Who's out there promoting our image?
The Washington Times reported:
A senior member of a hard-line Islamic party that is a member of the ruling coalition in Bangladesh is in Washington this week meeting with members of Congress and lobbyists to project a more moderate image of his party. Mohammad Kamruzzaman, the senior assistant secretary general for the Jamaat-e-Islami, is trying to dispel charges that his party was associated with bombings earlier this year against two local aid agencies.
Well, one can give full marks for effort, I suppose. After all, as I've noted earlier, there is a split between the various Islamist parties in Bangladesh, and Jamaat is probably not lying when it says it has nothing to do with the bombings of the NGOs.
When I heard the name though, it seemed to ring a bell. A few Google searches later, it turns out this Kamruzzaman is none other than the infamous Al-Badr organizer of 1971.
He is no. 5 in this list published by the Liberation War Museum:
http://www.bangladeshmariners.com/HmdrRprt/collabo3.html
And here is some more information about his alleged war crimes:
http://muktadhara.net/page42.html (you'll have to scroll down a little)
I don't know if I should be more upset because we couldn't find anyone else to be an ambassador of our country's image other than someone who was opposed to its creation in the first place, or that we, as a nation, are so nonchalant about what it means to be a Bangladeshi that we've actually allowed one of the bigger war criminals of '71 to be rehabilitated to the highest echelons of the government, while many a poor freedom fighter struggle to make ends meet by pulling rickshaws and working as a day labourer.
posted by Abedin C @ 12:26 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Your words are priceless man...but again again why churn on the same grass of "POLITICS"..i am sick of all the political figures...here's few pointers on why:-
1)One of the major parties use the tactics of patronizing india for its own needs.
2)another major party uses anti-indian sentiment and religious convictions to ploy upon the citizens.
3)A former major party has a party-president with number of wives increasing in an exponential rate...and goes to dubai for more "youth treatment"
4)The so called "religious" minded parties are mostly operated by veteran-traitors of 1971...adding to that their affiliation for a changed semi-spartan BD with little or no remnance of the liberation war is increasing as well.
5)The godless commi-minions are pointless as their own sons and daughters live in the United States.
6)Our educational sectors unlike our neighbouring countries have been ruptured by student politics...thereby creating more "pied-pipers of doom" on the process.
7)And lastly our sub-ministers are busy driving automated-vehicles worth 1 crore while people die of hunger,malnutrition,corruption,dowry,chromium-pollution etc.
I guess we are kinda screwed..so why tighten this definite-factorial even more? Lets face it...there are no subhash chandra bose anymore, there are no kamal Artatuk..there are no salladin or Julkernain these days amids us....so..heh heh..what the heck!!
Actually just dropped by to give thanks for blogrolling me...THX a lot
Yup, I am sick of our politicians too, as are the vast majority of people in the country. But that does not mean we should not care about what happens in our country. There is a silent majority out there who are dying for a change, for freedom from the suffocating grasp of our bevy of petty politicians.
Information is the most powerful tool to expose them for what they are worth, and if you and I and many others like us who have the luxury to express our opinions do not do so, and bring out the truth to the open, who's gonna do it?
If we desire a certain social consciousness, we have to work towards it. It is only because of the demise of the educated, conscientous, politically aware citizen that this rag-tag bunch can exist.
Abedin,
I don't know whether you have read the news correctly. It said that Muhammad Kamaruzzaman is in Washington "to project a more moderate image of his PARTY" – not of Bangladesh. He was not sent by the government of Bangladesh but by the Jamaat-e-Islami. Your comments are invalid in the sense that you assumed he was "an ambassador of our country's image". Also, he is not "rehabilitated to the highest echelons of the government". He is not even a servant of the republic.
Of the war crime allegations against him – a person is not guilty until and unless proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Wamy, because Jamaat is one of the components of the alliance government, and its presence is one of the main reasons for the current administration getting labelled as "fundamentalist" or "hardline" by association, and he is one of the top officials in Jamaat, I extrapolated his projecting a moderate image of his party as an attempt to also change the image of the ruling coalition, and since the ruling coalition IS the government, by extension, this has a bearing on the image of Bangladesh too. Sorry for not spelling this out in the post.
But you are absolutely right in saying that his mission was not to project Bangladesh's image per se, and nor is he a member of the government.
I guess "silent" is a keyword. What can we do to have our voices heard? Then again, to not have them fall on deaf ears? The trend of politics since liberation has been disappointingly the same. How else would you explain no educational reform? no substance in the speeches of our politicians? no facts? no figures? no productivity? no vision?
DEPRESSING.
Hey Rubaiat,
Yeah its all pretty depressing, but the encouraging thing is that while successive governments have been bigger disappointments than the ones they replace, when citizens have come together, whether it be in politics, economics or causes of social justice, the results have been significant!
In politics, consider the peaceful protests of the Kibria family. They haven't called for hartals, or engaged in tasteless mudslinging, yet people respond by the thousands to their rallies and their letter writing campaigns.
In economics, consider the revolutions happening in the villages through microfinance.
And as for social justice, the government is finally taking heed of human rights concerns whether it be about minorities or 'crossfire' deaths in no small amount because various rights groups have spoken up, and leveraged information technology to do so.
The silent majority includes you and I, since we have no avenue to remind the governments we elect that their responsibility to us does not end with the election results being declared, and that they are there to serve us, and not the other way around.
We have to speak out, and do so however best we can. I am not a powerful government official, and I don't have a lot of money either to dish out for the sake of social equity. But I have my computer, and the internet, and those I will use for all its worth.
If there is no healthy dissent, you will lead the system into believing that we are condoning its actions while we really aren't, and once it gets into that mindset, it is bound to become complacent about its responsibilities.
Some priceless historical documents on Jamat are here
Thank you!
So many blogs and only 10 numbers to rate them. I'll have to give you a 8 because you have good content.
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