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The tricky thirteen .

A.N.M. Nurul Haque
Thirteen is an arithmetical number, but for various reasons 13 is considered a number carrying a special significance in many cultures. It is the number of participants at the Last Supper; Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table. Since then, 13 has been regarded as an unlucky number.
But 13 was once considered a lucky number, as it was once associated with the Epiphany by Christians, the child Jesus having received the Magi on the 13th day of his life. In Judaism, 13 signifies the age at which a boy becomes mature.
The fear of the number 13 is termed triskaidekaphobia. The 13th of a month is likewise ominous, particularly when it falls on a Friday, in some English speaking cultures, Sweden, Russia and Germany, and on Tuesday in the Greek and Spanish speaking world.
Some airplanes skip a raw 13, going straight from 12 to 14. Some streets do not contain a house number 13. Some skyscrapers have resorted to skipping the 13th floor by numbering it as either 12a or 14b. In many cul-
tures, getting married on any day of the week that falls under number 13 is highly discouraged.
The Apollo 13 spacecraft malfunctioned after being launched on April 11 at 13.13 CST, imperilling its crew and being forced to return to earth without landing on the moon. After 13 years of being the richest man in the world, Microsoft Corporation's chairman Bill Gate lost this title, according to the Forbes magazine's 2008 list of world's billionaires.
In a British study published in the British Medical Journal in 1993, a comparison was made between the ratios of traffic volume to number of accidents on two different days, i.e. Friday 6th and Friday 13th. It was concluded that, though the traffic volume was less on Friday 13th, the number of hospitalisations due to accidents was more.
In numerology, the number 12 is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the 12 months of the year, 12 signs of the zodiac, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 Apostles of Jesus, etc., whereas the number 13 is considered irregular; transgressing this completeness.
Ten special courts set up at the MP hostel In Jatlya Sangsad Bhaban complex to try corruption and extortion cases filed against detained political bigwigs have so far jailed 108 persons, including 82 involved in politics, and ordered confiscation of their properties worth around Tk. 300 crore.
Out of 108 convicts, 50 belong to BNP (party leaders and their relations), 27 to Awami League (leaders and their relations), one each from Jamaat-e-Islaml, Islami Oikya Jote and a faction of Jatiya Party, 15 businessmen, 3 former bureaucrats, 4 former police officersand the rest arc from other professions.
Of the AL camp, Mofazzal Hossain Chowhury Maya, the former state minister for shipping, Abul Hasnat Abdullah, former chief whip, Sheikh Helal, former lawmaker and a cousin of AL chief Sheikh Hasina, Haji Mohammad Selim and Mokbul Hossain, former lawmakers and Mokbul's son Masudur Rahman, were sentenced to 13 years imprisonment each, by the special courts for amassing wealth illegally and concealing wealth information to ACC. On the other hand, Rupa Chowdhury, wife of Sheikh Helal, Gulshan Ara, wife of Haji Selim, Fatema Tahera Khanom, wife of Mokbul Hossain and Salma Rahman, wife of Mokbul's son Masudur Rahman, were jailed for three years, as they were found guilty of aiding and abetting their husbands in accumulating the wealth.
The special courts sentenced BNP leader and former minister Shahjahan Siraj, former stale ministers Shahjahan Omar and Amanullah Aman, former lawmakers Naser Rahman and Manjurul Ahsan Munshi to!3 years' imprisonment each, for amassing wealth illegally and concealing information about wealth from the ACC.
Rabeya Siraj, wife of Shahjahan Siraj, Sabera Aman wife of Amanullah Aman, Mehzabin Farzana wife of Shahjahan Omar, were also jailed for three years for abetting their husbands in accumulating the wealth and keeping it in their possession.
Of the bureaucrats, former member of National Board of Revenue ATM Sarwar Hossain, former power secretary ANH Akhter Hossain and former PSC
member Mahfuzur Rahman were sentenced to 13 years imprisonment each for amassing wealth illegally and concealing wealth Information. Sarwar's wife Nazma Sarwar and Akhter's wife Nazneen Akhter are also among those who were jailed for three years for aiding and abetting their husbands in accumulating the wealth.
Among the CBA leaders, BM Bakir Hossain of Sonali Bank and Shahjahan Miah of Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board were jailed for 13 years each, for amassing illegal wealth and concealing information in their wealth statements. Bakir's wife Nazma Hossain was also jailed for three years for abetting her husband in amassing wealth illegally.
Sorry, I am not going to bore anymore the esteemed readers of this piece by furnishing a long list of convicts who were handed a prison sentence of 13 years each. I am not also questioning the verdicts delivered by the learned judges of the special courts set up to try the high-profile corruption suspects.
What has really made me concerned is the ominous number 13. Astrologers believe that some numbers are ruled by a celestial body in the solar system, and these numbers have a great influence on human life. The number 13 -- sometimes amusing, sometimes affrightingis a rambling assemblage of mythical and mystical events.
One fails to understand as to how most of the political bigwigs were sentenced to 13 years Imprisonment each, irrespective of their culpabilities. Such a phenomenon only (ends to add credence to an esoteric relation- ship between the tricky number 13 and verdicts delivered to those high profile accused.
There are many numbers in the Bible, especially In the book of Daniel and Revelation, that contain symbolic significance A well-known example of Bible numerology is 666, the number of the beast. But simulation would be there, if the books on judiciary contained the tricky number 13, as for handing the imprisonment to the high profile corrupts.
I am not really a believer of superstition, and 1 always laughed away symbolic significance of any number, other than of Its mathematical connotations. But raising public suspicion about the glimmering future of these high-profile corruption cases has made me worried like many others that the tricky number 13 may once again play again upon the helpless people of this country.
Public perception is that the political bigwigs, who were handed prison sentence for 13 years each, apparently irrespective of their culpabilities,twill come out of jail or return home (many of them are leading a lavish life abroad) decked with garlands, either by virtue of change in the political landscape or by appealing to the higher courts, and will reinforce their tyranny.
The tricky number 13 then will have its greatest triumph against the ill-fated people of Bangladesh, and the crusade on corruption will result in the litigation game that we have witnessed many times during the past regimes.
AX Nurul Haque c a columrist of Tne to Star.