Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 8, 2004
Even before Sourav Ganguly and his
boys could leave for Bangladesh for scheduled matches in Dhaka and Chittagong,
newspapers were seized of genuine concern over the cricketers' safety following
a fax message from 'Harkat-ul Jihad' received at the Indian High Commission,
saying "Thank you (for the team's visit) for an opportunity to take revenge,
just like the Israelis were killed by Palestine (sic)." It also mentions
the death of Muslims in the Gujarat riots of 2002.
The Government of Bangladesh has
dismissed the message as "bogus and a hoax. meant to tarnish Bangladesh's
image". Ostrich-like, Dhaka, obviously, continues to believe that if it
shuts its eyes, the reality of Bangladesh emerging as a hub of, and haven
for, Islamic fanatics of various shades and the present BNP-Jamaat-e Islami's
inability or unwillingness to destroy the poison tree before it strikes
deep roots, will cease to exist. Bangladesh's image has already been tarnished
by indigenous and foreign jihadis; it can only get worse.
True, there is some confusion over
the identity of the organisation that has threatened to do unto Indians
as Palestinians have been doing unto Israelis. It could be a new born in
the nursery of fanatics who pose a far greater danger to Bangladeshi civil
society and polity than the army did during the military rule of General
Zia-ur Rahman or General H.M. Ershad who jack-booted their way to power.
Indeed, Bangladesh's Islamic fanatics may succeed in achieving what the
razakars failed before and during the liberation war of 1971.
If the threat has been issued by
the Harkat-ul Jehad-e Islami, as reported in The Pioneer on Tuesday, then
there is reason for great concern - both in Dhaka and New Delhi. The Harkat-ul
Jehad-e Islami is essentially a Pakistan-based fanatic organization with
full membership to Osama bin Laden's exclusive club Al Qaeda. It is believed
to have been behind the two failed assassination attempts on General Pervez
Musharraf in December 2003.
The Harkat-ul Jehad-e Islami in
Bangladesh is no less fanatic. It was set up by Al Qaeda and the Islamic
International Front to train Arakan Muslims from Myanmar in jihadi activities.
It was also charged with the responsibility of imparting jihadi knowledge
to Muslims from Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Brunei - to set the South-East
ablaze, so to say.
This organisation aspires to abolish
parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh and bring in sharia rule. Its dream
is to recreate a replica of Afghan society during the terror days of Taliban
rule. It wants Bangladesh's Bangla culture and ethos to be supplanted by
Wahabism imported from the deserts of Arabia. And, it is rapidly anti-India.
The Harkat-ul Jehad-e Islam in Bangladesh
plotted and executed the attempt to assassinate Sheikh Hasina Wajed, leader
of Awami League and former Prime Minister, during a rally in the heart
of Dhaka on August 21, 2004. It is a telling comment on Begum Khaleda Zia's
Government that it is yet to pick up the plotters and resolve the case.
The Jamaat-e Islami and Islamic
Oikya Jote, which share power with Bangladesh Nationalist Party under the
leadership of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, masquerade as "Islamic moderates".
Wolves in sheepskins, they have successfully guided the present regime
to a pro-Pakistan, pro-Islamist position. The Jamaat collaborated with
the Pakistani marauders who raped, killed and pillaged during the liberation
war. It failed to prevent the collapse of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh.
But it has almost succeeded in undermining the very raison d'etre of the
birth and existence of Bangladesh.
In a sense, the process of Bangladesh's
Islamisation in the mould of Osama bin Laden's worldview began during the
military rule of General Zia-ur Rahman (husband of Begum Khaleda Zia) who
was subsequently assassinated. He used Saudi funds to set up madarsas and
mosques. This policy was later followed, and more vigorously so, by General
H.M. Ershad.
By the time parliamentary democracy
was restored in Bangladesh, tens of thousands of madarsas, now universally
recognised as jihad factories, fuelled by Saudi Wahabi "charity" and Pakistani
Wahabi-Deobandi funds, had mushroomed all over Bangladesh. Over the years,
men who studied in these madarsas have come to occupy office in government,
civil administration, police and the armed forces of that country. The
poison of fanaticism has insidiously seeped into every branch of Bangladeshi
government.
Bangladeshi society has been poisoned,
too. Fanatic Islamists have successfully scuppered "Barsha Baran", the
Bengali new year's day, celebrations for three years in a row with the
help of bombs and guns. They have forced an "Islamic dress code" on women
who have been forced to give up wearing the traditional Bengali saree.
Urdu words and Arabic phrases are being increasingly introduced in common
parlance and people are actively discouraged from observing "Ekushe February"
to commemorate the 1952 agitation against West Pakistan's attempt to impose
Urdu on Bengali-speaking East Pakistan.
Simultaneously, and also greatly
facilitated by the ascendance of Islamists, Bangladesh has become the camping
ground of jihadis of various shades of green - from those flying Osama
bin Laden's banner to those on the ISI's pay-role. Indian intelligence
agencies have put together irrefutable information about 195 camps in various
parts of Bangladesh where jihadis are being trained for various purposes,
including anti-Indian activities.
Confronted with this evidence, Bangladesh
has pretended great hurt. Individual members of Begum Khaleda Zia's Government
have hit back in a slimy manner and by taking recourse to public abuse.
Evidence put up by India has been discounted by Bangladesh as "fiction"
and "wild allegations".
There is a problem, though. Several
western countries have come up with similar, and in some instances more
damning, evidence. The Americans have bluntly told Begum Zia that she has
either failed or refused to act in putting down the jihadis. The Canadians
have put together an exhaustive report that not only slams the Bangladeshi
government but also makes out a case of active connivance. The British
have had first hand experience of jihadi terror in Bangladesh.
India's response, as on other issues
related to sub-continental affairs, has been marked by big flips and bigger
flops. While one hand of the Government talks tough with Dhaka, another
reaches out to pat it on the back. Witness the obscene eagerness with which
the UPA Government's Petroleum Minister wanted to work out a deal on the
proposed India-Myanmar gas pipeline through Bangladesh even while the same
Government's ministries for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs were taking
on the Bangladeshis.
Irrespective of whether or not cricket
becomes victim to Bangladeshi jihadi terror, India must put into place
a firm policy on dealing with Bangladesh. There is every reason for New
Delhi to put Dhaka on notice and take recourse to coercive diplomacy. If
it could do so with Islamabad, there is no reason why Dhaka should be spared
the rod.
India can ill afford a second nursery
of jihadi terrorism in its neighbourhood. More importantly, Indian cannot
let the dream of Sheik Mujibur Rahman die at the hands of jihadis.
