Although Mr Hashmi's response has been addressed toward Mr. Kamal
Das, I'd like to make a few points here on the ground that this
thread initially started with my response about Mr Hashmi's comments
on the trials of '71 war criminals.
1. Admittedly, I do not know Mr S A Hannan personally and his role
in '71 (an issue he always averted upon being asked by Syed Aslam).
Like Mr Hashmi, I also watched ekushe TV interview of Mr Hannan. I,
however, diasgree with Mr Hashmi's assertion that S A Hannan called
1971 both a civil war & a liberation war. No, he didn't. At least NOT
initially. Those who watched the interview must have noticed (unless
your ability to understand plain Bangla conversation is severely
impaired)that the term Mr S A Hannan initially used to describe '71
was just a "civil war"; it was only when the hostess of the program
interrupted & asked him a counter question that he added the
term "liberation war." This kind of chameleon like trait is common
among Jamatees and their sympethizers. We have seen how Jamaat--in
the face of public protests after Mujahidi's & Qader Mullah's
statement that BD didn't ever have war criminals--immediately called
for a press conference and issued a statement calling '71 a glorious
event and freedom fighters as the "bravest sons" of the nation. Yet
we all know, this is Jamaat and they can take any form, any shape at
any given time.
2. The point of my objection was NOT whether S A Hannan qualifies to
be a war criminal. It was, rather, unlike Mr Hashmi, I do not think
trial of war criminals is any less "pressing issue" than those he's
mentioned (eradication of poverty etc).
3. Although I do NOT necessarily see any corelation b/w Mr Hashmi's
not being a Bangalee (rather, a Bangladeshi) and his stand on the
trials of war criminals; yet I'd like to remind him: having an
ability to speak and write chaste & elegant Bangla alone does NOT
make someone a patriotic Bangalee. Many of the noted anti-'71
liberation war persons were/are able to speak/write fine Bangla; to
the contrary, of the several hundreds of thousand people who died for
BD, many didn't (or needed not) know, how to write or speak
sophisticated Bangla. In other direction, many Bangalee can speak and
write better English than the native English (men & women); this,however, does NOT make them English (or Britons).
best regards,
J.A.
--- In mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com, "Taj Hashmi " wrote:
>
> WRT: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/45395
>
> I refer to Mr Kamal Das's hitting below the belt type of attack on
my stand (rather than support for Mr Hannan). Since I don't know Mr
Hannan at all, let alone his past, I am not in a position to judge if
he was a "War Criminal". As I indicated in another posting, proving
someone as a war criminal is much much much more difficult than
implicating someone for theft or murder.
>
> Why don't you guys understand the difference between pointing out a
fabrication (that Mr Hannan in that particular TV interview denied
that there was ever any freedom struggle in 1971) and that he should
be tried for his war crimes. As I don't know anything about his 1971
role, I can't comment on the veracity of this allegation. I simply
pointed out from my own viewing of the video clipping of that
interview where I saw Mr Hannan portraying the 1971 Liberation War
both as a civil war and a freedom movement, nothing more, nothing
less.
>
> Can you just try someone only because she / he considers our
Liberation War as a Civil War? You may condemn him, ostracise him,
black-list him but trying him as a War Criminal? Please don't make
legal experts and people with common sense laugh.
>
> Now Mr Das, it appears that you have a Hindu name, should I assume
that you are a paid agent of Shiv Sena or bajrang Dal or the fascist
RSS? No I don't. So why you people can't come out of your narrow
alley of ethno-racist prejudice or the shallow dark well of stagnant
water? Come out of the well and see even a pond is larger than a well
and rivers and oceans are altogether different things. Do you know Dr
Kamal Hussain and Prof Rehman Sobhan (and Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Huq
and H.S. Suhrawardy as well) speak Urdu at home? I am proud of my
heritage, ancestors and my identity as a South Asian, not
Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Indian in the narrow sense. I don't believe
in the Partition of 1947, although it happened before my birth. But
everywhere I identify myself as a Bangladeshi and that's why I write
for Bangladeshi forums (not Indian or pakistani ones) and newspapers.
My Bengali prose and accent is far better than most educated
Bangladeshis. You may verify this from people who have known me and
read my bengali writings, including my book, Ouponibeshik Bangla
(Papyrus, Calcutta 1985), which is extremely critical of Pakistani
colonial rule. So, Mr Das, give up racism and communalism and learn
some civility, PLEASE.
>
> Warm wishes to all,
> Taj Hashmi
>
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