On 5 February 2013, protests began in Shahbag, Bangladesh, following demands for the execution of Abdul Quader Mollah, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment and convicted on five of six counts of war crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (Abdul Quader Mollah allegedly helped Pakistan in 1971 for invading Bangladesh and prosecuted many Bengali Islamists involving in war crime. Quader Mollah continued to become a leader of the party Jamaat-e-Islami.). Later demands included banning the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party from politics including election and a boycott of institutions supporting (or affiliated with) the party.
Protesters considered Mollah's sentence too lenient given his crimes. Bloggers and online activists called for additional protests at Shahbag and joined the demonstration.
Ruling party Awami League supported the protests. However, the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), initially expressed its support for Jamaat-e-Islami, a political ally. However, the BNP cautiously welcomed the Shahbag protest while warning the government to not exploit the situation for political gain from the movement demanding capital punishment for the war criminals. A counter-protest, questioning the validity of the tribunal and the protest movement and demanding release of those accused and convicted, was called by Jamaat-e-Islami.
During the protests, blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed outside his house. On 1 March, five students of North South University were arrested, with those five confessing their involvement in Rajib's killing.
On 27 February 2013, the tribunal convicted Delwar Hossain Sayeedi of war crimes and sentenced him to death. Jamaat followers protested and there were violent clashes with police. About 60 people were killed in the confrontations; most were Jamaat-Shibir activists, and others were police and civilians.
The movement received considerable criticism in Bangladesh and from abroad for allegedly inciting violence and fascism by the use of slogans inciting violence. Death threats and calls for boycotts were made. It was accused of being politically motivated and was seen as disrupting public infrastructure.
Historical context
From partition of India in 1947 until 1971, Bangladesh was the part of Pakistan and was known as the East Pakistan. In 1971 East Pakistan fought West Pakistan for nine months. During this period the Indian Army which provided guerrilla training to Mukti Bahini, joined the war on 3 December 1971 in support of the liberation of East Pakistan. Armed conflict ended on 16 December 1971 through the surrender of the Pakistani Armed Forces to the joint force of Bangladesh and India in East Pakistan, resulting in the formation of the People's Republic of Bangladesh as an independent state.
According to the famous Blood telegram from the United States consulate in Dhaka (formerly known as 'Dacca') to the State Department, many atrocities had been committed by the Pakistan Army and its supporter Razakars and Al-Badar militia. Time reported a high-ranking US official as saying, "It is the most incredible, calculated killing since the days of the Nazis in Poland." Estimates are that one to three million people were killed, nearly a quarter of a million women were raped and more than ten million people fled to India to escape persecution.
A paramilitary force known as the Razakars was created by the May 1971 Razakar Ordinance promulgated by Tikka Khan, the governor of East Pakistan. The ordinance stipulated the creation of a volunteer force, trained and equipped by the provincial government. Razakar (), originally meaning volunteer, became a derogatory term among Bangladeshis due to the widespread killings of civilians and atrocities committed by the paramilitary during the war.
The majority of East Pakistanis supported the call to create a free and independent Bangladesh during the Liberation War. However, Pakistani supporters and members of Islamic political parties, particularly Jamaat-e-islami(JIP) and its east Pakistan student wing Islami Chatra Sangha (ICS, ), the Muslim League, the Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) Council and Nezam-e-Islami, collaborated with the Pakistani army to resist the formation of an independent Bangladesh. The students belonging to Islami Chatra Sangha were known as the Al-Badr force; people belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Muslim League, Nizam-e-Islami and similar groups were called Al-Shams, and the Urdu-speaking people (generally known as Bihari) were known as Al-Mujahid.