Puran Dhaka, Old Town

There is a small part of Dhaka city known as Puran Dhaka (Old Town). Whenever there are tourists or someone wants to explore Dhaka, Puran Dhaka is always on the top of the list. It is such a mesmerizing part of the city and it’s history.

Even before there was any sign of the capital city Dhaka, there was the foundation of this Old Town. It was founded in 1608 known as Jahangir Nagar, the capital of Mughal Bengal. The story actually started in 7th century when this area was controlled by Buddhist Kingdom of Kamarupa. This place was ruled by Buddhist for more than 800 years. But soon in 9th century the Hindu Sena took over the power. While the Hindus were ruling the famous temple, Dhakeshvari, was built. Many assume that the city, Dhaka, was named after this goddess by Bellal Sena. Soon there came the Mughals and they took over. Through all this time old town was the most large and prosperous city of the Indian continent. Also soon it became the center of the Muslim trade. As the British came this place started to become more inactive. That time it was known as “City of Magnificent Ruins”.

Since it’s (old town) foundation as many rulers came and gone they all left their own touch and establishments. Centuries old establishments, Temples (Puja house), courts, Palaces, architecture are still there. Especially the  narrow roads made during the British period just simply add to the beauty. As time passed by rest of the city got developed and recreated except for this area. The ancient settlement of the old town is now different from the rest of the city. Along with the architecture it also differs in culture a bit too. The people living in Old Town know as “Dhakaia” are still holding onto the history and tradition of the place. Maximum of people are hindu, and most of the people still live in those ancient settlements. From the name “Old Town” it can also be understood that the people live there belong to low and low-middle class people. It is the streets of Old Town that can take a person back in time.
Old town has eight districts- Lalbagh, Haziribagh, Chowkbazar, Bangshal, Gendaria, Kotwali, Wari and Sutrapur. These eight different districts have different attractions where history still reflects itself. One of the very famous one is Chowkbazar. It is in lalbagh and was established by the Mughals. Men and women work in the bazars, make various crafts for living. There is another thing for which Old Town is really popular, it’s food. Old Town of Dhaka city has never failed to attract the attention of both locals and tourists, And it still is going on by spreading it’s magic. 

Professional people making the Goddesses for Temples 

Life in Old Town

Third Gender Recognition in Bangladesh

Hijra, mostly known as transgender people in western countries. But the hijras in Bangladesh do not really think of themselves as transgender. Most of them see themselves as neither women or men. They face this challenge of sex and gender issues. They are originally born as male. Some of them identify themselves as women and some as a third gender. Many of them go under many feminizes surgeries and other processes.  But most of them are rather happy identifying themselves as a third gender. Hijras in Bangladesh have to face a tremendous amount of daily challenges. Mostly they come from the low class of the society and live by going from door to door and asking for alms.

In 2013, 11th November, Monday prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, added a new identity in petition, third gender, in official documents in a cabinet meeting. This incident took place after a two day roundtable discussion of Center for health, law, Ethics and technology in Jindal Global Law School on 9th to 10th of November. Also there were discussion on “Human Rights of Transgender People, Hijars and other gender non-normative gender groups in India”. The decision taken by the prime minister of Bangladesh spread tremendous amount of joy among the hijras and all the institution supporting them. In Bangladesh there are more than 10,000 hijras and they were given the rights they deserve as just another human being.

"I never dreamt that I would see this day in my life," said Sonali, a 25-year-old hijra who uses one name.

After the declaration the cabinet secretary Muhammed Musharraf Hossain said “There are at least 10,000 hijras in Bangladesh. They are being denied their rights in various sectors including education, health, housing because of being a marginal group”. It is also said by him that Hijras will be known and called as Hijras in both English and Bangla. Translating the name by any other word will be misleading.

One year later, on 10th November, 2014 at least 1000 hijras marched on the roads of the capital city to express their joy about the landmark decision. As their days of fear, stigma and discrimination are over.

First Nation Wide March of Hijras in the Nation

Blackout in the Entire Country

The people of Bangladesh have always faced electricity shortage problems. It has become a daily problem that often  for 1 to 2 hours there will be no electricity. The problem has become so frequent that people now have adjusted with it and have taken it as a part of their daily life. but the blackout that happened on 1st November was the worst people could imagine. 1st November Saturday around 11.30 pm the whole country witnessed a blackout. It was the worst since the 2007 incident. In 2007 due to a powerful cyclone 2500 people were killed and rest the people experienced a great power failure.

Last year Bangladesh started to import electricity from India to solve it’s everyday problem. The import of power transmission was of 400 kilovolt. It runs from Baharampur in the Indian state of west to the town of Bheramara in the southwestern of Bangladesh. Blackout happened because of a failure in the power line that comes from India. It caused a failure of the nation power grid, power plants and substation were being shutdown. Only the hospitals and the International Airport had an emergency generators supply. Other than that whole country survived with candles and lanterns. During those dark hours crimes, mugging and looting increased by a large number. People were insecure even in their homes. But soon the problem was solved partially and the rest were under work.

Whole country in darkness

Traffic Problem in Bangladesh

Daily traffic of the capital city

The traffic problem in Bangladesh especially in the capital Dhaka has become so acute that now Dhaka is called the capital of traffic. From 7 in the morning till 11 at night the roads are packed with vehicles. It does not spare even the rich people. The people sitting on the back seat of their air-conditioned cars become patient less and the poor outside take in all the harmful gases coming from the vehicles. The way the population of the city has grown and still growing it is ranked as world’s 20th most populated city. Being such a small country the population is way big for the country to hold properly. There are about 650 major intersections in the capital, but only 60 traffic lights. Every big roads and intersections have traffic polices. When one looks at first it will look as if the traffic polices are trying to enforce traffic rules, but in reality they are actually directing the traffic nothing else. If we convert the cost of traffic congestion in to money value it will be $3.8 billion, and it does not even include the less tangible losses.  Also due to this traffic Dhaka losses more than 8 million work hours each day. All the vehicles are stopped on the roads for average 6 hours a day, standing there being useless, unproductive, killing time and efficiency. Despite of this major problem 37,000 new cars are being added every year. There are many reasons behind this problem. At first other cities being not so developed people have a tendency to gather in the capital. Most of the roads do not have any lanes, and the ones have it drivers do not tend to maintain that. All sorts of vehicle run on the roads together. Where fast vehicles like cars, buses run at the same time slow vehicles like CNG, rickshaws are also running.

Rickshaws of Bangladesh

Rickshaws are the slowest vehicle Bangladesh has and they are mostly blamed for the traffic. Rickshaws are the main mean of transportation for the lower and lower middle class people and students. Being an interesting mean of transportation it is also popular among all sorts and classes of people. There are about one a half million people who drive rickshaw and few hundreds and thousands who work to repair them. Rickshaws can be replaced by more busses and CNGs but it will cause a major unemployment problem. There are plenty of busses but most of them have no fixed rate and proper license. Another big transportation problem is the train system of the country. Too many small amount of trains compared to too much of population. The rush for trains are especially visible during the vacations when people go back to their home.

 

War Criminal's Punishment

The war criminal know as Rajakar started their hypocrisy from 1971 and still continuing. Their friendship and connection with Pakistan has not been changed since the war. After Bangladesh got independent these Rajakar's formed their own party know as Jamat-e-Islam, as I mentioned in my last post. It has been 42 years we Bangladesh got it's independence but till today not all of the war criminals got their deserved punishment. The political parties who hace the responsibilty of punishing them can come up with many excuses. Awami League, that was fromed by Sheikh Mujib always wanted to give these criminals the ultimate punishment. But the opposition party known as BNP is an ally of Jamat-e-Islam. All these years the patience of the public and also few parties have been tested as they still have to see those criminals roaming around.

One of the many leaders of JI is Abdul Qader Mollah. During the war they have committed murders, rapes and looting. The attempt of punishing them has been going on for the last 42 years. When finally Awami League came into power, Sheikh Hasina the PM got determined to punish them. In 2010 Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal was formed. In 2013 5th February after many days of trial Abdul Qader Mollah, 63 years old, was sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted of five out of six crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was accused of raping an 11 year old girl and killing 344 people during the independence war. JI took it as an achievement as they knew they could get him out as soon as other party comes in power. The common public could not accept this decision as they could not wait anymore for justice. Soon hundreds of thousands common people especially young generation gathered in Shahbag Square, center of the capital. Reporters estimate that there were 100,000 to 500,000 people demanding the death penalty of war criminal, Abdul Qader. The place now is know as Projonmo Chottor (New Generation Roundabout). People were not satisfied with life imprisonment. Their demand was that he should get the punishment that serves his crime. They began with the call "fashi chai, fashi chai" (let him hang). Because it was now more than a revenge, it was something to get the true freedom and justice. 10 other Jamati leaders were with Mollah on the trial. As the loose punishment angered the people, the protest of Shahbag continued from February till April. It was thought that Shahbag Square can be the next Tahrir Square. It was the first time after liberation war that so many mass people gathered for justice. Soon it made the high court to reconsider the matter.

The protest of Shahbag Square

On 17th September 2013 the supreme court found Mollah guilty for murdering and converted his life sentence to death sentence. This decision made Jamat-e-Islam furious. They protested and attacked the capital. There were several clashes between them and the police forces, where 60 people got killed.  Finally the execution was scheduled on 11th December the same year. But due to all the challenges it took place on 12th December. During the same trial another JI leader, Delwar Hossain Sayedi, was sentence to death on 27th February. Qader Mollah had his time in power from 1986 to 1996 where he contested for Faridpur, one of the cities of Bangladesh, representing the party Jamat-e-Islam.

In 2013, from February to December all the protests and violence lead to many deaths. The most significant one was the blogger, Ahmed Rajib, who was one of the most prominent activist of Shahbag. He was killed by Jamt-e-Islam in front of his house.

The Muslim Extremism in Bangladesh

The religious extremists now have become an inseparable part of Bangladesh politics. The birth of these extremists started from very early, from the Pakistan era, but were never so active as they are now. The first such group is Jamat-e-Islam. Jamat-e-Islam people are the independence war criminals and they collaborated with the Pakistani force and despite of being Bengali they did not want the Independence. Their such thinking started from 1947 while helping the Pakistan army. With time they were growing and becoming stronger. There are other two extremists groups very well known, they are Hizbut Tahrir and Hefazat-e-Islam. There are various reasons for which these groups can be created and can turn into most alarming social problem. The first reason can be the failure of the government. The government of Bangladesh fails every time in imposing strict laws, they lack capable leaders, lack of justice system. No matter what political party is in power, they all fail to establish correct justice system, and the main reason is the political leader's lure and hunger for power. They are ready to compromise many such problems to hold on to their positions.

The students of various religious institution are mainly the members of the extremist groups

The first extremist group that started with the birth of independent Bangladesh is Jamat-e-Islam. Even two decades ago there activities were not so much threatening. As 16th December being independence day every year they are a lot inactive that month. But for the first time in 2013 they started protesting on that day too. It all started three years back when their top leaders were arrested for being violent and creating tension country wide. On 15th December 2013 they became so violent that led to a country wide shutdown. Their main target is to establish Islamic caliphate as the savior. As Bangladesh lack good leaders and better policies, JI believe they can bring positive changes in the society. They want to do this by running the country by establishing Islamic ways. Their main targets are always the poor and disadvantage people who lack education and fall for their lies. JI has a student wing named "Islami Chattra Shibir". Through the recent years they have done bombing, burning assets, cars, shops, they have killed innocent people, damaged national property and by rioting led to economic damage. Such acts are defined as "Act of Terror" by UN and International Community. In 2013 18th august JI leader, Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani was arrested. Other disciples of Rahmani were arrested during recent years too. Rajib Karim was arrested in UK in 2011 for 30 years for creating terror. Five university students in Dhaka were jailed for killing a blogger named Rajib. Also a 22 years old boy, Nafis, was jailed for 30 years in US on 9th August of 2011 as he tried to bomb the US Federal Bank in New York.

With the passage of time by following the steps of Jamat-e-Islam raised another group called Hizbut Tahrir. Thier main aim is to free the country from Awami League and BNP. They belieive that these political parties have become slave to Indo-US-Israeli axis. Just as all other religious extrimist parties they want to take control and impose Islamic rules. There main target is the private university students, upper middle class families and especially young generation. They choose students very carefully and slowly brainwash them. Many of the youth are falling for this and turning into an extrimst 'beast' for their own country. 

The most recent group is formed in 2013. They are mainly formed of Quomi Madrasa Lobby. During 2013 when the government declared equal rights for women, they started their protest. On 5th May, 2013 with millions of Madrasa students they tried to enter the capital city and shut down the whole city. But soon with the help of police and all other forces they were being stopped and sent out of the capital. That night things went really violent and many got killed. And their plan to do something big on 24th decenber did not take place. 

The religious extremism influence on Bangladesh has been going on from 1999 till now. In recent years when arresting them has been increased they have started regrouping. They have started forming many more small groups. Their aim is to turn Bangladesh into a Medieval Theocracy. And they are being encouraged due to the weak democratic institution in the country. When Sheikh Hasina, PM of Awami League, tried to establish strict laws against them she was attacked by grenade on 21st August, 2004. So far the country is seeing only darkness ahead.

The Biggest Garment Industry Failure in Bangladesh

Rana Plaza

 Bangladesh has always been one of the major names in the world’s garment business. Bangladesh is number 2 garment exporter, right after China. There are 6000 factories manufacturing goods and exporting them every year. 80% of the country’s export come from garment industry and it also dominates most of the economy of the country. The major garment buyers in Bangladesh are USA, UK, Entire Europe, and Australia and it also covers almost all the world. It has always been a pride for Bangladesh though there have always been tragic incidents tangled with the fact. Low wages, lack of safety, ignorance were always thrown upon garment workers both by national and international related organizations.

In 2013, 24 April the biggest tragic happened in the garment industry that shocked the whole world.  It was Rana Plaza, a five storied garment factory situated in Savar, one of the major cities of Bangladesh.  It was built by Mohammed Sohel Rana. Rana used to work locally for the MP of that area and was supported by him. This encouraged Rana to carry out one after another crime without giving any explanations. With the tons of illegal money he owned several lands. In 2006, Rana Plaza, the garment factory was built. With the help of political allies he made the permit to expand the building unto five floors, though it was not designed to be so. In 2013, 23rd april there were explosion sounds and huge cracks were noticed. Despite of the warnings of engineers Rana made workers work the next day. 24th april the building collapsed, it broke down taking all the workers with itself. 1100 people were killed and 2500 were injured. Nearby people came running, police, fire service but all of these were of no help. It was impossible to even move one brick. It took days after days to bring out the both the dead and alive people, people were crushed between concrete. This incident shocked workers, buyers, owners, associations, international organizations.

 After the incident on wednesday Rana had been running and hiding in places. At last while trying to cross the indian border he was caught and the public cheered saying “hang Rana, hang Rana”. But the story does not end here. It continues with suffering of the people who made through the incident. Most of them have lost some of their body parts, unable to work and stunned with the shock.

 Unfortunately, this was not the first garment tragic that took place. Since like forever some kinds of incidents keeps happening and it’s due to the lack of proper safety. After Rana plaza broke down US president Barak Obama declared the suspension of GSP for Bangladesh. This suspension was an act of protest by US due to the lack of Bangladesh’s government being reluctant about the worker’s rights and safety.

“I have determined that it is appropriate to suspend Bangladesh’s designation as a beneficiary developing country under the GSP program because it is not taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights,” US President Barack Obama said in a message to the Congress. Along with that US ambassador Dan W Mozena declared America’s unwillingness to buy products after this incident; “America will not buy shirts stained with the blood of Bangladeshi workers,” This created a huge impact over Bangladesh. People were upset over the fact that there was a lack of support from US. Though new rules were being set, still US was ready to help Bangladesh establishing strict laws in garment business.

People put color on a store of USA, one of the buyer of Bangladesh garment, as a symbol of blood

People's protest all over the world

Mohammed Yunus, First Nobel Laureate of Bangladesh

 Muhammad Yunus is an economist and founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. He is world known for his efforts to help the poor people reshape their lives. He was awarded Noble Peace Prize in 2006, 13th October, Friday. The prize was given jointly to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for the efforts of creating social and economic development. He wanted to start from the below, help the poorest of the poor. So, he came up with the idea of Micro Credit, where very small amount of money are given to poor people for a long term period. The average amount given is $100. All the commercial banks out there are not willing to help the poor people as they lack the security and guaranty of returning it. But Muhammad’s thinking was, if we do not start helping from the very base we won’t be able to remove poverty completely. The prize was announced and presented by Professor Ole Nanbolt, who is the chairman of the Norwegian Noble Committee.


Muhammad Yunus was born in 1940 in Chittagong city, one of the major cities of Bangladesh. He was in Bangladesh most of his life. After finishing undergraduate degree in Dhaka University he was accepted by Vanderbilt University with full bright scholarship. In 1969 he did his PhD in Economics from Vanderbilt. After spending some time as an assistant professor in Tennessee State University he came back to Bangladesh. he was a professor in Chittagong University when he started to think about how to help the helpless people. The poor people of villages especially women were stuck in poverty and did not get the help to get out of that situation. Whenever they got some help it was through middle man and it left them with no profit. It was then when the first time Muhammad lend $20 to a group of women to repay their loans. And gradually he got determined to take the initial and make a permanent change. Grameen Bank was founded in 1976 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He finally establish it in 1983. The goal was to help the poor by giving them loans on easy terms. The loans were named as ‘Micro Credit”, and especially helping those who can not get loans from other institutions for the lack of security. The idea here was even the poorest of people can change their condition and make a contribution if they are given the chance and help. Now this idea of Micro Credit is institutionalize in over 100 countries. As this bank is still going with it’s goal to help poor especially women, it’s 95% of the borrowers are women.  They use the money to buy cows, chickens and then sell milk, eggs to make profit. They use it to rebuilt their houses, built small businesses.

After the news of getting the Noble prize spread there were no boundaries of joys across the country, especially all the village people who are the borrowers of the bank. As he is the first Noble Laureate from Bangladesh both Muhammad and Bangladesh were showered with pride. Along with the joy also came some criticism. As many people of Bangladesh questioned his way of doing business. S.M Akash an economies professor of Dhaka University argued that the bank has high interest rate of 20% where any other commercial bank has 10 to 15%. ‘Is it a social justice?’- he asked. But according to world bank the per capita or earning of has increased from $200 to $440 from 1985 to 2006. There still leaves a question whether Grameen Bank is responsible for this growth or not?

By the mean time against all the criticism Muhammad was working on his plan ahead. He would like to use his share of the money, 1.4 million to give low cost-nutrition food to the poor and establish an eye hospital. Also in 2006 in order to spread his work more ‘Yunus Secretariat’ was created with the focus on Social Business. In 2008 it was named ‘Yunus Center’ and till today it has been working on social business issues both globally and in Bangladesh.

Aftermath of the BDR Incident

I have talked about the BDR mutiny in my lasr post. The aftermath of the mutiny took many other interesting turns. On 26th Februaty after killing many army officials the BDR soldiers were still inside the headquarter with locked gates. By the mean time armies atsrted to gather outside of the headquarter and surrounded it. They had tanks, 20 government tanks, 15 armored personnel carriers. The army people were all ready to attack and take revenge. They were waiting for the command from upper officers. The BDR soldiers outside of the headquarter started to hide and disguise. Even the soldiers who were inside tried to flee. They were not surrendering and kept the hostages.

 It was the time when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took a clever decision. She gave mutineers an amnesty. She ordered to let go of the hostages first. Home minister with another minister were sent to the spot to talk about the situation and bring back the hostages. After they were freed, prime minister offered them amnesty and told them to surrender.

"Lay down your guns immediately and go back to barracks. Do not force me to take tough actions or push my patience beyond tolerable limits," Hasina told the BDR troops "Give democracy and the economy a chance to develop."

Army taking position

On Thursday the BDR soldiers came out and surrender. About hundreds of them handed over their weapons, auto manic rifles, machine guns and grenades.  Around 200 mutinees tried to escape and they were arrested. And about 7000 mutinees gave up peacefully. After the mutinees were arrested the police started their search for rest of the missing people. 168 army officers were in the Darbar Hall on the first day. Among those 168 many officers are still missing. 

The mutineers were charged later for killing, raping, looting, creating tension nation wide. Immediately forces were sent to guard the border and increased the security nation wide. But the mutineers who were arrested faced the cruel reality. They faced torture and custodial deaths. 47 of them died during the custody, many were hung upside down, beaten on the soles of foot and palm. Many of them faced kidney failure and psychological disorders and some committed suicide. Human Rights raised concerns about the fact and worked so that they get proper way of custody.

The Mutiny of BDR

Bangladesh Rifles known as BDR is one of the forces of Bangladesh. They work under the command of Army and mainly responsible for border guard. In 2009 they started a protest that turned into a mutiny. It took such a horrible turn that killed many army officials. 25th to 16th February of 2009, these two days the main incident happened and it took one day for the people outside to know about it. It took place in the capital Dhaka, Pilkhana, Darbar Hall. As Pilkhana is a huge area with boundaries, secured by BDR so the incidents happening inside hardly caught people's attention first day. Annual events of the BDR Week was going on. On the second day of the annual event all the main officials of army, Director General, Commander including many important guests were present there that morning. It started at 10 in the morning when Director General of BDR Shakil AHmed was giving a speech. The BDR soldiers stood and started putting their demand of equal rights as army officials, place in high positions, right of recognition. After putting the demand very soon they took the General and other officials as hostages and started killing them.

No body could know that such a rage was growing inside them for such a long time, and that they were planning a brutal thing. That day the soldiers killed more than 74 army officials and some of the members of their family, their houses were looted, assets were destroyed and children and women got raped. Additionally at least six civilians including a boy were killed in cross fires. The first day around 67 bodies were found including Director General's body. On friday through the Operation to Retrieve Bodies was found few other bodies. Among them one were RAB and BDR Sylhet sector commander Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed. Around thrusday night another 9 bodies were found. Inside the DG's house two people who were guest of the Director General were laso killed. On thrusday morning around 8 to 10 am another six bodies were found. It was found away from Pilkhana near the Buriganga river. These dead bodies were in BDR officials uniform. Wife of Shakil Ahmed, Naznin Shakil Shipu was brutally raped and killed. Several mass graves were found having more than 74 to 80 dead bodies. Other dead bodies were drained through the sewage line into the river and more than 70 are believed to be missing. After two days of night mares the hostage family members were released. These BDR soldiers were not just satisfied with Pilkahna. Soon they spread they massacre in 12 other cities as Chittagong, Feni, Sylhet, Rajshahi. Though within three days the government took the situation under control, the most severe problem the incident caused was that the national border border was left unguarded.  It was in such a vulnerable situation that any international force could get in and attack.

Present Days

 

Since 1991 the two major parties are ruling and through the years Bangladesh has witnessed problems one worse than the others. Corruption has now become an inevitable part of the country. Every sector more or less comes under the grasp of corruption and crime. Sectors like education, police, land and revenue departments are the most corrupted ones. Recently the problems or fails  raised due to high level of corruption are- Padma Bridge Project, The Railway Scandal, The Hall Mark Group, Destiny Group, Share Market Scam and many more. Also high level of crime and illegal activities can be seen during the National Elections every five years. And all through time blaming game continues as opposition party keeps blaming the power parties and vise verse. To stop all these problems Anti Corruption Commission was established in 2004 having Ghulam Rahman as the chairman. But soon this commission also failed. It became hard for them to investigate the politicians. As before doing so they needed a permission from the high level government officials. All these rules made it impossible. There were dismissal of 315 corruption case by the year of 2012. Padma Bridge Project which had $1.2 billion credit for the $2.9 billion project was cancelled by The World Bank in June 29, 2012 because of corruption. For last couple of years Bangladesh is on the top in world's most corrupted countries list. Last year Caribbean Country and Haiti was at the top with Bangladesh. According to Transparency International, the government of Bangladesh has not yet done anything significant to stop or lower the corruption rate. 

But there can be seen some initiatives taken by the governments sometimes. Many constructive strides have been taken by the government of Sheikh Hasina (Awami League). The relationship between India and Bangladesh has been improved for safety and for finding long term solutions. Also economy has improved by 6% and education, health especially women uplifting have been taken seriously. In spite of all the efforts it lags behind as 97% of MP's are involved in negative activities and 70% in criminal activities of any government that comes to power.

The year 2012 has been seen as the worse one so far. The police, RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) were worse that usuall. As crimes increased also kidnapping, murdering increased. Cases like the 17 year old boy, Limon Hossain who was killed did not get justice. Or like Ellias Ali from Sylhet disappeared and there are no trace of him till today.

The journey of Bangladesh continues
 

As I mentioned in my last blog about Mujib's assassination. After Bangladesh got independent, Sheikh Mujib retured from West Pakistan in 1972. From the time of his arrival he worked to develop different sectors of the capital and rest of the cities. In 1974 when Bangladesh was attacked by a severe flood Mujib’s attempts went higher of making the situations better. The flood killed nearly 28,000 people. But he was failing in most of his attempt and the situation was getting worse. Since the liberation the Mukti Bahini (fighters of the liberation war) and the officers who were still related to the Pakistan’s army forces were having problems. being hungry for power some angered officers who were still related to the Pakistan armed forces killed Mujib. The assassination happened in August 15, 1975. After the incident the unrest in the country’s political situation increased.

Ziaur Rahman with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

After Mujib’s death for two years there was no specific or permanent political leader who could control the situation. In 1977 Ziaur Rahman who was an army general was assigned as the army chief having Khandokar mostaq Ahmed as the president. But soon in 1979 Ziaur Rahman took power and formed the new political party called Bangladesh National Party, “BNP”. During this time Islam was put in the constitution. Same as Mujib even Ziaur could not get enough time to implement his political plans. In 1981 Ziaur Rahman was also assassinated. With the death of Ziaur began the era of Mohammed Hossain Ershad. Ershad was in power from 1982 to 1990. During this period he could not prove himself as a worthy leader. There was a lot of unrest and riots all over the country. He was accused of several illegal works and corruption. As a result of lot of protests and riots he was sent to jail and power was again taken by BNP. In 1991 BNP came in power by winning the election. Khaleda Zia was the widow of Ziaur Rahaman became the prime minister and she was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh. As was set winning party has five years period of power. SO after five years in 1996 when election happened again Awami League, the party originally formed by Sheikh Mujib, came into power. Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujib became the prime minister of the party. During this term Hasina made sure that she punish all the culprits who were responsible for her father’s murder. Not all of them but fifteen former army officers who used to work for Pakistan side were hung to death with accusation of murdering Mujib. It happened in 1998.

After then till now BNP and Awami league have been the major two party of Bangladesh politics. One is the wife of a former president and another person is the daughter of another former president. They have been ruling until now, 2014 and many more to come. Through the time of their ruling Bangladesh has witnessed many ups and downs, many horrible situations and many happy moments. Some people desperately want get rid of these two parties who seem like became the inevitable part of Bangladesh.

The Cost of Independence

There is a cost that is paid for every freedom we get. Though Bangladesh achieved it's independence, it was crippled, shattered and broken in every possible way. The economy, people, children, education and health everything was at a vulnerable stage. Roads, transportation system were destroyed. Mills, factories and schools were destroyed. People were still under the shock of Pakistan torture. There was hopelessness everywhere. The value of foreign currency were zero. On top of that Sheikh Mujib had the pressure of getting back the 10 million refugees who fled to India during the war. Mujib was given the title, Bangabondhu, means The Friend of Bengal. While trying hard to get everything in place Mujib was constantly faced with new challenges. In 1972 Bangladesh experienced the worst drought that ever happened in Bangladesh's history. In 1973 a cyclone hit and killed thousands of people and worsened the situation. In 1974 the Arab-Israel war effected the whole world as well as Bangladesh by recession.

In 1972, 10 January when Mujib returned from Pakistan he took some promises and fulfilled them efficiently.  Along with bringing ten million refugees from India successfully, he also gave recognition and built shelters for 300,000 women who were disrespected and raped during the war. Above everything at first he wanted to restore the education system. Through the three years he was in power he establishes around 40,000 schools. And within 10 months from the war the constitution was set. With the help of World Bank and other developed countries one by one every problem was being solved. There were rehabilitation centers built for freedom fighters, jobs were being arranged and Indian soldiers were sent back their home within 3 months after the war. Mujib's leadership was getting recognition from all over the world. As World Bank had said-
 
" The refugees have returned and been resettled. By and large, relief food distribution appears to have been effectively handled. There have been reports of corruption but more observers feel that the food has gone where it has been needed most badly. Enough food has been brought in and distributed to prevent widespread famine."

There were still some anti liberation people who became the enemy of the Independent Bangladesh thus the enemy of Mujib. Few army officials who were still related to the Pakistan side were planning how to put a stop to all the progression. After attempting small tries when it did not work they took a major step. In 1975 they killed Mujib along with his entire family.

Stories behind THE STORY, The War

On 7th March 1971 in his speech, Sheikh Mujib, urged people to fight for their freedom, he urged people to make their home the fort of fight. And he demanded the transfer of power before the assembly on 25th march.

On the night of 25th March Bengal people were attacked in their sleep. It happened after the general of Pakistan Tikka Khan was denied entry in East Pakistan. This attack killed and injured many people. on 26th march army arrested Sheikh Mujib and took him to Wast Pakistan. Though they were taking him, but according to his plan that day an swami league leader declared Bengal’s independence over radio. The war took it’s vicious turn.

about 1 million Bangalies were murdered, graves still can be found

Millions of Bangalies ran to India for shelter

Around 200,000 women were raped

India's full support for Bangladesh

Mitro Bahini, freedom fighters of Bengal formed. India joined the fight and helped Bengal with India’s soldiers and advanced equipments. With Indira Gandhi’s order the navy, air force and soldiers were united. Bengal and India together fought and defeated West Pakistan.

Pakistan surrenders to Bangladesh, 16th December 1971

On the day of 16th December, 1971 at 16:31 West Pakistan surrendered. The ‘Instrument of Surrender’ was signed by defeated Pakistani general Niazi.
Starting from 1952 the freedom fighter never stopped. It continued until 1971 when finally we achieved our freedom and was recognized as an independent country on the world map. They now celebrate 16th December as the Victory day and 26th March as the independence day. The free Bangladesh will always be grateful But the story remains unfinished without highlighting the pain and sacrifice of those men, women and children because of whom we now have a  place and name in the world.

Pakistan Period 

I dreamt a dream; I dreamt freedom

Hundreds of people are shelter less in the city, 80% of the total population that makes 120 million still live in villages deprived of most basic human rights. Is this the free country we dreamt of? And the freedom fighter who dreamt for a place to call their own now live in rehabilitation centers.

Since the British had left in 1947 and Pakistan and India got their independence. Pakistan had majority of Muslims and India had Majority of Hindus. Pakistan had two parts, East and West and they were separated by 1000 miles. Eastern part was mainly the province of Bengal. And this is the Bengal that got it’s independence in 1971 and became Bangladesh.  The time (1947-1971),the history is alive in thousands of pages of text books, in the nights of the writers, in the eyes of the Birangona (women of war), in the tears of ignored veterans and inscribed in the walls of Dhaka.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bangladesh_War_of_Independence

There were several reasons for Bengal to fight and seek their independence. Religion Islam was the primary reason to hold the is two country as one though they were far away. West Pakistan had 97% Muslims and East Pakistan (Bangladesh) had 87%. East Pakistan (Bengal) was one the five main provinces of Pakistan and used to do the majority of exports and business. Though Bengal dealt with 70% of the exports it did not get any benefits from that. Bengal was deprived of political power, opportunities, quality education and was oppressed. Despite of being deprived of most basic human rights Bengal was surviving. Then people of Bengal were faced with the language problem. Most of the people in wast Pakistan and some Biharis in eastern side used to speak in Urdu and Panjabi; but East Pakistan (Bengal) used Bangla as their language. In 1948 when Mohammed Ali Jinnah declared that ‘Urdu and only Urdu shall be the state language’ Bangalies started their protest. This protest was carried until 1952 when several students of the Bengal was died and finally Bangla was established as the East’s main language. After many small attempts to establish it’s own identity the students of East Bengal finally took a major step. That day, 21st February 1952, students from all over the country fought, they shed blood and many died for the sake of their language, Bangla. it was the fight of one’s right to speak in his own language. Only if they were alive now to see what their sacrifice has achieved. Now the whole world recognize them. 21st February now is celebrated as the International Mother Language Day, declared by United Nations.   In1970 a deadly cyclone, Bhola, hit east Pakistan and killed about 500,000 people. Without any help from the main government sitting in Wast Pakistan the condition kept going miserable. In the mean time a political group named Awami League was formed in Bengal by it’s leader Sheikh Muzivar Rahman. In 1971 in the nation’s election Awami league took part and own victory by 160 seats and majority of national assembly. But the chairman of Pakistan People’s Party refused to let Sheikh be the Prime Minister. This initiated the nine months war. After the nine months war Bangladesh got it’s Victory on 16th December, 1971. And the independence is celebrated on 26th March.

British era

It is needless to go over the fact how British ruled mostly all over the world because we all know it. Among all the countries Britain ruled, India and south Asian continent is a significant one in history. During that time Bangladesh did not even had it’s own identity but British period was the time when the seed of freedom was being planted.

Not every king can lead his country to the prosperity. There is always one who turns the table either for good or for bad. It all started when emperor Aorongazeb sold three villages to the East Indian Company. The interest of Britain to just do trade and business was soon turning into a vicious greed. And that incident gave birth to a never ending British period.

 The British has ruled over us for about 250 years (1700-1947). In history we only read about the pain and sufferings they have caused us. But from a personal view I will say along with the bad they have also given us some extraordinary things that we still preserve and among these one to mention is education. The fine infrastructures, government, law system and also they left a touch of English Sophistication that still somewhat lives in us especially in India (Kalkata). Indians were the first to enter their education system wheres the Muslims decided to stay as farmers and traders. It was by the time when Mughal rule was already faded away and almost all the regions in south Asia were taken by British people. But when it came to the time of 19th century Muslim presence began to increase again. Few things that started to rise - Danga (fight) between Hindu and Muslims started, the custom of Jamindar (landlord), disparity between classes. Finally at the end of the era when after all the blood and sacrifice British left and with their leaving started another chapter. This new chapter divided many things, for good or for bad I am still not sure. India became an independent country and Bengal was divided into Western Bengal and Eastern Bengal. Dhaka was the capital of eastern Bengal and whole eastern side of Bangla was under rule of Pakistan though they were separated by 1500 km of Indian territory.

Moving to Islamization- The Mughal Empires

When I was little my father used to take me to different historical places every Friday. I remember my curiosity and joy by just looking at the ancient structures and all the pictures of the Mughals in my history books. The Nawabs (kings) ornamented by gold, silver and precious stones, palaces with terracotta design and gold plates, the Hookah bars and maids preparing hundreds of dishes just for a meal, for a day; those ancient stories can still give one goose bumps.


The Buddhism time in Bengal stayed for a very short time. As mentioned in the last entry their extinction started in 12th century when Islam started to enter and influenced Bengal in such a way that Bangladesh is still a Muslim majority country. During the time Mughal Empires covered most of the Indian Subcontinent and the Central Asia. And soon enough Emperor Akbar, who is seen as the greatest Mughal Emperor, extended his territory to Bengal. He took over Bengal in 1575 through "Battle of Tukarroy". Akbar and his Soldier Saints spread the new religion so strongly that majority of the population started to convert. That time the central Muslim power was in Delhi, India. A Turkish Khilji, Mohammed Bin Bakhtiar, with his little army captured and took Bengal under the rule of Sultanate of Delhi. So, basically by that time of 1576 Bengal had become a part of the greater India. Along with time different Emperors came and ruled. In 1612 Aurangzeb took over some of the major cities. It was then Lalbagh Fort was established in the capital Dhaka.

Lalbagh Fort, established in 1612

                   

All the remaining rich, gorgeous Mughal structures still preserved in Bangladesh were built during that time. New palaces, castles, forts, new roads, trade routs, bridges were built. All the mosques with beautiful inscriptions started a complete new era under the province of Mughal. it is called the golden age for it’s richness, eliteness.