Blogger's death rekindles anti-Islamist protests in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Mass dissatisfaction                  

A huge protest in the capital against an Islamist party and its leaders

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21571941-huge-protest-capital-against-islamist-party-and-its-leaders-mass-dissatisfactionFeb 16th 2013 | DHAKA |From the print edition

Broad change, or a tight noose?

THEY are the biggest rallies in Bangladesh for at least two decades. Hundreds of thousands of protesters gather peacefully each day in Dhaka, the capital, demanding vengeance against a bearded political figure, Abdul Quader Mollah. Their numbers swell daily: ordinary people furious that, despite his conviction for dreadful crimes during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, Mr Mollah faces only a life sentence.
The rallies began on February 5th after online activists called for protests at Shahbag, a busy intersection in central Dhaka. They want Mr Mollah and others on trial to face the death penalty. He was convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal, a local court set up by the government of Sheikh Hasina to prosecute men, largely from an Islamic opposition party, accused of murder, torture, rape and other wartime atrocities. When, somewhat unexpectedly, Mr Mollah was spared a death sentence, he was seen flicking supporters a V-for-victory sign. That smug gesture may have helped to provoke the outrage.
Shahbag has given its name to the protests, though some now dub it “new generation roundabout”, hinting at broad aspirations for political change. Families attend, with toddlers sporting bandannas bearing slogans that call for the death penalty. Television coverage helps to draw the crowds. By February 15th, and Friday prayers, 500,000 people may gather. The sight of young, otherwise progressive Bangladeshis seeking capital punishment, through music, street theatre, chants and recitals, is both moving and unsettling. Almost no one pays heed to known flaws in the trial.
Both the ruling Awami League and, belatedly, the chief opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have fallen in with the protests. Senior politicians from the ruling party have attempted to co-opt the demonstrations, but their efforts to speak to the crowd were firmly rebuffed. Still, the League could get a boost. Sheikh Hasina honoured her promise to hold war-crimes trials. In parliament this week she also spoke up for the death penalty, saying that even impartial judges must listen to public opinion. Next, the parliament is expected, on February 17th, to amend the act behind the war-crimes court so that the government can appeal against verdicts. Mr Mollah’s reprieve may be short-lived.
Matters are trickier for the BNP, which dallied for eight days before joining the protesters. It had more to lose, in particular a useful electoral alliance with the biggest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leaders comprise most of those on trial. In the end, so many BNP supporters went off to join the Shahbag protests that the party had no choice.
Protesters say that their movement is a narrow one against political Islam: in favour of secular government, they want Jamaat banned. A rampage by Jamaat’s violent youth wing has done nothing to damp down such calls. The government, which has already brought back an explicitly secular constitution from 1972, may soon feel ready to move.
Yet, as with any big protests, further political demands may emerge. The protests could become a plea for broad change. Few like a political system dominated by a long, bitter fight between a pair of self-serving dynasties, those of Sheikh Hasina and the BNP’s Khaleda Zia, and their stave-wielding followers. If that duopoly were broken up, many at Shahbag would celebrate.

From the print edition: Asia

Blogger's death rekindles anti-Islamist protests in Bangladesh

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000077461&pageNo=2&story_title=Kenya-Blogger%27s-death-rekindles-anti-Islamist-protests-in-Bangladesh

Updated Saturday, February 16 2013 at 18:25 GMT+3

More than 100,000 Bangladeshi protesters, angered by the killing of one of their leaders, poured back onto the streets of the capital on Saturday to demand the death penalty for those found guilty of war crimes in the 1971 independence conflict.
The demonstrators, who denounced a life sentence handed down this month on an Islamist leader involved in the war, reversed a decision to scale back demonstrations, now in their 12th day.
Rajib Haider, an architect, was a key figure in organising the demonstrations and wrote a blog devoted to them under the pen name Thaba baba. He was attacked outside his home on Friday night after returning from a 100,000-strong rally in Shahbag Square.
On Saturday, an even larger crowd thronged the square to attend funeral prayers for Haider, many vowing to avenge his death or breaking down in tears as his coffin passed.
Haider's family told reporters they believed he was stabbed to death for standing up to the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party and drawing people to the protests. Police said they had detained five suspects.
"Haider's death has rekindled our spirits," said Nasiruddin Yusuf, a film-maker. "It will not go in vain."
Large protests gripped other cities. Security forces patrolled streets in much greater numbers than in previous days.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Haider's home and told his grieving parents justice would be done.
"Rajib Haider's killers have no right to do politics," she said in comments broadcast live on television. She said Jamaat and its affiliates "do not believe in democracy. They believe in terrorism. That is what they are proving again."
The protests were triggered by the life sentence imposed on Abdul Quader Mollah, assistant secretary-general of Jamaat, Bangladesh's largest Islamist party. Most Bangladeshis had expected a death sentence on charges of murder, rape and torture.
Protesters vow to remain
Protest leaders vowed to remain on the street until Mollah, 64, is sentenced to death, along with others convcted of committing crimes during the war.
Some say they would accept parliamentary amendments to provide for stiffer penalties to be issued by the war crimes tribunal, set up in 2010 by Hasina, daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

"The young generation is shining a light on the spirit of the liberation war we fought more than 40 years ago," said Dhaka University professor Abul Barakat, 58. "We couldn't achieve all the dreams of the war. Now, perhaps no one can stop them."
In its first verdict last month, the tribunal sentenced a former Jamaat leader, Abul Kalam Azad, to death. Azad was tried in absentia as he fled the country last April.
State minister for law Qamrul Islam, shown on television addressing a rally near Dhaka, said the disbanding of Jamaat "is a public demand. It's just a matter of time when Jamaat will be banned from politics."
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Hasina's arch rival, former premier Begum Khaleda Zia, says the prime minister is using the tribunal as a political weapon. Hasina denies the accusation.
Bangladesh became part of Pakistan at the end of British rule in 1947 but broke away in 1971 after a war between Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, and Pakistani forces. Three million people died and thousands of women were raped.
Some factions in what was then East Pakistan opposed the break with Pakistan. Jamaat denies accusations that it opposed independence and helped the Pakistani army.