Never a distant memory

SHAHID ALAM

There are remembrances, and then there are remembrances. Ekushey February falls under the category of “…and then there are remembrances”. As does the occasion being observed this day. Martyred Intellectuals Day might not have the awe or the significance of, say, Ekushey February, but it has its own special meaning that should inspire future generations of Bangladeshis, not just the intellectuals, but anyone with a conscience, steadfast belief in moral principles, and willingness to sacrifice for those principles. In this age, when seemingly each day of the year has been designated as one-or-the-other international something, or special occasion, it becomes difficult to keep track of all the occasions designated to remember memorable events exclusively relevant in the context of Bangladesh. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that some days are observed with more solemnity or fanfare, as the case may be, than the others.

Ekushey February, for instance, is observed with both great fanfare and proper solemnity, and not many will disagree that it should be paid such homage. After all, 21 February, 1952 and the events leading up to it engendered feelings of nationalism among the Bengalis that gradually snowballed into an intense expression for a separate homeland that culminated in the creation of a sovereign independent Bangladesh. Martyred Intellectuals Day is commemorated to remember and honour those intellectuals who sacrificed themselves or, more appropriately, were sacrificed, for the cause of turning Bangladesh into a reality from a dream and a hope. This breed constitutes a wide spectrum, ranging from university teachers to doctors, media persons, engineers, writers, artists, musicians, and such others who rely on their intellect, creativity and skill to serve the nation. There might be quibbling over who constitutes the intellectuals, if the list given is too broad or too narrow, but there can be no equivocation on their right to be included in the hallowed company of martyrs.

Of course, as the well-informed know, not all the intellectuals were put to death on 14 December 1971. Many, in fact, were killed in the first few days of the Pakistani military operation that began on 25 March 1971. Again, not all the intellectuals were political activists; most, in fact, were what I choose to call (probably as an oxymoron) “passive-activists” and/or conscientious objectors, and a very few were political neutrals. But they had the courage of their convictions. In those days of political turmoil and passion boiling over, they embodied the hackneyed phrase “conscience of the nation”. In fact, what they did, by their deed and dignity, was to have a positive psychological impact on the people, of offering them hope when things look grim, or when they needed something reassuring to hold on to while carrying their mission forward, or just creating at least an illusion of hope in the most despondent. The intangibles in their action are impossible to quantify or place a true value on because they were, in a sense, priceless. These are the major reasons why they were targeted for elimination. And, lest one forgets, they were systematically targeted.

The Pakistani military, as documents will attest, truly believed that the intellectuals in general, along with the Bengali politicians, instigated the sense of nationalism and also of an independent country among the Bengalis. Crucially, its estimation was based on their contribution along those lines well before 1971. In 1971 the army got the opportunity to exact vengeance on them. There is a school of thought which believes that the intellectuals, especially those murdered at the fag end of the Liberation War, were killed in order to deny the impending new nation-state of Bangladesh of the services of these intellectuals. I am not sure if that, indeed, was what drove the killers to carry out the murders, although it could well be a contributory incentive. I am rather inclined to believe that the killings were well-thought-out beforehand as a part of the military's plan to eliminate those they thought had the most profound impact on the growth of nationalism and, then, the clamour for independence, among the Bengalis.

The very fact that, as I strongly suspect, the intellectuals had long been made the target of the military attests to their role in the struggle for independence of their country. Not all the murdered intellectuals were the premier intellectuals of the country at that time; only a few were among the top echelon of their peers. And, from a practical standpoint, their loss, while grave, did not leave a permanent dent in the intellectual orbit of Bangladesh. Neither could one realistically expect that to happen. A good number of intellectuals, several from among the leading luminaries of the group, survived the Liberation War and were on hand to help out the new nation-state of Bangladesh, and as the country found its feet and more and more educated people joined the workforce, the pool of intellectuals has gone up. Again, following the law of averages, some of the post-1971 intellectuals are superior in ability and achievement than the rest of their peers, and not a few have been surpassing, at least equal to those of the pre-1971 period, if not better. That is encouraging for Bangladesh, because a nation cannot rest on the laurels of the past in order to take forward a nation's achievement in the future.

However, those of the past, especially those having been involved in some significant happenings or activities, ought not to be forgotten. Like the martyred intellectuals. And there is one very significant factor that distinguishes them from many of their post-1971 successors to the high designation of “intellectual”. Of course, it is a rather risky exercise to conclusively predict the future based on the past, keeping in view the onset of new outlook on life, values, environment, and a host of other sociological factors. So one cannot say with absolute certainty that the martyred intellectuals would not have shifted position. But they are frozen in time. And several of their contemporaries have shifted position. I am talking about sticking to an ideal, of taking the high moral ground.

Before 1971, the intellectuals admittedly had one huge advantage over their succeeding generations. The political culture of the country was way superior to what has been obtaining over the last twenty five years or so. The martyred intellectuals followed an ideal irrespective of their political inclinations. And, it must be emphasized, they were not uniform in their political thinking. But they did not allow their political differences to make them self-divisive in the pursuit of a dream/ideal/passion, whatever one might wish to call it. Again, to underscore the point, a few of them were actually inclined towards the government party. In short, they did not allow their political differences to come in the way of a shared ideal. And, consequently, they were sent prematurely to their graves in their quest for that ideal.

Now times have changed and, to reiterate, the political culture has been going from bad to worse. And, it is in this context that many of today's intellectuals do not measure up to the martyred ones. Political culture is now marked by virulent partisanship, intolerance of opposing view points, unseemly political gamesmanship, abuse of the principal institutions of the state, high corruption, and disbursement of favours and sweeteners to party loyalists. The distressing factor is that so many intellectuals have joined the bandwagon that reflects that political culture. They pursue the putative rewards of political partisanship with the same zeal as any other. They have lost the moral high ground, of being perceived as the conscience of the nation, in the process. Not all the people of the country observe Martyred Intellectuals Day with the wide participation and zeal as, say, Ekushey February. But that is to be expected. The martyred intellectuals would naturally be a rather more exclusive breed who, more than ever, needs to be looked up for drawing inspiration from their high idealism and moral high ground.

The writer is Head, Media and Communication department, Independent University, Bangladesh.