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Declaring that a practising Muslim cannot take a second wife without the written
consent of the first, Raushan Ershad, wife of former President H M Ershad has
brandished the Islamic card before her husband with a zeal that could have grave
repercussions for Bangladesh at a critical point in its history.
Publicly chastising her husband and his mistress of 14 years, the Jatiya Party MP
Zennat Hossain, for adultery-a crime which under Islamic law merits the death
sentence-Raushan has demanded Ershad's resignation as leader of the Jatiya Party
(JP). Bangladesh's third largest opposition party.
Rallying together the top rung of the JP, Raushan and her supporters are already
discussing a post- Ershad realignment with Islamic parties like the
Jamaat-i-Islami and the Muslim League. Her threats could split the JP-with
immediate benefits going to the religious right, marginalised in the 1996
elections.
The slow but perceptive drift towards religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh was
halted by the resounding verdict of 1996. The Awami League led by President
Hasina, daughter of the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman who defined the
fledging republic as a secular nation, won 179 seats in a 330- member Parliament.
Next came the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Begum Khalida Zia with 109
seats, followed by Ershad's Jatiya Party with 33.
The Jamaat, which fought the elections as a major national player with 19 seats in
the earlier House, was decimated, winning just three seats despite the support of
the Awami League.
For years, political parties of every ilk flirted with religion for political
gains. Prior to the 1996 elections even the secular Awami League sent Hasina on a
pre-election Haj to Mecca from which she returned, head covered with a scarf,
declaring, "We are Islamic but we will never use Islam for political purposes."
Visitors to Bangladesh are struck by the groundswell of support for secular
principles in a country which connects religious fundamentalism with the memories
of Pakistani repression and violence and views it as incompatible with the young
republic's Bengali nationalism.
But so fearful are politicians of religious pressures on the illiterate poor, with
Imams functioning as de facto heads of every village, and so foreboding is the
presence of its huge "Hindu" neighbour that all major political leaders after
Mujib have been careful to underline their Islamic identity.
Ironically, it was General Ershad who in 1982 declared the country an Islamic
state, with Islam as the state religion. Several pirs (Islamic holy men)
influenced government policies, some being allegedly middlemen for his numerous
business deals.
Both military regimes in Bangladesh have tinkered with religious fundamentalism to
gain political legitimacy.
Earlier, General Zia, who began the religion-with-politics mix, had lifted Mujib's
ban on political parties, inserted 'Bismillahir Rashmir Rahim' into state
discourse and replaced the word secularism with 'Absolute trust and faith in the
Almighty Allah'.
He also revived the stridently Islamic Jamaat-i-Islami party by allowing Golam
Azam, its present Amir, to quietly re-enter Bangladesh after he was stripped of
his Bangladeshi citizenship for his alleged pro-Pakistani role in the war. So, by
the time Zia was replaced by his widow's civilian BNP which won the 1991
elections, the Jamaat-i-Islami was firmly in the saddle.
The secular press reported the subsequent period as littered with incidents that
showed the formidable willingness of local Imams to use personalised
interpretations of religious law to provide 'justice'.
There were many reported instances of 'fatwas' passed at local village councils by
village Imams against women for allegedly Islamic offences (mostly sexual).
Punishments became increasingly barbaric with young or pregnant women lashed,
stoned or buried alive while others killed themselves after such public
humiliation.
The most sensational case was the fleeing from Bangladesh of Taslima Nasreen, the
well-known writer who was hounded by the religious right and given the death
sentence by the Jamaat leadership for her criticism of Koranic laws. Veiled
threats were levelled at other "non-Islamic" scholars although they never reached
the intensity reserved for Taslima.
Elsewhere, female participants of economic or health programmes were severely
warned against 'unIslamic' actions which give them 'too much economic
independence'. There were stray incidents of properties of non-government
agencies like the Grameen Bank and the BARC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement
Committee) being burnt by zealots.
The government responded with legislation. In 1995 Bangladesh enacted the
Repression against Women and Children (Special Provision) Bill a special law
providing the death penalty for killing or raping women for dowry murders and
trafficking in women and children.
It also prescribes the death penalty for causing serious damage to the eyes or
face or deforming a women by throwing acid-a common punishment for women who have
displeased male members of their society.
But President Khaleda Zia was also criticised for refusing to amend the Family Law
in Bangladesh, based on the Shariat. It effectively curtailed women's rights to
property, inheritance, child custody and divorce, including the rights defined in
the Constitution.
Any moves which accelerate the interface between religion and politics in
Bangladesh would both destroy the unique character of this country and negate its
impressive gains. Raushan, however, has shown Ershad that the genie once released
from the bottle, cannot be shoved back in.
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