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Easy to Be Rich in N'ganj

Politics, crime go hand in hand

Rashidul Hasan and Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee
Growing industrialisation and business opportunities came to Narayanganj both as a blessing and a curse. As it changed the lot of many in the port town, it also paved way for the criminalisation of the politics which robbed the city of safety and peace.
With the economic activities booming, the politics of Narayanganj, which was once known for the tolerance and peaceful coexistence among the followers of different leaders and political ideolo-
gies, turned into an example of corrupt, murderous, anti-people practices in the name of politics, thanks to a crooked race for amassing wealth and gaining control of the crime world needed for that.
Situated on the bank of the Shitalakkhya river, Narayanganj became the hub of businesses and industries like hosiery, textile and jute in the mid-80's.
However, this created a scope for extortion as well. More and more people with criminal intents started getting involved in extorting businesspeople. With the land prices spiralling up as money was flowing in abundantly, criminals found land grabbing and sand lifting an easy way to make money overnight, said a cross section of city dwellers.
And that's when these criminals needed political backings to make their illegal activities hassle-free. And political leaders started patronising these people.
Narayanganj's politics was by and large fair after the Liberation War when Shamim Osman's father Shamsujjoha and Selina Hayat Ivy's father Ali Ahmed Chunka led the AL in the town. They maintained tolerance and a healthy competition and made sure that their differences would not affect the people.
Chunka, who was the municipal chairman, died in 1984, leaving Ivy to fill his shoes.
But when Shamsujjoha, who was an AL lawmaker, died in 1986, things started getting murky in Narayanganj. His sons Nasim Osman, Shamim Osman and Selim Osman did not follow the peaceful path practiced by their father.
Instead, Shamim and Nasim locked horns with Ivy, who practices a pro-people politics, according to many locals.
This rivalry took its worst turn after Shamim Osman's humiliating defeat against Ivy in the maiden Narayanganj city corporation election in 2011. This result was largely seen as a mass rejection of the Osman family's wrongdoings.
After more than two years, people of Narayanganj-5 constituency will cast ballots in the by-polls tomorrow not only to elect their MP, but also to show their support for or rejection of the Osman family, which allegedly controls the underworld of the city. Recently, Shamim Osman made headlines for allegedly helping the key accused of the sensational 7-murder case in Narayanganj, revealing the reality of the city's politics.
Shamim's brother Selim Osman is contesting the by-polls with JP ticket and the ruling AL's blessings. The parliamentary seat fell vacant after Nasim Osman, who had become the MP uncontested through the January 5 polls, died in April. Shamim became a lawmaker the same way.
Selim Osman's main opponent SM Akram is widely considered as a man with clean image. Akram was the convener of the district unit AL but quit the party after Ivy's victory in 2011.
In the run up to the by-polls, the issue of criminalisation of politics in Narayanganj has been one of the crucial issues.
The current state of politics in Narayanganj has its root in the period of Ershad's autocratic regime when Nasim Osman first introduced an armed cadre force after becoming a lawmaker from Jatiya Party in 1986 elections, locals told The Daily Star.
A rival group led by MA Sattar then emerged to counter Nasim's group at
that time. After becoming the jute minister in 1985, Sattar started jute business in Narayanganj. Since Sattar hailed from Rangpur, he needed cadres there too to compete with Nasim.
This is when politics of murder began in the city.
Though the reigns of both Nasim and Sattar came to an end with the fall of Ershad in 1990, new faces emerged to inflict the city with terror.
After a democratic government came to power in 1991, the business of jhoot (garments wastage) emerged and so did new groups to take control of the business, resulting in the rise of murders in the city.
At the beginning of the BNP regime in 1991, Shamim Osman of the AL and Muminullah David, the then joint convener of Jubo Dal's Narayanganj district unit, started to make their fortune using their political identity.
They engaged in a deadly practice of wiping out their opponents and those who would speak against their activities, said locals.
Illegal drugs trading, sand lifting and river encroachment and land grabbing spread in the city under the aegis of Shamim and David.
“A section of both Awami League and BNP built cadre forces to make fortune illegally. They used the forces to keep their illegal business running," said Anisul Islam Sunny, a BNP leader of Narayanganj who started his political career during the regime of late president Ziaur Rahman.
"And now the criminals are patronising those politicians by providing them with different undue benefits," he added.
When the AL came to power in 1996, David went into hiding and Shamim Osman allegedly became the sole controller of everything, be it politics or business or the crime world, locals alleged.
Then in 2001, BNP formed the government and it was Shamim's turn to disappear from the scene. He left the country with his family and David returned to the scene and regained the control Narayanganj's crime world with the help of the then local BNP lawmaker Giasuddin Ahmed. Gias allegedly controlled different illegal businesses, including sand extraction and river grabbing.
After David’s death in a 'shootout' with Rapid Action Battalion on November 24, 2004, Gias gained absolute control over everything.
According to locals, Gias was the prime accused in Sabbir Alam Khandaker murder case in 2001. Sabbir was a JP leader and brother of Taimur Alam Khandaker, president of BNP’s Narayanganj district.
However, his reign was over when he landed in jail during the political changeover of2007.
Once the rule of the army-backed caretaker government ended with the AL forming the government in 2009, the scenario again changed with Shamim Osman re-emerging in the forefront of the crime world of Narayanganj.