Nomination of Shameem Sayedee, son of convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, for Pirojpur-1 has left local BNP leaders in a tight corner and made their fight against archrival Awami League tough.

The Jatiya Oikyafront, an alliance of the BNP and some other parties, has picked Shameem ignoring opinions of local BNP leaders.

Sayedee is now serving jail sentence unto death for committing crimes in Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War.

While AL candidate SM Rezaul Karim was campaigning vigorously in his electorate comprising Pirojpur Sadar, Nesarabad (Swarupkathi) and Nazirpur upazilas, Shameem was nowhere in the scene. There is no poster or campaigning for him anywhere in the constituency.

On the other hand, Rezaul has to fight not only Shameem but also AKMA Awal, the current AL lawmaker.

Awal had filed nomination paper as an independent candidate defying party decision but later withdrew it. However, many AL leaders are sceptical about the possible role of Awal in the polls.

He has drawn huge controversy allegedly for giving the district's top posts in the party and its associate bodies to his family members and associates. He has also allegedly oppressed some members of the minority community.

He denies the allegations.

After restoration of democracy in the country in the early 90's, the AL won the seat thrice -- in 1991, 2008 and 2014 (uncontested). Sayedee, former nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat, won in the elections in 1996 and 2001.

But, after 2008, two major incidents have changed the equation.

Firstly, Sayedee is now behind bars and then the re-demarcation of the constituency leaving out Indurkani, the home upazila of Sayedee, and incorporating Hindu-majority Nesarabad upazila.

Around 30 percent of the total 4.18 lakh voters in the constituencies are from the minority communities, local leaders said.

During a visit to different areas of the constituency on Sunday, The Daily Star found no posters, electoral offices or campaigning in support of Sayedee's son. Rezaul, however, was seen campaigning in different areas of Nesarabad.

TOUGH SITUATION FOR BNP

At least 10 BNP leaders, including district committee chief Gazi Nuruzzaman Babul and former minister and Jatiya Party (Zafar) leader Mostafa Jamal Haider, had sought nomination for Pirojpur-1. The JP (Zafar) is a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

But, when the nomination seekers learned about Jamaat's plan to field Shameem as a candidate, they told the party high command that they would work for any BNP candidate or even for Mostafa but not for Shameem, insiders said.

The high command ignored their opinions and chose Shameem.

Speaking anonymously, a local leader said Jamaat fielded Shameem in Parojpur-1 as part of its plan to hold two constituencies -- Pirojpur-1 & 2 -- under their control. Masood Sayedee, another son of Sayedee, is the incumbent upazila chairman of Indurkani, one of the three upazilas in Pirojpur-2.

“We have no problem in forging an alliance with Jamaat. But, it is really difficult for us to work for the son of a convicted war criminal even though there is question about the trial of Sayedee,” Nuruzzaman Babul told The Daily Star on Sunday.

“Actually, they [AL] were given a big weapon by nominating Shameem Sayedee here,” he said, adding, “But we have to follow the higher command's decision and work for him. But, they are not in the election field. They [Jamaat] cannot come to the field due their weak organisation here.”

Nazrul Islam Khan, president of Nazirpur upazila BNP, said they had warned the party high-ups that if Shameem was fielded, the AL would make it a big issue.

“Now the Awami League has made it a big issue and we are facing problems,” he said, adding, “After the re-demarcation of the constituency, it has become difficult for us to win the seat as there are some 1.2 lakh minority voters here.

He, however, said they would follow the party's decision.

BNP leaders said, the minorities are often considered as AL vote bank.

Masood Sayedee said since BNP is a big party, it has many eligible candidates and that they would be frustrated if denied nomination.

“But, we have personally and through the party talked to all of them and most of them have agreed to work with us. There might be a few exceptions,” he added.

He said they were facing obstacles to begin the campaign and at least 30 party men came under attacks when they went for either hanging posters or campaigning. Besides, several others have been arrested, he claimed.

AL candidate Rezaul Karim refuted the allegations.

“They are campaigning and carrying out other activities at night. It is difficult for them to campaign at day time as most of them are accused in different cases,” he said.

QUESTION ABOUT AWAL'S ROLE

Awal, president of district AL, hit the headlines on many occasions for controversial activities. He allegedly worked against the party nominees in the last district and union council elections.

MA Hakim Howlader, general secretary of district AL, alleged that Awal was disconnected from people for his activities and not keeping his promises.

Replying to a question, he said, “Although he agreed to work for our party candidate, it is difficult to believe him as he worked for Sayedee in 1996 and 2001 elections.”

“It's up to him to what he wants. However, I did not get any information that he is working for me,” Rezaul said when whether Awal was working for him.

The Daily Star could not reach Awal over phone for comments.

Abdul Awal, 58, cannot hold back his excitement as for the first time in his life he would be voting in the 11th parliamentary polls on December 30.

Awal is one of the newly registered voters of 59 former enclaves in Lalmonirhat that became Bangladesh's territory through the implementation of Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) in 2015.

“It feels like a dream that my vote will be counted for selecting Bangladesh's government,” said Awal, a resident of Bhitorkuti under Kulaghat union.

Awal recalled how he used to visit the polling centres to witness the festivity centring elections during his childhood. But he never disclosed his identity during those times. “This time I will walk to the centre proudly and be a part of the event.”

Of the 59 former enclaves, which were Indian territory only a few years ago, two are in Kulaghat, two in Gotamari union, and the rest are in Jongra, Kuchlibari, Burimari, Srirampur, Jagatber, and Bawra unions of Patgram upazila.

Of the 10,317 people living in these former enclaves, 6.500 have been registered as voters, according to the district election office.

During a visit to Kulaghat on Monday, this correspondent found most areas covered with posters of the Awami League. Posters of Jatiya Oikyafront were seen at a few places.

Jatiya Party Co-chairman GM Quader is contesting from the Awami League-led 14-party grand alliance against Lalmonirhat BNP President Asadul Habib Dulu in Lalmonirhat-3, which includes Kulaghat union.

Both the candidates were trying to drum up support but they did not show up when the flood hit the area hard in 2014, said some of the locals.

“During the floods, no-one offered a single piece of bread but now they are coming to us seeking votes,” said Ayub Ali, a resident of Banshpochai, Kalughat.

Ayub, however, showed this correspondent the smart card, vulnerable group feeding (VGF) card, and fair price card that he received following the dissolution of the enclaves.

Pointing at the smart card, he said, “Look, the card says I am a Bangladeshi. I will cast my ballot using this card.”

The 50-year-old said his relatives living in the mainland once used to call his family “enclave people” but now no-one dares to do so.

Following the implementation of the LBA on July 31, 2015, the government set up houses, gave electricity connections, distributed VGF cards, VGD (Vulnerable Group development) cards, placed solar panels, constructed roads, tube-wells, toilets, established schools and clinics in some of the remote areas.

Many residents were unhappy as they did not have a candidate contesting with the electoral symbol “boat”, the Awami League's symbol.

Shahtun Khatun, 55, said she was “finally freed from the curse of enclave” because of the initiative by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Alluding to GM Quader, she said, “Nevertheless, I will vote for her [Hasina's] candidate, I will pick plough [election symbol of Jatiya Party],” said the resident of Bhitorkuti in Kalurghat.

Asadul Hasib Dulu, president of Lalmonirhat BNP and Oikyafront nominee, pledged employment opportunities. Dulu said, “We will focus on education of the residents, including taking responsibility of meritorious but poor students.”

In Lalmonirhat-1, Lalmonirhat Awami League President Motahar Hossain is running. The constituency has 55 former enclaves.

If elected, development of infrastructures would continue in the areas, said Motahar. The Awami League would set up schools, colleges, and create employment opportunities, he added.

In 2014, actor and television host Shahriar Nazim Joy penned a letter to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, requesting a plot in Purbachal. In his letter, he praised Sheikh Hasina, referring to her as "the most outstanding leader and exemplary mother of the subcontinent." Recently, an image of this letter surfaced on social media, sparking widespread criticism.

Joy responded by acknowledging the letter while defending himself through a post on his verified Facebook account. He wrote, "I wasn't involved with the Alo Ashbei group nor caught up in the YouTubers' schemes. But that doesn't mean you won't target me. However, that letter from 2014 has been circulated about 14 times." 

"Many individuals obtained land from the previous government, with those plots classified under Section 13. The current administration has since announced the cancellation of all these plots. However, people persist in sharing this letter on Facebook, causing my contact number to go viral and leading to social harassment," he added.

The actor continued, "Yes, the letter was indeed a form of flattery, and I deserve to be shamed for that. But isn't this punishment a bit too harsh? Remember, Allah won't forgive you either. We all know that sins are punished in their due time, right? Stay calm and avoid spreading hate. Let's support each other and correct our mistakes together."

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Irfan Sajjad reveals turning down hefty offer for AL election campaign

Joy is now under fire for his behaviour and has been criticised for asking controversial questions on his shows. However, he appeared to relish the increased viewership that the backlash brought.

Some academics, journalists, and writers – including myself – started discussing the formation of the Forum for Bangladesh Studies in 2021. It was officially launched on October 10, 2022. Under the aegis of the forum, I have had the opportunity to work closely with some of the best minds of our country, including Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar.

My involvement with the forum helped me become more conscious of what was going on in Bangladesh during the 15-year autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina. It also brought on a greater sense of urgency for me to write and publish opinion pieces devoted to issues of the day and taking the Hasina regime to task. However, I was perturbed by the fear of possible government reprisals.

After reading some of my essays critical of the Hasina government, one well-meaning academic friend once cautioned me saying, "Be careful." I understood his message but couldn't stop writing. His kind concern for my safety increased my respect for him.

Read more

We must never let such an environment of fear reign again

I shared my disquiet with Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar. He told me that if we stopped writing, that would embolden the repressive regime, and if many of us wrote, it would be difficult to hound us. He added that he kept raising voice against the regime's abuse of power to have a clear conscience. I agreed with him and increased the volume of my writing on what was happening in Bangladeshi politics.

However, despite conquering my fear of government oppression, I faced an unforeseen backlash from some of my friends. My stance against Hasina's autocracy alarmed them. Like me, they hated the regime to the bone, but they didn't consider it safe to maintain communication with someone who wrote columns in newspapers criticising the government. They went to the extent of not answering my phone calls; I respected their standpoint and stopped calling them.

I didn't see much logic in being overly fearful. I thought it was important to show solidarity with brave and courageous writers and journalists who were writing from within Bangladesh against the oppression of the Hasina regime. Moreover, the newspaper editors who published my writings were all based in Bangladesh. So, living thousands of miles away from the country, why should I be scared?

Then came the anti-discrimination student movement in July 2024. In the second half of that month, the government sought to punish the student protesters with point-black shootings, airstrikes from helicopters, and other violent measures. Generally, an invading force uses such methods to subdue an occupied nation. But our own security forces used them, killing and maiming thousands of our students in broad daylight. Images of the cruelty of the government were unbearable—they had a chilling effect on me.

Read more

A youth forced to censor their thoughts

At the same time, I was outraged to see that some of our intellectual elites were providing the government with intellectual cover-ups while our unarmed students were being killed en masse. I understood their security concerns, but I thought that, at the very least, they could remain reticent. Instead, they chose to abet autocracy. Perhaps, they thought that the regime would survive that wave of protests, and with time, things would once again fall in place.

Fear gripped all of us—in Bangladesh and in its diasporas. We could not anticipate such a murderous venture by the Hasina government to quell the student movement, nor did we comprehend the logic behind using our security forces to kill our young people in the streets.

I suffered from a severe Hamletian dilemma. Shall I or shall I not write about the government repression on the student protesters? I wanted to write, but would my writing jeopardise the security of my family members in Bangladesh?

The internal battle within me was raging. It was between my urge to rise to the occasion and write, and the need to consider the safety of my family members back home. As I was torn between these two dominant emotions, on July 30, I received a request from a journalist friend in Dhaka, saying, "If possible, please write a piece on the student movement… we all are distraught. But we are speaking."

This message reinforced the severity of the situation and the urgency to speak up. It boosted my morale and I shed my fear and hesitancy. I immediately produced two essays: "What leads students to defy death on streets" (New Age, July 31, 2024) and "Violence against students: A tribute to our little John Hampdens" (The Daily Star, August 4, 2024).

I had written "Hasina's memory-killing tactics and our responsibility" before Hasina fell and fled on August 5. But it was published afterwards, on August 7.

In post-Hasina Bangladesh, my friends who sought to distance themselves from me now answer my phone calls. Intellectual elites who were hesitant until the morning of August 5 to call a spade a spade now describe Hasina's rule as an autocracy. Many of them who adjusted with the Hasina regime then are now readjusting with the interim government and with the new reality. They lived a comfortable life then and may continue to do so now. But I have great respect for those writers and journalists who wrote and spoke against Hasina's autocracy at a time when others didn't consider it prudent to do so. I feel morally privileged that I belong to this group. 

Read more

July 2024 uprising: The lions need their own historians

Did my writings over the years shake Hasina's autocracy? Did they help mitigate the sufferings of people in Bangladesh and elsewhere? Or, did they embolden the anti-discrimination student movement? The answers to all these questions are probably in the negative. Not many writers are able to make a material difference in society through their writings. In "In Memory of WB Yeats," the Anglo-American poet WH Auden writes in reference to his fellow litterateur WB Yeats's literary career:

Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.

Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still,

For poetry makes nothing happen.

Yeats's literary career was largely inspired by the troubles in his country, Ireland, and he wrote to fix them. But, according to Auden, Yeats's work didn't do much to establish peace and stability in Ireland. Likewise, Hasina's autocracy got me out of my academic cocoon and motivated me to write essays on down-to-earth issues that affected Bangladesh during her rule.

But I don't think Hasina fell because of my writing. Why do I continue writing then? To use Dr Badiul Alam Majundar's words, I write out of a need to have a clear conscience. Regardless of its effects on others, my writerly commitment to noble causes serves as a source of moral comfort for me. This is very important to me. I would like to end this essay with a relevant quote from the 11th century polymath Ibn Hazm: "It seems unworthy of a man to consecrate himself to something which is not higher than he is…. One who consecrates himself to lesser things is like one who trades a precious gem for a pebble."

Dr Md Mahmudul Hasan is professor of English at International Islamic University Malaysia. Email: mmhasan@iium.edu.my.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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