Jamaat's version of history
THE Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a political party still unrepentant of its 1971 role, seems to miss no opportunity to hit out at the principles and events that form the very foundation of our nationhood. Not long ago, the party's general secretary deliberately insulted our Independence War and our freedom fighters by claiming that our liberation war was nothing but a civil war and also that there were no war criminals in Bangladesh! Later he also said, "If we had the same strength in '71 as we have today, then history would have been different."
Now, Moulana Nizami, the Jamaat Amir, has uncorked yet another shocker by defending the two-nation theory and, terming Bangladesh as a product of the same ideology that led to the birth of Pakistan, totally ignoring our nationalism, language movement and struggle for cultural identity. Jamaat chief's observation did not come as a surprise to us, rather it is only natural that they would continue to praise their mentor, Pakistan's founder, Quad-e-Azam MA Jinnah. Nizami's love for Jinnah and the two-nation theory is understandable, as it was the same belief that made them oppose, and collaborate with Pakistan to prevent, the birth of Bangladesh. What perhaps reveals most strikingly Jamaat's attitude to everything connected with our independence movement is the fact that its chief chose an occasion like Victory Day to say what he said and hurt the feelings of the people, who had to endure the Pakistani atrocities for nine excruciating months before liberating themselves.
The Jamaat has acknowledged the War of Liberation in its constitution to comply with the RPO. That the party did so more under compulsion than conviction has been made clear once more.
The Jamaat Amir has made the outlandish statement that we would never have been independent -- had there been no Pakistan. It is not clear, though, what independence means to him. What would have happened had the Pakistan army, supported by the Jamaat and its killing squads like the Al-Badr and Al-Shams, succeeded in its mission of perpetually subjugating the people of Bangladesh? We would still have been part of a country that committed genocide, destroyed our homes and wanted to obliterate our culture and language.
The irony is that the Jamaat leaders are still not realising, or are not ready to admit, that what they did in 1971 could only be termed crimes against humanity, not to mention against the very people whose votes they are seeking, and against the country whose parliament they hope to enter.
We are in a sense happy that the Jamaat leaders are actually not hiding the fact that the changes brought about in their constitution were to hoodwink the people, and did not signal any change of heart or mind. We are confident that people will not fail to judge the Jamaat's real position on core issues of our nationhood and will let their ballot teach them a good lesson.
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