First of all, my thanks to the editor for publishing this brief though important commentary on the ongoing visible conflict between Dr. Richard L Benkin, who set free Blitz Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury editor from prison in 2005 after fighting single-handedly for years for his freedom. American Congress has already praised the effort of Dr. Richard in finally saving this most courageous Bangladeshi journalist from an isolated prison cell in Dhaka.
I had the opportunity of meeting Dr. Richard L Benkin in Bangladesh, when he was invited as Chief Guest at the auditorium of Bangladesh Supreme Court to give his valuable lecture on inter-faith harmony. No doubt, he holds tremendous knowledge on this issue and that is why the European Union nominated him for their prestigious Lorenzo Nataly Prize in 2006. He also is the recipient of several international awards for his commitment in upholding human rights. Like many other people, it was truly my honor to see Dr. Benkin and Mr. Choudhury in the same dais, embracing and finally expressing their words, which were filled with love and affection as one brother for another. So, naturally, I was terribly shocked when I came to know about the current misunderstanding or exchange of angry words between the two brothers.
Lately, I read in Blitz that, Dr. Richard Benkin in his Interfaith Strength site has termed the court dates of Mr. Choudhury as ‘bogus’. Though Mr. Choudhury might have felt shocked to see this comment, I would like to see it in positive perspectives. As a loving brother, Dr. Richard Benkin does to want to give any value to these court dates and wants to term them as ‘bogus’ knowing well the charges brought against Mr. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury are nothing but false or bogus.
On the other hand, by commenting that the fate of this case now completely depends on Mr. Choudhury and the Bangladeshi government, Dr. Benkin possibly wanted to mean that, as Mr. Choudhury is unwilling to leave Bangladesh but face the legal proceedings in this country, it is a matter between the two parties. US Congress and other international bodies have already made resolutions. and as well hundreds of letters were already sent to the Bangladeshi government from various important people in the world, asking Dhaka to immediately drop the false charges. But, evidently, Bangladesh is unwilling to show respect to international outcry. At this stage, what else could Dr. Benkin do instead of making the comment that he made?
Moreover, when Dr. Benkin was fighting for Mr. Choudhury, at that time, he was the only person in the world, caring about this Bangladeshi journalist and peace activist. Now, Mr. Choudhury is also known to a significant number of people in the world and he must have a large number of supporters and admirers. Dr. Benkin has the right to shift from Mr. Choudhury’s issue to any other important case, anywhere in the world. This is his personal matter and no one has any right to question this.
But, if we look through the root cause of such an unfortunate misunderstanding between the brothers, who remained firm and together for years, but split just in 2 mere days, we shall see that the problem began when Mr. Choudhury decided to resign from one newly launched organization named Forcefield, where he was one of the three founder directors. Dr. Benkin took this resignation as an ‘insult’ and decided to cease all relations with Mr. Choudhury if he did not step back from this resignation decision. I am sorry, but, this was definitely not proper from Dr. Benkin, who is like the elder brother to Mr. Choudhury. This particular attitude of his was like “be with me or be my enemy”. I am sure Mr. Choudhury never expected to cease his relations with Dr. Benkin, even though he resigned from Forcefield.
Anyway, I am not writing this to give instigation to any side in intensifying the ongoing quarrel. Rather I want peace between the two brothers. Just one quote I would like to put here from an earlier writing of Dr. Benkin, where he said, while commenting of his relations with Mr. Choudhury: “A man who abandons his brother is not a man.”
I really want to see the bigness in both the people in seeking an apology to each other and at least remain as brothers, if not co-workers. Both Dr. Benkin and Mr. Choudhury can survive without each other. That is a fact. Both might even have new set of people, who are now their friends, associates or even colleagues. But, hope, they will realize, brotherhood is something, which cannot be replaced.
