Election violence, minorities, and erasure of data
The life of Barun Kumar Ghosh, a supporter of Awami League, met a tragic end on January 9 near his residence in Hamdo Ghoshpara, Jhenaidah. The assailants attacked the 35-year-old, dragging him outside a local shop, where they amputated one of his legs. Despite being rushed to Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital by locals, doctors pronounced him dead. Barun was identified as a supporter of Tahjeeb Alam Siddiqui, the official AL nominee for the Jhenaidah-2 parliamentary seat. Barun's killing has been cited in discussions on electoral violence against minorities.
Reports of violence against minorities during and after the boycott-ridden, controversial election have raised questions against Awami League's claimed commitment to protecting the minorities. At a seminar organised by Arpita Sampatti Pratyarpan Ain Bastobayon Jatiyo Nagorik Samonway Cell on February 2, it was said that at least 13 incidents of torture and attacks on minorities—all election-centric—occurred between January 4 and 13, leaving one person dead and 37 injured. An earlier report by Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) said that there were election-focused attacks on minorities in 12 districts.
Persistent assertions by ministers and leaders of the ruling party, that there were no major violations of electoral norms, to counter independent analysts' and observers' evaluation that the election was essentially a staged affair raises suspicions about the motive of the home ministry's wholesale deletion of complaints. Before the timeframe of any potential legal challenges of election results was over, how could the government make all the allegations of violations traceless?
The scale and spread of electoral violence against members of minority communities were particularly noticeable in areas where the contest was a factional fight within the ruling party—better described as a competition between official nominees and dummy candidates. Civil society leaders, in unison, have expressed their frustration and anger over the government and the ruling party's failure to prevent such attacks. Media reports have quoted them saying that "it cannot be said that BNP-Jamaat is responsible for these attacks. Awami League cannot avoid their responsibility in minority torture incidents."
The BNP, accused of widespread violence minorities after their 2001 election victory, is seizing the opportunity to address the damages, albeit for political gain. Nitai Roy Chowdhury, a BNP vice chairman, has led a fact-finding mission to violence-affected areas and alleged that, "Awami League considers the minority community as their vote bank. Minorities cannot even express their opinions freely. As soon as they withdrew their support for the boat symbol, they were attacked and tortured." Questioning the reasons for the latest incidents of electoral violence, he added, "BNP-Jamaat did not come to the polls this time, yet the minorities were not spared from torture."
Surprisingly, the response from the government and the ruling party has been dismissive. According to Prothom Alo, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan thinks that the statements of minority torture are not correct at all. He told the newspaper that there was no attack on anyone as a minority anywhere in the country. This blatant denial not only lacks sensitivity towards the victims but also undermines the possibility of a credible investigation and justice for the victims.
The home minister's rejection of the facts comes amid reports of his ministry's deletion of all data relating to 1,524 complaints of electoral violence and breach of electoral code of conduct received between December 19, 2023 and January 10 this year. Reporting this unusual step on the part of the government, New Age quoted Md Abul Fazal Mir, joint secretary at the Public Security Division of the ministry as saying that, "We have stored the data until January 10 and then all the data were removed from the system." His explanation for such a questionable move was that the officials did not think that data needed to be stored.
These 1,524 complaints were received via the 999 emergency reporting system. There must be hundreds more which came in through other modes—ones directly registered with police stations or Election Commission offices. A recent report compiled by the HRSS said that violence claimed at least 17 lives and injured more than 2,534 between the announcement of the election schedule on November 15, 2023 and January 31. The HRSS also documented at least 100 people being shot at, while more than 450 homes and businesses became targets of vandalism, arson, and looting.
Persistent assertions by ministers and leaders of the ruling party, that there were no major violations of electoral norms, to counter independent analysts' and observers' evaluation that the election was essentially a staged affair raises suspicions about the motive of the home ministry's wholesale deletion of complaints. Before the timeframe of any potential legal challenges of election results was over, how could the government make all the allegations of violations traceless?
The home minister's dismissal of allegations regarding attacks on minorities within the party's electoral contest appears to be a strategic move to avoid future scrutiny of the 2024 election. Unfortunately, this means that justice remains elusive for the victims of violence, regardless of their background, as they become sacrificial lambs to give off the appearance of a competitive election.
Kamal Ahmed is an independent journalist. His X handle is @ahmedka1
Views expressed in this comment are the author's own.
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