The Culture of Political Violence and Punishment in Bangladesh: The Role of Political Parties and Civil Society

 

“É normal no Bangladesh", diz o líder da comunidade em Portugal, comentando assim a rixa que teve lugar no Martim Moniz. Tratou-se de um grupo de um partido de direita, que tem já uma "filial em Vila Nova de Mil Fontes e veio ajustar contas com um partido de esquerda. 

A violência, na política do Bangladesh é algo normal e está a ser importada para Portugal, como se depreende das declarações de líder da comunidade do Bangladesh em Portugal que explica que a rixa opôs “um grupo do Martim Moniz” a outro de “Vila Nova de Milfontes” que estava a passar o fim de semana na zona e terá a ver com política. 

O líder da comunidade do Bangladesh em Lisboa explicou que a rixa entre imigrantes, no domingo, no Martim Moniz teve como origem “desavenças políticas”, que são “normais no Bangladesh”. “Estes conflitos acontecem em quase todos os distritos, é natural lá. Na Europa e em Portugal, não”, disse ao Observador Rana Taslim Uddin.

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The political culture of a country immensely depends on the role of political parties (Rajandran and Lee 2023). After a party takes power, it often turns hostile towards opposition leaders, resulting in punitive actions and restricting their political activities (Yilmaz and Erturk 2023). Like other Afro-Asian nations, Bangladesh carries a legacy of government-led punitive measures (Bodea and Elbadawi 2008). During Hussain Mohammad Ershad's tenure, his government employed suppression tactics to nullify the opposition parties' presence (Hussain and Suma 2022). 

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led government replicated the same approach after winning the 1991 and 2002 parliamentary elections. Since 2008, the Awami League government has also been suppressing the opposition parties (Hassan 2023). Doubtless, punitive actions are sometimes needed against particular political parties for the country's greater interest. For instance, the Jamaat-e-Islam party of Bangladesh was convicted of terror involvement and societal radicalisation, prompting its ban by the Awami League government; this resulted in the arrests of many leaders who faced legal consequences, including wartime charges. However, the politics of Bangladesh is allegedly violent against the opposition partiesto remain in power (Wolf 2022). 

The legacy of punishment by the government against the opposition parties started in Bangladesh after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bari 2022). The pro-Pakistani lobby in Bangladesh wanted to diminish the democratic values of Bangladesh and establish an intolerant political culture after Mujibur Rahman, which was accelerated by the two military regimes of Ziaur Rahman and Hussain Mohammad Ershad (Nandy 2019). 

Even after the ending of the era of Ershad's military regime, the political violence and culture of conspiracy remain in Bangladesh. Since the early 1980s, the country's politics has been dominated by a dynastic rivalry between two major political leaders, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia (Khan and Ara 2023). Suykens and Islam (2015) found that political violence increased sharply in Dhaka between 2002 and 2013, resulting in significant casualties. Like Khaleda Zia’s administration, the Hasina government also faces criticism for obstructing opposition during elections, raising concerns about Bangladesh's democratic integrity, often justified by national security (Hashmi 2022).

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