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Establishing peace and stability in interdependent global world

writes A. K. Abdul Momen in the first of a two-part article | Published: December 18, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: December 17, 2015 20:51:54


When the Gulf War was launched, nearly 200,000 Bangladeshi expatriate workers were dislodged and many had to be repatriated back home. Same was the case when the Libyan uprising started.  Bangladesh had to repatriate nearly 30 or 40 thousand of its expatriate workers back home.  It was not an easy task.  
When the worst financial crises in the century, worse than that of Great Depression of 1930s, occurred during 2008-09 due to lax enforcement of laws and regulations and excessive greed in the industrialised world especially subprime lending, many countries faced economic downturn and vulnerability as their remittance dwindled and exports plummeted.  Luckily Bangladesh escaped major severity, neither its remittance declined nor its export earnings dwindled.  This is because firstly, as our expatriate workforce were mostly unskilled and were engaged in non-professional jobs and hence were not laid off and secondly, since our garment exports were mostly in the lower price-end and hence, bargain-hunters in a situation of financial crisis, in turn, increased their effective demand.  Therefore, in spite of financial crises, Bangladesh maintained a comfortable and decent GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate unlike most of the developed and developing countries.  However, as the country is moving more and more to high-end products and as our workforce are also getting engaged in more professional jobs, any future financial onslaught or war or violence in partner countries, whether it is Western or Middle East countries, may not be as harmless as it was in 2008-09.  Therefore, it is necessary for Bangladesh to take a lead in upholding global peace and stability across nations to protect its own interest. This is more so as we live in a highly interdependent global world.
AN ABODE OF HUMANITY: Bangladesh can rightfully take up a leadership role in this area. It is currently the top troops-contributing country to the UN Peacekeeping Missions.  It has deployed more than 138,000 of its professional and highly well-trained peacekeepers across many trouble spots.  Bangladesh Constitution also obligates it to deploy its peacekeepers under the UN flag to maintain global peace and stability, one of the major goals of the UN Charter. However, deployment of the UN peacekeepers is a temporal solution and it is not enough to have lasting and sustainable peace and stability across nations.  
Bangladesh is a land of ideas, creativity and vision.  It is not only because of its recent successful implementation of micro-credit concept that was innovated in Connecticut (USA) during the New Deal period in 1930s or successful innovation of dehydration therapy for cholera epidemic, or for its unique relationship between government and non-governmental organisations (NGO) as a vehicle of growth and prosperity.  In fact, historically, it is the land of free thinking, land of promoters of human rights and humanity.  Even before America was discovered by Columbus in 1492 or even before the European Renaissance, Chondi Das of Bengal spread his message of humanity---???? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ??? (humanity is above all - as early as in 1408.  His message has been repeated again and again throughout Bengal and it became a land of peace and stability.
The concept of humanity, universalism, brotherhood and fraternity --- that human being is above all irrespective of creed, colour, ethnicity, religion, social background or status -- was the campaign of all Shadu- Sonnashis, Bauls and Sufis of Bengal.  The eternal songs and teachings of Lalan Shah, Hasan Raza, Abdul Karim, Sree Chaithonno, to name a few, taught us to lead a life of love and respect for others away from greed and hatred.  Their philosophy and ideas have been ingrained, if not wholly but in part in the minds and psyche of all Bengali nationals.  It is a part of our Bengali culture and history and therefore, for centuries, followers of many faiths live in Bengal in peace and harmony.  The songs and music of Bengal's Nobel Laureate Rabindronath Tagore is full of love and respect for humanity and a longing for enrichment of life by enlightening and accommodating others.  For example,
????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ??, ????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ????? ??? ?? ?????,  ?????? ???,  ????? ??? ????? ??? ?? (Enlighten our soul and mind, enrich it and eliminate all barriers and thus make us the best of the creations, Ashraful Maklukat).  Our National poet Kazi Nazrul Islam made clarion calls again and again to treat human being, both man and woman, equally.  No wonder almost a century ago, he wrote,  “?????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??? ??????? ????, ?????? ??? ??” (whatever great and beneficial in this planet earth, half is done by women and half by men).  Now after almost a century, the global leadership are talking of 'women empowerment' at the UN that Nazrul preached so eloquently in his poems in 1920s. Kazi Nazrul Islam also wrote,   “???? ?????? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ???, ??? ???? ??????” (I sing the song of Humanity, there is nothing greater than human being).   He writes,
 “??????? ???? ???’
? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ???’ ???’ ? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????, ?????? ???? ??????-????? ??? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? (by hating human beings, who are they kissing the religious books).  He further says,
 ??????? ?? ???,
????? ???? ??????, ?????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ???????? ???????? ????? ????? ???? ???? -- ??????? ?????; ?????? ??? ????-??????, ?? ?????? ????, ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????
(In fact, all the great religious books, the holy Quran, the Bible, the Ved, the Torah--- all were brought to this planet earth none other than by human beings and more importantly, for the well-being of human beings yet uneducated, ill-educated and fanatics are up in arms to kill and hate human beings. The prophets that we are proud of like Adam-David-Issac-Moses-Abraham-Mohammed or Krishna-Buddha-Nanak-Kabir, they were all human beings and their blood is still floating among all of us).
A LAND OF NON-VIOLENCE, PEACE AND HARMONY: Bengal is also the cradle of Buddhism and Gautama Buddha followed the 'path of ohinso' -- non-violence.  He was born as a human, achieved enlightenment as a human and also died as a human being and thus he enhanced the role of human beings.  Same is with our Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) who was born as a human being and died as a human being and lived among all faiths and even unbelievers or pagans in peace and harmony.  He used to treat both, those who treat him good and treat him bad, with good manners. He was a 'ummi', he could not read or write and therefore, he appointed a Jew of Medina as his 'kotib' (he who writes for him) who worked for him for almost 10 years and that kotib wrote many challenging peace agreements of Islam including that of Treaty of Hudaybiyyah in 628. This shows that our Prophet had complete trust and confidence on him, a Jew, a non-Muslim.  Should we follow the teachings and practices of Prophet Mohammed (SM) or act against his teachings which were not practised by him? Hating and killing and intolerance were not his practice or teachings.
Therefore, when Hazrat Shahjalal Mujjarad, a saint, came from Yemen and settled in Sylhet or Jalalabad, he followed a life-style of accommodation, peace and harmony.  He allowed people of all faiths; Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Pagans to visit his centre and he even allowed women to visit him. No wonder, till today, people of all faiths, castes and gender are allowed to visit the Majar Sharif of Hazrat Shahjalal. Fact of the matter is, Bengal, now Bangladesh, is the home of humanity, peace and harmony.  It spread the light of humanity across nations. In recent years, a son of Bangladesh, Sri Chinmoy of Chittagong has been spreading the light of peace, love and harmony across nations and he changed the lives of thousands in the USA, European Union (EU) countries and also in Russian Federation.  
Therefore, it is painful that a small segment of Bangladeshi people of late, in the name of religion, have lost their tradition and life of peace and harmony.  They have become  'jihadis or terrorists' and killers of bloggers, authors, Imams and divergent opinions. They lost the spirit and essence of Islam, the spirit of tolerance and respect for others that our culture cherishes so dearly. They have been burning places of worships of all faiths and denominations and looting the properties of weak and minority people.  They are creating social unrest and communal hatred.  They appeared to be the followers of ISIS or Donald Trump of USA who have been spreading messages of venom of hatred and intolerance against certain religious groups.  They do not seem like to be Bangladeshis, the people of tolerance and goodwill to others.      
Now it is time for Bangladesh leadership and its civil society to take a lead in spreading the message of love and respect for humanity.  It is time for Bangladesh to lead the world to have a world of more peace and stability for its own sake and for the betterment of the global people as any outburst or dislocation of peace and stability at both home and abroad is sure to hurt its economy, the well-being and life and liberty of Bangladeshi nationals at both home and abroad. Therefore, Bangladesh should take the lead as it is historically and culturally a peace-loving nation, and has proven track record of leadership in promoting ideas and vision.
Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Business, is a former Bangladesh Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN.  abdul_momen@hotmail.com

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