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It would be naive to reason that the cause of this tragedy was the BDR mutineers’ frustration over poor pay and perks compared to those received by the armed forces. The massacre, however, had some telltale marks reminiscent of a similar carnage in 1971.
If the wide gap in salaries and perks was the reason for the outrage, what could possibly explain the brutal murder of army officers, their families and even some reported cases of rape?
Such horror stories bring back memories of the genocide that the West Pakistani forces unleashed on the East Pakistani people, now Bangladesh, with the help of sympathizers like religious fundamentalist groups, in 1971. Many of their leaders are regarded as war criminals.
Going by media reports, there were crowds of people egging on the rampaging BDR men.
But how did the Bangladesh Rifles, which fought to liberate Bangladesh in 1971, turn into cold-blooded killers and rapists of the country’s armed forces and their wives? Wasn’t this group at the forefront in pushing the Pakistanis out to make way for a secular Bangladesh?
With the Awami League back in power with a thumping majority and the decimation of the fundamentalist political forces, doesn’t the BDR “revolt” look like something more sinister?
Religious fundamentalism has crept in and taken hold of foot soldiers of the BDR, just as it did of the Pakistani armed forces that fought against them decades ago.
It was during the government of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, which was held together by the same religious fundamentalists, that lower ranks of the BDR got infiltrated with young men influenced by their ideology of hatred.
And where did the religious fundamentalists, now smarting after their electoral defeat, get their own inspiration from? Obviously, from the Pakistani armed forces they helped support in a futile attempt to cow down the secular uprising in 1971. Their imprint lays in the way terror groups took root in villages and smuggled arms through the Chittagong port.
According to media reports, a noted Bangladeshi businessman close to the former government of Khaleda Zia and Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, was involved in financing the BDR mutiny. It is alleged he was also involved in shipping arms into Bangladesh during the time of Zia’s government. It was Reporters without Borders who reported on Chittagong port being used to ship in arms for terror groups.
After decades, there is a chance to roll back some of the religious fundamentalism that threatens to swamp Bangladesh. The world also has much at stake in seeing democracy get back on the rails after a military caretaker government had taken over power.
Perhaps this was the first time for the military to pave the way for elections and, as some allege, the return of the secular Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina to power. But even their hidden hand could not have ensured a landslide victory for the Awami League if Bangladeshis were inherently fundamentalists.
The recent elections showed that the majority of voters were young people. They also proved that fundamentalism was practiced by only a minority, as fundamentalist parties were not very successful in the elections.
Although Hasina has vowed to bring the war criminals to justice, the question remains, who stands to gain if unrest ensues in Bangladesh?
And the answer is, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Who else?
The ISI is not comfortable with the Awami League in power, which enjoys close ties with India and Bangladesh’s armed forces, which allegedly backed the party’s return to power. The ISI has held Pakistan to ransom and has ushered in the Talibanization of the Swat Valley.
After the covert Mumbai attacks, allegedly operated by the ISI, the softer BDR was the best bet to breech Bangladesh’s porous border with India, making the infiltration of terrorists easy.
This is like saying, “If we burn, we will also scald you.” And the ISI’s “you” are secular democratic governments and institutions that can battle religious fundamentalism, along with India and anyone else on their target list. This is not unlikely, as al-Qaida, the Taliban and the ISI are becoming increasingly indistinguishable.
Can Bangladesh redefine itself by bringing the real perpetrators of a 1971-like scenario inside the country to justice?
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(Susenjit Guha is a freelance writer living in Kolkata, India. He can be contacted at sguha60@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Susenjit Guha.)
