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**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-18-2013, 06:10 AM

Our response to Dhaka

Harris Khalique
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
From Print Edition

Our response to DhakaIn 1994, a work-related training took me and my friend Zaffar Junejo to Bangladesh. After an extensive two-week field and classroom learning sessions at the Centre for Development Management, run by Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Brac), outside Dhaka, we came to spend a couple of days in the city.

Junejo had a gift and greetings to deliver from another common friend of ours to a lady in Dhaka. He wanted me to accompany him. The lady invited us to her place over breakfast. A tall, fair middle-aged woman clad in an elegant sari warmly welcomed us. After we settled and had an initial exchange of pleasantries, she said, “You are the first Pakistanis to come to our house since Bangladesh’s liberation.”

Then she smiled and said, “Some of mine and my late husband’s friends were a little exasperated when I told them that two Pakistani young men are visiting us. But then my daughter said that humanity comes first and we should really bury the hatchet now. And, of course, the two of you or our mutual friend in Pakistan had nothing to do with what happened to us here in 1971.”

The lady was Panna Kaiser, wife of the slain Bangladeshi writer and intellectual Shaheedullah Kaiser. Their daughter Shomi Kaiser had become a popular actor in Bangladesh by that time. As a child, I had heard her husband’s name many times from my father. He was among the friends my father had made during the frequent planning and shooting trips he would take to the then East Pakistan for his documentary films. Art, literature and pro-people political ideals brought those men together.

Shaheedullah Kaiser was among those writers, professors and intellectuals who were picked by pro-West Pakistan militias and killed. I call these militias, Al-Badr and Al-Shams, pro-West Pakistan and not pro-Pakistan for a simple reason. East Pakistan was as much Pakistan as West Pakistan was when the tragedy began to happen. The East Pakistanis were more in numbers as well at that time. They had sacrificed and struggled equally if not more than those in the west to gain a separate homeland for South Asian Muslims in 1947. Unfortunately, the dominant West Pakistani elite and state institutions never got it right – the result being the secession of East Pakistan and inception of Bangladesh after a massive conflict and chaos, army operation by Pakistan and Indian military intervention.

How ironic that the majority of Pakistanis chose to secede from the country they helped create. A lot has been written, debated and argued on the subject. But there has not been a fair closure – neither in Bangladesh nor in Pakistan.

It was important for Bangladesh to investigate the military highhandedness committed during 1971, the violence and bloodletting in the streets, public places and homes across many cities and villages that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and other casualties and to bring to the book those who were responsible for inflicting pain and suffering on its citizens. The Bangladeshi national narrative sees the army operation by Pakistan to suppress East Pakistan’s voice as illegitimate and illegal.

Many Pakistanis today agree with them as Awami League should have been allowed to form government in Islamabad after the results of the 1970 elections. Those who aided or abetted the army in carrying out its operations or those who participated in silencing any voices of dissent against the West-Pakistan dominated state narrative at the time are seen as criminals in Bangladesh.

For generals like Yahya Khan, Tikka Khan, Farman Ali and A A K Niazi, East Pakistanis fighting them were traitors. For the then East Pakistanis and now Bangladeshis, those siding with these generals are traitors. While it took them very long to start the process, it is still better than not having a process of fixing responsibilities at all. However, not for anyone else but for the sake of sanity and wellbeing in their own society, the process should be more of fixing responsibilities, establishing guilt, sanctioning and constraining those responsible, asking the guilty to seek forgiveness from the families and friends of victims and people at large.

The death penalty is the worst punishment that is awarded and is something completely irrevocable. For those involved in heinous crimes, banning their outfits and putting these people behind bars for the rest of their lives may have sufficed in order to move forward. Also, for the sake of humanity and history, acts of militias like the Mukti Bahini should also have been investigated and recorded. Fighting with the military, attacking combatant soldiers or their active abetters may be justified but how could the killings of thousands of innocent Bihari or West Pakistani civilians be rationalised in the name of excesses committed during the war?

It is problematic for the emotional and intellectual development of any society when it decides to look the other way or become selective with facts when it comes to atrocities committed against innocent civilians by those the society thinks were right in their cause. I am sure the wise and conscientious Bangladeshi thinkers acknowledge this fact.

In Pakistan, the resolution adopted by the National Assembly condemning the hanging of Abdul Quader Molla in Bangladesh for his involvement and participation in the killings of Awami League workers and their families hints at an even more deep-seated problem than what is happening in Bangladesh. Pakistan recognises Bangladesh as an independent, sovereign country. This was entirely an internal matter of that country and some of our parliamentarians have trespassed into a domain that is not theirs. The Jamaat-e-Islami MNA should not have been allowed to table the resolution in the first place.

A parliamentarian during the session of the highest legislative body of the country is not an op-ed columnist who has the luxury to comment on anything under the sun. Who are we to ask Bangladesh to open or not to open the 1971 cases? We are one of the worst nations when it comes to setting the record straight, bringing resolution to issues that have plagued our social and political consciousness and accepting collectively what went wrong without being defensive.

In this case, we could never put out the full text of the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report, never even attempted to try those who are responsible for what we see as a debacle and a national tragedy. We have neither found and established fair responsibility, nor charged or tried any of the assassins of those who led this country – from Liaquat Ali Khan to Benazir Bhutto. And we are asking the Bangladeshis to follow suit.

Even outside parliament, the interior minister had the gall to say that the whole Pakistani nation is feeling sad over this tragic incident. He further said that a person who was the flag-bearer of united Pakistan was executed through a judicial murder. Now that’s strange. I think the interior minister has no idea what so many Pakistanis, particularly in the smaller provinces, think and feel about 1971 and how they view the running of our federation now. Also, does he still remember the 200,000 stranded Pakistanis in the camps of Bangladesh?

Besides, though for its critics the war crimes tribunal may well have not been as transparent an exercise as it should have been, Molla was not penalised for bearing the Pakistani flag. He and others had criminal cases of killings filed against them. As far as judicial murder is concerned, has Pakistan officially recognised that Z A Bhutto’s hanging under Gen Zia was a judicial murder? Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talba-turned-PML-turned-PTI leader, declared Molla Shaheed-e-Pakistan. His senior years are not helping him it seems. However, the interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar, should have been more careful.

Our response to Dhaka - Harris Khalique

*Pakistani politicians are corrupt and the PML-N of Nawaz Sharif and PTI of Imran Khan decided to side with the fundamentalists of Jamaat e Islami and disrespect Bangladeshi national sovereignty with their recent ridiculous resolution.

They are technically praising a man, Kader Molla, who claimed (obviously lying but claimed however) that he fought against Pakistan in 1971.

So they are saying a man who claimed to have fought the Pakistani army is a martyr of Pakistan.

lol

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-18-2013, 06:19 AM

1. Either Kader Molla told the truth and fought against the Pakistan army

The Pakistani government are thus fools for basically declaring someone who fought against the murderous Pakistani army in 1971 a hero of Pakistan.

2. Kader Molla is a liar.

The man whom the Pakistani regime are glorifying is a cowardly liar and claimed to have fought against the Pakistan army in 1971 when he did not.

Either way, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif (who supports anti-Shia fundamentalists) have as usual made fools out of themselves.

Imran Khan: "Hi everyone I declared a man who claimed to have fought against the Pakistan army in 1971, a hero of Pakistan"

Imran Khan: "Ooops either I declared someone who helped to defeat and humiliate Pakistan in 1971 a hero, or maybe I supported a liar. Maybe I am as stupid and dumb as the British media say I am."

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-22-2013, 08:09 AM

Turkish "Islamists" physically attack Bangladeshi embassy in Turkey.

Also, Turkish sympathisers of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in protest against the execution threw eggs and bricks at the Bangladesh embassy in Ankara and staged demonstration in front of the Istanbul mission.

Anatolian Youth Association, an NGO, organised the demonstrations after the execution on Thursday, Bangladesh ambassador to Turkey Md Zulfiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

- See more at: Lawyers pray on SC premises, Turkish sympathisers protest | Dhaka Tribune

The Anatolian Youth Association is a pro-AKP organization and was against the Gezi uprising.

There may have been a covert AKP/Turkish regime hand in this attack.

However the Erdogan regime is now facing its biggest crisis, poetic justice.

Alhamdulilah.

Members of the Anatolian Youth Association, a pro-AKP organization. Members
of the Anatolian Youth Association featured above were engaged in protests against the Christian festival of Christmas.

Members of the pro-AKP "Anatolian Youth Association" or Anadolu Genclik Dernegi

The Pakistani Taliban have also threatened the Bangladeshi high commission in Pakistan.

Pakistan Taliban threaten to attack Bangladesh high commission - YouTube

Pakistan's newspaper The Nation reported that "security around Bangladesh's foreign mission in Pakistan has been enhanced manifold and the fresh security directions have been issued to the Ambassador of Bangladesh" after an unnamed security agency expressed concerns on Wednesday that the Taliban expressed annoyance with Bangladesh's government over Mollah's execution and may attack the Bangladesh embassy.

Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship strained - Features - Al Jazeera English

Turks have attacked the Bangladeshi embassy and Pakistanis have threatened to attack it, and there is also the Arab threat to Bangladesh.

Another analyst feared that affected ties with Pakistan may harm Bangladesh indirectly. "Pakistan has strong influence over Middle Eastern countries," he stated, hinting that Pakistan's opinions against Bangladesh may affect Bangladesh's biggest human resource destination in the Middle East.

During the recently concluded 2012-2013 fiscal year, Bangladesh enjoyed total remittances of $14.5 bn, 63 percent of which came from Non-Resident Bangladeshis working in the Middle East.

This has been a long-term Jamaati threat against Bangladesh, that if anything is done to them Bangladeshi workers will be kicked out of the gulf, which just goes to show how little Jamaat cares for the lives of ordinary Bangladeshis (whom they consider racially inferior to Pakistanis anyway) and their struggle to feed their families.

However I doubt this time the Gulf regimes will do anything to Bangladesh over this for two reasons.

1. India will not be happy with this and see it as Gulf intrusion in to India's region. India does not fund Hezbollah or provide much support to Assad nor do they undermine the gulf regimes. So Gulf support of Jamaat would be considered as supporting a terrorist organization which threatens Indian security and could be a matter raised up in Indian-Saudi bi-lateral meetings.

Indian prime minister being awarded by the Saudis.

2. The Americans would not be happy with this either as they would regard it is Gulf regimes exercising undue influence in a region outside the middle east and preventing the flourishing of democracy in one of the biggest countries in the Muslim world. Also this is just pure malicious bullying as Bangladesh executing war criminals does not affect Saudi Arabia in anyway, the same Saudi Arabia which is all to happy to have excellent relations with Hindu India but happy to bully Muslim Bangladesh.

So I can foresee both the Indians and Americans telling the Gulf regimes to back off from any bullying of Bangladesh.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-22-2013, 09:48 AM

1. The Turkish attack on the Bangladeshi embassy was clearly supported by the AKP regime.

China kills Turkic Muslims in Xianjiang but its embassy is never harmed. Many other governments do things that Turkish "Islamists" would dislike including the Israeli but their embassies are never harmed.

PressTV - China forces kill 14 Uyghur Muslims

The protection of foreign embassies is a national security requirement.

Turkey has in effect attacked the Bangladesh embassy.

However this should not come as a surprise especially not to the educated Turkish elite who regard Erdogan as an uneducated and uncultured Kasimpasa thug. When Turkey removes Erdogan, I hope the Turkish government offer Bangladesh an apology for what Erdogan's AKP regime have done.

Erdogan, the AKP, Milli Gorus, Hakan Fidan lack the culture and refinement and appreciation of basic values of civility and diplomacy and hospitality to foreign guests to protect foreign embassies. The educated Turkish elite however do.

2. The Turkish regime targeted Bangladesh because they think it is a weak country which cannot respond, in other words bullying.

However as I I have said Erdogan is going to suffer.

Ultimately he may face a public trial and national humiliation, or even mysteriously "die" in prison.

With Erdogan gone, millions of "Islamist" fanatics in Turkey will be upset and humiliated that their beloved great leader is gone. Insha'Allah this will be their punishment for supporting war criminals in Bangladesh.

Turks (not "Islamist" fanatics) we are with you and support you in your struggle against the tyranny of Erdogan and the Milli Gorus.

I would request all Turkish police officers to refuse to shoot against their fellow citizens in the Republic of Turkey if instructed to do so by the regime of Erdogan in the case of future anti-government demonstrations.

- I would request the Republican Turkish army, that if mass riots hit Turkey and the country becomes ungovernable, to unilaterally (or in partnership with NATO allies such as the US) to declare a state of emergency, formation of an interim government and the holding of new elections and arrest of those who have been involved in stealing money from the public, corruption, murder and other crimes.

- I would request Turkish civil society to consider the friendship that Turkey has with Bangladesh and to express their regret for the actions of the Erdogan regime in physical assault on the Bangladeshi embassy, an utter violation of all diplomatic protocol that would astound even barbarians.

Turkey, we are with you!

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-22-2013, 11:26 AM

Turkey corruption investigators charge 16 with links to Erdoğan

Two ministers' sons and bank chief accused of taking or arranging bribes as inquiry into graft targets PM's circle
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theguardian.com, Saturday 21 December 2013 10.34 GMT

Sixteen people, including the sons of two ministers, have been charged in connection with a sweeping corruption investigation targeting allies of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Suleyman Aslan, the general manager of state-owned Halkbank, was also formally arrested and charged alongside Baris Guler, the son of the interior minister, and Kaan Caglayan, the son of the economy minister, Turkey's state-run news agency reported on Saturday. The son of a third minister and a construction magnate were freed from custody pending trial.

A total of 24 people are now in detention, awaiting trial on corruption allegations, according to the Anadolu Agency. The private Dogan news agency said the ministers' sons and other suspects are accused of taking or facilitating bribes.

The operation began last week, with the detention of scores of people seen as close to Erdogan's government. It has struck at the heart of Turkey's ruling elite.

A court on Saturday ordered the release of 33 others, including the mayor of Istanbul's Fatih district, Mustafa Demir, and the son of Turkey's environment minister.

Dozens of police chiefs have been removed from their posts, accused of abuse of office for keeping the investigation quiet from higher-level officials in security institutions.

Erdoğan has called the investigation a "dirty operation" aimed at undermining his rule and has vowed to go after those who have instigated it.

The inquiry comes amid a power struggle between Erdoğan's government and an influential US-based Muslim cleric, Fetullah Gulen, who has a strong following in Turkey and is believed to have leverage within the country's police force and judiciary.

In his first comments on the case, Gulen has cursed those responsible for a purge of police officers involved in the corruption probe. Gulen's words, invoking God's punishment, raise the stakes in a crisis seen as the biggest challenge to Erdoğan's rule in years.

"Those who don't see the thief but go after those trying to catch the thief, who don't see the murder but try to defame others by accusing innocent people – let God bring fire to their houses, ruin their homes, break their unities," Gulen said, in a recording uploaded to one of his websites on Friday.

The reclusive preacher has lived in the US since 1999.

Turkey corruption investigators charge 16 with links to Erdo

Fethullah GÃ¼len Tayyip ErdoÄŸan'a Beddua ediyor - YouTube

*Fethullah Gulen does not like the Milli Gorus or Erdogan either and would definitely not support the Turkish attack on the Bangladeshi embassy. In future trials of Erdogan and his supporters this should be one of the charges brought against them i.e. conspiring to cause physical damage to the embassy of a foreign state.

Erdogan is on his way out. He should seriously consider leaving Turkey as he might face life imprisonment or being killed if he stays there.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-22-2013, 04:08 PM

*** Over 100 Police chiefs fired in Turkey ***

Journalists banned from entering police stations across Turkey

Zekeriya Öz, the Istanbul deputy chief prosecutor, is responding reporters' questions during his visit to Vatan Police Department on Dec 19. AA photo
Journalists will no longer be allowed to enter police departments, a statement released from the Turkish police has said.

“Members of the press will not be allowed to the Police Departments all over Turkey as of Dec. 22, 2013,” a statement read. “Journalists will be invited in the event of a press statement or such development. We ask press members who use the press rooms at the Vatan and Gayrettepe Police Departments [in Istanbul] to return their keys and entrance cards.”

The move came amid a reshuffle in the police organization that saw more than 100 police chiefs being removed from their posts, which followed a gripping graft investigation. Two sons of ministers have been arrested as part of the probe.

LOCAL - Journalists banned from entering police stations across Turkey

*This would never happen in western Europe (well at least not north-western Europe, Spain and Italy I can't say), 100 police chiefs being fired a day or two after people linked to the ruling party are arrested for corruption.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-22-2013, 04:13 PM

Senior police officer found dead in his car in Ankara

Senior police officer found dead in his car in Ankara

A police chief working in Ankara Police Department’s Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Unit has been found dead in his car in Ankara’s Dikmen district.

Authorities think police chief Hakan Yüksekdağ committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a gun, according to initial findings, Doğan News Agency reported.

The late police chief, a father of two, had been working at the Police Department in Ankara since 2011.

Yüksekdağ has been reported as having family issues and debts which may lead to his distress.

LOCAL - Senior police officer found dead in his car in Ankara

COMMENTS:

hanni bal
12/22/2013 4:47:06 PM

it must have been premeditated murder!!! suicide in the car?fishy!

Wewomen kennedy
12/22/2013 9:56:24 AM

A police chief in charge of anti-smuggling n and organized crime kills himself in the wake of a massive Erdogan Administration corruption probe? Who is safe in the face of all that money? Forget the Republic, we are talking the power of billions in one man's hands.

*** ERDOGAN IS FINISHED, TURKEY WILL HAVE A NEW PRIME MINISTER ***

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 08:51 AM

Istanbul clashes as Turkey PM Erdogan condemns 'plot'

Security forces used water cannon and smoke grenades to quell the crowd

Turkish police have used tear gas against thousands of anti-government protesters in Istanbul as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to break the hands of "plotters".

Clashes erupted between protesters and police in Kadikoy Square, in an echo of protests in the city earlier this year.

In a northern town Mr Erdogan denounced people he said were setting anti-Turkish "traps" to undermine his rule.

The sons of two cabinet ministers have been charged in a big corruption probe.

The investigation has led to charges against 24 people so far. They are suspected of involvement in bribery, in connection with urban development projects and the allocation of construction permits.

Baris Guler, the son of Interior Minister Muammer Guler, and Kaan Caglayan, son of Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, are among those detained, as is the chief executive of the state-owned Halkbank, Suleyman Aslan.

In Twitter comments on Sunday the two sons denied the accusations.

In some streets in Istanbul protesters set barricades ablaze

Riot police charged at protesters

Police tear gas sent protesters fleeing for cover

Commentators in Turkey report that the arrests and firings reflect a feud within Turkey's ruling AK Party between those who back Mr Erdogan and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic scholar living in exile in the US.

In Istanbul protesters chanted "everywhere is bribery, everywhere is corruption". It was an echo of the Taksim Square mass protest this summer, when opposition activists chanted "everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance".

Police on Sunday used tear gas and water cannon to disperse them in streets where protesters had set fire to makeshift barricades.

'Break those hands'

In the Black Sea town of Giresun, Mr Erdogan told a crowd of supporters that his Islamist-rooted AK was facing a "dark plot" by forces outside Turkey who wanted to split the country apart.

"Let our friends and foes know this. Whoever dares to harm, stir up or set traps in this country, whoever tries to touch our independence, we will come to break those hands," he said.

In the summer police fought running battles with anti-AK protesters over plans to develop Gezi Park, in the heart of Istanbul.

The controversial arrests in the anti-corruption crackdown began last week when police launched dawn raids in Istanbul and Ankara.

Mr Erdogan reacted angrily and on Thursday the head of Istanbul's police was forced from his position. More than 30 senior police officers have reportedly been sacked.

Members of Mr Gulen's Hizmet movement are said to hold influential positions in institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the AK Party itself.

Erdogan 'fantasies'

Mr Erdogan's defiant message drew criticism from Turkish press commentators on Monday.

Semih Idiz in the leftist Taraf said that "as in the Gezi incidents, Erdogan thinks he can get out of this scandal by linking the issue to a conspiracy organised by internal and external powers".

Asli Aydintasbas in Milliyet wrote that "Tayyip Erdogan will probably win the fight that he has got into against the Gulen Movement by using the sanction power of the state - but then the regime that is built will be a 'Tayyip Erdogan regime' and not a democracy".

Ali H Aslan in the moderate Zaman said "Erdogan likes to take the credit when things go well and accuse his friends, partners or unrelated parties when things go badly...

"These excessive internal and external enemy fantasies, which could drag Turkey into dangerous situations and ruin the country's stability, should be abandoned."

BBC News - Istanbul clashes as Turkey PM Erdogan condemns 'plot'

* 10,000 Turkish protestors at one point:

Witnesses estimated the crowd in Kadikoy Square grew to as much as 10,000 at one point.

Thousands in anti-corruption protests; Erdogan defiant | Reuters

With more and more revelations about AKP corruption and more and more pressure on Erdogan, these street protests may get bigger in both Istanbul and Ankara. This time Gulenist sympathizers in the police force may either refuse to shoot, join the protestors or resign.

The stock exchange would plummet, urban Turkey will have revolted against Erdogan, the army may step in.

Turkish army giving gas masks to anti-Erdogan protestors in the June 2013 riots.

Gul may remain as president if the army steps in as he is seen as the non-confrontational diplomatic face of the AKP (though technically he is not an AKP politician since as president he cannot belong to any party), or he may be ousted by the army as well and someone else would be made president.

Abdullah Gul, during his Refah days.

Erdogan may be put on trial. This would also include his role in the deaths of some Turks.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 09:02 AM

Traitor Erdogan after insulting Bangladesh, getting the Bangladesh embassy in Turkey attacked is now in Pakistan, in Punjab to be precise, showering praise upon Pakistan.

Turkish PM arrives on 2-day visit to Pakistan

He is on a 2 day visit to Pakistan but after he returns back to Turkey we will see what happens to this traitor.

I am with the Turkish army in whatever action they decide to take against Erdogan.

Necdet Ozel, head of the Turkish military, all eyes are on him now to see if the Turkish army will declare a national state of emergency should anti-Erdogan riots spiral out of control.

As a Bangladeshi I will extend full support to the Turkish military and nation in whatever action they decide to take against Erdogan.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 09:06 AM

Police fire teargas, water cannons at Istanbul protesters - YouTube

The current protests are relatively small but could escalate.

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Bangladesh summons Pakistan envoy over Mollah resolution

Bangladesh summons Pakistan envoy over Mollah resolution

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