Dr. Hameeda Hossain

The surfacing of obscurantism or fundamentalist fascism is not particular to any region or religion. Such tendencies become visible when rational discourse gives way to the irrational, when tolerance of belief and diversity is thrown aside through fear and terrorism; when morality is controlled by the powerful. How much of this is set in motion by powerful manipulations to divide society and control the lives of people? In recent years fundamentalist forces backed by both international finance and media as well as theocratic states have crossed battle lines with progressive movements against gender justice and women's autonomy. In the international arena these states have tried to block UN commitments to equal and universal human rights. They have created dichotomies along religious loyalties thus heightening tensions and conflicts along a communal divide. They have tried to negate the importance of class, linguistic and gender concerns, through a process of religious homogenisation. In some third world countries this dichotomy has falsely been projected as a struggle against imperialism, in order to draw blind support from those who oppose economic impositions from the North, particularly from the growing numbers of youth who feel disenfranchised and disempowered because their economic and political survival is imperiled by global policies.

South Asia has a common history of pluralist, cultural traditions which allowed for diverse political and economic systems existing over long periods of time. Momentary interventions by fundamentalist or communal forces have led to irrational divisions, to politics of violence and injustice.

Bangladesh has shared this tradition even as it emerged from a bloody war of liberation against Pakistan's attempt to impose theocratic, authoritarian controls. Its struggle was based on a commitment to humanist, secular and democratic values which would nurture tolerance, plurality and a peaceful resolution of conflicts. In the last 25 years of its existence as an independent state, this commitment has been threatened by narrow sectarian forces, who have sought to control society through resort to religion.

As a legal aid and human rights centre Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), has been concerned with the recent surfacing of intolerance by religious extremists manifested in an increasing violence and violation of human rights both in the region and within the country. The chronology of violations of legal and human rights committed in the name of religion in
the last two years, in particular, illustrates the threats to civil society. The attacks have been directed against women, in particular, but also against other progressive groups.

The politics of intolerance and violence has not been unchallenged; even though governments maintain an expedient silence, fundamentalist forces are being resisted by women, human rights and other progressive groups, through public protests, legal defense of victims and through dissemination of information on the motives and actions of the fundamentalists. We have collected papers and essays to explain the implications of fundamentalist politics which is aggravating intolerance and terrorism in the society. The present selections of writings (some of which were presented at seminars or published earlier in local journals) as well as investigate reports into incidents of violence attempt an analyses of the different contours of the struggle between the forces of secularism
and fundamentalism. Although most of these writings focus on recent occurrences in Bangladesh, we have also referred in passing to the political use of religion in Pakistan. This reference is useful because of the regional and international linkages and networking between fundamentalist forces.

The contemporary cross country links of religion based politics is very different from the connections made by early Islam which came to Bengal with Arab traders and Sufi saints. Salma Sobhan has written at length on "National Identity, Fundamentalism and the Women's Movement in Bangladesh" which was published earlier in V. Moghadem's edited
volume entitled Gender and National Identity, Women and Politics in Muslim Societies. The present excerpt on "Reforms within Islam and Women's Emancipation in Bengal"1 gives us an historical glimpse of how the 18th century reformist movement and the struggle for emancipation of the Bengali Muslim women was a movement against oppression. When Bangladesh formed a part of Pakistan after partition in 1947, authoritarian regimes (either under martial law or as a civilian front of the military) relied upon the orthodox constituency to legitimise their political control. There was a convergence of interest as these controls were extended to the personal and cultural domain of women's sexuality, mobility and autonomy. Sultana Kamal, a human rights and women's rights activist, gives an account of how military rule in both Pakistan and Bangladesh altered the structural basis of the state through constitutional abrogation's and amendments2, and in doing so formed an alliance with fundamentalist force.

This had serious implications for women. In Pakistan, under Martial Law declared by General Zia ul Haq in 1977, Hudood ordinances relating to Zina, Qisas and Diyat became the basis for arbitrating women's lives. As a direct consequence of this, the state in Pakistan, arrogated to itself the tribal right of vengeance in personal matters and legalised the most barbarous forms of oppression against women. Its introduction of the
death penalty for blasphemy has been acknowledged as a ruthless weapon for aggrandisement. The politics of religion has erupted in sectarian violence between different groups, defiance of existing constitutional rights and laws, and an attack on minority communities. It is pertinent that Bangladesh in the course of the liberation struggle had rejected religion based politics, and parties with a religious agenda were banned following its independence in 1971; yet in subsequent years of military rules from 1975 to 1990, constitutional amendments have revived religious based parties such as the Jamaat-i-Islami (1976), eliminated secularism as a state principle (1977) and made Islam a state religion (1987). The fall of the military regimes in Bangladesh did not see the end of religious chauvinism. In fact, religious ideology is used today to create a syndrome of chauvinism, fear and vengeance as a basis for dividing loyalties.

Since early 1993 media reports from several villages in Bangladesh have highlighted the incidents of fatwas, issued by mosque Imams and Madrassah Maulanas which charge women with zina3 (under Bangladesh's Penal Code women cannot even be charged with adultery). Reports have also been circulated of Imams punishing women engaged in income generation, education or other development activities4. Fatwas penalising women with stoning, flogging or social boycott have thus appropriated the right of judicial punishment and contravened the customary practice of salish, which has been used as a form of mediation in rural Bangladesh. ASK has followed media reports to maintain a chronology of fatwa decrees that led to suicide, death or other forms of violence. As it is published here, the chart also shows follow up action by state agencies, solidarity or legal action from women's and human rights groups.

The Imams have carried their message through the mosques in cities and villages to condemn development agencies which involve women in paid work, education or health programmes. They have held out death threats against freedom of speech of writers and journalists, who have professed their belief in democratic values. The chronology of incidents compiled from several daily newspapers substantiate these threats of censorship.
 

The fundamentalists have demanded introduction of a law prescribing the death penalty for blasphemy. The Bill drafted by the Jamaat-i-Islami is an exact copy of the amendments to the Penal Code which were introduced in Pakistan during the regime of General Zia ul Haq. A report from Amnesty International on Pakistan has given various cases of how the law was used for personal vendetta. Newsline, (vol. 7, no. 1) a monthly magazine published from Pakistan, reports for the first time on the vindictive use of the law against a woman. We also publish several reasoned discourses on the likely implications of the introduction of such a law in Bangladesh. These include presentations at seminars or meetings. Barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, who is known for his defence of democratic practices particularly the independence of the judiciary, very clearly indicts the Jamaat-i-Islami for introducing this bill as a vendetta for their defeat in 1971 and argues that the intention of such an enactment is political persecution, with no basis in law. Zaved Hasan Mahmud and Saira Rahman, both founder members of Law Review, a students organisation at the University of Dhaka, explore the origins of blasphemy in Christian practice and the decline in its usage as power passed to the temporal lord. Sara Hossain analyses the proposed law from a human rights perspective.

The accounts presented in this volume are by no means exhaustive. Certainly the political and cultural manifestations of fundamentalism need more in depth analyses. These accounts do not examine the economic causes of how new inequalities created in the globalisation process may have fed obscurantism. Nevertheless we feel it is important
to publish even modest explanations of how such fascist controls may lead our society to anarchy. While religious sects such as Ahmadiyas are excluded from the hierarchy of believers, women's exclusion is engineered through religious injunctions on seclusion (purdah) and modesty, community control and retribution. Adoption of the idiom of gender control and subordination is a political instrument for reinforcing traditional hierarchies in the community in a process towards authoritarianism and injustice. Therefore, as Mirza Hasan shows, women's struggle for survival through income generation, and mobility through education or other forms of development undercuts manipulation power brokers.
This critical awareness has led women to challenge the controls being imposed on their lives by rallying support for the victims through legal aid, intervening in unjust community salish, public campaigns and advocacy for government action. Women's long term strategies are directed to the formulation of a uniform personal code, based on gender
justice, and extension of the principles of democracy to the community and the family. In doing so they are demanding implementation of the society's professed commitment to social justice, equality and human rights. This is the thread that runs through the mainstream of political affirmation and commitment underlying Bangladesh's historical struggle for recognition of their language, for self rule and for democracy.  In this
struggle, women's resistance has been both personal and political. 

Reference:

1 Gender and National Identity, edited by Valentine M. Moghadam, London, 1994.
2 Pakistan is today an Islamic State, governed by the Shariah Act of 1991, whereas
in Bangladesh Islam was made a state religion in 1987.
3 Over 23 cases have been reported. The punishment requires that women be stoned or flogged (with 101 stones or lashes). As a consequence a few of them committed suicide, some were forced into marriage, others had to flee from their village. Several others have been rescued by the intervention of women's and human rights organisations.
4 Imams have ostracised women who took loans from Grameen Bank, studied in BRAC schools or worked outside the house tending mulberry trees, etc.

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* Hameeda Hossain is a member of Ain O Salish Kendra.
Source: ASK "Attack on Fundamentals", Sangalp (Dhaka), Vol 4, August 1995.