Bangladesh, constitutionally a secular democratic republic, needs good governance, leadership and a healthy political culture, rather than a blasphemy law. This law is being demanded by a section of the conservative political parties and the country’s religious leaders — even with the country’s existing laws being strong enough to protect religious rights.
The government has begun the trial of a few bloggers whose comments on social media hurt religious sentiments. It has already enacted a cyber crime law to tackle the whole issue. Bangladesh — a country of 160 million people, of which 87 per cent are Muslims — does not have any religious or social problems in its largely secular society, where people belonging to different faiths have lived peacefully. However, since the beginning of the trial of war criminals, who belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh(JIB) and used religion in trying to oppose the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, JIB supporters have allegedly resorted to a number of means to stir up political violence, including attacks on minority communities, to disrupt the trial of war criminals.
The supporters of the JIB should respect public opinion that has brought the current government to power with a wide mandate and the public demands for the trial of war criminals. The politicians and public should focus on the larger socio-economic issues instead of engaging in an ideological confrontation. There should be efforts to seek wider public support for eradication of poverty, infrastructure bottlenecks, development of education, employment and empowerment of the people. What Bangladesh needs is unity and peace, not confrontation.
