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Patriotism in divided Bangladesh

Omar Chowdhury
THE tragedy at Pilkhana was no mutiny; it was premeditated mass murder. We could have called it a mutiny if the BDR jawans had held the army officers captive until their demands were met, but by the time the negotiations had started al) the army officers had already been executed The intention was to destabilise the country, and these coldblooded murderers had no intention of ventilating their grievances and returning to their barracks.
Men who kill in God's name are willing to die for their cause, but these cowards murdered unarmed army officers and civilians, looted and fled. This is not the modus operand! of Islamic militants, but we cannot rule them out as the instigators.
The BDR jawans were so easily instigated because the masterminds were able to exploit their discontent, indiscipline and lack of patriotism. Besides inequalities between the army and BDR, discon-
tent is prevalent in all developing countries. The ever widening rich--poor gap, inflation, inability to make ends meet --this kind of discontent exists even in developed countries.
Discontent is hardly a motive to warrant this kind of extremism. But what sets Bangladesh apart from other nations, and makes us particularly vulnerable to the slightest instigation, is our culture of indiscipline and lackof patriotism.
The political parties, especially AL and BNP, have actively promoted this culture. Students, factory workers, accident victims all express their grievances by blocking roads, breaking cars, burning factories, looting and killing because they have been taught that vigilantism is the correct way and national interest comes last.
The colonial attitude of our political parties, of dividing and ruling this nation, has marginalised our patriotism. If you watch B TV programs on independence, it seems like Bangabandhu made all the contributions and Zia had no contribu-
tion at all. Murals of Zia have been removed from Chittagong airport, history has been distorted in parliament, primary school textbooks are being changed to glorify Bangabandhu and erase the mem-oryofZia.
When BNP was in power, they took similar actions to erase the memory of Bangabandhu and even celebrated fictitious birthdays on Bangabandhu’s death anniversary. The holidays of August 15 and November 7 are two more examples of an elected government's policy of diriding and ruling.
The real changes were brought about by the previous caretaker government (independent judiciary, EC, ACC. PSC, local government, national ID cards), but I doubt that these reforms will be sustainable under an elected government. Our politicians are just as corrupt and ineffi cient as those in any developing country, but in other countries their citizens can expect (hat their politicians will put the national interest above al) else
In our parliament, they should be talking about dismantling the student wings ol the political parties, but that is a power they will never relinquish, least of id) in the national interest. Instead, they debate the validity of Zia's proclamation of independence.
Our disdain and mistrust of our politicians is so deep rooted that they are not
above suspicion of being involved in the Pilkhana tragedy .AU the conspiracy theories circulating seem to involve BNP/Jamaat/JMB/ISI or AL/RAW. Depending on which theory you are inclined to believe, it appears that all our elected representatives in parliament are agents of foreign intelligence agencies or terrorist organisations.
I will not speculate on any of these theories, but I do believe that they are all capable of instigating further bloodshed to get absolute power, regardless of the consequences to the nation. We are our own worst enemies.
Years of orchestrated division has diminished our patriotism to such an extent that we are all looking for an exit strategy’, like rats leaving a sinking ship The rich buy residency in Canada and Malaysia while the poor seU their land and borrow money to get a ridiculously low paying job in a foreign country.
I fear that we are perilously close to being a failed state, unless the next generation of leaders can unify us, give us hope for a better future, and inspire us to be better citizens. A first step in that direction would be to redefine patriotism: You don’t have to love Bangabandhu or Shaheed President Zia to be a patriot --you just have to love Bangladesh.
Omar Chowdhury • a freelance contributor to The Dairy Star