Hefazat’s recent campaign stemmed from a 13 point charter, incorporating the demand for a death sentence for blasphemy, but stringency of the law also opens up ways for exploitation and harassment. Writes Shahriar Feroze

Many may agree or disagree; if Shahbag intersection had transformed into Tahrir square a little more than 2 months ago, then Motijheel – on the 6th of April – turned into Tehran’s Azadi square, resembling the thundery days of the Iranian revolution in 1979

On April 6, the country experienced the biggest get-together in recent times. An estimated half a million men, ranging from 5 to well beyond 55, amassed despite severe government and non-government transport bans.

The rally ended without any major incident that would have added more fuel to the already combustible political scenario. However, there was a row over a female journalist on duty who was treated indecently by Hefazat marchers. The woman journalist received flak for carrying out her profession. Sadly, this episode exposed the core flaw in the Hefazat ideology. One of the party’s 13 point demands wants a society where men and women would not be allowed to mix freely.

The man behind the revolution-like-showdown was Allama Ahmad Shafi, also the present chairman of Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasah Education Board, who amassed tens of thousands with a 13 point demand. The point of concern is that if the demands are not met within the timeframe of three weeks then Hefazat-e-Islam would siege the capital city scheduled to be on May 5. Other Hefazat leaders namely Maulana Habibur Rahman, Abdul Latif Nejami and Junayed Babu Nagri (Secretary General of HI), ANM Ahmadullah (Publicity secretary) and Altamul Haq Imran have voiced their demands in the classic radical style with superlative degrees. A few English and Bengali dailies in less than 24 hours revealed intriguing information about some of the stated leaders. May or may not be true these stories, but one thing is for sure: they mean to shield religious sanctity, that is beyond reasonable doubts.

Extreme religious stances always prevailed among some groups of people in Bangladesh which was neither appreciated nor accepted by the masses. The long march was a sudden outburst of a hidden force. A force about which many of us were not even aware of.

But the question that kept itching at the back of my mind was, ‘how and who had triggered the fundamental views to flourish and therefore take shape as demands?’

One of Hefazat’s demands is destined to take women on a regressive path, confining them within controlled roles. With women providing the main backbone of the garment sector, it’s highly unlikely that this point would ever get any support from the enlightened section of society. Interestingly, apart from the indoctrinated few, most women will never give in to such a demand.

Man-woman relation is not simply about sex, it’s about the two genders finding a common platform to communicate to each other as people with equal rights. Not surprisingly, a quest for equality defines gender roles. Hence, women come out of their homes to work, earn and make a social standing. Such a role grants them a right to choose, as an adult, whether physical intimacy is their pre or post marital prerogative.

Moral brigades may refuse to see and acknowledge that ‘responsible closeness’ is how the young generation relate to physical commitment before marriage now-a-days. Once, we get over the rigidity of old traditions, taking a globalised perspective, the understanding is, changes in credo, no matter how dissonant they are with past values, need to be accepted. Here the writer is definitely not inspiring an all-free liberal mentality devoid of religious teachings.

Wonder what Hefazat’s stance is on the women leadership the country has had in the last 20 years. Surely, if they feel that women need to be closeted then…..

One other point in the charter wanted a stricter blasphemy law with the provision for death sentence.

We, of course, know what happens when such a law is enacted. Let’s not forget, the draconian blasphemy law was abused in Pakistan a few months ago to humiliate and harass a girl with mental deficiencies.

The girl in question was accused of defiling the holy book and instead of verifying the claim, enraged people swooped on her home, demanding capital punishment. Thankfully, the court was not blinded by religious piety, duly commissioned a probe which revealed that the girl was falsely implicated.

So, is there a certainty that such a law will not be manipulated in Bangladesh where a desire for political points already drove many to blatantly photo-shop images and fabricate social media posts without thinking of the ramifications?

Clear and simple: Blasphemy law with a death sentence is not needed in here. This is a nation where people of all faiths have lived in relative peace with all faiths enshrined within a sphere of veneration. Of late, there were a few questionable blogs, but to look at them neutrally, these are just aberrations.

Some youngsters, overzealous to assert secularism, tried to translate a Western style of free thought where mocking religion is fashionable.

But the state has already moved to ensure that this trait does not go far. Maybe the teenagers will also get a message – secularism does not mean lampooning religion.

One of the points on the charter includes the declaring of the Ahmadiyyas as non-Muslims and the demand for removal of sculptures from the city centres speaks of a very parochial and Taliban-like mentality. Arts, culture and tolerance are definitely not in the agenda of Hefazat. Phew! If they are in power, we are looking at a Philistine country.

Be that as it may, it would be interesting to observe how the Hefazat front-runners lead their newly chalked out programme that includes laying a siege to the capital unless their points are realised. The Joint Secretary General of the party Md.Faizullah, on the day of the march, blustered that they had a 313-strong ‘Shaheedi Kafela’ to save Islam in Bangladesh.

Taking the overall political ferment into consideration, dialogue between the two parties appears the only panacea but Hefazat’s future movements will also be an issue of interest. Political sense states they will be used as an instrument of force by one of the major parties – either covertly or overtly.

Or, perhaps, this is a party trying desperately to gain a ground, exploiting the current politics-religion whirlpool. Always good to remember – negotiating with religious groups had never been smooth in the Indian sub-continent.

Up until the time of writing, Hefajat was observing its scheduled strike followed by countrywide clashes. The government would not want the situation to escalate so a truce is possibly in the cards – waiting to see what points are met and which points are scrapped. Cynics say a large donation would be enough to quell their ardour. Let’s see what transpires.

This writer came across a fraction of the Hefazat rally while exercising at Ramna Park. The men were shop-keepers from the outskirts of Chittagong who had volunteered mainly because they wanted to stage protests and see the accused bloggers punished.

Meanwhile, a conversation with two policemen at the eastern gate of the park also revealed the common factors used to identify a fundamentalist – a man with a thick beard, sporting a skull cap and a Shalwar/Qabli sort of dress.


Funnily, media also seemed to identify Hefazat activists by the outfit and look. Seems a trivial matter but this can open sociological debates about how attires inspire/implant perceptions.

Though out of the topic, from the vote-banker’s lenses, it would be interesting to observe which political party grabs the vote-bank of ‘all-the-god’s-men’.

The government had failed to act upon a principle while shilly-shallying over the demands of Hefazat-e Islam. However, a truce must take place before between the god’s men and the government before the situation gets further escalated.