Extracts from Justice and Peace Commission Newsletter

Yasmine-Like Murders 

A police constable of Harashpur outpost of Madbabpur Thana propositioned a maid servant (27) who came early on May 28 morning to cook at a hotel. When she rejected him he tried to rape her but another constable tried to restrain him. The would-be rapist injured the other constable with his rifle and killed the woman. An angry crowd gathered and barricaded the Dhaka-Sylhet highway for three hours. The culprit was arrested. Janakantha 31.5.96 

A Class 9 school-girl Renu was raped and killed by three youths in her house in the absence of her parents in Motihari Village, Nobabganj Thana on May 23. The three were arrested. 

TRAFFICKERS ESCAPE 

Jessore police, acting on a tip) rescued 17 men, women and children from a local hotel who were to be sent across the border. The gang of traffickers fled before the police arrived (were they also tipped?). 

CORRUPTION STATUS 

Bangladesh ranked 3rd in the world for corruption, according to a survey of businessmen, mostly Western, by Transparency International. Nigeria was ranked 0.69 out of 10, Pakistan 1, Bangladesh 2.29, China 2.43 and Russia 2.58. New Zealand, Sweden and Denmark had near-perfect scores. D.S. 4.6.96 

AI REPORT ON MINORITY BEATING AT DU 

Amnesty International published in May a 17-page report on the beating and arbitrary detention of religious minority students of Jagannath Hall on Jan.31 by about 700 law enforcement personnel. About 200 students were injured, 37 received hospital treatment and 95 were arbitrarily detained. Police claimed that the hall was raided to recover illegal arms but no arms were found. AI urged the government to hold impartial and independent inquiries into all reports of human rights violations by security personnel. The government of Begum Khaleda Zia did not respond to AI’s concerns. 

MORE GARMENT FIRES 

On June 24 a fire due to a short circuit in two adjacent garment factories in Mirpur resulted in the suffocation and death from stampede of 13 workers. The BGMEA promised compensation of Tk 50,000 each to the bereaved families and formed a probe body to look into the disaster. The government offered an additional Tk 3,000. Trade union leaders said that the owners’ compensation was farce, since “factory owners had declared this kind of compensation packages earlier, which were not actually realised”. On June 26 it was revealed that more than half the garment factories lack a license from the fire services, certifying to their precautions against fire.

Another fire broke out in a garments factory in Kathal Bagan on July 17 and five workers were injured in a stampede. 

REFUGEES RETURN 

On June 28 it was reported that some 145 tribal refugees had returned to Khagrachari from India within the previous month. They are said to have already been resettled in their homes and to have received the incentives and facilities extended to the repatriated refugees. 

POLICE TORTURE DEATH 

A young shopkeeper was picked up by police while going to his shop on June 24. He was brought before the court on June 25 but could not even stand. The court refused police request for remand and sent him to the Dhaka Jail Hospital, where he died on June 26. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on July 7 ordered a judicial enquiry into his death after a petition case by the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights. 

KALPANA STILL MISSING 

Kalpana Chakma (23), central organising secretary of the Hill Women’s Federation, and a BA student at her local college, was kidnapped from her home in Village Lalyaghona, Baghaichori Thana,Rangamati Dt. in the early morning of June 12 by security personnel, according to eyewitnesses; since then there has been no news about her whereabouts. The Army denied any involvement but Chakma villagers claim to have seen Kalpana being taken in a jet boat in an army camp at Shilchari Mukh on June 18. Ten were injured in a clash on June 27 between Hill Student Council activists and non-tribal shopkeepers who refused to observe a half-day hartal to protest the kidnapping. A Class 10 tribal student was shot dead and his body never recovered by the police, who never arrested any of the 13 accused in the case. On 30 June 170 students of Dhaka University urged government to take effective steps to rescue her. Many women’s groups appealed to the Home Minister to investigate. 

A reporter wrote on July 13 (D.S.) of his visit to Kalpanals village, where he interviewed her family. The father said that some of the invaders were wearing fatigues and had automatic weapons. The two sons, Khudiram and Kalicharan, described how they had been taken to a beel and when one heard an order to shoot he ran into deeper water. Hearing a gun shot, his brother also ran into the water and was shot at but escaped. Khudiram recognised two Village Defence Party and a lieutenant of the army. But when he went to the army camp (Ogulchari) he was verbally abused. The OC of Baghaichari said that despite his best efforts to rescue Kalpana, his investigation was hampered “due to various reasons” and because there was ‘confusion’ about her case, which he blamed on rumours. His FIR did not match the one recorded by the TNO and confirmed by Kalicharan. The SP of Rangamati said he was under pressure ‘from above’ to resolve the crisis. 

On July 23 the 24th Infantry Division issued a 9-page report categorically denying any involvement with the Kalpana disappearance and terming it a preplanned conspiracy against the Army. It said that none of Kalpana’s personal belongings were found in her house, so they questioned whether she went into hiding of her own accord to supports of the Shanti Bahini (SB) to embarrass the new government. It said that the three tribal hill organisations were SB supporters. The Army announced a Tk 50,000 reward for information about Kalpana’s whereabouts. The next day the three CHT bodies said the Army statement was ‘confusing, inconsistent and a distortion of the truth.’ It bypassed the ISPR, which normally released all statements about the Army. They said also that the Army first tried to cover up by calling it “an affair of the heart” but now they say Kalpana went abroad. The case raises several questions: 1)Why didn’t the Army check with the immigration department? 2)Why has there been no investigation by government in spite of extensive national and international pressure and what does this say about control in the CHT? 3)Why didn’t the Army arrest her brother or bring a libel charge against him, since he specifically identified the commander of Ugalchari Camp as one of the assailants?