Surge of Islamist extremism

WHAT the civil society and democracy loving people of this country are blissfully unaware of, or are not paying much attention to, is the surge in Islamist extremism in this country. The reason for this is that the overwhelming majority of our people are Muslims, and illiterate both in liberal education and true religious education. This gives the politically motivated clerics extra space and mileage over others because nothing else appeals to and inflames the mind of the people so passionately and instantly as religion does.
There is no denying that the BNP-JI alliance government did the greatest harm to this country by spawning corruption and Islamist extremism, and patronising these two hydra-headed evils.
This does not mean that these evils did not exist here before. Corruption raised its ugly head from the very day we became an independent nation. But Islamic fanaticism as such was not there until late Ziaur Rahman started Islamising the country, with the former political rightists and defeated religious forces getting a new lease of life in politics.
But never before had we witnessed such pervasive corruption and Islamic fanaticism as we did during the last alliance government. Just think of the spate of well coordinated bomb blasts at public meetings, cultural functions, Bengali New Year festivals and cinema halls, all aimed at whipping up Islamic jingoism and destroying the fabric of secular Bengali culture and our image as a moderate Muslim country wedded to peace and communal harmony.
This caretaker government has mainly focused on combating corruption and bringing qualitative changes in our politics. It went about reconstituting and rejuvenating the Anti- corruption Commission (ACC), the Election Commission (EC) and the Public Service Commission, all praiseworthy initiatives aimed at rooting out corruption and conducting a credible election. It also began a hunt for the most corrupt political and social elites over and above the committed resolve of the ACC.
But, regrettably, it has done nothing whatsoever to face the growing menace of Islamist militarism head on. As a caretaker government in power for two years it could at least focus on containing the surge in Islamist extremism.
Look at the orchestrated vehement protests the religious zealots mounted against whatever little was promised to our women folks by this government in the shape of Women Development Policy 2008. Pitifully, the government caved in without any fight and abandoned its declared progressive policy on women. The civil society and democracy loving progressive people expected that the government would stand its ground. But this was not to be.
One might as well say that it goes to the credit of this government that it carried out the death sentence awarded to Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai, the notorious JMB fanatics who killed scores of people, including judges, in the name of religion. It was widely believed that their death sentence would have been commuted, ending in their release, once the BNP-JI alliance came to power again, which was guaranteed if the January 22 election had gone ahead. But detractors of this government maintain that behind the swift execution of the JMB leaders there was a clear intention to suppress the truth regarding those big bosses under whose guidance and shelter JMB was carrying out its atrocities.
It was not for nothing that Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami had accused the media of creating the myth of Bangla Bhai because, according to him, nobody by the name of Bangla Bhai existed. The condemned JMB leaders had clearly expressed their desire to share the truth with the media before they walked to the gallows. Had they divulged the names of the bosses it would have been embarrassing for the leaders and their parties.
It was during the tenure of this government that a freedom fighter, Abul Kalam, was attacked by Islamist extremist elements in full view of the media just because he was a freedom fighter. No action was taken against the culprits, although a video footage of the incident clearly shows the attackers' identity. Why this inaction and hypocrisy of neutrality?
The removal of baul sculptures from in front of ZIA, in the face of protests from Islamist extremists is clearly an act of capitulation by the government. Baul folk songs and baul culture epitomise religious tolerance and communal harmony, which is the cornerstone of the spirit of our liberation war.
Baul sculptures are the symbols of this heritage of Bengali culture of religious tolerance. Anything Bengali, including Bengali language, is viewed by the anti-liberation forces as anti-Islamic. The holy Quran or the Sunna of the holy Prophet of Islam do not say anywhere that erecting sculptures in public places is sacrilegious. What Islam prohibits is worshipping of sculptures and statues. In fact, Islam prohibits worshipping of anything or any object or any person other than Allah.
Moulana Fazlul Haq Amini has threatened to pull down all sculptures and erect Hajj Minars. What is a Hajj Minar? There is nothing called Hajj Minar in Islam. The religious fanatics are getting away with spitting hatred and venom against secular politics and the spirit of the war of liberation. Clearly, this government is giving undue mileage to the anti-liberation forces.
Finally, let us take the case of Mr. Mojahid, the JI secretary general an alleged collaborator and war criminal of our war of liberation. This gentleman has been playing hide and seek with the police. He is running about with a warrant of arrest hanging over his head, but police cannot arrest him or, more appropriately, does not want to arrest him. It is really incredible that a man on the run goes to the office of the chief advisor to attend a meeting as a member of the JI delegation and comes back home after the meeting, with the police standing as silent spectators.
As against this, the late General Mustafizur Rahman, a decorated war hero, a freedom fighter and a former army chief, lying gravely ill (with heart disease and cancer) and unable to move without wheelchair, was shown arrested with police force deployed in strength surrounding the hospital. What can we make of this government?
Those who are shouting against sculptures, Shahid Minar, Eternal Flame, celebration of February 21, Bengali New Year Festival, and, more pointedly, against communal harmony and secular politics, are ideologically the same people who had opposed our independence in the name of Islam. These are the people who had paraded the streets and chanted slogans: "We shall become Talebans. Bagladesh will become Afghanistan." The then government of the day took no notice of it. Let us wake up before it is too late and before this tiny little country becomes the playground of war on terror like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Brig. Gen. Shamsuddin Ahmed (Retd) is a former Military Secretary to the President.