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Redress this National Wound
The destruction of the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya angered not only Muslims, but also enlightened people of all religions, not only tn Bangladesh but right across the world, particularly India.
The question in Bangladesh was whether we would be able to rise above the feelings of anger, and see the Incident as a direct challenge by a barbaric brand of conununalism. to democratic, progressive and secular values that are the lyncnpin of modem civilised societies. By and large. Bangladesh can feel satisfied at the absence of bloodshed here in the wake of the Ayodhya incident. Unfortunately however, that is far from the full story
In many districts, particularly in the south of the country, hundreds of Hindu temples and smaller places of worship have been burnt or demolished by crowds as criminally-intent as communalists everywhere. Thousands of homes in villages where most inhabitants happened to be followers of the Hindu religion, were destroyed. creating a sense of terror not seen here since 1971.
What is most unfortunate is that not only were laws of the land, including the anti-terror Act, not applied to prevent this transparently communal violence, the incidences of such barbaric acts have gone virtually unacknowledged by the government. In her Victory Day speech over state-owned television and radio. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia rightly reiterated the demand to have the Babri Mosque rebuilt by the Indian government. Yet she failed to mention the acts of desecration committed in Bangladesh against Hindu temples by our own fanatics. Following on from that, she failed to express any sympathy for those thousands of citizens of her country who were made homeless for no other reason than that they adhered to a different religion. The men and women victimised were Bangladeshis, the tem-£les and homes destroyed were prayed at and ved In by people of this country, and yet there was nothing or no one to protect them. These events of the past two weeks have been a national shame of unprecedented magnitude. A concerted national effort, led by the government is. therefore. needed to restore confidence of non-Muslim citizens and reestablish rule of law.
The government should now come forward to acknowledge and publish fully the extent of the mayhem caused, and order a Judicial inquiry Into . the events to Identify the failures that allowed such things to happen and bring the culprits to book. To begin with, however, there should be a clear-cut announcement from the government that all temples destroyed or damaged would be rebuilt, and that families who have lost homes would be adequately compensated. There has to be a recognition of the fact that communal forces, lurking just beneath the surface of our democratic veneer, have thrown a challenge to the existence of people belonging to other religions. It is the duty of the state, including political parties and socio-cultural organisations across the spectrum. to stand by them. Society has to be seen to be doing so. and not merely heard at public rallies or seminars. By'the same token, prominent personalities such as Maj. Gen. C R Dutta BU should take greater care when making public utterances and not throw wild accusations. They should understand that such accusations only provide further ammunition in the hands of the communal forces and help to crate divisions along confessional lines. The effort to make Bangladesh a harmonious, democratic and progressive society has to come from all.