Is anyone connecting the dots here?

Nurul Islam, leader of the Ganotantri Party, was admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 40% burns after a mysterious fire at his residence on December 3, 2008. While talking to reporters at the DMCH before losing consciousness, Nurul Islam said, "Unidentified persons were asking me over mobile phone to come to the path of Allah, and not to take part in the election." (Source: Daily Star)

In recent weeks other poll candidates have reported receiving similar threats:

• Dec 5: Begum Motia Chowdhury, an Awami League candidate in the polls, received a threat from the banned Islamist Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group. The group warned that Motia, a former agriculture minister, would face the consequences unless she stopped talking tough against terrorism, especially about Islamists seeking to turn Muslim-majority Bangladesh into a sharia-based state.
• Dec 7: Awami League joint general secretary Obaidul Qader alleged that an unknown caller threatened to kill him if he does not "stay away from the election". "The caller also threatened 'to teach me a good lesson', for breaking up Pakistan through taking part in the Liberation War," Qader claimed.

Is anyone connecting the dots here?

Culture of Violence in Bangladeshi Politics

In a Daily Star article published Dec 12, 2008, Zafar Sobhan talks about the culture of violence in Bangladeshi politics:

"The recent death of Nurul Islam, president of the Ganatantri Party and nominee of the Awami League-led grand alliance for the upcoming parliamentary election for Noakhali-1, together with his son, both burned to death when their house was set on fire last week, comes as a timely and tragic reminder of all that ails Bangladeshi politics.

Many things ail our political culture from the feudal and inegalitarian make-up of society, to our winner-take-all mind-set that does not permit the opposition space for dissent, to an oppositional culture that prefers to disrupt a sitting government than try to work with it.

But none is so corrosive to the establishment of a functional democracy as our long-standing culture of political violence, and the death of Nurul Islam demonstrates that as hopeful as we all are for good elections on December 29, there is still a long way to go and lots of loose threads to be tied before we can truly believe that democracy is safe in Bangladesh."

"Uncanny Similarity" with Fire in Badruddoza Chowdhury's Residence

A Daily Star article published on December 14, 2008 points out the similarities between the fire that killed Nurul Islam and his son and the one that broke out in Badruddoza Chowdhury’s house on April 30, 2006:

“Why has the investigation not focused on the uncanny similarity between this (Nurul Islam) fire incident and that in B. Chowdhury's house in 2006? Both happened late at night, both were limited within a narrow area of the house, and both have been attributed initially by the respective investigations to electrical short circuit. For the B. Chowdhury incident, there was ample evidence to suggest that it was not a short circuit since the electrical appliances were functioning, window panes were broken and smell of toxic gas was reported, among other pieces of evidence.”

Another wake up call: Are we listening? Daily Star, Dec 14, 2008

"New Age" Raises Questions about Mysterious Fire

A New Age article on Dec 5, 2008 raised questions about the mysterious fire which claimed the life of Nurul Islam and his son:

• The fire was contained within the dining-cum-drawing room area. The two individuals concerned were supposedly sleeping in their respective bedrooms when the flames erupted and yet they were caught in the fire in the drawing room
• Workers Party of Bangladesh president Rashed Khan Menon and general secretary Bimal Biswas in a joint statement said the telephonic threat, sudden fire incident and the sound of explosion indicated that Nurul Islam's death was not normal.
• When Nurul Islam was in the burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital he told reporters that he had been receiving telephone threats from Islamist militants since he won the nomination to run for the national polls.
• Family sources revealed that Nurul Islam came back to Dhaka from Comilla on way to Noakhali right before the attack upon hearing that he has listed as a loan defaulter. Why was his name put in the list of loan defaulters although he had no account with the Sonali Bank?
• The refrigerator, which had exploded at the flat of Nurul Islam, was abandoned and its power connection had been disconnected for the last three years.
• Quoting physicians, family sources revealed that the respiratory tract and lungs of Nurul Islam became dysfunctional due to inhalation of gas and gunpowder.
  

Mystery Shrouds Fire at Nurul Islam's Flat: Proper Investigation Demanded, New Age, Dec 5, 2008

Day by Day Update

Dec 3: Fire breaks out at the residence of Ganotontri Party president Nurul Islam at 3 am. His son dies in blaze and he is taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital burn unit with 40% burns. He is later moved to the Combine Military Hospital. Nurul Islam was the Awami League-led alliances nominee for the Noakhali-1 seat for the national polls to be held on Dec 29.

Dec 3: Before he fell unconscious in the hospital bed, Nurul Islam tells the waiting pressmen that he had been receiving death threats from militants over the phone since he filed his nomination.

Dec 4: A three-member committee headed by Masudur Rahman, Deputy Assistant Director of fire service, was formed to investigate the matter and submit its report within three days.

Dec 4: Nurul Islam loses battle against burn injuries

Dec 4: A joint team of Detective Branch (DB) of police, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police and Mohammadpur Thana investigating the fire incident

Dec 4: Election Commission adjourns the general election in the Noakhali-1 constituency in wake of death of Nurul Islam

Dec 3-5: Sub-inspector of Mohammadpur police station Quamruzzaman, the investigation officer of the case, filed an unnatural death case after the incident. He appealed to the mobile phone operator to supply the call list of Nurul Islam's phone for the last couple of weeks and hoped that it would be received within a short time. The case still lacks clues.

Dec 3-5: Leading politicians, including two former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, cultural activists, eminent persons of the country suspected the incident to be an act of sabotage, and asked the government to launch a proper investigation into the fire incident. Bangladesh Worker's Party, Gono Jatiya Sramik League, Forum for Secular Bangladesh and Trial of War Criminals of 1971, Bangladesh National Awami Party, National Democratic Party, Dhaka University Teachers Association, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, Zaker Party, Incidin Bangladesh, Jatiya Rikshaw-Van Sramik League, Gono Forum, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies and Democratic Revolutionary Party and many other organisations also demanded investigation into the fire incident and the killings.

Dec 5: People pay last respect to Nurul Islam in Central Shaheed Minar. He and his son are then buried at the Martyred Intellectuals' Graveyard in Mirpur.

Dec 5: Rapid Action Battlion (RAB) launches seperate investigation.

Dec 7: Fire service director general brigadier general Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah told bdnews24.com their probe did not find signs of combustibles, explosives or any other suspicious materials. He said positive proof was found of a short circuit as the cause of the fire, and sent to the home ministry.

Dec 7: Nurul Islam's family files case alleging that the deaths were caused by fire started purposely with combustible items

Dec 18: Speakers at a condolence meeting paid tribute to the memory of late Md Nurul Islam, president of Bangladesh Trade Union Kendra, and also demanded proper investigation into the cause of mysterious fire that broke out at his residence on December 3, killing him and his son Tamohar.