The neighbour next door – a persistent pain in Bengal’s neck

Ishaal Zehra

Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina has said that the recent mutiny in the paramilitary force Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) which killed 73 army officers was aimed at triggering a civil war and warned that the masterminds behind the bloody revolt still wanted to achieve their goal. The 33-hour mutiny by the rebel BDR soldiers on February 25-26, 2009 was initially believed to have been caused by disputes over pay and command structure.
Commerce Minister Lt Col (Retd) Faruq Khan, who heads a high-power committee to coordinate the foreign and local investigations into the February 25-26 carnage, said “a dangerous conspiracy is going on to destroy the development of the country". Whereas the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Mahmoud admitted that terrorist outfits with alleged cross-border links still existed in the country despite years of massive anti-terrorism campaigns.
At a glance, Bangladesh's 37-year history has been a turbulent one, with many incidents of political turmoil and violence, where most of the time cross-border linkage was confirmed at the public level (even if not acknowledged at government level). This recent mutiny reminded me of the tempest that rocked Dhaka University and other educational institutes of Bangladesh, in August 2007 which ended up in the imposition of curfew like situation in the country. At that time too the sole purpose of the tempest creators (master minds), seemingly, was to start a civil war by bringing the people face to face with the armed forces through the so-called student movement. The Bengali media reports later disclosed that the havoc was actually masterminded by the Indian Intelligence Research and Analysis Wing – RAW. In an exclusive interview with VOA Bangla service, the first elected mayor of Rajshahi City, Mr. Md. Mizanur Rahman Minu said that he feels that India is behind the terrorist activities in Bangladesh. Minu said that because of the Indo-Bangladesh porous border, it has not been possible for the government to apprehend the terrorists.
Yet today the same situation is again being sensed in the country. “Foreign hands” had been detected by the new Chief of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Brigadier General Mohammed Mainul Islam who revealed the involvement of outsiders wearing BDR uniform in the mutiny. Ironically, had there been no revelation from General Mainul Islam, people would have believed that BDR personnel targeted Army officers on account resentment over biased treatment as well as difference in their pay, allowances and other benefits. Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Matiur Rahman Nizami, in the same regard, also claimed that the killing mission was executed from Indian intelligence headquarters through close monitoring. Analytically, Mr. Nizami might be true as the increasing frenzy in Bangladesh is only paving an easy way for India to increase her hegemony in political, economical and cultural arenas.
The story is quite simple if considered logically. Bangladesh, having the population of more than 140 million - 40% of whom are below the poverty line - and it is dependent on foreign aid and investment, seems a soft target to digest. And by initiating a civil war in the country many disrupted plans could have been fulfilled like crippling the economy of Bangladesh, disrupting and destroying the road communications and infrastructures thus proving Bangladesh a dysfunctional and failed state and finally paving the way for Indian military invasion.
To achieve the objective, the people of Bangladesh were being targeted in an ingenious way and from all dimensions of life. RAW is exploiting this civil force to meet its own evil objectives. India’s agenda does not obviously end in creating and keeping Bangladesh as a nominally independent country. Since 1972, India has been pouring in huge material and intellectual support to Indianise the mind and psyche of Bangladeshi people. The so-called modern school educational curriculum, in general, and the social sciences, in particular, have been said to be shaped and oriented to Vedic philosophy rather than to Islamic values and virtues. Besides the promotion of narcotics in the society RAW is said to be supplementing terrorism via educational institutes in Bangladesh and the recent BDR mutiny exhibits the reach of Indian tentacles.
There lies a real dilemma for Bangladesh in forging some form of much needed unity to stand concrete against constant onslaught of Indian hegemony. Indian policy makers are well aware that the traditional method of occupying a country by force is neither appreciable nor acceptable in the recent scenario. Today, to run over a country, an aggressor cripples psychologically of the civil force of the nation and reduces its economy to shambles and creates such a situation that its citizens no longer possess mental strength and inspiration to be self- reliant. And RAW is persistently attempting to create such a situation in Bangladesh. It is known to all that Indian intelligence agency is engaged in disruptive activities in Bangladesh since it came into being in 1971 to create the demand for Indian intervention from within the country. As a matter of fact, India has a condemnable history of swallowing Hyderabad, Manvadhar, Goa, Dumn, Deue and Kashmir and of course not forgetting the illegal and conspiratorial annexation of Sikkim, a tiny and rocky mountainous kingdom of Himalayas. Recalling all this it would be quite naive to believe that India is not interested in capturing a strategically important country like Bangladesh as this annexation seems necessary for them to suppress the on-going liberation struggles in North-Eastern Indian states bordering Bangladesh.

It wasn’t surprising at all when General Mainul Islam said that the BDR mutiny was a conspiracy by outside forces. Even history is evident that India's assistance in the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, did not originate from their sense of humanity for the people of Bangladesh, but to dismember Pakistan and finally merge them to 'greater Bharat, what Nehru termed as 'Aakhand Bharat'. At that time probably the Indian leaders thought that dismemberment of Pakistan would lead to the accession of Bangladesh to India but unfortunately this dream of them could not materialize even after the lapse of 38 years but hats off to the consistent nature of India that she has still kept her dream alive and is still working for its establishment.

Indian Elections and the Muslim Factor

Momin Iftikhar

The elections for the 15th Lok Sabha in India are at hand and as the billion plus public gears up to go to hustings, the Indian Muslims are only prominent on the tumultuous scene through their conspicuous absence.

In a changing political scenario in which the mainstream parties (Indian National Congress, Bhartya Janata Party) are loosing their clout to an empowerment of regional players (Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtrya Janata Dal etc), it is disconcerting that despite constituting a solid 14% chunk of the Indian population, Muslims as a community appear comatose, confused and directionless.

The most striking aspect is the absence of a unifying strategy seeking to uplift the community from the social morass and squalor that it finds itself in. It is a reason for major concern that Muslims in India neither have a leader to represent them nor a party of their own to articulate their aspirations. It is a measure of the prevailing drift that Muslims remain outside of the core constituency of any mainstream or regional party in India; leaving them at the mercy of political mavericks who are ruthlessly exploiting them for realizing partisan agendas, more often than not at unbearable cost to their interest.

Having been disillusioned by the supposedly secularist Congress Party and bruised and battered by the BJP, the Muslims in India find themselves at the mercy of exploitative regional parties whose interest in their welfare barely extends beyond a malicious purloining of votes. It is ironic that instead of producing and supporting a leader from among their own ranks, Muslims in India are turning to the likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadev and Mayavati for political leadership and emancipation. The situation need not have been so dismal. Notwithstanding that the Indian state and the political process tends to leave them outside the mainstream of politics yet in term of numbers, which determine the thrust of matters in a democracy, Muslim presence in India is in no way insignificant. Their clout, if suitably exploited, becomes particularly potent in a scenario whereby the major political parties are shrinking in influence and the regional parties are becoming ascendant. It is a measure of their latent potential that in at least 140 constituencies where they constitute more than 20% (including 14 constituencies where they are in majority and 28 other where they are above 30%), all political parties, including the BJP, are bending backwards to woo Muslim votes.

The formation of the Central Government in India largely depends upon the number of seats secured by political parties in Bihar and UP and in both states the Muslim constituencies can play a major role in deciding who reaches the pinnacle of political power in India. It is a different matter though that the supposed friends of Muslims, boasting claims of their leadership, are playing games with them. In Bihar, during 15 year’s rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Muslims have suffered the maximum, particularly on the education front. Lalu never cared to implement reforms that would benefit Muslim; only administering to the interests of his own clan of Yadavs. Once asked as to why there was no Muslim in the top leadership of his Rashtrya Janatadal Party, Lalu replied jokingly that he himself was the leader of the Muslims of Bihar.

Situation is no different in UP, where the Muslim votes have been instrumental in the rise of Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati , who after winning the UP state elections a year ago, appointed only one Muslim minister and that too in the insignificant department of environments. In another unkind cut she ordered the abandoning of construction of the Mohammad Ali Johar Minority University in Rampur that was much needed in spreading the light of education among Muslim youngsters who presently lack badly in this vital field. As for Mulayam Singh Yadav, claiming to be the rock solid friend of Muslims of UP, in the run up to the elections, has taken into his party’s folds Kalyan Singh, who during his stint as the Chief Minister of UP was instrumental in demolition of Babri Mosque on 6 December 1992.

It doesn’t require exceptional political acumen to identify the well known Muslim grievances that have reduced a significant community to the level of the proverbial slumdogs. The Sachar Committee report starkly outlines the despicable conditions of the Indian Muslims who are sliding miserably on account of all socio – economic indicators. It also exposes a state sponsored culture of institutionalized insensitivity that has seen Muslims in India descending to the bottom of the pit, even below the scheduled castes(SC) / tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC) whose sponsorship by the Government is facilitating these neglected communities’ upward social mobility.

The absence of a political clout to voice the concern of the Muslim community over racial profiling, that has made the Muslim youth a target of police and agencies, is another area that requires immediate emphasis. Muslim community also needs to underscore the need for implementing recommendations made by the Mishra Commission to provide 15% reservations for the minorities in the government jobs, provision of higher education opportunities, developmental benefits and availability of credit flow with 10% assured quota for Muslims. These recommendations are pertinent but in a joint electorate system where Muslims political and economic interests are totally overshadowed, given the obtaining state of affairs, hold no promise. Unless Muslims acquire a voice in the political system of India and secure dedicated quotas, guaranteed by legislative guarantees, there can be no empowerment of the community enabling them to benefit from the high pace of economical growth so proudly brandished by the Indian leaders and economists.

Muslims exclusion in Indian politics, irrespective of who takes the reins of the government, seems to have made the community resigned to a life of second rate citizens in perpetuity. It is instructive to note that in dealing with Muslims’ welfare and matters of advancement, the secular Congress Party has not been much different to BJP once their performance is viewed even superficially. In violation of its manifesto and charter, UPA in direct political competition with BJP, tried to sidetrack the Muslim community’s interests in a bid to vie for the Hindu votes. Congress made its lack of concern for the Muslim welfare glaringly obvious once it trashed the recommendations made by Sachar commission, refusing to even table it in the Parliament. Congress led UPA even refused to acknowledge the constitutional and legal recommendations made by the Mishra Commission in the wake of the Sachar findings. The reason behind this inertia is the stark realization that any relief to the Muslims is cross grained to the run of the democracy practiced in India where Muslims are destined to remain eternal losers under the crippling weight of a strident Hindu majority.