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A nation so
strange albeit with a bizarre mentality
By
Jamal Hasan
'
One may surmise that the
information
superhighway is like a double-edged sword. While Internet is
being utilized as a powerful tool to break age-old religious
dogma, its Midas touch can very well be exploited by would-be
Islamic terrorists who mastered the art of sending encrypted
messages with a very familiar method of up-linking. Lest we
forget, the perpetrators of September 11 tragedy successfully
took advantage of this modern invention with disastrous
result, to put it in milder terms.
For the last seven
years I had been an avid reader of a superb non-conformist
e-journal from
Bangladesh, the News from Bangladesh. During this period I
contributed my write-ups on myriad topics. The 1971 Bangladesh
genocide issue had always been the focus of my writings since
I am an unabashed pro-1971 activist. Even five years ago, I
remember that we had quite a few receptive readers who would
comment in the Readers� Opinion column about the need for war
crime tribunal, the need for Pakistani regime�s apology for
the crime they had committed in occupied Bangladesh, etc. But
lately, when I open the same Opinion column, I am not only
stunned I am totally dumbfounded. What is going on with the
new trend of Bangladesh born readers? Why not a single voice
among Bangladeshi Muslims wants to talk about 1971? Let us
take into account the last three four days�
postings in
NFB Readers�
opinion section. Four letters came from countries like
Austria, USA and UK. Three of the writers were women and one
was a man. But the comments about 1971 episode coming from
their computer keyboard were quite shocking! One lady wrote,
�Bangladesh can�t go with the inane discussion about 1971. It
has hardly produced any intellectual vigor into Bengali
culture.� Another lady lamented, �I want to stop creating
hatred between us over 1971.� A cavalcade of ladies comes in
the forefront to denounce discussions on 1971. The other
individual of fair sex commented,
�We
know your are all hung-up over 1971 and all that.� Of course
man should not be left out of this unique cacophony. One
gentleman felt the urge of giving his vacuous opinion by
saying, �1971 means little to me just as the World War I and
WW2 mean little to the generation before me.� What a banal
comment!
Who are these people? Where they all are coming from? Are
they the perfect example of a Munafeq (treacherous)
nation? Or, are they so much Islamized that they do not want
to discuss the name of an in-law, in Bangla whom we call
Bhashur? Remember, most of these individuals came to the
West in search of greener pasture where they live now but they
fail to see a la proverbial ostrich the on going debates the
westerners have to dissect the past mistakes or tragic events.
The West is making a conscious effort to make morrow a better
day. Yet, why are they (the Bangladeshi expats) so much
nonchalant?
There are different
theories for this sordid state of affairs. One theory some
analysts say that this happened due to heavy dosage of
Islamization in
Bangladesh in their formative years.
Some
analysts would argue in the realm of political Islam, if a
Muslim becomes a vicious killer and killed another Muslim
there is scope for forgiveness. That is not so in case of
infidels versus Muslims, though. So, the 1971 Liberation War
and the crime against humanity perpetrated by Yahya junta and
theirs Jamaati cohorts is now diluted to be like a friendly
wrestling match between two Muslim brothers. That is why 1971
appears to be like a World War I to some Bangladeshi Muslims,
which happened eons ago.
We can cite many
examples where genocide issue is still very much alive in
civilized nations� collective psyche. For example the
Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Sultanate more
than 113 years ago. [http://www.cilicia.com/armo10.html]
[http://www.armenian-genocide.org/]
Even
today, Armenian Diaspora scattered all around the globe keep
the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims alive. In
USA, the Armenian-Americans became such a powerful lobby that
they can influence U.S. Congress in decision-making. Armenian
Genocide issue is a widely talked about subject in U.S.
Capitol. Already
the very significant lobby of the Armenian Diaspora initiated
a number of U.S. Congressional Hearings on Armenian Genocide.
I am very much aware of the activism of this very proud
nation. I have serious doubt
if a single
individual of Armenian descent would ever comment anything
close to an outrageous remark by Bangladeshi Muslims as
displayed in the Readers� Opinion page of NFB.
Yes, the situation
in
Bangladesh is extremely in dire strait. Two Islamist military
dictators changed the course of the nation to Ummatic
Utopia. That is why, as time goes by, Bangladeshi Muslims are
becoming more and more intolerant and communal. In an
Ummatic worldview, all crime committed by a Muslim brother
has to be forgotten. That is why crime against humanity
committed by Jamaat-i-Islami war criminals has become a taboo
subject amongst Bangladeshi Muslims. But should the Jamaati
criminals get off the hook from international public opinion
so easily? They are the perpetrators of crime against
humanity. Still
now, many of the victims are alive who can testify against the
criminals. Their misdeeds can still be traced in various
documents scattered all around the world. [http://members.tripod.com/scohel/page42.html]
If we look into the
history of genocidal maniacs or mass murderers worldwide, we
may find a few examples where the criminal admitted his or her
crime and showed remorse. A few years ago one military guard
in
Chile expressed his deep regrets for killing innocent people
in a stadium. We also see examples where offspring of killers
admitted their parents� crime openly and expressed deep
regrets for the victims. A few years ago, ABC News� Nightline
program showed a group of visitors from Germany who were on a
tour in Israel. They were the children of Nazi officers. We
know, unlike Bangladesh, Israel is a nation, which cherishes
the memory of Holocaust victims greatly.
The
German visitors on the record expressed their emotional
outburst for the crime their forefathers had committed some
sixty plus years ago from now. They even apologized to the
Israeli people. Could this ever happen in Bangladeshi Jamaatis
case? It is most unlikely. Maybe pigs will fly if Delwar
Hussain Sayedee or Ashrafuzzaman Khan will say they are sorry
for they killed or were instrumental in killing many innocent
civilians.
In political Islam,
there is no scope for such remorse when it is well established
the killer committed the crime to save Islam. The war
criminals of
Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami were convinced whatever killing
they did was to save the religion of peace. They believe in
the axiom �end justifies the means.� In 1971, their
conviction was to save Jinnah�s Pakistan, which was analogous
to saving Islam. They wanted to save Pakistan by hook or by
crook. So, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who killed seven Dhaka
University teachers in cold blood in December of 1971, could
have a sound sleep in his modest house in Queens, New York.
Such is the result of a dogmatic mindset! [http://www.satribune.com/archives/dec30_jan05_03/opinion_zaman.htm]
Let me
go back to the
young generation of our native land once again. I mentioned
in the beginning a few individual�s strange psychological
outburst on the pages of NFB. In my opinion they are the
product of a dogmatic political entity. Today�s
Bangladesh Nationalist Party is not a secular nationalist
organization. It has been hijacked by the nemesis of
Bangladesh liberation - the notorious Jamaat-i-Islami party.
No wonder an average BNP supporter would be very defensive of
Jamaati war criminals. In this case, I want to make a parallel
with the September 11 hijackers. The 9/11 hijackers did not
have remorse knowing that their action could result in
numerous losses of civilian lives. Similarly, the defenders
of Jamaati war criminals would not care if someone describes
them the gravity of the crime committed by their favorite
godfathers. Their immediate attitude would be to push the
issue under the rug. They do not want to be hung-up over
1971, do not want to go with inane discussion about 1971 or do
not like to create hatred between them over 1971. Now, the
question arises about the hatred between whom? If a serial
killer kills 12 people, even after 20 years the perpetrator
gets the punishment. Isn�t it so? Today the Roman Catholic
Church in USA is facing a serious financial melt down. This
is due to the paying for litigation of a number of Catholic
priests� pedophilic behavior. Many of those crimes were
committed more than thirty years ago. In Bangladesh�s case,
the Jamaati apologists become very nervous when somebody wants
to expose the dirty laundry of their religious heroes.
I had no idea that
Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-i-Islami are now more
than a conjoined twin. I did not have any idea that BNP is
like the sugarcoated cover of a capsule and the
Jamaat-i-Islami is the main bitter ingredients until I
encountered an interesting fellow on the Net. This person
like many other Bangladeshis are openly BNP activists who
would jump to defend Jamaatis in a second. This is a very
unique situation. I doubt if a typical Awami Leaguer would be
any degree defensive for Rashed Khan Menon�s Worker�s Party or
Dr. Kamal Hossain�s Gono Forum. Anyway, going back to the
young gentleman who claims to be non-fundamentalist and a
follower of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Two years ago, I
used to post messages in different forums, some of which were
critical of Jamaati war criminals. Once I put a short comment
about the notorious war criminal Abdul Kader Molla who was
planning to visit
USA. This is the same Kader Molla who was alleged to be the
ringleader in killing innocent Bengalis in Mirpur area. [http://members.tripod.com/scohel/page42.html]
This young man, a PhD student at a prestigious Ivy League
college in USA jumped from nowhere and attacked me viciously,
of course on the Net. First I was surprised to see the person
lives in USA and apparently did not look like a typical molla
(his image was very much visible on his website). I did not
understand why he had to be so much defensive about a mass
murderer! I did not realize the person is a die-hard
supporter of BNP/Jamaat-i-Islami. I was far from being aware
that Bangladesh has become enough Talibanized nowadays. I
then became more and more interested in knowing more about
this apparently modern young man from Bangladesh. He is a web
maker and I visited the site he used to advertise in all his
postings. When I first visited the site, I was startled. It
was a unique creation. There was sound animation, cartoon and
the whole nine-yards. Nonetheless, there was an interesting
slant in content management. The characters he chose to
caricature are not known to be Islamic fundamentalists, nor
any of them had any reputation of being war criminals. Rather
quite a few of the subjects gained fame to uphold the causes
of Bangladesh Liberation War.
More surprisingly, the website had a computer game which
allows the players to �kill� Indian Border Security Force
personnel. I thought this could be an ideal creation of a
typical young Bangladeshi whose hatred towards India (read
Infidel) is so much so that they hate anything and anybody
dealing with �embarrassing� 1971 genocide issue. After all,
the 1971 issue cannot be a part of any Ummatic mindset. The
web maker and I recently communicated. We had quite a few
lengthy exchanges. In some of my communications I tried to
feed him information about the crime committed by Jamaati war
criminals. Later
on, I realized I was talking to a wall.
Bangladesh has been a breeding ground of confused young
generation who does not want to listen anything derogatory
about Jamaati leaders, who are in great reverence. In
this context one
Bangladeshi Ummah watcher sarcastically commented, �If
Jamaatis were Hindus or Jews, I bet my bottom dollar, most
young die-hard Islamists would curse them to the hell�. I
thought maybe he is right.
The mindset I have
been witnessing among young Bangladeshis is symptomatic of a
sickening state of mind. With each passing day, the country is
proceeding to another step towards darkness. Death threat
against liberals by the Islamic fanatics has been jumping up
in geometric progression. In a sense,
Bangladesh is becoming an emerging neo-Taliban factory. The
secular voice is becoming marginalized. Once dominant, the
secular people are now laughing stock amongst young
generation, who are becoming more and more religious zealots.
Anybody who wants to raise the war crime issue of 1971 is
taunted as a �Chetonized� person. Such sick nation is
sending young people abroad. Many of them came here to stay
in Western countries for the rest of their life dreaming of
settling in those infidel lands someday.
But
will they ever change their infirm mindset or would they
driven by their Ummatic zeal continue to be a security threat
in their adoptive lands, is everybody�s guess. In the
television advertisement to get more funding for Black
universities the slogan says, �Mind is a terrible thing to
waste.� Now I see what has happened to zillions of post-Zia
generations. Lord have mercy on them.
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Jamal Hasan writes
from
Washington DC. His email address is
[email protected]
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