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Friday, July 22, 2011

[ALOCHONA] India wants total surrender



India wants total surrender

by Zana Ghutekurani in FaceBook

Bhaskar Roy doesn't understand why the people of Bangladesh are not happy with India, though he praises Bangladesh Awami League and Mujib.

In his article Eurasia Review he says : "In 1971, the most common words on the lips of a common Indian was "Joi Bangla", victory to Bangladesh. The India-Bangladesh honeymoon lasted till August 15, 1975, the day Sk. Mujibur Rahman was assassinated" …. that one night India-Bangladesh relations went into a tail spin".

He asks, "Should religion divide Bangladesh and India? If that were so, then East Pakistan would not have broken away from West Pakistan to liberate itself. Language, culture, tradition, blood and history proved much stronger than religion. India has around 18 per cent Muslims and Bangladesh has around 14 per cent Hindus".

Why Mr Roy informed 14% Bangladeshis are Hindus I do not know. Did he make mistake? or over the years the population of Hindu migration into Bangladesh increased, or they have plan to migrate ? Let me not become paranoid now before reading the whole article.

Though Mr Roy gave us wrong data, this is not my problem, the problem is his claim "Language, culture, tradition, blood and history proved much stronger than religion" which sounded very contradictory to me. Because:

1. Urdu was created inside India, yet did not get place.

2. People of Bangladesh, who are Muslims and mixed have blood connection with Afghanis, Middle Eastern gene pole (Muslims are not restricted to marrying within castes).

3. Traditional (e.g.,celebrating EID, Shab-e-Batar) similarities with other Muslim countries. 4. Bangladeshis have clearly afghan and middle eastern influenced eating habits (Polaw,Firni, use of various spices, Halwva etc).

4. Along with many other ancestors (e,g., adivasi tribes ) Bangladeshis have blood connection with Afghan, Persia and other Middle Eastern countries. The blood connection also connects them with Muslims in India and also in Pakistan apart from religion.

5. The most striking difference is suggested by History which suggest that there were a clear difference between East Bengal and West Bengal even before the arrival of the Muslims.

Therefore, when Mr Roy tells, "Historically, in the region of greater India that is Bangladesh there was hardly any religious conflict to talk about between the two communities" I did not have anything to say, as he completely forgot to mention all the conflicts and the struggles that the people of this part were having and how they were subjected to change themselves to adjust with the minority.

But things did not stop here , he surprised me while advises "it would be wise for today's politicians like Begum Khaleda Zia to heed the advice of these roving philosophers of yester years if they really want peace and development."

When the/a Roy tells about the development of Bangladesh, it may scare our people as probably people will not be able to trust it. The article itself contains the main reasons. One obvious reason is that Mr Roy's inability to understand the reasons behind the dissatisfaction of the people of Bangladesh.
Later he accuses two political parties of this country, BNP and Jamaat for harbouring "visceral hate-India mindset" because "After all, they were committed to Pakistan and remain so" . Especially he deliberately accuses Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) and its allied religious groups.

I have no information on if Jamaat and other Islamic parties expressed its hatred towards India, but, if anyone criticise Indian aggression and actions towards its neighbouring countries and if this is interpreted as "visceral hate-India mindset" I question the objective of such articles.

Mr Roy keeps on saying, "In the early part of this decade the JEI leaders appeared to have been confident to form the government in Dhaka on their own by 2012. They also spoke of making Bangladesh a confederate of Pakistan." At this point it seems he is scared of a Bangladeshi Party in Bangladesh for its work inside Bangladesh. I wonder why is that?

The second political party he accuses is BNP. "But what is Begum Khaleda Zia's enduring problem with India?", he asks . "Her late husband President Zia-ur-Rehman was a liberation war hero and fought along with Indian soldiers. But why did he turn against India so viciously? He even banned "Rabindra Sangeet, songs written by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. But he stopped short of changing the Tagore Song "Amar Shonar Bangla" which Bangladesh adopted as its national anthem after liberation. Today, Tagore is more alive in Bangladesh than even in India, clearly underlining how strong culture can be as a cohesive bond surmounting religious barriers."

Again , I am not sure if Mr and Mrs Zia ever expressed their "visceral hate-India mindset" and banned "Rabindra Sangeet? Neither I realised why he was advocating for Tagore written national anthem which was written 100 years ago when the condition of the subcontinent was completely different.
Then he keeps going on, "But she has always suggested by her behaviour and policy a deep emotional link with Pakistan". Yes , Mr Roy mentions current Pakistan's 13 times, expressed his enormous "visceral hate-Pakistan mindset". Completely forgot that in 1947, the people of east Bengal constituted Pakistan willingly along with other present Pakistani provinces. He was completely oblivion of the fact that the present day Pakistan was a part of British India, quite a big number of its population migrated from present India too. If he could not forget expressing his hatred to formation of Pakistan , if India could not remove its animosity towards its own people for choosing and wanting to build a nation and harbour their "visceral hate-Pak mindset", how can how can they expect others to love them?

The article is a packed with wrong information, hatred towards Pakistan, hatred towards the muslims, accusation towards two political parties supported by many Bangladeshi people, alluring people towards development, and showing Bangladeshis the "only way" of development is to suck up India, preparing people not to change national anthem, accusing people for their personal choice (liking or disliking India) and of course trying to make people grateful towards India for the distress caused during 71.

To read the article of Roy:
http://www.facebook.com/l/WAQDkmBh4AQD8uK3HWFAFc48rm4q1eXJVsQnOMJVTdglXkA/www.eurasiareview.com/can-india-find-a-way-to-bangladesh%25E2%2580%2599s-heart-analysis-20072011/

Please note, the writer Mr Roy writes for SAAG. SAAG is the South Asia Analysis Group, a non-profit, non-commercial think tank. It says "The objective of SAAG is to advance strategic analysis and contribute to the expansion of knowledge of Indian and International security and promote public understanding", in other words to influence and change opinion of people according to their goal. In other words this is part of Indian Intelligence.

Personally it is hard for me to hate anyone though I get annoyed by these
types of works. In Bangladesh I have seen many writers are feeding people with their garbage works. And exploiting peoples' trust to satisfy I request those pretending "atel" garbage writers to grow some social responsibility and not to engage in exploiting peoples' trust.

My words will not stop people from working in ignorance, rage, anger, envy , jealousy or even in exchange of tangible interests , but nothing wrong in asking for being sensitive and accept those people who are different and bear their difference.

I also request people from remain alert and aware about the activities of those organisations, such as, SAAG. This is an example of how India keeps its eyes on other countries and influence.



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[ALOCHONA] Thoughts after a Conference on Islam, Women and the Veil



 
                   [ Here are the notes I wrote after I returned from the beautiful campus of U. of Montana in Missoula, Montana, U. S. A. in 2005. My mother was stll alive then in Bangladesh. ]
 
 
         The experience I had at the conference, "Islam, Women, the Veil and the West" held at the University of Montana (April 28-30, 2005), was truly remarkable not only because I found the mountainous scenery very moving, and not only because the local paper covered the news by putting my picture and praising my presentation.   Getting to know other participants and hearing their papers confirmed what I have always been convinced of.  Muslim women, despite the abysmal treatment of them by their own societies, can be proud of their achievements in the non-Arabic speaking world. Looked at closely, the Muslim women of India from the end of 19th and certainly with the trailblazing appearance of an exceptional intellectual like Begum Rokeya Shakhawat Hussain of Bengal in the early 20th Century, have made bold strides in progress that even Western women can envy.

            How many Western countries could boast of a girls' boarding school like the one Begum Rokeya established in Calcutta in 1911? My mother had the privilege of attending Sakhawat Memorial Girls School as a day student for a short while, and she has wonderful memories! She even remembers climbing on the lap of Begum Rokeya when her father took her to the school, and had a meeting with the famous lady seated behind a lacy curtain.   Yes, this, the earliest of 20th century's greatest feminists, observed purdah! That does not make her backward or a hypocrite. She was simply being pragmatic. Her short essay, "Burkha" (1904) is so deeply intelligent in presenting the case for burkha's practical usage for modern women that it is often interpreted as if she is being timid in this aspect of women's liberation. 

 

         The most important point about awareness of women's worth in those days is this:  There were many educated Muslim fathers, inspired by Begum Rokeya's excellent writings and relentless campaign for women's education, who took an active interest in having their daughters educated, whether in Calcutta or elsewhere in Bengal.

 

           Amongst the Muslims in the Western diaspora we often make the mistake of lumping the two fundamentalist Islamic countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their differences are huge, not only because they are rivals - each wanting to be the master of the grand narrative of Islam - but in terms of who controls the most effective suppression of the potential of human power of women. The fatwa against the author Salman Rushdie was the rare occasion when a Shia Imam stole the world's limelight as the spokesman for all the Muslims. However, ever since the debacle of the Rushdie Affair, the Wahhabi Sunnis have vowed never to let any other sect have any say in defining what "pure Islam" is. They have spent billions of petrodollars in disseminating their version of Islam to the rest of the Muslim world in the form of free Quran translated in 40 different languages which contain obnoxious tafsir on women, along with other political Islamic writings by the intrepid Moududi.

 

        Saudi Arabia is a surrealistic country.  An American scholar who has studied it calls it "a hypnotized chicken that needs to wake up," calling to attention that this country does not have music, dance, art, literature, theatre or much of any intellectual activity. I can see from news clips that it is a completely materialistic society, where the only outdoor activity the women are permitted is to go to the huge shopping malls and buy European and American luxury items.

 

         Recently, a few women are being vocal about this stultifying situation. Lubna Hussain is a journalist in Riyadh whose voice is being heard around the world. I would like you to read her piece in the Arab News in the following link:

 

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9ion=0&article=61400&d=1&m=4&y=2005

 

       We should do something to help our sisters in that land resembling a "hypnotized chicken sitting on the edge of the barn roof."

 

        Iran is also a fundamentalist Muslim country.  But we should think about women in Iran by making a distinction between them and those in S. Arabia. Though Mullatocracy has forcibly thrust women in the shroud of this hideous black 'chador' and curbed many human rights, Iranian women still enjoy a certain freedom of movements and many civic rights that are denied to women in the Arab countries. Women can drive in Iran, own and run businesses, hold high offices in govt. and commercial outfits, etc.  In Tehran, women will hail a taxi and jostle in it elbowing the sharing male passengers, in their black chador and all.

 

         In institutions of higher education in present day Iran, 51% of students and 49% of staff are women. Historically Iranian women have led the Muslim world in gaining grounds in women's rights and gender equality. There are now world-renowned Iranian women film directors. In short, Iran is a land with a proud cultural tradition, much like Bangladesh.

 

        Shirin Ebadi did not drop from the sky. She comes from a tradition and a society that looked up to higher education for women in well-off families. In societies like that of Iran or Bangladesh, educated women, coming mostly from upper class, are always engaged in works for the community, because the less fortunate are so backward.

 

       Yet, veiling of women, traditionally, was a practice of the upper class. In my country that has a year-round pleasant tropical climate, the peasant women used to go about their business almost half-clad, not being able to afford the clothing to cover all of their hard-working limbs. Hence, in the village societies, the newly rich would show off their wealth by dressing their womenfolks in elaborate 'burkhas'.

 

       But now, with petrodollar-fattened Wahhabism flowing in freely to corrupt our traditional culture and to impede its normal evolutionary flow towards progress, Bangladeshi women are being hijabized in the name of Islam.  Tablighi Jamati brigade are knocking at every door proselytizing and traumatizing the women of the household: "Allah will punish you if anyone is attracted by your beauty." My question is: Who created the beauty of women? Tablighi Jamaat certainly did not. Obviously it is not created by Allah, because logically he cannot punish His own creation just for having been created.  So some other Allah-like being must have created the ˜woman". Because the female of the species sure do resemble the shape of the same exalted being as the Allah-created male!  Such unthinkable ˜shierk" is perpetuated in the name of a religion that is known for the strictest monotheistic tenet among the Abrahamic religions!




Farida Majid
farida_majid@...




__._,_.___


[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




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[mukto-mona] Thoughts after a Conference on Islam, Women and the Veil



 
                   [ Here are the notes I wrote after I returned from the beautiful campus of U. of Montana in Missoula, Montana, U. S. A. in 2005. My mother was stll alive then in Bangladesh. ]
 
 
         The experience I had at the conference, "Islam, Women, the Veil and the West" held at the University of Montana (April 28-30, 2005), was truly remarkable not only because I found the mountainous scenery very moving, and not only because the local paper covered the news by putting my picture and praising my presentation.   Getting to know other participants and hearing their papers confirmed what I have always been convinced of.  Muslim women, despite the abysmal treatment of them by their own societies, can be proud of their achievements in the non-Arabic speaking world. Looked at closely, the Muslim women of India from the end of 19th and certainly with the trailblazing appearance of an exceptional intellectual like Begum Rokeya Shakhawat Hussain of Bengal in the early 20th Century, have made bold strides in progress that even Western women can envy.

            How many Western countries could boast of a girls' boarding school like the one Begum Rokeya established in Calcutta in 1911? My mother had the privilege of attending Sakhawat Memorial Girls School as a day student for a short while, and she has wonderful memories! She even remembers climbing on the lap of Begum Rokeya when her father took her to the school, and had a meeting with the famous lady seated behind a lacy curtain.   Yes, this, the earliest of 20th century's greatest feminists, observed purdah! That does not make her backward or a hypocrite. She was simply being pragmatic. Her short essay, "Burkha" (1904) is so deeply intelligent in presenting the case for burkha's practical usage for modern women that it is often interpreted as if she is being timid in this aspect of women's liberation. 

 

         The most important point about awareness of women's worth in those days is this:  There were many educated Muslim fathers, inspired by Begum Rokeya's excellent writings and relentless campaign for women's education, who took an active interest in having their daughters educated, whether in Calcutta or elsewhere in Bengal.

 

           Amongst the Muslims in the Western diaspora we often make the mistake of lumping the two fundamentalist Islamic countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their differences are huge, not only because they are rivals - each wanting to be the master of the grand narrative of Islam - but in terms of who controls the most effective suppression of the potential of human power of women. The fatwa against the author Salman Rushdie was the rare occasion when a Shia Imam stole the world's limelight as the spokesman for all the Muslims. However, ever since the debacle of the Rushdie Affair, the Wahhabi Sunnis have vowed never to let any other sect have any say in defining what "pure Islam" is. They have spent billions of petrodollars in disseminating their version of Islam to the rest of the Muslim world in the form of free Quran translated in 40 different languages which contain obnoxious tafsir on women, along with other political Islamic writings by the intrepid Moududi.

 

        Saudi Arabia is a surrealistic country.  An American scholar who has studied it calls it "a hypnotized chicken that needs to wake up," calling to attention that this country does not have music, dance, art, literature, theatre or much of any intellectual activity. I can see from news clips that it is a completely materialistic society, where the only outdoor activity the women are permitted is to go to the huge shopping malls and buy European and American luxury items.

 

         Recently, a few women are being vocal about this stultifying situation. Lubna Hussain is a journalist in Riyadh whose voice is being heard around the world. I would like you to read her piece in the Arab News in the following link:

 

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9ion=0&article=61400&d=1&m=4&y=2005

 

       We should do something to help our sisters in that land resembling a "hypnotized chicken sitting on the edge of the barn roof."

 

        Iran is also a fundamentalist Muslim country.  But we should think about women in Iran by making a distinction between them and those in S. Arabia. Though Mullatocracy has forcibly thrust women in the shroud of this hideous black 'chador' and curbed many human rights, Iranian women still enjoy a certain freedom of movements and many civic rights that are denied to women in the Arab countries. Women can drive in Iran, own and run businesses, hold high offices in govt. and commercial outfits, etc.  In Tehran, women will hail a taxi and jostle in it elbowing the sharing male passengers, in their black chador and all.

 

         In institutions of higher education in present day Iran, 51% of students and 49% of staff are women. Historically Iranian women have led the Muslim world in gaining grounds in women's rights and gender equality. There are now world-renowned Iranian women film directors. In short, Iran is a land with a proud cultural tradition, much like Bangladesh.

 

        Shirin Ebadi did not drop from the sky. She comes from a tradition and a society that looked up to higher education for women in well-off families. In societies like that of Iran or Bangladesh, educated women, coming mostly from upper class, are always engaged in works for the community, because the less fortunate are so backward.

 

       Yet, veiling of women, traditionally, was a practice of the upper class. In my country that has a year-round pleasant tropical climate, the peasant women used to go about their business almost half-clad, not being able to afford the clothing to cover all of their hard-working limbs. Hence, in the village societies, the newly rich would show off their wealth by dressing their womenfolks in elaborate 'burkhas'.

 

       But now, with petrodollar-fattened Wahhabism flowing in freely to corrupt our traditional culture and to impede its normal evolutionary flow towards progress, Bangladeshi women are being hijabized in the name of Islam.  Tablighi Jamati brigade are knocking at every door proselytizing and traumatizing the women of the household: "Allah will punish you if anyone is attracted by your beauty." My question is: Who created the beauty of women? Tablighi Jamaat certainly did not. Obviously it is not created by Allah, because logically he cannot punish His own creation just for having been created.  So some other Allah-like being must have created the ˜woman". Because the female of the species sure do resemble the shape of the same exalted being as the Allah-created male!  Such unthinkable ˜shierk" is perpetuated in the name of a religion that is known for the strictest monotheistic tenet among the Abrahamic religions!




Farida Majid
farida_majid@...




__._,_.___


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Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585

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               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




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