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A soul-searching nation's lost voice
of conscience
Sadeq Khan
Over the second half of the last century, social dynamics in Bangladesh and erstwhile East Pakistan generated a tremendous thrust. Forces of change often led to precarious imbalances. Dangerously disturbing conditions were provoked by internal and external causes. They were compounded by natural calamities that hammered the overpopulated delta in annual visitations. Conflicting interests and influences of the Cold War era tended to tear apart the social fabric. And so did the divergence between the traditionalists who led peasant revolts rendering colonial occupation uneasy through the earlier century and the modernists who led the struggles for the nation-state counting on colonial withdrawal in the last century. All along, the wheels of change appeared to gather momentum even from the waste energy of conflicts and schisms in body politic. As the country crossed into the new millennium and the world turned abjectly unipolar, fall-outs of global war on terror, hegemonic huffs of a powerful neighbour, havocs of climate change in the shared earth, and caprices of an unstable world market are posing new perils for the nation-state to ford.
Enayetullah Khan grew and lived through those turbulent times. And he remained ever alert about socio-political transformations taking place in the country. He also had a sharp nose for detecting any surprises waiting to be sprung in the course of events. In 1971, in the Holiday, he predicted that a military crackdown was in the offing when Yahya-Mujib talks pulled the wool over gullible Bangladeshi eyes. In 1972, when liberation war refugees returned to Bangladesh, some of them began to badger those who stayed in the country and suffered the ordeals of enemy occupation, claiming lion's share of state amenities for the returnees. Enayetullah wrote his protest piece in the Holiday under the heading 'Sixty-five million collaborators?'. As a sequel to his 1971 writing, he was tied up and briefly held for court-martial by a military unit of the army of occupation. Holiday was closed down. As a sequel to his 1972 writings, he was sent to jail without trial by the Sheikh Mujib government. Holiday was again closed down. Another wave of change in 1975 brought the paper back into print.
From his adolescent days, Enayetullah learnt to relate to social realities as well as to individual persons he came in touch with. Gregarious and versatile, he was a star in his social milieu. As a student leader in Dhaka University, he sang with his fellows as much as he gave speeches in gatherings. His socio-cultural interests did not stand in the way of his political pre-occupations.
But when time came for him to opt for a career, he chose to be a member of the fourth estate. He preferred to be watchful of the politicians rather than be a politician himself. He recognised that the occupational hazard in a developing country for a politician was double-talk. He did not like to mince his words, and therefore chose to play his part as an earnest inquisitor for the soul-searching of the nation.
It is not that he did not have his stints in the first estate. He served the Republic in the rank of a minister and later as an ambassador. He had his part in putting together a political platform that President Ziaur Rahman used as a stepping stone to enter politics before the latter launched the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Enayetullah also tried his luck as an independent candidate in general election. He was outdone in constituency polls, but in club polls, he fared well. He served long terms both as Press Club President and as Dhaka Club President.
But it is his faithfulness to the profession he opted for and his sensitivity about burning issues of a public interest coupled with his capacity for outspoken discourse that endeared him to the inhibited elite of the city he lived in and to foreign visitors. He was sucked into civil society rounds in the region for the same quality. His readers, however, remember him primarily as a voice of conscience that the soul-searching nation constantly at peril is missing.
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Story behind the great story
Sayed Kamaluddin
The article entitled "Sixty-five million collaborators?" published on February 6, 1972 - nearly seven weeks after the day the Pakistan military had formally surrendered in Dhaka on December 16, 1971 - had caused a sensation in the country at the time. This write up will make an attempt to explain the reason for and the circumstances in which the late and lamented Enayetullah Khan felt obligated to write the article which found instant resonance from all corners of the country. It touched upon the responsive cords of the people who were suffering from varying predicament at that point of time.
It was a trying and difficult time as the new and inexperienced government of the newly emerged nation was grappling with multitude of problems vying for its attention. The government was evidently failing to address many of the problems not because of any dearth of funds at its disposal but because of lack of understanding of what happened inside the country during the nine-month-long war of liberation.
They were also found to be not very keen and sympathetic to understand how the people - who could not migrate to India - manage to survive under the dreadful violence perpetrated by the hordes of marauding bands of armed civilians raised by Yahya Khan's army with the help of local political collaborators against the recalcitrant citizens. Most of the returning migrants who stayed during the war in the safety of what is now called Kolkata and other Indian towns, apparently despised those who were found running the show in Dhaka. They demanded to remove them from whatever they were doing and said that they were to be subjected to a process of rigorous screening to find out if they were guilty of collaboration with the then West Pakistani administration.
Enormous problem was being created by the discriminatory policies dictated by the returning political migrants from India to the fledgling administration. They suggested that performing artists and technical staffs in the state establishments such as Radio and TV should be barred from attending to their duties. They said those who were running the government institutions for the Pakistani regime are guilty of collaborating with them and therefore should not be allowed to participate in radio and TV functions. They also suggested that the performing artistes would have to clear them through a screening board before being allowed to enter these organisations.
As a result of this ban being imposed on the artistes - news readers, singers, commentators and performers alike - both Radio and TV faced an acute shortage of manpower to properly run them. One day in late January, 1971, finding no way out of the predicament those responsible for running Radio and TV, including a few returnees from Kolkata organised an impromptu meeting with senior newsmen to seek their help to draw the attention of the government to this problem. Quite a few newsmen including some veterans - also some senior ones who had returned from Kolkata and were actively involved in the media - attended. They listened to the woeful statements of the senior electronic media officials who urged upon the newsmen in general and those Kolkata returnees in particular, to come to their rescue.
Enayetullah Khan and this scribe were also present. A few inconsequential and sketchy reports appeared in some of the newspapers on the issue but nothing happened till "Sixty-five million collaborators?" was published in Holiday of February 6, 1972 and it appeared with a bang. It had literally electrified the society and Holiday became talk of the town. It may seem unthinkable to some now, but the banned artistes included luminaries such as Abdul Latif, Abdul Ahad, Abdul Alim, Ferdousi Rahman and scores of others. Enayetullah Khan reasoned to further his argument: "If collaborators were found in abundance, the regime would not have had to import West Pakistani police, West Pakistan civil servants, West Pakistani programme producers for the TV and Radio to run the civil administration."
Holiday was banned after the March 1971 army crackdown. But this was also not the first time that Enayetullah Khan had penned such a strongly worded piece. Soon after Holiday reappeared after the Pakistani surrender in Dhaka, it began to fight self-righteous attitude of the returnees from India. Almost a month before the much talked about article "Sixty-five million collaborators?" appeared in Holiday, he wrote on January 9, 1972: "The summery rejection of those who chose not to go across despite the danger of extermination by the occupation army of Yahya and their collaborators, and who consequently suffered with the rest of populace, is symptomatic of an unfortunate trait. It also points to their faulty understanding of the nature of the crackdown and consequent genocide in occupied Bangladesh by Yahya's bigoted marauders."
He added in the piece: "The final and deadly thrust of Yahya's junta on the people of Bangladesh signaled the climatic point of national repression. It was a total attack on the people, and not a selective onslaught in a section of people or a particular political party.... The strategy of Yahya's crackdown was skillfully planned and decided on genocide only after they could not isolate the 'fish from the sea' and realized that the entire people were their enemy. Prior to their final thrust, they tried counter-insurgency measures to stem the rot in what they vauntedly described as the 'ideology and the territorial integrity of Pakistan."
This, in a nutshell, is the genesis of this write-up that generated tremendous impact amongst the people.
Editor's Note
For the readers to appreciate the late Enayetullah Khan's writings in proper perspective, in addition to Sixty-five million collaborators?, we are also reproducing in this commemorative issue another article entitled Freedom or death published on June 4, 1972.
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Mintu a.k.a. Enayetullah Khan
Ataus Samad
Enayetullah Khan was an extraordinary person at least in one sense which is that he would leave an impression of himself, good or bad, wherever he went. On most occasions he would speak out his mind forcefully, and force there would be in what he said or wrote because he had excellent command of Bangla and English. Moreover, his thinking was clear. When one is gifted with clarity of both thought and language one becomes very attractive and impressive. That way Enayetullah Khan was very fortunate.
Of course he made some poor or wrong decisions in life. Those mistakes occurred when emotion or ambition got the better of him. Enayetullah Khan's friends would be saddened when he went to the wrong route but they always welcomed him when he, like prodigal son of the proverb, accepted his mistake and returned. This is because he was not only warm and genial to his friends but also because he was sincere to them and ever helpful.
Enayetullah Khan was a courageous person. He would take on a foe many times more strong them him if he believed the latter was wrong, unfair or unjust. He had done this with the Pakistani military in early 1971 and also with Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in independent Bangladesh. For doing so he became the target of Pakistani and their collaborator assassinations in December, 1971, but he could luckily elude them. During the first Awami League rule he was detained and sent to prison. After some years Enayetullah Khan found compensation for these adversities when he became a member of the Council of Advisers in the government of General Ziaur Rahman for a brief while and an ambassador for a longer period during General Ershad's regime.
The weekly Holiday was probably Enayetullah Khan's most absorbing passion and the spirit which he instilled in the weekend paper it still runs. He also founded the daily New Age, a newspaper that has already made its mark by its outspokenness.
I, however, remember my friend Mintoo (a.k.a. Enayetullah Khan) because of his hearty laughter, irrepressible spirit.
God knows how many times we differed and argued with Enayetullah Khan but God also knows how much we loved him and still do. We loved him as a friend.
The author is the Advisory Editor of the Amar Desh and CEO of NTV.
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He was sensitive, yet simple
and easy to please
Wajid Ali Khan Panni
I am pleased to write something about Late Enayetullah Khan, whom we all knew as Minto Bhai. The first time I remember meeting him briefly in Mymensingh in the very early 1950s, when his father was the District Judge. I was very young in junior school run by missionary, while Minto bhai being older, I think went to the Zila school. He had, in fact, reminded me of our meeting in Mymensingh and said that he did not talk much to me as I was a small boy. Later in years when we had grown up, in the sixties, we became friends and met very often socially. By then the Weekly Holiday and Minto Bhai had become synonymous. I read the paper seriously, especially the comments written by Minto Bhai, not necessarily for the news value or his views, but to improve my English. There were times that I had to consult a dictionary to find meanings of some of the difficult words he used.
Though Minto bhai was sentimental and sensitive and yet quite simple and could adapt to any environment. He was not fussy about food, clothes nor place to sleep. Once he had visited Tangail to attend the famous Jalsa of Moulana Bhasani and stayed over at our home in Karatia along with many other friends from the media, including late Sayeedul Hasan, my dula bhai and Habibuddin Uncle of custom. Not having so many beds, he just slept on the drawing room carpet.
He was always short of money, and I don't think he owned a car till quite late. He could have made plenty of money if he wanted to. But remained uncompromising and honest .I recall when he contested the election for parliament during Ziaur Rhaman's time from one of the constituencies in Dhaka after resigning from Zia's cabinet. He did not have enough money to pay for the campaign. He even accepted Tk 100 or 200 from friends. I had gone to see him at his election office in Purana Paltan and gave him Tk 1500 (Fifteen Hundred) and he was so happy and excited. He could be so easily pleased.
Minto Bhai was very keen that I invest in the paper. I told him that he being a leftist, how could he accept a partner with feudal background, and his reply was (of course jokingly), I may not like the Zamindars, but don't mind their money. And he recollected what Moulana Bhasani said about my great grand father and took a dig at me, jokingly, that I was not a worthy son of the family. He always spoke to me in Bangla and insisted that I must speak Bangla with him. That was good as I had the opportunity to improve my Bangla too. We discussed politics, politicians and policies though many times we differed. He asked me many times to write for the Holiday expressing my political views, but I was too lazy to write; besides, I was afraid that I did not have the writing caliber of Minto Bhai to match.
In 1987, I had attended the NAM Ministerial meeting in Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. On my way back I stopped by in Beijing and stayed for two days with Minto Bhai, who was then Bangladesh ambassador to China. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign minister of China were traveling abroad at the time. The acting foreign minister hosted a lunch in my honour, although there were several foreign ministers of other countries passing through Beijing. The acting Prime Minister hosted a reception for the foreign ministers. At the reception, the acting PM gave a small speech and he said that he was "happy to see the Bangladesh Deputy Foreign Minister". No other foreign minister was mentioned by name. Minto Bhai had such good contacts that this could only happen because of him. Pity our government could not appreciate his contribution to the two country's relations. He was recalled from Beijing and later sent to Myanmar as Bangladesh Ambassador. Minto Bhai was quite heart broken and he wrote a personal letter to me in his own hand, expressing his disappointment and the treatment given to him by the government.
He is no more with us. His writings were always a good reading. We miss him and his forthright analysis and comments specially now when the country is going through such an interesting time politically.
May his soul rest in peace.
The author is a former Deputy Foreign Minister.
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Sixty-five million collaborators?
Enayetullah Khan
The TV and the radio are today faced with an acute famine of performing artistes consequent upon the summary banning of those who had appeared on the TV screen or lent their voices on the air during the nine months of terror and genocide in occupied Bangladesh. The embargo was reportedly imposed by some functionaries of the Ministry of Information who zealously branded them as collaborators of the occupation regime of Yahya.
The excommunication of the defenseless artistes from the holy communion of patriots, and the incidence of high-handedness by some Swadhin Bangla Radio personnel over some respected artists like Abdul Ahad and Abdul Latif have come as a rude shock to many. A similar attitude has also been displayed by our noveau-patriots in other spheres, where they merrily bludgeoned their helpless victims with their perverted judgement.
The rationale offered by these people in support of such brazen actions, which often smack of professional jealousies and personal animosities, is a curious blend of egotism and spite, and self-glorification. It is symptomatic of the aberrations of a twisted psyche, and hence an unpardonable offense against the majority of silent sufferers by a minority of freaks.
This has naturally resulted in a crisis of confidence between the civilians who sought refuge across the border and those who had to stay, perforce to live through the agony and misery of nine long and interminable months. And this has been due to the exaggeration by the former of their role in the liberation struggle in the safe recluse of Calcutta or Mujibnagar in total negation of the suffering millions trapped inside the territory of occupied Bangladesh.
While the above does not apply to those who have really fought with arms and the saner elements among the civilian refugees, this strain seems to have vitiated the social, political and cultural life in Bangladesh.
Context of struggle: The context of the struggle for national independence and economic emancipation in Bangladesh is not as recent as that of the period between March 25, 1971 and December 16, 1971. In fact, this period was the high watermark in our struggle against national repression which began exactly 25 years ago.
Hence, the record of the last 24 years, and not merely the nine months, will have to be taken into consideration in determining the bona fides of each and every individual case. Just as one does not become a collaborator by merely attending the office or performing for the radio or the TV under duress over the nine black months, one cannot also quash one's guilt of the past 24 years by merely crossing over the border and turning into a glorified refugee.
Collaboration is a political term and it has got to be defined politically. A collaborator is one who on his/her own volition helps in the scheme of the regime, who agrees with the political, cultural and economic blueprint of the rulers and assists the government machine in all its anti-people and repressive measures for the perpetuation of alien interests.
Judged in this context, only the anti-national elements belonging to the hated Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League and other communal parties and their cadres in the administration, educational institutions, business world and other spheres, and the linguistic but pampered minority population of Bangladesh, are the collaborators of the occupation regime. The rest of the population put up either active or passive resistance against the demonic occupation army wherever they lived.
To repeat what has been stated in our earlier reports, genocide is committed only when the rulers treat the entire people as their enemy. The Bengalees were the enemies of Yahya regime by the time it was March 25, 1971, and hence each Bengalee was a suspect in the eye of the government. If collaborators were found in abundance, the regime would not have had to import West Pakistani police, West Pakistan civil servants, West Pakistani programme producers in the TV and the Radio to run the civil administration.
Patriotism: Going back to the question of the performing artistes, the functionaries of the Ministry of Information have no right to question their patriotism. If some of them had appeared on the TV or performed over the radio, they had done so under compelling circumstances and at gunpoint.
Did they not play their glorious part in the struggle for emancipation and national independence during the past 24 years? Did they not inspire the nation with their resonant voices and music, with their enactment of patriotic plays and dramas during the month of March at the call of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman? If they have done so, the authorities concerned must take that into consideration.
Artistes like Abdul Latif, Abdul Ahad, Abdul Alim, Ferdousi Rahman and scores of others have always been with the people of Bangladesh. Any sinister attempt to blacken their names will be resisted by the people. With liberation, they like the rest of the six and a half crores of people have broken their chains. The era of slavery and forced labour is gone now and they are free to sing the songs of freedom to enthrall the millions all over this golden land.
It has been reported that the Ministry of Information has set up 'a screening committee' to clear or ban the performing artistes for the TV and the radio. This is an affront to the entire community of performing artistes. They have earned their inalienable right to earn a living as patriots without having to establish their bona fides before a committee of glorified refugees. And this principle should apply to every sector of our national life.
The community of artistes should for once rise to the occasion and fight it out to the last. If one of them is victimised by the officials, they should prefer starvation to humiliation.
Respect has always been denied to our performing artistes. They should earn it the hard way.
It is ironic that when the real collaborators are still at large and some of them have been rehabilitated with honour, witch-hunting of defenseless officials and artistes has become the favourite pastime for some of our own people in the administration. The people have earned their freedom. No one has any right to deny it to them.
Collaborator: Let us be clear that reporting to office under strict government orders, attending schools and colleges at gunpoint, receiving citations from Yahya for no initiative of one's own, performing for the TV and the radio under threat of dire consequences, and earning a living for oneself and one's family are not measures of collaboration. If that be so, six and a half crores of Bengalees are collaborators and they are proud to remain collaborators, if the government will.
Bangladesh, during the nine months of occupation, was like a vast concentration camp where government officers and employees, teachers of schools and colleges, industrial workers and artisans, intellectuals and artistes were compelled to go on forced labour like slaves in chains. They could neither breathe nor talk freely, awaiting penalty and death with each passing moment. Yet they fought bravely and silently, paying a heavy toll in terms of lives and properties until they were delivered by our gallant freedom fighters from the tyranny of Yahya, and his marauding troops and political collaborators.
Let us cite some instances to drive some sense into the head of the zealous patriots_the glorified refugees who fled this country. Sardar Fazlul Karim who was forced to sign the statement of 54 intellectuals singing panegyrics for the regime was taken into custody by the same regime. Munir Chowdhury, a signatory, was deemed to be too dangerous by the collaborators of Yahya to be kept alive.
This does not mean that all the rest of the signatories come under the same category. But there must be many more people like the above-mentioned ones whose patriotism should not be questioned merely on the basis of an isolated action without reference to the total situation and certainly the past 24 years.
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Remembering Abba
Masud Khan
By the time this article is published, it has been two years since Abba, the late A.Z.M. Enayetullah Khan, took his last breath in a Toronto hospital room. As I remember Abba, a man whom I can now unabashedly acknowledge as a giant in our public arena while still cherishing my image of him as the funny, sometimes self-mocking father to his youngest child, I feel intense gratitude. I am grateful for the life Abba has given me and my childhood which he ensured was happy notwithstanding the curve balls I asked life to throw at me. I am grateful for the family he has given me which serves as an unbreakable safety net for my occasional trapeze act. As I remember Abba, I am especially grateful to him for his legacy, a legacy not of bricks, mortar or coin, but a legacy much more valuable, a legacy of his values and public service shared with me daily by family, friends and random people of Bangladesh.
In almost every interaction I have had with acquaintances or strangers in Bangladesh (or with Bangladeshis in foreign airports, restaurants and parties), I am blessed with a reminder of the reach of Abba's pen and the lives he has touched. People who would otherwise be strangers have come up to me and quoted to me lines from something Abba wrote or said on television. People whom I met for the first time have shared with me the early years they spent bunkered in the Holiday office battling the establishment using only ink as their ammunition, youth and courage as their armour. Acquaintances have regaled me with his virtue in his stint at high public office, which virtue hopefully may again be seen in our present and future leaders. Most importantly, people whom I do not know have embraced me with their stories of Abba's warmth and friendship. To the hundreds who were with Abba in Toronto and the thousands who remembered him publicly and privately in and out of Bangladesh, Abba was sometimes a mentor, sometimes a leader, but always a friend.
In the last few days, I have been gifted many opportunities to appreciate Abba's legacy and the many ways he connected with and inspired people. A foreign embassy official, seeing Abba's name on my application for a visa, shook my hand and quoted me a few lines from an article Abba wrote quite some time ago. My cousin, Titas Khan, shared with me that even when Abba's life was taking its last bow, they developed an ardent bond bridging the years spent apart when Abba spoke to him of his love for his siblings and his family. Titas bhai's wife and my bhabi, Minnat Khan, marvelled at how Abba, barely out of his mid-twenties at that time, walked away from a prosperous career to pursue his dream of opening an English language weekly, The Weekly Holiday, which dream he made into reality with the help of others including my mother, Masuda Khan. My cousin, Aneek Khan, spoke to me of some of Abba's characteristics that Aneek aspires to, including never speaking ill of people and reflecting the respect and friendship a person has shown him, regardless of whether or not such person is in society's or the establishment's favour. I recall how Abba inspired Titas bhai and Minnat bhabi's son and my nephew Fawaz Khan, who spent time with Abba by his hospital bed doing crossword puzzles with him. After Abba's death, Fawaz wrote a piece about Abba that makes anything I have seen written about him pale in comparison.
Many others shared with me stories of Abba's ideology tempered with his pragmatism, and his worldview enhanced by his optimism. I believe that Abba's pragmatism and his optimism are his greatest legacy for me, as I apply these values I have been taught by him. Abba's optimism is also his parting gift for the people of Bangladesh, for he believed that Bangladesh would succeed in spite of the mistakes made by its helmsmen and women. He had great faith in its people. In his writings, he imparted to the readers his optimism about the country's future beyond the immediate gloom. His belief in the country, and the belief and actions of others like him, are bringing many of us who left the country to come back. The present course of the country I believe would be viewed by him with qualified optimism.
As I remember Abba, I remember to be grateful for who I am and where I am in my life.
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Mintu Bhai
Nasrine R. Karim
There are hundreds of written memorials about Enayetullah Khan known as Mintoo Bhai to most. He was a very unusual man to say the least. I was very fond of him as was my husband. He felt comfortable with us. He was not comfortable with lots of people!
During his lifetime, he suffered many criticisms. He was the public figure many admired but some found hard to swallow. He was fearless in his commentaries and thought. He was a role model for many a young journalists but skeptics would differ. It was this very contradictory personality that commanded my respect.
He made it very clear that his first love was the weekly HOLIDAY that he established when he was a young man with passion for the truth and principles. His entire soul went into HOLIDAY. Today, I am so glad that I have the privilege to be a part of that legacy and that the great Mintoo Bhai himself drew me into - in fact into writing as a whole.
I remember the first time I met him. He was singing his favourite Rabindra Shangeet at a friend's house - a lifetime ago. I was told he was a great journalist who was incarcerated and had just released. I was fascinated by him singing away without any inhibition! Mintoo Bhai stopped singing and began recounting his experience of Central Jail. I listened with fascination. I admired Mintoo Bhai's humorous remarks, detailed descriptions but most of all, his nonchalant disregard towards whatever the political motivation was for his incarceration. His in-depth philosophical understanding of the way of life in this country, I suppose, gave him the laid back arrogance that many misunderstood.
We were all very enthused with our newly found freedom. This was only 1973. Each of us had a role to play in the quest for liberty of our nation. The morale was very high and also very volatile and I suppose he, above all, was not about to relent to any pushing and prodding towards any issue regarding personalities and whims. Mintoo Bhai certainly spoke his mind.
Mintoo Bhai was however, down to earth as was the norm of the day. High thinking and unobtrusive living! People of good breeding did not show off those days. Even though he comes from one of the most well known and respected families of Bangladesh, he was one of the thirteen siblings who have made marked accomplishments in their lifetimes. Mintoo was above all a nationalist - he reveled in his being a freedom fighter. He loved his country and the people.
When he agreed to be a diplomat and accepted his Ambassadorial posts, my late father was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They did not see eye to eye all the time. There was much water under their bridges! So, when my father resigned from his post, the first dinner he attended was at my home. Both my beloved father and Mintoo Bhai made their peace. Both my late father and Mintoo Bhai understood that the misconception about each other was contrived by external sources. Both the men were far too intelligent to fall into the well-known trap. They buried their hatchet right then and there. When my father passed away in 2001, Mintoo Bhai consoled me at length. I will never forget that.
Mintoo Bhai could muster up brinkmanship on difficult situations and quell unnecessary altercations that attracted my respect and admiration. I was a friend. I watched all his trials and tribulations with sympathy.
Mintoo Bhai, throughout his life made many difficult personal choices. He loved and hated with the same passion. He never regretted anything. People, today, are showering accolades. Well deserved, I can assure you - this man has been through a lot and come out a winner.
Decades later, when I began to campaign for the victims of Arsenic contamination in our country, Mintu Bhai gave me the platform to bring about awareness of the horrible scourge our people were facing. He moderated many of our public seminars. We were preparing for another campaign a year ago, when my daughter became ill. Mintoo Bhai, without hesitation, confirmed that he would be our voice, and then he became ill. Even though he was ill, he found time to enquire about us and our grief. I lost my daughter and there is no pain beyond this.
Had he been alive, he would have been something spectacular now. He was full of ideas and directives as to how to shape this country which was on the course of being damned to be lost forever. He wanted change. He was brilliant in his futuristic concepts. Before he passed away, he was frustrated by the anomalies around him and was very vocal. He would have something definite to say about today.
Wherever you are, Mintu Bhai, your soul will soar to the heights that you deserve. You will find the niche and that will finally set your spirit free! Thank you for everything, Mintu Bhai. May Allah find you a shaded spot in His Heaven for your soul to rest in eternal peace! We all miss you and your long, long, long sentences....that really dropped to the floor but we all made sure we took in every word!
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In memoriam
Syed Badrul Haque
Way back in the early fifties, I came to know Enayetullah Khan, then a student of the Notre Dame College at Luxmibazar in old Dhaka. Luxmibazar in those days was a pleasant neighbourhood with a sprinkle of non-Bengali Indian migrants including Aga Khanees. Enayetullah along with his elder brothers, Sadeq Khan and Obaidullah Khan, used to reside in the locality. Beyond his academic pursuits, he seemed overly extra-curricular drawn mostly to politics. He was no less passionate to music blessed as he was with a fine singing voice and loved to play guitar. His leadership quality was manifest right from his student days, he never took back seat to uphold the causes of the student community. These are, however, fringe glimpses, albeit incongruously, as many others were now silhouetted against the fading memory.
To ruminate, it was one of those morning hours in the sixties at the memorable old Press Club where I happened to be on the same table sipping tea with I. H. Burney of the Outlook fame, then serving Pakistan Observer as a senior editorial hand in Dhaka. Enayetullah joined us at the same table when he broached his idea of launching a weekend English journal, Holiday. By any stretch of imagination, it was a bold and novel idea in those adolescent days of newspaper industry. Burney welcomed the idea, but cautioned Enayetullah of the pitfalls that lay in sustaining such a venture. Not deterred, Enayetullah remained firm in his determination. After a brief flirtation with a multinational company, he finally brought out his dream journal almost single-handedly against heavy odds with fringe support from his professional colleagues which however was no less crucial at that point of time. His comrade in-arms in those early days of the Holiday were Ataus Samad, Fazle Rashid, Omar Ali Chowdhury, Sadeq Khan, Mohammad Aslam and Barrister Abul Khair Khan. The journal has always served as intelligent and incisive critique of the ills confronting our society, frequently scathing, and unburdened by any vested obligation; it has been a moving and conscientious chronicle of commentary too of events never acquiescing to external pressure. It is the rigour of his mind that propelled him to follow his principled stand even when he seemed isolated in the profession. But it had never been an easy street. Enayetullah was put behind the bar.
Holiday marked an important watershed in the annals of our English journalism, provided a critical outlet for newspaper readers who were until then captive of mainstream dailies. Barring BAKSAL closure for some time, the journal never had to look back; it continued its uninterrupted publication catering its charmed clientele as an apostrophe to our English journalism. Its intellectuality with a sheen of urbanity never proved any bar to relate to any issue of national life. It has a glamour and romantic halo which our print media had never before. Notably these days when our political culture resembled more a soap opera than an epic, the Holiday never lagged in constructive engagement for a healthier, quality life of our citizenry.
Lately, Enayetullah's writings under the Editor's Desk column was a compulsive draw for any student of national affairs. His elegant prose, however, long-winded at times, were a treat for any discerning reader, although some held it did not lend easily to ordinary readers. Benda Deluran, a Danish student of art and culture who lived here for long, said Enayetullah's writings were super sweet even to dull bitterest pill. Personable, jocular and serious, yet a private mind in a public profession.
His proficiency in Bangla was equally superb. It is a real pity that he did not take up writing in Bangla seriously. Candour and spontaneity were the hallmarks of his writing. He abhorred name-dropping and discouraged writers who were drawn into such habits from contributing to his journal. His departure has caused a serious vacuum in the field of journalism which seem rather difficult to fill in near future. Farewell to sunshine is perhaps the right metaphor to describe the exit of the redoubtable editor from this mortal world. After he was gone all too often the miserable refrain was: will the journal be able to maintain its standard?
Happily Holiday with its able successor-editor Sayed Kamaluddin sails smoothly on the wave of its rich legacy woven through forty-three summers founding, under the stewardship of its founding editor, Enayetullah Khan. Much beyond its title, the slogan Holiday chose to print in its dateline is pregnant with thoughtful meaning. It reads: The Holiday. Because life isn't. What could be more true than this?
The author is former Information Officer attached to the President of Bangladesh.
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Enayetullah Khan: The last stand
Dr. Mizanur Rahman Shelley
One still misses him. Two years have elapsed since he departed from this world on the 9th November 2005. Yet to his friends, associates and colleagues Enayetullah Khan, the restless fighter for vibrant life appears alive in fresh memory. He does not continue to live in fond remembrance alone. What has recently happened and continues to happen in our socio-political and economic life brings him back in full colour. The changeover of the 11th of January 2007 and subsequent developments in national life brings to clear light the prophetic contents and enduring significance of his last stand. Even as he fought a losing struggle against terminal cancer in his closing years Enayetullah Khan, through his writings and work, put up a valiant resistance against 'State-Capture' in Bangladesh.
He played a leading role in pointing out the imminent and inevitable danger posed to the political system by informal and parallel centers of power backed by illegitimate wealth and criminal terror. This was his historic last stand. It was manifest in the series of hard-hitting writings he penned in the Holiday exposing the groups and mechanisms which were leading the country to politico-economic emaciation. He warned the nation of the impending disaster. He could clearly see the irresistible collapse of the existing political order. He did not live long enough to witness the realisation of his prophecy. Nevertheless, human failure brought down the avowedly democratic political system which had been robbed of its democratic essence because of the operation of the dark forces which he so spiritedly exposed. These forces have been defeated and contained for the time being as a result of the imposition of 'Emergency' and the reconstitution of the Caretaker Government in January 2007.
The nation is now in transition. The path to the future lies hopefully as a link between an apparent democracy that failed to a real democracy that will work. Many welcome steps have been taken: a massive anti-corruption drive is on, vital constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Public Service Commission have been reconstituted and are being reformed, the electoral laws and procedures are in the process of reforming and the task of putting the administration and economy back on track is in progress. But many more things need to be done to permanently defeat and vanish the negative forces that destroy democracy and equitable economy for people's welfare. These were the forces against which Enayetullah Khan waged his life-long war. To understand and comprehend his significance one not only needs to appreciate his last stand but also go back to the beginnings.
The many splendoured worlds of Enayetullah Khan, in essence, were one and indivisible. Tall and handsome in form and nature he strode in the arena of journalism like a colossus for about four decades and a half. He was a working journalist from the beginning to the end of his career. Even as he died prematurely in his late sixties, he continued to work. The twilight of his life saw him as the founder editor not only of Weekly Holiday (established 1965) but also of the fledgling daily New Age. It was an appropriate ending. Enayetullah Khan, (we his juniors always called him Mintu Bhai) started his journalistic career in the 60s as a staff reporter of the then daily Pakistan Observer. He was one of the brightest among the young in the profession at that point of time. Early success could not contain him within the limits of a secure career. He opted out and ventured into uncharted seas. In the mid-60s he founded the Weekly Holiday without any substantial backing of money or power. It was an act of audacious courage. The times were difficult. A military dictator was in the driving seat. Pakistan of the 60s was a curious two-part country ruled by the iron hand of Field Marshall Ayub Khan, the army chief turned into President. By the mid-60s martial law had been replaced by apparently civilianised but essentially covert military rule. Politics was severely restricted. The media were under rigid control. The establishment was powerful and well organized. The Eastern part of pre-1971 Pakistan the then East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh, suffered injustice and exploitation at the hands of the military-bureaucratic-feudal-industrial ruling coterie based in West Pakistan. That mighty combine also rode roughshod over the helpless masses of both East and West Pakistan.
The upper classes were servile. The middle classes compromised. Courage was in short supply. It was at such a time that Enayetullah Khan took courage in hands and endeavoured to serve the cause of progressive democracy and assertion of the rights of the Bengalees. His writings contributed immensely to the enhancement of nationalist feelings of the Bengalees. The flowering of nationalism ultimately led in 1971 to the liberation of Bangladesh.
During the initial post-liberation period also the courage of his conviction made Enayetullah stand up against injustice and inequity. He steadfastly continued his fight against the cult of personality and monolithic Unitarianism. He had to pay the price but he did it with brave confidence.
From the beginning to the end of our association spanning more than four and a half decades 'Mintu Bhai' (elder brother Mintu) remained the same. The varied and exciting changes that marching life brought to him and that he himself brought to life could not detract him from his core beliefs and values. Although he remained essentially committed to his life as journalist, he assumed willingly the responsibilities of high political and diplomatic office. These changes in work did, for some time, make him travel into worlds which were different from that of a media-man. During the late 1970s he joined the Council of Advisers of late President Ziaur Rahman. During the same period at a later time, he also served as a Cabinet Minister in charge of Natural Resources.
Again, during the latter half of the 1980s he served as the Ambassador of Bangladesh in China and Myanmar. The government he served was led by President General H.M. Ershad.
Changes in workplace and stations, however, did not change the essential Enayetullah Khan. Whether in high ministerial office or ambassadorial positions he kept himself clear of politics. He did not join either of the two political parties founded by President Zia and President Ershad. In fact, he had not joined or actively worked as member of any political party. Politics permeated his consciousness but he was no active politician. Thus, he served as minister and ambassador without being partisan. Basically he served in these posts as a technocrat. That was why it was possible for him to come out of these high stations with elegant ease and resume his work as a dedicated journalist. Truly, the more he changed the more he remained the same.
Enayetullah Khan never suffered the crisis of identity. He knew what he was all about. His outward restlessness was more assign of perpetual youthfulness rather than of a sense of uncertainty regarding his mission in life. His dream was that of a progressive, democratic society informed by the principles of social justice and moral equality of human beings. As a student leader in the 50s and early 60s and as leading journalist later, he untiringly fought for success of pro-people movements. His perception of his role in these events was clear. He persued his goals with the devotion of a committed working journalist. Throughout his career he remained unflinchingly loyal to his profession. He never deliberately used his station as a media-man to climb to power or amass wealth.
His mindset was essentially coloured by his early Marxist leanings. Karl Marx was mistakenly perceived as only an enunciator and advocate of historical materialism or materialistic interpretation of history. As competent analysts point out, the core of Marxist philosophy was not materialistic. The dream was to set human beings free from the chains of material needs by establishing an order ruled by equity. The quest of Marx was a quest to help men ascend from "the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom". This ennobling message of Marx seems to have informed the entire being and personality of Enayetullah Khan.
He considered money as a means to achieve ends of human welfare. Ill-gotten money and ostentation of newly acquired riches earned nothing but his angry disapproval and profound displeasure. During the late 1980s and early 90s he often used to tell us in social encounters, "the vulgarity of money has become intolerable. Nothing else seems to matter in these wayward days, excepting making money" he said and added, "Money, indeed, appears to be the undisputed sovereign in our apparently soul-less society. The god of money both reigns and rules." Since he spoke thus, the power of ill-gotten money had evidently become stronger and more vulgar - almost obscene.
By the beginning of the new century and millennium that obscenity had become a dominant feature of our political, social and economic life. Enayetullah Khan was enraged. He was also undaunted. Even as terminal ailment set limit to his life he continued to fight in the frontline. His mission remained unchanged. His was the task to forcefully point out the roots and depict the nature of this dangerous disease eating into the vitals of our nation.
That was his last stand. He fell while the inimical forces were still secure in their place. The fighting continued and there was a triumph after his demise. The last battle he began against injustice and plunder has certainly not ended with the passing away of one heroic fighter. The frontline is alive and awake, with thousands ready to carry on the brave fight of which Enayetullah Khan is the epitome.
The author, a noted thinker and social scientist, is the founder Chairman, Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh (CDRB), and Editor, quarterly Asian Aaffairs.
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Freedom or death
Enayetullah Khan
Exactly five years ago, in the year of 1967 and the month of August, Fakir Abdul Mannan, Secretary of the then East Pakistan Muslim Leauge, had suddenly lashed out against Holiday. In a statement displayed prominently in the Trust papers, he had let loose a fusillade of charges, accusing the paper of everything ranging from disrespect to Mr. Jinnah and the ideology of Pakistan, on one hand, to owing allegiance elsewhere, on the other. In the intervening period of 1967, Holiday had to survive many more ordeals, planned by professional arm-twisters in the Information Department of Ayub and Monem, and threats of annihilation by the right-wing press and politicians, particularly those belonging to the Muslim League, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the PDP. Altaf Hussain Qureshi's 'Urdu Digest' and 'Asia', Aziz Ahmed Bilyaminee's 'Young Pakistan' and Majid Nizami's 'Nawa-i-Waqt', among others, are replete with vicious articles demanding drastic action against Holiday.
Thanks to the contradictions in the tottering state-machines of the military dictator and the intensity of popular movement raging throughout the former Pakistan, more particularly the former East Bengal, and the ruling coterie had to be content with such backstage manoeuvres, as blacklisting, and other intimidatory tactics perfected by the Pakistani breed of Goebbles over a decade.
Then came a brief spell of relaxation following the abdication of Ayub, a year of hope and expectations that alternated between one crisis and another. The unrelenting crusade of Holiday continued as before despite the admonition that discretion is the better part of valour. It reflected the stream of consciousness which graduated from the relativity of substantive autonomy to the absolutism of national independence through armed struggle. And that consciousness was borne out by the headlines in the Holiday such as 'We Can Bear It No More' (November 22, 1970), 'History Beckons Sheikh Mujib' (January 3, 1971), 'Bengal Dishonoured Again' (March 7, 1971), 'They are Not finished With You Yet, Bengal' (March 14, 1971), 'All or Nothing' (Editorial, March 14, 1971), 'History Still has a niche For the Sheikh' (March 22, 1971), 'Joi Sheikh' (Editorial, March 22, 1971).
The recounting of the above is no apologia nor, for that matter, a clarification of Holiday's stand. It is an assertion of Holiday's faith in absolute independence and its commitment to the struggle against national repression through kindling the fire of insurrection. And it was articulated in symphony with the undaunted people of Bangladesh at a time when the pipe-dream of independence through negotiations was an obsession with a section of our hesitant leadership.
The crackdown of Yahya came, as predicted by Holiday. The paper's open rebellion against the military machine was retaliated with vengeance by the occupation regime by banning the publication along with two other papers, namely, the People and the Forum, and freezing of bank accounts by a Martial Law order.
Today, once again Holiday is the target; and the people demanding its banning along with three other weeklies are, ironically, using the same terms as was uttered by Fakir Mannan, the obscurantist elements and the occupation regime. The trepidation of the nationalised newspapers, the total silence of the Journalist Union on the issue and the obvious glee in certain quarters are symptomatic of the erosion which is eating into the vitals of this nation. It was, however, only expected of a press which has been caged too long by the Pakistani rulers to learn to fly. With its wings still clipped, the press in Bangladesh is destined to play the tune with all the servility it has acquired over the years.
The demand made by the organising secretary of the Awami League and the tenor of his threat surpasses any other precedent. The dire warning that 'if the government fails to take action against the four papers (mentioned by the organising secretary), the people will take action against them exposes the face of fascism in the ruling party. It also reveals the weakness of the regime and its vulnerability to valid criticism, either in speech or print.
States, such as Nazi Germany, used smear campaigns very effectively; the language of weapons to shut up the intransigent was no less effective. Hitler told his followers to 'answer everything'. The answers need not be correct; in fact those mainly consisted of blaming someone else-the Jews, the communists or the unsympathetic neighbour. In our case too, the modern-day vigilantes in the person of the organising secretary of the Awami League is following the Hitlerite dictum. It is based upon the diabolical logic that since someone or some institution is beyond criticism, any criticism is an act of treachery.
But will this really work? The threat of annihilation by setting the 'people' against the 'unpatriotic' newspapers and critics may be real. But the reality of death is too quotidian in Bangladesh to be fearsome anymore.
Holiday prefers death to servility, and above all else, it values freedom. The return of the Pakistani vocabulary in our politics, and the application of the same technique in terrorising the people will be resisted by us and the people of Bangladesh. Let the enemies of freedom remember, a person is not necessarily unpatriotic because he does not express himself in the same shop-worn phrases of lesser politicians. Holiday will continue to serve the people as it did in the past despite threats and intimidation, death and misery; and it will resist the conspiracy to sell out this country to any power-big or small, imperialist, social imperialist or sub-imperialist.
- Holiday, June 4, 1972
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Events and moments
M. Tajul Islam
Over 25 years ago, while standing in a queue with a friend in a McDonalds outlet in the jungle of high rises of Manhattan, a tall hefty middle-aged American behind me asked me with a smile "Hi, from India?" "No, Bangladesh". I was startled when he said, "Aha-a! B-a-n-g-l-a-d-e-s-h! By the way, do you, by any chance, know Mr. Enayetullah Khan?" The gentleman turned out to be a Senator and frontline one at that. We sat at a table and our talk centered round Enayetullah Khan (Mintu) and obviously his weekly. The Senator cherished his meeting with the Editor of Holiday during his visit to Bangladesh a few years ago and fondly remembered him as he could not help but like him for his forthright way of looking at things despite accusing the US of 'imperialism and neo-colonialism'.
Mintu and I had known each other since our university days starting with casual acquaintances when he used to render Tagore songs in departmental functions. It was a period when Tagore songs were not only discouraged but forbidden because the poor composer of the songs had the audacity of becoming neither a Muslim nor a Pakistani, although he expired half a decade before partition. Like most of the young men studying in the university and colleges in those days Mintu nourished leftist ideals with canned jargons like imperialism, colonialism and later, revisionism. They were dreamers of a happy motherland, a just society with no one going hungry, deprived of health, education and other basic needs. While working as a reporter in the then leading English daily the Pakistan Observer, when the Bengalis were increasingly becoming aware of and vocal against political and economic deprivation along with cultural discrimination, he shared with his friends his idea of bringing out an English political weekly with economic, social and cultural aspects. He had the vision, had made the plans, the time-table and everything. "But I have a 'little' problem", he said, "I have no money!" He started raising funds from his friends, any amount, and I was one of his targets. Irresistible and persuasive as he was, many friends and well-wishers came forward to contribute to the laudable venture.
Holiday came out in August 1965 as a broadsheet English weekly with the Editor's powerful columns putting a distinctive imprint on English views journalism in the country. After the '65 Indo-Pak war barely five weeks later, the people were simmering with anger realising their total helplessness due to lack of effective defense measures caused by deliberate and unforgivable negligence by the ruling coterie 1000 miles away. Politics in the country was heating up. Enayetullah Khan voiced through his powerful pen the rightful demands of the people and the pro-people parties. The weekly made an immense impact earning friends and also powerful foes during those turbulent days followed by the Liberation War. He narrowly escaped death in 1971. After the emergence of Bangladesh his role became clouded in controversy. But Holiday continued to grow with access to more homes and offices of the conscious readers longing for a second opinion, whether they agreed with it or not. Seeing the success of Holiday, many others attempted to bring out broadsheet English weeklies but those had their premature death.
These stories are not unknown to anybody. What clicked our friendship was his staunch nationalist and secular outlook, his personal warmth and lively disposition, his forceful columns (although many of his words flew over the heads of the readers!), speeches and arguments strictly adhering to his conviction and sometime giving up to his critics saying, 'Hey Ishwar, ha, ha, ha!' indicating 'God, help the poor fellow for his inability to understand!'. A perfect gentleman as he was, calling names and abusive words were unknown to his rich English and Bengali vocabulary--very unusual in the increasingly impolite social culture of ours. Everyone, no matter how well-mannered one is, has a hot button that can cause lose one's cool. Surprisingly he did not have any. He had his flaws and weaknesses. But didn't Anatole France say, "People with no weaknesses are terrible"?
I had known him very closely since the sixties both in his good and bad days. He was one of those rare species with whom, despite having fierce ideological differences, people could not help but like him. His human qualities outweighed his flaws. He was elected President of the National Press Club, the den of the media persons, the Dhaka Club, the breathing space of the leading industrialists, businessmen, bankers, lawyers, civil servants, artists, politicians, diplomats, poets, writers, journalists etc where they gather to socialise. He also held key positions including a Minister of an important ministry. With his positions and contacts he had many opportunities but he never took any undue advantage for personal benefits. The parties hosted by him used to be a galaxy of stars of various professions including politicians of different camps and top diplomats. He was above greed and as that was beyond his ethics. He had his bad days too, and endured many setbacks concerning both his paper and his personal life. But hardly anyone had seen him in a pensive mood. Once, during his bad days, I went to see him to his temporary abode in a small dark room of a friend's house. Despite everything he was as lively as ever. "I am in a soup, ha, ha, ha. I am a fatalist, you know", he said. Within a few days he was offered the top diplomatic job in China. He accepted it confiding in me, "Tajul, this will mentally rehabilitate me".
At a reception in a South Asian capital in the mid-eighties, I bumped into a former senior diplomat of that country who was earlier posted to Dhaka. His wife asked with excitement how their friends in Dhaka were. I said, "You must be very happy coming back home after so many years". "Arey nehi bhaiya, we miss Dhaka so much". "You mean you miss the jam, the rickshaws, the dust?" "We miss the evening adda. After one or two drinks the whole environment lights up with heated discussions and arguments. Everyone is talking, forcefully putting forward one's arguments underlined by body language and gesturing with hand, no matter what the topic is-- whether it is India or Pakistan, America or the UN or Cricket or any subject under the sun. You know, despite angry exchange of words nobody is taking anything personally and even asking for cigarette from the one he was shadow-boxing with! And Mintu Bhai is the life of the party. God, how I miss Dhaka!" Mintu's presence in any get-together stimulated lively debates that he relished and so did others many of whom fiercely opposing his views, may that be on national politics, relations with India, Pakistan, US foreign policy, Edward Said, Arundhuti Roy or Maqbul Fida Hussain. Adda is the lifeline of the talkative, argumentative free-thinking Bengali culture. Freedom of expression is the first line of defense of a country. Discipline without freedom tantamount to tyranny and, of course, freedom without discipline leads to chaos.
We went along together for decades in our respective professions-- his journalism and my public relations-- coming to the assistance of each other in times of need. Above all was friendship. I do not remember if there was a day when I was paid by him for the occasional write-ups I gave him at his request and printed in his journal (although I did not subscribe to many of his political views). On the other hand, whenever I thanked him for giving a good space for my writings his replies used to be. "Really? Then order a drink for me!" Good old Mintu.
On a November morning in 2005 Nurul Kabir, Editor of New Age first informed me on phone, "Mintu Bhai has left". I paused for quite sometime recalling the events and the moments of the life of this untiring, courageous lively friend, an institution by himself, whose presence was badly needed by the restless country desperately struggling for years for stability and a definite direction. Mintu's cherished journal will go on the courageous track laid down by him. While badly missing him forever, the best tribute to him by his friends and well-wishers, on whom he banked so much, will be to see that his creation flourishes more and more.
The author is the Director of Federation of NGO Bureau.
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Remembering Enayetullah Khan
Muhammad Zamir
It is sometimes difficult to believe that Enayetullah Khan, better known to most of us as Mintu Bhai, is no longer with us. A versatile journalist, an editor of repute, a charismatic orator in both Bangla and English, he is remembered by most of his friends and admirers for his elegance, romanticism, determination and charm.
A leader in student politics, he came from a distinguished background. His father, himself a Judge of the High Court, had joined politics and went on to become Speaker of the Pakistan National Assembly. Enayetullah Khan did his Masters in Philosophy from the Dhaka University, but unlike his eminent brother the late Obaidullah Khan (poet and civil servant) did not enter the domain of bureaucracy. He chose freedom and the prospect of being able to convey his ideas to the emerging English speaking elite of the then East Pakistan. A firm follower of the Chinese concept of Marxism-Leninism, he took the initiative of starting the first English weekly newspaper from Dhaka - 'Holiday' which is now in its 43rd year of publication. Back then, in 1965, it was a novelty and many said that it was going to be another flirtation with journalism by a young man. History has proved such doubters wrong.
Mintu Bhai, and his newspaper, however gained prominence and a special place in the history of journalism in Bangladesh with his incomparable front-page article in the 'Holiday' titled 'Sixty-five million collaborators'. This appeared during a particularly sensitive time immediately after Bangladesh had emerged as an independent country after a victorious but bloody War of Liberation.
The new nation faced a dilemma. There were those who had gone across the border and sought sanctuary in India or elsewhere. Some of them had joined the liberation struggle in various capacities. They had contributed to the effort for independence either as members of the Mukti Bahini or as members of the civil administration in exile. Some of the intellectuals and artistes who had escaped into the neighbouring region also had taken it upon themselves to propagate the message of a free Bangladesh through the radio or the media. They had sacrificed and worked hard despite the existing limitations. The unfortunate aspect was that they considered all the other intellectuals and artistes who had stayed behind in what was war-torn Bangladesh, as 'collaborators' of the occupying Pakistani regime.
The returning 'patriots' took it upon themselves to exclude the participation of some of these controversial intellectuals within the state machinery. This created a divide and instead of reconciliation, spurred on suspicion and anger.
It was at this time, in a charged atmosphere, that Enayetullah Khan wrote his piece in the 'Holiday'. One might not have totally agreed with him but one had to admire his honesty, resolve and courage to protest openly this emerging divergence that was hampering the progress of the war-torn country. He protested in strong language the unilateral branding of the 'defenseless' reputed artistes as collaborators by the new Ministry of Information and pointed out that their actions 'smacked of professional jealousies and personal animosities'.
He went on to explain philosophically the need to be careful with regard to assigning blame on any individual. I quote in this context a few lines from that piece for the readers- "The context of the struggle for national independence and economic emancipation in Bangladesh is not as recent as that of the period between March 25, 1971 and December 16, 1971. In fact, this period was the high watermark in our struggle against national repression, which began exactly 25 years ago. Hence, the record of the last 24 years, and not merely the nine months, will have to be taken into consideration in determining the bona fides of each and every individual case. Just as one does not become a collaborator by merely attending the office or performing for the radio or the TV under duress over the nine black months, one cannot also quash one's guilt of the past 24 years by merely crossing over the border and turning into a glorified refugee.
Collaboration is a political term and it has got to be defined politically. A collaborator is one who on his/her own volition helps in the scheme of the regime, who agrees with the political, cultural and economic blueprint of the rulers and assists the government machine in all its anti-people and repressive measures for the perpetuation of alien interests. Judged in this context, only the anti-national elements belonging to the hated Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League and other communal parties and their cadres in the administration, educational institutions, business world and other spheres, and the linguistic but pampered minority population of Bangladesh, are the collaborators of the occupation regime. The rest of the population put up either active or passive resistance against the demonic occupation army wherever they lived".
This piece assumed special importance at that time because it referred to the sixty-five million people who had not left the war-torn country but had remained behind for various reasons. This editorial did not make him popular with those who had returned from India and who had become sole masters in determining the destiny of hundreds of thousands working as public servants or earning their livelihood through intellectual or artistic pursuits. Nevertheless, Enayetullah Khan became a household name.
Later on in life, Mintu Bhai was entrusted with several important public duties by the government. This included being an Adviser with the rank of a Cabinet Minister and also an Ambassador to two important countries - China and Myanmar. He performed his duties with sincerity and professionalism and left behind many friends who became well-wishers of Bangladesh.
In 2003, he took another bold step. He felt there was need to start another English language daily. The result was the 'New Age'. He continued to give special attention to this publication till he passed away and quite often contributed special comments in this paper on the process of politics and governance in Bangladesh. He also paid special attention to the pages dealing with literature and culture in this daily newspaper.
I wish his soul eternal peace wherever it might be. He left us far too early. His absence will continue to be felt.
Muhammad Zamir is a former Secretary and Ambassador.
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The icon who fought obdurate obstacles
A.U.M. Fakhruddin
Some people are born great, some achieve greatness and sometimes greatness is thrust upon them. Courage consists in not overlooking hazards but in conquering it. He was more courageous than his fellow travellers at a time when the road was thorny and dangerous. Valiant columnist, who became a hero of our time in the realm of journalism since November 1965 when the weekly Holiday appeared on the scene, its intrepid editor Enayetullah Khan achieved eminence and distinction by dint of his unflinching cool courage and unique composure to firmly withstand intractable impediments that came from the establishment, be it under Pakistani domination or in free Bangladesh. A socially alert journalist, he unremittingly protested tyranny of the then central government of Pakistan.
Like fighting a desperate torrent in an obdurate mountain gorge, a newsman challenges his obstacles by dint of courage, overcomes them, and wins through. This is how Tagore summarises the vicissitudes through which the journalist makes his onward journey. Life is another word for struggle; and journalism as a profession is undoubtedly a tricky road to trek. Indeed, Enayetullah Khan fought obdurate obstacles. He had been synonymous with Holiday's unmistakable distinctive character.
From day one the weekly Holiday was articulate, assertive and critical against all maladies; in its bold anti-establishment stance, it bravely risked the ire and wrath of the clique at Islamabad in Pakistan, the seat of politically ruthless and economically exploitative power-hungry oligarchy that was engaged in a vile palace intrigue to repress East Pakistan.
Mintu Bhai's was a muti-faceted personality: he was many things in one- commentator, writer, editor, orator and institution builder. He founded two great institutions: Weekly Holiday and New Age.
The day the maiden issue of the Holiday hit the news stands in 1965, it took the then East Pakistan by storm and won the readers' heart through its scathing write-ups and caustic anlyses criticising the then Pakistan government's repressive policies of treating the Bangalees like underdogs of a colonised country.
A committed man not undaunted by frowns and grimaces of his adversaries, he had two valiant trail blazers - James Hicky who edited the Bengal Gazette in 1781 and Rebel Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Editor of the Dhoomketu, Gonovani, Navayug and Langal that came out since 1925 onwards in Kolkata. Like them, Mintu Bhai too was imprisoned. From its very first issue the Holiday as the voice of dissent became a must read for discerning readers who found in-depth articles and food for thought on its pages.
Enayetulah Khan's epic commentary Sixty-five million collaborators which protested and voiced the agony and anguish of thousands of voiceless innocent victims of despotic policies of the then Awami League government in independent Bangladesh.
An epitome of geniality, he was elegance personified, and sophisticated in his manners. Perhaps none will remember seeing him annoyed, far less lose temper. Known as Mintu Bhai to those like this scribe who are now in their early sixties, his unyielding resolve to abhor injustice and unfairness and expose them unswervingly in his inimitable elegant diction, and other virtues made him a commendable personality.
Enayetullah Khan had an uncommon ability to smile away and forget the stinging disparagement of his hecklers and rivals; even diatribes of those who sought and obtained favour from him in their time of dire need. While working under Mintu Bhai in the later half of seventies for some years in the now-defunct Bangladesh Times, more often than not, this journo saw people -- politically belonging to his opposite camp -- being assisted in various ways. When reminded of the vitriolic invectives of those people hurled against him previously, Mintu Bhai used to repeat the same words, "I know, but to err is human; to forgive sublime."
This scribe was first introduced to Mintu Bhai by Ajit Kumar Guha (Ajitda) -- in which year I don't remember; maybe in the early sixties at a cultural function. An avid lover of music and the arts, he had a deep dulcet voice. On a rainy evening in 1973 he was alone at the Naya Paltan office of the Holiday, expecting a long-distance overseas call. I had an occasion to listen to Tagore's Prangonay mor Shirish shakhaye in his rich, deep dulcet tone that filled the ground-floor room; the voice was like that of Hemanta Mukherjee. I said, "One more"; and then there was Aaji borishono mukhorito Shravano ratree that was quite appropriate to suit the rainy evening.
In 1973 I wrote a piece in the daily Morning News juxtaposing contrasts of the affluent society's banality and cries of famished skinny hungry people of famine-stricken Africa. He was quick to congratulate me profusely which I possibly did not deserve. A few lines are here:
"Poetry, I divorce you, for the world is prosaic in the realm of hunger, and the full moon is as it were a baked bread. So said Sukanta. And hunger sometimes render man too into baked animate objects. Life then sounds like a misnomer; and human civilisation - a depraved joke. Lingering starvation chases as a leopard after a lamb to the chill threshold of Azrael's cave where his little wish to bear the burden of life is crushed. The wail for the right to live fades out wide afar the fathomless sea of darkness."
Veteran politician Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was the President of the Assam Muslim League since early 1940s in undivided India. Maulana Bhashani -- founder President of Awami League which came into being in 1949, and later head of the National Awami Party formed in 1955 -- was his mentor, philosopher and guide. During his tenure as Editor of The Bangladesh Times, Mintu Bhai inspired -- in fact assigned -- me to translate into English Shamsur Rahman's famous poem written in 1970 in praise of Maulana Bhashani. It was Safed Panzabee, [the White Cloak]. Below are the excerpts from my translation:
"Painters, poets, newsmen - local and foreign;
Buyers, workmen, students, intellectuals, social workers;
Deft press photographers, teachers, detectives, and clerks;
All have gathered at Paltan Maidan.
They would listen to what the old Maulana Bhashani says, who has just returned from the areas battered by the tidal bore washing off the entire southern Bangla.
Sunlit, he stood firm and erect; As if prophet Noah's sombre face superimposed among his co-voyagers. His lily-white beard waved in the Northerly wind.
In his bosom lay the grim coast of Southern Bangladesh littered with cadavers, carcasses. In his eyes were the sights of doom;
He spoke-as if not a leader-rather like a divine staff reporter.
He threw away the haunted and devastated Southern Bangla amongst the crowd in rancorous wrath.
In a moment every one saw the familiar mall turned a horrendous, terrible muddy swamp;
And on every shoulder hung a dead body. All of us were cadavers, it seemed.
A fiendish monstrous tiller had destroyed his own loving farm.
All were washed into the Bay of Bengal's frenzied tidal bore. Oh, what a spell has Maulana Bhashani weaved today!
Like spears his hands glistened time and again.
And so fast his white cloak swelled and fluttered;
As if with a milk-white cloak he was fretful to cover all the naked corpses scattered over there."
Mintu Bhai also encouraged me to write a lengthy article on Mao Tse Tung's poetry and essays.
In this era of embedded journalism another daring doyen of journalism like Enayetullah Khan will not be born in the foreseeable future, but the legacy of his fearless journalism will be remembered for all times to come.
And by all means, he was the superstar of the media here. Enayetullah Khan was a Titan in our Fourth Estate, a colossus who brought rare dignity in Bangladesh's journalism. My salute to the superstar, our national icon.
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