always suspect, is never addressed and instead Priyobhashini's experience is highlighted by the derisive comment that she "makes much of her threats". The complexity of war time violence and the various threatening compulsive situations is well articulated in the work of Cynthia Enloe, Veena Das, Urvashi Butalia, Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin. Primo Levi's work on the holocaust also shows the complex negotiations made by survivors.

The article also states the account of Champa from one of my articles [Mookherjee 2003] and tries to infer that no rapes happened during the Bangladesh war. My article was exploring how the trauma of rape is understood in independent Bangladesh and in the process I explore how scholars of memory make sense of the process of forgetting. The nuanced arguments I make about Champa is hinged on long-term fieldwork, cross-checking of hospital files and documents and finding the social workers who found her and brought her to the hospital. These are the "evidences" of Champa's war-time violent encounter of rape. I have also worked with and written about other women who encountered rape during the Bangladesh war. This was done by means of over a year's fieldwork as well as cross-checking interviews, and examining archival, official documents, etc.

[Read the entire article here]

Related: Research on Bangladesh War by Akhtaruzzaman Mondol

http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11334.pdf

 

 

Link: http://www.docstrangelove.com/2007/12/20/sarmila-boses-research-exposed/

© 2007 Mashuqur Rahman | Category: Bangladesh, Bangladesh Liberation War | 16 comments | 3,908 views | Subscribe to the comments of this post
 
 




__._,_.___


[* Moderator�s Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [chottala.com] How many killed in the Liberation war



Dear all
I would like to quote Winstom Churchill:
 
"If you start a fight between the present and the past you loose the future".
 
Ataul Karim
(free thinker)


From: Em Pannah <empannah@hotmail.com>
To: chottala@yahoogroups.com
Cc: empannah@hotmail.com
Sent: Mon, March 14, 2011 1:48:20 AM
Subject: RE: [chottala.com] How many killed in the Liberation war

 

Dear All,
 
I totally agree that there is no need to reopen the issue since 3 million is an established figure. However, nobody should call others as fool - we should show tolerance to others' view in public media like Internet.
 
With best regards,
Dr. Emarat Hossain Pannah
Maryland, USA

 


 

Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 15:23:42 +0000
Subject: Re: [chottala.com] How many killed in the Liberation war
From: saifakhan01@gmail.com
To: sirajulhaider@yahoo.com
CC: chottala@yahoogroups.com; empannah@hotmail.com

Dear Mr. Pannah, Mr.Siraj and all interested people.

Events of the First World War, Second World War and other historical events are not
reinterpreted nor are new or revisionist theories propagated by orthodox historians or students of history.

These issues can only be opened/ reopened by vested interested groups of revisionist thinking.

With regard to 1971 War of liberation 3 million war dead is the part of conventional history facts. Whatever happened need not be reopened after half a century.

I see some people in USA are trying to reopen this issue.

These people are either total fools or are serving interests of some other wretched people..

Not all issues can be reopened nor should be reopened.


Saif Khan



On 13 March 2011 14:14, Sirajul Haider <sirajulhaider@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Mr. Pannah,
 
Genocide is genocide, be it 3,000, 30,000 or 3 lacs or 3 million and it the most heinous act the brutal Pak army did here in our mother land. But my point is the figure must not be exaggerated. Why I said is known to many AL leaders and you can not find in any documents prior 10 March 1972 that the figure was 3 million. It was since bongobondhu wrongly quoted thinking 3 lacs = 3 million and after that no one dared to correct it since this was uttered by bongobondhu and continued. I also did not want to raise the issue after so many years since I saw Mr. Helal pointed out the matter so I just echoed with him with the fact that me and many others knew.
 
Best regards
 
Siraj


From: Em Pannah <epannah@yahoo.com>
Cc: Em Pannah <empannah@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, 13 March 2011 01:46:07
Subject: Re: [chottala.com] How many killed in the Liberation war

 

Dear Readers,
 
This is a serious issue indeed. Everybody knows it as 3 million; does anybody have any acceptable proof that it is really 3 lacs (and not 3 million).
 
With best regards,
Dr. Emarat Hossain Pannah
(A living freedom-fighter from 11 sector - now living in USA since 1990)
 
 
 
 
 
--- On Fri, 3/11/11, Sirajul Haider <sirajulhaider@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Sirajul Haider <sirajulhaider@yahoo.com>
Subject: [chottala.com] How many killed in Liberation war: How 3 lacs became 30 lacs after 10 March 1972
To: chottala@yahoogroups.com, "md. saiful KHAN" <saifakhan01@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, March 11, 2011, 9:59 AM

 
Dear Mr Helal,
 
I really appreciate your courageous declaration of the fact that the death of 30 lacs was very much exaggerated. You said that it was slip of tongue of Shaikh Mujib but the truth is it was not a slip of tongue by Sk Mujib since to his said it 3 million thinking 1 million= 1 lac, he did not know that 1 million is actually 10 lacs. When Sk Mujib said 3 million of death to foreign journalists to indicate actually 3 lacs 1 lac then 1 minister wanted correct him but other minister said since bongobondhu already uttered 3 million so no need to correct him since same will high light his poor knowledge numerology terms.   So from that 3 lacs became 3 millions= 30 lacks. Many people know this but  no one dares to speak out, if you say this then you will be termed a rajakar.
 
Siraj
 
 


saiful KHAN <saifakhan01@gmail.com>
Cc: Khabor Dot Com <info@khabor.com>; Abba <hussain7192@rogers.com>; khabor@yahoogroups.com; chottala@yahoogroups.com; Nuran Nabi <nurannabi@gmail.com>; Mohammad Haque <ashraful_00@yahoo.com>; mr mahmud <mrmahmud71@yahoo.com>; Mohammed Sharfuddin <sharfuddinbd@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, 11 March 2011 00:32:33
Subject: [chottala.com] Re: [Alapon] Protest against Sarmila Bose's book event on March 15th

 
Dear Dr. Saiful khan:
 

Assalamualikum. Thank you for your response regarding my posting. You didn’t hurt my feelings as what you have said is nothing wrong from your point of view. And that's what civic people do to communicate with one another. I'm humbled to even communicate to a person like you or Dr. Nuran Nabi and many others in these forums who are way educated and accomplished than me. I take your criticism as a learning tool for being shaped as a mature human being.


  As I mentioned earlier, I have outmost respect for the Freedom fighter on 1971. But I’m not sure, I can say the same thing about the honorable living Freedom fighters in 2011. I also expressed the similar feelings to my Father-in-law after seeing Felani’s hanging dead body on the wired fence.
 
You and I are extremely fortunate that we do not leave along the Bangladesh-India border fence. Imagine you daughter or sister killed like that hanged for hours. God forbid, that’s shouldn’t happen to any of us or even to our ill seekers.
 
I do not think I made the false accusation regarding the living Freedom fighters being mum with all the injustice Bangladesh is receiving over the last 39 years. Some of their inaction is louder than my word. However, you have all the rights to disagree with my assertion and I ask all the living Freedom fighter’s forgiveness for being ungrateful.
 

Your generation saw Pakistan as oppressor and you spoke loud about it as that was the right thing to do. Our generation is seeing India as the oppressor, and we are speaking about it. I do not have any hurt feeling towards the Indian people but the Indian authority who is humiliating us periodically. Well, I do not solely blame Indian authority either, but us, as we are the one who is letting them to dictate our lives by being divided and weak.
 

Dear Ms Farah and Mr.Anis:
 

Assalamualikum. Thanks for your response as well. I hope we realize that by being hateful to each others, we are completely destroying the future of Bangladesh. The sooner we realize it the better it is for us. We are a country of numerous prospects and our neighbors like India and China leading the way to be prosperous nations. All we have to do is just learn from them, how to be united when it come to national issues.
 

The other thing is haunting me is very sensitive to talk about.
Ok, let’s talk about it, as most of us in these forums are well-informed and may have the courage to discuss something enormously sensitive.
 
War Criminals:
We all want justice for the Pakistani Collaborators who slaughters innocent Bangalee’s ruthlessly. Then how about the justice for innocent Bihari’s who were also slaughtered by Bangalee’s! Why, no one is seeking justice for all the murders!
 
If I’m a JUST person, then, I should be JUST to all. Not, only to my family, friends, and well wishers. Right!!
Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that Bangalee’s were slaughtered thousands time more than Bihari’s by brutal Pakistani army and their Bangalee collaborators.
 
FYI, I’m not a Bihari origin but a Bangladeshi from both parental sides.
 

Thanks everyone for reading this long mail. And pls accept my sincerely apology if this mail hurt you in any way. As I said above, you have all the rights to disagree with whatever I said and allow me to understand if I got it all wrong.
 

Helal

--- On Thu, 3/10/11, md. saiful KHAN <saifakhan01@gmail.com> wrote:

From: md. saiful KHAN <saifakhan01@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Alapon] Protest against Sarmila Bose's book event on March 15th
To: alapon@yahoogroups.com
Cc: "Helal Ahmed" <huahmed@yahoo.com>, "Khabor Dot Com" <info@khabor.com>, "Abba" <hussain7192@rogers.com>, khabor@yahoogroups.com, chottala@yahoogroups.com, "Nuran Nabi" <nurannabi@gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 2:36 AM

Dear Bhai Helal CC Dean Dr. Nurun Nabi

I have read your email letter to Dr. Nurun Nabi.
We are proud of your father in law and father as we are proud of Dean Dr. Nurun Nabi.

Your assertion " What i don't understand is that in this forum, i do not see you or any other Freedom fighters are crying for Felani or thousands of innocent Bangladeshis are killed by Indian border force" makes it clear that you have no real respect for the most invaluable contribution of our freedom fighters  of Bangladesh including your father or father in law.

How can you raise such an allegation like this ?

In one life time fighting or taking part in one freedom struggle or war of liberation is the most commemdable part of valour or patriotism.

Have you or I or most of our countrymen fought or got the chance to take part in a glorious war of emancipation?

Let us all be measured and balanced in our evaluation.

Please do not feel hurt by this comment of mine.


Dr. Md. Saiful Amin Khan

Retired Ambassador and Permanent Secretary of Bangladesh

London



On 9 March 2011 21:23, Helal Ahmed <huahmed@yahoo.com> wrote:
 
Assalamualikum Dear Dr. Nuran Nabi.
 
My name is Helal Ahmed and i born in 1970. I’m very proud of you as a living Freedom fighter as I’m proud of my Father-in-law and late father. You and my Father-in-law faced the bullet in the forefront and my late father fought the war in a different way. I wish I was born at that time to do the same. I understand your sentiment towards 1971.
 
What i don't understand is that in this forum, i do not see you or any other Freedom fighters are crying for Felani or thousands of innocent Bangladeshis are killed by Indian border force.
 
I guess you and some of the Freedom fighters fought the war against Pakistan not for Bangladesh. If you fought for Bangladesh, than i should have seen your anger against the Felani killer just the way you showed your anger towards Pakistani murderers.
 
Also, in our 1971 war, 3 million people didn’t die. The mentioned number was a slip of tongue by Bongobondhu. And people are Bangladesh can’t even talk about it as they might be labeled as Razakar. For the sake of new generation, it is your duty to tell the truth.
 
Pls accept my sincere apology if I hurt you with this mail. As a generation after 1970, I’m just tired of seeing Bangladeshis keep talking about old enemy and being mum of new enemy.
 
FYI, as you are, I also want the trial of 1971 war criminals. But I don’t think our neighboring country want this issue to be resolved as this the only way to keep Bangladesh divided and let us in fighting. See, people like you and me, living in different countries, from completely different generations, still wasting our time to argue over something which should have been solved 40 years ago.
 
I’m very much in doubt that current AL government will complete the trial. After the five long years, they will say they have to come back to power again to finish the trial.
 
Thanks in advance for your understanding.
 
Helal


--- On Wed, 3/9/11, Nuran Nabi <nurannabi@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Nuran Nabi <nurannabi@gmail.com>
Subject: [Alapon] Protest against Sarmila Bose's book event on March 15th
To: alapon@yahoogroups.com, "Khabor Dot Com" <info@khabor.com>
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 1:42 PM

 
I would appreciate if you post this in your group

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nuran Nabi <nurannabi@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Protest against Sarmila Bose's book event on March 15th
To: mike.vandusen@wilsoncenter.org


Mr. Mike Van Dusen
Executive Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Internatio​nal Scholars
 
Dear Mr. Van Dusen,
 
It is with great dismay I tell you that you have organized an event with a controversial writer Sarmila Bose in the month of March which is the 40th  anniversary of the beginning of Bangladesh genocide 1971 where 3 million people were killed, 200 thousand women were raped, 10 million people were forced to become refugees to lead a sub-human life during 9 months of the war..
 
These crimes against humanity are well documented including a book by USA Consul General in Dhaka Late Mr. Archer Blood and a report by Late Senator Edward Kennedy.
 
Sarmila Bose's book event on March 15  is an insult to the victims of Bangladesh genocide.
 
I am a Freedom Fighter of Bangladesh liberation war and a witness to the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Pakistani military and their Bengali collaborators.  I have written several books on Bangladesh liberation war. My latest book Bullets of '71- A Freedom Fighter's Story describes Bangladesh genocide committed by the Bangladesh war criminals. (See my website www.nurannabi.com to know more about Bangladesh genocide )
 
After 40 years, trial of the Bangladesh war criminals just has started. Since then Bangladesh war criminals and their supporters have started orchestrated campaign to misinform and mislead the world opinion regarding the extent of Bangladesh genocide. Sarmila Bose is a part of that grand scheme.
 
Sarmila Bose and others are promoting their hidden agenda in a very subtle way to protect the Bangladesh war criminals. Its irony that she is using organization like Woodrow Wilson Center in the USA capital to misguide the opinion maker.
 
You must stop this event which is a heinous design of the Bangladesh war criminals. You should allow to let people know the truth about Bangladesh war crimes which Ms Bose is trying to hide and protect the war criminals.
 
I am walling to present evidence for the crimes against humanity in Bangladesh in 1971 perpetrated by Pakistani military and their Bengali collaborators based on my new book.
 
I would appreciate if you invite me to the event to counter Ms. Bose's misleading conclusion and allow me tell the truth to the audience. 
  
Looking forward to hearing from you.
 
Regards,
Nuran Nabi, PhD
Councilman of Plainsboro Township, NJ
and a Freedom Fighter of Bangladesh Liberation war
Tel: 609 529 5065











__._,_.___


[* Moderator�s Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [chottala.com] Bangabandhu Killing : Zia passively involved



One dictater killing another dictater, so what is the problem? That is game the of power!

 

Ataul Karim

(free thinker)




From: abid bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com>
To: chottala@yahoogroups.com
Cc: Syed_Aslam3 <Syed.Aslam3@gmail.com>; Khobor <khabor@yahoogroups.com>; notun Bangladesh <notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com>; abid bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com>
Sent: Wed, March 16, 2011 12:57:33 PM
Subject: Re: [chottala.com] Bangabandhu Killing : Zia passively involved

 

WHY HASINA IS IGNORING THE THE ACTIVE KILLERS BUT LOOKING FOR THE PASSIVE KILLERS: THE RAZAKARS, AND THE "BLOOD SUCKER DR. YONUS"?
 
ANSWER: Hasina's is fascism continued from Mujib. She ignores the active killers of Mujib, led by Mostaque and the other AL/BKSAL members who got togather to get rid of Mujib the dictator, or in the words of Malek Ukil, the Faroun of Bangladesh.
On behalf of India Lifschultz has to witch hunt to look for the "passive" killer? Ofcourse Hasina's kangaro court is not made of judges but of Mujibbadi vandals and the murder accused to look for the dead Zia.

 
2011/3/14 Syed_Aslam3 <Syed.Aslam3@gmail.com>
 


Bangabandhu Killing
Zia passively involved
Lifschultz tells HC, submits written statement on Taher killing
Ashutosh Sarkar

Lawrence Lifschultz
Gen Ziaur Rahman was passively involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, US journalist and writer Lawrence Lifschultz yesterday told the High Court.

Clik here to read Lifschultz's statement

This has become clear from the conversations with Col Farooq Rahman and Col Abdur Rashid, convicted killers of Bangabandhu, and from the book Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood written by Anthony Mascarenhas, he said.

He said Ziaur Rahman was in the shadow of the whole episode of August 15, 1975 because he was very much one of the main players of the game.

In reply to a question from the HC, Lifschultz said Ziaur Rahman could have stopped the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman because he (Zia) knew the plot.

Zia was a complicated man and was the main beneficiary of the assassination, he said, adding, Zia was responsible for killing many freedom fighters including army official Khaled Mosharaf.

The Pulitzer Prize winner who had covered the trial of Col Abu Taher in 1976 placed his statement before the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain.

The bench is hearing a writ petition that challenged the martial law regulation under which the military tribunal was formed and Taher was sentenced to death.

Earlier on January 20, the HC bench requested Lifschultz to appear before it to place a statement on the trial and execution of Taher.

Lifschultz on January 31 sent a written statement to the HC bench through the Attorney General's Office saying that Gen Ziaur Rahman made the decision of Col Abu Taher's execution before formation of the military tribunal that gave the execution order.

Gen Manzur, then high-ranked military officer, knew with absolute certainty that Zia had decided to have Taher hanged before the "so-called trial" began, Lifschultz said in the statement.

"Subsequently, this fact was also confirmed to me by two high-ranking military officers, who were close to Zia at that time," he said in his January 31 statement, which was placed before the HC bench on February 3.

Lifschultz yesterday appeared before the same HC bench around 2:30pm and placed a written and a verbal statement before it.

He said the trial of Col Taher was not even a show-trial since it had no projection or demonstration.

There existed a "Special Military Tribunal No 1" which convened at the Dhaka Central Jail. "I was there. I stood outside the prison. I watched men, like Colonel Yusuf Haider, the so-called Tribunal's chairman, walk through the prison gates," he said in the written statement.

It was a premeditated assassination of which Ziaur Rahman was the assailant, Lawrence Lifschultz who arrived in Dhaka on March 12 told the court.

Although Zia had convened a meeting of the generals returned from Pakistan as Moudud Ahmed stated in a book, the decision to kill Taher was taken exclusively by Zia, he said, adding that he (Zia) had convened that meeting only to pretend that those generals had involvement in killing Taher.

"Moudud Ahmed claimed that Ziaur Rahman had convened a gathering of 46 "repatriated" officers to discuss the sentence that should be passed on Taher. It was well known that not a single officer who had participated in the Liberation War was willing to serve on Special Military Tribunal No 1. But General Zia's special convocation of repatriates appears to have ended with unanimous decision. They wanted Taher to hang," his written statement said.

"Moudud claims his source for this story was General Zia himself. In this respect, Moudud's version of events tallies with what General Manzur claimed to me regarding General Zia having personally taken the decision on what the verdict would be. One man, Ziaur Rahman, decided, on his own, to take another's life. He then asked a group of about fifty officers to endorse his decision," he stated.

The US journalist said he had tried to go inside the so-called court but was not allowed.

"I had tried to meet Ziaur Rahman many times for taking an interview from him, but he did not allow me to do so," he said, adding that he was expelled from Bangladesh at that time.

Replying to another question from the HC, Lifschultz said he could not term it as anything other than assassination, as Syed Badrul Ahsan, a journalist of The Daily Star, stated in 2006 that it was purely and simply a murder.

"Syed Badrul Ahsan has called the Taher case 'murder pure and simple'. In an article published in July 2006, Ahsan writes: 'When he (Lifschultz) speaks of Colonel Taher and the macabre manner of his murder (it was murder pure and simple) in July 1976, he revives within our souls all the pains we have either carefully pushed under the rug all these years or have been allowed to feel through the long march of untruth in this country,' according to the statement.

Zia decided to kill Taher as he wanted to appease the army officers repatriated from Pakistan and also consolidate the grief on power.

Taher wanted to return democracy in the country, but Zia wanted to rule the country as a dictator, he said.

Lifschultz said it was one of the saddest human rights violations in the whole of Asia.

He said he had been trying to get the whole truth for so many years and he was happy that he was now in a position to disclose whatever information he had before the HC.

The court will resume the hearing today.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Additional Attorney General also appeared before the court.

 

 
কর্নেল তাহেরকে বিচারের নামে হত্যা করা হয়েছে

জিয়াই ছিলেন এই পরিকল্পনার নায়ক

আদালতে মার্কিন সাংবাদিক লিফশুলজ

০০ ইত্তেফাক রিপোর্ট

সামরিক আদালতে কর্নেল (অব.) তাহেরের বিচার প্রসঙ্গে প্রখ্যাত মার্কিন সাংবাদিক লরেন্স লিফশুলজ বলেছেন, ওটা কোন বিচার ছিলো না। তথাকথিত বিচারের নামে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের অন্যতম সেক্টর কমান্ডার কর্নেল (অব.) আবু তাহের বীর উত্তমকে পূর্ব-পরিকল্পিতভাবে হত্যা করা হয়েছে। আর এই পরিকল্পনার নায়ক ছিলেন তৎকালীন সেনা শাসক মেজর জেনারেল জিয়াউর রহমান। তিনি আরো বলেন, জিয়া মনে করতেন কর্নেল তাহের তার পথে বড় বাধা। এ কারণে তাকে তথাকথিত বিচারের নামে ফাঁসিতে ঝুলানো হয়। কর্নেল তাহেরের গোপন বিচারের বৈধতা চ্যালেঞ্জ করে দায়ের করা রিট আবেদনের শুনানিতে তিনি এ কথা বলেন। বিচারপতি এ এইচ এম শামসুদ্দিন চৌধুরী ও বিচারপতি শেখ মো. জাকির হোসেনকে নিয়ে গঠিত হাইকোর্টের ডিভিশন বেঞ্চে তিনি গতকাল সোমবার দীর্ঘক্ষণ বক্তব্য রাখেন। আদালত তাকে বিভিন্ন বিষয়ে জিজ্ঞাসা করলে তার উত্তর দেন লিফশুলজ।

লরেন্স লিফশুলজ পেশায় লেখক ও সাংবাদিক। বর্তমানে তিনি যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের কানেকটিকাটে বসবাস করছেন। ১৯৭৬ সালে তিনি ফার ইস্টার্ন ইকনোমিক রিভিউ পত্রিকার দক্ষিণ এশীয় প্রতিনিধি ছিলেন। ১৯৭৬ সালে গোপন সামরিক আদালতে কর্নেল তাহের ও তার সঙ্গীদের বিচার হয়। ওই বছরের ১৭ জুলাই দেয়া রায়ে কর্নেল তাহেরের ফাঁসি ও অন্য ১৭ জনকে বিভিন্ন মেয়াদে সাজা হয়। ২১ জুলাই কর্নেল তাহেরের ফাঁসি কার্যকর করা হয়। ওই বিচার চলাকালে পেশাগত দায়িত্ব পালনে বাংলাদেশে এসেছিলেন লরেন্স লিফশুলজ। কিন্তু তিনি বিচারকাজ প্রত্যক্ষ করতে পারেননি। ঢাকা কেন্দ্রীয় কারাগারের সামনে থেকে তাকে আটক করা হয় এবং পরে বাংলাদেশ থেকে বহিষ্কার করা হয়। পরবতর্ীকালে 'কর্নেল তাহের : অসমাপ্ত বিপস্নব' -এ শিরোনামে তার একটি গ্রন্থ রয়েছে যা বাংলাদেশ ও যুক্তরাষ্ট্র থেকে একযোগে প্রকাশিত হয়েছে।

তাহেরের গোপন বিচারের বৈধতা নিয়ে তার সহোদর ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের শিক্ষক অধ্যাপক ড. আনোয়ার হোসেন, তাহেরের স্ত্রী লুৎফা তাহের গত বছরের ২৩ আগাস্ট হাইকোর্টে রিট আবেদন দায়ের করেন। এ নিয়ে হাইকোর্ট রুল জারি করেছিল। গত ২০ জানুয়ারি ওই রিটের শুনানিকালে হাইকোর্ট লরেন্স লিফশুলজকে হাজির হয়ে বক্তব্য দেয়ার অনুরোধ জানায়। তবে দুর্ঘটনায় সন্তান আহত হওয়ার কারণে লিফশুলজ বাংলাদেশে আসতে পারেননি। তিনি তার লিখিত বক্তব্য ই-মেইলের মাধ্যমে পাঠান। সেই বক্তব্য আদালতে দাখিল করা হয়। গতকাল স্বেচ্ছায় আদালতে হাজির হয়ে ওই বক্তব্যের ধারাবাহিকতায় তিনি আরো একটি লিখিত জবানবন্দি আদালতে উপস্থাপন করেন। এ সময় তার সঙ্গে ছিলেন এটর্নি জেনারেল এডভোকেট মাহবুবে আলম, অতিরিক্ত এটর্নি জেনারেল এডভোকেট এম কে রহমান প্রমুখ।

জবানবন্দিতে লরেন্স লিফশুলজ বলেন, এ দিনটির জন্য আমি দীর্ঘ ৩৫ বছর অপেক্ষায় করেছি। গত সপ্তাহে তাহেরের মেয়ে জয়া আমাকে বলেছে, ' এই মুহূর্তটির জন্য আমি আমার সারা জীবন অপেক্ষা করেছি।'

তার বাবা যখন মারা যান, তখন জয়ার বয়স ছিল পাঁচ বছর। লিফশুলজ আদালতকে উদ্দেশ করে বলেন, আপনি দেখতেই পাচ্ছেন, সারা জীবন অপেক্ষার পর অনেকেই আপনার কাছে আসছেন বিচারের জন্য।

লিফশুলজ বলেন, আমি বিশ্বাস করি না যা ঘটেছে তাকে 'বিচার' বলা যায়। এমনকি এটা 'লোক দেখানো বিচারও' নয়। কারণ সামরিক সরকার এটা দেখানোরও পক্ষপাতী ছিল না। আমি আমার আগের এফিডেভিটে বর্ণনা করেছি, আমি কিভাবে তৎকালীন চিফ অফ জেনারেল স্টাফ জেনারেল মঞ্জুরের সঙ্গে দেখা করেছি। স্পেশাল ট্রাইবু্যনাল গঠনের এক মাস আগে আমি তার অফিসে তার সঙ্গে দেখা করি। অনেক বছর আগ থেকে আমি মঞ্জুরকে চিনতাম। আমি ব্যাখ্যা করেছি কিভাবে জেনারেল মঞ্জুর তাহেরের কথিত বিচারের বিরোধিতা করেছিলেন। কর্নেল তাহেরের ফাঁসি কার্যকর করার পর জেনারেল মঞ্জুর ব্রিটেনে লোক পাঠিয়েছিলেন আমার সঙ্গে দেখা করার জন্য। তিনি আমাকে জানাতে চেয়েছিলেন জেনারেল জিয়া ব্যক্তিগতভাবে তাহেরের ফাঁসি কার্যকর করার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছিলেন। বিএনপির বর্তমান স্থায়ী কমিটির সদস্য ব্যারিস্টার মওদুদ আহমদের একটি লেখা প্রসঙ্গেও কথা বলেন লরেন্স লিফশুলজ। তিনি বলেন, "মওদুদ আহমদকে আমি তরুণ মানবাধিকার আইনজীবী হিসাবে চিনতাম। কিন্তু তিনি আদর্শ থেকে অনেকদূর সরে গেছেন। ক্ষমতার যাত্রাপথে এটা কোন বিরল ঘটনা নয়। মওদুদ আহমদ দাবি করেছেন, 'তাহেরের সাজার ব্যাপারে জিয়াউর রহমান ৪৬ জন সেনা কর্মকর্তার মতামত নিয়েছিলেন।' এটা সবারই জানা, একজন মুক্তিযোদ্ধা অফিসারও ওই ট্রাইবু্যনালের সঙ্গে যুক্ত ছিলেন না। মওদুদ আহমদ দাবি করেছেন, 'তার এ বক্তব্যের সূত্র জিয়া নিজে।' তবে জেনারেল মঞ্জুর আমাকে বলেছেন, জিয়া ব্যক্তিগতভাবেই সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছিলেন তাহেরের বিচারের রায়ের ব্যাপারে। জিয়াউর রহমান নিজেই সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছিলেন, আরেক জনের জীবন কেড়ে নেয়ার। এটা সম্পর্কে আমরা কি বলতে পারি? এটাকে কি আইনি পন্থা বলা যায়? সামরিক শাসকরা নিজেরাই নিজেদের আইন লেখেন।'

লরেন্স লিফশুলজ বলেন, ১৯৭৬ সালে গোপন বিচারের নামে কারা অভ্যন্তরে যা ঘটেছে তা জিয়াউর রহমানের পরিকল্পনা অনুযায়ীই ঘটেছে। তিনি বলেন, 'সিদ্ধান্ত ছিল জিয়ার নিজেরই। এর সঙ্গে সেনাবাহিনীর কেউ জড়িত ছিলেন- এমনটি আমি মনে করি না।' লিফশুলজ বলেন, 'সেটা কোন বিচার ছিলো না। যদি এটা বিচার হতো তবে কেন তা কোর্টে হলো না। কেন এটা কারা অভ্যন্তরে হলো? কোন ধরনের বিচার কারাগারে হয়? সেক্ষেত্রে আমার উত্তর হচ্ছে, যে বিচার কোন বিচার নয়, সেটাই কারাগারে হয়।' তিনি আরো বলেন, 'তাহেরের সঙ্গে যাদের বিচার করা হয়েছে তাদেরকেও পযর্াপ্ত আইনি অধিকার থেকে বঞ্চিত করা হয়েছে। বাংলাদেশের সংবিধান অনুযায়ী তাদের মৌলিক অধিকার লংঘিত হয়েছে। বিচারটি অবৈধ উপায়ে হয়েছে এবং অবৈধ উপায়ে অত্যন্ত গোপনীয়তার সঙ্গে তা সম্পন্ন হয়েছে। সে বিচারের কোন আইনগত ভিত্তি ছিলো না। এটি হয়েছে কারাগারের অভ্যন্তরে। যেখানে সংবাদ মাধ্যমকে বাইরে রাখা হয়েছে। যাতে এই অবিচারের কারণে জনগণের ক্ষোভ প্রকাশিত না হয়। সাংবাদিকদের হুমকি দেয়া এবং দেশের বাইরে পাঠিয়ে দেয়া হয়েছে।'

লিফশুলজ বলেন, 'কর্নেল তাহেরের মেয়ে জয়া তার পিতার হত্যাকাণ্ডকে বর্ণনা করেছে গুপ্তহত্যা হিসাবে। বিশেষ ট্রাইবু্যনাল-১ ছিল কলাকৌশল (ম্যাকানিজম) যার মাধ্যমে গুপ্ত হত্যা কার্যকর করা হয়। বদরুল হায়দার তার লেখায় তাহেরের বিচারকে বর্ণনা করেছেন 'হত্যাকাণ্ড' হিসাবে। ২০০৬ সালের ওই লেখায় তিনি মিথ্যার দীর্ঘযাত্রা সম্পর্কে বলেছেন, 'পাঁচ বছর আগের রাষ্ট্রব্যবস্থা সম্পর্কে তার বক্তব্য সঠিক ছিল।' যদিও এখন নতুন যুগের উন্মোচন ঘটেছে। সুপ্রিম কোর্ট পঞ্চম ও সপ্তম সংশোধনীকে অবৈধ ঘোষণা করেছে। আদালত এ সমাজের অবিচ্ছেদ্য অংশ এবং এটা পরিবর্তনের উপাদান।'

তিনি আরো বলেন, 'সুপ্রিম কোর্টের জন্য এটা চ্যালেঞ্জ যে, এ ব্যাপারে সিদ্ধান্ত নেয়া বিশেষ ট্রাইবু্যনাল-১ এর কার্যক্রমের কোন আইনি বৈধতা ছিল কি না? কারণ ওই ট্রাইবু্যনাল গঠনের পূর্বেই তাহেরকে ফাঁসিতে ঝোলানোর সিদ্ধান্ত নেয়া হয়। বিচারের নামে জোরপূর্বক এক সাজানো নাটক মঞ্চায়ন করা হয়। কারণ বিশেষ ট্রাইবু্যনাল-১ একবারই গঠিত হয়েছিলো। তারা আর কোন বিচার কার্যক্রম পরিচালনা করেনি। বাস্তবে এই ট্রাইবু্যনাল ছিলো অবৈধ ও অসাংবিধানিক একটি আদালত। যার উদ্দেশ্য ছিলো বিচারের নামে হত্যাকাণ্ড ঘটানো।

তিনি বলেন, 'দশ দিন পূর্বে তাহেরের কন্যা জয়া আমাকে লিখেছে, সে এখন তীব্রভাবে রায়ের জন্য অপেক্ষা করছে। যদিও এ রায় তার (জয়া) বাবাকে ফিরিয়ে দেবে না। কিন্তু এটা এ ধরনের হত্যাকাণ্ডের সমাপ্তির ঘটনা, যা তার এবং তার দুই ভাইয়ের কাছ থেকে এত কম বয়সে তার বাবাকে কেড়ে নিয়েছিল। হাইকোর্টের রায় কর্নেল তাহেরের শুভাকাঙ্ক্ষীদের মনে কিছুটা প্রশান্তি দেবে।'

লিখিত বক্তব্যশেষে আদালতের বিভিন্ন প্রশ্নের জবাব দেন লরেন্স লিফশুলজ। তিনি বলেন, রাজনৈতিক উপাদান থাকাতেই তাহের মামলার সংবাদ সংগ্রহে আগ্রহী হয়েছিলেন তিনি। জিয়াউর রহমানের পূর্ব পরিকল্পনাতেই কর্নেল তাহেরের ফাঁসি হয়। এ হত্যাকাণ্ডের জন্য দায়ী একজনের নাম বলতে হলে জিয়াউর রহমানের নামই বলবেন তিনি। বিচারের আগেই তিনি তাহেরের ফাঁসি কার্যকর করার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছিলেন। তবে বঙ্গবন্ধু হত্যাকাণ্ডে জিয়াউর রহমান প্রত্যক্ষ বা পরোক্ষভাবে জড়িত ছিলেন কি না-এমন প্রশ্নের স্পষ্ট কোন জবাব দেননি তিনি।

৭৫'র পরবতর্ী ঘটনার নেপথ্যে

ছিলেন জিয়া ঃ লিফশুলজ

বেলা ১১টার দিকে অতিরিক্ত এটর্নি জেনারেল এডভোকেট এম কে রহমানের কক্ষে সাংবাদিকদের সঙ্গে আলাপকালে লরেন্স লিফশুলজ বলেন, ১৯৭৫ সালে বঙ্গবন্ধুকে সপরিবারে হত্যার পরবর্তী ঘটনার নেপথ্যে ছিলেন জিয়াউর রহমান। ক্ষমতা কুক্ষিগত করা এবং স্বৈরতান্ত্রিক শাসন প্রক্রিয়ায় তিনি কর্নেল তাহেরকে ফাঁসি দেয়ার মতো ঘটনাও ঘটান। তিনি বলেন, জিয়ার সঙ্গে মোশতাক, ফারুক ও রশীদ গংদের যোগসূত্র ছিল। তবে জিয়া কখনো পাদপ্রদীপের আলোয় আসেননি। তিনি বলেন, লন্ডনে আমাকে দেয়া এক সাক্ষাৎ্কারে রশীদ বলেছিলেন, ১৫ আগস্ট হত্যাকাণ্ডের আগে জিয়ার সঙ্গে তাঁদের যোগাযোগ ছিল। নেপথ্যে থেকেই তিনি তাদের সমর্থন যোগাচ্ছিলেন। এমনকি সেনাবাহিনী যাতে তা প্রতিরোধ করতে এগিয়ে না আসে, সে ব্যাপারেও তৎপর ছিলেন তিনি। এরপর জিয়া ৭ নভেম্বর স্বরূপে আবির্ভূত হন। তিনি বলেন, কর্নেল তাহেরের গোপন বিচার নিয়ে করা মামলাটি ঐতিহাসিক। নতুন প্রজন্মের এ বিষয়ে জানার আগ্রহ আছে। আমার প্রশ্ন, দীর্ঘ ৩৫ বছর ধরে কেন এ ঘটনার বিচার হলো না?

সাংবাদিকদের সঙ্গে আলাপের এক পযর্ায়ে লিফশুলজের সঙ্গে দেখা করতে আসেন জাসদ সভাপতি হাসানুল হক ইনু এমপি, ড. আনোয়ার হোসেন, লুৎফা তাহের প্রমুখ। দুপুর সোয়া দুইটায় লরেন্স লিফশুলজকে নিয়ে হাইকোর্টের সংশিস্নষ্ট বেঞ্চে হাজির হন এটর্নি জেনারেল এডভোকেট মাহবুবে আলম ও অতিরিক্ত এটর্নি জেনারেল এডভোকেট এম কে রহমান।
 
 Janakantha:

 

 Samakal:
 
YouTube videos:
 
Conspirators in Mujib Killing:
 
 
 
 






__._,_.___


[* Moderator�s Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___