Home Commentary
Commentary
Bangladesh: Sheikh
Hasina’s Mourning Call
from “Vacation” As The
Country Grapples with
Serious Crises
By R. Chowdhury - August 2, 2019 1038 1
2 August 2019 R Chowdhury
On August 1, 2019, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Prime
Minister (PM) of Bangladesh, asked the people to
donate blood to redeem her father Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman’s death.
Sheikh Mujib died on August 15, 1975, in an early
morning military coup. His daughter Sheikh Hasina
came to power in 1996 and designated August 15 as
the Mourning Day. When she regained state control in
January 2009– and not willing to step down at any cost
since– she made the whole month of August as the
Mourning Month. Her government makes elaborate and
extensive programs at taxpayers’ expense to observe
the occasion, irrespective of people’s choice or
thoughts. All government offices, including military and
law enforcing agencies, are required to make befitting
homage and “weeping” program for the late leader.
Educational institutions and private farms are not
spared from these obligations. Outside the Awami
circle, few show much interest in the issue, more so
when they recall Mujib’s oppressive rule in 1972-75.
The Prime Minister made the call from London where
she has virtually been vacationing since July 19, 2019,
in the name of eye treatment. Well, as the PM, she is
entitled to medical facilities at state expense, but the
question arises why she needed to go to London, with
all her personal paraphernalia, for nearly three weeks
for reported cataract surgery? Such treatment is
routinely done in Bangladesh. Even if the PM did not
have trust in her own doctors, eye physicians from
London could be brought to Dhaka at a much cheaper
cost. What was ‘eye-catching’ was that to make her trip
and extended stay abroad “official,” she summoned all
Bangladesh ambassadors in Europe in London for a
pleasantry chat, also at a considerable expense to the
government. One wonders if Bangladesh envoys had
hitherto been out of the orbit of its mother ship, the
Foreign Ministry.
Sheikh Hasina left at a time when three-fourth of the
country was sinking. Within a few days, floodwaters
reached rooftops and treetops at most places. The
calamity was aggravated by the surge of additional
waters from upper regions in India, which surrounds
Bangladesh from three sides. People in the affected
areas lost everything from houses to household
properties to food provisions to crops to even the
livestock and poultry. And they starved as they
remained afloat by whatever means possible.
Additionally, there were complaints of government’s
insensitivity and inadequate response to the needs of
the victims. Disruption of communication with affected
parts made the situation worse and added suffering to
the people. Reports of deaths due to drowning, food
poisoning, diarrhea, snake bites, and other related
causes kept pouring in, even as the PM enjoyed her
time in London.
Lately, the water in some areas started receding, but the
damage had already been done, which will run into
hundreds of millions of dollars. People in the affected
areas will continue to remain in the receiving end of
misery for years to come, the PM’s claim of the Role
Model of Development notwithstanding!
Then there is the fast-breeding army of menacing
Dengue mosquitoes to infect and kill whoever they can
pinch their needles in. Hospitals and clinic all over the
country are overcrowded with patients, thousands
adding daily amidst news of deaths. Professor Uttam
Barua of Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Hospital admitted that
they had to keep the patients waiting in the verandas
and corridors as there were no beds available. So is the
scenario in all hospitals, which are still above the water
level. The crisis is further confounded by non-
availability of requisite testing and treatment drugs for
Dengue, as well as insufficient preventive medicines to
kill the mosquitoes. Government officials, civil
surgeons, doctors, city and town officials blame each
other for the mega failure in combating the killer
epidemic.
Mosquitoes do not grow overnight. Their fertile
breeding spots and safe havens are in every backyard.
Due attention to those spots in time could have
reduced, if not totally eliminated, much of this deadly
enemy. Chest-thumping and wailing relatives around
their lost ones on Dengue is a common sight. Pathetic!
Misfortune did not come alone. Bangladesh was also in
the grip of a killing spree of suspected “head hunters.”
Rumors spread that the government’s prestigious
Padma Bridge project needed human blood for its
completion. More than a dozen suspects, including a
woman in Dhaka, were beaten to death. The
superstitious fear and suspicion continue unabated. I
recall, as kids, we heard scary stories from elders that
head hunters roamed in the countryside looking for
lonely children to pick and sacrifice at the altar of a
demanding construction, said to be an age-old practice.
Whenever we noticed a stranger with a sack, we spat a
load on our chests in fear and ran for life. Padma Bridge
regenerated that superstitious parable.
Also, the Priya Saha saga. The Bangladeshi Hindu lady
came to the limelight when she joined others to meet
US President Donald Trump on July 17, 2019, and tried
to make an emotional appeal to save the Bangladeshi
Hindu community that was tortured and evicted from
their ancestral properties by “Muslim fundamentalists.”
The US Ambassador in Dhaka and the Hindu-Bouddho-
Christian Oikko Songstha, which Saha represents,
categorically denied her accusations. Priya Saha came
under salvos of attack from all sides, including the
government. In a subsequent phone interview, Ms. Saha
dragged the PM into the fray, saying that she just
copied Sheikh Hasina when she was in the opposition.
An embarrassed PM quickly ordered her ministers not
to make Priya Saha an issue and not to charge her. But
the damage to the sectarian peace in the country
received a volcanic jolt with aftershocks continuing.
And, Priya Saha got the publicity she needed.
Earlier, when the devastating Cyclone Fani was about to
hit Bangladesh in early May, Sheikh Hasina chose to
leave the county abandoning the people at the mercy of
nature. This time again, the PM opted to stay at a safe
distance from all these home crises. She has her
priorities.
The older generation may recall a similarity of the
situation with her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on
March 25, 1971. When the murderous Pakistan military
attacked the unarmed and innocent Bengalis in East
Pakistan on the night of March 25, 1971, then supreme
leader Sheikh Mujib chose to surrender to the military
after ensuring safety for self and his family, that
included today’s, PM Sheikh Hasina. Mujib nonchalantly
ignored the seventy million Bengalis who had reposed
all their trust on him.
Forced mourning apart, people will have much more to
endure. The Hasina administration designated 2020 as
the Mujib Year. The nation will face another kind of
flooding, flooding of Mujib and his ten-second oratory:
Ebarer Songram Swadhinotar Songram..Muktir
Songram… (Our struggle this time is for independence,
for freedom…) People will not be allowed to question
what Sheikh Mujib did when the songram knocked at
the door! And what did he say to his deputy Tajuddin
Ahmad who produced a draft declaration of
independence and a tape recorder at his residence on
the night of March 25. Mujib had nothing to do with
those. (Please see Tajuddin Ahmad Neta O Pita by
Sharmin Ahmad, 2014, pp 59,60,148).
Share this:
Email Print Facebook Twitter
LinkedIn
Like 6
Previous article Next article
India police warn Hindu An expected Peace deal
customer for rejecting with the Taliban shades
Muslim delivery driver upcoming Afghanistan
Presidential elections
R. Chowdhury
R Chowdhury is a former soldier and a freedom fighter in the
war of liberation of Bangladesh. Enjoys retired life in reading,
writing and gardening. Writes on contemporary issues of
Bangladesh; published a few books so far.
1 COMMENT
Tozammel syed
August 3, 2019 At 7:50 pm
All these are true
Comments are closed.
EDITOR PICKS
A Bangladeshi builds a $4b pharma in US with promises
of cheap Covid treatment
November 20, 2022
Climate scientists explain Pakistan’s ‘unprecedented’
floods
September 13, 2022
India is becoming a Hindu-fascist enterprise
August 29, 2022
POPULAR POSTS
Not Only in Ladakh, India Losing Ground in Bangladesh
Too
June 18, 2020
Human Rights Violations in Kashmir: A Case Study of
2017
June 5, 2018
Bangladesh: An Open Letter to Foreign Minister Abdul
Momen
June 6, 2020
POPULAR CATEGORY
Blog 5584
Commentary 3132
Reviews 133
Issues 118
Issue 22 - Fall 2017 50
Issue 25 – Summer 2018 48
Issue 27 – Winter 2019 46
ABOUT US
Founded in 2011, South Asia Journal (SAJ) is a policy
magazine focused on issues relating to South Asia.
Bearing no political affiliation, the journal’s goal is to
provide discerning, critical perspectives on the South
Asian sub-continent and its evolving relationship to the
broader world. SAJ aims to highlight emerging regional
trends, especially issues which call for more emphasis
among decision makers and policy framers.
FOLLOW US
© South Asia Journal
Contact Team Subscribe Submit Blog
