Banglar Islam <fatemolla@hotmail.com> wrote:
| MISUSE OF ISLAM, ETHNIC CLEANSING OF MINORITIES IN BANGLADESH Sona Kanti Barua Where there is humanity, there is religion (great minds, higher thoughts of self dedication to the God.). Islam means peace, but in Bangladesh it means bomb and crush Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, judges, poets, intellectuals, journalists, philosophers, writers, free thinkers, and, lawyers. Islamic terrorists don't know how to use a peaceful religion. Islamic fundamentalists wanted to crush their mental darkness by sword only. It needs compassion and wisdom. December 9, 2005 a fanatic Muslim leader Mr, Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini, M.P.(at the Islamic conference of the Magzanul Ulum Madrasa, Mymensingh, Bangladesh), declared to the public, "Hindus could not dedicate their lives for heaven." Fortunately, the Sun is one, there is no different between the Islamic Sun and Hindu Sun. Islamic fundamentalists idea is that, Non-Muslims are not higher human beings like the fanatic Muslims. But it is also well documented in the holy Qur'an, "You can't abuse other religion. (6:106). Universal Islam does not allow the demolition of other people's religious thoughts, temples, Churches and pagodas. International human rights such as Amnesty International as well as foreign diplomats in Dhaka have documented their experiences in several newspapers. Additionally, the United States Department of State Human Rights Report on Bangladesh also criticized Mrs. Khaleda Zia's government's poor and worsening human rights. As the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Minister of Home Affairs, Khaleda Zia is personally responsible for these crimes against humanity. We therefore request the all peace loving people to activate the convention concerning the Protection of Minorities of Bangladesh and initiate further national and international actions against of any higher authorities who are destroying humanity in Bangladesh. A massive humanitarian crisis is occurring in Bangladesh and may I invite the readers' kind attention towards the continued illegal occupation of the ! Banglade sh army in the district of Chittagong Hill Tracts. There is an alarming rise of militant Islam and exponential increase in the state sponsored campaign of religious and ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh. The Qur'an declared, "Allah commands justice, the doing of good and the giving to the kindred, and He forbids all indecent deeds and injustice and rebellion. He instructed you that you might receive admonition." (16 : 90). All these are indictors of the Bangladesh Government and Islamic terrorist use Islam as the weapon to satisfy their greed and power. An overwhelming 98.68% of the rape victims are minority, and rapists happen to be the cadres of the ruling parties, particularly Bangladesh National Party. Particularly, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government has used the armed forces and Muslims settlers to conduct massacres of Buddhist Chakmas and indigenous people and annihilated entire village in Chittagong Hilltracts. During her first tenure as the Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia on April 10, 1992, her armed forces and Muslim settlers cordoned off the Buddhist Chakmas and tribal villages of Logong and systematically murdered thousands of people and burned down to the ground. Islamic teachings taught us "Everything surrounding us manifests the power of God and His creation." But in Bangladesh on November 19, 2003, eleven members of a Hindu family which included a 4 day old infant and 75 year old man of a Hindu family were burned alive by Muslim terrorists, who had come and carrying inflammable agent with them, and did not touch any of their assets, in Southern Sadhanpur under Bashkhali police station, Chittagong. It is well documented in the Holy Qur'an that justice is an obligation all human beings owe to Allah. The Qur'an asserts "O you, who believe, stand out firmly for Allah as witness to fair dealings. And do not let your hatred of others make you turn to wrong and depart from justice. Be just, that is next to piety, and fear Allah for Allah is well acquainted with all what you do." (5:8). O! nly Isla m was later incorporated in the Islamic constitution by President Ziaur Rahman who allotting Buddhist Chakmas and tribal people's land to the Muslim settlers and opened the political door to the Militant Muslims and thus Islamic terrorist been killing Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, peace loving Muslims and all non-Muslims. Unfortunately, external world conscience does not listen to our cries. Mrs. Khaleda Zia's husband late Lt.General Ziur Rahman's sinister government's declared policy was that Bangladesh is only for Muslims. Since then military rulers and Mrs Khaleda Zia ravished the Bangladesh constitution' | the Bengali / Muslims represented only 3% of the population in 1947, today they represent more than 50% (Country Report on Human Rights Practices - 2001, US Department of State). Thus the massive murder was the most insidious episode of cowardice and inhumanity in our history. "Allah loves not corruption. (Qur"an, 2 : 205)" How Islam explains killing and slaughter of human beings as the Qur'an says, "Take not life, which Allah made sacred, except by way of justice and law; thus doth, He command you that ye may learn wisdom. (6 : 115)." Buddhists are a great nation. But some Bengali Muslims abused Buddhists and non-Muslims. Bangladesh Government must stop racial and religious discrimination against all religious minorities. Dhaka's Bangladesh Observer of August 30, 2005 reported the Bangladesh High Court's verdict "Governments from August, 1975 to December 6, 1990 are illegal. High Court declares 5th Amendment of constitution and Martial Law Regulation no.Vll of 1977 is unconstitutional. We have to inform the peace loving people and their governments in the face of dire consequence and appeal their governments to acknowledge the killings and stop the Jama'tul Mujahideen of Islamic terrorists from their brutal genocide in Bangladesh. Several Human Rights organizations reported that Mrs. Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh wanted to evict the Buddhist Chakma and Indigenous communities from Chittagong Hill Tracts to establish Islam. Through out Bangladesh, the lives of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and indigenous peoples have become a daily nightmare, an ocean of suffering of killings. The foregoing actions of Mrs Khaleda Zia's government are crimes against humanity - execution, extermination, kidnapping torture and other inhumane acts civilian populations according to International law, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention against Torture and the Rome statue of the International Criminal Court, Article 7, Crimes against Humanity to which Bangladesh is a signatory. Recently peace loving people all over the world will have been shocked upon reading the news on "Militant threatens to bomb Western missions in Dhaka" and "Extremists threaten to blow up Courts, press clubs in Bangladesh" in several newspapers of Dhaka. Bangladesh is becoming home to alarmingly high profile bombing, shootings and killings. In the name of Islam the Muslim militant threatened to blow up the British High Commission and other Western missions. Two judges were killed in a bomb attack as they traveled to court in southern B! anglades h last month. Even after the infamous Osama Bin Laden and his Al Quida gang subsequently owned up to the crime in Bangladesh, the leaders of these parties including Jamaitul Mujahadeen's vernacular Bangla print media controlled by them robustly kept on accusing the US led coalition against terrorism of wrongly making them responsible for it. Few years ago they also saw to it that photograph of Osama Bin Laden of various sizes were sold openly in Dhaka markets like hot cakes. Leaflets purportedly left by the militant group at some blast sites called for the establishment of the Islamic Sharia law in Bangladesh. According to the historical backgrounds, in 19th century the Bangladesh Social Enlightenment was a movement of intellectuals, journalists, poets, thinkers, writers, and scientists who believed that science could explain everything in nature. Until then, Bangla people believed that God controlled the universe in a metaphysical manner. People had freedoms of speech and religion, and Bangla press would be allowed to print any | true statement. In 1972 the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh provided for a government where nobody was above the law. Unfortunately, bloodthirsty Razakars and terrorists use Islam as the weapon in attempting to reach their goals by killing judges, intellectuals, journalists, writers, poets, men and women. The Razakar's Jamati Islami political Party and the Islamic Jamaitul Mujaheedin terrorist group made the "Reign of Terror" are two episodes of Bangladesh history that remind us again to think about Bangladesh Social Enlightenment. It is also most remarkable that Dhaka, 31 August 2005, in a landmark Judgment, the High Court in Dhaka declared all past army takeovers of the country illegal, accusing the former military rulers (including General Ziaur Rahman founder of ruling Bangladesh National Party and husband of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia ) of gross violation of the Bangladesh Constitution. Even the Qur'an warned, "No religious place should be demolished. (22 : 38)." So the religion of Islam's humanity has nothing to do with terrorism. "Allah commands justice, the doing of good and the giving to the kindred, and he forbids all indecent deeds and injustice and rebellion. He instructed you that you might receive admonition." (16 : 90). Militant Islam hijacked universal Islam to satisfy their greed and negative emotions. Existence of God indicates in their violent activities. History taught us non-violence is the supreme religion.Concerning secular ideas Prophet Mohammad declared in his last sermon, "There is neither superiority for an Arab over a non- Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab." It is only the intensity which varies from one village to another, from one moment to another. From the hunting trial of Bangladesh forces and Islamic terrorists, few indigenous people came out. So we have to learn to renounce violence. We share a planet with other societies and we must learn to live together in harmony. We are diff! erent, b ut not enemies. Rather, we have common enemies to fight together ignorance, fear, hatred and diseases. We can mutually enriched by our differences. In fact, it is the diversity which creates our multicultural richness. August 17, 2005 Bangladesh terrorized as extremists set off 500 bombs. Why would anyone want to kill people and bomb a country where Bangladesh fertile soil is rich in mineral resources, but the Islamic preachers oppresses the people in the name of the misunderstood Islamic group of Jamaatul Mujahideen. The Islamic fundamentalists want to portray Bangladesh as a fundamentalist country to tarnish the country's image. Buddhists all over the world have been shocked upon reading the news of the Borobudur bombing of Indonesia in January 1985. The terrorist Taliban regime destroyed two historic giant Buddha statues, one measuring 53 metres and the second one 48 metres in central Bamiyan province of Afghanistan in March, 2001. Hindu, Buddhist and Christian's women narrates the harrowing tale of being raped by the Islamic Extremists. There is an alarming rise of Islamic extremism and the exponential increase in ethnic and religious minority cleansing in Bangladesh. Armed gang slays Hindu, Buddhist and Christian monks, nuns and community leaders in Bangladesh. During the 10th and 11th centuries, Buddhism in South Asia was eclipsed by Islamic terrorists while political turmoil and war wiped out Buddhist universities and communities. But man's strength lies in mercy and compassion. Hatred never ceases through hatred; overcome hatred by love and compassion. This is the Buddha's way of universal peace. Lord Buddha condemned violence against others in any form whatsoever. Man biologically is one species. Good and bad qualities are not the monopoly of one class or religion. As human beings, we have to protest against the terrorism in Bangladesh. Now there is no rule of law in Bangladesh. But Bangla language was started from the Buddhist studies and the Buddhist Mystic songs of the Charyapada. Bang! ladesh w as the land of Buddhist Pala kings and Hindu Sen Kings. Muslims took over the land by force and made it "reign of terror." August 17, 2005, Bangladesh nation's worst fears came true when the day the Bangladesh nation shook of bomb explosions at some 500 spots across 63 districts within a span of 30 minutes began to unfold and terrorized by the Jamiat-ul Mujahideen of Bangladesh, an Islamic extremist organization. The violation of human rights in Bangladesh is directly linked to the rise of militant Islam. The Islamic fundamentalist' Republic of Bangladesh; failing to thwart the inevitable victory despite their collaboration with occupying Pakistan forces in the Bangladesh independence war, have concocted a long term, multi pronged plan to make Bangladesh a pure Islamic theocracy. Most civilized nations have already been victimized by the Islamic extremists. The father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was | assassinated with his family and friends on August 15, 1975, in a military coup. The coup leaders were granted immunity from prosecution under an Indemnity Ordinance implanted immediately after the coup by the late President Khondakar Mushtaque Ahmed. Dhaka's the Bengali daily newspaper "Ittefaq" of August 22, 2005 quoted a reliable source as saying that the groups planned to hit non-Muslim religious leaders to discredit the Bangladesh government internationally. As the accelerating rise of militant Islam in Bangladesh has resulted in a scary intensification of the state sponsored campaign of religious and ethnic minority persecution, which had started in the late 1940s by the Islamic nationalists. What was once minority persecution has now become a campaign of cleansing of non- Muslims. When the situation is like this, there is a need to turn the problems fervor into yet another war spirit for restoring lost ground. Secularism and equal economic rights all have long taken leave of People's Republic of Bangladesh system. Above the circumstances, Mr.Thomas T. Keating, a lawyer of New York wrote a letter on behalf of the International Committee for human Rights in Bangladesh to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, dated September 12, 2005, "Re: crimes against humanity - demand for independent inquiry. The foregoing gross violations of Human Rights by your government must stop forthwith. An independent, transparent, credible and impartial inquiry concerning these crimes against humanity should be commenced. Justice should include compensation to the victims, a trial of the perpetrators in a court of law and begin with an apology from your government. If such measures are not taken to satisfaction of my client, I will then initiate further national and international actions against you under civil, criminal and international law, in appropriate courts and tribunals." If Bangladesh Government does not follow the High Court's Verdict, what pe! ople wil l do? People's Republic of Bangladesh and its people's hands is no less a mission than waging another war to get back to their original position. Their independence is truly in danger of being hijacked. It is not easy to reclaim their lost position because of certain national and international developments. They are aware of the political developments at the national level. But worldwide, the global fight against terrorism has brought them face to face with a new reality of 17/ 8 the day the Bangladesh nation shook. So it is incumbent on us to decide national priorities. To do that the first condition is to forge unity among the liberal and secular forces. They must earn the confidence of the people to bring about desirable changes. Only then people will be able to truly contribute to the national well being and independence will be meaningful in the true sense of the term. Islamic militant don't realize humanity and they don't respect justice, morality and honesty. In our current situation Bangladesh government makes prejudicial discrimination against people, does not correctly identify the needy and devises for the public good. They don't recognize all human beings are endowed with the inalienable dignities of equality and uniqueness which makes each of us precious beyond measure. They have to learn that we are governed by our compassion for each other, our humanity and common family. g Sona Kanti Barua is a social justice activist & based in Toronto. He is also President of Canada - Bangladesh Buddhist Council. |
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