Religious Freedom in Bangladesh: A Thing of the Past?
More than 85% of Bangladesh’s 150 million people are Muslims. Bangladesh earns its title as ‘the third largest Muslim country of the world’ following Indonesia and Pakistan because of its enormous size of Muslim population. Their religion, Islam, is however becoming a ‘minority’ day by day. While Muslims—in spite of being a minority—are enjoying their basic religious freedom in the West, this religious freedom is increasingly becoming ‘a thing of the past’ in Bangladesh.
Recently, Sabuj, a fourth year student of Social Work at Rajshahi University, was severely beaten by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (BAL), because he went to perform his prayer. Though he was not an activist of any of their rival student organizations, his main ‘offense’ was that he perform his basic religious duties—prayers (Salat) (The Daily Dinkal, 5 April 2010). In the same university, the Department of Sociology has banned female students for wearing hijab. The Department recently recruited four new faculty members based on a condition that they would never show any religious symbols and practices such as keeping beard and wearing a Panjabi (Daily Amar Desh, 3 April 2010). More ironically, the reporters of this news are in constraint threat from the BCL for revealing these incidents (Daily Amar Desh, 7 April 2010).
Over the last few months, there have been many reports in which the women have been detained, harassed and expelled from dormitories solely for wearing hijab or carrying Islamic books (Daily Amar Desh, February 19, 2010). In Pirojpur, three young hijab-wearing girls were detained for more than a month, harassed by the law enforcement authorities and interrogated despite having no allegation at all. They were only released with the interference from the High Court (RTNN, 21 July 2009). Many others have been coerced to involve in illicit sexual service to the male leaders of the ruling party and any refusal by those girls who were coerced to such service has caused them detention, harassment and assault after being branded as ‘fundamentalists’ by the government activists (Daily Amar Desh, March 17, 2010).
‘Secularism’ as a Geo-political Agenda:
While Islam has always been a target of criticism by a cohort of secularists in Bangladesh, still people in general have enjoyed their basic religious freedom. Now, targeting Islam, Islamic symbols, and Islamic personalities in the name of creating a ‘secular state’ is a state agenda of the ruling regime. Bangladesh Awami League (BAL), the party in power, is staunchly a secular party and dreams of establishing Bangladesh as a model Muslim majority secular democratic state because not only of a party ideology, but also of a prescription from India. At the very beginning of this regime, India vehemently expressed its expectation to see Bangladesh as asecular state. It is because, among other reasons, ‘India’s national security interests dictate that Bangladesh is not permitted to be Talibanised’ (Kapila 2004). Moreover, the Grand Alliance of the ruling regime consists of many hardcore leftist communist parties that are often known as ‘ultra-secularists.’ These ultra-secularists are, ‘often seen to maintain an extreme rebuff and a total antagonism towards a particular religion, which is Islam’ and the development of this brand of secularism in Bangladesh ‘started through an abnormal psyche, which is extreme opposition to and a deep-rooted desire of annihilating Islam and its symbols’ (Said 2010).
The current aggressive secularizing process undermining religious freedom can easily be traced from the grand agenda devised by Sajib Wazed Joy, the son of the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and C. Ciovacco who jointly wrote a roadmap of secularism in their article, ‘Stemming the Rise of Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh’ published in Harvard International Review (Nov 2008). In the article, Islamic elements within the army and the Islamic education (Madrasah) system are perceived to be the main obstacle in realizing the goal of secularizing Bangladesh. This article is believed to be the blueprint for current government’s plan of action.‘These (secular) schools would be a deterrence to the monopoly on education that madrassas currently enjoy. Relying on Saudi and Kuwaiti funding that dictates rote Koranic memorization is counterproductive for a nation,’ the article says.
Process of Secularization: Displacing and Reclaiming Spaces:
The process of secularization is now taking various routes. All routes can be crystallized into two broad yet paradoxical approaches: displacing Islam and Islamic symbols from the political landscapes of Bangladesh, and reclaiming the entire space of Islam for BAL. The regime has taken the following policies to displace Islam from political and social fabrics:
I. Jangification of Islamic Political Parties:
At the very beginning an aggressive attempt was taken by the current regime to link the Islamic political parties with militancy (jangi). A massive propaganda was launched by some ministers and some media portals at home and abroad to brand Bangladesh as a “Jangi State”, perhaps to woo the Superpowers who are hostile to Islam and thereby to earn an unequivocal support for the regime’s action against Islamic political forces (Said 2010). According to some analysts, some state-managed incidents of militancy were staged to create a media-hype on this issue and to manufacture the consent of the public. While there were some genuine elements of militancy—albeit as a fraction of the whole spectrum—in Bangladesh, the key strategy of the regime was not to address those but to link those isolated incidents with broader Islamic political forces. Seeing it counter-productive and damaging for the nation’s peace-keeping forces working under the United Nations and migrant labors working abroad, the government has refrained from this propaganda abroad, though propaganda within home (in Bangladesh) is still going on in full swing.
II. Reverting to the Constitution of 1972:
Along with the Jangification of Islamic Political Parties, the regime took varieties of other approaches to ban religion-based politics. To do that, the government by using the legal apparatus has managed to outlaw the the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution in 1975 (after Mujib era) that established absolute trust in God and deleted secularism. This amendment was declared illegal by Supreme Court in Jan 2010, and Law Minister vowed to restore the constitution of 1972 and ban religion-based politics. First Constitution in 1972 was modeled on a ‘social communism’ that blocked multi-party democracy; banned religion (basically Islam) based parties, association and societies; curbed media freedom; and incorporated some fundamental principles such as nationalism, secularity, democracy and socialism (VOA News, 02 Feb 2010).
III. Massive crackdown on Islamic parties:
Over the last few months, the government has been launching a massive crackdown on activists and supporters of the opposition Islamic parties. Though ‘this type of action by a democratically elected government is unwarranted and a major blow to the fundamentals of democratic principles,’ the government is using its state machineries to systematically undermine these basic principles. ‘It appears that the ongoing oppression of the opposition, especially Islamic forces, is quite ill-conceived by the present government and mainly targets to eliminate the Islamic forces from Bangladesh.’ Thousands of opposition activists have been arrested in a massive security crackdown over the past few weeks (Islamonline.net, 23 February 2010).
IV. War crime tribunals and targeting Islamic Parties:
Many believe that formation of a war crime tribunal by the current regime to try the ‘crime against humanity’ targeting only an Islamic opposition party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI), is intended to emasculate Islam from the political landscape of Bangladesh (Islam and Islam, 2010).
V. Banning religious gatherings:
The government has already banned major religious gatherings in Bangladesh including yearly Tafsirul Quran Mahfil in Chittagong that brings together about a million Muslims. Prominent religious preachers such as ‘Allama Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been threatened by the state authorities, and banned from organizing religious gathering on the pretext that they preach ‘fundamentalism.’ The government has also warned its activists about, and instructed to keep an eye on, the mosquegoing people. Any opposition to the current regime is confronted through filing cases (mamla) and physical assaults (hamla) (Rahman 2010).
VI. Changing Muslim Family Law:
Concerted effort are being made by atheistic, ultra-secularist and socialist forces within the regime to remove Islamic principles in the Bangladeshi legal sphere related to family life, in the name of emancipation of women. The prime Minister recently vowed to change the Muslim Family Law on inheritance that, according to her interpretation, undermines the equal rights and dignity of women (RTNN, 8 March 2010).
VII. Controlling Islamic Institutions:
Several ministers, particularly Deputy Law Minister Advocate Kamrul Islam, now-a-days vociferously talking about the taking over of the Islamic institutions such as Islamic Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), Ibne Sina Trust and other Islamic Insurance companies that, according to the ministers, use their profit to nurture Islamic extremism and to foil the war crime tribunal (Daily Naya Diganto, 24 March 2010). These institutions however strongly protested and denounced the Ministers’ claims saying that IBBL and Ibne Sina Trust are closely supervised and audited from time to time by Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue (NBR) respectively and therefore it is simply not possible for public limited company and welfare trust to manipulate accounts and divert funds (Daily Naya Diganto, 12 April 2010). Nevertheless, the regime’s negative propaganda against and the crackdown on Islamic Institutions are going on. The government has recently frozen the bank accounts of Mir Kashem Ali, a BJI leader and Chairman of Diganto Media Corporation, and of seven members of his family (Daily Somokal, 2 April 2010), as a starting point to crack the financial strength of Islamic forces.
VIII: Secularizing education:
The government has already devised a grand plan to change the entire education system in the light of secularism. Critics think that this new policy is nothing but a ‘propaganda education’ that grossly undermines religious education. The Supreme Court’s judgment that made the Fifth Amendment to the constitution illegal is being used as a justification to instate a purely secular education. The Law Minister, Shafique Ahmed, has said that Bangladesh is set to reintroduce secular education in the country following a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court that made it illegal to mix religion with politics. ‘The apex court verdict has paved the way for reintroduction of the original spirit of the 1972 constitution…while the government has already prepared a draft for education with the spirit of secularism,’ the Law Minister told a convention of teachers in Dhaka (DNA India, 07 February,2010).
Apart from the above, there are also many reports about political profiling in army and administration and about forceful retirement and dismissal of many officers who bear Islamic symbols and practices and have different political views. On the other hand, political loyalty to the current regime and hostility to Islam have become the key market currency to get promotion and tenure.
However, religion, particularly Islam, is a deep-rooted social institution in Bangladesh. Social norms and other interactions in the country are largely originated and guided by Islamic principles. Therefore abrupt replacement of Islam from the social fabrics and political arena will both disrupt social cohesion to and generate massive opposition from the masses. To avert this imminent disruption and opposition, the current regime has adopted some approaches, which are both paradoxical and diametrically opposed to one another.
First, the regime provides a prescription that BAL is the only party that takes care of Islam more than anyone else. H.T. Imam, the adviser of the Prime Minister, while speaking on a seminar on “War Crime Tribunal from Islamic Perspective” held in Bangladesh Engineers Institute on 2nd April 2010, said, ‘Awami League is the only Islamic Party in Bangladesh’ (Daily Naya Diganto, 03 April 2010). He also said that ‘BJI does not believe in real Islam; they keep fasts but beak their fasts with Whisky.’ A state-sponsored author claimed Bangobondhu Shaikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of BAL, was among the Khalifatul Muslimeen. He further comments that their doctrine is secularism, and denying secularism is tantamount to denying the Qur’an. Previously, some BAL sponsored ulema said that Bangabandhu was one of the great friends (wali) of God. Therefore, denying the contribution of Bangobondhu is tantamount to denying God; and if anyone opposes his party Awami League, he/she will be expelled from the fold of Islam (Bangladesh Mufti Parishad, 30 October 2009).
Claiming the entire space of Islam for her party and excluding others, Agriculture Minister Motiya Chowdhury said, ‘Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is the ummat of Zia, Jamaat [BJI] is the ummat of Nizami, and the activists of Awami League are the ummat of Prophet Muhammad (Daily Amar Desh, 21 March 2010). Though all these efforts of the current regime are directed to displace the existing Islamic parties from the political landscape and reclaiming the entire space for the ruling party, they are largely interpreted as an ‘ideological devise’ and a ‘legitimate guise’ to avert people’s attention from their politics of secularism.
The second approach is to find alternative ‘social institutions’ such as ‘Rabindra Adoration’ that can be substitute to, and eventually replace, Islam. While all state programs traditionally starts with the recitation of some verses of the Quran, the Holy Book of Muslims, and sometimes with verses from the Quran, the Bible and the Tripitok in a row, the Finance Minister recently altered this ritual and started a program with Rabindra Sangeet, song of Tagore. In another gathering, he declares that ‘religious fundamentalism must be dealt with and replaced by Rabindra adoration’ (Daily Ittefaq, 6 April 2010).
In the same program, Professor Nurul Islam, a BAL-leaning scholar, said, ‘We all get fascinating, progressive and independent religious doctrines from the life of Tagore; and if we can propagate this religion in every home in Bangladesh, the nation will become a Sonar Bangla [golden Bangladesh].’
Finally, between the above two diametrically opposed approaches, the regime also thinks of forming an alternative religious party, tentatively named as ‘Jamiyat-e-Ulama Bangladesh’ that will function in varieties of ways. When existing Islamic parties that provide political threat to the current regime will be officially banned, this new party will fill the vacuum and avert the resistance from the angry Muslims. The party will remain subservient to Awami League as a ‘pocket organization’ thus providing strength as an ‘Islamic label’ rather than a threat to the current regime (Daily Amar Desh, 25 March 2010). As the new party will provide an alternative avenue for Muslims in an absence of other Islamic parties, the process of de-Islamization will go on without significant resistance.
Conclusion:
The violent policies of the secularization process in Bangladesh are not of good taste for the majority of people. Opposition to and a movement against the regime is therefore mounting. The danger for this regime is that all the adopted policies—both displacing and reclaiming—are largely viewed as ‘violent imposition’ rather than a logical consequence of the people’s opinion. The ultra-secularist element with the regime is a minority in terms of number but a majority in terms of influence and power. The aggressive policies of secularization are largely driven by this influential few and go against the majority masses. In the present era, any policy devoid of public trust and support, social justice, transparency and accountability not only is bound to fail, but also backfires the policy-makers in a very painful way. Moreover, the people in One of the Programs of Rabindra Academy where Finance Minister said, ‘Rabindra Adoration is Essential to Arrest Fundamentalist Bragging’ (Ittefaq, 6 April 2010).
Bangladesh are historically volatile and hot-blooded and do not endure ‘violent imposition’ for long time. If the regime fails to get a lesson from history, it will certainly get a lesson to fail.
Reference:
1. Islam, S. Serajul and M. S. Islam (2 April 2010). ‘A Free and Fair War Crime Tribunal in
Bangladesh’ in Holiday International. Dhaka. Available online at:
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2010/020410/com.html#01
2. Kapila, S. (2004). ‘Bangladesh misperceives new Indian government’s foreign policy
thrust: An Analysis’ in
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers11%5Cpaper1017.html, South Asia
Analysis Group. June 2004
3. Rahman, Serajur (23 March 2010). ‘Ai Akromon Awami Leaguer Charitragoto Fasibader
Angsho’ (This attack is a part of Awami Fascist Character), in Daily Naya Diganto,
Dhaka.
4. Said, R. (03 February 2010). ‘Rise of a Unique Secularism’ in Daily Independent. Dhaka.
Author: Dr. M. Saidul Islam, Singapore
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