Pakistan Defence
In 1939, a Hyderabad-born cleric wrote the essay that laid out the foundational credo of the Islamist movement in South Asia. Islam, Abul Ala Maududi wrote in Jihad in the Way of Allah, wasnt a hotchpotch of beliefs, prayers and rituals. Instead, it was a revolutionary ideology which seeks to alter the social order of the entire world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets.
He concluded if the Muslim Party commands enough resources, it will eliminate un-lslamic governments and establish the power of Islamic government in their place.
Earlier this week, Bangladeshs High Court laid the foundations for a frontal confrontation with those ideas. In a landmark order, it has prohibited the Jamaat-e-Islami party founded by Maududi from contesting elections, saying its constitution is illegal. The decision will have fateful consequences for Bangladesh. It also holds out a lesson in courage to rulers across the region, though, who have often proved only too willing to appease religious fundamentalism.
The genesis of the high court order lies in laws passed in 2008, when Bangladeshs former military-backed government set out new criteria for all registered political parties. The Jamaat held back on amending key portions of its constitutionnotably one that proclaimed sovereignty lay with Allah, rather than the people, through Parliament. It also failed to remove discriminatory mandates on gender and religion from its party constitution.
Bangladeshs High Court has upheld an important principle: that democracies cant cede space to forces committed to destroying it. Its a lesson that nations across our region need to learn.
Founded at Dhakas Eden Hotel in May, 1979, the grim history of the Bangladesh Jamaat shows why that separation is important. In 1953, Maududis Jamaat sought to win legitimacy in undivided Pakistan by stoking anti-Ahmadi violence. He earned a death sentence, but eventually secured his release from prison to abjure revolutionary politics. The party revived itself in East Pakistan, by stoking anti-Hindu sentiments to combat nascent nationalism.
In 1970when Pakistans first elections were held, sparking off a crisis that would end in the creation of Bangladeshthe Jamaat won some 6% of the vote, and one seat in the 300-member provincial assembly.
During Bangladeshs war of independence, the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership sided with Pakistan, setting up a death-squad which killed thousands. In a recent judgment sentencing a Jamaat leader to 90 years in prison, Bangladeshs war crimes tribunal said the Jamaat intentionally functioned as a criminal organisation during the war.
The Jamaat was annihilated, along with Pakistan, in 1971but the wheel soon spun in its favour. Major-General Zia-ur-Rahman, who emerged as Bangaldeshs ruler after the 1975 coup, allowed the Jamaat-e-Islami to re-enter civic life, first through a front-organisation and then as a functional political party. His successor, General HM Ershad, even appointed two 1971 war criminals, Abdul Mannan and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, to cabinet positions.
From 2001-2006, it used its alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to take control of the social welfare ministry, dominating Bangladeshs well-funded NGO sector. It controlled the Islami Bank, Bangladeshs third-largest.
In a thoughtful analysis, Jyoti Rahman has noted the Jamaat never enjoyed a mass constituency: at its peak, in 1991, it won 12 percent of the popular vote and 18 of 300 seats in parliament, falling in 2008 to 4 percent of the vote and just eight seats.
Yet, in a competitive political landscape, this constituency matteredjust as fundamentalists of all hues matter to establishmentarian political parties in India today.
Bangladeshs citizens eventually forced the change. In the 2008 elections, the 1971 war crimes re-emerged as a key issue for large numbers of young Bangladeshisin part spurred on by a surge of literature and activism around the crimes of that time. The youth movement eventually exploded into what Bangladeshis now call the Shahbag Awakeninga massive assertion of secular power.
Islamists in Bangladesh are now fighting back on the streets, with ever-growing violence. There are also worries the denial of political space to the Jamaat might push its cadre into terrorist groups. For example, the Jamaat Mujahideen Bangladesh, formed in 1998 with support from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was led by former Jamaat leader Abdul Rehman. He successfully recruited radicalised cadre from the ranks of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, until he was eventually executed in 2007.
Bangladesh will likely face a long political strugglebut, more likely than not, the price is worth paying to secure secular, constitutional polity.
In 1994, Indias Supreme Court mandated secularism as a norm in national lifebut governments and parties have appeased religious groups with impunity.
The Indian wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami asserts, in its constitution, that all men should should refuse to acknowledge as valid all those allegiances which are not subservient to the allegiance of the One Allah and His Lawpresumably including the Indian state republic. That hasnt stopped leaders like Human Resources Minister Shashi Tharoor from meeting its leadership.
Hindu nationalist political leaders, for their part, have courted organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, despite their expressly exclusionary religious agenda.
Fascinatingly, leaders of both the Jamaat and VHP condemned the Rajasthan government earlier this year, when it said it would no longer give cash awards to sportspersons linked to religious-chauvinist groups.
In South Asia today, there are two models of the future. Theres Pakistan, where leaders dragged God out on to the streetswith catastrophic consequences. Then, theres Bangladesh, which is showing that its possible to step away from the abyss. For modern national states to function, Bangladesh understand, polities must be founded on law-based citizenship, not ties of religion or ethnicity.
India faces this choice, too. It doesnt take a lot to figure out what the smart one is.
http://www.firstpost.com/world/what...-bangladeshs-jamaat-e-islami-ban-1007303.html
He concluded if the Muslim Party commands enough resources, it will eliminate un-lslamic governments and establish the power of Islamic government in their place.
Earlier this week, Bangladeshs High Court laid the foundations for a frontal confrontation with those ideas. In a landmark order, it has prohibited the Jamaat-e-Islami party founded by Maududi from contesting elections, saying its constitution is illegal. The decision will have fateful consequences for Bangladesh. It also holds out a lesson in courage to rulers across the region, though, who have often proved only too willing to appease religious fundamentalism.
The genesis of the high court order lies in laws passed in 2008, when Bangladeshs former military-backed government set out new criteria for all registered political parties. The Jamaat held back on amending key portions of its constitutionnotably one that proclaimed sovereignty lay with Allah, rather than the people, through Parliament. It also failed to remove discriminatory mandates on gender and religion from its party constitution.
Bangladeshs High Court has upheld an important principle: that democracies cant cede space to forces committed to destroying it. Its a lesson that nations across our region need to learn.
Founded at Dhakas Eden Hotel in May, 1979, the grim history of the Bangladesh Jamaat shows why that separation is important. In 1953, Maududis Jamaat sought to win legitimacy in undivided Pakistan by stoking anti-Ahmadi violence. He earned a death sentence, but eventually secured his release from prison to abjure revolutionary politics. The party revived itself in East Pakistan, by stoking anti-Hindu sentiments to combat nascent nationalism.
In 1970when Pakistans first elections were held, sparking off a crisis that would end in the creation of Bangladeshthe Jamaat won some 6% of the vote, and one seat in the 300-member provincial assembly.
During Bangladeshs war of independence, the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership sided with Pakistan, setting up a death-squad which killed thousands. In a recent judgment sentencing a Jamaat leader to 90 years in prison, Bangladeshs war crimes tribunal said the Jamaat intentionally functioned as a criminal organisation during the war.
The Jamaat was annihilated, along with Pakistan, in 1971but the wheel soon spun in its favour. Major-General Zia-ur-Rahman, who emerged as Bangaldeshs ruler after the 1975 coup, allowed the Jamaat-e-Islami to re-enter civic life, first through a front-organisation and then as a functional political party. His successor, General HM Ershad, even appointed two 1971 war criminals, Abdul Mannan and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, to cabinet positions.
From 2001-2006, it used its alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to take control of the social welfare ministry, dominating Bangladeshs well-funded NGO sector. It controlled the Islami Bank, Bangladeshs third-largest.
In a thoughtful analysis, Jyoti Rahman has noted the Jamaat never enjoyed a mass constituency: at its peak, in 1991, it won 12 percent of the popular vote and 18 of 300 seats in parliament, falling in 2008 to 4 percent of the vote and just eight seats.
Yet, in a competitive political landscape, this constituency matteredjust as fundamentalists of all hues matter to establishmentarian political parties in India today.
Bangladeshs citizens eventually forced the change. In the 2008 elections, the 1971 war crimes re-emerged as a key issue for large numbers of young Bangladeshisin part spurred on by a surge of literature and activism around the crimes of that time. The youth movement eventually exploded into what Bangladeshis now call the Shahbag Awakeninga massive assertion of secular power.
Islamists in Bangladesh are now fighting back on the streets, with ever-growing violence. There are also worries the denial of political space to the Jamaat might push its cadre into terrorist groups. For example, the Jamaat Mujahideen Bangladesh, formed in 1998 with support from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was led by former Jamaat leader Abdul Rehman. He successfully recruited radicalised cadre from the ranks of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, until he was eventually executed in 2007.
Bangladesh will likely face a long political strugglebut, more likely than not, the price is worth paying to secure secular, constitutional polity.
In 1994, Indias Supreme Court mandated secularism as a norm in national lifebut governments and parties have appeased religious groups with impunity.
The Indian wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami asserts, in its constitution, that all men should should refuse to acknowledge as valid all those allegiances which are not subservient to the allegiance of the One Allah and His Lawpresumably including the Indian state republic. That hasnt stopped leaders like Human Resources Minister Shashi Tharoor from meeting its leadership.
Hindu nationalist political leaders, for their part, have courted organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, despite their expressly exclusionary religious agenda.
Fascinatingly, leaders of both the Jamaat and VHP condemned the Rajasthan government earlier this year, when it said it would no longer give cash awards to sportspersons linked to religious-chauvinist groups.
In South Asia today, there are two models of the future. Theres Pakistan, where leaders dragged God out on to the streetswith catastrophic consequences. Then, theres Bangladesh, which is showing that its possible to step away from the abyss. For modern national states to function, Bangladesh understand, polities must be founded on law-based citizenship, not ties of religion or ethnicity.
India faces this choice, too. It doesnt take a lot to figure out what the smart one is.
http://www.firstpost.com/world/what...-bangladeshs-jamaat-e-islami-ban-1007303.html