These are surely the worst of times although these are supposed to be the best of times with the hanging of Qader Mollah (QM). Instead of mass upsurge of celebrations, the hanging has tended to push the country into a newer and higher level of conflict with Jamaat-Shibir's acts of violence all over the country. The rejoicing over the hanging has partly been muted because many among the people who wanted QM and his cohorts tried and given the severest punishment under the law, feared the costs of the hanging in the country's current tryst with a near civil war-like situation would be too much.
When QM was given the reprieve from a death sentence early in February this year, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from all walks of life made their way to Shahbag to express their solidarity with the demand made from there by the 'Projonmo' for death sentence for the accused. The humungous gathering underscored the fact unequivocally that the issue of the trial of the war criminals was a national issue. In fact, in a country that has seen little unity on national issues since liberation because of the nature of politics, the unity demonstrated from Shahbag on the demand for hanging of QM and other accused in the trial of the war criminals was qualitatively the same as the nation had shown when Bangabandhu gave the call for the country's independence in 1971.
Sadly, a movement that had promised so much in the first few days it exploded, were unfortunately not able to retain its wider appeal; it was considered by some quarters as controversial and partisan. The movement also misjudged, to a notable extent, the religious sentiments of the common people of this country, what was reported in a section by the media, by ignoring the anti-Islam and anti-Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) postings, allegedly in the blogs of some of the leaders of the Shahbag 'Projonmo'. The religious fundamentalists sought to turn the movement upside down by publicising such 'offensive' postings. Once such developments drew, rightly or wrongly, the attention of the common people they became lukewarm about Shahbag. The ruling party's alleged patronisation and a section of the media kept the Shahbag movement going but its wider appeal was lost on the issue of Islam.
Thus when QM's death sentence was passed, the people in much lower number than before, went there to welcome the death sentence. And when QM was hanged, there were fewer people at Shahbag because by the time the hanging took place, the apprehension and the concern among the people was all about reprieve from the civil-war-like situation to which the country was sliding over the issue of holding the national elections. Therefore, the Awami League (AL)-led government that had done such a great job with the trials failed to unite the people with the hanging of QM because of its stubbornness to hold one-party elections against popular will.
The hanging of QM and the muted nature of public enthusiasm have been a reflection of current reality in Bangladesh where the lives of the people have been marginalised. And it has been done in a manner where they are in no real mood to rejoice over a hanging that the AL-led government has been trying to establish as the most important one, while relegating all other issues of concern in the present-day situation for the people, to the background. The people, while committed to punish the war criminals, want the country to come back on its rails. They are praying as they have not prayed since 1971 for an election in which the AL and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) would both participate; they believe that without an "inclusive" national election, the country would bleed to death. Under such circumstances, they fear that the hanging of QM and if more are to follow would further destabilise politics and hasten the country's ruin.
The resolution taken in the Pakistan parliament has given the hanging of Qader Mollah, ironically, a new lease of life in Bangladesh. The spontaneous public anger over the resolution has again been taken over by the Shahbag Movement to give the issue of the trial of the war criminals a new spin after it had not succeeded much to gain the sort of public approval with the hanging that it and the ruling party, working in tandem, had expected. The resolution that has been adopted has not been unanimous and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the MQM, an organisation of those who had settled in Pakistan coming there from India after the partition in 1947, have opposed it. On behalf of the ruling Muslim League in Pakistan that supported the resolution, its Home Minister Chaudhury Nissar Ali has said: "We respect independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh but there should be a policy of forgive and forget." There is a historical reference in the Minister's words that made him stress the words "forgive and forget".
In 1973, Bangladesh, to recall, had signed the Tripartite Agreement with India and Pakistan. Article 15 of the Agreement states: "… having regard to the appeal of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to the people of Bangladesh to forgive and forget the mistakes of the past, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh stated that the Government of Bangladesh had decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency. It was agreed that the 195 prisoners of war might be repatriated to Pakistan along with the other prisoners of war now in the process of repatriation under the Delhi Agreement."
Now 40 years afterwards, the government of Bangladesh is demanding an apology from Pakistan for adopting a resolution on QM after signing an international treaty to "forgive and forget" the crimes of the masterminds of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide. Those who would look at the matter dispassionately might be inclined to ask the question on how Bangladesh would defend its present position against Pakistan for a resolution on QM, having spared the trials of those 195 war criminals in a spirit of forget and forgive.
However, this does not in anyway explain the insensitive resolution taken in Pakistan's parliament that must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. At the same time, the Tripartite Agreement of 1973 puts the government of Bangladesh in an unsavoury situation for pushing the issue to the extent being demanded by Shahbag and its supporters.
At a time when the opposition is not allowed any right of democratic protest, the government has allowed Shahbag to proceed close to the Pakistan High Commission. Unfortunately again for the ruling party, these moves are not gaining any traction in the ground, although with the Pakistan resolution, there is great anger in the hearts of every Bangladeshi. The reason is a simple one. The present reality of politics in Bangladesh is that the people are now concerned with just one issue because it is a matter of life and death for them, namely an "inclusive" national election to save the country from sliding towards becoming a failed state.
It is time for those pushing for hanging of the war criminals and now with Pakistan resolution to pause and come to grips with political reality. Unfortunately, they are not and one of their leaders recently demanded that supporters of Jamaat, Shibir and Hefazat should be shot at sight and killed by the law-enforcement agencies where Hefazat has not been involved in the acts of violence taking place at present. This was what the Pakistan's military and those accused in the war crimes did to us in 1971.
Those who have led the demand of the trials of the war criminals have done a great job. Unfortunately, they are exposing their hands by putting into a national issue an agenda of their own. However, there are some reasons to consider whether the majority of the country's population under the prevailing circumstances have unqualified support, given their widely shared concern for upholding democratic pluralism and ensuring inclusive election for that purpose and their strong reservation over the course of actions, for going the whole hog after those who support and speak for Islam. Jamaat is a political problem for Bangladesh, its acts of violence notwithstanding. Political problems have nowhere in history been resolved by the barrel of the gun. It is time to reflect on this historical truth.
The writer is a retired                        career Ambassador.               serajul7@gmail.com
The hanging of Qader Mollah and Pakistan
M. Serajul Islam | Published: December 22, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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