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KALEIDOSCOPE

Govt, should mind its citizens

Syed Fattah ul Alim
THE media footage on the excesses committed by members of the Indian BSF on a Bangladeshi national engaged in cross-border cattle trading on December 9 last year has outraged all its viewers. In fact, it was the Indian electronic
media that got it first and let the whole world know about the uncivilised manner in which their border security personnel treated a human being.
The Bangladeshi people could also have a glimpse of the kind of dehumanising torture that a prisoner of Bangladesh origin was subjected to at BSF's hand, thanks to the Indian media, especially the NDTV. We often hear of similar kinds of macabre treatment of prisoners from the Western media, as have been the cases at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Naturally, it sends chills down the viewers' spine when they see that such horrifying dramas in real life are taking place even on their doorstep. We should thank the Western media, too, for their high journalistic standards that they do not allow any scope for their governments to hide such horrifying cases of barbarity, inflicted on prisoners of any nationality, from the public and expose those before the full glare of the world.
How does the media's outlook worldwide contrast with that of politicians, especially among those holding government offices in this part of the world. They are never ready to face facts. As in the present case, we see eerily identical reactions from some government leaders on either side of the IndoBangladesh border.
Ruling Awami League's General Secretary and the Local Government Minister Syed Ashraful Islam has been unusually candid about the incident when he told journalists that he was not at all "worried" by the barbaric treatment of Habibur Rahman (22) of Chapainawabganj at the Indo-Bangladesh border. What was the reason for his strange indifference to that unspeakable incident? As quoted by the media, his logic was, "Many such incidents are taking place in the bordering areas of the countries — cattle lifting, drug smuggling and many other things. This is nothing new. These happened in the past, are happening now and will also happen in future."
Responding to another query he went on saying, "It's not right to expect that the state will put aside everything and concentrate on just these [incidents in border areas]."
What are we hearing from a public leader, as well as an important cabinet portfolio holder of Bangladesh government? Such killings by the trigger-happy BSF of our nationals, whether they are smugglers, peasants, or any other person, do not "worry" him only because those are so common! That is as good as saying that the lives of these people inhabiting the border areas can be dispensed with easily!
And if his government, as he said, cannot be expected to concentrate on such incidents, then, will he say what those other things are which happen to be more important? What is then the real job of a government, if it is not to protect the lives
and properties and look after the welfare of its citizens? And even if the ill-fated Habibir Rahman is a smuggler, does that offence deprive him of his citizenship so much that his government will look the other way when he is held prisoner by the security forces of a foreign country and is denied all his basic human rights?
The LGRD minister with his bizarre utterance has only echoed the Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while the latter was advising the Kolkata press not to blow such incidents out of proportion as those take place so often on the border!
Even if we assume that the Indian minister was trying to digest the diplomatic embarrassment that his government was faced with and said what he said to the Kolkata press as a face-saving measure, then how does one explain our LGRD minister's statement?
Did he really mean what he said? How can a government leader be so insensitive towards the lives of its citizen?
Let us look at the incident from a different perspective. Assume that the outrage had happened to an Indian citizen of the border area at the hands of our border security men. What kind of reaction could we expect from the Indian government leaders, or from their media? Could in that case any Indian leader get away with any utterance (as made by our LGRD minister) made in an indifferent and casual manner? Would the Indian people and their press allow that to go unchallenged?
Will our LGRD minister express a similar view also about the killing of another Bangladeshi youth at the Benapole border in Jessore on January 21, or some one thousand people killed by the BSF over the past one decade, according to the Human RightsWatch on the Indo-Bangladesh border?
According to an article titled, "India's border with Bangladesh," published in the prestigious international journal, The Economist in its April 18, 2011 issue is "one of the world's bloodiest borders." It is interesting to note that considering the "death toll," the Indo-Bangladesh happens to be deadlier than the "inner-German border during the cold war," the same article observes!
Probably, our LGRD minister does not think so. If this is what we get from an important government minister, then is it surprising that the reports on the extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances taking place from time to time in the country receive such lukewarm response from the government? Leaders of different political parties and various cross sections of the public have rightly expressed their disapproval of the LGRD minister's comment. An elected government worth its salt cannot dither about coming on its citizens' side when their dignity and interest are at stake on a foreign land. The border incidents like the one that happened to Habibur Rahman or to other victims of BSF firing cannot be resolved by just wishing them away. The government must strongly handle those with diplomatic acumen with India as any sovereign country would do.
The writer is Editor, Science & Life, The Dally Star. Email: sfalim.ds@gmail.com