The chief of the military-backed government
of Bangladesh, Fakhruddin Ahmed, spoke before a gathering at the
campus of
Columbia University on September 28, 2007. The chief advisor came to
New York City a few days earlier to attend the general assembly of the U.N.
in which he gave a 15-miniute address before the dignitaries and the
permanent representatives of the comity of nations that make this
organization one of a kind world body.
Fakhruddin�s address to Columbia University�s
�World Leader�s Forum� caught the attention of many people because this is
the first time that the chief advisor came to the West after being thrust
into power by cantonment intrigue in Bangladesh. Also, the chief advisor
never did take any question from journalists in Bangladesh
despite the fact that he attended various state functions in many of which
he delivered only speech.
The silent force that is the purveyor of
Fakhruddin Administration does not allow the chief advisor to address the
press in an open forum. That is precisely why quite a few eager beaver
attended the lecture with the hope that they could ask him some pertinent
questions about the way Bangladesh is being run since January 12,
2007. Many civil rights activists also attended the lecture to get the
impression as to why about a quarter million people or so are rotting in the
jail without any charge, tens and thousands of poor people were made
homeless by the government�s forces alone in Dhaka, half a dozen senior
professors from three universities � Dhaka, Rajshahi, and Chittagong were
arrested and placed in jail as of this writing, and why the government had
arrested a twenty-year old cartoonists at the behest of Islamists in
Bangladesh. The other pressing questions that need explanation are � the
exit map for this temporary government whose 90-days tenure as per the
constitution had all but expired and how long the emergency rule will
continue in this �paradoxical� nation that is mired in hyper inflation, and
quasi military rule. Not to mention the military-backed government had
supported a faction of political leaders to engage in open politics when it
has squashed the political activities of the leading parties and whose
leaders are in jail pending litigation. Also important to many attendees of
the lecture is the issue of the up coming general election and the reform
process that should make a level playing field for all political parties.
I could not attend the lecture because I live
about 1,300-1,400 miles away from New York City; however, Mr. Jahed Ahmed,
who is one of the moderators of Mukto-mona forum, had attended the meeting
and I read his eye account report of the speech. Mr. Ahmed did a
superlative job in reporting the performance of Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed while
he took notes. I request the readers
to
peruse his report to know what Mr. Fakhruddin had emphasized in his
carefully prepared speech:
What I would like to do in this write-up is
to bring up the issue of one segment of his speech in which he said,
�Bangladesh is, in many ways, a paradox that has baffled many a pundit.�
This needs elaboration a bit. I have no idea in which context the chief
advisor categorized Bangladesh as a paradoxical land. Is it the
polity, its political leadership, or is it the people?
As I have alluded to earlier that Mr.
Fakhruddin Ahmed was thrust into the forefront of governance by a powerful
coterie of power. His purveyor � the military in my view is accountable for
making Bangladesh a paradoxical land. In August 15, 1975 the
military executed a plan that it hatched in Kurmitola cantonment. Since
then the military came to power not once but three times. All along the
way, it courted the mullahs (read Islamists) to consolidate its power. Lest
we forget, this tiny nation was formed in 1971 through a mass participation
under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tajuddin Ahmed, Nazrul Islam,
and many more like them. An estimated 3 million people were butchered and a
quarter million women raped by the brute and occupation army of Pakistani
government. The masses wanted a secular polity and they got one only to see
that only three and half-year later the military reverted the course of the
journey to transform this one-time vibrant society into a quasi religious
state.
In mid-September 2007 a vernacular newspaper
published an innocuous cartoon in which the twenty-year old cartoonist by
the name Arifur Rahman poked a fun at the naming of Muslim boys. The
Islamists twisted the meaning of the punch line and asked the government to
arrest the cartoonist and the editor, publisher and the whole shebang of
Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo. The Fakhruddin Administration could
have appointed a body of scholars to look into the content of the carton
before arresting the cartoonist. But to appease the religious fanatics the
government did nothing of that sort and it simply arrested the young man who
created the cartoon. The activist government then went further and arranged
a �Taoba� (forgiveness or pardon) ceremony with the mullahs asking
the law minister to be the middle man to carry out the fiasco in public.
The picture of the hapless editor seated among corpulent mullahs graced the
page of most newspaper. The secular segment of the society simply cringed
in feat thinking what lies ahead for this �paradoxical� land. In my opinion
the military-led government is making this country a nation of paradox.
The army appointed 10 or so technocrats,
ex-military men, and businessman to run the country of 150 million people
after January 11, 2007 over through of a caretaker government, which was
ordained in late October 2006. The country is essentially being run by a
group of oligarchs who have no connection to masses. Bangladesh
is still a village-based polity. These men are all city-bred and have a
serious disconnection to the people of the land. The Fakhruddin
Administration�s main agenda was to break the tradition of two-family driven
politics but to do execute its policy it appointed three oligarchs from the
same family. Is not it paradoxical? The military-led government said it
will arrest all the corrupt politicians but in reality it turned a blind eye
to quite a few politicians who are corrupt. The only reason these corrupt
politicians are roaming freely in the nation is that they are extending
their helping hands to tighten the noose around the neck of two supreme
political leaders. The government is also dictating these corrupt but free
politicians to wreak havoc in their respective parties. Initially the
government thought they could help catapult Dr. Yunus into the political
arena. The Peace Nobel laureate thought he could facilely form a political
party using the Internet and media but that was proven so wrong. The idea
of forming the party just withered in the vine and the oligarchs could do
nothing but twiddle their thumbs. Indeed, Bangladesh is
seemingly a nation of contradiction.
If I understand correctly by reading Jahed
Ahmed�s write-up on day�s event at Columbia University,
Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed talked about the success of poverty alleviation
program, food production situation in Bangladesh and the need for
good governance; however, he avoided those touchy issues as the arrest of
university professors and the young cartoonist. These questions were asked
but the chief advisor dodged the questions while he gave his glib answers.
I was saddened to hear that Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed did not even say word on
the arrest of Arifur Rahman, the jailed cartoonist. By remaining reticent
on this hot issue, the chief advisor had proved one more time that
Bangladesh is riddled with contradiction in terms of the governance.
The same Mr. Fakhruddin had given a fiery speech on February 21, 2007 in
which he urged everyone to join in to make Bangladesh a
knowledge-based society but that ephemeral plea just vanished in the thin
air. The hard reality is that the nation is now under the influence of
obscurantists who are dictating the government to efface the vestiges of
secularism. Isn�t that a glaring example of the paradoxical nature of
Bangladesh? If I may say so, Mr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, it is through your
action our motherland is becoming not only a hapless but an utter
paradoxical land. Instead of lecturing on it, please do something about it
so that in future this epithet could be kept �rest in peace.�
