Coming To America

Posted on September 25, 2007 by Mash

[Cross posted at E-Bangladesh]

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the civilian face of Bangladesh’s military government, has arrived in America. For the first time in sixteen years Bangladesh will be represented at the UN General Assembly by an unelected technocrat. While Dr. Ahmed lacks a constituency back in Bangladesh he should feel quite at home in New York. In January Bangladesh experienced its first UN-instigated (if not backed) coup when the most senior UN official in Bangladesh, Renata Lok Dessalien, warned that there would be "implications" for the Bangladesh army’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions if it took part in the scheduled elections. Later in the day Bangladeshi generals dutifully obliged by walking into the Bangladeshi President’s office and demanding that power be handed over to technocrats chosen by the military. Apparently participating in a rigged election is far worse than participating in a coup, according to the United Nations. Thus was installed Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed as the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh’s "caretaker government".

In New York Dr. Ahmed is now amongst his constituents. The Bangladesh military government has taken a number of steps recently to prepare the ground for this trip. On September 9, Dr. Ahmed declared on national television that the military government was easing the ban on indoor politics. Less than a week later Dr. Ahmed granted an interview to the BBC to discuss the military government’s "commitment" to a "roadmap" toward democracy. It was yet another interview granted by the Chief Advisor to a foreign news outlet without granting a single interview to the Bangladeshi press. The headline out of the BBC interview was that Dr. Ahmed declared that Bangladesh was not under military rule. Dr. Ahmed also made the incredible claim that his government believed in freedom of press and had not imposed any restrictions on the media:

About the closure of talk shows on private TV channels at the instruction of a government agency, he said the government believes in freedom of mass media and they had not imposed any restrictions on them.

Fakhruddin said the government accepted and was benefited by criticisms made at the talk shows. However, he admitted that an advisory was given to the TV channels after the Dhaka University incident last month, which he said is a temporary measure.

"We’ve given full freedom for last seven-eight months. There is no dearth of goodwill or sincerity in ensuring freedom of the media," he said, adding that the criticisms are very important but those must be objective and constructive.

Dr. Ahmed neglected to mention, amongst other things, the intimidation of the media by army personnel, the very well-documented beatings of journalists, the recent arrest of a cartoonist, and the talk-show "guidelines" handed down by the military government to television channels. The press in Bangladesh has been mostly bludgeoned into submission while the Chief Advisor maintains his government "believes" in freedom of the press.

The interview to the foreign media was just in time for the visit to Bangladesh by John Gastright, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary for South Asian affairs. In Bangladesh Gastright offered support for the military government in Bangladesh and said that the U.S. looks forward to "full democracy" in Bangladesh. To underscore the point that Bangladesh was not being ruled by the military, Mr. Gastright, in an act of diplomatic jujitsu, met with General Moeen U Ahmed, Bangladesh’s army chief:

About his meeting with the army chief, Gastright said he had an excellent meeting with Gen Moeen U Ahmed, where he congratulated the chief of army staff on the important role the joint forces are playing in support of the caretaker government.

"I welcomed General Moeen’s repeated assurances that he and the army do not have any political ambition," Gastright said.

John Gastright got what he came for in Dhaka: an assurance from the military that the military camps all around the country, the military officials heading civilian departments, the military detaining and torturing people, the military intimidating and shutting down media outlets, the military beating students and journalists, the military arresting university professors, and the military chief making political speeches – all of it – did not mean that the military was running the country. It was indeed a "Silent Coup", as the Economist put it back in January.

Mr. Gastright’s support for Bangladesh’s military government was not surprising, nor was it new. In August, representing the Bush Administration Mr. Gastright appeared in front of the U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee and offered support for Bangladesh’s military government, as well as the military government of Pakistan. In his prepared testimony, he stated:

From the beginning, the new Caretaker Government stressed that it sought to restore, not replace, Bangladesh’s democracy, by undertaking a comprehensive reform aimed at leading the country toward free, fair, and credible elections. The government insisted that it would not be rushed in this difficult task. Initially we were troubled that this dramatic shift in government might signal a hidden agenda to indefinitely delay a return to democracy and conceal a secret military coup. We articulated these concerns to the new Caretaker Government immediately, calling for a roadmap to elections to be announced as soon as possible and advocating a lifting of the ban on political activity.  We also insisted that, while we applauded the anti-corruption effort, it would enjoy our continued support only if conducted with respect for international standards of human rights and with due regard for due process under the law of Bangladesh.  Thus far the Caretaker Government has been open and responsive to our views, and has taken steps to address each of our concerns.

During testimony it was revealed that Mr. Gastright gets his information on the progress of the Bangladesh military government from Farook Sobhan, the special envoy of the Bangladesh military government. However, Mr. Sobhan had not briefed Mr. Gastright adequately. The Chairman of the House Subcommittee on South Asia Congressman Gary Ackerman spelled out his doubts in his opening statement:

In Bangladesh, a care-taker government backed by the Army has delayed elections until sometime next year and has instead arrested one former Prime Minister, is threatening to arrest another and has imprisoned hundreds if not thousands of politicians and business leaders on vague charges of corruption.  While I believe that neither of the two major parties in Bangladesh have brought any great good to the Bangladeshi people, I’m hard pressed to understand how an extra-constitutional process brings about political reform.  From where I sit this looks remarkably like what Musharraf did in Pakistan – clear the field of the mainstream parties and inadvertently open the door to the Islamist parties, some of whom have particularly odious associations with known terrorists and terrorist organizations.  The Administration has previously described Bangladesh as a moderate Muslim democratic state.  After the care-taker government gets done however, describing Bangladesh as moderate and democratic will strain credulity.

Under withering questioning from Congressman Ackerman, Mr. Gastright, who had earlier stated that all was well in Bangladesh was now not too sure:

Ackerman: In your statement you note that the steps taken by President Ahmed are all actions permitted by the Bangladesh Constitution. It is my understanding that the state of emergency that was declared cannot exceed four months without further parliamentary review. Since there is no parliament to review the current state of emergency that’s lasted beyond the four months, under what legal authority is the current government of Bangladesh proceeding?

Gastright: I’ll have to get back with you sir. I’ll have to bring that information back to you sir. I don’t have it.

Ackerman: Do we believe its proceeding under legal authority?

Gastright: The information I have is that the current caretaker government is a constitutional entity.

Ackerman: Proceeding under legal authority?

Gastright: Yes sir.

Ackerman: But we don’t know under what theory.

Gastright: The best information I have is that the constitution of the country provides for a caretaker government and that this falls within that construct.

Ackerman: But I was correct in saying that they have outlived their constitutionally approved life.

Gastright: I am not aware of that sir. I’ll have to investigate and I’ll have to get back to you.

As John Gastright’s testimony in front of the US Congress and his trip to Bangladesh demonstrated, the Bangladesh military government still retains the support of the Bush administration, no matter how farcical. However, the Democrats in Congress are not big fans of the military rulers of Bangladesh.
 
So Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has come to America to shore up his base: the United Nations who backed the coup and the Bush Administration who continues to support the coup. While Dr. Ahmed seeks a constituency in the West he and his military bosses cannot ignore their lack of legitimacy at home. In light of the increasing climate of fear in Bangladesh and the continued suppression of fundamental rights Dr. Ahmed’s proclamations to foreign media that all is well seem more and more disconnected from reality. It is that reality that the military government must confront – anything else is putting lipstick on a pig.
 
To remind Dr. Ahmed of the reality back home, the Bangladeshi newspaper The New Age, defiant in the face of intimidation, has once again found its voice in a scathing editorial published today:

While the chief adviser is likely to have a fairly productive stay in the United States, especially after the support he has recently received from the US government through its visiting assistant secretary of state, John Gastright, his over-enthusiasm for speaking to the international media and gain support from the international community is certainly interesting. It is becoming increasingly clear that this administration, which hardly has any constitutional legitimacy any more, is seeking credibility and legitimacy from the international community to remain in power in this country. It is no secret that several foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka played a direct role in bringing this military-driven government about, and has tried over the last several months to prop it up. That perhaps explains the chief adviser’s obvious gratitude to our international ‘partners’ and his tendency to explain his government’s actions to the international community through the international media rather than to the people of this country through the local media.

…

While the political mix here at home becomes more complicated by the day, the Fakhruddin administration and its backers are busy pandering to the west. That they feel a greater accountability to the international community than to the people of this country is not only unfortunate but will ultimately prove counterproductive. General Musharraf of Pakistan is only now realising that the staunchest of international allies, including the United States, are of little use when the people in one’s own country come clamouring for change. Our administration should learn from that, and realise that its credibility and that of all its actions depends almost entirely on the holding of credible and acceptable elections to the ninth Jatiya Sangsad within a reasonable period of time. If it fails to do that, or worse, if it intentionally weakens democratic institutions and short-changes democracy, the support of the west will hardly give it the legitimacy or the protection that it will need.

On Wednesday Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed will address the United Nations General Assembly ostensibly on behalf of the people of Bangladesh – a people that are today living under military rule and without their fundamental rights. Dr. Ahmed will be at the podium at the General Assembly because the military, not the people, sent him there. This Wednesday he can either speak for the people of Bangladesh or speak for the military. Bangladesh waits to hear what he has to say, and on whose behalf he says it.

Posted in Bangladesh, Foreign Policy, Human Rights | Comments Off on Coming To America

We Demand The Immediate Release Of Arifur Rahman

Posted on September 23, 2007 by Mash

We demand the immediate release of Cartoonist Arifur Rahman

I join Bangladeshi blogger Sourov’s call for the immediate and unconditional release of 23-year old cartoonist Arifur Rahman. Arifur Rahman was arrested by the Bangladesh military government for drawing a harmless cartoon that was published in the leading Bengali language newspaper Prothom Alo. He was not represented by any lawyer in court and sent to jail without any due process.

Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of Arifur Rahman:

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediately release of Arifur Rahman, a cartoonist with Aalpin, the daily newspaper Prothom Alo’s weekly satirical supplement. He was arrested at his Dhaka home on 17 September over a cartoon that was a play on the name Mohammed. The government’s press department said the cartoon "hurt religious sentiments." All copies of the supplement were seized. Prothom Alo apologised and fired the supplement’s deputy editor.

"The play on words had no intention of attacking the Prophet," Reporters Without Borders said "It was a joke about a cultural custom. The government should not yield to pressure from extremist leaders who are trying to politicise the case. Rahman should not be made a scapegoat. He must be freed."

I stand in solidarity with Arifur Rahman. He must be freed.

[Join the Facebook group Free Arifur Rahman]

 

Posted in Bangladesh, Human Rights | 23 Comments

Battling Islamists In Bangladesh

Posted on September 21, 2007 by Mash

Prothom Alo editor Motiur Rahman apologizing to Islamist leader as Information Advisor Mainul Hosein looks on

[Cross posted at E-Bangladesh]

The first word in the Holy Koran is "Read". When I was a child growing up in Bangladesh, my parents hired the imam of the neighborhood mosque to teach me how to read the Koran. Twice a week after school the imam, an old man with a kindly face, would come to our house for an hour to give me lessons. He would ask me to read out loud certain passages from the Koran, and as I would be reading, he would slowly drift off into a sound sleep. At the end of the hour I would wake him and thank him for the day’s lessons. Although the imam taught me how to read the Koran in Arabic, he did not teach me what the words meant. One day I asked him what the words of the Koran meant. He smiled and replied that I would have to learn the meaning myself. He said Islam was about knowledge and the first word in the Koran was an instruction to Muslims to acquire knowledge.

*****

Growing up in Bangladesh you learn tolerance. I am a child of genocide. My identity, and that of the country of my birth, Bangladesh, was forged by resistance to racial and religious hatred. Three million Bengalis were killed by the Pakistani military and their Islamist collaborators in the name of "God and a united Pakistan". We were killed for not being "pure" enough – for being Hindus, or converted Muslims, or Muslims who sympathized with Hindus or converted Muslims; in short, we were killed for being Bengali. Yet we resisted, and at a cost of three million lives, we created a free Bangladesh with the dream of a secular state where Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews and others could live without fear of intimidation or persecution.

Over the years the Islamists have crept back into Bangladesh. Yet they operated at the margins amongst a populace who had fresh memories of the killings and rapes of Bengalis at the hands of these Islamists. Democracy in Bangladesh ensured that as long as the people had a voice the Islamists would remain at the fringes.

Today with democracy and fundamental rights suspended, and a ruthless military regime at the helm, the dream of Bangladesh is under threat. Today a young Bangladeshi man, Arifur Rahman, is behind bars for a cartoon he drew. His cartoon offended the Islamists and the military government obliged them by putting the young cartoonist in jail. The military government has suspended publication of the magazine that published the cartoon and its editor, one of the most important voices in the Bangladeshi media, has been forced to publicly apologize to the leader of the Islamists – an apology facilitated by the military government’s Information and Law Advisor. Out of fear, no lawyer dared to defend the cartoonist in court as he was shipped away to jail.

The editor and publisher of Prothom Alo, the newspaper that published the cartoon, have been charged with sedition and blasphemy. No publication in Bangladesh has dared to defend the cartoonist. In fact, the most progressive English language newspaper in Bangladesh, The New Age, published an editorial yesterday that offered no support to the cartoonist and backed the government’s decision to jail the young man for retelling a joke that even Islamists themselves have published before:

Alpin’s controversial cartoon seems to have been a product of the pseudo-liberal minds and the editorial authorities of the daily have rightly offered unqualified public apology for hurting the ‘religious sentiment’ of the Muslims at large. And that the Prothom Alo authorities do not subscribe to the pseudo-liberal idea of the cartoonist was also apparent, at least for now, in the administrative measures that they took against the person/s responsible for publishing the cartoon. The government, on the other hand, has justifiably confiscated the particular issue (September 17) of the fun magazine, and taken legal steps as regards the cartoonist. The matter should end here, while the cartoonist, already arrested, should be ensured justice within the framework of the law of the land.

When The New Age newspaper, a paper which has been outspoken against the military in spite of constant intimidation, capitulates and cannot find the voice to defend a cartoonist for drawing a cat, Bangladesh has succumbed to a climate of fear.

To add to the climate of fear created by the military government and the Islamists, another publication was banned yesterday because it contained an article that apparently hurt "the religous sentiments of the people."

Today in a show of force Islamists demonstrated in Dhaka against the Prothom Alo newspaper. They demanded the execution of both the editor and publisher of the newspaper:

Demonstrators gathered at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram national mosque and brought out a procession after the juma prayers, demanding ban on Prothom Alo and arrest of the editor and publisher of the daily.

Protestors clashed with police as lawmen prevented them from marching towards the newspaper’s office at Karwan Bazar. At least 50 people were injured when the police used clubs to disperse the protesters, witnesses said.

…

Demonstrations were also reported in Chittagong and some other district towns. Copies of the newspaper and effigies of its editor and publisher were burnt in Dhaka and Chittagong.

The clash broke out in Dhaka at around 2:20 pm when a group of activists, apparently belonging to Hijbut Tahrir Bangladesh, tried to cross the barbed-wire barricade near police control room at Shahbagh crossing. Later, some other groups joined the Hijbut Tahrir, but the police chased the demonstrators and used batons to disperse them.

Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstrates against Prothom Alo newspaperThe protests were led by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamist political party that aims to create an Islamic Caliphate. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a media savvy Islamist group that has tentacles in many Muslim and European countries. In August of last year, I wrote about them in a post entitled "Meet The Enemy". Hizb ut-Tahrir was at the forefront of the Danish cartoon protests and never misses an opportunity to exploit controversy to push its Islamist agenda. Until now, however, their reach and their influence has been limited in a largely secular Muslim country such as Bangladesh. Last year I wrote:

While bin Laden hides in caves Hizb ut-Tahrir takes its message freely to the young people of the Muslim world. It targets colleges and universities in the Muslim world looking for recruits to its idea of jihad and of an enduring Caliphate. For example, in Bangladesh, which is a largely secular Muslim majority country, Hizb ut-Tahrir is starting to make inroads with university students and intellectuals.

The group’s presence as a political party in Bangladesh is small but nonetheless vocal. It markets itself as a discussion group to university students and openly holds weekly meetings at the country’s leading universities. It feeds on political unrest in the country and presents itself as a utopian alternative to all the country’s ills. It capitalizes on Muslim grievances and focuses hate and anger toward the West and the country’s own government. 

…

The tactic is always the same: blame the West and then find a way of tying the country’s government to the West. In many cases, the grievances are legitimate. That is exactly where Hizb ut-Tahrir’s appeal lies. It first voices a legitimate grievance and then pivots the rhetoric into hate.

Hizb ut-Tahrir are masters at capturing the media spotlight and magnifying the smallest hint of a controversy. During the Danish cartoon controversy, it was Hizb ut-Tahrir in Bangladesh and elsewhere that engineered the protest marches for the benefit of Western cameras

In a largely secular country like Bangladesh, Hizb ut-Tahrir will not garner much support and will likely remain in the fringes. However, it need not have a huge following to mobilize hate. Its target audience, university students who are looking to channel their frustration, are the engine that fuel the armies of hate. [Emphasis added.]

The situation in Bangladesh has changed dramatically since last August. Democracy has been squelched and the country is now under military rule. Dissent has been criminalized under draconian laws passed by the military government. The secular political parties have been silenced. In this environment, where the will of the people becomes irrelevant, Islamist parties thrive.

Military governments in South Asia come to power at the cross-section of three forces: the "civil society", the Islamists, and the military. It is "civil society" that makes a military coup viable. In a naive and arrogant hope that they can substitute their wisdom for that of the masses, "civil society" enables the military to overthrow the "corrupt" political leaders. Once the military comes to power it is "civil society", in the mistaken belief that this time the military will "fix" the system, that enables the military as they implement more and more draconian policies and roll back more and more fundamental freedoms. There is however no room for "civil society" on the autocratic end of the "J curve" and at some point disillusionment sets in as the military turns on "civil society". At the same time, the Islamists inevitably benefit from military rule as dissent and the free flow of ideas are stifled. Islamists provide a ready constituency for the military and in return the Islamists get what they crave from the population: silent obedience. This pattern of military rule has happened in Bangladesh once before and has been the norm in Pakistan for most of its history.

In Bangladesh, it was "civil society" types like Motiur Rahman, the editor of Prothom Alo, and Mahfuz Anam, the publisher of Prothom Alo and the editor and publisher of the leading English language newspaper The Daily Star, who were the most fervent supporters of the military coup last January. Today both Motiur Rahman and Mahfuz Anam find themselves facing the wrath of the Islamists, the beneficiaries of the regime they helped bring to power. When Motiur Rahman, once one of the most powerful editors in the country, begged forgiveness on bended knee to the leader of the Islamists the capitulation was complete.

The Islamists now have the upper hand in Bangladesh. With the military government’s help they have managed to silence the very outspoken Bangladeshi media. They have bred fear in the hearts of the population. They have set Bangladesh on a path of both militarization and extremism. Tolerance, the essence of a stable society and the founding dream of Bangladesh, has vanished from the streets of Bangladesh. Hizb ut-Tahrir and other Islamists are today burning newspapers and anything else they can find that hurts their "religious sentiments". The first instruction of the Holy Koran, to read – to acquire knowledge, is being abandoned in Bangladesh.

With the mainstream media cowed into silence, the Bangladeshi blogosphere is raising its voice. Today the battle is joined. Brave Bengali language bloggers from inside Bangladesh are speaking out at Somewhere In blog and at  Sachalayatan. Expatriate English-language Bangladeshi bloggers like Rumi Ahmed, Dhaka Shohor and Rezwan are spreading the word to the outside world, and group blogs like E-Bangladesh (where I also write) and Deshi Voice are giving voice to those who are living in fear.

I ask you the reader to join us in spreading the word about the slow death of the dream of Bangladesh. The real war on terror is being fought on the streets of Bangladesh. It is not a war between the West and Islam – it is a war between knowledge and willful ignorance; between freedom and persecution; between reason and insanity. It is a battle in which all of us have a stake.

 

Posted in Bangladesh, Human Rights, Islam, Terrorism | 9 Comments

Breaking News: Nelson Mandela Found Alive After Being Pronounced Dead

Posted on September 21, 2007 by Mash

"I heard somebody say, where’s Mandela? Well, Mandela is dead, because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas." – George W. Bush, September 20, 2007

A day after President Bush declared to the world that Nelson Mandela had been killed by Saddam Hussein, the Nelson Mandela Foundation announced that Mr. Mandela was found to be still alive:

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is assuring the public that the former South African president is still alive, after comments by U.S. President George Bush that potentially could be misunderstood.

In Johannesburg, the foundation’s chief executive officer, Achmat Dangor, said Friday that Mr. Mandela is alive and well, and enjoying some rest and relaxation at his home.

I am very thankful that the 89-year old Nobel Peace Prize winner is alive and well.

It is ironic that Mr. Bush should now be lamenting that there are no Mandelas in Iraq. There was a Mandela before Mr. Bush attacked Iraq. That Mandela said the following about Mr. Bush’s decision to attack Iraq:

It is a tragedy, what is happening, what Bush is doing. But Bush is now undermining the United Nations.

…

What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.

…

Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly? All that it wants is Iraqi oil.

George W. Bush, a man with no foresight, did not listen to those who had that foresight. Now he is lamenting that he could use such men. How sad.

Posted in Humor, Iraq | 4 Comments

Islamists Battle Cats

Posted on September 18, 2007 by Mash

Islamists buring a copy of Prothom AloThe Cat Cartoon

[Welcome Crooks & Liars readers. Please consider supporting the campaign for release of the 23-year old cartoonist Arifur Rahman by adding the "Free Arifur Rahman" badge that is on the sidebar to your own blog. Thank you for spreading the word about this unjust abuse of power by Bangladesh’s military government and suppression of freedom of expression.]

Bangladesh has its very own Muhammad cartoon controversy. Two days ago the leading Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo published a cartoon in its weekly supplement "Alpin". By today the military government of Bangladesh had arrested the cartoonist, banned the cartoon, confiscated all copies of the newspaper issue, and forced the newspaper to fire the editor responsible for publishing the cartoon. Prothom Alo has also apologized profusely to its readers in two front page editorials.

The Bengali language cartoon entitled "Name" ("Naam" in Bengali) depicts a conversation between a Muslim man and a boy:

Man: Hey boy, what is your name?
Boy: My name is Babu.

Man: It is customary to say "Muhammad" before saying a name.

Man: What is your father’s name?
Boy: Muhammad Abu.

Man: So what is on your lap?
Boy: Muhammad cat.

For the record let me say that I found the cartoon to be quite funny. It made me chuckle and remember the countless times when people would inadvertently add "Muhammad" – a very common practice in Bangladesh – to the beginning of my name.

What the Islamists find offensive about this cartoon is that the Prophet Muhammad’s name is being used to describe a cat. Somehow that is considered offensive even though the Prophet Muhammad was apparently very fond of cats. Presumably these very same Islamists did not find it offensive that the man who piloted a plane into a skyscraper causing massive loss of innocent life was named "Muhammad Atta".

Opportunistic Islamist politicians in Bangladesh have jumped on this cartoon to try to silence a newspaper that has often been critical of them. The Islamists have found a ready partner in Bangladesh’s military government. Islamist politicians met with the military government’s Law and Information Advisor Mainul Hosein and got what they wanted:

A delegation led by the Baitul Mukarram mosque’s khatib, Obaidul Haque, called on the law and information adviser, Mainul Hosein, and demanded cancellation of the declaration of the Prothom Alo and arrest of its editor, along with others concerned, before this Friday ‘for showing disrespect to Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (pbuh)’.

The cartoon ridiculed the prophet by adding his name (Mohammad) before an animal, they said.

‘It is a conspiracy to destabilise the country. We are very concerned over the issue,’ Mainul told reporters after the meeting.

The conspirators wanted to throw the country into a chaotic situation, he claimed.

The adviser asked everyone to remain alert against the plot so that the conspirators cannot be successful. [Emphasis added]

It is alarming that the unhinged Information Advisor sees a "conspiracy" in the cartoon. This is the same military government that saw a "conspiracy" when mass protests broke out in Bangladesh last month. Those protests were promptly crushed by a brutal response from the military that included beatings of students and journalists, and the ongoing arrests of university professors.

Since it took power in a coup last January the military in Bangladesh has suspended fundamental rights, intimidated and censored the media, purged the political parties, and created a climate of fear within the country. In this climate of fear the Islamist political parties have been left largely untouched while the two major political parties have been decimated by arrests of their top leaders. In what was a largely secular Muslim majority democratic nation, the Islamist parties played at the fringes – only managing to share power by joining in coalitions with the larger secular parties. However, with democracy and political activity suppressed by the military Islamists have a disproportionate voice. This has been the case in Pakistan through successive military dictatorships, and today Bangladesh is on a similar path.

The military government’s validation of the Islamists’ absurd complaints over a harmless cartoon amply demonstrates the symbiotic relationship the military and Islamists share in South Asia. They both reinforce each other’s paranoia and intolerance for dissent. When democracy is suppressed Islamists thrive in the vacuum. It is then vitally important to restore democracy in Bangladesh.

 

 

Posted in Bangladesh, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Islam, Media | 14 Comments