Pen-pushers and sound-bite seekers beware
Saturday, 11 December 2010
One used to hear of thugs and thieves masquerading as policemen and robbing unwary citizens of their possessions. It happened in the life of this scribe sometime in the 1970s. As he got off a Dhaka-Chittagong 'coach' at Jamalkhan Road, around midnight, a single patrolling policeman accosted him at a lonely spot and wanted to check his luggage. Then in the prime of youth and quite fearless, the student was coming home from a DU hall to spend the summer holidays with his parents. He looked the supposed policeman straight in the eye and confidently asked him to show his identity card first. That exposed the faint-hearted, would-be hijacker for what he was, for his bravado collapsed in the face of an honest query. The poor fellow did not have even a fake identity card and started shuffling and stammering. Then he suddenly appeared to be in a great hurry to leave the spot!
But that was more than three decades ago. These days masqueraders are not so timid as this 70s specimen, nor do they forget to come armed with weapons and identity cards or remain confined to playing policemen only. Today, to the horror of every self-respecting pen-pusher and sound-bite seeker in Bangladesh, it is the identity of a journalist - of both the print and electronic media - that has become more popular among all kinds of hijackers and toll collectors, more than perhaps an Army man or RAB's uniform! Does this not reflect on the unhealthy boom in yellow journalism and the creatures that thrive under it?
A contemporary ran a story from Manikganj Tuesday, claiming that terrorists, hijackers, drug peddlers and all kinds of fraudsters in Dhaka's Savar area are going about their assorted businesses by flashing identity cards of this or that media company. This came to light after a number of them were caught in the act by the law enforcing agencies - real policemen, not changelings!
We are told, one Rajib Khan, brandishing an identity card with the logo of Ekushe TV, a private satellite channel, was caught when trying to extract a toll from Yusuf Tower, an establishment at Savar. During the action Rajib introduced himself as a journalist! Would journalists worth the name ever go rent-seeking like common criminals?
The youth from Pangsha, Rajbari, confessed to have adopted this fake identity on the advice of a friend. After failing his HSC exam, Rajib worked in a video shop for a year before embarking on this adventure. He is said to have bought the identity card from one Nizamuddin Jalali who seems to have opened an outfit, the so-called 'Ekushe Television Audience Forum,' specifically to promote frauds and felons and make a quick buck in the bargain. A similar 'journalist' card was found in the possession of a truck driver, called Babar Ali, from Arapara, Savar! He too got it from the same source. Both Rajib and Babar told police that there are at least 200 others who have been sold the supposed-Ekushe identity cards! The GM of the actual company strongly denied having issued any such cards or having to do anything with the fictitious forum. The Officer-in-Charge of Savar Police Station has been asked to take legal action against those involved in this unscrupulous trade.
In another incident a fortnight ago, two youths, pretending to be journalists of Prothom Alo, were caught when trying to get a doctor to pay up a sum of a hundred thousand taka at Dogormora. Then again, on the day of the recent hartal, a gang used a private vehicle with a 'Press' sticker on it and waited at the Savar Bazar bus stand. Salimuddin, a businessman of the village of Railla, Shaturia Upazila in Manikganj, was one of those who were duped by their claim to be journalists. They offered to give Salimuddin a lift to Manikganj but on the way robbed him of everything and forced him out of the vehicle. Salimuddin lost no time in informing the police, and we are told hot pursuit by them soon led to the rounding up of three of the miscreants, Kuddus Matabbar, Mohammad Siddik and Abdul Huq. Interestingly, all of whom boasted so called press cards, identifying them as journalists of 'Crimewatch!' What's going on in Golden Bangladesh?
Whether such scandalous masquerades are happening 'naturally' as an effect of the general criminalisation of the body-politic, or are being masterminded by 'enemies' [rivals in business, spies and agents that enjoy disgracing our institutions, and wish to turn us into a slave state etc etc, as 'the paranoid' among us suspect] is difficult to determine. But the fact is, the damage to the image of all the 'copied' professions is considerable, in that these masquerades are proving to be the perfect PSYOPS (Psychological Operations) capable of terribly undermining this nation state.
But that was more than three decades ago. These days masqueraders are not so timid as this 70s specimen, nor do they forget to come armed with weapons and identity cards or remain confined to playing policemen only. Today, to the horror of every self-respecting pen-pusher and sound-bite seeker in Bangladesh, it is the identity of a journalist - of both the print and electronic media - that has become more popular among all kinds of hijackers and toll collectors, more than perhaps an Army man or RAB's uniform! Does this not reflect on the unhealthy boom in yellow journalism and the creatures that thrive under it?
A contemporary ran a story from Manikganj Tuesday, claiming that terrorists, hijackers, drug peddlers and all kinds of fraudsters in Dhaka's Savar area are going about their assorted businesses by flashing identity cards of this or that media company. This came to light after a number of them were caught in the act by the law enforcing agencies - real policemen, not changelings!
We are told, one Rajib Khan, brandishing an identity card with the logo of Ekushe TV, a private satellite channel, was caught when trying to extract a toll from Yusuf Tower, an establishment at Savar. During the action Rajib introduced himself as a journalist! Would journalists worth the name ever go rent-seeking like common criminals?
The youth from Pangsha, Rajbari, confessed to have adopted this fake identity on the advice of a friend. After failing his HSC exam, Rajib worked in a video shop for a year before embarking on this adventure. He is said to have bought the identity card from one Nizamuddin Jalali who seems to have opened an outfit, the so-called 'Ekushe Television Audience Forum,' specifically to promote frauds and felons and make a quick buck in the bargain. A similar 'journalist' card was found in the possession of a truck driver, called Babar Ali, from Arapara, Savar! He too got it from the same source. Both Rajib and Babar told police that there are at least 200 others who have been sold the supposed-Ekushe identity cards! The GM of the actual company strongly denied having issued any such cards or having to do anything with the fictitious forum. The Officer-in-Charge of Savar Police Station has been asked to take legal action against those involved in this unscrupulous trade.
In another incident a fortnight ago, two youths, pretending to be journalists of Prothom Alo, were caught when trying to get a doctor to pay up a sum of a hundred thousand taka at Dogormora. Then again, on the day of the recent hartal, a gang used a private vehicle with a 'Press' sticker on it and waited at the Savar Bazar bus stand. Salimuddin, a businessman of the village of Railla, Shaturia Upazila in Manikganj, was one of those who were duped by their claim to be journalists. They offered to give Salimuddin a lift to Manikganj but on the way robbed him of everything and forced him out of the vehicle. Salimuddin lost no time in informing the police, and we are told hot pursuit by them soon led to the rounding up of three of the miscreants, Kuddus Matabbar, Mohammad Siddik and Abdul Huq. Interestingly, all of whom boasted so called press cards, identifying them as journalists of 'Crimewatch!' What's going on in Golden Bangladesh?
Whether such scandalous masquerades are happening 'naturally' as an effect of the general criminalisation of the body-politic, or are being masterminded by 'enemies' [rivals in business, spies and agents that enjoy disgracing our institutions, and wish to turn us into a slave state etc etc, as 'the paranoid' among us suspect] is difficult to determine. But the fact is, the damage to the image of all the 'copied' professions is considerable, in that these masquerades are proving to be the perfect PSYOPS (Psychological Operations) capable of terribly undermining this nation state.