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Bangladesh
has become a den of intolerant troublemakers By Shabbir Ahmed Honestly speaking, my
motherland, Bangladesh, has become a very unsafe place for moderate people,
freethinkers, and intellectuals under the aegis of the present
government. A few days ago, it was reported that the goons of the ruling
parties attacked a notable politician, Dr. Kamal Hussain. Today
(February 27, 2004), the attack on Dr. Humayun Azad has become a news
item. According to news report from diversified sources, he has been
critically injured. As it appears, he is now fighting for his
life. He has been transferred from Dhaka Medical College Hospital to the
Combined Military Hospital. I�m sure that the physicians will try
their best to save the life of this eminent scholar and intellectual.
Bangladesh cannot afford to lose him. We don�t have many intellectuals
the like Dr. Humayun Azad. During the rule of the former
government under Awami League, the fundamentalist miscreants attacked Poet
Shamsur Rahman. The memory of that attack is still fresh in my
mind. He critically survived from the attacks. The investigation
was carried out at that time and the government showed serious concerns for
the attack on the eminent poet of Bangladesh. The newspaper reports
indicated that a number of the fundamentalist goons were arrested.
However, the present government has suppressed most of these types of serious
cases after assuming power. It was noticed that the then main opposition
party BNP including their partner Jamaat-i-Islami tried hard to downplay the
heinous attack on Poet Shamsur Rahman. They were even ridiculing the
grave attack as a staged drama. Unfortunately, they�re in power at the
present time. That is why they�re downplaying all the attacks against
the moderates, minorities, and eminent people of the country. This is
resulting in a serious sense of insecurity to the liberal and rational
thinkers of Bangladesh. These days, the government is
not only downplaying but also distorting the facts. The Home Minister
distorted the attack against Dr. Kamal Hussain by saying that the attacker was
none but Dr. Kamal Hussain himself. It�s a matter of grave concern
when the Home Minister of a country tries to cover up the attacks of the goons
by accusing an eminent personality like Dr. Kamal Hussain. The goons are
getting encouragement from the present government to attack the moderate and
liberal people of the country. As a result, we are observing relentless
attacks one after another. The intellectuals such as Dr.
Humayun Azad and late Dr. Ahmed Sharif were always under the Fatwa of the
fundamentalist Maulanas (clerics) of Bangladesh. Many times, these
disgruntle Maulanas associated with Jamaat-i-Islami issued Fatwa against the
liberal/rational thinkers of Bangladesh. They always encourage their
fundamentalist followers in meetings/gatherings to kill these
intellectuals. So, it isn�t surprising that one group of these people
conspired to kill a renowned intellectual like Dr. Humayun Azad. It�s
highly likely because these groups openly declare Dr. Humayun Azad et al. as
Murtads (apostates) and they try to incite their followers to kill them.
Unfortunately, these groups of people are sharing power now. They�re
downplaying these crimes continuously. It was possible that these types
of crimes could have taken place during the time of the former
government. However, there were serious concerns and serious efforts by
the government to bring the culprits into justice despite the cover-up of the
then opposition party BNP and their Jamaat-i-Islami coalition. Dr. Humayun Azad recently
wrote a book titled �Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad (the first line of the Pakistani
national anthem).� In this book, he criticized the role of the
Pakistanis and the pro-Pakistani collaborators during erstwhile East
Pakistan. All the fundamentalist parties collaborated with the killer
Pakistani regime at one time or other. Dr. Humayun Azad by exposing
their misdeeds has made them very angry. By a stroke of luck the
collaborators are ruling Bangladesh now. The goons of these fundamentalists
and the collaborators of Pakistan are attacking the pro-liberation and
liberal-minded intellectuals. All the pro-liberation political parties
should unite against the ruling pro-Pakistani fundamentalists and the
collaborators of Pakistan. The liberal people of the country should also
condemn the heinous acts of the fundamentalist goons even though the
government isn�t serious to root them out. How can they root out the
fundamentalist goons? After all, they are patronizing the fundamentalists by
sharing power with them. Therefore, the conscious people should raise their
strong voices and condemn the brutal attacks on an eminent intellectual like
Dr. Humayun Azad. -------------------------- Dr. Shabbir Ahmed writes from Naples, Florida.Published at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/15389 |
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