Banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir holds first open rally in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical organisation banned in Bangladesh since October 2009, carried out its first open rally in Dhaka on Friday.
Joined by thousands of its members, the group began the rally from the north gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after Friday prayers. The rally was titled "March for Khilafah."
Dhaka Tribune reported that a clash erupted between police and members of the banned organization near the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka. Law enforcement intervened to stop the procession, leading to a violent altercation.
To disperse the crowd and regain control, police fired tear gas shells and sound grenades. Demonstrators scattered temporarily but they later regrouped and attempted to continue their procession, reported Dhaka Tribune.
Hizb ut-Tahrir advocates for the establishment of a global Islamic Caliphate, or Khilafah, which it claims would unite all Muslim-majority countries under a single Islamic government.
Earlier in February, Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka, admitted that Islamist groups in Bangladesh have got more freedom after Sheikh Hasina left the country.
Kalimullah, while speaking to ANI, said that several banned Islamist outfits are active in Bangladesh and are even holding press conferences.
"Islamists, they have succeeded in carving out larger space in the public domain. And Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has strengthened its position. Hefazat-e-Islam movement has become more strong. Personalities such as Peer of Charmoni has gained prominence. Even Hizb ut-Tahrir, they are an outlaw organization, but they're visible. They are coming up with leaflets, posters and also in different places they are waving their flags, they're marching in the streets even convened press conferences. So officially this outfit is not a legal entity till now and their media coordinator is behind the bar. So, officially the ban is still there but in reality they are functioning," he said.
Hizb ut-Tahrir remains a banned organization in Bangladesh, with all its activities and demonstrations deemed illegal.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Observer

a day ago

• Observer

Erdogan to Iran: Talks only solution

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday told Iran's foreign minister that resuming Iranian-US talks on Tehran's nuclear programme was the only way to achieve a solution to their dispute and the conflict with Israel, the Turkish Presidency said. Erdogan met Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Istanbul. In a statement, his office noted that Erdogan said Israel had to be stopped immediately. Erdogan said Turkey was ready to play a facilitator role to help resume the nuclear talks, adding "steps should be taken as soon as possible to open up diplomacy via technical and leaders-level talks between Iran and the US," his office added. Meanwhile, the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA will open an office in Ankara, President Erdogan said on Saturday, urging Muslim countries to give the agency more support after Israel banned it. Israel last year banned UNRWA, saying it had employed members of Palestinian Hamas who took part in the October 2023 attacks on Israel that triggered the Gaza war. Turkey has called Israel's assault on Gaza genocide and its move to ban UNRWA a violation of international law, particularly amid worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble with millions displaced. Addressing foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdogan said opening an Ankara UNRWA office would deepen Turkey's support for the agency. "We must not allow UNRWA, which plays an irreplaceable role in terms of taking care of Palestinian refugees, to be paralysed by Israel. We expect our organisation and each member state to provide financial and moral support to UNRWA to thwart Israel's games," Erdogan said. A Turkish diplomatic source said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini were expected to sign an accord on the sidelines of the OIC meeting in Istanbul on establishing the office. Turkey has given UNRWA $10 million a year between 2023 and 2025. In 2024, it also transferred $2 million and sent another $3 million from its AFAD disaster management authority. Israel has handed responsibility for distributing much of the aid it lets into Gaza to a new US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates three sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops. The UN has rejected the GHF operation saying its distribution work is inadequate, dangerous and violates humanitarian impartiality principles. Previously, aid to Gaza's 2.3 million residents had been distributed mainly by UN agencies such as UNRWA with thousands of staff at hundreds of sites across the enclave. - Reuters

Muscat Daily

6 days ago

• Muscat Daily

Is Bangladesh ready for a ‘credible' election?

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Bangladesh's interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, recently met the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is expected to be the frontrunner in elections next year. Tarique Rahman, who has lived in exile in the United Kingdom for over 15 years, is the acting chairman of the BNP, a major party which his mother, ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, led for decades. The meeting in the UK capital London was held amid rising tensions in Bangladesh, which has been locked in a tense political limbo since an uprising culminated in former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation in August 2024. Reforms needed before elections The BNP wanted an election by December 2025, while the interim government had been aiming for April 2026, saying it needs time to implement a host of reforms. Yunus and Rahman have now agreed that polls could be held in February – if sufficient progress on reforms is made. These include constitutional reforms, changes to the electoral process and boosting judicial independence and press freedoms. Authorities also need to deliver justice for the victims of last year's mass protests, in which hundreds were killed, mostly by the security forces loyal to Hasina and her Awami League. Tasnim Jara, a leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP), newly formed by the student leaders of last year's protests, thinks that while the government has taken initial steps for an election, 'institutional readiness remains uneven'. 'Key election infrastructure, such as an impartial election commission, a neutral civil administration, and an independent judiciary, requires urgent reform. A credible election will depend on whether the political parties can agree on a reform package soon and whether that package is visibly implemented in time,' she told DW. While the agreement between the BNP and Yunus is a welcome development for many observers, they say that the restoration of law and order to allow for a credible election that includes all major parties remains a priority. Saimum Parvez, a special assistant to the BNP Chairman, thinks that 'the dismal law and order situation, unchecked unruly mobs, and encouragement of depoliticisation' are the obstacles. 'However, as common people of Bangladesh are usually enthusiastic about participating and engaging in electoral campaigns, it is possible to overcome these obstacles with community support,' he told DW. The Dhaka-based political historiographer Mohiuddin Ahmed, however, was less optimistic. 'Bangladeshi political parties don't behave peacefully during elections. They tend to use force whenever possible to control polling centres. Maintaining an orderly situation during the polls will be challenging if the administrations and police forces don't work properly,' he told DW. Former government and security officials face criminal charges A UN fact-finding mission this year found that officials from Bangladesh's former government and security apparatus had systematically committed serious human rights violations against protesters last summer and that crimes against humanity may have been carried out. Hundreds of cases have been filed against Hasina and her allies since she fled to India on August 5, 2024. Her Awami League party claims that the cases are politically motivated. Observers say that the country's security forces have lost credibility since last year's crackdown, which has contributed to the deteriorating security situation. Naomi Hossain, a political sociologist and a professor at London's SOAS University, said that Bangladesh was tough to govern and that order had always been 'difficult to achieve'. 'It is one reason why people put up with Sheikh Hasina so long – at least she wielded the power to maintain some semblance of order, violent and repressive though it was for anyone who wanted to dissent,' Hossain told DW. She added that given the political vacuum since Hasina's ouster, it was 'no surprise' that law and order was currently 'a problem'. 'I think that the army is probably feeling the need to act with caution given the human rights violations they allegedly participated in last year. That means not being too heavy-handed with the mobs and Islamist gangs we see news reports about,' she said. Maintaining law and order Bangladesh's interim government has empowered army officers with the rank of captain or higher to help police maintain law and order in the country. However, Tasnim Jara, a former doctor who is now a politician, told DW that the army's deployment had not resolved the crisis and only 'exposed deeper issues'. 'State-sanctioned violence and repression over the past 16 years deeply undermined public trust and destabilised the foundations of governance,' Jara said, calling for that legacy to be addressed. 'Lasting stability will only come through institutional reform of the police and security agencies. We have yet to see these reforms,' she added. Ban on Awami League The Awami League was banned last month pending trials by a special tribunal into the party and its leaders for alleged crimes against humanity and human rights violations. But observers, including Hossain, think Bangladesh's oldest party should be allowed to participate in the upcoming polls because it still enjoys broad support, despite the fact that many of its leaders are 'credibly accused of numerous crimes'. 'The party is a huge national body and still seems to command a lot of support across the country, perhaps particularly in rural areas and among minority groups and women. Banning them serves no good purpose,' Hossain told DW. She warned that such a move would likely lead to 'a super-majority landslide' for the BNP, 'who will then be empowered to behave exactly as the Awami League did when it won its super-majority back in 2008'. Jara, on the other hand, thinks that before the Awami League can be allowed to participate in elections, its leaders must first be held accountable for their alleged human rights violations which include 'enforced disappearances, torture, election rigging, and widespread killings'. 'A credible legal process must address these before any accused entity can participate. If justice is bypassed, it will destroy public trust and risk returning the country to the very repression people rose up against. No party can be above the law,' she told DW. DW

Muscat Daily

15-06-2025

• Muscat Daily

Nigeria: Gunmen kill at least 100 in Benue state

Abuja, Nigeria – Gunmen killed at least 100 people in the Yelewata village in Nigeria's Benue state late on Friday, Amnesty International Nigeria said. 'Many people are still missing…dozens injured and left without adequate medical care. Many families were locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms,' the human rights organisation said in a social media post. Police spokesperson Udeme Edet from Benue confirmed the attack but did not specify the death toll. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack. Governor of Benue state Hyacinth Alia sent a delegation to Yelewata to provide support to the relatives of the victims. Visuals circulated on social media showed burnt houses and corpses. Violence in the Middle Belt Benue state lies in Nigeria's Middle Belt, in the centre of the Muslim-majority north and the Christian-majority south. The region often sees violence over access to land and water resources between farmers and herders, worsened by ethnic and religious tensions. Violence in the region has claimed 500 lives since 2019, and displaced thousands of others, as per data by Nigerian geopolitical research consultancy SBM Intelligence. Last month, gunmen believed to be herders killed at least 20 in the Gwer West district in Benue. In April, 40 were killed in in the nearby state of Plateau. DW