Blocking burial while in opposition, what will they do if in power, asks Tasnim Jara

Physician and young politician Tasnim Jara has questioned the role of local leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in obstructing the burial of freedom fighter Manik Pashari in Pirojpur.

In reaction to the incident, she asked regarding Jamaat, “They are blocking someone from being buried on his own homestead while still in opposition. What will they do if all state power falls into their hands?”

Tasnim Jara made these remarks in a post shared on her verified Facebook page and personal account on Monday morning.

Earlier on Saturday, freedom fighter Manik Pashari (87) passed away. He had testified at the International Crimes Tribunal against former Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee in a 1971 crimes against humanity case.

Following his death, tensions arose over giving him a state guard of honour in Pirojpur. Local Jamaat leaders and activists demanded that he should not be buried there. They also staged sit-ins at several key locations in Pirojpur town. Manik Pashari was eventually buried on Saturday night in the graveyard of his own home in Chitalia village under Pirojpur Sadar Upazila, with his family members and relatives present.

Addressing the obstruction to Manik Pashari's burial, Tasnim Jara wrote in her Facebook post that in Bangladesh, when someone dies, there is usually no need to ask anyone to come and dig a grave. Once word spreads, young men from the neighbourhood arrive with spades. Some bring bamboo, while others bring mats. She said she had grown up hearing that the burial of a deceased person should not be delayed.

Yet, after 87-year-old Manik Pashari passed away around 10:00 am on Saturday, his family had to spend the entire day anxiously waiting with his body. Local Jamaat leaders and activists brought out processions and announced over loudspeakers and on Facebook that he would not be allowed to be buried in Pirojpur. Finally, he was buried late at night under police guard, with no one present other than administrative officials and his family.

Tasnim Jara said Jamaat leaders and activists spoke as though they owned the land when they declared that Manik Pashari would not be allowed to be buried in Pirojpur. It was as if a person needed their permission to be laid to rest in his own family graveyard.

She recalled that Jamaat members had once faced the slogan, “Jamaat-Shibir Razakar, ei muhurte Bangla char” (Jamaat-Shibir are Razakars, leave Bangladesh immediately). They should know how unjust such a statement was, she wrote. But, she alleged, they had forgotten that as soon as they gained some power, even while still in opposition.

She wrote that in 1971, Jamaat as a party opposed independence. Today, the leaders and activists of that very party want to dictate who is a freedom fighter and who is fake, who deserves state honors and where someone's grave should be.

She also accused Jamaat of failing to uphold justice, human rights, due process and human dignity for others, despite invoking these principles when defending its own leaders.

Regarding Jamaat leaders and activists, she wrote, "Before elections and in speeches, they speak of justice. Yet they treat a deceased human being and his grieving family like this. If they block someone from being buried on their own homestead while still in the opposition, what will they do if state power falls into their hands?"

Abdul Kader, a former coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, has questioned the role of Jamaat's ally, the National Citizen Party (NCP) in the Pirojpur incident.

In a Facebook post on Sunday night, Abdul Kader wrote that following such an inhuman incident, NCP remained completely indifferent and detached organisationally. Far from issuing a formal statement, not a single leader even uttered a word on social media. The deceased was known as a freedom fighter. In this case, the NCP sided with its alliance partner who opposed the Liberation War, extending silent support to the mob. Yet they claim to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War, and this is their example!