[vinnomot] Liberation War : Shah Hannan's impudence!

SAN-Feature Service

SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE

October 30,2007

 

Liberation War : Shah Hannan's impudence!

 

Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah

 

A thousand Shah Hannans and Mujahids

won't be able to dim the glory of our freedom fighters.

 

SAN-Feature Service : The self-professed Islamic intellectual of Bangladesh,

Mr. Shah A. Hannan, is busy these days making fib of unprecedented kind. I have

read many of his prevarication- laden post in various cyber forums He

even received some befitting answers from  for making

outrageous claim vis-à-vis defending Maulana Maududi's political

doctrine and Jamaat-i-Islami' s political role in the ill-fated

government of Khaleda Zia during 2001-2006.

 

I decided not to reply to his inveracity-ridden posts. However, now I am compelled to write  this protest note against his recent remark vis-à-vis Bangladesh's

Liberation War, the account of which was published in October 28, 2007 issue of the  Daily Star.

 

Unbeknownst to many of us who does not know that Shah Hannan peddles

prevarication and 'snake oil' all the time to promote Jamaati

doctrine, this time around the Islamic think tank guru made a faux

pas while hurting the sensibilities of millions of Bengalese residing

in Bangladesh and worldwide. The issue is Bangladesh's glorious War

of Independence in 1971. With the exception of Pakistani literature

peddled by Pakistani Army and the government most scholars admit that

Bengalese were all united to fight against the occupation force

throughout the 9 months in 1971. The fight for independence that was

started in March 26, 1971, ended on December 16 in the same year.

 

There was however the Fifth Columnist allover occupied Bangladesh.

They were the supporters of Jamaat, Muslim League, and the Bihari

brigands to backstab the freedom fighters.

 

The Daily Star  entitled "There was no genocide; it was a `civil war." The point of reference is the nine-month grueling period in which our Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters) fought valiantly against the occupation army of Pakistan. Why is Shah Hannan so

eager now to whitewash the sins of Jamaatis, Muslim Leaguers, and  Razakars all with a broad brush? There is after all a valid  reason. The Jamaat is in hot water now because if the party could be labeled as the Fifth Columnist who aided Tikka-Niazi- Yahya

administration during our Liberation War, they could be barred from

participation in the next parliamentary election. That is precisely

why one of the leading Jamaati politicians, Mujahid,

proclaimed the other day that there are no war criminals in

Bangladesh at this time. By making this outrageous statement, the

Jamaat leader opened the proverbial Pandora's box.

 

Jamaat's is trying to create confusion amongst public mind by saying

that in 1971 the Bengalese never fought a Liberation War. They now

assert falsely that it was a garden variety civil war. Therefore,

it "logically" follows – there would not be single war criminal

because it was not a war in the true sense of the word. Now, the  Fifth Columnist and Islamic thinker par excellence, Shah A.  Hannan is doing his best to lend support to Jamaati concoction.

 

The fib-maker par excellence, Shah A. Hannan, as per daily's  

report denied that genocide ever taking place in the country in 1971;

therefore, and no war criminals exist now in Bangladesh. The

charlatan Islamic think-tank guru was speaking on a talk show,

Ekushey Shomoy, on private satellite television channel Ekushey

Television on October 26, 2007. The cozener, Mr. Hannan,

also expressed doubts that three million people died in the war. He

had the chutzpah of supporting a Pakistani report according to which

only 26,000 people or less died during the Liberation War.

 

Mr. Hannan is in denial as far as our glorious Liberation War is

concerned. The intellectual members of the Fifth Columnists were

never sent to any education camp, which should have been done a long

time ago, to make them worthy son of the soil. Thus, they still

suffer from delusion; the proof is in the pudding. Mr. Shah Hannan

is still making his phantasmagoric statement – this time in a

television program.

 

How many lives were lost and how many women were violated by the

rogue Pakistani soldiers in the nine-month period? The true number

will never be known but the figure that was accepted by scholars,

genocide-tracking organizations, and media is 3 million dead and a

quarter million women raped. But in the eyes of Jamaati supporters

and pro-Pakistani Bangladeshis this number is far less. Prof. R.J.

Rummel, who is a genocide scholar, wrote in an article, which is

posted in Gendercide website writes as follows:

 

"The mass killings in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1971 vie

with the annihilation of the Soviet POWs, the holocaust against the

Jews, and the genocide in Rwanda as the most concentrated act of

genocide in the twentieth century. In an attempt to crush forces

seeking independence for East Pakistan, the West Pakistani military

regime unleashed a systematic campaign of mass murder which aimed at

killing millions of Bengalis, and likely succeeded in doing so."

 

This scribe is more than confident that Mr. Shah Hannan or his ilk

has never read a word that Prof. Rummel's scholarly work on

Bangladesh genocide, nor has he read the article published in

National Geographic or Newsweek published in the aftermath of our

victory on December 16, 1971.

 

Another reference will be sufficed to prove that the Pakistani army

went overboard to annihilate the entire Bengali population. This

reference which comes handy was published by Rounaq Jahan ["Genocide

in Bangladesh," in Samuel Totten et al., eds., Century of Genocide.]

On page 298 in this book, Ms. Jahan quoted the genocide expert Dr.

R.J. Rummel as follows:

 

"By November [1971], the rebel guerrillas ... had wrested from the

army control over 25 percent of East Pakistan, a success that led the

Pakistan army to seek out those especially likely to join the

resistance -- young boys. Sweeps were conducted of young men who were

never seen again. Bodies of youths would be found in fields, floating

down rivers, or near army camps. As can be imagined, this terrorized

all young men and their families within reach of the army. Most

between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five began to flee from one

village to another and toward India. Many of those reluctant to leave

their homes were forced to flee by mothers and sisters concerned for

their safety." [Ref: Rummel, Death by Government (New Brunswick, USA:

Transaction Publishers, 1994), p329.]

 

The purpose of this short article is not to convince people like Shah

Hannan or the leaderships of Jamaat-i-Islami to take into account the

scholarly work done by Prof. Rummel when they make any public

statement when the topic is our freedom fight. These folks are in

denial vis-à-vis Bangladesh Liberation War for so long. They do not

want to believe that their one-time master, the Pakistani military,

could have undertaken a plan to annihilate the entire Bengali

population who believed in Sheikh Mujib's proclamation for full

independence after what happened in the wee hours of March 26, 1971.

 

Shah Hannan's prevarication to give intellectual support to

Jamaati politicians is obfuscating the truth about Bangladesh's

glorious freedom fight. There are people who think that if one makes

a lie and say it ten times then some gullible folks would fall for

that lie thinking that there may be a truth in it. But so many books

have been written on Bangladesh's Liberation War that all the

propaganda that Mr. Hannan and Jamaati politicians are making these

days will go in vain.

 

The truth is that Jamaatis and their ardent supporters such as

Shah Hannan were the eager Fifth Columnist who was standing shoulder-

to-shoulder with vile Pakistani soldier to finish off our Mukti

Bahani soldiers. But that did not happen. The glorious events of

our freedom fight were like the dark chapter in Shah Hannan's life.

These events torment him ad infinitum; therefore, it comes as no

surprise that like a serpent he likes to strike back at our glorious

history. His recent show of conceit in a private TV channel is

symptomatic of a delusional mind. If he wants to live in a fool's

paradise, then it is his prerogative.

 

However, for once he should come to terms with the truth in respect to Bangladesh's Liberation  War. This was the war in which the Pakistani army and their

supporters had to face the ignominy of defeat. History books are

replete with the number of casualties. Prof. Rummel and Prof. Rounaq

Jahan are right after all when they wrote how many lives were lost in

the hands of marauding Pakistani soldiers, al-Shams and al-Badars

death squad.  Shah Hannan is only trying to efface the misdeeds

of his masters and fellow ideologues. I have a sentence for them - a

thousand Shah Hannans and Mujahids won't be able to dim the glory of

our freedom fighters.—SAN-Feature Service

 

Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New

Orleans

 

 

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