Muhammad Yunus wants women's rights in Bangladesh. First rein in Islamic radicals

The Print

19-05-2025

That one common mistake is the inability or, in some cases, the lack of intention to rein in the radicals.
But like most of his predecessors, from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Sheikh Hasina, Yunus has made the one mistake that makes it difficult not only to give women equal rights, but also to bring stability to Bangladesh's turbulent society and politics.
Muhammad Yunus is a man in a hurry. At 84, he doesn't just want history to remember him as the premier who tried to steer Bangladesh from chaos to stability after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August 2024. He also wants to be seen as a modern leader in a Muslim-majority country who tried to give Bangladeshi women equal rights, including those related to property.
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The veil comes off
On 19 April 2025, the Women's Affairs Reform Commission—set up by the Yunus administration last November to prepare a report on ways to give Bangladeshi women equal rights and reduce discrimination—submitted 433 recommendations to the government.
Among the recommendations were the introduction of equal property rights for women, a uniform family code, a separate and permanent women's affairs commission, elimination of all discrimination in public spaces and family laws, legal recognition for sex and domestic workers, and increasing the total number of seats in parliament, with half reserved for women via direct election.
After members of the commission submitted the report to Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka, he directed the concerned ministries and divisions to quickly implement those recommendations that could be actioned right away. He also said the recommendations would be taken up with all political parties through the National Consensus Commission.
It is not as if the 10-member Women's Affairs Reform Commission had expected these recommendations to face no pushback once out in the public domain. Women's rights activist and commission chief Shireen Parveen Haque told the Bangladeshi media outlet New Age that these recommendations might ignite some controversies, which the commission would welcome, as people should discuss these issues. She added that the commission had made the recommendations after considering the constitution, laws, policies, institutions and programmes, and 15 specific issues.
Haque also said some of the recommendations could be implemented during the tenure of the interim government, some would remain for the next government to execute, while some were quite simply the expectations and dreams of the women's rights movement in Bangladesh.
Others, meanwhile, pointed to a deepening hostility on the ground.
A local media report quoted Fauzia Moslem, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, a women's rights organisation, as saying that misogyny has become public since the mass uprising that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
'It was inconspicuous before. Violence was present before, with no political rights for women, no social rights. But a moral policing has been underway since the uprising due to misogyny. 'You can't wear such dresses, can't walk like this, can't put on tip (bindi), you'll be beaten to death if you play football, houses would be demolished',' she said.
Expectedly, the recommendations ignited heated debates. Popular Bangladeshi YouTuber Pinaki Bhattacharya called Haque and other members of the commission Islamophobes and said Yunus has an inherent bias towards NGOs.
'Have you ever seen Yunus so excited about recommendations from any other commission apart from the women's commission? He has said the recommendations should be printed and distributed as pamphlets. If that happens and people get to read it, government officials will be thrashed on the street,' he said.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman said some of the recommendations made by the women's commission would destroy the values of all religions and that the people of Bangladesh would reject them. 'Some of the recommendations are clear violations of the Quran and Hadith,' Rahman added.
While such pushback was expected, what drew global attention were the events of 3 May, when thousands of supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam, a powerful radical group in Bangladesh, rallied in Dhaka to demand the scrapping of the commission, claiming it conflicted with Islamic principles.
'More than 20,000 followers of the group rallied near Dhaka University, some carrying banners and placards reading 'Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh,'' an AP report said.
Threatening mass agitation, members of Islamist parties like Jatiya Olama Mashayekh Aemma Parishad warned that the Yunus-led government would face severe consequences and would not get 'even five minutes to escape' if it proceeded with the reforms.
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Radicals' day out
While Yunus's plans to bring in equal rights for the women of Bangladesh are indeed commendable, expecting that his government would be able to implement such reforms while giving a free rein to Islamists defies logic.
When Yunus took over as caretaker of the interim government, he was expected to first address the chaos that had gripped the country and then ready it for the next round of elections by bringing in electoral reforms. Instead, Yunus has postponed elections and banned Sheikh Hasina's party Awami League. Worse, he has given a rather long rope to the radical elements in Bangladeshi society that Hasina had, to some degree, reined in.
Bangladeshi journalist Sahidul Hasan Khokon told ThePrint that Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir—which had played a central role in the mass uprising against the Hasina government—have been empowered by the interim government to such an extent that they are behind most of the important decisions the administration now takes. Khokon pointed to the incarceration of popular Hindu religious leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari and the continuing attacks on minorities, along with the government's inaction or inability to stop them.
A high-level intelligence source told me that there has been a rejig in the Bangladeshi army, and Islamist officers have been promoted by the Yunus administration. Earlier this year, Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman said there is political rot and anarchy within the country and warned Islamist forces to stand down or else the country's freedom would be at risk.
If Yunus wants Bangladeshi women to enjoy equal rights as men, he would have to address growing radicalism in his country first. Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds won't help.
Deep Halder is an author and a contributing editor at ThePrint. He tweets @deepscribble. Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)