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Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s one-sided election leaves some voters asking, ‘What’s the point?’
2024-01-07
[BenarNews] Bangladesh goes to the polls next week with Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums...
 and her ruling Awami League all but assured victory, and with the opposition boycotting an election that analysts say is likely to cement autocratic rule.

Voters in the South Asian nation of 166 million will have little choice but to elect 76-year-old Hasina for a fourth consecutive term on Jan. 7.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, along with several smaller parties, has refused to participate after Hasina rejected calls to step aside for a neutral caretaker government to oversee the polls.

Without the BNP’s involvement, government critics and independent observers say the vote is shaping up as a one-sided exercise, in a nation with a long record of dubious elections.

"Ultimately, these elections will enable Sheikh Hasina to have absolute power," Prof. Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a political analyst and chief of the election monitoring body Janipop, told BenarNews. "The democratic checks-and-balances and the principle of separation of power will collapse."

Since 2009, Hasina has presided over one of the region’s best-performing economies, largely on the back of the country’s booming textile and garment industry, which employs more than a million women in the workforce.

But she has steadily clamped down on opposition parties and civil society while consolidating control over state apparatuses — from law enforcement and the judiciary to the Election Commission, according to analysts and activists.

Local and international advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch, have documented in detail alleged abuses by Bangladesh authorities, including mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread repression.

Tens of thousands of opposition leaders and activists — including its secretary general and other top leaders — have reportedly been arrested since Oct. 28 alone, when the BNP staged the last in a series of mass rallies demanding a caretaker government be put in place.

Ten people died in political violence that weekend, and another 21 have died since — mostly opposition members — amid a series of transportation blockades, vehicle arsons and street festivities, according to media reports. Six of the dear departed died in police custody and jails.

Members of the opposition party are facing up to four million criminal charges, according to the BNP’s estimates, with some regarded as "ghost cases," which are planted against individuals presumed dead, incarcerated, or in exile.

On Thursday, a Dhaka court gave prison terms to eight BNP leaders — including two former cabinet ministers — for participating in a rally vandalizing vehicles about 10 years ago, officials and lawyers said. Authorities have resorted to arresting family members of opposition activists as well.

’ONE-PARTY SYSTEM’
The arrests and deadly protest violence have raised tensions ahead of the vote, which will be the 12th since Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistain in 1971.

Out of the 11 previous general elections, only four were considered to be relatively free and fair, because they were held under non-partisan caretaker administrations — a system that the Awami League government removed in 2011.

The BNP and its allies boycotted the 2014 election over concerns about its fairness. And in 2018, despite the BNP’s participation, the ruling party secured more than 95% of the parliamentary seats, although amid widespread claims of fraud.

In recent months, the United States and other Western countries have ramped up calls to demand that free and fair elections be held in Bangladesh. Washington in May said it would deny visas to Bangladeshis whom it suspects of trying to undermine democratic elections.

Despite the pressure, few observers expect the vote to be competitive.

"The consequence is that we are going to see a one-party political system," said Prof. Nizam Uddin Ahmed, a political analyst and writer of several books on Bangladesh politics.

Wary of international scrutiny, the Awami League has greenlighted the use of "dummy candidates" during the election, which refer to members of the ruling party that are registered to run as "independents."

The government has also cajoled new, smaller parties into participating, amid concerns about possible low turnout.

Still, the government-aligned Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
, the largest opposition camp in Parliament, is not expected to secure more than a dozen of the 300 parliamentary seats up for grabs, Kalimullah said.

"We have a Westminster form of governance in place. But the next Parliament will be composed of MPs elected in the style of the Chinese Communist Party, which allows the party members to contest among its members," he said.
Related:
Sheikh Hasina: 2023-08-11 Bangladeshi UN worker in Yemen freed by Al Qaeda branch
Sheikh Hasina: 2022-10-30 Untangling the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Sheikh Hasina: 2022-09-22 Bangladesh police: Suspected Rohingya rebels kill another refugee camp watchman
Link


-Obits-
Former Bangladesh military dictator Ershad beyond all cares and woe at 89
2019-07-15
[DAWN] Former Bangladesh military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad died on Sunday aged 89, after weeks in a Dhaka hospital, officials said.

General Ershad ruled Bangladesh for nearly a decade before being ousted from power in a pro-democracy upsurge in 1990 and was tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
 for years on corruption charges.

He passed away due to complications from old age, Kazi Firoz Rashid, a longtime colleague and politician from his Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
, told AFP. Armed forces front man Abdullah bin Zaid confirmed the death.

Ershad, who was also a prolific poet, was the head of the country's armed forces in 1982 when he took power in a bloodless coup after removing an elected government from power.

His rule was marked by a controversial decision to make Islam the state religion of the officially secular Moslem-majority nation.

In comments made to local news hounds from jail in 1996, he said that his "greatest failure [...] was running the country softly with a heart of a poet".

Despite the slew of cases against him, Ershad emerged as one of Bangladesh's major power brokers in the 1990s after his Jatiya Party became the country's third biggest political outfit.

Since his ouster at the hands of current Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums...
 and main opposition leader the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
, the two women have become bitter rivals, with the government last year jailing Zia for a decade over graft charges.

Link


Bangladesh
BNP unlikely to sever ties with Jamaat as Fakhrul talks about unity
2019-01-17
[Dhaka Tribune] Apparently giving a hint at not leaving Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
 as per Gono Forum's desire, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday advocated for strengthening the unity between Jatiya Oikya Front and the 20-party Alliance further to defeat the current regime.

"I would like to say it clearly that there is no alternative to unity, no matter who thinks what... BNP has created a bridge between the Jatiya Oikya Front and the 20-party Alliance for the cause of a historical necessity. It is still necessary to maintain, and we think now a greater unity is essential," he said, reports UNB.

Speaking at a discussion, he further said: "We do not accept the election. As political parties, it is our duty to consciously cement the national unity, and remain alert so that frustration does not grow among us."

Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 (Zafar) had organized the program at the National Press Club in memory of its acting chairman TIM Fazle Rabbi, who died on December 27 last year.

On January 12, Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain said it was a mistake of his party to join the 11th general election, held on December 30, with Jamaat under the banner of Oikya Front, which he leads.

He also said that they would mount pressure on BNP to drop Jamaat from its coalition to keep the Oikya Front intact and make it stronger.

Without mentioning any party's name, Mirza Fakhrul warned that if any party thinks that it will be possible to get a democratic victory fighting against a dangerous monster with lone efforts, it is not the right approach. "We must achieve the victory through people's unity. This is the reality."

He said the people of the country and the international community have already turned down the election. "The people witnessed a cruel mockery in the name of election. People's rights were snatched through it."

He said a big damage has been done to Awami League through the election as the party has now become the opponent of people for depriving them of their voting rights. "Even, Awami League supporters are bemoaning that they could not cast their votes,"

The BNP secretary general said it is Awami League's inherent nature is to think that they are the owners of the country and people are their subjects. "That's why this party never recognized people's rights."
Link


Bangladesh
Hasina defends new child marriage law
2016-12-08
[Dhaka Tribune] Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
 has said that there is nothing to be worried about the government’s new law to prevent child marriage.

In response to a supplementary question of Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 politician Fakhrul Imam, the premier Wednesday defended the Child Marriage Restrain Act 2016 approved by the cabinet on November 24.

The proposed law has drawn severe criticisms from home and abroad for keeping a provision allowing child marriage in special cases; such as if a girl becomes pregnant accidentally or illegally to protect her "honour" ‐ with approval from a court and agreement between the parents.

"The law has been framed taking the reality of our society into consideration," Hasina said, reports BSS.

She also blasted some NGOs and individuals for raising questions about the special provision. "They are far away from reality," the premier said, adding that many western countries allow marriage of girls at 14 and 16 years.

"A law can never be rigid, there must have an alternative in special cases particularly in case of unexpected pregnancy of any girl under 18. Otherwise, it may be disastrous for the society," she said.

Hasina said that her government had been making relentless efforts to make people aware about child marriage. "In view of this, girls are being encouraged for education and provided with scholarship side by side with creating scope for job.

"Girls are being given scholarship for higher studies to lessen the burden of education on their guardians so that the girls and their guardians do not become worried for their marriage at early age," BSS quoted her as saying.

Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, despite a three-decade-old law banning marriage for girls under the age of 18.

Punishment
In case of violation, the law proposes a maximum penalty of Tk100,000 along with two years’ imprisonment.

According to the law, the court will impose a ban on any marriage if anyone claims it as child marriage. The court might reject the ban also.

If anyone violates the ban, he or she will face six months’ imprisonment and Tk10,000 fine or both as punishment.

If the claim is proved false, punishment is maximum six months’ imprisonment and at least Tk30,000 fine or both.

Minors who marry will face maximum 15 days’ imprisonment or Tk5,000 fine.

Any adult male or female will face a maximum penalty of Tk100,000 fine along with two years of imprisonment or both if he or she marries any minor.

If parents are found involved in organising child marriage, they will be punished with maximum six months’ imprisonment and at least Tk50,000 fine or both. If the parents are not capable of paying the fine, the jail term will be increased for more three months.
Link


Bangladesh
PM: Govt sympathetic to Rohingyas, but hard against culprits
2016-12-08
[Dhaka Tribune] Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
 has said that her government is very much sympathetic towards the Rohingyas, but hard against the culprits, who want to use Bangladesh’s land against neighbours.

"Bangladesh has already allowed many distressed Myanmar nationals to enter its territory amid recent trouble in Myanmar but under no circumstances Bangladesh will allow any criminals responsible for recent attacks on the Myanmar Army and border guards [that left nine dead]," she told parliament yesterday.

In reply to a question from Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 politician Fakhrul Imam, Hasina said: "Bangladesh’s soil will not be allowed to use for any subversive activities against our neighbours."

According to IOM Bangladesh, an estimated 21,000 Rohingyas arrived in Cox’s Bazar between October 9 and December 2 to escape violence in Myanmar.
She said that her government had been giving all possible supports, including food, shelter and medical facilities, to the Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar. "But we cannot open our gate for their influx on a large scale as it is the matter of two sovereign countries."

Hasina said that the Foreign Ministry had already summoned the Myanmar envoy in Dhaka and asked him to refrain from creating any situation which would aggravate the situation.

"We have taken all steps which we should do. We are careful about both humanity and discouraging any subversive activities in the neighbouring country," she said.

The prime minister said that the government had asked the border guards and intelligence agencies to trace the culprits responsible for the recent attacks on the border guard police and the army in Myanmar.

These culprits are responsible for the current unrest in Myanmar and putting thousands of people into troubles. "We have to find out whether any of those culprits has taken shelter inside our territory. They will be handed over to the Myanmar authorities soon after arrest," she told parliament.

According to IOM Bangladesh, an estimated 21,000 Rohingyas arrived in Cox’s Bazar between October 9 and December 2 to escape violence in Myanmar.

In September, Hasina told Myanmar State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi that the Rohingya issue should be solved by the two next-door neighbours after the latter sought her help.
Link


Bangladesh
Razakar Sakhawat to die
2016-08-11
[Dhaka Tribune] Former Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
 MP Sakhawat Hossain has been sentenced to death for the crimes against humanity he had committed in Jessore during the 1971 Liberation War.

Sakhawat, now a leader of Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
, was given the punishment for the torture and murder of Chandtulla Gazi and his son Atiyar of Keshabpur upazila’s Chingra village; and the abduction, torture and murder of Abdul Malek Sardar of Keshabpur Upazila’s Hijaldanga village in Jessore.

"The sentence of death awarded be executed by hanging the convict accused Md Sakhawat Hossain by the neck or by shooting him till he is dead, as decided by the government," the verdict says.

Delivering the judgement yesterday, the International Crimes Tribunal headed by Justice Anwarul Haque said that all the five charges ‐ abduction, confinement, torture, rape and murder of Bangalis ‐ brought against him had been proven against him.

Two other members of the tribunal are Justice Md Shahinur Islam and Justice Md Shohrowardi.

It is the 26th verdict in war crimes cases. The first judgement was pronounced against war criminal Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar on January 23, 2013.

The tribunal yesterday also sentenced seven others to imprisonment until death. They are Md Billal Hossain, Md Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Md Mujibur Rahman, Md Abdul Aziz Sarder, Qazi Ohidul Islam alias Wahidur Salam, Md Aziz Sarder and Abdul Khalek Morol.

Another accused, Lutfor Morol, died of cardiac arrest in police custody on May 6 this year. All but Sakhawat and Billal have been on the run.

The defence lawyers said that they would file an appeal with the Appellate Division against the judgement while the state counsels said they were satisfied.

A total of seventeen witnesses testified against the war criminals during the trial. The tribunal finished hearing in the case on July 14 and kept the case pending for verdict.

In 1971, Sakhawat was the a member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the erstwhile student wing of Jamaat, and later become a leader of al-Badr in Jessore. The seven others were involved with the razakar force.

He went into hiding after the independence and resumed politics in 1986 as a leader of Jamaat in Jessore. He was elected politician from Jessore 6 constituency with Jamaat ticket in 1991. He later joined the BNP and became an MP in the February 15 elections in 1996.

Also known as Maulana Shakhawat, the war criminal is now the religious affairs secretary of Jatiya Party. During the 2014 national elections, he contested from Jatiya Party from the same constituency but could not win.

He was jugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
 over war crimes charges on November 29, 2014. The tribunal’s probe body started investigation against him in 2012.

In this case, the prosecution pressed charges against 12 people on July 26 last year. The tribunal accepted the charges against nine on September 8. Finally, five charges were framed against them on December 23. The offences took place between mid-September and mid-October in 1971.

After the full verdict is published, the convicts will get 30-day time to file appeals but the absconders will have to surrender to avail the legal opportunity.
Link


Bangladesh
Hefazat, Jamaat protest state religion hearing
2016-03-26
[Dhaka Tribune] Leaders and activists of radical Islamist platform Hefajat-e-Islam
...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home...
 and Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
 staged demonstrations in Dhaka, Chittagong and some other areas of the country yesterday.

The Hefazat leaders vowed to wage a tougher movement if state religion was abolished from the constitution after the High Court hearing that resumes tomorrow, after five years of its adjournment.

Then the controversial parliament of HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 introduced the provision in 1988.

In 2013, Qawmi madrasa-based Hefazat observed countrywide demonstrations and held two rallies at Motijheel to press home their 13-point demands that include formulation of anti-blasphemy law and ban on free mixing of men and women. The government refused to fulfil the demands terming those contrary to the constitution and other existing laws. Most of the Hefazat leaders are linked to the Islamist parties of BNP-led 20-party alliance.

From a pre-scheduled rally at Andorkilla Mosque in Chittagong after Jumma prayers, Hefazat Secretary General Junaid Babunagari said: "We will lay down our lives, if necessary, to protect Islam as the state religion. None will remain Muslim constitutionally if Islam is left out of the constitution."

Babunagari claimed that they were not out to implement the agenda of any political party. "We are not supposed to help anyone grab state power or topple the government. Our aim is to protect Islam in this country," he said.

"We sacrificed our lives at Shapla Chattar. We are ready to lay down our lives again to protect Islam. We will declare Jihad from Chittagong if Islam is dropped as the state religion. Lovers of Islam will not bow down to such an evil bid," said Mainuddin Ruhi, joint secretary of Hefazat.

In Dhaka, leaders and activists of Shibir also joined the procession and rally organised by Hefazat’s city unit in front of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque. They warned the government of dire consequences if Islam was dropped from the constitution as state religion. From the rally attended by around 4,000 demonstrators, the speakers also rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud demanding tough punishment of the atheists.
Link


Bangladesh
Ershad: BNP is now in coffin
2015-09-12
[Dhaka Tribune] The BNP is now in a coffin and the last nail on the coffin will be put when the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
 is sent to prison, Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 Chairman HM Ershad has said.

"Before 1/11, Khaleda Zia told a rally in Mymensingh that jail would be Ershad's destination and Ershad will have to come out of jail dead. Khaleda thought she could come to power again. But I am alive. I am waiting eagerly to see who comes out dead," he told the biennial council of JaPa's Chittagong city chapter.

"We have seen the true nature of parliamentary democracy. We are the real opposition party which has established parliamentary democracy by criticising the government," said Ershad, also the special envoy to the premier.

Speaking as the chief guest in the programme at the port city's GEC Convention Centre yesterday, he said: "The people of the country are not at peace. They cannot speak; they have become deaf and dumb. Democracy has been buried 100 feet below the earth. People do not have the right to speak or write; their voices have been gagged."

Ershad also blamed ruling party men of grabbing lands of the minority people who voted the government to power.

"The Hindu people are leaving the country. In the past, the country's population consisted of 10% Hindus but now the figure has come down to a meagre 6%," he said.

Urging the Hindus not to leave the country, the former president said: "The day is not far-off when Jatiya Party will assume power again. Please wait for that day to come."

Ershad also criticised the government's decision to impose 7.5% VAT on private university tuition fees.
Link


Bangladesh
Interpol issues Red Notice against war criminal Jabbar
2015-04-17
[Dhaka Tribune] The Interpol has issued a "red notice" for the arrest of war crimes convict Abdul Jabbar.

On February 24, the former Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 politician, now runaway, was sentenced to imprisonment unto death for murders, loot, arson and deportation as crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

While delivering the verdict against Jabbar, the International Crimes Tribunal ordered the inspector general of police to arrest Jabbar with the help of International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).

Of the eight types of notices of Interpol, the red notice seeks the location and arrest of a person wanted by a judicial jurisdiction or an international tribunal with a view to his/her extradition. Red notice is the "closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today."

The Interpol list of wanted persons carried Jabbar's picture with details about the war crimes convict.

After the independence, he went into hiding and remained runaway until the political changeover of August 15, 1975.

Resuming politics, Jabbar was elected politician from Mathbaria in 1986 and 1988 with Jatiya Party ticket. He has been on the run since 2009 after the investigation against him on war crimes charges was launched.

The former chairman of the local unit of Peace Committee had played a key role in forming razakar force and led collaborators in committing crimes in Mathbaria during the war.
Link


Bangladesh
19-party turns into 18-party alliance
2014-04-01
[Dhaka Tribune] The National Awami Party (NAP Bhasani) has cut off ties with the BNP-led 19-party alliance as its leaders have failed to persuade the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
 to leave some vice-chairman posts in the upazila elections.

A day before making an announcement in this regard, the party along with some other organizations on Sunday formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club protesting BNP Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
 and her son Tarique Rahman
...the elder son of former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, and Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is the Senior Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His nickname is Pino. There are allegations that Pino took a rakeoff from every foreign investment into the country while Mom was in office...
's claim that party founder Ziaur Rahman was the first president of the country.

However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
 the party claimed that they did not join the human chain programme.

When asked about the reason behind the decision taken by the NAP, BNP assistant office secretary Abdul Latif Jony said he does not know anything about it.

Few months ago, Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 leader Kazi Zafar Ahmed joined the BNP-led 18-party combine and then it turned into a 19-party alliance.

At a presser held at the National Press Club in the city yesterday, NAP President Sheikh Anwarul Haque said that they severed relations with the BNP-led alliance as his party was with the combine in name only.

"We are cutting off ties with the alliance to strengthen our party at grass roots level. We do not have any conflict with the BNP or any other party in the alliance," he told the Dhaka Tribune.

The party was not getting proper evaluation from the alliance, the NAP chief said at the presser.
Link


Bangladesh
Khaleda renews call for dialogue, demands JS poll
2014-03-11
[Dhaka Tribune] Alleging that the Awami League-led government wanted to stay in power "forcibly," BNP Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
 yesterday asked it to initiate dialogue for holding a fresh election immediately.

She also announced that after the completion of the upazila polls, she would visit different districts across the country.

"Come to dialogue leaving the gun. The consequences will be dire if you think you can stay in office killing people. If you want to stay in power forcefully, people will be compelled to take to the street," she said while addressing a group of Thakurgaon Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 activists who joined the BNP at her Gulshan office.

Khaleda asked them to work together to ensure victory of the party-backed candidates in the upazila elections.

She said the only way out of the "current crisis" was an election. "People did not vote in the January 5 election. The people of the country as well as the whole world are talking about an inclusive election."

The former premier claimed that the opposition men had been "killed and kidnapped" and human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
 was violated in every step.

Khaleda alleged that the ruling party-backed candidates had won in some upazilas forcefully.

The BNP-supported candidates would have won in more upazilas if their agents had not been evicted from the polling centres.

She said: "Now I will visit Thakurgaon and hold a rally there. This way, I will visit all the districts."
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Bangladesh
60 injured in factional clashes of AL
2014-03-09
[Dhaka Tribune] At least 60 people including six police personnel were maimed yesterday in Awami League intra party festivities in different upazilas of Gazipur, Chandpur, Munshiganj and Comilla districts over the upcoming third phase upazila polls.

Our Gazipur correspondent reports: At least 50 people including five police personnel were maimed in a clash between two AL chairman aspirants.

Witness said supporters of Gazipur Awami League backed candidate Iqbal Hossain stayed in front of the upazila AL office while the supporters of another candidate of AL-Abdul Jalil were campaigning in the area. When both groups were trying to take position in the upazila AL office, festivities started between them.

Amir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Shrepur cop shoppe, said supporters of Iqbal Hossain entered the town firing bullets and exploding cocktails. To bring the situation under control the police fired 41 bullets.

Member of municipal Chattra League Al Amin, son of Abul Hossain was critically injured during the clash.

All kinds shops were shutdown and the tense situation were prevailing in the area till filing the report.

Chandpur correspondent reports: At least 20 people including three police personnel and journalists were maimed in festivities between two Awami League chairman candidates in two upazilas over holding a showdown.

Munshiganj correspondent reports: At least 10 people, including officer-in-charge of Gazooria cop shoppe, were maimed in festivities between AL supported candidates centering campaigns in Munshiganj upazila polls.

The one and half hour long festivities took place between the supporters of AL backed candidate Amirul Islam and AL rebel candidate Refayet Ullah Khan.

OC Mamun-ur-Rashid was injured during the clash. Comilla correspondent reports: Several festivities took places among the candidates in Nangolkot, Burichnag and Brahmanpara upazilas of the district.

In Burichang upazila, four candidates are contesting for the chairman post. Those are- BNP backed Mizanur Rahman, Awami League backed Akhlak Haider, rebel candidate of Awami League Sazzad Hossain and Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
 (Ershad) backed Shafiqur Rahman Arun.

Supporters of Akhlak Haider and Sazzad Hossain locked in a clash centering tearing down posters of the candidates. The supporters of Sazzad set fire to the election office of Akhlak in Fokirbaza area.
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