Conflicts within the ruling Awami League coupled with links between their lawmakers and the Jamaat-e-Islami have made it easy for Jamaat to re-establish political supremacy in Satkhira and unleash a reign of terror in past months.
Fear is now all-pervasive among the Awami League grassroots, encouraging many leaders and activists to leave their homes – even the country – although the ruling party lawmakers hold all the four constituencies in the district. Jamaat candidates had won in every election since 1986 until 2008, when it lost in all Satkhira seats.
In the past 10 months, as many as 16 Awami League activists were killed in Jamaat attacks for supporting the war crimes trials without being able to put up the least resistance.
Hindus have had to leave the district’s Jamaat-dominated areas in the thousands, seeking refuge at relatives’ houses in India.
The casualties could have been reduced if not completely prevented had the lawmakers played their role, say Satkhira politicians. Most families affected in Jamaat attacks complained that the MPs took months to visit them.
The lawmakers, who mostly stay in Dhaka, get updates from the district-level leaders while staying at the Circuit House or in their houses in the town. Their lack of involvement is apparent in their comments made to this reporter despite their insistence that they visit their constituencies frequently, with one of them even stating a specific number of visits.
“I visited the town 166 times and you can find it in the guest book at the Circuit House. I kept the record for this day,” said Shaikh Muzibur Rahman, former MP from Satkhira-1.
Former Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque, who has been elected for a second time from Satkhira-3 uncontested in the 10th parliamentary election, claimed that he had visited the constituency at least twice a month.
“People can build resistance against any atrocities but they cannot do it when the leadership fails,” said Mustofa Lutfullah, who has been elected MP from Satkhira-3 in the January 5 poll from the Workers’ Party.
He believes Satkhira situation will remain the same until a strong political intervention is made against Jamaat.
“Our leadership has failed us. I do not see any hope at the end of the tunnel and I believe this is high time I quit,” said an AL union-level leader. He does not even dare talk on record and requested that his identity be concealed by all means.
Rivalry between Ruhal and Muzibur, president of the district unit, is evident from the statement they made to this reporter.
Ruhal categorically blamed the party’s district leadership for its current condition.
Better known as Engineer Muzibur Rahman, the district unit chief, however, accused the administration for the Jamaat violence, while it is believed that the former minister had a hand behind designing the administration.
Muzibur is also facing allegations of corruption and misappropriation. He allegedly took more than three years to build the Satkhira-Khulna road, raising its cost from Tk7 crore to Tk16 crore. Contractors alleged that Muzibur even prevented them from dropping tenders to ensure that he got the contract himself.
On the other hand, masterminds behind the atrocious 10 months since Jamaat Leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death on February 28 for war crimes have remained out of the law enforcers’ dragnet.
Habibur Rahman, Jamaat’s Satkhira upazila nayeb-e-ameer, who led the February 28 attack on Satkhira Circuit House that resulted in the deaths of seven Jamaat-Shibir activists, is the brother of Satkhira Awami League General Secretary Nazrul Islam and is still at large.
Abdul Khaleque, the husband of Nazrul’s cousin, is Jamaat’s district nayeb-e-ameer and the principal of Agardari Aminia Kamil Madrasa, which is widely said to be a Jamaat-Shibir “cantonment” for giving shelter to cadres. Khaleque is still out of the law enforcers’ reach.
Jamaat was so successful in winning public faith through constant political campaigns that it had been able to manipulate general people to believe that Sayedee and Abdul Quader Molla were innocent and victims of the “Awami League’s politics against Islam.” Thousands of villagers joined Jamaat demonstrations, proving their impression of the government.
The Awami League leadership has failed to counter Jamaat’s propaganda politically and to save the people from abuse in the name of Islam.
Even Ruhal is not hopeful of “ending the party’s pitiable” condition. He blamed the party’s district-level leaders for non-cooperation as they did not even respond to his calls to meet him to find a solution.
“I have tried to reform Satkhira politics in the past three years, but failed,” Ruhal said.
Regarding party leaders having familial relations with Jamaat, Ruhal’s opinion is: “Jamaat men can be relatives but the relation should not overshadow political ideology.”
At the same time, he mentioned that there were numerous occasions in the past when influential district AL leaders pressured police to release arrested Jamaat leaders. However, the story takes an interesting turn if the volley of allegations made by local leaders against Ruhul is taken into consideration.
AL’s Kaliganj upazila unit President Sheikh Waheduzzaman alleged that 80% of appointments made in the district during the last five years were with Jamaat-Shibir activists.
Kaliganj falls in Ruhal’s own constituency and Waheduzaman alleged that the appointments had been made in exchange for money.
Newspaper reports quoting the minister’s declaration disclosed to the Election Commission ahead of the polls reveal that his wife’s property grew at a stunning rate of 782% when her husband was a minister. His son turned into a businessman from a service holder.
Ruhal claimed that there must be a typo in registering his wife’s wealth information. Regarding the appointments, he said there were only three to four Jamaat-Shibir activists who had been recommended by the AL leaders.
Local leaders alleged that said Ruhal had prioritised the Jamaat and the BNP men because of his APS Moshayet Ali Khokon, who was General Secretary of Kaliganj College Unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the BNP’s student wing. The former health minister dismissed the allegation.
“The [former] minister always overlooked our recommendations and demands. He rather worked for the Jamaat for money,” claimed District AL Unit Organising Secretary Sarder Firoz Ahmed.
Rivalry between Ruhal and Muzibur over supremacy in the party’s leadership is a common topic of discussion in the district. People said they rarely saw these two political figures on the same stage in the last five years.
Party insiders alleged that the two leaders lacked moral strength to stand by the side of the people affected by the recent attacks perpetrated by the Jamaat-Shibir.
Muzibur visited Deyara union unit Swechchhasebak League President Rabiul Islam’s family for the first time on December 26, a month after the leader was hacked to death in broad daylight. He made the visit guarded by 10-12 youths who looked to be his body-guards, stayed there for less than 10 minutes and hurriedly left the area in apparent fear, as the village is known as a Jamaat den.
Muzibur said it was not “politically” safe for him to visit the victims for a number of reasons, including his safety concern centring on the intra-party feud.
“The election has created division among the party men. And I had a concern for my safety too.”
Ruhal said the blockades put by Jamaat supporters had prevented him from visiting the victims’ families. He wondered how he could visit the places when even the law enforcers could not take him.
On the other hand, Jamaat leaders - even those who were wanted by the police -attended the janaza of their activists killed in the firing of law enforcers. They arranged the funerals and reportedly gave every family of the deceased Tk5 lakh.
Satkhira did not only see violence in 2013. Former Jatiya Party Lawmaker HM Golam Reza’s Satkhira-4 constituency saw one of the most significant Hindu repressions in 2012, allegedly fuelled further by the lawmaker.
Another former JaPa Lawmaker MA Jabbar from the Satkhira-2 seat is said to have spent most of the government aid – distributed under Test Relief and Kabikha (food for work) programmes – to Agardari Aminia Kamil Madrasa.
“The present crisis in the area is not all about Jamaat. The Awami League is also equally responsible for all of these,” said an aggrieved district AL leader under the request of anonymity.
“Jamaat found a golden opportunity to do what it has done in absence of a competent leadership in Satkhira. And the grand alliance leaders were never seen talking anything about secular politics,” said Abul Kalam Azad, acting editor of local newspaper the daily Patradut.