The Convention held on June 1, 2002 at Cox Auditorium, Genetics and Plant Biology Building of the University of California at Berkeley brought together speakers and participants from Bangladesh, India, United Kingdom and United States. The Convention was organized by the International Institute of Bengal Basin (IIBB) in association with the Department of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley. A Tagore song was sang by Ms. Susmita Ghosh of Berkeley during the inaugural session. This was followed by brief remarks by Prof. Charles Townes, the Nobel Laureate in Physics, thereby formally inaugurating the Convention. There were then introductory remarks about IIBB by its Founding-Chairman Dr. Rashbihari Ghosh. Dr. Ghosh explained how the idea of the formation of IIBB initially began with the Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling (Chemistry and Peace) while he was in Stanford University as a senior scientist (academic). Years later, Dr .Pauling spoke to Nobel Laureate Glenn T Seaborg (adviser to ten US presidents) about Dr. Ghosh's desire to establish IIBB. During the presentation, Dr. Ghosh described how he came in close contact with the Bengal's Great leader, Sheikh Majibur Rahman through his father's friend, Maharaja Trailakha Nath Chakroborty, who spent over 30 years in the British and Pakistan prison for freedom struggle and for the cause of minority victims in Bangladesh. . He fought for the rights of minority in Bangladesh and. Maharaja spoke to the Indian Parliament regarding the minority problems in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and demanded population exchange in East Pakistan. He died immediately after the lecture and receive national honor. Dr. Ghosh also talked about the genesis and background of the Convention and its aims and objectives. He added that he attended the National Convention on "Crimes Against Humanity in Bangladesh " on February 14 and 15, 2002. He was followed by Prof. Dilip K. Sinha, former Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati University, India who mentioned about the linkages between IIBB and Visva Bharati since the early nineties.
Nobel Laureate Charles Townes, Convenor and Dr. Rash B. Ghosh, Chairman, IIBB
Nobel Laureate Prof. Charles Townes delivered the keynote address. Prof. Townes, in his address, covered the issues and problems pertaining to human rights in Bangladesh. He stated that "Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy but human rights record remains poor and that the Human Rights Commission noted the following: discrimination and violence against women, including rape by the police, domestic violence, other killings, mutilating of wife and sisters through acid effect continue to occur in spite the fact that there are laws that are supposed to protect them, violence is increasing. Now, there are of course religious differences and conflicts". He also stated the need for solidarity on this occasion so that the sufferings of the distressed people in Bangladesh are allayed and necessary decisive steps be taken in the light of deliberations of this Convention and recommendations of different bodies such as US Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, etc.
Two speakers, Mr. Dhiman Deb Chowdhury, President, Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) and Mr. Sunil Pal of the U.K. Forum for Minority Rights in Bangladesh brought to the fore the stark realities of alleged violations of human rights for the Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh. Mr. Pal described the ongoing humiliation of minorities in Bangladesh. Mr. Chowdhury and Mr. Pal, demanded justice and actions to prevent ongoing atrocities on minorities and violation against women, including rape of women. Mr. Chowdhury further claimed that due to the continuous harassment of minorities, the population of minorities in Bangladesh has been reduced to 10% from 37%, which was supported and reinforced by a video presentation. He further claimed that this is ethnic cleansing. Mr. Pal expressed sadness about the ongoing torture of minorities as well as demanded that the Hindu properties which were declared enemy property during the Pakistan regime has to be fully restored to its original form and compensate the minorities for their sufferings and losses.
Mr. Khairul Alam, Secretary, Chhayanut Cultural Organization in Bangladesh touched upon the organization's activities while Mr. Ashfaque Swapan, California IIBB representative and a reporter, presented Drishtipath's work in helping substantially the severly affected Anandaprasad village in Bangladesh by the criminals..
Dr. Derek Whitworth, Secretary General of IIBB, session chair, expressed concern over the spread of fundamentalism and terorism in Bangladesh. Prof. Julia Walsh of the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley spoke about health rights, in particular, health issues of mothers and children in Bangladesh noting that the health conditions in Bangladesh remains poor compared to other neighboring countries. Prof. Sinha, through his talk held that in order that human right is empowered with its capacity to assert we should turn to perennial issues on man and humanity per se and their exposition from time to time by leading thinkers. Rabindranath Tagore, a great poet and seer and first Asian Nobel Laureate came out categorically on human rights and his sayings are all the more relevant now than ever before. Prof. Sinha sought to bring to the fore, while gleaning to the works of Tagore, that violations of human rights jeopardizing the intrinsic elements of culture should raise questions of legitimacy of regimes in wider frameworks and that any kind of narrow tinkering cannot have an edge over what have abidingly evolved through the decades as global justice.
Mr. David Seaborg, son of Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg (co-founder and adviser of IIBB), expressed concerns about the violation of human rights in Bangladesh and the recent tension in the sub-continent. He express solidarity and assured that he would work with Dr. Ghosh to fullfil the dreams of his father. Mr. Sunil Gangopadhay, the eminent Bengali writer of West Bengal and adviser of IIBB, wished the convention success. He expressed his concerns about the rising fundamentalism and problems in the Bengal Basin. Prof. Dilip K. Basu, of the University of California at Sta. Cruz emphasized the need for improving Hindu-Muslim relations in Bengal. Mr. Chitresh Das, Founder of Chandam School of Kathak, touched on the Hindu-Muslim heritage of Kathak dance. Ms. Akila Rahman of the 'Friends of South Asia' and Ms. Raka Ray of 'Coalition Against Communalism', both from the Bay Area, emphasized the need for better understanding of the Hindu-Muslim community and more tolerance for each other.
There were also comments and observations by Dr. Hari Chowdhury of Manchester, U.K., Mr. Peter DuMont of Star Alliance and Ms. Rina Pal, a recent U.C. Berkeley graduate. Ms. Pal, in particular, expressed her desire to continue her research study on war criminals during the 1971 Pakistan-Bangladesh war and connect it with the standard set by the US tribunal to try Al-Qaeda terrorists. Dr. Hari Chowdhury and Mr. Pal, requested the convention organizers to investigate the alleged continuous migration of minorities from their ancestral homeland citing the data mentioned in Mr. Dhiman Chowdhury's presentation.
The closing remarks were made by Dr. Rashbihari Ghosh. Looking back, he said that one can say that the Convention fairly succeeded in achieving its aims and objectives. The participation and deliberations in the Convention were lively, revealing and useful. It was felt that there ought to be follow-up steps with wider participation of individuals and organizations. Dr. Ghosh also said: "of the deliberations from different points of view particularly the keynote address of Nobel Laureate Charles Townes, Convenor of the Convention and IIBB Adviser, 'the best way we can be of help to the people being discriminated in Bangladesh is to see that the majority members of the community should categorically evince the moral and ethical responsibility of empowering the minority to combat the atrocities'. Dr. Ghosh said that the Government should rope in voluntary groups and concerned communities in encountering and reversing such damages to the societies. It was also the unanimous view that the allegations regarding violations of minority rights, including their properties, lives, etc. should be seriously and immediately looked into. There was a strong demand from certain quarters to investigate the claims made by certain speakers as well as some members of the audience on these crimes against minorities in Bangladesh and brought them to the notice of appropriate authorities.
Dr. Ghosh, in his observation of the convention, noted that it was clear that a broad investigation is required to address the concerns expressed by the speakers and other concerned citizens to assess the loss of properties and lives to the minorities in the Bengal Basin and to develop mitigation measures. He further added that the members of the majority community must create an environment for religious freedom. Dr. Ghosh personally apologized to the minorities for the inability to protect them from the ongoing oppression and atrocities. He and other leaders of the Convention also expressed concern that minorities were offered to accept suicide or change their religion by anti-independence Bangladesh leaders. Dr. Ghosh stated that if this is true, the Bangladesh minority has much better option in the Indo-Bangla Subcontinent. Maharaja Trilaka Chakroborty earlier proposed population exchange of Bengal Basin in the Indian Parliament when minorities in both sides of the artificial fence are equal in numbers. Such population exchange may be revived again between the minorities in Bangladesh (approximately 10%) and West Bengal (approximately 32%). The better option of course is to resolve the problem peacefully. A peaceful resolution of the current minority issue in Bengal Basin can be used as a working model for the rest of the world. Dr. Ghosh and other leaders salute the minorities' courage and endurance and appeal to them to work for a humane and plural society having with or without cooperation of the majority members of the community. This is your country and you must do whatever you can protect you and your family. He assured that the Convention leader, Nobel Laureate Charles Townes will take appropriate steps to address these concerns and affected citizens there must write to him. Dr. Ghosh provided one solution, that is, to utilize unclaimed minority properties and their share of national resources to establish a secular education such as the proposed Visva Bharati/Tagore University throughout Bengal Basin based on the philosophy, spirit and dedication of world class humanists like Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Kabi Nazirul Islam and founding father of Bangladesh, Sheik Mujibur Rahman to counter fundamentalism in Bengal Basin. The Convention convenor, Nobel Laureate Charles Townes was also in contact with NobeL Laureate Amartya Sen (born in Bangladesh), to request Prof. Sen's help in implementing Dr. Ghosh's ongoing effort to establish Tagore University in Bangladesh. Prof. Sen, who could not attend the convention due to a matter of international importance, also expressed his sincere desire for the success of the convention.
In the evening, there was a cultural program on Bengali songs presented by Dr. Anup Ghoshal of India and Mr. Khairul Alam, who sang, in particular, the songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam, a Bengali whose musical works transcend the religious divide and whose values of humanism and tolerance are relevant in troubled times of the day.
For the Convention, Ms. Rosalie Y. Say was the Documentation in Charge and Ms. Miyuki Saito, the Rapporteur. Mr. Ashfaque Swapan also conducted one session of the Convention
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For additional information, queries and comments, contact: Chairman,
IIBB or Convention Secretary at bengal_basin@hotmail.com. The
highlights of the convention and available papers are posted in
the IIBB website: http://nvo.com/ghosh_research