Islamists Challenges Secularism in Bangladesh

People have no jurisdiction to judge others on their religious views

Is this tolerance? Photo Credit: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

SALEEM SAMAD
A series of low-intensity violence on the issue of blasphemy was recently raised by radicalized Muslims against Hindus, Buddhists, and others, which is nothing new in Bangladesh.

If the violent behavior by the “lords of hate” is analyzed, it could be determined that these occurrences have an identical pattern of violence, as if those are woven in one string of hate against humanity.

In the fairly recent incident in Bhola in the coastal district, the acts of violence were instigated by rumormongers citing fake Facebook exchanges, which were deemed blasphemous only by the Islamic zealots.

Despite the distances from one occurrence to another, the typical pattern of violence has been observed in Barisal, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Gaibandha, Gopalganj, Ramu, Rangpur, Santhia (Pabna), Satkhira, Sunamganj -- and the list appears to keep growing.

All the incidents falsely accused person(s) insulting Islam, the Qur’an, or Prophet Muhammad -- soon after, Hindu and Buddhist households were looted, vandalized, and set ablaze, while temples were desecrated.

Hate speech by zealots is widely available on YouTube and Facebook, with tens of thousands of views on social media. The videos do not hesitate to despise the defenders of human rights and advocates of secularism, especially the mainstream media.

The hate speech by the clergies indoctrinate madrasa students, and millions of disciples of Islamic evangelists paradoxically have a similar message of hate against secular Muslims and Muslim sects.

Of late, their demands to the authorities are coincidentally the same, as if the storyboard is prepared under one roof, by one person, and written with one pen.

Closely analyzing their statements, the Islamists are no more a religious group -- they have a clear political agenda. The bigots with a political agenda, means they are bidding for the return of political Islam. This will severely dent our almost five-decade-long traditional culture of tolerance, democracy, and secularism.

The zealots demand that the government should enact a blasphemy law, with a provision of a maximum penalty for criticizing the Prophet and the Qur’an.

In fact, the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami in 1993 had proposed in the parliament a draft blasphemy law, which was strikingly very similar to what Pakistan enacted in 1986. The draft was shredded by both the ruling and opposition lawmakers of that time.

Islamic scholars passionately debate that the Holy Qur’an has not sanctioned blasphemy. Nor is there any mentionable edict in the Hadith to punish a blasphemer in this living world.

The non-believers and blasphemers will be condemned to hell on the Day of Judgment.

They also do not hesitate to demand that the Qur’an and Sunnah replace the state constitution, which was earned from the Liberation War by millions of martyrs.

Unfortunately, the zealots were never accused of sedition or provoking a law and order situation.

Their interpretation of Wahhabi Islam has gradually penetrated into the minds of majoritarian Muslims in the country. The Wahhabi doctrine advocates strict Sharia laws that have been implemented in many conservative Muslim countries.

The bigots also harbor inner contradictions regarding the war crimes trial. The Islamists tacitly agree that henchmen of the marauding Pakistan army were responsible for crimes against humanity and should be brought to justice. Equally, they hate to see Islamists being punished for crimes perpetrated in 1971.

In a naive statement, the mullahs believe that the International Crimes Tribunal deliberately targeted Islamists because of pro-India secularists, the country which has immensely contributed to the birth of Bangladesh.

Intimidation by the Islamists is pushing a pluralistic society into a tight corner. Understanding that the state religion Islam will never be deleted from the constitution, their hate speech has multiplied.

The Islamists have dared to destabilize a secular fabric of the society and challenge the spirit of the Liberation War.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune newspaper on 26 November 2019
Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, also recipient of Ashoka Fellow (USA) and Hellman-Hammett Award. Twitter @saleemsamad; He can be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Black Friday: A year ago ISIS militants deadly seize

Photo: Smiling five militants posted in ISIS online

The country's past as a recruitment hotbed for global Islamist jihad returns to haunt its future as it grapples with a new wave of terror

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladesh is still coming to grips with the exceptional brutality of its worst terrorist outrage, the horrific Black Friday attack at Dhaka's Holey Artisan cafe on July 1. Twenty hostages, including 18 foreign nationals and two policemen, were killed when the six terrorists, said to be an IS-affiliated group, took them hostage. Indian teenager, Tarishi Jain, was among those who were shot, had their throats slit and bodies mutilated.

Five of the six terrorists were shot dead after security forces stormed the cafe following a 10-hour standoff. The sixth survived and is being interrogated by security forces.

What has shocked Bangladeshis is the profile of the terrorists. Mostly in their early 20s, they were products of the country's upper middle class elite (one was the son of a senior member of the ruling Awami League party. Some are even believed to have been regulars at the two-storeyed cafe located in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan area.

The attack marked the debut of what has been the prototype home-grown terrorist in recent times, well-educated and well-versed in using social media tools, fitting the cosmopolitan profile terrorist outfits like Al Qaeda and IS have used in recent terror attacks from Paris to Istanbul. "Gone are the madrasa recruits from the impoverished rural countryside," says Humayun Kabir, senior research director at the Dhaka-based think-tank, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute.

The attack was the culmination of a wave of atrocities by unidentified machete-wielding assailants against the country's religious minorities. Hindus, Buddhists and Christians priests, bloggers, writers, publishers and moderate Muslims. Islamic extremists have killed over 40 people in such attacks since 2013. Over 16,000 people were arrested in a crackdown in June this year but clearly it was a little too late.

Typically, the government's response has been one of disbelief. "Anyone who believes in religion cannot do such an act," Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina said on July 2. "They do not have any religion. Their only religion is terrorism."

A day after the attack, IS posted photographs showing five of the youth posing in front of the group's black flags, claiming credit for the attack. Bangladesh officials, however, are still calling it the work of local militants.

If Black Friday exposed the chinks in the country's security system, it also exposed the government's refusal to recognise the Muslim radicals in their midst. "Hasina used to scoff at claims of homegrown Islamist terrorists linked to the global terror network," says columnist Syed Badrul Ahsan. "She blamed opposition leader Khaleda Zia for harbouring terrorists."

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had termed the spate of killings over the past year as isolated incidents. He clearly had no inkling of what was coming. "It was a time bomb waiting to explode," says liberation war veteran Sachin Karmaker.

Bangladesh's history of state-backed radicalisation dates back to the late 1970s and can be traced specifically to the close ties between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami whose leaders had participated in the genocide of 1971.

In the 1980s, 8,000 Bangladeshi youth, many of them left and socialist-leaning, volunteered to fight for the Palestine Liberation Organisation, a year after Yasser Arafat visited Dhaka to a warm welcome from media and political circles. Most of them returned home after the defeat and expulsion from Lebanon in 1982. Soon after 9/11, over a thousand Bangladeshi nationals who had joined the Taliban, fled to Pakistan when the American coalition invaded Afghanistan. Since then, Bangladesh has been convulsed with the attempts of the Afghan veterans to launch a jihad in their native country.

Counter-terrorism security agencies have had some success in the past, which the present Hasina regime, in power since 2008, has had too, dismantling some terror cells. The Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) spilled over into the neighbouring Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. Since then, possibly with the full knowledge of domestic security agencies, hundreds of Bangladeshi fighters, most of them poor rural youth, have joined secret wars in 36 countries, from Chechnya in Russia to Aceh in Indonesia.

The new phase of Bangladesh's war with itself began in the wave of the recent machete attacks. In most cases, the purpose of the attacks and the identities of the perpetrators remain a mystery. An international outcry forced the government to respond by banning a dozen Islamist outfits, including the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), believed to be behind the blogger attacks. However, the fact is that both the Hasina and earlier Khaleda Zia governments have harboured Islamist groups at some point and refrained from antagonising the clerics. Both have also backed off from implementing policies like women's empowerment and a national education policy (religious parties call it anti-Islamic).

Counter-terrorism specialists say Bangladesh is unprepared for this new form of terrorism. Online recruiters use social media to recruit their targets. Sleeper cells in the heart of the cities and towns run on small budgets, secret safehouses hide would-be jihadists while the familiarisation and adaptation jigs are on. Recruiters spend cash to procure weapons and bombs from gun-runners. It's during the internship that the future jihadists carry out the hit-and-run machete attacks. The reward for a good performance is a promotion to the sleeper cells, explains Kabir.

An unknown number of militants have escaped police dragnets to join IS in Syria and Iraq. The Bangladesh Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Bureau, a CIA-trained outfit, does not know the exact number as yet. It does not know how many may have travelled to the terror hotspots to join IS . It does not know how many have returned either. Just as it doesn't know how many attackers like the Black Friday six are waiting to strike.

First published in India Today magazine, July 7, 2016

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow (USA), is an award winning investigative journalists and Special Correspondent of The Asian Age, published from Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh Buddhists pick up pieces after mob rampage

Radical Muslims in southern Bangladesh desecrate Buddhist monasteries Photo: Saleem Samad

ANBARASAN ETHIRAJAN

SHASHANKO BARUA's voice trembles when he recounts how he and his family ran for their lives to escape an angry Muslim mob last year.

They hid in a forest for a whole night near their village in the south-eastern Bangladeshi district of Cox's Bazar before returning home.

Mr Barua, a Buddhist, says that when he returned to the village, he found his small tin-roof house had been completely destroyed and all his belongings looted. His neighbours also faced similar fates.

Hundreds of Buddhists became homeless overnight after thousands of Muslims rampaged through villages, looting houses and burning down Buddhist temples.

While Bangladesh has witnessed bloody clashes between Muslims and minority Hindus in the past, it was a rare attack on the Buddhists.

'We had to run'

Local people say the violence went on for nearly six hours in various villages of the Ramu sub-division.

The protests were triggered after an image allegedly insulting the Koran was posted on the Facebook site of a Buddhist youth. Investigations by local media later revealed the youth had nothing to do with the incident.

"The mob first destroyed our temple and looted everything. Then they targeted our houses. We had to run, as I was worried that my teenage daughters could have been [sexually] abused," said Mr Barua, who is a day labourer.

"I am still scared to go out to work. I don't want to go too far to find work as I feel unsafe."

Since the attacks, the Buddhist community in this district near the border with Burma has been in shock. They still wonder with dismay how their own neighbours - Muslims who have been living with them in harmony for centuries - could turn against them.

"There were people from all the major political parties among the rioters," said a community leader who did not want to be identified.

"Some were local leaders who are well-known to us. It is difficult for outsiders to know where these Buddhist temples are situated and which house belongs to the Buddhists."

Religious minority

Buddhists constitute less than 1% of Bangladesh's estimated population of more than 150 million. Around 90% of Bangladeshis are Muslims and Islam is the state religion.

Community leaders took me to various villages and temples destroyed during the riot in late September. Some of the temples were centuries-old and the main temple in Ramu, Sima Vihar is a famous tourist destination.

Buddhist monks say hundreds of precious metal and wooden idols of Lord Buddha were stolen during the riots and religious books in different languages were torched.

Buddhist leaders say the riots were not a spontaneous reaction to the alleged Koran insult. Tension had been building up in the area hours before the rampage, and they say hundreds of people were brought in trucks and vans from Cox's Bazar and Chittagong districts.

Some of them say the attacks were pre-planned and co-ordinated. They also blame the local police and the civil administration for not responding to their pleas when the attacks were going on.

"To destroy the 100-foot Buddhist statue in our temple, the rioters used seven locally-made bombs, tyres and gun powder. Luckily there was no major damage to the statue except for some cracks," said Ben Karunasri Bhikhu, a Buddhist monk at the Uttar Mitha Chori village.

'We are scared'

Villages far from Ramu sub-division were also targeted by the mob. In a few villages, Hindu temples and houses were also ransacked.

"The situation is calm now but we are scared. The real culprits have not been arrested. So, they are still threatening us," said Dr Rakal Chandro Kormokar, a doctor in the village of Ykong Bazaar, near the town of Teknaf.

Buddhist community leaders in the Ramu area, however, said they were satisfied with the swift response of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She visited the area soon after the riots and ordered all destroyed temples and houses be rebuilt.

Reconstruction work has been going on under the direct supervision of soldiers and border guards. A stream of officials has visited the area, and politicians and civil society leaders have made the journey to show solidarity and support with the Buddhists.

"We have reassured the local people that these things will never occur in the future," said Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir.

Although some try to link the attacks on Buddhists with the ethnic conflict between Rohingya Muslims and the majority Buddhist population in the neighbouring Burmese state of Rakhine, local people dismiss the notion.

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh following communal violence last year in Rakhine state. For many it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

But while the government has increased security around the Ramu area, many Buddhists still feel insecure. They say the majority Muslim community there should make efforts to reach out to them.

"Our neighbours were also involved in the attacks. So the government should take measures to make the local Muslim community show tolerance. Only that will bring a permanent solution and prevent such events in the future," said Nilutpal Barua, a teacher.

Bangladesh has long prided itself on having secular values, but the attacks on minority Buddhists and Hindus have dented this image.

Buddhists leaders say their temples and houses will be rebuilt soon, but it will take time for the emotional wounds to heal.

Appeared in BBC online, February 1, 2013

Anbarasan Ethirajan is Bangladesh correspondent for BBC News

A little pogrom in Bangladesh

SETH J. FRANTZMA

The Western press was quite concerned about not reporting about the destruction of Hindu temples in Pakistan and burning of Buddhist temples in Bangladesh. After all, mentioning how fanaticism actually results in attacks on religious minorities might make the Barack/Clinton appeasement broadcast seem foolish. 

In late September, the US State Department purchased $70,000 worth of ads on Pakistani television. Pakistanis who tuned in were able to see a message by US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton addressing anger about an anti-Islam YouTube clip in the US.

“Since our founding, the US has been a nation that respects all faiths and ejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.… Let me state clearly, and I hope it is obvious, the US government had nothing to do with this video, we absolutely reject its content and message.”

The message was supposed to preempt Pakistani riots.

Pakistan has a history of rioting. In November of 1979 Pakistanis rushed from their homes after hearing a radio broadcast that the United States had bombed the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. The actual story was that a Saudi Arabian Islamist fanatic had taken over the mosque. The US was not involved. But Pakistani rioters don’t look for facts.

Instead, the rioters sought out the American Embassy in Pakistan and burned it to the ground. Two Americans were murdered. In 1989, following the publication of Salman Rushdi’s The Satanic Verses, 10,000 Pakistanis attacked the American Cultural Center in Islamabad. Six of the protestors died in the incident.

What is nice about this knee-jerk Pakistani reaction to almost anything that the mobs think is offensive, even things that are patently untrue, is that Pakistan has received over $30 billion in US aid. An April 2012 Congressional Research Report noted, “Pakistan has been among the leading recipients of US foreign assistance both historically and in recent years. The country arguably is as important to forwarding US security interests as any in the world.”

During the September debacle in which the US president and secretary of state begged the Pakistanis not to be outraged, a little-covered incident took place. After the protestors were done burning American flags, they turned their attention to destroying movie theaters, veritable dens of immorality. And when the satanic theaters had been burned, protestors in Karachi attacked a Hindu neighborhood.

Hindus form a small minority in Pakistan.

According to Al-Jazeera, which was the only major media outlet to report the story, the protestors ransacked the Sri Krishna temple, burned a holy book and bashed Hindu statues. Then they broke into people’s homes and stole jewelry and valuables. This is, of course, ironic since the protestors were ostensibly protesting the insult to their religion.

What better way to protest the insult to Islam, by a random man in California, than to beat on some Hindus and steal their jewelry? The US State Department didn’t pay for any ads in Pakistan to explain that burning Hindu statues is wrong. Because, while the State Department is clear that one must reject the message of the anti-Islam video, it doesn’t seem to see too much of a problem with some good old jingoistic bashing of minorities.

This is interesting, since one of the State Department’s goals is supposedly to “provide basic education support, such as building schools and providing funds for text books and teachers; and improve the quality of universities in Pakistan.”

Obviously the education isn’t working, at least not in making people tolerant.

BUT PAKISTAN isn’t the only place where a glaring and offensive pogrom against minorities took place recently. In Bangladesh, which until 1973 was known as East Pakistan, another event went under-reported.

On October 2, according to a report in Al-Jazeera, “Crowds of Muslims descended onto Ramu after pictures desecrating Islam and the Koran were found on the Facebook page of a young Buddhist man living in the area.”

In another report from Dubai-based Big News Network, it was noted that: “the Buddhists moved to safety after an overnight weekend attack in which thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims burned at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes in anger over a Facebook photo of a burned Quran.”

The temples were over 250 years old. However, it appears that the photos said to belong to the Buddhist were in fact only tagged with his name and were download by local imams and passed around. According to Madrasa teacher Shamsul Haque, who downloaded the photos, the “Muslims in this community wanted justice and are fed up with being insulted.”

So, even though no one actually insulted them, and in fact it was their own clerics who downloaded offensive pictures and ascribed them to a random Buddhist man, the mobs were set in motion. As Al-Jazeera noted, “The last time there was any violence against the Buddhist community was in 1966 when a young Buddhist boy eloped with a Muslim girl and scores were injured in the communal clashes that followed.”

In 1989, when the supposed offense caused by Rushdie’s book led mobs to murder and pillage throughout the world, a Harvard lecturer named S. Nomanhul Haq was quick to join the chorus of people in the West condemning Rushdie, rather than the rioters and murderers.

In a submission to The New York Times titled “Salman Rushdi, blame yourself,” Haq wrote: “The Muslim nations have not gone through the turmoil’s of the Enlightenment and they have seen no scientific revolution; their sensibilities are different. Often, a peaceful demonstration is not their way and we cannot change them overnight. The best thing is to avoid hitting their most sensitive chords.”

Haq exorcised Rushdie for showing no sympathy for the rioters that died during their extreme outburst. Haq’s notions are alive and well today.

There is a belief in the West that the outraged mobs, the “spontaneous” mobs, are acting on a real grievance. They are “different” since they didn’t experience the “Enlightenment” and therefore “a peaceful demonstration is not their way.”

Not their way? Surely we once heard that about the pogroms related to the blood libel. On July 4, 1946 the Polish people of the town of Kielce in Poland set upon their Jewish neighbors – Jews who had only recently survived the Holocaust. They had heard that the Jews had kidnapped a young boy, so they killed 40 of them in a pogrom. Undoubtedly the local Polish men and women, as they beat the Jews to death and gouged out their eyes, were, in their hearts, truly offended that a Polish boy had gone missing, even if in fact no boy had actually gone missing.

Evidently “a peaceful protest was not their way.” The Polish way in Kielce was the pogrom, based on the rumor.

The Pakistanis go one better. Based on a perceived insult in far-away USA, they raid Hindu temples and steal from minorities. It isn’t that peaceful protest is not their way, it is that rioting and bashing minorities is their way. It isn’t that they didn’t receive the Enlightenment. Just because people didn’t read Voltaire, doesn’t mean they must burn down the temples of other religions.

There is nothing to hum and haw over about rioters and fanatics. The Polish villagers, in their unquenched hatred and zeal, still not satiated in 1946 even though some three million of their Jewish countrymen had been murdered, had to kill 40 more people based on some rumors.

What differentiates them from the mobs in Bangladesh? Except we certainly don’t worry too much about the Polish “motivation” or their “sensitive chord.” But evidently the Western press was quite concerned about not reporting about the destruction of Hindu temples in Pakistan and burning of Buddhist temples in Bangladesh.

After all, mentioning how fanaticism actually results in attacks on religious minorities might make the Barack/Clinton appeasement broadcast seem foolish. It might make the billions in aid to Pakistan and its “education” system, seem ridiculous.

First published in The Jerusalem Post, October 08, 2012

Seth J. Frantzman is a commentator on current affairs and politics he attempts to provide new views on old canards, hence his column's name, Terra Incognita.  He is currently The Jerusalem Post's op-ed editor

The Inhumanity of Fundamentalism

RUZAN SARWAR

IN THE latest bout of senseless attacks and religion-based violence stemming from posts on social media outlets, a number of Buddhist monks and the monasteries in which they live were targeted by Muslim fundamentalists in Cox's Bazar, in the southeastern part of Bangladesh. Other members of Bangladesh's Buddhist community were also targeted. The reason given was a Facebook post that disparaged the Quran. The photo was supposedly posted by a Buddhist man.

Over 25,000 rioters then took to the streets to protest the photo. Unsurprisingly, the protests turned violent. Numerous accounts have surfaced of hundred-year old temples being attacked and looted, their artifacts steeped in history destroyed. The rioters burned homes, as well, leaving heartless destruction in their wake.

Bangladesh's Daily Star ran a story detailing how Buddhist community's second highest priest, 83-year-old Shreemad Satyapriya Mohathero, was forced to hide in rice paddies while escaping from the fundamentalists' attacks. What makes the situation worse is that many of the monks in these monasteries provided shelter and asylum to countless Muslims during Bangladesh's War of Independence from Pakistan in 1971. They shielded war-weary, desperate Bangladeshi Muslims from the hands of the merciless Pakistani army. If this is how the monks are being repaid for their compassion, Bangladesh should be ashamed of its conduct.

Religious conflicts are not new. They have been around as long as the world has had organized religion. Organized religion, in practice, creates the notion of the 'other,' providing a mechanism to pinpoint a scapegoat for problems and anger. This trend should tell us something. When issues over religion arise, they are, more often than not, dealt with through violence. We are seeing this pattern emerge once again, right in front of us.

In a previous article about the sweeping protests over the anti-Muslim film, Innocence of Muslims, I mentioned how disproportionate the reactions to these social media posts really are. It is now becoming increasingly apparent that questioning what is truly at the root of such violence is essential. A single offensive Facebook picture cannot realistically spark so much retaliation without external factors fueling the fire. It is here that we come to the radical beliefs of fundamentalist Muslims who do not represent the majority but are the most vocal and visible segments of the population. Why are moderates allowing them to get the upper hand?

Bangladesh is a poor, poverty-stricken nation. It has its fair share of governance problems that are only being exacerbated by religious strife. But, Bangladesh does not need to be a cruel nation. Those who perpetrate the violence must stop, must regain an ounce of humanity. The rest of us have to speak out against fundamentalist violence. We have to ensure that they are aware of how wrong their behavior is. It is our duty as moderates and as sane individuals to be vocal and refute the practice of religious zealotry. Otherwise, they win.

First posted in the HuffingtonPost blog, October 03, 2012

Ruzan Sarwar is an international development and governance professional, a

graduate of Georgetown University’s Conflict Resolution Program in Washington, DC. She has experience working for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the UN Development Program (UNDP).

Why Bangladesh Should Not Be Audited By International Bodies

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladesh for obvious reasons is under renewed scrutiny by global watchdogs, think tanks, and the international press. This is not just because of more than a year of emergency rule, but also due to recent dramatic political developments toward democratic transitions in several countries, including Thailand, Nepal, and Pakistan. Expectations have risen for Bangladesh.

Around Bangladesh, political observers see optimistic developments, perhaps light at the end of the tunnel. The Nepalese are preparing to change their century-old kingdom into a republic. Thai military generals have vowed to not interfere in the polity and have returned to the barracks, though they’ve left behind institutions for influencing internal security. In Pakistan, after decades of military subjugation, there is a change of heart—forced in no small part by a change of heart in the US administration—among the Generals, who have conceded their failure to manage the country.

An overall estimate

Global watchdogs are keenly observing the reforms agenda in Bangladesh toward a transition to democracy. And none of them seems happy. Despite a year of anti-corruption and anti-crime drives by the interim government, Bangladesh is still placed toward the bottom on the list of world’s most corrupt nations. The Global Integrity Report 2007 stated that Bangladesh’s caretaker government had failed to deliver the wishful target it had set about reducing corruption and increasing accountability. Accountability at all levels—executive, legislative, judicial—was rated as very weak, even though laws were strong. The Global Integrity Report pointed out that the military is routinely involved in government affairs.

Similarly, Washington based Freedom House in its Freedom In The World 2008 report says that Bangladesh experienced a reversal due to the introduction of emergency rule in January, the suspension of scheduled elections, and the curtailment of civil liberties and press freedom were identified as a severe blow on good governance and democracy.

Religious freedom has never improved since previous military rulers declared Islam the state religion two decades ago. Persecution of religious minorities like the Hindus, Ahmadiyya Muslim, Buddhists, Christians and cultural minorities (animists) in Modhupur, Sylhet and Chittagong Hill Tracts have continued unabated. It was expected that after the military returned to power in early 2007, the status of religious freedom may improve. But the predators remain loose, and even in 2008, Bangladesh remains in the watch list of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

So far, no notable initiative has been taken by the quasi-military government to ensure transparency in governance. With no real improvement in weak institutions, the Failed States Index, published by Foreign Policy / Fund for Peace, placed Bangladesh among the 20 most unstable and highest risk countries, next to Burma, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.

The slide in human rights

More troubling are the problems regarding human rights and democracy. In its “Human Rights Report 2007,” local watchdog Odhikar has written flatly: “Human rights situation deteriorated sharply in Bangladesh in 2007.” This not just because fundamental rights remain suspended, but also because the anti-corruption and anti-crime drives are being used “as nothing more than a tool to reform the political parties to its [i.e., the government’s] liking.”

Amnesty International made a high profile visit to Bangladesh in January. The delegation, headed by Amnesty’s Secretary General, made similar observations about “new patterns of manipulating due process.” It also noted with concern the “creeping role of the armed forces in a range of functions, with no clear rules of accountability.”

In February, a group of British and European parliamentarians visited Bangladesh in order to encourage the return to democracy through holding free and fair elections. They also expressed “deep concern over the human rights abuses.”

The same month, Human Rights Watch published a scathing criticism of severe abuses by “Bangladesh’s notorious military intelligence agency.” It pointed out that “the government has routinely used torture to extract confessions,” and that it has protected abusers. Its Asia director asked, “Are they reformers, or do they just say they are reformers?”

In March, the US Department of State submitted to Congress its annual report on human rights in different countries. It gave similar conclusions about Bangladesh’s record in 2007: “The government's human rights record worsened, in part due to the state of emergency and postponement of elections.” It noted how the government has restricted freedom of press, freedom of association, the right to bail, and due process, with political discrimination and “serious abuses, including custodial deaths, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment of journalists.”

Law, order, justice

It will be incorrect to think that all of these are new. DGFI, the dreaded security service at the center of many waves of abuse, operated unhindered during the elected governments of Khaleda Zia (1991-1996, 2001-2007) and Shiekh Hasina (1996-2001). Like in Pakistan, interference by state security agency jeopardised the transition of democracy, even after last military dictator General Ershad quit power in 1990 in the face of violent street protests.

The last elected government headed by BNP gave unprecedented powers to elite law-and-order agencies, using them politically and frequently. The current government also uses the same techniques. “Joint Forces,” a combination of uniformed military officers, the anti-crime squads and elite police are given the responsibility in implement the government’s anti-crime campaign, in which hundreds of suspects have been tortured and killed in custody. The differences between then and now are twofold: whatever rights people had before have all been extinguished, and there is no accountability whatsoever for the government’s actions.

The judiciary is yet to demonstrate that it is independent of government influence, or that the security agencies are not intimidating the magistrates and judges. Most of the District Magistracy and Speedy Trial Court judgements are glaring examples of government interference. The judgements are arbitrary, illogical and mysterious, based often on forced confessions and fictitious estimates—and each and every one of the 61 verdicts given in the high profile cases so far has gone in favour of the government. As a dismayed newspaper editorial observed recently: “the prosecution, i.e. the present regime, has been able to ensure a near-perfect conviction success rate … Even the best prosecution lawyers around the world cannot boast such a conviction success rate" (New Age, 25 February 2008).

To conclude, Bangladesh’s present military-driven government has made many promises and taken many initiatives but failed to perform neutrally and satisfactorily, with good governance, transparency, and accountability.

Supporters of the government usually respond to this allegation in two ways. First, they accuse all critics of “tarnishing the image of the country,” as if performance is nothing and image is everything. Second, they say that it is too early to judge them: they have not been given a fair chance or enough time to clean up all the mess that Bangladesh was in. The first accusation has no substance. To the second accusation we say, the job of the caretaker government, by Constitution, is to hold elections toward a return to democracy. Their job is not to fix everything in the country, and claiming to fix everything an ominous excuse to hold on to power.

First Published in CounterCurrents.org 10 July 2008

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow is a Bangladesh born journalist presently living in exile in Canada. He edits www.DurDesh.net streaming from Toronto and specialises in conflict, terrorism, security and intelligence issues in South Asia. He could be reached by email saleemsamad@hotmail.com