Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Nurul Islam Investigation Report Rejected
The family of the late Ganatantri Party chief Nurul Islam, who died on December 4 in a fire that broke out in his house the previous day, rejected the investigation committee report which claimed the fire was an accident caused by an electric short-circuit. The report said the ‘fire’ had resulted from an explosion of the ‘gas cylinder’ in the fridge, caused by an electric short-circuit, but a report on private television channel ATN Bangla on December 3 showed the lower back portion of the fridge was more or less unaffected and the fridge compressor did not explode (picture below), as confirmed by Md Ruhul Amin, additional deputy police commissioner of Tejgaon.
The report does not adequately address the fact that the “fire” which led to the death of Mr. Nurul Islam and Mr. Islam Tamohar was not a conventional one for two reasons. Most of the damage was limited to a relatively small area, leaving many flammable items such as papers, books, and plastic products which were all within 5-6 feet from the refrigerator were almost intact. The lower parts of the wall, the floor as well as objects that were 2 to 3 feet from the ground sustained little or no damage. On that note, there were little signs of burn on the body of Tamohar Islam.In addition, eye-witnesses, including Nurul Islam himself and the neighbors who tore down the door did not mention seeing flames – they only noticed heavy smoke and intense heat.
There have been repeated claims by the family members of Nurul Islam that the refrigerator blamed for the fire was not functional and has remained unplugged for 3 years. However, the investigation authorities have consistently disregarded this fact, without providing any reasons for believing otherwise. The report does not mention what evidence led them to conclude that the fridge was indeed plugged in at the time of the incident.
There have also been repeated claims by Nurul Islam, his family members and colleagues that he had been receiving threatening calls. However, the report also fails to provide evidence regarding why the investigative authorities believe that such claims were not well grounded. This report directly puts into question the last words of Nurul Islam and also those of people like Rashed Khan Menon, Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled and numerous other luminaries, who have mentioned in numerous media channels that they were aware that Nurul Islam was receiving threatening phone calls.
Due to these inconsistencies, we would request the relevant authorities to review the assumptions and conclusions of this report and re-open the investigation of this case if required.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Is anyone connecting the dots here?
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.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
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
