The New Nation - Internet Edition

M.T. Hussain

There is an opinion in the media that on one point Col(R) Rashid's stand appeared contradictory. The point was that he admitted to accept Sheikh Mujib as the 'father of the nation' and yet stood with no remorse for the action he participated in ousting, toppling and replacing the Sheikh from the State power of Bangladesh in mid August 1975, as was seen in a private TV channel in Dhaka on the 7th November.

To me, there was no contradiction. My reason may be summarised in the following way.

Sheikh Mujib, historically it is true, emerged as the leader number one of the country in late 1960s and remained so high in early 1970s earning respect and honour from majority people that earned for him and his party as the absolute winner in the 1970 general election. The same election result and following complicacies in power transfer led to the 1971 war for independence of Bangladesh that further turned Mujib as the supreme leader for independence of Bangladesh, and so came up the question of the 'father of the nation'.

However, it took only a very short time in independent Bangladesh for Mujib to turn unpopular not without reason but for rapidly increasing trend of frustration among the millions of common people passing days in extreme poverty and all other difficulties. In late 1974 a famine took away lives of, according to government data, 27,000 starving people; the unofficial figure of starving deaths ran much more higher than the official figure. Mismanagement not exclusively for inexperience but more for egocentricity of Mujib in the main, widespread corruption mainly among the government party men- leaders, cadres etc. including close family members of the leader Mujib who remained all above law that made things bad to worse day by day.

In December1974, Mujib declared State of Emergency in the country and then on the 25th January 1975 through a mockery of Assembly session for 13 minutes wherein he alone spoke and none was allowed to say anything turned the State into a lone party absolute dictatorship making himself the party chief and the President of the country. Although he had since January 1972 been enjoying absolute power having no open dissent from party men but some from underground ones, the turning of the State formally into one-party dictatorship put the last nail in the coffin of democracy.

Any reasonable dissent stopped forthwith through constitutional amendment and the changes made diametrically opposite in nature from multi-party to one party state that the people never ever thought of in their long struggle for decades for pluralism and multi-party democratic liberal socio-political system. All dissents already being contained through extra constitutional and extra-judicial means multiplied still further as the formal lone party dictatorship took over and so went on to control more harshly any dissenting voice through brutal use of the private forces and more so by the Para-military but unconstitutional and yet euphemistically called Rakkhi Bahini, parallel to and for counter balance of the regular army of the country.

On the cultural front the policies pursued by Mujib government hit hard the past proud heritage of the majority people, the Muslims, so much so that even, for example, deleting Muslim names and nomenclatures like dropping off the term 'Muslim' from the historic appellation of Salimullah Muslim Hall, Fazlul Haq Muslim Hall etc. for, according to them, making Bangladesh 'secular', but very much curiously keeping untouched other religious names! They cared not to ponder even for a while that in secular India the Aligargh Muslim University remained as usual with the Muslim appellation, not only then in 1970s but also even today after 60 years of Indian secularism in practice.

The people had no hope for enjoying their fundamental human rights; no hope either for any change from dictatorship to democracy in normal peaceful democratic process. The matter of total hopelessness engulfed the whole nation.

As is well recorded in documents, the 1975 coup was supported by all and sundry inside the country by common people as the British press had the news items published as I came to know in London immediately after the 15th August coup.

I had other experience in London right then of processions, demonstrations, public meetings in support of the coup held in East London Aldgate area, Oxford Street, Alwych, White Hall precincts, 10 Downing Street, Hyde Park Speakers Corner, Balham Jame Masjid Jumma congregation etc. Curiously the 1971 supporters of Mujib were nowhere there in London.

The immediate recognition not only of the post coup government but also of independent Bangladesh by China and Saudi Arabia, in particular, who denied formal recognition of Bangladesh as an independent country since after it came into being in 1971 not only provided legitimacy of the change but also deterred Indian threatened invasion of post August coup Bangladesh.

Then on, despite attempts of counter-coups, the15th August change that followed by the 7th November people-army uprising having everything same in essence has been keeping Bangladesh re-chart her march forward in pluralism and multi-party democratic process.

To make the long story short in regard to Mujib's position and role for Bangladesh, his role prior to 1971 had been laudable just as Rashid pointed out and then in independent Bangladesh he turned into a dictator. No case was such lodged against the coup until after 21 years in 1996 by Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina alleging the coup makers as simple 'killers' of her father. To lodge the case, she had to go for dubious exercise in by passing and flouting the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution providing for additional indemnity for the 15th August coup operators thus making the case seriously flawed ab initio. However, during her regime for five years (1996-2001), the case after passing on through three stages having had three separate verdicts has now been under consideration in the Supreme Court Appeal Division. Rashid along with 12 others faced death sentence, five of them in Dhaka central prison and six others including Rashid live elsewhere as fugitives.

His interview has only partially been telecast and being abruptly stopped, the contents of the other parts remained in dark for reasons best known to the parties concerned. Common people like us have just only to keep on guessing. Had the full version been known one could ascertain his ideas and intentions to give a better view of his opinion on the issue in question.