We will not let them forget you

Artwork by Arif Haq

Hana Shams Ahmed

[THE DAILY STAR, 12 June  2009]

SHE was only 22 years old, a very vocal woman activist. An activist from a community that is treated by the Bangladesh state as second-class citizens. Someone who did not fear the most venerated institution in our country. A combination of all these elements made her a chillingly vulnerable person, a target for “The Vanishing” (i.e. those who are made to disappear without a trace).

Who Will Speak for the BDR?

Hana Shams Ahmed highlights legitimate issues that disappeared in the massacre’s aftermath

[FORUM magazine, THE DAILY STAR, April 2009]

“The subaltern uprising story has paled away as threats to the nation’s territorial sovereignty have become clearer”. — Rahnuma Ahmed, New Internationalist (UK), March 17

Six weeks into the bloody carnage at Pilkhana, black banners are still hanging outside the BDR grounds. This is the site where the bodies of 74 people, including 57 military officers, were recovered from mass graves– a political and emotional shock from which the nation is yet to recover.

Two of the most noted army officer victims were director general of BDR Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed and Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, the founding director of the intelligence wing of RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) who led the operation to arrest JMB militant leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman.

Public perception first focused on the initial reports on day one about a rebellion centred over pay, rations, corruption, and lack of opportunities. But by day two, public outcry broke out as reports about savage killings started coming out. The “Proletariat Revolution” theory had initially been facilitated by interviews with rebels in orange and red masks, expressing their pent-up resentment over low salaries and alleged corruption in the BDR upper-tier.

Freeing Bangladesh from Extremism

Terrorism has crossed transatlantic boundaries. The aggressive religious bigots now hold hostage international politics. Whoever may be pulling the strings, fanaticism has already perforated our borders and done much damage in the last few years. Whoever comes to power through this election, must tackle all extremist powers working within the country. To achieve that, the party in power itself must remove all communal elements from political activities.

Hana Shams Ahmed

[STAR magazine, 26 December, 2008]

A Google search on The Daily Star’s website for ‘Sector Commander’s Forum’ (SCF) gives 87 results. Ever since its formation late last year, this group has been making media appearances (very well covered by the news reports, features and op-eds in DS) with two major demands — a trial of the 1971 war criminals and the barring of the known war criminals from taking part in the upcoming national elections. Very reasonable demands. After all isn’t it contradictory for a person who opposed the formation of the nation to sit in the parliament of that same nation?

What will happen after Sajek?

by Hana Shams Ahmed
[Daily Star, May 16, 2008]

A burnt down home of a Pahari victim in Sajek union

On April 20 an act of extreme violence took place across seven villages in Chittagong Hill Tracts — Nursery Para, Baibachara, Purba Para, Nangal Mura, Retkaba, Simana para and Gangaram Mukh — of Sajek union under Baghaichari upazila (sub-district) in Rangamati district. Houses of villagers were burnt to the ground in the darkness of the night. The houses belonged to both Paharis and Bangali settlers, although Pahari victims say the majority were Pahari houses. Bangali settlers say the opposite.

A Place to Call Home

by Hana Shams Ahmed
[Daily Star, February 29, 2008]

A young girl writes a poem where she asks a simple question — one which no one can answer. She asks, “Who am I?” Her forefathers were born in India, they immigrated to Pakistan, she was born in Bangladesh. India has given up on them a long time back, Bangladesh will not accept them as the children of the land and Pakistan will not take them back. She says that she has many names ‘Bihari’, ‘Maura’, ‘Muhajir’, ‘Non-Bangalee’, ‘Marwari’, ‘Urdu-speaker’, ‘Refugee’, and ‘Stranded Pakistani’. But she only wants one: human. This is the state of being of the 1.6 lakh camp-based Urdu-speaking community in Bangladesh.

Historic Peace in Jeopardy?

by Hana Shams Ahmed
[Daily Star, November 9, 2007]

After more than two decades of bloodshed the signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord, was in many ways a breakthrough for all the people of Bangladesh. The 25 years of armed conflict between the Bangladesh Army and the Shanti Bahini that wreaked havoc on the lives and livelihoods of the serene hill people came to a stop. Most of those who had migrated to neighbouring countries in fear of their lives came back and reunited with their friends and families. Seven hundred and thirty nine members of the Jana Sanghhati Samity (JSS), of which Shanti Bahini had been the military wing, headed by their leader Jotirindriyo Bodhipriyo Larma (alias Shantu Larma) ceremonially surrendered their arms to the government of Bangladesh. Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban– three of the most beautiful districts of the country finally slept in peace.

Under The Shadow of Control

by Hana Shams Ahmed
[Daily Star, July 6, 2007]

“I was in tremendous pain, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t walk, I needed four people to carry me.”

“At first they tied both of Choles’ hands and feet then they tortured the soles of his feet and all over his body. They unzipped his pants and attached pliers to his penis and to all of his fingers and toes. They put candle wax on the wounds and then they put hot water mixed with dried chili and salt and poured it all over his body and through his nose and ears.”

Nightmare in Modhupur

by Hana Shams Ahmed
[Daily Star, March 30, 2007]

Family members of Choles Ritchil break down after receiving his dead body

He was a brave man. He stood up for the rights of his people whenever the need came. When the Bangladesh government decided to go ahead with its proposed Eco Park project in 2000, putting the lives of thousands of indigenous people at risk and threatening the ecological balance of the area, he took a stand against it and protested. When greedy, materialistic forest officials, who had anything but the interest of the forest at heart, started felling trees in the darkness of the night and selling them off for personal profit, he jumped on them and refused to let them get away with it. He loved the Modhupur Forest, his ancestral home and he loved his people, the small minority of Garos and dedicated his life for the establishment of their rights.