[In May, it all
happened again, for ostensibly different but ultimately related reasons. On May
5, tens of thousands of madrassa teachers and students, including many boys
under the age of 18, converged on Dhaka from different parts of the country.
They were supporters of the previously little-known Hefazat-e-Islam (Protectors
of Islam) movement, which demands a strict adherence to Islamic teachings.
Hefazat-e-Islam began its campaign in the aftermath of the Shahbagh movement,
accusing some of the Shahbagh organizers of being atheists and insulting Islam.
Large numbers of protesters were killed and injured by a heavy-handed police
response to these protests.]
 |
|
Ismail Ferdous/Associated Press
Protesters belonging to the
Hefajat-e-Islam group blocking an entry point to the city of Dhaka,
Bangladesh
on May 5
|
MUMBAI—Last Saturday night, Adilur Rahman Khan
arrived home in Dhaka after visiting his family over Eid to find a group
of men waiting outside his house. Mr. Khan, secretary of the prominent
Bangladeshi human rights group Odhikar, had been expecting this day might come,
but being confronted by members of the Detective Branch, who were there without
a warrant late at night, was a surprise.
The police detained
Mr. Khan, accusing him of publishing false information about killings by
security forces during mass demonstrations by supporters of the extremist
Hefazat-e-Islam movement in May. Mr. Khan is now in Dhaka’s central jail
awaiting a court hearing later this week.
Mr. Khan’s arrest
is yet another dark spot in the continuing struggle over the identity of Bangladesh,
one that has already led to major human rights abuses in the name of both Islam
and democracy.
This year has seen
many mass protests in Bangladesh. With national elections scheduled for early
2014 and no agreement on how they should be conducted, many more demonstrations
are likely, and they may well end up killing more people.
Protests in Dhaka
and other cities in Bangladesh broke out in February after a verdict in a war
crimes trial enraged the public. After a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s
largest Islamic political party, was convicted of rape and mass murder but not
sentenced to death, huge numbers of
protesters took to the streets in what became known as the
Shahbagh movement (named after its location in Dhaka), calling for the death
penalty for all those convicted of atrocities during the 1971 war of
independence from Pakistan. In February, when another Jamaat leader was sentenced
to death by hanging, others affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami protested the
guilty verdict, at times resorting to violence.
In May, it all
happened again, for ostensibly different but ultimately related reasons. On May
5, tens of thousands of madrassa teachers and students, including many boys
under the age of 18, converged on Dhaka from different parts of the country.
They were supporters of the previously little-known Hefazat-e-Islam (Protectors
of Islam) movement, which demands a strict adherence to Islamic teachings.
Hefazat-e-Islam began its campaign in the aftermath of the Shahbagh movement,
accusing some of the Shahbagh organizers of being atheists and insulting Islam.
Large numbers of protesters were killed and injured by a heavy-handed police
response to these protests.
This month, Human
Rights Watch published “Blood on the Streets: The Use of Excessive Force During
Bangladesh Protests,” a report documenting
the shocking spike in deaths and injuries of civilians at the hands of security
forces this year. While in many cases witnesses described how security forces
responded to violence in an appropriate fashion, using nonlethal methods to
disperse crowds, in many other cases witnesses said the police, the Rapid
Action Battalion and the Border Guard Bangladesh responded with excessive
force.
Many in the Dhaka
elite say that Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam represent the kind of
religious fundamentalism that challenges the very concept of Bangladesh as an
independent and secular state, which broke away from the more religious and
authoritarian state of Pakistan in 1971. Many also wished for a separate
cultural and linguistic identity. After the May protests, mainstream newspapers
like the Daily Star warned against
the “degradation of ideals and values that Islam stands for,” and the “odious
misrepresentation of religion and denigration of position of women in our
society.” Prominent bloggers have complained about religious extremism and the
use of religion in politics.
At the heart of the
violence threatening Bangladesh now are incidents and ideas related to the
nation’s bloodied birth when it seceded from Pakistan. In 1971, the East
Pakistan-based Awami League won the national elections. The Pakistani government,
led by the military ruler General Yahya Khan, refused to accept the results. On
March 26, it began Operation Searchlight, sending troops into East Pakistan to
arrest Awami League leaders and put down protests. The army and vigilante
groups supporting them, some of them affiliated to Jamaat-e-Islami, embarked on
a massive wave of violence, including widespread rape. As many as 10 million
people were displaced and fled to neighboring India, carrying tales of
unspeakable horror. After nine months of violence, the Indian Army intervened
and joined resistance forces to defeat the Pakistani Army. An independent
Bangladesh emerged in December 1971, and its successful secession has remained
a flashpoint of distrust between India and Pakistan.
In 1973, the Bangladesh
Parliament passed the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act. But trials never
took place as politics shifted in Bangladesh. In fact, many of those widely
believed to have collaborated in the violence won elections or gained political
positions. Bringing those responsible for the 1971 war crimes to trial still
has considerable popular support.
After sweeping to
power, the Awami League government in 2009 set up the International Crimes
Tribunal to prosecute those Bangladeshis responsible for the 1971 atrocities.
Finding evidence for crimes that occurred several decades ago was always going
to be a challenge, but despite repeated calls for amendments to the law to
ensure fair trials, the government quickly began putting people on trial,
leading to serious due process concerns.
The tribunal has
handed down six judgments so far. Controversy erupted after the second
judgment, issued Feb. 5, found Abdul Qader Mollah, assistant secretary general
of Jamaat-e-Islami, guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. When leaving
court, Mr. Mollah flashed a “V for victory” sign to an assembled crowd and the
media. Outraged that he appeared unrepentant, and fearful that a future
opposition government would release him, many segments of the public called for
Mr. Mollah to be hanged. The protests were initially based in the Shahbagh
neighborhood of Dhaka but soon expanded, with hundreds of thousands of people
demanding the death penalty.
On Feb. 28, the
tribunal convicted the vice president of Jamaat-e-Islami, Delwar Hossain
Sayedee, of war crimes and sentenced him to death. Demonstrations broke out
around the country, organized by both supporters and opponents of the verdicts.
The violence resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries that included security
forces, bystanders and protesters like Manzila Begum, a clothes seller,
who was killed on March 3 in Bogra. She was shot in the back of the head while
trying to flee the violence.
A 17-year-old who
had joined a pro-Sayedee demonstration in Ranjpur district on Feb. 28 said the
protesters started throwing stones because they could not bear the tear gas.
Two officers climbed a raised platform and fired into the crowd. “When they
started shooting, two people behind me got shot, one of them near the ear, one
in the throat,” the boy said.
Jamaat-e-Islami is
a pro-Islamist party, but the Hefazat-e-Islam movement is much more radical. It
has campaigned for its “13-point demands,”
which include a ban on the public mixing of the men and women and the criminal
prosecution of atheists. The May 5 rally in Dhaka was organized to push for the
implementation of its demands. Government forces broke up the demonstration
early the next morning.
Precisely what
happened on May 5 and 6, when security forces dispersed the gathering, has
become hugely controversial. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has
accused the government forces of killing hundreds of protesters, describing
their actions as “genocide.” The leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam said that they
feared some 2,500 to 3,000 of their supporters may have been killed. The
government, on the other hand, says the security forces conducted a
well-planned and disciplined operation designed to minimize casualties.
According to
findings by Human Rights Watch, none of these accounts is accurate. While the
claims of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party lack credibility and those of
Hefazat-e-Islam were overstated, the government’s version is also misleading.
Serious human rights abuses were committed by the security forces and in total,
based on hospital logs, eyewitness accounts and well-sourced media reports, at
least 50 people died on May 5 and 6, including seven members of the security
forces. The death toll may be higher, Odhikar said in the report that resulted
in Mr. Khan’s arrest.
The demonstrators
committed vandalism and arson, attacking security forces with sticks and
stones, but victims’ statements suggest that security forces used excessive force,
and in some cases fired at close range. A 25-year-old Hefazat-e-Islam volunteer
said he was shot from barely a three-meter (10-foot) distance. “I was not
armed; I did not a have a stick,” he said. “I was hit 19 times. Now I cannot
see anything from my right eye.”
Video footage shows
security personnel beating apparently unarmed men. An 18-year-old madrassa
student said that he was beaten after he surrendered. “The moment I stepped
out, I was struck by rubber bullets on the leg. I started bleeding and I ran
away, but I fell down and they beat me with their sticks,” he said.
Since the protests,
security forces have initiated sweeps of neighborhoods thought to harbor
individuals believed responsible for violence, but they have also focused on
others, including Jamaat-e-Islami supporters. While authorities arbitrarily
arrested many protesters and supporters, there has been no effort to hold
security forces accountable for abuses. Opposition media has been harassed and
human rights groups feel at risk, particularly after the arrest of Mr. Khan.
The government
appears confused in how to deal with Islamists and their opponents. In an
effort to appease religious sentiment, the government arrested four bloggers in
April, with the police describing them as “known atheists” and accusing them of
“instigating negative elements against Islam.”
A Bangladesh court
has recently upheld a petition seeking that Jamaat-e-Islami be banned from
participating in national elections scheduled to be held by January 2014, while
government supporters want to put the brakes on Hefazat-e-Islam, which they
believe will work with opposition parties to destabilize the country. With
regular hartals, or strikes, likely by opposition political parties in the
run-up to national elections, there is a significant risk that Bangladesh could
descend into a vicious cycle of violence and lawlessness.
To avoid this, the
government should ensure that the rights to freedom of assembly and expression
are upheld. Peaceful protesters and bystanders need to be protected from
unlawful use of force. Organizers of demonstrations and political parties
should also take steps to minimize the risk of violence. Those responsible for
abuses need to be held accountable.
Government
accountability is the first step towards stemming the possibility of more blood
on the streets. Then a more sober and peaceful discussion about the future of
Bangladesh will be possible.
Meenakshi Ganguly
is South Asia director at Human Rights Watch
