Fishing in Troubled Waters...

...or using the clarion call of "human rights" for political purposes.

I know I've been heaping my never-ending supply of wrath and disdain mainly on the CTG, but that doesn't mean I don't have some to spare for other political players. With BNP lying relatively low (or is that "supine"?), I present to you my target for the day: Mr. Sajeeb Wazed, the first Bangladeshi politician on the blogosphere.

Writing last week about the student riots, Mr. Wazed wasted no time in appropriating this as a pro-Awami League Democracy movement, to which he gave his blessings. All well and good and old. I will simply note that there were no spontaneous protests at the university when Mrs. Hasina Wazed was arrested, except for some DUTA fossils with their black badges. Something to think about.

A few days later, he wrote about the response of the authorities to the riots, reproducing the Human Rights Watch statement on the current situation. This is in keeping with his consistent portrayal of the CTG as the PRIME CAUSE for the poor human rights situation in Bangladesh. The HRW statement is obviously a bit more honest:

"Some kinds of violations, such as torture and extrajudicial killings in the form of alleged "crossfire killings," were serious problems before the caretaker government came to power, and have continued under its administration."

And for those who think that this is referring to the BNP-Jamaat alone, let me present some excerpts from Amnesty International reports during the 1996-2001 era. Since Mr. Wazed himself is talking about torture and treatment in police custody, the excerpts are limited to mostly those issues. The entirety of these reports are worth perusing for the non-partisan Bangladeshi, but be warned: it's gut-wrenching stuff.

AI report 1998: "Several prisoners of conscience were among scores of political activists detained without charge or trial under the Special Powers Act (SPA). Police ill-treated demonstrators. Torture, including rape, was widespread and reportedly led to at least two deaths in custody....

"Several prisoners of conscience were among scores of people detained under the SPA which permits detention without charge or trial for an indefinite period. They included four senior members of the opposition BNP who were detained in March before a nationwide general strike. The four were held without charge until the High Court ordered their release in April...

"At least two people died in custody, reportedly following torture. One of them, Nuruzzaman Sharif, was arrested in June for illegally entering the Prime Minister's office in Dhaka. He died in police custody two days later. A post-mortem reportedly showed injuries consistent with torture...

"Ill-treatment by police continued to be reported. Scores of demonstrators were beaten by police during a number of political rallies organized by opposition parties throughout the year...

AI report 1999: "Scores of political activists were detained without charge or trial under the Special Powers Act (spa). Torture, including rape, in custody was widespread and led to at least one death...

(TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE) "In October Bangladesh acceded to international human rights instruments, including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...

"The spa, which allows detention without charge or trial for an indefinite period, continued to be used to detain scores of political activists, often during demonstrations. Most were released after several days or weeks. Several people were reportedly arrested at the instigation of politically influential individuals on false charges. In January, for example, three men were arrested following an altercation with the son of a government minister in a street in Dhaka, the capital. The minister's son threatened to punish the three men and they were later arrested at their homes by police accompanied by relatives of the minister's son. While in custody the officer in charge of the police station reportedly allowed the elder brother of the government minister's son and two other armed men to enter the room where the three men were detained and beat them. In February the three men were released after the Home Minister withdrew the spa detention order and dropped the charges...

"Torture in police custody remained widespread. In July a student, Shamim Reza Rubel, was allegedly beaten to death in police custody five hours after being arrested at his home in Dhaka. According to the autopsy report he suffered a brain haemorrhage. Following an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department, 13 policemen and a local Awami League leader were charged in connection with his death. A judicial inquiry into the case confirmed that Shamim Reza Rubel's death was not accidental, although the full findings of the commission were not made public by the end of the year...

"At least three cases of rape in custody by the security forces were reported, in addition to the rape of a 10-year-old girl by an off-duty policeman in April in Dhaka...

" Throughout the year Amnesty International expressed concern about torture in police custody and urged the government to take steps to eradicate the practice...

AI report 2000: "Torture and ill-treatment by police
Disproportionate use of force by the police against demonstrators continued to be reported throughout 1999. Scores of people were injured when police indiscriminately beat anti-government protesters or journalists covering the hartals. Torture, consisting mostly of beatings by the police, was reportedly routine in all areas of the country. It was used to extract bribes or information, or to inflict punishment on detainees. At least three people were reported to have died in custody as a result of torture...

"Custodial violence against women continued to be reported, with at least three cases of women being raped by police..."

Three reports out of five highlight the fact that the same "remand" that he now deplores was in force when the Awami League was in power. Will someone from within the party ask him why they did not dismantle that culture then when they had the power to do so?