The 2013 movement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, or more widely known as the Shahbag Protest, took place on 5th February
It all started when Bangladesh (formerly known as East Pakistan) wanted independence from West Pakistan. Even though the east was more populated, politics was dominated by parliamentarians from the west. Then in 1970, for the first time, the election was won by the east. The west was of course unhappy about it and they refused to honour the election results. A mass protest from the east took place demanding them to honour to result. The west, through the Pakistani military, attacked the protesting civilians – many of them were students – and this resulted in retaliation and then war.
Back to the movement. According to the media, this uproar in Shahbag occurred due to the lack of will to punish war criminals, but in reality it was so much more than that.
Sadly, what started off as citizens’ protest turned into another one of the government’s chess pieces in the scheme to further their political agenda. The current ruling government body of Bangladesh, Awami League (AL), has been looking to sabotage the public image of Jamaat-e-Islam, the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh, and it got the perfect opportunity to do so. As the alleged war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah is the Assistant Secretary-General of Jamaat-e-Islam, AL made sure that the protest was not only about the individual himself but about the entire party. The other sad thing with the political parties in Bangladesh is that they tend to take things a bit too far.
They started picturing anyone who is seen as a traditional Muslim as a member of Jamaat (a party which has an war criminal as the second top leader who is yet to be prosecuted). Imagine how the public reacted and the horrifying scenes of ordinary Bangladesh citizens mistreating (and even physically torturing) Muslims on the streets who had nothing to do with the party.
Personally, I felt that such a movement was very much necessary, but I do not in any means support the outcome of it. I have a personal interest in the movement as a lot of my friends from back home have been present at the scene and that allowed me to get information regarding the issue which was “untainted” by the media or the policy makers of the country. I also thought that, for once, a public message can be conveyed without an outbreak of violence. The fact that most of the protestors were actually educated individuals in the first place was very encouraging.
According to my friends who participated in the protest, the reason they had to step out of it because the only thing that was left at the later stages was just violence, which was not something they signed up for in the first place. Despite my hopes for my country to be mature enough in conveying ideas in the public, what happened in the end does not sound promising to me at all.
If the history of Bangladesh has taught us something, it is this: such movements have taken place before and will do so again. And the political parties of the country will always find a way to mould it to fit their personal advantage. Maybe the party will win the next election, maybe it won’t, but make no mistake that it has not done any of this for the well-being of the people. The leaders of the country will rarely try and come up with an innovative idea to the country forward, but will always have some diabolical plans up its sleeves to make sure that the other parties are not successful.
Source: Thetypewriter