[Reader-list] Back To The Future in Bangladesh

[Shambhu Rahmat]

The debate about war crimes denial continues in Bangladesh. But
history is not on our side as witnesses are dying out and documents
have been destroyed comprehensively over 30 years.

Going Deeper
Back to the future
Kazi Anwarul Masud
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=12887

One wonders about the audacity of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders raising
questions about the liberation war and their description of the war as
a civil conflict not so long ago. It should not be lost on Jamaat that
the moment the Bangalis refused to be a part of Pakistan and the armed
forces and the civilians took up arms (as well as those who did not,
but rebelled against the central authority) -- the "civilian"
character of the conflict dramatically changed.

It was not the French Revolution against an insensitive king and
aristocracy or the Bolshevik Revolution against the Czar, though both
changed the course of the world history, it was a war by the people,
for the people, and of the people.

Only an amnesiac can forget that a Jamaat leader himself as the
president of East Pakistan Islami Chatra Sangha and as the chief of
the infamous Al-Badr back in 1971 helped then occupying Pakistani army
in carrying out massacre, looting, and rape. The present amir of
Jamaat-e-Islami, as president of Islamic Chatra Sangha, directly
supervised the formation of Al-Badr Bahini and became its
commander-in-chief.

The atrocities committed by the Pakistani army and their cohorts,
namely Jamaat-e-Islami and their offshoots like Al-Badr, Al-Shams and
other collaborators, have been documented in many books, journals, and
research papers. Yet a follower of Jamaat-e-Islami, albeit
unsurprisingly, would rather accept Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report
that less than 26,000 people died in what he termed as "civil
conflict" than the figure of three million killed, mentioned by the
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

To quote a report on Bangladesh by the International Crisis Group on
Bangladesh: Islamists, especially the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, are often
accused of siding with Pakistanis, joining in genocide and actively
assisting massacres, especially targeted killing of intellectuals in
Dhaka in the last weeks.

The same report states that as early as April 1971 US officials
protested their government's support for West Pakistan and argued that
the overworked term genocide was applicable. Perhaps, one of the most
telling accounts of Jamaat's collaboration during our war of
liberation has been given in a book titled "Witness to surrender" by
Pakistani major Siddiq Salim of the anti-liberation role played by
Jamaat, Muslim League, and Nizam-i-Islam.

His book is regarded as a detailed professional account of the war. He
wrote that due to the atrocities committed by the occupation army, the
Bengali population who were not very fond of Pakistani army before,
became even more opposed. Hence there was no question of mass
cooperation by the Bengalis. Of the collaborators, Salik said that the
elderly and the prominent among them formed the Peace Committees while
the young and able-bodied were raised as Razakars to augment the
strength of the Pak army who numbered 100,000 while the Razakars
numbered 50,000.

In under-developed societies, political community is sometimes
fragmented into opposed religious, ethnic, racial, and ideological
groups, more familiarly known as identity politics, and the democratic
structure therein being fragile, religion-based politics can invite
instability.

In Bangladesh, it is believed that corporations run by religious
extremists make an annual net profit of billions of taka of which ten
percent is used by Islamic extremists for organisational purposes like
carrying out regular party activities, providing remuneration and
allowances to about half a million party cadres, and running armed
training camps.

The number of primary schools since liberation has doubled while that
of dakhil madrasas has increased eight-fold. Concern about possible
rise of Islamic extremists, who look for areas of weakness, has been
expressed by Western countries.

Bertil Lintner, Elizabeth Griswold, Time magazine, Wall Street
Journal, and others have voiced concern about rising religious
extremism in Bangladesh. Indians, being our next-door neighbour and
having been subjected to religion-based atrocities, both from within
and without, have linked increasing activities of Islamist extremists
with elements within the immediate past ruling coalition in
Bangladesh.

If one were to look at the political landscape of Pakistan, one can
easily find the basis of strength of Muttahihiha Majlis-e-Amal, a
conglomerate of religion-based parties that were courted from the days
of late president Ziaul Huq till today in order to marginalise
moderate political parties like that of Benazir Bhutto.

Added to the woes of democracy deficit in Pakistan, the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group observed that sectarian conflict in
Pakistan was the direct consequence of state policies of Islamisation
and marginalisation of secular democratic forces. Co-option and
patronage of religious parties by successive military governments have
brought Pakistan to a point where religious extremism threatens to
erode the foundation of the state and society. The Islamists in
Bangladesh, who reportedly have transnational links, are likely to
have links with their fellow travelers in Pakistan and other
countries.

These days, Bangladeshi liberation war heroes, sector commanders,
civil society and politicians appear to have reached near unanimity in
their demand that Jamaat-e-Islami, that collaborated with the
Pakistani occupation forces during the war of liberation, should be
banned and barred from contesting the elections, and all those found
guilty of crimes against humanity should be tried by a special
tribunal.

The argument is not only based on acts against humanity perpetrated by
them during the war of liberation, but also to prevent the incendiary
nature of religion-based politics in Bangladesh. It now appears that
though the Zia government in 1976 repealed the restriction on communal
politics imposed by the 1972 constitution, they and successive
governments did not repeal the Special Powers Act of 1974, still in
force, providing for ban on communal politics and punishment for
violation of the SPA.

We should, however, be conscious that the proposed tribunal does not
imitate the one that tried Saddam Hussein, as many people believe that
Saddam was already pre-judged to be hanged before the trial even
began. Our endeavor should be to have tribunals like the International
Criminal Court or the Rwanda Tribunal or UN backed Cambodia Genocide
Tribunal that would receive international legitimacy.

If political parties are meant to strengthen social coordination among
different interest groups in order to maximise social benefits, then
parties like Jamaat that foster dissention and sectarianism among the
people should not be allowed political space in the country.

If Bangladesh were to revert back to secular politics, which was one
of the country's founding principles, it would not have to compromise
its Muslim identity, because the great majority of the people are
devout Muslims and do practice religion in their day-to-day life --
and Jamaat never got even double digit popular votes before 2001
elections.

Kazi Anwarul Masud is a former Secretary and Ambassador.