The Shahbag Conflict Question

An interesting phenomena is taking place in Dhaka and even in surrounding Bangladesh.  An apolitical demonstration.  

The activists are calling for the death penalty of Abdul Quader Mollah who was convicted of various atrocities and sentenced to life at the international war crimes tribunal.  The public were outraged as the first person to be convicted (Abul Kalam Azad) was sentenced to death.  At this moment he has left the country or in hiding.

The tribunal was set up in 1973 to prosecute those who caused atrocities in the Liberation War of 1971.

Irrespective of politicians, political parties, the youth of Bangladesh have used social media to harness support, set up camp in Shahbag, an intersection at the heart of Dhaka, near the university campus, and stage a small sit-in.  Their only demand - capital punishment for Abdul Quader Mollah.   

Last Friday when organisers called a rally, the sit in (already a week old by this point) attracted somewhere between 100,000 - 500,000 people in a family friendly violent free demonstration who exercised their democratic right of free speech.  Even the Bangladeshi cricket team turned up to support them.  This is where the conflict is.

A country which has prided itself on setting up a democracy and believes that the verdict 'sends out a strong message that Bangladesh has now evolved as a society' - please read statement from Bangladeshi Foreign Minister to foreign diplomats - can they reconcile the evolution of the country with the fact that the public want capital punishment?

What is more interesting that the movement has not aligned itself with any political party (a headache for the party's as they don't know how to respond and cannot relate to the group), the organisers are predominately women and ultimately the use of social media and satellite news is organising and garnering support.  Some have even started to compare it with the demonstration in Egypt at Tahrir Square.

Some say, the movement do have an opportunity by representing the youth of Bangladesh as all current politicians are in the late fifties and older.  The question is do they want to or just demand one thing - capital punishment which has been abolished by most societies that have evolved.  They want the wider world to support them, but they can't because of their demand.

The Shahbag Conflict Question is a unique and confusing question which apart from the Bangladeshi political elite taking notice, it has also raised other questions about what is democracy and its societal evolution.  Watch this space readers.  This will run and run ...