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A Step Backwards

Women have to face an added threat ofphysical assault. of sexual attack, of kidnapping. Such fears have induced a very different reaction from women in the threatened community. Whereas at times of natural disasters, women are known to stay in their homes till the last moment in order to preserve what they can, during moments of such sectarian, man made disasters, the first rumblings send women to seek the shelter of anonymity.

By Hameeda Hossain
- x r HILE rallies of madr \A/ M-hboys have raised W the tenor of proteat at
the vandaitsatlon of Babri Masjid, a curtain of silence seems to hang over similar eruptions in Bangladesh. The organised manner in which temples were assaulted wlthtn hours of the news from Ayodhya would seem to suggest that It was not an act of fervent god fearing men. The continu-' Ing acts of violence since 6 December have represented a planned vindictiveness which arc certainly not in keeping with the Islamic advice of Tukum din a kum."
following day on 50 households of poor labourers, carpenters, rickshawpullers, tronsmiths be equated with piety. How many of us can really believe that this reflected a spontaneous shock reaction to what happened at Babri? If it was so spontaneous, how is ft that protection money is being ex-
some neighbourhoods, even 20 days after Babri? Is it more likely a deviously planned operation to spread terror and to assert the rule of lawlessness? .
Women have to face and added threat of physical assault, of sexual attack, of kid-
continuum of violence In the recent past. Only a few weeks ago. the burning of the Ah mad la Mosque along with a copy of the Holy Quran was an earlier example. This catalogue of lawlessness starts from the systematic attacks 1n the universities of Chittagong and Rajshahi. the recent incident tn Keranlganj. threats against freedom of speech.
We need to take serious note of this moment of crista tn South Asia, for as it threatens to engulf the very basts of a democratic, secular order. It will undermine the struggle for gender equity, for peace
An anatomy of recent events reveals the special dangers faced by women and the overwhelming Insecurity they have to live with, only because of their assumed religious affiliation. the demolition of fishermen's huts in Bhola. Mlrasaral, Moheskhali. or similar settlements of occupational castes have overnight made entire families homeless. Can sich acts of Vandalism be at-ributed to genuine religious sentiment?
How can honestly the v nom of those who on 7 Dc-embcr attacked an old Ui ->lc a' Shanir Akhra, only a feu miles away from Demra or their subsequent attacks the
napping. Such fears have induced a very different reaction from women In the threatened community. Whereas at times of natural disasters, women are known to stay 1n their homes till the last moment in order to preserve what they can. during moments of such sectarian. man made disasters, the first rumblings send women to seek the shelter of anonymity.
The dogmatic ambition which drives sectarian forces today threatens to take society bacl into medieval violence, to divide it ak>ng h ies of dangerous religious intolerance. Babri Masjid has been a pretext tn a
and development. Women are tn the vanguard of a progressive struggle for structural social change; this Is only possible tn a civil society. Therefore we can no longer be satisfied merely with defining a slice of the development cake. We have to recognise the dangers Inherent in the portent of sectarian violence, In the ruthless assertion by organised street mobs. Because women represent the voice of reason and tolerance we must speak out against the dtvlsiveness being created In our society. Indeed if women are to move forward, they cannot allow religious chauvinism to shackle their feet.