SHAME & PERFIDY
The death threat on the courageous Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasreen,
has again revealed how religious extremism exerts a claustrophobic grip on all three countries of the region. There is no reason to play
down the danger to Nasreen’s life as the authorities in Dhaka seem to
be doing, prompting speculation that the fundamentalists have powerful
backers in the Government. The protest by some element intellectuals
and feeble attempts at rallies in her support are not enough to
guarantee her safety; Bangladesh teems with fanatic bands, often
localized and beyond the control of Begum Zia’s regime. Her record is
tainted with intimate association with groups, which repudiate the
country’s liberation war and deny the Pakistani genocide. It is not a
coincidence that the martyr’s memorial in Dhaka was vandalized with
police connivance. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has consistently
patronized shadowy right-wing groups and religious bigots and used them
to browbeat the minorities into submission. That the religious fanatics
can publicly make death threats against an individual of Nasreen’s
standing owes largely to the lenience with which their unconstitutional
actions have been condoned. Hindu organizations in Bangladesh will not
observe the pujas this year in protest against the sustained attacks on
them since Ayodhya. No less than 200 temples are said to have been
destroyed. By any comparison, the Hindus in Pakistan have greater
assurance of safety and a more responsive government than those of
Bangladesh.
This crisis makes difficult demands on progressive Muslims. Though
Nasreen’s fate is everybody’s concern, and individuals must act
together irrespective of religion, non-Muslims will look with great
interest at the role and initiative of the vocal members of the other
community. Many of them condoned Ayatollah Khemeni’s fatwa on Salman
Rushdie because they felt Islam had been blasphemed. This time there
are no such excuses; if the progressive sections of the Islamic world
fail to take on the fanatics, they will be judged to be practicing double standards and selective in their demands for equal rights.
Zealots of different persuasions will take up Nasreen’s cause to score
selfish points. The beleaguered Bangladeshi writer has become an issue
in the forthcoming elections to the four north Indian States. Nothing
could be personally damaging for her than this but if the secular camp
does not react, their adversaries cannot be blamed for making political
capital out of it. It is time for organizations like Sahmat that
examine religious myths from all angles on the plea of pluralism to
embark on an equally vigorous protest since what is at stake is not
just freedom of expression but the future contours of the sub
continent.
Editorial,
The Statesman, Calcutta, 14 October 1993