The Hindu : Extremists protest against stage play

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 28, 2002

International

International

Extremists protest against stage play

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA Sept. 27. Hundreds of religious extremists staged an angry protest in Faridpur district of Bangladesh recently against a controversial play, which they claimed, had hurt Muslim sentiments.

The demonstrators demanded trial of those involved with the play. Written by a little known playwright, Sambit Shaha, the play tells the story of a young girl trafficked to India from Bangladesh for prostitution. The fundamentalists are objecting to an alleged sequence of the stage show where a man reportedly plays the role of Prophet Mohammad. But the Mr. Shaha denied that there was any such scene in his manuscript.

``Katha Krishnakoli'' (the tale of Krishnakoli) was first staged in Dhaka several months ago when there was no objection. Its manuscript has been submitted to the Shilpakala Academy, for being enlisted in the nation's Fine Arts Academy.

The stage production of the play in Faridpur drew angry protests from militant Islamic groups. Hundreds of frenzied protesters took part in the demonstration, demanding that the playwright and the production team be punished. In the face of continuous protests, the police arrested Mr. Shaha and five others involved in the play's production.

Extremist leaders have urged the Government to frame a blasphemy law. The Khatib of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Maulana Obaidul Haq, demanded that the country's Constitution be changed to make it ``Islamic''. This is not the sole example of the extremists' threat to cultural and literary freedoms. A middle-aged poet, Moslemuddin, was murdered under the alleged directives of clerics in northern Bogra recently. Leading literary figures claimed the poet was killed as he wrote poems giving his own views on religion and society.

Leading playwrights and actors have alleged that extremists are trying to make political capital out of the latest controversy by fuelling a campaign against the country's religious minorities. Meanwhile, Proshika, one of the leading NGOs, has condemned police raids on its two offices outside Dhaka. The organisation alleged that the police took away important books, audio and video cassettes, papers related to the Liberation War of 1971 and rehabilitation programme for freedom fighters and writings on secularism and fundamentalism from the two centres.

Terming the police action as "continuation of the oppressive measures" by a section of anti-NGO elements in the Government, Proshika expressed its dismay and indignation over such repression of "its legitimate activities''.

In another development, the managing director of the recently closed-down private Ekushey Television, Simon Dring, has been asked to leave the country in seven days. Mr. Dring, a British national and co-investor of in the country's first private TV, was summoned to the immigration office to inform him that his visa had been cancelled.

Fundamentalist lobbies, including many in the ruling coalition, were highly critical of ETV, which had established itself as the most credible electronic media in the country with a new trend in independent news reporting. The senior journalist and editor of the country's oldest daily, The Sangbad, Bazlur Rahman, criticised the maltreatment of a distinguished British citizen, terming him a "friend of the nation's freedom struggle''.

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