Shock & Awe Talk: Of RAB, Rub-Out and Creations of a Superior God

“The eye witness was unfortunately blind”- Arabic proverb

• There is something eerie in the way we address the issue of violent deaths. Subconsciously as there is a paper thin chance of the ugly reality hitting us we thank God for his Mercy – that is one half, the other half comes from a near Pharaohnic arrogance of our politicians, that death ‘the ultimate reality’ may never meet their fate!

• 
  Power inebriated murder merchants backed by trigger-happy uniformed goons (a post-liberation legacy) all protected by the law, also display an enduring ‘talent’ to stay above the law. That talent is nothing more than an ability to lie with a straight face, knowing all to well that murderous regimes that have trampled in and out of power, live with lies and will probably die by the same. Justice therefore is a misnomer in Bangladesh as it was none else, but us that ‘democratically’ voted these ‘legal criminals’ to power, overawed by the promises they make every five years or so. We really have no choice….or do we?

• The term ‘crossfire’ is losing currency and our Media ought to start replicating the Filipino expression – RUB-OUT. These phenomenon’s are not unique to Bangladesh alone, but the real problem is in the ‘stories’ the Government weaves to justify murders. Sample: usually the victim is arrested on ‘suspicion’ or was challenged by RAB an ‘elite force’ or the Police, who are ‘fired upon by accomplices’ of the victim during weapon recovery operations…….end of the story.

• More sinister is one where RAB is fired upon and in the ensuing ‘gun battle the criminal is shot dead’ while others flee - never to be found! The real danger in this version is the authors do not know a thing about covenants governing rules of engagement i.e. when non-state actors attack state-actors with lethal weapons, it is not a simple crime or ‘terrorism’ – it is an ACT OF WAR! Never followed up is what happens to the ones that get away? So it looks like for every Rub-Out victim, we have dozens of armed and dangerous ‘living criminals’ lurking……………

• Meanwhile as the ‘war’ escalates, we use fancy terms like ‘terrorists’ and ‘criminal Godfathers’ without questioning why banned Jihadi groups such as the JMB or HUJI never lose a single member in Rub-Outs (all arrested, photographed, sent to jails – and in most cases released…..Al-Hamudulillah!), while it is perfectly legit to shoot dead real or imagined Maoist extremist in the country.

• It is also a ‘trifling matter’ that innocent citizens are gunned down as they were foolish enough to be in the ‘line of fire’. Now after all that ‘clarification’ if we so much as dare dissent the ‘official’ verbal diarrhea…………the diagnosis is pretty straight forward……sorry folks - you have chronic mental dysentery :)

• The problem in my reckoning is as much with us as with the State. We have been pitted into a thought process whereby we abjectly believe that some of us ‘lucky ones’ are creations of a ‘Superior God’ – while others are not! It’s this duplicity of our demeanor, our double standards that too often is exemplified in our pathological quadruplespeak’s that leads us bang-on to the hard reality: None of us are safe from extrajudicial killings…….shocked?

• Our Home Minister recently defended Rub-Outs, and in a salvo on the Media and Human Rights Organizations commented, ‘these people actually protect the HR of Criminals’. Visibly enraged she went on to ask – ‘why do they remain silent when members of our Security Forces are killed by criminals?’

• Excuse me Your Excellency…….unless as a nation we have not slipped into collective amnesia, wasn’t it your predecessor the ‘Looking for Shotruuz’ – Lutfuzzaman Babar that said similar things in defense of Rub-Outs in recent past, when all the HR organizations were indeed the AL’s best friends? Is this a case of what goes around – comes around? Darn….gulp….gulp……

• :( The quixotic equation: Members of Security Forces and Citizens clubbed into the same bracket? It is for Security Forces to guarantee our safety, and if they die - it is not as if they have gone beyond the call of duty, nor have they done us a huge ‘favor’. Men in uniform are on taxpayers employ to do their jobs – and death most regrettably is an occupational hazard they willingly volunteer when they sign-up and swear by the Flag. The State in turn ensures Guard of Honor, Floral Wreathes and many financial packages to compensate their ‘martyrdom’….Salutes…….

• To be more direct – do we or HR Organizations have anything to say about the death of men in uniform who die almost every day anywhere in the world? On our Home Ministers side, have we ever heard a word of regret or has she visited members of families of Rub-Out victim/s who her charges murdered in cold blood, either to express sympathy or promise JUSTICE? Excuse me folks…….we are talking here about 281 people rubbed-out in two years – and does anybody remember how many ‘elite’ RAB or Policeman have bit the dust since?

• Smarting perhaps from Wikileaks on RAB, in London the Prime Minister admitted incidents of extrajudicial killings, (not making the Home Minister look any prettier!) however what beats me is the hoo-haa that went around after it was revealed that the UK trained RAB ‘a death squad’ – and how much the Brit’s abhor such ‘wanton defilement of Human Rights’….ah! Are we not being plain naive? Are there no instances of extra-judicial murders in the UK?

• There has been one too many actually……….from the Iraq War whistleblower Dr.David Kellyin 2003 to the deranged Raoul Moat who went on a killing spree in 2010 – the answer, remedy and propah English variant is – ‘suicide’….a silencer pistol to the head or a lethal injection shot?

• Then I think about Abir, a perfectly decent, clean-cut college going kid in my neighborhood rubbed-out two weeks ago. I wonder if he fell on the feet of his uniformed assassins to beg Mercy. Did he cry out ‘mother’ when he was mercilessly tortured, or at the penultimate moment, when bullets pierced his fragile body – did he call out the name of Allah………or did he curse……………………did he?

• History reminds us that when tyrants Sins adds up, nature intervenes ruthlessly and course of justice summons a merciless Court. Rubbishing the RAB or Police is no solution. Time has come to think out alternatives to our power salivating politicians. As I close, Egypt burns and 60% of its Police stations are in ashes. At home, from small pushes to mighty shoves Arial Beel faithfully documented the people’s apolitical natural wrath.

• Is a Citizens Revolt in the offing……are we ready?

New Age XTRA Print Version

Friday, 11th February 2011