Bangladesh and US: Victims of the Same Phenomenon
By
Jamal Hasan
EXACTLY two months before the dastardly attack on the New York's
World Trade Center and the Pentagon on July 11 precisely, Voice
of America Television network's weekly "On the Line"
program was in recording session. The topic was publication of
Khalid Duran's latest book Children of Abraham and its impact
on the Muslim and Jewish community in the world.
Although his book was the main subject of discussion, Khalid Duran
brought Bangladesh politics a few times in the show. A few months
earlier, the author (Duran) was exposed to the works of some of
the liberal and freethinking Bangladeshi writers. He thought those
writers were the pioneers in a growing movement of enlightenment
in Muslim societies across the globe. His expertise included the
status of Islamic fundamentalism in US, Europe, and Pakistan.
In
the TV show, he generously covered Bangladesh taking good amount
of sound bites as he said: "We have Muslim countries where
the majority of the population, and I'm referring particularly
to Bangladesh, decided in favor of secularism. In addition, they
are very pious people. I have never seen people run to the mosque
as much as in Bangladesh. But they have songs about dhormoniropekkhota,
glorifying secularism. It
was a principle of state in Bangladesh until, unfortunately, the
Saudis said we will support you economically only if you erase
the principle of secularism from your constitution. So there you
see one type of Islam, Islamism coming from Saudi Arabia, imposing
itself upon Bangladesh, which is probably the country in the world
with the world's largest Muslim population."
Probably, Duran was referring to the period of the two military
dictators - General Zia ur Rehman and General H.M. Ershad who
were mainly responsible for completing the process of Islamization
in Bangladesh. During the tenure of these two nonchalant army
men, the last vestiges of secularist values in Bangladesh went
down the drain.
However,
the story does not end here. From early seventies to a few months
ago, Saudi Arabia's heinous cultural imperialistic ambition did
not appear to be confrontational to western interests. But not
everybody would go with the flow. Two months before the Voice
of America TV's "On the Line" program, I received an
interesting letter from a national security expert. This individual
supposedly had been a frequent visitor to the US Congress and
might have been an occasional guest at Bush White House. Readers,
I am giving you excerpt from his (the security expert) May 16
letter that he wrote to me,
"My
Dear Friend, ...The SOLE reason for Pakistan's not being on the
terrorism list is politics -- mainly Saudi and Chinese patronage.
Tells you just how serious Washington is regarding fighting terrorism,
radicalism, etc.."
Although Khalid Duran and the above security expert might have
carried some political clout inside the Beltway, the country's
oil politics probably drowned their voices to the bottom of edifice.
Remember, Saudi Arabia has world's largest accumulation of liquid
gold, probably one fourth of the entire world's reserve. Also,
US and most of the free world are dependent, to a great extent,
on the constant flow of Arab oil.
Please allow me to go back to Bangladesh one more time to connect
Saudi's growing influence on Muslim majority nations in South
Asia. The nation of Bangladesh witnessed the evil design of Saudi
monarchy. This monarch used the Islam card whenever Allah-fearing
Bangladeshi Muslims felt vulnerable to the divine dictum.
People
of Bangladesh suffered as we all know the worst case of genocide
during much of 1971. Most of the Bangladeshi Islamist political
parties sided with the genocidal Pakistani army and received blessings
from the Saudi rulers in return. They were responsible for loot,
arson, rape, and mass murder. They also made a blueprint to annihilate
most of the intellectuals of the nation.
As
the country of Bangladesh became an independent entity, the same
Saudi royalty was the unhappiest regime on earth. The aftermath
of the political development in South Asia resulting in the split
up of a friendly Islamic country like Pakistan was cause for concern
for the Saudis. Similarly, the nascent nation Bangladesh's adherence
to secularism was hardly palatable to Saudis' world view.
In
their parochial world view, the Saudis wanted to see all the non-Arab
Muslim majority countries detach themselves from secularism and
other "infidel" political ideology and join the Arab
hegemonistic Islamist camp. Turkey and Algeria economically were
never in dire straits as compared to the war-torn Bangladesh of
early seventies. They could have the luxury of keeping secularism
as state's principle.
Bangladesh,
however, since its inception, got the pressure from the gatekeepers
of oil and Islam. As the leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not
succumb to the monarch's wishes, the country faced some sort of
"Hajj embargo" and chances of Saudi's diplomatic recognition
appeared not to be in the distant horizon. Consequently, Bangladeshi
Muslims were not allowed to perform Hajj for years. Hajj is thought
to be one of the important pillars of Islamic belief system (in
fact, one of the five pillars). No financial assistance came from
the oil rich "Muslim brethren."
The
Saudi regime's tacit pressure on Bangladesh government was nothing
short of naked intervention in Bangladesh's body politic. This
had three fold objectives. (1) Bangladesh has to make amends with
Pakistan so that a confederation of the two sovereign nations
could be materialized. (2) Bangladesh has to bring back war criminals
like Golam Azam and others exiled in Saudi Arabia and give them
legitimacy in the political field. (3) Bangladesh government should
declare Bangladesh as an Islamic country or scrap secularism as
state policy.
The assassination of populist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (basically
masterminded by the Islamists of his own party with ties to Pakistani
intelligence backed by Saudi and western sympathizers) on August
15, 1975, brought in the downfall of a secular but authoritarian
administration in Bangladesh. That gave the golden opportunity
for the Saudis.
The
subsequent years saw emergence of army rulers with strategic access
to the fountain of petro-dollars, global Islamism and the presence
of Pakistani intelligence outfit ISI (Inter Services Intelligence)
in Bangla soil. In changed circumstance, the Saudis were gratified
to see at least (2) and (3) of the above-mentioned objectives
were more or less fulfilled.
Thus,
the proliferation of unofficial madrassahs in nooks and corners
of Bangladeshi society became a common phenomenon. It goes without
saying that many of the madrassahs housed mysterious "foreign
visitors" with unexplainable activities. Therefore, it should
not surprise anybody if a few of the aides of the Taliban leader
Mullah Omar were found to be of Bangladesh variety.
Also,
no eyebrow should be raised if a few detainees at Camp X-Ray in
the Guantanamo Bay speak Bengali as their native tongue. Unfortunately,
the process of "Talibanization" in this nation of 130
million started even before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
and the rest of the civilized world made no qualms about it. But
then, it was the pre-9-11 world.
While Saudi Arabia was the main supplier of wealth and idea to
conquer the whole world under the banner of Islamist doctrine,
Pakistan played a crucial role in perpetuating the agenda. Like
thousand points of light, Pakistan was the safe haven of numerous
outfits of Islamist political forces. Islamist groups were nurtured
and flourished in this country.
Be
it Jamat-i-Islami, be it al-Qaeda, be it Lashkar-i-Tayyeba, Harkatul
Mujahedeen, or Jaishe-Muhammad - all the extremist and violent
Islamist organizations got direct blessings from Pakistan's powerful
military intelligence ISI, often times which seemed to be more
powerful than any legitimate government of the country. The recent
US led war on terrorism has jeopardized the equation and currently
the pain of separation is evident everywhere in Pakistan.
While the Saudis exported its version of Wahhabite Islam to cash
strapped Third World Muslim majority nations, the West got a different
treatment altogether. The Saudis spent well over $100 billion
on American weapons, construction, spare parts, and support, and
for years ranked first in the world as a customer for American
arms makers. As the former Assistant Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs, Edward S. Walker Jr., explains it, " ...we
got lot of money out of Saudi Arabia".
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to US was the Saudis'
eyes and ears in Washington. For years, he played a pivotal role
in channeling funds to different causes that could appease US.
The oil spigot filled the cups in no time and more and more Saudis
and their homegrown enterprises such as Bin Laden family of businesses
became a good friend to the world's mightiest power.
Bill Clinton, the then governor of Arkansas asked Saudi Arabia
to donate some money for a new center for Middle East studies
in his state university. When the governor became the president,
he was probably overwhelmed with joy as King Fahd of Saudi Arabia
pledged the new US president with US $20 million for the Arkansas
University. Before this, in 1985, King Fahd gave $1 million to
First Lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug program.
The successor First Lady Barbara Bush received another million
for her campaign against illiteracy. The list goes on and on.
According to some analysts, Saudi contribution came in handy for
every modern presidential libraries of US.
Money needed in fulfilling US foreign policy agenda does not come
as easily. Sometimes US Congress appears to be the main obstacle
on the path of US State Department's goals. The Contra War against
the Sandinistas in Nicaragua is a point in question. When President
Ronald Reagan wanted further allocation of dollars to finance
the Contras, the US Congress blocked the issue. Bandar's contacts
became valuable. He was instrumental in funneling Saudi money
leading to $ 30 million dollar contributions to the Contras who
were battling Communists in Nicaragua.
The Saudi-US bonding evolved on mutual gains. Oil and money were
the primary reasons for the tie, which critics would portray as
a marriage of convenience. Over the years, though, thousands of
secular minded people in the Islamic societies were alarmed at
the rising tide of Islamism (in other words Islamic fascism) patronized
by the Saudi Arabia. Historically speaking, US was not affected
adversely by this global menace until it came to the eastern seaboard
on 9-11-2001. It is not unusual that she bothered least about
this dangerous "virus."
Many
of the secular analysts opined, someday Islamic fascism would
challenge the free world. They saw in Islamism an inherent trend
of global hegemony.
As I mentioned, money played an important role to win friends
and favors in US That is why, any citizen of the Arabian Peninsula
was usually not under suspicion as he, or she was entering into
US territory. While any Iranian coming to this country, even for
a soccer tournament, may have to undergo humiliating fingerprinting
at the port of entry, the Saudis even did not need a visa interview.
This policy of the Americans to go easy with the Saudi tourist
had its pitfall.
No
wonder, a majority of the 9-11 terrorists had carried the Saudi
passport. Other than enjoying the advantage of lax American immigration
policy meant for them, the Saudis also exploited the benefit of
liberal US policy in the religious sector. Thus, a network of
US mosque systems led by clerics with Wahhabite leanings were
well financed. Millions of dollars came to US to convert "Other
Muslims," mainly immigrants from South Asia to mold into
Wahhabite variety. American Taliban John Walker Lindh's conversion
to militant Islamism started on US soil. This could be a tip of
the iceberg.
It
is time the US mosque systems dominated by anti-West fundamentalists
should go under broader scrutiny. Many political analysts and
security experts raised hell on this disturbing development before.
But sadly, nobody had listened. It took thousands of innocent
lives to wake up the sleeping tiger.
The terrorist attacks on September 11 is a clear evidence that
Islamic fascism does not discriminate whom it wants to extinguish
if it perceives the other side to be a formidable adversary. The
three thousand plus innocent lives in today's America and millions
of innocent lives in 1971's Bangladesh, were victims of the same
Islamism.
The writer is based in Washington DC. E mail: poplu@hotmail.com
