Conspicuous
by its absence on Indian news television, the current crisis in Bangladesh
is nothing less than history catching up with the young nation after war and
ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Pakistani army in 1971 gave it wounds that
have remained unhealed for more than four decades.
After
Islamists amended the young nation’s Constitution in 1977 and 1988 to make
“absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah as the basis of all actions”
its fundamental guiding principle, it was not until 2010 that a Tribunal was
set up to provide justice to those who had been slaughtered by Rezakars in the
aftermath of Bangladesh’s war of independence.
Awarding
of life imprisonment to Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah and death sentences
to war criminals Abul Kalam Azad and Delawar Hossain Sayedee followed have
triggered a fresh wave of attacks on Hindus in the country.
Daily
Star reports that on
Saturday alone, members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami
Chhatra Shibir have attacked and destroyed six temples and set fire to
several Hindu houses and business in Noakhali, Gaibandha, Chittagong, Rangpur,
Sylhet, Chapainawabganj and Rajganj. These attacks of course, are in addition
to the violence unleashed by Islamists in the last three days in which more
than a dozen people have lost their lives.
The
situation, perhaps not surprisingly, is reminiscent of the state of affairs
that prevailed during the early days of the Bangladeshi Government’s tryst with
Islamists when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared a general amnesty for Islamists
against whom trials had not yet been initiated. Rahman was assassinated in
1975, paving the way for a series of military coups and a general chaos that
still lasts.
The
current Sheikh Hasina Government too, in its turn, seems unwilling to anger
rioting Jamaatis and is in no mood to do anything about the riots that seem to
be killing the country’s Hindus. Political motivations that kept Mujibur Rahman
from coming down hard upon Islamists in the beginning of the nation’s history
hold the Government hostage still.
The
persecution of Bangladeshi Hindus in the wake of a setback to the Islamist
cause is happening exactly as it did back in 1971. Back then, the reason was
the Bangladeshi freedom movement. This time, the reason is justice catching up
with the war criminals.
>>
In Chittagong,
Jamaati Islamists attacked Hindu majority localities at Jaldi union of
Banshkhali upazila and set fire to a Buddhist temple.
>>
Jamaat members also burned houses at Dhopapara and Mohajonpara and attacked
people with sticks, iron rods and sharp weapons.
>>
The rioters also burned three shops belonging to Hindus at Kaliash union of
Satkania upazila.
>>
Members of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked
a temple and business establishments belonging to Hindus at Bhelkobazar in
Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district.
>>
Rioters also vandalised some houses in Shovaganj union.
>>
Vandalism, arson and looting took place in temples, houses and business
establishments of Hindus in Sylhet, Rangpur, Thakurgaon, Laxmipur and
Chapainawabganj.
>>
Attackers had vandalised the central Kali temple at Mithapukur upazila in
Rangpur and another at Kansat in Chapainawabganj.
(Source:
Daily star)
The
situation wasn’t very different in 1971. Delivering the death sentence to
Sayedee, the judges said they had established that he “…took active part in the
attacks directed against civilian population at Parerhat area, causing murder,
deportation, rape, looting of goods, setting fire to the houses and shops of civilians,
forceful religious conversion, inhuman acts and torture which fall within the
purview of crimes against humanity.”
Some
of the charges against Sayedee, with regard to his crimes of 1971, are as
follows.
>>
On May 4, 1971, Sayedee and his accomplices, accompanied by the Pakistani army
looted the houses of members of the Hindu community and opened fire
indiscriminately on them in front of Dhopa Bari and behind the LGED Building
in Pirojpur, leaving four persons killed.
>>
On May 7, 1971, Sayedee identified the houses and shops of Bangalees belonging
to the Awami League, Hindu community and supporters of the Liberati on War at
Parerhat Bazar under Pirojpur Sadar. Sayedee as one of the perpetrators raided
those shops and houses and looted valuables, including 22 seers of gold and
silver from the shop of one Makhanlal Saha.
>>
On May 8, 1971, Sayedee and his accomplices accompanied by the Pakistan army
raided the house of one Manik Posari at Chitholia under Pirojpur Sadar and
caught his brother Mofizuddin and one Ibrahim. Sayedee’s accomplices then burnt
five houses there. On the way to the Pakistani army’s camp, Sayedee instigated
the members of the occupation force to kill Ibrahim by gunshot and dump his
body near a bridge. On the other hand, Mofiz was taken to the army camp and
tortured. Sayedee directly participated in the abduction, murder and
persecution of the victims.
>>
On June 2, 1971, Sayedee’s armed associates under his leadership and
accompanied by the Pakistan
army burnt 25 houses of a Hindu Para in Umedpur village under Indurkani Police
Station. At one stage, a victim, Bisabali, was tied to a coconut tree and was
shot dead by Sayedee’s accomplice.
>>
One day a group comprising 15-20 armed accomplices of Sayedee under his
leadership entered the Hindu Para of Parerhat Bazar under Pirojpur Sadar and
captured 14 Hindus, who were all supporters of Bangladesh’s independence. The
fourteen were then tied with a single rope and dragged to Pirojpur and handed
over to Pakistani soldiers, who killed them. Their bodies were thrown into the
river.
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