Countering extremism needs more than just force

A woman leaves a floral arrangement on a roadblock leading to an upscale cafe in Dhaka on July 3, 2016 that was the site of a bloody siege. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

Radical outfits such as the so-called Islamic State and Al-Qaeda are exploiting digital communications and the Internet to push disaffected Bangladeshi Muslims into committing terrorist acts.

However, there are concerns that complacency is setting in nearly 14 months after a bloody Islamist siege at a cafe in the capital Dhaka.

Of the 20 people killed, nine were Italian, seven Japanese, one Indian and three Bangladeshi.

And of the five militants who carried out the attack, three hailed from affluent urban families and two came from poor rural backgrounds.

The cafe carnage followed several years' of deteriorating religious and cultural tolerance in Bangladesh.

Since 2013, there have been at least 25 targeted killings by radicals of atheist bloggers, liberal writers, academics, gay and lesbian activists, religious minorities and foreigners.

As with global jihadists, the dream of Bangladeshi militants is to establish an Islamic state.

Attacks, such as the one on the Dhaka cafe, aim to undermine the economy, create political instability and instill fear among liberal Muslims critical of radical Islam.

The government of Bangladesh, concerned the nation could face a Taliban-style insurgency akin to those in Afghanistan and Pakistan, killed 70 alleged militants in a crackdown that lasted until June.

The government ordered that "anti-militancy" sermons be delivered weekly in all mosques. And about 100,000 Islamic clerics issued a fatwa (Islamic ruling) denouncing militancy.

However, that initial energetic campaign to promote communal harmony waned.

Now the pace of anti-extremist action has slowed to mostly sporadic hunts for militants.

A danger is that radicals will make use of the hiatus to re-group and reappear.

Culture of denial still exists

During the past four years, Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Bangladesh have claimed responsibility for killings bloggers, writers, publishers and academics.

Radicals in the country professing allegiance to Islamic State, meanwhile, took credit for attacks on foreigners and religious minorities.

At the beginning, the government sought to portray violent acts as at least partly attributable to opposition political parties trying to 'destabilize' the government.

However, it subsequently conceded that the two main groups involved were Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and the revived militant outfit, Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB).

The first organization is said to be influenced by Al-Qaeda ideology while the JMB pledges allegiance to Islamic State.

Islamic State and Al-Qaeda don't need to set up bases in Bangladesh to launch attacks. In this digital age, they can influence others to carry out attacks in different parts of the world, including Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has more than eight million expatriate workers spread across the globe and many become radicalized while abroad.

Surprisingly, when militants launched deadly attacks on atheist bloggers and writers, the government rebuked the bloggers for their critical writings instead of protecting them.

This culture of denial still exists.

No holistic approach to counter-terrorism

Bangladesh has no national counter-terrorism strategy that involves 'all of government' and society.

This contrasts with the United States where, following a commission of inquiry into Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks of 2001, there was a major counter-terrorism overhaul. That included creation of a special agency, Homeland Security, to overcome rivalry between the FBI and the CIA.

The government of Bangladesh, though, has yet to adopt a highly coordinated approach, not overwhelmingly dependent on the use of force.

The Bangladeshi Mujahidin of Afghan War formed the first batch of Islamic militants in 1990s. A second batch arose from fleeing Taliban operatives after the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.   

Each time the government responded by using force: arresting and executing extremists. However, they have re-emerged in new forms and with new leaders. Networks were weakened, but not annihilated. 

Arguably, the most important step towards combating extremism is to present a 'counter ideology' to those individuals and groups that have already been radicalized. However, there is no such policy in place, even in prisons where radicals are held.

To combat the existential threat posed by militants, there needs to be an alliance between government and concerned sections of the society to develop and implement anti-terrorism policies.

Lack of political consensus

Major political parties — the ruling Awami League  and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — are "blood-feud" rivals unable to reach a consensus on important national issues. Even in the wake of the bloody cafe attack, no consensual counter-terrorism strategy was formulated.

The center-right BNP has traditionally had warm relations with some radical Islamist political parties. And the BNP came to power twice — in 1991 and 2001 — through alliances with what have been branded as "political Islamists."

Meanwhile, the avowedly secular Awami League has also been trying to appease radical groups in different ways, including through recognition of religious madrasa educational degrees and the 'Islamizing' of school textbooks.  

Cyber radicalism

More needs to be done to combat on-line propaganda, including through social media, by radical groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. Disgruntled and detached people, often young, can be too easily influenced to become violent.

Instead, in recent years, Bangladeshi authorities have targeted dissidents and government critics. Some on-line articles critical of aspects of religious practice, including Islam, have been removed. Dozens of bloggers, journalists and government critics have been harassed under the Information and Communication Technology Act.

After so much bloodshed, Bangladesh must look to countering extremism with a coordinated, multi-dimensional approach.

END

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Ending sexual violence against women requires major changes

Despite political strife, poverty and natural disasters, Bangladesh takes pride in having many women in top leadership positions, including the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.  

And Bangladesh is probably the only country in the Islamic world where more girls go to school than the boys.

A majority of the 4 million workers in the US$25 billion garment industry are women.

However, it is not all good news when it comes to female empowerment.

Many Bangladeshi women are routinely denied their rights, equality and justice.

Humiliation and denial of justice

A recent upsurge in rape, ongoing harassment of victims and denial of justice constitute the ugly side of what on many levels is still a male-dominated society.

Violence and sexual crimes against women can be met with apathy and vilification by members of the public and the state.

A recent rape case underscored the scale and gravity of the problem. In March, two young university students were allegedly raped by Shafaat Ahmed and two of his friends in a Dhaka hotel during Shafaat's birthday party. His driver and bodyguard allegedly held the women at gunpoint and filmed the entire incident.

Fearing the social stigma associated with rape, and claimed threats from the culprits, the women kept silent for weeks, but went to police when they could no longer bear the torment. 

Initially, police refused to register the case when the identities of the alleged rapists were revealed. Shafaat is the son of the owner of a top gold trading company, Apan Jewelers. It was only after a public outcry and street protests that police accepted charges and the accused men were arrested.

A clash of classes  

Even though in this case there was an angry public reaction to the rape, the names and photos of the victims were posted on social media, despite it being illegal to do so. Some people tried to portray the victims as "bad girls," who went to a night party wearing "revealing clothes." Even worse, they were accused of trying to extort money by filing the case.

Despite, reported confessions, doctors failed to establish forensic evidence, citing the time that had elapsed between the alleged attack and it being reported to police.

It now appears unlikely that the victims will get justice despite the trauma they have gone through.

Many police investigations and court procedures are so lengthy that poor victims compromise with offenders out of court, avoiding public humiliation.

Until 2010, rape investigations required victims to undergo a ridiculous "two-finger" medical test. To do the test, a doctor would put two fingers into female genitalia to determine whether the victim was "used to" sexual intercourse or not. It was nonsense because for a married woman, for example, the test might well be positive without having any bearing on whether she was raped or not.

The test was so humiliating that some women activists termed it "second rape." The controversial test was scrapped after a court verdict, and a series of objections from rights' groups.

Rape can be portrayed as a "loss of honor" for a girl or woman. In 2013, a schoolgirl, aged 14, was gang-raped over several days. The crime went unreported for weeks because the family tried to keep the girl in hiding to prevent it becoming widely known that she had lost her her virginity.

This girl recovered from the physical trauma after a period, but it seemed all but inevitable that she will face a lifelong social stigma.

Disturbing figures

Rights group Ain-O-Salish Kendra recorded 93 reported rapes, 21 attempted rapes and five cases of murder after rape from January to March, while the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association estimates 3,992 women were victims of rape between 2010 and 2014.  

Children are not spared. A total of 446 children were victims of rape and 48 were gang raped, while 21 were murdered after rape, according to the Bangladesh Child Rights Forum.

The rate of trials and punishment of rapists is very low.

Figures from the government-run One Stop Crisis Center, which provides medical, legal and police support for female victims of violence, show 4,361 rape cases were filed with police between 2001 and 2017, of which only 578 cases completed trials and in 68 cases offenders were punished.  

Most sexual and other forms of violence go unreported and justice is often denied. Attackers can wield immense social, political and financial influence.

Patriarchal society

In many rural families, a daughter is rarely considered equal to a boy and is often provided with fewer opportunities for education. She is taught not to go outside home alone and never after dusk.

In most cases, the parents of a girl choose a husband for her even if she is under 18 years of age or not wishing to marry. In Bangladesh, one in every three girls marries before 15, and 64 percent of girls get married before they reach 18, making them vulnerable to 'marital rape.'

Child marriage has been a major driving factor behind domestic and sexual violence in marriage. Instead of battling child marriage, the government this year amended the child marriage law, to allow marriage of girls under 18 in "special circumstances" like rape and teen pregnancy. In other words, it legalizes child marriage and even sexual violence such as rape.

Many men, by virtue of marriage, believe that they have unlimited access to their wife's body. Yet, sexual violence or rape in marriage is not considered an offense and is hardly ever talked about.

Often violence against women is seen as a correcting tool. People think a woman was abused because she had done something wrong. Many conclude that a woman was raped because she dared to move about alone or wore "revealing clothes," thus inviting the rape.

In order to eliminate violence against women, especially sexual violence and rape, Bangladesh needs to implement major change.

It must start from the family, with both boys and girls having equal rights and opportunities. Families need to teach their sons to respect women, instead of telling girls what to wear or restricting their movements.

When a woman faces violence, people need to stand up to ensure justice for her, instead taking the side of the culprit.

The state needs to realize rape is no petty crime, but a serious human rights violation. It needs to empower law enforcement agencies and the judiciary further, so that no sexual offender is spared or allowed to repeat their crime.

A humane society is possible only if women have equal rights and are protected from all forms of violence.

END

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Bullying Bangladesh govt clamping down on free speech

Bangladeshi activists shout slogans as they march in the street protesting the deaths of secular publishers and bloggers, in Dhaka, in this file photo. (Photo by Munir uz Zaman/AFP)

The Arab crisis surrounding Qatar and the demands by the Saudi Arabia-led campaign to shut down its influential Al-Jazeera news agency shines a light on the growing threats against freedom of speech in the region.

David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, described the demand as a "blow to media pluralism" in a recent statement.

As media freedom continues to plummet in the wake of populist, authoritarian leaders in Europe and America, such as Donald Trump, Digital Content Next, an influential media alliance that includes the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times and Washington Post, has unequivocally leaped to the defense of Al-Jazeera.

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, a war is raging, both covertly and publicly, against free speech despite the constitution ensuring its people freedom of expression.

Attacks on media and freethinking

Increasingly arbitrary restrictions have been placed on media and written works in Bangladesh by each regime since it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971. The current austere regulations imposed by the ruling Awami League, the party that led the struggles for independence and has been in power since 2008, has surpassed those of its predecessors.

The government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power after a controversial election on Jan. 5, 2014 boycotted by the major opposition parties. The absence of an effective political opposition has allowed the increasingly authoritarian rulers to adopt a policy of muzzling dissent.

The state apparatus has forced several newspapers and online sites to shut down or curtail their operations, pulled the plug on two television stations, while half a dozen prominent journalists are being hounded with criminal charges.

According to Ain-O-Salish Kendra, a Dhaka-based rights organization, 117 journalists experienced abuse and harassment in 2016, including nine at the hands of government forces and 20 who faced police charges.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, says 21 journalists have been killed since 1992, including 16 with impunity. Horrific murders of seven secular bloggers by Islamic militants since 2013 add to the tally of egregious acts.

The combined onslaught of restrictions and attacks on freedom of speech mean Bangladesh has scored very poorly in a 2017 report by Freedom House, a U.S.-based democracy and media freedom monitor, with the status "not free" attributed to the South Asian state.

Aside from infrequent and ineffective public protests by rights groups such as Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, journalists and freethinkers in Bangladesh have no good friends to defend or protect them.

Muzzling dissent and intimidation

Last year, Mahfuz Anam, editor of leading Bangladeshi English newspaper the Daily Star, came under fire from the government after he conceded in a TV interview he had published unsubstantiated reports of corruption fed by the military intelligence agency during an army-backed state of emergency, 2007-2008.

Prime Minister Hasina called for Anam's resignation, while her son called for his prosecution for treason. This encouraged Awami League activists to file 62 criminal defamation and 17 sedition cases against Anam in 53 courts across the country. The lawsuits altogether totaled over US$8 billion.

Anam was forced to move across the country to secure bail orders before the High Court ruled against the court cases.

Matiur Rahman, editor of Prothom Alo (First Light), Bangladesh's highest-selling Bengali daily, and journalists associated with the paper are currently facing court charges for criminal defamation and "hurting religious sentiments."

Many believe the ire against the country's top two newspapers is payback for criticizing the government for failing to hold free and fair elections in 2014. The two papers have experienced significant financial setbacks thanks to the government wrath.

In August 2015, the military intelligence agency reportedly ordered some 20 large companies not to advertise in the Daily Star or Prothom Alo. The ban was allegedly triggered by their respective reports on the killings of five men in the restive Chittagong Hill Tracts. They labeled the slain as "indigenous peoples" rather than "terrorists," as the army officials would have preferred.

Overnight, the papers lost 30 percent of their advertising income, putting their very existence at stake. The government and military have denied allegations of the ban order, but it continues today.

The government's actions have clearly sent a chill down the spines of the media establishment. None of their peers have dared to report on the unwritten and unlawful ban. A senior correspondent at the Daily Star recently claimed in a private meeting that the paper's reporters are "unofficially banned" from attending events with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Abuse of restrictive, ambiguous laws

Bangladesh has a British colonial-era 1898 code of criminal procedure in which articles 295-298 rule that anyone who offends the religious sentiment of its citizens be punished.

This law doesn't provide any clear-cut definition of religious sentiment, nor how religious sentiment can be hurt. Clearly however, it is widely abused by the state and non-state actors, including Islamic radicals, against journalists and so-called atheist bloggers to intimidate them and to force them from writing on radicalism and any cohesion between politics and religion.

Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act 2013 has made it the most draconian law against freedom of speech in Bangladesh's modern history. The law makes it illegal to publish any material over the internet that would "deteriorate law and order," prejudice the image of the state or an individual or defame religion. It gives police the powers to make an arrest without a warrant, with a maximum sentencing of 14 years' jail time and a fine of 1 million taka (US$12,288).

This law has been used to harass journalists, bloggers, writers and publishers in recent years. In 2015, a disabled journalist was arrested for reporting on Hindu property-grabbing by a Muslim government minister, while four bloggers were arrested for "hurting religious sentiment."

Amid the criticism at home and abroad, the government recently decided to drop Section 57 of the ICT law. Now, activists and critics have been alarmed with the forthcoming Digital Security Act, where this repressive law is poised to make comeback in a reworded format.

Last year, the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act 2016 was passed equivocally. It allows the NGO Bureau — a state body under the Prime Minister's Office — to suspend registration or to close an organization down if it makes any "derogatory" remarks about the constitution or "constitutional bodies," which includes the parliament, the election commission, the comptroller and auditor general, the attorney general's office, the public service commission and the judiciary.

Critics say the law is aimed at silencing outspoken non-government agencies that press government to check on corruption, to ensure good governance and human rights.

While Islamic militants targeted secular bloggers and writers for their criticisms of religious malpractices, especially of Islam, the government didn't stand beside them. Instead, the prime minister and police chief publicly admonished the writers for crossing a line.

Amidst a dark atmosphere and death threats, more than a dozen bloggers and freethinkers have fled the country and settled in Europe and America. Those who couldn't leave have employed self-censorship in their writings and continue to maintain a low profile.

A blow to democracy and development

Bangladesh had endured 15 years of military rule before 1990. Yet, the country made significant strides in socio-economic development over recent decades, including almost self-sufficient food production, poverty reduction, lowering maternal and infant mortality, and almost 100 percent primary school enrollment.

A big credit for these advancements goes to a vibrant media, the tireless activities of development groups and critical appraisal by civil society groups. Despite the dirty-rotten, blood-feuding politics between the two major political parties, the fledgling democracy has thrived thanks to public support for free speech and media freedom.

Thus, the growing threat to free speech, from both the state and non-state actors, undermines Bangladesh's democratization and development progress. Bangladesh needs to wake up and the international community must act on restoring free speech before it's too late.

END

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Indigenous peoples struggle for survival in Bangladesh

An indigenous Garo girl lights a candle in Dhaka, Aug. 8, 2016, to mark the International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples. (ucanews.com photo)

Two disastrous events in the past month have once again highlighted the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in Bangladesh.

On June 2, a Bengali Muslim mob, enraged by the alleged murder of a local politician by indigenous men, attacked their villages at Rangamati district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The violence reportedly left seven villagers killed, dozens injured and 300 houses destroyed, with police confirming two deaths. Among some 300 accused, only a dozen attackers were detained.

The ridiculous failure to protect indigenous peoples from violence is a prime example of state negligence toward them.

Two weeks later, deadly landslides hit southeast Bangladesh, badly affecting the Chittagong Hill Tracts in particular. Over 160 were killed, dozens injured and thousands lost their homes. Most of the victims were poor indigenous people.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. Just days before, Cyclone Mora had lashed its wild tail, causing massive deforestation and cutting off the hills from Bengali Muslim settlers. The fatalities surpassed the 2007 landslide that killed 127 when it struck the same region.

The goodwill, support and sympathy from government agencies, rights groups, environmentalists and media in the wake of the communal violence and landslides will soon run out until another disaster strikes again. Hope for justice and remedy in those cases will soon blow up in smoke. After all, indigenous people in Bangladesh have a long history of political, economic and social discrimination at the hands of the state and mainstream Bengali society.

The forgotten people

In 1971, when Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan, the political leadership was obsessed with Bengali nationalism that helped propel the independence movement and engender war. Thus, in the first constitution of 1972, the new nation accepted religious pluralism but denied ethnic and cultural diversity. The ethnic minorities were forgotten in the charter, despite the fact that many of them fought against the Pakistan army side by side with Bengalis and took the brunt of the violence.

Nearly half of these ethnic communities live in the plain lands in the north, south and coastal regions, while others live in three hill districts: Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari, otherwise known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Until the 1991 national census, they were completely disregarded.

Even in the most recent 2001 census, they were erroneously enumerated. The government calculated between 1.5 and 2 million people, belonging to 25 small ethnic groups, as part of Bangladesh's population of 160 million. 

Indigenous leaders claim the number of groups is 45. However, independent researchers estimate the figure to be as high as 90 groups contributing a much larger population of 3 million. 

A struggle for recognition

The unique ways of life, cultures, traditions and heritage of the ethnic groups are extremely valuable to Bangladesh's history and multi-cultural identity, but they face increasing threats against their survival and struggle for recognition.

Constitutionally unrecognized, they are driven toward the edges and made to feel destitute. Forced to abandon their ancestral homes, they long for the forests that have been cleared and their lands that have been grabbed by Bengali people. This has led to a dislocation from their land, culture and history and a forced migration to the towns and cities in search of work. Bengali society has imposed its lifestyle and identity on them.

In 2010, at the time a constitutional amendment to citizenship identity was proposed, indigenous leaders appealed to the government to recognize them as "indigenous peoples," only to be rejected. Instead, they were given the new identity of "small ethnic groups" in the Small Ethnic Groups Cultural Institutes Act of 2010 leaving their identity in obscurity.

Our constitution guarantees equal rights to all people irrespective of race, caste, creed and religion but does not recognize non-Bengali ethnic minorities as distinct cultural groups.

The charter recognizes Bangladesh as an ethnically and culturally homogeneous nation of Bengali people whose national language is Bangla or Bengali. It calls for "establishing a uniform, mass-oriented system of education" which undermines the struggle of ethnic groups for protection of their culture and language from hegemony of Bengali language and culture.

Bangladesh is a signatory of the International Labor Organization's Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Populations (No. 107), but it has not ratified the Convention of Biological Diversity (No. 169) that contains more-detailed protective measures for indigenous peoples.

This country is governed by a strong, anti-indigenous nexus of ruling elite, bureaucrats, political parties, ultra-nationalists and bigots. They continuously put barriers up against the recognition, development and empowerment of indigenous peoples.

"No indigenous peoples"

The United Nations declared 1994-2004 as the First International Decade for the World's Indigenous Peoples and 2005-2014 as the Second International Decade for World's Indigenous Peoples. Annually, Aug. 9 has been designated as the International Day for the World's Indigenous Peoples.

This international day has never been officially celebrated in Bangladesh and the government perpetually discourages private celebrations. Political leaders, ministers and government officials claim there are "no indigenous peoples" citing historic references that say there were "no such groups" in this land before the 17th century.

The statement is based on a misguided interpretation of the label of indigenous.

The United Nations defines indigenous peoples as those "practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live."

Yet, our ethnic minorities still struggle for official recognition. Moreover, Bengali society often taunts them with the term "tribal" that they deem derogatory.

Time and again, ethnic groups such as the Garos of the Modhupur forests, the Santals in the north and Khasis in the northeast have faced threats of eviction, torture and even death over land disputes. Hamstrung by their lifestyles, indigenous people live modestly, are illiterate and ignorant of state economic or political processes. Many of them have lived on ancestral lands for decades but don't possess documentation for land rights. This helps to explain why they are susceptible to fraud and forgery, and have progressively lost their lands.

A double minority

The Chittagong Hill Tracts make up the country's only mountainous region, which borders India and Myanmar and is home to some 25 ethnic groups. The majority are Buddhists but there some are Christians.

Outside the Chittagong Hill Tracts, indigenous peoples don't typically have political parties. Where they do, they are often engaged in in-fighting and rivalry, which prevents them from truly safe-guarding their communities.

Ultimately, the fringe communities are politically marginalized, insecure and under-represented, seriously limiting their access to socio-economic development.  

The indigenous peoples are mostly non-Muslims—Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and ancient religions — making them a double minority. Some ethnic groups such as Garo, Khasis, Santal and Tripura, are largely Christian. Four out of the country's eight Catholic dioceses are predominantly indigenous.

Often the Catholic Church stands beside the indigenous people to protect their lives, livelihood and culture. Thus, the church also faces the ire of the state machinery and opportunist Muslims. In 1967, Archbishop Lawrence Granner of Dhaka was forced to leave the country after he strongly criticized state-sponsored communal riots against indigenous peoples.

In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Islamic radicals sometimes accuse the church and church groups of acting as agents of foreign countries and fueling unrest to secede the region to create an independent country. Fearing backlash, the church works with indigenous people silently, sometimes compromising the interests of the people to save them from the threats of Bengali Muslims.

In general, indigenous peoples are poor, have little access to resources, are progressively losing their lands and properties, and continuously face social, political, cultural exploitation, discrimination and harassment. Constitutional and legal protections should be applied to help uplift them from their current struggle for survival. Support from aid agencies and civil society groups also play a vital role for their development and empowerment.

At a minimum, indigenous peoples deserve to be recognized as equal citizens to their fellow Bengali countrymen and given their entitlements to rights so they may prosper as equal human beings.

END

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The unforgiving legacy of Rana Plaza

A memorial in front of the empty plot where Rana Plaza once stood in Savar, near Dhaka in this 2015 file photo. (ucanews.com photo)

Four years is not enough time to get over the ramifications of one of the worst industrial disasters in world, the Rana Plaza collapse, which killed 1,136 workers and injured over 2,000.

So, on April 24, all major national and international media outlets ran stories to remember the accident that shocked the world; workers and activists rallied to pay tribute to the dead and injured victims; while rights and advocacy groups released statements issuing stark warnings to the government, international brands and factory owners to avoid such a tragedy in future.

Reportedly, apparel industry groups, brands and unions have reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring long-term reform in the Bangladesh garment industry.   

There was a prevailing sense of grief, guilt and loss across the events but it was not felt by everyone. 

The government deployed hundreds of riot police, armed with batons and water canons at a memorial ground at Savar, near Dhaka where Rana Plaza once stood. Police did not allow a group of protesters to hold rally although they were simply demanding compensation and justice for victims, and fair wages and rights for garment workers.

Siddiqur Rahman, the president of country's most powerful trade body the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) claimed that owners of five Rana Plaza factories were not responsible for the disaster but only Sohel Rana, the owner of the ill-fated complex.   

Ironically, he made this comment while visiting a graveyard in Dhaka where some 311 unidentified Rana Plaza victims were buried.

It seems his visit was simply a courtesy call but like most garment factory owners he was apathetic to the plight of workers even after such a massive disaster.

Fatal accidents are nothing new in Bangladesh's US$25 billion garment industry, the second largest in the world after China. It supplies clothes to Europe and the Americas and counts for 80% of Bangladesh's annual exports.

The Rana Plaza disaster was not a bolt from the blue. It was a culmination of grim, atrocious irregularities and malpractices in the industry that employs some 4 million workers, mostly poor rural women. 

It came about six months after Tazreen Factory blaze that killed 112 workers. Altogether, over 2,000 workers have died in various accidents in the industry in the past two decades, occurring on average two to four times per month.

These accidents were not only a fault of greedy profiteers but were a product of the collective negligence and apathy of all who are directly or indirectly involved with the industry and benefit from it.

So, the Rana Plaza collapse brought collective shame on all, not only Bangladeshis but across the globe, sparking an unprecedented national and global outcry for long overdue safety reforms and worker's rights.

The accident was heavy to swallow for most governments and companies, forcing them to pay heed to the call for real change and accountability in the industry. Four years on, the industry has seen a push for major changes.

The government has raised the minimum wage of workers about 76 percent, from US$37 to US$68 per month, although it is still among the lowest monthly wages in the world.

Two bodies of Western brands: the European-dominated Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the American-backed Bangladesh Alliance for Worker Safety have invested millions of dollars in two separate five-year deals to conduct safety inspections and implement a corrective action plan in over 2,000 source factories. The Bangladesh government and the International Labor Organization have been inspecting the remaining factories.

The actions have yielded fruits, as there have been no major accidents in garment factories or casualties since Rana Plaza.

Amid pressure from international trade unions and governments, including the suspension of trade privileges in the U.S. for Bangladesh, the government amended the labor law to allow workers to unionize. Hundreds of trade unions have been formed and workers are more vocal about their rights than ever.

In Bangladesh, garment factory owners wield immense political and financial clout. In the present parliament, 60 percent of parliamentarians are businessmen and at least 30 percent own garment factories.

Before Rana Plaza, labor law was friendlier to owners and no owner was held accountable for previous accidents. But now, both owners of Tazreen and Rana Plaza are facing trial, although justice is elusive.

These are all strong, positive signs for major changes. But there is little reason to be cheerful, because it's just one side of the coin.

After the Rana Plaza collapse, the government and the BGMEA raised about US$20 billion in compensation for the victims, while the ILO created Rana Plaza Trust Fund of US$30 million with donations from international brands sourcing clothes from Bangladesh. However, to date none of the victim families have received the full amount of US$1,250 in cash and US$19,000 in saving as promised.

A recent report from non-government organization ActionAid Bangladesh shows 42 percent injured victims of Rana Plaza are still unemployed as they are physically and psychologically unfit to work and they never received compensation or rehabilitation.

Most of them are still traumatized to work in garment factories due to their horrific experience, trapped under concrete rubble before being pulled out alive. No concerted effort has been taken to address their problems through psychological counseling.  

The minimum monthly wage was raised to US$68 but high inflation and a price hike on daily essentials have lessened workers' purchasing capacity. So, workers' living standards have actually gone down as they cannot afford good housing, nutritious foods or even school for their children.

The abuse and ill treatment of workers has not stopped either. This was vividly illustrated in December 2016 when factory owners dismissed some 1,500 workers in Dhaka after they took part in demonstrations for a wage hike. The owners collaborated with police to charge hundreds of workers with false cases, jailing and torturing them in custody.

Workers are free to form trade unions but many are reluctant as owners threaten them with termination and pay officials to root out unionists to be fired.

The labor law provisions labor courts to resolve any dispute, but in reality poor and powerless workers do not have the money and time to fight legal battles. It provisions US$1,250 in compensation from a factory owner if a worker dies or is injured in a workplace accident. No sane person would agree to that amount for a lost life. There have been debates between labor groups, owners and the government to fix a lifetime compensation package but nothing worked out in the end.

While Accord, Alliance and ILO are checking for safety upgrades in large factories there is a vast underworld of smaller factories operated by subcontractors that continue business in shoddy apartments, basements, rooftops and shops, where workers sew clothes under immense pressure from abusive bosses. These factories are largely out of touch and devoid of any kind of inspection, keeping the door open for disasters.

Labor leaders are concerned about what will happen after the five-year safety upgrade ends. Will there be constant vigilance and monitoring? There is no such indication or commitment so far.      

On the legal side, two cases filed after the accident are in limbo. The police, in 2016, charged 41 people including the Rana Plaza owner, factory bosses and government officials for murder and negligence.

While Rana remains in jail, 16 others are freed on bail and the rest are at large. The trial procedure has yet to start as the government is still trying to save officials accused in the cases, citing they were simply monitors of inspection and safety, not direct accomplices in the incident. So, it's highly unlikely that justice will be done.

Global brands are also failing to keep promises as well.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said only 29 out of 72 global apparel and footwear companies contacted were disclosing information about their source factories, failing to comply with a transparency pledge endorsed by a coalition of labor and rights organizations.

The scar of Rana Plaza will continue to haunt Bangladeshi workers unless real changes take place.

Rana Plaza could go down in history as a catalyst for change and reform in the Bangladesh garment industry. If not, the unforgiving legacy of the disaster will continue to remind us we have failed as collective humanity to pay back the innocent victims, who truly deserve to be remembered as lives, not merely numbers.

END

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Bangladesh's slow-burning death

In recent times, Bangladesh has made global headlines for mostly the wrong reasons. Typically, it is for the lethal rise of Islamic terrorism, which has claimed the lives of 46 people since 2013.

The number might seem small in a Muslim-majority country of some 160 million people. However, it is not just random killing, but a meticulous campaign carried out by Islamists to establish Bangladesh as an Islamic state.  

Their targets came from different groups but all were considered obstacles in their campaign — atheist bloggers and publishers, liberal intellectuals and academics, LGBT activists, Muslim Shia and Ahmadis, religious minorities (including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists) and last, but not least, foreigners.

For decades since independence from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh was considered a perpetual basket case, struggling to survive an onslaught of climate change, overpopulation, endemic poverty and hunger, corruption and political unrest.

Yet the nation prided itself as the only country in the Islamic world to have 'secularism' as a fundamental principle in its Constitution, alongside nationalism, democracy and socialism. This despite the fact Islam is constitutionally the state religion; a legacy of the politically motivated tampering of the charter under military rule.

Although secularism denotes 'anti-religion' in the West, in Bangladesh it has been associated with religious harmony and respect for all faiths. Throughout the history of Bengal, religious harmony and unity were major traditions.

So, during the independence war in 1971, Bangladeshi freedom fighters fought for a country that would be based on secular Bengali identity, in stark contrast to the orthodox Islamic identity of Pakistan.

The birth of Bangladesh at the end of the war was a victory for secular, liberal and progressive values against religious extremism and bigotry. But Bangladesh has failed to keep up with the great ideals and values it was born with.

Today's Bangladesh is more intolerant than ever and it hasn't happened out of the blue. The nation has seen a revival of Islamic radicalism and politics. The principle of 'secularism' has been replaced with 'Absolute trust in almighty Allah.'

After military rule, the center-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and center-left Awami League exchanged power, but neither dared to change Islam as the state religion.

Since its founding in 1978 by military ruler Ziaur Rahman, the BNP has always leaned towards right-wing Islamists. Some of its leaders have been accused of backing militants and collaborating with fundamentalists to abuse minorities.

Over time, the BNP played the religion card to consolidate support in an increasingly conservative population, forcing the Awami League to play defense.

Things got worse when the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami started to collaborate more closely with the BNP. This awful pairing allowed for the rise of Islamist terrorist groups, which killed top Awami League leaders and scores of civilians.

The nominally secular ruling Awami League, which prides itself on being a secular party, has not been actively involved with Islamists. But it has been accused of appeasing Islamists by rebuking atheist writers and publishers, as well as censoring books critical of religion, especially Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

The government didn't provide any security for popular atheist and liberal writers amidst death threats. As a result, more than a dozen atheist writers and publishers have fled the country and settled in Europe or America.

This year, the government has come under fire for attempting to 'Islamize' school textbooks, by removing the writings of popular, non-Muslim writers. This change was due to pressure from Hefazat-e-Islam, the country's largest hard-line Islamic group.

Although, the government decided to reverse the changes after a public outcry, it shows what deep sway the Islamists hold in this country.

Recently, the Islamists demanded the government remove the statue of the Greek goddess Themis, a symbol of justice and fairness, from the Supreme Court premises. For years, they have called for blasphemy laws like that of Pakistan and also objected against a highly-qualified judge chief justice because he is Hindu.

In a telltale example of growing intolerance, Islamist zealots destroyed some 10 Hindu temples and several homes in Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria district on Oct. 30, after a fake Facebook post degraded Islam.

A week later, the largely Christian tribal Santal people came under deadly attack by politically influential land grabbers.

In both cases, the administration, law enforcement and ruling party activists not only sympathized with the attackers, but were complicit in the mayhem.

Despite significant coverage in the media, politicians and an indifferent civil society did little to stand with the victims.   

We have self-serving political elites and a largely indifferent liberal class who continue to turn a blind eye, paving the way for intolerance to be institutionalized, and threatening secular culture.

And there are other significant reasons too. Foreign influence is a major cause. During military regimes, dictators courted Islamists in order to legitimize their undemocratic power grab, while states like Saudi Arabia poured money to build fundamentalist mosques and madrasas across Bangladesh. Allegedly, Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) has secretly funneled funds to support Islamist politicians and its allies.

Salvaging secularism and tolerance in Bangladesh amidst the marauding threat of Islamism is an uphill battle, both politically and culturally. It's a battle for the soul of the nation.

Throughout history, Bengali people have insisted on their identity being based on secular cultures and traditions. Now the tide seems turning around.

In the coming days, Bangladeshi people will have to decide whether they will stick to the principles of secular democracy or die and be reborn as an Islamist theocracy.

END

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