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INTL 542 Anudeep Dewan

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BANGLADESH

Political Challenges and Religious Conflicts

Anudeep Dewan

University of Oregon

November 22; 2016


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Table of Contents

Part I: POLITICAL HISTORY OF BANGLADESH .................................................................... 2

Part II: POLITICAL CHALLENGES ............................................................................................ 5

Part III: RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC CONFLICTS ...................................................................... 8

Part IV: RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................. 12

Bibliography 14


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Part I: POLITICAL HISTORY OF BANGLADESH

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated Muslim majority country in South Asia,

rife with a string of political problems of its own, that are rooted deeply into the colonial rule of

the British Raj, and the shared political, geographical, cultural and religious ties with India and

Pakistan. As part of the divide and rule policy, the British rulers divided Bengal into West

Bengal (now a state of India) and East Bengal (now Bangladesh) on the basis of majority religion

in both states in 1905. While West Bengal

was predominantly Hindu, East Bengal had

a Muslim majority. As the result of two

violent partitions, East Bengal was carved

out into Bangladesh: first as East Pakistan

in the 1947 Independence, merging with

Pakistan due to the Islamic majority

population both had in common, but

geographically separated by India; then

seceded from Pakistan, later as Bangladesh

after a second violent partition in 1971.

Though Bangladesh is a new country in

terms of its legal framework, its existence

and culture dates back to two thousand or more years (Rashid).


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Fig I: Location of Bengal

Fig II: Partition of Bengal (1905)

Source: Pakistan Geotagging Blog


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Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is now known as the founding father of the nation led the

campaign for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan. 1971 saw a brutal and violent 'War of

Liberation' where the Pakistani army cracked down on East Pakistan, killing thousands of people.

Though the exact number of casualties is yet unknown, independent researchers believe that

300,000 to 500,000 people died in the liberation war. East Pakistan gained independence by the

end of 1971 to become Bangladesh, the land of the people whose mother tongue is Bengali. "The

emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 did not achieve internal peace. Instead, there was more

violence, an attempted imposition of a one party state, the assassinations of two heads of state,

long periods of military rule and finally in 2000, the emergence of a vulnerable democracy"

(Khan, 2010). Sheikh Mujibur came into power after independence, and created the Awami

League Party, only to grow increasingly authoritarian and run the country with a government that

lacked capacity (Lewis, 2011). Mujibur was assassinated along with most of his family members

in 1975 by army generals to bring his government down. General Ziaur Rahman took over the

control of the state in 1977, forming Bangladesh National Party (BNP) which would later emerge

as one of the political strongholds. He was assassinated by General Ershad in 1979 to start yet

another few years of military rule.

In 1990, Bangladesh saw a surge in protests and mass movements by the main political

oppositions that threw Ershad out of office. Post 1990, the politics of Bangladesh turned from

military to democracy. Zia's widow, Khaleda Zia had emerged as a popular opposition leader

leading the BNP, whereas Mujibur Rahman's daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wazed took over the

helms of the Awami League Party. The electoral politics, since then, has been firmly in place,

but the democracy suffers from a growing number of uncertainties (Datta, 2003). The problems

in the democracy that ensued post 1990 will be addressed in the following sections of the paper.


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Part II: POLITICAL CHALLENGES

According to Moniruzzaman (2009), the major two political parties are deeply divided

between the following contentious issues:

1. Political Ideological Issues (Identity)

2. Secularism and religion

3. Role of parties in the Liberation War

4. Election Commission Vs Electoral Commission

The following are the main political challenges faced by Bangladesh due to the aforementioned

issues:

• Personal vendetta and extreme polarization

The deep seated animosity between the leaders of the two big political parties: Begum

Khaleda Zia (BNP) and Sheikh Hasina (AL) have surpassed political ideological differences.

The personal vendetta and distrust against each other was so strong that in 1980's they even

refused to join hands and fight against the military rule of Gen H.M. Ershad even though both of

them were opposed to military rule. (Datta, 2003). While Hasina has started a war crime

investigation that has convicted several leaders from BNP and the Jamaat e Islam party, Khaleda

has attempted to remove the traces Mujibur Rahman's role independence from history. This

animosity has been coined as 'Battle of the Begums' in media and discourse. The antagonism

against each other has been seen as saving the country from the other’s leadership and a display

of ‘zero-sum attitude’ (Khan 2010)

• Hartaal and Political Violence

Bangladesh politics also suffers from irresponsible opposition practices that do not

accommodate tolerance of political differences. Hartals or general strikes called by political


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parties were common practice in post democracy Bangladesh. Every election sees allegations

of electoral malpractice by the opposition parties. Actions of opposition irresponsibility have

been portrayed through denial of election results and indulgence in street protests and general

strikes, often leading to violence. The consequence of violence politics is the

institutionalization of violence as a legitimate means to express political demands

(Moniruzzaman, 2009). Imtiaz Ahmed in State, Society and Democratic Futures points out to

this irony in democracy, of irreconcilable or polarized relationship between the party in

power and the party in opposition.

Fig. III: Hartals in East Pakistan and Bangladesh, 1947-2002

Year Regime Type Number of Hartals

1947-1950 1951-1954 1955-1958 1959-1962 1963-1966 1967-1970 1971-1974 1975-1978 1979-1982 1983-1986 1987-1990 1991-1994 1995-1998 1999-2002 Total

Democratic Democratic Military Military Military Military Democratic Military Democratic Military Democratic Democratic Democratic Democratic

1 5 16 1 6 38 36 1 48 52 245 216 279 332 1172

Source: Moniruzzaman Md (2009)

• Clientelism/ Entrenched Patronage

Khan (2010) asserts that the organization of politics along the lines of patron-client

factions is a structural feature of developing countries. Because of structural imbalance between


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economic and political power, patron-client politics plays a significant role in developing

countries, and Bangladesh is not exempt from this. According to Lewis (2011) and Khan 2010,

patron Client relationships have played an important role in Bangladeshi politics. Political parties

have almost always used ‘informal networks’ to get their work done. They organize factions and

clients along the lines of ethnicity, religion, castes or ideologies and provide them with the

bargaining power. But this has only made the power pyramid steeper, with the big political

parties and leaders taking up the top position in the pyramid. Most of the cases of misuse of

power for personal gains can be attributed to the client-patron relationship that has become a

practice that has dominated the political scene. Imtiaz Ahmed, in State, Society and Democratic

Futures blames the political parties being leader centric and bereft of intra party democratization,

giving rise to intra party violence between leaders and activists, and among factions of the same

party for supremacy in their respective areas and for power.

Fig IV: Violence due to Intra Party Clashes

Source: Odhikar.org/statistics


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Part III: RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC CONFLICTS

Fig. IV: The ethnic and religious composition of Bangladesh

Ethnic Composition

Religious Composition

Bengali 97.7% Muslim 88.4% Tribal 1.9 Hindu 10.4 Other 0.4 Buddhist 0.7

Christian/Other 0.5 Source: Brittanica Encyclopedia, 2016

Even though Bangladesh enjoys a relative homogeneity in terms of religion and language

than other countries in South Asia, it has not been able to take bring the comparative advantage

into its benefit. There have been numerous cases of conflicts and violence on the basis of religion

and ethnicity. The Chittagong Hill Tribe (CHT) Conflict can be taken as an example. A few

challenges that Bangladesh faces in terms of religion and ethnicity are as follows:

• The rise of militant Islamism

Mujibur Rahman’s government’s vision of a secular nation is one of the ideals the big

parties do not agree upon. While Mujibur’s leadership laid strict rules of not using religion as

the basis of forming political parties, the leadership of Zia and General Ershad saw a rising

number of Islamist parties in Bangladesh. Both Zia and Ershad reached out to Islamic forces

to help secure their legitimacy (Milam, 2009).

Sheikh Hasina’s government in power has been cracking the whip on liberation war

crimes, controversially convicting leaders from Islamic political groups from 2010. In 2011,

Abdul Quader Mullah was convicted for war crimes and was sentenced a life-imprisonment.

This led to protests against the sentence led by online bloggers demanding for a death


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sentence and the banning of the Islamic stronghold party Jamaat e Islam. The protests took

the form of a social movement called the ‘Shahbag Movement’. More fundamentalist Islamic

groups and home grown militant groups were formed and started cracking down on ‘liberal’

and ‘atheist’ bloggers. In 2013, a secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed, starting a

string of murders of secular-minded writers and bloggers and LGBTI activists by

fundamentalist groups.

Fig. V: Fatalities- Islamist Terrorism 2005-2016

Year Civilians SF’s Terrorists Total 2005 26 0 9 35 2006 6 0 6 12 2007 1 0 7 8 2008 1 0 0 1 2009 0 0 0 0 2010 3 0 3 6 2011 0 0 0 0 2012 1 0 2 3 2013 228 18 133 379 2014 29 9 22 60 2015 23 2 31 56 2016 43 4 71 118 Total 361 33 284 678

Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal (Data till November 20, 2016)

The number of terrorist attacks has also increased in the past years. Country Report

on Terrorism states that terrorist attacks in Bangladesh have gone up from 123 to 459 in 2015.

In July 2016, Dhaka saw one of the worse terrorist attacks on an upscale café that involved

the killing of 20 hostages and 6 terrorists. The terrorists were said to be students from top

universities. Even though ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Sheikh Hasina

government refuses to admit that ISIS was behind the attacks and blames the opposition party

to have mobilized its home grown radical student wing for the act.


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Picture: The Shahbag Movement of 2013 Source: BBC News

• Alienation of and violence against minority population

Most countries in South Asia have politics intermingled with religion and ethnicity.

Identity and religious politics is one of the striking characteristics of South Asian politics.

While the majority of the population is Muslim, there is a significant number of Hindus in

the minority. The Hindi-Muslim has been present before the partition of Bengal in 1905, and

Mohsin (2004) argues that the Hindu-Muslim divide has been constructed and is being

played upon and exploited by the political elite of the country for their own benefits.

While the two big political parties have long battled over ideologies of Bengali

nationalism vs Bangladeshi nationalism, the fact that both ideologies marginalize and

alienate the minority population is rarely brought to light. The Bengali nationalism would

exclude the tribal population whereas the Bangladeshi nationalism would exclude the tribal


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population and the Hindu population. The new state has within its own construction the quest

for homogenization, which propels towards the majority community (Mohsin, 2004).

Religious minorities, especially the Hindus and Buddhists have suffered increased

violence and discrimination in Bangladesh. There have been several discriminatory land laws

that have been passed in Bangladesh, that have disadvantaged the minority Hindu population,

for ex. The East Bengal Evacuees Act 1951 and the Bangladesh Vesting of Property order

1972. The Hindu community in Bangladesh feels unsecure both politically and economically,

especially post Babari Masjid incident in India, which incited attacks against Hindus in

various parts of Bangladesh (Mohsin, 2006). In one of the most recent attacks on Hindus

followed by an outrage over a social media post that was seen as anti-Islam, angry mobs set

fire to houses and vandalized a Hindu temple in Eastern Bangladesh.

The political scenario is also a reflection of the underrepresentation and

marginalization of minorities. The number of minority MP’s in the Jatiya Sangsad

diminished from 14 in 1996 to 4 in 2001 (Datta, 2009). Furthermore, Mohsina argues that

even though minorities are included in politics, the representation is limited to numbers,

dehumanizing them to vote banks.


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Part IV: RECOMMENDATIONS

• Democratization of Party Politics:

As mentioned above, the major parties have an animosity against each other that

goes beyond ideologies and leans more towards personal vendetta of leaders

against each other. The political scenario in Bangladesh needs a change in leaders

and reduce the familial inheritance of power, allowing space for new politicians

with new ideas to lead the party, instead of engaging in irreconcilable political and

personal deadlocks with the opposition parties. Despite the fact that SAARC does

not engage in contentious issues of the state, the deadlock between the ‘Battling

Begums’ is a situation that needs third party intervention in. It is high time that

SAARC stepped up as the neutral regional organization in the region, and

facilitate the resolving of stalemates like these, that have hindered the progress of

the country.

• Address the issues of the minority

When a majority language or religion creates hegemony, the minority population

is automatically marginalized in terms of resources, opportunities and also

belongingness to the state. The government should address the pleas of the

minorities and provide the required protection against religion or ethnicity

induced violence. Stringent laws should be put into place to protect them from the

discrimination and violence they are susceptible too. The government should have

a mechanism to check and monitor its implementation.


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Secularism should not remain only in papers to building a just and equitable

society. Bangladesh politics needs more than just quotas for minority groups just

to reduce them into numbers and vote banks. Initiatives like scholarships and

leadership programs for the minority population can be introduced through

SAARC, executed through people of the minority groups.


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Bibliography

Blog: Amir, Tariq. Pakistan Geotagging

Datta, Sreeradha (2003). Bangladesh’s Political Evolution: Growing Uncertainties

Dubey, Muchkund. Hussain, Akmal (2014). Democracy, Sustainable Development and Peace:

New Perspectives on South Asia. Oxford University Press

Hammer, Joshua (2015). The Imperiled Bloggers of Bangladesh

Khan, Mushtaq H. Khan (2010). Bangladesh: Partitions, Nationalisms and Legacies for State-

Building

Lewis, David. (2011). Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Civil Society. New York. Cambridge

University Press.

Md., Moniruzzaman (2009). Party Politics and Political Violence in Bangladesh: Issues,

Manifestation and Consequences

Milam, William B. (2009). Bangladesh and Pakistan: Flirting with Failure in South Asia.

NewYork: Columbia University Press

Mohsin, Amena A. Religion, Politics and Security: The Case of Bangladesh: New Perspectives

on South Asia. Oxford University Press

News, Aljazeera News, Bangladesh minorities bear brunt of violence. March 24, 2013. Web.

Nov 18, 2016

News, Hindustan Times, Fresh attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, houses torched. Nov 5, 2016.

Web. Nov 18, 2016

News, New York Times, Hindu Temples and Homes in Bangladesh Are Attacked by Muslim

Crowds. Nov.2, 2016. Web. Nov 18, 2016

Peiris, Gerald (1998). Political Conflict in Bangladesh


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Riaz, Ali (2003). “God Willing”: The Politics and Ideology of Islamism in Bangladesh

South Asia Terrorism Portal, Major incidents of terrorist violence since 1996

Sultan Nazmul (2016). Terror and Politics in Bangladesh

Suykens, Bert. Islam, Aynul (2015). The Distribution of Political Violence in Bangladesh (2002-

2013)

Terrorism: Annex of Statistical Information. 2015. Web Nov 18, 2016

US Department of State, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to

Weiss, Anita. Gunaratne, Arjun (2014). Pathways to Power. Rowman & Littlefield

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BANGLADESH Political Challenges and Religious Conflictspages.uoregon.edu/aweiss/intl442_542/2016 Bangladesh Conflict... · Political Challenges and Religious Conflicts ... Liberation