Violent neighbour: Waves of B’desh anarchy as no answer to the Pak question
Times of India | 28 December 2025
Kolkata: Torn between the secular, nationalist legacy of the 1971 Liberation War and historical, ideological leanings toward Pakistan and political Islam, Bangladesh suffered from upheavals that pulled the country back, felt intellectuals, politicians, and researchers. The tension remained a core aspect of the country's identity as well as its foreign policy, they felt.
The analysts feel that Bangladesh's existence is anchored in the 1971 Liberation War and on a secular, linguistic, nationalist Bengali identity. Islam and other religions in Bangladesh remained as matters of faith. But a section in Bangladesh remained unreconciled. They were defeated in 1971, but they kept coming back.
After Mujibur Rehman was killed, military generals tried to create their own political identity. "First it was General Ziaur Rahaman and then Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Their main opponent was the Awami League, which represented the sentiments of the Liberation War. By default, these generals opposed the Awami League and fell back on those defeated forces," said Subir Bhowmik, a veteran journalist who covered Bangladesh over a prolonged period.
It was the time when military govts lifted the ban on religion-based politics and Ghulam Azam, head of Jamaat E Islami, returned to Bangladesh. Jamaat had formed a coalition with militant groups like the Razakar, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams during the 1971 war and was charged with atrocities and genocide in Bangladesh. Eventually, pro-Islamic, pro-Pakistani sentiments surfaced in Bangladesh's fractured politics.
"The country started moving towards fundamentalism. While Sheikh Hasina came to power in 1996 for five years, she was dislodged by the BNP-Jamaat alliance. Jamaat played a key role in the govt, Islamisation came to the fore, and militant forces started to surface," said Obaidul Quader, general secretary of the Awami League. It was when militant groups like Jamaat Ul Mujahideen, led by Banglabhai, emerged and started working on the religious divide. On Aug 17, 2004, there were a series of blasts across 63 districts in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which earlier came into an understanding with Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), had a tacit understanding with Jamaat Ul Mujahideen.
"Our fault was we could not identify the forces that were actively pursuing anti-democratic sentiments. They were the ones behind Bangabandhu's killing in 1975. These forces spread across the country. Jamaat was legitimised following alliances with the BNP and they formed a number of splinter organisations across Bangladesh. The same force resurfaced again in the name of July uprising," said Rokeya Prachi, an actress in Bangladesh.
According to Bhowmik, the spirit of Liberation War got derailed after 1975. "It started in 1971 and was supposed to go further through consolidation of the values which gave birth to the 1971 war. That could not happen," he said.
When Hasina was ousted from Bangladesh and the Muhammad Yunus-led an interim govt came to power, their primary opponent was again the Awami League. "Yunus found himself in the same position as that of General Zia or Ershad and fell back on the same fundamentalist forces," he added. Pakistan also intensified its outreach to Bangladesh and sought new partnerships. Yunus, meanwhile, held more meetings with Pakistani officials, including the country's foreign minister Ishaq Dar, and had less engagement with India. Foreign policy experts feel that this suggests a potential recalibration of regional dynamics, which is shifting away from India.
"During her rule, Hasina failed to identify these forces. Mosques were established and hardliners were given employment there. These forces started spreading campaigns among the unemployed youth in the country. Now people are paying a price for that," said Muhammad Abdul Hai, former head of dept of Bangla at Dhaka University and a founder of Vidyasagar Society.
"Islam in Bangladesh should be based on humanitarian principles. If Bangladesh has to resurface as a democracy, an election based on exclusion cannot provide a platform for that. Bangladesh will have to coexist with India in harmony," Hai said.