by Sumon Corraya

The interim government commission led by Yunus is drafting laws to promote “equal opportunities” in inheritance, labor, and family matters. For fundamentalists, these proposals “hurt religious sentiments.” The fight for rights continues among political parties and civil society, against the backdrop of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s return to the country.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – A debate over proposed legal reforms for “equal opportunities,” currently being studied by the Women’s Affairs Commission formed by the interim government to promote gender equality, has sparked fierce opposition from radical Islamic groups.

The commission’s proposals, which aim to ensure equality in inheritance, labor rights, and a unified family law, have provoked a violent backlash from fundamentalist factions advocating for a strict religious stance.

The internal battle comes at a time when former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has just returned to Bangladesh after months of medical treatment abroad.

Tensions escalated this week when three women from the National Communist Party (NCP) and three prominent cultural figures filed a legal complaint against Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, a radical Islamist organization. The petition condemns fundamentalists for publicly calling women supporting the reforms “prostitutes” during a rally on May 3.

The statement, signed by Syeda Neelima Dola, DuteeAranya Chowdhury, Neela Afroz, and cultural activists Umme Raihana, Umme Farhana, and Camelia Sharmin Chura, denounced the slur as “unconstitutional and oppressive,” adding that such misogynistic rhetoric “has no place in a new Bangladesh.”

This legal move follows a mass gathering at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka, where Hefazat leaders demanded the dissolution of the Women’s Affairs Commission and called for punitive action against its members, accusing them of “hurting religious sentiments.” Hefazat’s Secretary General Mamunul Haque further labeled the commission’s recommendations as “blasphemous” and threatened nationwide protests if the body is not dismantled.

Established in November 2024 under the leadership of Shirin Parveen Haque, the 10-member commission submitted a 318-page report to interim Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus on April 19.

The report outlines 423 recommendations designed to dismantle systemic gender disparities in three phases: short-term reforms under the interim government, medium-term policies to be implemented within five years by an elected government, and a long-term roadmap to fulfill the “dreams of the women’s movement,” including economic empowerment, property rights, fair public representation, and protections for marginalized groups.

Among these marginalized groups are also sex workers, highlighting the delicate balance and compromises between secular and religious interests.

Hefazat-e-Islam and its allied radical religious movements have outright rejected the reforms as “anti-Islamic” and are mobilizing supporters for a protest march scheduled for May 23.

A legal petition challenging the recommendations has also been filed with the High Court. Critics argue that the commission lacks religious scholars and male representation—although similar gaps in other reform bodies, like the Constitutional Reform Committee, did not provoke such a severe backlash.

Ironically, fundamentalists are now attacking women who have historically played key roles in Bangladesh’s struggles—both in the 1971 Liberation War and the 2024 mass uprising against authoritarianism.

During that recent movement, women in jeans and women in hijabs marched side by side for democratic change. Today, those same women are being vilified for demanding equal legal rights. “When the daughters of this land ask for equality, why do their clothes or slogans suddenly become a problem?” asks writer Umme Raihana, speaking to the Daily Star.

All eyes are now on interim leader Yunus, globally known—and Nobel Prize laureate—for empowering women through microfinance. As Bangladesh navigates this polarizing debate, the stakes go far beyond legal reform.

The conflict reflects a deeper struggle between progressive visions of gender justice and deeply rooted patriarchal norms. A Christian woman, speaking anonymously to AsiaNews, said the Islamists “do not want women to develop, and that’s why they oppose the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission’s proposals.”

Finally, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has returned to Bangladesh after four months in London for medical treatment. A key figure in national politics, the nearly 80-year-old leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) remains the main rival of former PM Sheikh Hasina, who is now in exile in India after being ousted by mass student protests last August.

Zia was welcomed at the airport by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other senior party officials, who expressed hope that her return will “help restore and advance democracy in the country.”

Her presence increases pressure on the interim government and PM Yunus to hold long-awaited national elections, currently scheduled for either December or June next year—though the exact date remains uncertain, linked to ongoing and controversial reforms such as those involving gender equality.