Ahmadiya assaults expose BNP-Jamaat decoupling drama in Bangladesh

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: The latest spate of assaults on the Ahmadiyas, that left at the very least three lifeless and dozens of homes torched, has as soon as once more blown the lid of the much-hyped decoupling drama by the main events in Bangladesh’s Islamist opposition – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat).

Months again, an announcement was made by leaders of each events that had been drawing aside. Analysts stated this was as a result of the BNP was attempting to cozy as much as India and the West, the place the Jamaat is seen as hardline Islamists, and in addition challenge a suitable picture to secular nationalists in Bangladesh who could also be against the Awami League.

But a detailed have a look at the response of the 2 allies on the Ahmadiya query uncovered the reality and laid naked how shut the 2 are on the non secular query and the way illiberal they’re relating to different faiths.

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Vehemently against the standing the Ahmadiyas take pleasure in in Bangladesh as “Muslims”, the Jamaat-e-Islami, after the assault, issued a press release to mount strain on the federal government to declare the group as non-Muslims. The Jamaat-backed social media belongings launched a barrage of “boycott Ahmadiya” campaigns.

The Ahmadiyas are a bunch that originated in British-controlled India within the nineteenth century who see themselves as a reformist Islamic motion however are considered heretical by orthodox Muslims and forbidden from calling themselves Muslims or utilizing Islamic symbols of their non secular practices in nations corresponding to Pakistan, the place they face large persecution.

On the opposite hand, simply days after the assaults, the BNP leaders, together with the celebration’s secretary normal Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, upped their ante, accusing the federal government of “orchestrating the attack to gain political mileage out of the attack” however appeared conveniently ignorant about such sweeping slurs regardless of the group leaders decrying such Jamaat-sponsored marketing campaign as “hate campaign”.

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BNP’s response

Days earlier than a bunch of BNP leaders met a high-profile European delegation, BNP’s prime leaders, together with Fakhrul, blamed the federal government squarely and referred to as the assault “premeditated and orchestrated for political gains by putting the blame on the opposition”.

Speaking at a press convention, Fakhrul stated, “The government mainly tried to weaken the BNP’s ongoing movement to restore democracy and tarnish the party’s image both at home and abroad by implicating it with communal violence.”

However, a day after a BNP delegation met EU leaders within the nation, Fakhrul took a dig on the Ahhmediays and referred to as the try to carry a spiritual congregation “controversial” and slammed the federal government for “allowing such an event”.

Outraged at Fakhrul’s calling the Ahmadiya rally “controversial”, the minority group rejected the assertion, calling it “tantamount to their constitutional rights to hold such events as these are peaceful in nature”.

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Rejecting Fakhrul’s assertion the place he termed the congregation a controversial one, Ahmad Tabsir Chowdhury, a spokesperson for the Ahmadiyas, cited two separate statements by Fakhrul in a span of two days.

First, Fakhrul blamed the federal government and stated the assault “was staged by the government to divert attention”. “But a day later he found it convenient to call our effort to hold the rally a controversial one. We unanimously reject this statement,” noticed Ahmad.

Reminding Fakhrul of constitutional obligations that permit residents to carry rallies, Ahmad went on document saying “our rally was scheduled to be held inside our premises. We did not seek permission to take it on busy streets like the capital’s Paltan and we believe it is our right to hold such events as these are peaceful in nature”.

Article 37 within the structure denotes “every citizen shall have the right to assemble and to participate in public meetings and processions peacefully and without arms, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of public order or public health”.

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Jamaat response

Fakhrul’s comment comes at a time when Basherkella – a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Twitter account – condemned the police motion to cease the violence over the Ahmadiyya non secular occasion and referred to as for “boycotting” the group. The Ahmadiyya group has referred to as it a “hate campaign” towards them.

Meanwhile, the Jamaat-e-Islami’s performing Secretary General, Maulana ATM Masum, issued a press release on March 5, asking the federal government to formally declare the Ahmadiyya group as “non-Muslim”.

Since violence broke out, at the very least eight tweets had been posted from the Basherkella account with “police brutality” and “boycott Qadiani (Ahmadiyya)” hashtags.

Calling these tweets a “hate campaign” towards the Ahmadiyyas, Amanur Rahman, a college graduate from the group, stated the social media platform is getting used to “instigate further attacks”.

According to Amanur, “All these tweets asking people to boycott our community and the false portrayal of police action is a clear attempt to glorify the attackers and justify the attack.”

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Basherkella, earned notoriety as a “Jamaat mouthpiece” for staunchly supporting conflict criminals, and propagating non secular extremism.

BANGLADESH PM STANDS WITH AHHMEDIAYS

Following the assault, a number of ministers from the Awami League rushed to Panchagarh, met the affected households and directed officers to make sure safety to cease any additional recurrence of such occasions.

Moreover, on the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a complete of 206 households got humanitarian help from the prime minister’s fund right this moment.

Based on the native administration’s main evaluation following arson and looting, the authorities distributed cheques between Bangladeshi rupees 4,803 and 5,26,366 among the many victims’ households, reported Bangladesh media.

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DECODING LONG-HELD BNP-JAMAAT’S NEXUS AND ANTI-AHHMEDIYA STANCE

Though Jamaat leaders and activists went each additional mile, together with perpetrating genocide for all-weather buddy Pakistan Occupational forces again in 1971, with the singular goal of stopping the beginning of Bangladesh, the long-standing a lot coveted ties between the BNP and the Jamaat may be traced again within the aftermath of the ugly killing of nation’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 4 years into nation’s independence in 1975.

The assassination was part of a bigger worldwide conspiracy to avenge the defeat of 1971 because the Pak military, even with the backing of the US, made a public give up.

Right after the assassination of Mujib together with 19 of his members of the family, the nation witnessed the rise of navy dictators. These self-confessed conflict criminals from the Jamaat received a brand new lease of life. On affect, a slew of makes an attempt had been set in movement to whitewash the litany of conflict crimes, Jamaat leaders had been rehabilitated and launched into a chilling mission to introduce Pak-style rule within the nation.

Bangladesh’s first navy dictator, Gen Ziaur Rahman, who based the BNP, provided an olive department to the Jamaat, permitting the self-confessed conflict criminals a free run on the nation’s political panorama. The scrapping of secularism from the structure was one other victory for these nexus.

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Under Gen Zia’s successor, his spouse Begum Zia and their son Tarique Rahman, between 2001 and 2006, prime Jamaat leaders had been made ministers.

That alliance in energy supplied full scale state patronage to theocratic teams and Islamist militants loved a free run. They stepped up focused assaults on liberal thinkers and writers, and minorities had been burnt to dying indiscriminately.

Ruthless assaults on progressive leaders, together with an assassination try on Sheikh Hasina, by rabidly radical outfits below the direct patronage of the BNP-Jamaat regime was one other pointer that triggered prime investigative journalists to match Bangladesh because the “next Afghanistan”.

Between 2001 and 2006, the final rule of the BNP-Jamaat regime, a sequence of unprecedented assaults happened throughout the nation.

The assault on Ahmadiyya’s headquarters in Dhaka in 1992, the killing of an Ahmadiyya Imam in 2003, and the besieging of Ahmadiyya mosques in 2004 are just a few amongst a myriad such assaults on the group with offenders reportedly having fun with state patronage.
Moreover, the sheltering of a number of anti-Indian rebel teams has been one other controversial facet of the BNP-Jamaat regime that had been rejected outright by the folks within the nationwide election in 2008.

Former deputy chief of India’s Defence Intelligence Agency, Major General Gaganjit Singh, not too long ago advised India Today TV that Bangladesh’s intelligence companies in the course of the BNP-Jamaat rule (2001-06) had been patronizing each home-grown Islamist teams like HUJI and Pakistani teams like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba on the one hand and northeast Indian separatist teams as a part of an Islamabad-orchestrated plan to destabilise India.

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Published On:

Mar 16, 2023