Queen Boitol and her domain

Published : 28 July 2016, 06:42 AM
Updated : 28 July 2016, 06:42 AM

When I was about 6 years old, the best of times were the days and nights when the paddy was harvested. The paddy (unhusked rice) would come into the village home on oxcarts all day for a number of days. Then my grandmother would summon all her minions (that would be people like my mother, aunties and many helpers). The art of husking the paddy into edible rice still eludes me. However, there was singing, unbridled gossip, winking and giggling, spreading of the paddy on the concrete floors, lots of puffed rice (murir laddoo) for us kids. My grandmother would tell us stories about demons and witches. Most nights we would fall asleep outside and wake up for yet another day of fun and unusual food. One of the stories that my grandmother told me stuck with me through the years. It was the story of Boitol Rani. In Sylhet there were many little kingdoms with little "k"s. Think of people like Hason Raja. He was a substantial landholder and hence was a little king, a Raja.

The story goes like this. The Boitol Queen ran a little fiefdom near the mighty Surma. The main characteristic of this fiefdom was that official actions were mostly unencumbered by the thought process. In any event, the Boitol Queen was always getting her feet caked in dust and mud. So, she summoned one of her ministers and told him to solve the problem. He set about covering all of her lands with leather and also put a leather bridge on the river Surma. Everybody proclaimed success regardless of the starvation and hardship of the ordinary people. The Boitol Queen and her whole entourage wanted to go and test out this great solution. They took the leather-covered path to the leather-covered river. They all jumped onto the jury-rigged leather bridge and you guessed it, went right to the bottom of mighty Surma. So much for actions unencumbered by thought process.

Why tell you this old wives' tale? Because I just read about one such hysterically stupid official act from the higher reaches of the Bangladesh government. The Assistant Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Asaduzzaman Miah, rolled out plans to enhance security in Gulshan enclave by designating special buses and rickshaws that will be controlled to ply the roads of Gulshan. Not only will they be designated special but will also be color coded.

Talk about actions unencumbered by the thought process. Maybe you can answer the following questions in order of priority:

• What about protecting the rest of the 160 million people who happen not to live in the posh enclaves of Gulshan, Baridhara and other places of privilege. Do they count? Do you care?

• The history of asymmetrical warfare shows when a target is identified and advertised in any manner, it becomes a bigger target. It is like inviting moth to the fire. Security yes, but painting a target on the back of every Gulshan resident should be a resounding no.

• Do you really want the foreign business people running around in specially colored transportation? That will make them easy targets when they are visiting factories in say, Gazipur. Pretty soon you will have these Western working stiffs running for the safety of their home countries.

• What prevents a determined set of Jihadists (for that matter, any assaulter) from buying a bucket of paint from the local paint shop and make a bus or rickshaw look like the ones sanctioned for Gulshan?

• What about the working poor? The rickshaw guys will have a limited area to ply their trade in. Have you done any economic impact analysis? Surely not, because that will encumber you with the thought process.

I can go on with millions of questions but why bother. What the officialdom is doing basically is showing movement but nary an action. Action requires a thoughtful approach to a problem with a desired set of outcomes. These guys simply do not think through the process and the outcomes. This paint the buses red idea reminds me of an old Clint Eastwood movie, "High Plains Drifter", where he paints the town red and brings on mayhem. Mr. Miah with this color by numbers proposal will bring on extensive economic and political mayhem and still not prevent the murderers.

So, what should Mr. Miah do? Let's start with a little thinking. Stopping one or a hundred foot soldiers will not bring us long-term peace and viability. One can always tap into the angst of the youth, or the anger of the religiously fearful but ignorant person. Voila, you have your foot soldiers and cannon fodder. So, let us look at a counter-strategy. This is not a long-term educational and political strategy rather an action plan that can and should be implemented now.

• Intelligence Gathering: the key to defeating or at least containing the Jihadists is to build a robust intelligence framework, complete with informers. Of course, this requires a dispassionate understanding of who these murderers are and why they commit these acts of brutality. Hopefully, the officialdom is slowly and grudgingly accepting that these Jihadists are not controlled by the BNP. After that, it is a matter of not "encountering" the foot soldiers. The intelligence organization must start to build physical picture of the Jihadi network. The starting point would be the pocket litter of Jihadists, dead or alive, or data from an informer that fall to authorities. The pocket litter simply means any documents, gadgets and social media traces of the known and suspected Jihadists. All calls, all letters, all connections must be traced and put on a map. So, lets say Jihadi "Abdul" called "Mohammed" some five years ago. Regardless of how difficult that is the Intel people must locate "Mohammed". He becomes a point on the map. Investigate the pocket litter of "Mohammed" and trace him to at least three degrees of separation. This exercise, while difficult, will eventually show a network, a pattern and identify the magician behind the curtain. Once the magician is identified it should be easy to send him to the virgins waiting for him in Paradise.

• Cut off funds: It is quite apparent that some of the ideas that are poisoning the minds of people start in the madrasas. There are some 10,000 Quomi madrassas in Bangladesh. Most of their money comes from private sources, especially from Saudi Arabia and the wealthy Gulf states. Unlike the Alia madrassas, these institutions breed intolerance and teach nothing of practical value to the students. At the last count there were about 1.7 million Quomi madrassa students in Bangladesh. They come out of these places wholly unprepared to deal with the fast-globalizing world that is coming up with new and expanding technologies almost daily. These guys become the cannon fodders of the Jihadi movement. Make sure all donations to madrassas are declared, noted and publicized, including sources. Publish the rate and type of employment of the madrassa graduates. Convert the Quomi madrassas to Alia madrassas where possible. Cut off the sources of funding from abroad, especially Saudi Arabia.

• Civil Forfeiture: Currently the population in Bangladesh and other moderate Muslim countries fear the Jihadists and are willing to look the other way even when they know something bad is about to happen. If we are really going to change the dynamics we need to ensure that even passive support to the Jihadists become costly. One tool that has been used successfully in the US and other countries is Civil Forfeiture laws. Anyone who allows Jihadists to rent, buy or otherwise use a house, apartment, car etc. will forfeit the property under civil forfeiture laws. This sounds draconian but this works. Maybe there should be oversight of the application of the laws and the law itself can sunset after say five years, unless proactively renewed.

Dear Mr. Asaaduzzman Miah, I am addressing you because you are the face of the administration in this instance. Stop the silly movement for the sake of movement. Time to act with some deliberation and with desired outcomes in mind. May the wind be on your back.