Bangleadesh is the second biggest Muslim country after Indonesia. It has always faces many challenges in term of natural disaster and economy. Now, the Bangladesh peoples face the biggest political turmoil since their independence on 1971.
The conflict begun when Awami League-led government set up a tribunal to tried the 1971 war criminal. It is surprising that many of the convicted is the top leader from Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh National Party. From there we can assume that this trial is an agenda to remove their political opposition. Our assumption was right when the ruling party make statements that they will make sure these so-called convicted hanged. This shows that the tribunal is not free from government control. To make things worse, a Britain journalist exposed that the chief judge is following foreign lawyer advice using Skype video calling.
Although the judge is already resigned but the weird thing is that government still pursued the trial like nothings wrong. This create objection throughout international community because the tribunal does not follows international standard. As of now, three people already convicted. The latest is Maulana Saiyeede, which is a prominent and respected scholar in Bangladesh. It is hard for the people to believe that this man was commiting murder and rape. This caused a massive protest from ordinary people, not just Jamaat people. Many people died from this ongoing protest since the police using force and brutality to disperse people.
We the Malaysian people also with Bangladesh people. Through Malaysian Task Force for Bangladesh, we already hand out memorandum to the Bangladesh Embassy to demand that this trial stopped and the peace in Bangladesh is restored, not instilling fear to ordinary people who just want justice. We hope that the Malaysian government will take action on this issue and plead to their counterpart in Bangladesh to stop injustice against their own people. Opinion of Malaysia is always heard because we are the respected Muslim country.
Finally, the worsening situation in Bangladesh can only end if the government respect the right of their people and allowed peaceful protest. The tribunal also must be dissolved since it is clearly a political revenge and will forever been repeled by Bangladeshi.
MOHAMMD SYAZWANNUDDIN SHAHARUDDIN
Assistant Coordinator
Malaysian Task Force for Bangladesh
10th March 2013
