Admittedly, this post is entering dangerous territory, but as many commenters on this blog have noted before, the politics of Bangladesh have an important influence on various institutions in Tower Hamlets. Any visit by that country’s leading politicians is a great event and also a chance to gauge which way our own elected politicians lean.
When the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, visited in January, I’m told that Lutfur Rahman did not meet her: whether this was because he was snubbed or he declined, I’m not sure. Hasina leads the left-leaning Awami League, a party that is currently aiming to try those accused of war crimes (including allegedly one very senior former member of the East London Mosque) 1971 War of Independence. As a guide, former Labour group leader, Helal Abbas, is a supporter of the Awami League, which also has links to the respected Brick Lane Mosque.
The main opposition party in Bangladesh is the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). It is described as a centre-right party and according to its Wikipedia entry:
Ideologically, the party has professed Bangladeshi nationalism, described as the Islamic consciousness of the people of Muslim majority Bangladesh, in order to counter the secular Awami League.
There is more:
Hundreds of its leaders, including Khaleda Zia, her sons as well as dozens of its former ministers and lawmakers were arrested on corruption charges by the military-backed Caretaker government of Bangladesh during the 2006–2008 Bangladeshi political crisis. The party has also been accused of turning a blind eye to the growth of militant Islamic extremism in the country and for allying itself with Islamic fundamentalist parties, such as the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which had also opposed the independence of Bangladesh.
Jamaat e Islami wants an Islamic Republic of Bangladesh and it is associated with the spread of Deobandi Islam, a fundamentalist form of Islam followed by the Taliban and linked to Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia.
When I asked Lutfur about his views on Bangladesh politics in 2008, published on this blog last year here, he said:
TJ: People say that IFE supports Jamaat e Islami in Bangladesh. What are your views on that?
LR: OK. That is something I don’t know. In terms of Bangladeshi politics, yeah, I don’t belong to a party and I don’t even support a party in Bangladesh, nor do I get involved in anything to do with Bangladeshi parties. I’m so happy that we’ve got a democratically elected government after two years of quasi-military rule. I’m grateful that people have seen sense and elected a democratically elected government, a socially progressive government in Bangladesh. I don’t get involved in Bangladeshi politics because I don’t even know anything about it.
So interesting then that is he today hosting a lunch at Mulberry Place at 2.30pm today for BNP Opposition leader Khaleda Zia, then later a formal reception for councillors at 4pm. I’d imagine there might be a protest.
Trial by Jeory 
Demonstration outside the Town Hall today regards this
So who else is Khalida meeting with? Oh she is only scheduled to meet Alan Duncan, minister of state for International Development, and Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. She will also attend receptions hosted by Anne Main, chairman of all party parliamentary group. Maybe you would like to protest to Ted?
” Helal Abbas, is a supporter of the Awami League, which also has links to the respected Brick Lane Mosque.”
Respected Brick Lane mosque did I read? Is this the same mosque that bans women from attending and has medieval views on the role of women. Ted your selective journalism is sinking to an all time low.
Indeed, the mosque in Brick Lane has also been long emersed in the politics of Tower Hamlets, far more than it’s larger neighbour in Whitechapel could ever hope for. As a base for hardline Awami League, it haslong been a power broker in Labour party factionalism. Astonishingly, it went largely unreported that the Brick Lane mosque gave a platform to the Labour candidate during the campaigning for the last general election, at the very busy Friday prayer no less; I wonder what the Charity Commission would say if it knew?
“Respected”? Steve has correctly spotted a rather glaring, if unsurprising, bias on Ted’s part.
Some people will also remember the dodgy Dispatches programme produced by Andrew Gilligan and of course Abbas’s own dodgy dossier rehashing Gilligan’s smears. Surprise, surprise the central “community” figures in Gilligan’s programme are Awami league activists, all aligned to the Brick Lane mosque in fact one character Badrul Islam is the son of one of the former clerics of the mosque and all have received enormous amounts of public cash from running dubious organisations under Labour’s Abbas, but I suppose that’s not newsworthy enough for some.
Ted, please check your info as jamate islami and deobandi are not associated.
Let me know if you need help on clarifying this subject
Ted, like you say you are treading into unfamiliar territory. Bangladeshi politics is indeed fractious, acrimonious and dominated by the personality cults of the ‘two Begums’ . Hasina is no mother Teresa either http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hasina, but the angle of you story is plain and clear. Watch out the Islamists are about!
For more details of what a nasty piece of work Hasina, the head of the Awami League party is and the corrupting influence that it has on civil society and the economy, read the following articles to see how she treats Professor Yunus, a noble peace prize winning activist http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/15/is_this_the_end_for_muhammad_yunus
For a more detailed background to the story of Hasina Vs Yunus http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/4295-hasina-vs-yunus.html
Brilliant story Ted
Great Angle of the story. Some of these comments are laughable at most
Bangladeshi politics, get real kid!
Ted, you say “respected Brick Lane Mosque” but you didn’t think much of their part in using Hammerson millions (from the Spitalfields Market development) to push through their 2004 scheme for a “Banglatown cultural trail” with “arches” and a “minaret”. You wrote in your article ‘Rocket-shaped minaret sparks row’ for The Express in 2009:
“While Tower Hamlets Council granted planning permission for the minaret in September 2004, that authority was given to the mosque itself.
Years later the mosque realised it did not have enough money and persuaded the council to underwrite the £510,000 project with the huge £8m “planning gain” windfall it received from the nearby Spitalfields Market development.
However, the council was unable to say last Friday whether such money, known as “section 106” cash, was permitted to be spent on religious buildings.
All the people who could answer that question were celebrating their office Christmas lunches, a spokeswoman said last Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile architect David Gallagher who was responsible for designing the minaret and arches defended the project.”
OK, the “arches” did not get built but the “minaret” did even after all the fuss, FOI’s, objections. Why then do you now say the Brick Lane Mosque is “respected”? (Also, the permission for these structures was given in 2004, so who was in control of the Council at that time and made the original advantageous decision for Brick Lane Mosque?)
anon, do you want to answer your own last question? Or do you want to hang in the air and assume all readers know what your point is?
The convicted racist Terry Fitzpatrick has not been given a prison sentence by judge John Hand.
This is what Operation Black Vote had to say about this case:
Having been convicted of racially aggravated harassment the Judge at Snaresbrook crown court showed great leniency by not automatically imprisoning Terry Fitzpatrick. Instead he will receive a nine months suspended prison sentence.
The Judge also gave an injunction that Fitzpatrick should not contact or write about Lee Jasper, myself or OBV directly or indirectly.
Simon Woolley stated,
‘ I hope we can all find closure after this long running saga. This case was not just about the long standing racist threats and abuse made by Fitzpatrick, it was also about those websites that too readily gave him sanctuary and at times encouragement to stir racial hatred. About Fitzpatrick, I have no comment to make except that I hope this is last we at OBV hear of him’.
Which website is Simon Woolley refering to? Ohh, it’s none other than Harry’s Place.
http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/harrys-place-and-searchlight-harboured-racist
Ted, why do you have a link to Harry’s Place on your blog?