As feared, the uprising in Bangladesh has given Islamic extremists the opportunity to exploit the protests and target Hindus who are under attack in 27 districts of the country. The Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh is the sister organisation of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan. It is one of the local instigators and beneficiaries of the riots and the coup that forced Sheikh Hasina to flee Bangladesh on Monday afternoon and is currently in India to decide her next steps. While the Jamaat in Pakistan has fallen out of favour with the Pakistani establishment, the Jamaat in Bangladesh is still extremely close to the Pakistani establishment (and that is an understatement).
Meanwhile, the United States government has revoked the US visa of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, sources close to the State Department confirmed. Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, lives in Virginia, United States but It is unclear whether Hasina had any plans to travel to the US. Reports have suggested that Hasina was considering applying for asylum in the UK, where her sister (Sheikh Rehana) and niece (Tulip Siddiq MP) live. The UK has done the same, where according to the rules you cannot apply for asylum from outside so the only option is for Sheikh Hasina to first apply for asylum in any safe third country she goes to, which in this case is India. To try to understand what is really happening in Bangladesh we interviewed John Giacalone analyst, essayist and expert on terrorism, with a profound knowledge of the dynamics of the Indian subcontinent.
What is your opinion of what is happening in Bangladesh, a spontaneous protest that then degenerated into an Islamist protest or the Islamists (as some think), hid behind the students?
The issue is complex. In short, the protests broke out following the reintroduction of the quota system for public sector jobs reserved for the families of veterans of the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Every year, around 3,000 jobs are open to around 400,000 graduates, but many remain excluded. This system had been suspended in 2018 by the Hasina government following numerous protests. However, at the beginning of June 2024, the Supreme Court declared the measure unlawful, at the request of the veterans’ families, reintroducing the system. Therefore, the issue did not concern the Hasina government, even if the government response was very harsh and counterproductive.As already happened in Egypt and Tunisia during the “Arab Spring”, Islamists have infiltrated and exploited legitimate and initially peaceful demonstrations with the aim of getting closer to power.
Is it possible that the prime minister was forced to resign and flee precisely because he cracked down on Islamic extremists?
It is very likely. Consider that in 2009 the secular government of the Awami League established the “International Crimes Tribunal” with the aim of prosecuting the Islamists of the Jamaat active with the Pakistani army and its collaborators during the genocide of 1971. During its government, as many as five Islamist leaders were executed on charges of having committed crimes against the Bangladeshis. Furthermore, in 2010 the Awami League reintroduced secularism as one of the pillars of its Constitution, while recognizing Islam as the national religion.
All factors that have never been digested by the Islamists who have accused Hasina of disbelief and of persecuting Muslims.
Who are these extremists, how many are there and what do they want?
The Bangladesh Jamaat e-Islami began as a Bengali branch of the Pakistan Jamaat; many of its former members fought on the side of Pakistan in the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971.It is difficult to estimate how many there are, but in the 2008 elections the Jamaat took about 3,186,384 (4.3%). In 2013 the Supreme Court banned the Jamaat from participating in the elections the following year. In 2018, however, it emerged that 22 candidates recruited by the opposition to Hasina were members of the Jamaat, to the point that the leader of the National Unity Front, Kamal Hossain, himself called this move “a mistake”. In fact, the Jamaat has always tried to infiltrate the Bangladeshi political arena, as the Muslim Brotherhood knows how to do, of which the Jamaat is a local ideological expression.
After the attack in Dhaka July 1, 2016 where 22 civilians and 5 attackers died (including nine Italians), silence fell on jihadism in Bangladesh. In reality we know that the situation is very serious.
The situation is extremely serious. Following the formation of the Bangladeshi branch of ISIS in 2015, attacks against government bodies, foreigners and religious minorities, particularly Hindus, have increased significantly. The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group, linked to al-Qaeda, has also been active since 1998. Suffice it to say that since 2013, over 40 secularists have been murdered by these local groups. Since 2015, the Bangladeshi authorities have launched a policy of “zero tolerance” towards Islamic extremism and terrorism. It is no coincidence that Sheikh Hasina and her government have become enemies of radical Islam in the country.
The US government has revoked the US visa of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and they have done the same in England. Why? Maybe they fear protests from Bangladeshis?
Britain has a huge Bangladeshi diaspora, the largest in Europe, and is also in serious trouble right now with clashes between Islamic gangs and the British. Welcoming Hasina would add fuel to the fire. The United States, on the other hand, is doing exactly what it did during the “Arab Spring” in Egypt and Tunisia, supporting radical Islamism. This is not surprising given that many of the top officials in the Biden administration are the same as those in the Obama era and we all know very well how Obama played a key role in legalizing radical Islamism in politics.
