From: haque@sunspot.ece.clarkson.edu (Anisul Haque,,,)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: On Deepak's Latest Article
Date: 11 Jan 93 20:54:16 GMT
Reply-To: haque@sunspot.ece.clarkson.edu
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.

In article 46278@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu, dchatterjee@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu () writes:

>   The question is this: will the democratically elected government (GOB) 
>   survive at all ??? Isn't the fact that Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh
>   on the rise ? Did GOB ban the Jammat ? No. Why because BNP was forced into
>   alliance with Jammat. It does indirectly prove that BNP shall have to concede
>   to the hate-mongering Jammat from time to time - otherwise BNP will get
>   toppled. The efforts in establishing democracy is fine, and, being strange
>   bed-fellows with non-democratic organizations is quite alarming.

We hope that the democratic GOB will survive. Yes, there is a rise of fundamentalism 
in Bangladesh, but one can't counter it in an unconstitutional way and at the same 
time claim to restore democarcy. Sheikh's pardoing the Jammat was a mistake, but 
now Jammat has a legal basis to practice politics. How can a democratic GOB just 
ban a party? I don't believe that BNP has any intention of banning Jammat. But even 
if they had, they couldn't. India has been able to ban the fundamentalist parties, 
but the two situations aren't the same. India has a tradition of democracy for more 
than forty years and the institution already has it's strong base. So, a strong step 
like this wouldn't jeopardize the entire system. But democracy is just nascant in 
Bangladesh. We have to think whether it can survive such a crisis. If Banning Jammat 
would result in another military coup, then the consequences need to be evaluated 
very carefully. We have to remember that this is politics. Not every step would be 
directly benificial. Also, in India, Those parties *did claim* responsibilities for 
the incidents. If on the other hand, someone believes that it was only Jammat who 
broke the temples, it would be a gross generalisation. Can it be proved in the court that Jammat broke all the temples? I think not. And if Jammat is banned without such legitimate grounds, that will only start another series of arbitrary practice where 
the govt simply bans the party of not her likings. 

It isn't true that the BNP govt will topple without Jammat support. Counting the 
women MPs (who BTW are nominated, not elected), BNP now have the absolute majority.

The hard part is to face the fact that democracy gives a lot of responsibility to 
individuals and political parties and if they are unable to handle that, there is 
no other way but to bear the consequences. There is no short cut to democracy. Yes, 
one can ask for a bennovolent dictator, whose bennovolent wishes would be the *LAW*.
But that isn't how democracy works. Today, we are demanding to ban Jammat because of the destruction of the temples. Tomorrow, when in a hartal called by Awami League or 
any other party, properties worth millions are destroyed (belonging to both hindus 
and muslims), would we again demand to ban them! That may leave the world blind. 
Democracy in a third world country like Bangladesh is a slow and somewhat bitter 
process. During the process govt should try to ensure security of all (of minorities 
in particular) and the govt should handle the incidents individually within the 
freedom permitted by the law. Since the govt is poor and her resources are limited, it is literally impossible to ensure the above when the mob gets loose. So, the responsibilty again rests with the individuals. As long as  the voice of sanity is 
strong, such incidences will be kept to a minimum and we have to learn to live with 
this and at the same time try to improve it. My point is that if the attiude of the 
people doesn't change, banning a particular party isn't a solution at all. Ayub 
couldn't save his throne when he banned all opposition parties in '58!

>   I still have hopes on Bangladesh as it citizens understand what freedom is.
>   In the struggle to liberate Bengladesh, I guess both Hindus and Muslims gave
>   blood. The honor is probably equally shared. The country (albeit being 
>   subjected to poverty and natural calamities) has shown enough moral courage
>   of political restraint. However, GOB should contain Islamic fundamentalism
>   within the prison walls and not on the streets and parliaments.
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
I think I have already answered to your above comment. Don't you think putting them 
behind bars will only make them martyrs and unless you can put each and everyone of
them, the process will only ignite the fundamentalist movement even more. 


>        - regards,
> 
>         deb chatterjee
>      (a good samaritan)
>                                                  

Regards,

Anisul Haque 
Clarkson University
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh