Untold Facts

Martyrs are they All

‘My brother is a martyr’ quoted the Indian English daily The Times of India. The quote made on the 28th January issue was from a sister of one of the accused and its correspondent who reported at about midnight of 27-28 January from Dhaka on the news on hanging of the 5 accused in the Mujib Murder case. The paper further quoted her saying a final good bye to his brother who had no remorse but a sense of pride to be a martyr for the noble cause. The courageous attitudes of both brother and sister might appear unusual at the kind of trying moment, but the courage of conviction for the noble cause he held and acted for and the equally committed sister shared very much passionately made such bold stand possible.

In the morning of January 28 at about 11 a friend came to visit and enquire of my ailing bed ridden health condition. When I mentioned the quote to him, he immediately responded, she was right, her brother is a martyr.

Martyrdom or self-sacrifice for a noble cause is a highly prized issue for Muslims. The Holy Quran has highly encouraged the Muslim believers to look for opportunities to work for martyrdom with one’s own wealth and physique for any good cause approved by Islamic norms and ideals. Good and righteous believers, in fact, look for opportunities to die to be a martyr or Shahid. Did the one and four others hanged in the Dhaka Central prison as accused in the Mujib Murder case on the night had any lofty ideal so far as Islamic criteria requirements were concerned?

What were the issues that led those young Muslim army officers to topple Mujib from the State power when he got killed in the encounter of the mutiny on the 15th August 1975 early morning? Was that a fancy or sport for no good valid reason? Were the officers who led the coup to success simple idiots? Is army mutiny or coup anything unknown in developing countries? Is not victorious coup lawful for State power change?

Let us look for answers to the above questions.
The army men who engineered the coup in Dhaka on the 15th August 1975 against President Mujib were none of any foreign country but all professionally trained brilliant patriotic sons of Bangladesh. They knew what army coup meant and what further they had in store in case the coup failed. Even so, they planned jointly the coup and materialized very much successfully. The success made it certain that they were highly motivated to effect the change of government by off seating the President of the country not for sport or fancy but for his removal as he had been endlessly arbitrary, autocratic, oppressive, dictatorial, inefficient, corrupt, anti-democratic and what was not having no light for freedom for the millions of suffering people.

As the fact was then that the regular army of the country was not only neglected and sidelined but on the contrary a Para-military armed force outside the national constitutional control and in reality controlled by the big neighbor for their security advantage was raised and organized, naturally making the national army useless and irrelevant in future years ahead. The foreign policy, business and trade all were made complementary and supplementary to that big neighbor making the sovereignty of the country an appendage to that neighbor. How could the deeply patriot brilliant and intelligent army officers who had fought for independence in 1971 overlook these realities of helplessness and subservience of the country to that very big neighbor?

The party led by the chief and President of the country lately what was lone party dictatorship of the BKSAL had almost all from top to bottom been highly corrupt that increased sufferings of the millions of common people. The party cadres through their endless corruption caused the ‘man made’ famine of 1974 (See Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen) that in hunger for food took lives of 27,000 according to government figure, much more counted by others.

Common people had no way out to speak about their sufferings and grievances, particularly after the killing of multi-party democracy and instead imposition of lone party dictatorship of the BKSAL by Mujib, the one time votary of pluralism and democracy, having no reference to the people or referendum! The media banning followed soon after the lone party State proclaimed himself the party dictator and the dictatorial President of the country in January 1975.

The unenlightened dictator had left no way out for the democracy loving people to resort to any peaceful way for change of the dictator and the dictatorial government having had unleashed private killer groups of his own in addition to the unconstitutional Rakhsmi Bahini. It was thus when the patriotic army made the strike the way they did on the 15th August 1975 were applauded by the people; no resistance was there against the welcome coup d’ etat. They were not interested for power but for welfare of the country and thus showed their generosity that they did not take the State power by themselves, put to State power after the successful putsch to a group of democratic minded politicians of the same party with the hope that they would have revert back the country to pluralism and multiparty democracy. In fact, the beginning was made rightly. However, after some counter coups, ups and downs based on the 15th August success the country stabilized and got back the multi-party democratic constitution by early 1979. That is what the system as in 2010 today. In other words, the army mutiny of August 1975 had paved the way and set for the system Bangladesh has been enjoying since then for 35 years as of now.

The other major achievement was that the unconstitutional killer force in fact controlled by the same big neighbor responsible for nearly 40,000 or so extrajudicial killings over three years was also disbanded immediately following the coup. The mass of corrupt same party cadres robbing the country’s wealth was contained and caged. How could now any sensible person rationally condemn those deeply patriot army men except those irrationally sensitized with unfounded cheap slogan and vile propaganda?

The irony is that the five among those deeply patriot coup makers have been hanged to death in lightening speed having had been labeled as ordinary killers. Factually, they were made scapegoats leaving many and even bigger shots like Shafiullah, A.K. Khondoker etc. who, in fact, took now side with the top executive of the country and so escaped any indictment.

The trial they faced was not fair on many accounts as the it was not killing alone but political change through mutiny was involved in the matter that was not taken into any consideration whatsoever in the due process of law. Thus many renowned international organizations differed with the final verdict for death penalty and appealed for commutation of the death sentences of the 12 convicts.
Even the last moment clemency appeal to the President was rejected outright for vengeance alone whereas such clemency for party cadre convicts had been granted by the same President of the country months ago that confirmed further that the trial ended through narrow political party consideration.

The above facts are not all of the unjust and unfair issues involved in the episode of the hanging of the accused, and that the five were hanged to death in fact turned to be judicial murders through miscarriage of justice and POLITICL TRIAL OF SHEIKH HASINA (See The Economist 27 November 2009). That they rose against unjust President through the victorious mutiny had immunity by itself but arbitrarily bypassed by the government and then in due process of law that made the trial biased and unfair. This unfairness added further to make them really martyrs not only for the noble causes for the people but also by measure of norms of Adal of Islamic jurisprudence that the martyrs’ relations can rightly take pride in their being martyrs granted by the Almighty Allah. They were happy to die and so embraced the death noose and martyrdom with smiling faces just as, for example Socrates did in 399 B.C .in Greece or Sayyid Qutb in Egypt in 1966.
The patriots of Bangladesh have been mourning the martyrs through prayers recalling quite clearly that the typical some rejoicing the execution were none to weep for the fallen demagogue in August 1975.

History in future through neutral and fairer judgment will certainly acknowledge them as the martyrs just as, for example, adjudged French warrior Joan of Arch burnt to death as a witch in 1431 by verdict of alien English church who after 489 years in 1920 on recommendation by Paris church declared by Rome (Vatican) as a saint. The young revolutionary Khudiram Bosu of Bengal hanged in 1908 by the British colonial rulers as an ordinary criminal killer in the court but after 30 years soon after1947 was accorded the position of a martyr. The British judiciary in July1940 gave verdict for hanging and hanged to death Udham Singh, the Jalianwalabagh Killing fame General Dyer’s killer, as a criminal that Indian leaders like Gandhi and Nehru as well then termed as ‘senseless act’ but later in 1952 he was declared in free India by Prime Minister Nehru himself as the Shahid E Azam or great martyr for the country in the changed political context (See, Internet).

Author: BK Din