Download Killing for Blasphemy and the Ghost of al Qaeda in Bangladesh

Killing for Blasphemy and the
Ghost of al Qaeda in
Bangladesh
Taj Hashmi
Austin Peay State University
[email protected]
Introduction I
• Killing for Blasphemy in Bangladesh: Intolerance, Provocation, and the
Fractured State
• Secularism and Tolerance ALWAYS Non-Existent in Pre-Modern Societies
• Killing for “Blasphemy”, “Terrorism”, “Red Herrings” or “Prelude to Anarchy”?
• Nothing new about political violence in Bangladesh -- Unprecedented rise in political violence
after the Liberation
• Both state and non-state-actors kill political rivals in the name of restoring order and preserving
freedom, or establishing alternative orders – Islamic or secular
• Bangladesh, a “Legacy of Blood”, as Anthony Mascaranhas has used the expression
• Extra-judicial killings since early 1970s, Govt. created RAB -- death-squads 2004 killed hundreds
– suspects, criminals and innocent
• No well-coordinated terrorist attacks sponsored by al Qaeda/ISIS yet
• The Cry Wolf and the bogeyman are around
Introduction II
• Media reports a new Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) as the main
sponsor of attacks on blasphemers and secular bloggers
• ABT is believed to be an offshoot of Al Qaeda in South Asia (AQIS)
• Interestingly, the assassins mostly used meat cleavers (chapatti, in local parlance)
to kill their victims -- a departure from al Qaeda methods of killing
indiscriminately -- with bombs and fire arms
• This paper aims at understanding a) the concept of blasphemy in Islam; b) if al
Qaeda and its ilk kill blasphemers; c) if the BNP-Jamaat coalition and Islamists
and “anti-Liberation forces” are linked with al Qaeda and the killings
• Dubious role of Government Agencies, Ruling party activists/leaders
• Lots of Lies/half truths and Cry Wolf -- Towards Anarchy and Reign of Terror?
Blasphemy, Islam and Muslims I
• The Quran and Hadis do not sanction killing of blasphemers of Islam
• But given the opportunity, Muslims do not hesitate to kill them nothing new
• Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh killed in November 2004 by a Dutch-Moroccan
Muslim
• Al Qaeda affiliate took credit for killing the editor and cartoonist of the Charlie
Hebdo magazine in Paris in January 2015 for the offensive cartoons of Prophet
Muhammad
• Not only Islamist terrorists but ordinary devout/fanatical Muslims do kill
blasphemers
• A Sufi Muslim killed Pakistani Punjab Governor Salman Taseer for opposing
Blasphemy Law
Blasphemy, Islam and Muslims II
• “When you hear people denying and mocking the signs of Allah, do not sit with them until
they engage in a talk other than that” (Quran, 4:141)
• “Indeed, those who abuse Allah and His Messenger, Allah has cursed them in this world and
the Hearafter. There is humiliating punishment for them [after death].” (Quran, 33:57
• “And do not insult those who worship idols, lest they revile Allah…” (Quran, 6:109)
• Killing of “Rangila Rasool” Publisher in Lahore,1929
• Salman Rushdie and Khomeini’s Fatwa to Kill, 1989
• Zia ul-Haq introduced Blasphemy Law in Pakistan
• Daud Haider, Taslima Nasrin -- Jamaat-e-Islami and others want Blasphemy Law in Bangladesh
• More than 1,300 Pakistanis so far accused of Blasphemy (1987-2014) & more than 100
sentenced to death – 50 killed during trials
“Killing for Blasphemy”: Some Unresolved Issues
I
• Faisal Arefin Dipan, publisher of slain freethinking author Avijit Roy’s book, latest target –
hacked to death on October 31st
• Five other freethinkers killed since February 2013: Niladri Chattopadhyay Aug 7, 2015; Ananta
Bijoy Das, May 12, 2015; Oyasiqur Rahman, March 30,2015; Avijit Roy, Feb 26, 2015 and
Ahmed Rajib Haidar, Feb 15, 2013
• Eye witnesses and Avijit Roy’s widow blame police inaction: “While Avijit and I were being
ruthlessly attacked, the local police stood close by and did not act”
• AQIS (Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent) and AQIS “franchise” Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)
claim they killed Rajib Haidar, Avijit Roy, Ananta Bijoy Das and Arefin Dipan -- ABT came into
being in 2007 – Mysterious outfit
• ABT posted on Twitter threats to several Islam-bashing Bangladeshi bloggers/writers living
abroad – including Taslima Nasrin (Dhaka Tribune, Nov 2, 2015)
“Killing for Blasphemy”: Some Unresolved Issues
II
• In 2004-2006 HUJI and JMB (Homegrown Islamists) killed people too
• Aug 2015: RAB arrested British national Touhidur Rahman for killing Avijit Roy
and Ananta Das
• Meanwhile, Government raised the bogey of al Qaeda – trying to further amend
the Information and Communication Technology (Amendment) Act
• Section 57 of the Act – Quite Draconian -- criminalizes “publishing fake, obscene
or defaming information in electronic form” as “non-bailable” offense, maximum
penalty 14-year imprisonment, maximum fine Tk 10 million
• De-Facto Blasphemy Law or Prelude to Authoritarianism? Information Minister
Hasanul Haque Inu warned people to “be careful” about hurting religious
sentiments in the name of freedom of expression
“Killing for Blasphemy”: Some Unresolved
Issues III
• International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU)’s skepticism
in reacting to reportage on the process of justice in Bangladesh is very
significant -- The IHEU urges caution “regarding information coming
from Bangladesh media and authorities on the killings”:
• No individual held in conjunction with any of the blogger murders
has been convicted or even put on trial
• RAB have variously arrested disparate individuals in connection with
the murders of Ahmed Rajib Haider (only this year, though he was
killed in 2013) and the case of Washiqur Rahman (when two men
were caught at the scene)
“Killing for Blasphemy”: Some Unresolved
Issues IV
• “The burden is on the Bangladeshi authorities to demonstrate, fairly
and lawfully, that any of these arrests is credible and justiciable” -IHEU
• The arrests since Niloy Neel’s murder are said not to relate to this
case but to previous cases of the murders of Avijit Roy and Ananta
Bijoy Das
• Information on arrests -- very scarce – some previously arrested in
connection with the murders and “paraded” for the media have
subsequently been released without charge
Government Has Created Unnecessary
Controversies
• Unnecessary controversies by the Government since 2008:
• Hasty scrapping of the caretaker government to hold election; Controversial
International War Crime Tribunal -- Trial Process; “Skype-Scandal”; Disappearance of
Hostile Witnesses; Mass arrests of opposition politicians on flimsy and unprovable
charges; Closing down of pro-Opposition newspapers and TV channels;
Disappearance of opposition leaders; The Farcical Parliamentary Elections in January
2014; Having a tame and loyal “Opposition Party” which is also part of the
Government
• Rehman Sobhan has aptly elucidated the situation:
• Instead, we have built a more inegalitarian society than we inherited, where the fruits
of independence have been appropriated by a narrow elite who have come to
dominate the economic and political life of contemporary Bangladesh. For such acts
of betrayal to the ethos of the liberation struggle, we remain condemned to an era of
political divisiveness and social unrest which has compromised the sustainability of
the democratic process in contemporary Bangladesh
Controversial Decisions Backfire!
• War Crime Trial virtually a Media-Trial and Trial by angry Mob and Masses at
Shahbagh and Beyond
• Rajib Haidar’s Blog – extremely offensive to Islam and Prophet Muhammad –
unnecessary, counterproductive and provocative
• Shabagh Rally, Islamophobic bloggers’ presence and provocative writings
backfired
• Hefazat-e-Islam Episode of May 2013 – the perennial Hide and Seek and Blame
Game – Taboos and Arrests -- Divisive and Unsettling
• Lack of transparency in the War Criminal Trial, Farcical Election, Mass arrests,
draconian (not-so-subtle) gagging of media, growing corruption, persecution of
dissidents and suspects, and unaccountability of the Government added fuel to
the fire
Islamist Threat: Real or Imaginary?
• Foreign journalists and some Bangladeshi politicians persistent: Bangladesh infested with
Islamist terrorists – Bertil Lintner (FEER, 2002), Eliza Griswold and others (WSJ, 2002-2004), and
Sheikh Hasina since 2001
• Khaleda Zia’s Portrait along with Osama bin Laden appeared in Dhaka before Oct 2001
Elections
• Clinton Visit to Savar cancelled in 2000 – Bogey of Islamist attack on motorcade
• Feb 14, 2014 Ayman al Zawahiri’s podcast – declared Awami League Govt “anti-Islamic”,
condemned killing of Islamic scholars (May 2013) and asked for Intifada in Bangladesh
• Prison Van Attack Story near Mymensingh, Feb 23, 2013 – Days after the Zawahiri Podcast
• JMB gunmen attacked a prison van on a highway in Mymensingh District, and killed one
policeman, seriously injured three others, and rescued the three JMB convicts
• We hear: soon after the commando-style attack gunmen fled with the three convicts; and
unexpectedly the police arrested one of the rescued prisoners, Rakib Hasan on the same day.
Then, we learn, the convict was killed in a gunfight with police near Tangail on Feb 24th
False Flag Operations & Blame Game: Legacy
of Over-Polarization – AL vs. BNP-Jamaat
• False flag operations, overblown al Qaeda/Islamist threats, the culture of vilifying
political opponents, generalize all Islamist parties and BNP-Jamaat as Islamist terror
outfits – Counterproductive & Dangerous
• No point in giving credence to people like Bhaskar Roy, Bertil Lintner, Eliza Griswold,
Christine Fair, Selig Harrison, B. Raman, Hiranmay Karlekar et al whose sensational
writings on “impending al Qaeda/Taliban takeover” of Bangladesh
• Fear and hate mongers should pay attention to an Indian intelligence report has
revealed in the wake of the Burdwan Blast (in West Bengal in 2014): “The “Jamaat-ulMujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was plotting a terror attack on Bangladesh to
assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia”
• PM Hasina and top Awami League leaders now blame BNP-Jamaat and deny there is
any al Qaeda/ISIS agent in Bangladesh: “Khaleda engaged in secret killings from
abroad” (Ittefaq, Nov 3, 2015)
Conclusion
• Professor Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq, father of Arefin
Dipan, has rightly assessed the evils of the prevalent
politics of secularism and Islamism in the country -He told reporters: “I don't want any trial. I want good
sense to prevail. Both sides – the one doing politics
using secularism and the other doing politics of state
religion – are pushing the country towards
destruction.”