A Windowless Fortress In The Making

One Digital Security Act made a digital fortress
Another draconian law may make it breathless.
Could the govt stay long in such a suffocating place?

In another bizarre move, Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission(BTRC) has drafted policy aiming to firm its grip on social media platforms. Doubts have been raised from various groups as it may be another draconian policy to nab on opposite and dissent voices.

The clauses to be incorporated in the proposed policy indeed sound harassing.For instance, BTRC policy proposed to take and resolve complaints on content in a matter of 20 days. And complaints have to be taken into consideration within 24 hours. If government find content objectionable,then social media have to remove them within 72 hours. Moreover, social media platforms have to recruit employee whose job is to maintain contact between government officials and social media platforms¹.

There is little reason to believe that such regulations would not be misused. In the past, we witnessed how newspaper servers were blocked for several hours in a bid to comply them government order to remove content deemed critical to government.

Recently, many YouTube channels critical to government complained that their contents(video clips) had been removed from social media platforms raising false copy right claims. The channels claimed government-backed employee of social media platforms acted in connivance with false copy right claimers to jeopardize their broadcasting activity.

So examples are aplenty.We need to grow worry about its potential misuse. Back in 2018, soon after government adopted the Digital Security Act, I penned a piece titled “A Digital Fortress In The Making”² highlighting the pitfalls of such draconian law. Sharing it again:

Government has finally turned the country into a digital fortress with the introduction of Digital Security Act 2018. Journalists and human rights activists have already expressed concerns as the Act miserably failed to reflect the suggestions they had proposed in their previous encounters with the government.

Since its introduction just couple of months before election, the DSA 2018 has become a subject of constant criticism. Many believe it is a nuanced threat to the free press already struggling in a hostile environment to cover the wrong doings of people’s representatives and irregularities in the next election.

Government keeps pressing that it does not foresee any misuse of the Act. However, reports suggest that controversial clause of ICT Act was reincorporated into this act that stipulates that authority can detain any person for defamation, dissemination of defamatory content, incitement to violence, and hurting religion. What is worrying the accused may be imprisoned till the court decides whether the one is guilty or not. And the capital punishment is 14-year imprisonment.

Inclusion of some of the clauses of the Official Secrets Act 1923 further added salt to the injury.

Many fear the DSA could meet the fate of Special Power Ordinance 1974, introduced by the ruling party back in 1974. The SPO, provides Police authority to detain indiscriminately anyone without furnishing a proper reason, became grist to subsequent governments’ mill as it was extensively used to subdue critical voices and rivals.Meanwhile blames for making such draconian act heaped on Awami League.

Provided Bangladesh’s vindicative political culture, there is hardly any reason to believe why this Act will not be misused by ruling regime.

So, despite government’s crowd-pleasing assurance, there is little room for remaining assured. In the past we saw how wayward party loyalists lodged harassing cases against individuals, journalists, opposition activists, academics for frank posts on social media. Even for divulging truth about retired Army personnel. Many were thrown into jail. And are still there!

Internationally acclaimed photographer Shahidul Alam is latest victim of this hate campaign. He recorded the acts of mayhem caused during the safe-road movement and gave frank opinion about it to a foreign TV channel. He was detained wielding the controversial clause 57 of ICT Act.

Taking cue from Mr Shahidul if an individual wants to document the wrongdoings of ruling party stalwarts or public servants , that individual could embrace the similar fate of Mr Shahidul. This is the message the government tries to convey with the introduction of the new law.

The l’Affaire SK Sinha teaches us that Bangladeshis in general need to be worried about the state of freedom of expression.

This latest move will take a heavy dent in the popularity of Awami League among the journalists whose opportunities to work increased manifolds with outbursts of media outlets and government’s review of wage hike.

The DSA will not only widen the scope of working of law enforcement authorities, but it may worsen the harassment of presspeople.

One senior journalist , in an interview accorded to an international media, fears that DSA may provide ammunition to authority to seize server of a media house.

As mainstream media may mire in self-censorship restraining themselves from going after earth-shaking political and corruption events, more and more readers may subscribe to rumor-mongering machines on Social Media. Contrary to the goal publicized by the government in support for DSA.

Furthermore, the DSA has made reporting on corruption harder than ever before. As per the new Act, a journalist’s action could be equated with that of a spy. From now onwards, a journalist runs the risk of breaching the Official Secrets Act and being labeled as Spy if that person wants to investigate corruption at a public office and keeps official documents.

Vice policing may increase in the Arts and Entertainment industry as vested groups may target individuals/groups for contents that they think “defamatory”. In Ekushey Book Fair, we already have a test of this kind of vice policing.

Moreover, information about defense procurement program will become much more difficult to get, even in Social Media. Discussion on defense related corruption may become difficult than ever before. For instance, within the government circle or men-in-fatigue, many may find it wrong to question Election Commission’s purchase of Electronic Voting Machines from an Army-run subsidiary, spending Tk 45 billion of taxpayers money. Meanwhile, opposition parties are crying for troops deployment across the country during national polls. By awarding this kind of lucrative contracts to such institution many see an effort to bring the Army on government side ahead of election.In addition, discussion on defense policy in any public forum will also become difficult with its effect. A government determined to make a Digital Bangladesh is in fact turning it into a digital fortress where anyone could be imprisoned on whimsical suspicion. Contrary to the vision of uniting people through a digital revolution, this DSA further deepens and widens the crack of digital divide by exposing government’s one policy for giving carte blanche to its loyalists and another policy for subduing the critical voices.

The upcoming BTRC regulation on social media platforms would be no different from DSA. Its misuse was pretty heavy. Two journalists were detained during lockdown last year for unearthing corruption in health ministry and caricaturing public figures. One of them killed in the jail while the other left the country. Another journalist is barred from leaving the country after doing report on vaccine purchase. My own WordPress site witnessed obstruction in publishing new contents( in the form of temporary block after every new content) prompting me to open another site on blogspot.

One of the areas where social media is making a difference is their contents and news on defense related issues. While mainstream media is notably mute on discussing and covering defense related issues due to lack of constitutional protection, social media pages and channels take the onus to cover and disseminate crucial defense issues including procurement process. Moreover, many dirty secrets of garrison,anecdotes and political ideology of controversial defense officials are exposed by these pages and channels.

One of the reasons put forward to introduce the harsher form of regulations is that these social media platforms on some occasion spread falsehood, hate and vulgarism. I do agree to some extent with the accusation. But it should not be the pretext to tighten grip on such platforms. Moreover, we often find people in the past holding important position in the govt and public service are often behind such activity. Many conspiracy theorists argue govt agencies floated these channels to control the narrative and to kill the novel idea of social media by tarnishing their images before the public in a bid to introduce draconian laws. Classic case is the Cumilla temple attack and attack on ISKCON temples across the country. Some key suspects were killed extrajudicially by RAB. Further thickening the claims of conspiracy theorists.

As the swelling river washes away polluted substance, government may allow more contents to dilute the harmful effect of contested content. Govt can float its own page and channel on the social media platforms and refute the claims.

These social media to some extent meet the information need of people after the Digital Security Act 2018. Prior to 2018 election, online news platforms played that role. But DSA 2018 clipped their wings. And we saw a controversial election. This latest development may lead us to another such election by muzzling the social media.

Like hash smoke, the draconian laws waft along in such closed environment, causing inertia to maintain the prevailing order. One DSA made Bangladesh a digital fortress, another BTRC regulation may take off the windows and ventilators from that fortress. It is neither good for people, nor for the govt.

Notes And References:

1 “Facebook,YouTube E Vidinishedh Aschhe(Regulations Soon For Facebook And YouTube)”, Suhada Afrin,Prothom Alo(Page-3),February 17,2022.

2 “A Digital Fortress In The Making”,Rezaul Hoque,September 26,2018. https://rezaulhoque.wordpress.com For more read at https://rezaulhoque.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/a-digital-fortress-in-the-making/

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(10 février --- 18 février)

Selon un reportage, police a préparé un procès-verbal contre un ancien député dans la tuerie d'un homme à Pallabi,Dacca.

Selon un reportage, Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission a préparé une politique pour régler les réseaux sociaux. On trouve réponse à la plainte en 20 jours et enlèvement de contenu en 72 jours parmi les proposition.

Selon un reportage, un médecin a été tué après un rickshaw motorisé avait frappé son rickshaw. Dans les semaines récentes, on voit augmentation dans nombre d’accident dans les rues.

Death Of Park Animals

Park animal’s mysterious death
Causes little concern and wrath.
Cruel treatment to wild creature
Seldom hints we are kind in nature.

In recent weeks, there were reports of several deaths of animals in different parks across Bangladesh. In some ccases authorities hid true number of death to the press. The news of death caused embarrassment for the government, prompting in-site inspection of concerned ministry. In addition, several committees are formed to probe the deaths.

At the heart of the debate is Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur. According to a news report, between January 02 and January 30, 11 zebras died mysteriously. In addition, 1 tiger and 1 lion died there^1.

Probe report divulged that 3 zebras succumbed to injuries and the rest died of pneumonia. The cause of pneumonia was due to poisoning that broke their resistance to infectious diseases. The tiger died of anthrax. Two tiger cubs died of diseases spread by fly². This underscores the level of caring these animals were receiving all these years.

Later it was revealed that in two and half months 8 animals also died mysteriously in Dhaka Zoo but the authority only confirmed death of two tiger cubs. On October 30, a zebra calf died. On November 20 and 21,two tiger cubs died. On November 27,a giraffe calf died. On December 10, an impala calf died. On January 15,another giraffe calf died. On January 25 a lion died and on February 01 a wild beast died. But authority confirmed death of two tiger cubs. Investigation carried out by zoo authority revealed that zebra calf, giraffe calf and wild beast died of bacterial infection. Meanwhile fly-spread disease caused death of tiger cubs and lion fell victim of anthrax³.

Our parks and zoos are undermanned and short of technical expertise. It would be naive to put blame squarely on governance and negligence on death of so many animals. But we see most of the death caused by bacterial infection. The way the animals are fed and the way they live in an enclosed environment demand more sanitary precautions so that they could avoid catching infectious diseases. At the same time, it is premature to find scapegoats among the zoo officials while several investigations are going on.

But when it comes to the litmus test of caring animals,we do not fare well. We are not even kinder towards our fellow creatures and it is not right to assume that we will be kind towards animals.

A news report divulged that 33 elephants were killed in 2021 and 20 of them were electrocuted to death. And most of the electrocution took place in Chattogram and Cox's Bazaar,where an elephant trek straddled along Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Makeshift camp, paddy fields, new structures now occupy part of it and obstructed movement of elephants. On several occasions, professional men set up traps to kill elephants. Just look at the number of elephant culling. In 2020, only 12 elephants lost lives at the hands of men. In 2021, the number jumped to 33⁴. The stat does not present us before the world as a kind race towards animal. In fact, such cruelty is an utter display of our savagery.

In many parts of Africa, many tribes take the umbilical chord of the newborn to a jungle and bury it there so that the baby develops some kind of bonding with mother nature. We have not developed yet any such custom. Moreover, there is lack of incentives for taking care of animals in places where wild animals and humans make frequent encounters.

It is construed from the news reports that at this time of the year most of these animals met unfortunate end. If the parks were connected, then they would better respond to the the infectious diseases and share one’s experience with the others.Veterinary surgeons and park officials would be better prepared in such a coordinated environment. I think we have to link office of chief virologist (if we have any) with the parks. So that his office gets an up-to-the-minute account of any new infections in any part of Bangladesh. Death of park animals should not be taken lightly as we witnessed how virus originated from animals caused havoc across the world in the past. Death of these poor creatures should be the occasion to scale up our preparations against nefarious variants of viruses.

Notes And References:

1 “Pranir Proti Obohela Shobshomoy(Animals Are Seldom Taken Care Of)”,Mansura Hossain and Sadiq Mridha,Daily Prothom Alo(p-16),February 05,2022.

2 “Aghat O Bishkriay Zebrar Mrityu(Zebras Died Of Injury And Poisoning)”, Pradip Sarkar and Sadiq Mridha,Daily Prothom Alo,February 07,2022.

3 “Bagh,Singha Soho Aat Prani'r Mrityu Arai Mashe(Eight Animals Including Tiger And Lion Died In Two And Half Months)”, Iftekhar Mahmud, Daily Prothom Alo,February 11,2022.

4 “Peshadar Lok Diye Hati Hotya(Professionals Employed To Cull Elephants)”,Iftekhar Mahmud,Daily Prothom Alo,November 21,2021.Link here

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(4 février --- 11 février)

Selon un reportage, 18 bateaux motorisés se sont noyés au large de Borishal à cause de l'orage le vendredi ,4 février. Cadavres de deux pêcheurs ont été trouvés. 2 bateaux et 14 pêcheurs restent disparus encore.

Selon un reportage, 5 Russes sont morts mystérieusement dans 8 jours à Rooppur,Pabna.

Selon un reportage, nombre de mort a franchi le seuil de 100 dans l’élection municipale.Satkania,Chattogram,où deux personnes ont été tuées, vu une éruption de violence.

Selon un reportage, un camion a percuté 5 membres d'une famille à Cox's Bazaar. Ils sont morts sur place. Selon un reportage, un jeep a frappé deux étudiantes et les a tuées sur place à Fatikchhari,Chattogram.

Uncomfortable Truth In War On Drugs

Rapid trial to an unjust killing
Exposes discriminatory system's dual meaning.
Lack of legitimacy and moral high ground
Makes an institution lose the battle on the ground.

Last week a court in Cox's Bazaar sentenced two police personnel to death and three others to life imprisonment in connection with killing of a former Army major in Marine Drive,Cox's Bazaar¹.The killing of Army major in the narco ville of Cox’s Bazaar, where one of the prime accused OC Pradeep executed 144 people extra-judicially, caused lots of media sensation in 2020.

It was widely reported on the press that Major(retired)Sinha and his team was doing some kind of travel docu for social media or foreign channel during the time when the country was in strict lockdown. There were reports that claimed that he was there undercover to investigate the unusual killing in Teknaf, small town adjacent to Myanmar and key methamphetamine corridor. But he squeezed OC Pradeep in his face-to-face encounter and got himself killed by OC Pradeep and his men who waylaid Dhaka-bound Major Sinha on Marine Drive,Cox's Bazaar. By the time he was doing the travel docu,Major Sinha ,a former member of Prime Minister’s special security force, retired from the Army. On the other hand, Army on several occasions dissuaded him from doing this and even approached his mother to tell her son not to do that.

It was still unclear what Major Sinha's objective was in Cox's Bazaar. But his killing and the subsequent trial brought to fore discriminatory nature of Bangladesh’s legal system.

In 2018,two years earlier of Major(retired) Sinha killing, another extra judicial killing of a counselor in Teknaf shocked the nation².Viral audio of the killing was particularly shocking.This killing of counselor Ekram was instrumental behind imposing US sanctions on RAB and its then DG,now IGP of Police. Despite the media publicity and international pressure, culprits have not yet been brought to book. Meanwhile, trial on Major(retired) Sinha was finished within 29 working days. For the man-in-fatigue justice speaks one way and for the ordinary citizens it speaks another way.

As Major(retired) Sinha was a military officer, retired army officers formed a committee to probe on the matter. One of the member of that committee, former principal staff officer and brother of current DNCC mayor, told the press that it was a coldblooded murder and Sinha did not engage in any gun battle.Had he really engaged,he might have shot 8 rounds straight into target in a matter of 5 seconds. Moreover, he urged the government to end all extra judicial killing in the name of war on drugs and declare amnesty.

Those pleas washed away long ago. Many more chilling killing took place after that. Day after the Sinha verdict,High Court upheld a lower court's decision to sentence a man(belonging to Hindu faith) to life imprisonment for carrying codeine-filled syrup³. No sign of amnesty here for a peddler!

Meanwhile, UNODC on its report noted that drug making ingredients entered Myanmar through its neighbors including Bangladesh⁴. Even Myanmar echoed that report.So far,Bangladesh did not refute that claim, nor demand any explanation. I have not seen yet any ISPR press release, nor any Foreign Ministry protest.

In one of my earlier pieces, I highlighted how security establishment-backed groups made a fortune and amassed wealth in offshore haven while a war on drugs is going on⁵. Most of the regional drug barrons also bank and reside in those offshore havens. While this kind of backing is inflating their wallets,narcotic substance is spreading across the country.

Meanwhile, many poor peasant folks, fired workers, petty employees,homeless people,unemployed---the very people these agencies were to protect through their prior information and superior knowledge---were fell victims to drug trafficking and paid heavy price. Not only that clandestine wealth backed sectors like real-estate just flourished. In many instances, these agencies were used to deal with disputes in controversial sectors.

Last year, a land dispute near Mirpur DOHS,Pallabi witnessed murder of a man by a goon.The whole incident was caught on camera. Later RAB in a gunfight killed the prime suspect who could provide the investigators the lead to the main plotters.

In another incident in Cumilla, where a communal stirring witnessed vandalism in several Hindu temples and killing of people across Bangladesh, RAB killed key suspects,member of a former mayor, who could lead to crack the mystery behind the communal attacks.

Many of the controversial e-commerce platforms that were used to launder money abroad indirectly owned by corrupt law-enforcement official. E-orange and inspector Sohel Rana are the names to be mentioned.

Agencies conducting the so called war on drugs have lost moral high ground long ago. In addition, many of them suffers from lack of legitimacy in the eyes of the public. In the past, some of them derailed democracy, killed C-in-Cs. No official probe is done. What is worrying some of these institutions is not accountable to press, Parliament and people. With biasedness, lack of legitimacy and less transparency, these agencies continue to operate as usual. Let the Sinha murder verdict be an occasion to start constitutional reform to hold these institutions accountable and transparent rather than giving them a boost to do things as usual.

Notes And References:

1 “Sinha Hotyakanda Chhilo Porikolpito(Sinha Murder Was Pre-planned)”,Gazi Feroz,Daily Prothom Alo,February 01,2022.

2 “Bhoot Ke Bhoy Lage Na, Manush Ke Bhoy Lage( I Don’t Scare Ghost, But I Scare People) “,Gazi Feroz and Gias Uddin,Daily Prothom Alo,February 03,2022.

3 “Fencidyl Rakhar Daye Ek Byaktir Jabojjibon(Man Sentenced To Life Imprisonment For Possessing Fencidyl)”,Daily Prothom Alo,February 02,2022.

4 “UNODC Report And Meth Market Bangladesh”,Rezaul Hoque,July 25,2019. For more read at https://hoquestake.blogspot.com/2019/07/unodc-report-meth-market-of-bangladesh.html?m=1

5 “An Interview And Power Of Pacifism “,Rezaul Hoque, January 07,2022. For more, read at https://hoquestake.blogspot.com/2022/01/an-interview-and-power-of-pacifism.html?m=1

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(28 janvier --- 04 février)

Selon un reportage, 11 zèbres et un tigre sont morts mystérieusement dans un parc au Bangladesh.

Selon un reportage, une australienne, originaire du Bangladesh, a été tué par son copain pakistanais en Australie.

Selon un reportage, une cour bangladaise a condamné à mort deux policiers pour avoir tué un ancien soldat de l’armée de la terre.

Selon un reportage, un prête bouddhiste a été tué chez lui à Khagrachhari.

Selon un reportage, des escrocs ont tenté d'escroquer TK 180 millions de deux sociétés bangladaises.

Another Tragedy Mocks Progress

Seven hapless souls perished in the sea,
Mocking the much trumpeted development story.

Another tragedy struck off the Italian coast. And 7 Bangladeshis froze to death in that tragedy. 280 illegal immigrants including 7 Bangladeshis tried to cross the Mediterranean by boat to reach their dream destination, Europe. In the middle of that fateful journey, 3 perished because of extreme cold while 4 more later died in hospital after they had been rescued by Italian coast guard¹.

The tragedy took place at a moment when government is boasting its economic indicators. This tragedy belies the much trumpeted success stories. Meanwhile, Henley And Partners two weeks ago in its passport index raised the rank of Bangladesh passport by 5 notches. This tragedy laid bare the ground reality and ridiculed the improvement made in passport ranking.

Perilous boat ride by Bangladeshis in the Mediterranean has been going on for a long time. I penned several pieces on this. Unfortunately little progress has been made and govt did little to stem the flow. Last year,a boat capsize off the Tunisian coast killed 17 Bangladeshis¹.

Tragedies after tragedies struck on foreign shores,but we seldom see local culprits are brought to book and justice is delivered to victims. There were reports of detaining few lower rank criminals ,but hardly any big criminal or public official was sentenced.Meanwhile, foreign governments were quick to take actions in such crimes. Recently, A US court sentenced a Bangladeshi-American to several years of imprisonment after he had been found running a human trafficking network in the Mexico-American border².A Kuwaiti court sentenced a Bangladeshi MP and some high-level Kuwaiti officials to 7-year of imprisonment in similar charges. After the MP had been found guilty, Bangladeshi Parliament revoked his position³. Long ago a Thai Court sentenced a General to 14-year of imprisonment after he had taken party in human trafficking operations through Thai-Malaysian jungles. Many unknown mass graves of hapless migrants were found there. Even then no high-profile Bangladeshi public official was tried by the government back then. This is the keenness and commitment shown by Bangladesh in human trafficking incidents.

Back in the 70s Bangladeshis went to Libya to build road network, apartment complex and utility network. Now 40 years later, they flocked to Libyan shores to take a risky boat ride to reach the Italian coast and made news items on foreign press. Recurrence of such tragedies exposes the flaws in our development story and seriously calls into question strength of our economy.

Notes And References:

1 “Bhumodhosagore Thandae Jomey Pran Gelo 7 Bangladeshir(7 Bangladeshis Froze To Death in The Mediterranean)”(Page-1),Daily Prothom Alo,January 26,2022

2 “US Jails Bangladeshi Man For Human Trafficking Charges”,bdnews24.com,October 01,2021. For more read https://m.bdnews24.com/en/detail/bangladesh/1846532

3 “Kuwaiti Court Jails Ex-Bangladeshi MP To 7 Years For Human Trafficking “,Ramadan Al Sherbini,Gulf News,November 28,2021. For more read https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/kuwait/kuwaiti-court-jails-ex-bangladeshi-mp-to-7-years-for-human-trafficking-1.84019786