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Bangladesh is increasingly becoming a notorious country for repression on journalists. Anyone scanning either the online or print edition of Bangladeshi newspapers nowadays will often find an all-too-familiar story on attacks against the mediamen either by the police or the ruling party activists. And the violence against the newsfolks goes on unchecked.
   Just a few days ago in the northern district of Kushtia, cadre connected with the ruling BNP, as reported in the local media, attacked a peaceful rally of the journalists and wounded at least two dozen newsmen. The attack had a stunning resemblance with those carried out by the thugs of infamous National Student Federation or NSF during the pre-independence days in erstwhile East Pakistan.
   In Chittagong recently, police clearly crossed their line when they beat Bangladesh’s best-known photojournalists who went there on routine assignment to cover an international cricket match. The police brutalities in the port city were also an amazing reminiscent of those perpetrated by the members of the law enforcement agencies against the Bengalis during the fascist rule of military dictators, Ayub and Yahya Khan.
   Ayub, Yahya, NSF are all long gone, but their ghosts still remain at large. They continue to cast their dark and ominous shadow over Bangladesh, causing harm to the country’s innocent people intermittently. Even in independent Bangladesh, the activists of the ruling party use the same old tactics and weapons as did the perpetrators of NSF once and the police of our free nation the same heavy-handed approach in almost an identical line with the Pakistani police force.
   Physically attacking journalists has become a routine phenomenon in Bangladesh for quite sometime. But the government is shockingly unconcerned as if it has no responsibility to protect the people of the newspaper industry. Today, Bangladesh is not under a fascist regime or military dictator. A democratically elected government is running country. Therefore, as a token of respect for democracy, the government has to answer to the nation for some of its actions as well as inaction.
   Officials have been conspicuously quiet on the Kushtia incident without giving any kind of assurance to the nation that there would be a thorough investigation into what happened there late last month and those responsible for the incident would be brought to justice. Statement after statement has been forthcoming from various organisations including several foreign missions condemning the attack on the journalists, but no word has come out yet from the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Police Department on the incident nor has an arrest been made in this connection as yet.
   Scores of Bangladesh’s national newspapers have described the attackers as the activists of the ruling BNP, but to the utter shock and surprise of the people in general and the journalists, in particular, the party hasn’t come up as yet with any such statement either condemning the heinous incident or denying its connection with the perpetrators. If the attackers prove to be the activists of the ruling party, then the ruling party must do everything in its power to bring them to justice and show the country as well as the world that it does not protect the perpetrators and that on one is above the law of the land.
   Bangladesh’s image is already tainted very badly in the world. Frequent physical attacks on professional journalists cause further harm to our national image. Journalism is the mirror of civilisation of a nation. So, an attack on the press of the country is equivalent to the attack on the civilisation of our nation. Each and every attack on the press or the professional journalists of Bangladesh delivers a severe blow to Bangladesh too as a free, democratic, civilized and modern country and brings her down little by little to the level of an autocratic, undemocratic, uncivilized and medieval nation.
   The world is watching each and every attack on the journalists of Bangladesh with extreme shock and astonishment. Global press freedom and rights groups and organisations are monitoring the situation as well with grave concern and surprise. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the attack on Bangladeshi journalists and called for bringing the perpetrators to a swift justice.
   The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RWB) has also condemned the attack on journalists in Kushtia. In a statement, the global media watchdog group said: ‘We call on BNP to immediately restrain its cadres from further acts of violence against journalists.’
   According to its Annual Report 2005, four journalists were killed, nine were arrested, as many as 96 were physically attacked, 175 were verbally threatened and nine media premises were ransacked in Bangladesh last year. During the same period, only one journalist was killed in India and one in Pakistan while only 23 journalists were physically attacked in India and 19 in Pakistan. The report based solely on events between September 1, 2004 and September 1, 2005 said: ‘For the third year running, Bangladesh was the country with the largest number of journalists physically attacked or threatened with death.’ The above figures clearly suggest that Bangladesh is now one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.
   But to the dismay of all concerned, the Bangladesh government is irresponsive and continues to remain callously inactive. The inaction is so conspicuous that many at home and abroad openly criticise the government for its failure to punish those responsible for the killing of so many journalists during its almost entire tenure. They say the government has neither the ability nor the willingness to punish the perpetrators and stop violence against the professional journalists of Bangladesh. They further say that since the government has miserably failed to perform its primary responsibility of protecting people’s lives and guaranteeing their safety as mentioned in the nation’s constitution, it forfeited its right to govern the country.
   The tragedy is this that even in the face of frequent physical attacks on them, the journalists of Bangladesh are foolishly divided and at the root of their division lies Bangladesh’s partisan politics. Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), the umbrella organisation of all unions of Bangladeshi journalists, is as divided as the Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America (FOBANA), a socio-cultural organisation of expatriate Bangladeshis in US and Canada, –– and both along party lines. Divisive party politics of the country has divided almost all organisations of Bangladeshis both in and outside the country. It hasn’t even spared the big union of the journalist community of Bangladesh. When will our journalists come back to their senses? They must close ranks –– now –– in the interest of their own defence and press freedom.
   Press and democracy are inter-twined. One cannot go alone without help from the other. Press needs democracy for its freedom and democracy needs a free press for its progress. And the responsibility of a democratically elected government is to create an atmosphere favorable for a free press and strong democracy. Any attempt against the media or the mediamen is just suicidal. Those who will harm journalists or instigate others to do that will, in fact, harm none but themselves.
   The writer is a Bangladeshi journalist based in North America

The European Union’s ban on the LTTE has been a major boost for the government and in particular for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s popularity. The fact that the government has been able to meet the LTTE’s provocative attacks with retaliatory strikes of its own in recent times has sent a message of strength to the general population. The LTTE has been losing significantly in its contest with the Rajapaksa government, not only politically, but also militarily. Its high ranking cadres have been killed, as well as scores of lower level ones. Most of these casualties appear to have been inflicted upon the LTTE by its breakaway Karuna group.
   The government spokespersons and its media have been projecting the EU ban as a result of the government’s policies and the rightness of the government’s cause. But there is also a downside that needs to be recognized. EU spokespersons themselves attribute their ban primarily to the LTTE’s unacceptable conduct. The EU Presidency in its declaration on the banning said that the decision to ban the LTTE was based on its actions. The immediate causes of the EU ban would most likely be the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the enforced boycott of the Presidential elections that deprived Tamil voters of their democratic franchise and the sea attack on the naval convoy with international monitors from EU countries on board.
   The EU ban on the LTTE is primarily a rejection of their use of violence to achieve political objectives. This ban will prevent them from raising funds and financing their activities. On the positive side, however, it will not prevent them from working towards reviving the peace process, if they choose to. It also said that EU members would maintain their contacts with the LTTE in the pursuit of peace, and would dialogue with them to bring them back to the peace process. This means that the EU has not shut the door to the possibility of the LTTE amending their violent ways and earning a new status.
   European diplomats in Colombo also point out that their countries recognize that there is an ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka that needs to be resolved through political reform. Accordingly, there is a great responsibility that the EU ban has placed on the government. The five All Party Conferences that have so far been held, and the decision to appoint an all party committee to discuss constitutional reform are not enough. There is a need for the government to show leadership regarding a viable framework of a political solution. This is currently absent and is a weakness that the government of President Rajapaksa needs to address without delay.
   
   Tragic costs
   Given the nuanced approach of the EU, the LTTE faces a dilemma. Their natural instinct would probably be to use violence to undo the political victory of the Sri Lankan government. As stated by Dr Balasingham, the LTTE perceives itself as being humiliated and politically marginalized as a result of the ban. They might wish to utilize their undiminished military capacities to equalize the score with the Sri Lankan government. But a further resort to violent actions would put them into yet more disfavour with the EU and the international community. It would also heap more sufferings on to the already suffering people who are trapped in the conflict zones.
   The tragic cost to the people of the ongoing low intensity conflict was captured last week in three photographs in the national newspapers. One showed a little 12 year old boy, who refused to be recruited as a child soldier, crouched in a heap after being shot. His hands were huddled in front of his face, as if he was going to sleep in his last moments. The other showed an even littler girl sobbing for her father who had gone to work as a labourer on a foreign funded project and been shot in cold blood along with several other labourers. The third was a memorial advertisement of a happy middle aged couple who were killed in a landmine blast as they visited a wildlife park.
   All three photographs related to killings after the EU widely believed to be by the LTTE. It is the continuation of these types of brutal killings that will continue to keep the LTTE on the banned lists of many of the world’s countries, regardless of the political merits of the cause for which they have taken to arms. However, these are not the only killings that are taking place on a virtual daily basis. A fortnight earlier there were photographs of a four year old boy and four month old girl who had been killed along with their parents and others in a place strongly controlled by government forces and anti- LTTE parties.
   Indeed, apart from the large number of killings attributed to the LTTE, there are also a large number of killings attributed to the government and to anti LTTE groups. The EU ban statement contains strong strictures against the government that need to be considered. Unfortunately these have been glossed over by sections of the state media. Although it may be a sense of patriotism that made them edit out those sections of the EU statement that were critical of the government, this is a disservice by the government and the people. Such self censorship misleads the general public, who need to know the challenge that the government has been presented with and the corrective action it needs to take. It also makes the reformist task of the government more difficult.
   Government critiqued
   Many of the calls and suggestions made by the EU relate to both the government and LTTE. In addition, there are paragraphs entirely devoted to the government. They called on the government to put a stop to the culture of impunity that permits those in positions of power to get away even with murder, to ensure law and order for all citizens and to investigate and prosecute all cases of violence that had so far not resulted in either arrests or convictions. Such abuses take place mostly in the north east, but also in the rest of the country.
   In a particularly strongly worded paragraph, the EU pointed out that “The upsurge in violence is not caused by the LTTE alone. The EU strongly urges the Sri Lankan authorities to curb violence in government controlled areas. The EU notes with concern the growing number of reports of extrajudicial killings. The EU views the activities of the Karuna group in the gravest possible light. These are clearly contributing to increasing instability in Sri Lanka, and further endanger the peace process. The EU intends to keep the activities of the Karuna group under close review, with a view to considering possible future steps.”
   When the EU states that the Karuna group would be put under close review, it means that they are on the path to a possible ban. If the Karuna group is banned as a terrorist organization, and if agencies of the government are found to have collaborated with it, the government could be accused of having collaborated with a terrorist organization. European diplomats in Colombo have pointed out that such a finding could put the government into a highly embarrassing and disadvantageous situation. The government may need to seek a formal agreement with the Karuna group that outlaws their violence but permits them the right to work as a political party, which they have already established.
   The forthcoming meeting of the government and LTTE in Oslo on June 8 and 9 to discuss the issue of the international monitoring mission will be crucial to the future of the peace process. The government’s delegation is led by its peace secretariat head Dr Palitha Kohonna who is believed to have President Rajapaksa’s special confidence. Dr Kohonna is an international figure who has shown himself prepared to go beyond the confines of politically motivated thinking on the ethnic conflict and its resolution. His formulation of maximum devolution of power within an undivided country earned the wrath of the extremist JVP, but showed the possibility of meeting Tamil aspirations half way.
   At a seminar held over the week end by the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration for members of its advisory committee, two South African experts on negotiations spoke of the importance of building personal relations across the negotiating divide in making peace. Rolf Meyer was a former minister in the white South African government, and Ebrahim Ebrahim was an African National Congress negotiator. They spoke from experience and said that face to face meetings and personal rapport were of utmost importance in any peace process.
   The Oslo talks are likely to be make or break ones that set the course of war or peace for the future. It is particularly important that the government delegation does everything in its power to make these face to face talks successful. The LTTE has already paid the price for being uncompromising and for using violence. The government has to show the international community in a tangible form that it is different, that it is genuine, that it is reformist, and that supporting Sri Lanka to peace and prosperity continues to be worthwhile.
   Jehan Perera is media director of the National Peace Council in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He can be reached at: jehan1@sri.lanka.net

I don’t see any reason why Oli Ahmed should abide by Tarique Zia’s orders. In fact, I don’t understand why a joint secretary of the party should order a member of the standing committee. However, as Oli has been with the BNP for a long time, he should have known by now that Tarique does not need to abide by party constitution.
   Waheed Nabi
   Sheffield, England
   

Energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman’s media bashing reflects the ridiculous trend of blaming the media whenever anything and everything goes wrong. Rahman’s accusation that the media has been acting ‘anti-state’ by not supporting him in his fight against smuggling of fuel is complete crap. The energy adviser should try to be more efficient if he wants to solve the fuel crisis. Blaming the media won’t help him anyway.
   Rafiqul Islam Rime
   Chittagong

a. Shaikh Rahman, the chief of banned JMB, claims militants still active.
b. IOJ, Jamaat men join Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh.   

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