The clampdown on Islamists of various kinds is a new trend. The present government was once dubbed as “Islamist”: friendly by its critics particularly after it held Hefazat’s hands post 2013. Although the Islamists were actually trying to bring the AL government down and the move was supported by the Opponents including the BNP, AL manipulated the situation to suit itself.
It had come in the wake of the bloggers killings which were blamed on Islamic radicals which peaked with the Holey Artisan Café attack. What transpired since then was a termination campaign against the Jihadists that eliminated most of the threat. And it went “soft hands” with Hefazat promoting a friendly relationship with Hefazat.
This drew a lot of ire from the shushils naturally and the AL was accused of promoting Islamist ideology by editing school texts and so on. Large scale patronage was also consigned to the Qaumi madrasa system which Hefazat runs and degrees were offered allowing them a leg up in the labour market beyond mosque and madrasa employment.
This understanding was broken last year when the son of Allama Shafi, the Hefazat founder was pushed out and Babunagri took over. The refusal to continue the relationship set since 2013 with the Government line was seen as a declaration of independence. The political mayhem that began when Modi was about to visit on the 50th year celebrations and continued when he was here was seen as a spectacular display of power by Hefazat, street sages said.
Yet barely a few weeks later, the outfit’s main organizer was cut down and taken in amidst a hail of scandals followed by regular arrests of its top notch functionaries. Committees had to be reconstructed to avoid more journeys to the jail possibly. Babunagri even said that he was ready to let AL rule but Islam was to be protected signaling a more reconciliatory mood. But more arrests have followed and the pressure is still on. Meanwhile, operations against Islamic Jihadists have continued skimpy as they are.
Two other recent arrests have also caught media attention. One of them, Mufti Amir Hamza accused of complicity with “terrorism”. The other was the missing case and the internment of Adnana Taha, an Islamist evangelical. Both had strong social media presence. Once both were affected, the media did explode with posts and content on both.
Critics of the Government have accused the agencies of picking up Adnan falsely charging Hamza. It’s obvious that the authorities have gone after the entire Islamist lot and they are on the back foot. How long this will continue is uncertain but the signal is that the hand holding is on a hold right now. This comes immediately after the Government had inaugurated fifty model mosques all over the country.
The signals that seem to be coming from such actions is that the Government is not going to share the social religious space anymore with such constructs as they had turned political and even had at different times challenged the government.
The other is that the slightly empty socio-religious space may be filled by the official world itself . it will shrink a potential trouble making space for the Government and seems to be part of a wider threat reduction to the GOB programme.
