Bangladesh’s humanity is under its greatest attack

Bangladesh was created in 1971 for people of all religions or sects of religions to live to together in peace, and I had been to the battlefield in 1971 for the same purpose, but these perpetrators are now combat-ready to annihilate people of other religions or sects of religions who want to live with us to together in peace.

by Anwar A. Khan

Some so-called Muslims made a mighty onslaught on 15th October last and thereafter to our hard-earned ‘secularism’ in 1971 which graved the two-nation theory of 1947. ‘The mayhem and carnage carried out against the Hindu community in Bangladesh over the last few days’ in Bangladesh is deplorable and outrageous.  It seems that humanity and earth are doomed.

But beneath the surface something very positive is happening. The mass awakening of humanity has increased because of these enormous violations of human rights and lockdown that allowed people to reflect on and research topics that they wouldn’t usually do.

Having keen interest about the third-rater felons - Jamaat-e-Islami since my boyhood, I visit the holy places by choice on a regular basis to assess their actual activities and I am compelled to say these are all hellish creatures – so-called Muslims, sub-humans – anti-Islamists – anti-humanity and so on. In other words, they are nothing, but the worst criminals. They teach their students according to their own constructed religion to become violent terrorists to implement their own so-called agenda in Bangladesh.

But Bangladesh was created in 1971 for people of all religions or sects of religions to live to together in peace, and I had been to the battlefield in 1971 for the same purpose, but these perpetrators are now combat-ready to annihilate people of other religions or sects of religions who want to live with us to together in peace.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), the mass-murderers of 1971, is the wealthiest business organisation in Bangladesh. It has many killing squads under so many fictitious names which are working under the cloak-and-dagger of NGOs. Hefajat-e-Islam is one of the murdering progenies of JeI which uses the name of our holy religion – Islam to allure people to come to their flexure to make Bangladesh, once again, with so many public places of execution of our people, as they did to us in 1971. 

Pakistan’s horrendous killing outfit ISI has got a very strong ties with JeI to carry-out dreadful activities using Islam to destabilize Bangladesh according to their volition to impose their own and deceitful brand of Islam on us which shall have to be sent to the outfall at a far-off grime place.

Pakistan High Commission (PHC) in Dhaka is also involved in all badly activities in collusion with JeI in Bangladesh. PHC is the den of ISI and JeI. Bangladesh government should immediately put PHC + ISI under their strong scanner to catch those malefactors to face virile punishment.

The government should also break-down their money channels, confiscate all their properties and take full control of their business entities to block up these perpetrators eternally.

We are human beings and freedom is our birthright.

In the spectral realm, we are all at war and the enemy is fierce. Reality is that our enemy, the devil, is a formidable one. We had so many years of experience in tempting, destroying and taking people out of our presence.

But as big as our enemy is, we are even bigger. And one thing is for sure: we are now on the winning side. Because of what we did on the cross for us, we now share in its victory and can fight the enemy with a determination to win. We fight for us and equip us to win.

In times of battle for the just cause, temptation, accusation, deception and condemnation, we must equip us with our kind words to fight against the forces of evil and push back the plans of the enemy. Chances are that you are in some form of ugly battle today. And your means of fighting is knowing what we have to say about this battle in the world of Bangladesh.

He who dwells in the shelter of the highest will abide in the shadow of humane Bangladesh which we attained in 1971. Our refuge and our fortress are our country in whom we must trust. For that glorious Bangladesh of 1971 will deliver us from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. It will cover us with its pinions, and under its wings we will find refuge; its faithfulness is a shield and buckler. We will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day."

Put on the whole armor of the 1971 Bangladesh, that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the religious bigotries, against the communal forces, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the anti-Bangladesh liberation forces of evil in the country.

Be watchful. Our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

So much of the history of the struggle between good and evil can be explained by Edmund Burke's observation. Time and again those who profess to be good seem to clearly outnumber those who are evil, yet those who are evil seem to prevail far too often. Seldom is it the numbers that determine the outcome, but whether those who claim to be good men and women are willing to stand up and fight for what they know to be right. There are numerous examples of this sad and awful scenario being played out over and over again in countries after countries including Bangladesh.

When good men or women do nothing, they get nothing good done. To be good, one must do good. 

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

We have no chance to stand idle by and mere spectators. The evil forces sit on the sidelines instead of actively participating and working for the good. If good wins, they join in the celebration though they did nothing to produce the victory. If evil wins, they will complain long and loud though their own apathy helped produce the undesirable result.

When good men and women do nothing, evil triumphs. Evil, sin and sinful men and women must be opposed.  People must command those who are good, not just to avoid evil but actively oppose it.

We are to not only to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but also reprove them.  Those who do nothing about sin and evil, help the sin and evil to prevail. One who is silent when there are those around him in sin becomes a partaker with them.

The silence of the people speaks volumes of their indecisiveness and inaction. Their failure to stand up, speak up and speak out permitted wicked and evil people like anti-Bangladesh liberation forces to run rampant.

Those who are not actively and vigorously fighting against evil are helping evil to triumph.

When good people do nothing, they are no longer good. Many have the mistaken notion that good is merely the absence of doing that which is wrong. Not so! One is good not merely because he does no evil, but because he is actively working for what is good. 

Today, there are preachers who fail and refuse to meet the real foe, refute error and fight the enemy. Instead, they have turned to viciously savaging their own people. They are filled with bitterness and hatred and they maliciously attack, slander and misrepresent people of other religions.

While the conduct of some so-called Muslims is shameful, what about those supposedly good people who do nothing? Those stand on the other side and do nothing but watch as their brothers and sisters of other religions are being slandered, slaughtered and devoured, they cease being innocent bystanders and idle spectators. Their failure to act not only allows evil to triumph, but makes them just as guilty as the spiritual cannibals they refuse to reprove and rebuke. 

Be not deceived; we are not mocked; for whatsoever a man or a woman soweth, that shall he or she also reap. Those who fail or refuse to do good in the face of evil are sowing some dangerous seeds. They are doing nothing good as we are commanded to do; they are helping evil to win and have ceased being good and have become partakers of the evil they did nothing to stop.

Do not allow evil to triumph. Do not sit by and do nothing. Stand up and be counted, speak up against evil and speak out against evil people and their sinful deeds.

It’s time to rise up and stand up against these evil and communal forces – anti-Bangladesh liberation forces.

Bangladesh believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist because of its long-standing struggles for upright cause, a lone champion standing between the capital of democracy and the terrorists, barbarians, and other enemies within and outside the country. One cannot, at once, claim to be superhuman and then plead mortal error. I propose to take our countrymen's claims of Bangladesh’s exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard. 

This is difficult because there exists, all around us, an apparatus urging us to accept Bangladesh’s innocence at face value and not to inquire too much. And it is so easy to look away, to live with the fruits of our history and to ignore the great evil done to us using the name of Islam.

The evil components of our shadow are the part of us that we deplore, the part of us that we prefer not to admit. One must set themselves free from all inhibitions in order to initiate close encounters with their innermost monster. By standing toe-to-toe with the part of ourselves that we most detest, a person is in a position to slay their fiendish sense of self and, by doing so, undergo a soulful transformation.

The world in which we live would benefit greatly if men and women everywhere would exercise the pure love of people to people, which is kind, meek, and lowly. It is without envy or pride. It is selfless because it seeks nothing in return. It does not countenance evil or ill will, nor rejoice in iniquity; it has no place for bigotry, hatred, or violence. It refuses to condone ridicule, vulgarity, abuse, or ostracism. It encourages diverse people to live together in Bangladesh’s love regardless of religious belief, race, nationality, financial standing, education, or culture.

Standing up for what's right is always the best thing to do. Transformed people transform the culture while standing boldly against evil.

When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.

As long as someone remains standing with a noble heart, there will always be a way for good to triumph over evil.

Bangladesh is best when we are actually standing up to evil in our world. And when the morally reprehensible axis of ISI-Jamaat-Hefazat-Jamaat-e-BNP, make no mistake about it, is an evil in the world of Bangladesh.

We are standing face to face with the barbarians. The enemy is no longer outside but inside the country and paralysed, is incapable of spotting the real enemies. It stammers, overcome by its own moral disarmament, and is giving up: this is the time to seize the reins. Present society is an accomplice to the evil that is devouring it.

Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself.

We have lost too much, but we have not lost everything. And we have certainly not lost Bangladesh, for we will stand with you for as many tomorrows as it takes.

-The End –

The writer is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs