Who is Dith Pran ?

[Hemast]

It is possible that very few among Bangladeshis had the opportunity to watch / view / hear about the Hollywood film (movie) “The Killing Fields” – which was released in the year 1984.

Dith Pran was the Cambodian journalist whose harrowing tales of survival under the Khmer Rouge’s atrocious, rogue rule was told in the abovementioned movie. The ultra communist Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia in April 1975 (Bangladesh had been liberated by then) and unleashed terror, mayhem, and death on its own citizens till 1979 when Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia to oust the Khmer Rouge. During the period from 1975 to 1979, Khmer Rouge’s rule led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from hunger, disease, overwork and execution. The sites where their bodies were unceremoniously disposed of became known as “killing fields”.

Dith Pran, an independent interpreter and journalist then, struggled to survive under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Dith Pran was a pioneer in awakening the world to the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities. Dith Pran managed to escape to Thailand in 1979 and then got reunited with his family in the USA where they had settled as refugees. He became a photographer for the Times. Alas, Dith Pran died on the 30th March, 2008 at the age of 65 of pancreatic cancer at a New Jersey Hospital.

UN-Backed genocide tribunal is soon to begin the trial of detained former Khmer Rouge leaders for their roles in the atrocities, genocide.

Is there any lesson for Bangladeshis to learn from the above tale? Yes, I should think! During the course of struggle for liberation of Bangladesh (1970 – 71), a section of Bangladeshis – known as RAJAKARS – collaborated with the Pakistani army and unleashed identical reign of terror, mayhem, execution – death - upon million of fellow Bangladeshis. There is no dearth of images, pictures, film clippings, videos of the killing fields of Bangladesh. Upon the liberation of Bangladesh in March, 1971, the rest of the World was shocked to observe that:
1. Every political party – whether it’s the ruling party or opposition – in BD began wooing the same RAJAKARS and giving in to RAJAKAR’ s ways, instead of arresting them and going all the way for legal trial of these rogue elements for genocide.
2. The spirit of liberation in Bangladesh as had been expressed through various cultural means / medium in no uncertain terms since 1950 – was nothing short of building a free, democratic, secular Bangladesh! Soon after the Bangladesh liberated itself in 1971, it adopted a constitution to make Bangladesh an Islamic state – thereby making RAJAKAR’ s dream come true! Bangladesh slowly but surely began lapsing into a vassal state of ISI of Pakistan.
3. BD became a basket case, its political rulers perennially approaching with begging bowls the western world represented by the World Bank.

`Politics’’ leads the `political economy’! The rest of the world is watching: if Bangladeshis will marshal courage, conviction and wisdom to re-liberate itself and begin a new chapter in ushering in the original spirit of liberation: Freedom from prejudices, Secularism, Democracy!