East Timor and we
The shooting of East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta and Father of the Nation and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao brings back memories of the conspiracies that Bangladesh went through in its childhood. There are amazing similarities between these two nations in terms of events in the pre-independence, independence and post-independence eras. Consider the following:
1. Both East Timor and Bangladesh are small nations in their respective neighbourhood with homogeneous ethnicity.
2. In both cases, the occupying army (namely Indonesia and Pakistan) perpetrated genocides and Henry Kissinger has been proven to be involved in both of these.
3. The backdrop of the shooting of the father of the nation of both the countries is identical. In the years leading up to the killing of Bangabandhu, there was confusion and resentment that Bangabandhu was strengthening the Rakkhi Bahini to create a parallel force. This, along with the anarchy in the civil administration, allegedly were the reasons for a group of “ambitious(!!??)” military officers going on to kill the father of the nation and the four leaders. In the case of East Timor as well, renegade soldiers led by Alfredo Reinardo attempted to kill both Gusmao and Horta on the same day. The reason? Soldiers from the western part of the country claimed that they were being discriminated against, in favour of soldiers from the eastern part of the country, and all these in a country stretching barely 15,410 sq. km with a population of 9,47,000. It is like saying that people of Motijheel are being discriminated against in favour of people of Shantinagar.
History does repeat itself, and so does blue-prints by imperialists to expand their empires.
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