6 June 2026

How The Rise Of Pro-Pak Jamaat Is Tearing Apart Secularism In Bangladesh – OpEd

Eurasia Review  |  Aleya Sheikh

Bangladesh experienced a political vacuum following Sheikh Hasina’s government fall on August 5, 2024, due to a mass student uprising, which Jamaat-e-Islami swiftly filled. The previously banned party re-emerged, immediately attacking the nation's constitutional secularism. The interim government's Constitution Reform Commission recommended removing secularism, socialism, and nationalism, proposing "equality, human dignity, social justice and pluralism" instead, with Jamaat pushing for further dilution.

This resurgence coincided with 2,442 incidents of violence against minorities between August 2024 and June 2025, including attacks on Hindu communities and over 107 Sufi shrines. Additionally, more than 1,494 liberation war monuments were vandalized across 59 districts, with official paralysis regarding restoration or prosecution. Pakistan's military further provoked by branding Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a "traitor" in December, aligning with Jamaat's efforts to dismantle Bangladesh's founding secular identity and liberation legacy, posing an existential threat to the nation's core principles.

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