DAVID BERGMAN - State Murder in Bangladesh
Dhaka: “Are they going to be killed?” a friend
asked me. He was referring to
the three sons of opposition leaders who were picked
up by Bangladeshi law enforcement authorities last month. The authorities
were now secretly detaining the three men, but denying that they had arrested
them or knowing where they were.
The question shook me.
Though not because it was an unreasonable query. In the years that the
Awami League government has been in power, dozens of people have been picked up
by state authorities, secretly detained and then killed in ‘shoot-outs’ or simply disappeared, presumably
killed.
What amazed me about
my friend’s question was how normal that query had become in Bangladesh.
Of course, it is not
that previous regimes had anything close to a perfect human rights record –
remember the Clean Heart operation under
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its formation of the Rapid Action
Batallion – but the number of secret detentions, often followed by
disappearances, has now reached unprecedented levels.
“No,” I said. “The men
will be released.” I explained that the international community knew of these
men’s detention and therefore the law enforcement authorities would not kill
the detainees.
I had previously written (before the
third of the three men was picked up) that the detainees’ social and political
connections meant that they would escape being killed; they would most likely
be released, immediately ‘re-arrested’, presented to the court and then
formally remanded to police custody – an old trick used by the state to conceal
secret detentions.
“But, what does this
government care about the international community,” my friend asked.
This was, of course, a
fair question. The time when
international diplomats had much, if any, impact on human rights in Bangladesh
– at least in relation to civil rights – is long gone, but I explained that the
predicament of these men was a little different. “The Bangladesh
government had confirmed to the US government that the men were in state
custody – so the government could not simply authorise them to be killed,” I
said. “They would not dare.” My friend nodded at my
explanation.
As I left the room, I
was far from certain about whether he thought I would be proven right. Over one month after
the first of the three men was detained, we still don’t know. But assuming that
these men are released, it certainly won’t have anything to do with the demands
being made by civil society, the media, human rights organisations or even
opposition political parties to which the three men are connected. The men themselves of
course come with a lot of political baggage – and so it is unsurprising that a
section of Awami League supporters, including those who are part of civil
society and the media, are willing to turn a blind eye to government
‘excesses’.
Many people believe
that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jammat-e-Islami are an
existential threat to the country and any action against them, or those
connected to them, however illegal, is justified. More notable is the
fact that there has barely been a peep from people who are outside this section
of government supporters. Bangladesh has become
a country where few dare to speak up about these issues.
It is not just the
questioning of state killings that has become normalised – but also living
under the significant restrictions on freedom of expression that now exist in
Bangladesh. This became clear to
me during a recent conversation with a senior BNP leader – who like many others – has
accumulated a dozen false criminal cases filed against him over the last few
years. I asked him about his
own future. “I am ok,” he said.
“As long as I don’t say anything critical of the government, then they will not
take further action against me.” In order to avoid the
state lodging more criminal cases against him and being arrested again he has
to keep his mouth shut.
And, of course, his
story reflects those told by almost every other opposition leader. Civil society and
human rights activists also face similar concerns – as well as fearing the
possibility of other kinds of harassment affecting their life and work. And those who decide
to write critically of the government on social media or in newspapers also do
so under the threat of being arrested.
Just in the last week a
leftist leader at Rajshai University was arrested for posting a
Facebook status that was critical of the prime minister. A website’s editor was also picked up for
criticising a senior educational bureaucrat whose husband is a member of
parliament. In recent months,
Islamic militancy has been at the fore of media coverage in and about
Bangaldesh. And quite rightly so, given the slew of targeted
killings and the Holey restaurant attack which
killed 20 people that has rocked Bangladesh in the recent past. Yet, whilst that
threat continues to remain a very real one in Bangladesh – so do the actions of
an increasingly repressive government.
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