Bangladesh Bans Islamic Party After Mounting Protest Deaths

03.08.2024 12:28

Bangladesh Bans Islamic Party After Mounting Protest Deaths

Sawako Utsumi and Chika Mori

Modern Tokyo Times

Recent protests in Bangladesh have shocked the country – irrespective of people’s political persuasion. Accordingly, over 200 people have died in violent clashes.

The government of Bangladesh under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded by banning the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Student wings and associated bodies connected to the Jamaat-e-Islami have also been banned on the grounds of them being deemed “militant and terrorist.”

AP News reports, “Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her political partners blamed Jamaat-e-Islami, its Islami Chhatra Shibir student wing and other associate bodies for inciting violence during recent student protests over a quota system for government jobs.”

Sheikh Hasina warns that Islamists “will go underground and try to destroy” Bangladesh – similar to Islamists supporting Pakistan in the 1971 War of Liberation.

Asia News reports, “Jamaat was allied with Pakistan during the 1971 War of Liberation. After independence, the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (the father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina) outlawed the party for abuse of religion, opposition to independence, and participation in genocide.”

Sheikh Hasina pointedly warned, “[W]e must all strive to fight them and protect our people. There will be no shelter for militants on the soil of Bengal.”

Brutal killings have occurred based on the policies of the security apparatus and by protesters – hence, hatred runs deep.

Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “It is hoped that all sides will seek a compromise and abide by the Supreme Court decision. Bangladesh was born on the deaths of so many people – but the ‘pain of birth’ remains within the body politic of this nation.”

The BBC reports, “Security forces have been accused of using excessive force to quell the initial protests, with many of the dead and injured suffering gunshot wounds, according to doctors who spoke to the BBC.”

Babu Ram Pant (Amnesty International – Deputy Regional Director for South Asia) said, “The rising death toll is a shocking indictment of the absolute intolerance shown by the Bangladeshi authorities to protest and dissent.”

Voice of America reports, “The violent crackdown on the protesters has drawn international condemnation from the United Nations as a whole and the United States.”

However, protesters have also been accused of brutality.

The initial quota system that triggered the ongoing crisis is now reduced in scale – so the government is seeking a compromise.

Reuters reports, “The current unrest is the biggest test facing Hasina since deadly protests when she won a fourth-straight term in January elections that were boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.”

The faultlines in the body politic of Bangladesh remain firmly entrenched.