“Bombay Massacre”
In the aftermath of Bombay massacre many Indian think tanks are urging government of India to invade Pakistan. But in reality that’s not a sensible option. Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. At some stage of the war either of the country might consider using this deadly weapon system. It will not only bring total destruction in the region, but also encourage the West to denuclearize entire Indian Sub-continent. In the process, Indian and Pakistan might lose their sovereignty also. The biggest threat to Indian integrity and security does not come from Pakistan or Bangladesh; rather it comes from home-grown terrorism. In recent Bombay massacre only 10 Pakistani terrorists participated and at least 40 or more local sleeper cells supported them on the ground. The best possible remedy for India would be to integrate its Moslem population in the main stream development by enforcing western education system and closing down Muslim madrasas.
Does radical Islam Hate India?Many Islamic revivalists believe that India should be converted into a Muslim country. They argue that IN 712 A.D Mohammad Bin Qasim and his Muslim descendants ruled India until British takeover in 1757. Although Mohammad Bin Qasim had conquered India with only a couple of thousand soldiers, yet they successfully held this vast land for hundreds of years with fierce force and sheer terror. Lack of unity among Hindus and absence of a strong Central government gave Muslim invaders an upper hand over Hindus.
After the end of Second World War, Independence of India became inevitable. But, the British wanted a political control over the region even after independence. So, they planted a permanent trouble in the region by creating the first Islamic Republic state of this planet, Pakistan, before leaving India. To legitimize this misdeed, British organized a referendum in 1946. In that historical referendum 90% of Muslims in undivided India voted for Pakistan and other 10% who did not vote for Pakistan were Punjab and North East Frontier province of Pakistan. Almost one hundred percent Muslims of East Bengal now called Bangladesh voted for Pakistan. Hindus of East Bengal largely voted for a secular state in 1946 for which they were slaughtered by the fundamentalist Muslims after Partition. In other word 90% Muslims rejected the idea of a secular India. That still is the mindset of the descendants of those Muslims who voted for the creation of Pakistan.
The same mindset is seen in Bangladesh and Pakistan also. In spite of voting for the creation of Pakistan, ironically, only 8% of Indian Muslims migrated to Pakistan and the rest remained inIndia with their radical ideology. Indian political leaders exploited minority Muslims in their meanest vote politics. Muslims were never given an opportunity to integrate with the main stream culture; rather Muslim law board was created parallel to western law for a permanent division in the society. The most damage to Indian unity has been caused by Muslim madrasa education system.To turn the page of the history back to pre-British occupation, India militarily created Bangladesh in 1971 without a political and cultural orientation. Because of thousands of year’s Islamic mindset Bangladesh turned anti Indian soon after 1971 and ISI of Pakistan has used this situation in their interest. Because of the mindset, Indian Muslims didn’t support Bangladesh independence / war of cessation in 1971. Bangladesh will soon turn into a proxy battle ground between India and Pakistan. Radical Islam is gaining ground in Bangladesh every day and in a fine morning it will declare itself an Islamic Republic. The aim and objective of Bangladesh and Pakistan aboutIndia are the same, either make it an Islamic republic or disintegrate it. Many in Bangladesh believe that cessation in 1971 was a conspiracy of India to weaken Islam and Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The best way to resist Indian domination in the region is by helping cessations andterrors inside India; that’s what Bangladesh and Pakistan are doing today. Why India has become frequent target of Islamic terror: in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh women and downtrodden are the most vulnerable to physical and sexual torture. Because of religious, social and economical reasons women and poor are defenseless in these countries and forced to submit to the brutality of men. In the process of nonresistance from the victims, menof this region often go wild and take torture as pleasure. Due to passive reaction of people and government, Islamic terrorism in India is a wild fantasy today. Muslim terrorists can strike any target of their choice at any time without the fear of retaliation. After 9/11 America lunched a massive campaign against Islamic terrorism worldwide and kept its land safe from new terror attack.
During cold war Pakistan received military, diplomatic and financial support from the West and used its territory against India and USSR. At that time Pakistan was considered equal or superior to India, but at the end of cold war everything changed rapidly. Afghan mujahedeen onceconsidered an asset to Pakistan, soon turned into liability. After the fall of USSR Pakistan reorganized mujahedeen’s for liberating Indian occupied Kashmir. Srinagar of Indian occupied Kashmir was soon compared with Kandahar of Afghanistan. But everything changed on 9/11. America declared war on terror with zero tolerance and Pakistan soon became a terrorist country. Once Pakistan rupee was stronger than Indian rupee but present exchange rate against US Dollar is 99 Pakistani rupees compared to 49 Indian rupees. You may recall the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulficar Ali Bhutto’s call to his countrymen to acquire nuclear weapon even at the cost of starvation to match India. Today Indian is positioned among the top ten economic powers with a trillion dollar economy and on the other hand, Pakistan is considered a failed orfailing state with unmanageable debt. This contrast between India and Pakistan has caused a great deal of frustration among the people of Pakistan, and there will an outburst in the form of terrorism in the region. “If we cannot match India why not to destroy them, since they are incapable of defending themselves and it is very easy for us?” say Pakistanis.The same pattern of mindset is seen within Indian Muslims and that has made the situation worse for the Indian government. There are innumerable homegrown Islamic terrorist cells active in India today. Like Bombay, many more terrorist attacks will be carried out countrywide to demoralize Indian citizens and slow down India’s economic growth. In the process, India will be disintegrated like USSR or will succumb to Militant Islam. In past India never stood firm and united against any foreign aggression. Political parasites will act as fifth columnist in foreign interest like communists did during Chinese invasion in 1962.
Sachin Karmakar
Writer is an ex Defense officer and current affair analyst and comes from a Hindu-Muslim family background
December 03, 2008.
New York
Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Bangladeshs Election 2008: Defenders of the minority vote
Election 2008: Defenders of the minority vote
Naeem Mohaiemen
http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=67244
AT a seminar last week discussing the newly formed National Human Rights Commission, it was pointedly asked why it had no minority members. The chairman had no reply for us, but the question kept percolating in the room.
In another air-con room a week later, the Awami League unveiled its election manifesto. Section 18.1 pledges to improve the condition of minorities, adivasis, indigenous people, and dalits, by removing discriminatory laws, forming land commission to protect their land, creating job opportunities, etc. Section 18.2 talks about implementation of the CHT Peace Accord.
Those who recall the abrupt volte face of the AL-Khelafot Andolon alliance of December 2006, or who are distressed at the alliance presence of JP which inserted "Islam as state religion" into the constitution, will remain cautious. But while guarded, we may still hope for an incremental shift in political parties' commitment to minority rights.
Historically, minority communities have been perceived to vote for the AL (if only because the other parties are increasingly hard-line on religion). This was manifested in 2001, when Hindu voters were prevented from voting in many areas. After the BNP-Jamaat victory, BNP-allied local gangs attacked Hindu villages. According to press reports at the time, the southwestern and southern part of Bangladesh (popularly known as the 'Hindu belt') was worst affected.
Meghna Guhathakurta, in a forthcoming essay (Journal of Social Studies No. 121 January-March 2009), describes a visit to Bhola, one of the worst affected districts: "Among the atrocities committed were charging into households, attacking men, women and children with sharp knives and weapons, in certain cases threatening with guns, terrorizing women and children by beating and chasing them and in certain cases raping and attempting rape. Looting of Hindu households and sometimes Muslim households which sheltered Hindus took place throughout the night and in waves since most householders had fled in terror and their houses were left unguarded."
According to research done by a rights NGO, based on the National Democratic Institute (NDI) data-set, the 1991 and 2001 Bangladesh election results could have been different given the razor-thin margins by which many seats were won, and the huge number of minority voters that were prevented from voting in those very seats. Out of 300 constituencies for parliament seats, there are 71 where minority voters are significant (ranging from 11% to 61%) and 50 where they are visible (5-10%). According to the 2001 Population Census, the Hindu population was 11,379,000 -- 9.2 per cent of the total.
These statistics do not count other religious minorities, nor ethnic minorities. If we look at the intersection between religious and ethnic minority in Jumma people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, we find these were areas with lowest voter turnout. According to analysis of NDI data by Rahman & Ahamed (Daily Star, Dec 12), there were 850 centres where voter turnout in 2001 was less than half of total registered voters. Of these, 87 centres were in Cox's Bazaar, 49 in Bandarban, 67 in Rangamati, and 36 in Khagrachari. In addition, around 87 centres with less than 50 per cent turnout were in Cox's Bazaar-3. There were 35 polling centres where voter turnout was as low as or lower than 10 %. Of these, 18 were in Rangamati, 8 in Khagrachari, 5
in Cox's Bazaar-3, and 2 in Bandarban.
Looking at specific constituencies in 2001, Rahman & Ahamed (Daily Star, Dec 13) zero in on Bagerhat-4 where 12% voters are religious minority, and Khulna-5 where 40% of voters are religious minority. Looking at the NDI data, there is clear evidence of violence which resulted in Hindu-majority polling centres being closed, Hindu voters staying away from polls, as well as manipulation of vote counting to exclude the Hindu vote. In both constituencies, a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate was declared the winner.
As a result of the tremendous pre- and post-election violence directed at minorities in 2001, this has become an area of specific interest for international election observers in 2008. Local human rights defenders are doing outreach to make sure minority voters do not get intimidated. But so much more is needed, including a public commitment to this from the Election Commission and other administration.
In India's West Bengal, Trinamool and Left Front compete with each other to woo the minority vote (in their case, the Muslims). Of course this is practical politics -- West Bengal has a 27% Muslim population, and there is no law like Bangladesh's Vested Property Act that creates downward pressure on their numbers (in fact the Muslim voter numbers have gone up with each elections). In Bangladesh, as the Hindu
population is going down due to VPA, politicians think the minority vote does not have to be respected, nor do many worry about ensuring that these voters can enter polling booths safely.
A call to protect minority rights must come from the majority. I place my hope on ordinary citizens, the silent majority, the secular Muslim. We can and must defend Bangladesh's secular core, starting with the minority vote.
Naeem Mohaiemen (naeem.mohaiemen@gmail.com) has written about minorities for Ain o Salish Kendra and Drishtipat.
Naeem Mohaiemen
http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=67244
AT a seminar last week discussing the newly formed National Human Rights Commission, it was pointedly asked why it had no minority members. The chairman had no reply for us, but the question kept percolating in the room.
In another air-con room a week later, the Awami League unveiled its election manifesto. Section 18.1 pledges to improve the condition of minorities, adivasis, indigenous people, and dalits, by removing discriminatory laws, forming land commission to protect their land, creating job opportunities, etc. Section 18.2 talks about implementation of the CHT Peace Accord.
Those who recall the abrupt volte face of the AL-Khelafot Andolon alliance of December 2006, or who are distressed at the alliance presence of JP which inserted "Islam as state religion" into the constitution, will remain cautious. But while guarded, we may still hope for an incremental shift in political parties' commitment to minority rights.
Historically, minority communities have been perceived to vote for the AL (if only because the other parties are increasingly hard-line on religion). This was manifested in 2001, when Hindu voters were prevented from voting in many areas. After the BNP-Jamaat victory, BNP-allied local gangs attacked Hindu villages. According to press reports at the time, the southwestern and southern part of Bangladesh (popularly known as the 'Hindu belt') was worst affected.
Meghna Guhathakurta, in a forthcoming essay (Journal of Social Studies No. 121 January-March 2009), describes a visit to Bhola, one of the worst affected districts: "Among the atrocities committed were charging into households, attacking men, women and children with sharp knives and weapons, in certain cases threatening with guns, terrorizing women and children by beating and chasing them and in certain cases raping and attempting rape. Looting of Hindu households and sometimes Muslim households which sheltered Hindus took place throughout the night and in waves since most householders had fled in terror and their houses were left unguarded."
According to research done by a rights NGO, based on the National Democratic Institute (NDI) data-set, the 1991 and 2001 Bangladesh election results could have been different given the razor-thin margins by which many seats were won, and the huge number of minority voters that were prevented from voting in those very seats. Out of 300 constituencies for parliament seats, there are 71 where minority voters are significant (ranging from 11% to 61%) and 50 where they are visible (5-10%). According to the 2001 Population Census, the Hindu population was 11,379,000 -- 9.2 per cent of the total.
These statistics do not count other religious minorities, nor ethnic minorities. If we look at the intersection between religious and ethnic minority in Jumma people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, we find these were areas with lowest voter turnout. According to analysis of NDI data by Rahman & Ahamed (Daily Star, Dec 12), there were 850 centres where voter turnout in 2001 was less than half of total registered voters. Of these, 87 centres were in Cox's Bazaar, 49 in Bandarban, 67 in Rangamati, and 36 in Khagrachari. In addition, around 87 centres with less than 50 per cent turnout were in Cox's Bazaar-3. There were 35 polling centres where voter turnout was as low as or lower than 10 %. Of these, 18 were in Rangamati, 8 in Khagrachari, 5
in Cox's Bazaar-3, and 2 in Bandarban.
Looking at specific constituencies in 2001, Rahman & Ahamed (Daily Star, Dec 13) zero in on Bagerhat-4 where 12% voters are religious minority, and Khulna-5 where 40% of voters are religious minority. Looking at the NDI data, there is clear evidence of violence which resulted in Hindu-majority polling centres being closed, Hindu voters staying away from polls, as well as manipulation of vote counting to exclude the Hindu vote. In both constituencies, a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate was declared the winner.
As a result of the tremendous pre- and post-election violence directed at minorities in 2001, this has become an area of specific interest for international election observers in 2008. Local human rights defenders are doing outreach to make sure minority voters do not get intimidated. But so much more is needed, including a public commitment to this from the Election Commission and other administration.
In India's West Bengal, Trinamool and Left Front compete with each other to woo the minority vote (in their case, the Muslims). Of course this is practical politics -- West Bengal has a 27% Muslim population, and there is no law like Bangladesh's Vested Property Act that creates downward pressure on their numbers (in fact the Muslim voter numbers have gone up with each elections). In Bangladesh, as the Hindu
population is going down due to VPA, politicians think the minority vote does not have to be respected, nor do many worry about ensuring that these voters can enter polling booths safely.
A call to protect minority rights must come from the majority. I place my hope on ordinary citizens, the silent majority, the secular Muslim. We can and must defend Bangladesh's secular core, starting with the minority vote.
Naeem Mohaiemen (naeem.mohaiemen@gmail.com) has written about minorities for Ain o Salish Kendra and Drishtipat.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Non-Muslim or Human?
Please find out the documentary Edited for Campaign Against Atrocities on Minority of BAngladesh's 4th International Conference
By Human Rights Defender William Gomes
"Mallaun Na Manush" (Non-Muslim or Human)
We will be blessed to hear from you .Please Click this to see the documentary:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GdLZ2MJJ8
Fell free to share this with others.
With Thanks
William Gomeshttp://humanitybd.wordpress.com/
By Human Rights Defender William Gomes
"Mallaun Na Manush" (Non-Muslim or Human)
We will be blessed to hear from you .Please Click this to see the documentary:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GdLZ2MJJ8
Fell free to share this with others.
With Thanks
William Gomeshttp://humanitybd.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Stranded Pakistanis Vote in Bangladesh: 2008
In Bangladesh Biharis (Stranded Pakistanis) cast Vote in General Election-2008: First Time Ever
Stranded Biharis known as Biharis, exercised their franchise for the first time on Monday in the 9 th Parliamentary election in independent Bangladesh, they are treated as minority in Bangladesh. After liberation of Bangladesh those Biharis have not been treated as citizen of Bangladesh.
The Biharis who achieved the voting rights following the High court orders, thronged the polling centers at different places in a festive mood since morning of 29 th Dec, 08.
The Biharis came out of their respective city slums in the sunny morning and cast votes with a high hope that the next elected government would resolve their problems.
They said that only 20 percent Biaris could enlist their names in the voters list and sought co-operation from the next government so that the dropped Bihari voters can register their names in the voter list in January.
Talking to BDMW some of the Biharis said their demands have partially been fulfilled as they are allowed to cast votes in the crucial 9 th Parliament Election. "We should no longer be treated as stranded Pakistanis"
Asked if they have any preference for a particular political party, most of the Biharis said they are not particularly worried about this. They are looking for an honest and patriotic government which will ensure their basis rights.
Stranded Biharis known as Biharis, exercised their franchise for the first time on Monday in the 9 th Parliamentary election in independent Bangladesh, they are treated as minority in Bangladesh. After liberation of Bangladesh those Biharis have not been treated as citizen of Bangladesh.
The Biharis who achieved the voting rights following the High court orders, thronged the polling centers at different places in a festive mood since morning of 29 th Dec, 08.
The Biharis came out of their respective city slums in the sunny morning and cast votes with a high hope that the next elected government would resolve their problems.
They said that only 20 percent Biaris could enlist their names in the voters list and sought co-operation from the next government so that the dropped Bihari voters can register their names in the voter list in January.
Talking to BDMW some of the Biharis said their demands have partially been fulfilled as they are allowed to cast votes in the crucial 9 th Parliament Election. "We should no longer be treated as stranded Pakistanis"
Asked if they have any preference for a particular political party, most of the Biharis said they are not particularly worried about this. They are looking for an honest and patriotic government which will ensure their basis rights.
Through:
Adv.Rabindra Ghosh
Founder President of Banglaldesh Minority Watch (BDMW)
12, K.M. Das Lane, Tikatuly Bholagiri Trust, Ist Floor Sutrapur P.s. Dhaka, Bangladesh
www.bdmw.org
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Bangladesh faces Islamist fanatics
Bangladesh faces Islamist fanatics
Militant Islamism has been quietly taking ground in Bangladesh, a country once founded on secular democratic values. Terrorist incidents, and assaults against Christians, continues apace with the Talibanization of the country.
Benedict Rogers
Bangladesh is a country associated more with floods, cyclones and poverty than terrorism or radical Islamism. Indeed, it is a country founded on secular, democratic values and widely regarded as a moderate Muslim state. In recent years, however, militant Islamism has quietly been taking ground – and Bangladesh's survival as a progressive state is on a knife-edge.
The warning signs have been there for some years, and some commentators have been sounding the alarm. In 2002, Ruth Baldwin wrote a piece in The Nation headlined: "The 'Talibanisation' of Bangladesh." Hiranmay Karlekar wrote Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan? While Maneeza Hossain's Broken Pendulum: Bangladesh's Swing to Radicalism and Ali Riaz's God Willing: The Politics of Islamism in Bangladesh are all important contributions.
Perhaps the most visible and dramatic sign of the growth of extremism came three years ago. On 17 August 2005, between 11 and 11.30 am, 527 bombs were exploded in a massive attack on all but one of the country's 64 districts. Such a carefully co-ordinated campaign of terror shocked the nation – but in many respects it was just the tip of the terror iceberg. Other terrorist incidents, including an attack on the Bangladeshi-born British High Commissioner, members of the judiciary and sporadic attacks on religious and ethnic minorities are further indicators of the presence of well-organised terrorist networks.
However, it is not simply the acts of violence that should cause concern. The Islamists' ideological influence has spread to almost all parts of Bangladeshi society – not least the political arena.
The umbrella organisation is Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical group founded in India in 1941 by Mawlana Abul Ala Maududi. According to one analyst in Bangladesh, Jamaat's objective is to create "a monolithic Islamic state, based on Shari'ah law, and declare jihad against Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and free-thinking Muslims." Religious minorities – and Muslims regarded by Jamaat as heretical, such as the Ahmadiyya sect – are targeted for eviction, according to one human rights activist, "or at least to be made into a 'non-existent' element whose voice cannot be heard."
Jamaat's tentacles now reach into major sectors, including banking, health care, education, business and non-profit organisations, and they aim to "destroy" the judicial system, according to one critic, including by "physically eliminating judges." In 2001, Jamaat won 17 parliamentary seats in alliance with the governing party, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), and became a partner in the coalition government until its overthrow by the military in 2007. Elections scheduled for next month could result in Jamaat's return to government, if BNP wins, and even in the current caretaker administration there are believed to be Jamaat-sympathisers.
While Jamaat is the umbrella, according to journalist Shahriar Kabir and the Forum for Secular Bangladesh there are over 100 Islamist political parties and militant organisations in Bangladesh. Only four of these have been banned, and even they continue to operate under alternative names. Extremist literature, audio and video cassettes are widely distributed, and thousands of madrassas teach radical Islamism.
All this is completely at odds with the vision of Bangladesh's founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the struggle for independence from Pakistan in which at least three million were killed, ten million displaced and 250,000 women raped. According to Hiranmay Karlekar, at the heart of the birth of Bangladesh was a belief that "the Bengali identity had prevailed over the Islamic identity." The preamble of the first constitution explicitly stated a commitment to secularism and democracy, and political parties were banned from using religion as a basis for their activities.
Bangladesh began sliding slowly towards Islamism following the assassination of Rahman in 1975. In 1977, references to secularism were deleted from the constitution and the phrase "Bismillah-Ar-Rahiman-Ar Rahim" ("In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful) was inserted. Five years later, General Ershad – one of the military dictators who ruled the country in the alternating competition between the army and the democrats – introduced the Eighth Amendment, making Islam the state religion. The constitution now states that "absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all actions."
There remain some provisos, which give religious minorities protection. For example, while Islamic principles are set out as guiding values, the constitution states that they "shall not be judicially enforceable." The Chief Justice has said clearly that Shari'ah does not constitute the basis of the country's legislation. Religious freedom, including "the right to profess, practice or propagate any religion", is protected, and discrimination on religious grounds prohibited.
Nevertheless, in practice Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are denied promotion in the government and the military and in the view of one Bangladeshi journalist, religious and ethnic minorities have seen "unprecedented persecution" in recent years.
In 1998, for example, three Christian sites in Dhaka were attacked – a Catholic girls' school, an Anglican church and a Baptist church. A mob set fire to the school, destroyed property, burned books, pulled down a cross and smashed statues of the Virgin Mary and St Francis of Assisi. Death threats were issued from the nearby mosque. Since then, sporadic attacks on churches have escalated. In 2007, at least five churches were attacked. Hindus and Ahmadiyyas face similar violence.
Cases of abduction, rape, forced marriage and forced conversion of religious minority women – and particularly young girls – are increasing, in a trend worryingly reminiscent of Pakistan. On 13 February 2007, for example, Shantona Rozario, an 18 year-old Christian student, was kidnapped. She was forced at gunpoint to sign a marriage document with her kidnapper, and an affidavit for conversion to Islam, witnessed by a lawyer, a mullah and a group of young men. After a month she managed to escape, but others are not so fortunate. On April 30 of this year a 14 year-old Christian girl, Bituni de Silva, was raped at gunpoint, and on May 2 a 13 year-old daughter of a pastor was gang-raped.
Apostates in Bangladesh face similar severe consequences for leaving Islam as they do throughout the world. On 1 February this year, a 70 year-old woman convert to Christianity from Islam, Rahima Beoa, died from burns suffered when her home was set ablaze after her conversion.
In 2004, a Jamaat Member of Parliament attempted to introduce a blasphemy law in Bangladesh, modelled on Pakistan's notorious legislation. Attempts have been made to ban Ahmadiyya literature. And even during the State of Emergency, when protests and processions are supposed to be banned, extremists led by groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir have held angry rallies. On 17 September 2007, for example, a cartoon was published in a satirical magazine, Alpin, featuring a conversation between a child and an imam, in which the boy was told that he should always use the prefix 'Mohammed' before a name. The boy then decided to call his cat "Mohammed Cat." The cartoon sparked outrage, and effiges of the newspaper editor were burned in street protests. The cartoonist and the editor were arrested, charged with sedition, and the publication was closed down. In April this year, large protests were held after Friday prayers in major cities, opposing the government's plans to legitimate women's rights in the constitution. Maulana Fazlul Haq, chairman of the Islami Oikya Jote, described such a policy as "anti-Qu'ran" and "anti-Islamic."
An estimated 2.5 million people in Bangladesh belong to indigenous ethnic tribal groups, sometime sknown as "Adibashis." There are at least 40 different ethnic groups, mainly inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the plains area around Mymensingh. Most of these tribal groups are non-Muslim – predominantly Buddhist, Christian and Animist. Since the late 1970s, the Bangladeshi government has actively sponsored the resettlement of Bengali Muslims into the tribal areas – resulting in the construction of mosques, land-grabbing, evictions and discrimination against non-Muslims. One indigenous rights campaigner said: "Our way of life is an open society. Men and women can work anywhere. We are more flexible on gender issues. But the settlers have come in and built mosques, and they use their loudspeakers which affects us culturally and psychologically."
In one village near Mymensingh, for example, a Bengali Muslim married a Christian from a tribal group. All the other villagers are Christians. After a few years, he decided he needed a mosque – even though he was the only Muslim in the area. So now he is building a mosque – and the likelihood is he will bring in an imam, who will bring his family, who will bring their relatives: and the slow, subtle, insidious repopulation of a non-Muslim, non-Bengali area will unfold. When I visited the remote jungle village, the atmosphere was tense – and the imam, sitting at the mosque construction site, was unwelcoming.
The prediction of Bangladesh's "Talibanisation" may sound extreme, and in the immediate term the likelihood of Bangladesh becoming like Afghanistan is far-fetched. Bangladesh has not gone as far down the road of radicalisation as Pakistan, for example. Nevertheless, the warnings need to be taken seriously. If it continues as it is, Bangladesh will go the way of Pakistan – and then the risk of Talibanisation becomes realistic.
Indeed, it is Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that are fuelling the Islamisation of Bangladesh. As one person put it, "Pakistan is the breeding ground and the brain, and Saudi Arabia provides the money." Saudi Arabia is a major funder of madrassas and mosques in Bangladesh, for example – and it is no coincide that Wahhabi teaching is on the rise.
A prominent church leader predicts that full Shari'ah law will be implemented if the situation does not change. "Some day, it will happen. Maybe not immediately, but it will happen … The support of voices in the international community is very much needed. More people need to come and find out what is happening here." As Ali Riaz says, "there is no doubt that if the present trend continues, the nation will inevitably slide further down the slope toward a regime with a clear Islamist agenda … What is necessary is a decisive change in the direction of the nation." Such a decisive change is vital, to restore the founding principles of Bangladesh – secularism, democracy, equal rights. There is still a thriving civil society, with bold intellectuals, journalists and human rights activists willing to challenge radical Islamism – and that is a cause for hope. Bangladesh has not been lost to radical Islamism completely – but it will be if the alarm bells are not heard.
Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and serves as Deputy Chairman of the UK Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission. He is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004). He writes for The Cutting Edge News.
End
Militant Islamism has been quietly taking ground in Bangladesh, a country once founded on secular democratic values. Terrorist incidents, and assaults against Christians, continues apace with the Talibanization of the country.
Benedict Rogers
Bangladesh is a country associated more with floods, cyclones and poverty than terrorism or radical Islamism. Indeed, it is a country founded on secular, democratic values and widely regarded as a moderate Muslim state. In recent years, however, militant Islamism has quietly been taking ground – and Bangladesh's survival as a progressive state is on a knife-edge.
The warning signs have been there for some years, and some commentators have been sounding the alarm. In 2002, Ruth Baldwin wrote a piece in The Nation headlined: "The 'Talibanisation' of Bangladesh." Hiranmay Karlekar wrote Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan? While Maneeza Hossain's Broken Pendulum: Bangladesh's Swing to Radicalism and Ali Riaz's God Willing: The Politics of Islamism in Bangladesh are all important contributions.
Perhaps the most visible and dramatic sign of the growth of extremism came three years ago. On 17 August 2005, between 11 and 11.30 am, 527 bombs were exploded in a massive attack on all but one of the country's 64 districts. Such a carefully co-ordinated campaign of terror shocked the nation – but in many respects it was just the tip of the terror iceberg. Other terrorist incidents, including an attack on the Bangladeshi-born British High Commissioner, members of the judiciary and sporadic attacks on religious and ethnic minorities are further indicators of the presence of well-organised terrorist networks.
However, it is not simply the acts of violence that should cause concern. The Islamists' ideological influence has spread to almost all parts of Bangladeshi society – not least the political arena.
The umbrella organisation is Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical group founded in India in 1941 by Mawlana Abul Ala Maududi. According to one analyst in Bangladesh, Jamaat's objective is to create "a monolithic Islamic state, based on Shari'ah law, and declare jihad against Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and free-thinking Muslims." Religious minorities – and Muslims regarded by Jamaat as heretical, such as the Ahmadiyya sect – are targeted for eviction, according to one human rights activist, "or at least to be made into a 'non-existent' element whose voice cannot be heard."
Jamaat's tentacles now reach into major sectors, including banking, health care, education, business and non-profit organisations, and they aim to "destroy" the judicial system, according to one critic, including by "physically eliminating judges." In 2001, Jamaat won 17 parliamentary seats in alliance with the governing party, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), and became a partner in the coalition government until its overthrow by the military in 2007. Elections scheduled for next month could result in Jamaat's return to government, if BNP wins, and even in the current caretaker administration there are believed to be Jamaat-sympathisers.
While Jamaat is the umbrella, according to journalist Shahriar Kabir and the Forum for Secular Bangladesh there are over 100 Islamist political parties and militant organisations in Bangladesh. Only four of these have been banned, and even they continue to operate under alternative names. Extremist literature, audio and video cassettes are widely distributed, and thousands of madrassas teach radical Islamism.
All this is completely at odds with the vision of Bangladesh's founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the struggle for independence from Pakistan in which at least three million were killed, ten million displaced and 250,000 women raped. According to Hiranmay Karlekar, at the heart of the birth of Bangladesh was a belief that "the Bengali identity had prevailed over the Islamic identity." The preamble of the first constitution explicitly stated a commitment to secularism and democracy, and political parties were banned from using religion as a basis for their activities.
Bangladesh began sliding slowly towards Islamism following the assassination of Rahman in 1975. In 1977, references to secularism were deleted from the constitution and the phrase "Bismillah-Ar-Rahiman-Ar Rahim" ("In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful) was inserted. Five years later, General Ershad – one of the military dictators who ruled the country in the alternating competition between the army and the democrats – introduced the Eighth Amendment, making Islam the state religion. The constitution now states that "absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all actions."
There remain some provisos, which give religious minorities protection. For example, while Islamic principles are set out as guiding values, the constitution states that they "shall not be judicially enforceable." The Chief Justice has said clearly that Shari'ah does not constitute the basis of the country's legislation. Religious freedom, including "the right to profess, practice or propagate any religion", is protected, and discrimination on religious grounds prohibited.
Nevertheless, in practice Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are denied promotion in the government and the military and in the view of one Bangladeshi journalist, religious and ethnic minorities have seen "unprecedented persecution" in recent years.
In 1998, for example, three Christian sites in Dhaka were attacked – a Catholic girls' school, an Anglican church and a Baptist church. A mob set fire to the school, destroyed property, burned books, pulled down a cross and smashed statues of the Virgin Mary and St Francis of Assisi. Death threats were issued from the nearby mosque. Since then, sporadic attacks on churches have escalated. In 2007, at least five churches were attacked. Hindus and Ahmadiyyas face similar violence.
Cases of abduction, rape, forced marriage and forced conversion of religious minority women – and particularly young girls – are increasing, in a trend worryingly reminiscent of Pakistan. On 13 February 2007, for example, Shantona Rozario, an 18 year-old Christian student, was kidnapped. She was forced at gunpoint to sign a marriage document with her kidnapper, and an affidavit for conversion to Islam, witnessed by a lawyer, a mullah and a group of young men. After a month she managed to escape, but others are not so fortunate. On April 30 of this year a 14 year-old Christian girl, Bituni de Silva, was raped at gunpoint, and on May 2 a 13 year-old daughter of a pastor was gang-raped.
Apostates in Bangladesh face similar severe consequences for leaving Islam as they do throughout the world. On 1 February this year, a 70 year-old woman convert to Christianity from Islam, Rahima Beoa, died from burns suffered when her home was set ablaze after her conversion.
In 2004, a Jamaat Member of Parliament attempted to introduce a blasphemy law in Bangladesh, modelled on Pakistan's notorious legislation. Attempts have been made to ban Ahmadiyya literature. And even during the State of Emergency, when protests and processions are supposed to be banned, extremists led by groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir have held angry rallies. On 17 September 2007, for example, a cartoon was published in a satirical magazine, Alpin, featuring a conversation between a child and an imam, in which the boy was told that he should always use the prefix 'Mohammed' before a name. The boy then decided to call his cat "Mohammed Cat." The cartoon sparked outrage, and effiges of the newspaper editor were burned in street protests. The cartoonist and the editor were arrested, charged with sedition, and the publication was closed down. In April this year, large protests were held after Friday prayers in major cities, opposing the government's plans to legitimate women's rights in the constitution. Maulana Fazlul Haq, chairman of the Islami Oikya Jote, described such a policy as "anti-Qu'ran" and "anti-Islamic."
An estimated 2.5 million people in Bangladesh belong to indigenous ethnic tribal groups, sometime sknown as "Adibashis." There are at least 40 different ethnic groups, mainly inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the plains area around Mymensingh. Most of these tribal groups are non-Muslim – predominantly Buddhist, Christian and Animist. Since the late 1970s, the Bangladeshi government has actively sponsored the resettlement of Bengali Muslims into the tribal areas – resulting in the construction of mosques, land-grabbing, evictions and discrimination against non-Muslims. One indigenous rights campaigner said: "Our way of life is an open society. Men and women can work anywhere. We are more flexible on gender issues. But the settlers have come in and built mosques, and they use their loudspeakers which affects us culturally and psychologically."
In one village near Mymensingh, for example, a Bengali Muslim married a Christian from a tribal group. All the other villagers are Christians. After a few years, he decided he needed a mosque – even though he was the only Muslim in the area. So now he is building a mosque – and the likelihood is he will bring in an imam, who will bring his family, who will bring their relatives: and the slow, subtle, insidious repopulation of a non-Muslim, non-Bengali area will unfold. When I visited the remote jungle village, the atmosphere was tense – and the imam, sitting at the mosque construction site, was unwelcoming.
The prediction of Bangladesh's "Talibanisation" may sound extreme, and in the immediate term the likelihood of Bangladesh becoming like Afghanistan is far-fetched. Bangladesh has not gone as far down the road of radicalisation as Pakistan, for example. Nevertheless, the warnings need to be taken seriously. If it continues as it is, Bangladesh will go the way of Pakistan – and then the risk of Talibanisation becomes realistic.
Indeed, it is Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that are fuelling the Islamisation of Bangladesh. As one person put it, "Pakistan is the breeding ground and the brain, and Saudi Arabia provides the money." Saudi Arabia is a major funder of madrassas and mosques in Bangladesh, for example – and it is no coincide that Wahhabi teaching is on the rise.
A prominent church leader predicts that full Shari'ah law will be implemented if the situation does not change. "Some day, it will happen. Maybe not immediately, but it will happen … The support of voices in the international community is very much needed. More people need to come and find out what is happening here." As Ali Riaz says, "there is no doubt that if the present trend continues, the nation will inevitably slide further down the slope toward a regime with a clear Islamist agenda … What is necessary is a decisive change in the direction of the nation." Such a decisive change is vital, to restore the founding principles of Bangladesh – secularism, democracy, equal rights. There is still a thriving civil society, with bold intellectuals, journalists and human rights activists willing to challenge radical Islamism – and that is a cause for hope. Bangladesh has not been lost to radical Islamism completely – but it will be if the alarm bells are not heard.
Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and serves as Deputy Chairman of the UK Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission. He is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004). He writes for The Cutting Edge News.
End
Friday, December 26, 2008
Bangladesh: The Upcoming National Elections, Pluralism, Tolerance and the Plight of Hindu and Non-Muslim Minority – Need a New Direction
Bangladesh: The Upcoming National Elections, Pluralism, Tolerance and the Plight of Hindu and Non-Muslim Minority – Need a New Direction
by
Sachi G. Dastidar, Ph.D.
Distinguished Service Professor
Politics, Economics and Law Department
State University of New York, Old Westbury
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Hearing on
Bangladesh: Religious Freedom, Extremism, Security, and the Upcoming National Elections
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2325
Good Morning.
I thank the Commission for inviting me to this hearing. I will focus my comments on treatment of Hindu and other non-Muslim minorities in Bangladesh and her prospect for tolerance and pluralism without which there cannot be any democracy. I have been working on these issues for over 25 years having authored several books and articles. I have brought a few of those for you to look at. Empire’s Last Casualty: Indian Subcontinent’s Vanishing Hindu and Other Minorities was released earlier this year, while Living among the Believers: Stories from the holy Land Down the Ganges, was released the year before is a collection of 18 short stories based on life of Hindu minority and of tolerant Muslims who are trying to protect them. Empire’s Last Casualty…documents the loss of 49 million Hindus (minorities) from Bangladesh Census; and the politically-incorrect topic of Hindu casualty since 1947 Bengal partition. I also head a foundation that helps educate the poor and the orphaned in 22 schools, 14 in Bangladesh and 8 in India. (Let me take this opportunity to invite our Ambassador and all of you to visit our schools as American people’s generosity to Bangladesh. I have copies of our newsletter.) On one hand I love the beauty of the land, her traditional culture and warmth of individuals. I have taken tour groups there. Through my effort I have preserved one of her old heritage temples that is now listed in a UNESCO book. We have build half-a-dozen schools and dormitories. I am overwhelmed when we are welcomed by conch blowing, ululating, incense dancing and with matua songs. I am touched as they have named a home for the widowed and abandoned women after my wife and a college building after me. Yet I am saddened by the remorseless persecution of our indigenous Hindu minority – including for conch blowing, ululating or incense dancing – for their pre-Islamic culture, the heritage of all Bengali Muslims. I am also saddened by the denial of Hindu plights by a section of our elites, especially when vast majority killed for the independence were Hindus. Except for the hardcore pro-tolerant activists, writers, poets, journalists, editors and bulk of rural residents, a segment of elites are either unaware or unwilling to understand the depth of serious day-to-day harassment, humiliation and institutionalized discrimination directed towards Hindus, and their Buddhist, Christian and indigenous cousins. Almost on a daily basis I receive information from home about rape, forced conversion, murder, temple desecration or destruction, confiscation of properties, denial of jobs, many from newspapers, but no one is prosecuted. These I bet are a fraction of intolerant acts that take place on a daily basis. At the village, school or hostel level personal intimacy of majority and minority communities is great, but treatment of Hindus, Buddhists and Christians in faraway villages, schools and dorms tend to be that of malaun, namo and dhaindar bachha – derogatory insults we hear on a daily basis. At home journalists and activists are doing a fine job highlighting anti-Hindu acts, while being censored in the U.S. and in Indian media, especially in Bengali India. If Bengali India – West Bengal and Tripura – both run by Bangladeshi-Hindu refugee were a bit democratically minded and progressive in their outlook it could have helped Bangladesh. But the communal leaders masquerading as communist or leftist, who have chosen not to live with their Muslim-majority neighbors in their homeland, have supported oppression of our minorities either through censorship or silence as do their media.
In Bengali we have a saying: jei jai lankai shei hoi rabon or whosoever ascends the throne becomes a demon which amply describes the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh, and this goes back to the days of 1947 partition when the united Bengal province of British India was governed by the Muslim League Party. Make no mistake, Bangladesh’s problem of democracy is not its anti-minority root, but in its shameless anti-Hindu core. Attack on Christians, Buddhists and indigenous peoples began only after plains and tribal Hindus have been decimated. Throughout her history, with changing focus, Hindu cleansing-(property) confiscation-killing and anti-Hindu apartheid, colonization of Chittagong hills, has been a constant feature with the anti-independence pro-extremist groups, pro-colonial anti-Hindu intolerant groups, segment of pro-independence nationalist groups, military and military-bureaucratic regimes – except 3 years of tolerant, secular rule of the Father of the Nation following 1971 independence. Even the Father retained the racist Hindu-oppression law of Enemy Property Act which allows confiscation of Hindu properties without notice and compensation by declaring them enemies of state; and he didn’t allow rebuilding of the 9th Century Ramna Kali Temple where Islamists killed over 100 Hindus in 1971 before destroying the temple. These were extremely important anti-Hindu symbolism appeasing Islamists. Sadly he and his family paid with their lives for his mistakes.
In the 1990s when an anti-independence pro-extremist group came to power by promising investigation and compensation of families affected by 1990 and 1992 anti-Hindu pogroms, once in power nothing changed while intensifying anti-Hindu apartheid by that I mean the ban on hiring of minorities in public service, military, police, foreign service, diplomatic corps, boarder guard and more. Not a week goes by when I do not hear complaints by minorities how they were denied jobs after passing entrance exam once their identity was known to recruiting bosses. (Note that the same Bangladeshi Hindus [refugees] are found as top ministers, diplomats, university presidents, U.N. delegates, military chiefs, legislators, assembly speakers, eminent scholars in far corners of non-Bengali India as well as in distant nations, but not in their own home!) Again when a pro-independence nationalist group came to power they too maintained that ban. They too chose not to appoint a single Hindu minister and ambassador although about 30% of their vote came from Hindus. They too retained the Enemy Property Act. Over 65% of confiscated Hindu properties were seized by their supporters allowing this immense illegal wealth transfer from the Hindus (see Abul Barkat’s Vested Property book.) During a military regime in 1980s I saw a flicker of hope with decentralization of power, but once the regime came under threat they let loose anti-Hindu pogroms. When anti-independence pro-extremist and pro-colonial anti-Hindu intolerant groups came to power by ethnically cleansing Hindus during election no one was prosecuted for the crimes of Hindu-cleansing although Hindus and secularist Muslims demanded such action.
Earlier this year during a trip through 12 districts we witnessed several interesting scenes. In one all-Hindu village there were long lines of people in festive mood – women in sindur on their scalp and white sankha wedding bangles and men in crisp dhuti garment – waiting to be registered as voters. For that rural community it was a sign of hope. I was upbeat, but I was reminded that the administration has maintained apartheid with no Hindu minority in the governance, and other practices of discrimination were retained in spite of the fact that the Administration has such talented individuals. Hindu-rapists, land confiscators, puja desecrators are not being prosecuted. Thankfully no pogrom has taken place in last two years. And they reminded me of perils of wearing sankha and dhuti beyond that all-Hindu area. At another place residents reminded me of perils of voting when in 2001 all the Hindu minorities were cleansed before election electing an opposition candidate whom I personally met to complain of this ethnic cleansing. Muslims and Hindus called this POBH or Perils of Being Hindu meaning non-Muslim. When the discussion of election came up Muslim majority and Hindu and non-Muslim minority views were from trepidation to downright fear. Many mentioned that “nothing is going to change,” while both Muslims and Hindus were worried about the attack on minorities by “the other party.” In one area residents reminded me that the entire Hindu community was target of violence by all groups active in the area each blaming Hindus for their possible election loss. Such is the dilemma of average Bangladeshi. Yet there is no solution but to seek public mandate in a democracy under transparency.
One may ask, Can the State control violence and discrimination against Hindus, minorities and women? I believe apart from the element of anarchy State is able to control most of the violence. A short while ago when anti-independence and anti-Hindu groups were in power and a Hindu girl’s dorm was about to be attacked we were able to stop that terror by talking to thana police. When a pro-independence group was in power we were able to liberate an ashram as the authorities removed an illegal mosque and returned illegally-held property confiscated by an Islamist group. The Member of Parliament I mentioned earlier who came to power after Hindu cleansing kept his promise “that no more attack will take place.” When anti-independence, pro-extremist groups were in power they saved a historic Hindu shrine at my request that is now a national treasure. A few year’s ago when my Hindu attorney’s son was beheaded because they did not give up their property and move to India, I pleaded with the government for a trial of the murderers, which they speedily conducted convicting many killers. I do not claim that they acted because of my pleading, but the father of the murder victim thought that it had something to do with that trial. (Actually Congressman Crowley was a big help. He met with the father of the murder victim at Dhakeswari Hindu Temple in Dhaka.) So it can be done, when State wants it.
To sum up here are some thoughts on the possibility of a transparent, democratic election and what needs to be done before and after election:
1. Impartial election be held with observers from Bangladesh Civil Society, U.S., Europe, India especially Bengali-Indians and expatriates speaking Bengali;
2. A protocol of protecting minorities before and after election must be developed now, before the election. This is urgent;
3. Punishment for election-terrorists must be spelled out by the international and expatriate community;
4. All political parties, including religious parties, must pledge to nominate Hindu, Buddhists, Christians, Ahmedias and tribes as well as women as their candidate;
5. Hindus, minorities and Muslims who are victims of ethnic cleansing should be allowed to return and vote;
6. Before election political parties must pledge to appoint ministers from minority communities in the new government. Discrimination against Hindus, minorities and women must be noted by USCIRF and other pro-democracy institutions. Tolerance and intolerance can not exist side-by-side in a democracy;
7. Victims of violence of past elections, including rape victims, must be compensated;
8. Perpetrators of past election violence, including rape, must be bought to justice. There must not be a blanket pardon;
9. A special court needs to be set up for speedy trial of rapists, election-terrorists, and property confiscators;
10. Pledges should be sought from political parties that the restriction of hiring of minorities be lifted or in other words minorities must be fully integrated in police, army, diplomacy, air force, border security, judiciary, civil and local administration. This will strengthen democracy and pluralism;
11. Discriminatory, apartheid-making oral exam must be eliminated;
12. All parties must pledge that land confiscated from Hindus through Enemy Property Act must be returned, reparation paid and perpetrators prosecuted. All past governments failed in this promise. This racist law must be abolished. As you all know that this law is so racist that it could not be used against the killers of presidents because they were Muslim, but was used even against the father of the idea of the Bengali nation Mr. Dhiren Dutta who first demanded in Pakistani Parliament that Bengali be made the national language and that love for Bengali created the nation. But after Pakistan murdered him during 1971 Liberation War his homestead was declared enemy property by the new nation because POBH, or being Hindu. It would be like Jefferson’s home being declared enemy property by the U.S. Government;
13. Pledges from political parties should be sought before election that once elected, for reasons of symbolism and substance, a number of high-profile state positions be filled by Hindu and other minorities – president, prime minister, home minister, chief justice, army, navy or air force chief, major party leadership or similar positions;
14. In Constitution equal rights for all religions must be re-enshrined;
15. Decolonization and autonomy of Chittagong Hill Tracts be established;
16. Schooling in tribal mother languages be vigorously pursued;
17. Immediate return of lands belonging to Ramna Kali Temple and Ma Anandomoyee Ashram (in Dhaka);
18. And lastly, a final resolution must be made for the trial of mass murders of 1971 War with trial of war criminals bringing a final closure and ushering in a new democracy.
Personally I know thousands of individuals who are tolerant, secular, patriotic and independence-loving – in and out of government. They like their Hindus to stay in their homeland of thousands of years. I strongly believe that political parties pledging these points will receive support from all Bangladeshis, including Hindu and other minorities. And without minority cooption there can not be a viable democracy. These pledges will usher in a pluralistic, tolerant, prosperous, democratic nation, a symbol of success in the developing world, among Muslim-majority nations and a leader in the Indian Subcontinent.
With that let me end here. I will be happy to answer any question.
Thanks.
See www.uscirf.gov
Monthly Udayan (New York), January 1, 2009
by
Sachi G. Dastidar, Ph.D.
Distinguished Service Professor
Politics, Economics and Law Department
State University of New York, Old Westbury
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Hearing on
Bangladesh: Religious Freedom, Extremism, Security, and the Upcoming National Elections
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2325
Good Morning.
I thank the Commission for inviting me to this hearing. I will focus my comments on treatment of Hindu and other non-Muslim minorities in Bangladesh and her prospect for tolerance and pluralism without which there cannot be any democracy. I have been working on these issues for over 25 years having authored several books and articles. I have brought a few of those for you to look at. Empire’s Last Casualty: Indian Subcontinent’s Vanishing Hindu and Other Minorities was released earlier this year, while Living among the Believers: Stories from the holy Land Down the Ganges, was released the year before is a collection of 18 short stories based on life of Hindu minority and of tolerant Muslims who are trying to protect them. Empire’s Last Casualty…documents the loss of 49 million Hindus (minorities) from Bangladesh Census; and the politically-incorrect topic of Hindu casualty since 1947 Bengal partition. I also head a foundation that helps educate the poor and the orphaned in 22 schools, 14 in Bangladesh and 8 in India. (Let me take this opportunity to invite our Ambassador and all of you to visit our schools as American people’s generosity to Bangladesh. I have copies of our newsletter.) On one hand I love the beauty of the land, her traditional culture and warmth of individuals. I have taken tour groups there. Through my effort I have preserved one of her old heritage temples that is now listed in a UNESCO book. We have build half-a-dozen schools and dormitories. I am overwhelmed when we are welcomed by conch blowing, ululating, incense dancing and with matua songs. I am touched as they have named a home for the widowed and abandoned women after my wife and a college building after me. Yet I am saddened by the remorseless persecution of our indigenous Hindu minority – including for conch blowing, ululating or incense dancing – for their pre-Islamic culture, the heritage of all Bengali Muslims. I am also saddened by the denial of Hindu plights by a section of our elites, especially when vast majority killed for the independence were Hindus. Except for the hardcore pro-tolerant activists, writers, poets, journalists, editors and bulk of rural residents, a segment of elites are either unaware or unwilling to understand the depth of serious day-to-day harassment, humiliation and institutionalized discrimination directed towards Hindus, and their Buddhist, Christian and indigenous cousins. Almost on a daily basis I receive information from home about rape, forced conversion, murder, temple desecration or destruction, confiscation of properties, denial of jobs, many from newspapers, but no one is prosecuted. These I bet are a fraction of intolerant acts that take place on a daily basis. At the village, school or hostel level personal intimacy of majority and minority communities is great, but treatment of Hindus, Buddhists and Christians in faraway villages, schools and dorms tend to be that of malaun, namo and dhaindar bachha – derogatory insults we hear on a daily basis. At home journalists and activists are doing a fine job highlighting anti-Hindu acts, while being censored in the U.S. and in Indian media, especially in Bengali India. If Bengali India – West Bengal and Tripura – both run by Bangladeshi-Hindu refugee were a bit democratically minded and progressive in their outlook it could have helped Bangladesh. But the communal leaders masquerading as communist or leftist, who have chosen not to live with their Muslim-majority neighbors in their homeland, have supported oppression of our minorities either through censorship or silence as do their media.
In Bengali we have a saying: jei jai lankai shei hoi rabon or whosoever ascends the throne becomes a demon which amply describes the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh, and this goes back to the days of 1947 partition when the united Bengal province of British India was governed by the Muslim League Party. Make no mistake, Bangladesh’s problem of democracy is not its anti-minority root, but in its shameless anti-Hindu core. Attack on Christians, Buddhists and indigenous peoples began only after plains and tribal Hindus have been decimated. Throughout her history, with changing focus, Hindu cleansing-(property) confiscation-killing and anti-Hindu apartheid, colonization of Chittagong hills, has been a constant feature with the anti-independence pro-extremist groups, pro-colonial anti-Hindu intolerant groups, segment of pro-independence nationalist groups, military and military-bureaucratic regimes – except 3 years of tolerant, secular rule of the Father of the Nation following 1971 independence. Even the Father retained the racist Hindu-oppression law of Enemy Property Act which allows confiscation of Hindu properties without notice and compensation by declaring them enemies of state; and he didn’t allow rebuilding of the 9th Century Ramna Kali Temple where Islamists killed over 100 Hindus in 1971 before destroying the temple. These were extremely important anti-Hindu symbolism appeasing Islamists. Sadly he and his family paid with their lives for his mistakes.
In the 1990s when an anti-independence pro-extremist group came to power by promising investigation and compensation of families affected by 1990 and 1992 anti-Hindu pogroms, once in power nothing changed while intensifying anti-Hindu apartheid by that I mean the ban on hiring of minorities in public service, military, police, foreign service, diplomatic corps, boarder guard and more. Not a week goes by when I do not hear complaints by minorities how they were denied jobs after passing entrance exam once their identity was known to recruiting bosses. (Note that the same Bangladeshi Hindus [refugees] are found as top ministers, diplomats, university presidents, U.N. delegates, military chiefs, legislators, assembly speakers, eminent scholars in far corners of non-Bengali India as well as in distant nations, but not in their own home!) Again when a pro-independence nationalist group came to power they too maintained that ban. They too chose not to appoint a single Hindu minister and ambassador although about 30% of their vote came from Hindus. They too retained the Enemy Property Act. Over 65% of confiscated Hindu properties were seized by their supporters allowing this immense illegal wealth transfer from the Hindus (see Abul Barkat’s Vested Property book.) During a military regime in 1980s I saw a flicker of hope with decentralization of power, but once the regime came under threat they let loose anti-Hindu pogroms. When anti-independence pro-extremist and pro-colonial anti-Hindu intolerant groups came to power by ethnically cleansing Hindus during election no one was prosecuted for the crimes of Hindu-cleansing although Hindus and secularist Muslims demanded such action.
Earlier this year during a trip through 12 districts we witnessed several interesting scenes. In one all-Hindu village there were long lines of people in festive mood – women in sindur on their scalp and white sankha wedding bangles and men in crisp dhuti garment – waiting to be registered as voters. For that rural community it was a sign of hope. I was upbeat, but I was reminded that the administration has maintained apartheid with no Hindu minority in the governance, and other practices of discrimination were retained in spite of the fact that the Administration has such talented individuals. Hindu-rapists, land confiscators, puja desecrators are not being prosecuted. Thankfully no pogrom has taken place in last two years. And they reminded me of perils of wearing sankha and dhuti beyond that all-Hindu area. At another place residents reminded me of perils of voting when in 2001 all the Hindu minorities were cleansed before election electing an opposition candidate whom I personally met to complain of this ethnic cleansing. Muslims and Hindus called this POBH or Perils of Being Hindu meaning non-Muslim. When the discussion of election came up Muslim majority and Hindu and non-Muslim minority views were from trepidation to downright fear. Many mentioned that “nothing is going to change,” while both Muslims and Hindus were worried about the attack on minorities by “the other party.” In one area residents reminded me that the entire Hindu community was target of violence by all groups active in the area each blaming Hindus for their possible election loss. Such is the dilemma of average Bangladeshi. Yet there is no solution but to seek public mandate in a democracy under transparency.
One may ask, Can the State control violence and discrimination against Hindus, minorities and women? I believe apart from the element of anarchy State is able to control most of the violence. A short while ago when anti-independence and anti-Hindu groups were in power and a Hindu girl’s dorm was about to be attacked we were able to stop that terror by talking to thana police. When a pro-independence group was in power we were able to liberate an ashram as the authorities removed an illegal mosque and returned illegally-held property confiscated by an Islamist group. The Member of Parliament I mentioned earlier who came to power after Hindu cleansing kept his promise “that no more attack will take place.” When anti-independence, pro-extremist groups were in power they saved a historic Hindu shrine at my request that is now a national treasure. A few year’s ago when my Hindu attorney’s son was beheaded because they did not give up their property and move to India, I pleaded with the government for a trial of the murderers, which they speedily conducted convicting many killers. I do not claim that they acted because of my pleading, but the father of the murder victim thought that it had something to do with that trial. (Actually Congressman Crowley was a big help. He met with the father of the murder victim at Dhakeswari Hindu Temple in Dhaka.) So it can be done, when State wants it.
To sum up here are some thoughts on the possibility of a transparent, democratic election and what needs to be done before and after election:
1. Impartial election be held with observers from Bangladesh Civil Society, U.S., Europe, India especially Bengali-Indians and expatriates speaking Bengali;
2. A protocol of protecting minorities before and after election must be developed now, before the election. This is urgent;
3. Punishment for election-terrorists must be spelled out by the international and expatriate community;
4. All political parties, including religious parties, must pledge to nominate Hindu, Buddhists, Christians, Ahmedias and tribes as well as women as their candidate;
5. Hindus, minorities and Muslims who are victims of ethnic cleansing should be allowed to return and vote;
6. Before election political parties must pledge to appoint ministers from minority communities in the new government. Discrimination against Hindus, minorities and women must be noted by USCIRF and other pro-democracy institutions. Tolerance and intolerance can not exist side-by-side in a democracy;
7. Victims of violence of past elections, including rape victims, must be compensated;
8. Perpetrators of past election violence, including rape, must be bought to justice. There must not be a blanket pardon;
9. A special court needs to be set up for speedy trial of rapists, election-terrorists, and property confiscators;
10. Pledges should be sought from political parties that the restriction of hiring of minorities be lifted or in other words minorities must be fully integrated in police, army, diplomacy, air force, border security, judiciary, civil and local administration. This will strengthen democracy and pluralism;
11. Discriminatory, apartheid-making oral exam must be eliminated;
12. All parties must pledge that land confiscated from Hindus through Enemy Property Act must be returned, reparation paid and perpetrators prosecuted. All past governments failed in this promise. This racist law must be abolished. As you all know that this law is so racist that it could not be used against the killers of presidents because they were Muslim, but was used even against the father of the idea of the Bengali nation Mr. Dhiren Dutta who first demanded in Pakistani Parliament that Bengali be made the national language and that love for Bengali created the nation. But after Pakistan murdered him during 1971 Liberation War his homestead was declared enemy property by the new nation because POBH, or being Hindu. It would be like Jefferson’s home being declared enemy property by the U.S. Government;
13. Pledges from political parties should be sought before election that once elected, for reasons of symbolism and substance, a number of high-profile state positions be filled by Hindu and other minorities – president, prime minister, home minister, chief justice, army, navy or air force chief, major party leadership or similar positions;
14. In Constitution equal rights for all religions must be re-enshrined;
15. Decolonization and autonomy of Chittagong Hill Tracts be established;
16. Schooling in tribal mother languages be vigorously pursued;
17. Immediate return of lands belonging to Ramna Kali Temple and Ma Anandomoyee Ashram (in Dhaka);
18. And lastly, a final resolution must be made for the trial of mass murders of 1971 War with trial of war criminals bringing a final closure and ushering in a new democracy.
Personally I know thousands of individuals who are tolerant, secular, patriotic and independence-loving – in and out of government. They like their Hindus to stay in their homeland of thousands of years. I strongly believe that political parties pledging these points will receive support from all Bangladeshis, including Hindu and other minorities. And without minority cooption there can not be a viable democracy. These pledges will usher in a pluralistic, tolerant, prosperous, democratic nation, a symbol of success in the developing world, among Muslim-majority nations and a leader in the Indian Subcontinent.
With that let me end here. I will be happy to answer any question.
Thanks.
See www.uscirf.gov
Monthly Udayan (New York), January 1, 2009
Bangladeshi leaflets ask voters not to elect Hindu candidate
Bangladeshi leaflets ask voters not to elect Hindu candidate
Monday, December 15, 2008
Dhaka: Leaflets asking Muslims not to elect a Hindu candidate have been distributed in a northern constituency of Bangladesh in the run up to the Dec 29 general election, a media report said Monday.
Three types of leaflets distributed in Thakurgaon-1 constituency ask people not to vote for Ramesh Chandra Sen, the nominee of the Awami League (AL) because he is a Hindu. Voters have been asked to elect Mirza Fakhrul Islam, nominee of the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), The Daily Star newspaper reported.
The leaflets - one containing verses from the Quran and their translation, the other a parody of a popular song and another a few short Bangla verses - bear the name of Bangladesh Muslim League presidium member M. Shamsul Haque. He is currently the vice-president of Thakurgaon Sadar BNP committee.
The party Haque belongs to was powerful during the Pakistan era, but has not had mass support in Bangladesh since the 1971 separation.
Election Officer Mohammed Saiful Islam told The Daily Star that the distribution of the leaflets "is not a violation of electoral rules since no Muslim League candidate is participating in the election from this constituency".
However, Sen said the leaflets had an appeal beyond party lines and were meant to exploit Muslim religious sentiments.
One of the leaflets, titled "Al-Quraner Bani" (teachings of the Quran), quotes different verses and clearly asks Muslims not to cast their vote for a non-Muslim candidate.
It also says that Islam does not accept the idea of secularism.
End
Monday, December 15, 2008
Dhaka: Leaflets asking Muslims not to elect a Hindu candidate have been distributed in a northern constituency of Bangladesh in the run up to the Dec 29 general election, a media report said Monday.
Three types of leaflets distributed in Thakurgaon-1 constituency ask people not to vote for Ramesh Chandra Sen, the nominee of the Awami League (AL) because he is a Hindu. Voters have been asked to elect Mirza Fakhrul Islam, nominee of the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), The Daily Star newspaper reported.
The leaflets - one containing verses from the Quran and their translation, the other a parody of a popular song and another a few short Bangla verses - bear the name of Bangladesh Muslim League presidium member M. Shamsul Haque. He is currently the vice-president of Thakurgaon Sadar BNP committee.
The party Haque belongs to was powerful during the Pakistan era, but has not had mass support in Bangladesh since the 1971 separation.
Election Officer Mohammed Saiful Islam told The Daily Star that the distribution of the leaflets "is not a violation of electoral rules since no Muslim League candidate is participating in the election from this constituency".
However, Sen said the leaflets had an appeal beyond party lines and were meant to exploit Muslim religious sentiments.
One of the leaflets, titled "Al-Quraner Bani" (teachings of the Quran), quotes different verses and clearly asks Muslims not to cast their vote for a non-Muslim candidate.
It also says that Islam does not accept the idea of secularism.
End
Bangladesh Election 2008 & Non-Muslim Minority
EC asked to ensure safety of minority communities
Daily Star, December 6, 2008
Staff Correspondent
The Election Commission (EC) should arrange special security measures in the upcoming national polls in the constituencies where minority communities were subjected to repression during and after the 2001 elections, human rights activists and academics said yesterday.
Memories of rape and barring from casting votes in many constituencies in 2001 polls still haunt the minds of the Hindus, the speakers said at a discussion on a survey report on the state of minority communities in Bangladesh organised by Sampriti Mancha at the Asiatic Society auditorium in the capital.
Such incidents have increased the sense of insecurity among minority communities before the polls, said the speakers.
"We should write to the Election Commission asking it to mark the constituencies where minorities were repressed during and after the 2001polls as 'red areas'," said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad General Secretary Ayesha Khanam.
Presenting the survey report, journalist Ajoy Dasgupta said properties of the Hindus were grabbed by influential people in some areas after the election violence in 2001 increasing the sense of insecurity among the community members.
"The authorities concerned must take steps to ensure that the violent incidents occurred during 2001 polls do not take place again in the upcoming election," he said, adding that a huge number of Hindus were deprived of their voting rights in the last election.
According to the survey, 64.76 percent of 1,388 respondents said they were subjected to repression in the 2001 polls, while 38.2 percent of 1,403 respondents said they feel insecure for being members of Hindu community.
At least 36 percent of 1,426 respondents said they and their relatives think of leaving the country for the same reason, said the survey report conducted on 1,552 Hindus recently.
Only 28.1 percent of 1,388 respondents said the police took actions when they complained to police of violence on them while 42.21 percent said police on a few occasions took actions when they lodged such complaint with them.
Ajoy Dasgupta said 59.5 percent of 1,440 respondents said they feel that their properties are under threat because of the Vested Properties Act.
Terming the findings about the Hindu community 'sad', Regulatory Reforms Commission Chairman and former adviser to a caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan said the whole society gets affected when a state makes discrimination against any section of its population.
Bangladesh was born with a dream of establishing equality of all regardless of gender, religion and ethnicity. But it is unfortunate that disparity exists in all spheres of life, he said.
"We must root out the vested groups that patronise fanatics," he added.
Prof Imtiaz Ahmed of International Relations department of Dhaka University (DU) said the Muslims of Bengal are basically tolerant.
But intolerance among some of them is growing gradually because of the influence of petrodollar from the Middle East where a large number of Bangladeshis are living now.
He stressed the need for increasing democratic practices, strengthening internal democracy of political parties, development-oriented policy and structural reforms to deal with it.
Justice Golam Rabbani, DU professors Ajay Roy, AK Azad Chowdhury, Dr Neem Chandra Bhowmik, journalist Shahriar Kabir and Denis Dilip Datta of National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh spoke at the discussion moderated by DU Associate Professor Robayet Ferdous.
End
Daily Star, December 6, 2008
Staff Correspondent
The Election Commission (EC) should arrange special security measures in the upcoming national polls in the constituencies where minority communities were subjected to repression during and after the 2001 elections, human rights activists and academics said yesterday.
Memories of rape and barring from casting votes in many constituencies in 2001 polls still haunt the minds of the Hindus, the speakers said at a discussion on a survey report on the state of minority communities in Bangladesh organised by Sampriti Mancha at the Asiatic Society auditorium in the capital.
Such incidents have increased the sense of insecurity among minority communities before the polls, said the speakers.
"We should write to the Election Commission asking it to mark the constituencies where minorities were repressed during and after the 2001polls as 'red areas'," said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad General Secretary Ayesha Khanam.
Presenting the survey report, journalist Ajoy Dasgupta said properties of the Hindus were grabbed by influential people in some areas after the election violence in 2001 increasing the sense of insecurity among the community members.
"The authorities concerned must take steps to ensure that the violent incidents occurred during 2001 polls do not take place again in the upcoming election," he said, adding that a huge number of Hindus were deprived of their voting rights in the last election.
According to the survey, 64.76 percent of 1,388 respondents said they were subjected to repression in the 2001 polls, while 38.2 percent of 1,403 respondents said they feel insecure for being members of Hindu community.
At least 36 percent of 1,426 respondents said they and their relatives think of leaving the country for the same reason, said the survey report conducted on 1,552 Hindus recently.
Only 28.1 percent of 1,388 respondents said the police took actions when they complained to police of violence on them while 42.21 percent said police on a few occasions took actions when they lodged such complaint with them.
Ajoy Dasgupta said 59.5 percent of 1,440 respondents said they feel that their properties are under threat because of the Vested Properties Act.
Terming the findings about the Hindu community 'sad', Regulatory Reforms Commission Chairman and former adviser to a caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan said the whole society gets affected when a state makes discrimination against any section of its population.
Bangladesh was born with a dream of establishing equality of all regardless of gender, religion and ethnicity. But it is unfortunate that disparity exists in all spheres of life, he said.
"We must root out the vested groups that patronise fanatics," he added.
Prof Imtiaz Ahmed of International Relations department of Dhaka University (DU) said the Muslims of Bengal are basically tolerant.
But intolerance among some of them is growing gradually because of the influence of petrodollar from the Middle East where a large number of Bangladeshis are living now.
He stressed the need for increasing democratic practices, strengthening internal democracy of political parties, development-oriented policy and structural reforms to deal with it.
Justice Golam Rabbani, DU professors Ajay Roy, AK Azad Chowdhury, Dr Neem Chandra Bhowmik, journalist Shahriar Kabir and Denis Dilip Datta of National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh spoke at the discussion moderated by DU Associate Professor Robayet Ferdous.
End
USCIRF Hearing on Religious Freedom in Bangladesh, December 4, 2008
A Brief Report about the US Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing on Bangladesh, December 4, 2008.
Fellow activists/advocates/patrons around the globe:
A five member delegation of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, USA , which included myself, President Ranabir Barua, Spokesperson Dr. Dwijen Bhattacharjya and two other Directors/Advisors of our committee, that is the Oikya Parisahd, USA affiliated with the central committee or BHBCOP, attended the above public hearing held in Rayburn Congressional House Office Building on December 4, 2008.
As you might know, this was the US Commission on Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) third public hearing on Bangladesh. And, as can be understood from the language it used in its Press release -- “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is holding a public hearing to focus attention on Bangladesh’s upcoming national elections. Bangladesh’s last national elections, in October 2001, were followed by numerous reports of violence against members of religious minority communities, particularly Hindus.” --, the main thrust of the hearing was to prevent a repetition of the atrocities of 2001 election period and afterwards.
• The Witnesses or Speakers at the Hearing were: Chair of Bangaldesh Caucus in the US Congress Hon. Congressman Joesph Crowley, the US Ambassador to Dhaka Hon. James F. Moriarty, Mr. Peter Manikas, Regional Director for Asia Programs, National Democratic Institute, Ms. Kimber Shearer, Deputy Director for Asia Programs, International Republican Institute, Distinguished Professor of Politics & Economics at the State University of New York, Dr. Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar, Professor Shapan Adnan , National University of Singapore , professor Ali Riaz , Illinois State University and Mr. Asif Saleh , Founder and Executive Director, Drishtipa.
• As you have noticed in the national media, and as would be expected of an Ambassador, Ambassador Moriarty defended Bangladesh Government, praised it, expressed firm hope that the election would be held, reflecting the U.S. policy terming the country as a “moderate Muslim majority country” with the “Bengalis practicing a unique form of religious syncretism.” However, he also said the following at the end of the statement “…Yet there are those who would like to end this tradition of moderation and tolerance – and that is a matter of grave concern.” And, when the commissioners asked him a series of highly pointed questions about the status of the minorities, rise of militant Islam, the role of Jamaat-e- Islami and the security of the minorities in the forthcoming election, he still gave patent answers but through his tone of voice, hesitations, etc. at least acknowledged that those were problems but still, like an ambassador, expressed high optimism about the prospect of a bright democracy in the “Muslim Majority Bangladesh.” He said US interest in Bangladesh revolves around three Ds: democracy, development and the denial of space to terrorism. Responding to the Commissioners’ question ( only the Commissioners and the Executive Director of USCIRF were allowed to ask questions in the Hearing) regarding the issue of Jammat-E- Islam and its role in 1971, trial of the War=2 0Criminals, and the rise of Islamic terrorism he said that “being conservative doesn’t mean being evil.” One of the speakers, though, in his testimony criticized the US policy of supporting Jamaat-E-Islami as being a democratic force. Other speakers also recommended that the war criminals be tried and punished if democracy were to be promoted in Bangladesh.
• Speaking about the indigenous people of CHT, Professor Swapon Adnan said that, “even with democratic governments under political leadership, the CHT is effectively under the control of the military and no major decisions can be implemented without its consent. The local military commanders outrank their counterparts in civil administration..” He did not hide the plight the indigenous peoples but he did not list the incidents of atroci ties.
• Mr. Asif Saleh, Executive Director of Dristipat argued that minority persecution in Bangladesh has happened but that it was never state-sponsored. Strangely, he said, in his next sentence that the “Albatross of the Enemy Property Act hasn’t been shed yet,” which is a glaring example of state-sponsored persecution. However, since the format of the Hearing did not allow the audience to comment or ask questions, there was nothing we could do, except for pointing out to the USCIRF that Mr. Saleh suppressed the truth.
The only Witness/Speaker who spoke about the plight of the minorities in every detail was Professor Dastidar. Citing his own research as well as other’s including Bangladesh Census reports; he began by saying that since the partition, 49 million Hindu minority from Bangladesh has vanished. Using the saying that “Je jay Lnakay She-I hoy Rakkhosh”, he pointed out how the founding father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demolished the Ramna Kali Temple for the second time and failed to repeal the Enemy Property Act during his tenure despite his ability to do it with a stroke of his pen. Spelling out the ratio of how much of the enemy property was being held by the members of which political party, Professor Dastidar described the situation as being “anti-Hindu apartheid” citing the case of their denial of access to the positions of power and prestige and the retention of the “anti-Hind/racist” black law, the Enemy Property Act. Elaborating on “apartheid” he pointed out the near-complete absence of the minorities in the political parties, diplomatic service, defense, civil administration etc,. and recommended that minorities be appointed/hired as President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Ambassadors, Vice Chancellors, Having done that he made a set of 17 specific recommendations to correct the existing deplorable situation in which the minorities shave to live in Bangladesh, which are brilliant recommendations and will be posted in the USCIRF’s website soon ( We will also post them in our next posting).
The Commissioners and the Executive Director of USCIRF asked every Witness/Speaker a series of Questions to elicit specific recommendations as to how disenfranchisement and persecution of the minorities could be prevented /ended. It was only Professor Dastidar’s speech that already included them. His recommendations include twelve of the demands we have routinely made of the Bangladesh government.
What did our delegates do there?
Anyway, at the hearing we distributed a two-page Appeal (to protect and empower the minorities of Bangladesh in their own interest of retaining the pluralistic nature of Bangladesh’s population) to which we attached our 8-page Fact-Sheet to the attendees, Commissioners & the Executive Directors of the USCIRF.
We also talked to Ambassadors Moriarty for a good ten minutes about the intensity of the atrocities that were inflicted on the minorities around 2001 election and also that, given all the thugs of BNP-Jamaat including Tareq Rahman and SAKA Chowdhury are all free we anticipated the same is likely to happen this time around.
We urged him to act now to prevent the atrocities. We also told him that since he was able to transform Hindu theocratic Nepal into secular state, he should be able to transform theocratic Bangladesh back into the secular state it was in 1971. After the conversation, we handed him a memorandum, a copy of our publication Bangladesh: a portrait of covert genocide, Professor Barkat’s 2008 publication on Enemy/Vested Property Act, our two –page appeal and the Fact Sheet. We also urged him to meet with the BHBCOP leaders and visit our holy places like the Dhakeshwari Temple and Ramna Kali Temple, churches and Buddhist Temples.
We also met with the Bangladeshi Ambassador to the U.S. Humayun Kabir and his five other colleagues, the Witnesses from the NDI and RI and the several American media representatives and gave them our Appeal and Fact Sheet. We requested the ambassador that he forwards the memorandum addressed to the Chief Advisor Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed that we would be sending to him on the Human Rights Day and that he personally advises the government to prevent atrocities against the minorities before, during and after the elections.
Rup Kumar Bhowmick , Director Communications & Publications
Fellow activists/advocates/patrons around the globe:
A five member delegation of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, USA , which included myself, President Ranabir Barua, Spokesperson Dr. Dwijen Bhattacharjya and two other Directors/Advisors of our committee, that is the Oikya Parisahd, USA affiliated with the central committee or BHBCOP, attended the above public hearing held in Rayburn Congressional House Office Building on December 4, 2008.
As you might know, this was the US Commission on Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) third public hearing on Bangladesh. And, as can be understood from the language it used in its Press release -- “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is holding a public hearing to focus attention on Bangladesh’s upcoming national elections. Bangladesh’s last national elections, in October 2001, were followed by numerous reports of violence against members of religious minority communities, particularly Hindus.” --, the main thrust of the hearing was to prevent a repetition of the atrocities of 2001 election period and afterwards.
• The Witnesses or Speakers at the Hearing were: Chair of Bangaldesh Caucus in the US Congress Hon. Congressman Joesph Crowley, the US Ambassador to Dhaka Hon. James F. Moriarty, Mr. Peter Manikas, Regional Director for Asia Programs, National Democratic Institute, Ms. Kimber Shearer, Deputy Director for Asia Programs, International Republican Institute, Distinguished Professor of Politics & Economics at the State University of New York, Dr. Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar, Professor Shapan Adnan , National University of Singapore , professor Ali Riaz , Illinois State University and Mr. Asif Saleh , Founder and Executive Director, Drishtipa.
• As you have noticed in the national media, and as would be expected of an Ambassador, Ambassador Moriarty defended Bangladesh Government, praised it, expressed firm hope that the election would be held, reflecting the U.S. policy terming the country as a “moderate Muslim majority country” with the “Bengalis practicing a unique form of religious syncretism.” However, he also said the following at the end of the statement “…Yet there are those who would like to end this tradition of moderation and tolerance – and that is a matter of grave concern.” And, when the commissioners asked him a series of highly pointed questions about the status of the minorities, rise of militant Islam, the role of Jamaat-e- Islami and the security of the minorities in the forthcoming election, he still gave patent answers but through his tone of voice, hesitations, etc. at least acknowledged that those were problems but still, like an ambassador, expressed high optimism about the prospect of a bright democracy in the “Muslim Majority Bangladesh.” He said US interest in Bangladesh revolves around three Ds: democracy, development and the denial of space to terrorism. Responding to the Commissioners’ question ( only the Commissioners and the Executive Director of USCIRF were allowed to ask questions in the Hearing) regarding the issue of Jammat-E- Islam and its role in 1971, trial of the War=2 0Criminals, and the rise of Islamic terrorism he said that “being conservative doesn’t mean being evil.” One of the speakers, though, in his testimony criticized the US policy of supporting Jamaat-E-Islami as being a democratic force. Other speakers also recommended that the war criminals be tried and punished if democracy were to be promoted in Bangladesh.
• Speaking about the indigenous people of CHT, Professor Swapon Adnan said that, “even with democratic governments under political leadership, the CHT is effectively under the control of the military and no major decisions can be implemented without its consent. The local military commanders outrank their counterparts in civil administration..” He did not hide the plight the indigenous peoples but he did not list the incidents of atroci ties.
• Mr. Asif Saleh, Executive Director of Dristipat argued that minority persecution in Bangladesh has happened but that it was never state-sponsored. Strangely, he said, in his next sentence that the “Albatross of the Enemy Property Act hasn’t been shed yet,” which is a glaring example of state-sponsored persecution. However, since the format of the Hearing did not allow the audience to comment or ask questions, there was nothing we could do, except for pointing out to the USCIRF that Mr. Saleh suppressed the truth.
The only Witness/Speaker who spoke about the plight of the minorities in every detail was Professor Dastidar. Citing his own research as well as other’s including Bangladesh Census reports; he began by saying that since the partition, 49 million Hindu minority from Bangladesh has vanished. Using the saying that “Je jay Lnakay She-I hoy Rakkhosh”, he pointed out how the founding father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demolished the Ramna Kali Temple for the second time and failed to repeal the Enemy Property Act during his tenure despite his ability to do it with a stroke of his pen. Spelling out the ratio of how much of the enemy property was being held by the members of which political party, Professor Dastidar described the situation as being “anti-Hindu apartheid” citing the case of their denial of access to the positions of power and prestige and the retention of the “anti-Hind/racist” black law, the Enemy Property Act. Elaborating on “apartheid” he pointed out the near-complete absence of the minorities in the political parties, diplomatic service, defense, civil administration etc,. and recommended that minorities be appointed/hired as President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Ambassadors, Vice Chancellors, Having done that he made a set of 17 specific recommendations to correct the existing deplorable situation in which the minorities shave to live in Bangladesh, which are brilliant recommendations and will be posted in the USCIRF’s website soon ( We will also post them in our next posting).
The Commissioners and the Executive Director of USCIRF asked every Witness/Speaker a series of Questions to elicit specific recommendations as to how disenfranchisement and persecution of the minorities could be prevented /ended. It was only Professor Dastidar’s speech that already included them. His recommendations include twelve of the demands we have routinely made of the Bangladesh government.
What did our delegates do there?
Anyway, at the hearing we distributed a two-page Appeal (to protect and empower the minorities of Bangladesh in their own interest of retaining the pluralistic nature of Bangladesh’s population) to which we attached our 8-page Fact-Sheet to the attendees, Commissioners & the Executive Directors of the USCIRF.
We also talked to Ambassadors Moriarty for a good ten minutes about the intensity of the atrocities that were inflicted on the minorities around 2001 election and also that, given all the thugs of BNP-Jamaat including Tareq Rahman and SAKA Chowdhury are all free we anticipated the same is likely to happen this time around.
We urged him to act now to prevent the atrocities. We also told him that since he was able to transform Hindu theocratic Nepal into secular state, he should be able to transform theocratic Bangladesh back into the secular state it was in 1971. After the conversation, we handed him a memorandum, a copy of our publication Bangladesh: a portrait of covert genocide, Professor Barkat’s 2008 publication on Enemy/Vested Property Act, our two –page appeal and the Fact Sheet. We also urged him to meet with the BHBCOP leaders and visit our holy places like the Dhakeshwari Temple and Ramna Kali Temple, churches and Buddhist Temples.
We also met with the Bangladeshi Ambassador to the U.S. Humayun Kabir and his five other colleagues, the Witnesses from the NDI and RI and the several American media representatives and gave them our Appeal and Fact Sheet. We requested the ambassador that he forwards the memorandum addressed to the Chief Advisor Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed that we would be sending to him on the Human Rights Day and that he personally advises the government to prevent atrocities against the minorities before, during and after the elections.
Rup Kumar Bhowmick , Director Communications & Publications
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