Chintito
If Only…
Common scene: A man and his wife are walking harmlessly along a footpath. A rogue loafing on the pavement assumes these are the right kind of 'soft' people to attack and so he lets loose a verbal onslaught particularly at the lady. This enrages the man and he catches the sloth by the collar for insulting his woman. Bystanders gather around the melee, and in Bangladesh style blame the husband. Why did you grab his collar? If only… if only you had not, we would have taught the rascal a lesson of his lifetime for teasing the woman. If only…
Common scene: A vendor sells formalin-stained fish to a buyer. On discovering this by expert opinion, he goes back to the vendor and charges him. The vendor gets upset, the buyer gets upsetter, the crowd gets the upsettest. They all blame the buyer. Why did you not come to us first? If only… if only you had not charged the fisher man like that (like what?!?), we would have taught the rascal a lesson of his lifetime for selling poisoned fish. If only…
Common scene: At a charged-up football match a player jumps with both feet on his opponent, narrowly missing him and thus saving his legs from eternal injury. The lucky booter gets up and lands a blow on his attacker for the viscous close-call attempt-to-murder attack. The referee manages to separate them. After two weeks the inquiry committee comes up with its verdict. You must have guessed by now. The committee blames the second footballer for landing the blow. According to them, if only… if only the attacked footballer had not punched his attacking opponent, the committee would have taught the rascal a lesson of his lifetime for trying to maim a valuable player for life. If only…
Since just before the verdict against Quader Mollah, jamaat-shibir people have been sporadically attacking policemen without any provocation. Police remained quiet, and absorbed the beatings at different places of their body and country.
This was in January: “Armed men of Islami Chhatra Shibir chase policemen at Binodpur in Rajshahi city, and vandalise a police van in Dinajpur town, as the activists of Shibir and their parent organisation Jamaat-e-Islami went on the rampage, especially targeting the law enforcers at different places of the country yesterday, demanding release of the Jamaat leaders who are undergoing trial on charges of involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.” (The Daily Star, 29 Jan 2013)
The day before the verdict, the jamaat-shibir activists handed over flowers to the policemen, again without any provocation. The police were amused. One simultaneous posting on the Internet read: Police-Jamaat Bhai Bhai, Sheikh Hasinar Rakkha Nai. (Police-jamaat are brothers, Sheikh Hasina cannot be saved)
This was in February: “To everyone's surprise, the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir presented flowers to on-duty police men in the city yesterday as they brought out a procession without resistance from the law enforcers… About 2,000 Jamaat and Shibir activists brought out a procession following the rally and handed over Rajanigandha sticks (tuberose) to the police men who were guarding the road on a one-and-a-half-kilometre stretch up to Ambarkhana. Some of the police men received the flower while a few declined, all in bewilderment. Police could not say why they did it while they always made attacks on law enforcers.” (The Daily Star, 5 Feb 2013)
This was in March: “Three people were killed and 20 others injured in Shibganj upazila as police opened fire being attacked by villagers during a raid at Gopalnagar village to arrest an accused of torching the Palli Bidyut unit at Kansat on February 28. On that day, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, went on the rampage soon after an International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to death. As police reached the village around 3:00am Friday, activists of Jamaat and Shibir who had already been prepared exploded few crackers to alert others.” (The Daily Star, 29 March 2013)
This was in April: “Jamaat-Shibir activists in a hit-and-run attack hurled several bombs at police, severing the right wrist of one and severely injuring another when the law enforcers were trying to fend off the attackers in the city. Sub-inspector Mokbul Hossain of Motihar police, who lost his right wrist, in the attack was airlifted to Dhaka.”
“Alleged activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir thrashed the head of a policeman at Chirirbandar in Dinajpur during hartal hours Tuesday. Critically injured Abdus Sabur, a sub-inspector of Special Branch of police, was transferred to Rangpur Medical College Hospital… as his condition deteriorated.” (The Daily Star, 2 April 2013)
Police, outnumbered at places, resorted to firing to fend off attackers. There have been several deaths due to police firing.
If only… if only you had not fired, we would have taught the rascals a lesson of their lifetime for attacking you. If only…
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