The Hatred of 'Protecting Islam' Must Stop
The government of Bangladesh has clearly demonstrated that the arrest of three bloggers, Subrata Adhikary Shuvo, Russell Parvez, and Mashiur Rahman Biplob, on April 1, 2013, was no April Fool joke. Bangladesh police also arrested another blogger, Asif Mohiuddin, two days later. What was the reason? The four arrested young men have been alleged to have hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims of Bangladesh. There are no specifics in the news media as to what exactly they wrote in their blogs that hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims.
Religious Fundamentalism in Modern Times
In the modern age, religious experience becomes part of "expressive individualism", that is, it becomes important to find one's own way against a model imposed from outside −− be it from society, the previous generation, or religious authority. Although there is a strong individualist component to the religious experience in modern times, this will not necessarily mean that the content is individuating; on the contrary, many join powerful religious communities.
Secularists are at loggerheads with Islamists in Bangladesh
Many of the observers of Bangladesh knew that sooner or later, the secularists would be in a collision course with the ever growing Islamists. I think we are just seeing the initial confrontation between the two opposing forces. Bangladesh has so many fundamentalist political groups that one would be lost to correctly list them. One such group took the name "Hefazat-e-Islam." The southeastern part of Bangladesh where Chittagong is located is the stronghold of this tiny Islamist group. This group was relatively obscure in Bangladesh, but lately, the members of this group have drawn attention from various media inside Bangladesh for their incendiary remarks against bloggers and cyber writers. Many other Islamist forces now are joining the Hefazat group because their movement is gaining momentum.
Shahbag movement and Awami League
Almost all political parties in Bangladesh are talking in the same language. The present Awami League government, the opposition led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jatiyo party, a coalition partner of the Awami League government have branded the present youth movement activists as atheists. The government has arrested four online activists with allegations against them of defaming Islam. This is political dishonesty. This is government acting against its own people. This is betrayal of freedom of speech and expression. This is abusing power to undermine human rights.
A Statement from Mukto-Mona - Bangladesh government squishing freedom of speech by arresting and harassing young bloggers inside the country
Bangladesh government squishing freedom of speech by arresting and harassing young bloggers inside the country
Appeasing the Islamists – a Distressing Sign for Bangladesh
In a poor country called Bangladesh, recently there has been a surge in heated talk and violent lawlessness. The principal driving forces behind these are the Islamist political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Hifazat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The Spirits of 1971 and 2013 (Part III)
This is the third and concluding part of the titled article. For the first and second parts, please see https://enblog.muktomona.com/?p=1802 and https://enblog.muktomona.com/?p=1809.
MAUDUDI, JAMAAT & BANGLADESH
Bangladesh National Party (BNP) was formed as result of power hungry Ziaur Rahman's dream of becoming the "liberator of Bangladesh" and replace Mujib in the history of Bangladesh. To achieve that objective, connivance with Jamaat, Razakar, Albadr and Bangladeshi radical Ullema was a compulsion of Ziaur Rahman. After liberation of Bangladesh, Pakistani ISI was looking an entry point to control Bangladesh. In BNP-Jamaat combination it found the best ally.