Chatra League hack off foot of Shibir activist, shoot him in barbaric attack at Rajshahi (Graphic)

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In a shocking incident, armed terrorists of Chatra league, student organization of the ruling party Awami League carried out a barbaric attack on Rasel Ahmed, fourth year student of Finance and Marketing department of Rajshahi University and secretary of Nawab Abdul Latif Hall unit of Rajshahi University Chatra Shibir, chopping off his right foot and shooting him three times in both sides of his chest in FRONT OF THE MEDIA, POLICE, TEACHERS AND STUDENTS!!!

How the attack occurred:

At 1 p.m. on Monday, the 16th of June, the fourth year final examinations of the Arabic department at Rajshahi University were being held on the premises of the Shahidullah Arts Building, when Chatra League cadres, along with the police, locked the east and west gates of the department and took position in front of the building in order to take hostage Chatra Shibir activists and leaders. During the time, the BCL cadres led by RU General Secretary and well known terrorist Touhid Al Tuhin, were seen moving around in front of police, openly displaying firearms. At about 3:30 pm, as the exam was ongoing, police and Chatra League took hostage the Chatra Shibir RU Human Resources Development affairs secretary, Ziauddin Bablu.

Ziauddin Bablu, RU Shibir HRD secretary held by police and Chatraleague

Earlier, at about 12:45 pm, Chatra League cadres took Rasel Ahmed as hostage from in front of the Shahiudullah Arts Building.  After holding him hostage for more than three hours, the cadres, armed with machetes and firearms, began hacking Rasel mercilessly in front of the media, police, teachers and general students. The attackers then proceeded to completely hack off his right foot. Then they fired three shots at his chest in quick succession and after leaving him critically injured, quickly fled the scene.  

Recovering him from the scene, the police dragged the profusely bleeding Rasel out on all fours, and sent him to Rajshahi Medical College for immediate life saving treatment. He was later admitted to ward number 31 after receiving immediate care at the Intensive Care Unit. Hospital Police Box in-charge SI Pradip Kumar informed that Rasel’s health was in critical condition.

Those involved with the barbaric incident :

Witnesses said that Rasel was taken hostage by a group of Chatra League cadres led by BCL RU Joint Secretary Golam Kibria, BCL RU Vice President Tonmoy Ananda Ovi, Organizational affairs secretary Faisal Ahmed Ronu, Don, Rinet, Shushmoy and Kauser Ahmed Koushik from in front of Shahidullah Arts building, where he was taken inside and subject to the horrible attack. Witnesses further testified that ronu and Kibria had played the leading role in the attack.

Media reaction:

The reaction by major media such as Daily Star, Dhaka Tribune was largely lukewarm and written in a manner that attempted to discredit the real version of events. They tried to attribute the incident to mere student politics, and repeatedly identified attackers as unknown miscreants, despite overwhelming witness testimony to prove otherwise. 

Shibir have called for a half day shutdown from 6 am to 2 pm on Tuesday at Rajshahi, Chapai Nawabganj and Natore protesting this barbaric attempt to murder a student, demanding justice for Rasel. We demand an independent investigation and justice against the perpetrators of this barbaric incident and the animals in uniform (the police) who stood watching while this heinous crime was being committed.

We demand justice for Afzal Hossain, Shibir leader from Rajshahi

After illegally arresting Rajshahi University Shibir leader Afzal Hossain, police have tortured him using hammers, iron rods and sticks, breaking his arms and legs in the process. Officials of Shibir revealed such shocking allegations against the police at a press briefing on the 26th of May, 2014. They strongly protested the incident perpetrated by the security forces.

The briefing said that police had arrested two Shibir activists, Afzal Hossain and Shahiduzzaman without any reason whatsoever on Saturday, the 24th of May, 2014. Afzal Hossain, sports secretary of Shibir at Rajshahi University was going on his motorcycle at Talaimari area beside the university at 9:30 pm when he was apprehended by security forces. However, police initially denied their arrest. In the meantime, Motihar thana police tortured Afzal using hammers, iron rods and sticks, breaking his arms and legs in the process. Despite the barbaric nature of the above, the police further claimed back then that he had been arrested from a ‘gunfight’ , and had taken Afzal at the dead of the night to a quiet area and shot his leg to prove their claim of a ‘cop catches terrorist during gunfight’ story.

Picture: Afzal Hossain beside the grave of Sharizzaman Nomani, killed by BCL goons at Rajshahi

Despite the vehement falsification, the news version produced by police has been circulating in the some news media for quite some time. There is a great need to examine and condemn the barbaric nature of the police which they have displayed in arresting opposition activists, especially Shibir activists. It will be wise to remember that just a few days ago, Jessore City Shibir president Jahidul Islam Mondol was similarly unwarrantedly detained by police and later shot in the leg in the dead of the night of 13th May 2014, the very day after his father Abul Khayer travelled to Jessore Press Club and pleaded with the police to not make his son a victim of 'crossfire'. Today, he has been rendered crippled. He was among six Shibir activists shot by police with firearms within 22 days in Jessore. The question remains, what was his fault?

Picture: Jahidul Islam Mondol, Jessore City Shibir President

What is the fault of Afzal Hossain? That he was an activist of Shibir? That he protested the injustices in the society by raising his voice? Who will take blame for such incidents of imaginary gunfights and fairytales of crossfire being regularly spun by the security forces with the full blessings of the government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed, self proclaimed daughter of peace, against her rivals and opposition activists?

Its time for the world to speak up. International rights groups like the Human Rights Watch have demanded an end to the injustice in the name of justice. Raise your voice. Condemn this barbarity. 

About a Shibir martyr in Rajshahi and a Refutance of Yellow Media Reports

Rashedul Haque was like any other young man in Rajshahi. He was full of life, energetic, brilliant, active in sports and passionate in his love for his country. What set him apart from many other youth was the unique blend of all these qualities within the framework his strong faith; strong unshakeable faith in the Almighty that stood the test of time and oppression. He was shot by police today at a procession at Kajla adjacent to Rajshahi University (RU) on Saturday afternoon.

Witnesses said activists of RU unit Shibir were going to Talaimari in the city in a procession to participate in a rally of Matihar thana unit of the BNP-led 18-party alliance. As the procession reached Kajla gate, RAB members intercepted it, opening fire immediately in order to disperse the procession. Being resisted, the Shibir men pelted the elite force members with brickbats. 

As RAB continued to fire live rounds on the Shibir activists, Rashedul Haque Rantu fell, victim to the onslaught. Severely injured and bleeding from multiple bullet wounds to the chest, Rashedul died while receiving treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. 

Rashedul Haque Rantu was son of Aminul Islam Tuku and Rafi Begum. He was a 2nd year degree student of Islamiyya College. His was an associate of Bangladesh Islami Chatra Shibir and was a unit President as well as Finance Secretary of his thana at Dashmari Division of Rajshahi University. This is a video of Rashed at the hospital.

Another Shibir activist and Rajshahi University Research Secretary, Arif Rahman, was sent to Dhaka after his condition deteriorated in the aftermath of being bullet ridden. Doctors have reported of receiving at least 20 activists with injuries such bullet wounds. Chaotic scenes were described by distraught activists where one broke down while describing how his fellow activist received a bullet which entered through his femur, breaking the thigh bone and got lodged into the other thigh, causing immense bleeding.

Yellow journalism regarding incident:

Prothom Alo, a beacon of perceived ‘exemplary’ journalism in Bangladesh, was representative in its yellow nature regarding the coverage of the incident as it attempted to distort facts and present falsehood in a manner that left many a reader shocked. This was the screenshot of the initial news that Prothom Alo reported on the incident with a shocking picture of a 40 something man running around brandishing an AK-47 at everyone around him. The caption was, ”রাজশাহী নগরের কাজলায় শিবিরের সশস্ত্র মিছিল। এরা এই অস্ত্র কোথায় পেল? ওদের কাছে এমন কত অস্ত্র আছে? ছবি: শহীদুল ইসলাম” which translated into English reads, “Armed procession by Shibir at Kajla in Rajshahi City. From where did they get these weapons? How many more weapons of this kind do they have? Photo by Shahidul Islam”.

The news was taken down in a flash as an authentic video was released by Basherkella within a short time of the report. The contents of the shocking video not only blew away the baseless allegations of Prothom Alo, it also gave rise to a number of questions. The video showed a couple of men along with RAB shooting at protesters in Kajla at Rajshahi. The same man who was brandishing the AK-47 in the Prothom Alo picture was seen along with his mates working along with the police. The group working along with the armed RAB squad appeared to be civilians brandishing weaponry in an expert and aggressive fashion. The weaponry used by the unidentified men include a couple of AK-47’s and a shotgun. Let us look at the raw footage of the incident.

As to the question about what could the identity of such mysterious men be is anybody’s guess. Unless we have official answers, the guesses could range from local gangsters to ruling party League men to extrajudicial secret forces provided by the Indian intelligence agencies. For now, the best answer the security forces could garner was that they fired rubber bullets in ‘self defence’. This is a compilation of the yellow nature of the Prothom Alo report in conjunction with the incident.

The questions revolving around the incident are endless, but what remains is the fact that security forces have clearly violated all norms in attempting to carry out another massacre in the name of relatively peaceful crowd dispersion. The fact that the Hasina administration has neared its end gives weight to fears that the atrocities committed now may never see the light of justice. The question remains. Was the right to peacefully demonstrate in a democratic country the sole fault of Rashedul Haque Rantu for which he deserved to be brutally murdered in broad daylight?  

We demand justice for the murder of meritorious student Rashedul Haque Rantu at the hands of this oppressive regime.

Bangladesh Police detain 19 yr old Waseema for possession of Islamic literature

Shocking are the reports emanating from Bangladesh. Here is translated news piece that set me seething, 

" A court at Rajshahi in Bangladesh sent a man and his 19 year old daughter to prison as it set a date for hearing against a police prayer for 10 days and 7 days remand respectively on charges of being connected to Jamaat-e-Islami last Friday afternoon. The arrested are Engineer Abul Kalam and his college going 19 year old daughter Waseema Ehsan.

Abul Kalam Azad (52), an engineer at the government owned power plant at Katakhali in Rajshshi, was shown arrested in a case filed previously at Boalia Model Thana in connection with attacks on police. His daughter Waseema Ehsan (19), student at Rajshahi College and an examinee due to give her Higher School Certificate (HSC) exams this year, was shown arrested in a case filed under the Anti-terrorist Act. This was stated by OC Ziaur Rahman on part of the police and confirmed by the lawyers of the accused.

This arrests had been carried out in a raid on Wednesday night at their house at Ranibazaar area at Rajshahi. The OC further stated that Sakib Ahsan (15), 8^th grade student of Masjid Mission Academy School and College at Rajshahi and son of the arrested Abul Kalam, had also been nabbed at the raid, but was released a day later on Thursday night since the police did not find his connection to any ‘crimes’.  

Apart from their strong ties to Jamaat-e-Islami (Abul Kalam had strong ties to Shibir in his student days and was presently connected to the politics of Jamaat while his daughter Waseema was connected to Chhatri Sangstha, an Islamic organization for female students) , the OC said that his team had uncovered ingredients of cocktail making from the arrested (marbles, cans/tins and powder) along with some Islamic literature.

The police further explained that Abul Kalam was actively involved in giving donations to Jamaat and that regular meetings and programmes of the local Jamaat-e-Islami activists used to be held at his house."

The news is shocking because of the following:

1. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is NOT BANNED is Bangladesh. It is a registered political party and has representation in the current parliament. Moreover, its participation in the general elections held in Bangladesh are as old as democracy itself in Bangladesh.

2. Having Islamic books and literature is NOT a crime under Bangladeshi law.

3. They were arrested on Wednesday night, yet produced before court on Friday afternoon, more than the stipulated 24 hours allowed by the law in Bangladesh.

4. They were obviously arrested without a warrant. Waseema was shown arrested under the Anti-Terrorist Act in Bangladesh and her arrest is a clear abuse of the law which gives the security forces total freedom in arresting any person who they believe has explosives or arms, or who they believe finances terrorism, or even supposedly thinks of committing a criminal offence; the culminating act being that of a loosely defined 'terrorist activity'. 

Alone, talking is all that I shall be able to do at this junction. It is up to us to call for justice, united as a body. How long this state sponsored injustice will continue, will depend on how long we decide to remain silent.