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SAN-Feature Service
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
August 30,2004
Detach From Fundamentalists
Dr. Shabbir Ahmed
SAN-Feature Service : Upon reading myriads newspaper articles from Bangladesh, I get the feeling that the people have become very upset for the deplorable grenade attacks on Awami League leaders. Many top-level leaders of the Awami League have been severely injured by the attack. It is feared that some of them have been maimed and will not be able to lead a normal life from now on. At least, unlike Ivy Rahman, they have survived the attack. That is a great luck for Awami League and of course for Bangladesh. Unfortunately, this party had to lose so many of their brilliant leaders since 1975. The beneficiaries of the tragic loss of Awami League encouraged the killers to be more active. There are instances that the vile beneficiaries rewarded the killers. They even blocked the trial of the killers for decades. Not all these bide well for Bangladesh. The image of the nation had been tarnished already.
It goes without saying that the current four-party alliance government had tried their best to block the trial of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It is reported that the killers of Bangabandhu are enjoying one hell of a time being the guests of the government. As the head of the government, Khaleda Zia did everything possible to encourage the killers. It is now a well-known fact that she changed her birthday to undermine the death anniversary of Bangabandhu who with his great heart used to consider her (Mrs. Zia) like one of his daughters. However, like her husband General Zia, she has been trying heart and soul to suppress and eliminate Bangabandhu from the history of Bangladesh. Nevertheless, Bangabandhu is such a large political personality that a general and his wife will not be able to eradicate Mujib’s name from the history of Bangladesh.
In the aftermath of the attack on Awami League rally a week ago, Khaleda Zia expressed her condolence and her desire to meet with Awami League leaders despite she and her government did everything possible to give protection and encouragement to the killers of many Awami League leaders in the past. In general, the supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-i-Islami are highly anti-Awami League. There is nothing wrong to be anti-Awami League. Almost all of them actively support BNP and their fundamentalist allies and criticizes Awami League without any rationale or logic. Since 1975, I have not found any supporter of BNP and their fundamentalist allies, who condemned the killing of Bangabandhu and his family. Almost all of them supported the gruesome killing of our founding father, his family members, and his top associates. Myself being a hard critique of BNP and their fundamentalist partners never supported the brutal killing of General Ziaur Rahman. After all, a life is highly precious above everything else in this world. We as the human beings should not support any animalistic instinct to kill another human being. Unfortunately, many of the critiques of Bangabandhu have never been able to go beyond the animalistic instinct while supporting his killing and rewarding/protecting the killers. The present government did not do the needful to finish the trial of the killers of Bangabandhu. They did not even let any investigation of the killings of many workers and leaders of Awami League that took place after October 2001. Khaleda Zia and her lieutenants cannot avoid the responsibility of encouraging the killers and other fundamentalist terrorist groups in Bangladesh to carry out vicious attacks on a reasonably secular political party Awami League and their allied organizations.
For the last few decades, both in private and public gatherings, the supporters, workers, and leaders of BNP and the allied fundamentalist organizations tried to justify the killing of Bangabandhu and other high level Awami League leaders. Their vicious and twisted logic generally go even beyond irrational limit. Many of them love to say that none felt sad for the death of Bangabandhu because there were no street protests and none came out to attend even the funeral of Bangabandhu. The killers killed Bangabandhu and his family in the wee hours of the night of August 1975. The army at the gunpoint took his dead body from Dhaka to Tugipara, Gopalganj. Many people from the neighboring villages came forward to see their leader’s dead body. However, the army at gunpoint prevented anyone to come near his ancestral home in Tungipara. It is unfortunate for cantonment-born BNP and their fundamentalist allies that the attempt for killing on Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina did not occur in the dark of night. It is rather unfortunate for the fundamentalists that she survived the gruesome grenade attacks. The vile supporters and the beneficiaries of the killer fundamentalist groups could not able to do the same this time as they did with the dead bodies of Banganadhu, his associates, and his family members. After all, it is not 1975.
The killer group could not be able to succeed fully in their mission. The beneficiaries have not been able to justify the killings so far. In the outside world and in Bangladesh, the killings have been condemned in no uncertain terms. The leaders of the opposition parties have condemned the government for sharing power with the killer fundamentalists. The leaders of all the opposition parties should realize that the killer groups and their patrons would not eventually spare anyone who will come on their way.
The politics of killing the top leaders started in earnest in1975. The beneficiaries (mainly BNP and their fundamentalist partners) did not stop it. Rather, they encouraged the killers. In particular, recently, they ridiculed the continued threats against Sheikh Hasina. Even the present Prime Minister Khaleda Zia took part in ridiculing the threats against Sheikh Hasina. Therefore, her desire to meet Sheikh Hasina in the aftermath of the attack does not bear any weight.
Khaleda Zia as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh must act swiftly to rectify the misdeeds of the past. She should expedite proper action against the killers of the past and the present. She also should detach her party from the killer fundamentalists. This is not the demand of the people of Bangladesh only. In fact, the leaders of the whole world are now looking at her government with a magnifying glass. Of course, by taking effective action against the killers of the past and the present, the government under her can enhance the Image of Bangladesh, for which they are so overly concerned.-SAN-Feature Service
Dr. Shabbir Ahmed, a research engineer, writes from Jacksonville, Florida, USA
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
August 30,2004
Detach From Fundamentalists
Dr. Shabbir Ahmed
SAN-Feature Service : Upon reading myriads newspaper articles from Bangladesh, I get the feeling that the people have become very upset for the deplorable grenade attacks on Awami League leaders. Many top-level leaders of the Awami League have been severely injured by the attack. It is feared that some of them have been maimed and will not be able to lead a normal life from now on. At least, unlike Ivy Rahman, they have survived the attack. That is a great luck for Awami League and of course for Bangladesh. Unfortunately, this party had to lose so many of their brilliant leaders since 1975. The beneficiaries of the tragic loss of Awami League encouraged the killers to be more active. There are instances that the vile beneficiaries rewarded the killers. They even blocked the trial of the killers for decades. Not all these bide well for Bangladesh. The image of the nation had been tarnished already.
It goes without saying that the current four-party alliance government had tried their best to block the trial of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It is reported that the killers of Bangabandhu are enjoying one hell of a time being the guests of the government. As the head of the government, Khaleda Zia did everything possible to encourage the killers. It is now a well-known fact that she changed her birthday to undermine the death anniversary of Bangabandhu who with his great heart used to consider her (Mrs. Zia) like one of his daughters. However, like her husband General Zia, she has been trying heart and soul to suppress and eliminate Bangabandhu from the history of Bangladesh. Nevertheless, Bangabandhu is such a large political personality that a general and his wife will not be able to eradicate Mujib’s name from the history of Bangladesh.
In the aftermath of the attack on Awami League rally a week ago, Khaleda Zia expressed her condolence and her desire to meet with Awami League leaders despite she and her government did everything possible to give protection and encouragement to the killers of many Awami League leaders in the past. In general, the supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-i-Islami are highly anti-Awami League. There is nothing wrong to be anti-Awami League. Almost all of them actively support BNP and their fundamentalist allies and criticizes Awami League without any rationale or logic. Since 1975, I have not found any supporter of BNP and their fundamentalist allies, who condemned the killing of Bangabandhu and his family. Almost all of them supported the gruesome killing of our founding father, his family members, and his top associates. Myself being a hard critique of BNP and their fundamentalist partners never supported the brutal killing of General Ziaur Rahman. After all, a life is highly precious above everything else in this world. We as the human beings should not support any animalistic instinct to kill another human being. Unfortunately, many of the critiques of Bangabandhu have never been able to go beyond the animalistic instinct while supporting his killing and rewarding/protecting the killers. The present government did not do the needful to finish the trial of the killers of Bangabandhu. They did not even let any investigation of the killings of many workers and leaders of Awami League that took place after October 2001. Khaleda Zia and her lieutenants cannot avoid the responsibility of encouraging the killers and other fundamentalist terrorist groups in Bangladesh to carry out vicious attacks on a reasonably secular political party Awami League and their allied organizations.
For the last few decades, both in private and public gatherings, the supporters, workers, and leaders of BNP and the allied fundamentalist organizations tried to justify the killing of Bangabandhu and other high level Awami League leaders. Their vicious and twisted logic generally go even beyond irrational limit. Many of them love to say that none felt sad for the death of Bangabandhu because there were no street protests and none came out to attend even the funeral of Bangabandhu. The killers killed Bangabandhu and his family in the wee hours of the night of August 1975. The army at the gunpoint took his dead body from Dhaka to Tugipara, Gopalganj. Many people from the neighboring villages came forward to see their leader’s dead body. However, the army at gunpoint prevented anyone to come near his ancestral home in Tungipara. It is unfortunate for cantonment-born BNP and their fundamentalist allies that the attempt for killing on Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina did not occur in the dark of night. It is rather unfortunate for the fundamentalists that she survived the gruesome grenade attacks. The vile supporters and the beneficiaries of the killer fundamentalist groups could not able to do the same this time as they did with the dead bodies of Banganadhu, his associates, and his family members. After all, it is not 1975.
The killer group could not be able to succeed fully in their mission. The beneficiaries have not been able to justify the killings so far. In the outside world and in Bangladesh, the killings have been condemned in no uncertain terms. The leaders of the opposition parties have condemned the government for sharing power with the killer fundamentalists. The leaders of all the opposition parties should realize that the killer groups and their patrons would not eventually spare anyone who will come on their way.
The politics of killing the top leaders started in earnest in1975. The beneficiaries (mainly BNP and their fundamentalist partners) did not stop it. Rather, they encouraged the killers. In particular, recently, they ridiculed the continued threats against Sheikh Hasina. Even the present Prime Minister Khaleda Zia took part in ridiculing the threats against Sheikh Hasina. Therefore, her desire to meet Sheikh Hasina in the aftermath of the attack does not bear any weight.
Khaleda Zia as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh must act swiftly to rectify the misdeeds of the past. She should expedite proper action against the killers of the past and the present. She also should detach her party from the killer fundamentalists. This is not the demand of the people of Bangladesh only. In fact, the leaders of the whole world are now looking at her government with a magnifying glass. Of course, by taking effective action against the killers of the past and the present, the government under her can enhance the Image of Bangladesh, for which they are so overly concerned.-SAN-Feature Service
Dr. Shabbir Ahmed, a research engineer, writes from Jacksonville, Florida, USA
His e-mail address is: shabbirahmed2000@...
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