Bangladesh’s politics is witnessing a seismic shift as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) unveils an intricate and multifaceted strategy to thwart the upcoming general elections.
Failed to gain public support for their demand, BNP now opted for undercover sabotage and arson terrorism to create sense of unrest to demotivate people to participate in the electoral procedure.
BNP’s de facto leader and acting chairman Tarique Rahman, a fugitive and internationally recognized feared criminal, emerged as the mastermind behind recent violent spree to destabilize the country.
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Awami League President Sheikh Hasina recently said that the arson attacks in Bangladesh are being orchestrated from London.
“An individual issues orders while living in London and his followers set fire here in Bangladesh,” she said.
From No One to Corruption Kingpin
Tarique was hardly known to mass people before 2001 when the country was preparing for election and Tarique apparently took charge of then opposition party BNP’s political direction.
With the election victory, Tarique later emerged as the new “Zia” and became popular among BNP activists.
But the story starts here. From 2001, he directed BNP to such a repressive, corrupt and aggressive path that the then government topped in global corruption index and terrorism, unrest shrouded Bangladesh, making Tarique a “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics in Bangladesh.”
As BNP was in power, everything was easy for him and he made a complex web of crime dynasty and ruled the country as the pseudo–Prime Minister.
He set up his kingdom’s office in Hawa Bhaban in Gulshan. Soon after, the building became a simile for corruption, terrorism and alternative power house, dictating state affairs from there.
He found state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar as his associate who was popularly known as Casio Babar. He had found some crafty men including state and deputy ministers and people including Giasuddin Mamun, Ruhul Quddus Dulu, Nadim Mustafa, Aminul Huq and Alamgir Kabir.
These men had deep links to militants in northern region. Tarique found the opportunity to use these men against the Awami League.
They, together formed a corruption kingdom surrounding the Hawa Bhaban. Things were simple, if you want to do business or make deal, better first get blessing of the Hawa Bhaban. They extorted thousands of crore taka from the people and the state.
The corruption of Tarique and his associates became so widespread that then prime minister Khaleda Zia’s principal secretary Kamaluddin Siddiqui during a meeting with US ambassador Harry K Thomas on March 13, 2005 mentioned “PM Zia’s indulgence and protection of her corrupt son” as her “biggest political failure”, a WikiLeaks disclosure in 2011 of a US cable reveals.
US ambassador James F Moriarty cabled to Washington on November 3, 2008 mentioning that Tarique represents the symbol of “kleptocratic government and violent politics”. The cable was leaked by WikiLeaks on August 30, 2011.
“His theft of millions of dollars in public money has undermined political stability in this moderate, Muslim-majority nation and subverted US attempts to foster a stable democratic government, a key objective in this strategically important region,” reads the cable.
His cable further mentioned Tarique as “notorious for flagrantly and frequently demanding bribes in connection with government procurement actions and appoints to political office”.
Moriarty also suggested that Tarique be denied entry to the US for his links to corruption and terrorism.
Another cable sent six months later by US Charge d affairs Geeta Pasi said the State Department was considering visa revocation for him under the Presidential Proclamation.
Allegations of extortion and bribe taking went rife against Tarique and much later when BNP was dislodged from power at least 23 cases were filed against him on such charges which are now under trial.
He was convicted to seven years in jail and Tk 20 crore in fines in a money laundering case in 2016 which in short concerns Tarique used his political power to help his close friend, Giasuddin Mamun, to get and then launder $2.5m.
Mamun had taken the money as a bribe for securing a power plant contract for a construction company.
The FBI investigated this particular case of money laundering and for the first time in the history of Bangladesh, a FBI special agent testified in a Dhaka court.
Tarique was sentenced to ten years in another case in February this year — Zia orphanage graft case.
In other cases, the charges against him run like this. He had threatened the boss of a construction firm, Al Amin Construction, with closure of the company unless he received a payment of $150,000. A number of other construction firms also came up with similar allegations against him.
He had received 2 percent of all the deals that a famous German company bagged during the BNP regime. A Chinese firm paid $750,000 to Tarique to open its plant and the money was deposited with a Citibank account in Singapore. A Bangladesh construction firm paid $450,000 to secure a deal.
The long list of allegations thus goes on and on, indicating the blatant and crude style of power abuse.
Tarique’s Romance with Militancy
With the blessing of abusive power and wealth, Tarique and his buddies then unveiled another saga: terrorize Bangladesh!
His buddies minister Aminul Huq, lawmaker Nadim Mostafa, and state minister Alamgir Kabir started using militant group Jagrata Muslim Bangladesh led by ‘Bangla Bhai’ in unleashing a reign of terror in the northern districts.
Infamous Bangla Bhai started killing people in name of the religion with the state support. The then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia turned blind eye and said Bangla Bhai did not exist. Industries minister and convicted war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami even said “Bangla Bhai was created by some newspapers”.
In an interview with The Daily Star in June 2007, former inspector general of police Nur Mohammad said: ” Khaleda Zia had the consent to the JMB activities. Her son Tarique Rahman had been supporting the vigilante activities of the militants.”
Bangla Bhai was not only weapon. Tarique even planned darker to stay in power forever. He planned to kill the then opposition leader and Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina and top AL leadership.
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami or Huji appeared in the scene with state patronage through an open press conference at the National Press Club on April 30, 1992.
In 2000, the militant organization planted a 76kg bomb at a rally venue in Gopalganj to kill Sheikh Hasina.
Tarique find Huji suitable option to abolish Sheikh Hasina and AL leadership.
A few days before the attack, Huji leaders met Tarique and got his green signal for carrying out the blasts, investigators have found.
Huji leader Mufti Hannan had been given the charge to execute the plan. Hannan was assured that he would remain above the law.
The rest is darker history of Bangladesh as on August 21, 2004, the terrorists had bombed at an anti-terrorism rally organized by Awami League and led by Sheikh Hasina.
Luckily, Sheikh Hasina escaped death but 24 AL leaders lost their life.
It was this one single incident that changed the course of politics in Bangladesh forever.
According to a special court verdict, this gruesome attack was a well-orchestrated plan through abuse of state power. All the accused, including BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman and former top intelligence officials, were found guilty and handed down various punishments.
In the murder case, Tarique and 18 others were sentenced to life in prison while former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and 18 others were given death penalty.
“The specialised deadly grenades were blasted with the help of the then state machinery,” said Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Speedy Trial Tribunal-1.
“The prosecution has been able to prove that the accused held meetings to conspire in different places before the incident and blasted grenades in a planned manner,” he said.
After the assassination of the Father of the Nation on August 15, 1975, four national leaders were murdered inside the jail as part of a conspiracy. But the conspiracy did not stop there, it rather continued, the court noted.
“Later, an evil effort was made to make the Awami League leaderless on August 21, 2004.”
Tarique Rahman also responsible for sending weapons and explosives to United Liberation Front of Assom (ULFA) – an insurgency outfit inside India.
Major General Gaganjit Singh, former Deputy Director General of India’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman was the mastermind of 10 truck arms haul in Chattogram [Chittagong] in 2004.
Talking to India Today and a television channel in India, he said the arms were being supplied under the direct patronization of the then BNP-Jamaat alliance to use Bangladesh as a sanctuary.
In 2015, Interpol took action by issuing a Red Notice for Tarique Rahman prior to his conviction on terrorism-related charges in Bangladesh.
Tarique’s Dictation Slow-Poisoning BNP
Sitting far away in London, Tarique Rahman has been continuously giving suicidal dictations to his party leaders
The latest decision of boycotting elections also has come from Tarique. But many of BNP’s top leadership are becoming increasingly frustrated at Tarique’s undue and apolitical decisions, which will push the party towards extinction.
BNP’s boycott strategy carries inherent risks. Many voters may interpret this type of election boycott as the party’s organizational weaknesses or unwillingness to engage in the democratic process. They might perceive the BNP as a party that prioritizes its interests over the needs and aspirations of the people. Due to this negative perception, support for the BNP will decline over the time.
The party aims to mitigate the risk of electoral defeat by abstaining from contested elections, which could further undermine its political standing.
By boycotting elections, the BNP’s representation in the local and national government system diminishes, depriving its leaders and workers of opportunities to voice their perspectives on policy adoption and implementation in local governance. This lack of direct representation can hinder the party’s ability to enact its agenda and diminish its overall influence on policymaking.
More importantly, BNP’s boycott stance leads to further split inside the party as a number of key BNP leaders left the party and joined others platforms which replacing BNP as the opposition forces.
