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     Volume 8 Issue 61 | March 13, 2009 |


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Chintito

Mindless Hindsight
Chintito

Sad Horrible Terrible Nrishongsho Unbearable
Amanobik Disgusting Tragic Disastrous Sickening
Unimaginable Brutal Eerie Frightening Sinister
Satanic Inhuman Violent Wild Cruel Sadistic
Heartless Atrocious Chilling Jhawghonno Dreadful
Appalling Alarming Horrendous Shocking Barbaric
Extreme Terrifying Outrageous Wicked
Foolhardy Unbelievable Painful Savagery
Intolerable Alarming Ruthless Cold-blooded

Call it whatever you want, the word has not yet been invented to represent the tale that unfolded that fateful Wednesday morning. Dawn broke as on any other day. The morning was just not the same. The world found out only too late. First news was of one dead. A civilian. A rickshaw-puller, some said. A boy, others rumoured. Even that turned out to be wrong.

No one knew what went on inside the hijacked plane.
You talk to the hijackers to save the living.
You send them food and water.
You plead to them to release the two heart patients taken hostage.
You request them to free the women and the children.
You are not supporting the hijackers.
You are trying to save lives.
You do not definitely bomb the aircraft.

You think bombing the aircraft was the best option AFTER all the facts have come to light, after the situation has come under control.

Flashback 1977. Date September 28. Location: Dhaka Tejgaon Airport, Bangladesh. Type: Hijacking. Passengers: 156 (excluding the hijackers). Crew: 14. Fatalities: 0. Survivors: 156 (excluding the hijackers). Operator: Japan Airlines. Flight: 472.

“The Douglas DC-8, en route from Paris to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with 156 people on board, stopped in Mumbai, India. Shortly after taking off from Mumbai, five armed JRA (Japan Red Army) members hijacked the aircraft and ordered it flown to Dhaka, Bangladesh. At Dhaka, the hijackers took the passengers and crew hostage, demanding $6 million and the release of 9 imprisoned JRA members.

On October 1, Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda announced that the Japanese government would accept the hijackers' demands, on the principle that 'human life outweighs the earth.' Six of the imprisoned JRA members were then released.

“A chartered Japan Airlines (JAL) flight carried the money and the six released JRA members to Dhaka, where the exchange took place on October 2. The hijackers released 118 passengers and crew members. On October 3, they flew to Kuwait City and Damascus, where they released 11 more hostages. Finally, the aircraft was flown to Algeria, where it was impounded by authorities and the remaining hostages were freed.” (Wikipedia)

And now 2007, Tokyo, March 30.

“The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Japanese Red Army member Jun Nishikawa (56) to life imprisonment Friday over the 1977 hijacking of a Japan Airlines plane and the 1974 seizure of the French Embassy in The Hague.

''The hijacking was a cruel and inhumane act, threatening passengers and crew with guns and hand grenades and confining the hostages in the airliner for up to seven days,'' Presiding Judge Tsutomu Aoyagi said. ''The terrorist challenges to law and order deserve strong condemnation, and the defendant's criminal responsibility is extremely heavy.'' (Asian Political News)

If this was done that would not have happened. If that was done this would have happened. These are good as emotional outbursts, but the fact remains we are stuck with what actually happened. Many with hindsight observations are basing their solutions on what has been revealed after the incident came under control. They must realise that decisions implemented were taken swiftly when much of the events remained in darkness. We should remember that 72 became 7 overnight. It was that much dark in there.

If they with hindsight meant business, the nation may have been benefited from their attack plan had they spoken out at the time? The media were looking for every bit of information from anyone, including the rebels.

Just to remind us how the 'facts' became known to the nation here are some of the headlines of the first three days from The Daily Star:

Feb 26:
Mutiny, bloodshed at BDR HQ
A bloody mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers sent Dhaka into a war footing yesterday as the paramilitaries fired several thousand shots from machineguns, killing at least two army officers, one non-commissioned BDR officer, and three civilians in BDR Pilkhana Headquarters.

Intelligence agencies fail to give hints
Yesterday's rebellion at Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters was an outburst of years of pent-up anger and frustration, observed former director generals of BDR and an ex-army chief.

Mutineers tell of pent-up fury
The BDR mutineers claim the mutiny was not culmination of any long-term plan, rather results of long-repressed feelings of being deprived of financial and other in-service benefits and being ignored by the army high command.

Feb 27:
BDR mutiny over as tanks roll in
The 33-hour mutiny by disgruntled border guards ended yesterday in their surrender at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned of tough action to take them off a "suicidal route".

Haunted they rush out of BDR headquarters
Traumatised survivors of the bloody mutiny told harrowing tales of their two-day ordeal as they came out of the BDR headquarters yesterday.

Feb 28:
The barbarity is unimaginable, unforgivable
... For what possible action of theirs could a section of BDR jawans murder their officers in such an inhuman and un-soldierly manner? ... if there were some sympathy for the points raised by the rebellious jawans, not an iota of it remained in the public mind after the initial extent of the crime became evident yesterday.

20-25 soldiers behind carnage
The mutiny in Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) was spearheaded by a group of 20 to 25 non-commissioned soldiers who forced others to take up guns and participate in the savagery that followed, according to information shared by surviving officers and some fleeing mutineers.

Mutineers started to flee after 1pm Thursday
Several thousand BDR personnel who were in their headquarters at Pilkhana started to flee at around 1:00 pm on Thursday, sensing trouble.

As said last week in this column, hindsight is the lame tool of trouble creators.
Let us please remain united. The conspirators are probably busy hatching their next plot.

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