A disappointment, ZS

Mr. Sobhan thinks it very important to draw a connection between '71 and what is happening in the present day. I hope this was more of an understandable over-emotional reaction to the horrors of December 14 than a genuine practical prescription for our problems. In any case, it makes Mr. Sobhan sound no better than those of our political leaders who constantly invoke "the spirit of '71" for narrow political gains.

There may well be a "direct line between those dark nights and what is happening in the country today." Why is it important for us, the citizens of Bangladesh, to draw this supposed "direct line"? Mr. Sobhan's answer is that we have to remind ourselves of "whom we are fighting and what we are fighting for"?

I would argue that focusing on '71 could very well be counter-productive for it really doesn't answer that question at all. Let us briefly remind ourselves then. In 1971, the people of Bangladesh fought terrorists (the most apt modern word to describe those butchers!) backed by the resources of a particular state, armed and operating along military lines. We were fighting for our right to live as free people. At present, we are fighting terrorists backed by the shadowy organisations that cut across state lines, operating along the al-Qaeda model for lack of a better term. We are apparently not even fighting properly, although now it is we who are backed by a state and have the advantage in terms of fighting capabilities. There lies the real tragedy and it has nothing to do with '71.

Mr. Sobhan also seems to imply that not prosecuting the war criminals of '71 has directly led to our woes today. While I am all for prosecuting the perpetrators, I don't think that that would have been the end of terrorism in Bangladesh. But perhaps Mr.

Sobhan does not share my concern with the violent means of terrorism but rather with the "fundamentalist" aspect of it. In which case, invoking '71 is again counter-productive. The roots behind the fundamentalists then were very different from the roots behind them now, regardless of their same goals. Lots of water has flowed under the bridge during the last 34 years, among them failures of all sorts of governments to listen to the people and address their needs. Focusing on '71 only leads you to deal with the wrong root causes that breed these terrorists. Isn't that after all what we want to do and what we scornfully prescribe for others in the "war on terror"?

It really is time to let '71 be. '71 was "indeed necessary". Let us not make it cheap.