Journalist Mohsin-ul Hakim enabled hundreds of pirates to surrender peacefully in pursuit of a new life. This is his story.
By: Syfullah Faruque
Photos: Bayazid Islam
For a seasoned journalist like Mohsin-ul Hakim, May 31 was a big day. A mission he took up almost seven years ago would finally come to fruition: a gang of 10 pirates (of the Master Bahini) along with 52 firearms and 5 thousand rounds of live ammunitions were expected to surrender to Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Mongla, the main seaport of Bagerhat, a south-western district of Bangladesh. In the age of click baits and social-media borne hoax, this act of his would certainly add his name in the history of journalism of this country but Mohsin certainly wasn’t lured by that fame.
Rather he wanted to help a bunch of derailed citizens and unfurl their circumstances to the system that considered them to be malicious; the public, being afraid of their activities, wanted them to be brought to book. They were the pirates and jungle bandits of the Sunderbans, the world’s biggest mangrove forest that contributes about 41% of total forest. Moreover, this ecological marvel is a treasure trove of non-timber forest products and plantations that help generate considerable employment and income opportunities for at least three million poor coastal people of whom about 2.5 million people regularly enter the forest for various economical activities.
He wanted to help a bunch of derailed citizens and unfurl their circumstances to the system that considered them to be malicious; the public, being afraid of their activities, wanted them to be brought to book.
Sadly enough, like the dark side of the moon, the ever-gorgeous forest had a vile truth hidden inside its heart: the existence of burgeoning numbers of bandits. To protect the flora, fauna and the forest as a whole, the government-appointed 75 foresters 186 forest guards and 421 boatmen for logistical support. It was obvious that those guards were no matches for 12 bandits and pirates who were equipped with assault weapons and fast boats capable of outrunning, even the Bangladesh Coastguards’ boats, let alone the forest department’s medieval row vessels.
Special Correspondent Jamuna Television
Mohsin was going to change those dynamics forever. His first visit to the Sunderbans was to cover the lives of the inhabitants after the coastal area was struck by Aila, a devastating cyclone that caused the deaths of 339 people in Bangladesh and India and left more than one million people homeless. As Mohsin was talking to people on how they were dealing with the aftermath of the calamity, he came to know about the stories of the pirates.
As he dug up more, he knew more about the gut-wrenching details of extortion, abduction, murder, loot, etc. committed by these pirates. He still remembers what one of his interviewees said during that visit: “We can recover from this (post-Aila hazards), but save us from the pirates.” Mohsin’s earlier pedagogy from a military school enabled him to dare to do something about it. Besides, he is more of an investigator with a knack for details when it comes to journalism. Upon returning to Dhaka, he approached the appropriate authority regarding the issue.
Sadly, as the government focuses more on the process and procedure than on result, it was not looking to be an easy task. So, being the desperado that he is, he took the long route to address the problem. With a ‘go-ahead’ from Late Mishuk Munier, the then CEO of ATN News, he decided to uncover the truth about the pirates and bandits of the Sundarbans.
By 2016, Mohsin had already visited the Sunderbans more than 100 times since 2009 for this single mission. He understood that only meeting them and getting them to surrender won’t be enough as it was a life-changing decision for them. So he befriended them, stayed with them and even lived their life. He was once even shot at by the coast guards who were unaware of his identity. While all these happened little by little, he earned the trust of these treacherous pirates and saw the humane side of their story. He unearthed that they had very little part to play in this on their own; in fact, they had to pay up to 60% of their looted goods to their Godfathers, who were behind the curtains posing as respectable members of the society, while these pirates were being blamed. Deep inside these bandits, were souls crying for a way out; they missed their home, their loved ones. They wanted to switch sides. They wanted a fresh start to life. Mohsin was a godsend that they’d never expected.
It is no easy process to facilitate and arrange a pirate’s surrender. Mohsin had months of preparation to make this happen. May 28, he reached the hideouts of Kader Master to facilitate the surrendering and get past any last minute jitters.
The initial challenge was to get hold of these bandits. As an enthusiastic reporter, he didn’t have any qualms to venture into the depths of Sundarbans looking for them, which was not an easy feat, as the ‘deep forest’ does not, by definition, have any civil amenities. In his own words, “The safest thing that will happen to you when you go in there is being pricked with various kinds of thorns.” No matter how sarcastic it sounds, that jungle is a haven for predators like tigers on land alongside crocodiles in the water. In short, if you see something that is moving, chances are that it is bigger and stronger than you and you’re most likely to be on its menu. To add to your miseries, the walking planes in the deep pockets of the Sundarbans, are very hostile, covered in deep mud. The lack of abundant drinking water makes life more miserable. On top of that, the risk of being abducted and held for ransom, or even being killed by the pirates was a challenge and threat that obviously could not deter Mohsin to embark upon this perilous journey.
Obviously, no one believed or took him seriously as he approached the law enforcement agencies at the beginning. Some of them even doubted him as he was representing the pirates. However, he kept on trying and finally came across Major Adnan Kabir of Rapid Action Battalion-8, also from a military school. Having a common alma mater helped them trust each other. In the meantime, Mohsin moved to Jamuna TV and with the clearance from higher authorities, he continued working on his story.
It is no easy process to facilitate and arrange a pirate’s surrender. Mohsin had months of preparation to make this happen. May 28, he reached the hideouts of Kader Master to facilitate the surrendering and get past any last-minute jitters. He even took a few of their (pirates) family members with him to meet them, to remind them of what was waiting for them on the other side so they stay focused. The official first-ever surrender of pirates of Sunderbans in the history of Bangladesh opened a floodgate and to date, Mohsin mediated the surrender of over a hundred pirates from eleven more groups namely Majnu Bahini, Ilias Bahini, Alam Bahini, Shanto Bahini, Jahangir Bahini, Chhoto Raju Bahini, Alif Bahini, Khokababu Bahini, Shagor Bahini and Noa Bahini along with 250 firearms and 15,000 rounds of bullets- to the government by April 2017.
“How did he do that?” one might ask. In his words, “I stayed true to who I was, what I could do for them, what I believed to be the right thing for them to do. I never once gave them high hopes, made any false promises, nor did I ever break any law. They once captured a deer for me to eat as it is revered as a delicacy but I refused to eat that and made them release the deer. Events like this made them respect me and have faith in me. Then little by little I convinced them about the pointlessness of their ways of life and reminded them of what they were missing at home. Their humanity took over from there and the rest was easy.”
For this amazing feat that he achieved, Mohsin refuses to bask in the glory and insists on the rehabilitation of the ‘fallen’ and getting to the root of the problem. In his praise for Mohsin and his team, the honourable Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said, “You have risked your life to go to the deep ends of the Sundarbans to get the stories of the pirates and managed to bring their lives back to normalcy. We thank you for your efforts and hope that you’ll continue to work like this in future.”
Words certainly fell short for this revered journalist who, besides the Sunderbans issue, has uncovered stories of human trafficking, poppy cultivation, smuggling and also on insurgent groups at Bangladesh-Myanmar border, on his own with little or no help from the authorities and administration. His relentless journey to usher changes in the lives of the pirates hasn’t come to end. “Currently there are new groups of pirates in the vacuum created by the surrender of the pirates,” he states. “If no one puts the Godfathers behind bars, there is really no point in getting the pirates to surrender as new groups will form to substitute the previous ones,” he asserts. Now, the inhabitants of Sundarbans are free from the clutches of the pirates; they no longer have to give their hard-earned money to them. The people of the coastal areas are waiting for this chapter of their lives to end. Sundarbans as a whole is on its way to becoming free of pirates with the growth of the tourism industry.