Untold Facts

Farook’s Martyrdom: Lesson against the ‘Great Game’

When little over 35 years ago on the 15th August 1975 Sayeed Col. Farook Reehman ventured to accomplish a nearly impossible task to topple the anti-national and most oppressive President of the country with some of his close colleagues in the Bangladesh Army they were all young men in their late 20’s.

They carried out the very difficult task not facing big resistance but some for the success because the people and Allah were with them. The people were elated spontaneously that the young warriors were not sure about before the occurrence of a few minutes in the early morning hours of the day. Possibly the planning ahead was flawless for on the day it was India’s Independence Day celebration nationwide and so there was less likely for them to intercept and interfere. The possibility of interference was there by the big neighbor alone, now it’s a different scenario. In the present scenario Delhi is to have Dhaka as an obedient ally in the regional ‘Great Game’ for ensuring Delhi’s power supremacy as may be seen in the verbatim of Indian retired Bengali General Shankar: “DELHI CAN’T AFFORD TO LET DHAKA SLIP OF ITS RADAR THIS TIME” (The Asian Age, Delhi, 24 March 2009 and lifted in Daily Nayadiganta, Dhaka, 26 March 2009). It may be mentioned here that General Shankar made the remark in an interview with the Indian daily Asian Age immediately after the BDR Massacre in Dhaka in February 09 ( 25-26) in which Indian RAW’s involvement was suggested by many (See, London based Lisa Journal , October-December 09).

Even so, though a bit lately Delhi asked the post coup government of Khondoker Moustaque Ahmad to abide by some of their agenda they had as to abide by the treaties the post 1972 Government made with them that Dhaka agreed to, and very crucially Delhi threatened Dhaka to withdraw from the declaration the coup leaders made in regard to the nomenclature of the State changed from People’s Republic to Islamic Republic. Dhaka was given only a few hours time to comply with these conditions or else face all round armed attacks for complete annexation of Bangladesh into Indian Union, somewhat in effect unlike the one of 1971. Dhaka yielded having had no scope to save the geographical entity of Bangladesh. So President Moustaque had to go back to the People’s Republic style abandoning the coup makers Islamic Republic.

However, when General Ziaur Rahman took up the power in early November 1975, consolidated himself in power of the State, made rapport with the Muslim nationalist politicians inside the country and also secured back up support from the Muslim countries, particularly, the Saudi Arabia, he managed the system and the Constitution revised from the 1972 Constitution leaving off three principles there. Democracy as one of the four State principles were retained but three others changed, such as, from secularism to absolute faith in the Almighty Allah, socialism to social justice and Bengali nationalism to Bangladeshi nationalism. The changes and amendments made were nothing in any arbitrary way but duly following the constitutional amendment process as laid down in the 1972 Constitution. In April 1979, the amendment was made that later on was termed as the famous Fifth Amendment. This Fifth Amendment was followed by 9 other amendments by this time. And the country followed all these amendments having the Fifth one most crucial so far the basic principles of the State were concerned. In other words, the country so far in 35 years and a half has not only run on the Constitution so changed and revised but also based on the change that the 15th August coup of 1975 Farook had pioneered.

There has been an interesting development on the 2nd February 2010 in the Supreme Court declaration the 5th Amendment as unlawful. Soon after the declaration, the chief law officer of the government AGB has stated that the Constitution is just to be reprinted omitting the 5th Amendment. Why only the 5th Amendment? How about the subsequent amendments that followed the fifth up to the 14th? How about pre August 1975 position of the Constitution and the legitimate continuity of the government and the State? Shall the country go back to the 4th Amendment and the BKSAL? These are not Farook’s matter as he is gone and the 15th August declared a simple business of ‘killing and murder’ of the President that put him to death and executed on the night of 27-28 January in the Dhaka Prison in unusually lightening speed!

The people of Bangladesh have once again been ditched back to square one not only in the vicious days of the notorious BKSAL but also into the integration embrace of the octopus of the Indian Brahmanistic arms that the 15th August change promised severance.

Farook already embraced the great prize of martyrdom as a pious and believing Muslim would have his place in history as the warrior for freedom of the people of Bangladesh, who sustained the fruits of freedom during his life time and now that the freedom is gone as soon as he left this world.

I might have been philosophical and some what spiritual, but the fact remains that the people of this country who had fought tirelessly against the aliens and anti-human Brahmanists for centuries have once again been back to the square one. The ‘Great Game’ preparation by Delhi in the advance plan has not only emboldened the lackeys in Dhaka but also to fit in the same game plan of Delhi she has managed through POLITICAL TRIAL (See The Economist 27 November 2009) put Farook to gallows just after two weeks of the Bangladesh P.M.’s 12 January signing of three treaties and two MoUs with Delhi not yet disclosed to the people, not even to the Parliament as per requirement of the Constitution. Further follow up engineered on the February 2 in the abandonment of the 5th Amendment of the Constitution. Such hush up must remind others of the hush up done in the BDR Massacre report prepared by the Bangladesh Army Inquiry Committee. Many skeptics reasonably took the hush up as involvement of the Awami League high ups in the unprecedented massacre of 57 senior and commissioned army officers for two days and two dark of nights not beyond knowledge of the P.M. Sheikh Hasina. Others further hunch that that could have given her sadistic pleasure of the fire of vengeance she had against the army men since the incident of August 1975. God knows the rest and the best.

The only way out from the vicious darkness is in the determined struggle or JEHAD with one’s wealth and physique just as the holy Quran has prescribed. Farook had the kind of Jehad all throughout his life after 1975 that made him a great martyr. Now it’s the turn of the people to keep the Jehad on for preservation of self dignity, entity and identity.

Unadulterated burning patriotism having no vested interest, much less blind dynastic interest of the Sheikhdom, that Shahid Farook and his close associates left shining examples of and so valiantly they all embraced martyrdom clearly in defiance of the Indian R&AW’s firm grip, may provide light in the otherwise dark tunnel ahead of Bangladesh to all patriots in the matter.

Author:BK Din