Will Awami League field its 'reserved players' now?

So can we take it that Awami League will not field its 'reserved players'? It seems so, from yesterday's statement of the Jashore-6 member of parliament Shaheen Chakladar. From the peace rally, he issued a warning to the leaders and activists of the opposition. BNP's road march was scheduled to proceed from Shalikha in Magura via Monihar in Jashore up till Khulna today, Tuesday. He spoke out before that.

Shaheen Chakladar is the Jashore-6 member of parliament. It is alleged that at one point of time he controlled all the illegal businesses, land grabbing, toll collecting and contract businesses in Jashore. In the recent past his dominance had waned somewhat and so he is now going around his constituency in Keshabpur, making himself heard. He is back in Jashore with his old image.

Prothom Alo reported that Shaheen Chakladar said, "If you listen to Tarique (Tarique Rahman) and create chaos in Jashore, you'll find yourself in danger. Cases will be slapped against you. If that doesn't stop you, we will thrash you."

He said, "Those who listen to BNP leaders and join the Dhaka rallies, processions and road marches, will not be allowed to return to Jashore. Many Awami League leaders and activists live near your homes. They all know your houses. I will not bother to say here what will happen then! If there is arson and violence in Jashore during the road march, the games will begin."

He has reportedly instructed the president and secretary of district Awami League to keep tabs in BNP's leaders and activists. He didn't stop at just threatening them with cases, beatings and attacks on their homes, he even indirectly threatened to kill them.

He said, "Awami League will remain in power till 2041. So if you listen to Tarique in London and create chaos, you will be in trouble. Your leader won't save you."

Note Shaheen Chakladar's choice of words -- 'won't be allowed to return to Jashore', 'Awami League leaders and activists know where you live', 'the games will begin', 'your leader won't save you' and so on. In other words, he will grab, beat, evict and assault BNP leaders in such a way, they won't be able to get away with their lives. He will use the court too, if necessary.

And he made all these threats over microphone, standing in front of the Kotwali police station. Even if the police didn't want to hear him, they hardly had a choice. They certainly heard his words. The local people of Jashore were asked what the police had done after all these threats and warnings. They said, they changed the traffic route in the town to ensure that Shaheen Chakladar's public gathering could proceed unhindered. There were police all around the rally. They have had no reaction whatsoever to these threats. Yet the threats he had made were all counted as criminal offences.

Let's look into a few instances of what Shaheen Chakladar can do or does. A few years ago his conversation with an officer-in-charge of a police station was leaked. Shaheen Chakladar claims the conversation was tampered.            

In the conversation, he was ordering for environment activist Sheikh Saifullah to be taught a lesson, "Get a bomb blasted in the police station at night and then file a case against him. Can't you do that? If you are here, you have to do it. Or will you do it somewhere else? That is my last word. If you want to keep this area calm, I am a member of the forest and environment standing committee. No one has the power here. He (Saifullah) repeatedly does all this, what are you doing?"

The OC replied, "Sir, he brings the papers of the High Court every time." Chakladar responded, "What High Court! Let the courts say what they want. Don't we have game? Don't we?"

Many of those faced with fictitious cases have such allegations against them. Should we take it that all the cases before the 2018 election regarding attacks, damage to property, obstructing government duty,  are all of this type. That there is a Shaheen Chakladar behind each and every one? The Shaheen Chakladars are certain all powerful and above the law, as they prove time and again.

At an iftar event of the district administration last year, he had charged at the senior district and sessions judge Iftekharul Islam Mullick. He demanded to know why he hadn't granted bail to the accused in the Jashore University of Science and Technology student Naimul Islam murder case.

Present at that event were state minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives Swapan Bhattacharjee, members of parliament, the pourashava mayor, the police super, the commander of Jashore 49 BGB Battalion, a college principal, deputy director of the local government department, additional district magistrate and additional deputy commissioner, yet no action was taken against him.

It is to be seen what measures the concerned authorities take concerning such threats before the election. Will the national election commission consider such threats an obstruction to creating equal opportunity for everyone before the election? Will the police administration say anything about the beatings, the attacks, the threats to kill? As a party, does Awami League have no liability? Or did Shaheen Chakladar make such statements at the directives of the party high command?

We have heard Narayanganj's Shameem Osman threatening that 'the games will begin'. Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Fazle Noor Taposh threatened that he wouldn't allow BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to enter Dhaka. And no one should forget the words uttered yesterday, Monday, by Awami League's general secretary Obaidul Quader. While Shaheen Chakladar was spewing out threats at the peace rally in Jashore, Obaidul Quader was at the peace rally in Dhaka. He gave BNP a 36-day ultimatum, saying that unless BNP mends its ways in this time, he would take the people along and break BNP's hand of evil politics.

So, what do you think?

* Sheikh Sabiha Alam is assistant editor of Prothom Alo and can be reached at sabiha.alam@prothomalo.com