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Remembering Enayetullah Khan�s variegated life Published on April 02, 2006 A weekly newspaper editor and a controversial columnist named Mr. Enayetullah Khan died a few weeks ago. In the aftermath of his death a good number of people expressed condolences and highlighted his glorious role as a brilliant columnist in Bangladesh. Of course, he was a brilliant editor. But, it is really difficult to fathom out whether he used his brilliance in supporting and enhancing democratic processes for the progress of Bangladesh. After the death of a person like Mr. Enayetullah Khan, it is natural that people aligned with his philosophy will highlight his good side and will glorify his persona with some exaggeration. Those who are not philosophically aligned with him would remain silent and even would go to the condolence meetings arranged for remembering him. In general, people will deliver only good words to glorify an intellectual like Mr. Enayetullah Khan. In the case of politicians, especially those belonging to Awami League such as Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Taj Uddin Ahmed, et al., there are exceptions. They are not remembered by all by highlighting their positive contribution. Maybe, because they were politicians so they are subjected to critical evaluations by their opponents, even by those who claim to be neutral. In this respect, Mr. Enayetullah Khan should go through some critical evaluations because he was a politician who joined hands with two military dictators: Gen. Ziaur Rahman and Gen. Ershad. The martial regimes of Pakistan and Bangladesh created a group of pet intellectuals to advance their vicious agenda to discredit the pro-democratic civilian politicians and the conscious liberal intellectuals. To legalize their illegal takeover of power and their dictatorial proclamations under the rule of martial law, they used to hire a group of pet intellectuals and collaborators. In particular, the hired (Varate) intellectuals and politicians used to create confusion among the democratic forces, who were routinely subjugated by the brutal martial regimes. In particular, the pet intellectuals used to glorify the takeover of power of the fascist military rulers. To these hired (Varate) intellectuals, the killings, and conspiracies of the military regimes were justified. A case in point is the killing of Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the takeover of power finally by a military dictator named Ziaur Rahman. A jubilant and ecstatic Enayetullah Khan wrote after the death of Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and all but two of his entire family members. In his article, he expressed his relief in a cynical way on the death of Bongobondhu. In one place, he even resorted to satire and it hardly bothered him to ridicule Bongobondhu as an actor. He did not have a trace of humanly feeling for the gruesome murder of innocent individuals including children and a pregnant woman in the night of August 15, 1975. It was observed that people like Mr. Enayetullah Khan were waiting to get the benefit out of the military rule that eventually followed like a nicely scripted drama in the aftermath of the death of Bongobondhu. The Ray-ban clad military ruler, Gen. Ziaur Rahman, finally took over power after about three months of the death of Bongobondhu. He needed to hire a good number of so-called intellectuals/editors to strengthen his power base and give a civil face to his military rule. One of the hired intellectuals was Mr. Enayetullah Khan who was anxiously waiting in the wing to be called by the army despot. He became a minister under the military ruler Ziaur Rahman. The military ruler Gen. Zia wanted to establish the fundamentalist parties namely Jamaat-i-Islami, Muslim League, etc. in Bangladesh. These parties were banned according to the separation of religion from politics under the secularism principle of the constitution of Bangladesh. The hired scribes like Mr. Enayetullah Khan were the collaborators of the military regime to provide intellectual support for creating the present-day monster Jamaat-i-Islami of Bangladesh. At one point in time, he (Mr. Khan) was thrown out when the military dictator Ziaur Rahman did not find him useful anymore. The dictator Ziaur Rahman had this habit of throwing away or even killing people after using them for his purpose. An example is the arrest and finally the killing of Col. Taher by Gen. Zia after using him for ascending to the catbird seat of power. Mr. Enayetullah Khan later collaborated with Gen. Ershad when the people of Bangladesh were trying to get out of the nasty military rule. The opportunist Enayetullah Khan did not hesitate to shake hands and get benefit from Gen. Ershad. He was appointed an ambassador to China by the military dictator Gen. Ershad. In the past, he provided support to the pro-military regime of Pakistan. In fact, it is alleged that an agent of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the military rulers of Pakistan named Muhammad Aslam was made the executive editor of Holiday by Mr. Enayetullah Khan. The objective of this agent was to link up pro-Pakistani elements of Bangladesh with the Pakistan Intelligence service (source: "Facts and Documents" by Professor Abu Sayeed, page 66). This information was revealed sometime in 1973. At one point, Mr. Enayetullah Khan was arrested by the government at that time. But, he was able to get release using his influence. Like a chameleon, he changed his color and approached Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Mr. Enayetullah Khan even became an advisor to the President. According to his formula, the government regulated the media in the post-liberation period in Bangladesh under BKSAL. Mr. Enayetullah Khan again changed his color after the changeover of the government through the killing of Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members excepting two daughters. He wrote article criticizing Bongobondhu. He even wrote that Bongobondhu betrayed the people of Bangladesh. In fact, he (Mr. Khan) himself conspired and betrayed the people of Bangladesh by collaborating with the military dictators against the constitution and the democratic process of Bangladesh. However, none of his followers would talk about these episodes of infamy in their grief-stricken pieces written solely to glorify him. The only saving grace for Mr. Khan was the following conversion from Jamaat loving to Jamaat hating right before his passing away. Mr. Enayetullah Khan wrote an article on the recent rise of bomb attacks by the Islamic militants throughout Bangladesh while he was recuperating from operation in Toronto. He criticized the fundamentalist parties for the extremism of their underground cadres. Not too long ago, he harshly criticized those who correctly predicted that the terror activities of the militants in Bangladesh would accelerate as the days wore by. At long last, Mr. Enayetullah Khan finally (a few days before his death) realized the severity of the terrorist acts of the Islamists in Bangladesh. I wished Mr. Enayetullah Khan would have lived longer and wrote more aggressively against the Islamic terrorists, who were patronized and raised by the military governments of Bangladesh (that he supported and collaborated with) to redeem himself. Many of Mr. Khan�s blind supporters wrote that the departed editor was a brilliant analyst but they never pointed out that he often supported the wrong cause. For example, he was no lover of democracy when he aligned with two despotic regimes. Mr. Khan�s persona thus was filled with hypocrisy of which French playwright Moli�re said, "Being a hypocrite has marvelous advantages!" Late Enayetullah Khan indeed had many advantages over his compatriots. Related Post in MM :
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