Assassination of Ahsanullah MP

The following comments have been prepared on the assassination of Awami League Member of Parliament, Mr. Ahsanullah Master on 7th May 2004 in Gazipur, to highlight certain disturbing aspects of this tragic incident.

HIGHEST VALUED TARGET

As a sitting Member of Parliament, Mr. Master is the most important person successfully targeted for elimination since the October 2001 Parliamentary elections.

Since the Alliance government assumed power, minorities and opposition voters and supporters at grass root level were targeted for harassment and persecution, followed by the local and regional leaders, and subsequently, the national leaders faced government’s wrath, including Mr. Master.

The Police with full knowledge of him being a Member of Parliament clubbed him viciously on 12th February 2004 along with Political Secretary to Leader of the Opposition who is also a former Minister and Member of Parliament.

Mr. Master, along with two other MPs and Senior Leaders of the Awami League were even implicated in a criminal case by the government for allegedly stealing dinner plates from a river ferry, an absurd accusation and yet another instance of Government harassment / targeting of opposition leaders.

SYSTEMATIC ELIMINATION

The assassination of Mr. Master was not an isolated incident; rather it was part of systematic national campaign of terror and extreme repression unleashed by the Alliance Government, starting from grass-root workers to national leaders, including most importantly, prospective candidates from Awami League in the next parliamentary elections – all part of the brutal and systematic “Awami League Cleansing” agenda of the Alliance Government.

As examples, Mr.Momtaz (Natore), Mr. Monzurul Imam (Khulna), Mr. Amjad Hossain (Naogaon) and Mr. Shamsul Alam Suruj (Lalmonirhat) are specific instances of former and sitting public representatives and prospective candidates of the future being assassinated.

All these individuals, as Mr. Master too, fought in the War of Liberation, were very popular and highly regarded and respected leaders and extremely effective organizers.

On more than one occasion in the past, formal communications have been sent by the Awami League to the Minister and Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs detailing hundreds of case summaries of political assassinations involving Opposition activists and leaders and demanding due investigation of all such instances as well as appropriate steps to ensure such killings stop forthwith.

The Government did not deem it necessary to even respond to, or acknowledge, these letters and the executions have continued with increased frequency.

The question that concerned citizens are posing is simply, where is the country heading to and when will this clear pattern of unrestrained political executions, end.

Mr. Master’s assassination has raised the threshold to highest possible level giving to rise to question as to who would be next target, and how high could it go, and where it will stop.

It would not be a surprise at all, to witness over the coming months other leaders of the Awami League meet the same fate as that of Mr. Master.

This assassination at the same time sends a very clear and graphic message to all opposition MPs and leaders at all levels of what might happen to them.

COMPLETE BREAKDOWN

Failure to protect the life of a Member of Parliament demonstrates a complete breakdown of law and order and the inability of the government to discharge its primary duty of offering protection and security to its citizens.

If an MP’s life is not secure, then how safe could it be for others. This sense of total insecurity has permeated to all segments of the society.

PLANNED EXECUTION

This assassination has been planned and executed with methodical and military like precision.

The response and reaction of the Police following the assassination raises questions about government’s prior-knowledge or even involvement in the crime.

CRIME SCENE SECURITY

The Police made no attempts to secure the crime scene immediately after the incident. Done routinely as a first step for collection of forensic and other material evidence, the Police failed to pick up vital evidence to link the perpetrators.

This deliberate failure, noticed also in instances of other high profile victims, clearly indicates direct government connivance or at the very least, continued and repeated serious dereliction of responsibilities and criminal negligence. This cannot be explained away by incompetence.

RELUCTANCE TO INITIATE INVESTIGATION

The Police did not begin investigation until the brother of the victim formally reported the assassination and filed a case some thirty-six hours after the incident and well after Mr. Master’s burial.

The senior most Police officer Ms. Yasmin Gafur, Superintendent of Police (SP), a day after the incident said to media that investigation could not start as no complaint had been filed.

This inability of the Police to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) themselves and start investigation immediately after the crime and to loose precious early moments, along with the failure on their part to secure the crime scene, offer conclusive proof of the Government’s association and involvement in this assassination.

The Police, on the other hand, swiftly initiated complaints on their own accord, against the common man (who angrily reacted to Mr. Master’s assassination and caused damage to palatial property of a “Hawa Bhaban” associate of Prime Minister’s son) by not only filing a case but also arresting individuals despite no complaints or case being filed by the owner of the property. (see attached) 

FINAL PROOF - THE PRESS NOTE

If at all one needs further evidence of the Government’s involvement in assassination of Mr. Master, the Press Note issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, within hours of the incident, should suffice. It dealt with the motive of the incident as internal conflict within the organization.

This Note has raised two broad questions; whether the government had enough information about the motive of the assassination given that that it came out within hours with such a definite statement, even when the investigation had not begun, post mortem on the body had not been done and no complaint / criminal case had even been filed.

And, if affirmative, what did the Government do with it, and why it did not stop the assassination?

The other important question is, why frustrate the investigation by imputing on the motive of the crime?

Given that the Prime Minister herself is also holding the portfolio of Ministry of Home, these basic concerns on complicity of the Government assume greatest significance.

The Police controlled by the Home Minister, assuming that they would like to mount an independent investigation, will now not be able to investigate because of the public position the Government has taken on the matter through issuance of this Press Note which has effectively set the parameter for the investigations, thus foreclosing and prohibiting the possibility of a due and neutral enquiry.

Again, this practice to thwart or foreclose investigation and in so doing effectively “ring fence” the Alliance from any responsibility, has been a common feature of this government, particularly after such major incidents.[1]  

Such action and practice merely encourages perpetrators of crimes to act with immunity and impunity and further reinforce the growing nexus between crime and politics.

When the brother of Mr. Master filed the case and named amongst others a Mr. Nurul Islam Sarker, Labour Affairs Secretary of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, youth faction of the ruling BNP, as the one who masterminded the assassination, Police even one week later has not made any attempt to question him, let alone take him to custody.

Mr. Sarker meanwhile is moving about freely in the locality and giving interviews on national television.

Graffiti on various public walls in Gazipur testify to the fact that Mr. Sarker found a berth in the Central Committee of the BNP youth front due to the blessings of the son of the Prime Minister, Tareq Rahman and his infamous “Hawa Bhaban”.

Mr. Master’s brother and his family are now being repeatedly threatened to withdraw the case that has been filed and have been warned that if the case is not withdrawn, they will dig up Mr. Master’s dead body from the grave.

A month has gone by, but despite clear and categorical statements from various witnesses interviewed by the Police that Mr. Sarker was seen hours before the murder dropping off the killers near the spot where Mr. Master was gunned down, Police have neither questioned Mr. Sarker nor taken him to custody – yet another instance of a murder committed in Bangladesh with immunity and impunity.

Further the “drama” centred on removal from the case of the concerned Investigation Officer - ASP Baten - apparently due to the neutral manner in which he was conducting his enquiries and thereafter implicating and framing him in a case of trying to bribe the Home Minister (!!), has lent credence to the growing belief that the Government is either involved in the assassination of Mr. Master or are at the very least, is trying everything possible to protect the perpetrators of this crime.

June, 2004

Posh Gazipur house a mystery to locals
Shamim Ashraf

Khwab (Dream in Arabic), Tarique Rahman's friend Giasuddin Al Mamun's palatial house in Gazipur, remains a mystery to local residents who vandalised and set fire to it on May 7 suspecting that Mamun played a role in the recent event in the area.

Locals whisper as to what went on at the imposing house in South Chhayabithi posh area visited by Mamun and many top-level officials, who come in luxurious cars, once or twice a month and hold nightlong parties.

"We felt something ominous going on inside since we know Mamun as a sidekick of Tarique Rahman and an alleged significant player in the control of different industries, postings, transfers and contracts," a local shopkeeper said.

Two platoons of police guard the imposing house, now being renovated, round the clock since the May 7 killing of Awami League legislator Ahsanullah Master in a roadside rally in Tongi and do not let local residents to go near the house. Mysteriously, neither Mamun nor any Khwab official lodged any complaint for the damage to the building. This is a rare case of police moving into action on their own, without the victims' filing any case or lodging any complaint.

Asked who directed him to file the case, Sub-Inspector of Joydevpur Police Station Zakir yesterday avoided the question and told The Daily Star, "Police wait for some time after any property is damaged to see whether the owner files any case. And if the owner fears to lodge a case, police themselves do it." Immediately after the assassination of Ahsanullah, home ministry and police termed the killing as an outcome of internal feud and Zakir filed a case under Speedy Trial Act on the same day for rampage at Khwab without waiting for Mamun or his men.

Most accused men are activists of main opposition Awami League and its front organisations.  Asked about proactive police role in case filing, Officer-in-Charge of Joydevpur Police Station Akhtaruzzaman said, "We filed the case for vandalising not only Khwab, but also the BNP offices and 25 buses." But the record shows otherwise: the case in question (number 10) is filed only for rampage at Khwab.

Believed to be the second-in-command of ruling BNP's alternative powerhouse Hawa Bhaban, Mamun, locally known as Juboraj (prince), said: "I used to go to Khwab occasionally to pass vacation and let my foreign delegates use the top floor." The ritzy house on road No. 4 in Chhayabithi that engineers estimate has taken about Tk 8 crore to build still stands out in the posh area, outshining surrounding modern buildings.

Tarique's school friend from Pirojpur, Mamun, who stays at Mohakhali DOHS, did not visit the house after the rampage. Some officials are supervising the renovations to the building.