The ghosts of 1971

The clashes on Thursday between Islamists and the police in several parts of Bangladesh, which were part of a nationwide strike to protest against the death sentence handed down to their leader, Motiur Rahman Nizami, for war crimes may be the start of more trouble for that nation.

The Jamaat-e-Islami chief was awarded death by hanging for his role in the killing of thousands of people during the nation’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971.

The charges include leading the execution of intellectuals, doctors and journalists, mass killings, rape and loot.

While Nizami’s lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, the fundamentalist himself is said to have been indifferent in the dock when judgment was pronounced.

Seen as a political party in which ideologists play a strong role, and one which had once shared power in a coalition, the Jamaat-e-Islami still commands some influence in Bangladeshi society, its extreme, pro-jihad views having a few takers.

The party may have lost political power in 2006 but, despite its views and its history of collaboration with the Pakistani Army, it is not to be totally discounted as a force.

The political changes in Bangladesh and leaders who are seen to be pushing for a more secular state have brought back into focus old animosities against those who had formed Shanti Committees at the time of the war and as a paramilitary group opposed the Mukti Bahini battling for freedom.

Recent judgments against the Jamaat are a clear pointer to which forces are ascendant now, but they have a task on hand in putting out the fires.