Islamist coup stopped in Bangladesh



An Islamist military coup has been prevented by the army in Bangladesh.


The Bangladesh army said it had foiled an Islamist conspiracy against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.


"Anyone who attempts to overthrow the democratic system will be traced... none will be spared," minister Syed Ashraful Islam told the BBC.

Bangladesh has a history of military governments. The army ran the country for 15 years until 1990.

Sheikh Hasina took over power from a military-backed caretaker government in early 2009. Officials say she has since faced threats from Islamists and other radical groups.

The Prime Minister has enacted a series of reforms since taking power that have made some Bangladeshis unhappy. She has cracked down on religious extremism, prosecuted alleged war criminals, improved relations with India and rewrote the constitution, introducing more secular policies.

Hasina is the daughter of former President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1975 during a military coup four years after he led a war of secession from Pakistan. Hasina and her chief rival Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have dominated the country’s politics for more than a decade.

Bangladesh army foils Islamist coup ‎

"Action will be taken against them as per army regulations," Mr Islam, who is also a senior leader of the ruling Awami League party, told the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Dhaka.

"We might have differences of opinion, but there is no difference of opinion in the case of democracy. So it is the duty of all to protect the democratic system."

Military officials said that the officers planning the coup were in active military service and had "extreme religious views".

A group of up to 16 hard-line Islamist military officers - including at least two retired officers - were involved.

Some have been detained and officials say they will be presented before a military court.


Some 89% of the 142,000,000 people
in Bangladesh are Muslim.



2009 Mutiny

A border security force, the Bangladesh Rifles, mutinied in 2009 over guards’ pay and working conditions. The rebels killed 63 army officers before the military suppressed the revolt and arrested hundreds of force members over subsequent months.

“Political tensions have continued over the trials of the rebels,” Rahman said. The government tried 666 members of the border guards in a single proceeding in June, convicting all but nine in a process that the New York-based group Human Rights Watch said failed to meet international standards for a fair trial.

Bangladesh’s history of military intervention makes it “vulnerable to these coup attempts,” said Ataur Rahman, a political science professor at Dhaka University.

Still, “a coup with an Islamic militant orientation would be a surprise,” Rahman said in a telephone interview from the capital. While researching the officer corps, Rahman said he had “not found that Islamic militant views or socialization are widespread.”

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(Bloomberg Businessweek)


Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's moderate and democratic government has been saved
from a military coup by Islamists.