Phone Call With My Mother

Today, after three months, the military government finally allowed me and my sister to speak with my mother. Of course, the call was limited to five minutes and was monitered by the government. Still, it was good to speak to her after all this time.

She is in good spirit, keeping herself busy reading and writing. Even though she is under arrest she was most concerned about us. I never knew this until now, but she told me that it was a dream of hers that I go to Harvard. Of course, I decided to take a different route when I was younger. After all these years, circumstance and luck have brought things full circle. Life is full of surprises.

In the meanwhile, our so called "civil society" members here in the US have been arguing that this regime is cleaning out corruption, reforming the country and fighting terrorism. Here is what I have to say to this.

Approximately 250,000 people have been arrested so far and an unknown number are still detained. There have only been 200 or so trials to date. How has this regime determined that the rest of the detainees are guilty? After all, they have not been tried. These people are being presumed guilty and the onus is on them is to prove their innocence in order to obtain their freedom. This is an egregious violation of human rights and due process.

So my question to the "civil society" members supporting these arrests is this. If someday someone claims you committed a crime, it would be O.K. if the police arrested you first and held you for months until your trial?

Our “civil society” has also claimed that this government has saved us from terrorism. However, under this regime the fundamentalist parties, particularly Jamaat-e-Islami, have enjoyed complete immunity in spite of evidence of terrorism and corruption against them. What does our “civil society” have to say about this? This directly contradicts their claim of this regime fighting terrorism.

As for this regime fighting corruption, some of the most corrupt politicians from both the major parties remain immune from prosecution. Even more so, these corrupt politicians are being actively supported by this regime in trying to break up the two parties and form new ones. This regime has made absolutely no secrets about this. So how is this fighting corruption?

It’s this hypocrisy that amazes me. Integrity and principles are absolutes. You cannot pick and choose. Those who are willing to compromise some principles are more than willing to compromise other principles given the opportunity.

After all, many of the politicians that have turned corrupt weren’t always that way. They were just willing to compromise their principles a little bit. When the opportunity arose to gain by compromising their principles further, they simply didn’t hesitate. That is why the people who support the illegal acts of this regime are no better than the corrupt politicians themselves.

To all Bangladeshis with integrity, thank you for not compromising your principles. I urge you all to speak out. Hold this regime accountable.