My Haunting Dreams

When we heard that our youngest son Arshad is going to become father, we felt an indescribably immense pleasure and joy. And when he and our dear daughter-in-law Niktee informed us that they were going to have a baby boy, we felt Allah Almighty has bestowed all His blessings and mercy on us. Before now we have had a grandson Reehan - our heart of hearts - who has come to light up and adorn our second son Sajjad and Shuva's home. And now another grandson (I chose 'Ridwan Ali' or ' 'as his name) as dear as him is coming as a blessing and grace of Allah to our youngest son Arshad and Pamela. I and my wife submit ourselves to the will and mercy of Allah Almighty, the Most Gracious & Most Merciful in the deepest gratitude. Al-hamdulillah, Al-hamdulillah, Allahu Akbar. We as parents have nothing more to express our gratitude to our Lord, Cherisher & Sustainer but prostrate ourselves in absolute submission to Him. We are so fortunate to have ,at least, heard that our youngest son and his wife Pamela are going to become parents and now their 'house' will become a real HOME. Actually this pleasure and happiness cannot be described in words. Countless thanks to Allah, Most Gracious & Most Merciful. May HE bless our sons and their family and grant them all the world's happiness.Amin. Meanwhile we are being haunted by the dreams when we shall be able to get together and enjoy life's most precious gift of becoming complete and fulfilled before we disappear from the face of this earth or shall we ever? Only Allah Almighty knows.

Myopic Craze

We are watching the perplexing myopic 'craze' of our next generations at different 'chattars'. Their goal seems to be changing and their stands, shifting. Nobody can say what's the ultimate result of this craze. Some like to call it a surge of new wake-up but some are skeptical and afraid that this craze has already been misguided and misdirected. Albeit both the big parties are trying to take advantage of this new 'hubbub'(some may like to call it a new 'awakening')of our youth, but we observe with surprise that BNP has failed to catch the bus and for which they are most likely to suffer in the next election. Actually BNP is never comparable to the cunning and manipulative drives of AL. Right or wrong AL has a definite philosophy based on some values that most often take aggressive turns. Above all, even if mere verbally, they hold themselves as the 'dedicated' flag bearers of Bangabandhu. But BNP, on the other hand, is a bunch of opportunists and adventurist leaders, holding Shaheed Zia as their icon though they've miserably failed to maintain the integrity and honesty of their iconic leader who is even praised by his avowed opponents. Since opportunism can never be a deep-rooted ideal, the roles of the party members are often diverse and contradictory. Now it has reached a very crucial stage and whether the party will again come to power with popular support is very, very uncertain. It's also because the majority of the leaders in the BNP are mostly ex-bureaucrats and businessmen rather than matured players in the political arena. Evidently they often fail to correctly feel the pulse of the common people. While their leader Shaheed Zia had the wisdom of a 'statesman', his party has few or none like him - neither in vision & patriotism nor in honesty & integrity. In the recent times their top boss has perhaps lost the direction to which she should steer her party to. And the imminent outcome of her enigmatic manoeuvre may be devastating for her party. Let's hope it does not so happen because then there will be one party too big for the others to have the least influence on it which may result into the 'senility' or even death of our already suffocated 'democracy'.

Speak against Islam and You Become Progressive

Since liberation a misconception that we waged war against religion - Islam, since the Pakistani junta engaged in a dirty plan to eliminate us on the excuse of Islam - occupied many evil brains. But was it so? Did we reject Islam in the fight against the Pakistani junta? After liberation, the constitution made by a section of the renowned lawyers reportedly experts on constitutional matters included two things which were hitherto not very familiar to the common people; and those were secularism and socialism. Every body knew that Godlessness will never hold ground in this soil where more than twelve 'awlias' have been enshrined and millions of their devotees are scattered across the country. Yet for whose sake these two basic 'principles' of our state were included in the constitution God alone knows. The common people never accepted secularism and that is very much manifest in the fact that the preachers of socialism or communism never gained more than one or two seats at best in the parliament. And now the leaders of the leftist parties have either took shelter under the umbrella of one of the three big parties or have become 'vox wagon' parties. But interestingly they have been able to brainwash many of our young generations who took socialism more as an adventure than other theories. But behind them there are some chameleon like members of the so-called intelligentsia whose tails seem to be tangled somewhere else. In the name of secularism or non-communalism, they have engaged themselves in casting smear upon mainly Islam. Especially in the last few years, they have been campaigning against Islam with a renewed vigor and have been shrewdly attacking whatever speaks of Islamic culture, tradition and traits. One clear example is that whereas no drama, cinema or documentary either made in Bangladesh or in India based on Hindu writers' work are seldom without the presentation of the temples and other Hindu rituals and Hindu deities before who the heroes ad heroines are seen prostrating in supplication to them. But those are never labeled as 'communal', but in a movie, drama etc where Islamic culture and tradition, and even a prayer-mat or mosque is shown, it will be called a 'communal' work inn no time. And for that reason one will hardly see any such movie, drama etc that reflect Islamic culture and tradition. Please don't misunderstand me, because the works of the Hindu, Christian or Buddhist writers must reveal the characters of their own community and there can be no objection whatsoever but then they are not regarded as 'communal' but to show a mosque, a devotee on a prayer-mat raising hands in supplication to Allah Almighty take no time to be labeled as communal. And comments and remarks leveled against Islam and its traits are the essential elements of 'progressiveness'. This seems very strange in a country where, it is claimed, 85% people are Muslims. On the contrary, in India Hindus are a vast majority. It's quite natural that temples and homes with deities, are shown in their movies, soap operas,literature and documentaries. In many movies Muslim characters have been lowed down to exalt Hindu culture, tradition and religion. But even then there are many movies that shows noble, honest and patriotic Muslim characters. This is no less appreciable than the exaltation of their own religion and culture. But they are never seen to have exalted a Muslim character in a movie degrading another of other religion, if it's not a story with a Muslim background. But what happens in Bangladesh? One Taslima degraded Islamic values and tradition and, may be, became a heroine. Salman Rushdie vilified Islam and its Holy Prophet and became a hero over-night. In Bagladesh many secular educated personalities criticize Islam without having any in-depth knowledge of the Holy Qur'an and Hadith. Most tragically they have grown aspersion to Islam though they bear Muslim names and their parents were said to be Muslims. Moreover, they have never given reason enough to justify that Islam is a regressive, ancient and backward-looking out-of-date religion. They've chosen the most shortcut way to expose themselves as 'progressive' just by calling Islam a violent, aggressive and out-of-date religion. It's also very, very shocking how so-called Islamist parties fight one another like a particular species. While none of them disagree that Allah Almighty, His Words (the Holy Qur'an), His Prophet, Kalema (faith), the Quiblah - all are one and unique,they pick a quarrel over trivial things. Without striving to go into research work on how Islamic laws and dictates could bring peace and harmony among the people of different faiths, they are engaged in fighting for mundane comfort and power. The terrible crimes and vices such as murder, rape, kidnapping, plundering, grabbing, extortion, misappropriation of public money and trust that have gripped our society could be effectively checked had there been Islamic laws and order in force. Remember ex-President Clinton's speech to rein in HIV AIDS etc? He stressed on the need for religious values and tradition to put effective check on those dreadful disease. Even today, many including the top bosses in the govt have raised their voices to give capital punishment for rape and murder. But no. They are engaged in their own mundane business. Do they not see that the enemy bombs never discriminate between Sunnis and Shi'as, between Salafis and Ahle Hadith and so on? They should not forget that when Allah Almighty's 'faisala' will come, they would have no excuses. In actuality they are no less responsible for the division and strife among Muslims than those preaching so-called secularism. May Allah save us from the hypocrites.

What a 'CRAZE'!

The craze and enthusiasm manifest in the huge gathering at Shahbagh Square both raises high hopes about our new generation and also disappoints us at their very short-sighted and ill-designed and incomplete demand. What do they want? Only hanging by the neck till death a few 'war-criminals' who's almost reached their last destination with trembling voice, shaky hands and boggled minds ? Is that all? No other demand? No demand for justice for the gruesome murder of Sagar-Runi, Biswajit, almost regular rape 'n murder of even minor children, campus violence with animal instinct, dismemberment of limbs of fellow students &c &c? No grudge against the monumental Hallmark, Destiny, share market and the Padma Bridge scam - the nightmare of millions including the 40/45 million people of the south-west region of Bangladesh? No demand for employment opportunities of a few million college & varsity graduates? No demand for eradicating rampant corruption, nasty politicization of the pillars of the state? What a misguided and manipulated 'movement' designed by very, very shrewd schemers indeed! No words to describe my feelings. Really!

Irresistible Corruption

One pertinent question is: if the the 'fence' itself destroys the crop, who can resist? The same thing is hapening here in Bangladesh. The agencies that are supposed to check and eliminate corruption, are themselves its enthusiastic patrons. They have either been maimed by the govt or they are topped by spineless bootlickers of their 'employer'. Just think about the Padma Bridge Scam. What a unique role is our tooth-&-clawless ACC doing. Once they are awarding certificate to those against who 'sufficient' evidence has been found. Besides, those implicated in corruption charges could not give any explanation why the evaluation committee was dissolved and reconstituted four times. Obviously, the WB expert team has tighten its jaw to grab the ring leader and his cohorts. We hope that the WB for the sake of both their integrity and the well-being of the people of this country will not loosen its grip and bring to book the culprits who have been sucking blood of the poor but hardworking people of this country. May the blood-suckers be properly punished by Almighty Allah. Amen.

Democracy - Bangladesh Style

Democracy - Bangladesh Style The over-overdue council of one of the two large parties passed away. The president of the party was enthroned for the 7th time in the absence of any contestant. How could one dare to? Had there been any to venture for that, there was a certainty that he/she would've been expelled from the party. Dissent in the party has never been viewed positively as many of the veteran's fate showed. Besides, presidents, secretaries etc of the district, thana and union levels, as we've learned, will also be selected by the supremo of the party.This is how 'democracy' is being cultured here in Bangladesh. Of course, this party is not the only one. Another big party's history is also the same. No dissension is allowed. Was Hitler or Mussolini or Stalin more dictator? Who knows. But the dictatorship that is being practiced here in the name of democracy has almost strangulated us common people who have 'democracy' for only one day, and that's on the day of election. Thank God!

Alas Our Golden Bangla!

Alas,our Sonar Bangla (golden Bengal)!! This country is heading towards a very bleak but chaotic future for the two Amazons that are dictating things here. It seems there's no masculine figure who could hold the rein of these two warring ladies. Devoid of any vision for future and the future generation, they are playing with the destiny of the nation which could, had there been a leader such as Dr. Mahathir or Mr. Lee, make galloping development because there are immense potentialities here. Compared with Singapore, in spite of having a hundred times more tourist spots in the Chittagong Division alone, Bangladesh has, with her failed leaders, failed to build up a tourism network that could be a most vital foreign exchange earning sector. But rampant corruption i every sector has been eating into the core of life of the nation and despite numerous promises by both of them no sign of improvement is in sight. The nation including its mentors and well-wishers are foreseeing a dismal picture of the future should these two warring ladies persist in their mindless sojourn. And we people have become hostages and just dumb watchers. Alas!