Bangladesh’s besieged Islamist party fights for life

By Shafiqul Alam, AFP:

Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party faces an existential crisis after a series of body blows, including the sentencing to death of its leaders and abandonment by its main secular ally, say analysts.
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While support for radical Islamists has surged in many Muslim majority countries of late, Jamaat-e-Islami has bucked the trend after failing to banish the taint of siding with Pakistan in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war.

And with its spiritual leader having recently died in prison, top officials languishing on death row and a muted response to protest calls, observers say Jamaat itself could be on its last legs.

“Jamaat has no future unless it transforms itself into a new party and finds a new leadership that can effectively mobilise people and shake off its war-time legacy,” Dhaka-based analyst Ataur Rahman told AFP.

“The sooner it comes to realise this, the better for the party,” added Rahman, a former professor at the State University of New York.