You bloody idiots. Take your sorry ass back to where you came from !
...............................................
Today I met up with some school friends with whom I have lost touch for ages. Reminiscence of almost forgotten memories and lots and lots of laughter and thereafter, as if just to prove we are no longer 8 years olds, the issue of politics came up, in particular the hefazot movement and operation “Flush out” on 6th May. My old friend is of the view that the police action on Hefazot was fully justified. It was the only rational or reasonable approach for the government to deal with the situation. His primary reasons for holding this view is outlined below:
1. Hefazot broke their promise to hold peaceful demonstrations when they started violence early on the morning of 5th May 2013. They damaged public property and it was necessary to tackle the situation before they caused more damage to peoples’ property. Police did not use unnecessary force. The force used was justified on the ground of greater public good because had they remained in Shapla Chottor they would have caused more havoc and unnecessary damage to public property.
2. The timing of operation “flush out” was a strategic decision taken by the government to minimize further loss and damage. He gave examples of how SWAT teams in Hollywood movies carry out similar tactical operation in the middle of the night. It is logistic decision taken by the intelligence and Special Forces based on the 'imminent' threat posed by hefazot. Therefore, to go into the details of operation is basically politicizing the issue which does not benefit any one. In other words, those who is demanding justification of operation ‘flush out’ are basically doing it to gain political advantage.
3. The closure of two TV channels was illegal but can nonetheless be justified on the ground of public policy. They were presenting false news and in the process inciting the people to commit more violence.
4. The number of dead being 2500 is a ludicrous idea. The media was there at all time, and live footage was displayed instantaneously which does not reveal any casualty. He is strongly critical of people who are promoting the idea that large numbers of people were killed that night.
5. Hefazot’s demand has nothing to do with the common people. They are uneducated people disconnected from the mainstream society. Government should not allow Hefazot to disrupt the normal lives of ordinary citizens based on issues that are irrelevant or immaterial to ordinary citizens of Bangladesh.
As is the case in tea table conversations, I switched to automatic "debate" mode arguing back and forth my case often the argument drifting to unconnected issues. I generally enjoy the dialectic process of debates, one party putting forward a viewpoint and the other side putting across a counter argument and thereafter both sides trying to defend their respective positions. While this exercise is useful for putting the main issues across the table, nonetheless clarity of thought can only be achieved upon sound reflection and research on the issues. This is my attempted response to my dear friend.
Response 1: A justified force
I will not dare to delve into the realm of conspiracy theories as to who caused the vandalism. There are some videos available all over the internet which may question or challenge the existing media allegation that hefazot men burned down houses and shops and committed looting and arson. For the purposes of this piece, I am assuming hefazot is guilty as charged. In that event what should have been the appropriate police reaction? To answer this question let us take a quick look at how riot police controlled riots in the recent past across the world.
London Student Riots -
Between 6 and 10 August 2011, thousands of people rioted in several London boroughs and in cities and towns across England. The resulting chaos generated looting, arson, and mass deployment of police. The events were also called "BlackBerry riots" because people used mobile devices and social media to organize. In Chingford, East London, three police officers were hit by a car used as a getaway vehicle by a group who looted the Aristocrat store on Chingford Mount Road. Two of the officers were seriously injured and taken to hospital. In total, 186 police officers were injured as well as 3 Police Community Support Officers. Ten firefighters were injured as the London Fire Brigade which dealt with over 100 serious fires caused by the disturbances. The LFB also reported that eight of its fire engines had their windscreens smashed and that two fire cars were attacked. Vehicles, homes and shops were attacked and set alight. At least 100 homes were destroyed in the arson and looting.Shopkeepers estimated the damages in their Tottenham Hale and Tottenham branches at several million pounds.The riots caused the irretrievable loss of heritage architecture.It was estimated that retailers lost at least 30,000 trading hours.
The damages as quoted above is by all means a lot more extensive than those allegedly caused by Hefazot men during the day of 5th May 2013. So how did police react to this? What was their mob control method ? The BBC reported that West Midlands riot police officers were issued with plastic bullets to use against looters, but that none were fired. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-14813632). On 9 August 2011, Theresa May, the home secretary, rejected the use of water cannon and said: "The way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities.”. How many protesters were killed by police action ? To my knowledge – zero. However, there was loss of life caused by vandals and these were investigated and some of these perpetrators have already been punished following due process of law.
The Greek riots:
The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old student, was killed by two policemen. The murder of a young student by police resulted in large protests and demonstrations, which escalated to widespread rioting, with numerous rioters damaging property and engaging riot police with Molotov cocktails, stones and other objects. Demonstrations and rioting soon spread to several other cities, including Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city. Outside Greece, solidarity demonstrations, riots and, in some cases, clashes with local police also took place in more than 70 cities around the world, including London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, The Hague, Copenhagen, Bordeaux, Cologne, Seville as well as Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, and the western Cypriot city of Paphos.
By the end of Sunday 7 December 2008 38 vehicles were damaged, 13 police officers were injured, and 22 rioters were arrested. The rioting and violence continued for several weeks. Again , was any of the protesters shot dead by police using live bullets ? as to my cursory research in Google I don’t seem to find any records of casualty caused by police shooting.
By the end of Sunday 7 December 2008 38 vehicles were damaged, 13 police officers were injured, and 22 rioters were arrested. The rioting and violence continued for several weeks. Again , was any of the protesters shot dead by police using live bullets ? as to my cursory research in Google I don’t seem to find any records of casualty caused by police shooting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Greek_riots http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_greek_riots.html)
The Arab spring and Tahrir square:
Now lets consider a bad example. Jan 25 2011 Tahrir square protests, saw 900+ killed in 18 days of protests. The highest-level inquiry into the deaths of nearly 900 protesters in Egypt's uprising has concluded that police were behind nearly all the killings and used snipers on rooftops overlooking Cairo's Tahrir Square to shoot into the huge crowds. (http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2013/03/14/police-blamed-in-egypt-s-tahrir-square-revolt-deaths). Ultimately, however Hosne Mubarak could not save his skin despite his extreme crack down on the protesters and is currently standing trial on charges of premeditated murder of protesters during the 2011 Egyptian revolution and, if convicted, could face the death penalty.
Having looked at the examples of recent riots, what should be our stand? Should we have taken the example of London or Greece or is the strategy of the tyrant Mubarak the right approach for us? Ultimately, I leave this question to your own judgment and conscience. True we are not a developed country like those western nations, but our secular civil society speaks of rule of law, constitutional governance, west-ministerial democracy – all products of recent western political ideology. So should we not also draw our inspiration of protecting human rights including the right to life and freedom from torture from these nations?
An apparent double standard:
Switching to a different but connected issue, let us look at the genesis of the confrontation on 5th May. What really instigated the violence? I was glued to the TV right from the morning of 5th May 2013. The earliest news that surfaced in several channels was that a clash ensued between hefazot activists and Chatro league cadars near the AL office in Paltan. The images that appeared on the news papers the following day shows a number of AL activists firing at a distant crowd using revolvers and automatic pistols. In that case why is it only being highlighted that hefazot became an unruly mob? Why is no body pointing fingers at those identified chatro league activists individuals for shooting at the hefazot crowd? I know one of the men in the picture below personally. To my knowledge he carried as licensed gun and is at present looming at large despite this image appearing on several daily newspapers following the incident on 5th May ! To my knowledge none of those individuals were arrested. Yet a top brass of Hefazot leadership is now facing a 22 day remand in police custody. Is it not a double standard? Would it not have been justified on the part of the police to crack down on AL activists on the morning of 5th May 2013?
 |
| Armed Chatro League men shooting at Hefazot |
Awami Thugs beating up Hefazot activists with the infamous "logi boitha"
.jpg)
Response 2: Operation flush out at 2 AM - a justified police tactic
My dear friend is of the view that timing and method of operation was entirely a matter of strategy and the police authority need not justify their actions to the public. Ultimately, the crux of his argument is that the end justified the means. Basically, what he is saying is that something needed to be done and the police did it. Going into the nitty-gritty of police action and criticizing them amounts to politicization of the issues. I find this contention slightly insulting on two counts. First, as a citizen of this country, a government is accountable to its citizens for all actions that it takes, particularly any action that affects the life and liberty of its citizens. It must be held accountable for all its action by the public. The media and parliament are important tools of check and balance. Secondly, as a legal professional, it is part of my job to challenge the actions of any government agency if it is in violation of due process by means of judicial review. To suggest that I should keep my mouth shut and not demand explanation from the government as to why 10,000 armed soldiers at 2 A.M. massacred unarmed civilians with lights turned off and in presence of a controlled media, is simply unacceptable and runs counter to the high ideals of democratic governance.
The key question is why conduct the operation at 2 AM at night when the protestors have settled in for the night, many of whom were sleeping? Why not at 5AM in the morning. If the idea is to ‘flush them out’ as opposed to kill them, surely 5AM in the morning right after the fajr prayers is perhaps more viable option. The police would have had better visibility as to where the protesters were located so they could do more targeted crowd control and prevent collateral damage and loss of life. Also, the better visibility would have allowed the protsters to escape rather than trample and kill their fellow protesters while they are running to save their lives in darkness.
What could be the strategic justification for conducting the operation at the dead of the night ? Were the hefazotis a cause of threat at that point of time when the operation was conducted? As I understand it , the violence had subsided at Paltan area by the evening of 5th May and so far as shapla chottor is concerned there was never any violent incident at that point anytime during the day of 5th of May. So why jump on these unarmed civilians with 10,000 trained armed personnel with orders of shoot live bullets (claimed by the government as rubber bullets) ? The police or any spokes person have not even bothered to explain or justify the timing of the operation. On the contrary, the members of the ruling AL appears to consider this crack down as a sign of victory worthy of celebration. In the absence of clear explanation from the government, and with a media that has decided to turn a blind eye to the indecent , all that is left for us ordinary citizens who care, is to speculate. One speculation leads to more speculation , rumors after rumors piles up until it becomes impossible to separate the true event from the imagined delusion of it. Who is to blame for it? Us ordinary folks , the social media or the government ?
Response 3 -Closure of TV Channels:
There are two ways two look at this issue (i) the closure of channels from a political and factual context (ii) from a strict legal position. First taking into consideration the political context, the channels and in particular Dtv is known for having anti government stand which is not surprising, partly due to the fact that its ownership belongs to members of the opposition, in particular its CEO who is currently standing trial for crimes against humanity in the International Crimes Tribunal. The Gonojagoron Monch at Shahabagh had in a number of occasions demanded closure of this particular channel as it is allegedly closely associated with and patronizes Jaamat-e-Islami , Bangladesh. However, beside their political identity, what is the exact transgression that demanded or warranted a draconian measure like closing down a TV station when it was telecasting live news around 4 AM at night ? In what respect was its news drastically different from other 22 channels that the government did not close down? It is being said the Dtv was constantly showing dead bodies and this was causing agitating the protesters. Once again I want to focus on the timing of the operation. At 4 AM at night, people were either sleeping or glued to the television watching the events unfold. In fact most of them would have fallen asleep had rumors of imminent attack on the demonstrators not been circulated in all TV channels. In any case , the Hefazoti men were tired and many of them were sleeping after a difficult day of protest. Who was Dtv really inciting at 4 AM in the morning ? Once again I ask , could they not have closed down the TV 10 AM in the morning during office hours? Why take the effort of doing late night raid on Dtv’s office ? In any case were there not 22 other channels that would contradict the alleged false information by Dtv? I thought one great philosopher said “I do not agree with you but I shall give my life in protecting your right to say what you want to say”. I am certain that philosopher was an ignorant fool!
In terms of the legality of the action, let us not even go into the nitty-gritty of the law and make it boring lecture on media law. A very fundamental idea of the legal process is the idea of natural justice, i.e., before you punish me for something, you must give me an opportunity to explain myself. In other words you must ask me to show cause as to why a certain action shall not be taken against me. Was such a show cause notice give to Dtv ? Has it still been given to Dtv 15 days after the close down? How can any one justify this arbitrary, mala-fide decision of the government?
Response No .4 – 2500 ? are you out of your mind
How many died that night. 0 as per the DMP commissioner, however 11 bodies were found at the site( whatever that means??). Not less that 50 as per Al-Jazeera. Different numbers are being claimed in different national dailies. 2500 and even 25000 as per rumors in the social media. If you think of it , it’s a really an issue of trust and belief. The government had said the no. is 11. But the problem is no body seems to believe this figure. Everybody has formulated their own views as to the number. There is a perception among the people that the government is not being entirely honest. Its everyone's guessing game at this point.
Ultimately, 11 or 50 or 500. It is immaterial. People are acting as if its okay to kill 11 but its not okay to kill 2500. What non-sense ! How can you put a value on life based on numbers ? Article 32 of our Constitution guarantees a right to life and liberty to every citizen of Bangladesh. If a single person have been killed without due process of law, the government must answer to its citizens why that has happened and who is to take responsibility for it. Then why this unnecessary debate with numbers ?
Response No. 5 – you idiots , you live on our charity. How dare you come challenge us ?
We feel so much sympathy for the garments workers. We generally feel sorry for the state of affairs of ordinary rural people. But when it comes to these madrasah folks suddenly we are not that sympathetic They are like the uneducated, bearded , clumsy looking fellows who are the burden of this society. What do the they really do other than giving the adhans , or leading the prayers or offering milads here and there. Brain washed idiots. What do they know about anything?
Yes it this bourgeoisie mentality which Marx vehemently fought against. The arrogance of the educated urban elites! Bangladesh represents a very minority Dhaka based middle class and a significant large group of rural under privileged people. But the urban bias is visible at every step. Somehow we the urban elites have the duty and responsibility to decide what is good for the rest. It is as if they are incapable of even formulating any desires and expectations for themselves. They are incapable of having any wants and demands. And that is democracy my friend!
I will not attempt to address the rationality or irrationality behind 13 point demand of Hefazot here. That is beyond the scope of this discussion. But I will insist that these people have a right to say what they want to say whether I agree with them or not. Unfortunately, we have not given them a patient hearing. We have ridiculed them, we have mocked at them and we have disrespected them by calling them “terrorist”/brainwashed idiots/Rajakar er nati puti etc. Senior members of AL and the government have made extremely objectionable remarks about them. This is simple unacceptable!
An attempted conclusion:
There is republican there is democrat, there is conservative there is liberal, there is right wing there is left wing, and of course there is BNP and there is BAL. Yet there are certain human values about which there can be no division. These are universal irrespective of race, colour and creed. If in this respect we still manage to find division or disagreement then perhaps we need to take a long hard look at the mirror. Let us keep this issue beyond the petty power politics. Let us stand up together and demand our rights as citizens. Let us all together demand justice !
An attempted conclusion:
There is republican there is democrat, there is conservative there is liberal, there is right wing there is left wing, and of course there is BNP and there is BAL. Yet there are certain human values about which there can be no division. These are universal irrespective of race, colour and creed. If in this respect we still manage to find division or disagreement then perhaps we need to take a long hard look at the mirror. Let us keep this issue beyond the petty power politics. Let us stand up together and demand our rights as citizens. Let us all together demand justice !
