Locked down/isolated at home with another dose of Covid allows me a chunk of time to organize my archives and my thoughts about what to write and how to write.
For now, however, I can only say that I am not surprised to be re-infected despite having had three doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Despite news that infection is spreading rapidly again, the “don’t care” attitude of most people is not surprising.
Last week, I flew to Saidpur and back. Despite notices all over the place about “masking” and “distancing,” nothing was in force at the Dhaka airport or on the planes.
Perhaps, as a result of travelling in crowded buses and launches in the next few days because of Eid, the death toll will start rising and some people will wake up and pay attention.
It is very sad that most people ignore good advice.
Bridging the Padma
While joining in the praise for the opening of the new Padma Bridge which will change the lives of so many Bangladeshis for the better in significant ways, I read with concern that “river training” activities will need another year of work.
River training is supposed to be done in advance of the bridge being completed. Sadly, one is, however, used to seeing numerous photos of bridges standing forlornly alone with approach roads washed away, usually as a result of sub-standard work and corruption of the officials and contractors involved.
Let’s hope, nevertheless, that all will be well as far as the Padma Bridge is concerned. I was fortunate to be at the inauguration in 1998 of the other big bridge in Bangladesh, the Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge, and an engineer then told me that the cost of river training was as much as the bridge itself -- which was difficult for me to realize at the time.
Genocide and remembering Sydney Schanberg
July is also the time to remember the great journalist Sydney Schanberg who in 1971 was with the New York Times. I was interviewed by him in Calcutta (Kolkata) in July 1971 after he had managed to file reports from Faridpur in Bangladesh.
I remember listening to him in horror saying how the Pakistan Army had painted big yellow “H’s” on the shops and houses of Hindus of Faridpur. He told me that there were some houses where notices “Moslem House,” and the few Christian households had put crosses on their door and/or stitched crosses in red thread on their clothes.
At that time, July 1971, it was estimated that 6 million Bengalis had crossed to India of which, it was estimated, 4 million were Hindus. Sydney told me that he gathered that the Pakistan Army was doing its best to turn Muslims against the Hindus, even those who had lived side by side for generations.
Muslims were told that if they did not loot and burn Hindu houses the army would kill them. He was told that up to 90% of the Hindu properties in Faridpur had been burned and Sydney also said that the Pakistan Army and their collaborators were, in fact, only succeeding in forging a tighter bond between Hindus and Muslims in the country.
Remembering meeting all those years ago Sydney Schanberg, who later became most well-known for his reporting on the human tragedy of the Vietnam War, reminds me that in 2022 we are still trying to get the world authorities to recognize that what happened in 1971 in East Pakistan was genocide.
There was a clear policy of trying to stamp out Bengali culture. There should be no doubt about that.
Julian Francis has been associated with relief and development activities of Bangladesh since the War of Liberation. In 2012, the Government of Bangladesh awarded him the ‘Friends of Liberation War Honour’ in recognition of his work among the refugees in India in 1971 and in 2018 honoured him with full Bangladesh citizenship.