It appears that “Sunita Paul” cannot help herself. Even after facing charges of plagiarism, she continues to plagiarize.
According to “Sunita Paul”‘s bio on American Chronicle, she is “considered as an expert of South Asian affairs, counter-terrorism and international relations.” However, when writing about militants in Bangladesh she plagiarizes published and copyrighted articles from Bangladesh’s leading English language newspaper, The Daily Star. There is of course irony in her stealing copyrighted content from The Daily Star and claiming it for her own because she has attacked The Daily Star as “evil” in her published work.
Now, to the latest case of brazen plagiarism from “Sunita Paul”. In an article published today on the American Chronicle entitled “Silent rise of Hizb Ut Towhid”, she plagiarized massively from two Daily Star articles. Almost the entire article is plagiarized, without any attribution, from these two articles. It is a stunning example of plagiarism.
The two articles from the Daily Star that she plagiarized from are from Daily Star’s series of investigative articles examining militant groups in Bangladesh. The first article, published on August 28, 2005, was written by Zayadul Ahsan and is entitled “Inside the Militant Groups-7: Profiles show them interlinked”. The second article, published on October 26, 2008, was written by Julfikar Ali Manik and Shariful Islam and is entitled “Tackling militancy gets tough for policy”. She plagiarized at least 5 paragraphs from the 2005 Daily Star article and 14 paragraphs from the 2008 Daily Star article.
To illustrate the plagiarism, take a look at the following three paragraphs from “Sunita Paul”‘s article from today:
The HuT chief, who left Bangladesh after the independence and returned in the ’80s, published a book titled “This Islam is not at all Islam” in March 1996, which the government banned on May 10, 1998. … Besides, there are several leaflets and booklets on the HuT ideologies and objective. Followers of HuT do not believe in democracy and traditional government system.
HuT activists use iron hammer and tobacco dust when they attack. They used a hammer to kill one Abdul Malek in Pagla Bazar in Fatulla, Narayangaj on September 26, 2003 when local devotees protested the HuT activities. Followers of this extremist group term Azan as “bark of dog” and do not say prayers in mosques. They consider Islamic greetings or Salaam as “bad practice”.
Mahbub Ali, Kushtia district HT ameer, has been working along with 40/50 activists. Sohrab Hossain Khan of Sakukuthi village in Gouranadi upazila of Barisal, an absconding accused of a murder case, has also been leading HT activities from hideouts.
Now, look at the original 5 paragraphs from the 2005 Daily Star article:
The HT chief, who left the country after the independence and returned in the ’80s, published a book titled “This Islam is not at all Islam” in March 1996, which the government banned on May 10, 1998. Ponni challenged the ban but the matter is yet to be resolved.
He also published some booklets and leaflets on HT ideologies and objectives. His followers do not believe in traditional government system.
The HT activists use iron hammer and gul (tobacco dust) when they attack. They used a hammer to kill one Abdul Malek in Pagla Bazar in Fatulla, Narayangaj on September 26, 2003 when local devotees protested the HT activities.
HT followers term ajan “barking of dog” and do not say their prayers at mosques. They never exchange salam (Islamic greetings).
Mahbub Ali, Kushtia district HT ameer, has been working along with 40/50 activists. Sohrab Hossain Khan of Sakukuthi village in Gouranadi upazila of Barisal, an absconding accused of a murder case, has also been leading HT activities from hideouts.
The paragraphs are lifted wholesale from the 2005 Daily Star article.
The plagiarism from the 2008 Daily Star article is even more blatant. “Sunita Paul” lifted, nearly intact, the last 14 paragraphs from the Daily Star article. To illustrate, I will show the first few plagiarized paragraphs below. The reader can examine the articles to see the totality of the plagiarism.
In her April 14 article, “Sunita Paul” writes:
For the last few years Hizb Ut Towhid has been carrying out secret operations in the name of ‘dawat’ in different parts of the country, especially in the southern region. In some cases Bangladeshi law enforcing agencies also arrested some activists of different Islamic organizations during their suspicious activities.
For instance, law enforcers arrested a few Hizb Ut Towhid activists in Bhola in September 2008 for their suspicious movement.
Commenting on HuT, an officer of Bangladesh Police said, “We’re closely monitoring their activities. The nature of their activities in Bhola suggests the organization might have some activities similar to those of banned militant organizations.”
He said the outfit seems suspicious as Hizb Ut Towhid’s activities have similarity with the activities and groundwork of banned militant organizations.
Now, examine the paragraphs from the 2008 Daily Star article that she plagiarized from:
For the last few years Hizb-ut Towhid has been carrying out secret operations in the name of ‘dawat’ in different parts of the country, especially in the southern region.
In some cases police also arrested some activists of different Islamic organisations during their suspicious activities.
For instance, law enforcers arrested a few Hizb-ut Towhid activists in Bhola in early September for their suspicious movement.
Superintendent of Police of Bhola GM Azizur Rahman told The Daily Star over phone that Hizb-ut Towhid has recently started its activities in the district.
“We’re closely monitoring their activities. The nature of their activities in Bhola suggests the organisation might have some activities similar to those of banned militant organisations,” Azizur observed.
He said the outfit seems suspicious as Hizb-ut Towhid’s activities have similarity with the activities and groundwork of banned militant organisations.
As you can see, the plagiarism is clear.
It is quite stunning that “Sunita Paul” continues to plagiarize even after being exposed on multiple cases of plagiarism. She continues to steal other people’s work. She is trying to claim to be an “expert” by stealing investigative work done by hard working journalists and claiming the work as her own. That is dishonest. That is fraudulent.
As Shada Kalo pointed out in his post, “Sunita Paul” claims she does not plagiarize and has never violated copyright. It is clear now, that in addition to being a plagiarist, she is a liar.
UPDATE The article on American Chronicle has now been deleted. It is still available on Google cache. The website ModernGhana.com (of all places) is also still hosting this article.
