Bangladesh protest plans over Nobel laureate's gay rights comments

Published September 30, 2013
Nobel Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus. — File photo
Nobel Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus. — File photo

DHAKA: Bangladesh Islamic groups called Monday for a nationwide protest against Muhammad Yunus over comments in 2012 supporting gay rights, in the latest attack against the Nobel laureate and micro-loan pioneer.

The country's main mosque and an Islamic group with links to the government have launched a campaign against Yunus, whom they say should be prosecuted for supporting homosexuals in this deeply conservative Muslim country.

Hundreds of imams, many of whom are on the government's payroll, are expected to take part in the peaceful street protests on Tuesday, according to organisers, who claim rallies will be held in 600 towns across the country.

“Yunus must apologise for supporting homosexuality or he must be prosecuted for standing against the Quran and Islam,” an organiser, Maolana Moniruzzaman Rabbani, told AFP on Monday.

Rabbani, secretary of a committee that helps run the national mosque in Dhaka, said organisers would distribute 600,000 leaflets outlining Yunus's statement against violence and opposing discrimination against gay people.

The 73-year-old economist made the statement along with three other Nobel laureates in April 2012 following prosecutions of gay people in Uganda.

“We'll hold a massive rally against Yunus in the capital on October 31,”said Rabbani, who is also secretary general of the Islamic Oikyajote political party, which claims to be allied with the government.

“We have asked all Muslims to be united against Yunus's move to destroy our family and society,” he said.

Homosexuality is outlawed in Bangladesh.

A spokesperson for Yunus declined to comment because of the sensitivity of the issue. He is currently not in Bangladesh.

The campaign is the latest aimed at discrediting and attacking Yunus in Bangladesh. He was sacked in 2011 from Grameen Bank, the micro-credit pioneer he founded, after he angered the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by joining politics briefly.

In September, the government launched tax probes against the anti-poverty campaigner and his seven social business firms, accusing them of evading millions of dollars in taxes.

Rabbani said the protests were being organised “solely in an effort to protect Islam and family”. But an official said the government's Islamic Foundation, which is responsible for religious affairs, was behind the campaign.

The official, who did not want to be named because he works for the Islamic Foundation, said it has ordered imams who are on government payrolls to join the protests.

“Its press has published the booklets and leaflets against Yunus,” he told AFP.

Shamim Afzal, head of the foundation, has denied that his department was behind the campaign or that it supported it.

Yunus set up Grameen Bank in 1983 and made it a global success story in tackling poverty. His efforts to make collateral-free micro loans easily available for Bangladesh's rural poor made him a national hero.

But he appeared to anger Hasina after he called for elections under a caretaker government — a key demand of the opposition.

Opinion

Beefing up security

Beefing up security

The issue lies not in the sincerity and dedication of Pakistan’s law enforcement but in their capacity and access to effective surveillance equipment.

Editorial

Concerning measures
Updated 03 Nov, 2024

Concerning measures

The govt must seek political input and consensus on the changes it is seeking to make and be open about its intentions.
Short-lived relief?
03 Nov, 2024

Short-lived relief?

POLICYMAKERS must be jumping with joy. At the close of the first quarter of FY25, the budget posted a consolidated...
Brisk spread
03 Nov, 2024

Brisk spread

THE surge in polio cases has reached distressing levels with a tally of 45 last reported, after two cases emerged in...
Ultimate price
Updated 02 Nov, 2024

Ultimate price

To dismantle culture of impunity for crimes against journalists, state must ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.
Mastung bombing
02 Nov, 2024

Mastung bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine...
Plane speak
02 Nov, 2024

Plane speak

DESPITE all its efforts to facilitate PIA’s privatisation, it seems the government only ended up being taken for a...