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Moeen, PM's aide told to depose in mutiny case

Posted by bangladesh

The special court set up to hold Peelkhana mutiny trial has asked former Army chief Moeen U Ahmed, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Military Secretary Maj Gen Joynul Abedin and two others to appear before it on July 4.

The Special Court judge, who is also the Dhaka Metropolitan Additional Session's judge, Mohammad Akhteruzzaman passed the order on Monday.

The two other asked to appear before the court are former Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad and now-defunct Bangladesh Rifles officer Let Col (Retd) Jahan Ara Begum.

"The court has summoned them for making their deposition," said Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajal.

On Monday, Mehrin Ferdous, wife of Dhaka Sector Commander Mojibul Hoque, who was killed during the mutiny, Munmun Akter, wife of Lt Col Shamsul Azam, BDR Hospital doctor Snigdha Sarker, and its nurses Selina Sultana, Aklima Akter and Sabina Yeasmin deposed before the court.

As many as 74 people, including 57 Army officers, were killed in the mutiny on Feb 25 and 26, 2009. Later, the force was renamed Border Guard Bangladesh.

A murder case was filed after the mutiny, with 1,087 witnesses. The court set up on the playground adjacent to the Alia Madrassa started recording depositions on Aug 24 last year.

The Criminal Investigation Department submitted chargesheet accusing 824, including former BNP lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu and Awami League leader Torab Ali. Another 834 were accused in another case filed in connection with the Explosives Act.

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Try Fakhruddin-Moeen, says watchdog

Posted by bangladesh

A parliamentary watchdog on Monday submitted a report on the 2007 student-teacher torture in Dhaka University blaming then chief advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed and army chief Moeen U Ahmed.

The standing committee on the education ministry also recommended bringing to trial to those 'responsible', including former military intelligence chief major general A T M Amin, brigadier general Fazlul Bari and colonel Shamsul Alam, under the existing laws to prevent a repeat of 'untoward' incidents.

Committee chairman Rashed Khan Mennon placed the 383-page report, along with a CD containing the details of the events, in parliament. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina was present when the report was placed as the day's session chaired by deputy speaker Shawkat Ali started around 4:45pm.

Awami League chief Hasina was detained on a raft of corruption charges by the 2007-08 military-installed caretaker government. The deputy speaker accepted the report but said a decision about discussion will have to wait.

Menon, president of Bangladesh Workers' Party – a ruling coalition ally – called upon the MPs to discuss the report and the government and relevant authorities to implement the recommendations made in the report.

"The student-military clash at Dhaka University and other educational institutions was not only unwanted, but a shameful and unfortunate incident for the whole nation," the report centering the August 2007 clash at the universities said.

The report also includes 13 suggestions and 11 observances including taking appropriate steps to ensure such incidents never recur.

Army men, camped on the campus, beat up students on Aug 20, 2007 following an altercation with some students on the university playground during a football match.

The students also assaulted some senior army officers, rampaged through the capital, burning and damaging dozens of vehicles as they clashed with police.

The army men then launched a ruthless assault on the students for next several days.

The violence spilled onto the streets of the capital and spread across the country, shaking the caretaker government backed by the influential army. A large number of students, along with four teachers, were arrested and were accused in a number of cases.

Student leaders in May last year blamed political ambitions of the caretaker government and 'recklessness' of the army for the violence.

They made the observations in their testimonies before a parliamentary sub-committee on the education ministry that interviewed 16 student leaders and three students of that time.

The standing committee dubbed the student-teacher uprising as an inevitable protest against the move to establish military rule by declaring a state of emergency in the country.

Gen Moeen denied having any decision-making role in the torture of students and teachers in and outside the custody in the wake of the violence five years ago.

Moeen, now in the United States, on Sept 13 last year in a tele-conference with a parliamentary sub-committee, however, said that the incidents in August, 2007 were 'unfortunate' and 'unwanted'.

SUGGESTIONS

The standing committee, initially holding 'responsible' Fakhruddin and Moeen for the atrocities on students-teachers, recommended that they be 'tried under the existing laws'.

Besides, the committee also suggested that 'regulatory' steps be taken against then police chief Nour Mohammad for 'failing' to 'carry out his responsibilities'.

It also dubbed essential to stop 'interference' of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) in 'civilian matters', especially those political.

The committee demanded abolition of the 'Task Force for Interrogation (TFI)' or joint forces' questioning cell, terming 'torture' conducted there as 'unacceptable in a civilised and democratic' country.

It also suggested holding regular polls at the central student unions of all universities, including the DUCSU.

AN INEVITABLE REACTION

The report contains 11 observations of the committee.

It dubs the clash as an 'inevitable reaction' against the initiative to 'establish military rule by declaring the state of emergency', and highlighted the role of courageous DU students and teachers in the past against autocracy and military rule, including the language movement, liberation war, the anti-autocracy uprising in 1991.

The report also points out that the initiative to set up a military camp inside DU campus without the permission of the authorities was a step to subdue students' uprising and this sparked off the clash.

It also marks that the 'armed forces', including Police, RAB, military and their intelligence, has a 'tendency' to disregard civil administration during 'emergency situations', which is 'unwanted' in a 'civilised' country.

The committee also said that the then caretaker government and army heads – Fakhruddin and Moeen – 'intentionally' did not act 'adequately'.

"The law-enforcers acted on their direct and indirect instructions. Specially, in arresting the teachers, dilly-dallying their release, sentencing them to prison terms and then in getting them pardoned by the president — they were involved in all these," the report read.

"Then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nour Mohammad cannot also avoid the blame in any way as he made no attempt to control the situation."

LONG-TERM CONSPIRACY

The committee also said that there was a long-term plan behind the violence as the teachers tortured in the TFI cell were repeatedly asked questions like whether they had any ties with the then prime minister, if there were any such signs in the student uprising, whether they have received any funding from the neighbouring country, etc.

The report says there were attempts to make debatable a specific political party and a neighbouring country. "At the same time, an opportunist faction formed a party named the King's Party and attempted to politically rehabilitate them."

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Moeen to send in written statement

Posted by methun

Former army chief Moeen U Ahmed will issue a written statement since some statements in his previous video conference 'were not recorded'.

Rashed Khan Mennon, chief of the parliamentary sub-committee investigating tortures of students and teachers in and outside custody at Dhaka University in August 2007, told bdnews24.com on Saturday some statements were not recorded due to technical problems.

"We therefore asked him for a written statement which he said he would send in soon," Menon said.

Moeen, now in the United States, did not, however, specify when he would send the statement, Menon said.

In a tele-conference with a parliamentary sub-committee, Moeen had said that the incidents were 'unfortunate' and 'unwanted'.

"He claimed that an unfortunate incident had occurred at that time and the decision taken by the caretaker government advisors to handle the aftermath had just been implemented. He had no role in the decision-making," Menon had told the press.

Former caretaker government chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, who has also been asked by the committee for statement, is yet to respond to the call. Menon hoped he, too, would submit a statement in self-defence.

The sub-committee has its report due in parliament's next session.

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No revenge Hasina poured cold water on proposal for trying Moeen, ex-advisers

Posted by methun

 
Clockwise, Brig Gen Fazlul Bari, a DGFI director and one of the most influential figures during the past military-backed caretaker government's rule, faces wrath of Dhaka University students on August 20, 2007 as the campus flies into a fury over the beating of three students by army men. Students injured in fights with law enforcers are admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital later that day. Much of the city turns into a battleground as students continue clashing with police for the second day.Photo: File Photo 
 
 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had binned a proposal for prosecuting former army chief Moeen U Ahmed and members of the army-backed caretaker regime of 2007-2008, according to a leaked cable of the US embassy in Dhaka.
All but a handful of ruling Awami League politicians supported Hasina's position not to seek revenge, former US ambassador James F Moriarty quoted in the cable LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam as saying.
Both Hasina and her main political rival, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, were imprisoned on graft charges by the military-backed caretaker government, Moriarty added.
The main opposition BNP and some AL leaders have demanded actions against former army chief and others in the caretaker government and security forces for “extra-constitutional activities and torture of politicians”.
The cable, sent to Washington on June 22, 2009, is based on the ambassador's discussion on June 18 the same year with Syed Ashraf, who is also the general secretary of AL.
Syed Ashraf “disparaged” a parliamentary body chairman who was seeking to compel former chairman and commissioners of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to testify about their activities during the caretaker government's tenure, said the cable, adding a note saying: “The committee chairman, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, was convicted in a case brought by the ACC.”
The parliamentary standing committee on the public undertakings asked former ACC chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and commissioners M Habibur Rahman and Abul Hasan Manzur Mannan in early 2009 to appear before it and explain the commission's activities during the emergency period.
But they refused to respond to the committee's call. Irked by this, the committee drew proceedings against them of contempt of parliament and wrote to the Speaker to order police to ensure their presence before the committee.
The move remains shelved since then.
“Of all the senior Government of Bangladesh leaders, perhaps no one talks as sensibly about policies and politics as Ashraf,” Moriarty commented, adding that Ashraf's “reasoned approach to politics is precisely what is needed in Bangladesh, where hyperpartisanship often has hampered and even set back development”.

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Moeen blames caretaker govt

Posted by methun

Former army chief Moeen U Ahmed yesterday blamed field-level officials of the army, DGFI and caretaker administration for the atrocities on Dhaka University teachers and students in August 2007.
He also claimed the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) did not act under the army's command; it rather operated on its own at that time.
The former army boss, believed to have played a key role in the workings of the last caretaker government, was giving testimony to the parliamentary sub-committee probing the campus unrest.
In an hour-long teleconference, he spoke to the committee from the US, where he has been staying for the last one and a half years.
Earlier, the then DGFI chief Major General Golam Mohammad and chief of general staff of army Major General Sinha Ibne Jamali told the parliamentary committee that they handled the situation as per instructions from the army top brass.
Headed by Rashed Khan Menon, the four-member sub-committee enquired Moeen about the claim of Golam Mohammad and Jamali.
“Arrest, torture and interrogation of students and teachers for the campus violence were done by the field-level officials of the army, DGFI and caretaker administration. The army top level was not consulted,” Menon quoted Moeen as saying.
When the committee asked if this meant there was no chain of command in the army then, Moeen kept mum.
Contacted, sources in the intelligence agency last night said the DGFI was accountable to the chief adviser at that time.
Briefing the press after the teleconference at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Menon said, “The committee is not convinced and satisfied with Moeen's replies. He tried to avoid many of our queries and put the blame on others.”
The committee, however, thanked the former army chief for appearing before it through teleconference.
Replying to a query, Moeen told the JS body that the army acted in aid of the civil administration to maintain law and order. It had no role in policymaking of the caretaker government.
Queried about the role of the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell in torturing DU teachers and students, he termed the incident “very sad” but avoided saying anything about the army's role.
The TFI cell is comprised of officials from the army, police and various intelligence agencies.
On August 20, 2007, violence erupted on DU campus when some army men beat up three students and insulted a teacher during a football match on the university gymnasium field.
Thousands of students took to the streets protesting the incident and demanded withdrawal of the army camp from the campus and an apology from the troops. In the next two days, the violence spread to other educational institutions in the capital and elsewhere.
Four teachers and eight students of DU were arrested in connection with the unrest. The law enforcement agencies also detained six Rajshahi University teachers. Faced with mounting protests, the caretaker government released them in January 2008.
In August last year, the parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry formed the sub-committee.
The committee sent letters to former chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and Moeen twice, asking them to appear before it and testify. The duo sent their reply through e-mail, but the committee rejected those, citing those were incomplete.
When the two were again asked to appear before the committee, Moeen requested that he be allowed to testify via teleconference, saying he was unwell.
As Fakhruddin, also living in the US, did not respond, the JS body decided not to contact him further.

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