Bangladeshi Islamist Party Marches in Show of Strength As Some Fear Its Revival 

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party took to the streets of the capital, Dhaka, over the weekend in a show of strength ahead of next year’s elections, days after violent demonstrations rocked the South Asian country’s interim government, the Associated Press reported. 

On Saturday, supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami rallied in the capital in the largest public show of force since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August, when student-led protests ended her 15-year rule. 

The Islamist party issued a seven-point list of demands to the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, including a proportional representation electoral system, justice for past mass killings, institutional reforms, and the implementation of a new national charter. 

It also called for a “new Bangladesh where Islam would be the guiding principle of governance.” 

The Islamist party opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan during the 1971 Liberation War and fought with the Pakistani military against nationalist forces.  

During Hasina’s rule between 2009 and 2024, many of the party leaders were later jailed and executed for crimes against humanity and others in 1971. 

The party was banned for years and politically sidelined under successive secular and pro-liberation governments. 

Observers said the weekend rally highlighted a shift in political power following Hasina’s removal, with critics warning that the Yunus administration is now tolerating Islamist mobilization. 

Hasina’s Awami League denounced Saturday’s rally “a betrayal of the national conscience and constitutes a brazen act of undermining millions of people… who fought against the evil axis (in 1971).”  

The Yunus-led administration has banned the Awami League, while Hasina is currently in exile in India. The former prime minister is facing charges of crimes against humanity related to her crackdown on protesters before her ouster.  

The United Nations estimates that up to 1,400 people were killed in the July-August 2024 uprising. 

Meanwhile, the new government has come under scrutiny for failing to restore security and ensure accountability amid rising political tension and factional clashes. 

On Wednesday, tensions flared when pro-Hasina activists clashed with security forces in the Gopalganj district during a rally by the National Citizen Party – a new political party formed by the students who led the protests that deposed Hasina. 

The violence left four dead and more than 50 injured, with videos showing armed men attacking police and torching vehicles, according to Al Jazeera. Authorities imposed a curfew and deployed armed personnel carriers. 

Government officials pledged a swift investigation and blamed Hasina loyalists for the bloodshed.