As Bangladesh navigates a turbulent political transition following the ousting of its long-standing leader, Islamist hard-liners are making increasingly bold moves to assert their influence, The New York Times claims.
“The extremists began by asserting control over women’s bodies… In the political vacuum that has emerged after the overthrow of Bangladesh’s authoritarian leader, religious fundamentalists in one town declared that young women could no longer play soccer. In another, they forced the police to free a man who had harassed a woman for not covering her hair in public, then draped him in garlands of flowers,” the newspaper said in an article published on Tuesday.
“More brazen calls followed. Demonstrators at a rally in Dhaka, the capital, warned that if the government did not give the death penalty to anyone who disrespected Islam, they would carry out executions with their own hands. Days later, an outlawed group held a large march demanding an Islamic caliphate.
Dhaka slams NY Times article for one-sided portrayal of Bangladesh“In interviews, representatives of several Islamist parties and organizations — some of which had previously been banned — made clear that they were working to push Bangladesh in a more fundamentalist direction, a shift that has been little noticed outside the country.”
The American daily said officials involved in drafting the country’s new constitution acknowledged that secularism—a defining principle of Bangladesh since its independence—might be replaced with "pluralism," which could introduce more religious influence into governance.
According to the newspaper, this shift has been especially distressing for female students, who were instrumental in the protests that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. It added that they had envisioned a future marked by greater democratic freedoms and inclusivity; instead, they now faced a surge of religious populism that threatened women and minority communities, including Hindus and Ahmadiyya Muslims.
“We were at the forefront of the protests. We protected our brothers on the street,” Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Emi, 29, a sociology graduate from Dhaka University, told the newspaper. “Now after five, six months, the whole thing turned around.”
“Critics say the country’s interim government, led by the 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has not pushed back hard enough against extremist forces. They accuse Yunus of being soft, lost in the weeds of democratic reforms, conflict-averse and unable to articulate a clear vision as extremists take up more public space,” The New York Times article read.
It continued: “His lieutenants describe a delicate balancing act: They must protect the right to free speech and protest after years of authoritarianism, but doing so provides an opening for extremist demands.
“The police, who largely deserted after Hasina’s fall and remain demoralized, can no longer hold the line. The military, which has taken up some policing duties, is increasingly at odds with the interim government and the student movement, which wants to hold officers accountable for past atrocities.”
The newspaper claimed that Bangladesh’s current trajectory mirrored a broader trend in South Asia. “Afghanistan has become an extreme ethno-religious state, depriving women of the most basic liberties. In Pakistan, Islamist extremists have exerted their will through violence for years. In India, an entrenched Hindu right wing has undermined the country’s traditions of secular democracy. Myanmar is gripped by Buddhist extremists overseeing a campaign of ethnic cleansing.”
Despite fears of rising extremism, some remained hopeful that Bangladesh’s deep-rooted traditions of art, intellectual debate and economic progress would counteract fundamentalist pressures, the article said, adding that women were so integrated in the economy — 37% are in the formal labour force, one of the highest rates in South Asia — that any efforts to force them back into the home could result in a backlash.
“Extremist forces are trying to push their way into the picture after 15 years in which Hasina both suppressed and appeased them. She ran a police state that cracked down on Islamist elements, including those closer to the mainstream that could pose a political challenge. At the same time, she tried to win over Islamist parties’ religiously conservative base by allowing thousands of unregulated Islamic religious seminaries and putting $1 billion toward building hundreds of mosques.”
Political opportunity
With Hasina gone, smaller extremist outfits that wanted to upend the system entirely, and more mainstream Islamist parties that wanted to work within the democratic system, appeared to be converging on a shared goal of a more conservative Bangladesh, the article asserted.
It said the shifting landscape presented new opportunities for Islamist political parties, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islami. “The party, which has significant business investments, is playing a long-term game, analysts and diplomats said. While it is unlikely to win an election expected at the end of the year, the party hopes to capitalize on the discrediting of mainstream secular parties.”
The New York Times quoted Mia Golam Parwar, Jamaat’s secretary general, who described the party’s vision as an Islamic welfare state, similar to Turkey’s model, in its mix of religion and politics.
Local enforcements
In rural areas, local leaders had begun enforcing their own interpretations of Islamic governance, the article said.
“In the farming town of Taraganj, a group of organizers decided last month to hold a soccer match between two teams of young women. The goal was to provide entertainment and inspire local girls.
“But as preparations got underway, a town mosque leader, Ashraf Ali, proclaimed that women and girls should not be allowed to play soccer. Sports organizers usually announce details of a game by sending loudspeakers tied to rickshaws around town. Ashraf matched them by sending his own speakers, warning people not to attend,” the newspaper said.
“On February 6, as the players were changing into their jerseys in classrooms turned into dressing rooms, local officials were holding a meeting about the game. Ashraf declared that he ‘would rather become a martyr than allow the match,’ said Sirajul Islam, one of the organizers. The local administration caved in, announcing the game’s cancellation and putting the area under curfew.”
Taslima Aktar, 22, had travelled four hours to participate, the article mentioned. She “said she had seen ‘a lot of cars, army and police,’ who told the players that the match was off,” it added.
A match was eventually held weeks later under heavy security, but players were asked to wear stockings under their shorts as a concession to hard-liners. Organizers now question whether they can host future events without risk.
For Ashraf, the controversy was a victory. In a rural area like Taraganj, women’s soccer contributed to indecency, The New York Times quoted him as saying.
It continued: “Women’s sports was just his latest cause. For years, he has preached and petitioned against the Ahmadiyya, a long-persecuted minority Muslim community, trying to drive its 500 members out of his area.
“The Ahmadiyya’s place of worship was attacked by a mob on the night that Hasina’s government collapsed, part of a national wave of anarchy that targeted minority religious sites, particularly those of Hindus. The Ahmadiyya community continues to live in fear; attendance at their prayer hall has shrunk by nearly half.
“They are not allowed to rebuild the hall’s destroyed sign or to broadcast their call to prayer from loudspeakers. Ashraf shrugged off any responsibility for the violence. But the sermons of preachers like him, declaring the Ahmadiyya heretics who need to be expelled, continue to blare.”
Despite the climate of fear, community leader AKM Shafiqul Islam remained hopeful, said The New York Times. “The public is respectful, but these religious leaders are against us,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
