Ahmadiyya Muslims, Religious Freedom and Bangladesh Constitution

SALEEM SAMAD

When the Muslims in Bangladesh attack the Adivasis or ethnic communities, we remain silent. When the Muslims attack the Hindus, Christians and Buddhists, we remain silent. When they attack the Ahmadiyya Muslims, we again remain silent.

If you ask any persons from among the majoritarian Sunni Muslims, they spontaneously argue that Ahmadiyyas are not Muslims. If you ask again whether the person is a good or bad Muslim? There is silence for a few seconds and after a heave of sigh, that person would say, how do I know, only Allah determines.

The Holy Quran says a day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and time will end. The dead will be resurrected for judgment by the All Mighty. This day is the Day of Judgment where people will be rewarded by the Supreme Creator according to their beliefs and deeds.

More than a year ago, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a press conference in defence of religious freedom and tolerance said if Muslims believe in the Last Day of Judgment then a Muslim shouldn’t point their finger towards someone who is a good Muslim or a bad Muslim.

The video clip of the statement was broadcast from all TV channels in Bangladesh and is available on YouTube, where she rebukes the Islamist and radicalised Muslims, who have sworn to eliminate a certain community or religious practitioners (not naming any Muslim sect), should be banished from Islam.

The radicalised Muslims and Islamists have attacked, vandalised and desecrated hundreds of places of worship, shops and homes of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and of course the Adivasis soon after the birth of Bangladesh.

Adivasi leaders often lament the grabbing of lands and forcible occupation of their properties by influential local persons who are affiliated with the ruling parties – whichever party remains in power.

None of the perpetrators listened to the music of justice. They enjoyed impunity and they remain free from justice, which is frustrating for human rights organisations.

Ahmadiyya, a Muslim sect is members of a minority community and are spread all over Bangladesh since the beginning of the twentieth century. 

The Ahmadiyya are conservative Sunni Muslims and are tolerant of other faiths and practitioners. They regularly hold inter-faith dialogues in their mosques, which prompted the radicalised Muslims to reject that their place of worship is a mosque.

The Islamist and conservative Sunni Muslims demand that the government should banish Ahmadiyya from Islam. The call was purportedly raised by Jamaat-e-Islami founder Abul Ala Maududi in 1953, leading to the bloody atrocities which killed more than 2,000 Ahmadis in Lahore, Pakistan.

Jamaat-e-Islami during Khaleda Zia’s regime in the mid-90s proposed a blasphemy law to punish the Ahmadiyya and secularists. Incidentally, the proposed bill was a photocopy of the blasphemy law of Pakistan.

The [Ahmadiyya] fate was further sealed by Pakistan’s military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, when he issued the anti-Ahmadiyya law on 26 April 1984, which prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs.

Not to anybody's surprise, Pakistan’s abandoned orphans [the Mullahs] born in Bangladesh are demanding similar repressive laws to ban and punish the ‘heretic’ Ahmadiyyas.

The radicalised Islamic groups including the Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat, and of course Hefazat-e-Islam believe the Ahmadiyya are heretic and demands that the sect should be banned and declared ‘non-Muslim’ like Pakistan in September 1974.

A few years ago, the Islamist protesters in Panchagarh invited Hefazat-e-Islam leader Allama Shah Ahmad Shafi on a chartered helicopter from his base in Hathazari, Chattagram and warned the government, the civil and police administrations not to cooperate with the Ahmadiyya Muslim in holing the ‘Salana Jalsha’ (annual congregation) at their Ahmadnagar complex.

During the last three decades, the Islamists attacked and vandalised the members of Ahmadiyya properties and mosques in Brahmanbaria, Dhaka, Gazipur, Jashore, Khulna, Kushtia, Natore, Rajshahi, Satkhira, Sherpur and elsewhere, according to news published in media.

Ahmadiyya management had to postpone and cancel their annual congregation several times due to opposition of the minority Islamists in the last 32 years, minus the mainstream majoritarian Muslims who believe in Sufism and are tolerant.

The recurrence of the cancellation of Jalsha, no doubt were instigated by the Islamist groups and not surprising the district and police administration bowed down to the vile threats of the Islamist.

The recent flare-up of the racial riot in Panchagarh after Friday's Jumma prayer (3 March) became violent after police attempted to disperse the militant protesters, which turned berserk.

Local journalists said after eight hours the paramilitary Borders Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and elite police force RAB were deployed. The delay caused to deaths of 2 persons including an Ahmadi.

More than 100 homes of the Ahmadiyya community were torched, vandalised and looted, claimed Ahmed Tabshir Chowdhury, an Ahmadiyya leader who was at the complex during the riot.

Hefazat-e-Islam promptly said the non-Muslim [meaning Ahmadiyya] should not have been given permission to hold the Jalsha and instead blamed the Qadiyani [slang for Ahmadiyya] for the unrest.

The following day agitation was further fuelled by rumours by a group of young people, local journalists claim that they are from a madrassa.

The Ahmadiyya families in Panchagarh have fled their homes for safety and are living in fear.

According to a thought-provoking article published in the Dhaka Tribune writes, the Constitution of Bangladesh, which recognises Islam as the state religion, also ensures the rights of all other religions, irrespective of race, caste, sex or place of birth.

According to Article 28 (1) of the Constitution, the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

Moreover, Article 41 states that (a) every citizen has the right to profess, practise or propagate any religion; (b) every religious community or denomination has the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions.

As per Article 44 (1), a citizen can move to the High Court if his/her religious freedom is violated.

Despite bifurcating after a brutal war of independence in 1971 to establish a nation based on democracy, secularism, pluralism, equality and social justice, the ghost of the Islamic state of Pakistan seems to have rested on the shoulders of Bangladesh Mullahs.

Sunni Muslims commonly know that Ahmadiyya does not believe in the last Prophet of Islam. Secondly, the Quran of Ahmadiyya has been distorted. Thirdly, their prayers are not following Muslim practitioners. Finally, the interpretation of Islam follows the propaganda of the Jews and Christians.

The Ahmadiyyas are funded by Zionists and instigated against the Muslims and their Headquarters is located in Israel. The list of conspiracy theories lengthens.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim’s headquarters in London has the largest collection of translated copies of the Quran in more than 70 languages, also in Hebrew and Chinese [both Mandarin and Cantonese].

Despite the negative campaign and conspiracy theories agog in social media, the Ahmadiyyas are growing, spreading and shining all over the world. An estimated 10 million Ahmadis are living around the world, in more than 200 countries.

In Cuba, where religious practices were a social taboo, the Ahmadiyyas have their footprint and boast the establishment of their first mosque in Havana – in near future in China and North Korea.

First published in The News Times, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 5 March 2023

Saleem Samad, is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

From Khuda Hafez to Allah Hafez

The rise of radicalism has made a dent in the secular fabric of society

SALEEM SAMAD

The Muslim festival celebrated on the occasion of Hajj is Eid-ul-Azha, with the customary sacrifice of cattle all over the Islamic countries, as well in hundreds of other countries where there are followers of Islam.

While tens of thousands on social media and writings in print, the nation seems to have awakened to find that the traditional words heard for centuries in Bengal -- “Eid-ul-Azha” -- have been renamed “Eid-ul-Adha.”

Earlier, our grandfather taught children to say “Roza” and the conventional social salutation was “Ramzan Mubarak.” What they want us to hear now is “Ramadan Kareem.”

wwaBengal, the land of Sufis and Bauls, a unique place in ancient India where Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians -- the ethnic and cultural minorities -- lived in harmony along with nature.

When we were in the Pakistan era, the existence of orthodox or radicalized Muslims was not visible. There was a significant rise of progressive Muslim writers, poets, lyricists, and musicians.

In post-1947 -- liberal spaces encouraged cinema, theatre, folk music, and traditional Jatra. Cultural activities thrived with the resurgence of a new generation of creative people in society.

Suddenly the Jatra and folk music were attacked by Islamists, coupled with civil administration refusing to give permits to hold folk festivals in rural areas.

The rise of radicalism is a new phenomenon, which has made a dent in the secular fabric of society. Such peculiar development has been noticeable in Bangladesh for more than three decades.

Presently, the bauls, cartoonists, writers, and sculpture artists are unable to exercise their profession. Firstly, they are physically attacked and secondly, they are slapped with the controversial Digital Security Act.

Nowadays, the bigots scoff if somebody says namaaz and corrects it to salaat. They have changed “Milad-un-Nabi” into “Siratun-Nabi” and gradually everything which is Persian is being changed.

Most importantly, our goodbye greeting -- “Khuda Hafez” -- has been forcibly converted to “Allah Hafez.” Most Islamic practitioners in the country do not realize that long ago, Khuda Hafez arose at the authoritative Islamic learning centre at the Al-Azhar, Cairo.

Everybody knows “Allah” is Arabic and “Khuda” is Persian. The great blind scholar of the Qur’an, Taha Hussain said: “A child calls his mother by so many names and also ‘coins’ new words and she invariably responds. Does she ever say why haven’t you called me mother?”

“Allah Hafez” was first imported from Pakistan during Khaleda Zia’s pro-Islamist regime in 1991. Well, in Pakistan, liberal and secular intellectuals, academics, and mainstream media have squarely rejected “Allah Hafez."

In Pakistan, experimenting with neo-Islamic culture has become a national activity of the military regime in converting whatever was Persian to Arabic.

Of course, the first step in the Islamization of the country had taken deep root when General Ziaur Rahman, through a military proclamation, amended the 1972 constitution and inserted “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim” (In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful) in the preamble of the constitution.

The principle of secularism was removed from the constitution in 1977 by the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, another military dictator in 1988 declared: “Islam as the state religion” to appease the conservative Sunni Muslim majority.

In public events, the political speakers begin with the salutation Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim and end it with Allah Hafez.

Writer and researcher in war crimes Shahriar Kabir debated that the Charter of Medina signed by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not write “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim."

He asked the Islamic zealots why they deleted Khuda Hafez and coined Allah Hafez? Well, goodbye in Arabic is Fee Amanillah.

The followers of the Wahhabi sect, which advocate strict Sharia laws, were hailed by the Taliban and IS; the orthodox groups consciously deleted Persian words from Muslims in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

This geopolitical shift occurred after the so-called Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Arab states felt threatened that regime change would jeopardize the Islamic ummah.

The pro-Wahhabi Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami first introduced the endnote slogan Allah Hafez which was adopted from Pakistan Islamist conglomerates.

The Islamist party was able to influence leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to adopt Allah Hafez, while the Awami League leaders in the 1990s were still saying, Khuda Hafez.

In a major shift after 2009, gradually, Awami League leaders, MPs, and bureaucrats picked up the end salutation Allah Hafez and it is now established as Muslim etiquette.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune, 4 August 2020

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He can be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com. Twitter @saleemsamad

Islamists Challenges Secularism in Bangladesh

People have no jurisdiction to judge others on their religious views

Is this tolerance? Photo Credit: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

SALEEM SAMAD
A series of low-intensity violence on the issue of blasphemy was recently raised by radicalized Muslims against Hindus, Buddhists, and others, which is nothing new in Bangladesh.

If the violent behavior by the “lords of hate” is analyzed, it could be determined that these occurrences have an identical pattern of violence, as if those are woven in one string of hate against humanity.

In the fairly recent incident in Bhola in the coastal district, the acts of violence were instigated by rumormongers citing fake Facebook exchanges, which were deemed blasphemous only by the Islamic zealots.

Despite the distances from one occurrence to another, the typical pattern of violence has been observed in Barisal, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Gaibandha, Gopalganj, Ramu, Rangpur, Santhia (Pabna), Satkhira, Sunamganj -- and the list appears to keep growing.

All the incidents falsely accused person(s) insulting Islam, the Qur’an, or Prophet Muhammad -- soon after, Hindu and Buddhist households were looted, vandalized, and set ablaze, while temples were desecrated.

Hate speech by zealots is widely available on YouTube and Facebook, with tens of thousands of views on social media. The videos do not hesitate to despise the defenders of human rights and advocates of secularism, especially the mainstream media.

The hate speech by the clergies indoctrinate madrasa students, and millions of disciples of Islamic evangelists paradoxically have a similar message of hate against secular Muslims and Muslim sects.

Of late, their demands to the authorities are coincidentally the same, as if the storyboard is prepared under one roof, by one person, and written with one pen.

Closely analyzing their statements, the Islamists are no more a religious group -- they have a clear political agenda. The bigots with a political agenda, means they are bidding for the return of political Islam. This will severely dent our almost five-decade-long traditional culture of tolerance, democracy, and secularism.

The zealots demand that the government should enact a blasphemy law, with a provision of a maximum penalty for criticizing the Prophet and the Qur’an.

In fact, the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami in 1993 had proposed in the parliament a draft blasphemy law, which was strikingly very similar to what Pakistan enacted in 1986. The draft was shredded by both the ruling and opposition lawmakers of that time.

Islamic scholars passionately debate that the Holy Qur’an has not sanctioned blasphemy. Nor is there any mentionable edict in the Hadith to punish a blasphemer in this living world.

The non-believers and blasphemers will be condemned to hell on the Day of Judgment.

They also do not hesitate to demand that the Qur’an and Sunnah replace the state constitution, which was earned from the Liberation War by millions of martyrs.

Unfortunately, the zealots were never accused of sedition or provoking a law and order situation.

Their interpretation of Wahhabi Islam has gradually penetrated into the minds of majoritarian Muslims in the country. The Wahhabi doctrine advocates strict Sharia laws that have been implemented in many conservative Muslim countries.

The bigots also harbor inner contradictions regarding the war crimes trial. The Islamists tacitly agree that henchmen of the marauding Pakistan army were responsible for crimes against humanity and should be brought to justice. Equally, they hate to see Islamists being punished for crimes perpetrated in 1971.

In a naive statement, the mullahs believe that the International Crimes Tribunal deliberately targeted Islamists because of pro-India secularists, the country which has immensely contributed to the birth of Bangladesh.

Intimidation by the Islamists is pushing a pluralistic society into a tight corner. Understanding that the state religion Islam will never be deleted from the constitution, their hate speech has multiplied.

The Islamists have dared to destabilize a secular fabric of the society and challenge the spirit of the Liberation War.

First published in the Dhaka Tribune newspaper on 26 November 2019
Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, also recipient of Ashoka Fellow (USA) and Hellman-Hammett Award. Twitter @saleemsamad; He can be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com

Islamist threat challenges LGBT, Gay and Lesbian in Bangladesh

Saleem Samad

Tourist’s most popular guidebook Lonely Planet, advises gay travellers to be discreet in Bangladesh, and warns that homosexuality is illegal in Bangladesh, and homosexual acts are punishable under Bangladesh law with deportation, fines and/or prison.

In December 2008, Bangladesh was one of 59 countries that signed a statement opposing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights at the United Nations General Assembly.

Unfortunately, Bangladesh is one of 75 countries that currently have laws criminalizing homosexuality and the highest punishment for “unnatural intercourses” is life imprisonment, but lesser jail terms of up to 10 years in prison and fines might also be handed out under the existing law, writes Dhaka Tribune.

Primarily the country is a Sunni Muslim majoritarian nation, a major challenge for the LGBT, gay and lesbian communities facing in Bangladesh.

Despite Bangladesh being a conservative country, the government in July 2016 has recognized the ‘trans-gender’ community as ‘third gender’ with a single-sentence: “The Government of Bangladesh has recognized the Hijra community of Bangladesh as a Hijra sex.”

This circular represented a significant step toward securing a range of rights for Bangladesh’s ‘hijras’ — people who, assigned “male” at birth, identify as feminine later in life and prefer to be recognized as ‘hijra’ or a third gender.

According to Section 377, the country’s British colonial-era penal code, voluntary carnal intercourse against “the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” is punishable with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend to ten years and fines.

The Dhaka Tribune in an editorial writes against section 377 of the criminal code stating their belief that while most people in Bangladesh were against homosexuality, they did not want to see people put in jail for it or for the government to waste resources treating it as a crime.

Same-sex romantics or sexual activities are not accepted in society, with LGBT people facing discrimination, verbal and physical abuse, and unique legal and social challenges. Same-sex sexual activity, whether in public or private, is illegal and punishable with fines and up to life imprisonment, though this law is rarely enforced. However Bangladeshi societies view it as a negative activity. Consequently, Bangladesh does not recognise the relationship between same gender.

The New York based rights defender, Human Rights Watch (HRW) states that “Discrimination against LGBT people is pervasive in Bangladesh”.

Homosexual relations are criminalized in Bangladesh and many LGBT activists have been forced into exile.

According to NBC, those who have fled the country are slowly reconnecting and trying to organize a meeting to assess the situation. The attacks have driven local LGBT activists underground, French news agency AFP reported.

On March 30, Labannya Hijra, a third gender activist became a Bangladeshi hero. Witnessing the murder by Islamist militants of the secular blogger Washiqur Rahman Babuon a street in capital Dhaka, she grabbed the fleeing assailants. Her courageous intervention led to the arrest of two men, who later confessed to the killing.

Days after Xulhaz Mannan and Tonoy Mahbub hacked to death in a Dhaka apartment on the evening of April 25, 2016, HRW urged the Bangladesh authority to immediately probe the killings of two LGBT human rights activists.

Ansar-al Islam, the Bangladeshi branch of dreaded Al Qaeda on the Indian subcontinent, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The groups said “the two were killed because they were ‘pioneers of practicing and promoting homosexuality in Bangladesh’ and were ‘working day and night to promote homosexuality … with the help of their masters, the U.S. crusaders and its Indian allies,’” CTV reported.

Mannan was an editor of Roopban, Bangladesh’s first LGBT specialised magazine, which began publishing in 2014. He was a visible and openly gay human rights activist who supported and protected LGBT people even in the face of threats against the community.

The assassination of two LGBT rights activists follow a spate of 30 killings since early 2015, targeted attacks on writers, educators, bloggers, and editors who advocated liberal and secular democracy, that radical groups believe are against Islamic ideology.

In the face of police and civil authorities’ reluctance to provide security to those who sought help in the wake of death threats by the Muslim bigots has caused shiver and fear among them.

“This one incident broke the sense of security. More than 15 people left the country. More than 10 want to leave. People in Bangladesh don’t want to talk to us. The whole community is so scattered and scared,” an activist told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the sidelines of an international LGBT conference in Bangkok, Thailand in end of 2016.

In 2013, the country’s National Human Rights Commission called on the government to protect sexual and gender minorities from discrimination.

To add fuel into fire, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina advised bloggers and social media activists to use restraint in their exercise of free speech or leave the country for their safety.

In recent years, LGBT people in Bangladesh have also been targeted with extremist rhetoric. For example, in November 2015, when activists began publishing a cartoon series featuring a lesbian character, religious groups issued hateful anti-LGBT statements, calling on the government to prosecute LGBT people under section 377 and Sharia (Islamic Law).

Even though a small number of gay rights organisations and activists in Bangladesh were raising their voice to establish rights for the LGBT community, none of them has so far engaged in a legal fight to recognise the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the country, said Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua.

First published in Shuddhashar online magazine, October 2019

Saleem Samad, is an Ashoka Fellow (USA), recipient of Hellman-Hammett Award and also Bangladesh correspondent of Paris based international media rights organization, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Email: saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad

Is Muslim Majority Bangladesh Poised To Convert Into A Secular Nation?

SALEEM SAMAD

For millions of people in impoverished Bangladesh, it seems to have ushered a political blessing. The nation which fought a bloody war of independence in 1971 against Islamic Pakistan to establish secularism and democracy was obliterated by military juntas and autocratic governments.

Bangladesh's first constitution included secularism, democracy, socialism and nationalism as the key political philosophy which reflects the spirit of the independence war when the eastern province severed from Pakistan in 1971.

After the assassination of the “founding father” Shiekh Mujibur Rahman in a military putsch in 1975, the military-backed government of General Ziaur Rahman doctored the constitution's guiding principle and scribbled "Bismillah’ir Rahman’ir Rahim (Faith in Allah)" in 1979.

The Bangladesh Supreme Court in its landmark verdict forbids political parties which advocate Islamic philosophy. The apex court also asked to reinstate the four key principles in the constitution which existed 38 years ago.

In the 184-page judgement released recently, the court discarded most of the Fifth Amendment of 1979, including provisions that allowed religious based politics, which was legitimised by tyrannical rules of military generals during the period of August 15, 1975 to April 9, 1979.

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed claimed that there is no hindrance to reinstate “secularism in the constitution” as advised in the Supreme Court's ruling. "The amendments that were enforced by military orders during the four years of misrule have been declared illegal and repealed by the Supreme Court."

Another military junta leader General Husain Muhammad Ershad, a key ally of the ruling party dared to rewrite the constitution which determines “Islam as state religion” of once secular Bangladesh. Ahmed explained that the amendment made by third military ruler will not be affected by the court verdict.

Excited Shahriar Kabir, a secularist writer and staunch advocate for the trial of the war criminals is extremely busy in appearing on prime-time talk-shows in vibrant electronic media on the landmark judgement. He said the people’s mandate in the last general election for restoration of secularism and trial of perpetrators responsible for crime against humanity in 1971.

In an election strategy Mujib’s daughter Shiekh Hasina led Awami League swept to power in 2008. Her party’s electoral promises were restoration of secularism and trial of war criminals.

“Religious based politics was banned after brutal birth of Bangladesh. We have seen youths belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami were engaged as henchmen of marauding Pakistan’s occupational forces. They raised Al-Badr, a death squad to kidnap and murder hundreds of intellectuals who could not escape for their safety and security,” he explained.

The journalist and film-maker Kabir said General Zia, after the assassination of President Mujibur Rahman in a bid to gain political support for his legitimacy of usurping power to the surprise of all, withdrew the ban on religious politics and allowed Islamic parties to regain grounds.

Most of his hand-picked cabinet ministers were drawn from Muslim League, Maoist and other rogue Islamic groups. Kabir said, incidentally most were blamed for their alleged involvement in crime against humanity.

General Zia despite being a Mukti Bahini (guerrilla force) commanding officer and took military assistance from India to liberate the country from the repressive rule of Pakistan, he did not hesitate to restore two-nation theory of independent Islamic states in Indian sub-continent. He also got rid of secularism and inserted Bismillah’ir Rahman’ir Rahim (Faith in Allah) in the constitution.

The court recommends "suitable punishment" to “extra-constitutional adventurers”, the predators of democracy who ushered military regimes and sanctioned martial laws. Well the military leaders are either assassinated, hanged or are fugitives, except for the third military leader General Ershad, who founded Jatiya Party.

The Bangladesh Nationalists Party founded by assassinated President General Zia, led by his widow, Begum Khaleda Zia appealed the apex court's first ruling on the Fifth Amendment in last January and apparently lost her legal battle in a crucial political path of her party, which was in power three times.

Author of Bangladesh constitution Dr. Kamal Hossain, an international jurist said the court verdict could be translated into reality by government order for changes in fundamental principles.

The judgement which did not come as a surprise, is a major threat to Islamic parties. The Islamic parties which propagates strict Sharia law for 158 million secular and moderate Muslim majority nation. The Islamic radicals also advocate Qur’an and Sunnah to over-ride the people’s constitution. Secularist, however argue that Sharia targets women to subjugate them and force them to wear purdah (veil).

Tormented by Fatwa’s (Islamic edicts) and confrontation with Mullahs, the rural women entrepreneurs engaged in micro-credit with support of Grameen Bank, micro-finance institutions and NGOs, the women population in the rejected the Islamic parties. The empowered rural women topped the list in national elections held anywhere in the world, according to Carter Institute. The women and 20 million new registered voters played a crucial factor in the last general election which caused landslide victory for Awami League and its allies.

According to independent Bangladesh Election Commission there are eleven registered Islamic parties. Reacting to comments by ruling party politicians regarding the unprecedented judgement, Chief Election Commissioner Dr. ATM Shamsul Huda made it clear that the Election Commission is not authorised to ban any political party and that the authority lies with the government only.

“The Commission will not impose any ban on any party. It is the responsibility of the government. If the government bans any registered political party, the Commission would cancel the registration as per ‘The Representation of the People Order (RPO) Act’,” he said, as journalists asked if the EC would go for outlawing religion-based political parties.

Recently five senior leaders of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested and are waiting to stand trials for the crime against humanity at the International War Crimes Tribunal. The special court has been set up, as an election pledge by the present government.

In the wake of judgement, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami accused the government of a conspiracy to push the country into anarchy by reverting to the 1972 constitution.

“People want to move the country forward. The government stands against the people is an impediment to the country’s progress and development,” Acting Amir (chief) Makbul Ahmad of Islamist party.

The party leader called upon all Islamic, patriotic parties and the Muslims to stand against what it described the government’s anti-Islam mindset.

Whether the Islamic parties will be banned or restricted is still not clear. At the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina remarks frustrated many political observers and her party’s secular advocates.

She said that Islamic parties will not be banned, while “Bismillah’ir Rahman’ir Rahim” and state religion Islam will remain in the constitution. Possibly her government does not wish to jeopardise Awami League and allies for another term in the election scheduled in three years.

Earlier Hasina in a rare gesture asked her ministers to keep quite on the constitutional issue and religious based political parties as crucial changes in the fundamental principles of state policy are now under a close scrutiny. Her prolific party leaders were busy in deliberation in half-a-dozen TV talk-shows every late night.

She mentioned that a constitutional amendment is a sensitive issue and formed a 15 member bi-partisan special committee for recommendation to the parliament.

Social justice activist Kabir is upset. He said the prime minister’s statement in parliament has confused the nation and it somewhat contradicts the verdict of the superior court. It seems that the war criminals and their defenders have nothing to fear anymore. The Islamic parties would continue to function and overtly campaign against the war crimes trial, which began in United States and Britain.

First published in the CounterCurrents.org 6 August 2010

Saleem Samad is a writer and journalist, an Ashoka Fellow for journalism. He has recently returned from exile in Canada. He fled from Bangladesh after security agencies during the Islamic-nationalist government (2001-2006) intimidated him to leave the country. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com