The Pakistan army and Islamic paramilitary forces raped many girls and women.  Most of the religious leaders or Maulnas were the patrons and supporters of the killers and the rapists.  Many of them were even the perpetrators of all these heinous crimes.  At that time, I even heard them saying in Mosques that the proper actions by Pakistan military against Hindus helped protect Islam in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).  The Pakistan army and theirs allied religious forces captured Bengali girls and women mostly from the minority Hindu community.  Many army officers captured the Bengali women to keep them as “pleasure girl.”  Most of the Mullahs justified these types of acts as Mut’a marriage (temporary marriage) approved by Islam.  To them, it was perfectly okay because the Muslim Pakistan soldiers and their allied religious forces rescued Pakistan from the enemies of Pakistan and Islam.  So, according to them, the women captured by these forces were Halal (meaning okay according to Islamic law) as spoils of the war.  Many Mullahs were not even shameful at all in giving their edict in public meetings in favor of the Islamic paramilitary forces and Pakistan army.  I asked a few times to Mullahs in Bangladesh about the torture on Hindus and liberal Muslims by the Islamic paramilitary forces.  In reply, these Mullahs tried to cover up and defend shamelessly.  I observed similar attitude among many so-called Islamic thinkers (not Mullahs but western-educated defenders of Islam).  A disgruntle Mullah named Maulana Abul Ala Moududi of Pakistan supported all the torture on minority Hindus and liberal Muslims by allowing his party Jamaat-I-Isami in forming different paramilitary forces.  In the whole Muslim world, this Maulana is regarded as an Islamic scholar.  In response to my strong criticisms, many times I was reminded by the Islam-oriented Bengalis about the scholarly works of this killer Mullah Moududi on Islam.  I started questioning: where did Mullah Moududi get inspiration to let his party take part in genocidal crimes against Hindus and liberal Muslims?  Did this scholar get inspiration from the scriptures that he knew so well?  Inspired by Maulana Moududi, almost all the Mullahs supported and/or defended the genocide of Bengalis in 1971.

Many Mullahs took active part in the killings.  For example, Maulana Delwar Hussain Saidee (a current parliament member in Bangladesh from Jamaat-I-Islami) and Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami  (a current minister in Bangladesh from Jamaat-I-Islami) are two among many, who were wanted by police for their crimes after the independence of Bangladesh.  The crimes committed by the political Islamists in 1971 was severe.  There were innumerable number of incidences of torture, brutality, killings, and rapes committed by the Pakistan army and the Islamist Fifth Columnist of the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).  During the last three/four days of our independence war, these forces killed many secular Bengali intellectuals including university professors, journalists, doctors, newspaper editors, and others before their surrender in December 16, 1971.  After the independence of Bangladesh, the government banned all the religious (read Islamic) political parties according to constitutional law to separate state from the Mosque.  That was sufficient of crime for Bangladesh for not being recognized by not only Saudi Arabia but also by many Islamic nations of the globe.  Through a tragic coup, the government was changed on August 15, 1975.  Does this surprise anyone that  Saudi Arabia recognized Bangladesh immediately after the change of the government?  A military dictator named Gen. Ziaur Rahman came to power by a stratagem.  He immediately deleted the article of separation of religion from politics from the constitution.  He even allowed Islamic political parties to grow and function.  In a planned way, the Islamic politics and the allied parties were brought to the surface by changing the secular constitution of Bangladesh.  The constitution was changed later to make Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh.  Now, two of the fundamentalist parties (Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikko Jote (Islami Unity Council)) are sharing power in an alliance with two other semi-Islamic parties.  In 1972, we started as a pragmatic liberal secular state but now with time we are going down under the influence of political Islam.

Many intellectuals, progressive democracy-loving young men/women, and minorities sacrificed their lives in the hands of the brutal political Islamists with a dream to have a non-communal Bangladesh for all irrespective of their religious identities.  But, the political Islamists extended their base through Madrasas, Islamic non-government organizations, and Islamic charities.  Gradually, they have gained strength to share government power.  Still, their militant cadres are killing respected secular people.  Many minority men/women have been tortured and killed since they took over power after the election in 2001.  The secularization of Bangladesh, which happened rapidly in 1972 with our independence was replaced by the gradual Islamization.  All indications are there that this nation of 140 million people will become another fundamentalist Islamic nation a la Afghanistan unless we start re-educating our people by showing the gross inanities in Political Islam, which is thwarting all the progress in the nation and above all taking the people of Bangladesh to a journey backwards in time.

Back     <   1    2   3