Revenge and Retaliation Can Rob Away the Essence of Bangla Spring

 
Bangladesh has once again raised its head high from the ashes like the mythical bird Phoenix after knocking down a repressive, diabolical and vicious regime that polluted and ruined the country from 2009 to 2024. The Anti-Discriminatory Students' Movement that broke out in July 2024 reached its culmination through the overthrow of ex Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 5 August 2024, the Glorious August Revolution. International news agencies and some local media outlets have also termed it "Bangla Spring".

All major revolutions in world history like the French Revolution in France, Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Socialist Revolution in Cuba and some other similar mass upheavals always took place following a long and tormenting period of misgovernance, disorder, dysfunctional state machineries, violation of human rights, infringing democratic norms, gagging free speech etcetera all of these things happened in Bangladesh on a broad scale during the reign of Sheikh Hasina. Sheikh Hasina absolutely failed to emulate her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's principles, patriotism and integrity.

Sheikh Hasina turned Bangladesh into a hunting ground for thugs, robbers, rapists, drug lords, fraudsters, scammers who broke down the country's economic potentialities. Even when Sheikh Hasina was in power from 2009 to 2024, The Asian Age published a broad number of reports on corruption and irregularities in banking and financial sectors. For speaking the truth, The Asian Age had to pay a big price. Corruption is a syndicated crime. Crooks like S. Alam, Salman F. Rahman, Nazrul Islam Mazumder, Aziz Khan etcetera siphoned off money from banks in every possible way with direct collaboration from the Prime Minister's Office, Bangladesh Bank, Finance Ministry and other concerned regulators.

The Asian Age also reported on the corruption of two former Principal Secretaries to Sheikh Hasina, who are Abul Kalam Azad and Ahmed Kaikaus. Most remarkably, I personally had to go through a great deal of hardships, threats, intimidation and legal battles for publishing an investigative and authentic corruption report on Exim Bank Chairman and Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) President Nazrul Islam Mazumder. False and fabricated defamatory cases were filed against us one after another which subjected The Asian Age top management to horrendous trials and tribulations.

Sheikh Hasina and her cohorts tormented us in many other ways. We were forced to publish special supplements on Awami League founding anniversary free of cost. The Asian Age was virtually blacklisted which is why still the newspaper has a gigantic amount of pending bills from different government offices. Influential Awami League leaders, the Prime Minister's Office and powerful intelligence forces compelled

Bangladesh Fencing Federation to organize tournaments under banners showing Sheikh Hasina's family members' names and pictures. Even former Director General of DGFI Major General Akbar Hossain threatened to abduct me from my office. If we spoke out earlier, we would have been packed off and thrown into the dark chambers of Ayna Ghor without fail.

The students and ordinary people who spontaneously joined the July-August countrywide demonstrations have gifted us a new Bangladesh, fragranced with the aroma of spring, a scintillating ray of hope and confidence.

However, some undesirable things have been happening since 5 August 2024. Robbery, arson and attacks on government offices including law and order forces and religious minorities have already taken place. These inadmissible occurrences do not come on equal terms with the dreams and visions with which Bangla Spring or the Glorious August Revolution was brought about.

Bangladesh has not been able to secure optimum development targets just because our major parties have not yet given up their age-old habit of exercising vindictive politics. Revenge and retaliation can snatch away the essence of Bangla Spring. The Anti-Discriminatory Students-People Movement very quickly became a mass upsurge because the immediate past regime totally erased socio-economic justice from the soil of Bangladesh. Now, in the wake of the Glorious August Revolution, if the political parties once again start hitting and slinging mud at each other-it will twist everything back to square one. We cannot let the blood of all the martyrs of Glorious August Revolution go in vain.

We appreciate Jamaat Amir Dr. Shafiqur Rahman's announcement of general amnesty to Awami League and all other quarters that did injustice to Jamaat. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) should now do the same thing and should keep away from generating provocative speeches. BNP leaders should stop pushing the interim government led by Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus to declare election timeframe too early. A lot of reforms need to be done before the next elections are held. The country's banks and financial institutions need to be immediately streamlined. Law and order forces need to be reformed without delay. The judicial system and electoral pattern should be released from the evil shadows of political influence. If elections are held before implementing these indispensable refurbishments, the very core objective of the Glorious August Revolution is most likely to lose its pathway.

Another point, propagations about changing Bangladesh's national anthem cannot be accepted at all. We should not desecrate some integral part of our history like the Language Movement of 1952 and the Liberation War of 1971. We gained victory against Pakistan on 16 December 1971 in exchange of a bay of blood from the bodies of three million martyrs. And we have fortified that victory on 5 August 2024.

The interim government's Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus has congratulated Bangladesh cricket team on their victory against the Pakistan cricket team. Sports don't mean to divide nations. Sports are organized to consolidate bonds between countries for reciprocal benefits. We cannot spoil our relationship with our neighbours. In the present globalized world, it is very much challenging to move forward without cooperation and support from neighbouring countries.

But one thing really shocked me to see how Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif jeered at the demolition of Bangabandhu's sculptures in Bangladesh right after Sheikh Hasina's departure to Delhi. Shehbaz Sharif went on to say that Sheikh Hasina paid the price for her father's intrigues back in 1971. Such comments are not at all conducive for the prevalence of healthy diplomatic ambience.

Only unity, peace, interreligious harmony, patience and stability can sustain the success we achieved through the sacrifices of our youths and agitating citizens in August 2024. We must remember that vile games like retaliation and vengeance rob away revolutions in a wink.