Bangladesh: Secular - v- Islamist?

[davidbfpo]

Why? Simple:

Bangladesh has executed the Islamist leader Abdul Kader Mullah, who was convicted of atrocities in the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan....Mullah was a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. His trial earlier in the year sparked protests from Jamaat supporters.....Jamaat-e-Islami - which had called the execution politically motivated and warned it would avenge his death - called for a general strike on Sunday.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25356034

[omarali50]

Bangladeshi Islamists (possibly backed by mentors in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) are using attacks on atheist bloggers a wedge issue. Will they succeed?

http://brownpundits.blogspot.com/201...-issue-in.html

"...By going after atheist bloggers (many or most of them Hindus), they have found a near perfect wedge issue. The Hasina government is not happy with these blasphemers being killed, and unlike in Pakistan, the regime seems to have made some arrests. But if they take a very public stand against these killings and aggressively protect the rights of these free-thinkers, then they stand with atheists and blasphemers and risk losing the support of "moderate Muslims" who don't go in for machete-wielding execution, but whose core beliefs include the belief that atheism and apostasy cannot be tolerated....But if the Hasina government lets this go on, then they permit the Islamists to grab the initiative and drive away atheists, secularists and Hindus...all of whom are more or less her voters and supporters (and whose friends and supporters are also the "intellectuals" of the Awami League regime). At a minimum, it is an uncomfortable position for the regime.
...
Can Bangladeshi secularism (meaning in practice, the Awami League regime, there being no other secular alternative on the horizon) defeat this rather well-chosen point of attack? Maybe they can (in which case the Islamists will have gambled and lost and the secular cause will emerge stronger than before). But it is a big if...If they lose, Bangladesh is in play again as a possible Islamist base in Eastern India. The Islamists know what they are up to..."