Glorious past, sordid present and the ‘ugly internal conflict’

Although shooters could not win any gold medals from the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal last December -- the second time in Bangladesh's shooting history that they ended the regional showpiece without gold in the discipline -- the sport is considered one with the most potential to realise the country's dream of grabbing a first-ever Olympic medal. Unfortunately, the officials of the Bangladesh Shooting Sport Federation (BSSF) now attract more attention than shooters. Ugly internal conflicts have dominated discussions in the sports fraternity during the coronavirus pandemic, with the latest development being that the National Sports Council (NSC) started looking into the matter and asked the BSSF to stop all its activities barring daily work. In a multi-part story by The Daily Star's Anisur Rahman, we explore the discipline's glorious past, sordid present and how to improve the state of this dilapidated sport.

The reason there are such big expectations from shooting is simple.  Scintillating performances at international level, especially in South Asian and Commonwealth Games, fostered belief among sports lovers. The discipline is top when it comes to achieving results with 26 golds under their belt in the SA Games, nine more than the second-most-gilded discipline, swimming.

Before debuting at the SAF Games (now SA Games) in 1991, Bangladesh's shooters had already conquered previously uncharted territory as Ateequr Rahman and Abdus Sattar Nini grabbed gold medals in air pistol and bronze medal in free pistol events during the Auckland Commonwealth Games in New Zealand in 1990.

The shooters then showed their real potential by winning three, seven and five gold medals in three successive SAF Games in 1991 (Colombo), 1993 (Dhaka) and 1995 (Madras) respectively before a downturn from the 1999 Games in Kathmandu that coincided with reported conflicts among the BSSF officials.

Amidst frustrating international performances, 17-year-old Asif Hossain Khan came as a bolt from the blue and raised hopes further by bagging a gold medal in an air rifle event at the 2002 London Commonwealth Games. He repeated the feat in the 2004 SAF Games in Pakistan but vanished from the scene due to trauma after being physically assaulted by policemen in 2006.

Now, amidst the coronavirus halt, shooters from India have been practising from home through newly-devised online methods, with their federation helping top shooters set up target boards at home to best prepare them ahead of next year's Tokyo Olympics.

In Bangladesh, after spending nearly three-and-half months at home, shooters were interrogated by the Customs Intelligence & Investigation Directorate last month following an anonymous complaint that they had brought 'firearms' by evading tax and without custom clearance.

Unfortunately, no BSSF official came forward to help. Instead, BSSF officials allegedly attempted to use the opportunity to gain an edge over the shooters and other officials.

The federation higher-ups, especially president Nazimuddin Chowdhury and secretary general Inthekhabul Hamid, are reportedly at loggerheads and they are more keen on antagonising each other instead of implementing ways to keep shooters in training.

In August last year, BSSF president Chowdhury formed a three-member probe committee to find the truth behind 10 allegations made against Inthekhabul in three anonymous letters. The 50-page summary of the report compiled by the probe committee in eight months is now a hot topic in the sports arena, with former bureaucrat-cum-president Nazimuddin Chowdhury and well-established businessman Inthekhabul, also a board member at Hamid Group, in the centre of conversation.

The BSSF arguably ran smoothly till the late 90s, when Jalaluddin Ahmed -- who is believed to be the man who persuaded then president HM Ershad to allocate 3.5 acres of land in Gulshan for the shooting club -- was the general secretary. But he allegedly became embroiled in power politics and could not defend himself against allegations of misappropriating funds late in his tenure, an allegation the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigated after receiving an anonymous letter.

Since then, the shooting federation has gone through difficult times with five general secretaries in the seven years between 1991 to 1997. Most of them faced allegations of wrongdoing, while others had worse fates. Mir Doulat Hossain landed in jail, owing to the alleged influence of a government bureaucrat-cum-shooting official following a row in the federation in either 1992 or 1993.

Afzal Karim escaped that fate, although a probe committee was formed to quiz him about two missing revolvers and numerous bullets. A Chattogram organiser was also spared that fate despite allegedly selling the bullets in open market in 1999.

During the caretaker government in 2007-08, then general secretary Nazimuddin Chowdhury resigned, allegedly after single-handedly giving Pakistan a letter saying the BSSF had no objections to them hosting the 2008 South Asian Shooting Championships as the BSSF was eager for it ahead of the Dhaka SA Games.

The politics became dirtier day-by-day and some organisers continued to misuse administrative powers and many were surprised when the Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into irregularities in the BSSF account in 2010 turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.

But the truth is that the performances from shooters on the international area was really good at the time, even if they, too, were not spared.

Officials did not hesitate to suspend shooters if anyone protested. Commonwealth Gold medalist shooter Ateeque was suspended in 1998 after protesting against the officials' unethical practices while some national shooters were interrogated by customs officials at the airport over allegations of bringing 'fatal firearms' in 2011. SA Games gold medalist shooter Sharmin Akter Ratna was overlooked in the national team in 2013-14 due to her outspoken attitude against officials.

An organiser also stopped the BSSF's income source (Tk 1.17 crore per year in rent from one of the buildings of the Shooting Complex) by filing a case at the court in an effort to put the then executive committee into financial trouble. Lastly, the BSSF elected executive committee (2008-2012) was declared illegal in 2012 following another case filed by one of the current vice presidents.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a clean slate and rebuild shooting. Former skeet shooter-turn-organiser Inthekhabul Hamid took the post of general secretary in one-sided polls in 2012 and Nazimuddin Chowdhury was elected as president unopposed in the presidential polls in 2014.

The duo looked intent on modernising the sport and returning it to its halcyon days, but things would soon take a turn for the worse.