Current Affairs, Liberation War, Opinion, Politics, War

Reflecting on Bangladesh’s Independence: Honouring the Past and Addressing Present Challenges

Robi Das

This article has two parts. The first part describes the black night of March 25, the early morning of March 26 and the declaration of independence by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The second part discusses the importance of the great Independence Day in the present context, the need to recognize the genocide in Bangladesh, and how to spread the true history of Independence Day among future generations. 

People lit candles in front of Saheed Mina

People lit candles in front of Saheed Minar. https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/ddwxg5f9s8

Today is March 25, the National Genocide Day and tomorrow is the Great Independence Day of Bangladesh.  I begin by respectfully recalling all the martyrs indiscriminately killed by the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators on the black night of March 25, 1971. I also pay my homage to the martyrs and Beerangonas who sacrificed everything for the independence of Bangladesh. I pay my respects to the great hero of the nation's liberation, the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, without whom we cannot imagine the great liberation war of Bangladesh.  Since August 5, last year, a lot has happened in Bangladesh. The country is now gripped by the controversial and violent activities of militant groups, including Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jamaat-e-Islami, AB Party, and other right-wing groups, including the newly formed National Citizens Party (NCP). The hyenas of 1971 have returned, and the ghosts of the Razakars, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams, collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces, are trying

to forcibly establish extreme right-wing religious ideology, undermining the ideals of the great liberation war, democracy, socialism, and secularism. The destruction of Bangabandhu's historic house at Dhanmondi 32 exemplifies this. Bangabandhu's home has been attacked twice, and we lost Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family on August 15, 1975. Despite our best efforts, we cannot bring back the Father of the Nation, Bangamata, little Russell, Sheikh Kamal, and Sheikh Jamal. However, the house remained until the old neo-Razakar parties destroyed it, fearing that Bangabandhu's voice would declare independence again from house number 32, inspiring brave Bengalis to roar against the defeated power of 1971 and restore the ideals of the great liberation war.  The article has two parts. The first part describes the black night of March 25, the early morning of March 26 and the declaration of independence by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The second part discusses the importance of the great Independence Day…

Journalism, Politics, Review

Investigating Al Jazeera’s ‘investigation’: an open letter to David Bergman

Rayhan Rashid

Every country, not just Bangladesh, needs a space for introspection on certain fundamental matters. These are, for example, power (and its abuse), influence (and its peddling), civil liberties (and its suppression), privacy (and surveillance), probity, integrity, transparency etc. While conscientious journalism serves as a catalyst for advancement, careless ones hinder it, as the latter kind diverts the very agenda of discourse that the media is supposed to engender.

In a Facebook post (Feb 4), my brief take on the much talked about Al Jazeera documentary ("All the Prime Minister's Men") was: "It is something that could have been part of an important conversation, but merely ended up being a cheap sensationalisation of some majorly unsubstantiated claims based on heaps of unrelated information, false insinuations, and deliberately omitted contexts." (Link) You wrote to me, asking what I meant by that. Since this relates to a matter that is now subject of public debate, I thought it would make sense to respond in a public thread. I hope you would not object to such a public nature of engagement. First of all, thank you for your willingness to discuss the AJ piece. I hope this will shed some light on some of the whats, whys, and hows of the documentary that many like me are curious about. I have noted your assessment of the documentary in an interview (Link) where

you attested the claims made in the programme as "well substantiated." So, I decided to watch the documentary for a second time just to be sure that we are referring to the same work, and found myself in agreement with you regarding its "sleek production quality" at least. It indeed gives the feel of watching a "thriller", as you rightly described. With regard to its content, however, I wish I could share your glowing verdict. Regrettably, the artistic liberty the makers took so abundantly in its treatment of "facts/evidence", did not quite make up for the journalistic rigour which the documentary generally lacked. Before elaborating why I found this documentary unsubstantiated, let me make a few things clear. I believe, every country, not just Bangladesh, needs a space for introspection on certain fundamental matters. These are, for example, power (and its abuse), influence (and its peddling), civil liberties (and its suppression), privacy (and surveillance), probity, integrity, transparency etc. While conscientious…

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