The metamorphosis of Prof Taj Hashmi
Published on April 01, 2006
According to his own autobiographical notes (as appeared in his responses on NFB and elsewhere) , Prof Taj Hashmi, a professor of history at a Canadian university, in his earlier life, went through a political metamorphosis.
From a zealous Bengali nationalist student leader (who else would take such a drastic and dramatic action as hunger strike for the release of the accused of the Agartala Conspiracy case?), and a �die-hard supporter, admirer and a fan� of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he turned into a fanatical Mujib-hater and avowed antagonist of Bengali nationalism. This is clear from the foul language and venomous rhetoric he used against Shekh Mujib and his Party, as the professor described the Mujib era in response to Musa Sadik�s article and Shabbir Ahmed and others� rebuttals.
When a sitting professor of history in a western institution of higher education needed to cite a coarse, insipid and vulgar �Satanic joke� to illustrate his disapproval of the most important figure in the history of Bangladesh, one can see how far this process of metamorphosis of a scholar has gone.
His comments about some of the vital historical events in Bangladesh as enunciated in his rebuttals do not reflect the mind of a scholar of Bangladesh studies but that of an anti-Mujib political worker of a street variety.
After some 30 years, a scholar of Bangladesh history in addition to his description of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a �megalomaniac, inefficient and confused �leader---would add at least some of the following historical facts to give a proper perspective of the period :
(1) That Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave up the all-powerful position of the President created by the Proclamation of Independence and chose to become a Prime Minister instead on the 12th of January, 1972, and his government wrote and implemented a Constitution within a year.
(2) That on that date, Bangladesh was a territory recognized as a country by only India and Bhutan. It took several months for most of the Western countries� recognition, about a year for most of the Muslim counties, and two and a half years for UN recognition.
(3) That the entire communication infrastructure of the country was shattered, all the airports were damaged, both the sea ports ( Chittagong and Mongla) were blocked by sunken ships, all the major railway and highway bridges like, Hardinge, Bhairab, Shambuganj and others ( along with some 3000 minor bridges and culverts) were badly damaged or destroyed , rail lines were uprooted in many places, most of the BRTC buses and IWTA river boats were damaged and found scattered all over the country.
(4) The civil and police administration that served the Pakistani military regime during 1971, was all but psychologically shattered, many did not join their positions till months later, most were confused, apprehensive and some were either overzealous or non-cooperative---and many changed their mind and became anti-Mujib--possibly like Professor Hashmi did on the 10th of January.
(5) That many of the over 9 million refugees were without a home and general necessities and needed govt help to resettle.
(6) That the government treasury was empty and there was no ministry like foreign or trade or planning and defense ( beside the minuscule government from Mujibnagar).
(7) That the country was literally full of armed groups : over 200,000 Mukti Bahini guerrillas , Kaderia Bahini and several other regional armed groups, armed cadres of many of the political parties ( mostly leftists), and about 100,000 Razakars and escaped Pakistani para militia and military.
(8) That about 75% of the industrial units were abandoned by their non-Bengali owners along with most of their management and technical expertise and any running cash.
A professor of Bangladesh history would not only notice the �killing instinct of Sheikh Mujib� as Professor Hashmi wrote, but also the fact that despite use of the �Gestapo� Rakkhi Bahini, the Lal Bahini, the Student League and all the other Awami goondas, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ended up killing in three and a half years only ONE opposition political leader of any significance, the darling of all Mujib-haters, Comrade Siraj Sikdar ! ( While the followers of Siraj Sikdar and Sirajul Alam Khan killed 5 Awami League Members of the Parliament during that time).
Contrast this with a band of hired killers, trained by the same master sergeants(those who also trained the Al-Badr and Al-Shams in Bangladesh and Talibans in Afganistan) managed to kill almost all the top leaders of Awami League, and then some of the leading heroes of the Liberation War--- Gen. Khaled Musharraf, Col Huda, Col Haider and Col Taher ( hanged later) within a span of several months.
Before writing that �all the newspapers except three were banned�, a scholar of Bangladesh would also note that newspapers were free to print almost anything for over three and a half years and the ban came in June, 1975, a month before the killing. One only needs to open the old copies of papers like Gonokantha or Holiday to see how the government was criticized using vitriolic and hateful languages like that of Prof Hashmi .
A scholar of history would not only mention that there was a crowd of million on the 7th of November who greeted the sepoys---but also wonder where and why did they vanish the next day and the day after and the day after that ! He would take note that there was a �one day� of revolution and procession, and then a prolonged period of a complete ban of any procession.--and decade long night time curfew.
In fact, any objective historian would see that there was no revolution in November, 1975, but there was a bloody and bitter power struggle between the contending generals. Once Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed, the Bangladesh military knew that the power belongs to them, and the only question remained --who would occupy the throne. In this struggle--some like Zia won for his shrewd and brutish political moves and became a super patriot, others like Khaled Musharraf and Taher lost for their indecisiveness and incompetence and became traitors ! What an irony---Taher lost a leg and Khaled died with a piece of sharpnel in his brain --all for the war they actively participated, and the hero of the �revolution� became the one who managed to stay away from the direct action of the war !
A scholar of Bangladesh history would not only mention just --�the murder of Sheikh Mujib and the family�, or �Mujib was gunned down� as Prof Hashmi wrote, he would also note that the killings of 1975 was the most barbaric political murders of all times ( I challenge the professor to find a parallel in history---where all the available members of the extended family of the ruler including women and children were murdered in cold-blood in the darkness of the night) . Even As-Saffah( the Blood Shedder), the founder of Abbasids, reportedly killed all the male members of the Ummayad ruling dynasty, and the Bolsheviks executed the Czar and his entire family after a trial many months after the revolution.
The following two points would further show the banality of Professor Hashmi�s comments about the early history of Bangladesh and show clearly that he speaks -- more like a partisan political worker rather than a scholar of Bangladesh studies :
(1) About 7th November�s so-called �sepoy-janata� revolution, Dr Hashmi reacted sharply when Shabbir Ahmed described the celebrating crowd as --�bearded� or� tupi-clad� Islamists . He rejected Ahmed�s position categorically.
A few lines from the book, TINTI SENA ABBHUTTHAN by Col M. A. Hamid would show where our professor stands.
Under a section , titled, People�s celebration in Dhaka City , Col Hamid wrote:
�We went out on a jeep to see the situation of the city. We went up to Shahbagh corner amongst cheering crowd---We could not proceed further to the front of the High Court (due to heavy crowd) . Thousands of dancing people surrounded the jeep with the cry of �Alla-hua-Akbar�---------- -----------
I noticed one thing, most of the crowd were Islamists ( 'Islampanthi'--Hamid's word). They were continuously shouting---�Naraye-Takbir---Alla-hua-Akbar. I did not see any Jasod supporter in the crowd---� (page-147)
Anyone who read Col Hamid�s book would know that Col Hamid was a class-mate and a close friend of Gen Zia and was an enthusiastic protagonist of the sepoy-janata revolution and he was no friend of Sheikh Mujib or Awami League.
(2) In order to emphasize the point that some high ranking Awami Leaguers were with Khandker Mushtaque, Professor Hashmi mentioned the name of Mohiuddin Ahmed, (Mushtaque�s emissary to Russia)--in the following way :
� How leading Awami League leaders like Malek Ukil and Mohiuddin Ahmed ( Muslim League goonda in the 1950�s , known as Pistol Mohiuddin in greater Barisal---etc)----�
This paragraph clearly shows how callous and careless our distinguished professor of history is about facts, and how indifferent and ignorant he is about his hated political party, Awami League. The fact that the so-called �Pistol Mohiuddin� and the emissary Mohiuddin Ahmed (who was a prominent NAP(M) leader before he joined Awami League) were two distinctly different persons , is probably known to most readers. Both of them happened to hail from Barisal and confusion is understandable in a layman. But when a certified scholar of Bangladesh history gleefully identifies a �goonda� (according to him) as another prominent leader ---one can see at what level the mind of a Bangladeshi scholar operates nowadays.
That is the tragic outcome of a psychic metamorphosis !
Franz Kafka, in his famous story, �Metamorphosis�, portrayed the tragic story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, who overnight turned into an insect to the utter horror and dismay of his family.
We are also mortified at the tragic mental metamorphosis of a distinguished Bangladeshi professor of history.
===========================================================Dr. Bilayet Hossain writes from Oklahoma, USA. He can be communicated through [email protected]
