The New Nation - Internet Edition

Lessons of the Kerbala tragedy

TODAY is the tenth of the month of Muharram in the Islamic calendar. The Muslim world is observing the day with due solemnity in remembrance of the martyrdom embraced on this day over thirteen and half centuries ago by the grandson of Prophet Mohammed (SM) at Kerbala which is part of present-day Iraq. Imam Hussein (RA), the prophet's grandson, could easily save his own life and the lives of his nearest and dearest ones if he chose the path of retreat. The forces of the most heartless and despicable tyrant, Yazid, were many times bigger and superior in force of arms compared to his tiny band.

Imam Hussein was surrounded for days in the desert and not only starved but also could not quench his thirst as even access to water was denied. Fighting under these circumstances was inevitably destined to lead to his death and death of all members of his camp. But realising this very well, Imam Hussein (RA) was the least swayed by the temptations of the mortal world but only to hold high the flag of truth and justice and whatever can lead to peace, equality and fraternity among humans.

Therefore, the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (RA) was an inconsolable tragedy which however is also a beacon to Muslims who should always struggle against falsehood, oppression, injustice. Muslims throughout the centuries have drawn inspiration from the events of Kerbala to never compromise with evil. Bangladesh as a nation, is struggling for a national redemption in all spheres. Let the occasion of the holy Ashura make our leaders pause and ponder about aspects of high morality consistent with the teachings of the Kerbala tragedy.

Benapole strike: Ominous sign

AN incident of strike and abstention from work has been noticed just before the new government of the grand alliance has taken charge. The Benapole land port was paralysed the other day as handling workers refrained from work in protest against reported attacks on them allegedly by the activists of a ruling party. The striking workers brought out procession and held rally protesting the attack. Witness accounts hinted that local leaders of the party pressed for recruitment of their cadres as handling workers. The workers came under attack as they refused to comply.

Benapole is the largest and the busiest land port through which a major part of the export and import good to and from India is done. Any disturbance in the normal functioning of the port is likely to affect the commodity market in the country. The said strike, though short, is an ominous sign. The business community has time and again demanded a united stand of all political parties against strikes that disrupt production. It is expected that the political forces would refrain from creating the environment that might lead workers to strikes.

Political recruitment and over-staffing in the past overburdened government enterprises that ultimately turned into losing concerns. These were preciously the reasons why the nationalised sector was plagued by anarchy, inefficiency and corruption. Such practice should be resisted from the very beginning or else the viability of state organisations would be seriously jeopardised. Any practice that hampers the much expected forward march of the country should be stopped forthwith. Let incidents like the one at Benapole not recur.

Expectations of the new government

Md. Monirul Islam

It is as usual that the independence of Bangladesh in 1971 was uncertain and unexpected because of giant Pakistani militarists' atrocities that shattered the door of dreams of the people of East Bengal. But in the election of 1970, the East wing led by Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gained absolute majority in East Pakistan which was certain in this sense that whole people of East Bengal agitated against brutal Pakistani ruler for their oligarchic rule that frequently carried fate for the people of the Eastern region.

People never expected that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of liberation war will be assassinated and Ziaur Rahan will also be gone in the same way, no one contains it in his/her mind. But it is the sheer reality in Bangladeshi scenario. No one made their opinion sure that autocracy will be ousted, but it was done. So, we observe that the objects which were uncertain in Bangladeshi history, that came into certainty. This case has further happened with the landslide victory of Awami League-led Grand Alliance in the election of 2008.

Some analysts, before conducting election of 2008, proclaimed that only for two causes, the grand alliance will triumph in the election. First is the price hike. All people mainly poor and middle class whose incomes are not high fall into disastrous condition for their subsistence. And second is people's tendency. People's tendency in Bangladeshi history never elected a government twice consecutively. People of Bangladesh always want change and AL bestowed the charter of changing day in their election manifesto. So, people have espoused AL-led grand alliance through giving their vote as is being called the most silent vote revolution in Bangladeshi history.

Bangladesh has already passed 37 years of her independence. In this sense, it is the new country and the present challenge of the country is also new and what the AL has promised to the people is also the new challenge. Previous governments made it the futile shape. So, AL government has to rehabilitate the country which becomes necessary for the new state when a state is born from the occupation of outsiders. The present situation is like that. The expectation of people has become high on account of promise from victors was high. If the expectation of people is not fulfilled, revolution may be the result.

Huntington's annunciation, in this regard, is suitable although it is not the immediate newly born state. He said that 'the problem of achieving consensus on basic issues of national importance is one of the serious problems that new states usually confront. Soon after independence, the different ethnic, religious, and regional forces that joined hands during the movement for freedom begin to unfold separate identities. To their dismay, the nationalist leaders who led the independence movement discover that the society they have been leading is not at all homogeneous. It is rather a conglomeration of diverse and mutually conflicting interests, loyalties and identities'. (W. Howard Wringgins, "Impediment to Unity in New Nation: The Case of Ceylon", American Political Science Review, 52:2 (June 1961), Pp.313-20) As the leaders fail to make a positive contribution to improve the quality of life of the people, the "the revolution of rising expectation" gradually transforms itself into a "revolution of rising frustration". The consequences of this, in most cases, are turbulence, instability, and resort to violence. (Samuel P. Huntington, "Political Development and Political Decay", World Politics, 17:2 (April 1965), Pp.386-430). All these contribute directly to the problem of achieving consensus on vital national issues.

When general agreement among the members of a political community on vital political mechanism of the state breaks down, revolution may result.

The newly elected government of Bangladesh should seriously think that four-party alliance has got very few numbers of seats in the election. It is very normal case that they may be arrogant or be vibrated in any simple case. Boycotting parliament, strike, procession against government etc. will be the result.

So, government has to maintain the demands of oppositions as far as possible. Present government should take it in their mind that the present scenario of the country is likewise the newly born state because Bangladesh has to face not only the internal problems but also the external pressures triggered by neighbour states and occidental set-up.

It was also intoned by the opponents in the election campaign that if the secularists (AL-led grand alliance) came into power, they will destroy all Islamic institutions of the country. Govt. should prove to construct building, not to destroy. It is the great chance for the government to show their cooperative mentality beyond ravenous conduct.

Present elected government is saying that they will give chance of opposition in their administration as deputy speaker or minister etc. Barak Obama, the newly elected president of US has shown his thoughtfulness to the oppositions with giving appointment in his administration as ministers. These two incumbencies' (US President & AL-led Grand Alliance) motto is to change the circumstance cooperatively thereby, giving chance in their administration in spite of being the opponent in all spheres in the state-affair.

The word of Mahatma Gandhi is highly remarkable-"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any." If this act of incumbency becomes successes, future Bangladesh will be run peacefully under the leadership of Grand Alliance and people's tendency-'not to elect the government twice consecutively'-will be smashed.

America losing on the battlefield of mind

Christopher Boucek

When you fly to Guantanamo, the United States government insists you carry your passport, as though you're going to a foreign country.

It's all part of the elaborate legal fiction that the detainees on the American military base here can be outside the jurisdiction of US law without really being outside US territory.

Just as Guantanamo's legal and geographic isolation from the United States denies its prisoners recourse to the American judicial system, it also denies its military administrators the benefits of the most current research on how to de-radicalise prisoners and reintegrate them into society.

The problem is that the US government looks at Guantanamo as the destination rather than as part of a process. The base's military authorities talk a lot about "the battlefield of the mind," but they seem to be doing more to provide the prisoners with distractions than to prepare the profoundly alienated men for whatever future awaits them. Geology classes, Game Boys and crayons may provide diversion, but they do not provide alternatives to Islamic extremism.

For instance, officials of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, the military unit that runs the detention centre, state that the facility employs no outside religious guides for its prisoners, instead allowing them to choose religious authorities from their ranks.

Yet research from around the world demonstrates that one of the most successful ways to engage religious extremists is through religious debate and dialogue, challenging the underlying beliefs that support and encourage violence.

In Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Iraq religious authorities are used to arguing against violence with security offenders.

When asked about this, JTF officials replied that the detainees are not interested in speaking with outside religious scholars. Yet detainees who have been repatriated to Saudi Arabia, for example, go through an intensive rehabilitation process incorporating large amounts of religious instruction and discussion. There are a number of knowledgeable scholars and Imams, including former radicals with credibility and legitimacy, who could be deployed in Guantanamo to work with the detainees.

There is a growing body of work on how to deal with offenders preparing to leave custody, and this research needs to be put to use in Guantanamo. But despite the refrain that Guantanamo is a battlefield of the mind, it seems we have all but given up in that fight, ceding victory to violent extremists.

According to officials here, there is an active Al Qaeda cell among the detainees that includes a religious authority. It is unclear what steps have been taken to isolate this leader from his followers, but present policies all but assure that the cell will continue its activities.

Separating or segregating prisoners is not enough. Any successful counter-radicalisation effort must offer a positive in addition to the removal of a negative. Religiously motivated prisoners must be given a way to practice their faith in a way that includes being challenged on the premise that faith can be used to justify violence and terror.

Under the present system at Guantanamo, detainees are housed according to their behaviour and perceived importance, from medium security to high security. Fifteen or so "High Value Detainees" are held separately in Camp 7. (The existence of this has been acknowledged, but its precise location remains secret.) Prisoners of different ethnic and national groups are mixed together.

Grouping detainees by risk may make sense for a normal prison, but it complicates successful de-radicalisation and preparation for repatriation at Guantanamo.

If the government were to separate detainees first by their nations of origin, and then by their behaviour, it could use more specific cultural factors to influence their behaviour.

This could also facilitate greater participation by officials from a detainee's home country. In addition, the current arrangement reinforces the notion of a global jihad. Officials claim there about 40 different nationalities represented here, making separation difficult. But surely not impossible.

Officials should at least try to break down the social groups that radicalised these men and replace them with different forms of social reinforcement. To date, there have been no such efforts.

Though the exact number remains classified, there are probably about 250 detainees currently at Guantanamo.

Under the solution President-elect Barack Obama is exploring, the United States would charge those who can be charged and repatriate others to their countries of origin, where they would be charged or rehabilitated.

That leaves those whom the government cannot or will not charge, but whose release is believed to pose serious risks. The goal is to make that number as small as possible, and, to that end, the government must conduct a thorough review of all the cases as soon as possible.

Closing Guantanamo will not be the end of all detentions of extremists. As long as the United States and its allies continue to detain individuals around the world in the struggle again Islamist violence, they will need a comprehensive and international approach on how to hold and process extremists. The ultimate goal should be to send these prisoners back to their home countries to be charged, housed and reintegrated.

Reliable figures are difficult to come by. The Saudi re-arrest rate is under 10 per cent, and in Iraq, counter-radicalisation and rehabilitation have been credited with drastic reductions in the number of detainees. There is always the risk that some of the men released from Guantanamo will resume violent activities, but these early indicators suggest positive results. And indefinite detention is simply not an option.

Can't we all do something for Gaza?

Maryam Ismail

In Chapter Takweer in the Holy Quran, infant girls ask, "For what reason was I killed?" This verse is directed to those parents who as a custom killed their daughters during the days of jahaliya, the days of ignorance in pre-Islamic Arabia.

If you know the details of this tragic custom, you would be horrified. Sometimes they would wait until the child was five years old. Then they would dress her up as if she was going to a party and even pretend that she was going somewhere special. Then they would take her to the desert and bury her alive. As she would push away the sand from her face, her father or mother would pile it on again and again.

With the advent of Islam, this tragedy ended. But with the bombing by Israel, it has started again. Tonight I saw five sisters killed as their homes fell on them. Can you imagine losing five children in one instant? The oldest looked about 17 years old, their spiritless bodies, showed a mix of anguish with the final emergence of peace. Who would wish this for their children? Living in the Middle East, it creeps into your mind, when will we be next? It doesn't matter if you dot your I's and cross your T's perfectly, that is not enough. The most recent examples are still fresh, remember Eid Al Adha 1427?

I was reading the UAE community blog. There was some news about a protest against the massacre in Palestine at the Palestinian Consulate in Dubai. Protests in UAE are rare but, this one seemed to get bloggers all stirred up. One anonymous commenter queried, "How can you have a consulate when there is no (Palestine) county?" You see, this is the point. For Israel, the Palestinians DO NOT exist, they have no right to exist. And their mere existence is like a fly on your hamburger; you want it dead now.

I would expose the anonymous commentator, yes, I know who it is. One of the Israeli guests who have been trickling into UAE, to work, make money, and torture all of those around them with the greatness of Zionism speeches on the left side of their mouths, while they criticise Muslims and their shortcomings on the right side of their mouths. Of course, you can't love a person like that but still, you have to ask, do we Muslims really care about Palestine? Protests aside, where is the political power? There are many Muslim countries, not just one. Many of their leaders are smart, educated men and some of them have the experience of hundred people to help them. I am sure that if they put their heads together, they could do something for the Palestinians. It could be a non-violent approach such as revoking the licence of the franchises of foreign companies.

In the case of the UAE, where there are so many entrepreneurs waiting in the wings, let them take over and create a new lovable brand. Why not create a new brand that they in the West would die for, like we are dying for Coke and Pepsi or a cheap 3-dirham burger at McDonald's? I know the kinds of cows they use, I am sure somebody could do a burger better.

Right now, there is such an identity crisis amongst Muslims. This is mostly due to fear and more debilitating, laziness. Instead of making the effort, to do something, as one person said to me, we'll hire somebody to do it.

Well, you will get what you pay for. You can't purchase another life, not even your own. And while the bling-bling effect has given the UAE much dazzle, in the US especially, like the anonymous commentator, they love to find everything that is awry. Earlier this month, Newsweek, in a report about Dubai, stated bluntly: The Party is Over! It talked of job cuts, and people throwing in extras and trying to make deals just to make ends meet. Of course, people will talk. Let them talk. But as I watch the injured and bleeding children arrive in hospitals that didn't even have sheets for their gurneys, I know I would hate to face those children in the next world when they would ask: Can you please tell me what did I die for? Or like why didn't you come ?to my rescue? I think that the Newsweek article was right, with the coming of the third Intifada, the party is over.