Original title পাক সার জমিন সাদ বাদ Country Bangladesh Publication date 2003 Originally published 2003 Page count 112 (first edition) Subject Fundamentalism | Cover artist Samar Majumdar Genre Novel | |
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Similar First Light, Chokher Bali, Ekattorer Dingulee, Naree, In Blissful Hell | ||
Pak Sar Jamin Saad Baad (Bengali: পাক সার জমিন সাদ বাদ Pāka Sāra Jamina Sāda Bāda "The Blessed Sacred Land") is a 2003 novel, written by Humayun Azad, an anti-establishment, anti-religious writer in Bangladesh. The novel based on a religious group who collaborated with the Pakistani army during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
Contents
Synopsis
The book title Pak Sar Jamin Saad Baad was a reference to the national anthem of Pakistan; the Urdu lyrics, written by the Pakistani Urdu-language poet, Hafeez Jullundhri in 1952, contains the following words:
The Protagonist is a fictional member of a terrorist organization. The protagonist's views are expressed in his monologue, "We aren't alone. Our brothers all over the world are doing their work. If they fly an aeroplane into a building somewhere, if cars crash into a hospital or a hotel, or if a bomb blast kills 300 people in some recreational centre, then we know it's the work of our brothers; in other words, it is our work. This is Jihad."
Controversy
Pak Sar Jamin Saad Baad, a scathing criticism about a Islamic fundamentalist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. On 27 February 2004, Azad came under a vicious attack by unidentified assailants following the publication, which exposed the main Islamic fundamentalists in his country.
In late July 2004, Azad wrote a moving letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and other political leaders calling on them to restore freedom in Bangladesh and pleading for protection to himself and his family. Days before Azad's departure for Munich in early August 2004, his son was briefly kidnapped by fundamentalists whose aim was to find out Azad's whereabouts.
Criticism
Bangladeshi author, filmmaker and dramatist Humayun Ahmed called the book "so vulgar that anybody would be hurt after reading it. He doesn't have to be a fundamentalist."