ZAFAR SOBHAN
To the public, although there is no evidence, the stench of back-room deal-making and cold political calculus is in the air.
hey say a good compromise leaves everyone mad. The International Crimes Tribunal must have thought that giving Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah life in prison was a judgement Solomonic in its wisdom. Little could they have guessed that the judgement would ignite a firestorm of protest and fury that continues to burn brightly as I write this.
They are calling it Shahbagh Square. Ever since the verdict against Mollah came down around noon on Tuesday, voices began to be raised in anger and anguish, and many of the aggrieved started to congregate around Shahbagh Mor, an intellectual hub of the city and legendary site of political activism, to register their unhappiness with the verdict and to call for the death penalty for Mollah and all other war criminals.
Today, the movement is coming to the close of its fourth day, and shows no signs of abating, the cumulative crowd over the time having swollen to tens of thousands and with thousands of young activists at its permanent core, the beating heart of a deeply felt and electrifying political awakening. A spontaneous uprising of conscientious and conscious young men and women, deliberately distancing itself from the established political leadership and entities, this is the most exciting moment in Bangladeshi politics for years.
The protesters have a good case. Five separate counts of murder, the numbers butchered totalling in the hundreds, would seem to merit the death penalty under any reasonable interpretation of Bangladeshi law. Either the man is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt or he is not. And if he is, then a life sentence is absurd.
To the public, although there is no evidence for such a suggestion, the rancid stench of back-room deal-making and cold political calculus is in the air. They place the blame for the verdict squarely on the government’s shoulders.
Interestingly, the anger ignited by the verdict shows both that there is political life stirring among progressives and that the war crimes trials remain popular among the public. In the run up to the Mollah verdict, public and government anxiety all revolved around the Jamaat, who were flexing their muscles in clashes with the police and alarming displays of violence in support of their shut-downs around the country.
The Sunday Guardian for more
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)