HEFAZAT-E-ISLAM and similar right-wing groups have always appeared against the democratic freedom of women. Their opposition became more expressed after the 2024 political changeover. Their emboldened position on the issue became disturbingly apparent on May 3, when a group of men, reportedly gathered to attend a Hefazat-e-Islam rally demanding the cancellation of the women鈥檚 affairs reforms commission and its recommendations, beat a sari-clad women鈥檚 effigy on the University of Dhaka campus. It is an alarming public display of undemocratic and anti-women sentiment that the government should seriously take cognisance of, especially because similar right-wing activism has been reported in recent months. Since the interim government assumed office in August 2024, among the incidents that drew public attention are the assault of sex workers in Dhaka, attacks on woman tourists in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, the violence over girls鈥� football matches, and the harassment of two young women over smoking in public. A more proactive approach on part of the government is needed given that right-wing groups are trying to mobilise against women鈥檚 democratic rights.
While the 12-point Hefazat-e-Islam charter includes other demands such as the expedited trial of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and justice for the victims of police brutality in Shapla Square in Dhaka on May 5, 2013, the rally was explicitly a show-off against what the women鈥檚 commission has represented. There were placards with misogynist remarks about commission members. There were no women present at the rally and, reportedly, a woman journalist was even barred from covering the event. In the changed political context, when democratic transformation of the state and society is considered a national priority, the women鈥檚 affairs reforms commission was formed with the aspiration to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination. Hefazat鈥檚 outright refusal to engage with the commission鈥檚 report and the exclusion of women are patriarchal and undemocratic. More important, such obscurantist opposition is a betrayal of women from all walks of life who participated in the July uprising and paved the way for a greater political participation of many, including Hefazat-e-Islam. There may be differences of opinion about the commission鈥檚 recommendations. In a democratic transition, it is important to debate and engage with political and ideological differences. It appears from Hefazat-e-Islam actions that it is more interested in turning the question of democratic freedom into an ideological battlefield for political gains than in entertaining any democratic process.
The interim government, as well as the conscientious section of society, should mobilise against forces opposing the universal rights of all citizens, irrespective of gender, class, ethnicity and religion, and their obscurantist ideas.
