THOSE of us who were born in the independent Bangladesh, for us, it is often difficult to fully fathom the meaning of words like freedom and independence. Those of us whose ears never heard a splatter of gunfire, whose eyes never saw a woman lost in the horror of her captivity at the army camp, whose nose never smelt the stench of decaying human bodies, whose mouth never tasted tears mixed with blood, and whose hands never felt a wall riddled with bullets, for us the Liberation War is often about stories heard from family's elderly members, books written by intellectuals, patriotic songs, TV dramas and heavy talk shows and paying homage to martyrs on 26th March.
Many of us miss the true meaning of the Independence Day, the cause for which millions of people gave up their lives. Many politicians, who fought the War of Independence, have eventually turned away from realizing their 1971 dream of building a prosperous Bangladesh. It's amazing how these people have changed over the last 38 years. I can't help but wonder if these people ever walk down the memory lane to think about all the dreams they once had, all the courage they gathered as young people to take up arms, and all the pain they endured to free their home.
The martyrs, I believe, never dreamed of a Bangladesh where 80-year-old women would beg on the streets, where wealth would be controlled by a handful of its citizens, where a disciplined force would engage in a most gruesome massacre, where the country leaders would be corrupt to their core, or where a section of its people would misuse the teachings of Islam. Yes, many of the martyrs' dreams have remained unfulfilled but then there aren't many people to care about it.
It's always easier said than done. While it's easy for me to press keys and write this article, it's difficult for the same me to fight for a cause. Like millions of other Bangladeshis, I too worry about my safety, I too give up, I too feel frustrated when I read about a national tragedy in the newspaper, and I too at times think that loving one's country from a distance is a better option. When I talk to my friends, I feel the power that some of them have inside to change Bangladesh. But even thirty-eight years after the independence, the country's young generation is awaiting a leader they can look up to…
By Wara Karim
Date of publication: March 22, 2009
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