sheikh – Radio Free

‘Activist’ Dilip Mandal’s claim that Fatima Sheikh is a ‘non-existent’ character is a travesty of historical truth

Oishani Bhattacharya — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 14:20:26 +0000

January 9 has widely been recognised as the birth anniversary of Fatima Sheikh, dubbed one of the first female Muslim educators and a close associate of educationist social reformer Savitribai Phule. However, this year, discourse around her on social media took a complete turn.

On her birth anniversary this year, former journalist, author and self-proclaimed activist Dilip Mandal took to X to a pen a post titled “Confession”. In this, he claimed that Fatima Sheikh never actually existed and was a character “fabricated” by him.

“I had created a myth or a fabricated character and named her Fatima Sheikh. Please forgive me. The truth is that ‘Fatima Sheikh’ never existed; she is not a historical figure. Not a real person. It is my mistake that, during a particular phase, I created this name out of nothing—essentially from thin air. I did that knowingly,” Mandal writes.

Confession:

I had created a myth or a fabricated character and named her Fatima Sheikh.

Please forgive me. The truth is that “Fatima Sheikh” never existed; she is not a historical figure. Not a real person.

It is my mistake that, during a particular phase, I created this name… pic.twitter.com/8pHjiQXTfG

— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) January 9, 2025

The “fictional sketch” here refers to an article by him published in The Print on January 9, 2019 titled: ‘Why Indian history has forgotten Fatima Sheikh but remembers Savitribai Phule’. After Mandal’s latest post on X, however, The Print retracted this piece.

Three days later, on January 11, Mandal posted another thread on X titled: “11 Points of Agreement in the Fatima Sheikh Controversy”, where he outlined claims supporting his latest argument that Fatima Sheikh is a fictional character he created and not a real historical figure.

He claims there is no historical evidence that points to Fatima Sheikh’s existence and association with Savitribai Phule since there are “no books, poems, government documents, letters, or newspapers from that era that mention her”.

11 Points of Agreement in the Fatima Sheikh Controversy:

A thread highlighting key points of consensus among otherwise disagreeing parties.

— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) January 11, 2025

Finding Fatima Sheikh

In this report, we will try to tackle Mandal’s latest claim that “no contemporary evidence from that era exists to confirm the existence of ‘Fatima Sheikh’ during the time period she is said to have lived” and whether this can be used to establish that the discourse around Fatima Sheikh predates Mandal’s writing around her.

1. Books and letters

One of the first and easily locatable academic references to Fatima Sheikh is in an anthology of Indian women’s writing — “Women writing in India: 600 B.C. to the present” — edited by Susie Tharu and K Lalitha, published in 1991. This collection delves into the literary contributions of Indian women from ancient times to the early 20th century and brings to the mainstream voices of historically marginalised women writers. The anthology features poetry, prose, letters and autobiographical fragments, all of which reflect the socio-political and cultural contexts of their time.

Savitribai Phule’s name emerges prominently each time there’s any mention of Indian women who made significant contributions to society but were excluded from historical records. Tharu and Lalitha’s anthology dedicates a chapter to Phule, in which Fatima Sheikh is clearly mentioned. In a brief introduction to Phule and her work, Sheikh is referred to as a colleague of Savitribai and her husband Jyotirao Phule, who was also an activist and reformer. The book says:

“In 1848, when Savithribai was only seventeen, they (Jyotirao and she) opened five schools in and around Pune, and in 1851, one meant especially for the girls from the mang and mahar castes. Savithribai and Jotiba, together with another colleague, Fatima Sheik, taught in them until 1856 when Savithribai fell seriously ill and went back to her parental home in Naigaon (Khandala taluk, Satara district), where she was nursed back to health by her elder brother, ‘Bhau’.”

The edition also has a letter Savitribai wrote to her husband in October 1856, from her parental home where she was recovering from her illness. This letter, translated from Marathi to English by Maya Pandit, who has translated 18 books, including Marathi Dalit women’s autobiographies, again mentions Sheikh.

Savitribai writes:

“…I’ll come to Pune as soon as I have completely recovered. Please don’t be worried about me. This must be causing a lot of trouble to Fatima. But I am sure she will understand and won’t grumble.”

When we reached out to Susie Tharu to learn more on the scholarship regarding Sheikh and her primary sources, she said much of Phules’ life, including what the chapter contains, has been documented by eminent scholars specialising in Marathi literature, Dalit history and the role of Muslims in social reform in India, such as Vidyut Bhagwat, Ram Bhapat, Gail Omvedt and Gail Minault. The chapter on Phule was written in consultation with some of these scholars and their work. She also told Alt News that the burden of proof of Fatima Sheikh’s non-existence should be placed on Dilip Mandal and not the other way around.

“It’s clear now that Dr Mandal’s claim that he invented Fatima Sheikh is false… Mandal should be asked what evidence he has that the Sheikhs (Fatima and her brother Usman Sheikh) were not involved?”

The other mention of Sheikh and Phule together is in M G Mali’s biography of Savitribai Phule titled ‘Kranti Jyoti Savitribai Phule’. In this biography, first published in 1980, Mali mentions Fatima Sheikh alongside others who assisted and made significant contributions to Savitribai Phule’s efforts:

“Just as Savitribai contributed to Mahatma Phule’s work in the social field, contributions from progressive thinkers such as Sagunabai Kshirsagar, Vishnupant Thate, Vamanrao Kharaatkar and Fatima Sheikh also played a role. Fatima Sheikh, who studied at the normal school opened by the Phule couple, became the first student and the first Indian Muslim woman teacher at that school. Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh taught in schools for girls from the lower untouchable society, while other assistant teachers taught in schools for Brahmin or wealthy girls. Both Savitribai and Fatima were fully capable of teaching”.

Dr. M.G. Mali, in his biography क्रांतीज्योती सावित्रीबाई फुले (Kranti Jyoti Savitribai Phule), originally published in 1980, writes: “Just as Savitribai Phule contributed to the social reform efforts of Mahatma Phule, pic.twitter.com/eXhkh1cehu

— Revolutionary Memes For Bahujan Teens (@RMBT_tweets) January 10, 2025

This debunks Dilip Mandal’s claim that there are no historical records, or books or letters mentioning Fatima Sheikh before he wrote about her. References to a person named ‘Fatima’ as a close associate of the Phules appear in Tharu and Lalitha’s 1990 anthology on women writers as well as Mali’s 1980 biography of Phule.

2. Photograph with Savitribai Phule

Another piece of evidence that cements Sheikh’s association with the Phules is a photograph of them from over a century ago.

This appears in another book on Savitribai Phule titled ‘Savitribai Phule – Samagra Vangmaya’, which was also edited by M G Mali. It was first published in 1988; subsequent editions were published by the Maharashtra government’s Literature and Culture Board. Page 49 of the digital copy of this book has a note by editor M G Mali followed by several photographs of Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule with some of the people in their lives. Page 54 of the book has a photograph of three women — two sitting and one standing behind them — along with two young girls. The accompanying caption says, “Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh with two students from their school (A rare photograph developed from a negative over a hundred years ago)”. Scholars believe that in this photograph, the woman standing behind the two others who are seated is Fatima Sheikh.Thus while it is true that evidence surrounding Fatima Sheikh’s existence is limited, enough records predating Mandal’s article point to the fact that she did, in fact, exist and was closely associated with Savitribai Phule.

Mandal only speculates about Fatima Sheikh’s existence, fails to disprove it

In his January 11 X thread, Mandal says that only one letter from Savitribai Phule to her husband has a reference to Fatima Sheikh, and even that is just a single line. He claims that this brief mention offers no concrete evidence of Fatima Sheikh’s existence or her key role as an educator. This letter, originally in Marathi, is the same one appearing in Tharu and Lalita’s anthology.

He further adds, “It is unclear who this ‘Fatima’ was, what work burden she had, and why she would not complain. These questions remain unanswered and likely unanswerable. In Marathi, the phrase ‘not complain’ is written as ‘kurkur’ nahi karegi, which does not convey much respect toward Fatima… She may have been a household servant or helper”.

His argument that the word “kurkur” used in Savitribai Phule’s letter denotes a lack of respect is farfetched because the connotation of disrespect is based on a generic idea of how the word may have been spoken or used in popular culture. “Kurkur” is a common Marathi term for ‘grumble’ or ‘complain’.

Mandal goes on to say that it’s possible the ‘Fatima’ mentioned in Savitribai’s letter could be Christian: ‘she could have been Fatima Ansari, Fatima Kunjra, or Fatima Dhuniya’.

5. This “Fatima” might have been a Christian, as the name was common among Christian women long before the advent of Islam. Alternatively, she could have been Fatima Ansari, Fatima Kunjra, or Fatima Dhuniya. She may have been a household servant or helper. pic.twitter.com/8KgfZFCmzK

— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) January 11, 2025

This too seems mere speculation on Mandal’s part. His phrase “She could have been…” is a wide net to cast doubt without any substantial evidence.

To put it simply, by introducing alternative theories Mandal is perhaps exploiting the limited historical evidence of her existence and contributions. And while the lack of availability of written, textual material is a genuine issue, it cannot be used to conclusively establish that Sheikh did not exist or had no contribution to the education movement.

According to Professor Shraddha Kumbhojkar, head of the History department at Savitribai Phule Pune University, while there is only one concrete piece of evidence suggesting the existence of Fatima Sheikh, there is a strong implication that a female colleague took on responsibilities during Savitribai Phule’s absence. The letter to her husband could be seen as her reference to an able colleague like Sheikh.

She adds that it is very plausible that a Muslim woman like Sheikh was a close associate considering the Phules’ Satyashodhak movement included individuals across castes and religions, with Muslims forming a significant part of it.

We reached out to Pune-based researcher Tahera Shaikh, whose work focuses on Fatima Sheikh. Shaikh, who has written a book in Urdu titled ‘Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule’, specifically told us that her interest in Fatima Sheikh was primarily born out of the fact that there was so little material available.

“I went to all the spaces in person and tried to document as much as I could but while we were able to establish what her life entailed and what her contributions primarily were, public records on Sheikh are few,” she said. She added that some references to Sheikh could be found in the works of Marathi scholars and in Marathi books on Phule but these too are not easily accessible.

“I visited every nook and corner in Pune to meet elderly persons who had any knowledge vis-à-vis Fatima Shaikh. But I hardly got anything in writing i.e. any evidence which can be used as reference in the book… Unlike Fatima Shaikh, there are plenty of materials and books available on Savitribai Phule and we know basic things about her… Savitribai used to write what she would do; therefore many things are available in writing with regard to her works. And, as she has mentioned about Fatima Bi several times, we also know about her. But, the unfortunate thing is that Fatima Bi herself did not write about herself and her works,” the scholar said in a podcast in 2022.

Not just Shaikh, the lack of archival records and written material, especially on women, is something several scholars have faced and have written about in detail. So, at best, Mandal’s half-baked claims on Fatima Sheikh’s (lack of) existence only highlight this issue.

The post ‘Activist’ Dilip Mandal’s claim that Fatima Sheikh is a ‘non-existent’ character is a travesty of historical truth appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.

CPJ welcomes Gaza ceasefire, calls for media access and war crimes investigations

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 17:26:30 +0000

Beirut, January 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and calls on authorities to grant unconditional access to journalists and independent human rights experts to investigate crimes committed against the media during the 15-month long war.

“Journalists have been paying the highest price – with their lives – to provide the world some insight into the horrors that have been taking place in Gaza during this prolonged war, which has decimated a generation of Palestinian reporters and newsrooms,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg in New York. “We call on Egyptian, Palestinian, and Israeli authorities to immediately allow foreign journalists into Gaza, and on the international community to independently investigate the deliberate targeting of journalists that has been widely documented since October 2023.”

Since October 7, 2023, CPJ has documented at least 165 journalists and media workers killed, 49 journalists injured, two journalists missing, 75 journalists arrested, and multiple other violations of press freedom in Gaza and the neighboring region.

To date, CPJ has determined that at least 11 journalists and two media workers were directly targeted by Israeli forces, which CPJ classifies as murder. A deliberate attack on civilians constitutes a war crime under international law.

CPJ’s data shows that eight journalists were murdered in Gaza — Ayman Al Gedi, Fadi Hassouna, Faisal Abu Al Qumsan, Hamza Al Dahdouh, Ismail Al Ghoul, Mohammed Al-Ladaa, Mustafa Thuraya and Rami Al Refee — and threein Lebanon — Ghassan Najjar, Issam Abdallah, and Wissam Kassem. In addition, CPJ has classified two media workers as murdered: Mohammed Reda in Lebanon and Ibrahim Sheikh Ali in Gaza.

CPJ is investigating about 20 other cases where there is evidence of deliberate targeting of journalists, their homes, and media outlets in Gaza during the war.

When approached for comment by CPJ about the deliberate targeting of journalists, the Israel Defense Forces said that some were members of militant groups but provided either questionable or no evidence for those alleged links.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Israeli strike kills 5 Al-Quds Al-Youm TV journalists in central Gaza

CPJ Staff — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:38:14 +0000

Beirut, December 26, 2024—Israeli forces killed five journalists and media workers with Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, a channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group, in a Thursday strike on their vehicle outside Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Associated Press reported that footage showed the van had visible press markings.

“CPJ denounces Israel’s killing of five journalists working for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director in New York. “The Israeli strike on their vehicle, which was clearly marked ‘Press,’ means that at least nine Gazan journalists have been killed in less than two weeks. The international community must act now to protect Palestinian journalists in Gaza and end Israel’s impunity for these killings.”

The five journalists killed on December 26 have been identified as:

Correspondent Faisal Abu Al Qumsan
Camera operator Ayman Al Gedi
Photographer and editor Fadi Hassouna
Editor Mohammed Al-Ladaa
Producer and fixer Ibrahim Sheikh Ali

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson posted on social media platform X that those killed on December 26 were militants posing as journalists.

CPJ’s email to the IDF’s North America Media desk asking whether the journalists were targeted for their work or whether there was any evidence that they were militants did not receive an immediate response.

Earlier in December, Israeli forces killed four journalists in separate strikes on December 14 and 15.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Taliban bans television broadcasts and public filming and photographing in Takhar province

CPJ Staff — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 21:06:59 +0000

New York, October 28, 2024—On October 13, the Taliban banned television operations and the filming and photographing of people in public spaces in northeast Takhar province according to a local journalist who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists under the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from the Taliban, and media reports.

“The Taliban’s latest ban on television and filming and photography in Takhar should trouble anyone who cares about media freedom worldwide” said CPJ’s program director, Carlos Martínez de la Serna, in New York. “The citizens of Afghanistan deserve fundamental rights, and the international community must cease its passive observation of the country’s rapid regression.”

The ban was approved by senior officials from the Taliban’s provincial General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), directorates of Information and Culture, and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as well as the governor’s office of Takhar province.

Takhar is the second province in Afghanistan to institute such a ban. Previously, the Taliban implemented a similar ban in Kandahar province, its unofficial capital and the residence of the group’s leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, according to a Kandahar-based journalist who also spoke to CPJ under the condition of anonymity for fear of Taliban retaliation.

Saif ul Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, confirmed to the Associated Press that media outlets in the provinces of Takhar, Maidan Wardak, and Kandahar had been “advised not to broadcast or display images of anything possessing a soul—meaning humans and animals,” according to the AP. Khyber said the directive is part of the implementation of a recently ratified morality law.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada signed the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice bill into law on July 31, though the news was not made public until August 21, when it was published on the Ministry of Justice’s website.

Article 17 of the law details the restrictions on the media, including a ban on publishing or broadcasting images of living people and animals, which the Taliban regards as un-Islamic. Other sections order women to cover their bodies and faces and travel with a male guardian, while men are not allowed to shave their beards. The punishment for breaking the law is up to three days in prison or a penalty “considered appropriate by the public prosecutor.”

On October 14, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the director of Taliban-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), informed senior management of Kabul’s national TV station that a phased strategy to implement the new law had already begun. TV stations across Afghanistan’s provinces will be gradually closed and converted to radio stations, with plans to eventually extend the ban to Kabul, where RTA and other major national broadcasters operate, according to two journalists familiar with the meeting and a report by the London-based independent outlet, Afghanistan International.

On October 19, during a visit to Sheikh Zahid University in Khost province, Neda Mohammad Nadim, the Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education, barred the filming of the event, according to the London-based Afghanistan International.

On October 23, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense launched the broadcast of Radio Sada-e-Khalid, which is managed by the ministry and operates from the 201st Corps of the Taliban army.

Since taking power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the Taliban has employed a gradual strategy to suppress media activity in the country, with the General Directorate of Intelligence forcing compliance with stringent regulations. These include bans on music and soap operas, bans on women’s voices in the media, the imposition of mask-wearing for female presenters, a ban on live broadcasts of political shows, the closure of television stations, and the jamming or boycotting of independent international networks broadcasting to Afghanistan. To enforce these policies, the Taliban have detained, assaulted, and threatened journalists and media workers throughout the country.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Iraqi security forces assault 2 news crews covering protests

Committee to Protect Journalists — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 17:51:48 +0000

Sulaymaniyah, August 20, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi security forces to explain the assault of two TV crews while they were covering protests in separate parts of the country.

“CPJ is deeply concerned by the attacks on the Zoom News TV crew in Sulaymaniyah and the Alsumaria TV crew in Baghdad,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “We call on Iraqi authorities to thoroughly investigate these incidents and ensure their security forces are properly trained to interact with journalists.”

On August 18, in Halabja, Sulaymaniyah province, Iraqi Kurdistan Asayish security forces attacked Zoom News TV reporter Avin Atta and cameraman Zhyar Kamli while they were reporting on a demonstration against the killing of a porter, known as a kolbar, by Iraqi border forces in the Hawraman area.

Atta told CPJ that an Asayish official twisted her arm behind her back, dislocating her shoulder and wrist, after she refused to hand over their camera and microphone. The security forces released Atta and Kamli after reviewing their footage for more than an hour.

CPJ did not receive a response to its request for comment sent via messaging app to Salam Abdulkhaliq, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region Security Agency.

Zoom News TV supports the newly formed People’s Front, a political party participating in Kurdistan’s October 20 parliamentary elections.

Separately, Iraqi SWAT forces assaulted Alsumaria TV reporter Amir Al-Khafaji and cameraman Omar Abbas while they were covering an August 19 Baghdad protest by medical school graduates demanding jobs.

Al-Khafaji told CPJ by phone that four SWAT officers beat him and confiscated their equipment and phones after he tried to stop them from attacking Abbas.

After taking the journalists to a police station in Baghdad’s Al-Rusafa district, the officers accused them of assaulting security forces and refused to release them until they signed a pledge not to attack security forces again. “We were shocked and denied the allegations,” said Al-Khafaji.

CPJ received no response to its call for comment from Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesperson Brigadier General Miqdad Miri.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Conundrums of Bangladeshi Politics

Vijay Prashad — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 17:14:01 +0000

On Monday, August 5, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina boarded a Bangladesh Air Force C-130J military transport in a hurry and fled to Hindon Air Force base, outside Delhi. Her plane was refueled and reports said that she intended to fly on either to the United Kingdom (her niece, Tulip Siddiq is a minister in the new Labor government), Finland (her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq is married to a Finnish national), or the United States (her son Sajeeb Wajed Joy is a dual Bangladesh-US national). Army Chief Waker uz-Zaman, who only became Army Chief six weeks ago and was her relative by marriage, informed her earlier in the day that he was taking charge of the situation and would create an interim government to hold future elections.

Sheikh Hasina was the longest-serving prime minister in Bangladesh’s history. She was the prime minister from 1996 to 2001, and then from 2009 to 2024—a total of 20 years. This was a sharp contrast to her father Sheikh Mujib, who was assassinated in 1975 after four years in power, or General Ziaur Rahman who was assassinated in 1981 after six years in power. In a scene reminiscent of the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rule in Sri Lanka, jubilant crowds of thousands crashed the gates of Ganabhaban, the official residence of the prime minister, and jubilantly made off with everything they could find.

Tanzim Wahab, photographer and chief curator of the Bengal Foundation, told me, “When [the masses] storm into the palace and make off with pet swans, elliptical machines, and palatial red sofas, you can feel the level of subaltern class fury that built up against a rapacious regime.” There was widespread celebration across Bangladesh, along with bursts of attacks against buildings identified with the government—private TV channels, and palatial homes of government ministers were a favored target for arson. Several local-level leaders in Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League have already been killed (Mohsin Reza, a local president of the party, was beaten to death in Khulna).

The situation in Bangladesh remains fluid, but it is also settling quickly into a familiar formula of an “interim government” that will hold new elections. Political violence in Bangladesh is not unusual, having been present since the birth of the country in 1971. Indeed, one of the reasons why Sheikh Hasina reacted so strongly to any criticism or protest was her fear that such activity would repeat what she experienced in her youth. Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975), the founder of Bangladesh, was assassinated in a coup d’état on August 15, 1975, along with most of his family. Sheikh Hasina and her sister survived because they were in Germany at that time—the two sisters fled Bangladesh together on the same helicopter this week. She has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts, including a grenade attack in 2004 that left her with a hearing problem. Fear of such an attempt on her life made Sheikh Hasina deeply concerned about any opposition to her, which is why up to 45 minutes before her departure she wanted the army to again act with force against the gathering crowds.

However, the army read the atmosphere. It was time for her to leave.

A contest has already begun over who will benefit from the removal of Sheikh Hasina. On the one side are the students, led by the Bangladesh Student Uprising Central Committee of about 158 people and six spokespersons. Lead spokesperson Nahid Islam made the students’ views clear: “Any government other than the one we recommended would not be accepted. We won’t betray the bloodshed by the martyrs for our cause. We will create a new democratic Bangladesh through our promise of security of life, social justice, and a new political landscape.” At the other end are the military and the opposition political forces (including the primary opposition party Bangladesh National Party, the Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and the small left party Ganosamhati Andolan). While the Army’s first meetings were with these opposition parties, a public outcry over the erasure of the student movement forced the Army to meet with the Student Central Committee and listen to their primary demands.

There is a habit called polti khawa or “changing the team jersey midway through a football match” that prevails in Bangladesh, with the military being the referee in charge at all times. This slogan is being used in public discourse now to draw attention to any attempt by the military to impose a mere change of jersey when the students are demanding a wholesale change of the rules of the game. Aware of this, the military has accepted the student demand that the new government be led by economist Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s only Nobel Prize winner. Yunus, as the founder of the microcredit movement and promoter of “social business,” used to be seen as primarily a phenomenon in the neoliberal NGO world. However, the Hasina government’s relentless political vendetta against him over the last decade, and his decision to speak up for the student movement, have transformed him into an unlikely “guardian” figure for the protesters. The students see him as a figurehead although his neoliberal politics of austerity might be at odds with their key demand, which is for employment.

Students

Even prior to independence and despite the rural character of the region, the epicenter of Bangladeshi politics has been in urban areas, with a focus on Dhaka. Even as other forces entered the political arena, students remain key political actors in Bangladesh. One of the earliest protests in post-colonial Pakistan was the language movement (bhasha andolan) that emerged out of Dhaka University, where student leaders were killed during an agitation in 1952 (they are memorialized in the Shaheed Minar, or Martyrs’ Pillar, in Dhaka). Students became a key part of the freedom struggle for liberation from Pakistan in 1971, which is why the Pakistani army targeted the universities in Operation Searchlight which led to massacres of student activists. The political parties that emerged in Bangladesh after 1971 grew largely through their student wings—the Awami League’s Bangladesh Chhatra League, the Bangladesh National Party’s Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatradal, and the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Over the past decade, students in Bangladesh have been infuriated by the growing lack of employment despite the bustling economy, and by what they perceived as a lack of care from the government. The latter was demonstrated to them by the callous comments made by Shajahan Khan, a minister in Sheikh Hasina’s government, who smirked as he dismissed news that a bus had killed two college students on Airport Road, Dhaka, in July 2019. That event led to a massive protest movement by students of all ages for road safety, to which the government responded with arrests (including incarceration for 107 days of the photojournalist Shahidul Alam).

Behind the road safety protests, which earned greater visibility for the issue, was another key theme. Five years previously, in 2013, students who were denied access to the Bangladesh Civil Service began a protest over restrictive quotas for government jobs. In February 2018, this issue returned through the work of students in the Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad (Bangladesh General Students’ Rights Protection Forum). When the road safety protests occurred, the students raised the quota issue (as well as the issue of inflation). By law, the government reserved seats in its employment for people in underdeveloped districts (10 percent), women (10 percent), minorities (5 percent), and the disabled (1 percent) as well as for descendants of freedom fighters (30 percent).

It is the latter quota that has been contested since 2013 and which returned as an emotive issue this year for the student protesters—especially after the prime minister’s incendiary comment at a press conference that those protesting the freedom fighter quotas were “rajakarer natni” (grandchildren of war traitors). British journalist David Bergman, who is married to prominent Bangladeshi activist lawyer Sara Hossain and was hounded into exile by the Hasina government, called this comment the “terrible error” that ended the government.

Military Islam

In February 2013, Abdul Quader Mollah of the Jamaat-e-Islami was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s liberation war (he was known to have killed at least 344 civilians). When he left the court, he made a V sign, whose arrogance inflamed large sections of Bangladesh’s society. Many in Dhaka gathered at Shahbag, where they formed a Gonojagoron Moncho (Mass Awakening Platform). This protest movement pushed the Supreme Court to reassess the verdict, and Mollah was hanged on December 12. The Shahbag movement brought to the surface a long-term tension in Bangladesh regarding the role of religion in politics.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initially claimed that Bangladesh would be a socialist and secular country. After his assassination by the military, general Ziaur Rahman took over the country and governed it from 1975 to 1981. During this time, Zia brought religion back into public life, welcomed the Jamaat-e-Islami from banishment (which had been due to its participation in the genocide of 1971), and—in 1978—formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on nationalist lines with a strong critical stance toward India. General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who took control after his own coup in 1982 and ruled until 1990, went further, declaring that Islam was the state’s religion. This provided a political contrast with the views of Mujib, and of his daughter Sheikh Hasina who took the reins of her father’s party, the Awami League, in 1981.

The stage was set for a long-term contest between Sheikh Hasina’s centrist-secular Awami League and the BNP, which was taken over by Zia’s wife Khaleda Zia after the General was assassinated in 1981. Gradually, the military—which had a secular orientation in its early days—began to witness a growing Islamist mood. Political Islam has grown in Bangladesh with the rise of piety in the general population, some of it driven by the Islamization of migrant labor to the Gulf states and to Southeast Asia. The latter has steadily reflected growth in observance of the Islamic faith in the aftermath of the war on terror’s many consequences. One should neither exaggerate this threat nor minimize it.

The relationship of the political Islamists, whose popular influence has grown since 2013, with the military is another factor that requires much more clarity. Given the dent in the fortunes of the Jamaat-e-Islami since the War Crimes Tribunal documented how the group was involved on the side of Pakistan during the liberation struggle, it is likely that this formation of political Islam has a threshold in terms of its legitimacy. However, one complicating factor is that the Hasina government relentlessly used the fear of “political Islam” as a bogeyman to obtain US and Indian silent consent to the two elections in 2018 and 2024. If the interim government holds a fair election on schedule, this will allow Bangladeshi people to find out if political Islam is a dispensation they wish to vote for.

New Cold War

Far away from the captivating issues put forward by the students which led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina are dangerous currents that are often not discussed during these exciting times. Bangladesh is the eighth-largest country in the world by population, and it has the second highest Gross Domestic Product in South Asia. The role it plays in the region and in the world is not to be discounted.

Over the course of the past decade, South Asia has faced significant challenges as the United States imposed a new cold war against China. Initially, India participated with the United States in the formations around the US Indo-Pacific Strategy. But, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has begun to distance itself from this US initiative and tried to put its own national agenda at the forefront. This meant that India did not condemn Russia but continued to buy Russian oil. At the same time, China had—through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—built infrastructure in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, India’s neighbors.

It is perhaps not a coincidence that four governments in the region that had begun to collaborate with the BRI have fallen, and that their replacements in three of them are eager for better ties with the United States. This includes Shehbaz Sharif, who came to power in Pakistan in April 2022 with the ouster of Imran Khan (now in prison), Ranil Wickremesinghe, who briefly came to power in Sri Lanka in July 2022 after setting aside a mass uprising that had other ideas than the installation of a party with only one member in parliament (Wickremesinghe himself), and KP Sharma Oli, who came to power in July 2024 in Nepal after a parliamentary shuffle that removed the Maoists from power.

What role the removal of Sheikh Hasina will play in the calculations in the region can only be gauged after elections are held under the interim government. But there is little doubt that these decisions in Dhaka are not without their regional and global implications.

The students rely upon the power of the mass demonstrations for their legitimacy. What they do not have is an agenda for Bangladesh, which is why the old neoliberal technocrats are already swimming like sharks around the interim government. In their ranks are those who favor the BNP and the Islamists. What role they will play is yet to be seen.

If the student committee now formed a bloc with the trade unions, particularly the garment worker unions, there is the possibility that they might indeed form the opening for building a new democratic and people-centered Bangladesh. If they are unable to build this historical bloc, they may be pushed to the side, just like the students and workers in Egypt, and they might have to surrender their efforts to the military and an elite that has merely changed its jersey.

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

The post The Conundrums of Bangladeshi Politics first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Vijay Prashad.

Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country after weeks of mass protests

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 11:07:23 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

Bangladesh transition: Sheikh Hasina falls after gripping power for 15 years

By BenarNews Staff — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:09:38 +0000

When protesters ransacked Sheikh Hasina’s official residence and set fire to a museum honoring her assassinated father – Bangladesh’s founding leader – they symbolically bid good riddance to the rule of its longest-serving prime minister, whose rise to power was inextricably tied to him.

Hasina, 76, one of two women to have served as Bangladesh’s prime minister, resigned and fled the country on Monday. In a stunning turn of events, the army chief announced that she had stepped down, as student-led protesters converged on the capital Dhaka again to demand her government’s ouster after 15 years of consecutive rule, which saw it drift toward authoritarianism.

Hasina, whose supporters had dubbed her “the mother of humanity,” quit office amid a shaky economy and only seven months after her government was elected to a fourth consecutive term in power and fifth overall.

However, there were widespread allegations that the polls were skewed in favor of her ruling Awami League party. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by her bitter enemy Khaleda Zia, had boycotted the Jan. 7 general election after Hasina refused to make way for a caretaker government to oversee the electoral process.

Since taking office in 2009, Hasina had led the South Asian nation of 170 million people on a track of mostly robust economic growth. But in recent years, she drew international scrutiny for an increasingly iron-fisted style and a record overshadowed by allegations of enforced disappearances and arrests of journalists and critics.

“If I’ve made any mistakes along the way, my request to you will be to look at the matter with the eyes of forgiveness,” Hasina told the nation in a televised address back in January as she sought re-election. “If I can form the government again, I will get a chance to correct the mistakes.”

Protesters try to demolish a large statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina and the nation’s founding leader, after she resigned as prime minister, in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. (Rajib Dhar/AP)

Hasina’s life as a politician was born in the wake of bullets fired by assassins.

She formally took over the Awami League six years after her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her mother and other family members were gunned down during a coup in 1975.

By a stroke of luck, she escaped being killed alongside them. She and her sister were traveling abroad during the assassination of Rahman, who had led the Bangladeshi independence movement in the 1971 war against Pakistan.

“I stepped into politics to fulfill my father’s dream,” Hasina told the nation during her electoral speech in January.

Hasina saw it as her mission to carry on with the legacy of her late father, who was widely revered as a national hero in Bangladesh’s struggle for independence. In 2021-22, her government spent many millions of U.S. dollars to commemorate his memory and mark the 50th year of nationhood.

Bengali nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman walks towards a battery of microphones to address an estimated 1 million people at a rally at the Race Course Ground in Dhaka, Jan. 11, 1972. Mujibur, the first leader of independent Bangladesh and the father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was assassinated in a military coup in August 1975. (Michel Laurent/AP)

As the milestone anniversary approached, it became increasingly dangerous to speak freely about Bangladesh’s founding father, because his daughter’s government had instituted strict laws against defaming him in an effort to control the historical narrative, analysts said.

But Rahman, who was also known as Sheikh Mujib, slid into his own brand of autocratic rule after becoming the leader of the young nation. A year before he was assassinated, Rahman banned all political parties and the majority of the press, and formed a Chinese Communist Party-style one-party system called Bakshal.

The widespread anti-Hasina protests that began last month and culminated in her ouster on Aug. 5 stemmed from anger vented by students over quotas for government jobs that heavily favored children and grandchildren of veterans who had fought on Mujibur’s side in the 1971 war against Pakistan.

The deadly protests persisted although the nation’s supreme court moved to slash the quotas and make applications for most government jobs merit-based in the country where there is a high jobless rate among young people.

Start of political career

In 1981, Hasina returned to Bangladesh from exile abroad shortly after being elected president of the Awami League. At the time, the country was ruled by President Ziaur Rahman, a military general who a few years earlier had founded the BNP.

Ziaur Rahman was killed in a coup days after Hasina returned, allowing another army general, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, to grab power.

Hasina collaborated with the BNP’s Khaleda Zia – Ziaur Rahman’s widow – to oust Ershad in a civilian mass movement.

In 1996, when the BNP held an election defying Hasina’s demand that a neutral caretaker government oversee the polls, she led opposition parties to boycott the election.

The BNP returned to power virtually unopposed – similar to her latest victory on Jan. 7 – but the Awami League’s constant street agitations forced Zia’s government to resign and call for fresh elections under a newly constituted caretaker system.

In that election, Hasina became prime minister for the first time.

Her party became known for aggressive and relentless political tactics, even when it was relegated to the opposition again in 2001. Frequent nationwide strikes and road blockades called by the Awami League kept the BNP government on the back foot.

Bangladesh transition: Sheikh Hasina falls after gripping power for 15 years

By BenarNews Staff — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:09:00 +0000

Hasina, 76, one of two women to have served as Bangladesh's prime minister, resigned and fled the country on Monday. In a stunning turn of events, the army chief announced that she had stepped down, as student-led protesters converged on the capital Dhaka again to demand her government's ouster after 15 years of consecutive rule, which saw it drift toward authoritarianism.

Hasina, whose supporters had dubbed her "the mother of humanity," quit office amid a shaky economy and only seven months after her government was elected to a fourth consecutive term in power and fifth overall.

"If I've made any mistakes along the way, my request to you will be to look at the matter with the eyes of forgiveness," Hasina told the nation in a televised address back in January as she sought re-election. "If I can form the government again, I will get a chance to correct the mistakes."

(Rajib Dhar/AP)

Hasina’s life as a politician was born in the wake of bullets fired by assassins.

She formally took over the Awami League six years after her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her mother and other family members were gunned down during a coup in 1975.

“I stepped into politics to fulfill my father’s dream,” Hasina told the nation during her electoral speech in January.

(Michel Laurent/AP)

As the milestone anniversary approached, it became increasingly dangerous to speak freely about Bangladesh's founding father, because his daughter's government had instituted strict laws against defaming him in an effort to control the historical narrative, analysts said.

Start of political career

Ziaur Rahman was killed in a coup days after Hasina returned, allowing another army general, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, to grab power.

Hasina collaborated with the BNP’s Khaleda Zia – Ziaur Rahman’s widow – to oust Ershad in a civilian mass movement.

In 1996, when the BNP held an election defying Hasina’s demand that a neutral caretaker government oversee the polls, she led opposition parties to boycott the election.

In that election, Hasina became prime minister for the first time.

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina resigns as PM, flees; army says interim govt to be formed

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 01:55:00 +0000

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday resigned and fled the country following a student protest that turned deadly and became a mass movement demanding she step down.

Chief of Army Staff Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman confirmed Hasina’s resignation at a press conference and said that after discussions with representatives of major political parties and civil society groups, it had been decided an interim government would be constituted.

“The prime minister has resigned. An interim government will be formed to run the country,” the army chief said.

“I take all responsibility ... justice [is] to be ensured for every killing and other misconduct,” he said, adding that he had ordered the police and security forces not to fire on the protesters.

Last month, what began as anti-quota protests spiraled into deadly clashes claiming at least 212 lives when security forces and supporters of Awami League joined the fray in an attempt to quell the university students' demonstrations.

At least 98 more lives were lost Sunday, the deadliest day of the civil unrest in what had now become a nationwide mass movement, with protesters demanding that Hasina and her government resign taking responsibility for the deaths.

Analysts had said the protest movement had widened into an indictment of Hasina's nearly 15 consecutive years at the helm of the South Asian nation, a reign marked, they said, by the crushing of dissent in a bid to consolidate power.

Hours after the 76-year-old Hasina left Bangladesh, President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s office issued a statement saying he had “decided to unanimously free” imprisoned ex-prime minister and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia, Hasina’s archrival.

A three-time prime minister, Khaleda has been effectively under house arrest for corruption convictions, even as the Awami League administration consistently rejected BNP's requests to seek medical care for her abroad.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the decision to free Khaleda was made after a meeting held by the president with the army chief and representatives of various parties.

Mirza also said that it was decided that the “parliament will be dissolved and an interim government will be formed soon.”

Additionally, student leaders and activists imprisoned since July 1, will be released, he said.

“It has also been decided that all political parties and student leaders will work to bring the law and order situation under control,” Mirza said at a press conference.

Deadly clashes continued though on Monday, with at least 54 people killed in Dhaka and other districts around the country, according to a tally of figures provided by officials at hospitals in these places.

A mural of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seen vandalized by protesters days before in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

‘New Independence’

Meanwhile, Hasina, who had fled with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, stopped at an airport outside New Delhi, where Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval went to meet with the former leader. Details of the meeting were not disclosed.

And nor was it immediately clear where Hasina was headed, although several Indian diplomatic sources told the Press Trust of India, the state news agency, that she was headed for London.

Rozina Akhter, the guardian of a student protester from the Residential Model College, called Hasina’s resignation a triumph for the people of Bangladesh.

“This is a new victory for us. New Independence,” Rozina told BenarNews. “[Hasina] wanted to dictate [to] Bangladesh. But people have taught her a lesson.”

Thousands of jubilant Bangladeshis stormed and raided Hasina’s residence Ganabhaban upon hearing the news of her resignation, with photographs showing crowds jumping into the pool in the mansion’s complex and relaxing in plush chairs inside it.

Unrestrained by army and security personnel, dozens climbed to the top of Ganabhaban and waved the Bangladesh flag. Some also took out items from Hasina’s former residence, including books and photos, as others vandalized the vehicles parked in the driveway as well as outside the residence.

Another stream of protesters headed for the national parliament and the prime minister’s office, with euphoric protesters chanting, “Hasina has fled, Hasina has fled,” as they flashed victory signs in front of the buildings.

Protesters raise the Bangladesh flag after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister, in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. (BenarNews)

Sabbir Ahmed Khan, the parliament security chief, told BenarNews Monday night that the crowds ransacked the parliament building, or the Jatiya Sangsad.

“Thousands of protesters have entered the Jatiya Sangsad building and looted everything they got. They ransacked the library,” he said.

In the Dhanmondi neighborhood in Dhaka, crowds set fire to the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, the founding President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s old residence that had been converted into a national monument.

Mujibur, Hasina’s father, and most the family’s members were assassinated in a 1975 coup. Hasina and her sister were abroad at that time. Hasina formally took over the Awami League six years later after a brief exile in neighboring India.

Hasina recently won her fourth consecutive general election – allegations of massive vote rigging had hounded her through all the polls.

Under her administration, local and international advocacy groups have documented mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread repression.

Jesmin Akhter, a citizen who participated in the protests, said Hasina’s excesses during her rule are what led to the current situation.

“She is a dictator. …The democracy-loving people have forced her to flee,” she told BenarNews from inside the former PM’s residence.

“This is a lesson for our future rulers.”

Muhammad Billal, a student of Daffodil University, said Hasina had been beaten.

“This is a people’s victory,” he told BenarNews.

More violence

However, while many celebrated, the situation in the South Asian nation of 170 million people remained in flux, with army personnel deployed at different strategic points of Dhaka to stop potential clashes with the ruling party members.

Protesters attacked houses and business establishments of minority Hindus, officials said, reporting such incidents nationwide – in Brahmanbaria, Sirajganj, Jhalakathi, Chattogram, Noakhali, Cumilla, Rajbari, Faridpur, Bogura and Sylhet.

Ranjit Roy, an employee at a private farm in Dhaka, told BenarNews he and his family were very worried.

“The residence of my father-in-law in Gournadi has been smashed. We are really in trouble,” he said.

Uneasy calm in Dhaka under curfew, police arrest hundreds for ‘violence’

Civil unrest worsens in Bangladesh

Elsewhere in the country, statues of Mujibur Rahman were torn down in Tejgaon, Faridpur and Rajbari. Crowds could also be seen attacking media companies’ buildings.

Earlier, at the press conference announcing Hasina’s resignation, the Army chief said that students and politicians must now help the Bangladesh Army maintain peace.

“Our country is suffering, economically, our infrastructure is suffering, help the army in these remedies,” Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman said.

The army’s Inter-Services Public Relations Department said in a notification that the army chief would soon hold a direct discussion with all students and teachers’ representatives.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Acting Chair, Tarique Rahman who’s in exile in London, also urged Bangladeshis to remain calm amid the ongoing political turmoil.

Global reactions

Internationally, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations secretary-general called for calm in Bangladesh, even as they said there must be accountability for those killed.

The U.S. on Monday again condoled the deaths, said Matthew Miller, State Department spokesman, at a daily press briefing.

It was vital that “full and transparent investigations to ensure accountability for these deaths” takes place, he said.

“We welcome the announcement of an interim government and urge any transition be conducted in accordance with Bangladesh’s laws.”

He also had words of praise for the Bangladesh Army.

"We have seen reports that the army resisted calls to crackdown on protesters and if these are true that is a positive development," Miller said.

People shake hands with army personnel as they celebrate the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Washington and Dhaka have had strained relations in recent years.

Last September, the U.S. announced it would deny visas to Bangladeshis whom it suspects of trying to undermine democratic elections has rattled many in the South Asian nation.

In May, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on former Bangladesh Army chief Gen. Aziz Ahmed and his immediate family members due to his alleged involvement in corruption.

The U.S. Treasury Department in December 2021 sanctioned Bangladesh’s elite security force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and several of its current and former officers for alleged human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings.

In April last year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Bangladesh to commit to democratic norms, good governance, human rights, and media freedom, while congratulating the country on its Independence Day.

Displeased at what appeared to be a rap on the knuckles, Hasina reacted by saying in the parliament that Washington was working to bring an undemocratic party to power in Bangladesh in the upcoming election.

‘Will not accept army-backed government’

The Student Movement against Discrimination, which had spearheaded the anti-quota protests said on Monday night that Hasina’s resignation was just the first step towards victory.

The movement’s coordinator Nahid Islam said at a press conference that as their second step, the students would present in 24 hours an outline of what the national government must look like.

Later, they announced in a video statement that they would present the name of Hasina’s nemesis, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, as a chief adviser to the interim government and that he had accepted their proposal.

Yunus could not be immediately reached for confirmation that he had accepted the proposal. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 in recognition of his pioneering micro-credit loans that helped Bangladeshi people – women in particular – lift themselves out of poverty through the Grameen Bank, which he had founded.

Nahid was clear about what the university students did not want to see.

“The movement will not accept any army-backed government,” Nahid said.

“Nor a government run under an emergency with the president.”

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Ahammad Foyez, Kamran Reza Chowdhury, Jesmin Papri and Sharifuzzaman Pintu for BenarNews.

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina resigns as PM, leaves country amid nationwide protests

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:20:00 +0000

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina has resigned as prime minister, the nation’s army chief announced Monday, in a stunning turn of events as the leader who had held office for 15 consecutive years appeared to give in to student protesters’ demands that she step down.

The announcement came as Dhaka and other cities braced for more violence as thousands of anti-government demonstrators defied a curfew and marched despite the heavy presence of government troops and police officers on the streets.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already resigned and we are working to form an interim government,” Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, the army chief, told reporters at a press conference in front of his cantonment office in Dhaka.

Late-breaking international news reports said Hasina had left Bangladesh, with one report from India saying she had arrived in the neighboring country by helicopter earlier in the day.

Hasina resigned a day after Bangladesh was plunged into the single deadliest day of violence in recent weeks of political tumult. As many as 98 people were killed across the country on Sunday, as students and protesters took to the streets and launched a civil disobedience campaign to demand that Hasina and her government resign over the killings of at least 200 demonstrators during a first phase of protests in July.

“I take all responsibility ... justice [is] to be ensured for every killing and other misconducts,” the army chief said.

A mural of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seen vandalized by protesters days before in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman said he had “ordered the police and army not to open fire,” at the thousands of people out on the streets on Monday.

He said the decision to form an interim administration was taken after discussions with the representatives of major political parties and civil society, although no members from Hasina’s Awami League party were present at the meeting.

“At the meeting, representatives from BNP [Bangladesh Nationalist Party], Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party were present while no Awami League people attended.

“I will meet the president as soon as possible and will try to form an interim administration. It might take one or two days ... please cooperate with us,” the general said.

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina resigns as PM, leaves country amid nationwide protests

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:20:00 +0000

Late-breaking international news reports said Hasina had left Bangladesh, with one report from India saying she had arrived in the neighboring country by helicopter earlier in the day.

“I take all responsibility ... justice [is] to be ensured for every killing and other misconducts,” the army chief said.

A mural of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seen vandalized by protesters days before in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman said he had “ordered the police and army not to open fire,” at the thousands of people out on the streets on Monday.

“At the meeting, representatives from BNP [Bangladesh Nationalist Party], Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party were present while no Awami League people attended.

“I will meet the president as soon as possible and will try to form an interim administration. It might take one or two days ... please cooperate with us,” the general said.

People shake hands with army personnel as they celebrate the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Aug. 5, 2024. [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

“No one of those who now are carrying out violence is a student. They are terrorists,” A.B.M. Sarwer-E-Alam Sarker, the prime minister’s assistant press secretary, quoted Hasina as saying, according to the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news service.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news outlet.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by .

Train accidents: The desperate search for a sabotage theory ends in YouTuber Gulzar Sheikh

Indradeep Bhattacharyya — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 08:32:55 +0000

At least 17 lives have been lost in train accidents in India in the last 42 days, with the latest mishap reported on the morning of Tuesday, July 30, near Barabamboo in Jharkhand in Eastern Railway’s Chakradharpur division. 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed when its engine brushed against a portion of a goods train which too had jumped tracks a few minutes ago, killing two and injuring at least 20.

Prior to that, on June 18, the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed near Gonda in Uttar Pradesh claiming four lives and leaving over 40 injured. The accident occurred at Pikaura, halfway between Gonda and Jhilahi.

Just a day before that, on June 17, a goods train hit the Kanchanjunga Express travelling from Agartala to Sealdaha, near New Jalpaiguri in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal resulting in the derailment of two coaches of the passenger train. At least 11 people were killed and 60 injured.

A number of accidents were reported in October-November, 2023. The worst of them on October 29 when the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train rammed into the stationary Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger at Kantakapalli station on the Howrah-Chennai line in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, resulting in the derailment of four bogies. At least 11 lives were lost and 60 people injured. Earlier that month, four people were killed and 40 injured as the North East Superfast Express derailed near the Raghunathpur railway station in Bihar’s Buxar district on October 11.

These accidents were reported at a time when the memory of the Odisha train mishap — one of the deadliest in India’s history — was still fresh in everyone’s mind. At least 293 passengers were killed and 1,100 injured on June 2, 2023, when the Chennai-bound Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express hit an iron ore-laden stationary goods train derailing 10 to 12 coaches of Coromandel which fell over on another track. The Bengal-bound Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, plying on that line, subsequently collided with those coaches, derailing three to four of its own coaches. The accident took place near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Balasore on the Kharagpur–Puri line under South Eastern Railway’s Kharagpur division.

Often after these accidents, sabotage and conspiracy theories have been floated on social media. For example, within hours of the Balasore tragedy, a section of the Right Wing gave it a communal spin by highlighting the day of the occurrence of the mishap — it was a Friday — and the alleged existence of a mosque near the accident site. Alt News found in its probe that the building described as a mosque was actually an ISKCON temple. Days later, it was again claimed that the station master’s name was Sharif and he had been absconding. Both the claims were found to be false by Alt News.

‘Rail Jihadi Gulzar Sheikh’

On August 1, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala tweeted about a person named Gulzar Sheikh who, Poonawala claimed, put “stones, cycles, obstacles on rail tracks”. “Identify these anti nationals who create railway accidents… God knows who all and how many such elements are doing it to cause train accidents.” he wrote in his tweet which contained visuals of a man carrying and placing objects such as a bicycle and a small cylinder near a railway track.

Identify these anti nationals who create railway accidents

There have been several instances of sabotage / signals being covered with paper/ deliberate obstacles being put on tracks

Look at Gulzar Sheikh.. putting stones, cycles, obstacles on rail tracks

God knows who all… pic.twitter.com/2CMg6E0Mfc

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) August 1, 2024

Squint Neon on X, who uses his social media handles to amplify communal hate and harass interfaith couples, tweeted the video of the same man placing a bicycle on rail tracks and wrote, “Will @Uppolice arrest Gulzar Shaikh for planning & instigating railway accidents across the country?”

Will @Uppolice arrest Gulzar Shaikh for planning & instigating railway accidents across the country? pic.twitter.com/tcHDWm4WME

— Squint Neon (@TheSquind) August 1, 2024

While both these users directly claimed that Gulzar Sheikh or the likes of them were causing train accidents across the country, others also tweeted the same clips and photos of Sheikh with less direct claims. An X handle named Trains of India was one of them. This user said Sheikh, who hailed from Lalgopalganj in Uttar Pradesh, was putting the lives of thousands in danger.

This is Mr Gulzar Sheikh from Lalgopalganj, UP who puts random things Infront of trains for YouTube Money, He is putting lives of 1000s of passengers in danger.
Strict action should be taken against him, @RailwayNorthern @rpfnr_ @drm_lko Sharing all the information Below pic.twitter.com/g8ZipUdbL6

— Trains of India (@trainwalebhaiya) July 31, 2024

Among other who tweeted on this was Amitabh Chaudhary, who amplifies communal propaganda on a regular basis. He wrote that what the likes of Sheikh did was in known as an act of terrorism in a civilized world.

Subsequently, an X user named Legal Hindu Defence (@legalhindudef) which describes itself as a ‘Volunteer legal group’ filing ‘cases on Hindu hate’, tweeted that a police complaint had been filed against Sheikh. In another tweet about Sheikh’s activities, they wrote, “पहले लव जिहाद, फिर थूक जिहाद और अब रेल जिहादअपने मज़े के लिए ये “72” तरीकों से जिहाद की खोज पर निकले हैं”. [First Love Jihad, then Thook Jihad, now Rail Jihad. For his own fun, he is in search of ’72’ ways of jihad.]

The official X handle of DCP Ganganagar under Prayagraj commissionerate tweeted on August 1 that an FIR (No. 233/2024) under Section 147/145/153 of the Railway Act had been registered by the Railway Protection Force in this regard and the accused was arrested by Nawabganj police. Poonawala also tweeted about the arrest saying, “Rail Jihadi in jail now”.

Done Rail Jihadi in jail now https://t.co/8c9dngp9I1 pic.twitter.com/ApbIik5ePm

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) August 1, 2024

The Union ministry of railways, too, tweeted about Sheikh’s arrest and his photos, urging people to report such behaviour.

सभी से अपील है कि कोई भी ऐसी गतिविधि करता दिखे तो उसे तुरंत रोकें एवं रेलवे या लोकल पुलिस को सूचित कर देश सेवा का कार्य करें।
भारतीय रेल की ओर से जन हित में जारी। pic.twitter.com/E2sBJI8I1K

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) August 2, 2024

Did Gulzar Sheikh Cause Train Accidents?

No.

According to reports, Sheikh was arrested from his home in Khandrauli village in Kaurihar Block of Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh. We checked his Facebook page and saw that multiple videos were posted from Lalgopalganj, which is about 13 km from Khandrauli. The tweet by Trains of India, too, identified the location of several of Sheikh’s videos as Lalgopalganj railway station, which is under the Lucknow-Charbagh division of Northern Railway.

We looked for reports of train accident from this area since January 2024 (this is when the YouTube channel was created) and did not find any.

However, according to the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966, “if any railway servant (whether on duty or otherwise) or any other person obstructs or causes to be obstructed or attempts to obstruct any train or other rolling stock upon a railway by squatting or picketing or during any rail roko agitation or bandh; or by keeping without authority any rolling stock on the railway… He shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both.”

Besides, The Railways Act, 1989, says in Section 150, “if any person unlawfully puts or throws upon or across any railway, any wood, stone or other matter or thing… or does or causes to be done or attempts to do any other act or thing in relation to any railway, with intent or with knowledge that he is likely to endanger the safety of any person travelling on or being upon the railway, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years.”

Hence, prima facie, there is ample ground for the law enforcement agencies to take action against Sheikh. The charges pressed against him pertain to “entering upon or into any part of a railway without lawful authority”, “wilfully or without excuse interfering with any amenity provided by the railway administration so as to affect the comfortable travel of any passenger” and “by any unlawful act or by any wilful omission or neglect, endangering or causing to be endangered the safety of any person travelling in railway”. The first two offenses are punishable with one to six months’ imprisonment and fine of Rs 100 to 500. The third entails imprisonment up to five years.

However, to set the narrative that it was act of ‘Jihad’ and that Gulzar Sheikh or the likes of him was “planning & instigating railway accidents across the country” or to claim that “he was an anti-national who create rail accidents” or his activities pertained to “terrorism”, and the collective social media clamor to slap the National Security Act against him seem exaggerations meant to divert the attention from the real reasons behind frequent train accidents in this country.

Was a Single Recent Train Accident Caused by an Object on the tracks?

No.

Alt News went through several reports on the investigations into each of the recent train accidents. According to information available at this point, none of them was caused by an object placed on the tracks.

The Balasore accident, the deadliest in recent times, was caused by a combination of technical and human errors. According to the report of the commissioner of railway safety (CRS), south eastern circle, “lapses” at various levels in the signal and telecommunication department were responsible for the mishap accident. The report also states, “Notwithstanding the lapses in signalling work, if the SM/BNBR [station master] had informed the repeated unusual behaviour of the crossover 17 A/B [the loop line—main UP line interface] to the S & T staff, they could have traced the false feed extending to the EI logic for the circuit for crossover 17 A/B.” This essentially suggests that though the primary reason was a fault in signalling, the station master, too, was partially at fault. However, officials and sources Frontline spoke to told the magazine that “this was a tall order: Station Masters were too overburdened to stretch themselves to do more…”

Significantly, Page 38 of the report states, “It is also learned from the PCSTE/SER’s letter that there was a similar incident of mismatch between the intended route set by signals and the actual route taken by the train on 16.05.2022 at BKNM (Bankra Nayabaj) station in the Kharagpur division of South Eastern Railway, due to wrong wiring and cable fault. Had corrective measures been taken after this accident to address the issue of wrong-wiring, the accident at BNBR (Bahanaga Bazar) would not have taken place.”

The CRS report into the Kanchenjunga Express accident in North Bengal stated that the mishap was ‘waiting to happen’ because of multiple lapses in train operations management in automatic signal zones and ‘inadequate counselling’ of loco pilots and station masters.

Preliminary inquiry by the CRS found that a “wrong paper authority or TA 912 to cross defective signals had been issued to the loco pilot of the goods train involved in the crash. The paper authority failed to specify the speed the goods train should adhere to while crossing the defective signal.” [TA 912 is a type of a on-paper order issued by railway authorities to loco pilots in case of a signal failure. This document authorizes the pilot to cross a red signal, which would otherwise indicate that the train must stop.]

In case of the Andhra Pradesh accident in October 2023, the CRS report blamed “systemic safety lapses, including the failure of the anti-telescopic features in the coaches of both trains and the malfunctioning of an automatic signalling system.”

There was no mention of any object placed on the tracks as a possible reason for these accidents. After the Odisha tragedy, Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai told BBC, “A train can derail for a number of reasons – “a track could be ill-maintained, a coach could be faulty, and there could be an error in driving”.” Digital news platform Indiaspend asked Swapnil Garg, professor of strategy management at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, what could cause derailments. He replied, “One particular incident cannot cause a derailment. It has to be a combination of three, four or five different mistakes before a derailment happens. When there is a signalling failure, mechanical failures and civil engineering failures, we find that these collectively result in a derailment.”

In view of this, the massive hullabaloo around Gulzar Sheikh’s mindless videos and the concerted campaign leading to his arrest seem not only an exaggeration, but also a case of misplaced priority. What appears far more pressing is holding the authorities responsible for the ‘systemic lapses’ underlined time and time again by the inquiries into the recent accidents. On the other hand, a far easier thing to do, particularly if one is holding a brief to save the image of the government, is floating a sabotage theory and finding a scapegoat. Gulzar Sheikh fits the bill perfectly.

Is Gulzar Sheikh the Only Such Content Creator?

No.

Alt News found that there were hundreds of railway-related channels on YouTube and several of them posted content similar to the page run by Sheikh. A channel named Super Express posts videos by placing objects like tooth paste, candy, chocolates, green chilies on the tracks. Another channel named Rj Facts has almost 80,000 viewers and posts short videos exclusively on placing objects railway tracks. The objects in the case of this creator include chocolate bars, lozenges and biscuits. Such YouTube channels are not limited to India. An US-based page named Train Experiments posts similar videos and has 75,000 subscribers.

Another channel named IND Vlogs posted a video June 11, 2018 which, unlike most of the videos in the above channels, actually shows some stones being crushed under moving train wheels. The short video has garnered 10 Lakh views.

Alt News Examined Sheikh’s Videos

Gulzar Sheikh has a YouTube channel GULZAR INDIAN HACKER. It has 2,36,000 subscribers and 4 videos at the moment. As many as 218 videos were deleted on August 2, most of them showing him placing objects on railway tracks. The following screenshot taken on August 1 shows 222 videos.

The ‘About’ section of the channel says “Since Experiment video Banata hu all Experiment Ye video kewal naram cheej rakh ta hu Aur kadak cheej nahi rakh ta hu.” [Since I make experiment videos, these are all experiments. I only keep soft objects. I do not put hard objects (on the tracks)].

We watched at least 20 videos posted by Sheikh before they had been deleted. Not a single video we watched actually showed a train passing over an object placed on the tracks. In every video, the creator places something on the tracks and then steps back. And then there is a cut after which a train can be seen coming down the tracks. In the following video which shows him placing a few eggs on the track, there is a cut at the 0.32-minute mark. Then the train appears. After it leaves, there is no sign of the eggs, smashed or whole.

The cycle video and the cylinder video, which raised the maximum number of eyebrows, were no different. At no point, did they show a train hitting these objects or these object actually lying on the tracks when the train arrives. The condition of the cycle seen at the end of the video makes it apparent that it was not hit by the train. It remains in tact with its paddles functioning. Here is a screen recording of the now-deleted video:

The 53-second clip that users like Squint Neon or Trains of India tweeted shows Sheikh placing or trying to place several objects on the tracks — the cycle, a few stones, a small cylinder (which he can’t place on the tracks because of its shape), a slab of stone or concrete, a bar of dishwashing soap and a chicken with its legs tied. Only the soap bar is seen in the video coming under a moving train. It splinters off in the impact. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla wants you to believe it is an act of terrorism the likes of which cause frequent train accidents in India.

The post Train accidents: The desperate search for a sabotage theory ends in YouTuber Gulzar Sheikh appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

India Today NE falsely reports Sheikh Hasina airlifted from Dhaka, withdraws story later

Indradeep Bhattacharyya — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 13:15:25 +0000

India Today NE, the India Today group vertical that covers the northeast, reported on Sunday, July 21, that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been airlifted from Dhaka to an undisclosed location amid the nationwide crisis over an anti-quota stir that had already claimed over 100 lives.

The report authored by journalist Mehtab Uddin Ahmed was tweeted by the X handle of India Today NE at 2.48 pm with a caption that read, “#Bangladesh: Amidst the chaos, reports confirmed that Prime Minister #SheikhHasina was airlifted from here residence in Dhaka. Her current whereabouts remain unknown.”

Both the report, and the tweet were, however, soon deleted. An archived version of the story can be read here.

Readers should note that this is an updated version of the report and the update was saved close to three hours after the original story was tweeted.

Several users on social media shared the India Today NE report and subsequently deleted their posts as the report got retracted. Some of the posts are still live. (Facebook, X)

False Report by India Today

As the report of Sheikh Hasina being airlifted or leaving the country amid the ongoing crisis caused ripples, Alt News noticed that the language in the updated version of the report was self-contradictory in nature. It said, “reports confirmed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was allegedly airlifted from her residence in Dhaka.” To have ‘confirmed reports’ on something and then to say that it had ‘allegedly’ happened was inexplicable.

We also noticed that no other media outlet had reported the Bangladesh PM being airlifted. Had it been true, it would certainly have been a major headline across publications. It also appeared strange that the point about Hasina being airlifted was buried in the fourth paragraph of the story under several less important points. The 6-minute video that was embedded in the story did not mention anything about it either.

Next, we tried to look for details about Sheikh Hasina’s schedule on Sunday and found that she had chaired a meeting with the Army top brass on July 21. This was reported by the international media with photos. For example, in its live blog on developments in the country, VoA Bangla published a photo of the said meeting and reported, “প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা রবিবার (২১ জুলাই ২০২৪) প্রধানমন্ত্রীর নিরাপত্তা উপদেষ্টা, তিন বাহিনীর প্রধান, মন্ত্রিপরিষদ সচিব ও সশস্ত্রবাহিনী বিভাগের প্রিন্সিপাল স্টাফ অফিসারের সঙ্গে বৈঠক করেছেন। প্রধানমন্ত্রীর কার্যালয় সূত্রে জানা গেছে, তিনি দেশের সামগ্রিক নিরাপত্তা পরিস্থিতির ব্যাপারে তাদের নির্দেশনা দেন।”

[Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday (21 July 2024) held a meeting with the prime minister’s security adviser, the chiefs of the three forces, the cabinet secretary and the principal staff officer of the armed forces. According to sources in the Prime Minister’s office, she gave them instructions regarding the overall security situation of the country.”]

The US-based media outlet’s Bengali arm posted this on its Facebook page as well. The Facebook post contained two photos and it was clearly mentioned that these were from a meeting Sheikh Hasina chaired on Sunday in Dhaka.

Indian digital media outlet The Wall, too, reported that Hasina chaired a meeting at her official residence in Dhaka on Sunday.

On July 21, Alt News reached out to its sources in the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata, which refuted the report. “India Today itself withdrew the story. And there are reports by the international media which confirm Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s presence in Dhaka. That is enough to show that the report was false,” the source told Alt News on condition of anonymity.

On July 22, The Bangladesh high commission in India officially refuted the report. In a letter to India Today, the high commission said, “…the misinformation on the status of the Government of Bangladesh went viral within a short span of time and triggered huge confusion and anxiety among people at home and abroad. On behalf of the High Commission of Bangladesh, I express my sheer disappointment at the aforesaid erroneous article and post.”

“This kind of misinformation and reporting based on rumour at the time of such critical moment of any country may misguide the people and even add fuel to the crisis and turn the situation into more chaotic. Moreover, such kind of reporting, without gauging the sensitivity, does not only affect the people and the society in large negatively, but also questions the credibility of any news outlet. We request all the news outlets, including the India Today NE, to remain vigil and ensure objective and balanced reporting taking account of the sensitivity of the issue,” it added.

India Today NE published a story on its website on July 22 ‘apologizing’ for the ‘unintentional error’ and attributed it to a “confidential source that could not be immediately verified.”

The post India Today NE falsely reports Sheikh Hasina airlifted from Dhaka, withdraws story later appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

Somaliland journalist Mohamed Abdi Sheikh detained after discussing diplomatic row

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:38:17 +0000

Nairobi, January 17, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called on authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland to unconditionally release MM Somali TV journalist Mohamed Abdi Sheikh and to guarantee that members of the press can freely cover diplomatic affairs.

On January 6, intelligence agents raided the offices of MM Somali TV in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa, interrupting a live debate that the station was hosting on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, about a controversial port deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland, according to a statement by MM Somali TV and news reports.

The agents arrested MM Somali TV chair Mohamed Abdi Sheikh, also known as Ilig, who was moderating the debate, Ilyas Abdinasir, a technician, and Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi, a reporter, according to those sources and a journalist familiar with the incident who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns. Officers also arrested Hamse Fu’ad, a waiter at a neighboring restaurant, according to the journalist and a Facebook post by MM Somali TV.

Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi, Ilyas, and Hamse were released on January 9 without being charged, according to media reports, an MM Somali TV Facebook post and a statement by the Human Rights Center, a Hargeisa based non-governmental organization. Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi and Ilyas did not participate in the debate on X, which CPJ reviewed. The journalist who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity said he believed intelligence agents mistook the waiter Hamse for an MM Somali TV employee when they arrested him.

On January 13, Mohamed Abdi Sheikh appeared at a military court in Hargeisa, which ordered his indefinite remand, according to a Facebook post by MM Somali TV and a post on X by the Human Rights Center. The journalist was not charged with any crime, Guleid Ahmed Jama, a human rights lawyer following the case, told CPJ.

MM Somali TV chairperson and moderator, Mohamed Abdi Sheikh, known as Ilig, speaking during a 2021 program. (Screenshot: YouTube/MM Somali TV)

In a letter dated January 14 and published on Facebook by MM Somali TV, Abdirahman Eid Mohamed, the head of the prosecutor’s office in the Marodi-Jeh region, under whose jurisdiction Hargeisa falls, said that the intelligence agency did not have the power to investigate or produce suspects before a court, and directed that the case be handed over to the police force’s Criminal investigation Department (CID).

“Somaliland authorities have once more demonstrated their shockingly low tolerance for free political debate,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. “Mohamed Abdi Sheikh should be released unconditionally, and Somaliland authorities should desist from stifling media coverage of issues of public interest.”

CCTV footage capturing part of the raid and published by MM Somali TV on its Facebook page showed at least nine plain-clothed, intelligence personnel in the outlet’s office. One of the agents was recorded slapping the face of journalist Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi, also known as Andar.

The journalist who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity said that the intelligence officers confiscated equipment during the raid, including computers, cameras, and live broadcasting equipment.

In an interview following his release, reporter Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi said that moderator Mohamed Abdi Sheikh, who remains in detention, suffers from ulcers and did not eat during his first two nights behind bars.

On January 1, landlocked Ethiopia announced that it had signed a deal with Somaliland for the use of its Berbera port on the Gulf of Aden. The agreement triggered a diplomatic disagreement with Somalia, which accused Ethiopia of encroaching on its sovereignty. Somaliland’s 1991 declaration of independence from Somalia is not internationally recognized.

The January 6 live debate on X included two panelists arguing for and against the deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia. The audience was also given the opportunity to ask questions and contribute to the debate.

Panel host Mohamed Abdi Sheikh has been detained previously in connection to his journalism, including in April 2022, when he was arrested while covering a prison riot and was later sentenced to 16 months in prison, according to CPJ reporting at the time. He was released in July 2022 following a presidential pardon, according to news reports.

In an emailed statement to CPJ, Somaliland’s ministry of information said that Mohamed Abdi Sheikh was being “held for security reasons” without providing further details.

Somaliland attorney general Abdirahman Jama Hayaan declined to comment by phone and did not respond to questions sent via text message. Information minister Ali Hassan Mohamed did not respond to CPJ’s text messages. Emails to the Somaliland ministries of foreign affairs, interior, justice, and the office of the attorney general all returned error messages. CPJ could not find contact information for the National Intelligence Agency.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

At least 27 Bangladeshi journalists attacked, harassed while covering political rallies

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 22:19:00 +0000

New York, November 1, 2023 – Bangladesh authorities must immediately and impartially investigate the assaults on at least 27 journalists covering recent political rallies and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On Saturday, October 28, at least 27 journalists covering rallies in the capital of Dhaka were attacked by supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the ruling Awami League party, as well as police, according to a statement by local press freedom group Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media, several journalists who spoke to CPJ, and various news reports.

BNP demonstrators demanded that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League step down and allow a nonpartisan caretaker government to oversee the upcoming election scheduled for January. Police fired tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse BNP protesters, who threw stones and bricks in response.

“The attacks on at least 27 Bangladeshi journalists covering recent political rallies in Dhaka must see swift and transparent accountability,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “The leadership and supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League, as well as police, must respect the rights of journalists to freely and safely report on the lead-up to the upcoming election scheduled for January.”

Md Rafsan Jani, a crime reporter for The Daily Kalbela newspaper, told CPJ that he was filming BNP supporters allegedly assaulting police officers when two demonstrators approached him and took his phone and identification card. A group of BNP supporters then surrounded Jani and beat him with iron rods, sticks, and pipes as he repeatedly identified himself as a journalist, he said, adding that he managed to escape after around 20 minutes. As of November 1, his items had not been returned.

S A Masum, a photographer for The Daily Inqilab newspaper, told CPJ that he was taking photos of a confrontation between Awami League and BNP supporters when his head was repeatedly struck from behind with what he suspected to be a bamboo stick, knocking him unconscious while the attackers, whom he did not identify, continued to beat him. Bystanders at the scene rescued Masum and took him to the hospital, where he was treated for a concussion and severe bruising and open lesions throughout his body, according to the journalist, who shared photos of his injuries with CPJ.

Md Sirajum Salekin, a crime reporter for the Dhaka Times newspaper, told CPJ that he was on his motorcycle on the way to cover clashes at the chief justice’s residence when a vehicle hit his motorcycle from behind, causing him to fall and break two bones in his right leg. Salekin said he believed he was targeted because he was wearing his press badge and his motorcycle was marked with a sticker of the Dhaka Times, which has critically reported on the Awami League.

Awami League demonstrators beat The Daily Kalbela reporter Abu Saleh Musa while covering their rally, according to The Daily Star.

Mohammad Ali Mazed, a video reporter for the French news agency Agence France-Presse, told CPJ that he was covering a clash between police and BNP demonstrators while holding a camera and press identification when five to six demonstrators surrounded him. The demonstrators damaged Mazed’s camera and other news equipment and beat him on his head, back, and right shoulder with bamboo sticks for around three minutes until the journalist fled the scene with the assistance of bystanders, he said.

Sazzad Hossain, a freelance photographer working with the news website Bangla Tribune and international outlets, including the British newspaper The Guardian and photo agency SOPA Images, told CPJ that BNP protesters threw broken bricks at him and trampled him while he was covering a clash with police.

Salahuddin Ahmed Shamim, a freelance photographer reporting for the news agency Fair News Service, told CPJ that he was covering BNP protesters allegedly assaulting police officers when seven to eight of the party’s supporters surrounded him, beat his backside with bamboo sticks, and kicked him for around 15 minutes.

Two journalists who spoke to CPJ– Sheikh Hasan Ali, chief photojournalist for Kaler Kantho newspaper, and Ahammad Foyez, senior correspondent for New Age newspaper– said they were struck with rubber bullets when police attempted to disperse BNP protesters, leaving them with minor injuries.

Ali told CPJ that an unidentified man hit the Kaler Kantho photographer Lutfor Rahman with a bamboo stick on his right shoulder while covering the same clashes.

Md Hanif Rahman, a photographer for the Ekushey TV broadcaster, told CPJ that he and Ekushey TV reporter Touhidur Rahman were covering an arson attack on a police checkpoint when they were surrounded by a group of 10 to 12 men who beat Md Hanif Rahman with pipes and sticks and pushed Touhidur Rahman.

Rabiul Islam Rubel, a reporter for The Daily Kalbela, told CPJ that he was among a crowd of BNP supporters while covering the clashes at the chief justice’s residence when 15 to 20 men threw bricks at him while shouting that journalists are “government brokers.”

Jony Rayhan, a reporter for The Daily Kalbela, told CPJ that BNP supporters beat him while covering their rally. Rayhan was also injured by a sound grenade that landed in front of him while police were dispersing the demonstrators, he said.

Salman Tareque Sakil, chief reporter for Bangla Tribune, told CPJ that he sustained a leg fracture after a brick was thrown at him while covering the BNP rally.

Jubair Ahmed, a Bangla Tribune reporter, told CPJ that while police were dispersing BNP demonstrators, a tear gas shell landed in front of him, blurring his vision before the protesters trampled him while fleeing the scene.

Tahir Zaman, a reporter for the news website The Report, was also injured by a rubber bullet while covering clashes at the BNP rally, according to his outlet and BJIM.

BJIM and local media named an additional 10 journalists who were attacked, but did not provide details on the incidents, which CPJ continues to investigate. Those journalists are:

Touhidul Islam Tareque, reporter for The Daily Kalbela
Kazi Ihsan bin Didar, crime reporter for the Breaking News website
Tanvir Ahmed, reporter for The Daily Ittefaq newspaper
Sheikh Nasir, reporter for The Daily Ittefaq
Arifur Rahman Rabbi, reporter for the Desh Rupantor newspaper
Masud Parvez Anis, reporter for the Bhorer Kagoj newspaper
Saiful Rudra, special correspondent for the broadcaster Green TV
Arju, camera operator for Green TV, who was identified by one name
Hamidur Rahman, reporter for the Share Biz newspaper
Maruf, a freelance journalist identified by one name

CPJ is investigating a report of a separate attack on at least one journalist on Saturday.

CPJ contacted BNP spokesperson Zahir Uddin Swapan, Information Minister and Awami League Joint Secretary Hasan Mahmud, and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Habibur Rahman for comment, but did not immediately receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Two Bangladeshi journalists investigated under Digital Security Act

Committee to Protect Journalists — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 14:44:43 +0000

On July 29, 2023, the Savar Model Police Station in Bangladesh’s central Dhaka district opened an investigation into Nazmus Sakib, editor of the Dainik Fulki newspaper and president of the Savar Press Club, and Md Emdadul Haque, a reporter for the Amader Notun Somoy newspaper, after registering a July 28 complaint against them under four sections of the Digital Security Act, according to The Daily Star and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

The complaint, which CPJ reviewed, was filed by Md Shahinur Islam, who identified himself to The Daily Star as a reporter for the newspaper Amar Somoy, which supports the ruling Awami League party. It accused the journalists and other unnamed members of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party and Bangladesh Nationalist Party of working together to commit “anti-state crimes” and disseminate “conspiratorial news” in a July 27, 2023, Dainik Fulki article.

That article, titled “Asia’s longest-serving prime minister is finally resigning,” covered the resignation announcement of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen but mistakenly used a photo of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, president of the Awami League. The next day, the newspaper published a correction and apology, which CPJ reviewed.

Haque left Dainik Fulki around 2019 and was not involved in the article, the journalist told CPJ.

Sakib said he believed he was being targeted to undermine his campaign in the election for Savar Press Club president, which is set to be held in the coming months. He is opposed by about five journalists who strongly support the Awami League, he said.

Similarly, Haque said he believed he was being targeted for his campaign to be the press club’s organizing secretary. He is opposed by two journalists who strongly support the ruling party, he told CPJ.

The Savar Press Club is a trade group in the Dhaka district that advocates for issues, including wage distribution, labor rights, and journalist safety.

Sakib and Haque said they do not know Islam. Islam told CPJ via messaging app that his complaint was “accurate” and claimed the two journalists were involved in “information terrorism.” Islam did not respond to CPJ’s follow-up question about his journalistic background. CPJ called, messaged, and emailed the Amar Somoy newspaper for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Separately, on July 30, Sakib received a notice from the Dhaka district deputy commissioner’s office, reviewed by CPJ, ordering the journalist to explain within seven days why Dainik Fulki’s license to operate should not be canceled following an application filed by Manjurul Alam Rajib, chair of a local government unit and an Awami League leader in Savar. The notice alleges that the July 27 article “achieved the task of tarnishing the image of the state.”

Sakib’s response, dated August 6 and reviewed by CPJ, denied that allegation, expressed regret over the “unintentional mistake,” and mentioned the published correction and apology. Haque told CPJ that he did not receive a similar notice at that time.

Bangladesh’s next national election is set for January 2024 and expected to be met with increasing violence. In late July 2023, police fired at opposition party protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, and beat them amid mass arrests of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders and activists.

In response to the government’s announcement on August 7 that the Digital Security Act will be replaced, CPJ called on authorities to ensure the new Cyber Security Act complies with international human rights law.

Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s information minister and Awami League joint secretary, and Dipak Chandra Saha, officer-in-charge of the Savar Model Police Station, did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app. CPJ also contacted Rajib and Anisur Rahman, Dhaka district deputy commissioner, via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.