Folks, the rules of this forum prevent me from "attacking" any members, so I shall refrain from addressing anyone personally, but from what I can gather from his posts in this and other threads, there is a forum member who seems to be either an "ummah" fetishist or afflicted with a "pan-islamist" mind-set. At the very least he appears to be defined by his own religious convictions and seems to be offended when others, who perhaps nominally describe themselves as muslim, even countenance a point of view which does not wholeheartedly embrace the rigid tenets of faith - as evidenced by his repeated emphasis on Islam being the crucial defining characteristic of Bangladesh. It is but one among many and not even the most important in my view.
Any way, I cannot help but get the impression that he is wistful for pre-independence times. I hope I am wrong.
BD should not be defined by its opposition to India or the vagaries of communal tensions past and present. We have our problems with India for sure, but gratuitous antagonism (which seems to be the default position of certain people, akin to the reflexive anti-Americanism observed amongst many liberals, sholarly types, Europeans and muslims) is intellectualy indefensible and untenable in the long run. India will be our neighbor forever. We should find out ways to co-exist in a meaningful manner. This in no way implies that we have to become a country of "dalals".
As for the Daily Star, it is, by some margin, the best English language newspaper we have. There is no such thing as a politically neutral news medium so no one should be surprised if editorial bias creeps in, even into pure reportage. Yet, even on this account, the DS fares better than a lot of other publications, especially in the vernacular press.
Finally, I do not hesitate to describe myself as a secularist, for which I make no apology. Unfortunately, there are some who would consider me and others of my ilk as an insidious threat. Fortunately, I see scant evidence of that in this forum barring a few exceptions.
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