NEWS report in national dailies on Wednesday said that the acting secretary general of BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was given treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on the previous day and sent back to Kashimpur central jail from where he was taken to the medical facility. He was shown to specialist physicians as he was complaining of many diseases recently since his arrest four months ago on allegations of violence and arson in the city streets and highways. This is almost clear that these are politically motivated police cases and the government knows it better than any one else. He is reportedly having 79 cases now and the court is denying the bail without clear reasons. Mirza Fakhtul Islam has lost 15 kg weight in recent past and in frail health and his family has demanded his release on bail for better treatment.
It appears that the government may have shown Mirza Fakhrul to medical specialists in the wake of the death of another BNP leader in Rajshahi jail early this week allegedly from deprivation of timely medical check up. We take positively this step of the government allowing Mirza Fakhrul Islam to see specialist doctors. We want to feel assured that the government may have learnt a lesson from the earlier tragedy.
We would like to say that any body – be it an under trial accused or convict in the death row — has the right to medical access and the reported denial of the facility to opposition leaders appear quite disturbing. Politics is fight for state power, however it should not be the fight to physically terminate political opponents. The problem we are facing now arises out of our departure from using free and fair elections to allow people to elect the government of their choice. In this fight, most opposition leaders are languishing in the jail.
The same report said BNP Vice chairperson’s adviser Shamsher Mobin Chowdhuty is also languishing in jail along with over a dozen senior leaders and many of them are suffering from diseases like Adiabatic, heart problems and high blood pressure. Chowdhury, who is a Birbikram of the liberation war and a former diplomat has reportedly lost six kg weight in recent past and his leg; which was severely injured by the bullet of the Pakistani occupation army, is slowly losing effectiveness in want of movement.
We would like to say here that politics is not a crime that politicians must be jailed for their political role. People would definitely face charge if they have committed crimes but politics and criminal activities have their clear difference. The secretary general of the major opposition or a valiant Birbikram can’t be disgraced under long detention apparently on false charges. We are speaking for a party but on a human case. We would like to say they are representing a major political party and may be set free on bail at least on humanitarian ground, while the judicial process would decide on their fate.
