The Awami Olama League (AOL) is an enigma of sorts. It claims to be affiliated with the AL, but its recent statements and activities go against AL’s long-standing ideals of democracy and secularism, in addition to some of its stated decisions. Some observations portray AOL being split into two, if not more, factions, with each faction having heavy-weight AL leaders in their camps.
One of those factions has recently accused the current administration of “favouring the Hindus.” This faction is also dead against having any minimum marriageable age for women, claiming that there is no such sanction in Islam when it comes to marriages. The leaders of this faction want a blasphemy law which would give the death penalty for people whom they deem as apostates.
They want the government to scrap all peace deals hitherto made with the adivasis of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), and to take all Indian channels off the air in Bangladesh. They want the government to confiscate all textbooks containing works by people like Humayun Azad, Kabir Chowdhury, Selina Hossain et al -- writers they deem to be atheists. They have even staged a manobbondhon (ie a human chain) to protest Dr Zafar Iqbal, the renowned writer and thinker, tagging him as being “anti-Islamic.”
This virulent faction of AOL also calls the current education policy “anti-Islamic” and cites the policy adopted in 2010 as an attempt to promote atheism. It has sent letters containing its demands to the media and, apparently, is led by Abdul Hasan Sheikh Shariatpuri, who claims to be the general secretary of AOL. Echoing the views of Hefazat-e-Islam, they wish to ban Pohela Boishakh too, calling it, like many other fronts who think in chorus with the Hefazat proclamations, a “Hindu” festival.
On the other hand, Ismail Hossain Bin Helali, president of another faction of AOL, declared to certain media people that he was against Shariatpuri’s demands and labeled him a paid agent of Jamaat-e-Islami. The factions use the address of the central office of the AL on Bangabandhu Avenue as their head office.
Needless to say, these factions and their non-secular demands and the obvious infightings have caused embarrassment for the AL, a party whose politics has always been rooted in principles of secularism and the peaceful co-existence of all religions.
The AOL has become a headache for the main organisation, and it has become the “runt of the litter” that the mother organisation is trying to evade or hide but, unfortunately, its yelps are way too audible. This gives rise to a conundrum and a lesson to this observer:
Is Awami Olama League a wing of AL or not? Isn’t life all quantum physics? Schrödinger’s cat lives on or not? AOL is AL or not? Now you see it, now you don’t. Nobody knows. Or it’s too obvious and I am blind. Or am I? Yes, I see, and then I don’t -– that’s it! My dear God ... life is tough, identifying things is tougher!
I was listening to the law minister and the director general of RAB on Ekattor TV during the weekend -- it was a Friday morning talk show. Speaking of the spate of blogger murders, they insisted that people should not poke at anyone’s religious sentiments and that the law enforcement agencies were doing their best to catch the killers.
Regarding the latter, it has become obvious now that their efforts (at nabbing the perpetrators) are not proving very fruitful. Where are the two killers apprehended by the people (and not the police) in the Oyasiqur murder? Where is their alleged mastermind? It has been months, but why have they not yet been produced in front of the courts and prosecuted?
According to Ajay Roy, father of the slain Avijit Roy, killed almost six months ago, the police informed him of five to seven possible suspects. The bereaved father’s question: Where they are then? Good question, a tough question -- maybe the law-enforcers would like to answer a different question, like in examination papers where two questions are provided with an “or’ in between, and you have to answer the one you choose.
At the time of writing, two suspects had been apprehended in the Niloy murder and they have been taken on police remand. Let’s see how that ball rolls. One of the remanded, Nahin, was earlier arrested for an attempt on the life of another blogger, Asif Mohiuddin, two years ago, but was released on bail a year after that arrest.
The lesson, obviously, is that law-enforcement is difficult, and detection of criminals, even more so. And once detained, the alleged criminals may or may not face the consequences of their alleged crimes.
Another lesson comes from the honourable law minister himself. He suggests that we can practice free speech and that freedom of expression is guaranteed, but one should not say or do anything that the greater portion of society does not approve of or looks down upon. But he insists that the state allows and ensures freedom to all its citizens.
Double-speak? I think so. But, sir, there are no absolute beliefs in a society and what the majority thinks is not always correct. There was a time when people believed that the Earth was flat and the sun was an ornament in the sky. It took mavericks to bring to light the real picture and they had to pay a heavy price for it.
If the few people who think differently, or outside the box, stop thinking as they do, how will society change for the better? I myself abhor those people who write horrible things to deliberately hurt the religious sentiments of the masses using foul language, mostly on social media, and from malice in many cases, twisting facts in a such a way that it allows them to profess profane and unwarranted abuse of many faiths, not only Islam.
Some sites spew venomous defamations on other religions too, inciting the often unsuspecting and gullible people to fulfill their agenda. I condemn these self-serving inciters unequivocally, but those idiots must not make a voice of reason or a contrary view to shut up and shut down.
The lesson from the minister, it seems, is to be a dead fish and hence, go with the flow.
This last week was full of lessons. I feel truly enlightened!