Untold Facts

Bashing the National Army and the Qaomi Madarasa at a go-why?

‘Researchers’ Bashing the Madrasa and the Army
The BBC Bengali Radio Service in their program tuned in Dhaka on the 16th April at 7-30 pm program had a ‘research result’ broadcast that stated that the Bangladesh Army increased its Madarasa background recruits from 5% in 2001 to 30-35% by 2006. The increase in the Madarasa background recruits was not only looked down upon by the ‘researcher’ but also condemned the two Islamic party ministers of the period for their undue influence and interference to get the increase done. The researcher, however, declined to disclose his methodology for the research, but referred to another similar research result obtained at 35% earlier done in the USA (Harvard) implying that they had the basic data for research from the Harvard group. As is known that the Harvard research and the figure obtained from was done by Sheikh Hasina’s son Joy under supervision of his guide, a Jew. Joy had similar other credits of bashing Bangladesh’s national army not all on his own but also as a continuum of his grand father Sheikh Mujib and his mother Sheikh Hasina, as well. The research result intended to conclude that by so increasing the number of Madrasa learning recruits in the army the armed services institutions are being made JANGIBADI or terrorist ridden that the Dhaka Bengali daily Ittefaq on the 17th April made a 3 column headline in red that was their reporting item from the same workshop of the same research group workshop held in Dhaka on the previous day!

The BDR Mayhem and timing
The timing of the bashing itself of the Qaomi Madarasa as a whole is significant as some other groups as persons of particular genre has gone on making the same offensive as soon as Hasina took up the running of Bangladesh in January 2009. Curiously enough that the bashing was made more extensive following the BDR mayhem of the 25-26 February that many consider as a ‘cover up’ (See, M.I. Ali’s item on Indian Foreign Secretary Menon’s indecorous visit to Dhaka on 12-13 April for hours in Weekly Holiday, Dhaka, 17 April, 2009) of the real game, if not for the Great Game of Indian former Bengal Army Chief General Shankar Roy Choudhury. I am sure, many still alive of the previous generation like me may well recall similar bashing of Madarasa education as a whole in early 1970s by some of the ministers the Awami League Government of Sheikh Mujib soon after independence of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Army has its own rules and norms
The Bangladesh Army is a constitutional institution of the country like any but with difference that the institution has its exclusively own rules and norms for defense needs of the country as of any independent country. The first of many essential ingredients is secrecy and confidentiality along with recruitment processes of new entrants, specific motivation, mode of training elements, discipline, hierarchy of administration, obedience, absolute loyalty to the country, etc. as I could perceive as an outsider civilian from experience obtained from some of close junior family relations recruited and serving in the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Recruitment rules
First, let’s take the issue of recruitment. Non-commissioned recruits need not have post secondary certificate. Physical fitness of adult age is the first essential requirement as for in any job. For recruitment in the commissioned rank minimum educational qualification is Higher Secondary Certificate. For professions in the Army Education Core, Master Degree is the minimum need. In the Engineering and Medical cores, Professional Bachelor degrees are required. In addition, for final recruitment to pass through, the commissioned rank men and women has to pass through the rigorous ISSB examination extended for days. There is no short cut to the rigorous process in the recruitment. Then on continues on the job training, training in use of arms and ammunitions etc. that I know not everything.

Army’s motivation
Unlike any other profession the armed forces undergo motivational training for fighting against enemy of the State with real arms and ammunitions to protect and preserve the geographical boundary of the country. That is their prime job. And for that job they are given clear idea about enemy’s goals and aims that might in the way hurt the sovereignty of the country. For geographical location, the enemy against sovereignty of Bangladesh could only be India and to some extent Myanmar so far as the common borders are concerned, nearly 4,156 km (3976 km land, 180 km water) with India and about 271 km (208 km land, 63 km water) with Myanmar. For historical reasons, as well, except for a short prelude of 1971, Indian hegemony remains the biggest thereat to the sovereignty of smaller Bangladesh. It is as such only reasonable and logical that the Bangladesh army must have a enemy in view not only in training mode but also in psychological make up that they have to fight, if need be, Indian bigger army alone, in case any such threat to the sovereignty come in future from that end. Such training mode of the army would not mean though that the people of Bangladesh would not be friendly to India or the Government would be enemy to India but be normally friendly.

Secrecy issue
Coming back to the issue of secrecy of many matters of the armed forces beginning from recruitment to organization and management of the institution, one should wonder how the Harvard group and the local group claiming certain facts obtained from inside but unwilling to disclose them to the citizens of Bangladesh, and yet have drawn their conclusions that the recruits from the Madarasa background to all cadres of army had dramatically increased from 5% to 35% during the 2001-2006 term of the BNP led government. It must be more amazing to hear their claim that the increase had been made by undue influence and interference of the two Islamic party powerful ministers in the then cabinet of Begum Khaleda Zia. Did they forcibly change the recruitment rules and processes? If they at all did anything how could the researchers get the secret information out of the source? One must wonder if the researchers’ made fake claims.

35%!
Let’s now consider for a moment that the 35% figure was correct. If this was the fact, on what ground the Madarasa educated ones could be excluded from entry into the armed services provided they met all minimum requirements and passed all tests and drills. Could any citizen of the country be disqualified just only for the reason that one went to Madarasa for some elementary and primary learning in the holy Quran and the Hadith, Muslims’ essential learning in early childhood? The constitutional right of any citizen can not put any such bar to any otherwise qualified boys and girls. Some departments of the Dhaka University did try to go for such whimsical venture for admission in courses for higher studies but failed in the court.

Succession and vengeance for Vedic end
Hasina’s son Joy, the likely second or third in the throne of Bangladesh, as it appeared from his research aim, wishes to have an army for Bangladesh not only fully secularized but also amenable to the big Indian design in the subcontinent in what is well known as the India Doctrine. The attitude is undoubtedly a subservient one, albeit, a guarantee for the family continuity in succession of the State power. In such arrangement, there may come a sort of outward peace, but in no way anything sustainable for distinct historical identity of Bangladesh as a dignified nation based on its own culture of nearly a millennium marked by features distinctly different from the Indian Vedic identity. That is what made Bangladesh bound in the geography, no matter, much smaller than very big India, but a proud nation sustaining life from egalitarian Islamic value system as distinctly different from the caste ridden social system of India that is manifested not only in exploitation and inequality between man and man but also made a mockery of democracy.

People’s pains
Joy had, no doubt, other painful memory of his maternal grandfather’s tragic killing by army men. He shares also attitude of vengeance for the incident with his mother. But if he would mean politics for welfare of the poverty stricken 150 million people of Bangladesh, they can not escape the vicious scenario (Joy was then barely four years old not to have any memory of the poor and destitute thousands died of hunger in Dhaka streets) of the days and time when the army took arms to remove the leader from the power in Dhaka. That happened not only as the victorious coup d ‘etat but also that the incident came as the sigh of great relief to the people from tyranny of autocracy, oppression and exploitation through hoodwinking the whole people. In other words, the leader once thought to be the angel turned into something else of total despise by the same people who felt totally betrayed by his corrupt, inefficient and humbug administration of three and a half years rule, and so they joyfully celebrated the fall and the change in mid August 1975. Nothing short of his removal, for some in painful way though, could restore pluralism and multi-party democracy in Bangladesh that the people now enjoy since after mid August 1975 and certainly Joy’s mother got saddled in the throne this time for the second term for the coup makers effectively buried the notorious lone party BAKSAL and he also sees himself as the second or third of inheritance in possible succession through multi-party democracy.

Madarasa nothing new
The Qaomi Madarasa has not only lived for the one and a half millennium from the divinely beginning in the early seventh century A.D. in the City State of Medina under the guidance of the great Prophet of Islam but also kept alive for continuity of Muslim spirituality until our time not only in Bangladesh but also all over the Muslim world by the people themselves in the communities of their own countries. Muslim parents hardly ignore for their children first of all at primary school age to be educated in these institutions. It is as such quite logical that Muslim youths entering the armed services profession would have some Madarasa learning. My early boyhood experience in early 1940s was that my parents had first sent me to Qaomi Madarasa at our own locality managed by our family and then on to primary school. In this sense there should be no objection of anyone if almost all the entrants in the army could be of some Madarasa background as the 90% people are Muslims in Bangladesh.

Need for change
The Madarasa education may need some development and improvement in curricula but that does not in any way mean, as I understand a as life long educator now formally retired over a decade ago, that we shun the Madarasa education, much less put any bar for entry of these adult boys and girls into the country’s armed forces.

Propaganda
The evil propaganda in the garb of research findings as are the two mentioned above need not stop as we had many in the past not only against Madarasa learning but also against the Muslim Ummah as a whole that we must face up to with our own instrument of knowledge and not with arms and ammunition in hands.

Author: M.T. Hussain