By M A Amin
The mother is holding her baby to her chest and is burning to death. This sight alone is enough to make any sane person cringe. A fire deliberately set on a train that caused such a heartbreaking death could only have been set by demons.
But for many years we have seen such brutal deaths in the name of movement, which are actually murders. Since 2012, we have seen such sabotage of BNP-Jamaat. Many people have died in petrol bomb fire. Many are still crippled and living miserable lives. That painful memory is still not forgotten. Now again the same table of sabotage.
The country is heading towards an election. In the democratic process, there is a right to participate in the elections, as well as the right not to participate in the elections. It is a matter of political strategy and preference. But killing people in the name of movement while preventing that election is not acceptable in any way.
We noticed with astonishment that the United States of America, which is quick to comment on minor issues, has no comment on train fires and tragic deaths. Asked at a State Department briefing, a spokesman declined to comment. What prevents them from commenting on such a crime? Of course, it is not unusual for the state that is in favor of the genocide of Israelis and the state that plays all the roles for them, to not come out with a statement in these cases.
But BNP themselves know that they cannot avoid the responsibility of these killings in the name of movement. So they also issued a statement after this incident. The commentary of their statement is like this: ‘Those who set fire to the train in Tejgaon of the capital and extinguished the life lamps of four passengers are undoubtedly a disgrace to the name of man. It is not possible to do this kind of anti-humanity without the connivance of a special circle. There is deep doubt among the people whether this is a ploy to divert people’s attention away from the ongoing democratic movement. This is a case of well-planned sabotage. The saboteurs are the enemies of humanity, they want to destroy humanity itself.’
It is true that saboteurs are enemies of mankind and they want to destroy mankind. But it is very appropriate to question how true the BNP has raised the conspiracy theory to divert people’s attention from their so-called ‘democratic movement’ in this incident. Because our past experience tells us that even after denying all such incidents, it has always been proved that BNP or their ally anti-independence Jamaat Shibir is involved in all incidents of arson.
In numerous previous incidents we have seen pictures in the media of people throwing petrol bombs, setting fires. Those arrested in those incidents have confessed to the police and even to the court that these sabotages were carried out as part of a plan to overthrow the government by spreading panic in the public mind, increasing the intensity of the movement, the funding and planning of which were all from the BNP-Jamaat.
If you look closely at this incident, it will be seen that when their programs like blockade or hartal are facing one after another, they have chosen the path of sabotage to spread panic. It is not difficult to understand that the so-called ‘non-cooperation movement’ announced by fugitive Tariq Rahman in London, these brutal incidents are taking place before that.
There is a proverb in Bengal, which goes something like this: You can never cover a fish with vegetables. The statement given by BNP by setting fire to train and burning people and decorating flower baskets of beautiful words is reminiscent of that proverb.
Killing, attacking and vandalizing in the name of politics is nothing new for BNP-Jamaat. When they were in power, the people did not forget the incident of killing people and hanging the bodies by bringing the militants to the field. It is not possible to express in words how horrible and brutal the grenade attack on 21 August was. If the plan to kill the top leaders of a political party together just because of their political opposition was successful, the history of Bangladesh might have changed. Thank God, it didn’t.
But BNP-Jamaat has not budged even for a single day from its plan to turn Bangladesh into a militant state of Pakistani ideology. Again and again on various pretexts, sometimes in the name of movement, sometimes in the name of resisting elections, they entered the field to implement that plan. People’s lives are not valued here. Sometimes they burn them with petrol bombs, sometimes they burn them with vehicles.
But the pain increases when I see that some of the so-called civil society of my country cries for these monsters. It is only natural to question the motives of those who speak for a proven murderous political circle. Even now-a-days we see some so-called leftist parties are participating in their movement as like minded BNP-Jamaat. What does it mean? Do they also want to sponsor this murderous politics of BNP-Jamaat? Or do they want to be a companion of this politics?
According to the history of Bangladesh, the people of this country have never accepted conspirators and murderers. No matter how much time it takes, one day or another the people of this country will bring them to justice. The trial and punishment of crimes against humanity in 1971, the trial and punishment of Bangabandhu murder are the best examples of that. Keeping those examples in mind, those BNP-Jamaat ‘like minded’ parties may yet come back from the path of suiside. Otherwise they will be relegated to the dustbin of history. Because there is no sin like killing people. And those who remain silent, accomplices in that sin are equally guilty as the murderer.
M A Amin is a journalist working in Bangladesh Bureau of Kolkata TV, India