One of the few students who staged an unruly protest outside the house of suspended BNP leader and freedom fighter Fazlur Rahman recently, for his arrest and instigating a mob attack, has been identified as Fariha Akter Toma.
A former coordinator and leader of the pro-government student front, Bangladesh Democratic Students Union (BDSU), Toma is also known as Fariha Talukder. She is a student of software engineering at Daffodil University.
She is the daughter of Swapan Talukder, president of Jubo Leagueโs Uttara Ward No. 1 unit. Her village home is in Banshbaria of Tungipara in Gopalganj.
She became viral on social media and came under severe criticism for likening Fazlur Rahman to her โShaowaโ or vagina, a Bengali slang used to degrade a person.
The placard she was showing read: โTiner Chale Kauwa, Fazlu Aamar Shaowaโ (in English: a crow on the tin-shed roof, Fazlu is my vagina).
This slogan became viral recently when the supporters of Jamaat-Shibir protested against the BNPโs acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, and the partyโs student wing Chhatra Dal, following turmoil in Dhaka University.
On Sunday, as soon as the BNP served Fazlur Rahman a show-cause notice, seeking an explanation for his โabsurd,โ โoffensive and misleading,โ and โorganisationally inappropriateโ remarks about the top leaders of the pro-Islamist National Citizen Party (NCP), some activists of the BDSU created a mob in front of his rented house in Dhakaโs Segunbagicha.
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They gave abusive slogans using loudspeakers and held placards with derogatory texts written on them throughout the day, when the police and the army remained silent. Human rights groups, newspapers and TV channels also criticised the protesters, who also offered prayers on the street to gain sympathy.
From a press conference on Monday, the freedom fighter condemned the protest and sought the safety of his family members.
For several months, leaders and activists of the NCP, Jamaat-Shibir and other radical Islamist parties have been running a smear campaign to malign him, with some issuing threats of mob attacks if he did not keep silent. He has also been tagged as a collaborator of the Awami League for criticising the anti-liberation forces and the student leaders for being patronised by Jamaat-Shibir.
In reality, Fazlur Rahman did not make comments on the Jamaatโs conspiracy out of the blue. Recently, Jamaat leader Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told BBC Bangla that they had planned the movement and their student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, was at the forefront.
Earlier, many current and former leaders of Chhatra Shibir publicly explained how they contributed to organising countrywide protests, drafting the demands and press statements, providing logistical support, food and water, and their militia teams operating at several points of Dhaka on August 4-5.
Meanwhile, armed gangs of the pro-Jamaat jihadist groups in Bangladesh and Pakistan, including Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ansar al-Islam, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jamaat-ut-Dawa, and some former and current members of the Bangladesh Army admitted having participated actively in the anarchy in July-August when hundreds of government establishments were looted and burned, police members killed and arms looted, and snipers killed protesters and onlookers in a planned way.
In a statement issued on August 25, human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) said that the act of creating a mob and intimidating it is not just an individual but is tantamount to terrorising and blocking the entire society.
Such illegal activities are a clear interference with the rights of citizens to freedom of expression, thought and conscience, and personal security and dignity as clearly provided in the Constitution. The Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees every citizen life and security (Articles 31 and 32) and freedom of thought, conscience and expression (Article 39). The mob incident in front of Fazlur Rahman’s house has grossly violated these fundamental rights. This incident is not only an insult to a veteran freedom fighter, but also a despicable attempt to instil fear in the entire society and suppress dissent, ASK said.
If the state fails to protect the fundamental rights of citizens, it is not only a violation of the constitution but also a violation of Bangladesh’s international commitments. The state’s responsibility is to protect the fundamental rights of citizens. Failure to fulfil this responsibility is not only against the constitution but also an attack on democratic values. Effective measures must be taken immediately to stop such mob politics.
The statement further said that visible measures should be taken immediately to stop such mobs; otherwise, the rule of law and democratic foundations of the state will be seriously damaged. In addition, necessary steps should be taken to ensure the safety of the brave freedom fighter, senior lawyer Fazlur Rahman and his family.
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