A
nation so strange albeit with a bizarre mentality
By Jamal
Hasan
One may surmise that the
information
superhighway is like a double-edged sword. While Internet is being
utilized as a powerful tool to break age-old religious dogma, its Midas
touch can very well be exploited by would-be Islamic terrorists who
mastered the art of sending encrypted messages with a very familiar
method of up-linking. Lest
we forget, the perpetrators of September 11 tragedy successfully took
advantage of this modern invention with disastrous result, to put it in
milder terms.
For the last seven years I had been an
avid reader of a superb non-conformist e-journal from
Bangladesh
, the News from
Bangladesh
. During this period I contributed my write-ups on myriad topics. The
1971
Bangladesh
genocide issue had always been the focus of my writings since I am an
unabashed pro-1971 activist. Even
five years ago, I remember that we had quite a few receptive readers who
would comment in the Readers’ Opinion column about the need for war
crime tribunal, the need for Pakistani regime’s apology for the crime
they had committed in occupied
Bangladesh
, etc. But lately, when I open the same Opinion column, I am not only
stunned I am totally dumbfounded. What is going on with the new trend of
Bangladesh
born readers? Why not a
single voice among Bangladeshi Muslims wants to talk about 1971? Let us
take into account the last three four days’ postings
in NFB Readers’ opinion section.
Four letters came from countries like
Austria
,
USA
and
UK
. Three of the writers were women and one was a man. But the comments
about 1971 episode coming from their computer keyboard were quite
shocking! One lady wrote,
“
Bangladesh
can’t go with the inane discussion about 1971. It has hardly produced
any intellectual vigor into Bengali culture.”
Another lady lamented, “I want to stop creating hatred between
us over 1971.” A cavalcade of ladies comes in the forefront to
denounce discussions on 1971. The
other individual of fair sex commented, “We
know your are all hung-up over 1971 and all that.” Of course man
should not be left out of this unique cacophony.
One gentleman felt the urge of giving his vacuous opinion by
saying, “1971 means little to me just as the World War I and WW2 mean
little to the generation before me.”
What a banal comment!
Who
are these people? Where they
all are coming from? Are
they the perfect example of a Munafeq (treacherous) nation?
Or, are they so much Islamized that they do not want to discuss
the name of an in-law, in Bangla whom we call Bhashur? Remember,
most of these individuals came to the West in search of greener pasture
where they live now but they fail to see a la proverbial ostrich the on
going debates the westerners have to dissect the past mistakes or tragic
events. The West is making a conscious effort to make morrow a better
day. Yet, why are they (the
Bangladeshi expats) so much nonchalant?
There are different theories for this
sordid state of affairs. One theory some analysts say that this happened
due to heavy dosage of Islamization in
Bangladesh
in their formative years. Some
analysts would argue in the realm of political Islam, if a Muslim
becomes a vicious killer and killed another Muslim there is scope for
forgiveness. That is not so
in case of infidels versus Muslims, though.
So, the 1971 Liberation War and the crime against humanity
perpetrated by Yahya junta and theirs Jamaati cohorts is now diluted to
be like a friendly wrestling match between two Muslim brothers. That is
why 1971 appears to be like a World War I to some Bangladeshi Muslims,
which happened eons ago.
We can cite many examples where
genocide issue is still very much alive in civilized nations’
collective psyche. For
example the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Sultanate more
than 113 years ago. [http://www.cilicia.com/armo10.html]
[http://www.armenian-genocide.org/]
Even
today, Armenian Diaspora scattered all around the globe keep the memory
of the Armenian Genocide victims alive.
In
USA
, the Armenian-Americans became such a powerful lobby that they can
influence U.S. Congress in decision-making. Armenian Genocide issue is a
widely talked about subject in U.S. Capitol. Already
the very significant lobby of the Armenian Diaspora initiated a number
of U.S. Congressional Hearings on Armenian Genocide.
I am very much aware of the activism of this very proud nation.
I have serious doubt
if a single individual of Armenian
descent would ever comment anything close to an outrageous remark by
Bangladeshi Muslims as displayed in the Readers’ Opinion page of NFB.
Yes, the situation in
Bangladesh
is extremely in dire strait. Two Islamist military dictators changed the
course of the nation to Ummatic Utopia.
That is why, as time goes by, Bangladeshi Muslims are becoming
more and more intolerant and communal.
In an Ummatic worldview, all crime committed by a Muslim
brother has to be forgotten. That
is why crime against humanity committed by Jamaat-i-Islami war criminals
has become a taboo subject amongst Bangladeshi Muslims.
But should the Jamaati criminals get off the hook from
international public opinion so easily?
They are the perpetrators of crime against humanity. Still
now, many of the victims are alive who can testify against the
criminals. Their misdeeds
can still be traced in various documents scattered all around the world.
[http://members.tripod.com/scohel/page42.html]
If we look into the history of
genocidal maniacs or mass murderers worldwide, we may find a few
examples where the criminal admitted his or her crime and showed
remorse. A few years ago one
military guard in Chile expressed his deep regrets for killing innocent
people in a stadium. We also
see examples where offspring of killers admitted their parents’ crime
openly and expressed deep regrets for the victims.
A few years ago, ABC News’ Nightline program showed a group of
visitors from Germany who were on a tour in Israel.
They were the children of Nazi officers. We know, unlike
Bangladesh, Israel is a nation, which cherishes the memory of Holocaust
victims greatly. The
German visitors on the record expressed their emotional outburst for the
crime their forefathers had committed some sixty plus years ago from
now. They even apologized to
the Israeli people. Could this ever happen in Bangladeshi Jamaatis case?
It is most unlikely. Maybe
pigs will fly if Delwar Hussain Sayedee or Ashrafuzzaman Khan will say
they are sorry for they killed or were instrumental in killing many
innocent civilians.
In political Islam, there is no scope
for such remorse when it is well established the killer committed the
crime to save Islam. The war
criminals of Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami were convinced whatever killing
they did was to save the religion of peace.
They believe in the axiom “end justifies the means.”
In 1971, their conviction was to save Jinnah’s Pakistan, which
was analogous to saving Islam. They wanted to save Pakistan by hook or
by crook. So, Ashrafuzzaman
Khan, who killed seven Dhaka University teachers in cold blood in
December of 1971, could have a sound sleep in his modest house in
Queens, New York. Such is
the result of a dogmatic mindset! See
link
Let me go back to the young generation
of our native land once again. I
mentioned in the beginning a few individual’s strange psychological
outburst on the pages of NFB. In
my opinion they are the product of a dogmatic political entity. Today’s
Bangladesh Nationalist Party is not a secular nationalist organization.
It has been hijacked by the nemesis of Bangladesh liberation -
the notorious Jamaat-i-Islami party.
No wonder an average BNP supporter would be very defensive of
Jamaati war criminals. In this case, I want to make a parallel with the
September 11 hijackers. The
9/11 hijackers did not have remorse knowing that their action could
result in numerous losses of civilian lives.
Similarly, the defenders of Jamaati war criminals would not care
if someone describes them the gravity of the crime committed by their
favorite godfathers. Their immediate attitude would be to push the issue
under the rug. They do not
want to be hung-up over 1971, do not want to go with inane discussion
about 1971 or do not like to create hatred between them over 1971.
Now, the question arises about the hatred between whom?
If a serial killer kills 12 people, even after 20 years the
perpetrator gets the punishment. Isn’t
it so? Today the Roman
Catholic Church in USA is facing a serious financial melt down.
This is due to the paying for litigation of a number of Catholic
priests’ pedophilic behavior. Many
of those crimes were committed more than thirty years ago.
In Bangladesh’s case, the Jamaati apologists become very
nervous when somebody wants to expose the dirty laundry of their
religious heroes.
I had no idea that Bangladesh
Nationalist Party and Jamaat-i-Islami are now more than a conjoined
twin. I did not have any idea that BNP is like the sugarcoated cover of
a capsule and the Jamaat-i-Islami is the main bitter ingredients until I
encountered an interesting fellow on the Net.
This person like many other Bangladeshis are openly BNP activists
who would jump to defend Jamaatis in a second.
This is a very unique situation. I doubt if a typical Awami
Leaguer would be any degree defensive for Rashed Khan Menon’s
Worker’s Party or Dr. Kamal Hossain’s Gono Forum.
Anyway, going back to the young gentleman who claims to be
non-fundamentalist and a follower of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Two years ago, I used to post messages in different forums, some
of which were critical of Jamaati war criminals. Once I put a
short comment about the notorious war criminal Abdul Kader Molla who was
planning to visit USA. This is the same Kader Molla who was alleged to
be the ringleader in killing innocent Bengalis in Mirpur area. [http://members.tripod.com/scohel/page42.html]
This young man, a PhD student at a prestigious Ivy League college
in USA jumped from nowhere and attacked me viciously, of course on the
Net. First I was surprised
to see the person lives in USA and apparently did not look like a
typical molla (his image was very much visible on his website).
I did not understand why he had to be so much defensive about a
mass murderer! I did not
realize the person is a die-hard supporter of BNP/Jamaat-i-Islami.
I was far from being aware that Bangladesh has become enough
Talibanized nowadays. I then
became more and more interested in knowing more about this apparently
modern young man from Bangladesh. He
is a web maker and I visited the site he used to advertise in all his
postings. When I first visited the site, I was startled. It was a unique
creation. There was sound
animation, cartoon and the whole nine-yards.
Nonetheless, there was an interesting slant in content
management. The characters
he chose to caricature are not known to be Islamic fundamentalists, nor
any of them had any reputation of being war criminals.
Rather quite a few of the subjects gained fame to uphold the
causes of Bangladesh Liberation War.
More
surprisingly, the website had a computer game which allows the players
to “kill” Indian Border Security Force personnel.
I thought this could be an ideal creation of a typical young
Bangladeshi whose hatred towards India (read Infidel) is so much so that
they hate anything and anybody dealing with “embarrassing” 1971
genocide issue. After all,
the 1971 issue cannot be a part of any Ummatic mindset. The web maker
and I recently communicated. We had quite a few lengthy exchanges.
In some of my communications I tried to feed him information
about the crime committed by Jamaati war criminals. Later
on, I realized I was talking to a wall.
Bangladesh
has been a breeding ground of confused young generation who does not
want to listen anything derogatory about Jamaati leaders, who are in
great reverence. In
this context one Bangladeshi Ummah
watcher sarcastically commented, “If Jamaatis were Hindus or Jews, I
bet my bottom dollar, most young die-hard Islamists would curse them to
the hell”. I thought maybe he is right.
The mindset I have been witnessing
among young Bangladeshis is symptomatic of a sickening state of mind.
With each passing day, the country is proceeding to another step towards
darkness. Death threat
against liberals by the Islamic fanatics has been jumping up in
geometric progression. In a
sense,
Bangladesh
is becoming an emerging neo-Taliban factory.
The secular voice is becoming marginalized. Once dominant, the
secular people are now laughing stock amongst young generation, who are
becoming more and more religious zealots.
Anybody who wants to raise the war crime issue of 1971 is taunted
as a “Chetonized” person.
Such sick nation is sending young people abroad.
Many of them came here to stay in Western countries for the rest
of their life dreaming of settling in those infidel lands someday. But
will they ever change their infirm mindset or would they driven by their
Ummatic zeal continue to be a security threat in their adoptive lands,
is everybody’s guess. In
the television advertisement to get more funding for Black universities
the slogan says, “Mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
Now I see what has happened to zillions of post-Zia generations.
Lord have mercy on them.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jamal Hasan writes from
Washington
DC
. His email address is [email protected]
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