LAW OF INTELLECTUAL POLITICS By Mufassil M M Islam
My car reached the shores of the English channel. I was carried away with the flight of thousands of migratory birds overhead in a rhythmic motion of evening play. All those confident wings were following a single leader in an un-explainable saga of muted communication. A self-willing and un-faltered disciplined plight of a beautiful worth-oriented delightful flight. I wondered what went wrong with humans. We, humans, the most advanced technocratic minds have failed to unite in bettering our lives into finding the rhythm of a heavenly life full of agreeing bliss.
Politics, the name of a system that we have weaved to govern ourselves has time and time again failed in delivering the achievements of a Government where all who are governed have had been quenched of their thirst of a correct governance. Our Bangladesh is no exception. Here, we have seen the rule of the kings of almost all religious denominations, dictatorship of ruthless despots, momentous bliss of democracy but above all, we have frustrated ourselves in efforts of establishing the rule of law and the intellectual philanthropists.
Poverty, illiteracy, confusing foreign controlling elements and unfathomable social stigmas have barred our ways in attaining the wisdom of facilitating the ways of men truly caring for us all regardless of our religious, cultural and racial differences. Our dream of a revolutionary team of the honest, wise and experienced leaders still remains elusive. Time has come to ask ourselves the reasons of the anomalies in the society at large, and time has come to speak our minds and exercising our idle brains in finding the solutions and thus uniting the heads into oneness.
The political parties, may be except a few, have yoked us with the idea of choosing from the pack of limited choices without much liberty in practising ideas of changes required to progress. It is easy to enter into power politics, rather than engaging in politics where time and energy are required to constantly monitor the reasons of our woes and researching in the attained successes. I believe the responsibilities of the politicians can be divided into three broad spheres to analyse the pros and cons of our nation and bridling the laws thereof. Hence, the headers are:
a. the Past of Politics in Bangladesh;
b. the Present Political Trend in Bangladesh;
c. the Future of Political Obstacles in Bangladesh.
a. The Past of Politics in Bangladesh:
This sphere will reflect on the developments since 1947 to the time of the present care-taker Government as the process of democratic nourishment of politics have had initiated with the division of India.
The Indian subcontinent has always played into the hands of social, religious and cultural zealots who have abused the delicate simple minded common people into forming mass ignorance to solidify a carefree governance where our problems have been blamed back to us as our own rips and as the results of our failed endeavours. The leaders on most occasions have shrugged of their own mistakes as either unavoidable phenomenon or we had to bear with that as we had no other alternative route of escaping. We have lacked leaderships where the leaders had engaged into training the common people into ways to criticise their actions. A false image of an unquestionable Gurus with sky-high credentials have always kept many leaders out of the scrutinising eyes of the common people. We had forgotten to use our rights to question the leaders as to their entrusted responsibilities. It is true as well that not all the political leaders had to shoulder all types of political responsibilities. The lacuna of able administrators have had forced many our beloved revolutionaries to take up administrative roles of the country which could have avoided if a culture of systematic political activity was practised. The manifestos of the largest political parties are not read or understood on many occasions even by many hard-line political activists of that political party. Our politicians have failed in explaining the material differences of ideologies of their parties from the opponent leaders. A single stance on a particular political ideology or historical differences as to their political activity has been the final nail into the coffin of the opponent's political activity. Frenzies had been ushered in many cases to move masses without setting a goal for the nation after the revolutionary stage. Personal vendetta and hooliganism has pushed away brilliant and educated minds from politics and on many occasions counter-violence has spoken as a language for violence. Our executive organs of the Government, our judiciary, academic arena and even the primary schools in many cases have been brain-washed to follow a political ideology to seal any chances for 'free-thinking'. Our women have been taught to follow the husbands unquestionably and rather than being a helpful and thought provoking conscience for the husband in his private times, our wives have been treated as one who was with us to listen only. A massive part of our social conscience has thus been choked to silence. Two scattered examples of feminine leadership's success stories do not by any definition uphold the overall success of un-discriminated political activities by women.
b. Present Political Trend in Bangladesh:
It was obvious from the outset that if a hurried tribunal was set-up to deal with serious allegations and if the trials were conducted under Special laws, the outcome would not result in sustainable political activity. The present Government with all their good wills and endeavours and with all the brilliant minds at the helms, will not be able to seal the innumerable leaks and punctures in the national infra-structure if the nation as a whole does not wake up. As our Greatest Revolutionary Sheikh Mujibur Rahman repented about failing to get a single quilt when millions of quilts were donated and as our Greatest Military Courage Ziaur Rahman reminded that a nation is much bigger than the Political Party or an Individual, we as common people have just started to remind the unquestionable leaders that our lives have come to a choking point where we are asking for intellectual addresses of the issues of the hour and not happy with counter-blames any more. We are not ready to hear that the price-hike is the result of the anomaly left behind by the previous Government, rather we want to hear what steps were wrongly taken and what specific steps are needed to redress the situation. Stringent enactments will not deliver any results if enactment does not involve answerability from all walks of life and that can only be assured by a democratically elected Government. The present Government has been successful in many cases to knock the doors of the common people's conscience but we need to remember that we have to stop the need to involve our Army in our national politics as that will in many cases subject this national pride to strict public scrutiny and eventual criticisms when these national heroes were in no-way trained to embark on these type of administrative activities. But yet, the success lies in creating interest in the minds of the common people to search for the wordings in the manifestos of the political parties which were long-forgotten. Surprisingly, in this technological time and even during this crucial time of the nation, many leading political party's website remain under construction for a long time which is a deprival of our rights to material information.
c. Future Political Obstacles in Bangladesh:
There are hard-line politicians who may take the present political cleaning process to be a fluke and were probably ready to embrace years of incarceration in exchange of denying the exposure of the secret vaults holding their illegal wealth. They are the major political cronies who are our national stabs to morality. If we can use our conscience and get over our parry affiliations and vote these corrupt politicians out of politics, we will work as a warning to major political parties reminding them to scrutinise their own members. I am ready to vote an honest man who has a track-record of dedicated nationalism rather from an opponent political party rather than for a corrupt political party leader nominated from the political party I support. The failure of my party's nominee will pave the way for an honest man from within the political party in future. Party nominations should not be up for sale. The elected political parties should form such a Government in future where the police, the administration and even the public should be praising its clarity and independence. Our politicians should remember that we will not forget great works by great leaders and we will repay their debt in ballot and any steps to block our independence in our choices will work against their reputation and image. The common people had enough with paralysing issues like that of Hartals and road-blocks and we had enough with parliamentarians remaining out of parliament as a method to press-home their demands. Let us be the judges of their words in Parliament and let their be freedom of medias and let there even me constant telecast of parliamentary deliberations. Create ombudsmen services to bring all to independent scrutiny, start evicting corrupts from political parties as there are too many to join hands and a few corrupt hands do not work as strengths, rather work as weak-links. The retired political stalwart is not inactive in politics as he or she is not a Minister any more rather he or she becomes a national conscience as they are expected to talk above their political affiliations and thus they maintain their eternal respect from the nation and remain ever-active.
Legal Obligations:
The political parties should remember that:
a. They have used our mandate to reach the parliament and constant inactivity in the parliament jeopardise our national interests as failure to enact laws in many areas will hinder the pace of our national growth. We require urgent attention of law-makers in innumerable legal lacunas, for example, in Internet Laws, Cable Television Monitoring and Police Powers. We require an active parliament to do work on laws of the changed world economic order.
b. Their activities and their character will have to be crystal clear to the public and even their private and family lives are not beyond the reach of the media even though they may claim this to be their breach of privacy.
c. The politics of mud-slinging and untoward statements may initiate litigations and in some cases criminal charges may be brought for hooliganism, terrorism, social disruption and for damaging public property or even incitement of violence. We, as a nation, are ready to challenge the unbridled politicians with the law and the Judiciary if there need be for such measures and we will not jeopardise our national interests for any one Individual.
d. We have a history of great leaders whom we remember and who will remain as our eternal vigilantes through their teachings in political careers, but time has come to create fresh-bloods and fresh ideas to modernise Parties by amending their constitutions at places where required and to clarify their solidarity by standing shoulder to shoulder with the common mass in the interests of Democracy.
e. Our politicians have to discuss delicate and sophisticated national issues openly and frankly. They should not avoid issues like that of the need to create an Upper Chamber of the Parliament or the need to ensure that everyone has the right to fundamental democratic thinking which may be unique for our nation.
f. Pre-election manifestos must be accessible to all and there can remain no issue untouched by the politicians when they are being considered for a fixed future term.
g. They must remember that there is no shame in accepting the logic of the opponent political party in national issues and compromises at times will bring the opposing political parties in one table where concerted efforts are needed.
h. Party expenditure and earnings should be carefully monitored.
Examples:
There are innumerable examples of successful political alliances around the world and we need to amend those examples as per our national needs. Ex-US President Bill Clinton or Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair are historical iconic figures but they are not playing major political roles in the present global economic chaos, rather they are working behind the scenes as ambassadors of the people's conscience by expressing support to certain individuals for global leadership. Ex-British Foreign Secretary Mr. Robin Cook did not hesitate to resign from the Cabinet as he did not support his party's stand in Iraq war and one of the most successful London Mayors, Mr. Ken Livingstone was evicted from his Political party but he did prove his point by being elected as London's Mayor as an independent candidate and he was requested back to join Labour Party as the party did not hesitate to acknowledge his success. The 'Cash for Honours' scandal in UK or the latest Soviet Business Man and Shadow Chancellor scandal came under public scrutiny and in many cases under police investigations as well where the political party leadership did not interfere the due process of law. It is not acceptable to believe that the great examples are possible for all those developed countries as we are also a nation where we have done the impossible on many occasions.
Some Important Links:
BBC Parliament: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/
Bangladesh Awami League: www.albd.org/
Bangladesh Nationalist Party: www.bnpbd.com/
British Labour Party: www.labour.org.uk
US Republican Party: www.rnc.org
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
CC: dhakamails@yahoogroups.com
From: turkman@sbcglobal.net
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:21:22 -0800
Subject: [ALOCHONA] According to the Islamic Shariah, Vote to AL is Haram!!!
Before 1970 Election, JmaaTay Islami had issued the same 'FaTwah'. It had declared, ... "Voting for PPP, Awami League, Bhashani League and National Awami Party (pro AL Socialist party of Pathans in West Pakistan) was 'Hraam' according to Islamic Shriyah".
--- On Sat, 12/27/08, Cyrus <thoughtocrat@yahoo.com> wrote:
I will tolerate excruciating pain of having my teeth pulled without anesthesia, but I have no tolerance for stupidity. Suddenly, as if this is the crazy season, there has been an influx of idiots, radicals, and people with no knowledge or regard for our history, who have suddenly desended upon our national psyche like locusts. Mr. Khan's posting, notwithstanding the stupidest header I have had the displeasure of reading this week, just made me realize that the crazy season is on, and once again, stupidity has taken over sensibility. First of all, the phrase "Islamic Shariah" is redundant, since Islam is the only religion that claims to have a "Shariah" (rather, the so-called Islamic scholars translate the Islamic Shariah). Secondly, as usual, a bunch of lunatics have taken it upon themselves to declare what is halal and haram and doing god's work. No one is capable of doing god's work. Even Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) declined to interpret god's intentions, and these religious nut-jobs believe that they know what is haram and halal. But that's not the point of this posting.... "The basic activities and life style of BNP & AL is almost similar"? Have you been asleep or brain-dead for the last 40 years? Both parties take interest, bribe, wine, women, etc., and Jamaat takes life in the name of religion, and is full of self-loathing, sociopathic, blood-thirsty, psychotic, war criminal, bastards! I would rather take interest, bribe, wine and women before taking someones life and turning into a Jamaat Zombie! I am sure the all forgiving, omnipotent, all-knowing, all-mighty would understand my choice. Now that I have put it out of the way...let's talk about more serious issues... You quote the "Fundamental Principles" of our constitution, which in 1972 included four basic principles, secularism, nationalism, democracy, and socialism. Zia amended the constitution and changed secularism into "absolute trust and faith in almighty Allah", in order to form an alliance with the Jamaat and its minions. It was Zia who "Islamized" and perverted a neutral document such as our constitution, and since then, none of the elected officials from JP, BNP, and AL had the guts to challenge the stupidity that was etched into our most sacred national document. It was Zia and Ershad, who with the blessing from their Saudi fathers, declared Bangladesh to be an "Islamic State", joined the OIC, and received millions in Saudi petro dollars in aid, most of which ended up in the pockets of JP and BNP politicians. Some current AL politicians also took part in it, and now they are all "reformists" . So, as our constitution stands right now, a Bangladeshi, who doesn't pray to Allah would be in violation of our constitution. A Bangladeshi Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Atheist, or any non-Muslim who doesn't pray to Allah would be defiant of the "fundamental principles". So, what's wrong with bringing the constitution back to its original state, where secularism is guaranteed, and not everyone has to declare absolute faith in Allah? What gives anyone the right to Islamize a nation? You know what is haram? Disenfranchising millions of people, denying basic human rights, nationalizing your own faith to establish superiority, creating social and religious class system, and most importantly, politicizing the sacred ways of Islam for your own perverted propaganda. If that's not Haram, I don't know what is. Whether you vote for AL or BNP or a blindfolded monkey is your business. Stop with the haram nonsense, and let people exercise their rights. But first of all, do yourself a favor and take off that "Human Rights" and "Peace Worker" labels. Lately, way too many people with that kind of meaningless label have been spreading their puritanical nonsense. They neither respect human rights, nor do they spread the word of peace. No matter how much you sugarcoat fascism and fascist ideas, they are still perverse and have no place in our comatose democracy! Cheers, Cyrus Zulkarnaian Kazi A very ordinary and proud Bangladeshi!
From: Chowdhury Hossain Khan <chowdhuryhkhan@ yahoo.com>
To: alochona@yahoogroup s.com; sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com; mukto-mona@yahoogro ups.com; voice-of-south@ yahoogroups. com; world_peace_ movement@ yahoogroups. com; odhora@yahoogroups. com; muslim-professional s@yahoogroups. com; Quran_Mission@ yahoogroups. com; bangladesh-zindabad @yahoogroups. com; amra-bangladeshi@ yahoogroups. com; notun_bangladesh@ yahoogroups. com; bangla-vision@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 3:19:11 AM
Subject: [ALOCHONA] According to the Islamic Shariah, Vote to AL is Haram!!!
| Dear friends,
We all know that the basic activities and life style of BNP & AL is almost similar. As for example both the parties take interest, bribe, wine, women etc without any hesitation.
The only deference lies in the fundamental principles of BNP & AL. BNP wants to keep the fundamental principles of Bangladesh like the same as in our constitution which is included by our great leader Shahid President Ziaur Rahman. On the other hand, AL wants to change these principles like the same as 1972 which is included by our great leader Bangobandhu Sheikh Muzibar Rahman. AL believes in secularism which means that religion and state principles must be separated.
AL wants to remove the clause 1(A) by secularism. In this context is it not haram to vote AL as long as they don't accept the principles as like as our constitution? Mentionable that AL already has accepted "Bismillah" and "Allah is Almighty" as their slogan. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF Bangladesh 8. Fundamental principles.- (1) The principles of absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice, together with the principles derived from them as set out in this Part, shall constitute the fundamental principles of state policy. (1A) Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all actions. (2) The principles set out in this Part shall be fundamental to the governance of Bangladesh, shall be applied by the State in the making of laws, shall be a guide to the interpretation of the Constitution and of the other laws of Bangladesh, and shall form the basis of the work of the State and of its citizens, but shall not be judicially enforceable.
Fundamental principles of Bangladesh Awami League
The fundamental principles of the Bangladesh Awami Leagues shall be Bengali Nationalism, Democracy, Secularism or in other words ensuring freedom of all religions as well as non-communal politics and Socialism, that is to say-the establishment of an exploitation- free society and social Justice. Thanks,
Chowdhury Hossain Khan Thinker, HR & Peace Workers | |
Read amazing stories to your kids on Messenger.
Try it Now! __._,_.___
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com 
__,_._,___
