A different virus has gripped Bangladesh’s political sector as the country already grapples with the deadly coronavirus. It is such degraded politics that allowed safe passage for persons accused of attempted murder to flee to Bangkok. Those accused of being involved in human trafficking and money laundering are being elected MPs.
A Bangladeshi lawmaker, Kazi Shahid Islam alias Papul, has been arrested in Kuwait on charges of human trafficking and money laundering recently. This has brought great shame for the entire country. He is an MP from the Laxmipur-2 constituency.
According to media reports, he has been living in Kuwait permanently since 1989. He is a chief executive of a company there. Yet he was elected a member of the national parliament of Bangladesh. His wife has also become a member of the reserved women's seat. The couple had no direct involvement with politics until 2018.
He has been elected as an independent member. But the circumstances under which he was elected are worth considering. That seat was given to the Jatiya Party, a partner of the mahajote ('grand alliance').
The local Awami League leaders and activists start campaigning for Shahid Islam when the nominee of the Jatiya Party withdrew 15 days before the election. We all can guess why such incidents take place in politics.
According to a report in Gulf News on Monday, the country's CID arrested Shahid Islam from the Mushrif area of Kuwait on Saturday night. He is accused of human trafficking and money laundering.
CID officials interrogated five Bangladeshi nationals and found that the MP had taken 3,000 dinars from each of them. Besides, he has taken extra money for visa renewal.
The matter of human trafficking was recently discussed in the Kuwait parliament and they agreed that domestic and foreign charges against those found guilty of human trafficking would be tried in accordance with the country's customary law. The arrest of Shahid Islam MP is a reflection of the Kuwaiti government's tough stance.
The first report of human trafficking against him was published last February. He denied the allegations. This time too, his wife said, he was not arrested. He was called by the CID for questioning. But officials at the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait have confirmed his arrest. However, the Kuwaiti government has not officially informed the embassy.
Shahid Islam went to Kuwait with a regular passport when all the MPs get diplomatic passports. The regular green passport has to be submitted before getting a diplomatic passport.
Notably, during the 1996-2001 Awami League government, a state minister was sacked for using dual passports. How did Shahid Islam use two passports at the same time?
According to the media, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is preparing to prohibit his wife, daughter and sister-in-law from traveling abroad.
It is a matter of concern now, whether they will leave the country before ACC completes its preparations. There is, after all, a recent precedent of the accused in an attempted murder case, leaving the country by air ambulance.
The case of Shahid Islam is a great example of political corruption. The foreign minister admitted, albeit belatedly, that the arrest of an MP in a foreign land was a shame for the country. Now the question will the government do anything at all to eradicate this shame?