People Respect Sayedee, So They're Protesting The Verdict'- interview with Bangla Jamaat-e-Islami leader

[email protected] (Pranay Sharma, Outlook)
March 14, 2013
The Jamaat-e-Islami is said to be the cause of the present instability in Bangladesh. Many of its leaders are now being tried for alleged crimes committed during the liberation struggle of 1971. There is also a growing mood in the country to isolate and ban the Jamaat. The acting secretary-general of Bangladesh Jam­aat-e-Islami (BJI), Rafiqul Islam Khan, spoke to Pranay Sharma about the current situation, the organisation and what lies in the coming days.
rafiqul_islam_khan

Much of this violence is being attributed to the Jamaat-e-Islami. Is that correct?

The violence is being attributed to Jamaat-e-Islami without any justification. BJI is a lawful political party with representation in Parliament. For the last three years, BJI has not being given permission to organize peaceful meetings and protests. All its party offices are controlled by the security forces. Nobody is allowed to go into the party office without the consent of police. Party leaders and activists are being indiscriminately arrested. Every time the BJI has organized a peaceful protest, the police have fired upon the unarmed and peaceful protestors. It is the police that are causing the violence.

Do you respect the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) against the accused BJI leaders?

The ICT proceedings are totally flawed. This is not only my opinion but that of the international community as well. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Bar Association and a number of others have expressed such views. Even the former attorney general of India has opined that the Act under which the ICT operates is 'ultra virus” to the Constitution of Bangladesh. Many of them have asked for a retrial following the resignation of some of the judges of the Tribunal and appointment of new members in it. Therefore, the ICT has lost all credibility. Even though our attempt for a retrial was rejected we will still go for an appeal to the Supreme Court against the verdict.

Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed the break-up of Pakistan and was against the creation of Bangladesh. When you look back do you regret having taken that stand?

Jamaat-e-Islami had politically opposed the breakup of Pakistan in the same way the Indian National Congress had opposed the division of India in 1947. It was a political act by BJI. The leadership of BJI was in no way involved with the war crimes or “crimes against humanity” as alleged or otherwise.

Many people see the Jamaat-e-Islami as a subversive and religious fundamentalist force and feel that it has no place in a democracy like Bangladesh. How do you react to that?

Jamaat-e-Islami is a democratic political party with Islamic values as its ideals. It wants to establish social, economic and political justice. It is the only political party in Bangladesh which practices intra-party democracy. Its Ameer (head) is elected every four years and its district committee members are elected every two years. BJI believes in constitutionalism and rule of law. It has participated in all the elections in Bangladesh since 1979 and has representations in all parliaments since then.

What are the chances of the Jamaat-e-Islami being banned as an organization? How will you react if that does happen?

In the event BJI is banned as a political party, we will challenge the ban before the High Court and thereafter in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. We will act in a dignified and in a Constitutional manner.

What has been the impact of BJI in Bangladesh so far and what fundamental changes have you brought in the country?

Corruption is endemic in Bangladesh and it hinders Bangladesh's growth and prosperity. Even the arch enemy of BJI praises its leadership for being honest. The two ministers of the BJI in the last BNP-BJI coalition government had earned the reputation of being competent and un-corrupt.

Why are your relations with the Awami League so hostile? You did work with each other in past, why has it become so hostile now?

During the democratic movement in the '80s, and the movement for incorporating the care taker Government in the Constitution, in the mid 90s, BJI and Awami League had fought hand in hand. Awami League has turned against BJI only because of its partnership with Bangladesh Nationalist Party. This Partnership is perceived by Awami League as a threat that can stop it from coming to power.

How are your relations with the US which has been waging a global war on terror against many Islamic organizations and other European countries?

Our relationship with the countries of the European Union and United States is a cordial one. Our representatives are regular visitors to the UK & USA. We are also in contact with the civil society of these two countries. Occasionally we also send our representatives to visit other European Countries as well.

You did enjoy close relations with Pakistan at one time, how are your relations now?

BJI believes in friendly relationship with all the countries.

The Jamaat-e-Islami is seen in India as an anti-Indian force which is committed to spreading hatred and anti-Indian feelings among the people of Bangladesh. Shouldn't India be worried about the Jamaat in Bangladesh?

India is a big country and a neighbour. You cannot change your neighbour and you should not ignore your neighbour. BJI always wants friendly relationship with India on the basis of mutual respect and trust. This trust can only be built if the outstanding problems between the two countries namely: exchange of territories, water sharing, border trade, International trade etc are solved fairly and justly. BJI would be very happy to engage with Indian establishment and Indian civil society.

Could you explain why among others, Hindus are being targeted by the Jamaat cadres?

It is a travesty of truth to say that Hindus are being targeted by BJI members. It is quite the contrary. In time of need, BJI has always stood by its Hindu brothers and sisters who are respectable citizens of Bangladesh. BJI in its recent statement has condemned the attack on Hindus and in their temples. It has asked its work force to protect the life and property of Hindus and all other religious and ethnic minorities.

What kind of relations do you see with India in future?

Good, friendly, working and neighbourly relationship.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

Facebook will introduce a new notification screen on its platform that will warn users if the article they are about to share is over 90 days old, the company announced on Thursday.

“We’re starting to globally roll out a notification screen that will let people know when news articles they are about to share are more than 90 days old,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.

The social media platform had previously introduced a context button in 2018 that provides information about the sources of articles in the News Feed. Building upon that, the new feature will inform users about the timeliness of the article.

“To ensure people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share on Facebook, the notification screen will appear when people click the share button on articles older than 90 days, but will allow people to continue sharing if they decide an article is still relevant,” Facebook said.

The social media giant stated that timeliness is important in understanding the context of an article and curbing the spread of misinformation on the platform.

“News publishers, in particular, have expressed concerns about older stories being shared on social media as current news, which can misconstrue the state of current events. Some news publishers have already taken steps to address this on their own websites by prominently labelling older articles to prevent outdated news from being used in misleading ways,” Facebook added.

Apart from this, the platform will also be testing a similar notification screen for information related to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The notification screen will provide information about the source of the link shared in a post if the link is related to information on Covid-19. It will also direct people to its previously introduced Covid-19 information centre for “authoritative” health information, it said.

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Agencies
June 27,2020

Mumbai, Jun 27: The Bombay High Court observed that COVID-19 patients from poor and indigent sections cannot be expected to produce documentary proof to avail subsidised or free treatment while getting admitted to hospitals.

The court on Friday was hearing a plea filed by seven residents of a slum rehabilitation building in Bandra, who had been charged ₹ 12.5 lakh by K J Somaiya Hospital for COVID-19 treatment between April 11 and April 28.

The bench of Justices Ramesh Dhanuka and Madhav Jamdar directed the hospital to deposit ₹10 lakh in the court.

The petitioners had borrowed money and managed to pay ₹10 lakh out of ₹12.5 lakh that the hospital had demanded, after threatening to halt their discharge if they failed to clear the bill, counsel Vivek Shukla informed the court.

According to the plea, the petitioners were also overcharged for PPE kits and unused services.

On June 13, the court had directed the state charity commissioner to probe if the hospital had reserved 20% beds for poor and indigent patients and provided free or subsidised treatment to them.

Last week, the joint charity commissioner had informed the court that although the hospital had reserved such beds, it had treated only three poor or indigent persons since the lockdown.

It was unfathomable that the hospital that claimed to have reserved 90 beds for poor and indigent patients had treated only three such persons during the pandemic, advocate Shukla said.

He further argued that COVID-19 patients, who are in distress, cannot be expected to produce income certificate and such documents as proof.

However, senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, who represented the hospital, said the petitioners did not belong to economically weak or indigent categories and had not produced documents to prove the same.

A person who is suffering from a disease like COVID-19 cannot be expected to produce certificates from a tehsildar or social welfare officer before seeking admission in the hospital, the bench noted and asked the hospital to deposit ₹10 lakh in court within two weeks.

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Agencies
January 3,2020

Giving each and every app access to personal information stored on Android smartphones such as your contacts, call history, SMS and photos may put you in trouble as bad actors can easily use these access to spy on you, send spam messages and make calls anywhere at your expense or even sign you up for a premium "service", researchers from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky have warned.

But one can restrict access to such information as Android lets you configure app permissions. 

Giving an app any of these permissions generally means that from now on it can obtain information of this type and upload it to the Cloud without asking your explicit consent for whatever it intends to do with your data.

Therefore, security researchers recommend one should think twice before granting permissions to apps, especially if they are not needed for the app to work. 

For example, most games have no need to access your contacts or camera, messengers do not really need to know your location, and some trendy filter for the camera can probably survive without your call history, Kaspersky said. 

While decision to give permission is yours, the fewer access you hand out, the more intact your data will be.

Here's what you should know to protect your data.

SMS: An app with permission to send and receive SMS, MMS, and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) push messages, as well as view messages in the smartphone memory will be able to read all of your SMS correspondence, including messages with one-time codes for online banking and confirming transactions.

Using this permission, the app can also send spam messages in your name (and at your expense) to all your friends. Or sign you up for a premium "service." You can see and conrol which apps have these rights by going to the settings of your phone.

Calendar: With permission to view, delete, modify, and add events in the calendar, prying eyes can find out what you have done and what you are doing today and in the future. Spyware loves this permission.

Camera: Permission to access the camera is necessary for the app to take photos and record video. But apps with this permission can take a photo or record a video at any moment and without warning. Attackers armed with embarrassing images and other dirt on you can make life a misery, according to Kaspersky.

Contacts: With permission to read, change, and add contacts in your address book, and access the list of accounts registered in the smartphone, an app can send your entire address book to its server. Even legitimate services have been found to abuse this permission, never mind scammers and spammers, for whom it is a windfall.

This permission also grants access to the list of app accounts on the device, including Google, Facebook, and many other services.

Phone: Giving access to your phone means permission to view and modify call history, obtain your phone number, cellular network data, and the status of outgoing calls, add voicemail, access IP telephony services, view numbers being called with the ability to end the call or redirect it to another number and call any number.

This permission basically lets the app do anything it likes with voice communication. It can find out who you called and when or prevent you from making calls (to a particular number or in general) by constantly terminating calls. 

It can eavesdrop on your conversations or, of course, make calls anywhere at your expense, including to pay-through-the-nose numbers, Kaspersky warned.

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