Introduction Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik ments German Institute for International and Security Affairs m Bangladesh: Successes in the Fight against Islamist Militancy SWPCo Democracy and the Rule of Law as a Bulwark against Radicalism Jasmin Lorch After Bangladesh’s return to democracy, the world’s third-largest Muslim-majority country continues to be faced with tendencies of Islamist militancy. In the last two years, however, the government and the judiciary have achieved remarkable successes in three areas: The High Court has strengthened the secular legal system by banning punishment under fatwa. A special tribunal has been established for the prosecution of war crimes committed by Islamists during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. And the government has had numerous members of terrorist organizations arrested. Bangladesh provides an example that Islam and democracy can be reconciled. In the fight against Islamist militancy, the country relies mainly on measures grounded in the rule of law. On December 29, 2008, democratic elec- 2001 to 2006 together with the Islamist tions took place in Bangladesh for the first parties Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Islami Oikya Jote time in seven years. Before that, a military- (IOJ), received only 32 seats. In the run-up backed Caretaker Government had been in to the election, the leader of the AL, Sheikh power for two years. Bangladesh has had a Hasina, had proclaimed action against parliamentary system of government since Islamist militancy as one of her party’s 1991. The constitution guarantees fun- main goals. The leader of the BNP, Khaleda damental freedoms. But since Bangladesh Zia, had campaigned for her own party’s is a weak state, there are still major deficits “nationalist-Islamist” coalition with the JI in the area of good governance. and had called on the Bangladeshi people In the December 2008 elections, the to save Islam. The results of this election alliance led by the secularist Awami League hence clearly show that the vast majority of (AL) was able to secure an absolute majority the population rejects Islamist concepts in parliament, with 262 out of 300 seats. of the state. The electoral alliance of the rather right- While the BNP-led coalition was in wing conservative Bangladesh Nationalist power, a number of terrorist attacks took Party (BNP), which had held power from place in Bangladesh. Since a successful Jasmin Lorch is a Doctoral Fellow at the SWP’s Asia Division SWP Comments 11 April 2011 1 crackdown on terrorist groups in March A recent example of the difficulties in- 2006, however, the problem of Islamist herent in enforcing this ruling is the case militancy in the country has rapidly faded of the 14-year-old Hena. The girl was raped from international awareness. by her cousin in late January 2011 in the At present, Bangladesh is grappling district of Shariatpur and subsequently with Islamist militancy in three areas: in sentenced to 101 lashes of the whip in a the legal system; in the framework of trials fatwa pronounced by an unauthorized against Islamist war criminals, who are village court, which was called ad hoc. One being called to account for their crimes week later, the girl died. Local police im- during the War of Independence; and in prisoned four suspects immediately after the prosecution of terrorist organizations. her death, but just a few days later, a police Bangladesh is distinguished by its reliance report was released stating that the girl’s on the rule of law as the primary means of body showed no evidence of injury. combating Islamist militancy. Apparently suspects had bribed the police. On orders from the High Court, a second autopsy was conducted in the capital city Strengthening the of Dhaka. The second post mortem report secular legal system confirmed the girl’s mistreatment. The Since the People’s Republic of Bangladesh court, therefore, immediately ordered that was founded in 1971, it has been a secular the case be re-examined and that two police state. However, in 1977, the ban on reli- officers suspected of corruption be prose- gious political parties was removed from cuted. Justices of the High Court also ques- the constitution and the principle of “ab- tioned local government officials and solute trust and faith in Almighty Allah” representatives of the local investigative was incorporated into its preamble. Islam agencies. The case shows the high priority has been the state religion since 1988. But placed by the upper echelons of the judi- the laws of the land are still overwhelming- ciary on defending the secular legal system. ly secular in nature, and there are no offi- At the same time, it also shows that the cial Sharia courts. Bangladeshi state is still too weak on the Over the past two years, the High Court local level in many areas to effectively has further strengthened the secular char- implement the High Court’s progressive acter of the legal system. In August 2009, jurisprudence. the court called upon the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives, as well as on all local state Trials of Islamist war criminals agencies and police units, to take imme- In the Bangladesh Liberation War, which diate measures against shalish, informal resulted in the secession of East Pakistan village courts, that impose punishments from (West) Pakistan in 1971, the Pakistan not sanctioned by the state such as punish- Army and Islamist militias from East Paki- ments by fatwa. In July 2010, the High stan who collaborated with them carried Court issued an official ruling declaring out brutal massacres of the civilian popu- all forms of extrajudicial punishments lation, killing between one and three mil- illegal, including punishments under fatwa. lion people. The JI, to this day the largest The court’s ruling is comprehensive. It not and most influential Islamist party in the only authorizes criminal prosecution of country, rejected the division of Pakistan individuals who impose or carry out extra- and provided fighters for the Islamist judicial punishments, but also makes Al-Badr and Al-Shams militias. Since 1975, failure to protect victims of fatwas and war crimes committed in the War of In- other informal legal decisions a criminal dependence have no longer been prose- offense. cuted. As a result, there has emerged a SWP Comments 11 April 2011 2 culture of impunity for acts of Islamist one example, in November 2010, State violence that promotes militancy up to Minister for Law Qamrul Islam was the present day. threatened with bombing if he refused During the electoral campaign of 2008, to release the jailed leaders of the JI. the currently ruling secularist AL had promised to prosecute war crimes commit- ted in the Liberation War during its tenure. Successes in the On March 25, 2010, the government estab- fight against terrorism lished the International Crimes Tribunal, Terrorist organizations have been active in which has since been responsible for prose- Bangladesh since the 1990s. Many of them cuting acts of genocide, war crimes, and recruit their members from fundamentalist crimes against humanity committed during madrasahs (Islamic schools). The Jamaat-ul the War of Independence. The tribunal Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is said to have consists of three judges led by High Court trained around 3,000 fighters up to 2005 Justice Nizamul Haque Nasim, and is and has claimed responsibility for orches- assisted by a panel of state lawyers and a trating over 400 coordinated bombings ten-member investigation agency. The trials across the country in August 2005. Where- of the war criminals have strong support as the JMB pursues a primarily national from the general population. agenda of establishing an Islamic state in The four top JI leaders have been accused Bangladesh, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami of serious war crimes before the tribunal: (HuJI) is more internationally oriented and the head of the party, Amir Motiur Rahman has been involved in several attacks on Nizami, the secretary general, Ali Ahsan Indian territory according to the govern- Mohammad Mojahid, and senior assistant ment in Delhi. There are also Pakistan- secretaries general, Muhammad Kamaruz- based terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e- zaman and Abdul Quader Molla. If the Taiba (LeT) operating in Bangladesh. tribunal outlawed the JI or convicted im- Since the AL took power, the state securi- portant leaders of the party in the course ty forces have arrested numerous JMB mili- of the trials, this would have profound tants. In late 2009, for instance, around 600 repercussions on the balance of power in suspected members of the organization Bangladesh. Above all, it would mean that were taken into custody, including a num- the right-wing conservative but largely ber of local leaders. In mid-December 2010, secularist BNP would be forced to rethink the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) its strategy of entering into electoral neutralized a HuJI training camp in Chitta- alliances with Islamist parties. It could also gong, arrested five leaders of the organiza- set a reform process in motion across the tion, and seized explosives. Islamist spectrum if moderate forces dis- In Summer 2009, two leading operatives tanced themselves from war criminals in of the Pakistan-based LeT were detained: their own ranks in order to remain politi- Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mohammad cally acceptable. Mansur Ali. At the end of the same year, Such a large-scale legal investigation the Bangladeshi government succeeded in and prosecution of war crimes that were preventing planned attacks by the LeT on committed around forty years ago pose the US embassy and on the British and enormous financial and procedural chal- Indian High Commissions in Dhaka. In lenges to a weak state like Bangladesh. In October 2010, the RAB apprehended LeT view of the corruption and poor capability explosives expert Wazed Khan and re- of its police force, the country will face covered around 30 kilograms of explosives particular difficulties creating an effective from the house where he had been staying.