Sat 29 Jul 2006
Dear Nur Hossain, Please forgive us
Nothing about Bangladesh politics surprises me anymore. And I am quite sure most Bengalis or Bangladeshis (depending upon our identity politics) are like me. It is rare for us to get shocked by anything. Although, I will be surprised if we have a visionary leader in the near future. It is impossible for us to be indifferent about politics, but we have learned to live with the daily injustices, even when they occur in front of our eyes. This is Bangladesh.
Our national leader talks to us from her dais and she is as distant as a star in the sky for most of us. Our opposition leader confuses justice with tyranny by constantly vowing to avenge killings by more killings. I rest my case!
It takes a lot to make us complain now publicly. The quiet peasant revolution in Kansat is of course an exception. But again, our law enforcement agencies ruthlessly crushed it. Don’t get me wrong. In private, when we meet for our adda, with a cup of tea in our hand, we may start discussing literature, love, life, and jobs; but we always come back to politics. We grieve over our current politics. There is a gulf of difference between us, the ordinary citizens and the wealthy elites. They can afford to totally ignore us and do whatever they want with our lives and our homeland.
Except for election time! Then they suddenly remember that their power is at stake. It is time for another game of chess.
Am I going insane? Or are the politicians really that incapable of making a moral choice? I don’t care whether or not Ershad is being cajoled to join BNP led coalition for the next election. I don’t care about BNP’s fear about losing that election. And I know for sure our politicians don’t care about me or as a matter of fact for any ordinary citizens. They don’t even care about our history, our nation’s past. But how can I hold back this burning rage within me? Yes, we are a nation which pardoned the razakars and reinstated them back to power. Yes, we forgot 1971. And yes, 1990 happened a long time ago.
‘We already forgot how corruption spread to every segment of the society
like a virus during his authoritarian rule. We are unable to recall how
the Ershad regime ensured the political and ideological space for
razakars. We suffer amnesia when we are asked how Bangladesh moved away
from moderate politics.
And now a former dictator is the key element in deciding who is going to
win the next democratic election!
Did Nur Hossain die in vain in 1987? Do we really remember Dr Milon who was gunned down in November, 1990? And what about the mother and child who were shot dead by the stray bullets of the military during the late 80s? What about that student demonstration when the army drove their trucks into terrified activists?
Before 1996 election we saw Sheikh Hasina making a pact with Ershad and now we sit quietly to watch another drama unfolding.
Am I the only one who can hear Nur Hossain crying? Am I the only one who can see his slogan?
Shoirachar Nipat Jak, Gonotontro Mukti Pak!
‘Down with Autocracy, Let Democracy be Unchained!’
Dr Bina D’Costa
Australian National University
July 29th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
It gives the image of BNP that how low they can go to retain the power.It means the law and justice of the nation(Bangladesh) is a joke.The most autocratic goverment of 1980s who was pull down from mass movement of democracy where lots of life where lost than now again have a chance to be a president of the country.The loss of lifes of people like Noor Hossian was a joke too.
The bottom line is that Bangladesh politicians are just Bas——–
They don’t have any values,intrigity,shame or principal at all.If given chance to the politicians they will sale the nation in a heart bit to the highest bidder I think they will also sale their daughters and wifes for the sake of Power if their power is at stake on that and also the political marriage nexus shows that by proof how the political marriage shape our politics and politicians.
Shame on you all the so called Political parties
Do BNP own the court and justice that they can do will and deal to take all the cases off from Ershad to join BNP?
Isn’t its all just a mockery of law.My question is what are we the so called concerned citizen
and civil society doing about this?
Because if BNP some how missed the opoortunity to get Ershad AWL is waiting for that chance to grab him too is n’t it true friends?
Basically the bottom line for these two parties is to run the country and have power nothing else. I appeal to the citizens to give BNP and AWL an opportunity to divide Bangladesh and just rule in their given places and give us the poor people to atleast choose who we want to die with.
Because no matter we live with BNP or AWL the country is still going to to go down the drain to a absolute total disastor.
They are doing too much what ever go up must come down. Time is coming for that.We need another revolution this time it should come from
top to bottom.
Kawser Jamal
http://www.changeBangladesh.com
Part of this comment not all was also put on SalamDhaka.blogspot.com
July 29th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
Dear Friends, Greetings from Calcutta. I’d like to bring to your attention the bizarre decision to create a Hindu-only zone around the temple town of Tirupati in south India. You can read about this in my blog. Every moment, communal tendencies are creating some havoc somewhere or the other. SCREEEEAM! Best, rama
July 30th, 2006 at 3:27 am
I feel for Nur Hossain, in a similar manner to how i feel for victims of the actions of many many of the leaders of the world today. This is an important time in Bangladesh’s history, and it is no time to be emotional, it is time for us to be strong, throw out our biases, and think practically what is the best result for our people, and that does not necessarily mean who we should vote for, but also what pledges we can demand and lobby politicians for - contrary to the cynical views that many Bengalis love to have, i do believe Bangladeshi politicians understand that the public do take note of whether they fulfill their pre-election pledges - this is partly the reason why BNP are in such a stress now. So lets try and bring to light some of the good work I see this website has been doing, to the leadership of the political parties, bombard them with the demands, tease them with the possibility of votes for their righteousness, and make them make the pledges. Even if at some point during their tenure they even think about fulfilling these pledges, then it is a step in the right direction.
I wonder if drishtipat readers could be reminded about even more recent atrocities than that of Nur Hossain…. when a then ruling party MP, HBM Iqbal, took out a procession of gangsters onto the streets and in broad daylight & infront of the media had members of the public shot for being part of anti-government protests.
We need to step back and briefly and unemotively remind ourselves of the atrocities committed by all parties, be it the organised crime gangs using BNP’s JCD as a front, or the likes of Joynal Hazari and other brutal terrors that litter the Awami League. And then of course, the extreamist terrorists such as JMB, who strengthened AL’s position and weakened Jamat-e-Islam’s (despite the Jamaat Emir time after time condemning acts of violence in almost all his mass public rallies.)
I believe these political parties in Bangladesh are here to stay, for a long time. They each have particular leanings, and at the end of the day the country needs to be governed taking into account each of their values as these values are all ones that are held dear to Bangladeshi society. The corruption and incompetence is something that will filter out over time, corruption never completely (as the system is one that serves man therefore will always be manipulated to benefit man regardless where in the world the system is running), but over the years, i do have hope that more competent people will filter into the parties. If we so believe in democracy, then we need to participate and help shape it rather than criticize from the armchair.
Now lets talk about Ershad - we hear about the negative views all the time, but surely there are some positives, there definitely is - people just don’t like hearing them because of their biases, but we must hear them for the sake of being honest with ourselves in order to opt for progress.
Ershad was no saint, but to MILLIONS of Bangladeshis he still is. He gave our country stability and infrastructure while Khaleda was still learning to how to spell politics and Hasina would have to take permission from Rajeev Gandhi to breathe.
If you remember 1990, then refresh your memory onto how power was transferred in a civilised way, handed over to a caretaker government in a way that did not again ashame our nation by having a power transfer after an assassination. The only dishonor, was how Ershad was thrown into jail instantly.
Ershad respected the people’s decision by opting for democracy. Why is he continued to be called an autocrat ? when he converted to democracy, when he allowed democracy to make way due to the will of the people, has anyone seen the interviews on his view of democracy in Bangladesh?
As for the cases BNP swiftly filed against him, they know themselves how false they were as they scrambled to destroy his party. Look at the cases individually, they are a joke, for example the Jamuna tower case - how do the civil servants who approved government assistance for the tower escape prosecution whilst Ershad gets sent to jail? Both Khaleda and Hasina used the courts for political means, it was only Ershad who openly called for an end of ‘revenge politics’ for the sake of the nation, who pledged to not enter it if he came to power. He is the one who proposed an all-party agreement to end hartals before the last elections, pledging that whether he comes to power or not he will keep his word - and he did, for the last 5 years. Wake up and give your biases a rest please people and look at the situation objectively people.
Every seat Ershad has stood at in elections, he has won. Go and ask the rickshaw pullers in dhaka who they would like to see in power, go and ask the farmers in Bangladesh who they want to see in power.
Ershad has many fans, all over the world, world leaders as well as ordinary Bangladeshis. His charm and diplomacy won Bangladesh aid that we desperately needed in hard times. He could easily have lived a life of luxury in exile, but instead he served jail-time, time after time, for one reason, and that was for one last chance to make something of Bangladesh.
July 30th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Bangladesh blog buzz
The latest happenings in Bangladesh related blogs around the world:
…
July 30th, 2006 at 10:38 am
The good thing about Ershad going to BNP is that the Jamaati crooks will hopefully run for cover.
Nothing will please us more than to see Jamaat become a non-player in Bangladeshi politics.
August 6th, 2006 at 2:48 am
[...] martyrs in the movement that ousted military dictator HM Ershad, tell Mahtab Haider. Dear Nur Hossain, Please forgive us. From Bina D’Costa. Ers [...]