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Our dirty little secret

Zafar Soudan
March 9: Naik Subedar Mozammcl Haq reportedly commits suicide by hanging himself from a ventilator fan of a toilet on the third floor of the orchestra bhaban at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana.
March 11: The pesh imam of the central mosque al BDR headquarters in Pilkhana, Md. Siddiqur Rahman, reportedly dies of cardiac arrest during interrogation. The imam reportedly recited from the Qur'an at the start of the mutiny and was a key witness to the incident.
March 15: Sepoy Waheduzzaman reportedly hangs himself in his barracks at the BDR battalion headquarters in Joydevpur district.
March 17: Sepoy Munir Hossain dies in hospital in Dhaka after unexpectedly falling sick in unexplained circumstances at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana. Seven other BDR personnel are admitted to hospital the same day.
March 22: Lance Naik Mobarak Hossain dies at DMCH after being rushed there from Pilkhana following an interrogation session.
March 24: Sepoy Md. Mizanur Rahman (age 40) reportedly dies of cardiac arrest while stationed at the BDR battalion headquarters in Rangamati district.
March 26: Sepoy Sheikh Waliur Rahman, reportedly commits suicide by hanging himself at the BDR battalion headquarters in Sylhet district
Rahman had been present at BDR head-quarters during the mutiny but. after fleeing the scene, had returned to his battalion headquarters in Sylhet rather than Pilkhana
as he was ordered to.
There are also unconfirmed reports of two more deaths of BDR personnel, one in Baikal district and one in Jaminipara district.
1 think we could be excused for wanting to know what - in the name of truth and justice -- or, to be more blunt, in our name -is going on with respect to the post mutiny investigations and accompanying interrogations.
It is one of this country's dirty little secrets that we all know that mistreatment of those in custody and torture during interrogation, leading to serious damage and even death, happen in Bangladesh all the time.
Indeed, so routine is its incidence, as has been amply documented in reports of human rights organisations, both within the country and outside it, buttressed by reams of inarguable evidence and harrowing firsthand and second-hand testimony, that, frankly, it would be disingenuous to imagine that it was not goingon at this very moment.
Now, in the midst of the most important investigation that this country has undertaken in recent memory, the success of which has significant implications for our political stability, it is nevertheless the right time to once again raise the issue.
First, surely we can all agree that the mistreatment of prisoners and suspects is simply wrong, a moral obscenity that has no place in any civilised society. In addition, tolerance of this kind of abuse helps create a culture of violence and cruelty, and demeans any society ilia t acquiesces to it.
The second reason to be concerned about these deaths is that the post-mutiny is a very delicate situation and we are a long
way to go to restoring BDR as an effective border security force. If people are dying in custody it is certainly not going to help the process.
1 hird, this kind of thing does not, in fact, help the investigation. Statements elicited under duress are notonously unreliable and of questionable legal significance.
But for me, the deaths raise even more troubling and fundamental questions about the investigation. Is it possibly that the deceased knew too much? When a witness or a suspect dies, he takes his secrets with him to the grave. For all we know, people could be being killed to hush up the truth.
Now, we don't know for sure if any of these deaths are anything other than what they have been reported to be: suicides and cardiac arrests.
Of course, Mozammcl Haq was the proud father of two children and had never previously evinced any inclination towards suicide.
And Mobarak Hossain, it is admitted, died following an interrogation session, and his wrists, arms, knees, and shoulders
showed signs of stress and other abnormalities.
Similarly, the imam, Siddiqur Rahman, who reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest, also died after collapsing while being interrogated. He was 40 yearsold
By the same token, the reports of the BDR personnel committing suicide by hanging themselves, even if true, seem to me to be even more sinister.
It seems axiomatic that anyone taking his own life in such circumstances would know something or have something to hide, and, at the very least, one would have thought that it would have been possible to secure all witnesses and suspects in custody to ensure that they stay alive long enough to give their testimony in full
In short, these nine deaths of BDR men in custody are a blight on the critical post- 4. mutiny investigation. It is imperative that we get this investigation right and get to the bottom of the massacre. Nine deaths in custody are already nine too many.
Zafar Sobhan is Editor. Editorial & Op-Ed. The Daily Star