Staff Reporter:
Sheikh Saadi says, “A monkey is enough to destroy a beautiful garden.” If anyone analyzes the current situation in Bangladesh politics, he/she will see how true Sheikh Saadi’s statement is. One party is corrupting politics under the dictatorships of a person, throwing the country into a crisis and trying to endanger democracy. We have passed 51 years of our independence. Looking back in this month of Independence, we still see a lot of imperfections, disappointment and pains in our politics. If we ask the question, do we want to see such politics in independent Bangladesh? I’m sure everyone will answer with a big NO. In an independent country, politics will be with the strategy of development, the system of changing fate of the people. The parties that come to power after the vote in an independent country will not argue about the history of the War of Liberation, the Father of the Nation and Bangladesh. In an independent country, anti-independence power cannot be allowed to pursue politics. In the name of politics, no one will be permitted to contradict the state. There will have to be mutual respect in politics. But, unfortunately, after 51 years of independence, the country is openly opposed in the name of politics. The criticism of the government is on a level that the state and the people are affected. Yet certain quarter wants to make Bangladesh a Pakistan or Afghanistan again. Some make politics a tool for extortion and looting. They cherish the sick, ugly genre of politics. They pursue scandalous politics, every day, every moment. One of them is Tarique Zia, the Acting Chairman of BNP, absconding in London. This is now the biggest poison in Bangladesh politics. Because of this, politics has become polluted and poisonous.
Recently I was surprised to see Tarique Zia’s picture with two mischievous elements on YouTube. They are extortionists, fraudsters and anti-state criminals in the guise of journalists. They live abroad and blackmail people in the name through a YouTube channel. Questioning the character of the established and respected people of different levels of society in ugly and dirty language is their business. They are not journalists in any way. They are actually drains emitting foul smell. Some time ago, they were caught red handed while blackmailing one of the top industrial families in the country. They demanded six lakh dollars from an employee of the industrial family. The record of their conversation is still available on YouTube. In that conversation, it is seen how low quality they are. After that conversation spread on social media, much hue and cry were raised at home and abroad. Everyone was shocked at their misdeeds. Even the BNP-based social media activists, intellectuals and journalists in the country and abroad were shocked after this incident of dirty incident. The BNP loyalists who like to criticize the government abroad could not accept this inferior blackmailing. Everyone began to boycott the rogue extortionists. Even a BNP-backed journalist among the expats identified their misconduct as a punishable offense in the criminal law.
The duo later apologized. They swear not do such a heinous activity in the future. But there are some people who swear to be good after doing a misdeed but quickly deviate from the oath. There is an animal in this world whose tail never gets straight. Soon they unmasked their shameful faces. They returned to the old profession of extortion and blackmailing and made an announcement of presenting news against various businessmen. Like Bengali films, they bait with advertisements like ‘Coming Soon’. Many people are afraid of such ugly, dirty propaganda. They are afraid of losing honour socially. Out of fear for public shame and loss of honour, they secretly traded money with the extortionist miscreants. Then the report against them was no longer publicized. And they continue to report against those who do not entertain blackmailing. Not only do they take money from the businessmen, they also spread nasty, dirty propaganda against many people for extortion. By tarnishing the image of many people in society, they themselves have emerged as foul smelling creatures. They are called trash on social media. As birds of same feather flock together, Tarique Zia is well acquainted with these lower-level extortionists. The picture of this trio speaks volumes.
Several things are proved through this. First of all, the platform on which these two and their associates are spreading falsehoods and impersonations against the state, against the government, against various individuals and businesses, is actually under the control of Tarique Zia. Tarique is their lord and mentor. These anti-national lies are going on under the instructions of Tarique. Tarique’s interests include blackmail, extortion, and nefarious activities of impersonation. The godfather of these miscreants is actually Tarique Zia. I don’t know if Tarique Zia also gets a share of the money that these miscreants got by threatening different people of defamation. However, they have a strange similarity with Tarique Zia. Like the duo Tarique-Mamun, these miscreants have committed crimes of extortion, fraud and intimidation abroad. Before the 2001 elections, Tarique Zia built Hawa Bhavan. Hawa Bhaban’s main activity was extortion, collecting money through illegal means. The main mission of Hawa Bhavan was to bring the election results in their favour through institutional manipulation. For this purpose, they had already subdued the caretaker government led by Latifur Rahman and made MA Saeed submissive and loyal to the Election Commission. He went to India and fought to come to power under any conditions. And the results of this collective effort were visible in the October 1, 2001 elections. Despite getting 42 percent of votes, Awami League got very less seats. Tarique Zia knew that he had not won more than two-thirds of the seats in the popular vote. Rather, this result is due to the ‘systematic mechanism’. And so Tarique Zia started a brutal mission to wipe out Awami League and minorities right from the night of the election. The ordeal started from the night of October 1. Awami League leaders and workers are subjected to medieval brutality throughout the country. Minority houses were burnt. Women were raped and tortured indiscriminately. The only reason for this was that the minorities were supporters of Awami League. And this planned terror was conducted under the guidance of Hawa Bhavan.
After the October 2001 elections, the BNP-Jamaat alliance seized power. But the real power belonged to Tarique Zia’s Hawa Bhavan. Begum Zia was the prime minister but she was just a puppet. Tarique Zia axed all powers. He had his own minister of state in almost all the ministries. State ministers became more powerful than ministers. Business, tender, recruitment, transfer, promotion everything went under the control of Hawa Bhaban. Before doing any business, they had to pay Hawa Bhaban a large sum of money. Tarique’s close friend Giasuddin Mamun controlled the government tenders. Be it BCS, police SI or school teacher, enrolment in Hawa Bhaban with money was mandatory. The list of employers used to go from Hawa Bhavan. A person enlisted in Hawa Bhaban whether he is qualified or not, whether he passes the written test or not, he has to be given the job. Otherwise, the employer would be in trouble. The big businessmen had to pay Hawa Bhaban and Tarique’s partner Giasuddin Al Mamun used to fix the amount of money. VAT had to be paid to Hawa Bhaban every month from various ministries and departments. This VAT was collected by Harish Chowdhury, the Prime Minister’s number one political secretary. Posts like chief forest officer, chairman of Rajuk were up for auction. Under the management of Harish Chowdhury, the person who offered the most money in the auction was appointed to that position.
Everyone knows about the electricity pole project. Tarique-Mamun duo looted thousands of crores of money from the government treasury without producing one megawatt of electricity. These looted moneys went abroad. Money laundering in Bangladesh was institutionalized under the leadership of Tarique Zia. This son of corruption has smuggled crores of money to different countries of the world. With which he is living a royal life comfortably in London.
Tarique Zia wanted a permanent settlement of power. For this he first destroyed the caretaker government. The constitution was amended to make Justice KM Hasan the head of the caretaker government. After that, the BNP government turned the election commission into a den of clowns. A list of one and a half million fake voters was prepared from Hawa Bhaban and given to the Election Commission. Such a situation was created that it became impossible for any party except BNP to win the election. Even after doing all this, Tarique Zia could not be satisfied. That is why the ‘master plan’ to eliminate Awami League leadership was adopted. On August 21, 2004, the worst grenade attack in political history of Bangladesh took place. Tarique Zia wanted to bid farewell to Sheikh Hasina by bombing. But the Awami League president miraculously survived. After that, one drama after another was staged to cover up this incident.
Tarique Zia, like his father, wanted to make Bangladesh another Pakistan. That is why various militant organizations like Bangla Bhai emerged under his patronage. Tarique started sponsoring Indian separatists with the advice and help of Pakistan. The big proof of this is the episode of 10 truckloads of weapons. Evidence of Tarique’s association with Indian separatists, extremists and various militant organizations has emerged in US secret documents. Those documents were leaked out by WikiLeaks.
Desperate to stay in power forever, Tarique Zia destroyed all government institutions. Supreme Court judges are appointed by party cadres. The police force, the armed forces, the civil administration everywhere was the formation of Tarique’s own forces. That is why General Moin U Ahmed was appointed as the army chief after dismissing seven seniors. A loyal, obedient, spineless person like Dr. Yazuddin was made the President. Most BNP leaders believe that 1/11 incident happened because of Tarique Zia’s rampant corruption and ill-conceived political decisions. And that’s why seasoned leaders like late Saifur Rahman, Mannan Bhuiyan, Sadek Hossain Khoka, Tariqul Islam did not show so much sympathy towards Tarique. Still most of the renegade leaders and workers of BNP think that Begum Zia and Tarique Zia are solely responsible for the current fate of BNP. Begum Zia was blind about her son. She supported her son in all his misdeeds. Many leaders of BNP said that if Begum Zia had kept Tarique under minimum control, then the party would not be in this predicament today. Tariq and his friend Giasuddin Mamun were arrested at one-eleven. Begum Zia’s cry and pleas freed Tarique Zia with special considerations and he went to London. While leaving, he gave an undertaking to the effect that he will not do politics again just like the two scumbags on social media. But like the tail of a particular animal, Tarique Zia’s character is impossible to change.
Tarique Zia is in London since 2008 and is doing the same sort of crime that he committed from 2001 to 2006. Sitting in London, he is continuing extortion and doing committee trade. It is now an open secret in BNP that without money one cannot even enter the ward committee. In BNP, those dedicated leaders do not get a place in any committee. Each of the BNP’s committee announcements led to protests and revolts. Who got which position with how much money is openly discussed. Let’s take the 2018 election. BNP decided to participate in that election unconditionally. National Unity Front was formed under the leadership of Dr. Kamal Hossain on the instructions of Tarique. Mischievous persons say Tarique needed money at the time. This is the reason to go to the election. It is heard that about 500 crore nomination trade was made in that election. In various constituencies, those deprived of nominations held public press conferences and said how many nominations were sold. Can a party win an election with two or more candidates in each of almost all seats?
Many people think that the main goal of BNP’s movement is extortion. This is because of the experience of 2013, 14 and 15. At that time, the group committed arson, looting and vandalism under Tarique’s orders. The violent movement of that time was conducted with the aim of extorting money by scaring the traders. This time also at the beginning of the movement, various businessmen were called. Tarique Zia or his nominee would call and they were intimidated. Many businessmen want to have a relationship with both sides. Many people close to Hawa Bhaban, one of Tarique’s financiers, are now close and confidants of the Awami League government. They started secretly sending money to Tarique Zia out of fear or thinking that BNP might come back to power. BNP organized a hotchpotch festival in the name of mass gathering with that smuggled money. Accomplices in this extortion mission of Tarique Zia were two miscreants known as extortionists, fraudsters on social media. This one photo reveals Tarique’s secret bond with the extortionist gang. This picture is an authentic document of Tarique Zia’s treason. Garbage filled so called channels are constantly airing offensive obscenities against the state. Since Tarique Zia is the patron of this abominable treasure, it is an irrefutable proof that he is a traitor. It is now as clear as water that on his orders some perverts are talking against the country. BNP’s self-proclaimed acting chairman on the run in London has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a case. The court sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment in a money laundering case. According to an order of the High Court, any statement from Tarique Zia is banned from broadcasting in Bangladesh.
According to the law of Bangladesh, Tarique Zia is a warrantless convict. Most Wanted. Tarique is also known internationally as a mafia don or godfather. No one considers him as a politician. But we often see Tarique Zia joining online in various functions of BNP. Talk on video conference. It amounts to contempt of court.
I think, immediately law enforcement agency and the honourable court should take exemplary action in this regard. Also, the pictures of the two miscreants published with the most wanted Tarique Zia in the name of so-called interview, all their content needs to be banned in Bangladesh. The Hon’ble High Court has taken a number of landmark decisions. In this case, it is necessary to stop these anti-national garbages, foul-smelling words in Bangladesh. Urgent intervention of the judiciary is necessary in this regard. Otherwise, no one will be spared from their nasty game. Besides, the convicted Tarique Zia should be brought back to the country immediately. He should be brought under the law. For this, honest and brave people should be placed in related places including foreign missions because Tarique Zia’s followers are still wreaking havoc on the government. Those who still dream of putting Tarique Zia in power are harmful to the state. Now is the high time to identify them.
(The writer is the Executive Director, Poriprekkhit)
