bd save bangladesh bulletin: march 12 2013

7/29/2019 BD Save Bangladesh Bulletin: March 12 2013

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Be Alert! /BDAlert www.BDAlert.com

Save BangladeshMove Forward, Not Backward

The Third Largest Muslim Country in the World

March 12, 2013

Top Quran Scholar Sentenced to Death200,000 Detained; About 3,000 Injured or Dead514 Journalists Killed or Injured; Fears of Civil War

Muslims shooting at a Masjid with the words God is Great written above the entrance? Yes, that is what thisphoto is showing. Tis is Bangladesh police fring at Baitul Mukarram, the national mosque o the country. Tisshocking act accompanied a killing spree and attacks against Islamic scholars, Muslim institutions, media andlabor leaders. It is a stunning testimony o how anti-religious the current government has become in a nationwhere government supporters are allowed to rally, but soldiers shoot at unarmed civilians in peaceul rallies.

Khaleda Zia Calls it a Genocide &Refused to Meet Indian PresidentKhaleda Zia, ormer three time PrimeMinister has called the governments bru-tality genocide. She was responding to the

police killing 156 unarmed protesters, in-cluding women and children in two days-something which has never happenedin last 42 years. Zia declined to meet the

visiting Indian president. Te governingAwami League is considered extremelypro-India, whereas she is trying to liberateBangaldesh rom undue Indian interer-ence. India has been trying to eliminateJamaat-e-Islam. In September 2011, IndianPrime Minister Manmohan Singh said that25 percent o Bangladeshis swear by theJamaat, are very anti-Indian...

Bangladesh is BurningTe Awami League government o Bangla-desh has turned the country upside downthrough revenge policies. First it red theicon o Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus,the Nobel Laureate. Ten its orces killedlabor leaders, journalists and the opposi-tion. Now it is announcing death sentenceaer death sentence to hang all the topIslamic opposition leaders. It allows itsmembers to rally reely while ring livebullets at opposition rallies. It is eliminat-ing its opposition through torture, abduc-tion and murder. In the last our years 152

opposition leaders have been kidnapped,1,600 tortured, and about 200,000 de-tained, as 12 journalists were killed and502 journalists were injured. We have de-

veloped this inormational packet to brieMuslims o the situation in Bangladesh.Te Bangladesh government must not beallowed to eliminate the Islamic leadershipusing a corrupt court lled with politi-cal appointees who are literally allowingprosecution to write their decisions evenbeore the case is heard. Only due process,international standards and a truth andreconciliation commission can save Ban-gladesh and avoid the civil war.

Adding Fuel to the Fire:Demanding Death to AllahTe pro-government bloggers rallying orthe death penalty to Islamic scholars areusing non-printable language about Allahand the Prophet (PBUH). We are sharinga couple o excerpts. Our response to evilmust ollow Allahs command: Repel evil,with something better. We are ully awareo what they describe. (Quran 23:96) TeAwami League is not an anti-God party.However, a large number o communistsand now aggressive atheists are leadingthe charge against Islam itsel along withdemanding death to Islamic scholars.

if Allah comes down he will be hanged too.(Co-blogger o amanna Jhumu)

Shame, the Allah loving people were feed-ing drugs to Allah and now you are making

Allah do S***(Asi Mohiuddin)

I believe that Allah is a creation ofMuhammad. When Muhammad used tohallucinate he used to think that Jibrael hascome, therefore he created the story of Al-lah.(Ariur Rahman)

What is Right With Bangladesh?

Bangladesh is the Third LargestMuslim Country in the WorldMore than 90 percent o Bangladeshisare Muslims. Every year it holds ablighi

Jamaat Bishwa Ijtema near Dhakka. It isconsidered the largest Muslim gathering inthe world aer Haj. Women in Bangladeshhave made massive gains. Both the currentPrime Minister and the main oppositionleader are women. Bangladesh is worldssecond largest exporter o readymadeclothes. Te model o Gramin Bank isollowed around the world. Bangladeshieconomy is one o the ew that madesteady growth during recent worldwiderecessions. All that progress is at stakebecause o the government ascism.


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A Chronology of Struggle Between

Islam and Politics in Bangladesh1905 to 1912: East Bengal is established with a Muslim majority.1906: All India Muslim League orms in Dhaka.1940: Te Pakistan Resolution is moved by Bengals Prime Minis-ter Moulavi Haque in the Muslim Leagues Lahore conerence.1947: A Muslim state comprising o East and West Pakistan isestablished, separated by about 1,000 miles o Indian territory.1952: Te Bengali Language Movement gains momentum as

Awami Muslim League, later renamed the Awami League, success-ully leads eorts to make Bangla the ocial language.1970: A cyclone kills 500,000 people, weeks beore elections.1970: Te Awami League, under Sheikh Mujib, wins overwhelm-ingly in December elections. Instead an invitation to orm thegovernment, Sheikh Mujib is arrested. Massive unrest begins.1971: Pakistan Army Major General Ziaur Rahman declares inde-pendence o Bangladesh, armed struggle begins. As the PakistaniArmy tries to suppress armed rebellion, a war between PakistanArmy and Bangladesh-India Allied Forces led to liberation o Ban-gladesh. Sheikh Mujib leads the government.1973: Sheikh Mujib grants general amnesty to purported warcriminals rom the 1971 Liberation war.1974: Sheikh Mujib visits Pakistan to repair relations.1975: Sheikh Mujib is assassinated in a military coup.

1977: General Ziaur Rahman becomes president, passes a decreeremoving secularism rom the preamble o the constitution andsets in absolute trust and aith in the Almighty Allah.1979: General Zias Bangladesh National Party wins election.1981: General Zia is assassinated.1982: General Hussain M. Ershad comes on power in militarycoup, declares Islam as state religion.1986: Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh works with Awami League tooppose the military regime.1988: Parliament amends the constitution, declaring Islam as thestate religion.1991: BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia becomes prime minister.1996: Awami League wins. Sheikh Hasina Wajed, daughter oSheikh Mujib, becomes prime minister.2001: Sheikh Hasina loses to Khaleda Zias BNP. Motiur RahmanZizami and Ali Ahsan Mojaheed, o Jamaaet-e-Islami, are appoint-ed ministers o the coalition government.2008: Awami League wins; Sheikh Hasina becomes prime minister.2010: Supreme Court restores the term Secularism to the constitu-tion.2012: en Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, including its president MaulanaMotiur Rahman Nizami, are charged with war crimes related tothe 1971 war.2012: Te Economist magazine in London writes that the decisionto hang war criminals was written beore the trial even began, andthe prosecution actually wrote the judges decision.2013: Maulana Delwar Sayeedi is sentenced to death by hanging.Protests break out throughout the country.2014: General elections are to be scheduled.

It is not just the Islamic scholars that the Awami government istargeting; anyone who speaks against the government, the laborleaders, the journalists, and other opposition leaders have beentargetted by asicst means. Tey either mysterously disappear orare killed. Te governments Rapid Action Battalion as well asprivate Awami League militia have been publicily killing leaders.Here are some the signicant victims o the Awami League.

An OrganizerFighting for LaborTortured & KilledAminul Islam was a grassrootslabor organizer. Te oppositionleader Khaleda Zia blamed themilitary intelligence DGFI orhis death. Te local police chieMr. Haq told journalists, Hewas murdered. His legs hadsevere torture marks includinga hole made by a sharp object.

Here is what New York imeswrote about this AFL-CIOorganizer in Bangladesh.

...workers ... came with..Unpaidwages. Abusive bosses. Mr.Islam, a labor organizer, ought

or their rights.

...His phone was tapped, thepolice regularly harassed him,and domestic intelligence agentsonce abducted and beat him, hisco-workers and amily say. Morethan once, he was told his advo-cacy or workers was hurting acountry where garment exportsdrive the domestic economy.

Read the ull New York imes reportat: http://tinyurl.com/NYimes786

Ilyas Ali was a very popularBNP leader and a ormer MP.Now he is listed among the 156opposition leaders o BNP whohave disappeared or killed. Helead a series o mass rallies andstrikes against the Indian moveto build epaimukh Dam,which will devastate two-thirdso Bangaldesh. He also led Bangladeshis to the Indian border,demanding that Indians stopkilling Bangladeshi armers.On uesday the 17th o April,2012, Ilyas Ali disappeared.Bangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP) is opposed to AwamiLeagues pro-India policies.http://tinyurl.com/amnesty786

Oppose India; Get Killed

156 Opposition LeadersKidnapped or Killed

Missing leader Ilyas Alis wie ahsinaRushdir Luna, demanding investigations

Te husband-and-wie team oV journalistsSagar Sarowar andMeherun Runiwere murderedFeb. 2012. Teywere investigatingcorruption whenthey were killed.Te amilies o thetwo journalists arenow demandingan internationalinvestigation.Read more athttp://tinyurl.com/V0786

Select Resources &

Websites on Bangladesh1. Te Economist, December 15, 2012, rying War Crimes inBangladesh: Te trial o a birth o a nation. (http://tiny.cc/BD01)2. Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/asia/bangladesh3. Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org/en/region/bangladesh4. Al Jazeera, March 4, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/a5yg6z5. Te BangladeshWatch: http://www.youtube.com/user/TeBan-gladeshWatch6. Dead Reckoning, Sarmila Bose, 2011, C Hurst & Co7. deshrights.org8. www.bdinn.com9. www.hrwbd.org10. www.acebook.com/standingorbangladesh

Journalists Murdered

The Other Victims of the BangladeshGovernments Fascist Behavior


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A Flawed Tribunal Opens Old Woundsand Threatens Bangladeshs FutureTe ounder o Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib declared a general amnesty to suspected war criminals in 1974. Reconciliation continuedwhen President Zia ur Rehman allowed Jamaat-e-Islami to operate. Since then, Jamaat has worked with the Awami League and hasserved in the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) coalition with its Ameer serving as minister. None o those currently acing trial wereincluded in the list o suspects to be tried in the rst war crimes tribunal, which was constituted in 1973 but was later abandoned. So

why is the Awami League only pressing orward on war crimes now when it didnt do so in the 1970s and 1990s when it was in power?Here is a brie summary o how justice is slaughtered in Bangladesh today:

The Problemswith the Tribunal:o Te tribunal is called in-ternational, although it is notbased on international law andhas been severely criticized bythe International Bar Associa-tion, Human Rights Watch andAmnesty International.o Te judges, prosecutors andinvestigating ocers are politi-

cal appointees.o Te ribunal only targets thegovernment oppositiono International lawyers weredenied entry into Bangladeshto deend the accused.o When the ribunal did notgive the death sentence to oneo the accused, the governmentretroactively changed the lawto ensure a death sentence.

The Funny Judges:o Te Economist reported that

O the three judges sentenc-ing Mr. Sayeedi, one had heardonly some o the prosecutionsevidence, another had heardnone o it. Te third had heardno evidence whatsoever.o Te judgments were writtenboore the trials began.o Te Economist exposedthe complicity o chie judgeMohammed Nizamul Huq withthe government, with evidence

o Mr. Huq stating that thegovernment was orcing himto rush his decision. Mr. Huqresigned as a result.o Te reported evidence oblatant collusion betweenthe judges and prosecutorsremained un-denied.

Problem with Witnesses:o According to eye witnesses,law enorcement agencies

abducted key deense witness,Sukhranjan Bali right rom thecourt room gates. He was togive evidence against the pros-ecution and expose the act hehad never given the statementwritten up by the investigat-ing ocer. [http://tinyurl.com/cj7vayn] Tere is still no newsabout Balis whereabouts.o While the prosecution couldbring any number o wit-nesses, deense witnesses wererestricted.o Prosecutors and investigatorsblatantly lied to the ribunalabout not being able to presentwitnesses in court when thereis proo to suggest otherwise.o Te prosecution providedalse written testimonies obehal o absent witnesses.

Who is

Maulana

Sayeedi?

Maulana Sayeedi, 73, will be hanged to death in six weeks. Tismost popular Quran teacher o Bangladesh does something veryunique in the Muslim world: At times he teaches three hours aday or ve days while hundreds o thousands o people sit in at-

tendance. His public classes were presided over by Awami Leagueleaders among others beore he joined the largest Islamic party,Jamaat-e-Islami, in 1987. He is currently its deputy president andserved as a member o the National Assembly o Bangladesh ortwelve years rom 1996 to 2008. On 28 February 2013, he wassentenced to death by hanging by a controversial court with po-litically appointed judges, which has been criticized by all humanrights organizations.

Other Islamic Scholars Detained to be HangedProfessor Ghulam Azam, 91, was the President o Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladeshuntil 2000. In 1994, the Supreme Court o Bangladesh restored his citizenship.On 27 November 1948, as the General Secretary o Dhaka University StudentsUnion, he presented a memorandum to Pakistans Prime Minister Liaqat Ali

Khan demanding Bangla to be the state language o Pakistan. Due to his role inthe language movement he was arrested three times. On January 11, 2012, hewas arrested on the charges o war crimes in 1971. http://ghulamazam.net

Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, 70, is the current President o Jamaat-e-IslamiBangladesh. He served as Minister o Agriculture and Industry. (Oct. 2001 toOct. 2006) Previously, in 1991, he was elected as a Member o Parliament andwas Jamaats Parliamentary Party leader until 1994. He supported keeping Paki-stan united. He was arrested on May 4, 2011, by the controversial court that hasbeen criticized heavily by all international human rights organizations.

Tere are ten other leaders o Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP who are acing the con-troversial court, where Awami Leagues politically appointed judges are handingout death sentences without any due process. http://tinyurl.com/a5yg6z

If cool headsdont prevail,Dhakacould dissolveinto uncontrolledviolence.


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Sister Ayeshas photo was taken whenshe was being rejected by Bangladesh.Her husband was killed by Burmeseorces and, when she arrived on acrowded boat, she was pushed back tothe sea by Bangladeshi orces. Most othese rejected reugees cannot go backto Burma, since they have been deniedcitizenship papers in thier own ancestrahome since 1982. Many Rohingyas aredying at sea, wandering in unsuitableboats, looking or reuge in any countrypossible. Hundreds o them die at sea.

Seven Things

We Can Do Today

To Save Lives in Bangladesh

Sheikh MujibGave AmnestyReconciliation, Not Re-venge, is the Way Forward

While Bangladeshis are ght-ing over the war crimes, theounding ather o Bangaldesh,Sheikh Mujib, declared anamnesty or the suspected warcriminals. He said:

I believe that the brokers,who assisted the Pakistanisduring the liberation war hasrealized their faults. I hopethey will involve themselvesin the development of thecountry forgetting all theirmisdeeds. Tose who werearrested and jailed in the Col-laborator act should be freedbefore the 16 December 1974.

A total o 195 Pakistani soldiers

were charged with war crimesalong with about thirty thou-sands others as per 1973 WarCrimes Act. None o the pres-ent Jamaat leaders were on thatlist. Te 195 accused Pakistaniwar criminals were releasedby tri-party treaty betweenBangladesh, India and Paki-stan. Later on Shaikh Mujibpardoned the rest o accused inorder to build up new countryand establish peace among thepeople.

1. Make Dua

2. Contact Your Representatives

Tere are many Muslim causes. I you are already devoting time tothose causes, then we thank you and request that you rememberMuslims in Bangladesh in your dua. However, i you can pick anyo the ollowing actions, you can help us a lot.

Please make dua that Allahkeep Muslims in Bangladeshsae and together.

Ask Allah that He change thehearts o wrong doers andgive comort to the victims o

violence.

Ask Allah that He guide Ban-gladesh toward true justice,reconciliation and peace.

Please ask your imam or dua.

Express concern against theunair ribunal and Mob Jus-tice in Bangladesh by contact-

ing your Congressperson. Findyour congressman at http://www.house.gov/representa-

tives/nd/ Ask that Bangladeshbe tabled by the Foreign AairsCommittee and is made to ad-

here to human rights standardsand to stop shooting at peace-ul protestors.

4. Give This Flyer to 10 Other MuslimsWe need to inorm other

Muslims what is happenningin Bangladesh. Kindly take tencopies o this fyer and give it toother Muslims. Please dont put

it on some shel, hand distrib-

ute it aer salat or at a partyyou might attend. Tank you.

5. Connect on FacebookEvery day we put up an actionyou can take on Facebook.So please connect with us atFacebook.com/BDAlert or

daily action.With Sabr, Insha Allah, wewill be able to repel evil withsomething better.

6. Sign Up For Our NewsletterOur newsletter provides weeklyupdates on the situation oMuslims in Bangladesh as wellas an action item. Sign up atwww.BDAlert.com.

Te whole leadership o Mus-lims along with Islamic schol-ars are in prision. It will take apatient and sustained eort tohelp them go ree.

7. VolunteerWe have ve committeesworking on saving Bangladeshrom sliding backward into thepolitics o revenge and confict.Please volunteer today so that

we can use your talent in thebest possible manner. Pleasesign up at http://www.bdalert.com/volunteer.php.

www.BDAlert.comTweet with the hashtag #saveBangladesh

Dr. Muhammad Yunus, theNobel peace laureate, is theworld icon o Bangladesh butwas sacked by the currentAwami League regime romthe bank he established orpoor women, all because o one

comment he made criticizingthe government. Tis Nobellaureate is loved by everyoneexcept the current Bangla-desh government. Dr. Yunushelped millions o Bangladeshiwomen move up economi-cally by giving the world themicro nancing system. Now58 countries, including theUS, Canada, France, Nether-lands and Norway, ollow Dr.Muhammad Yunus model omicro nancing.

The Firing of Dr. Muham-mad Yunus, the Noble Lau-reate Icon of Bangladesh

Bangladeshs overall human rights situation worsened in 2012: as the government narrowed political and civil society space, shielded abusive security forces from accountability, and ignored calls to reform laws and procedures in awedwar crimes and mutiny trials. Te security forces disguised extrajudicial killings as cross-re killings. Opposition members and political activists disappeared. Flawed trials against those accused of war crimes in the 1971war or independence continued. When Rohingya refugees ed to Bangladesh from persecu-

tion in Burma, the government pushed back boatloads oreugees, insisting that it had no obligation to provide themsanctuary. http://www.hrw.org/asia/bangladesh

Human Rights Watch AboutBangladesh: Word by Word

/BDAlert

3. Give Feedback to MediaFollow the news to ensure thatyour side o the story is re-ported. I you see an article thatis biased, go to the Contact Uspage o the media outlet and

express your concern. ell usabout it so that we may ollowup with the news agency. Alsoappreciate when they writewell.

bd save bangladesh bulletin: march 12 2013

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