Ziaur Rahman vis-a-vis Khaleda Zia

 Major Ziaur Rahman played an unparalleled and brilliant role in the country’s liberation war both at the level of planning and execution. As the commander of Sector I and later as the head of ZForce, he distinguished himself as a brave warrior against the Pakistani occupying forces . After the liberation of Bangladesh he was conferred with the highest gallantry award ‘Bir Uttam’. After the most creditable performances during the nine-month liberation war, he was appointed brigade commander in Comilla. In June 1972, he was made Deputy Chief of Staff of the armed forces of Bangladesh. In the middle of 1973, he became a Brigadier, and a Major General by the end of the year. 

When, after the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Khandakar Moshtaq Ahmad took over as the President, Ziaur Rahman became the chief of army staff on 25 August 1975. But soon there was a coup on 3 November 1975, and Ziaur Rahman was forced to resign and was put under house arrest. After this another coup led by Colonel Taher on 7 November 1975, took him to the centre of political power. In fact, he had to assume the responsibility of managing the affairs of Bangladesh riding on popular support of the army and the people. Martial Law was imposed in the country to restore normalcy.

Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country. After assuming office as head of state Ziaur Rahman issued a proclamation amending the Constitution to insert ‘Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim’ (In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) in the Preamble of the Constitution. In Article 8(1) and 8(1A) the principle of ‘absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah’ was added in deference to the wishes of the people. In Article 8(1), socialism was defined as \'economic and social justice\'. In Article 25(2) it was also provided that "the state shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity."

Ziaur Rahman introduced and popularised the new concept of Bangladeshi nationalism. He believed that in a plural society like Bangladesh where people are of diverse ethnicity and where they profess different faiths, have different cultural traits and various lifestyles, nationalism should better be conceptualised in terms of territory rather than language or culture. He also emphasized on this fact. As a result Bangladeshi nationalism took firm root and shape as a unifying force with its emphasis on national unity and integration of all citizens of Bangladesh irrespective of caste, creed, gender, culture, religion and ethnicity.

The country’s security forces including police and armed forces were in disarray and therefore soon after assuming power, Ziaur Rahman took effective measures to restore law and order in the country. He strengthened the police force, practically doubling its size from 40,000 to 70,000 and arranging for their proper training. He also restored order in the armed forces. For the purpose, he took certain steps for development of professionalism through rigorous training and restoring discipline in the forces. He expanded their strength substantially from less than 50,000 in 1974-75 to about 90,000 in 1976-77. Although Zia was successful in restoring discipline within the armed forces, he had to confront a number of mutinies and attempted coups forcing him toadopt certain stern actions against those who had taken part in those uprisings.

A believer in democracy Ziaur Rahman moved as fast as he could to democratize the polity by re-instituting the institution of election either for enabling a political party to assume power or for transferring it to other political party peacefully. As a first step, he restored multi-party democratic system in place of the then existing one-party BAKSAL rule. He allowed the disbanded political parties to be revived. Having that in view, he also disallowed the ban on the newspapers and inaugurated the free flow of news by making the news media free. For the same purpose, he re- -instituted the independence of judiciary as the bulwark of rights of the people. The prevailing situation persuaded him to take part in active politics so that he could establish democratic order in the country. In February 1978 he floated Jatiyatabadi Ganatantric Dal with then Vice President Justice Abdus Sattar as its head. Zia himself became the nominee of the Nationalist Front consisting of six political parties in the presidential election. He won a comprehensive victory by securing 76.67% of the votes.

On 1 September 1978 Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)  was launched with Ziaur Rahman as its chairman. The parliamentary elections were held in February 1979 and BNP won 207 seats out of 300. He became President of the country. On 1 April 1979, the first session ofthe Parliament was convened. On 9 April, 1979 martial law was lifted after enactment of the Fifth Amendment.

President Zia\'s dynamic economic policy laid emphasis on private sector development. A new development strategy designed to encourage the private entrepreneurs, both local and foreign, and to promote agricultural development through massive subsidies to the farmers was initiated. The process of handing over nationalised industries to their former owners began. Promotion of export of conventional and non-conventional goods became a national priority. Food production reached a new height and Bangladesh began exporting rice.

To bring in dynamism in his action plan he put forward a 19-point programme, and that was designed to bring rapid socio-economic transformation in the country. The main thrust of the programme was self-reliance and rural uplift through people\'s participation. Its primary objectives were accelerated agricultural growth, population control, self-sufficiency in food, decentralisation of administration and greater incentives to the private sector. It was designed to meet the basic needs of the people and special needs of women, youths and workers, and it aimed at establishing a political order based on social justice.

For bringing rapid socio-economic transformation in the country, President Zia transformed the politics of the country into a production-oriented one. He chalked out programmes of action for the purpose, terming these as revolutions and motivated his party men to realise those programmes through their devotion and commitment. The first of those was canal digging, and it was designed to supply adequate water to the farmers, especially during the lean season. The second was to remove illiteracy from the society so that an air of enlightenment might prevail all around using both formal and non-formal techniques all over the country. Moreover, motivational programmes were set on for enhancement of productions both in the field and factories. The initiation of family planning programme, revolutionary as it was, was designed to stabilise population at a level which might be termed as optimum from the economic point of view. The institution of ‘gram sarkar’ aimed at enlisting the support of the people for a self-reliant Bangladesh, which President Zia advocated. Zia began executing his programme in right earnest and beneficial results were in sight. The excavation and re-excavation of more than 1,500 canals in a year and a half, record production of food grains in two successive years (1976-77 and 1977-78), an average annual GDP growth of 6.4% during 1975-78, a vigorous mass education campaign, introduction of village government (Gram Sarkar) and Village Defence Party (VDP) made deep impression in the minds of the people.

Through certain creative moves, he drew Bangladesh into the world of the liberal west, the fraternal middle East and West Asia, and the rising South East Asia. He attended many international conferences and visited dozens of countries to promote the cause of the nation\'s multilateral and bilateral relations. The dividend was rich. Bangladesh was elected to the Security Council in one of its non-permanent seats in 1978, and became actively involved in the activities of the UN members. In the Middle East and West Asia Bangladesh emerged as a forceful actor. It was President Zia who conceived of the idea of, and initiated actions for, regional co-operation in South Asia. For the purpose, he visited these countries during 1979-80 to speak of the need to develop a framework for mutual co-operation.  South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) was the outcome of his efforts, which was formally launched in Dhaka in 1985. Zia did not survive to see his dream come true. He was assassinated in Chittagong on 30 May 1981 in an abortive army coup. 

While Ziaur Rahman has thus carved out a niche for himself in the history as a brave freedom fighter and as an architect of modern  Bangladesh giving a new direction to the country that was once described by a former US Secretary of State as ‘bottomless basket’, his widow Khaleda Zia, two time Prime Minister of the country, presents a completely contrasting picture. Her hyperactive participation in politics has left Bangladeshi people surprised beyond measure.

The activities of radical Islamic groups preaching pro-Taliban/al Quaeda ideology have been on rise with Khaleda Zia’s and her alliance partner Jamaat’s covert support and patronage. There has been proliferation of Islamic fundamentalist organizations openly supporting al Quaeda/Taliban activities and eulogizing Osama bin Laden. It was Khaleda Zia who restored Bangladeshi citizenship to the Jamaat guru and war crimes mastermind Ghulam Azam who had come to Bangladesh on a Pakistani passport in 1978. Ghulam Azam, a high profile Islamist leader, led the pro-Pakistan militias that carried out murders, rape and various other war crimes to thwart the liberation of Bangladesh.

Recently, Khaleda Zia did something which has left the country not just shocked but outraged as well. She gave it out that since the ‘Joy Bangla’ slogan was being raised by the idealistic and brave youths at Shahbag, she smelled the ruling Awami League there. That did not go down well with the people, which is when the BNP chairperson, in tandem with the Jamaat, adopted the extremely deplorable tactic of describing the young men and women at Shahbagh as ‘atheists and perverted youths’. 

Khaleda Zia, through a deliberate negation of history, questioned the ‘Joy Bangla’ slogan saying it lost general acceptability in post-Liberation times owing to what she calls the ‘partisan nature of the government that came to power after 1971’. This slogan carried the freedom loving people of the country through the War of Liberation. In the nine months of the war, the freedom fighters went into battle raising full-throated ‘Joy Bangla’ slogan which became a symbol of Bengali nationalism. 

This slogan was first undermined after the assassination of the country’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Khondokar Moshtaque Ahmed who took over power in August 1975 after Sheikh Mujib discarded ‘Joy Bangla’ and used the Pakistan-style slogan “Bangladesh Zindabad”.

Khaleda spoke disdainfully of Shahbag platform as “moncho-foncho”; she freely expressed her view that more blood would flow in all this chaos. She also expressed her intention to place Sheikh Hasina on trial for “genocide” if and when she returns to office. All this because she is upset at the genuine trial of war criminals complicit in genocide going on now.

Khaleda Zia has surprised the nation by trying to turn the tables on the ruling party by accusing Sheikh Hasina’s government of responsibility for the destruction of Hindu homes and temples. She has not seen the hands of the Jamaat and her own party behind this shame. And her party does not conveniently remember the mayhem let loose by its leaders and workers within minutes of its being elected to power in the October 2001 elections.

Khaleda Zia is upset that “Muslim sentiments” are being “‘disturbed”. She has remained unperturbed and refrained from commenting on the blasphemy committed through an implant of a war criminal’s image on the moon to glorify him or on the images of Hindu women grieving over the destruction of their homes at the hands of Jamaati bigots.

It was first her queer use of the term “genocide” to describe the recent police action against the Jamaati rioters unleashing brutalities to scuttle the ongoing war crimes trial which raised eyebrows in the country. The surprise here was at two levels. In the first, there is no record of her ever describing the atrocities of the Pakistan army in 1971 as genocide. In the second, her misuse of the term has convinced many of a rather insidious objective being behind it all. And that objective is to provide a shield of defence for her political ally the pro-Pakistan Jamaat. 

Understandably, having had two senior Jamaat leaders accused of heinous war crimes as Ministers in her cabinet, the BNP chief could not be expected publicly to condemn them for their past. But the nation, loyal to the principles of the 1971 liberation war, certainly expected her to exercise pragmatism at least by keeping silence on the issue. No one expected her or her party, having been behind the re-emergence and rehabilitation of the Pakistani collaborators, to do a miracle by joining the pro-liberation camp. 

Earlier, media reports revealed that Khaleda Zia was hand in glove with the Pak ISI, with a former boss of Pak intelligence agency admitting to having funded the BNP Chairperson in elections thereby vindicating links between Khaleda Zia and her party with the ISI.  Former ISI chief Asad Durrani told the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the agency had funded Khakeda Zia before the 1991 parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. Durrani also admitted to having funded insurgency movements in North East India.

After the recent violence let loose by the Jamaat  and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) workers in Dhaka and other places to scuttle the ongoing war crimes trial, Khaleda Zia openly sided with them. She chose to remain silent even on issues related to burning of national flag and desecration of Shaheed Minar by the Jamaat/ICS cadres. After 42 years of independence, the Jamaat and ICS leaders not only did not apologize for their heinous anti-liberation role in 1971, they seem to be taking pride and feel strong enough to burn the National Flag and desecrate Shaheed Minars across the country in furtherance of their mission to turn Bangladesh into a confederation of Pakistan. Khaleda Zia’s silence on these issues is inciting Jamaat/ICS activists to carry out anti-Bangladesh and terrorist activities across the country.

Scared by the spread and the wide sweep of the secularist nature of the Shahbag movement Khaleda Zia finds no alternative but to oppose it, as submission to the youth upsurge at Shahbag would mean the end of road for pro-Pak and Islamist politics in Bangladesh. The leaders of Shahbag movement are quoting Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to say “first I am a Bengali, then a Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist” and this negates the concept of Two Nation theory propounded by Pakistan and leaves no space for Islamist politics. This movement, if it succeeds, would resolve the identity of Bangladesh – whether its majority people are first Bengali, then Muslim or vice versa. Moreover the slogan ‘Joy Bangla’ that reverberates the area vindicates secular nature of the movement. It is quite obvious that in such environment Khaleda Zia’s maneuvering space would be restricted.

Efforts are being made across the country to paint the legitimate, patriotic protests at Shahbagh as a coming together of atheists. Khaleda Zia branded these young men and women ‘atheists and spoilt’ since they are demanding capital punishment to all war criminals and ban on Jamaat. One of the organizers of the blogger-led movement, Ahmad Haider Razib, who was brutally killed by the Islamists for leading anti-war crimes movement, is being demonized every day by the Jamaat and the BNP ever since his death. 

Khaleda Zia is scared that the ideals of the Shahbag movement have placed the ruling Awami League in an advantageous position ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. To rule out this possibility Khaleda Zia and her ally JEI have created an extremely volatile situation and plunged the country into a prolonged turmoil through continued street violence and shut-downs enforced across the country and through other organized incidents of violence. 

Khaleda Zia has also sought to incite members of the armed forces. In a direct provocation to the members of the armed forces in Bogra recently she said that the Army could not ‘play the role of silent spectator’ when ‘people are getting killed’, adding that ‘it would play its role in due time’. She also called upon the people to overthrow the Awami League led government. Addressing a public meeting at Manikganj she said “some more lives would be lost in the process to push them (Awami League government) out”. Thus she has made no secret of her desire to come to power either with Army support or through blood shed.  

This is indeed strange that despite being the wife of a valiant freedom fighter who had fought against the Pakistani marauding forces to liberate the country and later steered the new born country out of severe poverty, shortages, unemployment and economic stagnation, Khaleda Zia is taking her party down the path of obscurantism by siding with the war criminals and anti-liberation, pro-Pak forces. What she has been up to is a complete anti-thesis to what was envisioned by her husband Ziaur Rahman for the country. Khaleda has made it clear that given a choice between the nation and the anti-liberation, pro-Pak Jamaat, she will be with the pro-Pak Jamaat.