I like this article because it is fearless but detailed. It is not easy to find articles such as this from any quarter. I could never write like this.
But I believe the writer has missed a crucial point. In keeping with the title of his article he should have highlighted the single biggest weakness of BNP: Khaleda and Tarique. The biggest contribution to the country that Khaleda can make is to resign the party leadership and oblige her son to resign also. She should first build a new organising committee that can inspire neutral voters. The party that attracts the greatest number of neutrals will win.
But alas. BNP and AL are as stupid as each other.
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Isha Khan <bdmailer@...> wrote:
>
> *The Country Belongs to 16 Crore ( 160 million ) Bangladeshis, Not to a
> Man, No to a Family, Not to a Coterie*
>
> Obaid Chowdhury
> New York, USA
> alaldulal@...
>
> Memorial of some sorts on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman goes on a daily basis with
> unprecedented fanfare, mostly at state's expense. The occasion may or may
> not relate to the leader, yet credit must go to him and processions
> and flowers must go to 32 Dhanmondi Road. It reminds one of the old saying:
> Ochena brahmmaner paitar chorachori!
>
> Generations in their fifties and below have not witnessed the birth pangs
> of Bangladesh, nor did they experience the sufferings during its early days
> of existence. I wonder if they even know it was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who
> ruled the country during that period (1972 to 1975).
>
> The new generations have been continually fed with misinformation about our
> history. Bangladesh did not start on March 7, 1971, nor did it end at 32
> Dhanmondi Road. Its independence has a much glorious---even though
> struggling---past. Not all the supposed 3 million shaheeds were Awami
> Leaguers, nor did all the 300,000 active freedom fighters belong to Awami
> cadres.
>
> The country does not belong to an individual, a family or a party. No
> coterie has the sole authority to call themselves freedom fighters or
> shwadhinotar shopokker shakti, while branding all others as collaborators
> or anti-Bangladeshis. Blind following or blind faith and hero-worshiping
> are one thing, but reality is another. More often than not, facts are
> stranger than fiction.Frankly, I fail to comprehend, in my humble
> understanding, a few things:
>
> After declaring "ebarer sangram muktir sangra, ebarer sangram swadhinotar
> sangram..." on March 7 how could Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sit on the
> negotiating table with Yahya and his jallads from March 15 to 25, 1971? Why
> was it difficult for Sheikh Mujib to understand the game plan of the
> Military junta? Landing of plane and shiploads of troops and armaments in
> Dhaka and Chittagong was no secret. Was then Mujib a party to the whole
> game?
>
> Why Sheikh Mujib, in his lifetime, or the AL has not yet revealed what
> really went at Bangabhaban in those days? To the reporters, Mujb always
> boasted of making progress, even on the morning of March 25, without giving
> details. Dr. Kamal Hossain, a member of the AL team, is still alive and can
> clarify. (Richard Sisson and Leo Rose of the US Barkley University
> published in 1990 a much researched book titled 'War and Secession:
> Pakistan, Indian and the Creation of Bangladesh' in which they gave some
> details about the points of agreements between the two parties, aimed at
> keeping Pakistan united).
>
> Why did Sheikh Mujibur Rahman decline to sign, according to some accounts,
> the declaration of independence when approached by Tajuddin Ahmed, ASM
> Abdur Rob and others on the night of March 25, 1971, AL's claim to the
> contrary notwithstanding? (Rob is still alive to speak on it). According to
> Dr. Kamal Hossain, Mujib was keenly waiting for a promised declaration from
> President Yahya Khan to handover power to him forthwith. In reality, the
> president had something else in mind. He ordered the Operation Searchlight
> to "teach Bengalis a lesson" that massacred seven thousand innocents in
> Dhaka alone in just two days, as quoted by International Herald Tribune on
> March 30, 1971. The Time on April 12, 1971 compared the Pakistani brutality
> with that of Chengis Khan. Two days later, the confused and disoriented
> public heard a declaration of independence by an unknown Major Ziaur Rahman
> form the Kalurghat Radio in Chittagong. Had it come on March 25 or near
> around, lives of thousands could have been saved.
>
> Why did Sheikh Mujib call US Ambassador Joseph Farland in Islamabad on the
> night of March 25, 1971, and who facilitated that link? (Please see
> `Witness to Surrender' by Siddiq Salek)How can Sheikh Mujib avoid
> responsibility for his failure to give direction at that crucial juncture
> to the people who had to pay a heavy price as a result? I wonder, one day,
> researchers may find it difficult to ascertain who would be
> guiltier---Gholam Azam or Shiekh Mujib?
>
> * Sheikh Mujib's Bangladesh (1972-75)*
>
> Upon return from the Pakistani custody on January 10, 1972, Sheikh Mujibur
> Rahman saddled himself in the helm of Bangladesh, which won independence in
> his absence at a great cost. There was no dearth of international goodwill
> and assistance---in cash and kind---yet the new country failed to take off.
> Belying the stories of Japan, Germany and Italy, who experienced much worse
> devastations of war 25 years earlier, Bangladesh turned itself into a
> `bottomless basket' in just 3 years. The reasons are not far to seek.
> (Please see New York Times of December13, 24, 1974 and January 26, 1975;
> the Washington Post of November 8, 1974 plus other media sources.)
>
> Nearly half a million lives lost in the `man-made' famine in 1974/75. The
> dreaded Rakkhi Bahini that was under Sheikh Mujib's personal command killed
> 40 thousand dissidents. Emergency was clamped in 1974, politics banned and
> media gagged. Thousand of political opponents were sent to jail to rot and
> be tortured. Please open the pages of newspapers of the time and see that I
> am not talking of myths.
>
> Despite the supreme authority he held, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman felt something
> amiss in the protocol. Through 4th Amendment to the constitution in January
> 1975, enacted in 11 minutes without any debate, he made himself the
> President, showing exit door to poor Mohammad Ulla.
>
> Then came his "Second Revolution" in the form of BAKSAL (Bangladesh Krishak
> Sramik Awami League), the one-party system. As the Chairman of the BAKSAL
> and the President of the country, he became the unchallenged authority, the
> Omni-powerful leader, a virtual dictator with all its manifestations.
>
> The process of `rising above' and becoming a 'god' did not stop. Sheikh
> Mujibur Rahman was heading towards becoming the Life-long President of
> Bangladesh. Reportedly, a resolution to that effect was to be taken by the
> Chatra League on August 15, 1975 at the Dhaka University, where he was to
> be the chief guest. Once proposed by the CL, it was only a formality for
> the political leadership to enact it in the rubber-stamp parliament. We
> know the rest of the story.
>
> * Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely*
>
> (Part Two)
>
> Sheikh Hasina Wazed, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, came to be the
> chief executive of Bangladesh in 1996--- thanks to a section of
> bureaucracy, media, Awami League supporter Abu Hena's Election Commission
> and finally Ershad's Jatiya Party. She openly said of her two objectives
> that she would like to complete in her maiden foray into power: avenge the
> death of her father and rehabilitate him firmly in public eyes. She
> performed only that, and nothing else.
>
> An orchestrated election in December 2008 presented an unprecedented
> victory to Sheikh Hasina, thanks to then army chief General Moeen U Ahmed
> and his Indo-US backers. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts
> absolutely. So it did to Hasina, at times surpassing her father's
> reputations.In the Second Inning to power, starting in January 2009, she
> stepped into her father's footsteps firmly. She runs a neo-BAKSAL regime,
> with all its ferocity and brutality.
>
> Next election is due in 2 years. She had taken, or in the process of
> taking, a numbers measures to replay the December 29 (2008) saga, if not
> doing better.The arrangement of Caretaker Government (CTG) has been
> scrapped, with a view to holding the elections under her own
> administration. Ironically, it was Hasina and her cohorts who created havoc
> and observed hartals for 173 days in 1996 demanding the CTG.
>
> She put loyal elements in key positions in bureaucracy, law-enforcing
> agencies and even in the military.Legislature and judiciary became laughing
> stocks. Kortar hukume korma is the guidelines:
>
> Dhaka has been sliced into two to favor AL's election prospects.That the
> military remains partisan and loyal is ensured by family-product Defense
> Advisor Gen Siddiqui.Gen Masood Uddin Chowdhury, a Rakkhi Bahini product
> and the executioner of 1/11 betrayal, is tipped to be the next army chief.
> Independent-minded officers have been purged.A crushed BDR is now
> subservient to Indian wishes.Rumor has it that the DGFI (Directorate
> General of the Defense Intelligence) is under control of the RAW, the
> powerful Indian intelligence agency.Following the legacy of her father,
> Rakkhi Bahini style political killings and abductions of opponents
> continued. Partisan political commissars, styled as District
> Administrators, will by installed in the 61 districts soon, a la Baksal
> Governors of 1975.A new Election Commission is under construction to bring
> in loyal elements.Indian 'bags of money and advice' are always there to
> help their protégé.
>
> *Prime Minister for Life*
>
> Additionally, Sheikh Hasina seems to be obsessed with her father's last
> dream: to be Prime Minister for Life. Her sponsors and agents have been
> working for sometime toward that goal.Her administration made the trial of
> war crime a big issue. If she and her sycophants are to be taken seriously,
> Bangladesh presently has no bigger problem than this trial.
>
> Few would deny the need to punish the criminals of 1971. However, most
> people object to the partisan way the ongoing trial is conducted. They
> wonder why the trial had not happened over the past 40 years, when the
> memory of crime was fresh; why did Sheikh Mujib grant clemency to the
> Pakistani 195 war criminals in 1972, as well as their local collaborator in
> 1974?
>
> AL and Jamaat-e-Islam were bedfellows in the anti-government movement. The
> leaders from the two camps addressed meetings from same platforms in
> 1995-96. When Jamaat joined BNP to defeat the AL in 2001, it suddenly
> became the party of war criminals. Today, any movement or opposition to the
> AL led government is dubbed as conspiracy `to save the war criminals'. The
> intended message is Hasina must be kept in power to `hang the war
> criminals' of her choice.
>
> For the past 3 years, Sheikh Hasina has been talking of 'Digital Bangladesh
> by 2021', to be implemented by her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Now the goalpost
> has been shifted to 2025. The paid agents started a campaign crowing that,
> under Hasina administration, Bangladesh would be a mid-level developed
> nation in 10-15 years. This is to convey another message that for a
> `prosperous Bangladesh', Sheikh Hasina must be in power for another 10-15
> years, uninterrupted.
>
> The RAW, too, has calculated it well. With its protégé in power for at
> least another 10 years, India's integration of Bangladesh with its Seven
> Sisters will be complete. And, a Sikkim/Kashmir like Bangladesh will then
> be able to proudly boast of being part of the `Shining India' and `enjoy'
> status of mid level economy!
>
> I had the opportunity to be part of our liberation war in eastern sector in
> 1971. During that time, I could notice the pitiable state of development in
> some of those Sisters. Behind the façade of Shining India, Slums Dog
> Millions are aplenty in the periphery of its big cities, even outside the
> Seven Sisters. The New York Times on December 29, 2011 put up an extensive
> article on this: From Dharavi, Another View of India. Please visit:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/world/asia/in-indian-slum-misery-work-politics-and-hope.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=global-home
>
> There is no reason for me to take solace from Dharavi, because we have
> worse `dharavi's in Bangladesh. No doubt, India made its name in the world
> comity in many ways. However, to its neighbors, it could not rise above its
> hegemonic behavior and petty mindedness. It has multifarious problems with
> each of its surrounding neighbors. My idea is to open the eyes of those
> amongst us who live in fools' paradise thinking our salvation lies in
> India's lap or following her dictum.
>
> Are these India-lovers blind to the consequences of Farakka to Bangladesh
> over the past 35 years? Why Indian Navy is occupying South Talpatti? Do
> killings of Felani and thousand others by Indian BSF mean nothing to them?
> How do they concur with Indian assurance that Tipaimukh will benefit
> Bangladesh? Have they ever asked India why Bangladeshis are wire-caged as
> animals? Haven't they noticed the consequences of so-called trial run of
> the transit/corridor? What more of `Indian friendship' these homegrown
> dalals need to wake up and face the reality. Sellers of national interest
> are much more dangerous and bigger enemies than the war criminals of
> 1971.If Sheikh Hasina were to continue in power, I doubt if the people
> of
> Bangladesh can call themselves Bangladeshis much longer.
>
> *Challenge for BNP and Opposition*
>
> (Part Three and Last)
>
> Sheikh Hasina Wazed is aware that public support for her administration is
> sliding fast. Many experts, in their writings and talks shows, compared the
> country's existing situation with that of pre-August 1975, some even saying
> it to be worse. But she will do everything possible and use all tools at
> her disposal in her attempts to cling to power. Some measures have been
> detailed in Part Two of this series.
>
> Next election is at least two years away. Whatever complacency the
> opposition may hold regarding AL's debacle next time round, Hasina and her
> sponsors are not sitting idle.She has an obliging judiciary, a loyal
> bureaucracy, a tamed military and ready-to-comply law enforcing agencies.
> (To make the police happy and to her side, she just announced to upgrade
> the Thana OCs to Class I officers and Sub-Inspectors to Class II.) Above
> all, it has a one-sided legislature that is engaged in self-praising and
> hero-worshipping.
>
> If Sheikh Hasina perceives no prospect of winning next elections, her
> fallback strategy, or her last nail on the coffin--- moron kamor---will be
> to create another pre-1/11 situation with a view to inviting extra judicial
> authority to step in. She expects her trusted Rakkhi Bahini product and
> executioner of 1/11 palace coup in 2007, General Masud Uddin Chowdhury,
> will then be handy. The general has been recalled from his diplomatic
> assignment in Australia and reverted to the army. According to rumor, he is
> likely to take over the army command in a few months, if there is no
> technical hitch in extending his service. He is not likeable in military
> hierarchy, though.
>
> Bangladesh could not yet resolve its outstanding issues with India, yet the
> `big brother' got its much sought after corridor/transit and re-routing of
> the Asian Highway to her benefit. Teesta sharing could not be agreed
> because of opposition by West Bengal's Momota Banerjee. Tipaimukh is
> proceeding as planned, exposing the northeastern part of the country to
> `farakka effect'. Indian RAW is Omni-present in the country, even in the
> military. Can our think tank, whatever left to be sold out, visualize where
> we are heading?
>
> Opposition movements, in the face of administrative repression and
> reprisals, made little dents so far to government's autocratic practices.
> The opposition needs not only to match the strategy of the administration;
> it should also aim at gaining an advantage. BNP may consider a few steps to
> regain and strengthen its image.
>
> BNP needs to work on its 2001 strategy, learning from the debacle of
> 2008.In 2001, out of 56 million votes, BNP had 23 million (41.5%), making a
> comfortable number of 193 in the parliament. The opposition AL got 22
> million (40%) but managed only 62 seats. One million votes made a
> difference of 131 seats!
>
> (In the elections in 2008, out of nearly 70 million votes cast, 33 million
> (48%) went to AL, converting to 232 parliamentary seats. 23 million (32%)
> voted for BNP, humbling it to mere 32 seats. 10 million votes made a
> difference of 200 seats in the House. Additionally, even though 14 million
> additional votes cast in 2008, BNP failed to benefit from this increased
> turnout, for whatever reasons. There were umpteen analyses for that sea
> change in political landscape, which surprised even the winners. Things
> need to go right the next time round.)
>
> Unlike the urban gentry, which try to shy away from voting fearing trouble,
> the general public and rural mass usually flock to the polling booths, or
> brought to the centers by interested parties. They look at it as a
> celebration. These are the people who will make the difference in the
> number of seats. According to reports, BNP has a better grass-root hold,
> which must be nurtured and strengthened.
>
> In politics, honesty is perhaps a rare commodity. One would need a powerful
> microscope to locate an honest one, if any, in Bangladesh. One of the
> reasons for BNP's poor performance in 2008, according to most analysts, was
> the wrong doings by some of its prominent leaders during its immediate past
> term. The Hawa Bhaban came under scrutiny, albeit with malicious intent. No
> doubt the allegations have been inflated by the authorities that be, but
> they could not have come from vacuum either. Ja rote, ta kichu to bote.
>
> Situation during the Awami time was no better. Today, it is unprecedented,
> pukur churi, as the US, the World Bank, the Westmont Group of Malaysia,
> among others, had to step in to check government's corruptive
> practices.Finger pointing apart, BNP's well-wishers feel that the party
> should address the issue seriously and attempt at cleaning its house, as
> far as possible.
>
> BNP may consider the following three things immediately:
>
> One: Soul-searching. People do make mistakes by oversight or whatever
> reasons, but it certainly is gracious to admit mistakes, if any. Contrary
> to the feeling that such a step will give ammunition to the adversaries to
> malign, I am of the opinion that it is better to come out clean rather than
> harboring a guilty conscious. Remember Sheikh Hasina in 1996, her apology
> for past mistakes, her hezab and tasbih following Makkah-Madina trips and
> went begging for votes, at least once? Bangladeshis are largely gullible.
> Dipu Moni started the ghomta already.
>
> Two: Housecleaning. I believe corruption is going to be a core issue in the
> next election.
> The Arab Spring Uprisings, the Occupy Wall Street/Cities/Towns engulfing
> the developed word, the Anna Hazare Movement in India, the Imran Khan
> Rallies in Pakistan---all have one thing in common: root out corruption. It
> has become a global issue today. Fighting corruption should be BNP's number
> one goal, as such. Simultaneously, the party should take drastic action
> against its known and proven culprits, whoever they are. In addition, the
> party should rid itself of inactive, ineffective and irrelevant leaders.
> These are imperatives for public confidence building.
>
> Three: Try War Criminals. The way the government of Awami League is
> conducting the trial of war crimes is unacceptable. It is a political
> trial, done with controversial and partisan judges and lawyers.
> Nevertheless, punishing the war criminals is a national demand, a demand
> past due. Therefore, BNP should make a formal commitment to try the war
> criminals of 1971. It should make a declaration that it will reconstitute
> the International War Criminal Act, conforming to international norms and
> standard and re-assemble the Tribunal with independent, impartial and
> credible judges. If need be, eminent international jurists be incorporated
> in it. The real culprits, whosoever they are, should be brought to book,
> subject to credible and verifiable investigations and evidences. The
> accused should have access to any counselor, local or international. No
> political motive, no witch-hunting to be allowed.
>
> War criminals should be seen differently from their membership to any
> party. Jamaat-e-Islam is a political party and should have every right to
> function like any other party. BNP should continue its alliance with the
> Jamaat and other like-minded parties. Few will disagree that Jamaat is a
> highly disciplined party and its leaders are less corruptive.
>
> http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=374009
>
------------------------------------
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