The Past

Almost five-and-a-half decades ago, the Pakistan army unleashed a military campaign codenamed Operation Search Light in what was then East Pakistan. Banglapedia, the National encyclopaedia of Bangladesh that boasts of “an intellectual output of over 1450 scholars,” describes this military action as a “ruthless and brutal armed operation undertaken by the Pakistan army on 25 March 1971 in order to curb the movement of the freedom loving Bangalis [sic] against the autocratic rule of the Pakistani rulers.”
The brazen barbarity displayed by the Pakistan army and its newly created East-Pakistan Central Peace Committee that included the Islamist Jamaat-i-Islami [JeI] party against the people during this operation was extremely horrendous. As Rawalpindi banned foreign media in erstwhile East Pakistan, its rank and file had no fears whatsoever while committing untold atrocities against the locals and they took full advantage of this opportunity.
In a bid to peddle its false narrative of having successfully suppressed the ongoing civil war, Rawalpindi organised a 10-day tour for a group of eight Pakistani reporters for reporting from the frontline believing that they would produce favourable reports. However, what the Pakistan military believed would serve as an excellent public relation exercise instead turned out to be an embarrassing one.
Witnessing the wanton bloodbath committed by the Pakistan army during its “kill and burn” missions so deeply stirred the conscience of Anthony Mascarenhas, one of the reporters sent to report from the war zone that he decided to draw global attention on this ongoing brutality. Since doing so while living in Pakistan was not possible, he fled to the UK along with his family from where he wrote a gut wrenching exposé titled Genocide which was published by the Sunday Times.
Besides detailing the atrocities inflicted on locals, Mascarenhas revealed that Islamabad’s policy for East Bengal as spelt out to him at the Pakistan army’s Eastern Command headquarters in Dacca included “The ‘Islamisation of the masses’ this is the official jargon” which was “intended to eliminate secessionist tendencies and provide a strong religious bond with West Pakistan.”

Religious Radicalisation

Though its use of brute force couldn’t prevent secession and the subsequent creation of Bangladesh, Rawalpindi did not give up its efforts at “Islamisation of the masses” so as to “provide a strong religious bond with West Pakistan.” Bangladesh politics has been dominated by two political parties- Bangladesh National Party [BNP] and Awami League [AL], and with both bending backwards to woo Islamist parties, Pakistan’s job to promote religious radicalism became all the more easier.
In her piece titled The Dynamics of Islamic Radicalisation in Bangladesh: Confronting the Crisis, doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware, Rifat Binte Lutful mentions that “Although these parties [BNP and AL] were elected democratically, they felt that they must establish the idea that they were the sole supporters of Islam. Therefore, they could safeguard Islam from imaginary threats. In continuation, these parties made alliances with Islamist groups; the party heads displayed personal piety just before the elections and delivered statements supporting the Islamic agenda. All these factors, ultimately, set the political and social conditions leading to Islamic radicalization today.”
The prevailing conditions in Bangladesh have made penetration by radical Islamist groups an easy task- something that Pakistan has taken full advantage of. There are strong indications that Rawalpindi is whipping up anti-Hindu sentiments and organising a conglomerate of terrorist organisations to target India. As such, New Delhi not only needs to be prepared for this eventuality but also adopt a proactive stance to counter this menace.

Dangers for Bangladesh

While Dacca may be reveling in its newfound bonhomie with Islamabad, it needs to exercise caution and guard against its soil being used as a launch pad for terrorist activities against India. The next government in Bangladesh must learn from the past and take necessary action to ensure that political patronage which promotes religious radicalism is not allowed to flourish. The problem with religious radicalisation is that it can neither be channelised nor stopped and Pakistan is a live example.
Since Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan, to expect Islamabad [or more specifically Rawalpindi, which suffered a humongous defeat in 1971] to forget the past is asking for too much. Dacca needs to realise that Islamabad’s magnanimous overtures are spurred by the motivated interest of furthering its anti-India agenda through Bangladesh. So, the inevitable blowback of sponsoring terrorists on Bangladesh soil doesn’t bother Islamabad at all. However, this is easier said than done because religious de-radicalisation is extremely difficult if not impossible to achieve.

Tailpiece

Spanish philosopher George Santayana’s observation that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is something that both the leaders and people of Bangladesh need to introspect on. However, since lust for power and the allure of a marvelous afterlife are compelling intoxicants, whether anyone will pay heed to Santayana’s words remains a million dollar question.

Email;----------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com