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Who patronizes the extremists in Bangladesh? Published on April 02, 2006 As of this moment, Bangladesh is
going through some rough weather after the recent spate of bomb blasts in
all but one district. A good number of people are now expressing their
concerns after about more than five hundred bomb blasts throughout
Bangladesh. Many of them expressing their concerns were very much in denial
for a long time. For reasons unknown to me, they chose to disregard what the
fundamentalists were saying and what their present government in power was
doing to protect them. The present growth of the fundamentalists throughout the country is the result of the indifferent attitude of the good number of educated Bengalis living both inside and outside Bangladesh. In fact, the leading section of expatriate Bengalis even tried to undermine the efforts of those who were in the forefront to express their concerns on the ominous growth of the criminals under the patronization of the present fundamentalist coalition government, consisting of the well-known Islamic extremist parties such as Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Islami Unity Council (Islamic Oikko Jote or IOJ). The overall attitude of the defenders of the present regime and the �Image Conscious� expatriate Bengalis helped the cancerous growth of the Islamic extremists on the soil of Bangladesh. Especially, the �Image Conscious� defenders of the coalition government gave protection by denying the crimes of the Islamist and the semi-Islamist cadres/workers of the fundamentalist parties. These groups of people used to be critical to anyone writing or saying freely about the existence of the Islamic extremists in Bangladesh. They used to be ultra conscious for the image of Bangladesh. In fact, they were conscious about the deteriorating image of the fundamentalist coalition government under Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), JI, and IOJ. They penned serious articles to protest against the writings of Mr. Alex Perry of Time Magazine, Mr. Bertil Litner of Far Eastern Economic Review, and Ms. Eliza Griswold of New York Times. But, now the Pandora�s box has been opened by the Islamic terrorists through their terrorism in the whole of Bangladesh. It is true that without getting any real resistance from all sections of Bengalis, the present government became very much bold in carrying out unethical and illegal acts. They not only released on-trial Islamic terrorists but also let loose convicted criminals. For example, just recently, the present law minister of the coalition government Mr. Moudud Ahmed helped release a double murderer by the name Mohiuddin Jintu through presidential pardon in collaboration with the Prime Minister, Mrs. Khaleda Zia. The convict is a BNP leader. He met the Prime Minister and the law minister abroad and got assurances for this pardon. In essence, the PM gave this high profile criminal impunity. This is the sad state of affair in present-day Bangladesh. Look how things work out in the country. The convicted killer came to Bangladesh from abroad and went to jail without any fear for his execution. He applied for mercy to the president. The law minister hastily gave notes to the president to expedite the approval of the mercy for the convicted killer. The double murderer Mohiuddin Jintu was pardoned within a few days while two other convicts were executed earlier for the same crime. The president even did not dare to pay heed to the charge of double murder against the convict. Like a robot, he pardoned the criminal. The president acted like a sixth-grader and did not question the impropriety that surrounds the Jintu affair. The president�s conscious did not work a bit and he acted just blindly to protect his party cadre/leader. By pardoning a criminal, the law minister, the prime minister, and the president actually encouraged the other criminals allied to the government. In fact, the Islamic militants in Bangladesh got similar messages in all the past years since the present fundamentalist government came to power. The governments under BNP in the past and now had released so many criminals that one will simply get tired to count them. With a political motive, the military dictator Zia pardoned convicted killers of the seven murders that took place in Dhaka University in 1974. With the same motive, the dictator even gave indemnity to the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, of his family members, and all those who died in 1975; for this to happen through constitutional amendments, Gen. Zia had to rely on a bunch of constitutional lawyers in Bangladesh. There is no dearth of sycophant barristers in Bangladesh. If my memory serves me right, Barrister Ishtiaq who is highly touted in Bangladesh as an epitome of scholar also did his part to appease the despotic ruler in 1975-1976. Basically, the RayBan-clad military dictator, Zia, wanted to ensure the protection for the killers. His wife Mrs. Khaleda Zia is also following in her husband�s footsteps. Her government gave indemnity to those who killed during operation clean heart with a view to keep her source of power happy in Bangladesh. All these examples indicate that the government under the forces of BNP and their allies is not at all interested about ensuring justice if it does not bring political benefit for them. The terrorists who are ideologically
aligned with BNP-Jamaat-IOJ clique did the recent spate of bomb blasts.
Naturally, the government would not want to take any step to disturb their
precious vote bank. The founder of BNP, the military dictator, created this
vote bank Ziaur Rahman himself. With time, the strength of the
fundamentalists in creating terror has increased by manifolds. They have
been encouraged through various actions of the government now in power.
Already, the reports in newspapers (The Daily Janakantha, The Daily Jugantor,
The Daily Star, The Daily Prothom Alo, etc.) are out that reveal the
reluctance of the government higher up to take action against the real
perpetrators of the recent terrorist acts. It is reported that the
terrorists belonging to Jamaat-i-Islami and their student wing have been
released and exonerated from any interrogation. Even warnings have been
issued by the government higher up not to arrest any cadres belonging to the
government parties, especially JI and their student wing. The newspaper
reports (Bangladesh origin) now indicate that the BNP-Jamaat and Jamatul
Mujahidin cadres are working jointly in many places in Bangladesh. Many of
the terrorists are connected to the government higher up, for which the law
enforcement people cannot even ask them a question, let alone issuing a
warrant for an arrest. Therefore, the defenders of the present government
and the �Image Conscious� Bengalis should wake up from their long slumber.
We certainly do not want to project the image of Bangladesh as another
Afghanistan. We should protest against the patronization of the terrorists
by the government under BNP-JI-IOJ. ---------------- |
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