Dear All, Here's my response to Zia Rahman's (Associate Professor in Sociology(on- leave), University of Dhaka; Ph.D. Candidate and Instructor, Dept. of Sociology, University of Calgary, Alberta) "Comment on BDR Mutiny" that he circulated to many forums.May I request all the Group Moderators to kindly post my response alongside Mr Zia's write up for the esteemed members. Mr Zia, Wrote: "Last year when I saw that a public university was established for the military in the cantonment area, I was really surprised. The military high commands never think about the consequences. The military have their own medical college; engineering college and now they have their own university! I am not sure whether the military high commands have ever thought about the long term effects; in the short run the military might gain but in the long term they will definitely lose. There are lots of issues in the academic minds and time has come to analyze those in a neutral and thoughtful manner." My Response: I don't know how much you know about this university but surely it surprises me hearing it from you who is an Associated Professor himself! Bangladesh Military established "Bangladesh University of Professional (BUP)" that will govern all the higher educational institutes like NDC, DSCSC, MIST etc run by the military. I am not sure whether you know that the Professors (including DU) and academicians from Bangladesh and abroad come to these military educational institutes for lecturing and taking courses. The students of the MBA classes and engineering course run by MIST are general people of the country except for some executive courses and professional courses where the military officers opting for higher education are allowed to attend. NDC, AFWC and DSCSC is purely for defence officers, police and civil servants of the Republic. What is wrong if these educational institutes produce enlightened people, or you want the military to remain uneducated? How this can have adverse effect in the long run? My experience is limited to three continent including your neighbor USA where I stayed for some higher study and found similar structure in their military too. May I know what causes concern for you if military establishes a University of Professionals? Mr Zia Wrote: "The military high commands, without knowing the long term effects and consequences, have been alienating themselves from rest of the society although we all are Bangladeshi and the segmentary development is not our desire---indeed a parochial and an obsolete idea in the era of globalization.. But I am sure the military high commands would have taken such ideas negatively had scholars raised such issues" My Response: Perhaps this para reveals the dept of your knowledge on the military. The assertion that the development in Bangladesh military is "segmnetary" and " …the military have been alienating themselves from rest of the society" is quite interesting. I am sure that as a social scientist you are aware of all the research methodology tools to prove any hypothesis. May I know how did you prove this hypothesis? What was the 'sample size' of your study? Significance level? What criterions did you take to find out that development in military is "segmentary" and "military have alienating themselves from the society"? Do you know how much time in a year these military officers are deployed by the government to stay in tents with the general people of the country in the name of VGF card distribution, disaster relief operation or traffic controlling? Have you seen where they live in the CHT where they were employed in the past for counter insurgency operation? Do you have any idea how many soldier's son have become officers? Do you know at least three of the officers who were killed were the son of some jawans. Do you have any real idea how soldiers in the military are treated by their officers? Do you know how many of them were employed during the SIDR? Have you seen them working in the field for the preparation of the voter ID? Do you know their social background? How many from middle class, upper middle class and upper class? Do they support their family or not? How many could have been associate professors like you had they not joined the military? I would urge you to make a study using those tools before making such sweeping comments. You Commented: The issues which should have been addressed by the policy makers, intellects and academics have now been addressed by the lower strata officials belonging to the same military organization, though at the cost of human blood! There are many burning issues in military, diffusing everyday social inequality should be addressed and focused on. And in another place: Interestingly some rebel soldiers have raised some very rudimentary but crucial issues that could have been raised by either a Professor like Muntasir Mamoon or a journalist like Mr. Nurul Kabir of the New Age. My response: Apparently your deduction of the motive for the killing of so many Army Officers and some BDR jawans by the "lower strata" was the " social inequality" inside BDR. I am not sure whether you are biting your own words now or not as more chilling facts are coming out about the heinous crime. It now looks like a pure cold blooded and preplanned murder which was meticulously planned and had many sympathizers. The fact that many BDR jawans did not take part in the crime and some were killed by their own people is a testimony to that. The fact that arms were supplied form outside and sympathizers (at home and aboard) started making "complete analysis" even before knowing the full facts tells a different tale. The fact that the criminals did not only kill the unarmed officers, jawans but also some women and children and mutilated the body dump them in mass grave gives a different picture. I strongly feel that, as an academicians It would have been wise to wait for the facts to come, the extent of damage ascertained, the number and type of people involved reveled before making such a "comprehensive analysis" by someone like you who is employed in a reputed public university. Your ultra-quick assertions and deductions in the long essay may be taken as true by any first time reader who is not aware of the more revealing facts on the incident. It is expected that people of your stature and reputation will be objective in their analysis and comments on such a serious issue involving the killing of so many people including women and kids – unless you had a compelling reasons to make those premature deductions. It increasingly appears to be a criminal act by some hard core criminal BDR jawns who infiltrated the BDR. One of the leaders who took part in the discussion at Ambala hotel was very young BDR jawan hardly with ½ years of service. On average, most of those who did the killing were in the age group of 22-28 having mostly 4-5 years of service. Most of the older lots were mainly passive some were coerced to join while many helped the officers to escape or hide in their own house risking their own life. These facts when considered clearly reject the notion of "Social inequality" as preached by you. Regards Zahid Khan
--- On Thu, 2/26/09, Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com>
Subject: Comments on BDR mutiny
To: zoglul@hotmail.co.uk, shahin72@gmail.com, janashah_1@yahoo.com, alfazanambd@yahoo.com, adelm@uapb.edu, hossain.khilji@yahoo.com, mbimunshi@gmail.com, rehman.mohammad@gmail.com, mahmudurart@yahoo.com, farhadmazhar@hotmail.com, kmamalik@aol.com, premlaliguras@hotmail.com, dhakamails@yahoogroups.com, khabor@yahoogroups.com, alochona@yahoogroups.com, bdresearchers@yahoogroups.com, bangla-vision@yahoogroups.com, mouchakaydheel@yahoo.com, jason@prio.no, odhora@yahoogroups.com, ayeshakabir@yahoo.com, sayantha15@yahoo.com, ghazala.khi@gmail.com, minarrashid@yahoo.com, history_islam@yahoogroups.com, jangoonetilleke@aol.com, editorazad@gmail.com, newtimes47@gmail.com, lankaguardian2007@gmail.com
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 7:20 PM
| Comments on BDR mutiny
Zia Rahman
Although very painful and unfortunate, these types of events are not very uncommon for an underdeveloped country like Bangladesh where poverty, paternalism or informal allegiance and unequal power relations are rampant and the ultimate outcome is social inequality or disparity. Hence, at the very outset disparity and social inequality seem to be the main cause of such an event. Three major aspects have been identified to comment and these are:
(1) The ruling elites including military, the state machinery and even the civil society rarely contemplate the question of social inequality very seriously; they never want to understand the impact and consequences of such social inequality which is increasing in all the segments and groups in our country by leaps and bounds. Sociologically, this is a very common outcome where corruption and nepotism along with unequal power relations play an important role in making money, wealth and resources using authoritarian and feudal ethos. Although this is a very crucial issue, except very few civil society members, the society has yet to be aware of.
This is such a crucial issue that most capitalist states even have conceded and thus introduced a plethora of ancillary methods such as employment insurance, medial insurance, and other social benefits minimizing the gap between rich and poor. The whole night I watched the television news in various channels and I, as a student of social movements, have tried to understand the dynamics and severity of the event. No doubts the grievances have been developed for long, and it is very surprising that the officers of the B.D.R. and the intelligence could not even figure out such grievances. Nonetheless, it is a huge loss for a country like Bangladesh.
(2) Apparently, the rebel soldiers seemed very confident and smart and they raised many critical issues which have been growing for a long time; I was even surprised hearing a soldier quoting Professor Muzaffar Ahmed regarding the corruptions of some army officers during the 1/11 regime. In a modern society, inner issues related to such problems are analyzed, raised and discussed in everyday life either by a journalist or by an academic or a television host belonging to the educated middle class. But the irony is that these types of practices are totally nil in our society even though some academics sometimes try to convey their opinions in a frightened and timid way. In a western society, these types of anger are also there, but the important thing is that there are many think tanks, organizations and researchers commenting on everyday issues, and the public agencies always incorporate those valuable opinions and suggestions in formulating social policies. In Bangladesh, civil society is still gelatinous and the coercive power of state apparatuses interrupts the honest, courageous, thoughtful and real opinions and observations raised by the academics, experts and scholars.
(3) Definitely, a sagacious citizen never wants to see such a painful event, both illegal and unacceptable. But this is the reality in our country and the old proverb works out here now---history repeats itself. The issues which should have been addressed by the policy makers, intellects and academics have now been addressed by the lower strata officials belonging to the same military organization, though at the cost of human blood! There are many burning issues in military, diffusing everyday social inequality, should be addressed and focused on.
Last year when I saw that a public university was established for the military in the cantonment area, I was really surprised. The military high commands never think about the consequences. The military have their own medical college; engineering college and now they have their own university! I am not sure whether the military high commands have ever thought about the long term effects; in the short run the military might gain but in the long term they will definitely lose. There are lots of issues in the academic minds and time has come to analyze those in a neutral and thoughtful manner.
Do the military have ever thought about the long term consequences of the policy of the Defense Officers Housing Society (DOHS) or the Trust Bank? Why do the military establish assets and establishments like Darbar Hall, Sena Kunja or Rifle Square? These have symbolic effects on the powerless and the masses. The military high commands, without knowing the long term effects and consequences, have been alienating themselves from rest of the society although we all are Bangladeshi and the segmentary development is not our desire---indeed a parochial and an obsolete idea in the era of globalization. Interestingly some rebel soldiers have raised some very rudimentary but crucial issues that could have been raised by either a Professor like Muntasir Mamoon or a journalist like Mr. Nurul Kabir of the New Age. But I am sure the military high commands would have taken such ideas negatively had scholars raised such issues. The military high commands should incorporate as many opinions and ideas as they possibly can. I know the Bangladesh military has many intelligent and promising officers who think about the progressive and prosperous Bangladesh.
From the administrative/intelligence point of view this is a complete failure for the state agencies involved in security and intelligence. The prime minister has just visited the BDR, and the mutiny could have happened the day the prime minister visited BDR but we do not want to think about such tragic events. The policy makers and the administrators should be more serious about the future security questions of Bangladesh. And they should keep in mind that it was a complete failure as far as security is concerned
It is positive that a democratic government is there having a huge verdict from the people in Bangladesh. As a political sociologist I know that dialogue, justice and peaceful solutions are the only desire of the general citizens in Bangladesh. I am sympathetic towards the family members of the BDR officers and the innocent civilians. We know that the mutiny, rebellion or insurrection is all negative terms in the legal books, and the authority and the officials will definitely do their own jobs accordingly. But my sincere desire from the ruling elites and the policy makers is that the authority should be transparent and they will inform the inner causes of the mutiny and the real conditions of the BDR to the public.
The parliament is alive and the parliament members should actively participate in the debates. Moreover, a parliamentary enquiry committee can be formed who can review the situations of military in Bangladesh on the whole incorporating military experts, academics and scholars. This might provide the resources and solutions for future problems related to such an unfortunate and unbearable BDR mutiny.
(Zia Rahman Associate Professor in Sociology(on-leave), University of Dhaka; Ph.D. Candidate and Instructor, Dept. of Sociology, University
of Calgary, Alberta) http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/analysis.htm#anlysis-01 | |
