Unfreedom and indecency
IN view of the prevalent political crisis, which often flares up into organised killing of political rivals in Bangladesh, one might naively assume that (a) the “pro” and “anti-Liberation” forces are sorting out their problems; (b) while the “anti-Liberation” forces are hell-bent on turning the country into a part of Pakistan (again!), the “pro-Liberation” forces are just resisting them by all means; and (c) a total victory against the “enemies of freedom” would eventually resolve all other problems dogging the country since Liberation. However, a not-so-naïve person might smell the rot, which is too stinky to tolerate by any civil, decent, and freedom loving human beings anywhere. The stench is felt well beyond the perimeters of Bangladesh.
The way some people justify public lynching and execution of people, who the judge-jury-executioner considers guilty of gross sedition, reminds me of what Madame Roland said on her way to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror in France in the 1790s: “O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom!” (Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!). The excesses of our champions of liberty warn us of their potential to re-stage a reign of terror in Bangladesh, a la post-revolutionary France, Russia, China and Cambodia. Some champions of the “freedom of expression”—the unbridled wild horses of Bangladesh—are also menaces to whatever is left of our civility and decency.
Despite being a champion of freedom of expression and thought, one may congratulate the Bangladesh government for its bold decision to issue an arrest warrant against Abdul Latif Siddique for hurting people's religious sentiments. This move to try someone in accordance with the law of the land is a step towards establishing the rule of law. Here the argument, whether the law is good or bad is irrelevant. So long as there is law against hurting the people's religious sentiment in the country (a hate crime, having potential to stir up violent civil unrest), the government should enforce it indiscriminately.
The way Latif Siddique abused what he thought was his “freedom of expression” reflects his rusticity, lack of decency and respect for his own people. Stirring up social unrest and political crisis does not help the cause of freedom, but precipitates what Amartya Sen considers 'unfreedom,' or the lack of freedom and development. People in Bangladesh must realise nobody in the East or West is interested in taking away their hard-earned freedom. The irresponsible use of one's freedom of expression is as harmful as further dividing the country in the name of preserving the “Spirit of Liberation.” They can only backfire, and retard economic growth and socio-political- cultural development of the nation.
It is appalling that some Bangladeshis are totally against showing any respect to the memory of Piash Karim. They are dead against taking his body to the premises of the Shaheed Minar, which of late has become a tradition of paying respects to a public figure posthumously. This is done in the name of safeguarding the “sanctity” of the Shaheed Minar and the “Spirit of Liberation” by the Dhaka University authorities and some over-zealous “freedom loving” people. We think this irresponsible decision violates so many unwritten codes of civility, decency, and self-respect.
Young and talented artists have wasted their time and energy in writing slanderous banners, and drawing cartoons near the Shaheed Minar to portray Piash Karim as a monster and anti-Liberation Razakar. These politically motivated fabrications, which are not even remotely true, can at best be summed up as pathetic. One is not sorry for Piash Karim, but is full of pity for those who are too petty and devoid of generosity even to a departed soul, who sometimes held divergent views on various issues, which sometimes were not palatable to some people. Then again, this is what democracy and freedom are all about. Democracy is about agreeing to disagree, and respecting dissenting views and opinions. We cannot be that judgmental or play God to say the last word about who is right and who is wrong.
What we hear the “champions and sole custodians of freedom” in Bangladesh campaigning against Piash Karim is simply unbelievable: “Piash Karim was a Razakar [he was only 13 in 1971] since his late father was a chairman of a local Peace Committee in Comilla, during the Liberation War.” What an argument! Truth seems to have bypassed all our depositories of fiction and imagination. Self-glorification is vainglorious narcissism. It is bad, but worse is its evil ramifications, including the demonisation of the ubiquitous “others” as enemies of the people at large. Should not we assume that the champions of freedom would act differently from what Islamist extremists, for example, do by demonising others as “enemies of Islam,” and legitimate targets?
I consider Piash Karim a brave and bold, honest and intelligent person. He was like my younger brother, from among the “first generation” of my students at Dhaka University in the 1970s. I could not even imagine him in my wildest dreams as being “anti-Liberation” or anti-Bangladesh, ever. Since students are the best judges of their teachers, I reproduce what a former student of Piash Karim has recently written about him in social media: “While there are many who criticise Piash Karim for his political views, it seems that the majority is not actually aware of what his political views were. To suggest that he was against 1971, against independence, or not worthy of being near the Shaheed Minar, is outrageous to me. This is the man I knew: a scholar, an academic who knew much more about the history of the Bangla language than most … Can it be that someone so passionate about our history, so dedicated to democracy, justice, and equality, does not deserve to be taken to Shaheed Minar? Can it be that a group of people, who collectively do not have an iota of his extensive knowledge of the history of Bangla language, would actively prevent those grieving his loss from coming to pay their respects?”
The writer is a teacher of security studies at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, USA. Sage has recently published his latest book, Global Jihad and America: The Hundred-Year War Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.
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