IN MEMORIAM

Wajid Ali Khan Panni (Chand Mian):
An unsung hero

K. Z. Islam

Sulaiman Karrani, a descendant of Sher Shah Suri, was the governor of South Bihar under the rule of Bahadur Shah in 1555. Bahadur Shah ruled peacefully for six years when he was succeeded by his brother Jalal Shah but his throne was usurped by Giasuddin. At this Sulaiman Karrani, governor of South Bihar, sent an army led by his brother Taj Khan Karrani who killed the usurper and established himself at Gaur.
   With this event the Karrani Afghan rule was established in Bengal; and once again Bengal and Bihar were united under one administration. The Karranis had been gathering strength in South and South-Eastern Bihar since Sulaiman Karrani's appointment as governor in that region. His elder brother Taj Khan Karrani was an important noble under Sher Shah. The Karranis maintained a cordial relationship with the Mughals.
   Shortly after having captured Gaur, Taj Khan Karrani died in 1563. Sulaiman Karrani then directly took over the administration of Bengal along with Bihar. He ruled from 1563 to 1572 during which period Bengal had once again a brief spell of power and progress. This was due mainly to a number of special circumstances particularly because the Karranis continued to follow their predecessor's policy of placating the Mughal emperor. Sulaiman Karani in effect exercised independent authority under his jurisdiction. His most outstanding achievement was the conquest and annexation of Orissa in 1567.
   Sulaiman died in 1573 and was succeeded by his son Bayazid Khan Karrani. Unfortunately Bayazid was killed in the same year and his younger brother Daud Khan Karrani was installed on the throne. Daud continued his brother's policy of independence. He was doubtless emboldened to do so in view of the vast resources and military strength which his father Sulaiman had built up. It is stated that Daud on accession had 40,000 well mounted cavalry, and 3,300 elephants and 140,000 infantry. Daud with his strength thought he could defy Mughal rule and started the conflict. Akbar's army led by Munim Khan defeated Daud. Daud's horse, in course of his flight, was stuck fast in a quagmire and he was taken prisoner. Akbar's general Khan Jahan, considering a living Doud likely to be a source of disturbance and insurrection, ordered his immediate execution.
   Thus ended the life and struggle of the illustrious Daud Khan Karrani, the last Afghan king of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. His outright execution was undoubtedly unfortunate. One cannot help noting the total absence of chivalry on the part of this Mughal General Khan Jahan. If he had possessed one quarter of the chivalry of Munim Khan, his predecessor in office, he could have never extended his hand to the perpetration of this brutality, which was as ferocious as it was ungallant. With Daud's exit, the independent Muslim royalty in Bengal and the Afghan era of its history came to an end.
   A small consideration was shown to the family of Bayazid Khan Karrani (Daud's brother) as his wife and son Sayeed Khan Karami was taken to Fatehpur Sikri and kept in prison. A few years later, Prince Aurangzeb was impressed with Sayeed Khan's knowledge of Islam and was pleased to get him married to an Afghan girl from the "Panni" tribe of Afghanistan. Aurangzeb recommended to the then emperor Jahangir to release him from custody. The emperor was pleased to release them and gifted Sayeed Khan Panni with a Jagir in Atia Pargana in Bengal.
   Sayeed Khan Panni settled in Atia in Tangail and established a flourishing Jagir. The Atia Mosque built in 1610 still exists and appeared some years ago in the Bangladesh Ten Taka currency note.
   We now come to the illustrious Wajid Ali Khan Panni (Chand Mian) born on the 25th April 1871, 13th in the direct linage of Sulaiman Khan Karrani, King of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
   Chand Mian is an exception in the annals of knights, Nawabs, rulers of the Indian subcontinent as he was the only personality who took an active part in the Independence Movement against the British which earned him the title of "Atiar Chand".
   Chand Mian took active part in politics of Bengal and he was the Chairman of the meeting held in Dhaka in 1906 when the Muslim League was founded. All the illustrious Muslim leaders of India were present in the meeting.
   He joined the Swadeshi movement and played an active role. For this Chand Mian was arrested in 1921 and sentenced to full one-years rigorous imprisonment. Being a ruler the British offered to condone the sentence if he apologised. But Chand Mian refused to do so and for a full year he was incarcerated in Alipur jail in Calcutta. This act is unprecedented as there is no record of a state ruler undergoing prison sentence during British rule. He was released on 2nd June 1922.
   A momentous incident was the visit of Chittaranjan Das to Karatia, an outstanding event in those days. There were 3 days of festivity - Bangla culture, music, jatra, jarigan and other celebrations - which left C.R. Das most impressed.
   After his release from the jail Chan Mian concentrated on the promotion of social, educational, and healthcare activities. He founded the Sadat College in the name of his grandfather. The first principal was the renowned educationalist Principal Ibrahim Khan. This was a great boost for the Muslims who were lagging behind in education. Chand Mian also founded a school in the name of his father Hafez Mahmud Ali Khan. The education was practically free for the poor students. These educational institutions presently have more than 15,000 students.
   He improved the communications in Karatia and contributed generously to the publication of books. On the 21st February 1926 he donated his entire estate for the benefit of the promotion of education, health, other social benefits and maintenance of religious institutions and mosques of the people of Karatia. He became known as the "Second Mohsin" of Bengal. In the context of Bengal he certainly rated at the largest benefactor.
   He gave permanent settlement rights to his tenants. All zamindars and landlords of the time went against him for this action. He protected the weavers from British prosecutions and exempted them from taxes and land revenues.
   It is regrettable that in Bangladesh we do not recognise the contribution of our forefathers who worked selflessly for the benefit of the poor and down trodden. Today no memorials exist in the name of Chand Mian. On the 25th of April is the seventy second death anniversary of this great man. Lest we forget let us recall some of his contribution.

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Secret societies again

Rayyan Kamal

I hate to keep talking about the same topic, but it's just too intriguing for me to ignore. When people outside the Yale bubble think of secret societies, they think of Skull & Bones, of which George Bush and John Kerry were both members. Yale students, on the other hand, know that there are top-tier senior secret societies in addition to Skull & Bones: Scroll & Key, Book & Snake, Berzellius, Manuscript, etc. A "top-tier" society is one that is extremely old and has its own tomb (or house) on campus. "Tombs" are almost always windowless and always spooky-looking.
   Last Thursday was tap night for Yale's senior secret societies, the night when juniors are inducted into the society they will come to know well as seniors during the next academic year. From the abundance of cloaked and masked figures wandering around, you wouldn't have been blamed for thinking you were in a Harry Potter movie and not Yale University. But the crazy had started earlier.
   Pre-tap night occurred exactly a week before actual tap night. It was when the chosen juniors were officially informed of their acceptance by senior societies. At this point, they had to accept or decline the offer. If they accepted, they would be made to undergo a series of highly embarrassing tasks in the coming week to prove their allegiance.
   Several of my friends were tapped, so I'm familiar with the kinds of tasks they were given: interrupt a lecture with 200+ students to recite the Declaration of Independence; give a Kama Sutra demonstration on a table of the college's biggest dining hall when it's virtually filled to full capacity; dress up as a knight and stand in a central area of campus and challenge all passers-by to a jousting match; stand outside the dining hall and offer to give all passers-by a lesson on how to put on condoms; go to Toad's, the nightclub next to campus, in your bathing suit and bring cookies and milk to offer to partygoers; etc.; etc. I must say I'm impressed by the seniors' creativity in coming up with tasks.
   I asked my friend what he had to do to get tapped. He said that, contrary to popular belief, most senior societies (made up of 16 to 17 people) tap people that they know. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time, as the captain of the Yale squash team happened to be his best friend and also a member of the society that ended up tapping him. What about tapping based on potential and ambition to ensure that the future's most powerful leaders would be united by membership in the same senior society? Hogwash! At least that was his opinion.
   Thus, last Thursday night, as I walked back to my room, I saw goblins and ghouls drinking together, hooded figures placing blindfolds on nervous juniors dressed up as clowns or porn stars and leading them God-knows-where, and a bunch of witches having a dance competition right outside the library. All this so they would be inducted into a senior society - most of the members unknown to them - and spend their senior year with 15 or 16 other current juniors, picked up by the seniors who they, for the most part, barely know. Sounds a bit childish to me, but I might not have thought so had I been able to partake in the craziness.
   Rayyan Kamal is a sophomore at Yale University.

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Political fever in Philadelphia

Saad Quasem

There are times when I feel like I am still in Dhaka. There is no better time to indulge in such feelings other than the time, when the election fever plagues aspects of life in America. The democratic convention in Pennsylvania had taken precedence over all other things for the last few weeks. Finally, the democratic race to the White House took place on Tuesday, bringing some sense of normalcy back into life and of course the results.
   Hullabaloo was caused by the volunteers and supporters of the two main candidates - Senators Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Cheering, shouting and the redundant usage of slogans has now become commonplace and rather trite. Both the candidates have been in and out of Philadelphia almost simultaneously. This left hoards of supporters waiting in line to see the man or the woman; they wish to see as their leader. The people's wish to view, caused other people to sit in traffic for hours as the inner city roads had all been blocked by human passage.
   The world was celebrating Earth Day. Due to the primaries, Rittenhouse Square (Philly's Centre) the place to hold rallies and awareness programmes had been taken over by volunteers, whose job was to encourage passersby to vote for their candidate of choice. Environmentalists were gloomily sitting in one corner as the public had been more interested in politics and the Earth Day.
   One day they both came to my neighborhood. Hillary apparently showed up at a diner late last Wednesday night to make the "common person" impression. She complained over the soaring inflation, the recessed economy and recalled how hard Bill and her worked to make ends meet about three decades ago. She certainly did make an impression. How can it not remind me of Bangladesh? Don't we see our leaders walking into tea stalls during elections and chit chattering about the day to day issues? All over the world, when the campaigning leaders sit on the throne, they seem to be surrounded by security, blocking them from interaction with the commoners.
   Obama on the other hand addressed a rally of about 35,000; I was one of them. The meeting took place in the Old City district in front of the famous Liberty Bell, between the Constitution Center and the First House of Congress, suggesting America's founding principles. Despite the geography Obama promised "change" in traditional ways of government. His ideologies revolved around building "a new America." It was an impressive speech, despite a two-hour delay in showing up.
   While, walking back from the meeting, I stopped by a café. They expressed joy as these meetings were boosting sales, which is expected to be rather grim at this point.
   Philadelphia is inhabited by an ample population of African Americans and their support for Obama remains undivided. Many have converted their cars into campaign mobiles, equipped with speakers chanting for Obama. Night and day, I hear "Obama! Obama! Obama!"
   This is just a reminder, that politics is played the same way everywhere. I have seen such events taking place in Bangladesh with pictures of Hasina and Khaleda. Now it's two different ones. As, I write this article, I am waiting for the results of the Pennsylvania primary. We have to wait for this craze to return until the Presidential race in November.

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