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| Islamist seize Dhaka on May 5, 2013 |
S. BINODKUMAR SINGH
On May 5,
2013, Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI, 'Protectorate of Islam') enforced their 'Dhaka
Siege' programme to mount pressure on the Awami League (AL)-led Government to
implement their 13-point demands ,
including the demand to "pass a law providing for capital punishment for
maligning Allah, Islam and Prophet Muhammad. and smear campaigns against
Muslims". Four civilians were killed and several others injured as cadres
of HeI fought running battles with Police across Dhaka ,
turning the capital into a city of panic. 70,000 Islamists marched down at
least six highways and took position at the entry points of the city, stopping
road transport and cutting off Dhaka's road links with rest of the country,
while they raised slogans of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) and "One point,
One demand: Atheists must be hanged."
More than 10,000 personnel drawn from the
Police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and paramilitary Border Guard
Bangladesh (BGB) jointly launched a drive late on May 5, 2013, to clear
demonstrators from Dhaka . As violence moved
beyond the capital on May 6, 2013, at least 27 persons, including three
Security Force (SF) personnel and a HeI cadre, were killed and several other
injured in Narayanganj, Chittagong
Earlier, on March 9, 2013, HeI Ameer (Chief) Shah
Ahmad Shafi had put forward a 13-point demand at the Olama-Mashayekh (Islamic
Scholars) Convention organized at the Darul Uloom Hathazari Madrassah
Convention Hall in Chittagong District. On the same day, HeI's 'central joint
secretary general' Maulana Moinuddin Ruhi, gave the call for theApril 6 rally at the end of a 'Long March' (from Chittagong
to Dhaka ). During the April 6 rally, the HeI gave the Government an April 30 deadline to meet its
demands or face a 'Dhaka Siege' programme, commencing May 5, 2013.
Indeed, in an attempt to clamp down on the
HeI cadres on the eve of 'Long March', the SFs arrested 30 HeI cadres from a
bus in Palashbari area of Gaibandha District on April 5, 2013, while they
were travelling to Dhaka . Subsequently, a
clash between HeI and AL cadres at Dhaka city
left one person dead and at least another 30 injured. As tension grew, four
people were killed between April 6 and May 4, 2013.
Meanwhile, on May 3, 2013, two days prior
to the 'Dhaka Siege' deadline, Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina Wajed
addressing a Press Conference in Dhaka , offered
a conciliatory response on the 13 demands, observing, "We have already
gone through HeI demands. Many of these have already been implemented while
some are in the process." Speaking explicitly about the second and 'most
important' demand, to "pass a law providing for capital punishment for
maligning Allah, Islam and Prophet Muhammad. and smear campaigns against
Muslims", the PM stated that the Information and Communication Technology
Act, 2009, and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) already contained provisions
for punishment for the offence.
The Government's reply to each of the 13 demands asserts that these demands are nothing
more than an attempt by the Islamist forces, backed by the main opposition
party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), to
hold the country to ransom, as these formations feel the heat of the War Crimes
(WC) Trial. Significantly, on May 9, 2013, JeI Assistant Secretary General
Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was awarded the death penalty by the International Crimes
Tribunal-2 (ICT-2). He was found guilty on five out of seven counts of torture
and mass murder committed during the 1971 War of Independence. He is the third
JeI leader to face the death penalty, while another one has received a life
sentence. ICT-2, constituted on March 22, 2012, delivered the first WC verdict against
former JeI leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar, on January
21, 2013, awarding a death sentence for killing 14 Hindus, raping two women,
torturing two other persons and setting homes ablaze in Faridpur District, his
birthplace. A total of nine persons, seven from JeI and two from BNP, have been indicted so far, for War Crimes.
Indeed, Bangladesh
Describing the activities of HeI as
'mysterious', Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, had noted, on May 2, 2013,
"The movement of HeI is not to protect the faith of Muslims. They are
working as the shadow of JeI and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), to foil the
trials of war criminals." Similarly, Environment and Forest Minister Dr.
Hasan Mahmud, on May 7, 2013, asserted that BNP central leaders M.K. Anwar and
Sadeque Hossain were behind the May 5 violence in Dhaka .
He also blamed central leaders of the BNP-backed students' organizations, the
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and ICS, for leading the trouble in Paltan,
Baitul Mukarram and Motijheel areas of Dhaka
during the HeI demonstrations and rally. On May 8, 2013, State Minister for
Law, Advocate Quamrul Islam claimed, further, "The BNP-JeI men carried out
vandalism, arson and looting during Sunday's violence". He went on to
claim that the mayhem in Dhaka city was funded by the Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan Dhaka city, demanded an
immediate ban on HeI, JeI and ICS, for 'creating anarchy' across the country.
The leaders of these two parties also blamed the main opposition BNP for
extending support to HeI.
The abrupt emergence of HeI as a formidable
disruptive force has largely been seen by the BNP-JeI-ICS front as an
opportunity to exploit the current situation to harvest some political gains.
With the survival of some of their leaders at stake, they appear willing to
drive the country to the brink of chaos in their effort to derail the ongoing
WC Trials. At the same time, however, a clear groundswell of opinion - albeit
without the attendant violence that characterizes the Islamist protests - in
favour of the WC Trials has also been dramatic. A direct and escalating confrontation
appears inevitable at this juncture, and it remains to be seen whether the
Government has the will and sagacity to manage this evolving crisis, even as it
pushes the WC Trials process to a logical culmination. And all this will be
necessary before the General Elections, which fall due in December 2013 -
January 2014.
First appeared in SouthAsia Intelligence Review, Weekly Assessments & Briefings, Volume 11, No. 45,
May 13, 2013
S. Binodkumar Singh is Research Associate, Institute
for Conflict Management
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