The extremist spectre

Rashed Khan Menon

Bangladesh which was founded as a secular democratic state now prefers to call itself a moderate Muslim state. This name was given to Bangladesh by the western powers to differentiate it from other Muslim states governed by Islamic laws. Bangladesh was praised by those powers for pursuing moderate Islam, but things have changed since the BNP-Jamaat alliance took the charge of the state in 2001. The Jamaat is known for its adherence to fundamentalist Islamic principles; their aim is to establish a Islamic state. The other partner of the alliance Islamic Oikya Jote is cruder about their aim of establishing Islamic state and society.
Immediately after the alliance government had taken over power, there ensued a serious persecution of religious minorities. The state did not come in with any help, rather the accusation of religious persecution was shrugged off by the government in power. This created a sense of isolation among the religious minorities.
On the other hand, their ensued a spurt of activities among the Islamic militants. These elements organised themselves in the early part of 1990s taking inspiration from the Talibans of Afghanistan. They practically got a free hand as the alliance government turned a blind eye to their activities. The reports in the western press about Islamic militants were rejected as an attempt to demean the image of Bangladesh by some unfriendly quarters. The government also accused the opposition political parties of spreading lies about fundamentalist activities in Bangladesh.
But now the government has apparently changed its stance. Two Islamic militant organisations have been banned and some of their leaders arrested. The home ministry has issued orders to the police for apprehending militant elements. It seemed to be an eyewash to please the donor countries who were having an impromptu meeting in Washington to review their help to Bangladesh. But things have again gone to the background. The prime minister who promised to give detailed information to the Parliament about Islamic militants during her winding up speech on the vote of thanks to President did not mention anything about it; rather, she described it as a mere law and order problem.
But as intelligence reports go there are about twenty-nine Islamic militant organisations active in Bangladesh with their networks in villages. They preach 'Jihad' and impart military training to their recruits in modern guerilla warfare including sabotage. In their recent drives, the police have discovered some such training camps in the isolated pockets of chars and also in the hills and jungles of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. The main recruitment centers of their organisations are said to be madrasas. The militant organisations are suspected to be closely linked to networks in the region. Actually, those people who took part as volunteers, mainly in Afghanistan, came back to Bangladesh to build up groups here.
It is reported that most of the leading members and cadres of these organisations either are active in Jamaat and in their student organisation Shibir or were at some time or the other associated with them. The Jamaat in the recent past like BNP denied the existence of any such Islamic militants dubbing it as propaganda by the western and Indian press to prove Bangladesh as a 'failed state' and create a ground for intervention. Now the Jamaat has changed its stance and is crying hoarse about the Islamic militant activities being a Zionist conspiracy to crush the Islamic movement. But nobody is buying their arguments, as they are known for their hypocritic stand on the issue. Rather they feel that the activities of the Islamic militants serve the Jamaat best as it helps them politically. And, it is Jamaat and the 10J, which are holding the government back from taking any drastic action against these forces. The government is also not very much eager to go about the Islamic militants so long as it serves their political purpose. The main partner of the government i.e. BNP, has also succumbed to the ideology of further right.
The arithmetic of election has also tied BNP to Jamaat and other obscurantist forces so much so that they cannot think of getting out of it. This has given further advantage to the forces of orthodoxy; Islamic fundamentalist ideas as well as Islamic militancy are gaining ground everyday. This has brought a great change in Bangladesh. The country, which was known for its non-communal and secular character, has now fallen into the grip of religious obscurantism. The trend doesn't bode well for the women at all. The women, who were brought out of Purdah hundred years ago are sought to be put behind it again. Islamic clerics are claiming their right to give 'Fatwa' which has been declared illegal by High Court.
Madrasa education has been put at par with general education. Now even Qaumi madrasas are claiming recognition from the government.
The main brunt of attack of Islamic fundamentalist activities is against the culture and religious traditions of Bangladesh. At the threat of Islamic militants to hurl bombs at Jatra -- the traditional form of village theatre -- the government has refused to give permission to such cultural activity. The mazars and urs have also been targets of attack -- the famous of them being Hazrat Shah Jalal's shrine at Sylhet. The quarrel between the different religious sects is also being encouraged. This has generated a degree of religious intolerance in the villages with a potential to destroy social and religious harmony for which Bangladesh has been traditionally famous. If the trend is not arrested, Bangladesh would be slipping into the grip of religious extremism very soon.
Actually, the wall between 'moderate Islam' and 'extremist Islam' is not thick. And when Islam is used as a political tool this difference can evaporate. Use of Islam in politics was responsible for the woes of people of Bangladesh during the Pakistan days. The political exploitation of Islam, now in the form of fundamentalism and Islamic militancy, could only bring suffering to the people of this country, even cause its ruination. The time has come to to stand up against religious fanaticism and bring the country back on the rail of communal and religious harmony, and of secular democratic polity for which the people fought and achieved national independence.

The author is President Workers' Party of Bangladesh

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Let's not create a Frankenstein

Air Cdre Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury (Retd)

The campaign to declare Ahmadiyya community as "non-Muslims" is going on unabated in various parts of the country. Despite feeble voices of protest from some quarters of the civil society, the religious bigots are virtually having a free run. The general feeling is that as long as one is not an Ahmadi why bother? In the recent conference held in Dhaka, the International Khatme Nabuwat Committee showed off their international support by bringing in like-minded religious leaders from Pakistan and some ME countries. Their threat to the Government and the High Court of Bangladesh was unequivocal and unambiguous, "Declare the Ahmadis as non-Muslims or face a blood bath". In Bogra, a group of stick-wielding religious fanatics forced the authority to cave in to their pressure. The signboard of Ahmadiyya mosque was pulled down and a banner brought by the fanatics was hung instead. This was a repeat show of what happened earlier in Dhaka, Chittagong or Khulna. In all cases, the law enforcers were either silent spectators or actively collaborated with the fanatics.
Beyond the constitutional and legal question of whether the state has any business to declare a group of people as 'Muslims' or 'non-Muslims', there is the important question of long-term implication of such a decision on the character of state itself. Pakistan, where the Ahmadiyya conflict originated, can be taken as a case study. Although Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, the Messiah of the Ahmadiyya, was born in Qadian, now in Indian Punjab and hundreds of thousands of his followers are living as Muslims throughout the world, it was in Pakistan that a call was made in 1953 by Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, the founder President of Jamaat-e-Islami, to declare them as non-Muslims. The call emanated more from political expediency than religious fervour. The Ahmadis, although small in number, had a strong position in Pakistan; Lahore had been their stronghold. The foreign minister of Pakistan at the time was Sir Zafarullah Khan, an Ahmadi. So were many top brasses in the bureaucracy and military. Although they were 5% of the population, 20% of the total literate persons were Ahmadi. Maulana Maududi, a refugee from India, had no constituency in Pakistan so he had to create one. The campaign to declare the Ahmadis as 'non-Muslim' gave him his chance. Anti-Ahmadiyya riot swept across Pakistani Punjab. Pakistan, created in the name of Islam, was besmirched within six years of its creation with Muslim blood shed by fellow Muslims. Rioting was particularly severe in Lahore that resulted in the imposition of Martial Law in the city. That was also the beginning of the inroad of military in Pakistan politics. Maududi was arrested, tried in a special military tribunal and sentenced to death in March 1953. The sentence was revoked later only under pressure from countries such as Saudi Arabia. The Anti-Ahmadiyya frenzy soon cooled down and there was no trouble till 1974. Then a westernised, left-leaning Prime Minister with dubious past, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, passed a law declaring the Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Remember the timing 1974. This was a period of deep despair and despondency in Pakistan. The country had recently lost a war, was reduced by half, economy was in shambles and the Pakistani statehood was in question. How do you divert the attention of the masses from the vital issues facing the nation? Blame the minority Ahmadis for all the failures and pitfalls, declare them non-Muslims and throw them out of all public offices was the prescription. Many Ahmedis lost their jobs and business only because of their faith. I remember Air Chief Marshal Zafar Choudhury, then the Chief of Pakistan Air Force, was removed from the office just because of he was an Ahmadi. Dr. Abdus Salam, an Ahmadiyya Muslim and the only Muslim Nobel prizewinner physicist had no place in his own country; he had to die and lay buried in Italy. The Ahmadiyya community fought back with legal suits that went on till 1984 when under the dictatorial regime of General Zia-ul-Haque, the Supreme Court in Pakistan upheld the government order of declaring the Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Soon Ahmadis ceased to exist as a cognisable factor in Pakistan. Did it silence the religious fanatics? The answer is a loud and clear, 'No'. More the government of Pakistan appeased the religious fanatics, the more strident became their demands. Once the Ahmadis were cornered and virtually eliminated from public life, the attention shifted to the Shias that constitute about 13% of the population of Pakistan. Extremist Sunni clerics declared the Shias as 'Kaffirs' and formed 'Jehadi' groups to wage attacks on them. The Shias retaliated with 'Fatwa' from their clerics. The Shia- Sunni clash, unheard of in the early years of Pakistan, soon became regular affairs. The country was thrust into an endless cycle of violence between the two sects. Because the Shias are minority and are economically and politically marginalised, they are mostly at the receiving end. From isolated incidents of violence, the communal clash turned into full-blown urban warfare. Now the suicide bombers have entered the scene. Imagine the hatred generated in the minds of impressionable young men when they think that it is worth blowing themselves up if they could take a number of 'Kaffir' to hell while they enter instantly to the Garden of Eden. Thus we hear frequently of suicide bombers blowing themselves up inside the crowded mosques and shrines. From Gilgit to Karachi, from Quetta to Lahore, the Shia-Sunni clash is ripping Pakistan apart.
Latest in the line of fire in Pakistan is the tiny Ismaili sect. Twenty-two Sunni religious organisations in Pakistan have joined together in their campaign to declare the Ismailis as non-Muslims. Interestingly, some of the 'Berlavi' Muslim organisations that were so long considered moderate have joined ranks with the Deobandis in the campaign against the Ismailis. Ismailis are an offshoot of Shia sect, a few million of whom are scattered across the globe. Two further offshoots of the Ismailis, known as the Agha Khanis and the Bohras, are especially concentrated in urban centres of the sub-continent. The communities are small but well knit, educated, urbane and westernised in their outlook. They concentrate on business and industries rather than on politics, bureaucracy or military. Some of the biggest financial institutions in Pakistan are owned by the Ismailis. Because they maintain low profile in politics, they had for so long missed the attention of the religious fanatics. But now it is their turn to face the wrath. The Government in Pakistan is now faced with a new problem that would have enormous economic implications, if not political fallout.
We in Bangladesh should not ignore the hard lessons learnt in Pakistan; similar act is being played out here. By banning Ahmadiyya publications, the government has already acknowledged the fact that there exists a prima facie case for intervention by the state. Thankfully, the High Court nullified that order. Let us assume that the government succumb to the pressure and declare the Ahmadis as non-Muslims. What will be the implications? It will open up the "Pandora's Box" as in Pakistan. Tomorrow another group might come out to declare the Shias as non-Muslims. They might seize Shia mosques and 'Imambaras' and put up signboards warning Muslims not to enter those places. This year, for the first time in Bangladesh, we had a grenade attack on a Muharram programme. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The Shias are too few in numbers in Bangladesh to react violently as they do in Pakistan, but our relations with countries such as Iran will be strained no doubt. We have small numbers of Ismailis in Bangladesh, mostly engaged in business, trade and industries. They would be scared at the recent turn of events. There are different sects even among Sunni Muslims that widely differ in theological beliefs and practices. Deobandis and Berlavis have serious differences between them and often call each other 'deviants' or even 'Kaffirs'. Deobandi extremists are suspected of attacks in 'Mazars' and 'Dargahs', which are venerated by the Berlavi devotees. There has been many such bombings in Pakistan and Bangladesh in recent days. If the state joins in the fray and starts labelling different sects as 'non-Muslims', soon there will not be many Muslims left. Can we imagine what era of darkness we are heading into?
We cannot allow Bangladesh to turn into a religious battleground. Both the major political parties, which are essentially modern and progressive in their outlook, have played or are playing religious cards to secure short-term political gains. They must realise that in the end they themselves will be devoured by their protégé
. In an article in the Daily Star on 7 February, I pointed out that unless we put our house in order, there would be external interference much to our disliking. Discrimination or violence against ethnic, linguistic or religious minority are no longer treated as the internal affairs of a state; these become matters of international concern. I quoted the Darfur affairs in Sudan as an example. Now look what US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Delhi on 19 Mar during her visit there. She said, "There is more that we (USA and India) probably need to do on Bangladesh which is, I think, a place that is becoming quite troubling. So in the region, there is a great deal that we can do." According to the Daily Star report, when asked as to what role she thought India should be playing in the region in dealing with failing states such as Bangladesh, Nepal or Sri Lanka, and of course Pakistan, Ms Rice replied that there were several ways in which India, and then India and the United States together, can help in this region. This is a strong and clear warning to our policy makers, "Get your house in order, or else ………"
No self-respecting citizen would like to hear this kind of comments coming out of the US Secretary of State at a time when the nation is celebrating its Independence Day. There is no doubt that since independence in 1971, this country has made significant progress in many socio-economic sectors. Our life expectancy is up, population growth rate is down, calorie intake is up and child mortality is down. People are better educated, better housed and better clothed today than anytime in the past. Very few countries in the world can boast a constant double-digit export growth for a decade Bangladesh is one. Our Human Development Index (HDI) is climbing every year, not a mean feat for a country with huge population and with limited natural resources. It would be most unfortunate if we allow these hard-earned gains to be destroyed by few self-motivated fanatics. On the eve of our Independence Day, may we all resolve to concentrate our energy on constructing this nation, rather than deconstructing it.

The author is a contributor to The Daily Star