Saving The Clan

Embarrassing report on foreign press,
Barely puts the party in a mess .
Probe is called for small fight in office,
Without that reputation is in precipice.

It is very disappointing and interesting that government has not yet taken any steps to address the allegations made by Qatari news broadcasting services Al-Jazeera. Contrary to title of the story "All The Prime Minister's Men" , it appears that it embarked on saving the prime minister's men. It never focused on the corruption of the ruling party elites, which has more corrosive effects on the country and the economy. And many of these elites have second homes in Dubai and some are once evicted by Qatari Police , as some social media posts claimed. It has been more than ten years since the government assumed power, but law and order is not stable, corruption worsens and a large-part of the population has not gained much from the swollen figures of economic achievement.

But the report quite successfully revealed that "Hawa Bhaban" is now scattered across all the continents and Bangladesh Army does have ties with organized criminal groups just like Pakistani Army has links with Daud Ibrahim.

Having watched the docu , I never felt that it posed any serious harm to the Chief of Army Staff and his brothers. Rather they appeared to " cast" their roles pretty well in that documentary. It simply gave them the international exposure they needed. It proved the world that COAS is a strong man who has ties with underworld through his brothers and who can subdue the "bad elements" in Bangladeshi society. And after airing that docu, his post retirement life and his brothers' future abroad get more secured as many quarters will come forward to help them after knowing their political background and threat they face in Bangladesh.

Look the reception COAS received in US after this docu. Well Americans are never shy to be photographed with controversial figures. US ambassador to Bangladesh during the time of BNP was very amicable towards then Minister of Industry and Minister of Interior. Look at their fates now. As a credible news channel, Al Jazeera has a long way to go to establish its credentials. It remains a useful instrument of Qatari royal family to balance Qatar's role in Arab region and across the Islamic world. Remember Qatar houses the headquarters of US CENTCOM where implementation of military actions in the Middle East take place. Al Jazeera takes the onus to appease the Islamists in a balancing act to rescue the royal family. I never saw Al Jazeera covered the serial killing of bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh. Its biased reporting on the incident of May 5 in 2013 in Motijheel engendered the lives of many people involved in the events in Shahbag.Unlike western outlets, Al Jazeera never questioned domestic policies that have international consequences. If Al Jazeera did report on Qatar's LNG deals with Bangladeshi ruling party cronies, anti-Semitic remarks made by influential Muslim country leader, exclusion of holocaust literature in school textbooks of Muslim countries, westophobia in Muslim countries, poor condition of women in Muslim countries then its stories and documentaries would carry much weight and acceptability to a wide range of audience across the globe. That is not the case. It trapped itself into parochialism. And documentary, sequence after sequence, revealed it.

Middle Eastern rulers have some problems with Bangladeshi goondas. It was Lt Gen Hasan Masud Chowdhury who was a defence attaché at UAE conceived the idea of RAB, an extrajudicial force, to contain the deteriorating law and order situation in Bangladesh. Even one of the retired DG of RAB was died in cardiac arrest in his Dubai resident. Al Jazeera did report on Bangladeshi goondas, Indian goonda running restaurant in Africa, evils caused by microcredit, but it never bothered to reveal the identity of human traffickers in Libya, recruiters of Dance girls in Dubai, online sales of Bangladeshi girls in Kuwait, and human trafficking incident of Bangladeshi MP.

Al Jazeera never tried to do report on the methamphetamine invasion in Bangladesh and its links with the crisis in Middle East. It never carried report on the corruption of ruling party men in Gopalganj.

It is interesting that Myanmar Army froze the constitution for one year alleging corruption in election. Same thing happened in 2007 when Army-backed Caretaker government assumed power. Awami League came to power and people involved in the 2-year -long unconstitutional rule found safe sanctuary in US. Again despite the allegations surfaced against Bangladesh Army, new US administration remained mum about the allegations. Previous US senate even called US administration to impose sanctions on RAB officials. It is interesting that this documentary's work began at that time. And it intends to put the blame squarely on some clown-looking goondas.

Time has come that Bangladesh should make some serious steps to make sure accountability and transparency in the security establishment. Killing of two serving Commander-in-chiefs and series of coups and counter-coups have made Bangladesh Armed Forces a demoralizing political entity. Even in an office or in an institution any altercation or small fight calls for probe. That did not happen within the Armed Forces. Vested quarters took advantage of it. One bad precedent set the path for another. I think there should be serious investigation about all the killings and coups within the army. And there should be laws in the parliament that make Armed Forces accountable to people's representatives and lay out the rules for them during any transition of power.

Bangladesh also needs to review its defense ties with Middle Eastern countries and US. This kind of link seldom reflects people's will and remains a source of trouble at home. Often this relationship gives undue influence over the personnel causing damages to institutional integrity and split loyalty. It is pretty much like Pakistan's relationships with Middle East. Country's interest has often fallen victim to parochial interest.

Recently police submitted a chargesheet against the son of a lawmaker for beating severely a Navy officer in the middle of a road during an altercation. Not only that lawmaker's empire in old Dhaka was ruined, his wife passed away and old corruption cases against him kept surfacing on the press. With same vigor and speed, people expect government will take steps to address the allegations of Al Jazeera and bring a closure on Ekram's murder case in Cox's Bazar. It is indeed interesting to watch how Al Jazeera came forward to save the " Sheikh" clan diverting the whole attention to a bunch of clowns.