The Return of Bangladesh

This 17 May will mark the 40th anniversary of the return of Sheikh Hasina, one of the two surviving daughters of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The daughters luckily survived the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu along with his seventeen family members on the fateful night of 15 August 1975 in his family residence in Dhanmondi. It was one of the most brutal assassinations of a political figure in human history. The man who gave an independent country to the people of Bangladesh was murdered by the very people whom he considered to be his own. The assassination though was masterminded by a group of army officers, some retired earlier, a few bureaucrats and some politicians belonging to rank and file of Bangladesh Awami League also played important roles right from hatching the conspiracy to executing it. They were led by no less than a person like Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed who began his political career with Sheikh Mujib from the day when Awami League was formed in 1949. Zia, the Deputy Chief of Bangladesh Army, lent his support from behind. The post Zia occupied in the army was created by Bangabandhu himself for Zia, whom he considered his son.

At the time of assassination, two daughters of Bangabandhu were living in Germany (on that fateful night in Belgium as personal guest of Bangladesh’s Ambassador) where Dr. Wazed Miah, the nuclear scientist husband of Sheikh Hasina, was on a research fellowship in Germany. Her younger sister Sheikh Rehana was just accompanying Sheikh Hasina. Since the killing of Bangabandhu his daughters were exiled and could not return as General Zia, the final usurper of state power and the biggest beneficiary of the killing of Bangabandhu, would not allow them to return to the very country where they were born and whose birth was possible because of sacrifices of their father and family over the twenty three years of Jinnah’s Pakistan. Not only they were banished and Awami League banned, mentioning the name of Bangabandhu was officially prohibited by a decree pronounced by Zia’s government. An unwritten embargo was imposed on the popular war time national slogan ‘Joy Bangla.’ Zia was attempting to manipulate the history of the country according to his desire and liking and convert Bangladesh the very country for which three millions people gave their lives into a mini-Pakistan, the country from which an independent country called Bangladesh was born in 1971.

Zia himself was assassinated by another group of soldiers on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong. During the six year rule of Zia, he dismantled the very state, Bangladesh. General Zia’s six year rule was pot marked with misdeeds that reached its height when he removed one of the four pillars of Bangladesh’s constitution, ‘secularism’ from the constitution and began a premeditated program of transforming the country from a secular country to a theocratic state, capitalizing on the religious sentiments of the common people. The religion based fundamentalist political parties, the Muslim League,  Jamaat-e-Islami, Nizam Islami, PDP, the parties which  opposed the creation of Bangladesh and whose members were willing  partners in committing all sorts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1971 were allowed to resume their political activities in the name of resumption of ‘multi-party democracy’. These parties were earlier banned constituently and most of their members and leaders were either absconding, or  left the country and a large number joined some ultra-left parties like JSD or NAP (Bhashani), their common ground being sharing the same platform that hated Awami League and supported the killing of Bangabandhu and his family. Some like Shah Aziz, Abdul Alim found berth in Zia’s cabinet. Zia also was instrumental in destroying the basics of a normal democratic political process when he resorted to a farcical so called referendum where he was the only candidate for the post of the President. The voters were supposed to endorse his presidency just by voting ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Ironically in many constituencies there were no scope of voting ‘No’ and finally he managed to announce that nearly one hundred percent of the voters endorsed him as the President in post Bangabandhu Bangladesh, a claim by any standard was preposterous. Zia began his rule with imposition of night time curfew and during his six year rule he executed a few thousand freedom fighters and solders virtually without any trial. The noted German-American Sociologist and Economist Andre Gunder Frank in his book ‘Crisis in the Third World’ wrote ‘Ziaur Rahman has opened an ugly breach. Mass execution of the imprisoned ordered by the central authority of the state is something repugnant new… These are the first official mass execution that have been known in this country in South Asia’. (Holmes & Meier Publishers, New York-London, 1981)

Zia not only usurped the state power, he also put behind bars many senior leaders of Awami League. On 3 November  1975, the four National Leaders, Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain Mansur Ali and Qamruzzaman who also played the pivotal role in leading the country during our War of Liberation were brutally murdered inside the Dhaka Central Jail, just before Zia booted out Khondaker Mostak Ahmed from his self-declared Presidency. During the absence of any central leadership Awami League was in a state of disarray though Begum Zohura Tajuddin, the widow of late Tajuddin Ahmed, came forward to hold the rein of a party in distress. She was assisted by some senior leaders but it was not enough to reorganize Bangabandhu’s Awami League. It was felt necessary that to strengthen the party and fight the autocratic rule of Zia it was necessary to have someone with blood of Bangabandhu running in the vein who lead Awami League in this critical time.

In a special council of Awami League held in Dhaka on 13 and 14 February 1981 it was unanimously decided to elect Bangabandhu’s eldest daughter Sheikh Hasina as the party president with the belief that she would be the right choice to lead the party her father created and led in the most difficult time in the Awami League’s history. Though she was not involved much in national politics she witnessed her father’s political career from very close proximity.  At that time she was living in exile in New Delhi under the motherly care of Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minster of India who was instrumental in  providing all sorts of assistance during our War of Liberation.

It was decided that she would return to Bangladesh on 17 May, 1981 after spending six years in exile. Her expected return was loomed with absolute uncertainly. Years back Benigno Aquino Jr., the celebrated Filipino politician after spending years in exile was assassinated at the Manila Airport the moment he stepped out of the plane. On hearing about Sheikh Hasina’s possible return to Bangladesh Zia felt nervous. He called a meeting of his cabinet on 3 May 1981 to discuss the issue. After the meeting was over, Shah Aziz Ur Rahman, Zia’s Prime Minister, the very man who went to United Nations during our of Liberation War to lobby for Pakistan informed the media saying ‘we are expecting disturbance and breakdown of law and order situation if Sheikh Hasina returns’. On the following day Home Minister A S M Mustafizur Rahman one of the Pakistani military officers who served as an Interrogation  Officer during the Agartala Conspiracy case and was responsible for torturing those accused in the case announced that ‘for the greater interest of public security Sheikh Hasina would not be allowed to return.’ Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, a key BNP politician who always served the purpose of Pakistan during our Liberation War formed a committee to prevent the homecoming of Sheikh Hasina. Mirza Hafiz was later appointed the Speaker of the Parliament by Zia.  Suddenly Zia found himself facing a huge protest not only from supporters of Awami League but also from the common people across the country. On 8 May 1981 Zia was compelled to withdraw the ban on Sheikh Hasina’s return.

Sheikh Hasina’s return on 17 May 1981 was a watershed event in Bangladesh’s history. On her return she witnessed devastation all around her. All the state apparatus for which the independent Bangladesh stood lay in the debris of 15 August. The political system of the country was made corrupt and dysfunctional. The instructions that were created by her father to rebuild a war devastated Bangladesh lay in ruins. The freedom fighters were not only marginalized but many who were leading figures in the battle field were killed or executed. Awami League was fighting for existence. Bereavement for the near and dear ones over her immediate task was to reclaim the Bangladesh that was created in 1971, not an easy task. To make things worse, in a few days after the assassination of Zia himself another military dictator General Ershad usurped the state power, stepping in the shoes of his previous boss, Zia.

From 1981 to 2022 has been a long and hazardous journey for Sheikh Hasina. The task ahead was uphill, fraught with danger at every corner and she had to negotiate dark corners and alleys. A number of assassination attempts were made on her and the worst one was the grenade attack on her public rally on 21 August 2004, masterminded by Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman. Sometimes even some of the people she trusted betrayed her and shook hands with her enemies. However, she remained determined, had patience, showed courage, faced all sorts of conspiracy against her and her party, and swallowed the unexpected loss in the election of 1991 but like the mythical phoenix bird made a comeback with renewed energy and determination. One of her trying moment was 2013 when the religious bigots, the Hefazati Islam tried to stage a bloody coup with the help of BNP and Jamaat and a few other political parties. All  the thugs belonging to these parties went on a rampage across the country but Sheikh Hasina not only remained defiant and calm and demonstrated her courage as her father did on number of occasions. She was able to crush this anarchy. All these parties were trying to thwart the election of 4 January 2014 as they knew that they would not be able win the election and banish Sheikh Hasina from the politics of Bangladesh. Same attempt was also made in 2018 but again they had to their lick their pervious wounds of defeat.

Today Sheikh Hasina is a different person from the Sheikh Hasina of 1981. In 1981 it was not only one Sheikh Hasina returned to Bangladesh, with her returned the state of Bangladesh returned too. Earlier the country was dismantled by Zia and his successors. She no longer is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh or the President of Awami League alone she has been acknowledged as a statesman by the world leaders and global institutions. Her father transformed Bangladesh from an underdeveloped country to a least developed country and after a lapse of four decades after his assassination his daughter has transformed the country to a status of developing country slated to become a developed country in about 2041. She managed to reclaim the country, at least partially for which three million people sacrificed their lives and her Father and family suffered. However conspirators against the country and Sheikh Hasina still exists not only outside her party but also within. The outsiders will always be busy with their agenda but the insiders will do most of the damages like termites. Corruption by a section of her own party workers and government servants has taken an ugly turn and they are the people who are capable of doing the maximum damage if she is not careful. The news and information she usually gets from her own sources and responsible government agencies may not always give her the actual picture of ground reality. They just provide what she would like to hear. The things outside could be very different. With the general election just around the corner it is high time that all the loop holes are plugged and mended, right people placed in right places, the people with honesty and integrity. If done more success stories lie ahead. Sheikh Hasina survived the mayhem of 15 August 1975. Maybe the Creator desired so and He wanted her to play some important role for the benefit of her people and the country. May Allah bless her and enable her to face all sorts of odds in future.

The writer is an analyst and commentator

Source: daily-sun.com, 14 May, 2022

Link: https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/620343/The-Return-of-Bangladesh