Author: Charles Tannock
Publication: Daily Times
Date: July 21, 2005
URL: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-7-2005_pg3_5
Bengali authorities seem to sense
that their country is drifting towards becoming a failed state and are
making greater efforts to arrest Islamist killers, despite some of them
being part of the ruling coalition. Two radical Islamist groups have also
been banned
Is Bangladesh headed into the black
hole that consumed Afghanistan under the Taliban? Fears are mounting, as
official and fundamentalist religious forces now seem to operate with impunity
- and the apparent support of local police, the ruling Bangladeshi National
Party, and local authorities.
For many years Bangladesh was an
exception in the Islamic world, pursuing an independent course in a peaceful,
secular, and democratic fashion. Traditionally, under Bengali Sufi mystical
teachings, the majority Muslim population lived peacefully with other religions,
and Bangladesh had a good record on education and civil rights for women.
Until recently, Muslim fundamentalists were discredited, because militias
such as "Al Badr" and "Razakar" had supported atrocities against civilians
during the civil war of 1971.
That began to change in 2001, when
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, the widow of the assassinated military
strongman General Zia, replaced secularism in the Constitution with the
"Sovereignty of Allah". Encouraged by this change the BNP's junior coalition
partner, Jamaat-e-Islami, which has links with the militias and remains
close to Pakistan, has been calling for imposition of Sharia (Islamic law).
The BNP appears to view religious
extremism as a tool to break the power of the opposition Awami League,
which is largely supported by the secular and urban middle classes. Similarly,
the massive rise in the number of madrassas (religious schools) financed
by Saudi and Gulf money - totalling roughly 64,000 and operating under
the same fundamentalist Deobandi Islam that inspired the Taliban - is part
of a clear effort to change Bangladesh's culture of religious tolerance.
The danger inherent in Bangladesh's
course is very real. Indian intelligence officials allege that the leader
of a BNP coalition partner, Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini, maintains ties to
the banned armed Islamist group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, or Huji, which
in turn is allegedly linked to Al Qaeda. In 1999, Huji members attempted
to assassinate the moderate poet Shamshur Rahman. Forty-four Huji members
were arrested, two of whom claimed to have been sent from South Africa
and Pakistan by Osama Bin Laden to distribute money to the extremist madrassas.
Bangladeshi migrant workers in the
Gulf States who return home imbued with radical Wahhabi and Salafi teachings
fan the fires even more. Competing for influence among radical Islamist
leaders in northwestern Bangladesh is Bangla Bhai, who in 2004 attempted
an Islamist revolution in several provinces bordering India. Supported
by local police and 10,000 followers, the rebellion ended only after a
government crackdown.
The NGO Taskforce against Torture
has documented over 500 cases of torture and intimidation by radical Islamists,
who also have murdered supporters of the Communist Party, such as Abdul
Kayyam Badshah. Indeed, Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists have been targeted
as well, and religious extremists more recently have attacked Sufi shrines
deemed to be idolatrous, and even Bengali cultural events that unite all
religions in a common identity.
For example, during Ramadan prayers
last October, a mob of a 1,000 people razed a mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim
community. The 100,000 members of this Muslim sect, which believes that
Muhammad was not the last prophet, have been declared infidels, and the
government outlawed their publications until the ban was reversed by the
Bangladeshi High Court. Hindus, Ahmadiyyas, and tribal people in the Chittagong
hills, fearful for their safety, have been leaving the country in droves.
The atmosphere of violence is palpable
in other ways. Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League's leader and the daughter
of the Bangladesh's founding father, survived a grenade attack last summer
that killed at least 20 people and injured hundreds more. The killers have
never been apprehended. Britain's High Commissioner in Bangladesh was wounded
in a similar bomb attack this May.
To its credit - albeit under pressure
from donor countries - the Bengali authorities seem to sense that their
country is drifting towards becoming a failed state and are making greater
efforts to arrest Islamist killers, despite some of them being part of
the ruling coalition. Two radical Islamist groups have also been banned.
But piecemeal arrests will not be enough to reverse the drift if a culture
of intolerance is allowed to fester.
One encouraging note is that annual
economic growth has been a steady five percent for the past few years.
But now many Bangladeshis fears for their livelihoods, owing to unlimited
Chinese textile imports following the end of quotas last year. Economic
deterioration in Bangladesh would only worsen inter-communal tensions and
provide a fertile breeding ground for jihadis, but the reforms needed to
head off decline are often blocked by political infighting and opposition
boycotts.
The world cannot afford a second
Afghanistan in Bangladesh, where Huji members are believed to have given
sanctuary to many Taliban fighters after the fall of their regime. Pressure
from India will not be enough to force the Bengali government to adhere
to the tolerant form of Islam that the country pursued during its first
three decades of independence. All of Asia's powers, including China and
Japan, will have to play a part in stopping Bangladesh's drift into fanaticism
and chaos. The rest of the world should support them before it is too late.
-DT-PS
Charles Tannock is Vice-President
of the Human Rights subcommittee of the European Parliament
