Incongruity in Habib Siddiqui is a cause for concern Shabbir Ahmed

Incongruity in Habib Siddiqui is a cause for concern

Shabbir Ahmed

Published on April 02, 2006

In Bangladesh, the history of land grabbing date back to the period under British Raj. At that time, most of the land grabbing used to be carried out by the Zamindars in the village areas. They used to maintain pet armed forces, most likely lathial, to carry out the land grabbing acts.

There were instances when the forces of the Zamindars attacked and evicted small property owners from their homes in the dark of the night by force. Later, the Zamindars registered the lands in their names using their influences and installed one of their subjects on the property. After the abolition of Zamindari System through East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act (1950), the people in the village areas were freed from the tyranny of these high-class land grabbers.

However, especially, in towns and cities, a new breed of land grabbers gradually emerged under the influence of different godfathers, who could exert their political/economic influence upon the weak and docile law enforcement agencies of the government. Most of the godfathers themselves are the land grabbers. Recently, we came to know a case of land grabbing in Chittagong through different media.

This case needs some analysis because the victim is an expatriate Bengali named "Mr. Habib Siddique," who was very sensitive and reactive on any such negative issues (in Bangladesh) raised by others. In particular, like many others of his kind, he was concerned about the image of Bangladesh not too long ago.

It is indeed a bad news for him because he has gained painful experience after losing his paternal properties to the notorious land-grabbers of Chittagong. The story of this high-profile land grabbing was published in a weekly newspaper called "Thikana" (published in New York, USA) maybe a couple of months or so ago.

I became curious to read after seeing the name of Mr. Habib Siddique, a writer actively involved in protecting the image of Bangladesh as a tolerant Muslim country. I read a part of his recent interview published in News from Bangladesh. He mentioned in his interview about the total worth of his family property. It is about ninety crore real estate. Mr. Siddique did not disclose the source of such a huge amount of the real estate in Chittagong. Anyone can guess anything until Mr. Siddique reveals the source of such an exorbitant amount of (real estate) wealth his family was able to retain after maintaining all sorts of the expenditure in Bangladesh.

As indicated in Mr. Siddique's interview, the land grabber of his property is the son of a powerful "Politician." He did not mention the name of the "Politician" even though he met with him. He mentioned all other names but he refrained from mentioning the name of the "Politician." I think Mr. Siddique is afraid of even mentioning the name of the "Politician." What a cowardly approach from an outspoken writer like Mr. Siddique?

I remember his outspoken rhetoric against the writers (in Mukto-Mona and other forums), who used to criticize the goons of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-i-Islami for their heinous attacks including killing, land grabbing, raping, etc. against minorities.

In fact, he wrote voluminous articles to counter the criticism of the liberal-freethinking writers against the fundamentalist goons of BNP and Jamaat-I-Islami. In a letter to then moderator Mr. Rahul Gupta of Mukto-Mona, he wrote on the killing of Hindu priest Mr. Goswami as:

"As to making a big fuss about Hindu priest Goswami's murder (in Mayer Dak), I think it is an ignoble, criminal and politically biased propaganda to blame all such murders to a process of ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh never had and still does not have such a policy." (https://gold.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/ethnic_clensing_Bangladesh.html)

In the above link, Mr. Rahul Gupta mentioned only some of the incidences of torture. Nevertheless, in the same link, the reaction of Mr. Siddique can be read at the bottom of Mr. Gupta's short essay. In the aftermath of 2001 election, the fundamentalist goons targeted the helpless minorities especially the Hindus. Many killings and rapes were reported in the leading newspapers.

But the killing of a Hindu priest was "a big fuss" to Mr. Siddique as he wrote. It is true that the thugs of the fundamentalist alliance targeted the supporters, workers, and leaders of Awami League. However, these thugs specifically targeted the Hindus irrespective of their political affiliation. Even the goons of the fundamentalist alliance raped a Hindu girl who voted for Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 2001 election.

Unfortunately, a good number of people belonging to the minority community do not understand the communal character of BNP, which started the politics by allowing and integrating the killer Jamaat-i-Islami and other fundamentalist parties. People like Mr. Siddique tried to cover up the incidences of killings, land grabbing, and torturing of minorities just to protect the image of Bangladesh.

He also tried to divert the attention of the conscious people by finger-pointing many other incidences against Muslims in other parts of the world especially in India. To defend the crimes and torture unleashed by the goons of BNP and Jamaat on minority, he pointed his finger toward India as follows (in the previous link):

"Much that we deplore, I must also remind the fact that the sad event of targeted harassment during the last election in Bangladesh was no different than what many Indian Muslims had endured and faced during the election times in India. Violence against Muslims was and still is a routine thing so that Muslims vote for a particular party and not others."

(https://gold.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/ethnic_clensing_Bangladesh.html)

Mr. Siddique deplored the targeted harassment but gave some excuses citing similar incidences in India. Now, concerning Mr. Habib Siddique's land being grabbed by some goons, if someone says that it was no different from what many others endured and faced in Bangladesh and other parts of the world, then how he would have reacted. He surely wants condemnation on what happened to him and to his family unquestionably. Is this not a selfish and hypocritical expectation?

The forum of liberals and freethinkers of Bangladesh named Mukto-Mona took clear stand against the oppression of minorities (killing, land grabbing, harassment, rape, etc.) in Bangladesh under the patronization of the present fundamentalist alliance government of BNP and Jamaat-i-Islami. This forum came under Mr. Siddique's attack as it can be read in "Pakistan Link:":

http://www.pakistanlink.com/Opinion/2005/Jan05/14/09.htm

He criticized Mr. Jamal Hasan, Dr. Khurshed Alam Chowdhury, and all others in Mukto-Mona. He referred some of the liberal critics as apostates. Maybe with some satire, he called them Muslim neocons. Even he went as far as calling them "house niggers" and "cultural coolies." He wrote as follows:

"Many of these so-called Muslim neocons are actually fulfilling the task of "native intellectuals" (whom I have been calling - house niggers or cultural coolies - in some of my essays posted in the newspapers and Internet) in support of their imperial masters of our age. They are no different than the Rand Robots in ideology, but are more harmful than the latter, because of their namesake and somewhat familiarity with our people."

In the next paragraph, Mr. Siddique called them traitors and compared them with Mir Zafar et al. as follows:

"What every student of history knows is that it does not require too many foot soldiers to occupy a land and rule it effectively, as long as there are traitors like Jagat Seth, Umi Chand, Rai Durlabh and Mir Jafar that are willing to betray the masses and work for the colonizer. Muslim neocons are trying to fulfill that historical role. They should be identified and shunned by our people for the harm they bring to our community."

To Mr. Siddique, those who point out the root causes of fundamentalism, communalism, etc. in Bangladesh are traitors, cultural coolies, house niggers, etc. In fact, if I am not wrong, Mr. Siddique's land has been grabbed by the "Politician," who has been doing communal politics using Islamic fundamentalism, fascism, and communalism for a long time in Bangladesh in general and in Chittagong in particular. I think my guess is not wrong but I would not mention the name based on my guess only. Interestingly, the "Politician" in question is now at a higher level in power in the government as indicated by Mr. Siddique. The current fundamentalist alliance government elevated and empowered him next to the level of the present Prime Minister.

Mr. Siddique was so anxious for not embarrassing the fundamentalist goons now in power. He exerted all his energy to counter those who critiqued the communal government that empowered the fundamentalists and the communalists (even the land grabbers) of Bangladesh. In the name of protecting the image of Bangladesh, he served the interests of the fundamentalist coalition government. Now, a question to Mr. Siddique. Are his interviews and write-ups in the cyberspace and print media (about the land grabbing involving a powerful "Politician") increasing the image of Bangladesh? If not, then why is he doing all these?

I do not disagree on what he is doing but I am trying to expose the hypocrisy in Mr. Habib Siddique. At least, I think, he has learned some lessons at the cost of the crores of takas land property. These acts should be protested without raising any question. He was supposed to raise the protests along with others in the case of repression on minorities without finger pointing toward India and without attacking those who were protesting the criminal acts.

Instead, indirectly, he protected the criminals, who may have become the land grabbers of his own property. I hope he will refrain from attacking the protestors in the future based on the lessons he has learned. However, old habits die hard. Therefore, it is difficult to become hopeful about the consistency of the moral stand of people like Mr. Siddique. In all likelihood, when his family will be able to retrieve all the grabbed land, he probably will revert to BNP-Jamaat camp and then worry about the ï¿½Imageï¿½ of Bangladesh. Now his ire is on BNP-Jamaat Administration. But wait, it will be on secularists as soon his familyï¿½s nightmare concerning land grabbing is over. The million-dollar question is ï¿½ will he change forever?

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Dr. Shabbir Ahmed, a research engineer and cyber commentator, writes from Jacksonville, Florida, USA. He can be reached at [email protected]