Beyond the bloody coup in Bangladesh. Can Hasina Mujib survive?

Posted on 02 March 2009.

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Muslim Bangal is in crisis again. There is a crisis of identity. There are clear indications that General Ahmed was the target of the mutineers. General Ahmed is widely discredited in Bangladesh as having pro-Indian leanings. Sreeram Chaulia and other analysts see Bangladeshi in deep trouble. The Algeriafication of Pakistan, the Egyptianization of Bangladesh will yield Iranian type of revolutions. The elections in Dhaka may not have resolved the crisis of identity and geography. Religious riots in 1947: Who were the architects?

…the scale of the mutiny and the brutality of its perpetrators were far more vicious than rationally required to press mere economic demands. If pay scales were the principal bone of contention, BDR cadres could easily have resorted to the standard trade union tactic of going missing without leave or refusing to take orders from their superiors. That they could take senior army officers hostage in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka and massacre so many of them suggests strongly that the forces behind the upheaval had their eyes set on a much bigger prize – political power. Asia Times. Power play behind Bangladesh’s mutiny By Sreeram Chaulia

The BNP leads in Bangladesh. Will RAW let Khaleda win? Despite the obfuscation out of Dhaka, the Awami League government cannot hide the fact that there is a huge constituency in Bangladesh that does not consider her government as legitimate.

Reacting to the scale of the tragedy, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rescinded the general amnesty she had earlier offered rebellious BDR soldiers, warning that those responsible would be subject to exemplary punishment. Heightening fears of possible clashes, the Army on Sunday announced that it was deploying across the country in an operation to apprehend fugitive BDR soldiers, while police filed a case charging six lower-level BDR personnel with leading 1,000 men in the uprising.

“The BDR is fully divested of its command structure. It’s a big blow for the country. We have a weakened border,” says Brig. Gen. Shahedul Anam Khan (ret.), a columnist on security issues for The Daily Star, a leading English-language newspaper.

…The mutiny appeared to spread in subsequent days as BDR soldiers in several districts abandoned their barracks. But it was quickly reined in when Prime Minister Hasina, under pressure to de-escalate the situation, promised a general amnesty.

Still, the facts themselves have served only to deepen the public’s sense that the mutiny was well planned and, perhaps, connected to a larger plot to destabilize the country By David Montero | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the March 2, 2009 edition

Many in Bangladesh and around the world know that her government was the result of two years of judicial-military rule that brought untold misery on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP. Eleven million registered voters, mainly BNP supporters were expunged from the government roll, ostensibly in the name of duplicate ballots. After 24 months of such machinations, the predictable result was announced. The results were so lopsided that they even surprised the AL itself.

“How could soldiers get arms instantly from the store that lies almost one kilometer away from the [meeting] hall? Second, why should thousands of [soldiers] leave the hall as if they knew before what was to come next? Third, how could thousands of the [soldiers] flee despite the fact that the whole area was cordoned? Fourth, the killings, tortures, and disposal of dead bodies seems to indicate that the whole episode was pre-planned and done in a systematic fashion.” Abdul Bayes in The Daily Star, , an economics professor,

Most patriotic Bangladeshis think of Ms. Hasina Mujib an Indian stooge. Her rise to power has been a great blow to the nationalists and those who lean towards religion. The coup camouflaged as “mutiny” enjoyed the not so secret backing of some Bangladesh army officers who had been jilted by the Bangladeshi Army Chief Moeen Ahmed. General Moeen is considered by many as a Mujibist oro-Indian General who organized pogroms against the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The first indication that the BDR revolt was politically driven comes from its timing. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had barely settled into her post, taking oath of office on January 6 after her Awami League party swept the general elections which had been long delayed due to military intervention.

For nearly two years before her victory, the Bangladeshi military had taken virtual control of the country in the name of a civilian caretaker government. If the BDR had pent up frustrations owing to economic reasons, why did they not attempt a mutiny when the Bangladesh army was in charge? That they chose to attack just after civilian rule under a secular and liberal leader was restored is one sign of the elaborate plot behind their actions. Asia Times. Power play behind Bangladesh’s mutiny By Sreeram Chaulia

Bangladesh grandsons: Can Joy Mujib defeat Tarique Zia? This is a generational matter. It is widely expected that this failed coup is not the end of the matter. How will pro BNP and pro BJI officers react to the inevitable purges that will ensue. There is every indication that the coup was probably a reaction to the persecution of BJP activists dating back to 1971. Polashi to Meerut to Karachi:- Islamabad & Dhaka

DHAKA: Bangladeshi soldiers recovered 10 bodies in a second mass grave in a military compound in the capital Saturday, bringing to 76 the death toll from an armed mutiny staged by border guards over pay. The number of dead bodies in the grave could rise as the search continued, fire service operations chief Sheikh Mohammad Shahjalal said. “We have so far removed 10 dead bodies. They are badly decomposed and many are
mutilated,” he said.

“It’s beyond comprehension how one human could have done this to another. They not only shot them dead but some bodies were badly mutilated with bayonets,” he said. Rescuers uncovered Friday a first mass grave in the military compound that contained 38 bodies. Another 28 bodies have been recovered in other parts of the compound, including in drains and sewers, following the 33-hour revolt by rank-and-file border security troops that began early Wednesday.

Most of the dead were senior military personnel. The latest grave was discovered well hidden in the corner of a garden, Shahjalal said. “We have to exercise extreme caution when removing these bodies because so many are disfigured. It’s not just a matter of shovelling them out,” he added. A joint funeral for the military personnel was expected to be held once all bodies had been recovered, and three days of national mourning began Friday.

News of the grisly discoveries of the bodies filled the front-pages of Bangladesh newspapers. “Mass grave horror numbs nation,” said a headline in the English-language Daily Star, which commented in an editorial that the “barbarity” of the deaths was “unimaginable, unforgivable.” AFP. After Bangladesh revolt 2nd mass grave found in Dhaka

The current coup has been renamed a limited “mutiny“, but it is obvious that the coup makers wanted to duplicate the events of August 14th, 1975 when the entire family of Shaikh Mujib Ur Rehman were wiped out by the Khondakar Mushtaque Ahemed and his band of merry men who ruled Bangladesh for a decade after that.

Within hours, the mutineers began to spit venom against the army by giving free-style statements to the media. They alleged that the army had done wrong during the last two years. That was their justification for the unprecedented brutalities committed. The slogan “people-BDR brotherhood” raised by a small bunch of people who thronged the BDR gate from nowhere sounded quite ominous…What transpired has led some analysts to suspect that the mutiny was led by some yet unknown elements who sought to break the chain of command in the disciplined force Daily Star. Amnesty was the right step by Md. Ali Akbar

Images of 1975 are everywhere. Ms. Mujib survived the assassination in 1975 because she was in Sweden. The Bangladeshi scene since then has been a topsy turvy world of charges and counter charges. Ms. Mujib survived the current coup also. Will she survive the next one?

The government, meanwhile, issued a new order to all troops belonging to the 70,000-strong Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) to return to their posts within 24 hours. In a nationwide television address Saturday, the army’s second-in-command said the rank-and-file guards who turned on their superiors would be punished. “The BDR troops who took part in these barbaric and grisly acts cannot be pardoned and will not be pardoned,” said Lieutenant General M.A. Mubin.

“They will be given exemplary and quick punishment by a special tribunal. The martyrs will be buried with state honours.” Tensions in the BDR had simmered for months but erupted into violence when senior officers rejected appeals for more pay, subsidised food and holidays. The guards agreed to put down their arms after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — who took office two months ago — appeared on national television and threatened to put down the mutiny by force.

Many who survived told how they took cover down sewerage manholes. “It was dark and smelly. I jumped into it and kept the lid shut but I could hear the sound of gunshots,” Major Munir told reporters. More than 200 BDR members were arrested Friday and police and army were conducting a nationwide search for those behind the revolt and killings.

Sheikh Hasina, who had promised a general amnesty for those who surrendered, said severe punishments would be handed to those responsible for the deaths. “These senior military personnel have been killed in a planned and calculated manner. It’s a grisly slaughter. We will punish these criminals,” cabinet minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak said.

The violence was the first major crisis faced by the premier since her landslide election win December 29 ended two years of army-backed rule. Dhaka University professor Ataur Rahman said the government could not afford to ignore the underlying causes of long-term discontent in Bangladesh, especially the twin scourges of poverty and corruption.

“There are so many issues facing this country that it can be daunting for leaders, but they should not forget the issues facing the people,” Rahman said. – AFP. After Bangladesh revolt 2nd mass grave found in Dhaka

Plassey to Bangistan dream to Bangladesh to Brohit Bengal. Bengali nationalism ruled Brohit Bangal for decades before the British arrived. Lord Clives decisive victory over Nawab Shiraj Ud Dualah not only ended Muslim rule in Bengal, it also truncated the boundaries of the state. The recent coup in Bangaldesh may not be the last one. The Bengali identity crisis can be traced back to 1906 when the Muslims agitated for the partition of Muslim Bengal and were over ruled by the Hindu Bengalis and the British. As a result the Muslim League was formed which agitated for a separate homeland for the Muslims. Partition of Bengal’s implications for Bangladesh & Pakistan then and now

This is a map of Bengal 1760, the richest state in Asia–and indeed Sonar Bangal. The British destroyed the local industry of producing Muslin (very fine cloth), and totally destroyed the industry, civil live, social structures, court system language and education system of Bengal. Cheap import of “khaddar” (inexpensive cotton) made in Manchester flooded the market. Bengal –Sonar Bangla the most affluent part of the Subcontinent and a rich oasis of wealth and affluence in the world was truncated into small pieces

In 1971 Bengalis again rose up for a country based on the Bengali identity. They had hoped that Indian Bengalis would join them in a secular country for Bengalis. It did not happen. Muslim Bengal was left to fend for itself as Bangladesh. The secularists wanted Bangladesh to join India. Shaikh Mujib signed a treaty of friendship which would have reduced Bangaldesh to the size of Sikkim with eventual incorporation into India as inevitable as envisioned by Indira Gandhi. That India dream was put on hold when patriots assassinated Shaikh Mujib and his entire family, bury secularism deep into the Bay of Bengal.

The BDR itself is staffed entirely by Bangladesh army officers, many of whom have distinctly anti-India and pro-Islamic leanings. In 2005, BDR’s chief Jehangir Alam Chowdhary alleged that “some criminal elements from India had colluded with the Bangladeshi groups” to carry out the sensational 500-bomb serial attacks all over the country.

…. the JI and the JMB, the BDR insisted that the blasts had a sinister foreign hand. The BDR’s forces were also been involved in a major security incident along the border with India in 2001, when 16 Indian soldiers were killed. The shared perception of Indian intelligence agencies is that the BDR’s lower rung cadres, who executed the massacres in last week’s failed mutiny, were completely under the JI and the JMB’s ideological sway…A
sia Times. Power play behind Bangladesh’s mutiny By Sreeram Chaulia

Dhaka Diary: Bangladesh fights India’s hegemony designs. There was much gloating in Delhi after the successful coronation of the pro-Indian Ms. Hasina Mujib as the new Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

The assessment in India for the past two years has been that the caretaker government under Ahmed’s supervision was cracking down on the “pro-Islam” juggernaut that had gone on the rampage during Begum Zia’s rule.

The master plan of “Talibanizing” Bangladesh with state power and the backing of religious sections of the army and the BDR fell flat when Ahmed shepherded the transition to democracy in December 2008 and installed the secular Sheikh Hasina in power. The election of Hasina was a severe blow to jihadi sections in Bangladeshi society, the army and the paramilitaries who were intent on Islamizing the country along the model of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. If there was a combine which badly wanted to stage yet another coup d’etat, it was this coalition of “Islam-pasand” (“Fond of Islam” in Bengali) elements desirous of a counter-revolution against Hasina’s government. Asia Times. Power play behind Bangladesh’s mutiny By Sreeram Chaulia

So who did the coup? Well armed and organized members of the Bangladesh Rifles who spoke out loudly against the army which they accused of betrayal. Already the charges are flying with India blaming the Jamaat e Islami as well as the Bangaldesh National Party

BNP MP Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury has filed a $100 million, or around Tk 700 crore, libel suit in a US court against private Indian news network CNN-IBN. “I have lodged the case in a court in the USA and have instructed my legal attorney Martin Brother to take necessary steps,” the opposition MP told reporters. “The private Indian TV channel, quoting ‘Indian intelligence sources’, published false and fabricated news alleging that the BDR revolt was organised and financed by Jamaat-e-Islami and myself,” said Chowdhury. “This has tarnished my image and that of Bangladesh to the world,” he added. The MP also accused the TV channel of defiling the reputation of Bangladesh. The Independent of Bangaldesh

A sort of proxy war between Pakistan and India continues in Bangladesh. On October 27, 2006, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s term in office ended abruptly as a result of the Bangladesh Army’s interference which thwarted the civilian government from taking office after winning a disputed election in Bangladesh. Some say the Bangladesh Army took the action at the instigation of India and because of Indian interference (see RAW report). Bangladeshi parties wanted a confederation with Pakistan.. Sreeram Chaulia is fortuitous in his insight and prediction. In typical Indian manner, the hidden hand will be revelaed in a few days with all fingers pointing towards Pakistan

Hasina’s government and Ahmed’s army are obviously going to try to get to the root of the matter in the following days, and they will probe Indian “leaks” of a Pakistani hand in the affair. What is certain is that the BDR putsch had grand religious and geopolitical causes which are far more profound than the relative trifle of a salary raise. Asia Times. Power play behind Bangladesh’s mutiny By Sreeram Chaulia. Sreeram Chaulia is a researcher on international affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in Syracuse,New York.

Greater Brihot Bangladesh is inevitable! Many in Bangladesh still dream of a Greater Bengal.

Bangladesh is a land rich in culture, heritage andpeople. Its people are hard working andenergetic. The land of the Brahmaputra is known as Sonar Bangal. The tigers of Bengal and the fish are known internationally. Bengalis have produced the best literature in the world-its poetry is lyrical and the “sanwala Bangali jadoo”–the mystical, mysterious beauty of Bengali women has enticed men from all over the world. The beauty of Bengali women flies in the face of the Brhamin imposed fair skin worship. Bengalis, when working overseas have produced some of the elite in America and Europe. All this beauty has been a magnet for foreigners