Author: Manash Ghosh
Publication: The Statesman
Date: June 26, 2003
Introduction: Bangladesh is the
Gujarat of Hindus and other minorities. But a group of rational people
is fighting against communalisation
'Destroy the minorities' sense of
belonging so that they are forced to flee the country. after selling their
property for a song. This strategy. will rid the country of not only the
minorities. but also all the ethnic groups, and turn it into a monolithic,
theocratic state..'' This is so true about the Sangh Parivar in India.
Unfortunately, it's true about the rulers in our neighbouring Bangladesh.
For the words following ''theocratic state'' in the People's Investigation
Commission report are: ''. on the lines Pakistan and Afghanistan''. Distressingly,
this minority bashing in Bangladesh is one of the after-effects of the
saffron brigade's worst crime: the demolition of Babari Masjid in Ayodhya
on 6 December 1992.
PIC is an independent body of leading
Bangladeshi intellectuals. It has conducted a detailed inquiry into the
persecution of minorities after the 1 October 2001 parliamentary elections
in which the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamat-e-Islami combine came
to power. PIC blames the ruling alliance for unleashing "planned and systematic
attacks" which have surpassed the atrocities committed on the minorities
during the 1971 liberation war. The 102-page PIC report says the "planned
attacks" were carried out to attain "far reaching objectives", such as
"cutting off the minorities from the. social and political mainstream by
destroying. the unique concept of pluralism and unity-in-diversity. carefully
nurtured for ages as part of Bengali culture and society". The other objective
was "to establish a theocratic state and a monolithic social system which
negates the ideals, history and struggle that led to the creation of a
nation state called the People's Republic of Bangladesh". A more sinister
purpose of the persecution was to help resolve the "minority issue. irritating
some people since partition". PIC deplores the fact that the old Pakistani
legacy of discriminating against and harassing the minorities continues
with impunity even in Bangladesh.
PIC is headed by Prof. Zillur Rahman
Siddiqui, Jehangir Nagar University's ex-vice chancellor, and published
its report in Dhaka last week. Given its findings the ruling parties in
Dhaka and New Delhi are frighteningly similar. For example, says the PIC
report, the main purpose of minority persecution was to "create and consolidate
communalism as a political weapon which would help strengthen and spread
religion-based communal politics in the country". But unlike in India,
"unfortunately no political party has spoken against. this grim reality
despite being aware of its dangers'' in Bangladesh.
PIC was formed up by Bangladesh's
civil rights stalwarts such as Prof. Anis-uz-Zaman, Mosharraf Hossain,
Siraj-ul-Islam Chowdhury, Barrister Shafiq Khan after the Khaleda Zia government
refused to honour its commitment to international human rights groups to
probe complaints against minority persecution. Leave alone filing a report,
neither Khaleda Zia's principal secretary, Kamal Siddiqui, who headed a
committee of secretaries to probe such atrocities, nor any other committee
member has visited any of the affected villages even after 20 months. Instead,
her government's stand is that "no persecution of any kind has taken place
because there is no minority or majority community in Bangladesh. All are
Bangladeshis. Press reports on persecution are mostly exaggerated and baseless.
Stray attacks have taken place because of personal animosity and revenge.
The Opposition's conspiracy is also responsible." But PIC has nailed the
government's lie by standing against a repressive state machinery trying
to thwart attempts to get at the truth.
PIC terms the persecution as "successful
staging of mindless violence on a national scale, the dress rehearsal for
which was held in 1992 when the Bangladeshi minorities were systematically
looted, raped and forced to flee their homes after the demolition of the
Babari Masjid''. Says the report: "That was the first time when Bangladeshi
minorities were told that Bangladesh was a Muslim majority country where
their existence was dependent on the sweet will of the majority community."
The commission indicts the government
for not enforcing the rule of law. This "deliberate inaction to allow culprits
to roam freely is very much in tune with the policies pursued by communal
governments'' when Pakistan ruled over what later became Bangladesh. Doesn't
this smell of the government's "tacit approval" of the perpetrators' crime?
Won't this embolden them to commit more such crimes?
The latest attacks, says PIC, have
broken all previous atrocity records, for this time Hindus, Buddhists,
Christians and Adivasis of all social and economic strata and professions
have been targeted. Christians in Savar, Pabna, Barisal and many south-western
districts have been attacked and their women raped. Adivasis in northern
Bangladesh have not been spared either. "Minorities living in the rural
areas, especially women, were targeted irrespective of whether they were
rich or poor." But the poor have borne the brunt of the attacks.
The motive of the attackers is clear:
cleansing the country of minorities. "Or else, why should," PIC argues,
"8-year-old girls and 60- year-old women be raped?. Why should women and
girls be raped in front of their husbands and parents? Why should 100-year-old
Rajkumar Das, an apolitical, faceless figure of Bhola's Annadaprasad village,
be beaten mercilessly with iron rods? And why should the minorities be
tried by BNP-sponsored 'people's court' for committing the 'grievous crime
of voting for the Awami League'? And why should huge sums be extorted in
the form of 'safety tax', 'minority tax' and 'defence tax' from them for
letting them stay in the country?" The report says the immediate objective
was to "create a fear psychosis so that the minorities would not vote''
and flee their homes - echoes of Gujarat Assembly election 2002.
PIC has categorised Bhola, Barisal
and Bagerhat as the "most severely affected districts" and Chittagong,
Sirajganj, Pabna and Rajshahi as "severely affected districts". Minorities
in Jhenaidah, Natore, Gajipore, Kishoreganj, Feni and Patuakhali districts
too have been attacked. Khaleda Zia's ruling alliance considers minorities
as Awami League votebank. The attacks were launched to neutralise this
very votebank. But most of the 41% Awami League votes were of Muslims.
The minorities have lost faith in
the state machinery because, as they told PIC, the civil administration
and the security forces have failed to protect their life and property
during troubled times. "The minorities ask questions like. why are we deprived
of our rights despite constitutional sanctions?'' Says the report: "All
the persecuted minorities told PIC in unequivocal terms that they want
their names struck off the voters' list. because they don't want to vote,
for the state won't protect them from becoming targets of political vengeance
and personal greed.'' The minorities have lost the will to resist because
in many areas, such as Lalmohan in Bhola, local officials not only encouraged
criminals to rape women and loot people but also threatened the victims
to "shut up or face the consequences". More than 100 rape cases were reported
from Bhola's small Lord Hardinge Union alone.
Neighbours are like brothers. But
like Gujarat, in Bangladesh too they turned into monsters. The PIC report
says minorities are "devastated" because they were attacked by their neighbours
and influential people many of whom are "godfathers" of the ruling party.
"People, highly respected in their areas, became objects of hate after
the polls. Students who till the other day bowed reverentially to their
teachers didn't hesitate to beat them mercilessly; even patients didn't
think twice before vandalising and torching dispensaries of dedicated doctors.
Some of the Muslims who sheltered or dared to rescue the minorities were
attacked too. This has forced mass migration to India".
The report cites instances of mass
migration to India after the last polls and in December 1992. "It is an
established fact that Hindus have been continuously migrating to India
which the government here refuses to acknowledge. A look at the successive
census figures will establish this truth. The government refuses to explain
the reasons for the sharp decline in the Hindu population, though the decadal
growth of the Muslim population is rising sharply,'' says the report.
PIC has warned Dhaka that minority
persecution is attracting world attention. Abdel Fatta Emo, special rapporteur
of the Commission on Human Rights for Religious Intolerance, has already
visited Bangladesh and prepared a report in which he has expressed serious
concern over all forms of religious intolerance and discrimination in Bangladesh
- and urged the government to eliminate them.
(The author is Senior Leader Writer,
The Statesman.)
