2 May Bangladesh: The country’s caretaker government, headed by military-supported Muhammad Yunus, has found itself caught up in a severe political crisis after attracting violent resistance from Islamist parties on the recently created Women’s Reform Commission. These religious organizations have branded the commission as “anti-Islamic” and blamed it for pursuing a “Western agenda.” Islamist leaders at a seminar in Dhaka made a stern threat to the government, stating that if it tried to act on the recommendations of the commission, it would be in for a bad time.
Mufti Syed Rezaul Karim, head of the Islamic Movement Bangladesh, threatened that the government “won’t even get five minutes to flee” if it goes ahead. This melodramatic ultimatum was reminiscent of the August 5, 2024, incident when former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was allegedly told to leave her home within 45 minutes as huge protests rolled towards her house.
The seminar was entitled “Islamophobia in the Women’s Reform Commission: What Can We Do? “, was a forum for consolidated religious resistance. Major Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami, Khilafat Majlis, and the Islamic Unity Alliance attended, charging the commission with promoting moral degradation and jeopardizing traditional morality. Some even went so far as to suggest that the envisioned reforms would sanction prostitution by recognizing it as an occupation, and thus encourage what they termed as a “cursed life” for women.
They demanded an instant dissolution of the existing commission and asked for a new body to be formed comprising religious, educated, and socially aware women who represent the nation’s women. The furor began not long after the final report of the Women’s Reform Commission was received by Muhammad Yunus on April 19. The commission, constituted on November 18, 2024, with human rights campaigner Shirin Parveen Haque at the helm, recommended 433 suggestions towards developing gender equity in Bangladesh.
Among the major proposals were expanding the number of seats in parliament from 300 to 600, half of which would be reserved for women through direct elections. The commission also suggested updating family laws so that there could be equal inheritance rights and wider gender justice.
Muhammad Yunus had already signaled robust backing for implementing these reforms quickly. But with mounting pressure from Islamist elements and threats of mass demonstrations, his administration now has the sensitive task of balancing progressive policy objectives with increasing risks of civil disturbance in the run-up to the next elections due in late 2025 or early 2026.
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