Name: Maskwaith
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Web Site: http://sites.google.com/site/maskwaithahsan/
Bio: The writer is an Online Journalist and Offline Media Educator. He is the Editor of E-Bangladesh since 24 July 2010.
Posts by Maskwaith:
Much Ado About Nothing
March 9th, 2010I am almost as old as Bangladesh. While I may not be considered young anymore, my country is still a child. Thirty-nine years is nothing but the age of teething in the life of nations. The country still needs to be handled with care. Before its birth, the people of then East Pakistan had dreamt of a secular and equal society with a passion that drove them to walk on the fiery path of freedom. Bengalis had to fight back the linguistic and cultural aggression of Pakistan, and keep up the struggle against discrimination and inequity.
Sher-e-Bangla, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi, Maulana Bhashani and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, among many others, fearlessly led the march towards independence. Even though Bangabandhu may appear to some as a revolutionary leader, he initially tried all democratic ways to end the sufferings of Bengalis. But when the rulers of then West Pakistan stubbornly refused to respect his people’s will, Bangabandhu had to go for independence.
Like Gandhi and Jinnah, Bangabandhu changed the course of South Asian history by giving the people of Bangladesh the right to chart their own destinies. But whereas in India Gandhi is considered above any political reproach and in Pakistan Jinnah gets equal respect from all political quarters, the same cannot be said of Bangladesh where honoring Bangabandhu depends solely on political egos. Deep political polarization questions even his patriotism, let alone popularity.
In India not even the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party dares to question or criticize Gandhi or no Congress politician claims superiority of Nehru over Gandhi. In Pakistan even the People’s Party cannot pull off comparing Bhutto to Jinnah. Yet, in Bangladesh efforts to denounce the Father of the Nation by aimless comparison with Ziaur Rahman continue unabated.
On March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujib addressed the nation in which he gave the final signal for an armed struggle for freedom. The declaration of independence was made a couple of weeks later on March 26, 1971, but that was just a formality. The people of Bangladesh already knew in their hearts what was announced that day.
As a journalist I have worked with several veteran broadcasters and radio engineers who were instrumental in establishing the then clandestine radio station, Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, in 1971. These broadcasters and engineers have repeatedly confirmed publicly, and to me personally, that then Major Ziaur Rahman was invited by broadcaster Belal Mohammad to read out the declaration of independence as a mark of the army’s support to our freedom fight. On March 27, 1971, veteran broadcaster Abdullah Al Farooq witnessed Ziaur Rahman reading out of the same declaration on behalf of Sheikh Mujib. History will always laugh at the immature attempts of BNP to portray that reading of the declaration by Ziaur Rahman as an act of independent or individual announcement of freedom. After all Ziaur Rahman was an unknown voice on the airwaves at that time; he fought the war of independence as a sector commander under the military leadership of General Osmani and the civilian leadership of Sheikh Mujib.
After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Bangladesh became mired in conspiracies, coups and counter coups. To hold the fledgling nation together, a socialist leader, Colonel Taher, released Ziaur Rahman from house arrest and convinced him to take over the reins of the country. (The fact that Colonel Taher was later court martialled and sentenced to death under the very leadership of Ziaur Rahman is a story for another time.) As Sheikh Mujibur Rahman already had the status of being the Father of the Nation, attempts by BNP to snatch that status is nothing but futile and divisive. If such an accolade is necessary for the continuation of hereditary politics then perhaps Ziaur Rahman can be honored as the Brother of the Nation. BNP supporters and their Jamaat friends would do really well to learn from their Indian and Pakistani counterparts that giving respect to the Father of the Nation is synonymous to paying tribute to the birth of a nation.
When Ziaur Rahman himself never claimed the Kalurghat radio address as his own declaration, should the BNP do so? And then there is also the audio evidence of him reading out of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujib. Throughout his years in power, Ziaur Rahman remained silent about Sheikh Mujib, possibly because he had to rehabilitate Mujib’s killers and ‘71war criminals. But he never publicly downplayed Mujib. Yet, BNP MPs have shown no qualms about using uncouth language against the Father of the Nation. The Awami League MPs are no better, using their brute-majority voice in using similar politically incorrect words against Ziaur Rahman. This quarrel has all the echoes of the Lilliputian-Blefuscudian conflict, with enough dough for endless media entertainment.
How come we never see this ferocity of political competition when it comes to ensuring basic necessities like food, shelter, security and human rights? As a result the party in power is left alone to tackle such issues in whatever little time it can spare from this continuous sparring for future votes. This strategy works well for every opposition party: it ensures victory in next elections. What these political parties need to understand is that such an-eye-for-an-eye political tactics have lost their adrenalin factor for the masses, because while they bicker for power, the voters of Bangladesh watch from the sidelines as their loved ones die unattended in government hospitals or their kids fall prey to malnutrition, fall victim to university gun fights, extrajudicial killings, militancy and so on.
Bangladesh recently managed to get the western nod of approval in tackling militancy, but the ongoing extrajudicial killings and unrest in Chittagong Hill Tracts will attract even less investment and earn the country a bad image. But then who cares about image. Dhaka has been assessed as the worst city in the world after Harare in terms of insecurity and traffic woes.
Ideally, our political leader should be spending sleepless nights over such multi-edged crisis, instead of appearing in news clips as wrestlers or soap opera villains. Countries of the same age as Bangladesh have earned at least a middle income status. In today’s modern world, national issues like the honor of the Father of the Nation and freedom fighters or agendas like war criminal trials are tackled by competent legal systems, and not by making a mockery of them.
BNP should maybe think ten times before abusing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or supporting war criminals and militant forces. And Awami League, as a veteran political party, should be more careful about defaming Ziaur Rahman. Both parties are now at the crossroads where they need to decide how they want to be remembered: with respect or with hatred. Hasn’t enough time been wasted for Sheikh Hasina and Khalida Zia to respond to the mass appeal and stop this ‘much ado about nothing’.
The Saga of Benglish
February 20th, 2010
In most interactions with Kolkata journalists, writers and artists, I have found them to praise Dhaka as the beholder of Bangla language. Going over my signature in Bangla, even a hotel manager in Kolkata tearfully exclaimed: “You Bangladeshis have truly sustained the honor of this language.” And then a senior journalist in the same city vented his disappointment at the current state of Bangla language in Kolkata, on how rich non-Bengalis have taken over the neo-affluent areas in Kolkata and how they have even colonized Rabi Thakur’s (Rabindranath Tagore) Shanti Niketon by building villas near this renowned centre of excellence in Bangla language and culture.
It was our achievement through the language movement of 1952 that inspired the Bangla speaking regions of India to organize demands for the state recognition of this language. The 21st of February is now marked as the International Mother Language Day; a day that reminds the world the importance of restoring the rights of languages that are endangered by cultural glo-colonization. Due to those efforts, Bangla is now the fourth largest spoken language in the world.
Bengalis are so passionate about their language that it is a common sight at international forums to see two random Bengalis, completely oblivious of their surroundings, starting a conversation in Bangla. Likewise, I have found expatriate Bengali parents desperate to pass on their language and associated culture to their kids who are being raised in an otherwise non-Bangla atmosphere. Bengalis, whether living in the Middle East, Europe or America, passionately observe Pohela Baishakh, the Bangla New Year and 21st February. Recently, Bangla blogs and online outlets have also taken to strengthening the grandeur of the language. Non-Resident Bengalis make sure to plan their visits home to coincide with Ekushe Book Fair, the biggest event that celebrates Bangla Language.
What this amounts to is that we have all the reasons to be happy about the continuity of our language, especially when compared to our Bengali friends in Kolkata who feel victimized by non-Bangla aggression. But something went wrong in Dhaka as well.
On the first day of the Ekushe Book Fair in February 2008, my colleagues and I were working at a mobile newsroom set up at the fairgrounds. It became painful after a while of tolerating the music being played in neighboring FM radio stalls. Senior sub-editors even refused to work with us, being ‘disgusted’ by the noise and language pollution emanating from those surroundings. The situation became more uncouth when two radio jockeys appeared on the scene mimicking the starry smiles of Shahrukh Khan and Karina Kapoor. Stationing themselves at a strategic corner nearby, they started their monologue addressed to a gathering young crowd. This grandstanding spoiled the entire artistic ambience of our Little Magazine corner.
We did try to listen to their lecture but miserably failed to understand the language: English superimposed on Bangla and mixed with some sounds unknown to our ears. Every sentence comprised of distorted Bangla words and wrongly used English expressions hyphenated with sounds of unhuman-like laughter. Feeling the misery and rage of our mobile newsroom colleagues, I had to humbly request the FM radio stall to cut short the starbiz event. To be fair to them, they complied. But it dawned on me that this newly acquired Benglish language has managed to earn popularity.
Here, I would rather not deviate into the definition of pop-culture. Suffice to say, if there is a monkey show near a kindergarten, children will naturally rush to see it. But if that show goes on forever most children will not go back to their classrooms, because by that time the monkey will have become more popular than their teachers. In the same fashion when Bangla movies like Beder Meye Jotsna (The Voluptuous Gypsy Daughter) snatched the box office, viewers refused to go back to Jibon Theke Neya, Jahir Raihan’s trendsetting film. When cheap adaptations of Moliere’s comedies started hitting the theatre hub at Dhaka’s Baily Road, people became unwilling to return to Bangla theatre works of legends like Selim Al-Deen. Once youngsters started giving their hearts to aimless band music concerts, they forgot our legends like Kalim Sharafi or Farida Parveen. When obscene dances destroy our traditional folk theatre ‘Jatra’ and when popularity becomes the yardstick of everything, it isn’t far when Benglish as a sub-language and culture will claim its power share.
It started with students studying in English-medium schools talking amongst themselves in this distorted medium. Their parents, knowing little and believing that only the slaughter of Bangla was the way out for their kids to prosper, gladly accepted the birth of Benglish. For sometime thence Benglish remained confined to the neo-elites of Dhaka, and then as the speakers of this sub-language gradually succeeded in making inroads into other strata of society with their superficial smartness and fashion-based glamour, Benglish became trendy. In today’s world anything ‘modern’ goes. So did Benglish.
It was picked up, more recently, by several FM radio channels which are popularizing it via their jockeys. The irony or comedy (whichever way you take it) is that the majority of these radio jockeys don’t have an English-based education, neither were they raised or born abroad. So competition and lack of common sense compels them to memorize a few American sitcom words, at times even entire expressions, just so they can throw these in between their on-air ramblings in Bangla. The result: not only are both Bangla and English delivered in distorted accents, their disjointed sentences mostly make no sense.
Perhaps, if our language movement martyrs knew they were shedding their blood in vain, they would have, at least, thought twice about sacrificing their lives. Little did they know that one day Benglish would outsmart Bangla.
In February 2009, while training a batch of journalism students of private universities of Dhaka, I was, again, rudely awakened when they proudly told me that they couldn’t write reports in Bangla as English was their language of learning. OK, fine. But when I went through their English transcripts I was further shocked by their bad and wrong English. I had no choice but to take refuge in Rabindranath Thakur’s wisdom: Alas, in a futile attempt to learn English, you missed to learn Bangla as well.
It can be nothing but a twist of our own making that out of colonial fear we failed to teach English in Bangla-medium schools and out of colonial hangover failed to teach Bangla in English-medium schools.
One doesn’t need to be a linguist or rocket scientist to understand that without having command on mother tongue, no one can truly anchor into some other language. Benglish is nothing but a tragic outcome of this reality.
Photo: People from all walks of life paid homage to the Language Martyrs by placing flowers and garlands at the Central Shahid Minar, the monument built in remembrance of the young men who were killed in 1952 when police opened fire on a students’ protest demonstration at the Dhaka University Campus demanding Bangla as the state language from the then East Pakistan government. In 1999 UNESCO declared the day as the “International Mother Language Day”. Dhaka, Bangladesh. February 21 2009.by: Shafiqul Islam Kajol,DrikNEWS.
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People from all walks of life paid homage to the Language Martyrs by placing flowers and garlands at the Central Shahid Minar, the monument built in remembrance of the young men who were killed in 1952 when police opened fire on a students’ protest demonstration at the Dhaka University Campus demanding Bangla as the state language from the then East Pakistan government. In 1999 UNESCO declared the day as the “International Mother Language Day”. Dhaka, Bangladesh. February 21 2009
by: Shafiqul Islam Kajol |
Contemplations on Politics in Bangladesh
February 7th, 2010Awami League as a Political Party
It’s a party that bears the spirit of liberation war and secular institutions, a party that considers Bengali culture as the guiding element, supports the campaign for’71 war criminals’ trail and works towards bringing about change in the faulty system. Inspired by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s struggle for independence, the party considers BNP pro-Pakistan or a party with loose cultural-ideological features that do not reflect the wishes of an independent progressive Bangladesh.
BNP as a Political Party
It takes its inspiration from President Ziaur Rahman’s policies in the post ’75 political scenario. A pro-Islamist party, it believes that religion should be the basis of nationalism, sides with war criminals and the killers of Bangabandhu and other national leaders, and considers that the killing of the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was an army rebel operation backed by pro-Pakistan and leftist forces. BNP claims that Ziaur Rahman, as an army Major, had announced the declaration of Independence, and hence refuses to accept Bangabandhu as the Father of the Nation. It labels Awami League a pro-India party which seems quite unjustified in the sense that Awami League, as government power, have had the most fierce rows with Indian governments. But, ‘pro-India’ is somehow a stigma in the political conscience of Bangladesh.
BNP & Awami League: Similarities when in Power
a) Politicize civil and military administrations
b) Support the illegal activities of their student wings
c) Radically change names of organizations
d) Party workers go on the rampage of extortion, tender terrorism and human rights violations
e) Buy tax-free cars for their solvent members of parliament
f) MPs and Ministers purchase land through proxy means
g) Provide immunity to their cadres to grab plots and riverine areas
h) Want to rule Bangladesh for the rest of the country’s life
BNP & Awami League: Similarities when in Opposition
a) Boycott National Assembly sessions but take salaries without performing and/or delivering
b) Claim conspiracies against the pro-India / pro-Pakistan tendencies of the party in power
c) Look for an excuse to incite movements for change of government
d) Their non-co-operation in National Assembly and their wrath towards the government are not appeased till they win back power
Hence, the row between the government and the opposition remains repetitive and as time-wasting as Samuel Beckett’s stagnant stage of Waiting for Godot. Nothing changes. People don’t get security or health service from the state; education fails to accommodate a wider generation and police continues to humiliate civil citizens. No political party works towards establishing social welfare services in rural areas to discourage urban migration. Election success offers only the mandate to rule, not serve. Political mudslinging doesn’t abate and this wrestling is ceaselessly aired by our electronic media.
People who survive on hand- to-mouth incomes and those who work hard and are capable of entrepreneurship get zero support from the government. They are, on top of this, harassed and hindered by the prevalent political culture.
So unless Awami League and BNP start making and talking sense, curb the tendency of political coquetry and stop issuing misplaced rhetoric, nothing will ever change.
Ignoring education as the accelerator of the country has already impeded the growth of skilled workers, while nepotism & political favoritism in the employment process has weakened talent hunting.
In the absence of a genuine opposition party in the parliament, media in Bangladesh has taken on the role of a shadow government on behalf of the people. Interestingly, the very political leaders who fail to deliver show no qualms in enjoying media publicity. Access to information and social networking sites on the internet have played a key part in making the people of Bangladesh more politically aware and critical than ever before.
The voters, as well as the non-voters, expect the Awami League-led government to ensure affordable food, sound law & order, education without political violence and a society based on secular values. People naturally understand Awami League’s desire to carry out trials of war criminals, provided other mandated issues are pursued with equal passion. (In Germany even casting doubt on the Holocaust is a crime.)
As for BNP, it will have to take lessons in democratic practices. For starters: judicious handling of the whirl castle corruption scandal and taking steps to clear up its image of being pro-fundamentalism. Regional foreign policy needs to be reassessed. Anti-India or anti-Pakistan propaganda has started to sound boring, if nothing else. In an age of information super highway, political rumors or yellow comments don’t sell like before. BNP should rethink its manifesto and plan a constructive political campaign.
While Awami League should not appear arrogant, over confident or vindictive, BNP should not look conspiratory or destructive. Leaders must understand the meaning of ‘change’ before they use it so casually. We still carry hope that these parties and their leaders will respond to a changed info-socio-political reality and say ‘YES’ to good politics only.
Un-student Politics
February 1st, 2010
Photo: A scene from the clash between two rival students political wings, the Islamic Chhatra Shibir (BCL) and Awami League (AL), at Rajshahi University on Wednesday. At least 20 BCL activists were injured during the clash. After the clash Shibir activists took control of all the male dormitories and forced BCL supporters out of their halls. Rajshahi, Bangladesh. March 12 2009.by: Iqbal Ahmed, Rajshahi, DrikNEWS.
We have been hearing about the glory of Bangladesh student politics since our childhood but unfortunately that struggle has lost all signs of its industrious past. Students’ role in the language movement obviously ranks as historic; the uprisings of ’62, ’66 and ’69 had solid contributions in strengthening the Bengali nation’s pilgrimage towards freedom. Student participation in the struggle for freedom in 1971 will be ever recognized as an act of selflessness. Even the mass movement of the ‘90s, which paved the way to democracy, is witness to the role of All Parties Student Alliance in toppling down the military regime of General Ershad.
Students at the forefront in the language movement as well as those who were part of the freedom movement all emerged later as national leaders. For a motherland in distress, students had to respond in national interest, leave classrooms and take up rifles. After the fight for freedom was won in 1971, they had no more reason to keep carrying arms. Those active in 1990 used their unity alone to stand up for democracy, and like the student leaders and activists of ’52 and ’71 they even managed to pursue professional careers. Student politics was never a barrier for them in acquiring good education, even though many faced the wrath of British and later Pakistani rulers in the forms of detention and torture. Yet, they knew their struggle had to be two-pronged: one for freedom and the other to earn education in order to serve their nation and their lives.
It’s quite repetitive and misplaced to blame predecessors for failing to deliver a healthy nation. Every freedom history of the world carries examples of a handful of opportunist student leaders who encash advantages in a changed national scenario. But why pick up wrong examples and generalize them to pillow-pass our own responsibilities towards nation building. As a legacy of pre-liberation student politics, there are till date a number of veteran politicians and civil society leaders who helped steer Bangladesh towards democracy and prosperity. Why not exemplify them? Sadly, however, if we compare the student leaders of ’71 to those of ’90 degradation will emerge as the shocking truth.
Since the democratic movement of 1990 we have experienced four elected governments, hence it would be safe to say that the people of Bangladesh are now conscious enough to bring in political changes. Even during the 1/11 administration, the role of the masses, civil society and media was mature enough to ensure our train back to democracy.
So in such a tested society do we deserve to see photographs of student activists carrying arms? A black and white photo of a student freedom fighter of 1971 symbolizes the glory of a nation, while a colored image of an un-studently armed cadre earns nothing but mass disappointment. It’s about time we realized that the days of such warbotic cadres are numbered. Tolerance for their involvement in extortion and/or tender terrorism is fast vanishing. It’s no longer practical for either Awami League or BNP to mentor student wings in old fashioned manner. They have little choice but to learn some political culture from successful democratic states.
Students in politics have to be made to return to their classrooms and laboratories: the nation yearns for their contribution to development. This doesn’t, however, mean that the youth should become de-politicized bookworms. Political consciousness by no way means displaying arms, occupying student halls, oppressing rival student wings or becoming part of tender terrorism. Student politics developed as a voluntary zeal to learn, practice and respect the ways of democracy. Peaceful processions, gatherings, seminars, debates and cultural activities are supposed to be the tentacles of student politics. Turning into sychophants of political leaders, conniving for a license to bid in tender terrorism or opting for a career in extortion are nothing but beggarly ways to start life.
We have all been a witness to the heroism of a few wayward classmates who displayed arms in the campus and wore jeans and snickers extorted from Elephant Road shopping malls. We have moved on to better things, but their lives are still awaiting change, any change. They can be found hanging around the living rooms of political leaders, meekly asking for unethical or pseudo business favors. As they desired glory through political beggarhood, destiny has given them just that.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen portrayed the concept of ‘freedom of choice’ with an example: there is a difference between a fasting monk and a hungry beggar; a monk fasts out of choice but a beggar has no choice but to go hungry. Relatedly so, student politics should be a means to achieve freedom of choice by pursuing knowledge, expertise and wisdom. Temporary success of un-studently students is a mere recipe for lifelong darkness and lack of choice.
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Maskawaith Ahsan is a broadcaster, journalist, author, blogger and the editor of The-Editor.net.
A mine of thieves
January 24th, 2010Once the historic task of the independence of Bangladesh was accomplished, Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman thought building up the new nation would be a comparatively easy task. But the post-independence scenario came as a shock realization that all was not well. The very patriots who fought for a separate homeland started changing their colors and those on whom he had chosen to rely upon were seemingly more interested in grabbing wealth. He was reduced to murmuring in distress that countries discover mines of gold or diamond, but alas, he had discovered a mine of thieves. He asked around: “We have seven crore blankets for the seven crore people of this new nation. So, where is mine?” Such embarrassing and politically honest questions made those around him very uncomfortable. The Father of the Nation gradually found himself lonelier by the day, allowing the conspirators a chance to kill him and liberate the thieves.
I should know better that Bengalis are traditionally a secular, peace-loving, hospitable and honest race. So how and when did it transmorph into a mine of thieves? Frantz Fanon studied Bengali villages and identified changes in the dynamics of the Asiatic mode of production: the introduction of modern-day irrigation system by the British Raj institutionalized power abuse when peasants had to bow before a handful of water godfathers to ensure food cultivation. That also opened an avenue for land-grabbing. This genesis of power abuse and exploitation led by the British masters and their sycophants mutated the peace-loving societies of Bengal. Licensed as British contractors, those native sycophants initiated the culture of bribes and favors. A sub-society of brokers emerged; neo-elitism was further catalyzed by the strategic British allure of cocktail parties, wine glasses, white women and their mysteries. Divide and rule dogma prepared the breeding ground for the criminalization of society.
On their way out, the British handed over power to the native brokers they had raised from ashes. By that time the inheritors of greed had already mastered the art of wearing suits, speaking fluent English and courting Hades, the god of the netherworld and dispenser of earthly riches in exchange for the souls of thieves. Time passed and the success of these under-world brokers established them as role models of our society. Learning English, stabbing in the back to become part of the powers structure, looting the powerless and exploiting the poor became a package deal for Bengali success. So was the case in other parts of British India. Father of the nation of India, Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi, as patriotic, honest and lonely as Bangabandhu, was killed in the same fashion. The destiny of Muhammad Ali Jinnah was no different. In killing their fathers of the nation, Indian subcontinental thieves showed the same precise conformity that they learnt from the school of colonial politics. Positive aspects of colonial discourse, if any, didn’t carry any weight for them at all.
Bengali thieves started their business immediately after 1947 when Hindus were forced to abandon their homes and wealth in exchange for their lives, just so that Bengali Muslim looters could live lavish lives without hard work. Their counterparts in India and West Pakistan simultaneously followed suit. Hence, 1947 marked the year of opportunity for this community of thieves.
With visionary cold-heartedness unique to this brotherhood, Bengali sycophants were quick to butter their new Pakistani masters for the same materialistic ideology that saw them succeed the Raj. On the other scale were patriots who carried over their pre-1947 struggle to new frontiers: this time against the excesses of Pakistani rulers. The success of 1971 cost them their blood, their dreams and their lives. Those freedom fighters who survived the independence continue to die in poverty and hunger just like their brethren who fought against the Raj. As if by cosmic design the fate these freedom fighters is linked to the destiny of Bangabandhu, Gandhi ji and Quaid-e-Azam, whereas the community of thieves has genetically modified to the needs and demands of modern life, amassing riches from the ruins of 1857, 1947 and 1971. The number ‘7’ has indeed proven lucky for the great gamblers of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Bangabandhu was surprised to see that the brokers of wealth from the time of the Raj onwards had a commonness that helped them survive one ruler after the other: the soul of a thief. It is for this evil strength that despite hosting a majority of honest, hardworking and peace loving people, Bangladesh is fast losing itself in the labyrinth of corruption. Gandhi ji foresaw this tragedy: “The Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s needs but not everyone’s greed.”
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Maskawaith Ahsan is a broadcaster, journalist, author, blogger and the editor of The-Editor.net.
Even a brick has a soul
January 16th, 2010World-renowned architect Louis Kahn, who also designed the parliament building of Bangladesh, while defining his philosophy once said that even a brick has a soul. Three of our top leaders – Shaikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia and H.M. Ershad – have spent confinement within the red brick walls of sub-jails adjacent to the parliament house. While Ershad claims to have been a victim of Khaleda Zia’s vengeance, both the women leaders allege that their confinement was an attempt to implement the minus-2 formula. Whatever the allegations and counter-allegations, the common outcome was sabbaticals forced upon all three of them for soul-searching within the red-bricks of Louis Kahn.
Ershad took over power by removing a democratically elected BNP president, Abdus Sattar, after which he went on to shelter war criminals as well as the killers of the Father of the Nation, gifted Bangladesh with a state religion, implemented Ayub Khan-style basic democracy that was nothing but mere eye-wash, and wrote poetry. All this catalyzed the twin processes of criminalization and Islamisation in politics. Then came the mass democratic movement of the ‘90s and Ershad was jailed. It’s easy to assume that he passed his days and nights like Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar by staring at the red bricks. The subsequent 15-year democratic spin ended with the installment of a military supported 1/11 caretaker government in 2007. Khaleda Zia and Shaikh Hasina were in turn relocated to those same red brick premises.
Khaleda Zia was incarcerated for her desire to rule over Bangladesh till her death. She came to power in 1991, and as a means to an end followed in the footsteps of her arch-enemy Ershad by tolerating political criminalization and promoting the killers of Mujibur Rahman. People’s choice ousted her 5 years later but as luck would have it, Shaikh Hasina too failed to hold her party godfathers on a tight leash and had to relinquish power after five years.
So far so good
January 6th, 2010
Photo: Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, in her first public speech after her party’s landslide victory in the 29th December 2008 Parliamentary Election, urged all parties to work together for the betterment of Bangladesh stressing on the importance of the opposition in the country’s future as a democratic state. Dhaka, Bangladesh. December 31 2008. by: Khandakar Anisur Rahman, Japan,DrikNEWS.
BNP beneficiaries would say ‘Paradise Lost’; Awami Leaguers would claim ‘Paradise Regained’, while the apolitical ones would assess the situation as ‘So Far So Good’.
Just when the Awami League-led grand alliance stepped out of the pavilion to start governance, Pilkhana tragedy took place, forcing the government into a tight spot. The prime minister handled the conspiracy with the care it demanded, and even though the trial of the perpetrators has been delayed, hopefully justice will not be denied.
The initial cabinet was full of freshmen; AL subsequently got rid of the stereotyped political faces but purging veterans from the playing field has not been an easy task; they are after all a burden of the Awami League legacy. And freshmen, who are trying to prove better replacements, clearly lack the efficiency and political subtlety required to keep up with modern day politics. To be fair, it deserves to be mentioned that the veterans, too, have had serious shortcoming in areas of diplomacy and constructive efficiency.
The new government controlled price hike well during the first six months of attaining power, but syndicate horses are at best wild, and conformity proves less profitable. We well know the mantra of third world laissez faire: pure profit without social responsibility.
Read the rest of this entry “
Light House
December 23rd, 2009Society changes at a rapid pace, we constantly surrender to the automation of neo-gadgets. This has been a ceaseless reality since the Industrial Revolution. But Dhaka society is different. The rate of change is more rapid; social inequity speed-rides on the wheels of corruption; values of truth and goodness are as outdated as our parents or teachers who tried to infuse high seriousness and inculcate a belief system that is now as precious as diamonds.
Understanding this metamorphosis of Dhaka, I usually try to interact with the glitterati with caution; knowing quite well that their attitude and mode of socializing changes with their position in the power structure. It’s almost like visiting a house in Dhanmandi or Gulshan after a gap of two or three years and expecting an apartment building in place of the small house surrounded by a piece of green.
But it’s been a great relief to discover that unlike the social stereotypes of Dhaka, our English department teachers have remained as warm as our parents, untouched by the wave of decay that seems to have permeated everywhere else. I wonder if our department is a secluded island or a planet outside the effects of social eclipse.
Bangladesh Surrendering To A Hungry Sea
September 7th, 2009
By 2025 one-thirds of Bangladesh is set to disappear under water. Tropical cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal and accompanied storm surges take the highest human toll in the country. Between the melting Himalayas and the Khasi-Jaintia Hills in the north and the rising Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean in the south, Bangladesh faces the risk of extinction. Barely a meter rise in sea level will swallow the entire coastal zone of the country and force upon the world a refugee problem beyond solution. Read the rest of this entry “
Sinister designs to portray Bangladesh as a ‘Failed State’
March 1st, 2009
Relatives of the missing army personnel wait in front of the BDR Headquarter. Photo - Adnan, DRIK News. Dhaka, Bangladesh. February 27 2009
The recent events that left in its wake a trail of death, destruction and irrefutable damage to the reputation of the Armed Forces in Bangladesh, has instigated my nether senses. The diabolical conspiracy by pitting the country’s 200 year old paramilitary forces, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), against the ranks of the professional military unit, Bangladesh Army who embodied their command structure, once again points clearly to an attempt by the Fifth Columnists to destabilize the security apparatus of the country and to prove beyond any reasonable doubts the tendentious attempts of a group of subservient local clique to tarnish the image of our Armed Forces. Or is it a greater international conspiracy by agent provocateurs hatched to create a bloodbath in a disciplined, well organized state supported forces that have long been the cornerstone of our defense and security? A long drawn out plan and intense preparation must have been in place. Who started it? Who funded it? Who directed it? The preliminary diagnosis showed a possible external link which was trying to drive a wedge between the Bangladesh Army and BDR. The command structure of BDR is entirely manned by the Army officers and by destroying it the BDR will become dysfunctional. This will weaken Bangladesh Armed Forces as being the sole line of defense and also deprive trained border guards manning country’s porous borders through which extremists encroach into the mainland. Read the rest of this entry “
