Untold Facts

Cover up and Ploy

Shankar Menon’s Dhaka visit and speculations

On the 19th April morning, a few Dhaka dailies made lead news of an issue lifted from two Indian dailies (Ananda Bazar and Indian Express) earlier made news following Indian Foreign Secretary Shib Shankar Mnon’s unannounced and in that sense indecorous visit to Dhaka on the 12-13th for hours. The news item was that Menon came to Dhaka to pass on the very sensitive information to P.M. Sheikh Hasina that a plot is made to kill her and some of her senior colleagues. Interestingly, in another Dhaka daily on the same day, 19th April, both the Foreign Minister Moni and her Deputy Hasan denied any such issue Menon had discussed with them in their meeting held separately. They, however, did not say anything about if the P.M. had any such specific information in the one-hour exclusive meeting passed on to her by Menon. Thus the matter remains something fishy one as there was no statement so far as yet made either by Dhaka or by Delhi on the visit except that Menon incidentally stated something casual of any diplomat in his brief press meet nothing any serious of the kind. It, therefore, gave way naturally for hunches and speculations of the unusual visit Menon made without prior notice to Dhaka. Some medias have as such took advantage of speculations and made stories as some wished to make for certain end they loved to make. Why should the Foreign Ministry make no clear-cut statement in the matter?

RAW’s hand!

There are reports and reasonable analysis already published in a prestigious English weekly in Dhaka that Menon’s visit had mainly been directed to make a ‘cover-up’ of the BDR massacre that many here and outside have been blaming on the Indian R&AW, Research and Analysis Wing, that is, the Indian central intelligence agency.

Diverting attention

The other hunch is that at this moment Hasina and so also the Indian government both need an issue in hype for diverting the popular demand for credibly unearthing the BDR massacre and for neutral justice for the most notorious game had likely involvement of some powerful M.P.’s like Nanak, Tapash etc. of the party in power, even including Hasina’s American citizen only son Joy for his known anti-army roles in the name of ‘research’ in association with some Carl Ciovacco, a Jew and of controversial identity.

Romanticism with Qaomi Madarasa

Among other issues now burning one as it is about the Qaomi Madarasas numbering nearly 15,000 had
been attacked unreasonably as the ‘breeding place of terrorists’ by the Law Minister Shafiq Ahmad that made a situation of some sort of explosion already brewed in Bangladesh. Hasina met herself formally two delegates, on the 17th and the 18th April, one after another and so also her controversial Law Minister with nothing sorted out in sight of the on going tension except that the P.M. promised to set up a commission in the matter soon after she returns from her impending visit to Saudi Arabia. Another group led by Fazlul Haq Amini who is more political than other groups did not sit with the government but stayed out in protest for public meeting for the issue at the MUKTANGON in the capital city on the 18th that was dispersed by police by using force.

Exercise in Counter Productivity

The government has taken on another controversial issue in the trial of the so-called war criminals of 1971 that neither her father Sheikh Mujib though constituted in mid 1973 the so-called International Crimes Tribunal Act but did not bring even a single soul for trial until his fall in 1975 nor her government in 1996-2001 at all ventured to take up for obvious fall-outs, backlashes and counter productivity.

Inept but act of vengeance

The inept act of her cabinet in canceling out of shear enmity and vengeance the lease of Begum Khaleda Zia’s home made 29 years ago that has already fuelled the fire of popular feelings against the government Hasina desperately needs to divert attention of the people from.

Macro economy under threat

In the economic front as well except for tidbits of lowering prices of rice and wheat, a popular issue though among the very poor millions but hardly among the middle class who control political movements, other economic indicators have been in serious downturn as the prices of paddy, wheat, etc. have gone on so much so that productivity in the next season is certain to fall adversely, despite the proposed special subsidy package of about Taka 34,240 million announced on 19 April to meet some negative effects in some areas including to make up losses to the farmers’ agriculture production. The recession has already started to take its toll in increasing unemployment as thousands of expatriate workers returning home day in and day out almost penniless and no scope for employment inside the country for them, because the millions unemployed at home have already been groaning in the pinch of bare livelihood. The export oriented garment industries, earning nearly 75 % of foreign exchange, in particular, have been complaining of their shrinking export market for worldwide recession. Friendship in excess with India has lately injured some of our budding small-scale production system. A report published in the Weekly Holiday on the 17th April stated the fact that small scale diary farms are under threat from Indian imported powdered milk competing adversely against the milk producers in the region of Pabna and Serajganj so much so that the diary farmers failing to compete and sell their produce not only in the open market but also to the bigger cooperative companies like Milk Vita, Pran, etc have gone in protest to spill their huge unsold liquid milk on the highway! In many other sectors, intrusion of Indian goods and products into Bangladesh market through smuggling made a hell of everything. One such is the cotton spinning mills. Dozens of cotton spinning mills have gone out of production for heaps of cotton threads lying unsold as at present nearly worth of Taka 400,000 million or so. This alone caused unemployment of about 6 lakhs or 0.6 million of laborers. The cumulative effect on economy and so in politics is certain to surface sooner than latter. Such impending issuers would obviously need the government and their trusted mentor from across to divert people’s attention from internal day to day life sustaining problems and miseries, in general, and the BDR massacres’ likely cover up, in particular, by creating hypes of emotion through airing the sensational plot of the kind in the anvil.

Security and Insecurity

It is not only in Bangladesh that the life of the top boss is in danger of possible sniper attacks, but a matter common almost in any country. That is why it is the special security system she enjoys much more than in many countries.

City dwellers plight

It may be mentioned here that the lives of the city dwellers in Dhaka who matter in movement against established government in Bangladesh have been growing restive every day passing for shortage of electricity experiencing oddly load shedding in my area for 10 hours in 24 hour day-night, acute shortage of water supply, etc. in this scorching heat of the Mid April summer and to further increase in days to come.

Be not rash

What is important possibly for her and what should the advisers tell her in simple plain words that she must not to go on making new enemies that she often does either ineptly or by action programs undertaken out of shear vengeance as the renowned BBC journalist (retired) Serajur Rahman has recently reminded through his personal experience with her years ago and published in a daily in Dhaka that ‘She hates politics but somehow got into it just only to avenge the killing and blood of her father’(Bengali verbatim, AMI RAJNITI GHRINA KORI KINTU PITRIHOTYAR PROTISHODHER JONYA RAJNITI KORSI) !

M.T. Hussain