Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Is Jamaat Really Involved

Afshin raises a valid point in reaction to "Shades of Green" (see comments to that post) where he theorises that Jamaat might be testing the water with JMB to lead a Iran style take over. My view to that is that there must obviously be a group within the Jamaat who believe that this is the answer and they lend support explicitly or inexplicitly to the terrorists. However Jamaat as a political party is not actively supporting the JMB.

And even if they do, the last evening’s result of the Dinajpur polls where the Hindu rebel Jatiya Party (Ershad) candidate drubbed Jamaat more than by 2 to 1 is a warning shot for them!

Interesting facts about the elections:
1. I understand that their is a substantial Hindu vote in the constituency there. However do keep in mind the seat was won by Jamaat the last election.
2. Jatiya Party was forced by the Alliance to put up a weaker candidate.
3. There was 70% + turnout despite strong security and tense atmosphere.
4. The 4 other candidates did not amount to much (6800 odd votes in total) despite having amongst them Awami League rebels!

Two things emerge from this. Firstly AL voted enemas behind the winner and secondly if BNP is not careful they will become irrelevant to the political process where it will become a AL vs. Jamaat scenario.

I think it would be too simplistic to paint yesterday’s results as a secular vs. Islamist fight but most indications is that when inside the voting booth the Bangladeshi more often then not votes standing from their neutral Bangalee heritage. Jamaat be warned!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

OK...not sure i understand all the intricacies of Dhaka politics, but am impressed that you have entered the world of blogging. What is next...podcasting?

i am also impressed that you have Dhaka Hotties as one of your links off the home page...quite the political statement :-)

i will be a regular visitor.
- Rohan