http://www.rsiss.net/%20islam/islamecolfore.html theres a chapter in the end by a deshi with islamic vibrations.

http://www.onlineislamicstore.com/b3717.html a pretty old book with a goofy cover. It wasnt published under UNEP or Asia Foundation auspices.

I spoke with BAPA once about spiritualising the whole poribesh andolon, the dude agreed with me in theory but said ‘You’ve got to understand that people here are coming from very different places’. the murgi. the kind of environmental neighbourhood action you get in desh is posh annoying biddies complaining about people hanging out their washing to dry across the street. Its nothing like Old Treebeard and the Ents laying waste to Isengard.

waqf is interesting also wrt practicality and romantic impressions of the past. http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=98317 but human behavioural issues. like eating the waqf of your ancestors inhibit their maturity. There are 10 times as many waqfs as NGOs in BD.

ive observed environment ministry officials using heavily quranic lyrics in their public speech, like lightning bolts. this doesnt get carried much in the internal press. such deeni moral vernacular isnt created in a vacuum, the BCS or the centrist parties i guess. AL, BNP and JI are all breeding with eachother these days anyway.

oh and you dont have anything left/islamic or liberation/theologic because a) they were extinguished by the awami leagues secularisation, b) leftism is practically associated with materialism and c) frankley the intellectual appetite for islamic mojo is absent amongst the bangali musalman at the moment. C will change, but only because of external more global currents.

Why BNP/AL seem to feel that they need to have align with JI or some other religious block is a ‘jaatir kache proshno’ by itself. But what interests me more is that no other credible Islamic bloc has been able to give JI some tough competition in 37 years. IOJ is a joke. Is JI the only option for the more conservative, live-by-the-sword, right wing-type Bangladeshis? Why so?

Spreading the sphere of influence can be credited to Saudi Arabia. Agreed. But we can’t discount the fact that JI is far more trasparent in showing their sources of finance than other parties. The Islami bank, Ibne sina, et al connections are open secret. So is the truth about who runs Naya Diganta or Shongram. But can we discount the facts that JI has made some very smart investments over time and that their goals are more strategically mapped out and long-term than either BNP or AL. JI is also consistently coherent on what defines their politics and have a clear political vision. They also seem to be leading the anti-imperialism movement with their current right/left/whatever backing.

And JI will not start talking about environmental degradation or food crisis. They don’t belong to the chattering class. But you will see JI sponsored brikko-ropon obhijans and they hold more ‘longors’ and give more ‘fitra’ ‘zakaat’ or aid officially, through their sphere of influence. What do you think sells more?

Fariha, “raag” is my trademark. It’s because of the heat. DhakaShohor after all.

I wasn’t simplifying it that way. I don’t think being pro-Saudi on any one issue is automatically being anti-Bangladesh because of associations with 1971. I’m very pro-Saudi when they send us aid after cyclones. Honestly. It shows a good heart and a willingness to help on their part. I am against re-writing the historical record and filling it with lies.

Do the Saudis see Jamaat as a tool for extending their influence (ideologically) farther than they could possibly hope to (economically or militarily)? I would think so. I don’t see anything terribly wrong in that statement.

Care to name any of these bigger players?

Tacit,

“What about our leaders in 1971, who should have prepared us fo a war and instead left us utterly defenseless to a marauding, pillaging, looting, raping army?”

A bit unfair if you ask me. Like blaming the BAF for not doing enough during WWII.

Yes, it is arguable that had Mujib moved sooner, more deaths could have been avoided. However, I think Jyoti bhai dealt with that angle fairly well here: http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2008/08/15/how-generation-bangladesh-sees-mujib/#comment-154759

“But in our liberation war, the strategy seemed to be trading lives for time.”

Where exactly are you getting this from?

Lastly, I think the “mistakes of 1971″ category should encompass those who betrayed their countrymen rather than those who failed to protect. One implies active participation while the other implies failure despite their best efforts.

In the Second World War, the Soviets used the trading space for time strategy. But in our liberation war, the strategy seemed to be trading lives for time. The lives of three million Bangladeshis, taken. Countless other lives, sullied and truamatized forever.

Where is the accounting for the failure of leadership that wasted so many lives? Where is the analysis, dissection, and evaluation of the mistakes of 197, so that we are never left that defenseless again?

It is nonexistent. But the Bangladeshi state will not be complete until that task is done.

The Jamaat conundrum cannot be simplied into collaborator-past-anti-bangladesh-friends-with-saudis. There are far bigger players involved and a lot more at stake.

With reference to the BDR killing: Now that Chaal er daam is nearing 50/kg, and the BDR stores have stopped selling it, why are our jawans leaving our borders unprotected and still selling vegetables? Desh e ki ei shot kaaj korar moton ar kono working group nai?

BDR shobji beche. BSF BDR mare. Advisor ra waaj koren. Mid-east tader kaaj furnor por e labor jhataye bidai kore. Notun coal policy draft hocche which might totally insult our phulbaria revolt. Jamaati ra (the ones with the collaborator past) shob diplomatic party te dawat pai. Op-ed lekha hoi je diplomatic interferece is a ‘moral right’. Shangbadik ra kichui ghotlei age diplomat der motamot nei, karon tader motamot er daam beshi ei desh e. Romjan mash e manush k sehri kore roja bhangte hobe karon drobbomullo aro briddhi pabe.

Desh ki eto shosta hoye gelo?

As I said, there are bigger things at play here. Ami nijeo ekhono purata bujhe uthte parchi na. Majhe majhe chinta kori, raag ta k kemon kore productively channel kora jai.

AND check your email. Apnake mail pathate pathate amra khanto!