Archive for December 2007
Artefacts Destroyed…
Rapid Action Battalion personnel with the help of Dhaka City Corporation workers search for the remains of the two stolen Vishnu statues at a garbage-dumping site in Amin Bazar on the outskirts of the capital yesterday. Photo: STARThe revelation was stunning although the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) could not recover the broken pieces of the stolen statues even after conducting massive raids in different areas following confessional statements of the arrested suspects.
Rab officials raided dumping grounds, including those at Uttara, Jatrabari, Aminbazar and Savar, and thought to have found some pieces from two dumping grounds in Aminbazar and Savar. The National Museum authorities, however, said those do not match the stolen artefacts–a statue and a bust of Vishnu.
The investigators could not also determine the motive behind the theft and destruction of the artefacts. But the police said it was learnt from the confessional statement that the leader of the smuggler group has links to an Islamic organisation.
They are presently on a drive to capture the leader of the “Abbas-Nasir” ring, which is involved with the whole incident.
Both Abbas and Nasir are still absconding. The Rab raided Abbas’ residence but failed to find him or learn his whereabouts.
Meanwhile, the president accepted the resignation letter of Ayub Quadri, who stepped down as the cultural and education adviser on Wednesday amid uproar over artefact theft.
Rab sources said the Abbas-Nasir group based at ZIA conducted the theft through a few of its members with the help of some civil aviation staff and drivers.
The two 1,500-year-old terracotta statues bound for an exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris were stolen while in the custody of Air France at ZIA on December 22.
The statues from the Gupta era had been displayed at the National Museum since they were discovered at Mahasthangarh in Bogra.
Besides arresting 15 persons immediately after the incident, the Rab arrested 10 more people, including a former MP and a former deputy secretary, during the last 24 hours.
In primary interrogation, the arrested confessed to their involvement with the theft and gave details of how they carried out the shameful act starting from stealing the precious statues to dumping them after destroying, a Rab official said.
Rab sources said five of the arrested were involved with stealing the statues from the airport and they took the artefacts to Abbas’ house at 51/E, Road-7B in sector-3 in Uttara on December 22 morning. The culprits used a vehicle for carrying the stolen statues from the airport.
The five include smuggler ring members and some airport staff including a driver of the Civil Aviation Authority. A Rab investigator said the smugglers enjoy regular free access to the highly secured cargo terminal area.
When the stolen artefacts were landed at the car park of Abbas’ multi-storey residence, Abbas and three to four more identified persons were present there.
The priceless national properties were destroyed between 10:00am and 1:00pm upon Abbas’ orders, an interrogator quoted from the confessional statement of Abbas’ arrested house cleaner who was involved with the act.
Those who witnessed the heinous crime include arrested former MP Anwara Begum Putul, who owns three flats in the same apartment house, Rab said.
Rab Additional Director General Colonel Gulzar Uddin Ahmed told The Daily Star last evening, “The motive behind stealing and destroying the artefacts will be revealed once Abbas is arrested.”
The investigation officer of the case produced those who confessed to their involvement with the heinous act before a Dhaka court last evening, he added.
Uttara Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Khandaker Rafiqul Islam told The Daily Star, “A man named Abbas implemented the whole plan of stealing and destroying the artefacts. Interrogation has revealed that Abbas is involved with an Islamic organisation.”
Andre Chenue, the consignee of the artefacts from Paris, nominated the Home Bound Bangladesh to send the artefacts by Air France.
The name of Home Bound Bangladesh was found as the sender agent on the receipt of Association of Cargo Agents of Bangladesh although its officials repeatedly told The Daily Star that they did not book any cargo flight of Air France.
The consignee had instructed Home Bound to send the artefacts as “general cargo” instead of “valuable cargo”, which is sheer negligence towards the country’s national properties.
According to the agreement signed between France and Bangladesh, “The Borrower ensures the security of the artefacts in accordance with the security standards applicable to French Museum. The Borrower guarantees to the Lender that the loaned works are under continuous and vigilant protection.”
Our court correspondent reports: The 10 arrested persons were produced before the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court yesterday and seven of them were taken for recording judicial statements.
They are Lutfor Rahman, Monir Hossain, Nurul Islam Nuru, Mohammad Uzzal Hossain, Amir Hamza, Nikhil Chandra and Abdul Hamid.
The three others are Anwara Begum, former deputy secretary SM Mizanur Rahman and Moksed Ali.
The police prayed for 10 days’ remand for Anwara and Mizanur. The magistrate fixed Sunday for hearing on the prayer and sent the two to jail.
The magistrate also ordered to send Moksed to jail as the police did not pray for any remand for him.
Sorry for 71, genocide: Pakistan
Return artifacts!
http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUKDHA17836220071225
Bangladesh wants return of artifacts loaned to France
DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh wants a consignment of ancient artifacts on loan to France for an upcoming exhibition to be returned after two 1,500 year-old statues of the Hindu God Vishnu were stolen while awaiting shipment from Dhaka airport.
“The Guimet Museum (in Paris) would be informed, regretfully, that it would not be possible to go ahead with holding the exhibition of the items as planned,” a statement from the office of the head of the interim government said on Tuesday.
One consignment of items had already been successfully sent to France when the theft occurred on Saturday as a second shipment was being loaded on a Paris-bound flight.
A government spokesman said the French exhibition would have to be cancelled and the artifacts already in Paris returned to Bangladesh.
The authorities have ordered the remaining items at Dhaka airport to be returned to their collections.
The initial decision to ship the rare items abroad had prompted opposition from art lovers and conservators who expressed concerns the artifacts might go missing in transit.
Police have arrested 15 individuals in connection with the thefts.
(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed, Editing by Matthew Jones)
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXB6deFAap8-3t7PkJ_m1lIhBKpQ
Bangladesh cancels French museum show after theft of rare artefacts
DHAKA (AFP) — Bangladesh cancelled plans to send rare artefacts to Paris for a museum exhibition next year after two ancient statues of a Hindu deity were stolen en route to France.
The 1,500-year-old rare terracotta statues of the Hindu god Vishnu disappeared from Zia International Airport in Dhaka on Saturday just hours before they were to be flown to the French capital.
The cabinet decided at a special meeting Tuesday to cancel the exhibition in light of the apparent theft, a government statement said.
“The Guiment Museum would be informed regretfully that it would not be possible to go ahead with holding the exhibition of the items as planned,” it said.
The statues were among 188 rare cultural items being sent to the Guimet Museum in the French capital for a major international exhibition on Bangladesh’s history and culture.
The first consignment of 42 items was sent to Paris on December 1.
Police also launched a nationwide hunt and sought help from Interpol to retrieve the stolen relics after detaining 15 people in connection with the case, he added.
The rare statues represent a deity known as the preserver of the universe. They were among the items selected from five state-run museums over opposition by some local art curators after an agreement between the French embassy and the government’s cultural affairs ministry.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/26/stories/2007122660821500.htm
Missing statues: Bangladesh seeks Interpol probe
Haroon Habib
DHAKA: The Bangladesh police have requested Interpol to enquire into the two stolen rare terracotta statues of Hindu God Vishnu as the authorities ordered transfer of 143 invaluable artefacts to the national museum from the Dhaka airport where they were taken for airlifting to France.
Interpol was already contacted about the stolen statues, said a top police official as a massive hunt continued for the last three days to recover the rare cultural items. The statues were found missing from the airport’s high-security zone on Saturday as they were about to be airlifted to Paris.
An Air France aircraft was waiting in the airport to transport the artefacts through the Homebound Courier Services which trucked 145 relics in 13 cartons to the airport to be put on display at the Guimet Museum in the French capital early next year. The artefacts were part of 188 rare cultural items being sent for an exhibition on Bangladesh history and culture. There was a major national protest that the artefacts might not be returned in original.
In the face of persistent protest by senior citizens and art lovers and a legal battle, the Bangladesh authorities earlier sent 42 artefacts to Paris for the exhibition. The second consignment of 147 artefacts was on their way after the Supreme Court cleared the legal roadblocks.
The Bangladesh National Museum authorities said that some unidentified thieves stole the two statues from the airport early Saturday from the custody of French officials.
Killing of Intellectuals in 1971
Bodies of unknown intellectuals dumped at Rayer Bazar mass killing field by local collaborators of Pakistan army days before Bangladesh won the Liberation War. Photo: File PhotoMartyred Intellectuals Day
No subsequent government, however, took the initiative to that end.
Prof Farida Banu, sister of martyred intellectual Giasuddin, filed the case with Ramna Police Station on September 24, 1997 against two al-Badr cadres–Chowdhury Mainuddin and Ashrafuzzaman–for killing her brother on December 14 in 1971.
The CID submitted the final report of the case in 2001 on grounds that it was filed under “wrong” section of law.
Giasuddin was a history department lecturer at Dhaka University.
The complainant now sees no hope of getting justice as the subsequent political governments and the present caretaker administration have turned a deaf ear to the CID observations.
“The state needs to file a case in order to try and punish the accused,” Farida Banu told The Daily Star yesterday.
She said she tracked the development of the case till 2001. “After the BNP assumed power, I found no reason to follow up the case,” she told this paper.
Asked whether she now plans to appeal to the present government to revive the issue, Farida said Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s remarks about the war criminals encouraged her but the law adviser’s comments about a recent similar case took no time to dampen her enthusiasm.
One Fazlur Rahman filed the sedition case with Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court against Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah and Md Abdul Hannan, former chairman of Islami Bank.
His case statement said the three accused acted against the liberation war and carried out massacres through al-Badr, al-Shams and Razakar forces in 1971, thus committing sedition.
The CID, after long investigation into Prof Farida’s case, forwarded its report to the home ministry twice, in 1998 and 2002, with the observations that the government needs to file a case under International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 to ensure punishment to the killers.
It mentioned that the case is not maintainable under the existing criminal laws. Subsequent governments, however, did not make any move to file a case under the act.
CID’s senior ASP and investigation officer of the case Munshi Atiqur Rahman had done intensive investigations on the basis of the case papers.
He talked to the families of martyred teachers and students of Dhaka University and other educational institutions. The investigators also watched War Crimes File, a programme aired by British broadcaster Channel 4, in the hope of getting more leads on the case.
The CID eventually named 40 persons as witnesses and submitted final report of the case.
According to the case statement, al-Badr members Mainuddin and Ashrafuzzaman picked up Giasuddin Ahmed from Muhsin Hall premises, blindfolded him and whisked him in a microbus to an undisclosed location on December 14 in 1971. He never came back.
The plaintiff said she and her relatives had identified his decomposed body on January 5 in 1972.
They later came to know that Dhaka University teachers Dr Mohammad Mortaza, Dr Abul Khair, Prof Rashidul Hasan, Prof Anwar Pasha, Prof Sirajul Haq and some other teachers had been taken away in the same way.
Dr Mortoza’s wife and Prof Sirajul’s son could identify two of the abductors who were Chowdhury Mainuddin and Ashrafuzzaman.
Investigation officer Munshi Atiqur Rahman, who has recently retired from service, told The Daily Star yesterday that he sent in the file to the home ministry. “The file was later sent to the law ministry and I don’t know what happened to it after that.”
CID sources said they recommended the formation of a tribunal and investigation of the case under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 as late Sirajul Haque, who was appointed chief prosecutor in 1972 in the case against collaborators, observed that the case should be conducted under the act and that such a case would not be effective under the existing criminal laws.
The sources also said the home ministry sent the file to the law ministry for its opinion in January 2000. It, however, never came back as the Awami League government did not give much attention to the case in the remaining 18 months of its tenure.
Nothing about the CID file could be known from the home and law ministries.
Law Adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein also told The Daily Star that he knows nothing about it. Source: DS
These men were trying to deny such a naked truth that their attempts seem like those of the proverbial thief’s mother who loudly denounces others while her own son is an inveterate criminal. The clever mother speaks up so that her boastful gesture may give people a good idea about her son and let them not mistake him for a potential thief.
This is simply laughable, because it is a futile attempt at concealing an offence, which is already exposed. The Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Mujaheed, Quader Mollah, and Shah Hannan’s position is like that of the thief’s mother who is unavailingly trying to cover up the full extent of crime through loud voice and boastful lies.
It is as clear as anything that the valiant people of Bangladesh have fought a war of independence in 1971 against the Pakistan occupation army and their lackeys — the local collaborators. They were known as Razakars, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams and were heavily made up of the leaders and votaries of the then Jamaat-e-Islami now Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.
That ours was a war of independence has been globally acknowledged, and that Jamaat-e-Islami was opposing it has been substantiated by one hundred and one evidences. Therefore, when this bragging, overbearing, and bumptious trio term it a “civil war,” deny the existence of war criminals, and distort the sacred motive behind our joining the liberation war, they surely hurt the feelings of freedom-loving millions with their virtual negation of the very existence of Bangladesh. This is, frankly, virtually sedition, a crime against the country, a serious offence.
Our liberation war is the most glorious event in our history; our freedom fighters are the most valued persons of our country while the Razakars are the enemies of the state. Headed by Golam Azam, the Razakars were the collaborators of the Pakistan occupation army.
Golam Azam was a party, directly and indirectly, to the atrocious genocide, the rapes and molestation of millions of Bengali women, and the most barbaric act of killing hundreds of pro-liberation intellectuals. In these vile occurrences, he was assisted by his top associates, Nizami and Mujaheed. Their participation in the intellectual killing mission has had a number of tangible proofs.
For instance, in a picture recovered from the archives of Pakistan military intelligence, Golam Azam along with his chief accomplice Nizami is seen to hand the list of the names of pro-liberation Bengali intellectuals over to Pakistani generals (The New York Times, 30, July, 1971). He was the ringleader of 70,000 Razakars working under different factions with different names.
Another camp of the non-Bengali Muslims was added to them and the combined force forged some paramilitary units, which were trained by the Pakistan army. The paramilitary units named Al-Badr and Al-Shams played the key role in the heinous task of intellectual killing.
In June 1971, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sydney Schanberg made a candid report on that. In his words: “Throughout East Pakistan the army is training new paramilitary home guards or simply arming ‘loyal’ civilians, some of whom are formed into peace committees. Besides Biharis and other non-Bengali, Urdu-speaking Moslems, the recruits include the small minority of Bengali Moslems who have long supported the army-adherents of the right-wing religious parties such as the Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami led by Golam Azma and Matiur Rahman Nizami. These groups collectively known as the Razakars, the paramilitary units spread terror throughout the Bengali population. With their local knowledge the Razakars were an invaluable tool in the Pakistani Army’s arsenal of genocide.”
After Schanberg made a number of eyewitness accounts for the New York Times, the Pakistan army expelled him from the country on June 30, 1971.
It was December 1971. The occupation army was coming near to a crushing defeat. The marauding forces were on the verge of turning tail. Sensing their impending danger, they hit upon a wicked plan to cripple our social and cultural advancement by killing the standard bearers of our country — our intellectuals. They shot the last bolt. On December 14, the Pakistan army let loose the paramilitary units to kill the intellectuals — teachers, politicians, scientists, physicians, lawyers, journalists, and others.
The way the highly valued children of our soil were killed was diabolical. They were rounded up like cattle, bound, blindfolded, and led to torture chambers at Mirpur, Muhammadpur, Nakhalpara, Razarbag, and finally taken to Rayerbazar, where they were gunned down like sitting ducks.
Stranded intellectuals killed between March 25 and December 16, 1971 across the country are among others: Dr. G.C. Dev, Dr. Munir Chowdhury, Dr. Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, Dr. Anwar Pasha, Dr. Fazle Rabbi, Dr. Alim Chowdhury, Sahidullah Kaiser, Nizamuddin Ahmed, Selina Parvin, Altaf Mahmud, Dr. Hobibur Rahman, and Dhiren Dutt. The final toll rose to over 200.
What we today call war crime has a long history. In fact, perfidy has existed in human society over the centuries. It has been tried under customary laws. In the Hague Convention of 1899 and 1907 these customary laws were clarified. The modern concept of war crime however, has developed through the Nuremberg trails which were held basing on the definition of the London Charter published in 1945. The customary law defines war crimes as crimes against peace, against humanity.
Over the last century, many other treaties also introduced positive laws that put constraints on belligerents in light of which the nature of war crime can be determined. War crimes include mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilian and mass murder or genocide. Under the Nuremberg principles, the supreme intentional crime is that of waging a war of aggression. In addition, the war crimes that are defined in the statute, which established the International Criminal Court include:
* Breaches of the Geneva Convention, such as deliberate killing or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or wealth.
* Torture or inhuman treatment.
* Unlawful deportation, confinement, or transfer.
The people who killed or helped to kill the intellectuals of Bangladesh are war criminals by any definition of the term. They were in breach of the Geneva Convention and crossed all limits of simple human decency in their treatment of the intellectuals.
They joined hands with Pakistan occupation force that willfully launched an armed war of aggression against the innocent peace-loving people and unarmed civilians. They caused untold sufferings, irrecoverable physical and economic harm to them, and wanton destruction to national wealth. They made the stranded intellectuals undergo barbaric torture and unlawful confinement in the torture chambers, until finally they were killed.
They have successfully fulfilled all the criteria for being war criminals. They should have been brought to justice much earlier on the sovereign soil of independent Bangladesh. But quite unfortunately for us, they are seemingly beyond the reach of the law.
The long arm of the law could not even touch a hair of their heads. Little by little they have gained ground. Backed by the opportunist power hunters of the right-wing coalition, they too, have been able to have the taste of power. So, naturally, they don’t give a damn what the pro-liberation folks think.
Not only that, the war criminals could go to the extent of passing most derogatory remarks on the Liberation War itself and denying the existence of the anti-liberation forces. This well becomes them to belittle the image of our Liberation War since they were (and are) the enemies of the state of Bangladesh, if not enemies of the people of Bangladesh.
Mujaheed, who now does not see the existence of any war criminal in here, was erstwhile president of East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Shagha and one of the top brass of Al-Badr force. He helped the occupation army in carrying out the bloody massacre, plunder, and rape. He, too, it is credibly alleged, had his role in the brutal killing of the intellectuals on December 14 in 1971. Quader Mollah was dubbed as “butcher” in his neighborhood. He, it is credibly alleged, started killing people even before the occupation army launched genocide.
We know it full well who the war criminals are. The party they belonged to remained banned until 1976. After the ban was lifted, they have resumed their activities with renewed interest and are posing serious threats to the hardest earned ideal of our Liberation War i.e. a secular democratic state.
We failed to try the war criminals! But it is never late to mend. One government’s failure to do that should not justify other government’s indifference to it. What we have already had is a tremendous popular support about this trial. On the other hand, there is always a considerable public disquiet about the government’s inaction as to it.
The present caretaker government has by this short time trod paths where its predecessors had not. The present government has settled the long borne Mujib-Zia dispute and saved history from distortion. So people are looking forward to seeing the government make sure that the war crimes will be tried and that the criminals will be punished.
Dr. Rashid Askari is a writer, columnist, and Professor of English, Islamic University, Kushtia.
Court acquitted two other RU teachers; Jailed 10 students
Rajshahi speedy trial court yesterday acquitted two teachers and a official of Rajshahi University in the case for torching a DGFI vehicle and beating its staffs breaking emergency power rules of 2007 on August 22 campus violence.
But the court sentenced each of ten other accused RU students and an employee in the case to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined them with Tk 5000. They will suffer three months more in jail in case of defaulting to pay the fine.
The acquitted teachers Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal and Dr Golam Sabbir Sattar Tapu of geology and mining department and Sadikul Islam, deputy chief information officer of RU Public Relations Office were released from Rajshahi Central Jail at 5pm.
The convicted students are — Bangladesh Chhatra League RU unit secretary Ayenuddin, Dipayan Sarkar Dip, Mizanur Rahman Mithu, Sardar Ayaz, SM Fakrul Islam Raihan, Abu Sayem, Shamim Ahmed, Kazi Abdul Latif, Shakhawat Hossain, Aziz Bin Kamal Uzzal. All the convicted students are absconding.
Other convicted Ataur Rahman, a driver of former RU vice chancellor Faisul Islam Faruki along with the three acquitted persons were present before the court during judgement.
The assigned judge of the court Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ruhul Amin pronounced the verdict at 3.45pm after about an hour long judgement speech in a jam-packed court room.
Tight security measures were taken in and around the court where hundreds of curious people including teachers and students were gathering.
After the judgement, the acquitted teachers came out of the court smiling, but many students and relatives of the convicted burst into tears.
After campus violence of August 21 and 22, police lodged and pressed charges in a total four cases against eight teachers, an officer and 21 students.
With yesterday’s verdict and Monday’s Presidential clemency, trial proceedings of two cases ended and all eight detained teachers and an officer were released.
But in two other cases, the charge sheets against 11 other students are still awaiting to be accepted by court.
Freed RU teachers to go ahead with appeal against conviction
The defence lodged the appeals with the District and Sessions Judge’s court on December 9, one day before the teachers walked out of prison. The court set December 27 to hear the appeals.
The four teachers, meantime, joined their respective departments yesterday. They were given two-year jail terms on December 4 for breaking the emergency power rules by bringing out a silent procession on the campus on August 21.
Two other teachers and two university staff are still behind bars on charge of abetting torching a DGFI vehicle during the violence. The verdict in the subsequent case is due today.
“The teachers were freed following a government general amnesty. There are two parts in the court judgement — the conviction and the sentences. So far as we know, the president cleared them of the punishment only… if it is so, we must try to clear them of the conviction too”, said Golam Arif Tipu, who argued for the teachers in court.
He said they need to go ahead with the appeal proceedings even if the president’s clemency covers both conviction and punishment because the government has not withdrawn the case.
“We don’t want to give anyone the scope for creating problems in the future”, said another defence lawyer.
An education ministry letter to the university vice chancellor, however, said the presidential pardon covered both the conviction and the sentences. The Daily Star obtained a copy of the ministry’s letter.
The lawyers, however, said a home ministry letter to the jail authorities created the problem in which the ministry said the president pardoned only the jail terms and monetary fines.
The four teachers, meantime, demanded the release of their two other colleagues and four Dhaka University teachers after joining the departments yesterday.
Vice chancellor Dr Altaf Hossain said, “As per the education ministry letter, the four teachers will not face any problem as to their jobs … even the period they spent in jail will be counted as job period”.
Rajshahi University Teachers’ Association in a press release yesterday called on the government to release all teachers and students of Dhaka and Rajshahi universities. Ruta welcomed the government for freeing the four teachers.
Freed teachers Welcomed
The freed teachers yesterday joined respective departments amid a warm and floral reception by students and colleagues.
Rejecting the receptions, the teachers, however, demanded immediate release of other teachers, staffs and students of Rajshahi and Dhaka universities.
Students again started a signature campaign for release of two other teachers of geology and mining department — Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal and Golam Sabbir Sattar Tapu.
Sammilito Sangskritik Jote has sent an appeal to the chief adviser of caretaker government for releasing other teachers of Rajshahi University.
Talking to newspersons, RU vice chancellor Prof Dr Altaf Hossain yesterday expressed his satisfaction and said, the education ministry sent an order for not dismissing the freed teachers for their conviction.
Over a hundred students and teachers were waiting for Moloy Kumar Bhoumik in front of Management department with huge flowers.
As Moloy went there at 12.00pm, students made a red-carpet with flowers on his way to the department. But Moloy declined to walk over flowers saying that the time for receiving such ornamental greetings was yet to come as some other colleagues and staffs were still suffering behind the bar.
However following repeated requests, Moloy later dedicated the reception, accorded to him, to those university teachers and others who are still in jail and hoped for their immediate release.
The statutory academic committee of the department held a meeting with department chairman Emran Ali in the chair and took a resolution expressing their satisfaction at Moloy’s return.
At 11.45am, Dulal Chandra Biswas and Abdullah Al Mamun went to mass communication department together.
Students who were waiting for them in colorful dresses from the morning in two parallel queues greeted them with flowers. They distributed sweets among students and teachers.
Sayed Selim Reza Newton witnessed a same welcome at the department when he reached there at 12.30pm.
Moloy Kumar Bhoumik termed their release as a victory of teachers and students where morality is concerned.
He said, “I don’t felt guilty since my arrest. Our country has a tradition of tortures and atrocities by governments, ours case is not different and it stimulated up the very decaying conscious of the nation”.
Dulal Chandra Biswas termed release of the teachers as a victory of truth and told reporters, “I am feeling delighted amidst of students at my department…as if I regained vigor”.
“A strong realisation developed in me during my stay in jail that I will devote my life teaching kindness and protesting indiscretions of society side by side academic teachings”.
“We all four teachers pledged together before coming out of jail on Monday for staying beside students in all their logical movement against anomalies and atrocities”, said Dulal.
Sayed Selim Reza Newton said, “The clemency was an achievement, though in late, government understood it’s wrong…It became an example, usually a state undertook methods of repression when it thinks its people are weak”.
“Citizens duty is to remind the state machineries of its wrongs and responsibilities, we took out the procession from this point of view. But the government misunderstood us”.
Abdullah Al Mamun said, “I took part in the silent procession (on August 21, for what they were put behind the bar) as a human being concerned at the atrocities at Dhaka University…so it was never to instigate any violence”.
“I took oath for fighting for ensuring freedom of opinion and building political awareness”.
Editorial: Welcome moves to free teachers and students
It should be obvious to everyone today that the process of consultative engagement, in this case between the DU authorities and the government, is working and that both sides have been able to demonstrate a degree of understanding about each other’s concerns. That is surely to be appreciated. One is certainly happy that the DU teachers, who wore black badges as they went about their work on Sunday, were willing to give space to the government on the issue of the detained teachers and students by opting to suspend their agitation for a fortnight, within which period the detained individuals are expected to be freed. We may mention here that earlier we wrote two editorials on the subject of the detained teachers and students wherein we had unambiguously advocated a dignified and amicable resolution of the issue. Happily for us, just such an approach has now been taken in dealing with the problem, one that we believe will prove useful in promoting rec-onciliation between everyone involved in it.
Teachers in Bangladesh have traditionally been the recipient of respect and honour in society because of the invaluable contributions they make to the education of the young. In these past many months, the manner in which some of these teachers, all honoured for the degree of wisdom they have displayed in imparting education to their pupils, have been treated has left the nation worried. That worry can only be rolled back through all of us, in every stratum of society, making sure that dignity and respect are restored to our teachers. At the same time, we expect that with the freeing of the teachers and the students, a proper, peaceful academic atmosphere will return to universities all over the country.
Our teachers and our universities are our pride, for patently historical reasons. Which is why we hope that such conditions as those that have seen some of them subjected to the humiliation of detention will not recur.
The Eid-ul Azha is on December 21.
Birshreshtha Hamidur finally laid to rest in homeland
Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman was finally laid to eternal rest in his independent homeland with state honours.
Before the burial, the nation paid last respect to the Liberation War hero as his remains was brought to the National Parade Square at Shere-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital this morning.
President Iajuddin Ahmed, also supreme commander of the armed forces, formally received the coffin that contained the remains of Hamidur at the parade square and placed wreath at the coffin draped with the national flag at about 10:40am.
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed also placed wreath at the coffin after the president.
A munajat was offered for divine blessing for the departed soul of the valiant freedom fighter, but the scheduled namaj-e-janaza was not held as he was buried in Ambasa in the Indian state of Tripura after namaj-e-janaza following his death in battle.
A brief life sketch of the Birshreshtha was read out before offering the munajat, recalling his life and fight during the Liberation War in 1971.
Hamidur was born at Khorda Khalispur in Moheshpur upazila of Jhenidah in February 2, 1953.
The freedom fighter, youngest among the seven war heroes posthumously decorated with the highest gallantry award, embraced martyrdom during a battle with the Pakistani occupation forces on Sylhet border on October 28 in 1971.
Earlier, a smartly-turned-out contingent drawn from the army, navy and air force gave a guard of honour to the remains of the valiant war hero.
Military buglers sounded the last post to pay respect to the memory of the martyred soldier as the president, the chief adviser and other dignitaries and people of various professions stood in solemn silence.
A 21 gun-salute boomed as pall-bearers entered the parade square venue at 10:35am. Six army personnel carried the coffin on their shoulders from the vehicle and kept it on a podium.
The Speaker, advisers of the caretaker government, chiefs of the three services, family members of Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman and other Birshreshthas, political leaders, freedom fighters, senior civil and military officials, diplomats, distinguished personalities of different professions, and members of the armed forces were, among others, present to pay homage to the valiant war hero.
The ceremonies over, the remains of Hamidur Rahman were kept for 20 minutes at the venue.
On behalf of the family members of seven Birshreshthas, mother of Birshreshtha Abdur Rouf, who is now very old, placed wreath at the coffin of Hamidur’s remains.
The Speaker, the deputy speaker and political leaders, among others, placed wreaths at the coffin.
Earlier, at 6:00am today, a vehicle of the military police started towards Dhaka with the remains of Hamidur Rahman from Comilla Cantonment.
Later, the remains were taken to Dhaka Cantonment in a ceremonial motorcade from Jatrabari and then taken to the National Parade Square.
The remains of Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman reached his beloved homeland yesterday, 36 years after his martyrdom during Bangladesh’s liberation war. (DS said quoting UNB)
