The International Crimes Tribunal has provoked political violence in Bangladesh regarding crimes committed in 1971. The domestic court is trying people accused of atrocities in the liberation war. More than 100 people are reported to have died between February 5 and March 7. The sentence of death by hanging for Delwar Hossein Sayeedi, one of the leaders of the Islamic Jammat-e-Islam aggravated violence. Within a day, the police and paramilitary forces shot down at least 23 protestors. Troops were deployed in Bogura. Jammat is now more of an insurgent group than a political party. It has also mounted attacks on Hindu homes and temples in Bangladesh. Hope has died out about a public act of vengeance against the Jammat delivered through a broken justice system. The leading mainstream Opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in a coalition with the Jammat when it was in power. Two of its leaders may also get the death sentence. The reconstituted court has banned public discussion of the matter. Sayeedi’s application for retrials has been rejected.
A general election is due in Bangladesh at the end of the year. The Jammat represents influential banks, businesses and social institutions. If the BNP comes to power after the polls, it will certainly scrap the trials. Secularism in Bangladesh is under threat. India hopes the BNP will not take office. It was antagonized when BNP leader Khaleda Zia deliberately cancelled her meeting with India’s President Pranab Mukherjee during his recent visit to Dhaka. A political battle is splitting the country. The US is in a bind as it supported Pakistan in 1971. China remains inscrutably aloof.