Untold Facts

Moral Bankruptcy: Way Out from Despairing

An expatriate and retired Octogenarian journalist had an article published in a Bengali daily in Dhaka on the 17th November having therein all his despairs for moral bankruptcy, as I understood, of the present government of Bangladesh running the country for the last ten months. He cited many examples of moral bankruptcy, the one being that involved the President of the country, Mr. Zillur Rahman, who used his power of pardon provided in the Constitution of the country, in the case mentioned for the son of the Deputy Leader of the House Sajeda Chowdhury. Her son Shahadar, still at large for corruption charges and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for eighteen years and fine of over 10 million Taka passed by the court during the Emergency of 2007-08, was granted pardon by the country’s President just two days ago.

Listening to the BBC Bengali Service Radio on the day at the 7:30 evening program, there was a news item that the Home Minister Sahara Khatun responded very angrily there in the program that there had been no ‘CROSS FIRE’ deaths during the last ten months of the Awami League rule. In the same program, the other part of the relevant news was that the High Court on the day issued a Suo Muto Rule to the Government to reply within 48 hours as to one incident of Cross Fire Deaths of two brothers (Khalashis) that took place at Madaripur the previous day and published as news item in some daily on the day. One Khalahi‘s son’s weeping voice seeking life security was also aired in the BBC program. The BBC was smart enough to put one spokesman of the AIN O SALISH KENRO, a NGO, who put a figure of 111 deaths in Cross Fire during the last ten months!

To me the matter is tragic but amazing though that the party had clearly promised in the Election Manifesto in 2008, among many such promised but now being hardly cared for, that they in power would stop cross fire deaths in Bangladesh.

Promises made to the electorates and then forgotten in power are nothing new in this country. But the Awami League is unfortunately the most notorious in the matter of broken promises not only at this term but also in earlier terms, as well. The manifestly notoriety has many reasons, the one most crucial is their very poor in moral standards that in turn goes into the mind set up of sham ‘secularism’ or I feel to state secularism misperceived.

Western secularists, at heart, hold on to secularism at political level with high regards to basic Christian values. That is how they maintain morality at high level. Muslims are in general averse to secularism at any level except for tolerance of other religious people in religious matters. Muslims moral values are in no way independent of Islamic beliefs, norms and values. That is why when any Muslim tends to go for secularism, he or she hardly can sustain high Islamic moral standard. That is what the basic and first problem for moral bankruptcy of the Awami League in Bangladesh.

The honorable High Court’s issue of the Rule to the government in the matter of the latest killings of two brothers in cross fire as mentioned by one law enforcing agency men could be a right moral boosting for the peace loving citizens of the country. But that is not enough; people themselves have to rise and fight back against the morally bankrupt now in power to firmly reestablish in this nation and in the country high moral values based on our proud Islamic heritage.

Author: M.T. Hussain