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Perception is reality: Jamati Islam spokesmen in UK talk shows

Bangladesh in Intl. Media

Some times when it comes to giving criticism, some of us are afraid and timid while others are direct and candid. Yet if there is one thing we all share in common when it comes to giving criticism, it’s that most people are not very good at it! For example, if you are asked for your opinion on something, you would probably say, “I like it!” when actually, deep down inside you dislike it. Or, sometimes you will find criticism may lead to an argument. Unfortunately, it’s in our nature to let our emotions speak first and our logic speaks second, and this can lead to some big nasty problems when left unchecked. So we should all learn to accept that we can have failings and we can be wrong.

I don’t often criticise people, but sometimes I feel like doing some constructive criticism to help a cause. I have seen many talk shows in the UK Bangla media regarding war crimes, and war crimes tribunals. The usual people representing Jamati Islam is either Barrister Nazrul Islam or Barrister Abu Baker Mullah. These two people no doubt are good people, and maybe capable barristers in their field, but based on their performance in talk shows, they are weak in articulation, and speech. One day, I was attending a programme in East London Mosque where I met Barrister Nazrul Islam: not that I personally know him, but I knew he was a Jamati Islam Spokesman, so I said to him rather frankly that since you people are going to talk shows representing Bangladesh Jamati Islam, you should send people who are good in argument and debate, and if you don’t have anyone like as good, then you should train a few people, especially for the purpose of talk shows. Guess what? As soon as I criticised their approach, instead of acknowledging for my frank opinion, and possibly reflecting on what I had said, he went on defensive, putting excuses justifying their approach. Hearing him I said to my self “Who are the best people to judge, the audience or the debaters?”  To this day I have not seen much change in their approach, may be he hasn’t seen Sardar Shakawat Hussain of BNP, and many like him cross different political platform, these people debating skills and performance are so good that they are able to make an impact on viewer’s perception of the topic they are discussing about. It is said perception is reality, and many people have wrong perception about Jamati Islam.

If the concerned people had realized the power, influence and impact behind good communication and debating skills, many of the people sitting on the fringe of political divide would have been won over only by putting an effective argument by the right people having the right skills.

Many of us know Brother Ajmal Masroor through many different capacities; he is also one of my face book friends, so if he reads this I hope he does not get offended. I saw one of his interviews in Al Jazeera after the massacre of Hifazote Islam; he was one of the panels along with BNPs Muhidur Rahman and Prime Ministers adviser HT IMAM. Gosh! You should have seen how Brother Ajmal battered and bruised HT IMAM, his English was eloquent and managed to win the debate for Jamati Islam, although he was not defending Janmat, but what he said inadvertently helped Jamat. But here is his weakness: I remember one day I was watching a talk show on Channel s, and he was among others talking about Bangladesh issues after his famous Khutba on Bangladesh. I found his Bangla to be a lot weaker than English and at times he was struggling to find words to express his point of views to the panel. So, you see brothers, we can never be expert in every fields and we must gracefully accept our weaknesses and try to rectify them instead of doing nothing and arrogantly holding on to them. It would have been ideal if Brother Ajmal had been a Jamat Supporter and spokesman for them in English talk shows and interviews and Sardar Shakawat may be for their Bangla talk shows. Having said, I see a little possibility of either one of them becoming Jamat spokesmen, if not impossible.

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