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Download PDF The way Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, the son of a small bamboo trader, turned the virtual king of the hill districts beats the pace of a meteor.
The former BNP lawmaker is alleged to have carried out a reign of unbridled violence and corruption as well as stirring up hostility between the indigenous communities and the Bengali settlers in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) during the five-year term of BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
His splendid mansion, “Baithak”, in the middle of the wilderness in Khagrachhari, now under government custody, stands for unbridled corruption.
At the beginning of the BNP-led administration in late 2001, he had a tin-shed house on the same land he had grabbed from the government and locals. Almost overnight, that house was replaced by the majestic mansion, reports our Khagrachhari correspondent.
Wadud along with his brother and nephew terrorised the people of Khagrachhari by severely beating up at least eight journalists. A few thousand leaders and activists of Awami League (AL) left the district to avoid atrocities by his goons. Even his opponents within the BNP left the district for the same reason.
Currently, eleven cases have been filed against him including murder cases and those filed under the Explosives Act.
In the last five years, while he was an elected legislator, at least five deputy commissioners (DCs), five police superintendents, and a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) regional commander in Khagrachhari had to be replaced. It is alleged that Wadud was behind those transfer orders.
To silence local journalists, Wadud’s goons beat up Indrajit Banik, Khagrachhari correspondent of the daily Shamokal, so severely that his limbs were crushed.
Wadud filed 37 cases against journalists and newspapers, including Prothom Alo, accusing them of publishing “baseless and defamatory” news.
Wadud is also accused in the Jubo League leader Yasin murder case. Soon after Yasin left BNP for the Awami League (AL) in 1999, assailants hurled bombs at his car and then hacked and shot him to death.
In 2002, Sirajul Islam, reportedly one of Wadud’s bodyguards, hacked Yasin Member to death in front his family. No one came forward to testify against Siraj fearing grave retaliation.
Former lawmaker Wadud is reported to have been involved in the murder of Principal Madan Gopal Goswami in Manikchhari on April 25, 2002.
Locals allege that during the 2001-2006 BNP-led regime, 50 women were raped and at least a thousand were tortured by Wadud’s thugs.
Wadud was also at the forefront of fanning the flames of ethnic violence between the Bengalis and indigenous communities in the hill district. To win the 2001 elections, he endorsed the Bengali settlers who were against the CHT Peace Treaty.
Although he never spoke against the peace treaty in public, he surreptitiously set up an organisation named “Sama Odhikar Andolan” (equal rights movement) to act as a mouthpiece of anti-indigenous propaganda.
He reportedly controlled all the eight upazilas of Khagrachhari with the help of organised crime gangs headed by his relatives and loyal deputies.
The infamous lawmaker, who came under the media spotlight during Ershad regime in the 80’s, is reported to have earned at least Tk 150 to 200 crore in the last five years through extortion and other illegal means.
During the same period, Wadud also allegedly took over Tk 200 crore worth local development projects of Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, District Council, Local Government and Engineering Department, municipalities, Public Health and Engineering Department, Public Works Department and Department of Education Engineering.
Wadud Bhuiyan’s criminal activities are believed to be carried out by Afsar, Millat, chairman Joynal, Abdus Salam, contractor Selim, Mahfuz and Babul.
His loyalists also allegedly gobbled up government food assistance allocated for 2.5 lakh inhabitants of 78 cluster villages (guchchha gram).
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Whether it is BBC journalists or Bangladeshi Journalists, they are there to bring forward the true news for the the people atlarge.
Thank GOD the Journalists can not be bought by the dishonests people & encaged in their prisons!
Otherwise we all would have been misguided & remained at dark.
All educated, honest people rever Journalists who
obtain & transmit factual reports even at the cost of their precious lives!
We hope the wrongdoers will learn their lessons
for suing the innocent Newspapers Reporters!
Long Live Journalists & Journalism!
Thank you.