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).

The headlines in Daily Star and many other newspapers followed — “DU students urge government to rescue Kalpana Chakma” (The Daily Star, July 1, 1996), “Mahila Parishad urges govt to rescue Kalpana” (The Daily Star, July 2, 1996), “Abduction of Kalpana, Home ministry probe demanded” (The Daily Star, July 5, 1996), “Int’l appeal for Kalpana’s release” (The Daily Star, July 10, 1996), “HR bodies urge Home Ministry to rescue Kalpana” (The Daily Star, July 15, 1996), “Kalpana issue: 24 Infantry Div terms it a conspiracy against Army” (The Daily Star, July 24, 1996), “Where’s Kalpana?” (The Daily Star, July 24, 1996). 13 years after her abduction, there is still no answer to the question “Where is Kalpana?”

In a report by Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC), executive director Advocate KM Huq Kaiser claimed, without giving any evidence, that Kalpana was actually living in Tripura, India (The Daily Star, July 9, 1996). The report also claimed that the army officer accused of leading the abduction was “busy doing other duties” at the time of the incident.

Those who compiled this questionable BHRC report never talked to the two main witnesses to the abduction, Kalpana’s two brothers. Very soon, claims of sighting of yet another Kalpana Chakma turned up, in the form of Tripti Begum (The Daily Star, July 28, 1996) in Jhenidah. But this claim was also debunked.

While these false “sightings” were going on, and under increasing national and international pressure from human rights groups, the government was finally forced to form an enquiry committee in September 1996 to investigate the whereabouts of Kalpana. Interestingly, the report of the enquiry committee was never made public, and remains as elusive as it was when it was handed over to the then government. The person(s) responsible for the alleged abduction continue to enjoy complete impunity under every political party that has come to power.

Although the Awami League was in power in 1996, and they seemed to have a very pro-CHT attitude, nothing positive ever came out of the investigations taken under their authority. According to the accounts given by her mother and brother, Kalpana was taken away in the very early hours of the morning of June 12, 1996. This was the day of the national elections, which was won for the first time by the Hasina-led Awami League government. With their 2008 re-election under a promise for a transparent judicial system, we can perhaps re-ignite a hope for justice.

The post-1996 government showed political acumen by signing the 1997 CHT Peace Accord the following year, and managing to end the guerrilla war in the region. Unfortunately, although Pahari guerrilla leader Shantu Larma did lay down arms and sign the treaty, most of the clauses in the treaty remain unfulfilled until today.

In its 2008 election manifesto, the AL has promised to fully implement the CHT Peace Accord, and Deputy Leader of the Parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury was made chairperson of the national committee for implementation of the Accord.

Kalpana never witnessed the signing of the Peace Accord. Her life was cut short much too early. But while she lived, as Organising Secretary of the Hill Women’s Federation (HWF), she actively fought for the rights of Pahari people. Sexual crimes against Bangladeshi women are high, but Pahari women have always been more vulnerable. The HWF was primarily formed to resist rape and sexual crimes against Pahari women.

Kalpana’s diary, along with newspaper clippings and activists’ articles, was published as a book ‘Kalpana Chakma’s Diary’. Her very articulate memoirs reveal the struggle of the Pahari people under government and military occupation. In her writings she reveals her tough opposition to the patriarchal society and her abhorrence of living under military and racial domination. She talks about equal participation of Bengali and Chakma men and women in the democratic political process. She describes how society has created a structure where a woman taking a stance is always seen as a disturbance.

Each year, on June 12, there are rallies, discussions and human chains to demand justice for Kalpana Chakma, and to call for implementation of the Peace Accord. This year will be similar, but will the protests by heard by the government, at last? Kalpana, at a very young age, had shown great political acumen and leadership qualities. She had the potential to pierce the veil separating the people from their rulers. Therefore, she had to be disappeared before she could make any “trouble.” Her abductors were successful and were never punished. How much longer will we continue to let the perpetrators get away with this crime? It is still in our hands.

Hana Shams Ahmed

It was the previous Awami League government in 1997 that signed the historic CHT Accord in 1997, promising to end 25 years of guerrilla war in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Unfortunately the government-encouraged settlement of poor Bangalis into the area, started in the 1980s, has never stopped therefore destabilising the situation 11 years after the signing. Most of the key provisions of the accord remained unimplemented in the last decade. The newly elected AL government has clearly mentioned in its election manifesto that they will take steps to fully implement the Peace Accord.

Hana Shams Ahmed

[STAR magazine, THE DAILY STAR, February 27, 2009]
Chittagong’s face-lifted Shah Amanat International Airport boasts ceramic artwork of various tourism selling points of Bangladesh. One of them shows a group of quaint-looking Pahari girls doing a traditional dance. Next to it is another Pahari girl in a traditional pinon picking leaves from a hill in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The depiction of Pahari girls as part of our cultural heritage has always been used to attract national and international tourists. Unfortunately how the common Pahari girls are living their lives seems to be hardly of concern. The Chittagong Hill Tracts is the only place in the entire country (except for the Cantonment areas) where the army still remains with nearly six brigades of approximately 35,000 army personnel.

The Awami League government in 1997 signed the historic Peace Accord with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), which was nationally and internationally welcomed as a bold step to bring peace to the disputed land of the hill districts. Unfortunately despite being in effect for more than 11 years many of the most crucial clauses in the accord have remained unimplemented and tension between the Bangalis and the indigenous communities still remains high.

“I can’t take any of my products to the market in Dighinala, I can’t take my children to school,” says Moina Chakma (names have been changed to protect identity), “they have stopped all the public transport here.” Even if she does take her agricultural products to Dighinala where she can get a better price she alleges that she is barred from selling them. She is also stopped from bringing products from Dighinala and she can only do so with the help of Bangalis. According to Moina and others in the area about 70 to 80 Bangali families have been indiscriminately settled in the area. But they also expressed hope at the arrival of the Awami League government. “We want peace,” say the people, “we voted for this government because we think they can bring peace for us.”

Moina is a resident of Gongaram village in Sajek, a place that not too long ago came under attack from unidentified assailants and the residents are still recovering from the destruction. Late at night on April 20, 2008 about 200 Bangali marouders came and set fire to 77 houses of Paharis and 15 khupri homes of Bangalis in seven villages across Sajek. Some conscientious Bangalis of Baghaihat had warned the Paharis about the attacks from beforehand so the residents were prepared but because the army was allegedly behind the attackers there was not much the residents could do. The vast Sajek Union is located at one end of Rangamati District, and mainly comprises of reserved forests. Many Paharis have lived in this area for generations in accordance with their customary norms and without any official title deeds. Before the incident of April 20 there had been rising tension in the area for some time because the Bangalis had been erecting houses near to the Pahari’s houses.

Daney Chakma also has the same complaint. “When we go to sell our products we are stopped,” he says, “if we try to protest they call us terrorists.” Referring to the International CHT Commission’s first visit to the area in August he also said, “your team came here once before, and you’re here again but our condition is still the same.” Daney also said that he had to go into hiding after speaking to the press as a false case was lodged against him. “All I did was speak out against the atrocities against our people.”

There had been allegations that right after the newly formed CHT Commission’s first visit to the area in August, settlers backed by security forces carried out an attack on the village of Gangaram Mukh in Sajek under Rangamati district on 9 August. Many villagers alleged that the security forces and settlers started avenging those Paharis who had spoken to the delegation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission who visited the three districts of Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban.

Since August 2007 Buddhist monks in a meditation centre in Sadhana Tila under Dighinala, which comprises of 300 acres of land, have been ordered to leave in order to settle over 800 illegal plain settlers’ families. The Jumma people refused to comply but the illegal settlers have already been cutting the jungle around the Buddhist temple for constructing houses.

Bimol Anondo Mohathero, the head monk of the Maitripur Buddhist Meditation Centre in Itchori also talks about other attacks on the temples and meditation centres. A notice has been allegedly been issued by the authorities to stop the construction of the temple in Itchori. When the temple authorities applied for registration the local authorities multiplied the registration charge a couple of hundred times.

During the middle of 2008 a non-government organisation named Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP) started occupying the land of the indigenous Tripura community at Tongo Jiripara of Soroi union in the Bandarban district. DORP allegedly set fire on orchards around 35 acres after cutting its trees planted by the indigenous villagers. DORP claimed that the lands had been leased out to the DORP. However, the authorities at the Bandarban Hill District Council (HDC) said that there is no opportunity to give leasing out any land as per CHT Peace Accord.

The recent case of environmental activist Ranglai Mro also shows how vulnerable the Paharis are. In an interview with Prothom Alo journalist Tipu Sultan he describes in detail how he was taken and tortured by the army. Even after being released on bail he was placed on bar fetters while being severely ill in hospital. Ranglai had been campaigning on the issue of forcible displacement of villagers in Bandarban. He was arrested on February 23, 2007. He was hospitalised the next day in a serious condition, and an FIR was lodged against him under the Arms Act. A trial was held under the Emergency Powers Rules 2007. The Court convicted him and sentenced him to serve 10 years and 7 years imprisonment. He was released on bail early this year. The bar fetters were only taken off after interventions by Ain o Salish Kendra and the National Human Rights Commission.

The poor landless Bangali families who have been settled in the hill tracts living in Sajek are simply caught in the middle. Organised groups of Bangalis complain that some Pahari terrorist groups are not letting them live in peace. Some have been living there since the early 1980s, brought to live there under the strategic plan of Ziaur Rahman’s regime some want to live securely in their homes in the CHT, but an overwhelming number of people want to go back to their original homes in places outside the CHT. Ruhul Amin complains that he has not been getting any of the ration that the government promised his family for months and has not even been able to send his children to school because public transports have been stopped from going to Gongaram.

It is clear that until the land dispute is settled there will be no peace in the hill districts. It was particularly the incident in Sajek brought to the forefront the urgency and sensitivity of the land settlement issue. And Sajek it seems, is still a balloon gathering air, and ready to burst once again. There is still high tension among both the Bangalis and the Paharis and all the trouble is centred around land rights. According to UNHCR about 60,000 indigenous people were internally displaced between 1992 and 1997. The settlers confiscated their land and in many instances obtained false official certificates of ownership.

During a meeting with the CHT Commission headed by Lord Eric Avebury, the Chief of the Army stated that the Army is present in the hill tracts region to provide health care services and undertake other development projects. In an article published by Probe magazine, Lt. Col. Md. Nazrul Islam quotes the Army Chief (during the signing of the Accord) Lt. Gen. Mahbubur Rahman (retd), MP, saying about the peace accord: “The army is part of the peace process. We will continue in our role to work with the people to establish permanent peace.” But this directly contradicts what is in the accord itself. What the Army Engineer Construction Battalion has done is constructed various roads throughout the hill tracts region. According to the UN Commission on Human Rights these road-building activities have little economic value but are of immense military strategic value to the army.

Article 17a of the Peace Accord says, ‘After signing of the agreement between the government and the Jana Sanghati Samiti and immediately after the return of the JSS members to normal life, all the temporary camps of military, Ansar and Village Defence Party shall be taken back to permanent installations except the border security force (BDR) and permanent cantonments (three at the three District Headquarters and Alikadam, Ruma and Dighinala) by phases and with this in view, the time limit shall be determined. In case of deterioration of the law and order situation, natural calamity and such other works the army can be deployed under the civil administration like all other parts of the country as per relevant laws and rules.’

Article 18.2 of Awami League’s Election manifestation says, ‘The 1997 Chittagong Hill Tract Peace Accord will be fully implemented. More efforts will be directed toward the development of underdeveloped tribal areas, and special programmes on priority basis will be taken to secure their rights and to preserve their language, literature, culture, and unique lifestyles.’

Unfortunately at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva the Foreign Minister did not reiterate this commitment.

After Bangladesh’s review a member of the CHT Commission, Lee Swepston expressed his surprise. “When the Foreign Minister presented the government’s report, it did include some reference to indigenous people, but she did not make any mention of what had been going on or indeed what the government’s plans were in the hill tracts.”

The government has said that the problems of the CHT are political and not military and therefore the solution should also be political. As such the government should immediately hand over the development projects to the civil administration, which also means making public the exact nature of Operation Uttaran. Many of the human rights abuses taking place in the hill tracts are directly linked to the land disputes. It is essential for the land commission to be established. There are many cases of human rights violations which deserve redress but the Pahari people have complained that most of their cases are not even registered by the police. Legal services must be provided to the people living in the hills. As tension intensifies in the area it is crucial that the government starts the process as soon as possible.

Zahedul I Khan

Hana Shams Ahmed

[THE DAILY STAR, May 19, 2009]

JUST like it took the rape of three women students at Jahangirnagar University (JU) to recognise what an extreme form sexual harassment had taken at the universities it took the suicide of Art College student Simi Banu to bring to mass consciousness the extreme forms “eve teasing” has now taken in this country. And until the defiant JU students took to the streets in 1998, the mere concept of “sexual harassment” in educational institutions was only spoken about in hushed tones among girl students at the university halls.

But now it’s finally here — institutional recognition of sexual harassment. 11 years after the JU case, and many hundreds of silenced and vocal cases in between, the High Court has directed the government to make a sexual harassment law based on the guidelines drawn up by lawyers and human rights activists.

The effort by BNWLA lawyers to fight this case was very commendable. The news got even better when the High Court made another positive ruling in another case being fought by human rights organisations and eminent citizens — directing neutral authorities to re-open the sexual harassment case concerning a teacher of the drama department of JU.

Many of us never accepted the absurd reasons given by the JU university authorities for exonerating the teacher in the first place. The charges of sexual harassment filed against him by four girl students (and many others corroborating), the authorities found to be not “beyond reasonable doubt.” There were no eyewitnesses, they claimed. Those who were placed in mediating positions by the university authorities actually expected a teacher to carry out a sexually intimidating act in front of eyewitnesses!

Formal, written complaints from four girls who were putting their academic career on the line in such an unreceptive university environment should be substantial enough evidence against a person in authority to carry out an investigation. After the student campaign to get justice in the JU case failed, one of the girls who was very actively involved attempted suicide, but the authorities continued to show indifference.

Thankfully, the High Court decision negates the university authority’s wall of silence and non-cooperation. The court recognised that in cases of sexual harassment it is not always required to prove allegations. Although a group of JU teachers in collaboration with human rights activists had drawn up a set of guidelines against sexual harassment, they were never adopted by the authorities. Now, the guidelines accepted by the High Court will be applicable to all educational institutions, workplaces and even public places until a formal law is passed. There will also be a five-member harassment complaint committee headed by a woman at every workplace and institution to investigate allegations of harassment of women.

In Bangladesh more women are visible in the public sphere than ever before. And it is not just men who preach obscurantism under the veil of religion who are uncomfortable with this visibility. Supposedly progressive men who have gone through the mainstream education system and worked in supposedly progressive institutions too get uncomfortable and uncooperative at women’s presence in places formerly dominated by men.

This was recently illustrated in a meeting which discussed what problems are faced by women in work environments. These women complained that men who work with them form groups to bully them. From making sexually suggestive comments, to watching pornography in the women’s presence, it has all been experienced. One woman complained that she would often arrive at work and turn on her computer to find that someone had replaced her wallpaper with a nude woman’s photo.

Drishtipat recently organised an event, Ey Poth Amadero, to raise awareness about eve teasing in public places. The JU students and a section of the progressive teachers have been writing and campaigning against sexual harassment for years. The two High Court judgements are just a first step against a form of exploitation that has been put up with for too long.

Now come the challenges of next steps. How quickly will the government pass the comprehensive laws required by these court decisions? How many educational institutions and workplaces will abide by these guidelines? Will employers and administrative authorities be open to recognise this abuse that is all-pervasive? The acid test of the success of this HC directive will only come in its actual implementation.

Tanvir Murad Topu

Hana Shams Ahmed talks to Sara Hossain about domestic violence

[FORUM magazine, THE DAILY STAR, May 2009]

In December of last year, a case was brought to court by 33-year-old Dr. Humayra Abedin, with the help of human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), against her own family, for confining her against her will.

She had come to Dhaka in August of that year after being told that her mother was seriously ill. As soon as she arrived home, her parents hid her passport and plane ticket and held her captive. She was forced to take mood stabilisers and anti-psychotic drugs until she confirmed that she would not be returning to the UK, and would give up her job and disassociate herself from everybody she knew there.

On November 14 she was allegedly forced to get married to someone against her will. There were repeated attempts on the part of her parents to not comply with court orders. They only responded after the court said it would hold them in contempt if they failed to show up. They kept claiming that Humayra was mentally ill therefore unable to appear.

After a fierce legal battle and after the High Court in England also passed orders requesting the co-operation of the Bangladesh judiciary and the authorities, her parents finally allowed Humayra to come to the Bangladesh High Court. Two judges interviewed Humayra in person and ordered her to be released and she immediately returned to the UK later that month.

Unfortunately this is not a unique case. What was different here was the fact that the woman came from an economically liberated background, where such things as forced confinement or forced marriage are much less common. But it’s also perhaps because of her economic/social background that the amount of violence perpetrated on her became public.

Other stories of family violence to force younger women to comply to things against their will usually stays within the four walls of the home. There are many other cases of psychological torment carried out by close family members, which are not even recognised by the present legal structure.

Cruelty from in-laws, bullying by parents and older family members, and other forms of family intimidation may not necessarily require legal redress, but the victim may require intervention of a third party.

According to ASK there were only 608 reported cases of domestic violence in 2008.1 But most of these cases never make it to any police station, so the statistics from ASK are only a section of the reported cases. In 2001 World Health Organization (WHO) carried out a cross-sectional survey2 of 1,603 women in Dhaka and 1,527 women in the rural area of Matlab. 40 percent of the women in Dhaka and 42 percent of those in Matlab reported physical violence by their husbands.

A potential draft law on domestic violence was prepared by the Law Commission in 2006.3 Various organisations who’ve worked with women and girls looked at the problems with the legal system and the difficulties with accessing remedies, and specifically the difficulties with getting protection for women and girls who were being subjected to continuous acts of violence.

ASK and the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA) drafted separate Domestic Violence Bills. Mahila Parishad also worked on proposed reforms of all the family laws — to state clear ground for divorce, separation etc in cases of domestic violence. Different organisations have worked for many years on supporting women who had undergone different aspects of domestic violence.

A group of about 35 organisations, the Coalition of Voices against Domestic Violence, then came together to review the Law Commission’s proposed Domestic Violence Act. They have suggested detailed changes, and already submitted their proposals for consideration to the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs. Sara Hossain, who fought the case for Dr. Humayra Abedin and who is also an active member of ASK, speaks to Forum’s Hana Shams Ahmed about the importance of, and need for, such an act.

HSA: There already are various criminal laws that can be used to protect a woman from violence against her. Why do we need a separate Domestic Violence Act?
SH: Many acts that are considered to be domestic violence, for example beating, assault, grave hurt, forced confinement, are of course ordinary criminal offences under the Penal Code. But, unfortunately, the law enforcement agencies are often very reluctant to treat such acts as criminal offences when they occur within the domestic sphere, where both the victim and the perpetrator are members of the same family.

There’s also an existing special law on violence against women, the Nari Nirjaton Ain 2000. But this only addresses cases of domestic violence in a very limited way. We have focused a lot on stranger violence, we haven’t really focused on violence that comes from a member of the family. These are also very difficult to confront in the society which is very family-oriented.

For example, for any acts of violence, including the demand for dowry, you can prosecute under that law. Or if such acts involve acid throwing, then you can prosecute under that law. You can have them [the perpetrators] tried, punished, and imprisoned. If the form of domestic violence is for example forcible sexual relations with an under-aged bride (16 years old or under) then a case of marital rape can be brought against the husband. But these are very limited kinds of possibilities that exist — also, all are about taking the perpetrator to court and prosecuting them. They don’t really deal with the issues of immediate protection or security for the victim or all the issues that arise after the incident of violence. It does not address everyday form of domestic violence.

According to the research in this area, what women want is immediate safety and security, and an end to the violence, and then accompanying that, an opportunity to work out and resolve other issues, for example, child custody or maintenance expenses.

The proposed law tries to address all these issues. Most importantly, it defines domestic violence as violence that’s not just between spouses but between family members. It’s a very common misunderstanding that domestic violence is limited to that which occurs in marital relationships. This law proposes a definition that it is not just about violence on a wife by a husband but by any other family member. It also incorporates the idea of violence or intimidation by parents on children, the kind of violence, which is sadly becoming increasingly recognised as occurring in our society.

The second thing about the law proposes certain new remedies. If a complaint about domestic violence is made against somebody, the court may make an order to keep that person out of the home for a certain specified period of time, so that he cannot commit a violent act inside the home (an exclusion order).

Another proposal is for the court to grant an occupation order, allowing the person who is the victim to occupy their home. This would be a great difference from the current situation where it is the victim who is usually forced to flee her own home in search of shelter.

There are other orders that are proposed, for example, protection orders, i.e. the person who has been violent must not approach this person, must not come near this person who is a victim, in any public place either. The law also proposes that if any of these orders are violated by the person who is being violent then they could be liable to arrest. It defines domestic violence as including psychological violence, physical violence, sexual violence, and economic violence. It puts the whole emphasis on protecting the interest of the victim.

This law gives a very broad definition of “violence.” In many cases of domestic violence women are saying that they don’t necessarily want the relationship to end, but they want the violence to stop. The law seeks to address this and focuses on ending the violence and protecting the victim.

We have seen in many cases involving family members that the police are reluctant to take up a case. They also try to do the work of an informal arbiter, by trying to convince victims not to file a case because it involves members of the family and they think that such cases should be settled in their own homes instead of taking it to court. Even when a case is taken up, it turns into a long-winding process and at the end is not fruitful for the victim. How can this problem be solved?
The real problem is that the police and in some cases we find even judges may not recognise domestic violence for what it is. We do find cases where they effectively tell the victim to compromise with their family members without seeking legal refuge. I believe it is important to change that perception and while, of course, the law will clearly define what domestic violence is, what it means, and who is responsible for it, it is most important to change the perception that violence cannot occur between intimate family members. The reality is that it is precisely that intimacy which permits the violence to occur.

I believe that these efforts should be directed towards those who are in charge of applying the law. There should be clear guidelines, a checklist, of what a police officer has to do when interviewing a victim or a witness of domestic violence.

In other countries this checklist has worked very well — that when a woman has come in to make a complaint, the police officer concerned has a clear duty to primarily ensure her security and then to conduct her interview with sensitivity and with an understanding of the nature of violence that has been undergone.

It would be very helpful if those kinds of checklists or guidelines could be prepared by the relevant ministry/authority, particularly by the home ministry, the judiciary and by the police, and if their officers can be clearly trained on the content of such checklists and how to apply them.

The existing law already criminalises many acts that routinely occur in cases of domestic violence. But because some of the acts are carried out by a close family member, the police don’t take it seriously and won’t treat it as a criminal offence. If the police are sensitised then there will be a difference in trying to make the existing law work more effectively at the same time putting in place through the new law the protections for victims/survivors that we don’t have under the existing law.

The Coalition of Voices against Domestic Violence has made some recommendations in this regard. First, there should be awareness among the police, health providers, judges and court officers. Secondly there must be a major awareness raising campaign for people who may need the protection of the law and for those who are responsible for enforcing it. Thirdly, we need changes in law to make it work more effectively. And fourthly, we need to put into place the new law which will provide protective remedies for victims/survivors.

The draft law on domestic violence was prepared by the Law Commission four years ago, but the government did not take it forward at that time. However, with the coalition, we have given a copy of the revised draft of this law to the ministry of women and children affairs and prior to that the ministry itself held a meeting with the coalition committing to work on this draft. Some groups like Bangladesh Mahila Parishod have also lobbied for a change in the law with the Law Ministry.

You talked about psychological violence, which is a big part of what occurs in cases of domestic violence. How does one go about proving such acts of violence in a court?
I can talk about Dr. Humayra Abedin’s case, in which she claimed that she was wrongfully held by her family in a psychiatric clinic for about three months because they wanted her to marry someone of their choice and she was not willing to do that. Before she was even confined in a psychiatric clinic she underwent weeks, if not months, of emotional blackmail from her family about the same demand.

Incidents like this could be proved by expert testimony from a psychologist explaining what’s happened to the woman concerned. We do now have trained counsellors and psychologists in Bangladesh, who are aware of how domestic violence manifests itself on a person and what the impact can be on the victim.

Humayra Abedin’s case demonstrates something very important. It is assumed that domestic violence is only perpetrated on victims who are from an economically/socially disadvantaged group. But it is certainly not so.
That’s a very important point. Often we find that domestic violence is shrugged off as something “that happens to the poor” or to “illiterate women” and explained as occurring because they don’t understand the law.

The experience of most people who have worked with victims of domestic violence is very different, that in fact survivors of domestic violence come in all shapes, sizes, classes, and from all kinds of community and class backgrounds. It’s not at all limited to just people who live in poverty or those who do not have access to other resources but even people who are among the most wealthy and most privileged in society can and unfortunately do become victims of domestic violence.

The stigma on speaking out against domestic violence means that those from the most privileged classes are often most reluctant to talk about it. Because the notion of “honour” (ijjot) is so prevalent in the middle class and much beyond that, it’s much harder for them to talk about what happened to them.

It is for us to recognise that the roots of domestic violence and spousal violence lie in our own cultural and social attitudes. The whole idea that most of us have of a family, and the idea that is prevalent in our culture is the exact opposite of anything that could be considered to be a democratic structure — you are expected never to argue with the person who is the head of the house who is usually either the father or the husband. And the assumption is that you need to listen to that person at all costs. Those kinds of notions of what a proper family should be negate the possibility of recognising that people within the family have rights, and responsibilities, vis-à-vis each other.

Women are dealt a double blow in cases of domestic violence where in-laws are concerned. Sometimes when a woman has trouble with their in-laws, not only is it after a long time that she comes out and talks about it with her own family but even when she does talk to her own family they try to convince her to “bear the pain” and not make such issues public.
This is exactly the kind of issue that women’s rights groups have been trying to address. I believe we need to reverse the whole idea that a marriage falling apart is somehow a shame for the woman. We need to understand that simply having relations with families is no grounds to justify or accept violence.

Violence — wherever it occurs, including within the family, need to be challenged. There’s a tendency to not talk about things that happen within the family, outside the family. The family is seen as a sealed unit. But more people have begun talking about such issues than ever before, as we increasingly recognise that violence is violence no matter where it occurs or who the perpetrator is.

1. “Human Rights in Bangladesh,” Ain o Salish Kendra, 2008.
2. Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women, Department of Gender, Women and Health, WHO.
3. Surobhi Chopra, “The draft Bill on domestic violence: Some recommendations,” The Daily Star, July 15, 2006.
4. “Human Rights in Bangladesh,” Ain o Salish Kendra YEAR.
5. Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women, Department of Gender, Women and Health, WHO.
6. Surobhi Chopra, “The draft Bill on domestic violence: Some recommendations,” The Daily Star, July 15, 2006.

Zaid Islam

Hana Shams Ahmed and Quazi Zulquarnain Islam applaud the pioneering Bangladesh women’s cricket team

[FORUM magazine, THE DAILY STAR, May 2009]

In July 2004, Bangladesh Amateur Wrestling Federation (BAWF) postponed the first ever women’s wrestling competition, following threats from Islamist groups. One of the religious leaders, Mohiddin Khan said: “Female wrestling is nothing but showing off their bodies in front of male audience. This is totally immoral and against the teachings of Islam.”1

The event had been scheduled to take place at the Women’s Sports Complex. In October, members of the Islamic Shashantantra Andolon gathered in front of the National Sports Council to protest against the country’s first-ever women’s football tournament, clogging traffic in the area for three hours.2

In November of the same year, the Bangladesh government stopped women from taking part in a swimming competition in Chandpur, after a group that went by the name “The Committee for Resistance to Un-Islamic Activities” threatened large demonstrations if the competition was allowed to go ahead.3

Women’s sport has taken quite a beating from obscurantist groups in the recent past. And it doesn’t help when the media helps to accidentally bolster the view of the bigots by publishing sexualised literature about women’s sport. In a magazine piece that talked about women participating in the 2008 Olympics, a woman athlete was described as follows: “She participated at the summer Olympics as a Javelin thrower, and although her performance was not particularly one to remember, her physical splendour remains as a flag for people to reminisce on.”4

But it is not just self-appointed morals police who object to women taking part in sport, there is an overall attitude in society that sport is somehow only the realm of men. Even something as simple as a woman jogging or cycling on the streets receives a bigger share of “eve teasing” than does a woman who is doing something more “acceptable” like going in a rickshaw with the hood up or sitting behind a man in a motorcycle.

Somehow a woman taking charge of her own body is a culturally unacceptable thing to do. Trying to be physically fit, taking part in something that is healthy and liberating, is somehow sinful. Research conducted by Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) on Muslim women in sports revealed that Bangladeshi women “led sedentary lives with little priority given to exercise and physical activity as it conflicted with their role as a mother and home-keeper.”5 What the report does not reveal is that it is not by choice that women lead such “sedentary” lives.

True, though, that the days of girls having to take up sewing classes in school, while the boys go out to indulge in fitness activities like football and cricket is long past. In fact, cricket itself, which had very little existence for women even in the last decade, has evolved dramatically. The WSF researchers would have been pleasantly surprised if they had visited one of the women’s cricket training camps. It’s a super-charged environment, just like any men’s cricket camp, and the women are just as competitive.

Last month, as a matter of fact, saw a new chapter in Bangladesh women’s cricket when the first Women’s Club Cup tournament kicked off. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Women’s Wing organised this tournament involving eight clubs with girls from all over the country participating. The Bangladesh national team has also played several international matches at home and abroad. Now they are eyeing one-day status in the hope of participating in the World Cup.

Despite overcoming a lot of odds, it is still an everyday battle, admits Mina Khatun Mona, the feisty wicket keeper of the national women’s cricket team. Raised in the north-western town of Rajshahi, she points out the various forms of male-female disparity that exists within the institution. She points out that there is still a huge difference between facilities afforded to the male cricketers as opposed to the women. On a divisional level, the women players are paid a daily remuneration of Tk 25 as opposed to Tk 100 for their male counterparts.

The disparity is consistent even at the national level as the men get Tk 700, while women are paid seven times less. Both play 50-over matches, use the same pitches, and are answerable to the same laws. For comparison’s sake, even the notoriously traditional Wimbledon agreed to equal pay from 2007. The concept of central contracts and job quotas, prevalent in neighbouring India, are still wishful thinking for our female tigers.

It was 1983 when the Bangladesh team, under the banner of Abahani, played one of their first international matches against the West Bengal President’s XI at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This team of women cricketers later on played local matches as the Sisters’ Union.

Two years on, the West Bengal team came on a return visit to Dhaka. Another friendly match was played between the two teams at what was then known as the Metropolitan Women’s Sports Complex. This venue was the only one that was provided.

The BCB renewed its efforts to revive women’s cricket in 1997. Their efforts fell apart because of lack of proper coordination at the administrative level. In 2005, the BCB took yet further steps to rejuvenate women’s cricket in the country. In April 2006 the women’s wing of the national team was formed. The new committee arranged a three-month training camp at the Women’s Sports Complex in Dhanmondi.6 Women’s cricket took off and more and more women are taking up district-level cricket all over the country.

There is a long way to go, but at least women cricketers finally have a strong footing. They are somewhere. They are someone. So exactly how was this road less travelled? “Difficult,” admits Mona. “There will always be the odd-person along the way who will say something to you that makes you question whether what you are doing is really worth it.”

The Bangladeshi stumper admits that, had it not been for guidance and perseverance from her mentors, she would never have made it to where she is today. But for every mentor, there are ten others who would say otherwise. Mona can list numerous incidents where perfect strangers have tried to bully her with questions of ethics and morality, but she says she tries to not let it affect her.

“I try to not let it affect me, because the people who matter — my parents and my family have all been eternally supportive. Even growing up in my locality I was always the tomboy — playing with the boys, racing them in my bike,” she recalls. “No one ever objected then, and those who do now are, I feel, the narrow-minded minority.”

But she admits that all the players are amongst the social minority — in having families who are progressive enough to let their daughters make an independent life decision and pursue her own dreams.

Baby steps for Bangladesh women’s cricket, but at least, finally, a start. In a country where jeans-clad females are critiqued as being “fast” or “corrupted by the West,” women playing cricket, football and any other sports show that families are emerging from their conservative background hell.

The lives of Ayesha, Mona and Lily are success stories that show us the way forward. In order to move from being the people we are to who we want to be, these early, small victories can help us on our way. But it also necessary to resist any attempts by either individuals, or obscurantist organisations playing politics with “women’s role,” to suffocate these pioneers in sports.

Ayesha rides her own motorcycle in a city, which is committed to making women feel

uncomfortable in their public appearances. She is also a proud batswoman for the Bangladesh women’s national cricket team. While studying in Dewanganj Girl’s School in Jamalpur she was always involved in sporting activities. She was quite unlike the typical inhabitants of the northern district. Sharp as a tack, athletic and with an effervescent streak that is the hallmark of all sportswomen, she knew early on that being a professional athlete would be her ultimate happiness.

Fast-forward two decades, and Ayesha Akter is now almost a household name. She was a district badminton champion. She was also the first ever captain of the Under-17 women’s team and presently a [class-2] football referee.

After coming to Dhaka, she took coaching from national cricket coach Syed Altaf Hossain from 2000 when women’s cricket in the country was still in fledgling state. Her team had to wait for a long time to play matches, but her determination and dedication to the sport made her stay on. Now she is the opening batswoman for the national women’s team and has played in all the international matches the country has played in. Ayesha is also studying for a BA from her home district of Jamalpur. Third among four sisters and two brothers, Ayesha’s career choice has been supported proudly by all of her family.

Lily Rani Biswas comes from Gopalganj and is one of the opening bowlers for the Ansar as well as the national women’s cricket team. Anyone who understands cricket knows what a demanding job this is, requiring constant practice and the pre-requisite to stay fit.

When she was young she liked playing cricket with her two brothers at home. But as soon as she went out of the borders of the home, her brothers and other family members’ parochial thoughts shone through. They told her she would not be able to go out into the field to play. She was a girl, they informed her, and it was not right for her to play outside where everyone could see her. Her uncle was especially intolerant of her inclinations. He made it his responsibility to scold her whenever she was spotted playing in the field.

Lily, instead of giving in to the reprimands from a respected patriarch, fought back. She would wake up very early in the morning and go running around her neighbourhood, and before anyone else woke up she would be back in bed and no one would ever know she went out at all.

And despite all the pressures around her she managed to make the arduous journey from her hometown to Dhaka and come to the notice of Nazma Shamim, a member of the national team committee. She even had to stay at the house of Farida Begum, the coach of the Ansar team at one point to attend a tournament.

It is only after she started playing international matches and performing well that her family understood her true value. Now they are very happy and proud of their daughter playing in the national cricket team.

Farida Begum used to play danguli with the boys when she was very little. Growing up with her grandfather (on her mother’s side), she very fondly remembers the very first gift her father gave her — not a doll but a cricket bat and ball. Farida did not have the conventional upbringing that girls in our society do. When other little girls were donning red saris, alta, and glass churis, Farida found herself wearing matching lungis with her uncles.

Her father always encouraged her in all kinds of sports. After completing her Masters in Bangla from Dhaka University, she took up teaching the language for a brief period, but eventually returned to her true love — sports!

She completed a bachelors in physical education. After completing a diploma in volleyball from Punjab she came back to Dhaka and joined the National Sports Council, and got appointed as the coach of the national volleyball team.

For her, the choice of profession was easy, but she acknowledges that unfortunately many girls, despite aspiring to get involved in sports and having the ability, cannot take it up because of the restrictions placed on them by their families and society.

1. “Now sport bows to bigots,” The Daily Star, July 5, 2004.
2. “Protest against women’s football tournament,” The Daily Star, October 10, 2004.
3. Roland Buerk, “Bangladesh stops women swimmers,” BBC News, November 30, 2004.
4. Mohiuddin Alamgir, “Motherhood, human triumph and beauty at the 2008 Olympics,” New Age Xtra, September 5, 2008.
5. “Muslim women in sport: a minority within a minority,” Womens Sports Foundation, UK, 2005.
6. Monowar Anis Khan, “Women’s cricket: the untold stories,” The Daily Star, August 17, 2006.

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.

From the first moments of the initial shooting around 9 in the morning, citizens were scrambling to make sense of events that rolled out live, a significant difference from past conflicts. Every action was under the media camera, as well as by the many personal digital and cell phone cameras of citizen journalists. Unlike past conflicts, it seemed impossible to have any distance to understand or analyse events in the breaking hours, as one breaking news item was replaced by another.

On the other side of this complex event, the actual grievances of BDR soldiers, especially those who were not involved in the mutiny, are also based on some elements of reality. However, whoever are the architects behind this horrific killing at Pilkhana, they cannot have had the welfare of the BDR personnel in mind. The scale and nature of the killings has in fact created a strong backlash against all BDR jawans (not just the core mutineers), and there is strong possibility that BDR itself will end up dissolved and restructured.

Although rational discussion of BDR demands has been made impossible by the killings, the government still should look at the legitimate demands, while making it clear that such bloodshed can never be an acceptable form of demand or negotiation.

What exactly were the grievances that may have fueled an environment where conspirators could foment bloodshed? According to an anonymous BDR officer (speaking to Julfikar Ali Manik of The Daily Star), they only get Tk 5,000 as salary, which is not enough to cover monthly expenses. BDR jawans have been demanding their full food ration for some time, but had been getting only 60 percent.1

The anonymous interviewee also claimed that the residential facilities for the lower-level personnel are very poor, while those at the officer level enjoy good facilities. Just before February 25, a letter was allegedly sent to the prime minister with a list of 54 demands to improve the conditions of this paramilitary force.

Among the demands were: the BDR still don’t receive 100 percent of the food rations, the BDR are never sent on foreign missions although they have always been promised, they never received their rightful share in Operation “dal-bhaat,” the BDR never got the daily allowances they were promised involved with their duties during the national and upazila elections, although the BDR are always in the line of direct fire at the border they are not getting defence benefits, vehicles bought under the name of BDR are being used by the army, children of BDR personnel have to study in schools outside the BDR compound while children of army officers and their families study in the BDR schools, etc.2 Army officers also enjoy such facilities as residential plots in Defense Officers Housing Society (DOHS), as well as benefits from entities owned by Army Welfare Trust.

These grievances were expressed, signed, and reportedly sent to the prime minister just before the day of the killings. Whether the PM’s office had actually had a chance to review this list is not clear. In addition, there are reports that two MPs were also contacted about the grievances. Since these grievances had been solidified into petition form, it can be safely presumed that most of the jawans of BDR were duped into believing that this is what the mutiny was all about, about pressing home their demands. But, as is clear, the massacres in fact derailed any likelihood of the grievances getting any fair hearing in this emotionally turbulent aftermath.

This is not the first expression of discontent in the BDR. During the first BNP government, the BDR soldiers staged small mutinies in Dhaka, Chittagong, Feni, Jessore, Khulna, and Naogaon, expressing similar grievances.3

Those mutinies did not end in bloodshed, nor was there much media coverage, and in the end personnel were assured of measures to address their issues. Those measures were never properly taken, and grievances continued to fester.

The Ansar Police Force also staged a revolt during the BNP government, which was, ironically, suppressed by this same BDR.4

Farhad Mazhar wrote about the Ansar rebellion that took place on December 1, 1994 during Khaleda Zia’s rule. The most marginalised and economically deprived of the government para-military forces were working hard day and night to beef up Bangladesh’s security. In return they were not getting what they were promised as basic needs. In the end they took up arms to press for their demands. The government put down this revolt swiftly, and almost 30 Ansars were killed in the process. Farhad Mazhar ended up going to jail for his article, which expressed some understanding and sympathy for the Ansar’s demands.

Although it will not be a priority for many, it is important to separate the murder investigations from the legitimate grievances of the BDR. The killings were masterminded by a certain group of people, who had neither the BDR’s nor the country’s welfare in mind.

And whoever was behind the carnage is so far getting their way, because the country is facing destabilisation in the aftermath. The genuine BDR grievances have now taken the furthest back seat and public opinion oscillates between various conspiracy theories — it’s the work of the Islamic militants, it’s work done by the government itself to make the opposition look bad, it’s the opposition’s effort to destabilise the government, it was done by the army itself to bring the country under military rule, it’s ISI, it’s RAW, the list goes on.

The death of six key witnesses while in custody, and the evidence of torture marks on at least one of the dead witnesses, makes one wonder whether evidence is being destroyed. The government spokespersons making public every new lead into the investigation will pacify a public hungry for fresh details, but will endanger the investigation.

Any BDR personnel who killed army officers should be punished. No grievance, however strong, justifies such acts of mass murder. The investigations may uncover the killers, but it is not clear whether they will reveal the actual masterminds, who, according to newspaper reports, were feeding fuel into the angry psyche of the BDR soldiers. Meanwhile the media circus around the investigation is making it less likely that we will end up with a transparent, balanced process.

In fact what method is actually legitimate to express dissent or grievance in this country? When the garment workers ask for a pay rise and better working conditions, they are labelled as “disrupting peace.” When slums are ravaged to the ground, the slum-dwellers at the very end of the food chain cannot protest.

There is no peaceful platform for many citizens to speak out against these gross violations of their rights. And it is precisely in this context that desperate individuals resort to violence to push home their demands.

The lesson Bangladesh has taught them is that only violent demands and action, accompanied by collateral damage to cars, building and property, gets the government’s attention.

It is likely in this national context that at least one section of the BDR jawans were upset enough to consider a mutiny as a legitimate and productive path, and then groups with agendas of destabilisation stepped into that situation, fanned the flames and carried out the murders.

The government has a huge task ahead of it to sift through the wreckage and find the real motive and culprits behind the killings. In the process, it must ensure that no more lives are lost in custody and the nine deaths that took place so far are accounted for.

But at the same time, the grievances of the BDR personnel should also be explored in detail and with a neutral eye. If some of the concerns are genuine, they should be resolved, so that frustration, which can be exploited, does not arise again. Here there is a difficult balancing act. The government will wish to appear tough and decisive.

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

One section of the government might well advise that addressing any of the grievances will only make for incentives for future acts of violence as a form of pressing home demands. This fear may even push the government to suppress any legitimate demands so as not to be seen as “soft.”

But left unaddressed, issues of disparity of wages, rights, and opportunities, could fester and create another future scenario, which can be exploited by shadowy players wishing to destabilise the country again.

Hana Shams Ahmed is Assistant Editor, Forum. (http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2009/april/speak.htm)

1. Julfikar Ali Manik, “How it began,” The Daily Star, February 26, 2009.
2. From the list of grievances by the BDR jawans, a copy of which was allegedly sent to the PM.
3. Julfikar Ali Manik and Sharier Khan, “Mutiny, bloodshed at BDR HQ,” The Daily Star, February 26, 2009.
4. Farhad Mazhar, “The Ansar revolt and the urban middle class’s facade of democracy and human rights.” Chinta. “Banned articles.” Translated by Naeem Mohaiemen.1995. (http://www.cyberbangladesh. org/banned.html).

Photo: Zahedul I Khan

Hana Shams Ahmed

[THE DAILY STAR, 11 April, 2009]

Pull up the hood of your rickshaw,” I heard for the hundredth time. It was a very nice day, with the wind blowing, and the sun making occasional appearances. But the hood of the rickshaw had to be put up. After all, I had to ‘hide’ myself from the numerous gawking eyes that always followed me throughout the journey from Mohammadpur to Elephant Road, where I went to study my A-levels.

Out of sight of my parents, I would always pull down the hood, and unfortunately pairs of eyes of all ages would look me up and down as if I was an exhibit in an art gallery. Then, depending on the vulgarity of the yelled comment, I would have to decide whether to keep the hood down, or give up and put it back up.

I liked keeping the hood of the rickshaw down. Being taller than the average, I either banged my head on the walls of the hood or had to stoop really low if it was up — it didn’t work for me. But if one decided not to conform to the norms, we had to suffer the consequences. In this case the jeering and leering of random men.

Another place where you had to suffer the consequences of venturing out was Chadni Chowk. In the Chowk, shopping had to be done shoulder to shoulder, literally. What heaven that was for the groping gender! It came from all directions, aimed at all parts of the female anatomy. This was before the arrival of shopping malls, where there is actually some space between shoppers, making groping more difficult.

My first recollection of groping was in my early teens. My mother was trying to negotiate a particularly difficult path between a hot jilapi frying pan and a mud puddle. A ‘nice’ young man came in and addressing my mother as ‘aunty’ he very gallantly produced a little path, which my mother could walk through.

The gallantry of this young man didn’t stop there. He followed us in what initially seemed like an attempt to make sure we faced no further obstacles. Suddenly from behind me his hands protruded from his body like little tentacles and landed on different parts of my body. I was frozen in fear. He finally left, leaving me feeling violated and debased.

I never summoned up the courage to tell my mother. She could have helped me. Perhaps. But I was still reeling from the memory of the anonymous phone call from not so long ago. I was getting ready to go to a friend’s house. It was a rare treat, so I put on my favourite clothes — a denim skirt and a t-shirt. My mother took me aside and told me I would not be able to wear these clothes anymore. My 13-year-old eyes stared at her blankly. She told me an anonymous male had been calling my parents up lately and told them that if I continued to wear ‘Western’ clothes I would be ’stripped’ on the streets as punishment.

Flushed with humiliation, I didn’t know whether I was supposed to think that it was something I had brought upon myself or not. But from then on, I never told anyone when I was harassed. Not when I was whistled at on the street, and certainly not when my own cousin (15 years older than me) made his own advances in the protected walls of our home. I just wished it would stop.

A turning point in my attitude came at a concert at Dhaka’s Army stadium. I was there with my friends Jafar and Masum, enjoying listening to our favourite musicians. After the show ended, there was a rush towards the gate of hundreds of people. We had presumed two male companions would be enough for my security. We had misjudged. A hand came flying out of nowhere and groped at me. I screamed and turned around to see who it was. Everyone was a possible offender. I gave up. Outside the stadium I waited for my transportation home, when another hand touched my leg. This time I was ready and followed the hand to the person. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and gave him an earful and a fistful.

I’ve learnt the hard way to fight ‘eve-teasing,’ or more specifically sexual harassment. Now I always pull down the hood of the rickshaw (except when it rains which is the real purpose of the hood). If anyone tries to harass me, I shout back at them and let everyone know.

It is not my shame. It is his. If anyone stares at me, I stare back. I’ve discovered that there’s nothing more unsettling for a man than to have a woman stare back at him. I walk, cycle and just stand on the roads that are as much mine as any man’s.

One of the survivors of the Andaman tragedy being helped by an Indian coastguard. (Photo: Sanjib Kumar Roy, Reuters)

Throughout 2008 we received reports about how poor men and women were swindled by recruiting agents in Bangladesh and left stranded in hostile foreign country environments. We saw employers in host countries, taking advantage of migrants’ ‘undocumented’ status to abuse their rights and cheat them of payment. When abused workers tried to protest, it led to ‘bad press’ for ‘Bangladeshi workers’ as a category, and many were sent back en masse. Some governments threatened to stop recruiting Bangladeshi workers altogether, leading to weak and ineffective diplomatic overtures from our side. While the latest press headline reports overseas remittances hitting a new high, the year 2008 ended with another tragedy. 300 Bangladeshi men headed for Malaysia drowned in the sea near the Andaman Islands.

Hana Shams Ahmed

[STAR magazine, 09 January, 2009]

According to press reports from Reuters, 412 men, mostly of Bangladeshi nationality, were promised jobs in Malaysia by unidentified recruiting agents. On 14 November these men, aged between 18 and 60, set sail on six motorised vehicles. At some point during their journey, the men changed vessels, according to an Indian coast guard statement. One survivor, identified as Mohammad Ismail Arafat, said he and others had paid a Bangladeshi agent for jobs in Malaysia. The boats they were travelling in did not have enough food in them and seven of the men died from starvation. After drifting around aimlessly for days, they finally spotted a lighthouse somewhere along the Andaman Islands. Hoping they would be able to swim ashore, the men jumped into the sea. Indian coast guard officials said a group of men were rescued from a small boat near Little Andaman Island, from the water. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie about 1,200km (750 miles) east of the Indian mainland. Coastguards finally rescued a total of 112 men. The remaining 300 men drowned at sea.

This reminds us of another similar incident in 2005 when 26 Bangladeshi men tried to travel to Spain in search of jobs. They travelled for days through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea in the hot sun and freezing nights without proper food, water or clothing. At one point they had to resort to drinking their own urine, and sometimes the flesh of their dead companions, to survive. In an interview in the film ‘Deshantori’ (directors Sujan Mahmud and Mridul Chowdhury), one survivor said that as traumatic as the whole incident was, he still wished to migrate to another country for work. This demonstrates how desperate people are to find work and earn a living at any cost. This sense of despair makes this group of people extremely vulnerable at the hands of the recruitment agents.

The past two years have seen several reprehensible cases of swindling of migrant workers working in countries in Asia and the Gulf states. In 2007 a group of young men went to Malaysia with the promise of ‘respectable’ jobs as computer professionals. Many sold off their land to realise their dream job. But within a few months they had to board another flight back to Bangladesh. At the offices of the recruitment agencies they weren’t allowed to read through the contract forms and only later found out that the actual job description was not in fact for a computer operator, but ’service workers’. Throughout their stay in Malaysia, they were shifted from one ‘labour camp’ to another. There was no sleeping or any other arrangements at these labour camps, and only a single toilet for everyone. 128 people had to live on 10 kilos of rice for two days. There was no work available for months. The shady outsourcing agency stocked up on people and sent groups of five to 10 men when something became available. They were finally rescued and sent back to Bangladesh, but they never earned back the recruitment fee money, which some had borrowed and others had sold off their only piece of land to come up with.

Thousands travel overseas every year in search of better jobs. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure safe and legitimate passage for them.

In November 2007, 22 Bangladeshis workers arriving in Kuwait found themselves trapped in a situation where they were unable to get any work or food or to return home. One of them died. They reported having signed an agreement with third-party ‘dalals’ for a three-year work visa, but finding on their arrival that they had a visitor’s visa and were ineligible for work. The Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait failed to provide any consular protection.

In another incident in July 2008, 80,000 mostly Bangladeshi workers working for 23 local companies made the Kuwait headlines when they went on a two-day strike protesting their work conditions and non-payment of salaries. Kuwaiti police beat up and arrested at least 800 Bangladeshi workers for staging demonstrations against exploitation by their employers. Many of the workers alleged that they had had to work seven days a week, without any leave over the last eight to 10 years. Some of them were forced to work 16 hours a day without any payment for overtime work and many of the employers beat up the workers. All of them were getting Dinar 20 or less although they were promised Dinar 50 in their original contract. Finally, more than 1000 workers from Kuwait were forcibly repatriated to Bangladesh without their payment arrears. Many came limping out of the Zia International Airport without their shoes, some wearing lungis, some without any luggage, injured and crying.

Saudi Arabia unofficially stopped renewing residential permits to Bangladeshis in 2008. According to the Saudi Government sources, the decision was taken in view of the fact that the quota for Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom had expired. But this clarification came amid rumours that the Kingdom had halted hiring Bangladeshis because Saudi media ran scare-mongering reports alleging that they were involved in “most criminal acts in the country” including “theft, printing fake currency and running illegal businesses”. A spokesperson for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry of Saudi also claimed that some Bangladeshis were engaged in “claiming shops illegally, selling banned CDs, running illegal telephone businesses, stealing manhole covers from roads and footpaths, stealing electricity and telephone cables, and printing fake currency”. A hate campaign ensued against unskilled Bangladeshi workers. A Saudi-based website www.antirat.com published pages of alleged crimes and misdemeanours committed by Bangladeshi labourers, ranging from ‘rape and running prostitution ring’ to ‘unhygienic cooking’ practices.

In May 2008, a Bangladeshi mechanic Mohammad, 32, was accused of murdering a Bahraini man Mohammad Jassim Dossary, 37, after a heated argument over payment for car repairs in a garage. Employment of Bangladeshi workers came to a halt from 26 May 2008 after the government stopped issuing work permits to Bangladeshis. The ban was lifted two months later.

The cumulative effect of all these incidents has had a very bad effect on the overseas

In 2008 migrant workers were repatriated from various countries. The newly elected government must tackle this issue very stringently.

labour market. By no means has the demand for migrant workers gone down in the world market. On the contrary Taiwan and Libya have repeatedly said that they wish to employ workers from Bangladesh. But the government has not responded to their call and at various levels of the employment process, there is fallout because of lack of regulation.

The Bangladesh government encourages mass migration, but does not take protective measures for the workers. There are four primary channels of recruitment: Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), licensed private recruitment agents, and through links with individual relatives and friends living abroad. In the first three formal channels, there is little attention paid to workers rights and safety. Moreover, in spite of Bangladeshis being densely concentrated around the world, only ten Bangladeshi embassies have labour wings. Therefore, because of their low skill and education, migrants remain vulnerable to exploitation by employers in all destination countries.

Some level of training should be made mandatory even for unskilled migrants. Basic language training is required for workers. There have been some laudable public awareness campaigns on mass media so that potential workers choose to take the legal route to obtain overseas work. The TV ad specifically points out that women workers need not give more than Taka 10,000 to get employed. There need to be hotlines available for workers in distress. In 2008 44 recruitment agencies had their licences cancelled, but some continued to carry out their business. There needs to be more stringent rules set by the government to deal with such agencies or third-party ‘dalals’.

An estimated 5,000,0000 Bangladeshis are working abroad around the globe. Of them, about 3,000,000 living in the Middle East send back approximately 70 percent of all overseas remittance. The amount of remittance received in 2007 was US$6.568b, which is 10 percent of the GDP and 10 times more than Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics, in the just-concluded calendar year remittance worth $8.22 billion came into the country marking a 25.36 percent growth from the financial year before. The caretaker government in the previous financial year gave immigration permission to 663,000 workers. Although the foreign adviser did say that the caretaker government’s aim was to ensure the safety and security of the migrant workers, no changes were brought about in the policy regarding manpower export throughout the tenure of the government.

The newly-elected Awami League government has a full agenda — spiralling prices of essentials, trial of the war criminals, proving that they are indeed ’secular’ forces, creating a ‘digital Bangladesh’, creating mass scale employment, etc. With the issue of the migrant workers, the government is lucky in starting off on a good footing in economic terms. Bangladesh Bank has predicted that remittances will hit a record Taka 10 billion in the next financial year. The policy makers of this government now have to go behind the financial headlines and tackle the more important issue of ensuring their rights and safety. Bad press, backlash and tragedies like the incident in Andaman must be prevented to ensure continued stability for the single largest driver of the Bangladesh economy via remittance.

Portions of this article excerpts from the chapter on migrants for the Ain o Shalish Kendro 2008 Annual Report.

Photo: Naeem Mohaiemen

Hana Shams Ahmed

[Published in 'Our Common Future: South Asia' by Liberal Youth South Asia, a network of liberal youth and youth organisations. November 2008]

In 2008, the results of Bangladesh’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams had an all-time record pass percentage – 72 per cent – and the highest number of GPA-5 recipients ever. For a few years now, all these records are getting broken at every level of higher education. Beyond what it may mean for higher education, it keeps bringing to the media images of hundreds of thousands of young boys and girls in the streets – waving, clapping, celebrating – the shape of our exploding youth boom.

In 2005, Goldman Sachs introduced the concept of the Next Eleven (N-11), where Bangladesh and 10 other countries were identified as countries that could potentially have a BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) – like impact in rivalling the G7. The ground for selecting Bangladesh was, among other factors, its pool of large population of young people – a median national age of 21 and between 60-70 per cent of its population under the age of 30. Starting from its formation in 1971, Bangladesh has seen its youth actively involving in grassroot-level political and social activism. In 1971, Sheikh Mujib’s speech rejected the Two-Nation Theory and inspired young people who took up arms and freed Bangladesh from the Pakistan regime in a bloody nine-month struggle. That legacy continued in the culture of ‘student politics’, which is both celebrated and sometimes reviled.

Throughout the 1980s, the military junta of General Ershad battled student politics on all campuses, in an attempt to cut off all sources of dissent. While older political leaders compromised at many steps and lengthened the junta’s time in power, student groups remained fierce and uncompromising. In 1991, the army regime finally collapsed and democracy was returned – older political leaders brought to parliament on the shoulders of youth power. Although there are many aspects of Bangladesh’s youth boom that economists, sociologists, anthropologists and policymakers are talking about, here we focus on three illustrative aspects: gender, technology and migration.

Gender Struggles

Even in a time of “democracy”, after the fall of army rule, there continued to be many issue-based social activisms that only students dared take up, and with great effect. One of the biggest movements carried out by students under democracy was at Jahangirnagar University, with a fiery campaign against sexual harassment on campus. In 1998, students orchestrated a nationwide movement, boycotting classes, leading very vocal demonstrations on campus and splashing attention all over the print media to a phenomenon that was until then was the campus’ open secret – sexual harassment by professors and fellow students. This included politically affiliated goons who were audacious enough to even celebrate a ‘(cricket) century in rape’ by distributing sweets to their friends at a public event. The mass student movement finally forced the very reluctant university authorities to take decisive action.

In the absence of any formal structure of complaint hearing, many Bangladeshi students keep incidents of sexual harassment to themselves. Students fear having their identities exposed, of social stigma and in the case of a teacher-student interaction, the student is usually too aware of the power advantage the teacher has over her. The Jahangirnagar case allowed youth mobilisation and expression of student power against this phenomenon. It began with an incident inside a University bus when a male student of Jahangirnagar University sexually harassed a girl. The girl reacted immediately to this invasion of her privacy and protested but even the teachers present inside the bus did not come to her aid and the boy managed to get off. The girl later made a formal complaint to the university authorities. Progressive students (both boys and girls) made public protests demanding the harasser’s punishment. In 1998, a series of rapes and incidents of sexual harassment by a group of students with political backing came to public view. After months of campaigning, the university authorities finally gave in.

Although the ruling by the Jahangirnagar University syndicate was very lenient compared to the violent nature of the crime (the main culprit was expelled from the university, the others received suspended sentences), it still gave credence to a symbolic national youth movement against socially accepted subjugation of women in public spaces.

Since then, the student body, with help from human rights organisations, have been lobbying the government to implement a policy on sexual harassment at all educational and employment institutions.

Tech Generation

The ‘mobile’ and internet boom of the last decade is another place where the youth have really shown adaptability and hunger for rapid change. Blogging, which creates an instant two-way dialogue, has been a unique new addition to the media space for young people. People report with eyewitness accounts of events on the ground, opening up whole new possibilities for citizen journalists to give a broad perspective on the happenings around us from politics to human rights to health issues. After a state of emergency was declared in 2007, the blogging community was at its most active. More news and views seemed to be coming from there than any established, financially supported news medium, whether print or electronic.

In Bangladesh, attaining a high level of reader participation narrows down to those who have regular access to the Internet. In spite of this barrier, more and more young people, even from lower income families, are looking to blogs to get the latest news on whatever issue they are interested in. The flowering of vernacular Bangla language blogging has widened the net even further. Although it is still at the early stages, over the past two years, blogs have increasingly become the medium of choice for the younger generation.

Mobile phones have expanded faster than any other technological innovation in the country. Although the Grameen Bank started a decade ago with mobile phones as an empowerment tool for women, it quickly moved away from that and has become vital to every aspect of person’s life.

The fall in mobile expenses and low-priced handsets is making Bangladesh the fastest growing mobile phone market in Asia. At the end of 2004, the total number of mobile phone users was around four million. By August 2008, that number stood at 45 million. Talking, SMSing, taking spontaneous photos, exchanging video clips, serenading neighbours with ringtones, voting for your favourite singer; it has now become, to borrow a slogan from Bangladesh m-commerce pioneer Cellbazaar, ‘a bazaar in your pocket’. As aggressive marketing campaigns and incentive packages have reduced prices, this new technology driven culture has affected the broader social values and norms in the conservative culture of Bangladesh. The young generation have become more liberated from earlier family control and constraints on social interactions. Young mobile phone users have developed their own symbols, slang, codes and unique style to communicate with each other. This promises to have broader ramifications as they pass out of school and college and enter future job force.

Crossing Borders

In the last decade, remittances sent back by young migrant workers in various parts of Asia and the Middle East have had a very positive effect on the country’s economy. In the 1970s, there were only a few thousand migrant workers from Bangladesh. By 2002 the figure went up to more than three million, with about $24 billion being sent back in remittances over that period. In the fiscal year of 2006-2007, the expatriate Bangladeshis have remitted $6 billion. The per capita amount that our migrant workers remitted is 33 per cent higher than those of India, which is the second largest remittance receiving country in the world.

The Global Economic Perspective Report of 2006 by the World Bank found that remittance flow has helped Bangladesh to cut poverty by six per cent. Unfortunately, there have also been horror stories of human rights abuses of Bangladeshi migrant workers and there has been increasing backlash on the unregulated manpower industry of Bangladesh where young people, duped by crooked manpower agencies and middlemen, have had to come back empty handed and with a high amount of debt on their heads.

But the Bangladesh government only needs to invest a little more money and attention to tap into this huge potential, the millions of young men and women who can not only improve the living conditions of their families in rural Bangladesh, but also increase the GDP of the country. By investing in a better-equipped labour departmentin embassies, by regulating recruitment agencies and raising mass awareness about legal procedures of seeking work in a foreign country, young workers’ welfare will be protected, and Bangladeshis will spread out all over a globalised and inter-connected world.

What’s next?

Bangladesh clearly can take advantage of a youth boom to counter its current image crisis. The international press has portrayed the country as one of the poorest countries of the world and as potentially the principal casualty of climate change. But youth-led movements since independence have been dynamic, productive, and forward looking. Goldman Sachs N11 list is an early acknowledgment of the youth boom’s tremendous potential. Now, it is up to policy, guidance and youth themselves to realise all these potentials.

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?

Unfortunately demands from the SCF and other progressive, secular groups and members of the civil society have fallen on deaf ears. Now Jamaat’s men fund the Rajshahi Islami Bank Medical College Hospital (IBMCH) where they organise free eye camps for 200 freedom fighters on our Victory Day. A vice-president of Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad (JMP) also said that they receive ‘donations’ from Jamaat for the ‘welfare’ of freedom fighters. In its election manifesto the party has said that it would ’strengthen the liberation war ministry and the Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust and increase allowances for the freedom fighters’ families’. I sometimes get exasperated trying to explain to my four-year-old son that it is not possible to erase crayon marks with an eraser. Now who is going to explain to Jamaat that it is not possible to erase the rape and murder they helped to mastermind 37 years ago with such insincere acts of philanthropy towards the comrades of those rape and murder victims.

Extremists call for the complete scrapping of a policy to give more

rights to women.

The Pakistanis tried to obliterate Bangla because it was said to be ‘the language of the Hindus’, but we fought for our identity, we are still proud of fighting the communal forces out of our beloved country. So why now are we taking a step in the wrong direction? Why now should we let ourselves be led away from our beliefs by a group of people who use religion to advance their political ambitions?

In the 1991 elections Jamaat won 18 seats in Parliament (BNP won), in the 1996 elections they won 3 seats in Parliament (AL won) and in 2001 they again won 17 seats (BNP-led four-party coalition won the elections). So when my friend calls me up and says we should be happy if Jamaat wins 15 seats at this year’s election it makes me think how this party has such a stronghold over the country’s politics. It’s still a mystery as to why other political parties have so little faith in their own strength that they need to form coalitions with religious groups. Even Awami League, which wins the most votes from minority groups, had a brief romance with a religious political outfit Khelafat-e-Majlish just before emergency was declared, terming it a “tactical electoral ploy”.

But religious political groups are not the only threat to secular values. There are the three terrorist groups — Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (HUJI) which recently floated Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) but were thankfully denied registration by the EC and the ‘non-violent’ Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) Bangladesh.

In 2005 JMB carried out a near-simultaneous series of blasts in 63 of 64 districts across Bangladesh, planting 458 locally made bombs, and handed out leaflets which said, “We are the soldiers of Allah. We’ve taken up arms for the implementation of Allah’s law the way the Prophet, Sahabis [companions of the Prophet] and heroic Mujahideen have done for centuries. . . . It is time to implement Islamic law in Bangladesh”. The group was also responsible for unleashing a reign of terror all over Bangladesh that year by blowing up court houses, press clubs and schools, summary executions of innocent villagers and sending out letters with bomb threats. Harkat-ul-Jihad gained notoriety for terrorising the nation since the early nineties. It had attempted to kill Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, and stands accused of carrying out the August 21 grenade attack on an AL rally in 2004. The JMB/HUJI threats seem to be looming large once again before the election only three days away. The Special Security Forces (SSF) has stated that both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia are targets for terrorist attacks. The activities of the HT are a little less easier to follow. With headquarters in Britain and operating in more than 100 countries its members are teachers in universities some of whom were arrested this year for distributing leaflets asking for everyone to join in their campaign to “take oath for establishing the rule of Khilafat by dethroning the present ruler” (the caretaker government) and to “unite Muslims and revive their lost glory”.

Jugnu Mohsin Managing Editor and Publisher of The Friday Times, Lahore writes the story of 21-year-old Ajmal ‘Qasai’, the sole surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attacks (dubbed India’s 9/11). Ajmal’s story is not unique. It is a story of many poor Pakistanis who have taken to jihad and radical Islam as a way of claiming an identity and a livelihood in a state that has failed to provide both. Amir Qasai, Ajmal’s father, like many other fathers was poor and could not educate his sons or marry off his daughter. A similar story no doubt to the many young men in the poverty-stricken villages all over Bangladesh, recruited by these groups for their ’cause’.

In India and in Pakistan, as well as in Bangladesh the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor has been a major cause for disillusionment and frustration amongst the burgeoning majority (i.e. the poor). Any government that comes to power must address this issue. I think about Dhaka 15 years ago when Eid shopping meant going to New Market and Gawsia. There were all kinds of people shopping at the same place; no one felt out of place and no one had to dress a certain way to shop there. Now there are guards in front of the fancy malls, there is an unspoken understanding of who can enter them and who should be shopping at their rightful place in New Market. The buzzword is that we are trying to become ‘Singapore’. Singapore is a great place, hardly any poverty. Unfortunately Bangladesh is only pining to become one percent Singapore. And the rest?

While a rise in the number of people joining extremist groups shows a clear sign of the disillusionment faced by the poor and the governments’ failure to address the issues, successive governments have also failed to address violence and prejudicial attitude towards religious minorities. It’s not just extreme terrorist activities that expose the existence of a communal mindset. While in India the BJP-supported ‘cleansing’ acts of Muslim, Christian and Sikh minorities destroyed its image of a secular democracy, in Bangladesh the slide in the number of Hindus should be a case for concern for the government which comes to power in the New Year. According to a study by Professor Abul Barkat, of Dhaka University’s Department of Economics, the Hindu population has dropped from 18% in 1961 to 9% in 2001. The total Hindu population in 2001 was 11.4 million, half the expected 22.8 million it should be as per growth estimates. Already there are reports in the media that certain religious bigots have been distributing leaflets asking people not to “go against Islam” and refrain from voting for Hindu candidates. The past BNP government already has a revolting record of minority oppression. Land-grabbing, looting, raping and killing of Hindus in 2001 was very similar to a parallel scenario by the BJP government supported persecution of Muslims and Christians in India. In 2005, the same BNP government failed to provide protection to the Ahmadiya minorities from religious zealots working under the banner of the Khatme Nabuwat Movement. The government failed to revoke its ban on Ahmadiya literature, or to prosecute the vandals who attacked the mosques. BNP and Jamaat have always maintained their strong opposition towards the historic CHT Peace Treaty that promised to give rights to the most marginalised indigenous people of the country. Under the caretaker government the only two large political parties representing the rights of the Pahari people of CHT UPDF (United Peoples Democratic Front) and PCJSS (Parbotto Chottogram Jonoshonghoti Samity) have been denied registration by the EC.

The first casualties of communalism are usually freedom of speech and women. Bigots have always felt threatened by the two. Little wonder then that Taslima Nasreen may never be able to come back to Bangladesh, that Humayan Azad’s books incited such rage amongst fundamentalist groups. It is no wonder then that Mufti Mohammad Nuruddin, the acting khatib of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque who headed the committee which ‘reviewed’ the National Women Development Policy said, “A woman cannot enjoy rights equal to a man’s because a woman is not equal to a man by birth” and asked for the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to be withdrawn. It is also little wonder that the caretaker government worked with amazing speed at the complaint of the bigots and ordered the airport and civil aviation authorities to take down the sculptures of the bauls after 50 lakh takas had already spent on it.

Secularism does not mean going against religion. Nor is it anti-Islamic in the least, as many bigots will try to have us believe. Secularism means that the government of a country should not carry out its duties or frame policies based on any religious texts. Inherent in the idea of secularism is the plurality of religion and tolerance. The military dictators, who ruled the country after the murder of the founding father, initiated the idea of religion-based politics to achieve their own personal gain. Economic motives for violence have always been around and minorities have always had to bear the brunt of this violence. Any party that comes to power in the election that is to take place three days from now must unequivocally embrace the idea of secularism, that is religious plurality and tolerance. Secular sentiments need to exist at the very grass-root level, where Christian and Muslim families will live as good neighbours in a small village in Noakhali, where a Muslim voter will vote for a Hindu candidate because he believes the candidate is worthy to represent his village and not have to fear that the worst hell awaits him because he voted a ‘non-believer’ to power. Khushwant Singh, in his book ‘The End of India’ coins a motto that he believes should be a guide for modern India, “Work is worship, but worship is not work”. With the rising communal sentiment in Bangladesh leading to nothing but violence and insecurity, this motto should give any party that comes to power in 2009, something to think about.