Point and Counterpoint in Politics
Chintito
Some clips
from just two editions (12 and 13 March 2004) of The Daily Star,
quoted verbatim.
The Daily
Star, 12 March 2004 -- Alleged BNP activists aided by police
attacked Badruddoza Chowdhury and his supporters yesterday,
injuring over 300 people and ruining his rally where the former
president was due to launch his alternative political stream.
The assailants barred Badruddoza and other leaders from coming
to the Muktangan rally venue from Baridhara by car, injured
them slightly in repeated raids in Baridhara and Mohakhali when
they were heading towards the downtown and attacked his followers
on the Dhaka-Mawa Highway.
But The
Daily Star reported the same day -- Prime Minister's Political
Secretary M Harris Chowdhury denied allegations of government's
hand in putting bars to the rally, saying Badruddoza could stage
it at Muktangan if he wished. Talking to BBC Radio yesterday,
he termed reports of attacks on the former president's motorcade
as 'misleading propaganda'. "How could people identify
the former president's car and block it?" he asked, saying
traffic movement in the capital was normal yesterday.
The Daily
Star, 12 March 2004 -- The ruling party activists also occupied
Muktangan in Purana Paltan and drove away people who tried to
enter the public meeting place in a frenzy of anti-rally actions,
a day after attackers hurled home-made bombs at his office on
Wednesday night and smashed a podium being made for the rally.
But The
Daily Star reported on 13 March 2004 -- On the apparent failure
of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) to make sure Muktangan is free
for Badruddoza to hold his rally, as it gave him permission,
Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, also BNP city unit president, said:
"It is not our responsibility." "The DCC doesn't
take that responsibility and nor does it have the mechanism
to do so. It is the responsibility of law enforcers," Khoka
said. "No one needs permission for any programme there,"
Khoka said, adding the DCC gave Badruddoza permission as he
had asked for it. "The DCC doesn't resist anyone to hold
programme at Muktangan." On why the DCC did not then allow
Badruddoza to hold a programme there on March 9, Khoka said
in an apparently conflicting statement the former president
did not seek permission.
The Daily
Star, 12 March 2004 -- JCD President Shahabuddin Laltu refuted
allegation of JCD involvement in the attacks. "The JCD
is not in favour of attacks," he said, adding, "People
have their rights, they are free to express themselves."
But The
Daily Star reported on 13 March 2004 -- A top leader of ruling
BNP's student chapter yesterday vowed to "punish"
former president Badruddoza Chowdhury for launching an alternative
political platform and branded him as a "traitor",
a day after a mob pelted him with stones and bricks. "We
have a party decision to resist Badruddoza and his supporters
wherever we find them," Azizul Bari Helal, general secretary
of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), told The Daily Star by
phone yesterday evening.
Don't be
too harsh on yourself if the above leaves you confused.