Hi Billah:
Thanks for reminding me to look at this post. I am glad you went to the length you did here, and I actually would like to share your email with others at Drishtipat if that's OK with you. I think it is a fantastic post for many reasons, one being that Drishtipat can actually USE it to show how well-meaning intentions can sometimes lead to perceptions which are not correct. Probably a little bit of history is required here and then I will address your concern re: our sponsors and members. I will be brief as possible but if I have not addressed something major please let me know.
OK, first some history. Drishtipat (DP) was started by some "young" (always a relative word!) US-based activists who were outraged when Awami League mafia don Joynal Hazari had his henchmen beat up a brave journalist by the name of Tipu Sultan. Daily Star, Prothom Alo and others set up a fund in Dhaka and DP did a quick Internet based campaign for Tipu which raised $16,000. Tipu has never recovered fully and is forever scarred by what he went through. But he is alive and working and went on to be recognized by the CPJ (Center for Protection of Journalists).
So DP was branded as "anti-AL" by some Bangladeshis.
Fast forward to 2001 general elections in BD. After the elections, there was violence agaist Hindu and other religious minorities as they were identified witht the outgoing AL. The extent and motives were debated hotly by all. But the fact is organized violence did take place and we all read about some particularly horrifying incidences. DP was still in its early stages but with the help of many people in Dhaka such as Daily Star, etc, we confirmed what had happened in Annada Prashad and went about raising some money for about 30 families in that village. We raised about $30K through some programs, and this money has been used to rehab those people from a long term perspective such as buying land, etc.
Some Bangladeshis branded DP as "anti-BNP".
Now during this time a number of radical fundamentalist Hindu groups sought to take advantage of the unfortunate situation. HRCBM was one of them. None of these groups actually contributed a cent to help any victims, but rather they made a lot of noise. You may be referring to some of these people in your post.
So, are these people and DP one and the same thing? No they are not. The person you refer to above was never a DP member as far as I know. I read the 2 links you gave from the DP site but couldn't see his name anywhere. Did he contribute 50 bucks to the minority violence program? He may have (although I did not see his name). I know we didn't take money in the name of one or two really strange radical organizations, it is possible an individual may have donated and when Bangladeshis are sending in a check for a small amount, it really is not feasible to run a security check on them.
OK, after writing the above I went back to your links to see again if I could find a trace of this person SG (btw I don't know him and can't remember if I even knew of him back then). I see in your first link he is writing a comment to a news story that appears on our website. I invite you and all other readers here to re-read that and form (or re-form) your opinions. All he has done was post a comment asking why DP seemed to be "against" something he believed in, which was this OP conference in Toronto. DP was neither "for" or "against" it, we were printing some news. Internet browsers can come in and post comments if they want to, it does not mean they are running DP or are our sponsors. Mr. SG writes he supported our effort [to raise money]. I won't hold that against him, as I supported it as well. But what else he did or does is his business and really has nothing to do with DP since he is not a member/sponsor/organizer.
Btw just above his comment I read this disclaimer on the DP site:
"The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content."
I hope you will agree with the logic of what I just said. I trust your research on Mr. SG's positions are correct and did not read his other posts elsewhere, I was only concerned with your perception that somehow he is representing DP. He is not and never has.
Anyway, fast forward to the current. We remain a group of people working to make a difference in a small way in one area - rights abuses and violations. It is an extremely difficult and dangerous space. It means there will be a lot of misunderstandings and misperceptions. That goes with the territory. But there are many Bangladeshis who don't subscribe to race, religion and politics-based fundamentalism that is displayed by many in our home country from time to time. We continue to attract and grow with those people.
Now I remember spending some time in those days answering queries such as this (what are our intentions, etc), but haven't had to in a long time. We believe earlier misperceptions, if any, have been laid to rest because we are transparent and people can see the work and results for what it is.
I hope I have addressed your concerns. You can go to the DP site and read the "About Us" page for other Board Members - it will possibly save you a lot of time in research. Thanks again, Rafiq
Edited on, August 18, 2004, 11:33 PM GMT, by rafiq.
Edited on, August 18, 2004, 11:34 PM GMT, by rafiq.
Reason: typos
|