MARCH 7, 2013
The most distinguished icon is missing at Shahbagh
MOZAMMEL H. KHAN
It was March 26, 1971. A Bengali Youngman, a Ph. D. student in Vanderbilt University, was keeping a close watch on the events at Dhaka. At around noon, he turned on his radio to get the latest news about Dhaka. There was a brief item: “Pakistan army has moved in to stop the political opposition against the government of Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader of the movement, has fled.”
Within an hour, the Youngman and other five Bengalis from East Pakistan who were residing in the area met to decide what they should do. To them the message was very clear: “Pakistan army wants to crush Bengalis once for all.”
There was no clear consensus on the appreciation of the situation. One of them, in the words of the Youngman “a Jamat-supporter,” kept on saying: “We really don’t know what has happened. Let us wait for more details.” In response, the agitated Youngman said: “We have all the details we need. Bangladesh has declared its independence. Now we have to decide whether we consider ourselves citizens of this new country or not. Everybody has the right to choose. I declare my allegiance to Bangladesh. If there is anyone else who would like to join me in this me in this, he is free to do so. Those who do not join Bangladesh, I would consider them Pakistanis and enemies of Bangladesh.”
When they heard that Sheikh Mujib had been arrested, he said: “We were in tears after hearing the news. Until then we were imagining all kinds of possibilities of Sheikh guiding the nation from some underground bunker. All that the nation needed was his live voice over the radio. Pakistan had no chance with all their sophisticated firepower against his voice.”
Over the next nine months, the Youngman did whatever was possible to drum up support for the cause of his new country: recognition of Bangladesh, stopping military aid to Pakistan, stopping genocide in Bangladesh, and freeing Sheikh Mujib.
The Youngman would return to Bangladesh to participate in its reconstruction. He would create a unique institution called Grameen Bank which, years later, would bring the greatest laurel for the institution and for him and the country, and also the happiness and prosperity of those citizens he dreamt off in the defining moment.
The Youngman is no other than Prof. Mohammed Yunus, the most famous living icon of our nation, a household name in the world of microcredit all over the globe.
42 years later, another defining moment has arrived in Bangladesh. This time around, the war is being led and propelled by members of the younger generation, most of whom were not born when Prof. Yunus was fighting the Liberation War in 1971 from a distance.
The new war, dubbed as the second war of liberation, is different from the first one in many ways. The weapons which are being used in this war are not deadly; they do not kill or harm anyone, yet are as effective as the worst weapons technology has developed, if not more. The unprecedented “weapon” of silence exhibited spontaneously by the citizens across the country was more thunderous than the noise of the noisiest weapons, the light of the lighted million candles was more soothing and shining than the full moon, and the unison of voices singing Sonar Bangla was heard and sung loudly from Cape Town to Canada.
In response to critics’ advice to invoke love, the young leader of the movement befittingly responded: “We have no dearth of love in our hearts. But that love is reserved for Bangladesh, freedom fighters and the martyrs.”
Headlines in the international media reflected the unprecedented non-violent movement in clear terms, especially in a country where violence is the order of the day. The Independent of UK wrote: “The war Bangladesh can never forget. The guns fell silent more than 40 years ago, but the scars of Bangladesh’s short, bloody struggle for independence still burn to this day. But this is a country driven by a national agony at its creation which has never been fully addressed. The protest now happening outside the national museum is of an unprecedented nature, and on an unprecedented scale.”
CNN, under the heading “The Spirit of ’71 Rises at Shahbagh Square in Dhaka,” reported that “Shahbagh square is full of people from all classes, gender, religion and profession who have gathered at Shahbagh square for one single demand, ‘hang the war criminals until death.’ ”
Unfortunately, just like the other two defining moments in the recent history of the Bengali nation, the language movement and the Liberation War, we had our share of enemies, in different identities, who spread venom and falsehoods to malign the spontaneous outbursts of the people. During the language movement, the propaganda was spread that the demonstrators had come from across the border and only the supreme sacrifice of our martyrs proved how fallacious the propaganda was.
During our Liberation War, we were all “Indian agents and miscreants” who were out there to make this part of the “holy land a part of India.” In the current defining moment, the second war of liberation, where the spirit of the first one has been rekindled, the enemies are terming the movement as a movement against Islam to arouse religious sentiment, and alleging that India is “patronising” the Shahbagh youths.
People of conscience from all walks of life, who want reawakening of the spirit of ’71, are declaring allegiance to the movement to provide a moral boost to those who have been on the streets for weeks to realise their demand.
At this crucial juncture of the nation the absence of the voice or the blessing of the most distinguished icon of the nation, believed to be the role model of the millions who are out there to rekindle the spirit of the revolution of which Prof. Yunus was very much a part, is conspicuous. In 1971, he took only a moment to decide his course of action, but the nation has not seen any reaction from him vis-à-vis the so far month-long movement designed to finish the unfinished revolution he and his generation started some 42 years ago. On behalf of his millions of admirers, would it be appropriate to enquire why he is not gracing this movement through either blessings or physical presence?
Within an hour, the Youngman and other five Bengalis from East Pakistan who were residing in the area met to decide what they should do. To them the message was very clear: “Pakistan army wants to crush Bengalis once for all.”
There was no clear consensus on the appreciation of the situation. One of them, in the words of the Youngman “a Jamat-supporter,” kept on saying: “We really don’t know what has happened. Let us wait for more details.” In response, the agitated Youngman said: “We have all the details we need. Bangladesh has declared its independence. Now we have to decide whether we consider ourselves citizens of this new country or not. Everybody has the right to choose. I declare my allegiance to Bangladesh. If there is anyone else who would like to join me in this me in this, he is free to do so. Those who do not join Bangladesh, I would consider them Pakistanis and enemies of Bangladesh.”
When they heard that Sheikh Mujib had been arrested, he said: “We were in tears after hearing the news. Until then we were imagining all kinds of possibilities of Sheikh guiding the nation from some underground bunker. All that the nation needed was his live voice over the radio. Pakistan had no chance with all their sophisticated firepower against his voice.”
Over the next nine months, the Youngman did whatever was possible to drum up support for the cause of his new country: recognition of Bangladesh, stopping military aid to Pakistan, stopping genocide in Bangladesh, and freeing Sheikh Mujib.
The Youngman would return to Bangladesh to participate in its reconstruction. He would create a unique institution called Grameen Bank which, years later, would bring the greatest laurel for the institution and for him and the country, and also the happiness and prosperity of those citizens he dreamt off in the defining moment.
The Youngman is no other than Prof. Mohammed Yunus, the most famous living icon of our nation, a household name in the world of microcredit all over the globe.
42 years later, another defining moment has arrived in Bangladesh. This time around, the war is being led and propelled by members of the younger generation, most of whom were not born when Prof. Yunus was fighting the Liberation War in 1971 from a distance.
The new war, dubbed as the second war of liberation, is different from the first one in many ways. The weapons which are being used in this war are not deadly; they do not kill or harm anyone, yet are as effective as the worst weapons technology has developed, if not more. The unprecedented “weapon” of silence exhibited spontaneously by the citizens across the country was more thunderous than the noise of the noisiest weapons, the light of the lighted million candles was more soothing and shining than the full moon, and the unison of voices singing Sonar Bangla was heard and sung loudly from Cape Town to Canada.
In response to critics’ advice to invoke love, the young leader of the movement befittingly responded: “We have no dearth of love in our hearts. But that love is reserved for Bangladesh, freedom fighters and the martyrs.”
Headlines in the international media reflected the unprecedented non-violent movement in clear terms, especially in a country where violence is the order of the day. The Independent of UK wrote: “The war Bangladesh can never forget. The guns fell silent more than 40 years ago, but the scars of Bangladesh’s short, bloody struggle for independence still burn to this day. But this is a country driven by a national agony at its creation which has never been fully addressed. The protest now happening outside the national museum is of an unprecedented nature, and on an unprecedented scale.”
CNN, under the heading “The Spirit of ’71 Rises at Shahbagh Square in Dhaka,” reported that “Shahbagh square is full of people from all classes, gender, religion and profession who have gathered at Shahbagh square for one single demand, ‘hang the war criminals until death.’ ”
Unfortunately, just like the other two defining moments in the recent history of the Bengali nation, the language movement and the Liberation War, we had our share of enemies, in different identities, who spread venom and falsehoods to malign the spontaneous outbursts of the people. During the language movement, the propaganda was spread that the demonstrators had come from across the border and only the supreme sacrifice of our martyrs proved how fallacious the propaganda was.
During our Liberation War, we were all “Indian agents and miscreants” who were out there to make this part of the “holy land a part of India.” In the current defining moment, the second war of liberation, where the spirit of the first one has been rekindled, the enemies are terming the movement as a movement against Islam to arouse religious sentiment, and alleging that India is “patronising” the Shahbagh youths.
People of conscience from all walks of life, who want reawakening of the spirit of ’71, are declaring allegiance to the movement to provide a moral boost to those who have been on the streets for weeks to realise their demand.
At this crucial juncture of the nation the absence of the voice or the blessing of the most distinguished icon of the nation, believed to be the role model of the millions who are out there to rekindle the spirit of the revolution of which Prof. Yunus was very much a part, is conspicuous. In 1971, he took only a moment to decide his course of action, but the nation has not seen any reaction from him vis-à-vis the so far month-long movement designed to finish the unfinished revolution he and his generation started some 42 years ago. On behalf of his millions of admirers, would it be appropriate to enquire why he is not gracing this movement through either blessings or physical presence?
The writer is Convener, Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh.
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