Aiming at upholding human rights, the National Committee for Civil Rights was formed in 2013 by Farhad Mazhar, a writer and poet, and Shaukat Mahmood, then an adviser to the BNP chief. But its activities came to a halt for reasons that are unknown to the public.
After a long 10-year hiatus, the duo hosted a dinner in honour of some selected eminent citizens of the country, mainly the top leaders of anti-government political parties, at Sheraton Dhaka on Thursday evening.
Leaders of the opposition BNP skipped the event as the party's top brass described the platform's activities as suspicious.
The event took place at a time when the BNP and over 50 other parties and alliances are simultaneously holding various protests, demanding that the next general election be held under a neutral interim government.
At the event, Member Secretary Shaukat Mahmood, now a vice chairman of the BNP, presented the committee's declaration – the formation of an interim national government through a mass uprising, passage of a new constitution and holding the parliamentary polls by granting executive power to the Election Commission.
“After uprooting the fascist force, the interim national government will be formed with small and large parties that represent the people.”
After the passage of the new constitution, the interim government would step down ahead of the election, the BNP leader said.
He said: “It will not be possible to defeat the opportunistic, terrorist and marauding forces that have developed over the past few decades unless a national government is formed through a mass uprising.”
Calling everyone to join the committee (translates as Jatiya Insaf Kayem Committee in Bangla), the former journalist leader said: “This is the right way to create a new Bangladesh based on the will and intention of the people.”
Convenor Mazhar, a self-proclaimed idealist, said that they had not formed the platform against or in favour of any political party, rather it calls for the immediate formation of an interim national government.
“The long-standing problems of the state will not be solved only through the so-called fair elections,” he told the audience.
Mazhar later told the media that he follows a principle. “If it is acceptable to anyone, s/he will be with me. It has nothing other than the three principles of freedom – equality, human dignity and social justice or insaf.”
Invitees and participants
Senior BNP leaders did not appear despite being invited, but some top leaders of BNP allies, who are observing anti-government protests simultaneously, joined the event.
Nagorik Oikyo Convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Gono Odhikar Parishad Convenor Dr Reza Kibria and Co-Convenor Rashed Khan, and former vice chancellor of Begum Rokeya University Prof Dr Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah attended the dinner.
Others who joined the event include former ambassador Saquib Ali, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Abdul Majid, journalist leader Elias Khan, Lt Gen (Retd) Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy, who was declared persona non grata in the cantonment area in 2019, and several former police officials.
Col (Retd) Oli Ahmad, president of a faction of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), attended the event but left the venue before dinner.
Why now?
Insaf committee Member Secretary Shaukat joined politics after the BNP's council in 2009 when he was named as an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. In 2016, he became one of the vice chairmen of the party.
In the last two years, the BNP issued him show-cause notices twice – for organizing discussions and protest programs ignoring the party's decisions.
His initiative to revive the National Committee for Civil Rights has again created an uneasy situation in the BNP since some of the senior leaders were invited to the event.
No BNP leader attended the program as the move goes against the party's 27-point outline for the structural reforms of the state, announced by the party's acting chairman Tarique Rahman on December 19 last year.
In an analytical piece published on his website “Chintaa” on January 17, Mazhar wrote that the BNP's outline was important under the current political context but “very narrow and limited” as a political proposal.
Researcher and environmentalist Mazhar is the founding member and managing director of Ubinig (Policy Research for Development Alternative). In 2017, he was allegedly abducted by unknown people from Dhaka and found after more than 18 hours in Jessore.
‘Different agenda, activities suspicious'
Contacted by Bangla Tribune for comments on the matter, several senior BNP leaders refused to say anything on the record. They expressed surprise as to why the platform had surfaced all of a sudden and spent a huge sum of money to organize the dinner.
“I don't know how Shaukat Mahmood remains involved with the organization despite being a post bearer in the BNP,” said a leader, asking not to be named. He also noted that the party high-ups had asked its leaders not to join the dinner, mentioning that the agenda of the force was different and its activities were suspicious.
Standing Committee Member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said he had no idea about the insaf committee's event.
Shaukat, however, told Bangla Tribune that they organized the event on behalf of the committee. “It has no more members. It'll be restructured,” he added.
