Re: [mukto-mona] Fwd: [Secular Perspective] Report - Rights of Minorities in South Asia (Secular Perspective Dece.1-15, 2014) - comments about Bangladesh

Always keep in mind that Mr. Taj Hashmi is ethnically a Behari Muslim with lopsided views. Meritocracy being the decisive factor, Muslims all over the world can't compete with others. See, for example, the number of muslim Nobel laureates in science and literature is next to nothing. I guess Hindu India and Jewish lobby don't prevent them.

Sent from my iPad

On Dec 3, 2014, at 10:16 PM, "Abid Bahar abid.bahar@gmail.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 10:58 AM, Taj Hashmi <taj_hashmi@hotmail.com> wrote:

Very well argued piece Habib, congratulations! I give you a couple of examples in support of your assertion that Hindus in Bangladesh are much, much better off than Muslims in India. As  my parents took the right decision to migrate to East Pakistan in 1951 (I was 2), I could go up in the socio-economic hierarchy in Bangladesh. But my uncles and cousins who decided not to emigrate, are stagnating. The average Masters degree holder among them are school teachers, one of my uncles (was a bright student) joined Indian Army and was retired as major. He was also serving in the least attractive Ordnance Corps.

While more than 10% teachers at any public university in Bangladesh -- especially Dhaka and Chittagong -- are Hindu, the corresponding figure in India with regard to Muslim minority is abysmally poor, almost non-existen. At Kolkata University for example, the number of Muslim teachers is less than a dozen (mostly in the Arabic, Persian and Urdu departments as only Muslims study these subjects).

Take care!

Taj Hashmi

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To: csss2work@gmail.com; csss@mtnl.net.in
Subject: Re: [Secular Perspective] Report - Rights of Minorities in South Asia (Secular Perspective Dece.1-15, 2014) - comments about Bangladesh
From: saeva@aol.com
CC: abid.bahar@gmail.com; aab1204@hotmail.com; fsiddiq1@swarthmore.edu; ziauddin.ahmed@drexelmed.edu; taj_hashmi@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2014 22:04:45 -0500

 Dear Moderator,

 

Thanks for sharing the report below by Neha Dabhade. As a Bangladeshi-American, I was somewhat intrigued by the comments below regarding Bangladesh: "Outlining the situation in Bangladesh, Mr. Moinuddin stated that there are many minorities in Bangladesh based on religion, ethnicity and sexuality. Hijra community is an important community in Bangladesh. Yet minorities are facing problems. It’s unfortunate that the Hindu population in Bangladesh has reduced from 27% in 1947 to 10% now. There are instances of forced migration. There are 45 ethnicities which form 1% of the population like Marma and Chakma communities. However some of these ethnicities are becoming extinct due to the threat of Islamization. This is starkly reflected in the case of Chittagong where 97% of the population was of other religions and nationality. Today the percentage stands at a reduced 50%. This is very unfortunate for democracy."

 

In recent years, since the advent of Hindutvadi forces in India, much hoopla has been made about the so-called decline of Hindu percentage in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). For an objective study on the subject, Mr. Moinuddin should have read some of my well-researched articles on the demography of our region (see, e.g., http://newagebd.net/5137/why-not-claim-the-entire-bangladesh-mr-swamy/#sthash.uJGFDc65.dpbs; http://www.eurasiareview.com/31032014-the-question-of-minorities-in-india-and-bangladesh-oped/#comment-906671; http://www.islamicity.com/Articles/articles.asp?ref=IV0402-2216; http://www.iviews.com/articles/printarticles.asp?ref=IV1403-5703&p=2; http://bangladeshexpatriates.blogspot.com/2014/03/all-those-fuss-about-endangered.html or http://newagebd.com/old_archives/detail.php?date=2014-03-02&nid=84890 ), which would have offered a better perspective to understand the issue and come to the realization that the real cause of decline in Hindu percentage in Bangladesh has very little to do with so-called forced migration or persecution. For religious and other family ties, many Hindus, esp. the well-off ones, prefer to retire and die in India than in the soil of Bangladesh. In a global economy we live in today, as a more educated group than the majority Muslims, many Hindus have also found better paid jobs outside Bangladesh where they have settled down.

 

Far from discrimination, the Hindus in Bangladesh are comparatively better placed than the fellow Muslims. Their share in government jobs is at least 3 times their proportionate figures in Bangladesh (in contrast, in India, Muslims who comprise at least 13% of the population hold less than 2% government jobs). [See, e.g., the partial list in the bottom of the article in the link:  http://www.drhabibsiddiqui.blogspot.com/2014/02/all-those-fuss-about-endangered.html for a list of Hindu top government officials.] In today’s Bangladesh, thanks to ultra-secularism promoted by the current administration, many of the majority Muslims are genuinely afraid to keep beard fearing that they will be targets of nasty harassment from government law enforcement agencies and the ruling party cadre (see e.g., Nimai Bhattacharya’s article in the link: http://www.bdmonitor.net/newsdetail/detail/112/99868).

 

Moinuddin’s claim that ethnic minorities like the Chakma and Marma once comprised 97% of the population in Chittagong is simply ludicrous. Their major influx in Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) district, and not Chittagong district, dates back to 1784 after the nearby Arakan (now Rakhine state of Myanmar) was invaded by Burman king Boddawpaya, a highly racist and bigot king. Many of the Rohingyas of Arakan were killed in that invasion, and some managed to settle in southern Chittagong, who are now called Rohis by the local Chittagonians. (See, Prof. Abid Bahar’s article on ethnic minorities of CHT: http://mayupress.blogspot.com/2012/11/burmese-invasion-of-arakan-and-rise-of.html)

 

In spite of its many shortcomings, Bangladesh government has maintained a disproportionately high quota system for the ethnic religious minorities in every government institutions and job sectors, which has allowed many of them to relocate to other parts of Bangladesh for jobs and higher education. Some ethnic Bengalis have likewise moved to CHT for a plethora of reasons, including farming.

 

Such internal migrations in a densely populated and developing economy like Bangladesh are nothing new and have been going on for centuries for a plethora of reasons changing the demography continually. A demographic survey of many of the major cities like Dhaka and Chittagong would suffice to reveal that original locals have now become a minority in those cities. That is, there are more non-Chittagonians living today in the port city of Chittagong than the Chittagonians (Chatgaiyas), and the same holds true for the capital city of Dhaka where non-locals form a vast majority over original Dhakaiyas (or locals of Dhaka).

 

It would be simply irresponsible of anyone to claim that such changes in demography had anything to do with forced migration of one group over another, let alone Islamization. Economics has much to do with internal migration in many of the South Asian countries who are all poor. When it comes to proselytization, no restriction is put on any given religion to practice and propagate their beliefs. As such, many people have changed their faiths, including Muslims converting Christianity or other faiths.

 

While Bangladesh has her share of minority problems, its record is far superior to any of the South Asian countries, including India and Sri Lanka, let alone Myanmar of SE Asia.

 

To put succinctly: Mainuddin’s claims about Bangladesh are factually wrong and simply irresponsible. I wish before presenting his paper on Rights of Minorities in South Asia in the (CSSS) conference in Mumbai (Nov. 2014), he had done the necessary homework to prepare well and shared facts and not myths.

 

Kind regards,

Habib Siddiqui

 

-----Original Message-----
From: csss1 <csss2work@gmail.com>
To: secularperspective <secularperspective@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Dec 2, 2014 6:05 am
Subject: [Secular Perspective] Report - Rights of Minorities in South Asia (Secular Perspective Dece.1-15, 2014)

Report of Session on Rights of Minorities’ in South Asia

Peoples’ SAARC Regional Convergence

24^th November, 2014

Kathmandu

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