Radical Islamists praise General Zia for removing secularism, Bengali nationalism

In the sweltering heat of Khulna’s Shibbari intersection, under banners fluttering like dark omens, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, the Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, unleashed a rhetorical broadside that should chill every patriot’s blood. Speaking at a rally of the so-called “like-minded eight parties”—a motley crew of Islamist outfits including Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Khelafat Majlis, and Nizam-e-Islam—Rahman didn’t mince words.

To invoke the 1972 Constitution, he thundered, is to “essentially oppose Ziaur Rahman,” the late president whose amendments infused Bangladesh with a veneer of religious pluralism but also sowed seeds of division. Khaleda Zia, he added, gravely ill and hospitalised, “never spoke in favour” of that founding document. It’s a sly reframing: the sacred charter of our Liberation War, born from the blood of 1971, is reduced to an enemy relic, while Zia’s legacy is sanctified as the true path forward.

Zia removed Bengali nationalism and secularism from the constitution to take the country back towards the East Pakistan era. He also rehabilitated Jamaat-e-Islami and Jasad while forming his King’s party, BNP.

This wasn’t mere historical revisionism; it was a clarion call to arms. Rahman accused shadowy “conspirators” of weaving plots ahead of the national election, vowing that the alliance would fight for “the victory of the oppressed.”

Special guest militant patron Mamunul Haque of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis piled on, dividing the nation into two irreconcilable camps: the “pro-Baksal” holdouts of 1972 and the “revolutionary forces” of July 2024. He demanded a referendum to enshrine the July Charter—that non-binding manifesto of the uprising—as constitutional gospel, warning the interim government that “history will not forgive you” if ignored. The rally, presided over by Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim of Islami Andolan (IAB), brimmed with firebrand speeches from Maulana Sakhawat Hossain, Mufti Musa Bin Izhar, and others, all echoing a singular theme: reject the secular soul of Bangladesh, or face the mob’s wrath.

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What should alarm us most is not the rhetoric alone, but the unity it reveals—a toxic convergence of radical and extremist groups coalescing under banners like Touhidi Janata, hell-bent on imposing Shariah law not through ballots, but through the blunt force of street violence. These are no fringe voices; they are a hydra-headed threat, drawing strength from the July Revolution’s chaos. Jamaat-e-Islami, with its ignominious history of collaborating with Pakistani forces in 1971—training razakars to slaughter freedom fighters—has clawed back from bans, regaining registration in June 2025 via a sympathetic Supreme Court.

Now, it leads this eight-party pact, demanding proportional representation elections, prosecution of Awami League “criminals,” and a constitutional rewrite that sidelines the 1972 principles of nationalism, secularism, and socialism. Their demands, packaged as reform, mask a deeper agenda: dismantling democracy to erect a theocratic edifice.

Consider Touhidi Janata, the self-proclaimed “monotheistic masses,” whose name evokes revolutionary fervour but whose actions scream vigilantism. Since the interim government’s installation in August 2024, this shadowy network—linked to Hefazat-e-Islam’s madrassa militants and Jamaat sympathisers—has unleashed a wave of mob terror under the guise of moral policing.

In April 2025, they forced the cancellation of a Dhaka theatre production of Rabindranath Tagore’s Shesher Kobita, branding it “un-Islamic.” That same month, in Tangail’s Madhupur, they shuttered a folk festival honouring Lalon Fakir, the Sufi mystic whose syncretic songs embody Bengal’s pluralist spirit, claiming his teachings “oppose Islam.” By November, the violence escalated: in Manikganj, Touhidi Janata thugs assaulted a peaceful human chain protesting the arrest of Baul singer Abul Sarkar on trumped-up blasphemy charges, beating supporters and demanding his execution.

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In Joypurhat, madrassa students under their banner vandalised Tilakpur High School over a women’s football match, decrying it as “haram.” February saw them storm flower shops in Tangail’s Bhuapur during Boshonto Boron and Valentine’s celebrations, torching symbols of joy in fits of puritan rage.

These aren’t isolated outbursts; they form a pattern of orchestrated intolerance, fueled by Hefazat-e-Islam’s 13-point demands from 2013—resurrected in 2025 rallies calling for blasphemy’s death penalty and Shariah courts. During Ramadan 2025, “Touhidi Janata” enforcers harassed food vendors and women in “immodest” attire, videos going viral as badges of honour.

Sufi shrines have been razed, Hindu pandals attacked during Durga Puja echoes from 2021, and even secular book stalls at the Ekushey Book Fair vandalised for stocking Taslima Nasrin’s works. Human rights groups like JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France have condemned these as “Islamist extremism,” noting the state’s mute complicity. Muhammad Yunus’ administration, once hailed as a beacon post-Hasina, has dithered—quashing Awami League cases while radical voices amplify unchecked. A SANEM survey in June 2025 revealed Jamaat’s appeal surging among young males, a demographic radicalised by unemployment and the uprising’s unfulfilled promises.

This unholy alliance denounces democracy not in whispers, but in megaphone blasts. The July Charter, which they champion via referendum, pledges reforms but omits safeguards for secularism, allowing PR elections that could entrench Islamist blocs. Mamunul Haque’s binary worldview—”Baksal vs. Revolution”—erases nuance, painting 1972’s framers as fascists while glorifying the uprising’s martyrs as Shariah vanguard. Rahman’s warning of “another August 5” if conspiracies persist? It’s code for mob rule: tear down “posters in the heart,” or we’ll tear down the state.

They promise justice from “village courts to the highest,” but mean kangaroo tribunals enforcing fatwas over fair trials. The oppressed, they claim to champion? Minorities like Hindus and Ahmadiyyas, whose homes burn while police look away; women shamed for attire; artists silenced for blasphemy.

Bangladesh teeters on a precipice. The 1972 Constitution, for all its flaws, was our emancipation decree—forged in the fires of ’71 to affirm Bengali identity unbound by religious fiat. Ziaur Rahman’s amendments, while tilting toward Islam, preserved pluralism; to weaponise them against the founding text is treason to the Mukti Bahini. The eight-party rally isn’t a cry for equity; it’s a blueprint for theocracy, where votes yield to vigilantes, and the ballot box to the burqa brigade.

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We, the heirs of ’71, must rise—not with arms, but with unyielding voices. Demand the interim government enforce the law: ban Touhidi Janata’s thuggery, protect cultural spaces, and hold elections under the 1972 framework, referendum be damned. Shun this false unity of extremists; it mocks the July youth who died for quotas, not Quranic edicts. Bangladesh was born secular, socialist, nationalist—a delta of diversity, not dogma. Let not the Padma run red again with the blood of the innocent. Inshallah, not as surrender, but as a prayer for reason’s triumph.