Human rights activist or human rights merchant!
 |
| Adilur Rahman Khan |
The quote “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people
will eventually come to believe it” seems to have been the motto of
Adilur Rahman Khan, a former Deputy Attorney General of the BNP-Jamaat
coalition and the secretary of Odhikar before being incarcerated.
Adilur’s organisation, Odhikar, in a report titled “Assembly of
Hefazate Islam and Human Rights Violations” published on June 10,
claimed 61 Hifazat activists died in the law enforcement operation
aiming to evict the Taliban like Hifazat-i Islami from bustling Motjheel
area of Dhaka on May 6, 2013. But, when approached, Odhikar initially
could provide the account of only thre deaths. Later, the organisation
refused to provide any further discloser citing security reasons. The
refusal led to the arrest of Adilur Khan.
On the death figure, on May 6, 2013, Daily Amar Desh, citing Hifazat
leaders, reported, death toll to be between 16 and 24. On May 11, Human
Rights Watch citing independent sources put the death toll at 50 which
also included several law enforcing agency members killed by the Hifazat
activists
.
Adilur’s arrest have made a big hue and cry among the human rights
organisations and merchants across the world. Dubbing him as the
champion of human rights, the human rights organisations have demanded
his release.
Now, let’s look at how committed Adilur had been in defending human
rights while serving as the deputy attorney general under the BNP-Jamaat
regime. Since 1990s, four elected and one unelected governments have
ruled Bangladesh. Among all these governments, the BNP-Jamaat led
coalition government of the 2001-06 period broke all records of human
rights violation.
The post-2001 election violence led by BNP-Jamaat cadres against the
Hindus, killing many members of the community, raping children including
16 years old Purnima Rani Shil, evicting many Hindu families from their
ancestral homes, crossed the limits of uncivilised acts one can think
of.
Then, a series of bomb attacks by the militant outfits JMB and
Harkatual Jihad, aimed at obliterating opposition voices, killed one
former-minister, several senior opposition political leaders, one
elected representative including many opposition, cultural, and
progressive activists.
Never did before, in the post-1971 period, so many senior political
leaders and intellectuals got killed in atrocities patronised by the
government. As table 1 shows, a total of 113 people died and 1458
injured of a bombing campaign perpetrated by two militant groups the JMB
and Harkatul Jihad between 2001-06. Both organizations were created
under the auspices of the leaders of BNP-Jamaat coalition.
Source: THE BANGLADESH CHRONICLE, Parlin, NJ
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