William Gomes Radio Interview: Bangladesh Attempt to Ban Islam's Largest Political Party Moves Forward

CII Broadcasting interviews Human Rights activist about big changes in Bangladesh.

William Nicholas Gomes in front of the Bangladesh Supreme Court

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - Salem-News.com's William Gomes, a native of Bangladesh, has been covering the country's controversial revolution known as the Shahbaugh movement in recent weeks. Rather than a movement of the people, Shahbaugh appears to exist to bring down once powerful elements of the country's Muslim political party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

First, Shahbaugh, is a major Bengali neighborhood in Dhaka, the country's capitol with great historical significance. Shahbaugh is where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered his historic speech calling for independence from Pakistan on 7 March 1971, the revolution was known as Projonmo Chattar.

The area has remained a political hub of activity and was the site of public protests by around 30,000 civilians on 8 February 2013, against what they perceive as a soft ruling against war criminals who reportedly worked with the Pakistani Army during the 1971 war.

The Shahbaugh movement started with a little more than 1,000 people on 5 February 2013, and grew to approximately 20,000 people by 9 February, demanding that a man named Abdul Quader Mollah receive the death penalty for his role in 1971. Qader Mollah received a life sentence earlier that day from the International Crimes Tribunal.

The mass movement launched by Chaatro Moitry called for the ousting of the 14 political groups associated with the war crime suspects. Now the Jamaat-e-Islami political party is banned in Bangladesh.

Our Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes discusses the development with the interview host at CII Broadcasting, the global Islamic radio station based in South Africa.

Bangladesh is no stranger to the mistreatment of Muslims.

The Rohingya of Burma have been under the gun since last July, when the Rakhine Buddhist population took it upon themselves to launch thousands of ethnic cleansing attacks against their Muslim neighbors.

Fleeing refugees who survived the attacks fled to Bangladesh where they were given a bottle of water by the Bangladeshi government, then turned around and sent back to Burma, where a death sentence awaited many.

This is the political climate in Bangladesh.

Please listen to the interview with Mr. Gomes to better understand the Shahbaugh movement and the elimination of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Special thanks to CII Broadcasting and Open Democracy

ciibroadcasting.com/2013/02/27/bangladesh-bans-islams-largest-political-party/

opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/william-gomes/shahbagh-what-revolution-whose-revolution