Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should return to Bangladesh for the sake of justice, says New Age editor and Editors’ Council president Nurul Kabir. He made the remarks last Thursday in a talk show titled “Face to Face with New Age Editor Nurul Kabir” on the YouTube channel “Thikanay Khaled Muhiuddin.”
Asked about the ousted prime minister’s recent remarks suggesting she may return to the country, Editors’ Council president Nurul Kabir said, “We want her to come. Because their crimes are being tried, and that trial is currently proceeding one-sided since they are not in the country. For the sake of a fair trial, and to defend themselves, they should come. They need to come. They should come for the sake of justice. If they have any transparency of their own, if they have not committed wrongdoing — they need to come to clear that up.”
Referring to the killings during the July mass uprising, he said, “A thousand people were shot dead over three weeks — and to this day, not a single known Awami League leader has expressed remorse in their eyes, their face, or their words. They can hurl abuse all they want, but until they understand and accept that the people removed them from power because of their own abuse of power, they will not be able to return to this country’s politics.”
The New Age editor went on to say, “It saddens me greatly that a large section of Awami League leaders, who amassed enormous circles of wealth and privilege here, fled the country with the help of many others and are now living as fugitives in various countries. Some of them have begun making speeches saying they are coming back, that they will return, and so on. This lie is the Awami League leadership’s latest sin — they will not return. Why is this a sin?”
On Prime Minister Tareque Rahman, Nurul Kabir said, “His manner of speaking, his conduct and his tone are quite gentle, and people appreciate that. But allegations of nepotism and corruption have already been raised, and continue to be raised, against many of his ministers. If his ministers follow the same path the Awami League took in running the state — suppressing opposition views — during Bangladesh’s bloody mass uprising, and if they walk the same road of corruption, then based on what little sense of history I have, I can say this: it took 15 years to remove the Awami League from power. But given the strength the mass uprising has instilled in the people, and the empowerment it has brought, this government would not take nearly as long to be removed from power. People will take to the streets.”
He added, “Society is already seeing certain tendencies among some ministers. I hope they try to understand the mass uprising. If they fail to understand it, these ministers will sink, the prime minister will sink, and Bangladesh will once again be plunged into a difficult situation. I hope he — the prime minister — develops the capacity to tolerate criticism.”
Bangladesh has agreed to buy more Boeing aircraft from the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has already sent a letter thanking Prime Minister Tareque Rahman over this. Referring to this, the veteran journalist said, “We are among the poorer countries in the world. That at the request of the United States we went ahead and bought first 13, then another 14 — or was it 19 — Boeing aircraft. I think Bangladesh’s fleet does need more aircraft, but shouldn’t we, as an independent nation, be the ones assessing that need for ourselves? What’s the priority here — leasing versus buying these 13 or 14 aircraft, and on which routes will they fly, and what will the ticketing situation look like there? I do think we need them. How many we need, I don’t know.”
“Take Hajj season, for example — look at how many Hajj flights go out, and we hire aircraft from abroad for that. Saudi and other Middle Eastern companies profit heavily from this. If these aircraft belonged to Bangladesh, that money would have come to Bangladesh instead. Have we seen that kind of assessment done? Has the government told the people why, in this way, we are spending this much money to buy these aircraft, and which routes they will fly?” the editor said.
He said, “Opening an international route requires clearances. There are many rules and regulations involved. You cannot simply fly from one country’s airport to another country’s airport just because you want to. Many conditions and agreements have to be worked out with the airports involved. When purchases are made without doing any of this, and when a minister himself says our prime minister decided to buy these aircraft at President Trump’s request, two things follow from that. One is comical, the other is subservience. What’s comical is this: Trump’s economy has run into trouble, and to help rescue it, Bangladesh has apparently become such a wealthy nation that we can now help him out. No one is going to believe that. The second point is that we are buying American products, for America’s own benefit, wanting to contribute to its economy.”
Turning to the change of information minister, he said, “Some important members of our Editors’ Council are a bit concerned about the change of information minister. That is because of the kind of relationship journalists had built up over many years with the former minister, Zahir Uddin Swapan. We have some pending issues with the government, which we, as the Editors’ Council, have discussed with the honorable prime minister. We have reached certain understandings on some of these — related to laws, regulations and the Media Commission.”
Nurul Kabir said, “Because of our old relationship with Zahir Uddin Swapan, many of us had, let’s say, a somewhat contentious relationship with him at times. We don’t really know the new minister yet — I don’t have a close acquaintance with him, nor do many others. So we are concerned as well.”