Sheikh Hasina... not so secular.

The Awami League needs new leadership.

Today, Daily Star reported on a proposal by the Awami League on amending Bangladesh's Constitution.

From a religio-political standpoint, the proposal is a disaster. There is no roll back of religion in politics, there is no roll back of Islamization. What there is - a tacit acceptance of the status quo, an acquiescence to the eventual destiny of Bangladesh. That of Iran.

The Awami League, a supposedly secularist political party, continues to pander to the Islamist bloc with the eventual outcome that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party will go one step further, farther to turn Bangladesh into a theocracy.

The Awami League's proposal includes: keeping Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim, in the Preamble of the Constitution. This was inserted by a dictator, if I'm not mistaken, General Ziaur Rahman (whose wife, incidentally, leads the BNP) and is a statement of a religion on a political social contract. In the name of God... and so on.

The Awami League would keep Islam as the state religion. An attempt by yet another dictator to legitimize his illegal rule, this time General HM Ershad. Although Hasina seems to find the amendment dubious (since no one popularly elected voted for it), she says that people are attached to religion and its been a long time since enactment (since 1988). This similar to saying that Apartheid may have well continued in South Africa because people are attached to race and its just been a fact of life. Ridiculous.

Hasina does say that other religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity will "enjoy equal rights." But just won't be a state religion. I may need to reexamine the word "equality."

In terms of religion-based parties, originally illegal but then made legal by a dictator (Zia), the Awami League wants to amend the law so that these parties wouldn't face a ban.

So Bangladesh continues to stumble down the road of Islamization. I suppose the next stop will be the Supreme Court declaring that the issuance of fatwa is exactly the same as a popularly promulgated law.

Source: The Daily Star, The Daily Star 2

Are the PM's words empty?

Not three days have passed since Bangla Nation implored Bangladeshi voters and the international community to hold Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to her alleged commitment to "building up a non-communal, democratic Bangladesh where people of all faiths will live in peace and plenty" (see...). Prime Minister Hasina needs to show her support for Bangladesh's minorities, not just because they voted for her party, by ordering an investigation into the circumstances and situations of the minorities in Bangladesh. Moreover, security personnel should be in place to protect the Hindu community. Most importantly, the police need to bring the criminals and hate activists, especially their leaders and political patrons (if they are acting under Opposition orders), to book and make a stern example of them.

Three days ago, just before PM Hasina's speech, a gang (from a neighboring village) beat up two youths of Dighalkandi Sahapara village (Puthia). In response, 10 Hindu families filed a general diary with the local police. Later that night, 30 suspected BNP-Jamaat "cadres" attacked three of the families, injuring 12. During the assault, the attackers hurled abuses at the families for supporting the Awami League during the December elections. The Awami League President of Baneswar union indicated that "criminals" had been after the land of the Hindu families in the village for a long time (Daily Star).

Disturbing and inexcusable are the only words to describe the situation that the Hindu community continues to find itself in. Bangla Nation believes that if Prime Minister Hasina intends on being more than an empty politician expelling hot air, addressing the grievances of Puthia's Hindu community would be a good place to take action.

Hold PM to her pledge NO MORE EMPTY WORDS

It is generally said that one shouldn't promise what won't be delivered and that one shouldn't speak of action unless willing to take action. Politicians, from any country, are notorious for this sort of obnoxious behavior. When they do it is known alternatively (depending on the speaker) known as pandering, politicking, promising, or just being idealistic. Keep it simple - they're lying.

If Bangla Nation was a Bangladeshi voter; it would cry from the lack of choice. If the caretaker government could not sort out the "battling begums," who else might? The people? We wait. The international community? Not likely, particularly, Beijing which is far more interested in selling Bangladesh electricity than institution and nation-building.

Yesterday PM Hasina gushed to a Catholic delegation that the Awami League government is "strongly committed to building up a non-communal, democratic Bangladesh where people of all faiths will live in peace and plenty." In addition the PM stated 'people of every religion and ethnic group would live in this land with their respective dignity and rights' (Independent).

Was it not PM Hasina's Awami League that joined hands with Ershad's Jatiya Party, which amended the Constitution to make Islam the state religion in 1982? Was it not the same PM Hasina and Awami League that subsequently welcomed the Jamaat-e-Islami in Opposition in 1995 in order to overturn the Bangladesh Nationalist Party at the time (Hashmi, Women and Islam in Bangladesh, 190)?

Is it not the same current Awami League government that has stood by while adhivasi communities in Tangail, CHT, and Naogaon remain landless and exploited (see, see)? Is it not the same Awami League government that has failed to protect the Khasi community from terror and crime (Daily Star)?

And why has there been no inquiry into the 'missing' millions of Hindus. The PM has high praise for Christians, but no such words for the millions of Hindu devotees who have simply vanished from Bangladesh.

Bangla Nation says that talk is cheap, and while these words come from a blog, Bangla Nation is not the Prime Minister nor even a voter of Bangladesh. Bangla Nation hopes that Bangladesh's voters and media hold PM Hasina to these statements and each of the political parties for their past actions and omissions. The international community should also hold these individuals and parties responsible.

Bangla Nation hopes that when the 1971 War Trials are concluded, than an inquiry and trials are opened to atone for the disappearance and terrorizing of millions of Bangladeshi Hindus. If PM Hasina "pledged" that, Bangla Nation would not believe it. If PM Hasina proposed it to Parliament, well before elections, the Bangla nation would have hope.