Justice delayed is justice denied

by Anita Mathur
March 11, 2009

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/201/justice-delayed-is-justice-denied

Fellow journalists in Bangladesh, working in Weekly Blitz, the most influential newspaper, are yet to get justice from the law enforcing agencies, although more than two weeks already crossed since the office of this newspaper was attacked on February 22, 2009 by a group of armed men mostly belonging to the ruling party named Bangladesh Awami League.

The incident in brief is, on February 22, 2009, 35-40 armed terrorists belonging to the ruling party, led by Ruhul Amin and co-led by Shamim, an officer from Forces Intelliegence, attacked the office of Blitz newspaper. They instructed the caretaker named Anwar of the commercial center named Skylark Point (where the Blitz office is located) to lock the outside gate and continued their notorious actions in the broad day light for hours in presence of members of law enforcing and various intelligence agencies.

Close-Circuit-TV installed in the building was put switched off by the management of the building as the attackers were influential and notorious goons belonging to Bangladesh Awami League.

Despite lodging of a case right after the incident (Case No. 65, under section 143, 448, 323, 342, 384, 380, 427 and 506), members of law enforcing agencies in Bangladesh reportedly are showing extreme reluctance in arresting any of the attackers, who attacked the office of Weekly Blitz, physically assaulted the editor and other members, abused the female staffs and looted laptop and other valuables, in presence of a person named Shamim from DGFI (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence). Members of law enforcing agencies were witnessing the incident silently. Others who were in the gang were identified as Shintu, Liton, Yunus, Anwar, Siraj, Lavlu, Kajol, Pollin etc. Weekly Blitz reported quoting police sources thatmost of them were thugs belonging to the ruling party.

The renewed violence marks the first against internationally known peace-activists and award winning anti-Jihadist journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury since he was abducted by Bangladesh's dreaded Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in March 2008. It may be mentioned here that, the military backed interim regime withdrew police protection from the residence of the Blitz editor in May last year.

Weekly Blitz tried to find the reason behind reluctance of police in taking any action against the culprits as to why the attackers were not arrested. On condition of anonymity, a source in police told Blitz, "We have already become captive in the grips of the political government and its cadres. We can watch crime, but cannot take actions. Because, if we take any action against those party activists, then we shall face various forms of departmental harassments and humiliations."

It may be mentioned here that, the present government in Dhaka sacked the Information Secretary recently for alleged 'crime' of writing a poem, which, according to the government, went against Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and members of his family. Lately, the government in another move blocked a number of popular web sites such as YouTube, which is owned by Google. It is further learnt that, government in Dhaka are also considering blocking at least a dozen of sites, which, according to them, continues to spread 'false propaganda' against the ruling party in Bangladesh.

Representatives from Weekly Blitz contacted some of the senior officers in Bangladesh Police, including the Commissioner of Police (Dhaka) and informed them about lodging of the case on February 22, 2009. Copy of the FIR (First Information Report) was also handed over to those officers with the request of initiating immediate investigation into the matter and necessary actions in this regard. But, none of these senior officers reportedly took any action in this regard.

Weekly Blitz told that, when they contacted, an officer on duty at Paltan Police Station, they were told that, Paltan Police Station has specific instruction of neither investigating the case nor drawing any legal proceedings against any of the accused, as they belong to the ruling party. Weekly Blitz has already sent written complaints to various authorities in Bangladesh about the reluctance of police in taking any action against the attackers.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Noor Mohammed, whose son-in-law, Captain Mazharul Islam was also brutally killed during the BDR Massacre in Dhaka was also not available for comments on the incident of terrorist attack at the office of Weekly Blitz. But a source at Police Headquarters told Weekly Blitz that, the IGP is very strict about taking action against terrorists and culprits irrespective of their political identity. The source further said IGP Noor Mohammed has personal attention towards according proper security to the members of media in Bangladesh. It said police headquarters is already investigating the issue of reluctance by the Paltan Police Station in taking any action against the culprits, who attacked the Weekly Blitz office.

Since installation of government led by Bangladesh Awami League, reign of terror is established throughout the country by musclemen and hooligans belonging to student's wing, youth wing, volunteer's wing and other pro-ruling party elements in Bangladesh.

Most interestingly, in this particular case of attack on the office of Weekly Blitz, both police as well as DGFI are completely silent in taking any action. According to normal practices, military intelligence never allows anyone in using its name in any illegal activities, while using the identity of member of DGFI is a serious crime. DGFI could easily identify Shamim, the person who identified to be an officer of this intelligence agency, if they could interrogate Ruhul Amin and other members of the attacker gang. But, such delay in identifying the culprit is putting the image of DGFI into serious question.

It may be mentioned here that, editor of Weekly Blitz, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury faces sedition, treason and blasphemy charges in Bangladesh for confronting radical and militant Islam, for advocating inter-faith understanding as well as for condemning killing of innocent people in the name of religion. He was arrested on November 29, 2003 on his way to Tel Aviv for attending a Peace Conference and incarcerated for 17 months in solitaire confinement inside Dhaka Central Jail.

Choudhury was mercilessly tortured during interrogation by the members of the interrogation team.

United States Congress in 2007 passed a resolution with 407 votes demanding:

(1) The Government of Bangladesh should immediately drop all pending charges against Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib

Choudhury;

(2) The Government of Bangladesh should immediately return all of Mr. Choudhury's confiscated possessions; and

(3) The Government of Bangladesh should cease harassment and intimidation of Mr. Choudhury, take steps to protect Mr. Choudhury, and hold accountable those responsible for attacks against Mr. Choudhury.

On October 6, 2006, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom wrote a letter to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A. Boucher calling on the United States Government to strengthen the "voices of moderation" in countries like Bangladesh where the rule of law, democratic institutions, and respect for human rights are under assault by violent extremists; the Commission identified Mr. Choudhury as one of those voices that should not be silenced.

There has been resolution in favour of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in the European Union Parliament and Australian Senate. International organizations like Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), PEN, WAN, IFEX, AJC etc have sent several letters to Bangladesh authorities demanding immediate dropping of the false charges which were brought against Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in 2003 and to stop all forms of repressive actions on him. Millions of people around the world are also raising voice in favour of Choudhury. But, Bangladesh authorities continue to turn deaf on this issue.

The latest episode of attack on Weekly Blitz and Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a matter of grave concern for human rights groups as well as peace-loving people around the world, as he (Choudhury) promotes global peace. The way, Bangladeshi government is showing absolute ignorance in attending this issue and bringing the perpetrators to trial will surely annoy a large section of international community. There is already a massive call for boycotting Bangladeshi products in United States, European Union, Australia and other countries. Buyers are also sending messages to Bangladesh missions informing them that they will start checking labels of products before buying and will refrain from picking products with label titled 'Made in Bangladesh'. This will surely hamper Bangladeshi readymade garments as well as shrimp export industries greatly in the coming weeks.

Due to severe economic recession world-wide, exporters in third world countries, including Bangladesh are already facing various problems in finding orders, which may ultimately turn into a devastating fate for country's export-oriented industries, thus causing joblessness of thousands of people. The new complicacy, Bangladeshi authorities are creating by ignoring the case of internationally known award winning journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury will contribute further to the crisis.

Everyone knows - justice delayed is justice denied. Possibly policymakers in Bangladesh are failing to assess the degree of severity they may ultimately face by ignoring Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and by allowing perpetrators, who attacked his office, to remain above law. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, especially Bangladesh Readymade Garments Exporters and Manufacturers Associations as well as other Apex groups need to put focus on this extremely important matter. Otherwise, the entire nation will suffer due to partisan and criminal tendency of a political government.

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