The Secular path

Photo: Secularist rejoice court verdict

MUNIR ISHRAT RAHMANI

WHILE BANGLADESH is a predominantly Muslim state, the current dispensation in the country is making efforts not to mix religion and politics.

When the movement for an independent state for the Indian Muslims in British India was gaining momentum in the beginning of the twentieth century, Bengali Muslims were in the forefront. In fact, the biggest political party of the Indian Muslims - Muslim League - was launched in 1906 from the city of Dacca (now Dhaka), which later became part of East Pakistan and is now the capital of Bangladesh. When Pakistan was created on August 14, 1947, irrespective of a vast distance between the two wings of the country, the spirit, zeal and the objective of every Pakistani were the same - to build a nation in the newly independent state and take the country to great heights of progress. Unfortunately, what followed after the independence did not auger well for building of a nation or the progress of the country due to the early loss of genuine leadership of the Pakistan Movement

The Quaid-e-Azam's vision of Pakistan, according to most historians, was that of a modern Muslim state with politics separated from religion and where citizens would be free to practice their religion without any discrimination on the basis of religion or caste. This was clearly defined in his speech of August 11, 1947. However, after the death of Mr. Jinnah the vision underwent a drastic change and the secular nature was converted into a religious version when the Constituent Assembly sat down to pass the Objectives Resolution in March 1949. In East Bengal the secular character of the state was appreciated by the intellectuals and the Hindus who were in good number but the four provinces of the western wing had a vast majority of religious and ultra- religious populace who did not approve of secularism.

The content of the Objectives Resolution did not go down well with the influential Hindus of East Bengal and the intellectuals whose opinion was respected by the leaders of that province. It was obvious that when Bangladesh was created after breaking away from the rest of the country in December 1971 the character of its constitution was bound to differ from that of Pakistan. Its Constitution passed in November 1972 declared "Bangladesh as a secular democratic republic where sovereignty rests with the people". The constitution named the newly born country as the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh and pledged "nationalism, secularity, democracy and socialism as the fundamental principles defining the Republic."

As the years passed and political changes took place in Bangladesh due to various factors, constitutional changes were forced to favor Islam. Amendments during socialist party and military rule in the country altered the secular and liberal democratic nature of the Constitution. Secularism was dropped and Islam made the state religion through the 8th Amendment. In 1977, during the era of President and Chief Martial Law Administrator Gen Ziaur Rahman a Presidential Decree later legitimized by the second parliament of Bangladesh emphasized, "absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah" and "the State shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen federal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity." This was however undone in August 2005 when a Bangladesh High Court declared constitutional amendments during military rule as illegal and unconstitutional. Later in January 2010, after a legal battle, the Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the High Court thereby allowing restoration of the original nature of the 1972 Constitution which defines Bangladesh as a secular democratic country.

It is interesting to note that the verdict of the Bangladesh Supreme Court came during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina (Awami League) who had crushed her rival Begum Khalida Zia's party - Bangladesh Nationalist Party - and her ally Jamaat-e-Islami in the 2009 elections. With the judiciary at her back and the support of the armed forces, Sheikh Hasina is likely to dominate the political scene for years to come. It has been declared that religion and politics will remain separated. Most of the Islamic literature including the books of Maulana Abul A'la Maududi was banned.

It is a fact that successive post-Mujib governments have heavily depended on the support of the Bangladesh armed forces for survival. It is also a fact the Bangladesh armed forces traditionally draw on the Islamic heritage having no interest in secularism and the earlier change in secular character of the Constitution had their full support. The not-too-friendly stance towards India of a majority of officers and men, partly due to the poor treatment received from the Indians during and after the civil war and also the Chinese interest in keeping Bangladesh as a military equipment buyer, makes them consider China as a friend to depend on in case India ever had any aggressive designs against them.

India, too, has started viewing the Bangladeshis with suspicion after the border clashes between Indian Border Security Force and Bangladesh Rifles and the impact of growing Islamic fundamentalism in the region. Also, the rebellion of Bangladesh Rifles last year was an un-nerving experience for the regimes in Dhaka and New Delhi. As of today, it is obvious that the situation is such that Sheikh Hasina's government will need to tackle it with utmost care and sensitivity for the sake of stability in Bangladesh and the region. #

First published in South Asian magazine, September, 2010

Munir Ishrat Rahmani is a retired Colonel of the Pakistan Army. He writes regularly on current affairs and the social sector

US Islamists Take Issue with Bangladesh's Crackdown on Radicals

Photo: Bangladesh born HuJI suspects detained in India 

ABHA SHANKAR, IPT News

A CRACKDOWN on radical Islamist political activity in South Asia is drawing the ire of American Muslim political groups which claim they stand against radicalism.

Bangladesh's democratic government has taken a series of steps to stem the tide of Islamic extremism since it won elections in December 2008. Most of the actions by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her party, the Awami League, target the radical Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistani-tied Islamist party which seeks to impose Sharia law in Bangladesh.
Among the steps taken:
• Four senior Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leaders, including the party's leader Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, were arrested in July in connection with mass killings and other war crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. The four reportedly led Islamist militias targeting pro-independence supporters and religious minorities. Bangladeshi sources claim the Pakistani army, with the aid of local collaborators, killed as many as 3 million people during the nine-month war that ended with the surrender of the Pakistani army and Bangladesh's emergence as an independent nation.
• A recent ban was imposed on books by Islamist scholar Maulana Syed Abdul Ala Maududi in mosques and libraries across Bangladesh. Maududi founded the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party in 1941 in Lahore, Pakistan, then part of British India. He is a leading pioneer of Islamic revivalism in South Asia and has been reported to be inspired by the Ikhwan al-Muslimeen or the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamic revivalist movement founded in Egypt in 1928 that seeks to establish a worldwide caliphate based on Islamic law. In one of those books, Let us be Muslim,Maududi preached that Muslims "must strive to change the wrong basis of government, and seize all powers to rule and make laws from those who do not fear God."
• Bangladesh's Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict in July overturning a 1979 constitutional amendment legitimizing military rule and sanctioning the participation of religious parties in politics. "Secularism will again be the cornerstone of our constitution," said law minister Shafiq Ahmed. "Islamic parties cannot use religion in politics anymore." The country's highest court also ruled the use of religious fatwas to mete punishment "illegal and without legal authority."
• Earlier this year, police arrested Mohiuddin Ahmed and Syed Golam Mawla, top leaders of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global Islamist movement that seeks to establish a worldwide Islamist caliphate ruled by Sharia. Both Ahmed and Mawla are professors at the prestigious Dhaka University and Ahmed is the chief coordinator of HuT in Bangladesh. The arrests followed the government's ban of the HuT in October last year.

Bangladesh—a nation with 140 million Muslims—is in the midst of waging a critical battle with Islamist terrorism. Absence of the rule of law, poverty and rampant corruption have made the country a safe haven for Islamic terrorist groups, including the Jamaat ul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), and Al Qaida-affiliated groups such as Harkat ul-Jihad-i-Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Lashkar-e-Tayibba (LeT).

The crackdown carries significant risks, Bangladeshi writer Jamal Hasan said in an interview with the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "There is a rising possibility of the ruling government heading for a violent confrontation with Islamist forces," he said. Hasan urged the U.S. to bolster its "intelligence sharing and counterterrorism operations" with the Bangladeshi government to avoid such a reaction.

Jammat Support Base in the U.S.
The Islamist JI party has a strong support base in the U.S. The Muslim American Society (MAS), an organization with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhoodheadquartered in Alexandria, Va., issued a press release that condemned the July arrests and "expressed grave concern over the human rights conditions in Bangladesh." It blasted the moves as "oppression of religious elements" and accused the democratically-elected government of a "descent into authoritarianism."

MAS' political and public relations wing, the Freedom Foundation, along with theAmerican Muslim Task Force (AMTF), later organized a rally outside the United Nations to protest the "arrest of key leaders of the Islamic Movement in Bangladesh (Jamaat-e-Islami), student activists, journalists and members of the political opposition."

Another important supporter of the JI in the U.S. is the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). An article in the October 1996 issue of ICNA's publication The Message [International], supports the JI and its founder Maududi: "Using the organizational development methodology of [JI founder] Maulana Maududi and the Jamaat Al-Islami of Pakistan, which lays special emphasis on spiritual development, ICNA has developed a strong foundation." ICNA also promotes Maududi's books in the U.S. ICNA members have also been reported to be linked to individuals involved in war crimes perpetrated during Bangladesh's 1971 War of Independence.

Shaikh Muhammad Yusuf Islahi, a member of Jamaat's branch in India (Jamaat-e-Islami Hind) is a Chief Patron of ICNA's dawah or proselytizing project, WhyIslam, and was a featured speaker at the 34th ICNA-MAS convention in Hartford, Connecticut, in 2009.

Bangladesh and Global Jihadism
Bangladesh is slowly becoming an attractive haven for international terrorist groups, including Al Qaida. Pakistani groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) that are affiliated with Al Qaida reportedly have a presence in the country. Three Lashkar operatives were arrested last year from a madrassa in Chittagong, Bangladesh's main seaport and second-largest city. Rogue elements from within Pakistan's intelligence agency reportedly provided the support structure for Lashkar and other terror groups to operate in Bangladesh. Following increased security and counter-terrorist operations in Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiya leader and alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, Hambali, planned on shifting his operatives to Bangladesh. In fact Hambali was on his way to Bangladesh when he was arrested in Thailand in August 2003.

Despite the crackdown, the government still faces challenges from Islamic radicals and violent extremists seeking to destabilize the country's democratic institutions and establish Sharia law. The former government of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) included Islamist parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Islami Oikya Jote ("Islamic Unity Front"). This situation helped expand the influence of Islamic radicals in Bangladesh and created space for terrorist groups to operate in the country with relative impunity.

The Islami Oikya Jote is alleged to have ties to the extremist HuJI-B, a group on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations. HuJI-B was founded in 1992 by Bangladeshi mujahedin returning from Afghanistan reportedly with assistance from Osama bin Laden. The organization is a signatory to bin Laden's 1998 fatwathat declared holy war against America and her allies. The group is also tied to theJanuary 2002 attack on the American Center in Calcutta.

JI, the other coalition partner in the former BNP coalition government, has ties to the radical extremist group Jamaat ul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) that seeks to establish a Taliban-style government in Bangladesh and is believed to be behindthe spate of bombings across Bangladesh in 2005 that targeted high-profile judges, journalists, and politicians.

Foreign-Linked Islamist Charities Financing Religious Extremism in Bangladesh
Foreign-linked Islamist charities play a significant role in financing religious extremism in Bangladesh. After the August 2005 terrorist bombings, Bangladeshi intelligence agencies issued a report accusing Mideast-based NGOs operating in the country of funneling cash to extremist groups. The report exposed a "deep-rooted" nexus between the charities and leaders of the JI and the Islami Oikya Jote. Five foreign officials working for the charity Revival of the Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) were deported from the country following the August attacks. Before joining the RIHS, the five had worked for Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (AIF) in Bangladesh, a U.S.-designated Saudi charity linked to Al Qaida. In April 2006, the Central Bank of Bangladesh fined Islami Bank, the country's largest Sharia lender, for violating anti-money laundering laws by wiring funds to extremists.

There has been an explosive growth of madrassas (religious Islamic schools) in the country, several reportedly funded by Saudi charities. Madrassas have been known to provide weapons training in some remote parts of the country. The Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh, for instance, is notorious for its radical madrassas and HuJI-B is alleged to run several training camps in the region. It has also beenreported that a staggeringly high proportion of army recruits come from madrassas, resulting in deepening Islamist penetration within the ranks of the Bangladeshi army.

Implications for the U.S.
There is growing concern in the United States over the threat from Islamic radicals and violent terrorist groups in Bangladesh, several of whom have ties to Al Qaida. The U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism released last monthnoted the rise of radical Islamist activity in Bangladesh and said that groups such as the JMB, HuJI-B, and LeT continued to pose a threat to security in the region.
U.S. and Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies have worked together in recent years on a number of cases related to domestic and international terrorism. The U.S. has also assisted the Bangladesh to strengthen control of its borders, the State Department report said. The United States also started human rights training for Bangladesh's lead counterterrorism unit, the Rapid Action Battalion.

In addition to direct assistance to anti-terrorism programs, education reform, including better oversight of Bangladesh's madrassas that serve as breeding grounds for radical Islamic extremism, must be a key U.S. priority. Washington must urge Dhaka to enact legislation that would "require financial transparency, curriculum reform, and compulsory registration of all madrassas," Hassan told the IPT. #

First published in Investigative Project in Terrorism, September 29, 2010


ABHA SHANKAR is research writer for IPT News

The Myth of the “International Basket Case”

A.B.M. NASIR

SOMETIMES MYTH lives on without any attempt of being rectified. One such myth lived and thrived over more than three and a half decades, concerns the infamous statement depicting an emerging country, Bangladesh, as the “International Basket Case.” For more than three decades this myth has been erroneously attributed to Henry Kissinger having given birth to it.

This effort to debunking the myth is not to defend Henry Kissinger’s shenanigans during late sixties through mid-seventies. Rather, the aim here is to present the facts. The question is if Mr. Kissinger did not then who made that statement?

This issue was brought up in a Washington Special Group Meeting held in Washington D.C. on December 6, 1971. As the minutes of that meeting indicate, ambassador U. Alexis Johnson initiated the statement when the issue of an impending famine was brought up by a participant of the meeting, Mr Maurice Williams. As conversation went on, Mr U. Alexis Johnson at one point quipped “They'll (referring to East Pakistan) be an international basket case.” Mr Kissinger responded by saying “But, not necessarily our basket case.” An excerpt of the conversion was also published in a Time magazine article on January 17, 1972.[i]
Here goes a few excerpts from the minutes of the meeting:
Dr. Kissinger: (to Mr. Williams) Will there be a massive famine in East Pakistan?
Mr. Williams: They have a huge crop just coming in.
Dr. Kissinger: How about next spring?
Mr. Williams: Yes, there will be famine by next spring unless they can pull themselves together by the end of March.
Dr. Kissinger: And we will be asked to bail out the Bangla Desh from famine next spring?
Mr. Williams: Yes.
Dr. Kissinger: Then we had better start thinking about what our policy will be.
Mr. Williams: By March the Bangla Desh will need all kinds of help.
Mr. Johnson: They'll be an international basket case.
Dr. Kissinger: But not necessarily our basket case.
Mr. Sisco: Wait until you hear the humanitarian bleats in this country.
Kissinger’s vitriol (at loosing East Pakistan) is reflected in his response to Ambassador Johnson’s insensitive statement. As being the Chair of the meeting, instead of admonishing him, Mr. Kissinger, paranoid with the fear of communist takeover, seemed to take pleasure out of that insensitive statement about a country, which, at that time, was being subjected to one of the worst mass-murders, rapes, and human sufferings in the history of the world.

Labeling a country with such an epithet reflects the psyche of a disgruntled foreign policy expert, whose administration did everything from condoning the genocide of 1971, famine of 1974, overthrowing of an elected government to the brutal murder of the father of the nation along with his family members.

A recently published article titled “Bangladesh, 'Basket Case' No More Pakistan could learn about economic growth and confronting terrorism from its former eastern province” in the Wall Street Journal on September 29, 2010, brought up the issue in the fore. While the article praises many achievements of Bangladesh, the title, nonetheless, reflects the author’s predisposition in the belief of something that never was true. The fact of the matter is that Bangladesh has never been an “international basket case.” Thus, implying so is not only erroneous, but also insulting to the people of a nation born out of the sacrifice of millions.
Despite the wishful desires of Mr. Kissinger and alike, Bangladesh continues to thrive amid many obstacles. Successes in some areas have been so profound that they outshine many aspects of the development successes of India, dubbed as the ‘Asian Tiger’ for her phenomenal economic performance.

In the socio-economic front, Bangladesh has succeeded in lifting millions out of poverty, cutting fertility rate by more than half, lowering infant mortality rate by 75% and mortality of children under the age of 5 by 46%, all achieved only in less than three decades. It has also achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education enrolments and been able to raise primary enrollment rate to impressive 92% with completion rate standing at 72%. Real GDP growth has reached at an impressive 6.5% rate in 2007 with gradual improvement in inflation rate, high investment rates, high growth in export and remarkable macroeconomic stability.

In the political front, the citizens’ and government’s commitment to democracy, freedom and justice are reflected in various polls, data and actions of the government. For instance, during 1991-09 the Polity and the Freedom House indicators rank Bangladesh third in the status of freedom and fourth in the status of democracy among the Muslim majority countries in the world. Growing voter participation rates in the four successive parliamentary elections during 1991-08 reflect the rising electorates’ confidence in the democratic process.[ii] A Gallup World poll conducted in May 2007 showed 93% of the respondents revealing their confidence on a democratically elected government.[iii] Most recently, the country’s Supreme Court has outlawed the infamous 5th amendment, thus restoring the secular spirit on which the country’s liberation war was fought. The country’s commitment towards justice can be seen in the setting up of the long-sought War-Crime Tribunal to try the perpetrators of the Genocide in 1971.

True, political instability and many forms of institutional rigidities have been holding the country hostage to the whim of many special interest groups. Despite the influence of the special interest groups and against all odds of frequent strokes of natural disasters, unfavorable international support, frequent military intervention, and resource scarcity, the country has been able to pull through.

The evidence from socio-economic success, Gallup poll, Polity and Freedom House indicators, voters turn-out in elections, the Supreme Court verdict and the commencement of the War-Crime tribunal shows the freedom loving psyche of the citizens of the country, which seems to be unknown to many international media as reflected either in their patronizing tones and/or in the negative portrayal of the country.

Instead, with the records of the achievements, Bangladesh can be dubbed as the ‘Basket of Hope.’ #
________________________________________
[i] Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976 Volume XI, South Asia Crisis, 1971, Document 235 (Minutes of Washington Special Actions Group Meeting1) 1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–115, WSAG Minutes, Originals, 1971. Top Secret; Sensitive; Codeword. No drafting information appears on the minutes. The meeting was held in the White House Situation Room. A briefer record of the meeting, prepared by James Noyes (OASD/ISA), is in the Washington National Records Center, OSD Files, FRC 330 76 0197, Box 74, Pakistan 381 (Dec) 1971. See also the link http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v11/d235. The link was visited on September 30, 2010.
[ii] Voter participation rates were 55.46%, 74.96%, and 75.59%, respectively, in 1991, 1996, and 2001 parliamentary elections (source: Bangladesh Election Commission website). In the most recent parliamentary election held in December 28, 2008, voter participation rate was 87%, showing strong enthusiasm among the citizens in the democratic process (Daily Star, January 1, 2009).
[iii] Lyons, Linda. Bangladeshis Positive, Despite Political Uncertainty: Citizens more likely to express confidence in their government and economy than a year ago. October 12, 2007. The document can be downloaded from the link http://www.gallup.com/poll/101869/Bangladeshis-Positive-Despite-Political-Uncertainty.aspx and was last viewed on February 27, 2010.


ABM Nasir, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Economics with School of Business, North Carolina Central University, USA

Bangladesh, 'Basket Case' No More

Photo: Hundreds and thousands rural women in Bangladesh have been empowered through micro-financing programme for the disadvantaged population

Pakistan could learn about economic growth and confronting terrorism from its former eastern province.


SADANAND DHUME

NOT LONG ago, when you thought of a South Asian country ravaged by floods, governed by bumblers and apparently teetering on the brink of chaos, it wasn't Pakistan that came to mind. That distinction belonged to Bangladesh.

Henry Kissinger famously dubbed it a "basket case" at its birth in 1971, and Bangladesh appeared to work hard to live up to the appellation. For the outside world, much of the country's history can be summed up as a blur of political protests and natural disasters punctuated by outbursts of jihadist violence and the occasional military coup.

No longer. At a reception Friday for world leaders attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Barack Obama congratulated Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed for receiving a prestigious U.N. award earlier in the week. Bangladesh was one of six countries in Asia and Africa feted for its progress toward achieving its Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets that seek to eradicate extreme poverty and boost health, education and the status of women world-wide by 2015.


Bangladesh has much to be proud of. Its economy has grown at nearly 6% a year over the past three years. The country exported $12.3 billion worth of garments last year, making it fourth in the world behind China, the EU and Turkey. Against the odds, Bangladesh has curbed population growth. Today the average Bangladeshi woman bears fewer than three children in her lifetime, down from more than six in the 1970s.

The country's leading NGOs—most famously the microcredit pioneer Grameen Bank—have earned a global reputation. Relations with India are on a high. In August, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee signed off on a $1 billion soft loan for Bangladeshi infrastructure development, the largest such loan in India's history.

Perhaps most strikingly, Bangladesh—the world's third most populous Muslim-majority country after Indonesia and Pakistan—has shown a willingness to confront both terrorism and the radical Islamic ideology that underpins it. Since taking office in 2009, the Awami League-led government has arrested local members of the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, the al Qaeda affiliate Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami-Bangladesh, and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a domestic outfit responsible for a wave of bombings in 2005.

In July, the Supreme Court struck down a 31-year-old constitutional amendment and restored Bangladesh to its founding status as a secular republic. The government has banned the writings of the radical Islamic ideologue Abul Ala Maududi (1903-79), founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, the subcontinent's most influential Islamist organization. Maududi regarded warfare for the faith as an exalted form of piety and encouraged the subjugation of women and non-Muslims. A long-awaited war crimes tribunal will try senior Jamaat-e-Islami figures implicated in mass murder during Bangladesh's bloody secession from Pakistan.

Of course, it will take more than a burst of entrepreneurial energy and political purpose before Bangladesh turns the corner for good. The long-running feud between Prime Minister Wazed and her main rival, Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia, makes that of the Hatfields and McCoys look benign by comparison. The war of ideas against the country's plethora of Islamist groups requires the kind of sustained pressure that Dhaka has been unable to apply in the past. And garment exports notwithstanding, the economy remains shallow.

Despite these caveats, Bangladesh ought to be held up as a role model, especially for the subcontinent's other Muslim-majority state. Arguably no two countries in the region share as much in common as Pakistan and Bangladesh, two wings of the same country between 1947 and 1971. With 171 million people and 164 million people, respectively, they are the world's sixth and seventh most populous countries. Both have alternated between civilian and military rule. In terms of culture, both layer Islam over an older Indic base.

Yet when it comes to government policies and national identity, the two countries diverge sharply. As a percentage of gross domestic product, Islamabad spends more on its soldiers than on its school teachers; Dhaka does the opposite. In foreign policy, Pakistan seeks to subdue Afghanistan and wrest control of Indian Kashmir. Bangladesh, especially under the current dispensation, prefers cooperation to confrontation with its neighbors.

Perhaps most importantly, Bangladesh appears comfortable in its own skin: politically secular, religiously Muslim and culturally Bengali. Bangladeshis celebrate the poetry, film and literature of Hindus and Muslims equally. With Pakistanis it's more complicated. The man on the street displays the same cultural openness as his Bangladeshi counterpart, but Pakistan also houses a vast religious and military establishment that seeks to hold the country together by using triple-distilled Islam and hatred toward India as glue.

In a way their best known national heroes sum up the two country's personalities. For Bangladesh, it's Grameen Bank's Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, synonymous with small loans to village women. For Pakistan: Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue nuclear scientist who peddled contraband technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

Nearly 40 years ago, only the most reckless optimist would have bet on flood-prone, war-ravaged Bangladesh over relatively stable and prosperous Pakistan. But with a higher growth rate, a lower birth rate, and a more internationally competitive economy, yesterday's basket case may have the last laugh. #

First published in the Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2010


Sadanand Dhume, a columnist for WSJ.com, is writing a book about the new Indian middle class

Taliban warns Bangladesh over Afghan deployment

SALEEM SAMAD

THE DREADED Taliban of Afghanistan on Monday (Sept 27) warned Bangladesh to refuse a request of the Americans to deploy combat troops in Afghanistan to ensure security and stability in the war-ravaged country.
United States Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke made a request recently before Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at a bi-lateral meeting in New York. Dipu Moni assured the US envoy of further talks on the issue.

Two days after the request was made the SITE intelligence group published a report with the headline "Afghan Taliban reacts to US requesting troops from Bangladesh" on September 27, reports The Daily Star.

The undaunted Talibans responded by posting messages in Arabic and Pashto on its website while Jihadist forums called on Dhaka to spurn the US request, the USA authoritative monitoring service SITE said.
"(We) believe that the leader of Bangladesh has enough Islamic knowledge and political wit not to involve his people in the fight against Islam and against the Afghan people by sending a few hundred soldiers to Afghanistan," the message said.

"Assuming that the leader would commit such a historic mistake, the religious Muslim people of Bangladesh will not allow their leaders to assist the eternal enemy of Islam against an Islamic neighboring country."

Bangladesh is yet to accept the proposal to assist the coalition forces fighting them in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic analysts in Dhaka, however, say it is risky to send troops to Afghanistan right now and the decision of sending troops should be made after consulting the United Nations and other Muslim-dominated countries, reports BDNews24.

In a decade Bangladesh deployed combat troops in Haiti and Kuwait at the request of Washington.

Muslim majority Bangladesh is a major contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping missions across the world. It has no troops in Afghanistan, except for aid workers engaged in school education and medical doctors in the villages in strife-torn Kandahar province. [END]

First published in DesPardes.com, September 28, 2010

Saleem Samad, is a journalist based in Bangladesh, an Ashoka Fellow for trend-setting journalism and recipient of prestigious Hellman-Hammet Award. He has recently returned from exile in Canada. He could be reached at SaleemSamad@hotmail.com

Media bashed in Bangladesh Parliament

SALEEM SAMAD

SEVERAL MEMBERS of Parliament (MPs) have voiced annoyance, vengeance and demanded action against four newspapers including their editors in the parliament on September 21.

The heated discussion was participated by the speaker, three ministers, and six lawmakers. The ruling party and its alliance lawmakers several times lauded and supported speeches castigating the newspapers by thumping desks. The opposition remained abstain from the session.

The lawmakers expressed their outrage over several news articles, commentaries and cartoons critiquing lawmakers and cabinet ministers for controversial practices and controversial statements.

The three ministers – Local Government Minister and also General Secretary of Awami League Syed Ashraful Islam, Jute and Textile Minister Abdul Latif Siddqui and Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan and other lawmakers asked the Speaker of the Parliament to summon the editors for tarnishing the image of the parliament. The lawmakers named Prothom Alo, Dainik Samakal, Amadher Shomoy, and Dainik Inqilab.

The dailies recently published articles on issues of tax-free cars for lawmakers, tax-free remuneration and allowances and their “half-hearted interest” in the law-making process.

Awami League MPs Suranjit Sengupta, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Nurul Islam Sujon, Jatiya Party MPs Fazle Rabbi, Mujib-ul-Haque and JSD MP Moinuddin Khan Badal took part in an unscheduled discussion during question-answer session.

Apparently addressing the media the ministers said, they are not given licence to say whatever they like. They suggest to legal action against the fourth estate and their editors.

"Summon Prothom Alo's editor MATIUR RAHMAN (m) and ask what was his role was during the state of emergency (2007-2009)," angry Abdul Latif Siddqui demanded. He questioned many print and electronic media role during the state of emergency. "We will be harsh against them."

Informing the parliament the Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said that recently a human-chain was held demanding arrest of Prothom Alo's editor Matiur Rahman in connection with his alleged involvement in the August 21 bomb attack on now Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina (f).

Speaker Abdul Hamid, cited a news item recently run by Dainik Samakal on legislators' tours abroad. He said lawmakers going abroad and taking part in international conferences cannot be considered "trips of luxury".

The speaker also cited a news headline of Amader Shomoy which tantamount to "slur" on him (Speaker). He cited another article of Dainik Inqilab and accused it of distorting his comments made in parliament.

Awami League lawmaker Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim (m), however, said time has come to enact privilege act for the parliament and its members. He said it is possible to take legal action against anybody on contempt of parliament based on constitutional provisions.

However, there is no privilege acts to punish the print and electronic media practitioners.

Defending freedom of the press, freedom of expression and democratic tolerance veteran parliamentarian Suranjit Sen Gupta (m) explained that "we do not want to take action against anybody. We want a friendly relation with the media, not enmity."

Gupta said newspapers are considered the fourth estate so "We (lawmakers) should all act responsibly". He said there may be criticism but there should not be any hostility. He urged the MPs not have animosity towards the media.

"The parliament is sovereign," he said, adding that this parliament has to protect its dignity.
He said contempt of parliament is tantamount to contempt of the speaker, and democracy cannot be protected with contemptuous attitude toward parliament.

Moinuddin Khan Badal (m), spoke differently. "I think we should accept that media will criticise the MPs as they are public figures," he remarked and said the journalists could write whatever they thought in a democratic system.

The Speaker despite his criticism on the media did not issue any ultimatum or directives as urged by the ministers and parliamentarians.

Bangladesh Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad (m) assured the media practitioners and information rights groups not to worry for some “isolated comments.” He reiterated that Bangladesh government is committed to absolute freedom of press and making best efforts to establish the right to information. [END]

Saleem Samad, is a Bangladesh based journalist, an Ashoka Fellow for trend-setting journalism and recipient of prestigious Hellman-Hammet Award. He has recently returned from exile in Canada. He could be reached at SaleemSamad@hotmail.com

Bangladesh Anthrax Scare Threatens $400 Million In Exports

SALEEM SAMAD


Special to All Headline News


Dhaka, Bangladesh (NewsBahn)

BANGLADESH REMAINS on high alert for reports of fresh anthrax infections creeping far and wide in the countryside amid a significant fall in consumption of beef and mutton.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas has declared a nationwide anthrax threat.

The government, fearing the panic taking deep roots in the economy, has formed a national committee for control of anthrax infection before the Eid-ul-Azha, the Moslem festival of sacrifice of cattle in November.

Manufacturers of finished leather and leather goods, who yearly make nearly half a billion dollars in export earnings, are equally nervous. Last year earnings from exports of finished leather amounted $226 million and exports of leather shoes and leather goods earned more than $200 million.

Usually beef and mutton is in high demand during the festival of Eid-ul Azha. Nearly 40 per cent of the annual supply of rawhide is procured during the festival, said Mohammed Aftab, president of the Bangladesh Hides and Skin Merchants Association.

The anthrax infection, which began in a northern Bangladesh village Aug. 20, has gradually spread to half the country. Public health officials have raised the number of confirmed infections to nearly 600. The current outbreak has been described as the biggest in the country in two decades.

Health officials visiting the affected areas blamed consuming beef from sick cows that were not vaccinated as the cause of the anthrax spread.

Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) said no one had died from the infection and all affected persons were under treatment.

Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium that exists naturally in the soil and commonly infects livestock, which ingest or inhale its spores while grazing. It can be transmitted to humans who handle or eat infected animals.

Anthrax commonly affects hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats, but humans who come into contact with the infected animals can get sick.

Abu Hadi Noor Ali Khan, professor of the veterinary department at Bangladesh Agricultural University, said the outbreak could not be contained without an adequate supply of anthrax vaccine.

“Only the government produces anthrax vaccines and the vaccines produced so far this year can vaccinate less than 5 per cent of the cattle,” Khan told English daily The New Age.

Most of the consumers in cities and small towns deliberately avoid beef curry and beef kabab from their daily platter for fear of being infected. Young people have resorted to ordering chicken or vegetarian menu, especially in popular hangouts such as KFC, Pizza Hut and other fast food outlets.

IEDCR director Mahmudur Rahman said all the cases were not anthrax, as many panic-stricken people are dubbing regular infections or any skin abnormalities as anthrax infections.

Meat traders have threatened to strike the capital if the government does not come up with an effective solution against anthrax within two weeks.

“No anthrax patient has been found in the city yet. Instead blamed the media and the government for creating panic over the infection,” claimed Golam Mortuza Montu, president of Bangladesh Meat Traders Association.

A cattle market on the fringe of the capital Dhaka is empty of livestock for sale. The number of cattle coming to the city has dropped radically. Many butchers have hung "no meats available" signs in front of their shops while others have barely managed to sell their stock. #

First published in All Headlines News (AHN), September 20, 2010


Saleem Samad, is a Bangladesh based journalist, an Ashoka Fellow for trend setting journalism and recipient of prestigious Hellman-Hammet Award. He has recently returned from exile in Canada.

All America is hallowed ground for freedom

BRIDGET KUSTIN

RECENTLY, I returned to Baltimore after spending a summer researching Islam, finance, and politics in Bangladesh. I still haven't unpacked--I want to preserve the memories of hospitality and gratitude that couldn't be captured in my field notes. The smell of wood smoke on clothes worn as my village host prepared me an elaborate Ramadan fast-breaking meal. The parting gift of pungent spices from an Islamic bank officer who accompanied me across my rural field site, answering my questions for hours. And when I arrived home, an email from one of Bangladesh's most senior figures in Islamic banking and politics was waiting for me, asking if I made it back safely.
As I recovered from jet lag the day after my return, a passenger asked a cab driver in New York City if he was Muslim. When the cab driver responded affirmatively, the 21-year old passenger offered the traditional "Assalamu alaikum" greeting, then apparently slashed the driver's throat and stabbed his arms and face. According to news reports, this horrific act will be charged as a hate crime.

The cab driver was an immigrant. He came to America 25 years ago from Bangladesh.

Critics of the proposed "Ground Zero" Cordoba House insist that America is exceptional because opposition to different religions and religious institutions is expressed peacefully. This is not true. Violence against Muslims is not systematic or state-sponsored, but it still occurs. These individual violent acts are all but sanctioned by media and political figures who undermine the humanity of Muslims by calling their religion inherently violent, or an existential threat to "American values," or an innate threat to national security.
A less severe position is that Muslims can be good Americans, but projects such as Cordoba House are insensitive. According to these critics, constitutional rights should be subject to good taste.

Commissioners Richard Land and Nina Shea of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom(USCIRF), a federal advisory body, have opposed Cordoba House as insensitive and as a potential security risk, respectively. USCIRF commissioner chair Leonard Leo directs a Tea Party group collecting signatures against Cordoba House, billed on its website as an "affront to decency and common sense."

The irony of American advocates of religious freedom opposing a Muslim community center would make for pitch-perfect political comedy a l� The Daily Show if it wasn't so deeply troubling. As a former USCIRF employee, the deep disconnect between these commissioners' overseas advocacy and their domestic intolerance of the religious freedom of Muslims suggests to me that Islamophobia has worked its way well into the mainstream.

During my tenure at USCIRF from 2007 to 2009--first in communications and then as South Asia researcher--commissioners defended the right of religious minorities to build and maintain their religious institutions, no matter the popular objections or prevailing social norms. Among the countries in my portfolio, commissioners argued for the rights of Christians to maintain churches in Orissa, India, despite strong anti-Christian sentiment grounded partially in the fear of "forced conversions." In Pakistan, commissioners defended the right of persecuted Ahmadis to call themselves Muslims and call their houses of worship mosques--despite the widespread, impassioned belief that Ahmadis are not 'real' Muslims. Commissioners criticized Sri Lankan government for citing security concerns while restricting the freedom of individuals to worship where and how they pleased.

Indeed, USCIRF advocacy is generally dedicated to upholding Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that every individual has the right, "alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." Commissioners Land, Leo, and Shea should protect Cordoba House under Article 18 with the same vigor they have extended to foreign countries.
In Bangladesh this past summer, I met many Muslim Bangladeshis who excitedly told me about friends or relatives living in the United States, while gamely answering my probing questions about Islam. How shameful that being Muslim in the United States is now suddenly enough to have one's religious freedom restricted via popular pressure--or even to get one killed.

To my host community in Bangladesh, and to my fellow Americans: that cab driver's life is just as innocent and just as valuable as any of the 3,000 lost on September 11, 2001. All of America is hallowed ground for the freedoms that have made this country great. There is no greater affront to decency than to allow the slow erosion of our commitment to tolerance. #

First published in The Washington Post, August 30, 2010

Bridget Kustin is a doctoral student and member of the Drishtipat Writers' Collective