Dhaka - New Power Balance? by Nurul Kabir

Dear friends,

The following notes I made while in Bangladesh last month. I hesitate sending this to MuktoMona. Most of you already know of the situation in Bangladesh. However in the end I send this because I face the old foe � daily life in the USA, daily life with its mundane concerns, its petty routines. It inevitably erodes away a self that one brings back from a visit home. And I don�t want to let it win so very soon. Who among us has not had that heady feeling from being in the middle of it all back at home? The immediacy of the problems, the outrage, the fear, they all mingle with that lovely breeze, that friendly sunshine of spring, with the rush of early memories of childhood, the enveloping warmth of family and friends - and conjure a passion with events that is hard to keep up here in the USA. No doubt the person who lived those eventful weeks on the other side of the globe is different from the one who looks out today in blank meditation at the vast loneliness of the New England snow. That has to be so, but as many of you know, this separation of oneself is not something we acquiesce to without a certain sadness. Hence, perhaps, this posting. Dry and impersonal though the notes below are, they may yet bring back to some of us that familiar compound of joy and anguish: the visit home.

The material for this summary of February has been drawn from daily newspaper reports and personal interviews with, among others, journalists Shariar Kabir, Shameem Akhter, Abdur Rob of Proshika, Kazi Mukul and other members of Nirmul Committee, the ex-mukti joddha Shireen Banu and many, many, young activists of the 1971 Memorial library, Mirpur Branch, Dhaka.

All our friends in Bangladesh are happy to meet with expatriates and others who would like to know more about the situation at first hand. It is a wonderful experience to do so, as I try to say below. And let�s not forget � it is at least one victory against daily life!

In Solidarity,

Nurul Kabir

Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia

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Dhaka - New Power Balance?

The indications have been reaching us abroad in the more dramatic news clippings recently. They however do not prepare one for a stay in Bangladesh when one faces the fear in friends or hears the innumerable stories that are always the same. Nothing substitutes being there in person.

As we all know, the development over the last year or so is the prominence of the Islamists in the politics of Bangladesh. This trend has been brought to the fore recently by attacks on prominent secular people, including poets, intellectuals, activists and senior opposition party members like Mr. Kibriya. We may recall that these recent attacks were preceded by yet more widespread and intense violence against minorities for several years now.

Today�s change is the boldness and openness in which upper class people are targeted. It is intimidation of the general public raised to a new level, not just by the killings and death threats but by the many small displays of power by the Islamists, such as the introduction of the �Azan� inside the airport, or the recitation of the Quran at the inauguration of the 21^st February event. These latter are indeed tips of the iceberg, and there are many of them. The iceberg proper is the grassroots work done by Jamaat and Co. over the last 25 years and more that gives them unprecedented power today.

Efficiency of the Islamists

It is widely known that the Jamaat and their likes recruits wide and deep and nurture recruits all the way into maturity. Shireen Banu is an ex-freedom fighter and speaks out on the issues. She had incredible stories. Yes, of course she has received death threats recently, and once she personally had to confront some jihadists near Comilla who it seems were bent upon attacking her physically. She was convinced that none were more than fourteen years of age, all alike in their zombie like utterances. And after a passing discussion at Dhaka College where her son disagreed with some Islamists, they found out his address in a couple of days & were at her house armed with �books� for her son to read.

Now, the above were mere student supporters. The big boys, as we know, are the militias, and according to Government intelligence reports, there are over 15 Islamic militias operating in the country. Everybody knows about the New York Times report which attributed 10,000 armed men to Bangla Bhai, but according to Shariar Kabir the figure should be between 25 to 50 thousand men, just for this one group. It would not be a difficult accomplishment with the financial and support from patrons in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Their money goes a long way to provide incentive to a population of young people who otherwise have little to look to, and helps to establish them in society.

Support by BNP

Support by the BNP is part of the above efficiency. The Islamists were also at least indirectly helped by the Awami League, a substantial discussion in itself. By all accounts Islamists have infiltrated all levels of the administration. One need only follow the headlines of the newspapers to see the relation of the government to the Islamists. Till just some days ago the government officials (and their supporters) categorically & routinely denied the fundamentalist strain in the general violence. Then all of a sudden, on the 24^th Feb there was the admission that, oh! yes, Bangla Bhai/JMB and others were active for years, and �arrests� followed. The February 24^th issue of Daily Star shows the smiling faces of some of the arrested Islamists, including the notorious Dr. Asadullah Al Galib, a professor in Rajshahi University. (The Daily Star also details Dr. Galib�s Pakistani & Saudi contacts).

How ardent was the patronizing before the �arrests�? As an example of the level of government support for the Islamists, Prof Abu Sayed the ex-Information Minister, had had a press conference on his new book �Ogoshito Juddher�s Blueprint� (�Blueprint for the Undeclared War�) that outlines the Jamaat Party long term plans on the basis of their party literature. What does the government do? The very next day the police raided the author�s house and confiscated all the books. (A public death threat against the publishing house followed which went like: �We who want Islamic Revolution are not cowards and therefore we announce ahead of time that the owner will be killed and the Osmani publishing house will be wiped off the face off the earth�.�)

Admissions of Complicity

So why the sudden turn around? It was pressure by EU on all donor nations - who would have thought? One could see the progression of the moves by EU in the daily news reports - there is nothing hidden or inferred on this matter. I will spare the reader the details that are amply available in the newspapers of February. Suffice to say that on Feb 24^th miraculously the police found the bomb making materials, grenades etc which they couldn�t find all these years. All indications however are that this �crackdown� is a show for the benefit of the donor countries and that the Islamists will be released ASAP.

Nonetheless, the Islamic parties have expressed their dissatisfaction on the �crackdown� and one of their leaders declared �There is a conspiracy to prevent Islamic Revolution in the name of taming the militants, but the conspirators will not succeed.� (Feb 26^th Daily Star).

The Political Opposition

It is hard to believe that the AL actually wants to combat fundamentalism � its rhetoric seem to be merely a stick to beat the BNP with. Many suggest that the AL membership has been infiltrated by Islamists from the early days of their colluding together. Certainly the AL does not seem able to go beyond rhetoric against the government. It is widely seen as having missed opportunities to mobilize the public effectively. For example, tensions were high in Dhaka after the August 21^st grenade attack: for some days the govt was in fear of what people�s wrath would lead to. In principle the opposition should have been able to utilize that anger towards its avowed goal of toppling the government. But - nothing happened. There was no Ukraine. There were only the same calls for hartals, not for demonstrations. Hartals keep people indoors, a convenient situation for the government when tensions are as high as after the August 21^st grenade attack in Dhaka.

The People

Most do not support the Islamists. They see the Islamic groups as organized and efficient - and as something to be afraid of. Bangladesh has historically been secular, in the sense that people accept religion as a personal choice and not something to be imposed by the state. People also remember the genocide done in the name of religion in 1971, and of the participation by the Jamaat and other religious groups in the killings, rape and torture of 1971, the violence in the universities by the student wings of the last two decades, the attacks on minorities and the assassinations. People see the Islamists not practicing Islam but something else, an intolerance of viewpoints other than their own (which is really a political tool). Their use of violence and terror is because they can not convince people by reason, because precisely they have none. Nonetheless, they have �strategy�; they are clever in portraying themselves opposed to �Western values�, as their bombing of Valentine Day debate underline, and as the alternative to the main parties, one that is less corrupt and can ensure stability (after they themselves introduce sufficient instability!).

There has been and continue to be attempts by people outside of the political parties to organize. Most notable may be the �Oikko Boddho Gono Andolon� (Citizen�s Movement) that came to a head in 2000 and again in 2004. It was composed of people from all walks of life � workers, students, lawyers, doctors, farmers, rickshaw pullers � and in April 2004 massed 200,000 people in Dhaka. They however have been an easy target for the government, and they have not been welcomed by the political opposition, because such a people�s movement represents a true and democratic opposition.

Other longer term civil society bodies that are active include some cultural groups like Udichi and the Nirmul Committee, originally initiated by Jahanara Imam to expose 1971 war collaborators. Volunteers come together in a small office room in Mohakali, and they have a good network that reaches many remote parts of Bangladesh. They help in the rehabilitation of veterans and families of freedom fighters killed in the war, some of whom are reduced to abject poverty today. For some wives of the martyred freedom fighters working as maids in houses is seen as a good fortune. Nirmul Committee members regularly travel to remote areas to be in contact with such families and their supporters � in fact the most recent attack on Shariar Kabir�s life � reported as an �accident� - was when he and others were on a trip to assist some of the �71 widows. (Everybody in the car was badly injured, and one activist died of his injuries. The deceased, Pial, left a three month old daughter; there is a fund raising effort to help his family).

The Nirmul Committee has a long term perspective and has been trying to salvage our history and tolerant culture. They have been instrumental in establishing libraries in 40 upozillas and plan on a total of 500. These libraries counter the pull of the madrashas by providing much needed meeting space for young people who otherwise have no options for recreation (virtually no playgrounds, no scope for sports, or even to meet and discuss issues). They have general secular reading material and are staffed by local youth and respected elders. To maintain these libraries is a long term struggle. There has been one case where the library was ransacked, books hacked to pieces and thrown in the river.

Has anybody seen the film by Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine �Life of Averroes� or �Destiny�? Caliph Al Mansur in Cordoba under the influence of fundamentalists ordered all of the philosopher's books burned. This was the struggle in which Islam was being forced away from the tolerant enlightened religion that it was. The film is a light and a serious work and if you see it you will never forget it.

During my stay I visited one library in Dhaka�s Mirpur area, which has been threatened but is ably protected by the greater strength of the �parar chelye� (�boys of the neighborhood�). The library was no more than a small rented room in a house. Alhmiras stacked with books lined the room, the only other furniture being one long table with wooden chairs. That is all. Yet, everybody wanted to talk, everybody was thrilled to have a well-wisher visit. The energy of the young people there far outshone the modesty of the surroundings. I felt those young people - brave hearts and open minds - are the reason for hope in Bangladesh. For expatriates such as us, there is a choice - we can get to know and perhaps help such people, or we can stand aloof and let them resist alone the brute force that seek to imprison mind and country.