Bangladesh: Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami holds massive rally to show strength as elections near

In a powerful show of strength, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist political group, Jamaat-e-Islami, mobilised hundreds of thousands of supporters in Dhaka on Saturday to assert its presence ahead of national elections expected next year. The rally comes at a time of political flux in the country following the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The current interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has said that elections are scheduled for April. However, the possibility of an earlier vote in February remains open, following pressure from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.

Jamaat-e-Islami, known for supporting Pakistan during the 1971 war for Bangladesh’s independence, had earlier announced plans to bring one million demonstrators to the streets for Saturday’s gathering.

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Hasina, who governed from 2009 until being deposed in a wave of student-led protests last year, fled to India following her removal. During her administration, several senior Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were either executed or imprisoned for war crimes linked to the country’s 1971 liberation struggle, during which the Pakistani military launched a brutal crackdown in Dhaka in March of that year.

At the rally, the Islamist party submitted a list of seven demands to the interim administration, including calls for fair and peaceful elections, justice for mass killings, structural reforms, and the adoption of a charter inspired by last year’s uprising. The party also demanded that a proportional representation model be adopted for the electoral process.

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Many party supporters had camped overnight at the Dhaka University campus before marching to Suhrawardy Udyan, a symbolic site where the Pakistani army surrendered to joint Indian and Bangladeshi forces on December 16, 1971, bringing an end to the war.

Iqbal Hossain, a 40-year-old participant, said, “We want a new Bangladesh governed by Islamic values, free from corruption, and led by honest individuals. We are willing to give our lives for this mission.”

Young attendees, many in their 20s and 30s, were also present in large numbers.

“Jamaat-e-Islami stands for equal rights for all. We follow the teachings of the Quran, and that will guide our governance,” said 20-year-old Mohidul Morsalin Sayem. “If Islamic parties unite, no one can stop us from taking power.”

This was the first time since the 1971 war that Jamaat-e-Islami was allowed to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, seen by many as a sign that Islamists are gaining momentum amid a fragmented political landscape and the retreat of liberal forces.

Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the country’s founding president and a long-standing opponent of Jamaat-e-Islami, has been barred from returning to Bangladesh. Her Awami League party has been banned by the interim regime, and she remains in exile in India as of August 5. Hasina faces charges of crimes against humanity. According to a UN estimate released in February, as many as 1,400 people may have died in the July–August uprising that led to her downfall.

Jamaat-e-Islami plans to contest all 300 parliamentary seats and is working to build alliances with other Islamist groups in an effort to position itself as a significant political force alongside the BNP and the banned Awami League.

The party also shares ties with a student movement that played a key role in the anti-Hasina protests. Both Jamaat and the student-led National Citizen Party have been outspoken in their criticism of India’s role in regional politics.

With inputs from agencies