Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, rallied in the capital on Saturday to show their strength ahead of elections expected next year, as the South Asian nation stands at a crossroads after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus said the next election would be held in April but his administration did not rule out a possibility of polls in February.
While Hasina was in power from 2009 until she was toppled in student-led protests last year and fled to India, top leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami were either executed or jailed on charges of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in 1971.
The party on Saturday placed a seven-point demand to the Yunus-led administration to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election, the trial of all mass killings, essential reforms and proclamation and implementation of a charter involving last year’s mass uprising. It also wants the introduction of a proportional representation system in the election.
Thousands of supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami had spent the night on the Dhaka University campus before the rally. On Saturday morning, they continued to stream towards the Suhrawardy Udyan, a historical ground where the Pakistani army had surrendered to a joint force of India and Bangladesh on December 16 in 1971, ending the nine-month war.
“We are here for a new Bangladesh where Islam would be the guiding principle of governance, where good and honest people will rule the country, and there will be no corruption,” Iqbal Hossain, 40, told The Associated Press. “We will sacrifice our lives, if necessary, for this cause.”
“Under Jamaat-e-Islami, this country will have no discrimination. All people will have their rights. Because we follow the path of the holy book, Quran,” Mohidul Morsalin Sayem, a 20-year-old student, said. “If all the Islamist parties join hands soon, nobody will be able to take power from us.”
It was the first time the party was allowed to hold a rally on this ground since 1971. To many, the decision signalled a shift supported by Yunus' government in which Islamists are gaining momentum with further fragmentation of Bangladesh’s politics and shrinking of liberal forces.