Media Reports On Khaleda’s Eviction Questionable

In the beginning of World War Two, when the entire world knew that Germany is about to invade Poland, due to the propaganda carried out by Goebbels, the German people on the other hand, knew that Poland is coming to invade Germany. This Nazi Goebbels is not only a name, it's a tendency, and it's a weapon. By feeding the news that Begum Zia "will leave her house voluntarily"  on  Saturday, November 13, 2010, an operation to evict former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia could take place even inside such a protected area like the Dhaka Cantonment. In front of the Jahangir Gate, ISPR stopped the journalists and briefed them three times from a makeshift stage. The tendency of this current incompetent government is to hide the true incidents and feed the people with false stories to run the nation. Whoever spreads this kinds of news sensibly, tries to manipulate the belief of the general people. By feeding people with false information, the government tried to scatter and obscure their known world. But the general people not only kept their eyes open, they also kept their value judgment awake. For this reason the hartal on Sunday following Khaleda's eviction on Saturday was successful without almost any picketing.

On Friday, November 12, 2010 the entire journalist community got the information that the next day there will be an operation to forcefully vacate house number 6 of Shahid Mainul Road where Begum Khaleda Zia has been living for almost four decades now. The intelligence officers sent a typed report to their embedded journalists, the gist of which was - the former Prime Minister was ready to voluntarily vacate the house. Also mentioned were on which dates, which truck had carried Begum Zia's belongings from the house. As usual, the next day every newspaper reported that on Saturday Begum Zia will leave the house voluntarily. But no report carried a direct statement of Begum Zia or someone saying on her behalf that Begum Zia will leave the house on Saturday.  The TV channels began live broadcast of the incident continuously.  But at dawn, police, RAB and security officers in civil dress entered the house for forcefully evicting Begum Zia.

Many people still believe that the spread of the propaganda through the media that Khaleda Zia was willfully leaving her house helped the government to justify its barbarous act of forcefully evicting the wife of the declarer of Independence and the first-elected President and three times Prime Minister of Bangladesh herself Begum Khaleda Zia without allowing her to change her clothes.

During one-eleven, in a similar manner the made-up reports and CDs containing the confessional statements of arrested political leaders were published/broadcast just like a bombshell. This time also the same process has been and/or will be followed.

But later on, the political leaders stated in court that they never made such confessions. During that time, the current Prime Minister was manipulated by the people who are now her trusted operators. But my question is, the journalists may get tips from the intelligence agency, but shouldn't they verify the truth of the information! The fear of which is actual information and which is not is always present in the world of information.  It is important to keep track – who is providing the information?  The nature of the government is to manipulate the position of truth and false within a moment.  However, it is useless to tell that journalist anything who loses his head over government's politics. On Saturday, no matter how many times the journalists were told that there is eviction operation going on in Begum Zia's house, they ignored the statement and attached more importance  to what ISPR had to say. Only if they had asked the ISPR, "If Begum Zia is leaving voluntarily, allow us to visit the spot," ISPR would have refused. They could have also asked why were there police for someone who is willing to leave voluntarily or whether Begum Zia has rented trucks to carry her belongings from the house. Had they gone to Shahid Mainul Road on Saturday, they could have seen how Begum Zia's staff and their family members were forcefully put into a car and taken elsewhere and kept confined, the government's presence at the place with trucks, how the door was broken, the carrying of VDO cameras during the operation, and the visit of senior officials after the completion of the eviction operation.   At one stage of the operation, when Begum Zia wanted to talk with the journalists over phone, they set-up a jammer and disabled the tele-network in the area.

Jammers are also required in eviction operations! Nevertheless, on Saturday night, when at a press conference Begum Zia's tearful statements before the nation put a hard slap on government propaganda side by side with informing the nations about the truth, the villains immediately became active. On Sunday, they took the embedded journalists into the historic house they opened up a house inside the cantonment for the journalists to see! Vile attempts to belittle Begum Zia's character not only made a laughing stock of these journalists but the publication of pictures by them showing the door knobs of Begum Zia's bedroom to have been broken by force also deeply angered the concerned government officials. 

Quite a few journalists complained secretly that on Monday they were seriously reprimanded either personally or over phone.  When one of the reprimanded editors claimed that the ISPR had sent pictures of broken door-knobs to them, the other side remained silent. Besides, there are also complaints of censorship having been imposed on the TV channels on the following Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  The journalists were pressurized by detective agencies and local MPs to publish/broadcast the news that the hartal has not been observed. Nowadays, the journalists are being physically tortured almost every day. The conviction of a Chhaatro-League leader for killing a journalist in Chittagong by running a truck over him is the latest news. On top of that, the media is in a bad shape as they are either being forced to not publish the truth, or publish false news.

According to reliable source, measures were taken to demolish the house no 6 of Shaheed Mainul Road before Eid with bulldozers, but the decision to wait was taken due to the ruling by the Appellate Division. Everybody is curiously waiting to watch anew Goebelles' next episode of the drama and the performances of the actors regarding the "Zia Family Dream House".

What Begum Khaleda Zia will do with the people agitated with the misrule of the government, is still to be seen. Where there is a tradition of releasing prisoners before the Eid, the government does not even want to give Begum Zia that much right. Not only has she been separated from her house, she is also separated from her family. Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman are abroad because of illness they are also oppressed with many cases. Even Begum Zia's favorite grand-daughter Zaima is also not with her. But, despite such adverse situations, BNP Chairperson remains immensely calm. Maybe the tune of the famous British song (by Lina Gilbert Ford in 1994) is playing in her ears....

Keep the home fires burning
While your hearts are yearning,
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home
There's a silver lining,
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come home.