RITON AND HIS WALTZ WITH THE WOLF

Bangla Academy Literary Award for Riton and His Waltz with the Wolf

Lutfur Rahman Riton received Bangla Academy Award 2007 on juvenile literature. This award earned him kudos and criticism as well. The timing of give and take of this award churned a cloud of suspicion in many minds including mine, more apolitical less literary and a long time admirer of Riton. A recent poetry of Riton, a posthumous tribute to the greatest pen-warrior Wahidul Huq, helped me see Riton at a much higher ground, much beyond his limericks and spoofs. His sudden arrival in Canada couple of years ago, as a political exile, had created a huge inertia of excitement among his fans and local Bangalee literary hubs. That also has decimated in a relatively short time, and his initial presence at the centre of every arty and literary podium has now reduced to living room sizzling adda. His life in Ottawa gliding on odd jobs was not uncommon for a starter in Canada, but certainly a huge plunge from his immediate velvety past as a diplomat. His diplomatic assignment in Japan is found as critically inappropriate but hefty dividend of his earlier political investments, thanks to Awami League’s brief respite from street to the power.

However, the timing of Riton,s open letter to General Moeen U published on June 22, 2007 in ‘Weekly 2000’ with a shrill of appreciation for the General left many of his fans and comrades like me flabbergasted. Particularly, when the time, tune and the turf have been too hostile for an aficionado of democracy to waltz with the wolf. .In his open letter to the General, Riton articulated his total alliance, punctuated by a feeble request to stop liaisons with war criminals, with the mesmerising ambitions of the General on political reforms and corruption cleansing. Riton’s emotional aberration went further in cajoling the General to pay him eighty dollar that he spent on overseas calls for his abortive attempt to contact the General for a live chat and to whisper his love for his agendas. General did not falter to seize the opportunity and precisely after a month on July 22, 2007, in an interview, in a befitting response to his new found ‘beau politico’, he assured him bounty much more than mere eighty dollar.

Riton often used to complain about a bus ticket to Toronto that his pedestrian life in Ottawa could not afford him. Last month, all of a sudden, he found a magic carpet to fly him in luxury to Bangladesh. Public radar got the blips from Dhaka of a floral reception and goose step honour on red carpet and a ceremonial handover of a ‘lifetime ladder’. The first step of the telescopic ladder took him to the podium of Bangla Academy. A prestige envelope with a point One Million Taka cheque was the first consignment of humble payback from the General in response to a meagre demand of Dollar Eighty. And a certificate, which Riton undisputedly deserves but not from this Bangla Academy, was an untimely harvest of his life long cultivation.

TODAY IS MARCH 7

MARCH 7, 1971

A DREAM THAT BANGALEE HELD FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS CAME TO REALITY

INDEPENDENCE OF BANGLADESH WAS PROCLAIMED BY

BANGABANDHU

THE FATHER OF BANGALEE NATION

A clarion call to save a Freedom Fighter

Please save a Freedom Fighter of 1971. His name is Abdul Jalil. He is clinging to his life in a hospital prison cell. His kidney is not functioning. His heart is failing. His blood is not having enough haemoglobin to keep him alive. He is in the prison without any trial. It is not fair. It is not human. Please do something before the life of this freedom fighter comes to an end. A freedom fighter, who directly fought for this country, does not deserve a death in the prison cell without proper treatment, in utter negligence and humiliation. I feel so helpless, so much frustrated that I myself do not know how to request or demand the release of Abdul Jalil to the present Government. I am asking your conscience, please keep your intellectual discussions and debates aside for a while, please think for a moment about Abdul Jalil, who fought for the freedom of our country, how can he spend his last days of life with honour and respect that he deserves and can die as a freeman in his country. Please mobilize and use your every resource you have to save Abdul Jalil, it is an imperative to every Bangalee now.

Enemy of our Democracy

It is heartening that we can now call a spade a spade. We have finally found the appropriate synonym ‘cocoon of terror’ for Dhaka Cantonment and Bangladesh Army could never be defined better than a ‘killing machine’. It is further encouraging; Bangalees have started drawing strategy about how to put this demonic genie back into the bottle and for good. Ultimately truth triumphs fear.

To clip the wing of this vulture we can take lesson from Venezuela. In 2002, millions of unarmed slum dwellers, supporters of civilian President Hugo Chavez, thwarted a well orchestrated army coup by laying barricade around the cantonment of Caracas, not allowing a single army individual or their transport rolling in to or out of the cantonment. This is the recent glorious example of victory of unarmed people against the military and their perpetual mighty mentor USA. It was only possible as the civil government was steadfast in developing awareness and mobilising public support against agents of external and internal enemies of democracy.

In Bangladesh, future political government must come out of their past jittery, ambiguity and falsehood and confront head on with this power-hungry beast and sole enemy of democracy. If you notice, while referring to the heinous crime of August 75 committed by the Bangladesh Army, even AL and pro-democracy intellectuals as well always elude the fact by chorusing that it was the work of few derailed elements in the army. It is true, army sometimes participates in helping calamity stricken people, but it is superficial and mostly photogenic for propaganda, often exaggerated out of proportion even by our politicians and intelligentsia. This chronic symptom of timidity and hypocrisy help these narcissist morons gain strength to incessantly conspire and sabotage democracy under any artificially enlarged or false pretext.

Enough is enough. Time has come; we must turn around and fearlessly announce the facts about this army to the public, their ceaseless effort to undermine our democracy, political institutions, spirit of 71. We must expose to public the highly secret statistics of financial corruption of army. We must not fail to explain public that Tareq, Babar, Falu of BNP were merely the pawns and left-over scavengers of this army’s ill-gotten booties and bounties and as such gratefully unrolled red carpet for the pirates to cake-walk to power.

We must unequivocally stipulate in our constitution the provision of trying army individuals in the civil court and of highest punishment for sedition against democracy and illegal meddling in politics. Our progressive politicians and intellectuals (not YAK-Yunus, Amu, Kamal type) must start thinking of reshaping our army commensurate to our actual need and replacing our army’s infatuation for Paki spirit and ambitions with unflinching loyalty to our heritage and history. We must make a civil-counter-intelligence system in place with legal and logistic capability of penetrating deep into military intelligence to pre-empt any furtive move against civil rule. Every extrajudicial target-practicing by the army on human beings must be brought to justice. Instead of keeping this huge force as unproductive and perilously national burden, we must continuously engage them to build our national infrastructure and other vital national constructions. This action will bring them close to the people and to the soil. An equivalency of perks and benefits must be established between army and civil ranks.

We must develop solidarity with fledging democracies of Latin America and Africa and launch an international drive to adopt a UN resolution to declare military grabbing of civil power as a war crime tantamount to declaring war against own civilians and can be tried in international war tribunal . You might as well guess in advance, who will oppose this UN move for protecting nascent democracy of nations – ironically none other than the self-appointed chieftain of global democracy, USA. But that should not stop the march of people and democracy.

One-Eleven Anniversary Check list

Deluge of despair inundates landscape of hopes

Promises/ Hopes – 01/11/07
Angst/ Despair – 01/11/08

Winch back derailed democracy
Generals in uniform define democracy. Center of state power has already been shifted to Cantonment. Army takeover is matter of time

A free and fair election in shortest possible time
No optimism of any election in 2008 or one without intervention of military

A perfect voter list
In progress but at a much slower pace than expected

Jihad against corruption
Conviction of Hasina on corruption charges is imminent.
End of publication of Janakantha is imminent.
No trial for Khaleda-Tareq as yet.
Saeed Eskander, brother of Khaleda and co-brother of General Masud, and his family have left country in broad day light.
Khoka, Mannan, ZI Khan, Saifur, Nizami, Mujahedi, Rezakul are not corrupt.
Brother of General MoeenU is the MD of army owned Trust Bank
Fakhruddin is having undisclosed properties and assets abroad.
Nasim, Zalil, Obaidul, Atikullah, Mahiuddins are the icons of corruption.
DUDAK (allegedly under total control of ISI) is using corruption as tool to eliminate secular, pro-71 politics and overall depoliticising the country and making inroad for military rule.

Restoration of Law and Order
Extra judicial killing in Government custody and in nefarious ‘crossfire’ by army/ RAB has been intensified. Coercing and torturing detainees are regularly practised while all the legal rights of individuals are cancelled under emergency rule.
Venerable teachers and students of the Universities are convicted for rally but no charge against Islamic fundamentalists for the rally.
Government overrides HC and SC order and keeps Babul in detention against law

Independent judiciary
Judiciary has been declared independent after ensuring total allegiance to the present quasi-military government. It still remains a Kangaroo court

Independent public media
Government has not only retracted from their commitment, under emergency act, they have clamped down censorship on privately owned electronic media and newspaper. The illegal detention of Atiqullah and Babul is to demoralize free press and publications.

Independent Election Commission
Election Commission has not been made independent as yet; it was a fundamental commitment of the Government though. EC is virtually a rubber stamp of the Generals. Their snail-speed progress compounded with new controversial decision of redefining constituency map declared by the army representative in the EC has given public enough reason to be sceptical about the roadmap to election 2008.

Public Perception:

• A free and fair election in 2008 is a forlorn dream. Web of terms and conditions of EC will make it impossible for political parties to participate in the election. As the only alternative, either, army will stage an election theatre with the help of BNP-Jamaat-YAK (Yunus-Amu-Kamal) clique and form a military government with civilian façade. Or, army will directly take over state power. In any event, USA will support army move as a step towards building democracy in Bangladesh.


• The life of Sheikh Hasina is at great risk in the prison and the highly probable tragedy will be, as usual, labelled as the work of a few so called wayward soldiers. With Sheikh Hasina, will disappear secular, progressive, pro-liberation politics and Bangladesh will be a perpetual virtual Pakistan.


• After myriad of sacrifices and arduous journey on the blood soaked path, democracy may come back to Bangladesh in a decade or so. Politicians may also get back to the power. Ascending the throne, instead of fighting and eliminating permanently the root cause of repeated failure of democracy, politicians will be busy forgiving and pampering this menacing liability of nation (military) again as our politicians never learn from their mistakes.
  
  

When Politicians falter Vultures swoop in

When politicians fail, political system gets dead and rotten within, and then starts the partying of vultures. That is what happening in Bangladesh now. Pugnacious politicians made democratic governance dysfunctional. They have made Bangladesh the most corrupt country in global context. They have augmented ‘Caretaker Government’ proviso in the constitution highlighting politicians’ inability or unwillingness to rotate power among political parties responding to people’s choice. Above events constitute a manifesto of doomed politics and politicians are being squarely blamed for all these. Who will rescue the nation from this insanity and chaos? The saviour is very familiar to us; military. Our holy military will suddenly appear from behind the bush to rescue our people and our nation from political Hannibal and cancerous corruption. But, when we analyze the root cause of failures of our politicians, then this sweet singing cockatoos turns out to be a stinging vulture in guise. Political system in our country; is it supposed to have inherent suicidal tendency? Or, euthanasia drug is always externally induced to force it to die? And then the vultures swoop in to feast on the carcass of politics. As opposed to so-painted criminal politicians, how holy and clean are our military Generals morally, financially and politically? Our defaced politicians of the pro-liberation camp, the targeted victims of every martial law stampede, so far has failed to raise this very vital issue leaving this organized thugs in a vantage position with a ‘sanctified basil leaf’ image. But the issue has surprisingly popped up in public radar this time.

Mid-August 1975, politics of the nascent country experienced a seismic shift. That was the true and tragic end of the sojourn of democracy in Bangladesh. Bangladesh was forced to bypass 1971 and was surgically re-connected with the immoral martial law legacy of Pakistan. General Zia, the chief architect of 75 tragedy and currently national hero, as defined by the present Junta, pledged to bring about prosperity, true democracy and to make politics difficult for politicians. Since then, politics, democracy, economics, commerce, sociology, theology, culture, history; truly, every component of the Republic of Bangladesh is being controlled by the Oligarchs sitting in the cantonment. Red to kill Red. A mediocre Sector commander of our liberation war, General Zia, whose message from Kalurghat Radio Station on March 27, 1971 added enormous impetus to our liberation struggle in those early difficult days, got swayed by Saudi-American temptation, agreed to take the charge of abattoir to butcher the genesis of Bangladesh, to wipe out freedom fighters and to shred the constitution written by the blood of millions. He went on to eliminate four foundation pillar of the state; democracy, secularism, Bangalee nationalism and socialism. He, breaching constitution, reinstated Jammat-E-Islami and thus cultivated and nurtured poison ivy of faith based politics in the political landscape of Bangladesh. BNP is his brainchild incubated in the Cantonment. It is more of an anti-thesis of politics, fascist platform with eclectic collection of left-right politicians, derelict freedom fighters, anti-71 intellectuals, former and in-service army officers and bureaucrats. Zia injected enormous amount of money, received from the Middle East, in our political market and bartered loyalty of mostly Bhashani followers and rightist pro-Pakistani politicians for money. Thus very skilfully Zia masterminded confrontational politics between two perpetually opposed ideological camps of the war; one clinging to the spirit of our political legacy emanating from our liberation war, and the other is the physical and spiritual resurrection of the defeated forces of 1971, being mentored by Pakistan-Saudi-USA nexus. Political travail has been continuing ever since.

The entry of General Ershad into our national politics was creepy, clownish and surreptitious as opposed to Zia’s, which was marred by revengeful bloodshed. Like his guru General Zia, Ershad also initially reiterated to the nation his nil ambition in politics. He scripted his agenda to rid Bangladesh of corruption, to correct democratic institutions, to utilize army in a more meaningful way for national reconstruction. Most of the Maoist politicians like Toaha, Enayetullah, political scientists like ASM Rab and Zalil, intellectuals like Dr. Abu Mahmud of Dhaka University invented virtues in Ershad’s paradigm and extended tacit support to the Junta. Ershad, a debauch debonair in personal life, validated Islamic politics in the constitution and blanketed whole nation with corruption and deception. Ershad patented a unique elixir of politics with the ingredients of power, religion, business, literature and romance, which kept him virile to rule the country.

General Moeen, apparently next martial President in the line, is not as much clean and modest as his predecessor Generals used to look like in first year of their ascension to power. General Zia has exited leaving behind nearly nothing in material except his nymphet woman and two star sons imbued by his ideology. If you remember the modest beginning of the career of General Ershad as a martial law junta riding bike to office. The end of his career is another history though. General Moeen’s debut into politics is truly identical to his predecessors; self-appointed head of national crisis management team, lots of stunts and demagogy on democracy, politics and annihilation of corruption and politics. But already rumour is spreading like fire; he has acquired using his clout a loan of about Taka 10 million from Trust Bank. He has unlawfully appointed his brother Iqbal as MD of the same bank while he is the Chairman. He is steering the furtive operation of multi million dollar business and transaction of Army without any credible check and balance.
The failure of our politicians is that inherited from our patriarch politician Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, to identify and to eliminate national villains and enemies. Without removing poison teeth petting a Cobra is suicidal, our politicians recurrently failed to realise that. When our army was easily infiltrated and was being exorcised by Paki martial spirit through repatriated army officers, the then Government of Bangabandhu knew it. Bangabandhu,s conversation with journalist-politician Nirmal Sen (Mr. Sen disclosed it to the writer) on their way back to Dhaka attending passing out parade at Comilla Cantonment clearly hinted that Bangabandhu knew about the undercurrent and percolation within our nascent army. Then why he failed to act immediately? Was it his false confidence, his magnanimity, his ego or his miscalculation? The result brought a catastrophic end of short political life of independent Bangladesh and gave our turn-coat army a permanent handle to control our politics keeping democracy and democratic forces chronically hostage. In 1995 through another engineered election and with a futuristic long term plan, Sheikh Hasina was given a slim victory to form a minority government in alliance with General Ershad, thus burying the massive crimes and corruption, our army individuals and the organization have committed till the fall of Ershad. Sheikh Hasina, hanging at the edge of power, had very little choice other than courting this army and their cohorts in bureaucracy, in judiciary, in police, in religious institutions (Qari Obaed and like), in fact in every layer of the state. The Hasina Government even failed to see, in long five years in power, the normal passage of judicial system and execution of the court verdict against the killers of her own father, mother and all brothers. Nothing more is required to substantiate how little power Sheikh Hasina or her government could really wield. During Sheikh Hasina’s rule, I had the opportunity to meet hundreds of army officers and non-commissioned individuals who were deployed abroad on a UN peace mission. It is tragic, but true, I did not find a single officer or a Sipoy who has supported directly, indirectly or even mutely Sheikh Hasina. Rather, often, Hasina and even Mujib used to be blasted mercilessly in the discussions in loud and bitter words. The hatred was unanimous but causes were diverse, often vague and sometimes beneath taste – from Indian agent to ugly looking compared to her rival political figure. I remember spending sleepless nights discussing at length politics with our ex-chief of Army General Haroon, BP (then a Colonel on a foreign assignment). I was often frustrated as we had never concurrence of opinion, not even on liberation war. Now, would you still blame Hasina for not doing enough to reinstate and revitalise institutions and spirit of our liberation war while she was in power! Yet I still find it a very relevant debate, whether it was worth for Hasina staying in power for five years with eyes blindfolded, hands tied and face muzzled. Probably in 1999, I met AL leader Dr. Mustafa Jalal Mahiuddin in Mina, Saudi Arabia while performing Haj pilgrimage. Time and place were very much inappropriate though, but interest of both of us soon dragged us into brief political discussions. In reply to this question, the plain truths in his answer sounded very much logical to me. But, soon after, again the role of AL as an opposition political party did not support the idea that their short honeymoon in power and long experience of arduous and tragic political journey have taught them to develop any strategy to identify and to wage popular fight against enemy. None other than AL knows better the killer of democracy, killer of the spirit of liberation war, killer of our national history. Yet instead of writing obituary they always eulogise the direct culprits. In a country where self-confessed killers of minor child, pregnant woman and handicapped citizen can not be tried and executed in three decades, there, fear factors may brutally overpower national obligations of politicians. Therefore, while trumpeting the legendary corruption of Zia family and of erstwhile BNP government, Hasina, or her party, leave alone our left pundits, ever failed to pronounce the names like General ZI Khan, General Rezakul Haider or the octopus like DGFI who were the main architects and sole source of unlimited power which converted these individuals into Frankensteins of corruption. Ironically, this army, which invented and publicly spread the myth of modesty of General Zia, illegally allowed and protected Zia’s family to exercise political and financial activities living in the opulence of the palace in the cantonment. And, after twenty five years, the Zia family has been sadly abandoned in the dungeon, this time, publicly spreading partial legend of corruption (so far the wealth of mythical proportion of Tareq, Eskander and Shamim in Canada in Prairie and Toronto did not blip the radar of DUDAK) because of the political need of the same army.

Good indications for Zia family against all odds; Eskander fled Bangladesh along with family in broad day light, Zia is still revered as father of martial law in Bangladesh and as national hero, under the shroud of historical fallacies, at par Bangabandhu. Therefore a slight change in the direction of political wind and angles of stars will soon gracefully bring back all power and fortunes that Zia family has lost temporarily under the influence of orbiting Saturn. Democracy and democratic political forces will be the real casualties. Left puritans will certainly face extinction. And then, never-ending partying and feasting of vultures will begin.

TEACHERS PUNISHED BY KANGAROO COURT

The court verdict against teachers of Rashahi University primarily implies the degree of independence our judiciary has been granted under the boots of the Generals. This verdict further dictates, from now on in Bangladesh, knowledge must bow to the muscle, narcissism will rule civility. And the verdict is the final manifesto that Bangladesh was created by the Generals and for the Generals and under God, the Generals are the sovereign and invincible, beyond the reach of any earthly law and their wishes are the legal bindings on all the citizens of Bangladesh.