Pakistan and Bangladesh: Haunted by their Histories By Syed Badrul Ahsan Jan 27 2012 The disclosure by the Bangladesh

army of a coup attempt by mid-ranking and retir ed military officers has left the country in a state of disbelief. The disbelief stems not so much from the thought that such a conspiracy had been in the works , but that such moves should be made at all, two decades after the restoration o f democracy. Bangladeshs history, after it liberated itself from Pakistan in 1971 , has not been a particularly pleasant one as far as the role of the military in politics is concerned. Contrary to popular expectations of a substantive democr atic order underpinning the countrys politics following its emergence as an indep endent state, governance in Bangladesh has largely, and for a good number of yea rs, revolved around the question of the militarys role in the work of government. The country has gone through major upheavals, almost always when the army decid ed to shoot down democratic politics. But that phase, where the army exercised profound, and therefore, unquestioned, loyalty as the source of power in Bangladesh, drew to an end in February 1991 wh en free and fair general elections made it possible for the country to go back t o government by the consent of the governed. In these past twenty years, since t he countrys last military ruler left the scene, democracy has kept the social eng ine going. To be sure, it has been a flawed democracy, with cabinet government d windling into a personalised, prime minister-led, administration. Even so, littl e thought was given to the possibility of the soldiers striking again. If Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, could be assassinated by soldiers, i f mutinous soldiers could cause the murder of the four figures who led the count ry to freedom, of Major General Ziaur Rahman and of Major General Khaled Musharr af, it follows that fears will keep rising about future attempts to overthrow go vernments by force. The discovery of the plot hatched by right-wing military off icers, reportedly supported by non-resident Bangladeshis, to remove Sheikh Hasin as government, is being seen as a vindication of such fears. There is little question that the Awami League-led government finds itself in di fficult circumstances, especially in light of the trial of the war criminals of 1971. The trials have spurred the supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leade rs have for the past four decades been accused of assisting the Pakistan army in the genocide of Bengalis, into action, to have the process halted. Intriguingly , former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who heads the opposition Bangladesh Nationa list Party, has already demanded that the war crimes trials be halted on the gro und that loopholes in the working of the International Crimes Tribunal have, in her partys view, been raising questions. Khaleda Zias position has not gone down w ell with large sections of the population, which have seen in her statement a mo ve to prevent justice from being done on an issue that ought to have been resolv ed years ago. The BNP chief undermined herself a little more when, a couple of d ays before the coup plot came to light, she accused the government of being behi nd what she called a disappearance of army officers in mysterious circumstances. That statement now looks to have been ill-advised. If reports of a coup attempt have set Bangladeshis thinking about the future of their democracy, the clear power struggle involving the government, the judiciar y and the army has led to renewed fears of political instability in Pakistan. Th e parallels with Bangladesh are eerie, for a good number of reasons. In these pa st many weeks, rumours of a coup in Pakistan or at least pressure on the part of the countrys influential army on President Asif Ali Zardari to quit over a so-ca lled Memogate scandal have been rife. And into the scene stepped the Supreme Cou rt, chastising Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over his failure to reopen old corruption cases against the president. In Bangladesh, despite the large measure of relief expressed by citizens when the war crimes trials got under way, there had been the suspicion that the government could come under assault. Leaflets d isseminating inflammatory material relating to abductions of military officers and their interrogation in Hindi at secret locations, together with a repetition of t he propaganda by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia at a public rally in Chittago

ng, were clear pointers to mischief being afoot. For now, conditions in Bangladesh are relatively calm and even the opposition BN P, founded by the countrys first military ruler Ziaur Rahman, has been scrambling to reiterate its adherence to democratic principles. In Pakistan, the army and the courts, despite having significantly weakened the Zardari-Gilani administrat ion, have appeared to take a step back from the brink. That does not, however, i mply that democracy is safe in Pakistan. With suspicion growing that the militar y establishment has been behind the sudden surge in the popularity of cricketerturned politician Imran Khan, the feeling persists that politics in Pakistan wil l remain in a vulnerable state for quite a while. Besides, Islamabads difficult r elations with the United States, coupled with its unending battle against Islami st extremists, continue to cause haemorrhage in the countrys body politic. Bangladesh and Pakistan, having emerged as a single Muslim state in 1947 through the partition of India, went their separate ways after a bloody war of Bengali liberation in 1971. At some later point, though, it became hard for one to disti nguish the politics of the two nations one from the other. Both countries have g one through long periods of military rule, with democratic politics getting stym ied in the process. Both have resumed their slow march to democracy at certain p eriods of time. Both have wallowed in chaotic politics and continue to do so. And yet, if the events of the past few days are any guide, both need to be on gu ard against any new attempt by soldiers to foist themselves on the state as new, familiar rulers. If indeed such a tragedy comes to pass, it will be a sad throw back to the darkness of the past. The writer is executive editor, The Daily Star, Dhaka Source: The Daily Star, Bangladesh URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarWithinIslam_1.aspx?ArticleID=6481

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COMMENTS 1/28/2012 4:35:42 PM sadaf Read more about Jansanghis: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120128/jsp/opinion/st ory_15057174.jsp

1/28/2012 11:36:15 AM sadaf @Satwa, the link you gave me had this comment from someone: Molvisaheb...i am a Hindu.....but i respect u..u r a true Indian......u gave apo werful slap to this m***** f****** Porki,,,,and muslim league ....and urlines fr om 1:42 to 1:56 are absolutelyryte....... Anyway,since you are a Jansanghi, you automatically lose your credibility to sa yanything correct about Muslims. Not a single Jansanghi can you produce who hasa rational view without giving in to their bias against Muslims. Onlyunfortunatel y you are born in the time that I am born and you will have a keepbreaking your head disputing me. You will never be able to overpower me, letalone entire Musli ms community. @Mr. Raihan, thanks for being there with me. We have to be asmuch organised as these opponents are. The softness of Islam has that powerwhich the hardness of I slam doesn t have. If you meet personally any Jansanghi,he may overwhelm you wit h his display of respect and manner but will not letyou have your rights of exis tence as per your ways. There is a very fine artneeded to handle such fine trick s. As Muslims we need to do thatfine segregation of chaff from grain. Be good and polite to every non-Muslim.That will not make us any less Muslim. But any attemp t by those who aren timpressed by the good mannerism, shall be dealt with iron f

ist. Remember, tohave an iron-fist in velvet gloves. They call it Taqqiya. Let that notstop us from being good to every non-Muslim, even including Jansanghis, butwhen things are to be put down in paper or in ballot, we will have to see tha ta good non-Muslim should win and not these Jansahnghis. Until we identifygood non-Muslim, we cannot seperate the bad apples. We need to celeberate goodNon-Mus lims. That is an open strategy and there is no secrecy about it. Janshanghis know that someNon-Muslims will always be Muslim appeasers and Musli ms know well, Jansanghiswill blame Muslims for getting appeased. Be as much good as we can so that nonJansanghi non-Muslim do not align themselves with Jansangh is. Jansanghis personalmannerism should be countered with more powerfuland polit er mannerism. Let Jansanghi name it Love Jihad . We know well,they are people o f nowhere, neither in their Motherland which happens to be ourFatherland, nor ar e they to be in Heaven. If you have doubt about thisidea, then I can produce you Ayats from Quran and s ome authentic and valuableHadees. Once such Hadees says that our strength lies n ot in our forces but inweakness of our opponents and all that we have to do is b e patient andsteadfast in our practices. I take it as to be steadfast in our utt erances aswell. And you know same these Janshanghis employ it in their personal lives. Ifwe do not do this then it will be our loss only. And if this route seem slengthy and unimplementable then please recall where does one get successwithou t striving for it. We cannot afford to be foolsto antagonize one and all. We hav e our enemy as just those who areaggressive against us and not those who keep do ing their prayers in theirtemples and homes. This basic principle of Quran is ac tually missing in thelives of many Muslims today and such Muslim s are endangeri ng the objective ofIslam. The objective of Islam is peaceand this needs no reminder to Muslims but non-Mu slims must be reminded about itwith our mannerism. Action speaks louder than wor ds. See in your personal lifehow many non-Muslims you have been able to impress with the call of peace. Donot go and ask them bluntly to become Muslim, but go a nd win their heart and leaveit upto them to decide whom to side with or at least whom not to side with.Trust in their goodness and they will not side with these Jansanghis. And it isnot just for saving our life- a life that is in anyway goi ng to end, but it isfor the lofty principles of Islam, it is for the sake of gra nd objective ofIslam, that is, Peace. Do not do the mistake of cuttingaway Shahrukh Khans from Muslims. He is much be tter Muslim who is not indulginginto bringing bad blood as suicide bombers; that suicide which is haram inIslam in whatsoever manner it may be done, be it in na me of Jihad or whatever. Wedo not care for the harams that such suicide bomber d oes but we care for the badblood he brings and we care for the disrepute of the brand name of Islam and wecare for the dismemberment with each blast of the obje ctives of Islam; Peace.At least Sharukh Khan doesnt do all these. He softens nonMuslims the way notmany Muslims do and therefore he is so much despised by RSS w alas. But thenmuch more number of non-Muslims support him and love him. And what messege he conveys? At least that asa good Muslim he emphasizes on bein g a peace loving individual, as a good Muslim,he is much as a family man who dot es on his wife and children. Of course you shouldnot ask him to be like a Maulvi who can tell you Ayats and Hadees with their pagenumber and sentence number, be cause am sure over 99% people cannot do that. Lethim be just a Muslim the way he is and may be help him improve upon that by notthrowing him out. He can quite w ell teach you how much energy it is required tokeep everyone in good humor all t he time. Even if a quarter of that energy aMuslim put into his language and mann erism, RSS walas can be outdone in notime. RSS walas wont cease to exist and so w ont stupid Muslims who are makingmess of the objectives of Islam, which is Peace, but they can be renderedimpotent. I hope I have communicated itwith enough clarity. If not, I will try to improve upon my communication skilland meanwhile keep fighting these Jansanghis the way I do in real life and onnet. I as a Muslim cannot lose hope in the chances that

we can collectivelyhandle our enemies and individually contribute to render them impotent. For metoo, naummidi kufr hai.

1/28/2012 9:25:25 AM satwa gunam I have seen too many optimists in this forum who do not want to see the truth. Truth is not what we want to feel about but what is happening around us. Furthe r truth is always bitter. However if truth is not confronted, no issues will get resolved. Sweeping below the carpet will only increase the stench but will not resolve the problem.

1/28/2012 8:41:43 AM Raihan Nezami @Sadaf: Excellent comment with pefect examples, but I doubt if it is enough to s atisfy people like Satwa who are absolutely blind to the hard realities and and sworn enemies of Muslims. Their comments are based on 10% of nagative aspects of the materials and ignore other 90% of base realities simply to present their id eas that Muslims are this or that.

1/28/2012 7:59:15 AM @SADAF

satwa gunam

Muslim believe in democracy till such time they are in minority. If you want t o hear the same from the mouth of the horse, please see this interview of madani mp http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GSQn7ZkG4Uk http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9jSMrU4a_ls Further if you want to see the trend of muslim behaviour vs. their demography, p lease go through the following url : http://secular-hindu.sulekha.com/blog/post/2011/10/muslim-population-and-their-b ehaviour-a-great-study.htm Further if you want example of Muslim attitude, you can see the same in Pakistan and Bangladesh who was assisted by India against the mass persecution of Pakist an and today it is plotting against India regrouping themselves as Muslims. We can continue over our conversation then, if you have any rational argument on the same. Best of luck.

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