In one Tweet posted in late January of this year by Khaleda Zia of the BNP party, Zia lashes out against one news organization for publishing an article which quoted a state minister stating that she would be sent to jail. Within the Tweet Zia refers to this state minister as “unelected,” suggesting that this man was put into office through undemocratic means. She also suggests that this is a case of contempt of the court. By doing this, Zia is attacking the legitimacy of the judiciary system in Bangladesh and suggesting that her political rivals from the Awami League are mingling with the courts.

After conducting some short background research on Wikipedia, I found that Zia was being charged by the government for embezzlement of international funds. She was found guilty in this case and sentenced to prison for 5 years on February 8th of this year.

I wonder how bad this case struck the BNP in terms of party support. I suspect that followers of Zia and the BNP, who still claim that the case was politically biased, retain their support regardless since from the BNP’s side, government officials from the Awami league are largely illegitimate and corrupt. People will believe what they want to.

 

Friday, Jan 19, newspapers reported, an unelected state minister said that Khaleda Zia would be sent to jail in the next 15 days. Isn’t it a clear case of contempt of court? People are watching how the judiciary protects its independence? pic.twitter.com/AUJj0ykwYF

— Begum Khaleda Zia (@BegumZiaBd) January 21, 2018

 

With help from Wikipedia.

 

In early January of this year, Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP in Bangladesh and former Prime Minister, made an interesting Tweet in strong opposition to the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In the Tweet Zia states that the source of the Awami League Prime Minister’s power is the bullet, not the ballot. This was in reference to a poll which was conducted by the Awami League which was according to Zia, “voterless.”

The Tweet does a really good job at dealing a blow to the legitimacy of not only Hasina, but also her party. Zia makes her own political party, the BNP, look very good in this Tweet, taking the time to throw in the line “No compromise on democracy.” in the Tweet.

Interestingly, Zia attached a hashtag to the Tweet, “#voterlesspoll”

My question now is did Hasina or another member of the Awami League respond to this accusation? Has there been efforts to cover it up? The term “voterless poll” is quite absurd, but it is unsettling to think about the political power one can gain creating fake polls.

 

Not ballot but bullet is the source of Hasina’s power. Jan 5’s ‘disgraceful voterless poll’ is a cruel joke at our historic struggles for voting rights & back-stabbing our democratic progress.People shall choose their representatives, not conspirators. No compromise on democracy. pic.twitter.com/8GFWOycwkz

— Begum Khaleda Zia (@BegumZiaBd) January 4, 2018

 

 

I found one blog posted on Prothomalo by Bangladeshi Shaykh Muhammad, titled “The freedom and the worship of the soul in Islam”.

To summarize, this blog discusses from a Bangladeshi Muslim’s point of view what exactly freedom means to a follower of Islam. Muhammad discusses the importance of freedom and to be weary of “evil” which will attempt to deceive man into forfeiting freedom. Muhammad uses a wealth of direct quotes from the Qur’an to support every thing he has to say.

Though it was quite apparent that this blog was poorly translated by the website, I believe I was able to extract a number of interesting specifics from this blog and, with preexisting knowledge of the region and the country of Bangladesh, analyze it for hidden meanings. I realized as I was reading, that a large portion of the blog was in fact direct transcriptions from the Qur’an. However, these transcriptions appeared to be carefully picked and utilized by Muhammad in a clever way to put forth, what I found to be a very strong message about protecting individual freedoms.

Taken at face value, the blog is a very pleasant, even uplifting piece seemingly directed at Muslims in Bangladesh, which details what their faith has offered to them. And yet, the blog is littered with powerful dialogue from the Qur’an discussing in a degree of detail, the protection of personal rights and the rights of others in the face of evil. One of the opening lines to this blog by Muhammad caught my attention right away, “the development of human beings, such as independence is needed, so the soul also needs freedom.” Muhammad appears to be stating that without freedom one cannot grow as a human being, let alone, grow in their spirituality. This, I believe, is exceptionally powerful and strategic as it is placed in the forefront of the blog and challenges practices of Islam (roughly 90% of Bangladesh) to evaluate whether or not they have this freedom Muhammad is refrencing.

After reading the blog I am poised to see it as more than just a call for Muslims in Bangladesh to attribute their freedoms to Islam, but rather as a call to all groups within the nation to be bold in protecting their freedoms from any group, since “people are free from all kinds of servants of the Lord.” I wondered if Muhammad was implying the government at this part in the blog.

The idea of Muhammad attempting to deliver his message to people of every background is something, I believe to be extremely significant in showing that his overarching message within this blog might not be to promote Islam. As he writes,”the freedom of the people, Arabs, non-Arabs, rich and poor have taken shelter in Islam.” including everyone in his message.

 

Blog:

http://www.prothomalo.com/opinion/article/1460036/%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A7%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%93-%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%A4

The news of the conviction of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia surely came as a surprise to many. Though 5 years in prison may be a fair  sentencing we mustn’t forget our other friends within government and the BNP who chose to disregard the laws of this nation.

We should applaud our judiciary for addressing this corruption, and further to that, I would implore all law-abiding Bengalis to come together and show our their support for the rule of law and  distaste for government corruption on the first Saturday of the new month. To preserve the safety of the public and demonstrate our interest in law and order, I urge everyone to minimize interaction with police and allow them to continue their job protecting the citizens, undisturbed.

I hope to see all of my patriotic countrymen soon.

 

Referencing: https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/former-bangladesh-pm-khaleda-zia-jailed-for-corruption-13176434

It would appear as if the nation of Bangladesh too has bouts with fake news.

In an article published by the Dhaka Tribune, one instance of a fake news story, related to domestic terrorism is detailed. Titled “Police and RAB foil an attempt at what could have been a dangerous terrorist attack”. This fake news story was actually based off a real incident in which a student was being beaten by security guards in a residential area, and actual witnesses of the event were able to point to this news story as false.

This incident sparked a discussion about Bangladesh’s Freedom of Speech laws and related rights. Are the creators of these fake news stories protected by law? Article 39 of Bangladesh’s Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression much like the American Constitution does, however this freedom is “subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the State.”

My question is who exactly created this fake news story, which interestingly covers up a case of brutality by Bangla security guards under the guise of preventing terrorism? Could the authors of similar fake news articles be hired by someone to fabricate these stories?

 

 

http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2018/02/04/bangladeshs-fake-news-epidemic/