Round The World
New Delhi, 15
September 2015
Rising Intolerance
In Sub-continent
DEMOCRACY UNDER
SERIOUS THREAT
By Amrita Banerjee
School of
International Studies, JNU, New Delhi
The recent killing of two
journalists in Pakistan, the assertion of living in constant fear by
Bangladesh’s 22-year-old blogger Shammi Haque after four of her colleagues were
hacked to death by suspected Islamists and the brutal murder of renowned
scholar MM Kalbargi herein have sent shock waves across the sub-continent and raised
a question: Are we as nations becoming more and more intolerant day by day?
Remember,
the essence of democracy was lucidly summed up by Voltaire, ‘I disapprove of
what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it.’ Arguably, free
speech is too important to be restricted; however it might be used and abused.
It is a test of any free society that we allow open debate and freedom of thought
which we disagree with or even detest.
But
today with increasing attack on writers, rationalists, free thinkers and
secular bloggers, it seems as if the freedom to think what one likes and say
what one thinks has become another empty ritual to which we just pay lip
service.
Take
Bangladesh.
Constitutionally, a secular nation, it has witnessed a series of attacks on
outspoken rationalist writers in the last two years. A blogger was hacked to
death on 5 February 2013; only a week after the movement against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists
who were allegedly behind the genocide, rapes and arson attacks during the Independence conflict was
launched.
In
the first eight months this year, four more bloggers were killed in similar
attacks while a female blogger continues to live in perennial dread after she
received numerous threats of rape and death.
Unfortunately,
all the four bloggers were associated with the Ganajagaran Mancho, which forced
the Sheikh Hasina Government to crackdown on Jamaat-e-Islami by demanding capital punishment for 1971 war
criminals.
In
Dhaka, media freedom has always been under
threat but surely the religious opposition to free-thinking remains the most
serious challenge, leading many to leave the country forever. Writer Taslima
Nasreen has been living in exile for decades and is scared of the radicals back
home.
Pertinently,
one needs to recall why Bangladesh
was formed in the first place. Ironically, its liberation from Pakistan in
1971 was an act of defiance to preserve political and cultural rights which the
so-called Islamic Republic of Pakistan was trying to suppress by imposing Urdu
and not recognizing Bengali. Sadly, today in spite of a secular Constitution, the
country seems to be following what it left behind in 1971: Pakistan.
Notably, the al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility, for
the killing of secular bloggers in Bangladesh whom it described as
'blasphemers'. Equally worrisome, is that there are other softer versions of Islamism that are rising
in Dhaka. For instance, the Tablighi Jamaat and another radical group Ansar Bangla Team have
also found major traction in society.
Under
pressure from these groups, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina even reacted by
arresting some atheist bloggers to appease these extremist elements sending a
chilling message that those who hold independent views are in grave danger.
Since then, writers and bloggers with free thinking views have been harassed,
threatened, and killed.
Significantly,
the situation is no different in Pakistan. The shooting of two
journalists in Karachi within 24 hours last week
brings back bitter memories of last year’s incident in North
Nazimabad area when two Express media groups were gunned down
while sitting inside their news van. One of Geo TV’s leading anchor Hamid Mir
was also attacked in Karachi
last year.
The
story of Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban in Swat Pakistan for
wanting to go to school, is famous world-wide. Indeed, it is tragic that
Pakistani courts seldom punish attackers and the master-minds are never
apprehended or brought to book.
Undeniably, these brutal
and cowardly murders are a reflection of embedded intolerance in many Muslim
societies and are a reminder that it is not easy to profess atheism when you
belong to a Muslim country. True, one can disagree with the approach some
atheists take in matters of faith, but it is utterly disconcerting to note that
the space for such ideas is shrinking in Islamic nations.
Today, systemic
intolerance and human rights abuses against all minorities; Hindus, Christians,
and Buddhists as well as secular Muslims and women are on the rise. Religious
extremist groups in Bangladesh
and Pakistan
call for public killing of atheists and demand passing of blasphemy laws.
Also, the extremists in Bangladesh like their counterparts in Pakistan not only
strongly principled but also willing to kill anyone who opposes their
philosophy of a distorted view of Islam. Moreover, they are willing to die for
their cause. Succinctly, their philosophy makes them powerful and dangerous.
India, like her neighbours in the East
and West also seems to be in the throes of what Salman Rushdie rightly calls a
‘cultural emergency.’ Writers and artists are being harassed, sued and arrested
for what they say, write or create. Be it famed painter late M.F. Hussain who
was exiled, denying Salman Rushdie the right to travel to India after the
publication of ‘The Satanic Verses’.
What
to speak of the arrest of two young women after they questioned on Face book the
shutdown of Mumbai following Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray’s death, Or the thrashing
of women at a Mangalore pub and the murder of the three elderly rationalists
--- Pune’s Narendra
Dabholkar, Kohlapur’s Govind Pansare and Dharwad’s MM Kalburgi
--- within two years is alarming.
Besides,
under the Indian Constitution freedom of speech is qualified, subject to what
the Government deems ‘reasonable’ restrictions. Wherein, the State can silence
its citizens for a number of reasons, including ‘public order,’ ‘decency or
morality’ and ‘friendly relations with foreign nations.
Meanwhile,
our courts do little to rein in Government authorities. Undeniably, India cannot
hope to be a true cultural capital of the world, let alone a truly free society,
until it firmly protects the right to speech. Indians must understand that free
speech: The right to think and exchange ideas freely is at the core of democracy
which we cherish. If the former is weak, the latter cannot help but be so as
well.
Clearly,
there is one common thread vis-à-vis these
unfortunate incidents in the sub-continents three countries: Shockingly,
neither of these outrageous attacks on freedom of expression has attracted much
interest from the civil-liberties lobby in Dhaka, Islamabad
or New Delhi.
Certainly,
these cases are symptomatic of the way the struggle for free speech has changed
in recent times. Whereby, there is an urgent need now to stand up for free
speech as an indivisible right. Nowadays, the danger is not just that we might lose
the free-speech wars, but that we risk surrendering our most precious liberty
without a fight. ----- INFA
(Copyright, India News and
Feature Alliance)
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