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Sheikh Hasina’s toughest challenge-defeating the rising tide of Islamism in Bangladesh

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4 years ago

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The spurt of incidents of attacks on Hindu minority community in Bangladesh in recent times brings into focus the increasing influence of Islamists in that country despite the Hasina government’s profession of secularism and its attempt to maintain that credential. Islamism in Bangladesh is rising precipitously, permeating every aspect of life and has taken root as much in urban centres as in rural communities.

To quote a perceptive analyst: “Everywhere – from modern business office to daily social life – Islamic codes tend to exert authority. Burqa and hijab-wearing women who vow to uphold such a system are numerous, and so are men with Islamic zeal. Two decades ago, most Bangladeshis would have considered such behaviours ludicrous.”

Sufferings of the community continues since the mayhem that took place during the Durga puja in October last when Hindu properties were looted, their houses were burnt into ashes leaving four people dead and many others injured, temples were desecrated and set on fire over a contrived blasphemy issue of the copy of Holy Koran found near the image of Hindu God Hanuman. The government had to deploy para-military forces in 22 districts of Bangladesh then.

The latest incident took place on February 8 when five brothers of a Hindu family were crushed to death injuring two others of the same family by a pick-up truck in what is believed to be a ‘premeditated’ attack according to the surviving members of the family.

The incident took place in Chakaria Upazila in Cox Bazar district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh. ‘Hindu Lives Matter’, an organisation that has sprang up recently has reported about another incident of physical violence and forceful occupation of a clinic-cum -residence of a Hindu family outside Dhaka by a well-known film actor named Jayed Khan and his associates. Examples of such torture and harassment of Hindu families abound.

Even while the Sheikh Hasina government is mindful of the predicaments of the Hindu minority and tries to protect them from the onslaught of the Islamist communal elements, it has not really succeeded in providing the community a sense of security and fear-free atmosphere in the country resulting in migration and a slow process of dwindling of their numbers in Bangladesh. What accounts for this dichotomy of the government remaining by and large secular but the vast section of the population are communal and Islamist in their preferences? The reason lies in the very birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

While the commitments of the Awami League (AL) that brought independence to the country after a brutal oppression by the Pakistani military, and of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to a secular polity were unquestionable, they could not rid the newly emerging country of the scourge of communalism and of the poison of religion-oriented politics of the Pakistani days. The majority undoubtedly went along with the secular politics of the AL and of Bangabandhu, but there were still a major section of people from the armed forces and from the Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s leading Islamist organization, who could not reconcile to their separation from Pakistan, their umblical chord.

The Jamaat-e-Islami – which was banned soon after independence for its collaboration with Pakistan and role in massacring thousands of secular Bangladeshis – was resurrected in late 1975 by the elements that were responsible for the brutal killing of Bangabandu and members of his family. It was not just Sheikh Mujib and his family alone but many of his associates and other secular figures were annihilated by the Islamist elements.

The military regimes that followed after that under Generals Ziaur Rahman and Ershad patronized the Islamist elements whose numbers grew exponentially during those periods. The civilian rule under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), now led by General Zia’s widow Begum Khaleda also encouraged the Islamist forces to grow. Even while the BNP was founded as a nationalist centre-right party, it began to veer towards the Islamic elements to compete with Awami League’s secularism.

The BNP was born in the military barracks, and its founder and military ruler General Ziaur Rahman had legitimised the pro-Pakistani collaborators by removing the ban on them. Its brand of Bangladeshi nationalism is religion-driven. The BNP had made its political preference clear when it formed the government in 2001 with pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami as its coalition partner. For the next five years of the BNP-Jamaat reign, a surfeit of Islamist radical terror groups like HUJI (Harkat-ul- Jihad al-Islami), JMB (Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh) and Ansarullah Bangla Team surfaced or consolidated their position in Bangladesh, unleashing horrible pogroms against minority Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.

Another organisation that has taken the centre stage since 2010 in Islamist politics in Bangladesh, other than Jamaat, is Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, an Islamic advocacy group of madrassah teachers and students. The formation was allegedly triggered by the 2009 “Women Development Policy” draft.

On February 24, 2010, Hefazat wanted to hold a rally at Laldighi Maidan, Chittagong to protest the government’s move to slap a ban on religion-based politics, cancellation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, and a proposed education policy that would have ended madrasah education. The police refused their request to hold a rally and injured 19 protesters.

A few of these madrasa students were arrested by police and later released. In 2011, Hefajat-e-Islam protested some aspects of the proposed Women Development Policy. According to The Economist, Hefazat is financed by doctrinaire Islamists in Saudi Arabia. In 2013, it gained most prominence when secular and atheist Bangladeshis rallied to demand the execution of Jamaat leaders convicted for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War, the Hefazat took to the streets and counter-mobilized massive support.

It submitted at the time to the government of Bangladesh a 13-point charter, which included the demand for the enactment of a blasphemy law with death sentence to its victims, mandatory Islamic education, and a ban on intermixing of men and women and followed this up by mobilising thousands of madrassa students for a “siege” of Dhaka.

The Awami League (AL) was quite unnerved by Hefajat’s power of street protests and mobilization of Islamists elements and in course of time decided to coopt the organisation into a coalition in order to counterbalance its rival party, BNP which has Jamaat as its partner, and in the process had to grant certain concessions to Hefajat. AL’s strategy paid dividends for some time as Hefajat being in the coalition toned down its militancy. But the appeasement policy did not succeed for long, as over the last 2 years, it has again resumed its militant politics finding expression in the defacing of statues, particularly of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and attack against minority community at the slightest pretext, leading the AL government to impose restrictions on its activities turning the organization at loggerheads with the government.

For, over the past years the Islamists have unleashed violence against them by killing writers and cultural activists, damaging statues in public squares, and setting off bombs at cultural gatherings. To their dismay, the Islamists now dictate what social and cultural norms should be.

Islamism receives impetus also from Saudi patronage and funding of large number Islamic institutions and Mosques. Since the late 1970s, Saudi Arabia funded the construction of thousands of radical mosques and madrasas. Today, Hefazat-e-Islam, controls over 14,000 mosques and madrasas where up to 1.4 million students get an Islamic education without any state supervision. These mosques and madrasas are thought to be breeding ground of radicalism in the country.

Military rulers abused religion to consolidate their power in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia used this opportunity to fund radical mosques and madrasas. Saudi Arabia has also patronized Islamist parties including Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh whose sole objective is to establish sharia and implement Quranic punishments. Saudi influence is also thought to be behind the rising trend among Bangladeshi women to wear black burqas.

Today, Saudi Arabia has about two million Bangladeshi migrant workers who send billions of dollars home annually, making a vital contribution to the economy of the country where one-third of people live in poverty. In exchange for opening the labour market, Saudi Arabia has been allowed to export and promote radicalism in Bangladesh.

In the absence of a viable democratic opposition, as the BNP has almost become a defunct organization with its leader Begum Khaleda Zia remaining either in jail or under house arrest, the political space is captured by the Islamists who are ideologically driven by the goal to replace secular democracy with theocracy. As Hefajat continues to gain a foothold, it is also paving the way for other Islamist groups to achieve political success.

For the Hasina government and the Awami League, a traditionally liberal, centre-left party, the challenge is formidable, as Dhaka must aggressively protect its secular legacy traced to Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others – the very ideology the party was meant to protect.

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B’desh: ‘July fighters’ threaten countrywide roadblocks to press 3-point demand

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9 hours ago

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October 18, 2025

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Dhaka, Oct 18: In the wake of tensions surrounding the signing of the July Charter, a group of protestors in Bangladesh, named ‘July Joddha Sangsad’ (July fighters), have announced to block all highways across the country on Sunday, pressing home their three demands, local media reported.

The demands include state recognition of those killed in the July 2024 protests; recognition of the injured as ‘July warriors’; and a specific roadmap for the rehabilitation of the families of the deceased, and legal assistance for the wounded.

Amid the boycott of several political parties, including the National Citizen Party (NCP) and four leftist parties, the July Charter was signed on Friday by the Chief Advisor to the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, members of the National Consensus Commission and leaders of different political parties.

Addressing a press conference in Dhaka, Masud Rana, chief organiser of the group ‘July Joddha Sangsad’, announced the blockade on Friday evening following clashes between the protestors and police near the Parliament complex, where they had staged a demonstration against the signing of the July Charter.

“We have been attacked. To protest the attack on us and implement our three-point demands, a blockade will be observed on the highways of every district and city from 2 pm to 5 pm on Sunday,” Bangladeshi Bengali daily ‘Jugantor’ quoted Masud as saying.

Masud accused the police of attacking their “peaceful sit-in”, saying, “We were holding our demonstration peacefully in front of the Parliament gate. Administrative officials had spoken to us, and we assured them that our programme would continue until 10 am without any disorder. But instead of initiating any discussion or solution, they suddenly launched an attack on us.”

On Friday afternoon, violent clashes broke out between law enforcers and protesters at the Parliament premises just hours before the July Charter Signing ceremony, leaving several injured.

Confirming the development, Inspector Faruk, in charge of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) police outpost, said that 36 people, who were involved in the July protests, were injured and were admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Reports suggest that as the protestors tried to rally and press their demands, the military and police personnel blocked them at the Parliament gate, triggering violence.

The police responded with a baton charge and fired three rounds of sound grenades to disperse the crowd.

Subsequently, protesters retaliated by vandalising police vehicles, including a car and a bus and setting fire to the temporary reception room, control room, and furniture installed outside the Parliament building for the July Charter Signing Ceremony.

The protestors warned the interim government, saying, “If we have to spill our blood again, the second administration will not survive either,” citing how the protests last year toppled the former Awami League government, paving the way for the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government to assume power.

Bangladesh has been gripped by numerous protests and extreme lawlessness since the democratically elected government of the Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was overthrown during violent protests last year.

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Strict action will now be taken against criminals who flee the country. Their passports will be cancelled and they will not be able to travel abroad.

Published

2 days ago

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October 16, 2025

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New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that fugitives involved in various crimes, including terrorist activities, gangsterism, cyber and economic crimes, who flee the country will not be spared under any circumstances. A more stringent approach will be adopted against them. During the process of issuing Red Corner Notices against such fugitives, their passports will be red flagged, meaning they will be cancelled, preventing them from legally moving from one country to another. He also called for at least one special jail in each state, meeting international standards, to be built to refute fugitives’ claims in foreign courts about the poor quality of facilities in Indian prisons. Home Minister Amit Shah made this statement on Thursday at a two-day conference organized by the CBI on “Extradition of Fugitives – Challenges and Strategies.”

He stated that after 2027, any accused in an FIR will be able to receive justice within three years, from the lower court to the Supreme Court. He also urged police officers from all states present to establish a focus group to coordinate narcotics, terrorism, gangsterism, economic, and cybercrime, which the IB and CBI should work to accelerate through the Multi-Agency Center (MAC). He emphasized that a strict approach should be adopted not only against corruption, crime, and terrorism, but also against gangsters and criminals operating in syndicates outside India. No matter how swift the tactics of crime and criminals, access to justice must be even faster. Referring to the three new criminal laws that will come into effect in July 2024, Shah said that for the first time since independence, a provision has been made to prosecute fugitives even in their absence. Thus, if a fugitive is convicted, his status under international law changes significantly.

The enactment of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act in 2018 empowered the government to seize the assets of fugitives. Within just four years, we have seized assets worth nearly two billion dollars, and between 2014 and 2023, assets worth approximately $12 billion have been seized. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has also been strengthened. Since the CBI is the designated agency in India for the extradition of fugitives who have fled abroad, each state should establish a special cell unit with the agency’s assistance to create a mechanism for bringing back fugitives who have fled their respective states. The CBI has established a Global Operations Center (GOC) to apprehend fugitives internationally, providing real-time coordination with police forces around the world.

Regarding the online portal “Bharatpol,” established by the CBI for international police cooperation, the Home Minister stated that it has achieved significant results since its inception in January 2025. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, the Foreign Secretary, CBI Director Praveen Sood, and IB Chiefs, along with police officers from various states, were present on the occasion. A SOP will be developed through discussions during this two-day conference, which will address the challenges of repatriating fugitives, tracking their real-time status, and identifying shortcomings in their failure to be repatriated.

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International News

SPM Modi hails efforts to impart ‘new momentum’ in bilateral ties during meeting with Canadian FM

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5 days ago

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October 13, 2025

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New Delhi, Oct 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday conveyed to Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand that her India visit would contribute to ongoing efforts to impart new momentum to the India–Canada bilateral partnership.

PM Modi hails ‘new momentum’ in bilateral ties during meeting with Canadian FM

Anand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, called on PM Modi on Monday morning before holding discussions with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar.

Welcoming Anand, Prime Minister Modi recalled his visit to Canada in June this year for the G7 Summit during which he held an “extremely productive” meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“Prime Minister noted the significance of enhanced cooperation between the two countries in trade, energy, technology, agriculture and people-to-people ties. Prime Minister conveyed his warm wishes to Prime Minister Mark Carney and said that he looked forward to their upcoming engagements,” read a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“I met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this morning in New Delhi. Building on the momentum of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with PM Modi this summer at the G7 Summit, Canada and India are elevating the relationship between our countries, while maintaining our law enforcement and security dialogue and expanding our economic relationship,” Anand posted on X after the meeting with PM Modi.

Earlier, EAM Jaishankar said that the ties between India and Canada have been steadily progressing in the past few months, and the two nations are working to restore the mechanisms necessary to advance the partnership.

Welcoming Anand on her first visit to India as Canada’s Foreign Minister, EAM Jaishankar said, “India-Canada bilateral relations have been steadily progressing in the last few months. We are working to restore and reinvigorate the mechanisms necessary to advance our partnership.”

“As Prime Minister Modi noted during his meeting with Prime Minister Carney in Kananaskis, India’s approach is to move forward with a positive mindset. This morning, you met the Prime Minister. You have heard from him personally about our vision of cooperation and how best to realise it,” he added.

He also recalled the “productive” meeting between National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Canadian NSA Nathalie G. Drouin, calling it “an important first step towards enhancing our security cooperation.”

“Our foreign ministries at the level of the secretary of the deputy minister also met on September 19 to review the overall relationship. Our trade ministers spoke recently on October 11. So, when we look at Canada, we see a complementary economy, we see another open society, we see diversity and pluralism, and we believe that that is the basis for a close, sustainable and long-term cooperative framework,” EAM Jaishankar added.

He noted that India and Canada have prepared an ambitious roadmap to advance cooperation in various sectors, including science and technology, civil nuclear collaboration, AI, trade and agriculture.

“I’m glad that the two high commissioners have assumed their responsibilities in our respective capitals and are part of today’s meeting. This is our high commissioner with whom you have spoken,” the EAM added.

“Our responsibility as foreign ministers is to shepherd the process of rebuilding our cooperation and to ensure that it delivers on the expectations of our prime ministers and the interests of our people. It means not only taking initiatives in our particular jurisdiction, but also monitoring and integrating interactions across the entire breadth of the government. I look forward to doing so, working closely with you, Minister,” he added.

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