This is sort of an anomaly as Jamaat-e-Islami’s role during the liberation war is known to everybody and well documented . They supported the Pakistan army in killing freedom fighters and intellectuals of the country. This fact is in the way of gaining political mileage for them especially when some of their leaders are freshly sued for murder during 1971.

What made the annual summit of the “Jatiyo Muktijoddha Proshad” controversial was one event that is being condemned widely. Sheikh Mohammad Ali Aman, a freedom fighter from Tangail was present at this summit without knowing their true identity. When he was talking to the news crew of the Ekushey TV outside the venue he demanded immediate trial and execution of war criminals. At that moment in front of TV camera he was dragged and kicked by the organizers and was detained for 3 hours for his statement in the TV.

Mr. Aman was invited by a freedom fighter of his locality but he did not know that it was an organization of chameleons. Here is his account (in Bangla) published in the Daily Shamokal.

However the organization said that Ekushey TV deliberately cooked this up (however the pictures tell something else) and claimed that they have no connection with Jamaat. Their general secretary claimed that he was a freedom fighter, a (Awami) Chatro League activist, then a member of communist party and now a member of religious Jamaat party. A chameleon has quite a contrast of colors.

This is not new that Jamaat is trying to erase their anti-liberation image.

The above video shows the student wing of Jamaat, the Islami chatro Shibir is participating in a rally posing as Muktijoddhas (freedom fighters).

The most disturbing of all was that controversial ex-chief justice J. R. Modassir Hossain was the chief guest of this meeting. He said he was very happy to be there. Poet Humayun Azad wrote in one of his poems : ”And everything will be in the custody of the damned”. We may be witnessing the time.

Vedio credit:E-TV, Bangladesh

Sheikh Hasina was arrested 11 months ago in connection with an extortion case and was sent to a sub-jail on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises. She was also charged with 14 more cases in the course of time.

The Daily Star claims:

The court orders came after a government-formed medical board examined Hasina on June 5 and recommended the next day to send her abroad for better treatment of her ear. Acting on the recommendations, the government yesterday freed her for eight weeks on parole.

According to Prothom Alo the government can cancel the decision of temporary release of Hasina (the executive order under section 401/4A of criminal act) anytime without showing any reason.

However only last Sunday (8th of June) a special court rejected the bail prayer of Sheikh Hasina in the Niko graft case.

Tacit comments in Drishtipat blog:

Sheikh Hasina has been given neither bail nor parole. The courts have exempted her from showing up in person for the trials, but absent a bail or parole, she should still be in jail. Unless there is a secret order somewhere labeling Sudha Shadhan a subjail, Sheikh Hasina is currently, de jure, a runaway from the law.

Cholishnu Bidda Kalpadroom comments:

In this process a new type of parole has been invented in Bangladesh. It is called the “politicized parole”.

So what had instigated this extra-ordinary freedom of Sheikh Hasina? Lots of speculations are on the board like Sheikh Hasina will not return to avoid detention. If Awami League gets the majority in the next election then she can be brought back to the parliament using by-election and eventually select for the Prime Minister post.

The most important thing is that Awami League has decided to participate in the dialog organized by the government and eventually the election. Another information is that Sheikh Hasina’s Canadian Visa was also arranged by the government. So it is clear that Awami League has reached some sort of deal with the Government.

The release of Hasina has been welcomed by many as it will create a cooling breeze into Bangladeshi politics. However the whole fiasco only questions the independence of the judiciary in the country which is clearly still being manipulated politically.

A New Age editorial marked the decline:

On Wednesday, April 23, the Appellate Division curtailed the authority of the High Court Division to hear bail petitions in cases under the Emergency Powers Rules, in a judgement that has sparked furore among legal experts and practitioners, and been dubbed as the last nail in the human rights coffin.

Another commenter in Drishtipat says:

I want to talk about the so called “independent” judiciary in Bangladesh. This has been claimed as THE MOST SIGNIFICANT of the reforms of the current government. But ever since the judiciary became independent, even the high court is more aligned with the government. (The lower court has always been with the government, with or without independence).

According to Odhikar, a human rights organization (BDNews24):

“The way the caretaker government has fast-tracked the judicial process by getting courts to issue orders in a day exempting former prime minister Sheikh Hasina from personal appearance has exposed, yet again, use of judicial process for extraneous purposes. These hurried decisions have seriously undermined the judiciary and the judicial process in the people’s perception.

It is obvious that political calculation has overwritten both the emergency and the ordinances by which the regime is ruling the country, but most importantly the normal process of the judiciary. Manipulation of state organs and institutions for preconceived outcomes has seriously undermined peoples’ confidence in the regime and Bangladesh is already hanging on a very risky margin.”

And this does not end here. Khaleda Zia also wants her two sons released and sent abroad. It remains to be seen that even charged with many high profile and evidence filled corruption cases, with what excuse Khaleda Zia’s sons would be shown their way to freedom.

So it seems it is the minus two formula in effect in the expense of an independent judicial system.

Here is Rizwan Hussain’s full statement to the incident. Meanwhile one Bangladeshi newspaper did finally publish an ISPR press release saying:

The London lawyer became incensed and started using abusive words in English at the top of his voice, and even made threats, the ISPR statement said. Finding no alternative, the on-duty security officer handed Rizwan over to the joint forces, who interrogated him.

The lawyer, however, continued to avoid the issue of violating airport rules, instead trying to extract privileged treatment by mentioning his foreign citizenship and the status of his profession, the press release said. It was at this point, the ISPR statement says, that the members of the joint forces “harassed” barrister Rizwan.

But from the pictures of Mr. Hussain with broken arms/legs and bruised torso you can see its more than harrassment.

I fail to imagine why there is such a need to tarnish Bangladesh’s image by acting like a goon by a responsible authority where Mr Hussain (assuming he trespassed) could easily be arrested and handed over to court for the law to take action.

If somebody still can’t get it, this is extra-judicial abuse of human rights.

Rizwan Hussain’s press Conference: Part 1

What I fail to understand is why it took so long to raise the alarm? Many are trying to find out the cause of the recent crisis.

I recently wrote on the recent price rise of rice in Bangladesh and its impacts. Shortage in production and increasing demands have been sighted as the problems. There are also a list of problems and solutions that looks so complex and harder to achieve in a short time.

And some are terming it as subprime food crisis as surging oil prices made US dollar got weak leading to the subprime loan crisis making worldwide imports (in US Dollars) costlier.

According to a recent report of the World Bank names Western investment in biofuels as the cause of the drastic rise in prices for corn, rice, and other staples.

Concerns over oil prices, energy security and climate change have prompted governments to take a more proactive stance towards encouraging production and use of bio-fuels. This has led to increased demand for bio-fuel raw materials, such as wheat, soy, maize and palm oil, and increased competition for cropland.

Outside The Beltway comments:

It has long struck me as wrongheaded, if not immoral, to take cheap, efficient sources of nutrition to turn them into expensive, inefficient fuels. A gallon of ethanol produces roughly two-thirds the energy of a gallon of gasoline and is far more expensive. And, while farmers and, especially, processors make more money by the increased demand for biofuels, it means that food is now out of reach for millions.

Ronald Bailey tells about this stupid energy policy:

Politicians in both the United States and the European Union are mandating that vast quantities of food be turned into fuel as they chase the chimera of “energy independence.”…The result of these mandates is that about 100 million tons of grain will be transformed this year into fuel, drawing down global grain stocks to their lowest levels in decades. Keep in mind that 100 million tons of grain is enough to feed nearly 450 million people for a year.

Dennis Avery from the Hudson Institute says “Biofuels are purely and simply the biggest Green mistake we’ve ever made and we’re still making it.” So Bio fuel mandates must go.

It all started after the much discussed denial - Jamaat-e-Islami’s leader Ali Ahsan Muzahid’s statement that “Jamaat did not work against the Liberation War in 1971 and there are no war criminals in the country.” Soon other apologists joined the procession of denials terming the war of liberation as a civil war. Even scholars like Sharmila Bose tried to deny a lot of thing with faulty research.

Some fellow bloggers notably Mashuqur Rahman and Tasneem Khalil stressed that we need a proper archive to tackle these issues. Since I was reading and compiling a list of all available content on liberation war since long, I came forward to gather contents for an archive. I started work in December 2007 and it was a learning experience for me to study and revisit our glorious history of liberation.

I have listed in this archive the International newspaper clippings, events, documentations, audio, video, images, media reports and eyewitness accounts of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh all with workable links to judge the truth for yourself. I have compiled views of Pakistanis, Indians, US Government with articles, documents and provided many rare known facts. I am not an historian nor I am here to distort the history. But I hope this archive will help the seekers of truth. For an example you can refute Jamaat’s statement from the facts in this page (in Bangla) alone.

As I wrote in the about section of the Bangladesh Genocide Archive:

“The plot is so huge that no one person can tell the story. Many books were written, video footage was taken and words are passed from generation to generation. But due to lack of information in one place and platform many truth were distorted. The struggle for Bangladesh’s liberation and the efforts of the Pakistani army to cull the resistance resulted in one of the worst genocide in the World history. This was interpreted in many different ways. To many Bengalis it was a struggle for liberation, to many Pakistanis a armed rebel to be quashed, to the US govt. Pakistan’s internal affair. However it was in the US the peace loving people arranged the first ever aid concert for the people of Bangladesh.

Politicians tried to bank on these in the past and will be doing this in the future. The new generation is baffled as text books were rewritten to instill superiority of the visionaries of the political governments over rivals. People are forgetting that it was a mass effort and prompting to disrespect the catalysts and the father of nation, who was the inspiration.

That is why this site is born.”

Actually its a repository of all the information available online listed in one place. From here you will be able to navigate to the original contents in their original locations. I will try to include all valid viewpoints with authenticated sources and let the readers/viewers be the judge.

I personally thank to all these individuals and organizations who have done excellent job over the years but people barely know about their excellent efforts. In different sections of the archive I have listed and collated from their commendable works in one place and linked them accordingly so that people can go to those sites and see the amazing work they have done.

I also thank Mashuqur Rahman, and MMR Jalal for their contents we proudly present here. If MMR Jalal was a website himself no other sites would be required. Ehab did an excellent work on site architect and design (more features coming). Also thanking here fellow bloggers Sushanta, Tasneem, Nazzina, Tanoy, Zafa, Shada Kalo, Rubel, Faiyaz and seniors like Saleem Samad and Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury for their support and encouragement. One disclaimer here is that this is purely a personal effort and I will keep this from any political or organizational alignment.

Let this be a tribute to the victims of the Bangladesh 1971 genocide and all those who fought for the country.

If you haven’t bookmarked it yet here is the site: Bangladesh Genocide Archive.

Photo: Shaheed Minar, a solemn and symbolic sculpture erected in the place of the massacre. The monument is the symbol of Bangladesh Nationalism.

[Rezwan, Germany]

Today is the International Mother Language Day, an annual event in UNESCO member states to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This is mostly the international recognition of the Language Movement Day called ‘Ekushey February’, which is commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952. The date of 21st February was chosen in homage to a number of ‘language martyrs’ from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) who were shot on 21st February 1952 in Dhaka, during public protest. They were demonstrating to establish their mother language Bangla as a national language along with Urdu, which was chosen as the sole official language in the then newly created Pakistan.

How important is the mother language?

Our mother tongue is more than a language, a soul inside us. It is an armory of the human mind; an archive of the history. We invent the world through language.

Mrunalini feats her mother tongue Telugu:

“How sweet our languages are, how proud they make us. How much we miss talking in our mother tongue. Especially, when we are away from it.”

Ripon Kumar Biswas in Bangladesh watchdog says:

“Mother tongue is the language of nature, which is intimately related to the individual because it is structured and upheld by local laws of nature, which structure the physiology of the individual.”

But it is even more than that. “One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland –and no other;” said E. M. Cioran, the Rumanian-born French Philosopher.
That is why some times we see nationalism sparking in the world based on languages and language matters!

The freedom of languages in the world:

Thousands of local languages used as the daily means of expression are absent from education systems, the media, publishing and the public domain in general because of state policies.

We learn better in our mother tongue when it is taught in school (Mother tongue Dilemma –UNESCO News letter). But this is not the case of all minority languages. 476 million of world’s illiterate people speak minority languages and live in countries where children are mostly not taught in their mother language.

From Southern Azerbaijan under Iranian rule BayBak, Voice of a Nation says:

“It is more than 80 years that Iranian Fars authority has banned other nationalities language, such as Turks (majority in Iran), Arabs, Baluchs, Turkmens and Kurds. Every year in 21st of February all nationalities celebrate the International Mother Language Day named by UNESCO. But as before, of the day of celebration Iranian police will ride on the crowd and will arrest many.

Regarding news from Southern Azerbaijan, preparations for the 21st of February are continuing widely compare to last year. Also thousands of flyers been spread in Azerbaijan’s major cities. Capital Tebriz has been well prepared and the time for demonstration been set.”

The Unesco Courier:

Several thousand years old, the Ainu language spoken in northern Japan was dying out due to political pressure from the central government. At the end of the 20th century, this trend was reversed. While Ainu’s future is still not guaranteed because it isn’t taught in schools, the resurgence of interest is undeniable.

Sid writes in Picked Politics:

“International Mother Language Day deserves celebration in Zambia. The country has worked hard to establish and maintain political unity over the years. But as other societies are learning too late, it would be a tragedy if this hard-fought unity should be maintained at the expense of the variety of languages and dialects that have long called these lands home.”

Is your mother tongue facing extinction?

About 27 percent of the world’s languages (about 6000) are threatened to be extinct. The Foundation for Endangered Languages says 83 percent of the world’s languages are restricted to single countries, making them more vulnerable to the policies of a single government.

Abhinaba Basu at Geek Gyan says:

“A lot of people speaking English natively forget the importance of mother language due to its predominance. They take their language for granted. However, each year a bunch of languages become extinct, the latest being Eyak, which got extinct exactly a month ago with the death of Marie Smith Jones the last native Eyak speaking person.

I believe that if we don’t actively try to preserve our mother language they will slowly become extinct. One of the most important things to preserve a language is to ensure that they are better covered by technology.”

Using ICT in Mother Language advocacy:

Citizen media is a great tool to promote own languages. According to Technorati there are more than 100 million blogs out there. A previous year’s report show that about 37% blogs are in Japanese followed by English (36%), Chinese (8%), Spanish(3%), Italian (3%), Portuguese (2%), French(2%) among others. And there are other growing language communities and they will rise eventually.

There are ICT based advocacy sites like Bisharat which promotes research, advocacy, and networking relating to use of African languages in software and web content.

Global Voices Online also supports and promotes the diversity of languages. Its Lingua project translates the contents of its main English page in a dozen languages. Now that is one example many international online media may want to follow to secure meaningful transfer of information to global readers.

–

Rezwan [http://rezwanul.blogspot.com] is often referred as “the dean of Bangladeshi bloggers” for his authoritative contributions towards setting the blogging agenda in Bangladesh. Blogging since 2003 on Bangladesh and the world. Portrays Bangladesh and Bangladeshis beyond the typical headlines published in Western Media.

[Read posts by Rezwan]

[Photo by Amirul Rajiv.]

[Scan courtesy Drishtipat (right).]

[Photo by Banglar Chokh.]

[Photoblog by Amirul Rajiv.]

[Click any of the thumbnails for a GreyBox show.]

[Rezwan, Germany.]

Recently I reported about bloggers reactions on the controversies surrounding an exhibition of the masterpieces of Ganges in Mus

[Sky News: Born into political life and ascending the ranks to become the country's first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto was well-versed in the fraught tensions of life in Pakistan. Ian Woods reviews her life lost attempting to change the country she loved.]

[Rezwan, Germany.]

There is something wrong in the way General Pervez Musharraf runs Pakistan. On December 27, Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in Rawalpindi, the garrison town of Pakistan. Ironically she is assassinated at the same place in Rawalpindi where the first prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan was killed and her father was hanged. Her death puts Pakistan’s political future in turmoil and the country, observers say, may plunge into a civil war.

An eye-witness from Pakistan describes the chaos in Pakistan now. People have come out on the streets, and they are burning tyres, public properties and vehicles. Police is nowhere to be seen. People are angry, and in all the major cities — Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Rawalpindi, Quetta — severe riots have broken out. People are showing their anger against the scourge of terrorism. According to the recent reports. At least five people have been killed and thousands injured. Bhutto’s supporters at the hospital began chanting “Dog, Musharraf, dog…” Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears, eye-witness accounts describe.

A party security adviser says Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest then the gunman blew himself up. She was waving to the rally standing in her SUV and protruding her head from the open sun-roof. Conflicting reports on assassination: Bhutto’s supporters say snipers shot her followed by suicide bomber. Government official says it was a suicide attack.

KO observs:

Interesting sight on BBC — the bomb-site has been cleaned, and fire trucks are pouring water on the scene to clean away any last shred of evidence. It looks like a literal cleanup is underway… The attack was the work of professionals — Benazir was shot in the neck from 50 meters away — so must have been an expert marksman.

Earlier, at least four supporters of Pakistan’s former premier Nawaz Sharif were killed and another twelve wounded in the capital, Islamabad, when gunshots were fired on an election rally.

Pakistani president, Musharraf, asked people to remain calm in a televised interview. Musharraf blamed the terrorists and said political parties should be united against terrorists. The Pakistani Perspective reported:

President Musharraf has announced three day national mourning in the wake of the Benazir Bhutto’s demise. Government of NWFP has closed all the schools for unspecifed time, and government of Punjab has followed the suit. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the leader of MMA (the religious alliance) has called for a nationwide protest tomorrow including rallies, wheel-jam strike and public meetings. International fraternity also condemns the attacks. President Bush, Karzai, Rudd, Sarkozy, Manmohan Singh and host of orthers have expressed their grief over the horrendous act of terrorism.

Nawaz Sharif to PPP supporters: I will be fighting your war now. However Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford said from Pakistan the country’s upcoming January elections would “most likely be postponed or canceled” because of the attack. Asma Jahangir, leading human rights activist in Pakistan reiterated what Nawaz Sharif said, that government and the military are responsible not the religious extremists as Pervez Musharraf is pointing fingers at. Bhutto’s husband said to a TV channel: It’s the work of the government. Another beneficiary of this death is Nawaz Sharif whose possible hand in this cannot be ignored.

Jules Crittenden has a round-up trying to find the answer: Who killed Bhutto?

The Acorn says:

It was clear that Benazir Bhutto’s re-entry into Pakistan was on the back of an American plan to engineer a political outcome in Pakistan. Those who assassinated her succeeded in frustrating this plan. What’s the US left with? Supporting a Musharraf 2.0 is out of question, because the people won’t have it. Supporting Nawaz Sharif is not workable either, for Musharraf won’t have him.

–

Rezwan [http://rezwanul.blogspot.com] is often referred as “the dean of Bangladeshi bloggers” for his authoritative contributions towards setting the blogging agenda in Bangladesh. Blogging since 2003 on Bangladesh and the world. Portrays Bangladesh and Bangladeshis beyond the typical headlines published in Western Media.

[Read posts by Rezwan]

On the 22nd December, between 3.30 am and 7 am, a crate containing two small statues belonging to the National Museum was stolen from the service area of Zia International Airport hours before being loaded on a flight. This crate was part of the second consignment of masterpieces from five museums of Bangladesh for the exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris that, thanks to the decisive action of the Government, had been cleared for temporary export by the Supreme Court on the 18th of December.

Loose procedures geared towards garment exports have led to such valuable crates being left unattended on the tarmac of the airport in an area where neither the lending nor the borrowing institutions have any control.

Although the inquiries are ongoing and the possibility of a mere theft by petty criminals cannot be discounted, France feels the disappearance of this crate is highly suspicious and could also be the result of a conspiracy by a very small nexus of persons to embarrass France and Bangladesh. Indeed, if the consignment had left on time, and without the very professional attitude of the Bangladeshi courier, the disappearance would have been noted only in Paris, with the corresponding accusations been directed against the French Republic by a small but vocal group of persons.

France condemns such acts in the strongest term: this mutually beneficial exhibition is the result of a long standing cooperation, it is routine, transparent, approved all heartedly by the Government, endorsed by a very large majority of the leading citizens of this country and has been twice cleared by the Supreme Court. It is time for the few opponents to this event to recognize they are a tiny minority and act accordingly. The French Embassy will continue to answer any questions regarding this exhibition.

We have seen an impressive mobilization of the Government’s forces in the last 24 hours, and we have no doubt that fast and decisive action will lead to efficient measures to find the criminals and bring them to justice so that the actions of a very few do not penalize the many.

[Photo Courtesy: Black and Grey.]

[Rezwan, Germany.]

From January 2008 the Musée Guimet of France is holding an exhibition of the masterpieces of Ganges from the collections of the Bangladesh museums for the first time outside of Bangladesh. From the museum catalogue:

“Bangladesh possesses an immensely important cultural heritage, this arising from the fact that the eastern half of Bengal has been one of the cultural richest regions of the Indian world; a vision far from the catastrophic one that the western world often tends to favour. The region is associated with the art of the Pala and Sena dynasties (8th – 13th century)….and goes back to the Maurya and Sunga periods (3rd – 1st century BC)….Bangladesh also harbours the oldest Buddhist monastery of the Indian world, Paharpur, which has now been listed on the UNESCO’s list of protected monuments.”

Black and Grey blog has more on the backgrounds of the archeological artifacts in question. (Images courtesy: Black and Grey)

This exhibition was scheduled to start from October, 2007 but was delayed due to a lot of drama. Bonbibi at Unheard Voices reported on the first of October, 2007:

“The conditional has crept in because the High Court has issued a two-month stay order on the travel of the 189 art pieces following a writ petition by a group of Bangladeshis. They raised concern over the legality of the contract and filed a public litigation case in the High Court that ordered to stop sending the exhibits. The litigants feared that the precious items to be sent to the Paris museum might not be returned to Bangladesh (‘The New Nation’ 27th Sept 2007).”

Unheard Voices later reported of an unholy alliance that stopped the archeological artifacts from sending:

“…a (second) case was filed before the District Court, again by ‘art lovers’ including former DGs of Archaeology etc. Interestingly, the case was filed (according to newspaper report) against the French Ambassador and others. The Court issued a show cause order, but did not stop the artifacts from going.

At this point, with no more puppets to join the dance, the DGFI’s (Military Intelligence) fist finally came out from beneath the glove. It directly intervened at the airport to stop the artifacts from going on the ground that an ‘inquiry’ is to be held.”

Unheard Voices blog also posted the protests in detail which raised concerns over the security of the artifacts during shipping and the financial discrepancies (The total value of insurance is Euro 400,000 whereas only a major artifact is said to be worth more than Euro 800,000).

The Bangladeshi Blogosphere was divided right from the start on the issue. Rumi of In The Middle Of No Where answered the allegations of the skeptics with a question and answer style and commented if a solution is reached sooner than later then:

“The Exhibition will go ahead. And thousands of people will be able to learn about Bangladeshi art architecture and our heritage and to understand the depth and diversity of our culture – in a contrast to the negative images portrayed through the news every day.”
 

On 1st of December 2007 the first assignment of the archeological artifacts was flown out of Bangladesh to France rather controversially – in the middle of the night in suspicious crates under police guards evading protesters and journalists. In order to camouflage the mission, the authorities utilised vehicles bearing ‘Save The Children Cyclone’ and ‘USAID Sidr Emergency Relief’ signs.

Renowned photo journalist Shahidul Alam did an excellent piece of investigative citizen journalism. In this post he reports with photos portraying the first consignment being sent to France. He also points to the fact that the Musée Guimet in Paris incidentally had been alleged to hold previous stolen artifacts from Bangladesh and there are similar allegations that stolen objects from China and the rest of Asia are held by the Guimet.

He recently visited the Musée Guimet in Paris but had been denied access to both the director of Guimet Jean-Francois Jarriage and the curator of the show Vincent Lefevre, for the answers to his questions.

Unheard Voices Blog has a brilliant post called “Tintin in Bengal or Musée Guimet controversy” detailing the whole episode with a lots of links to other blogs, pro-contra views, protests, collected media reports, explanations from the French embassy and the organizers and a lot of debate on this issue.

Shahidul Alam also tried to find the missing piece of the jigsaw:

“Guimet is a respected museum, and there has been natural interest in a show that should be very special. Why then such resistance from art lovers of Bangladesh? Surely art is to be appreciated?

Why on the other hand, the secrecy? The organisers should be taking credit for arranging such an event and not trying to sneak away under police protection. If there is nothing to cover up, why the covert operation?

The emotions are high. I’ve seen people weeping because something very special to them has been taken away. I have seen people angry because they feel violated. I have seen people frustrated, because they feel helpless against the power of the establishment.”

And at last the inevitable had happened. Unheard Voices Blog reports:

“At approximately 2 am on Dec 22, one of the 13 crates in the 2nd shipment of artifacts to Musée Guimet in Paris vanished from the tarmac of ZIA International Airport, Dhaka.

Crate 5 contained Statue of Visnu (terracota, black) & Bust of (Hindu Lord) Visnu. High resale value on international underground art market as they are unique pieces.”

Shahidul Alam, who reported about the protests to stop the second shipment is furious:

Their fear of items being stolen, or not being returned, was considered preposterous. News of the missing crate, and the priceless statues it contained, had been suppressed, but the information leaked out. Could the guarantors please explain?

Please stay tuned for the next episode of this thriller.

Shahidul News has a touching story on the protest to halt sending Bangladeshi artifacts to Musee Guimet, France.

Reasons:

However, there are other sides of the story.

Rumi Ahmed answers the skeptics with a question answer style:

What is the “Sonar Bangla” exhibition?

This exhibition is scheduled to showcase 189 pieces of Bangladeshi ancient art, over four months from October 2007 to March 2008 at the National Museum of Asiatic Art, the Musee Guimet, Paris. It has been planned for several years, and has involved extensive negotiations between the governments of France and Bangladesh.

It is being held at one of the most prestigious venues for Asian art in the whole of Europe, a major national museum which holds an important permanent collection of South Asian art. It recently held very well reviewed exhibitions of Afghan gold and Cambodian ancient art.

It is the first major international exhibition of Bangladeshi ancient art — the first opportunity the world will have to see our national heritage, and to see it in all its diversity and richness. It will show a face of Bangladesh which is little known in the west. It is likely to generate not only new interest in Bangladesh, but to catalyse further research and perhaps also future cultural exchanges and engagement.

Why are some people objecting to the exhibition?

As each objection has been met and responded to, new ones have been generated. It seems that the real objection of many of the “experts” is that they were not involved/consulted.

1. The Musee Guimet is not a state museum [stated by the writ petitioners' lawyer].

The Museum is a national museum, and regulated, like all other national museums by the Director Museums, an official of the Ministry of Culture. It’s not very difficult to find this out, just go on the website of the French government.

2. The Musee Guimet is not well known and has a dubious past.

The Museum is internationally renowned as one of the leading European museums of Asian art.

3. The artefacts listed for exhibition include unique pieces and these are too valuable too travel, so only replicas should be taken [stated by "experts" eg Prof. Shafi].

International exhibitions do not show replicas, but only originals. Visitors to art exhibitions are interested in seeing original, unique pieces. Please check the details of the Tutankhamun exhibition, the Pompeii Exhibition, the Arts of Persia Exhibition etc. all held in major international venues, and more recently the Gupta sculptures exhibition held in Paris.

The artefacts if sent in the original will be copied while abroad, and the French Government will keep the originals and return the copies and no-one in Bangladesh will know the difference. [Dr. Yuree, and also Prof. Shafi] In addition to a clause in the agreement that the artifacts will be returned within four weeks, the French government has passed an order — as is usual — clearly stating that under no circumstances could the artefacts be retained in France on conclusion of the exhibition. It should be noted that while many artefacts have been and continue to be smuggled out of Bangladesh, this is invariably by individuals and is hardly likely in the context of a government to government agreement.

6. The French would never allow the Mona Lisa or Picassos to travel [Prof. Nizamuddin, an "expert" and petitioner seeking injunction].

Of course the Mona Lisa has travelled abroad as have many Picasso artworks (including to India).

7. The removal of the artefacts will hamper research [Prof. Shafi of Jahangirnagar Univ].

Quite the contrary. It will enable new interest in the artefacts to be generated. Physical examination of individual items is not always necessary for research.

Concerns for clarification.

One of the government officials who is supposed to travel with the exhibit has earlier been accused of theft of artefacts [raised by writ petitioners and their lawyer].

There is an absolute prohibition of any unique antiquities being taken abroad.

This is a misreading of the law. Antiquities may be sent on “temporary export” “for purposes of exhibition etc

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