After Calling the Resignation News ‘Fake’, Hasnat Takes a Jab; Ishrak Says He Will Demolish Drug Dens with a Bamboo Stick
After news spread that State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Ishrak Hossain had been ordered to resign from the cabinet, discussion in political circles did not stop all day. Although Ishrak himself and his office rejected the news as false, baseless and a rumour, on Sunday night Hasnat Abdullah, MP for Cumilla-4 and a leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP), mocked the issue. As a result — the resignation speculation, the denial and the counter political remarks — all together, the Ishrak issue is now the most discussed political news in the country.
Hasnat Abdullah, in a post on his verified Facebook page on Sunday night, mocked BNP activists, writing that they have landed in trouble. In his words, yesterday they praised the work of State Minister Ishrak, and today, no sooner had they written praise for the prime minister’s decision than it became known that the resignation decision itself was fake. Now they will again have to build arguments for why the prime minister did not ask him to resign.
In the post he further wrote, ‘BNP activists have landed in trouble. Yesterday they had to write praising State Minister Ishrak’s work, and today they had to write praising the prime minister’s decision. No sooner had they written it than it became known that the resignation decision was fake. Now they will have to write again about why it is good that the prime minister did not ask him to resign.’
According to Hasnat, in the meantime Ishrak has come to recognise those companions of his, lurking within his own party, who were happy at his resignation and celebrated it. Through this remark he also pointed to the reaction inside Ishrak’s party.
Noting that the resignation of full minister Partha should be demanded, Hasnat Abdullah wrote that State Minister Ishrak should now demand the resignation of full minister Mr Partha. He also commented that it should be looked into whether Partha had a hand behind this ‘media coup’. These remarks of his added a new dimension to the controversy.
Earlier, media reports citing sources said that on Sunday afternoon, after the cabinet meeting at the Secretariat ended, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman summoned Ishrak and ordered him to resign there. However, those reports themselves acknowledged that no official statement had been obtained from anyone responsible in the government on the matter.
At night, Ishrak Hossain himself said, ‘I request everyone, you must treat this matter as a rumour. There is no truth to it so far. If we take any such decision from the party, you will be informed.’
Within a short while, Ishrak Hossain’s press officer Mahfuz Kabir Mukta sent out a statement titled ‘Protest against the false and misleading news in the media regarding the resignation of State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Ishrak Hossain’. It said the news being circulated in various media and on social media about Ishrak’s ‘resignation’ or ‘his being ordered to resign’ is completely false, baseless, fabricated and motivated.
The statement further said the real truth is that the state minister has been carrying out his governmental and political duties with the utmost devotion and reputation. No directive to resign has been given to him from the high level of the government, and no question of his resignation arises. It also alleged that a quarter is spreading such imaginary and false information with the aim of achieving political objectives and creating confusion among the public.
The same statement also raised the subject of Saturday’s incident. It said that regarding the incident on Saturday — where, in a situation arising at an anti-drug social resistance programme in his own constituency, a weapon was lawfully displayed only in self-defence — the state minister had already clarified his position beforehand. It said spreading any news about his resignation centred on this incident is completely unlawful and contrary to the principles of journalism. The media concerned and the country’s people were requested not to be misled by such propaganda, and the outlets that published misleading news were called upon to withdraw it and present correct information; otherwise, it was also mentioned, legal action would be taken against the ‘propagandists’.
At around 8:15 at night, Ishrak posted another post on his verified Facebook account. There he announced that he would demolish drug dens with a bamboo stick, and, criticising several media outlets that had published news about the anti-drug drive, he said all the drug dens would be levelled to the ground.
In the Facebook post he further wrote that some renowned media outlets have the capacity to take explanations of the sections of the law and they do practise that too; knowing everything, looking at the nature of their news, it seems they were the exclusive suppliers of drugs in the Ghuntighar — that is why, after his drive, they are behaving like wild animals. Writing ‘wait and see’, he said all the drug dens will be levelled to the ground.
Mentioning that he had a legally licensed weapon for his personal security, he further wrote that from now on he will destroy these dens with bamboo sticks. The police will stand and watch; arrests will be made and people taken away in front of a magistrate. He also mentioned in the post that ‘the sixteen arts of the anti-drug struggle will be completed, Inshallah’.
This controversy began on Saturday. That day, State Minister Ishrak Hossain, MP for Dhaka-6 constituency, took part in an anti-drug drive in the area adjoining the Gendaria railway line in the capital. In a video published on his Facebook page, he was seen chasing several people holding a hand microphone in one hand and a pistol in the other. At one point he pulled the slide of the pistol, pointed the weapon and ordered them to stop. Weapons were also seen in the hands of other people who were with him. After the video came out, discussion began on whether a weapon can be displayed in this way merely for holding a personal firearm licence, and whether an elected representative can himself conduct an anti-drug drive with a weapon in hand.
On Sunday, the chief of the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police (DB), Additional Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam, told journalists that the DC concerned had been asked to observe and review the incident locally and give a report. If there has been any deviation from the law, the police will take action according to law. On the other hand, Ishrak claimed in his statement that while going to join an anti-drug social resistance programme, 30 to 35 people advanced towards their motorcade in a hostile manner; to fend off a possible attack, he and his security guards temporarily raised their weapons. He claimed that with the cooperation of the local police station, four to five drug dens were demolished, drugs and weapons were recovered, and six people were detained and handed over to the police.
All in all, so far no official statement has come from the government about a resignation directive, Ishrak’s side has strongly denied it, and with Hasnat Abdullah’s jab and Ishrak’s counter Facebook post the debate has spread further. Attention will now be on whether the party or the government says anything more officially, and what emerges in the DB’s review report.
