Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 00:12:27 -0800
Subject: Minority cleansing in Bangladesh


Update on terrorism on non-Muslims in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is 90 percent Muslim.

Article forwarded from
  South Asian Journalists Association list, 1 December 2001

Minority cleansing in Bangladesh
By Hiranmay Karlekar

http://www.dailypioneer.com/secon3.asp?cat=\edit3&d=EDITS

Begum Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, must be grateful to 
the war in Afghanistan which continues to hog media attention the 
world over. Otherwise the large-scale atrocities on the minorities 
(Hindus, Buddhists and Christians) and the Fascist repression on 
political opponents and dissenters, continuing in that country since 
the general elections of October 1 which returned her Bangladesh 
Nationalist Party (BNP) to power with a massive majority, would have 
attracted worldwide condemnation. The situation is grim for the 
minorities. Terrorised by murders, rapes, looting of property, 
burning of houses, and assaults on a large scale, over 15,000 Hindus 
have already crossed over to the border areas of West Bengal. About 
100,000 more are reportedly trying to follow suit but are being 
hindered by police and para-military personnel ordered to stop them.

The Bangladesh Government has, of course, sought to play down the 
scale of the atrocities. In a recent statement in the country's 
Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament), the country's Home Minister, Mr 
Altaf Hussain Choudhury, put the number of those killed and raped 
over a period of 25 days at 266 and 213 respectively. While these 
figures are high enough, the actual incidence of the crimes appears 
to have been much higher. Governments invariably seek to understate 
the extent of violence and atrocities on all such occasions. On the 
other hand, the virtually token observance of the Durga Puja this 
year, which is normally celebrated with great fanfare, mirrored the 
terrorisation of the Hindus. Also telling is the Bangladesh High 
Court's notice to the Government on November 24 asking it why it 
should not be told to take proper steps to protect the minorities 
"from terrorist attacks and harassment." According to the 25 November 
issue of The Daily Star, a Division Bench of the High Court, 
comprising Justice MA Matin and Justice Mazharul Huq, which heard a 
petition filed by the NGO, Ain-o-Salish (Law and Arbitration) gave 
the government four weeks' time to explain.



According to a report in the highly-respected and widely-circulated 
Bangla daily Janakantha (The Voice of the People), the atrocities on 
Hindus this time exceeded in places even those inflicted on them 
during the liberation war in 1971. In a piece in the same daily of 
October 16, Bangladesh's greatest living poet, Mr Samsur Rahman, 
wrote, "It is a matter of regret that atrocities by terrorists on the 
minorities have been continuously increasing in many parts of 
Bangladesh, particularly in the muffosils, over several days. There 
have been repeated attacks; the homes of the minorities have become 
deserted. Women have been victims of rape. To save their lives and 
honour, many have been compelled to leave their homes and hearths 
with heavy hearts and embrace endless agonies with tear-laden eyes in 
the hope of finding refuge in India." (Translated from Bengali by 
this writer).

Mr Rahman clearly hints at the identity of the killers, rapists and 
looters when, later in the passage, he attributes the violence to "a 
few people, mad with the heady feeling of victory." They are 
supporters of the BNP and its allies, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and 
the Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ-Islamic Unity Alliance), which swept the 
hustings in the last general election. Several factors account for 
their violence. The JeI and IOJ are both fundamentalist Islamic 
organisations that seek to Talibanise Bangladesh and expel all Hindus 
from the country. The recent attacks, moreover, have to be seen in 
the context of the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist strikes 
against the Untied States which has created feeling of both pride and 
anger among a large section of Muslims in Bangladesh whose 
constituents were not followers of these parties until now. They are 
now trying to win them over permanently by creating a fundamentalist 
Islamic surge. Mobilisation to achieve such an end always requires an 
enemy, which helps to define distinct identities in black-and-white 
"us-them" lines and fan hatred along these. Hitler used Jews for 
that; JeI and IOJ are using Hindus. Hitler identified Jews with 
Germany's defeat in World War I and labelled them as agents of 
capitalists and Germany's enemies. JeI and IOJ blame Hindus for the 
break-up of Pakistan and accuse them of being Indian agents.

The Bangladesh Government has no doubt formed a high-level committee 
to inquire into the incidents of violence and report. Both Begum Zia 
and the Home Minister had exhorted Hindus to hold the Durga Puja in 
the same way as in the preceding years. In a victory rally, Begum Zia 
had promised to rebuild the famous Kali temple at Ramna, Dhaka, which 
was destroyed during the riots that followed the demolition of the 
Babri Masjid in 1992. Recently, she, for the first time ever, visited 
the Dhakeswari Durga temple and allowed the priest to put a tika on 
her forehead.

The explanation for the continuing violence and the consequent fear 
among Hindus lies partly in the inefficiency of the country's 
administration that was manifest during the Awami League regime as 
well, and that accounts for the high crime rate in many parts of the 
country. Partly, the BNP itself was initially not too enthusiastic 
about acting firmly because Hindus generally vote for the Awami 
League and strong measures to quell the violence might have created 
political problems for it. Though not a fundamentalist Party, it has 
a strong Islamic tilt. It was President Zia-ur Rahman, the party's 
founder and Begum Khaleda Zia's late husband and a brave freedom 
fighter himself, who, ironically, began the Islamisation of 
Bangladesh in 1978 through changes introduced in Bangladesh's 
Constitution. Besides, since Bangladesh's sizeable secular 
population, which had participated in the liberation struggle and 
were associated with the Awami League, were generally not inclined to 
support him, he sought to build a political base for himself by 
courting pro-Pakistan and anti-liberation fundamentalist Islamic 
elements.

Strong measures to protect the minorities would have alienated such 
people, particularly since the JeI and IOJ would have led a shrill 
campaign against it. The BNP, which has a sizeable presence of 
pro-liberation elements-including freedom fighters of 1971-which were 
disillusioned by the authoritarian tendencies Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 
began displaying after a couple of years in power, has, however, to 
take a stand sometime. The JeI and IOJ may have limited support at 
present, but help from Pakistan and the spread of fundamentalist 
sentiments in the wake of the Afghanistan war, may help them grow 
rapidly and pose a threat to the BNP itself-just as Hitler, dismissed 
as a political force in the 1920s, came to power in 1933.

To survive as a moderate Islamic party, the BNP must put the JeI and 
IOJ in their places and cultivate the secular and democratic elements 
in Bangladesh, many of whom, unhappy with the Awami League's 
performance in government, had voted for it in the last elections. 
Unfortunately, it seems to be doing precisely the opposite. This is 
most clearly underlined by the arrest on November 22 and the 
subsequent detention of the internationally respected writer, 
journalist and film maker, Mr Shahriar Kabir, on charges of 
anti-state activities. Mr Kabir, who had been active in the 
liberation war, is the Acting President of the Muktijuddher Chetana 
Bastabayan O Ekattorer Ghatak of Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee 
for the Actualisation of the Consciousness of the Liberation War and 
the Eradication of the Killers and Agents of Seventy-one) which has 
been tirelessly seeking to keep the legacy of the liberation war 
alive and fight communalism and Islamic fundamentalism. His 
incarceration, which many feel will encourage Islamic fundamentalists 
in the IeJ and IOJ, will alienate liberal opinion not only in 
Bangladesh but also in the West and many countries of Asia and Africa 
which are swept by strong feelings against Islamic fundamentalism 
following the terrorist attacks of September 11 against the United 
Sates. This will not help Bangladesh.


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