A seedy, unsavoury air

All revolutions produce counter-revolutions, a dialectic that is played out over the long term in an inexorable cycle. In the case of Bangladesh, sadly enough, the counter revolution of 1975 came shockingly early, and in a bloody manner. In these collected letters (mostly translated from Bengali) of Dr Sajjad Husain, one can glimpse its mindset. It is not a pretty sight. On December 16, 1971 Dr. Sajjad Husan, professor of English literature and ardent Pakistani regime man, was the serving vice chancellor of Dhaka University. He was arrested and jailed, and after his release left for Saudi Arabia. There he stayed (on a Bangladeshi passport!) teaching English till 1985, until his return to Dhaka on the back of changed political circumstances and stayed here till his death in 1995.
In his letters (published by Al-Helal Publications, London and Dhaka, December 2004) written to a companion of like beliefs, a Mr. M. Tajammul Hussain who was part of the London-Dhaka axis of anti-1971, anti-liberation cohort groups, Dr. Sajjad Hussain reveals himself to be the quintessential counter-revolutionary, conspiratorial persona. He saw enemies everywhere, and was given to fulminations against India, 'Hinduized' Bengali culture and language (Pahela Boishak and other Bengali festivities), the Bangladesh press, the Awami League and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the BBC Bengali service, even his own Jamaat-i-Islami. In the context of Bangladesh's war of independence the letters collectively have a seedy, unsavory air about them, and it is hard to dismiss them as the rantings of a deluded old man whom history had passed by.
Nationally we have been somewhat 'desensitized' to the issue of academics being willing aides of the 1971 Pakistani military regime by the disclosure of the names of the other Dhaka University teachers in the list of collaborators compiled by the War Crimes Facts Finding Committee. Even then, one is taken aback at reading these letters of Dr Sajjad Husain, who was an academic of some repute. It is also surprising that the recipient of these letters saw it fit to publish them. Dr Sajjad questions the scale of the 1971 genocide. He routinely makes, apparently in all sincerity, statements such as "A man who was a member of Albadr in 1971, one Mr. Aminul Huq, has written an account of his experiences in prison after the fall of Pakistan. It's a remarkable book...The author saw me a few days ago. His faith in Islam is praiseworthy." This is belief in Islam gone insane! It is a sentiment that made the reviewer almost fling the book across the room. Still, one has to concede that these kinds of books should be necessary reading for us all, if for nothing else than as a reminder of the face of Anti-1971.
The other fact that emerges from this unhealthy, at times decidedly surreal correspondence is the extent to which despotic sheikhdoms/kingdoms of the Middle East generally, and Saudi Arabia in particular, gave, and still gives, refuge to former 1971 collaborators in the name of Islam. This protection afforded by our petrodollar overlord--paradoxically the leader of the Sunni Muslim world as well as bedmate of Crusader Bush--explains to an extent why the huge bulk of 1971 war criminals not only evade justice, but continue to play a large part in our national life.
Khademul Islam is literary editor, The Daily Star.