Unheard Voices

‘Name war criminals by Oct 15′, said the sectors commanders.  But they don’t tell us how they will be identified.

Just like this picture, the progressive movement  in Bangladesh is toothless, gimmicky and resides safely under the cover of media and a one that is cofined in a drawing room.  No offence to these good folks and commanders but there has to be some new direction to this madness movement.  When will media stop focusing on these gimmicks and start highlighting the real thing?  How about starting with ONE war criminal and bringing specific charges against  him before launching into such grandiosity.  Prabir Shikdar, we need you.

1. Somalia 114.2
2. Sudan 113.0
3. Zimbabwe 112.5
4. Chad 110.9
5. Iraq 110.6
6. D. R. Congo 106.7
7. Afghanistan 105.4
8. Cote d’Ivoire 104.6
9. Pakistan 103.8
10. Central African Republic 103.7
11. Guinea 101.8
12. Bangladesh 100.3
13. Burma 100.3
14. Haiti 99.3
15. North Korea 97.7
16. Ethiopia 96.1

[ Graph: The Fund For Peace, Washington, D.C.] (more…)

“ Apko kia pata, ke humara dil apke liye kitna rota hai. Jab aap logo ko koi taklif hota hai to humain lagta hain k taklif humain ho raha hai. Bohot pyar karte hai hum aap se. alag ho gaye to kya hua. Bhai to bhai hota hai. Bangladeshi to humare bhai hai.”
Rafe, 60-something, Bus-driver, Lahore

I’ve met people from different parts of the world and traveled to a few places myself. But never, not once, in any of my interactions or travels, have I ever come across a race of people who have made me feel so proud of my nationality: Bangladeshi. But then, I visited Pakistan. I was born in an independent Bangladesh. I’ve never had to struggle to get my voice heard, I was allowed to vote (till quite recently) and I’m allowed to speak my mind. Until my trip to Pakistan, I had never realized how precious all these things are. I had always regarded Pakistan, a distant country, as a bitter chapter in our history. But only after meeting the people did I realize how close we could be and how much my heritage means to them. Never before have I received so much respect for just being Bangladeshi. (more…)

GenocideBangladesh.org launches from today.

http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/

Heartiest congratulations to the organizers for this monumental effort.

The wounds of a war run much deeper than the physical manifestations of the destruction it leaves behind. There is emotional scarring – the mental trauma of a people who have seen the unforgettable, and are haunted by their dreams. But how does that fit into the history of that people, and of that country? In the case of 1971, much has been remembered, of course, and has been significant to the construction of the Bangladeshi nationalist narrative – the heroism of the Mukti Bahini, the brutality of the West Pakistani army, and the euphoria of 16 December 1971. But much also has been forgotten: the non-Bengalis of East Pakistan, the fate of those who opposed the Awami League, the women who were raped and abandoned.

There is little doubt of the immense human tragedy that accompanied 1971. But, as with 1947, such human tragedy was also accompanied by great hope and celebration – the birth of a new nation, and, for many, liberation from oppression. However, the Bangladeshi dream has not quite gone the way it was originally envisioned, and Bangladesh has spent many years under military rule, including today. Perhaps the final question to ponder has to do with the legacies of 1971. Do the divisions that surfaced in 1971 carry with them a portent of what is to come? And, in perhaps the bitterest of ironies, why has Bangladesh’s political history, in the 35 years since independence, begun to resemble that of Pakistan?

Read more by Antara Dutta here

High school students recollect Ameerjan’s contribution in an essay competition in Drishtipat women of 71 campaign.

Click here to see the actual essay in Bangla on Ameerjan’s sacrifice.

We remember today, with pride and tears!

Echoing Shadakalo and other bloggers — We will not forget and we will not let you forget.

Tentative Programme: Conference on Genocide, Truth and Justice
1-2 March, 2008 (Venue : Brac Centre Inn, 75 Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212) (more…)

Gen Matin missing out on column space generating controversy starts out an old bostapocha debate.

‘I said it earlier that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the architect of Bangladesh, but former president Ziaur Rahman declared its independence…. There is no doubt about it,’ Matin said, answering reporters at the home ministry

But guess what? You won’t have to take his or any BAL-BNP leaders’ word for it. Thanks to the power of documentation, check out the history by yourself brought to you by Mash and Jalal at your finger tips. Mash and Jalal via blog have done what millions of Bangladeshis could not do all these years.

http://www.docstrangelove.com/2008/01/09/swadhin-bangla-betar-kendro-and-bangladeshs-declaration-of-independence/

Zafar Sobhan

Another year, another December 14. Once again, we mourn the loss of the intellectuals butchered on that day as well as the hundreds of others who were hunted down, tortured, and killed during the course of the none months long liberation war. And once again, once December 14 is safely behind us, we conveniently forget the martyred intellectuals for another year, and go back to our everyday lives.

December 16 will be no different, though the mood will be more festive and celebratory than somber and solemn. We will all fly Bangladeshi flags and lay wreaths and attend functions and watch television programs extolling the bravery of all those who fought and gave their lives for our freedom.

We will honour their memory and patriotism and pride will stir in our hearts, and then we will return to the actual living reality that is Bangladesh today. The living, breathing reality, which neither honours nor respects our martyrs or our heroes or anyone or anything else that should be precious and sacred to our hearts.

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From Daily Star:

Existing evidence enough to try killers
Zayadul Ahsan and Shakhawat Liton

Bodies of unknown intellectuals dumped at Rayer Bazar mass killing field by local collaborators of Pakistan army days before Bangladesh won the Liberation War. Photo: File Photo
The killers of intellectuals during the Liberation War can be prosecuted on the basis of evidence preserved by the government. It only needs to take a move to resume the long halted process of trial of the intellectuals’ murder cases.

Sufficient number of documents and records on the cases have been preserved since 1972 at the home ministry, Criminal Investigation Department, Ramna police station, district and sessions judges’ courts, chief metropolitan magistrates’ courts and deputy commissioners’ offices.

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Ever since 1/11 there has been endless debate as to the parameters of the role of the caretaker government. Under the constitution, the caretaker government is tasked with assisting the Election Commission in “holding the general election of members of parliament peacefully, fairly, and impartially.”

However, what this means in practice is subject to different interpretations. The minimalist view was that put forth by the Iajuddin-led caretaker government prior to 1/11 — the holding of elections, whether participated in or not, whether free and fair or not, full stop.

Prior to 1/11 there were plenty of supporters for this self-evidently preposterous position. Glaring inaccuracies in the electoral roll, partisanship of the Election Commission, the endemic use of money and muscle to influence voters — none of these were deemed problematic.

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A month ago, Islamists made a fiery national issue over “Mohammad Biral” cartoon and were handed head of ex-Communist leader Motiur Rahman. Can Secularists learn from tactics of opponents? Can they take Jamaat’s statement “there are no 1971 War Criminals” and 1971 was a “civil war” and turn it into a mega-issue?

DENIAL
*Shah Hannan says “there was no genocide, only civil war.”
*Ali Ahsan Mujaheed: “There were no war criminals”

RESPONSE
*Constitution Allows Banning of Islamist Politics
*Try War Criminals Through Special Commission
*Gen. Ibrahim on War Criminals
*War Heroes Blast Jamaat
*Public Outrage over Jamaat Statement
*War Crimes expert says Mujaheed “blatant lie”
*War Heroes Demand War Crimes Trials
(more…)

In September Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejad delivered a speech at Columbia University amidst much protest. The protests stemmed from his views on the Holocaust. Under questioning Ahmedinejad conceded that the Holocaust had indeed happened, but he was calling for further “research” to “approach the topic from different perspectives”. In doing so, Ahmedinejad was engaging in the modern form of Holocaust Denial. Ahmedinejad’s “different perspectives” were on display last year when he called for a conference on the Holocaust. At the time, his spokesman declared “I have visited the Nazi camps in Eastern Europe. I think it is exaggerated.”

Modern Holocaust Denial has three key elements. The Deniers argue that the Nazis did not kill five to six million Jews; that the Nazis did not have a systematic policy of killing Jews; and, that the genocide was not carried out in extermination camps. Ahmedinejad and others call for further “research” to investigate one or more of these key elements. Their goal is to diminish the genocide by, first, questioning its extent and then by arguing that whatever killings took place were part of the normal savagery of war and not as a result of any systematic campaign by the Nazis. Holocaust Denial is anti-Semitism in the cloak of “scholarship”. Over a half century after perhaps the most well-documented act of genocide in the history of mankind, Holocaust Deniers still persist in trying to diminish its horrors.

Holocaust Denial is an example of the phenomenon of genocide denial that crops up to challenge almost every accepted case of genocide. The genocide committed by the Pakistan army during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 is no exception. Because of the scale of the atrocities in 1971 against a civilian population of 70 million people it has proved impossible for genocide deniers to claim that the atrocities did not occur. Instead, they have focused on two tactics used to try to deny the Holocaust: that the scale of the genocide was not that great, and that the Pakistan army had no systematic policy of genocide.

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From Akku Chowdhury

On the 30th night on ETV program Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mujahid and a Pakistani collaborator as a high command of the dreaded Al-Badr in 1971, tried to convince the audiences he was a bystander during the genocide committed by the Pakistan Army. He even claimed that his party Jamaat would eventually make an evaluation of 1971 and make it public. He also claimed they are in no hurry to come to power and is willing to be partner with whoever to reach that ultimate goal.

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Picture Courtesy: Uttorshuri

The brilliance remains
Syed Badrul Ahsan

Jahanara Imam’s life ended thirteen years ago, in a blaze of glory. That is the truth. The courage she demonstrated in her final years of temporal existence remains an inspiration for all of us to follow.
When you consider the criticism she came under in her later years, from old collaborators of the Pakistan army to such men of the law who displayed little shame in mocking her after her death, you have that certain belief welling up in you that she caused imprints of her cause to be left behind nearly everywhere.

For a woman who had seen a son taken away by the Pakistanis, never to be returned, it was a monumental task taking upon herself the responsibility of waging an old battle in new form. For an individual who witnessed the swift decline and death of a husband who had survived, barely, degrading torture at the hands of the Tikka-Niazi hordes, it was sheer bravery setting bad memories aside and coming forth to inform her fellow Bengalis that not all had been lost, that indeed we had it in our power to point the finger at those who had once humiliated us in the company of their foreign masters and tell them that shame was writ large for all time on their dark lives.

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