Archive for September 2008
Eid fails to touch monga-hit
The poverty due to crises of job and food have overshadowed Eid celebration of the underprivileged hundreds, many of whom are flocking to shopping centres at district and upazila headquarters for begging alms.
During this period, the poor people usually suffer from monga, a near- famine situation, following lack of agricultural work and food shortage.
The situation is likely to persist till the harvest in December, said the government officials, adding that the situation has however improved a bit following various government measurers.
“The main buyers at Eid markets in northern region are the villagers. So the traders are also facing dull markets in their absence. Most farmers and day labourers are still in severe hardships,” said Mustafijur Rahman, a businessman.
“The markets are crowded, but the business is still low as the potential buyers are yet to come,” said Rabiul Hasan, an owner of garment shop at RDA market.
The situation has aggravated following unaffordable prices of daily essentials.
“Many of those who live at villages, especially on the shoals and banks the Padma, depend on khud (broken rice), arum and available vegetables as only foodstuffs,” said Abul Kalam Azad, a union council member of Khidirpur shoal.
Miraj Hossain, a farmer of Talanda union under Tanore upazila, said he had sold his goat to buy a dress for his eight-year-old daughter.
Rajshahi Hizb ut-Tahrir men denied bail
The Court of Rajshahi Metropolitan Magistrate BM Tarikul Kabir denied the bail prayers after police claimed that investigation was still going on against the accused.
The arrestees were not produced before the court and only their prayers were sent to the court. They are detained under section 54 of the CrPC.
“We also said verification of their previous criminal records, if any, is yet to be completed in police stations concerned,” said Court Inspector Mahbubul Kuddus Siddiki.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Coordinator and Dhaka University teacher Syed Golam Mowla and Ahmed Jamal Iqbal, teacher of South East University and a senior member of the Islamist group, were arrested along with eight others on September 18 in Rajshahi.
However, police did not lodge any case against them, as of filing of this report last night, as they reportedly did not receive the go-ahead from government high-ups.
Officials of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) said they are yet to get any signal from the government high-ups about bringing sedition charge against the arrestees.
They said the arrestees were engaged in anti-state activities and provoking people against the country and the government through leaflets which called for toppling the government and establishing Khelafat in the country.
Ramjan Ali, officer-in-charge of Boalia Police Station, told The Daily Star, “The investigation is on. We will submit remand prayers against the arrestees when the investigation demands.”
JMB threatens to bomb Rajshahi police stations
Tahrir Leaders’ Arrest Not ‘Surprise’; Govt probing militant links for sometime
Sources in the law enforcement agencies yesterday said the arrests were not unexpected and that the agencies were looking for Tahrir men after a few of them distributed leaflets at Baro Masjid in Rajshahi around 10 days before the arrests.
Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) Commissioner Mahbub Mohsin yesterday said the arrest of Tahrir leaders on Thursday was not surprising. “We had been looking for the organisation’s leaders and activists for distributing leaflets at Baro Masjid,” he told The Daily Star.
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh as a militant organisation and kept it under watch for quite a long time although it is not officially declared a militant outfit, said a top official of a law enforcement agency in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, The Daily Star yesterday received a fax dated September 18 sent in the name of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) that apparently acknowledged Hizb ut-Tahrir as its ‘front organisation’ and asked the government and all law enforcement agencies to refrain from harassing its leaders and activists.
The message also reiterates Tahrir Chief Coordinator Mahiuddin Ahmed’s demand for releasing the 10 arrested leaders and activists within 48 hours and threatened that otherwise “Bangladesh will be stained with the blood of law enforcers and all the advisers”.
Although Hizb ut-Tahrir has been campaigning in the country for several years by distributing leaflets and putting up posters, its activities came to the notice of law enforcers after the grenade attack on the then British high commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury at Hazrat Shah Jalal Shrine in Sylhet on May 21, 2004.
Tahrir men had put up anti-British and anti-US posters around the shrine two days before the attack, which made investigators suspect that the attack was carried out by Hizb ut-Tahrir. And since then the outfit has been alleged to have militant links at home and abroad, said a law enforcement official involved in the probe into the attack.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad yesterday told the media that Hizb ut-Tahrir’s activities in Rajshahi are suspicious and that they are investigating the outfit’s objectives and activities. He said they are cautious not to let similar incidents take place elsewhere.
“The leaflets distributed in Rajshahi contain objectionable statements against the state and the government. We are investigating the line of their activities,” the IGP said.
Another law enforcement agency source said Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh was on the list of suspected militant organisations prepared by intelligence agencies, including police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), when JMB started militant activities openly.
Rab Additional Director General Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, who led the investigation into JMB’s militant activities and massive terror attacks, told The Daily Star yesterday that many statements of Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh are similar to those of the JMB.
“We are yet to trace any terrorist activity by Hizb ut-Tahrir. Its activities are being watched,” Gulzar said.
Boalia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Ramzan Ali, who was tasked with investigating activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir after Thursday’s arrest, said over phone, “I am investigating if the 10 arrested leaders and activists of Hizb ut-Tahrir are involved with militancy.”
He said on September 9, Tahrir men distributed leaflets in front of the Baro Masjid in Rajshahi after Esha prayers. “The language of the leaflet was objectionable. Since Hizb ut-Tahrir’s name was on the leaflets, we were looking for their activists,” he added.
The leaflet reads, “Our rulers have discarded the Quran and Sunnah…They have handed us over to our enemies. In this holy month of Ramadan, we have to take oath to dethrone our rulers and establish the rule of Khilafat.”
Hizbut ut-Tahrir also criticises sending of forces in United Nations Peace Keeping missions for protecting “enemies” instead of “turning them into the flag bearers of Islam”.
A law enforcement agency source said Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh sought permission from an intelligence agency in Rajshahi on Wednesday for holding a press conference at Rajshahi City Press Club on Thursday but did not get the permission.
The police arrested the 10 Tahrir men when they attempted to hold the press conference without prior permission.
Editorial: The Hizbut Tahrir issue
The teachers arrested in Rajshahi the other day were carted off to prison because they happened to be distributing leaflets propagating the overthrow of the government. As if that were not enough, some other leading members of the outfit in the capital have now threatened to wage a movement and not allow anyone in Bangladesh to live in peace if the arrested teachers are not released in forty-eight hours.
The attitude smacks of intolerance and contradicts the outfit’s claim that it does not believe in violence or force. Obviously, it is a situation that calls for tough handling, given the fact that threats are undermining the fundamental constitutional and political premise upon which the country functions.
The members of Hizbut Tahrir, which has been at work in Bangladesh since 2001, have of course claimed no links with terrorism or terrorist organisations. And yet the reality is that the outfit has been proscribed in a number of countries in the West as well as the Middle East. The question, therefore, is why?
Whatever be their goal, there is little for it to justify its publicly stated goal of overthrowing the government or any government based on democratic political principles. The organisation’s chief coordinator has contemptuously rejected democracy. That attitude in itself is symptomatic of the potential for disorder. The unfortunate part of the story is that successive governments in Bangladesh have, in spite of the facts before them, always chosen to soft-pedal on the issue. The approach has been as mystifying as it has been disquieting. Hizbut Tahrir followers can be found holding responsible positions in such reputed bodies as private universities. Just how the organisation has managed to acquire such space leaves one wondering.
We believe that it is now extremely important for the government to deal with the problem, firmly and without losing time. There can be no denying that the contents of the statements and leaflets coming from Hizbut Tahrir are a frontal assault on the constitutional process and democracy. It is values — those symbolised by the ideals of free speech, tolerance, equality, et al — that are now under threat. If we are opposed to military coups or any other types of intervention in democracy, we are equally opposed to democracy being threatened with destruction in the name of our religion. Only firmness on the part of the government and an increased sense of awareness among citizens about the lurking danger can prevent this country from sliding into despotism.
First frozen embryo baby born in Bangladesh
Hizb ut-Tahrir gives 48-hr deadline to free its leaders
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Hizb ut-Tahrir banned in most of ME
Though it has been banned in Asian and European countries and even in the Middle East, its chapter here has been operating overtly and unhindered for the last few years.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh had posted anti-British and -US posters around the Shahjalal shrine two days before the attack on the then UK High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury on May 21, 2004.
This made the investigators suspect that the shrine attack was carried out by Hizb ut-Tahrir. Since then, the outfit has been alleged to have militant links at home and abroad, said a law enforcement official who was involved in the probe.
Rajshahi police yesterday rounded up some of their leaders and activists as they were preparing to hold a press conference in the divisional city.
According to information from different websites, Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation) is banned in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt.
It is also banned in Pakistan, Tunisia, Libya, Turkey, and in the former Soviet states in Central Asia.
Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders held over ‘militancy’
Anwar Ali, Rajshahi
Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) yesterday arrested the coordinator of Bangladesh chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir and nine of his cohorts at Rajshahi City Press Club on suspicion of promoting militancy in the country.
The police said the Hizb ut-Tahrir men were distributing leaflets calling for establishing its self-styled Khilafat rule dethroning the present government in this holy month of Ramadan.
“We arrested them on suspicion of encouraging militancy in the country…We are investigating their activities,” said RMP Commissioner Mahbub Mohsin yesterday.
Quoting the Quran in its leaflets, the Islamist group called upon Muslims asking them to “take oath for establishing the rule of Khilafat by dethroning the present ruler in this holy month of Ramadan” to unite Muslims and revive their lost glory.
It criticises sending of forces in United Nations Peace Keeping missions for protecting “enemies” instead of “turning them the flag bearers of Islam”.
“Our rulers have discarded the Quran and the Sunnah…They have handed us over to enemies. So, we should take oath to overthrow the present ruler this Ramadan and we have to replace them with Khilafat rule,” says the leaflet distributed by the arrestees.
Of the arrestees, four are teachers including the outfit’s Coordinator Dr Syed Golam Mowla, who is a teacher of management at Dhaka University (DU) and a resident of Dhanmondi, while others are students of different universities and colleges.
The arrest sparked tension in the city forcing the authorities to beef up security.
The police produced the Hizb ut-Tahrir men before the court of Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate BM Tariqul Kabir under section 54, accusing them of engaging in a conspiracy to topple the government. The court sent the arrestees to jail in the afternoon.
Of the other arrestees, Hizb ut-Tahrir senior member Ahmed Jamal is a teacher of electrical engineering at South East University, Mamun Ansari is a teacher of computer engineering at Darul Ihsan University, and Moniruzzaman Masud is a teacher of mathematics at Lake Head Grammar School.
Others are Rajshahi Islami Bank Medical College students Omar Faruk, 32, of Ghorapakhia, Chapainawabganj and Mozammel Haque Belal of Jhautala, Brahmanbaria, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) students Akhter Hossain, 23, of Fatikchhari, Chittagong and Zahidul Islam, 21, of Kishoreganj, Dhaka Bangla College student Masud Kawsar, 26, of Baburhat, Chandpur, and East West Medical College student Saddam Hossain, 23, of College Para, Brahmanbaria.
They were arrested just before holding a scheduled press conference at the press club around 12:30pm. The police also seized from their possession a lot of leaflets, booklets and posters containing provocative statements against the government.
Ramzan Ali, officer-in-charge of Boalia Police Station, said, “The arrestees were provoking unrest among people in the name of religion…Their activities also violate the state of emergency.”
Meanwhile, leaders of Rajshahi City Press Club including its President and Dainik Sangram bureau chief Sardar Abdur Rahman, and daily Naya Diganta correspondent Sardar Anisur Rahman told reporters that the press conference was postponed as the Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders failed to show them any permission from the police.
However, the Islamist group was finally given a schedule for the press conference at 1:30pm without the permission from the RMP.Members of different law enforcement and intelligence agencies and journalists started gathering in front of the press club from 11:00am and the police arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir activists Zahidul Islam and Mozammel Haque around 12:30pm when they were entering the press club with a banner.
Upon their information, the police waited at the scene and arrested the Islamist group’s coordinator along with others when they arrived at the place at 1:15pm in a microbus. Later, the police took them to Boalia Police Station.
Senior officials of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and RMP and members of intelligence agencies interrogated the Hizb ut-Tahrir men for hours before sending them to the court. Police released microbus driver Jahangir.
From police custody Golam Mowla claimed to reporters that Hizb ut-Tahrir is not linked with militancy and that they organised the press conference to clear their position following a campaign linking them with militancy.
“We want to establish Islamic rule through a truly democratic way and abiding by the law of the land,” Mowla said.Asked about their call for dethroning the government, he said, “Speaking against any ruler or their system of ruling is a democratic right of every citizen.”
The Islamist group’s senior member Ahmed Jamal Iqbal told reporters that they have convinced the government about their having no connection with militancy. He said the government even allowed them in writing to hold a discussion at the Engineers’ Institute of Dhaka this morning.
“I do not understand why we are allowed in Dhaka and arrested in Rajshahi,” Jamal said.
HIZB UT-TAHRIR AND ITS BANGLADESH CHIEF
Intelligence agencies have been alerting the government about the presence of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the country for several years as it is widely believed to be the political ideologue of all terrorist groups in the world.In a report in 2005, the intelligence agencies expressed fear that the group may turn into an extremist organisation any time and suggested closely monitoring its activities.
Islami thinker Tokiuddin Al Nakhani formed Hizb ut-Tahrir in 1953 in Jerusalem, five years after Israel captured Palestine.
Golam Mowla, a lecturer of management at DU, went to London in 1993 to do his PhD and was introduced to Nasimul Gani and Kawsar Shahnewaz, who were holding an open discussion on Hizb ut-Tahrir at Regent Park.
After returning to Bangladesh in 2000, Nasimul and Shahnewaz set up an office at a coaching centre at Dhanmondi-6/A for the organisation’s Bangladesh chapter and launched the group’s activities under Golam Mowla’s leadership.
The organisation has no committee or constitution. With Golam Mowla working as its coordinator, Mohiuddin Ahmad, senior lecturer of DU IBA department, Sheikh Towfiq of DU public administration department, Kazi Morshedul Haque, Dr Nasimul Gani and Kawsar Shahnewaz are working with the organisation.
Hizb ut-Tahrir preaches a utopian ideology of establishing an Islamic Caliphate across the globe.Terming Muslim majority countries, including Bangladesh, “Daar-ul-Kuffar” (land of the infidels) because they follow non-Islamic laws and practices, it wants to turn them into “Daar-ul-Islam” first and then take on the Muslim minority countries which according to them are “Daar-ul-Harb” (land of war).
Hizb ut-Tahrir men allegedly have misinterpreted the Quran and are being financed mostly by Middle Eastern countries.Although banned in the western and most Muslim majority countries, Hizb ut-Tahrir has been freely operating in Bangladesh for the past few years. On its website it promotes racism and anti-Semitic hatred, calls suicide bombers martyrs and urges Muslims to kill Jews.
