A nation divided by what?

During the last month, the violence that has engulfed Bangladesh has claimed the lives of over hundred people. Almost three quarters of them were killed since February 28th. On that day, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s biggest Islamic party, was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder, abduction, rape, torture and persecution of his countrymen.

We are now witnessing hartal after hartal. According to a lot of reports, this is by far the worst political violence the country has suffered since its birth as a nation in 1971.

But why is that? After all, this started as Bangladesh's chance to come to terms with the horrors that accompanied its birth as a nation in 1971. The “International Crimes Tribunal”, actually a domestic court, is trying razakars – collaborators belonging to Islamist militant groups who had aided the Pakistani army’s genocidal campaign.

On one side, a lot of Bangladeshis feel that the razakars not only avoided punishment, but acquired political power in the country whose independence they had violently opposed. For almost four decades, it appeared that the quest for justice was a lost cause. This was the case until four years ago when Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government assumed office and delivered on its campaign promise of putting suspected war criminals to trial. What impresses me is that the new generation of patriotic Bangladeshis feels so strongly about the issue. When Abdul Quader Mollah, a Jamaat leader convicted of committing atrocities, walked out of the tribunal with a life sentence, a wide smile on his face and showing a victory sign, a lot of Bangladeshis were outraged. The Shahbag square in Dhaka became the site of massive public protests. The protests vehemently demanded that those found guilty of mass atrocities be put to death. The fear is that a future government sympathetic to the Islamists, might commute life sentences and set them free again.

On the other side, Jamaat is violently fighting  for its survival. Members of Shibir, the Jamaat’s student wing, and their supporters are reacting with fury. In southern Bangladesh, the fight was taken onto Hindus homes and temples. It looks to me that, BNP, the main opposition party will have to struggle with an existential dilemma. Traditionally it lacks street fighting and organizing capabilities which it secured by allying itself with  Jamaat. The popular reaction along with the very low number of potential votes Jamaat might be bringing to the table in an electoral alliance might force BNP to reconsider its strategy.

And, in the center, there are the regular people whose lives are threatened and can't make to work. The fear of the violence is sucking away all their energy. They are, after all, in what they perceive  a war zone.