BANGLADESH ARMED FORCES AND ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM
by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Bangladesh emerged as a nation state in December 1971
after India intervened militarily to end the genocide being inflicted by
the Pakistan Army on its eastern wing - the Bengali Muslim majority
province of East Pakistan. India thus played a major role in the
liberation and emergence of Bangladesh.
The initial promise of Bangladesh emerging as a secular
democracy soon gave way to rise of Islamist influences. This should
have been foreseen in a Muslim majority state of over 90 percent
Muslims. The process of characterising the will of the majority in
communal or religious terms was begun by Bangladesh’s founding father,
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman towards the end of his rule. [1]
A combination of the natural political volatility of the
average Bangladeshi, coupled with the religious zeal of Islam as the state
religion has kept Bangladesh politics in a turbulent state during the last
thirty years. The problem is further intensified when added to this
mix a very large population (over 120 million) subsisting on a poor
economic base annually ravaged by floods and cyclones. In
Bangladesh, 75.6percent of the population lives in rural areas and of this
population 86 percent live below the poverty line. [2]
Besides the above poverty factor, Bangladesh’s
political life has been marked by confrontational politics due to two
factors:
* Bangladeshi political, bureaucratic, military,
student and professional elites became divided into pro-liberation
forces and pro-Pakistan sympathisers and alleged collaborators.
* The centralisation of power in the hands of the
executive, the weakness of political institutions and limited access
have resulted in the frequent resort of direct action and violence. [3]
In such a milieu, it should be no wonder that the
Bangladesh Armed Forces have played a rather disproportionate role in the
nation’s political life and external relations. Successive post-Mujib
regimes have depended heavily on the support of the Bangladesh Armed
Forces for their survival. The Bangladesh Armed Forces have staged
military coups and counter-coups, imposed martial law and provided two
military dictators- General Ziaur Rahman and Gen. Ershad.
In India’s South Asian gaze, Pakistan has retained a
central focus. Bangladesh and Bangladesh Armed Forces including its
para- military component have not received adequate scrutiny until the
recent border clashes between India’s Border Security Force and
Bangladesh Rifles. These clashes should provide a wake-up call for
India’s border management. It should also call for a closer look
at the Bangladesh Armed Forces and influences that impact on them, more
basically Islamic fundamentalism.
Bangladesh Armed Forces- Brief profile[4]
Bangladesh Army has a total strength of 120,000
personnel organised into seven infantry divisions, one armoured brigade,
one artillery division, one air-defence brigade and an engineer
brigade. Combat equipment and military hardware are predominantly of
Chinese origin.
Bangladesh Navy has a strength of 10,500 personnel
manning four frigates and 45 patrol and coastal combatants. Naval
bases are located at Chittagong (HQ), Dhaka, Khulna and Kaptai. All
naval combatant crafts stand supplied by China (PRC).
Bangladesh Air Force has 65 combat aircraft (all Chinese
fighters) manned by a strength of 6500.
Para-military forces comprise:
-Bangladesh Rifles (border security). Has
a strength of 30,000 organised in 41 battalions.
- Ansars (security guards). Has a strength of
20,000 organised into battalions. A further 180,000 are on the
rolls as unembodied personnel.
In terms of border security commitments the above forces
are required to defend- [5]
- India-Bangladesh border- 4023 km
- Myanmar-Bangladesh border- 283 km
- Bay of Bengal coastline- 580km.
The Bangladesh Army, like the Pakistan Army is totally
dependant on Chinese military hardware. Despite initial opposition
to the creation of Bangladesh, the Chinese relented and soon converted
Bangladesh into a Chinese military equipment client state. India, in
the Chinese context has to note that a very slender strip of 90km of
Indian territory separates Bangladesh from Chinese controlled Tibet [6]
Bangladesh Armed Forces- Salient features
* Bangladesh Armed Forces including Bangladesh Rifles
came into existence only after 1971. They were not bequeathed by
the British to the successor States of India and Pakistan.
* Initial manpower was found from the repatriated
Bengali personnel of the Pakistan Army ( East Bengal Regiments) and
freedom fighters of the Mukti Bahini.
* The top hierarchy of Bangladesh till recently could
be said to be composed of officers who had served in the Pakistan Army
during Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s regime. Their formative years
were conditioned by the imperatives and system of military rule in
Pakistan.
* According to one estimate, most of the 400 officers
of the rank of Major and above belong to repatriated cadres from the
Pakistan Army and find military rule comfortable. [7]
* In terms of socio-economic composition the bulk of
the rank and file seem to be drawn from the poor and economically
backward rural areas. Therefore, they are susceptible to Islamic
fundamentalist influences that hold sway in such areas.
* In terms of traditions and identity the Bangladesh
Armed Forces can be said to follow the Pakistan Army i.e. in the absence
of any other roots, to draw on the Islamic heritage and current day
trends of Pan Islamism in the Muslim world.
* Like the Pakistan Army the Bangladesh Armed Forces
share the following characteristics:
- Perceive itself as the only force holding
Bangladesh together.
- Has a poor opinion of Bangladesh’s fractious
polity and their competence for governance.
- In their perceived mission to hold the country
together and putting an end to misgovernance, they have carried out
military coups, counter coups and even assassination of military
Presidents.
- Should have a say in the country’s foreign
policy.
- See a constitutional role for themselves.
The attitude of Bangladesh Armed Forces towards external
powers varies from country to country.
* India: Bangladesh Armed Forces can be said to
be predominantly anti-Indian, not only generated by India’s size and
resources, but also for other factors too. As one writer puts it:
" The Bangladesh military has been incensed by the poor treatment
it had received from the Indians during the civil war; it felt that the
Indian Army deprived it of victory by intervening in the conflict; it
resented the expropriation of captured Pakistani military equipment by
the Indian Army and saw the JRB (Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini) as Indian
inspired force to ensure Indian domination of the post liberation
Bangladesh."[8]
* Pakistan: Despite the genocide and rapine
heaped by the Pakistan Army, public memory and the memory of the
Bangladesh Armed Forces seem to be short. Pakistan was back in
favour due to the co-religionist and Pan-Islamic factors. Shared
inter-personal relationships by the senior cadres who had earlier been
part of the Pakistan Army assisted in the process.
* China: China was opposed
to dismemberment of Pakistan and refused to recognise Bangladesh for
quite some time. However, the India-factor in Chinese real-politik
forced the Chinese to convert Bangladesh into a Chinese military
equipment client state. Bangladesh Armed Forces view China as a
deterrent against any aggressive Indian designs against Bangladesh.
In terms of perspectives, Bangladesh Armed Forces should
not be dismissed lightly as of no consequence, or that they can be
by-passed in terms of any foreign policy formulations pertaining to
Bangladesh. It needs to be remembered that :" As the military
profession has developed massive defence budgets, it has established
greater autonomy and assumed a privileged position in society, especially
where civil institutions are weak and dissipated. In such
situations, the military evolves its own doctrines of state and government
which drive to seek to influence state formation." [9]
Influence of Fundamentalist Islam in Bangladesh
"Essentially the term fundamentalism suggests going
back to the basic texts and reproducing as closely as possible the laws
and institutions found then. It has also come to imply a dogmatic
adherence to traditions, orthodoxy, inflexibility and a rejection of
modern society, intellectual innovation and attempts to create a ‘golden
era’." [10] Islamic
fundamentalists have exploited the dream of the 'golden era of Islam', in
poverty stricken, economically backward Muslim countries through the local
"mullahs".
Islamic fundamentalist influences are acquiring an
increasing hold in Bangladesh, in common with the rest of the Muslim
world. When liberal Muslim countries of South East Asia are
capitulating to Islamic fundamentalism, despite strong economies and
resource- base, Bangladesh with its endemic poverty can hardly resist such
an influence.
Historically, Islamism has had a long and strong base in
what is today Bangladesh. It has been observed that [11]:
* The fundamentalist Wahabi and Faraizi movements in
the 19th century, brought about Islamic consciousness in the
Muslim peasantry of Bengal. This laid the foundation of Muslim
nationalism.
* Emphasis on Pan-Arabism, partition of Bengal
(1905-1911), the Khilafat movement and the communal riots of 1920s,
helped transform Islamic identity into political solidarity.
The establishment of the Muslim League in South Asia
which spear-headed the partition of India took place in Dhaka in 1906, and
that communal strife leading to partition was equally strong in
Bengal. One writer describes it as " The descendants of Islam
Khan, the Mughal Subedar of Bengal, were not immune to religious
prejudice. And so Dacca (Dhaka) the birthplace of the Muslim League,
witnessed severe communal strife in the days leading up to the partition. [12]
Skipping to contemporary Bangladesh, the point has
already been made that Sheikh Mujib in his closing years changed to
Islamic rhetoric in political discourse and speeches. In terms of Islamic
fundamentalist pressures on his successors, constitutional changes were
forced to favour Islam, more prominently:
* 8th Amendment: Secularism was
dropped and Islam was made the State Religion.
* Article 25 (Revised Constitution): Brought in
during Gen. Ziaur Rahman’s tenure stressed- "The State shall
endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen federal relations
among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity, warming of relations
with Muslim countries and delimiting of relations with India."[13]
Lately, Pan Islamic fundamentalist organisations
including those linked with global terrorism have established themselves
in Bangladesh, where they have found ready adherents. Some evidence
indicative of this trend are
* The Jihad movement of Bangladesh under its emir
Sheikh Abdul Salam Muhammad is linked to Osama bin Laden. He
jointly signed ‘fatwas’ in 1998 with Bin Laden calling for Islamic
Jehad against USA, Israel and India. [14]
* Terrorist- operatives from Bangladesh are included
in Bin Laden’s training of groups for chemical warfare.[15]
* Existence and open functioning of Pan Islamic
fundamentalist (including terrorist associated organization) like the
Lashkar-e-Toiba, International Islamic Federation of Students, front
organisations of Osama bin Laden, Saudi organization like Rabita and
various Jamaats [16]
* Plans to bomb the US Embassy in New Delhi and the US
Consulates in Calcutta and Chennai were hatched, coordinated and
facilitated by many of the above. This outrage was aborted by the
timely arrest of the chief Bangladeshi operative Abu Nasr by New Delhi
Police. [17].
Bangladesh stands specifically targeted by Pan Islamic
and global Islamic terrorist organisations as spring board for Islamic
Jehad against India and Myanmar. The fact that their existence and
those of their training camps are being tolerated speaks of tacit
complicity of government organs at some level.
Bangladesh dependant as it is on largesse from Islamic
countries is susceptible to the policy stances of Islamic donors.
They in turn have also spawned a large number of fundamentalist political
parties.
Influence of Islamic Fundamentalism on Bangladesh Armed
Forces
The Bangladesh Armed Forces, unlike the Indian and
Pakistan Armies emerged as a ‘politcal creature’ right from its
inception, due to the circumstances that prevailed at the time of creation
of the nation. In todays’s context, Islamic fundamentalist
influence would have permeated deeply into the rank and file of Bangladesh
Armed Forces for the following reasons.
* The Bangladesh Army during its political-power
tenures drew heavily on the support of Islamic fundamentalist parties to
win over the masses.
* Islamic fundamentalist organizations have a sizeable
presence in rural areas from where the soldiery is drawn.
* Urban areas from where the officer cadre is drawn
are also the strongholds of Pan Islamic organizations. Their
special targets are students in universities.
* Thirty years of independence, majority of which were
with an Islamic constitution has not brought economic relief to the
masses. The lure of the ‘golden era’ of Islam (battle cry of
Islamic fundamentalists) is an ideology in which the Bangladesh Armed
Forces can see themselves in the vanguard.
* Parallels on the above can be drawn with the
Pakistan army to which senior hierarchy of the Bangladesh Armed Forces
are psychologically aligned.
* Like in Pakistan, the Armed Forces are the special
target for infiltration and winning them over by the Islamic
fundamentalist organizations. They know that they can only come to
power on the shoulders of the Army. The subversion of the rank and
file of the Pakistan Army by Islamic fundamentalists is a pointer.
In case of Bangladesh, the task is made easier by the political
proclivity of the soldiery.
Two other factors have also to be factored in this
scenario:
* Armed forces of any nation cannot be insulated from
the influences prevalent in society. The growing Islamic
fundamentalism in Bangladesh both due to external and internal factors
will have an appreciable impact.
* India figures heavily as a threat perception in the
Bangladesh Armed Forces. Earlier, it counted on Pakistan and China
as deterrers. The change in political fixations of both have led
Bangladesh Armed Forces to look elsewhere. They strongly believe
now that Pan Islamism would be a better insurance. They also seem
to be convinced by contemporary factors that Islamic fundamentalist
terrorism is a better weapon to keep India’s might at bay. It
would also provide a deniability cover officially over the involvement
of Bangladesh Armed Forces.
Conclusion
India’s policy planning apparatus both civil and
military are invariably caught on the back foot. Whether it is
Kashmir, Kargil or China we do not anticipate events or trends in the
making. Islamic fundamentalist threats are no longer confined to
sources from Pakistan and Afghanistan. They have started emanating
from Bangladesh as a base too as would be evident from the proliferation
of Islamic fundamentalist organisations in Assam.
Bangladesh cannot be expected to be in perpetual
gratitude to India for its military assistance for its liberation.
By and large Bangladesh Armed Forces are anti Indian. Islamic
fundamentalist influence is growing and will have an impact on the
Army. It would be dangerous for India to under estimate the
potential of the Bangladesh Armed Forces despite their limited size.
The recent border incidents should be a wake up call for India.
(Dr. Subhash Kapila is an international relations and
strategic affairs analyst. He can be reached by email:esdecom@vsnl.com)
Notes:
1. Imitiaz Ahmed , ‘Maldevelopment,
Environmental Insecurity and Militarism in South Asia’ in Prof D.D.
Khanna, Ed, ‘Sustainable Development’, New Delhi, Macmillans(India)
Ltd.1997.P182. Also see Talukder Maniruzzama, ‘Bangladesh
Politics: Secular and Islamic Trends’ in Rafiuddin Ahmed, Ed, ‘Religion,
Nationalism and Politics in Bangladesh’, New Delhi, South Asian
Publishers,1990.P73-74.
2. Ibid.P191
3. J.K. Chopra ‘Bangladesh as a New
Nation’ Jaipur, Sublime Publications, 2000 P229.
4. Details of Bangladesh Armed Forces
and para-military forces have been extracted from MILITARY BALANCE, 2000,
P160-161.
5. Suchita Ghosh, ‘China-Bangladesh-India
Tangle Today’, New Delhi. Sterling Publishers,1995 P1. Also see
‘SPs Military Year Book 1998-99, New Delhi, Guide Publication,1999.
P278.
6. Ibid. P1
7. J. K. Chopra (2000) P45 See note 3
above.
8. Ibid.P 46.
9. Shireen Mazari, ‘Militarism and
Militarisation of Pakistan Civil Society 1977-1990' in Kumar Rupesinghe
and Khawar Mumtaz, Eds. ‘Internal Conflicts in South Asia’, SAGE
Publication for International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway,
1996, P96.
10. Kumar Rupesinghe and Khawar Mumtaz,
Eds, ‘International Conflicts in South Asia’, SAGE Publication for
International Peace Research Institute. Oslo Norway 1996. See Chapter 4
‘Pakistan: The Politics of Fundamentalism’ P56.
11. J.K.Chopra (2000) See Pages 4 and
21
12 Bomkesh Padulia Saha, ‘While
Bengal Bled...’ OUTLOOK(Weekly news magazine), May 28,1997 P60.
13. Suchita Ghosh (1995) P91.
14. Yossef Bodansky, ‘Bin Laden: the
Man Who Declared War on America’. Forum Prima Publishing, Rocklin,
California, 1999.P 224-227
15. Ibid P 327
16. Ibid P 378-379.
17. Ibid
