Hanif Dead: Haemorrhage or Heartbreak?
When Hanif was elected Mayor of Dhaka, there was an optimistic Bichitra cover: “Here Comes The New Generation”. For the first time, people without family ties coming to power. No more Mujib-Zia clan.
Now Mohammed Hanif is dead from medical complications aggravated by 2004 bomb blast which almost killed him.
Ivy Rahman, killed in another bomb blast.
Gopal Krishan Muhuri, massacred for opposing Shibir land grab. (Hindu hoiyya Bangladesh e chot pat koro, haramjada ekhono bujhos nai, eta Musolman der desh!)
Humayun Azad, died in Germany from complications aggravated by machette attack on him by radical Islamists.
Nasreen Haque, killed in “mysterious” car accident.
Shahriar Kabir, almost killed by another mysterious road accident.
Anu Muhammad, almost killed by assailants at a traffic stop.
Shamsur Rahman, survived knife attack by Islamists who broke into his house, but not the health complications.
Or did they all die of heartbreak seeing what has become of Bangladesh?
And we still drink cha and talk politely of shushil shomaj.
[Note 1: Hanif had been carrying in his body "hundreds of splinters" from the August 21 2004 blast that killed at least 22 and injured scores. The splinters were too tiny to be removed through surgical procedures. The first directly elected mayor of the capital was also president of the Dhaka city chapter of the Awami League. Hanif, a 1971 freedom fighter, & worked as assistant private secretary to Sheikh Mujib in the post-liberation government.]
[Note 2: When Nasreen Haque came to a screening of MUSLIMS OR HERETICS @ Prabarthana, she asked some sharp questions. But instead of spending time with her afterwards, I went to have chapli kabab @ Bihari camp around the corner. I was in the mood for adda with friends, not serious discussion. Do we now have to presume every meeting might be the last, so make the most of it?]
November 28th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Naeem,
its pretty amazing that when you connect all the pieces a comprehensive picture comes out and the pattern emerges.
How many deaths does it take before we call a spade a spade.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:10 am
innalillahi wa inna illayhi rajiun.
Practically what can be done to civilise criminal zeal and intolerance in our lands?
Its just so cheap to get people killed.
About the pieces and the pattern, i guess the Assasination of Prof Aftab Ahmad just doesnt fit in with this narrative then huh?
November 28th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Could you post details on Aftab Ahmad’s assassination? The list was meant to be a starting point––these were just the names that popped into my head. But you can fill in more gaps.
November 28th, 2006 at 11:48 am
No, Aftab does not belong to this list. He was not killed for his secular progressive views and/or writings. He was the victim of the internal politics of the religious right and their corrupted nationalistic partners. Aftab was the most foul-mouthed, intolerant of all the intellectuals…a complete opposite of the personalities listed so far. Do not sully their names… with nothing but a red herring.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
ikramuddi,
I didnt find him to be intolerant. but i guess im not particularly ’secular’, whatever that means. If we look beyond our intellectual ghettos, we see the same diseases affecting us, we are all parts of bangladeshi society and our collective involment builds a fuller picture.
I think he made great contributions to the bangladesh movement, with his thesis on the mujib era and the hope that he gave a lot of people.
Certainly one of the more original, well read, creative and astute academic types ive met in present day bangladesh, and beleive me ive searched high and low, social and physical.
Also, I mourn when any smart guy leaves this world especially in desh, our society doesnt sustain them, it degrades, manipulates and falsely worships them afterwards. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the head.
naeem,
I wrote about his death on my blog
http://fugstar.blogspot.com/2006/09/remembering-prof-aftab-ahmad.html
November 28th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Ikram Bhai you must have some experience to say him foul mouthed. But as I saw him in Tritio Matra in Channel I, I’ve hardly seen any person more arriculate, well spoken, well referenced and outspoken than Professor Aftab Ahmad. I was amazed at his presentation style and the content. He was definitely a scholar, I heard his books and chapters ( more than a hundred) are tought all over the globe. Recently I was reading his article on Bangladesh elections. Written in 70s, I was amazed to see how how he predicted events what we are facing now.
Oh yes, Aftab Ahmad was one such ” Neo Razakars”. A valiant freedome fighter, creator of the slogan ” Tomar Amar Thikana– Podma meghna Jomuna” is now termed a razakar as he dared cross the imposed perimeter.
November 28th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Yes, Rumi, I do have personal knowledege of Aftab’s filthy vituperations against everything secular and progressive, as I am aware of his heady leftist (but genuine) intellectualism in his earlier days. Unfortunately, Aftab’s final position undoes everything he stood for in the past. And dear Fughead, you may have searched high and low, but you haven’t searched enough, or it’s just you still stuck in your own intellectual ghetto (only you’d know whatever that means). In any case, Naeem, as I said earlier, Aftab is a red herring in the context of your original list/blog… and we can say that with a degree of certainty that he didn’t die of a heartbreak. And if you use hemorrhage as a figure of speech, there’re countless muktijodhas currently bleeding interminably. Let’s take an account of those suffering souls.
November 28th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Gopal Krishan Muhuri killed by Shibir for opposing land-graving by jamati teachers. I think he should be added too.
December 11th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Gopal Krishan Muhuri added to the list. Thanks Zakaria.