[Reader-list] On Humayun Azad

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

> repply to an old Sarai Thread on Bangladesh....someone wrote...

> Humayun Azad (killed by islamists)

Actually they tried to kill him.  He recovered from the brutal
machette attack but died in Germany 6 months later (no doubt due to
his lingering injuries.

For those who don't know his work, here are 2 excerpts.

>From Humayun Azad's  "Amra Ki Ey Bangladesh Cheyechilam? (Is This The
Bangladesh We Wanted?)":

"[Constitution says] 'Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah
shall be the basis of all state actions.' This is a clever trick to
deceive the common, God-fearing man. In this country, Muslims have
always followed their faith, and always will-- no one is stopping
them. But using religion as a tool is trickery, a ploy to give the
people nothing. They will promise the people heaven, but will not give
them economic self-sufficiency ... all our government functions have
become competitions of religious sermons. If using religion [in
government] was useful, Bangladesh should have become the world's most
holy and developed nation. Instead, it has become the world's most
corrupt nation. The corruption of religious politicians has destroyed
the country."

"Our fathers committed a deadly mistake, a crime-- they made Bengal
Pakistan. We did not want to stay sons of slaves, so we created
Bangladesh. Now, let us imagine Bangladesh never became independent,
we were still East Pakistan. What would we see around us? We would see
the flag with moon and stars, we would hear 'Pak Sar Zamin Sad Bad',
the Ministers would all be Punjabis, the army would be filled with
Pathan and Punjabi Generals. Those who roar around in Pajeros today --
would be standing on the roadside shaking in front of those same
jeeps. The Adamjis, Dauds, Bawanis, and Kabuliwalas would run this
country ..."