Why Has Pakistan Banned Joyland Movie?

SALEEM SAMAD

The controversial film Joyland received global accolades on film festival circuits for its portrayal of a transgender love affair. The movie has been banned for ‘highly objectionable material’ wasn’t a surprise for Pakistan.

The film is set in Lahore and shot in the Punjabi language revolves around the story of a young married man from a middle-class conservative family who joins an erotic dance theatre and falls in love with a starlet transgender performer. His love story elucidates the desires and secrets which is in contradiction with his patriarchal family.

The critically acclaimed film is Pakistan’s official entry for the category of Best International Feature Film for Oscars 2023.

It got its first premiere at Cannes 2022, where it received a standing ovation from the audience and jury.

Joyland has gained massive appreciation worldwide. The film received top global awards, including the Queer Palm, which is the Cannes Film Festival’s LGBTQ prize.

The movie also came away with rave reviews after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and the American Film Institute Festival.

Unfortunately, before the film was released in the theatres, objections were raised by Islamists, who have not seen the film citing controversial content which was deemed un-Islamic, thus unfit for screening in a Sunni Muslim majoritarian Pakistan.

Days before the release of the film, the Pakistan authority ‘uncertified’ the film and blocked it from screening in the country.

Joyland (126 minutes) was slated to be screened in movie theatres across Pakistan this week. But the religious leader forced the federal censor board to reverse its decision and declare the movie “ineligible” for Pakistan.

The Islamic Republic has a notorious history of banning movies in various categories, citing religious reasons and so-called nationalistic reasons.

A Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan posted a tweet that he was relieved to hear about the ban. “Nothing un-Islamic can happen here [Pakistan],” Ahmad added.

Filmmaker Saim Sadiq’s Joyland received a letter from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting days ahead of its release which blocks the film to see the light of day.

The devastated filmmaker instead of showing his frustration thanked the “written complaints” from people claiming it features “indecent and immoral” content and reminded that legally, “Joyland is still certified to release in Punjab and Sindh on November 18.”

He argued that the 18th amendment in the Pakistani constitution gives all provinces the autonomy to make their own decision. Yet the ministry suddenly caved under pressure from a few Islamist – and made a “mockery of our federal censor board by rendering their decision irrelevant,” he lamented.

Director of the film Sadiq told Al Jazeera TV network that he was dismayed at the government’s decision. He remarked that this sudden U-turn by the government is unconstitutional and illegal.

Pakistan’s parliament broke ground in 2018 by passing a law to provide legal recognition to transgender persons, some conservative hardliners have lately been campaigning to take those rights away from people.

The recent ban on Oscar contender Joyland after religious backlash is yet another example of Mullah’s intolerance and disrespect for freedom of expression and creative media.

As the visiting scholar and former ambassador, Prof Husain Haqqani says, the mullahs, military, militancy and mosque nexus have unlimited evil power in Pakistan.

Immediately after a copy of the ban notification crept into social media, celebrities have been up in arms, calling for an end to the ban and for the film to be released.

The outcry of support for the film flooded the social media space from mango people, including artists and civil society. Hashtags #ReleaseJoyland and #BanJoyland are trending in social media both in favour and against the film.

If Joyland fails to be screened in Pakistan, the nomination for Oscar Academy Award would be stopped at a roadblock.

In the starring roles in Joyland are Rasti Farooq (Mumtaz), Alina Khan (Biba), Sarwat Gilani (Nucchi), Salmaan Peerzada (Rana Amanullah), Sohail Sameer (Saleem), Sania Saeed (Fayyaz) and Ali Junejo (Haider). The screenplay was written jointly by Maggie Briggs and Saim Sadiq.

First published in The News Times, November 15, 2022

Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

Angry Iranian Women Are Burning Their Hijabs

SALEEM SAMAD

The death of Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman by the so-called Morality Police has sparked a showdown of dissent on Iran’s streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.

The girl was on a family trip and arrived in Teheran, the capital of Iran. On her arrival at a metro station, the notorious Morality Police (Gasht-e Ershad) detained her for inappropriately wearing a hijab (headscarf), a strict dress code for women in the public.

She was dragged to a re-education detention centre and tortured for non-compliance with the dress code and later died from head injuries in a hospital.

Her guardians refused to accept that she died of a heart attack. They insist that she succumbed to a painful death at the hands of Islamic vigilantes.

The unprecedented anger in the streets is demanding #JusticeForMashaAmini, which has turned against the autocratic Islamic clerical establishment in Iran, since 1979.

In the third week, the demonstrations have spread to nearly 100 cities and towns since September 13 questioning the clergy’s legitimacy in power, which is indeed a serious challenge to Islamic Iran.

Besides justice for Kurdish woman, the angry #IranProtests are demanding an end to the Islamic Republic, which ruled Iran with an ‘iron hand’ blended with Islamic jargon, strict Sharia laws and intolerance to critics and dissidents.

Women in public are removing their hijab (chador in Farsi) and collectively burning in a bonfire, while many are cutting their hair in defiance of the Ayatollah’s self-composed Islamic laws.

Determined, angry and, above all, courageous in midst of the #WomenLifeFreedom campaign communicates with everyone. The women in Iran are at the forefront of the current protests.

Earlier, women have played a key role in all the protest movements of the past 40 years, including the Green Movement of 2009 and the last major nationwide protests in November 2019, which went on for several weeks before being brutally suppressed.

Like previous street protests, the barbarian Basij snipers have been deployed on rooftops to shoot and kill angry protesters.

A bitter critic of the Mullahs in Iran, the feminist journalist in exile Masih Alinejad in a tweet says: The women – of Iran are risking their lives for basic freedoms and they need the support of the international community.

In the streets of Iran, they are calling for the end of the Islamic clerical establishment’s more than four decades in power.

There is no leadership structure for the #IranProtests. ‘Generation Z’ is leading protests in the streets and online, which gave momentum to oust Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989.

Rights groups have reported the arrest of hundreds of young people, and students. Also academics, celebrities, civil society activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, litterateurs, movie stars, singers, poets, sportsmen, and at least a score of journalists.

In fact, the massive protests sparked by a young Iranian woman’s death have shaken the foundations of the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, nobody believes that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will conduct an impartial probe and that the perpetrators would be punished.

He, however, pledged to “deal decisively” with the protests and said “rioting” will not be tolerated.

Iran’s restrictive clothing laws – are rejected by a lot of Iranians. There is hardly a single woman in Iran who does not have a humiliating and violent experience with the rogue Gasht-e Ershad.

At this time, demonstrators are openly and collectively desecrating the religious symbol of the Islamic Republic.

Fury of the riot police and Basij [para-military force] crackdown on anti-government protesters has further sparked anger in the streets. The number of dead, wounded and detained protesters is rising alarmingly, rights groups claimed.

The Basij has a history of being ruthless with critics and opposition to the regime. All over the country, they are raiding the homes of thousands and dragging out critics active on social media or any dissidents who participated in the street agitations.

In absence of independent news organisations inside Iran, the protesters are dependent on social media. The activists are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as a tool to vent their grievances against the Mullahs.

Nonetheless, the social media campaign further angered the regime. Quickly the authorities imposed a blackout of the internet, which severely hampered daily e-businesses.

Isik Mater from NetBlocks told the BBC: “The internet is one of the biggest tools that the Iranian authorities have got in their hands when unrest breaks out on the streets.”

Apolitical Amini’s death has unleashed anger over issues including personal freedoms and economic challenges in Iran.

The countrywide riots were in response to the bleak economic situation, runaway inflation and horrendously high gas prices.

Iran’s economic crisis, coupled with the Western sanctions, explains the popular outrage which is swiftly sparked by the latest public antagonism.

Moreover, the elimination of subsidies, unemployment, chronic inflation, and the government’s fiscal deficit enraged the general public.

With a poor global image of the country, built over four decades on appalling human rights records, and proxy wars in the Middle East, including Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, it would be difficult for the Ayatollahs to get international sympathy against the protest.

The veiling of women is one of its most important foundations. The clerical rulers cannot and will not compromise on the pressing issue — because abolishing the obligation to wear the hijab would be tantamount to the beginning of the end for the Islamic Republic.

First published in The News Times, 8 October 2022

Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

From guns to government

Taliban occupies Presidential Palace in Kabul on 15 August

SALEEM SAMAD

Dhaka: Let’s not discuss whether the world leaders will extend legitimacy to Kabul’s new jihadist regime, which is much ado about nothing on the promise for an inclusive government.

For both the issue, the world will have to wait for a long time to understand the political development in Afghanistan.

The century-old progressive Afghanistan was once again rechristened as ‘Talibanistan’.

The United States, Britain, European Union, also India and Bangladesh were left wondering after the so-called interim regime of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada was announced last week.

The Taliban have not spelt out measures against counterterrorism and public policies on women rights, gender equality, higher education, amnesty for Afghan armed forces, police, judiciary, diplomats, government officials remain vague.

The freedom of expression, press freedom and freedom of assembly have become political taboo in Talibanistan and has been discarded as a western concept.

The hardliner Mullahs who have been selected to govern the country are mostly flagged by the United Nations, European Union (EU), US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and red-listed by Interpol for terrorism with links to 9/11 masterminded by dreaded Al Qaeda.

The Taliban leaders who were in exile in Qatar were often described as reformed Islamists by western media and apologists security pundits.

Each day, the sceptic observers are discovering that the Taliban’s has proved that HG Wells ‘time machine’ is a reality and not mere science fiction.

The Mullahs have succeeded in pushing the nation into the medieval age Arab Bedouins in the desserts. Taliban’s ‘time machine’ has not been designed with a fast-forward lever. Unfortunately, it will remain stranded in the 7th century in the foreseeable future, unless another bloody revolution jolts the nation from the yokes of barbarians.

The rugged mountains and lush green valley were graves of tens of thousands of foot soldiers of the invaders from the north and south. From Alexander the Great to Taimur Lang, the British, the Soviet Union and the now media agog with the American’s had to make a humiliating exit from Afghanistan.

Once a secular nation – home of various religions and cultural communities lived in harmony after the British colonialists decided to leave the Afghans alone after the Durand Line agreement 1893, which divides the Pashtuns between Afghanistan and India (now Pakistan).

After the Soviet Union’s military and political intervention in Afghanistan refused to compromise with their religious practices, language and tradition to be replaced by Marxism.

The Soviet Union (now Russia) literally wanted to spoon feed communism through a reign of terror, which was rejected and also pointed their barrels of the guns towards the Soviet Union military and oust the puppet regime.

The anger against socialism, which contradicts their conservative culture and tradition turned bloody. The villagers and warlords declared war against the Soviet Union.

The Soviets were militarily challenged by conglomerate countries and vested parties which wanted a slice of cake in strategic geopolitical hegemony.

In the conundrum, Pakistan offered its soil as a launching pad for recruitment, training and providing weapons by the United States, with the tacit support of China and Saudi Arabia.

The alliance of Mujahideen of tribal chiefs, warlords, mercenaries and dictates of Pentagon and Pakistan’s military hawks in Rawalpindi GHQ caused the regime to melt and collapsed.

Meanwhile, the ragtag foot soldiers recruited from hundreds of madrassas (Quranic schools) in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) now rechristened as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa partnered mercenaries from Bangladesh, Chechnya, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kashmir, Malaysia, Philippines, Syria and Turkey. The jihadists were trained and armed by Pakistan spy agency ISI with a one-way ticket to heaven.

The misogynist and arrogant Taliban’s gave a Sunni interpretation of Islam, enforced Sharia laws to subjugate the women, punish the critics and opposition.

Twenty years ago, the Americans came with full military might with allies from NATO militaries to hunt and punish offenders of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. Initially, the Pentagon military invasion plans succeeded and installed a puppet regime in Kabul with western education.

More than seventy per cent of Afghans do not live in cities. Gradually the Afghans understood that politicians and the regime in Kabul were involved in widespread corruption, money laundering and plundering, while the country’s ‘mango people’ suffered poverty, hunger and deprivation.

The simmering anger was exploited by the Taliban’s leadership and tens of thousands of Afghan youths from the rugged mountains joined the jihad to oust the Kabul regime. Rest is history.

The Taliban might have made achievements in diplomacy and developing the media into confidence, but running a government headed who unfortunately does not have any experience.

The Mullahs will have to rely heavily on China, Pakistan and Iran for economic development. While the partnership with Turkey and Qatar is needed to stabilise the country sitting on a volcano.

Peace and stability will remain a far cry in Afghanistan in months to come.

First published in the India News Stream, 11 September 2021

Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

From Khuda Hafez to Allah Hafez

The rise of radicalism has made a dent in the secular fabric of society

SALEEM SAMAD

The Muslim festival celebrated on the occasion of Hajj is Eid-ul-Azha, with the customary sacrifice of cattle all over the Islamic countries, as well in hundreds of other countries where there are followers of Islam.

While tens of thousands on social media and writings in print, the nation seems to have awakened to find that the traditional words heard for centuries in Bengal -- “Eid-ul-Azha” -- have been renamed “Eid-ul-Adha.”

Earlier, our grandfather taught children to say “Roza” and the conventional social salutation was “Ramzan Mubarak.” What they want us to hear now is “Ramadan Kareem.”

wwaBengal, the land of Sufis and Bauls, a unique place in ancient India where Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians -- the ethnic and cultural minorities -- lived in harmony along with nature.

When we were in the Pakistan era, the existence of orthodox or radicalized Muslims was not visible. There was a significant rise of progressive Muslim writers, poets, lyricists, and musicians.

In post-1947 -- liberal spaces encouraged cinema, theatre, folk music, and traditional Jatra. Cultural activities thrived with the resurgence of a new generation of creative people in society.

Suddenly the Jatra and folk music were attacked by Islamists, coupled with civil administration refusing to give permits to hold folk festivals in rural areas.

The rise of radicalism is a new phenomenon, which has made a dent in the secular fabric of society. Such peculiar development has been noticeable in Bangladesh for more than three decades.

Presently, the bauls, cartoonists, writers, and sculpture artists are unable to exercise their profession. Firstly, they are physically attacked and secondly, they are slapped with the controversial Digital Security Act.

Nowadays, the bigots scoff if somebody says namaaz and corrects it to salaat. They have changed “Milad-un-Nabi” into “Siratun-Nabi” and gradually everything which is Persian is being changed.

Most importantly, our goodbye greeting -- “Khuda Hafez” -- has been forcibly converted to “Allah Hafez.” Most Islamic practitioners in the country do not realize that long ago, Khuda Hafez arose at the authoritative Islamic learning centre at the Al-Azhar, Cairo.

Everybody knows “Allah” is Arabic and “Khuda” is Persian. The great blind scholar of the Qur’an, Taha Hussain said: “A child calls his mother by so many names and also ‘coins’ new words and she invariably responds. Does she ever say why haven’t you called me mother?”

“Allah Hafez” was first imported from Pakistan during Khaleda Zia’s pro-Islamist regime in 1991. Well, in Pakistan, liberal and secular intellectuals, academics, and mainstream media have squarely rejected “Allah Hafez."

In Pakistan, experimenting with neo-Islamic culture has become a national activity of the military regime in converting whatever was Persian to Arabic.

Of course, the first step in the Islamization of the country had taken deep root when General Ziaur Rahman, through a military proclamation, amended the 1972 constitution and inserted “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim” (In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful) in the preamble of the constitution.

The principle of secularism was removed from the constitution in 1977 by the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, another military dictator in 1988 declared: “Islam as the state religion” to appease the conservative Sunni Muslim majority.

In public events, the political speakers begin with the salutation Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim and end it with Allah Hafez.

Writer and researcher in war crimes Shahriar Kabir debated that the Charter of Medina signed by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not write “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim."

He asked the Islamic zealots why they deleted Khuda Hafez and coined Allah Hafez? Well, goodbye in Arabic is Fee Amanillah.

The followers of the Wahhabi sect, which advocate strict Sharia laws, were hailed by the Taliban and IS; the orthodox groups consciously deleted Persian words from Muslims in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

This geopolitical shift occurred after the so-called Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Arab states felt threatened that regime change would jeopardize the Islamic ummah.

The pro-Wahhabi Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami first introduced the endnote slogan Allah Hafez which was adopted from Pakistan Islamist conglomerates.

The Islamist party was able to influence leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to adopt Allah Hafez, while the Awami League leaders in the 1990s were still saying, Khuda Hafez.

In a major shift after 2009, gradually, Awami League leaders, MPs, and bureaucrats picked up the end salutation Allah Hafez and it is now established as Muslim etiquette.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune, 4 August 2020

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He can be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com. Twitter @saleemsamad

Iran Abuse Of Human Rights

SALEEM SAMAD

There is no quick-fix for the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the few countries which are governed by strictest Sharia laws, which other Muslim leaders cautiously debate.

Nevertheless, the protests in Iran are continuing after nearly two months of street protests in major cities. The uprising was sparked in mid-November last year when the regime announced that fuel prices would be increased. The move angered the Iranians who have faced so much economic crisis in the past.

For many months, society has been simmering with discontent and there have been sporadic protests, strikes, and anti-government demonstrations calling for the overthrow of the government in Iran and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Also, hundreds of young women in Iran had been many silently and some overtly protesting forced to wear Hijab, a mark of thumbs down to say no to Iran's Islamic dictates.

Widespread protests erupted across Iran because of the fuel price hike. The protests which first started because of the price-hike soon turned to become a widespread uprising targeting Ayatollahs and demanding the overthrow of the Islamic Iran regime.

The ground reality is such that the people are explicitly angered with the leadership of the Mullahs (clergies) that has brutally suppressed their choice for freedom for decades, plundered the country's wealth and led some horrific policies that have plunged parts of the Middle-East into crisis at the expense of pubic exchequer of Iran.

"There is no doubt these protests are serious, in terms of their scale and scope," said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran programme at the International Crisis Group.

The people's anger is obvious. After a few weeks of street protests, the people were embracing the risk of arrest, imprisonment, injury and even death to make their voice heard - loud and clear.

Hundreds of people have been killed by the violent suppressive forces and anti-riot police, many of them shot in the head or chest, sometimes at point-blank range and from behind. Many were attacked by goons of the Ayatollahs who reigned the regime illegally for more than four decades.

The Iranian regime has made all attempts to downplay the gravity of the situation, with some officials saying that the protests have not had wide participation.

However, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) one of the other Iran-Protest campaigns is determined to continue the movement to a level of no-confidence against the clerics in Tehran.

Furthermore, thousands of people wounded and thousands more arrested, coupled with internet services blocked by the regime to hide under the carpet the state-led crimes in Iran.

The regime's decision to block the people's access to the internet demonstrates that the regime is terrified of the world finding out about its appalling human rights abuses under wraps for the regime.

Not denying that the regime is under fire from the United States and several Middle-East countries and are starting to realise that the US might have a genuine reason for keeping Iran under pressure.

Several other banned opposition groups are behind the pro-democracy Iran-Protest. The Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK) has many "Resistance Units" spread across the country. They are in contact with the Resistance located outside Iran and it has never been too difficult for information to be shared, no matter how hard the regime tries.

Iran's protests have managed to continue in spite of the most brutal government repression throughout the country. Not only have the protests continued, but activities of the MeK resistance units in major cities have escalated the Iran-Protest movement.

The outcome of this uprising depends largely on the reaction of the international community. The world leaders are slow to react to dreadful human rights abuses taking place in Iran.

The international community has a responsibility to ensure that the Iranian regime should be held accountable for flouting human rights and denial of democracy.

First published in the New Nation, 5 February 2020

Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellow (USA) and Hellman-Hammett Award. Twitter @saleemsamad, Email saleemsamad@ hotmail.com

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