Islamist traditionalists brought Bangladesh to a standstill today in protest at legal reforms that would give women equal rights of inheritance.
Public services and industry were crippled by a general strike the day after a 25-year-old student was killed in violent clashes with police in the west of the country.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, accused political opponents of exploiting religious sentiment over reforms that are intended to codify Islamic laws into the country’s largely secular legal system.
According to Muslim family law, women can claim only a quarter of what men inherit from their parents. Under the government’s new rules, every child would be entitled to the same proportion.
The strike, called by the hardline Islamic Law Implementation Committee and backed by the Islami Oikyo Jote (Unity Forum), appears to have closed down most activity in Bangladesh’s major cities.
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In Dhaka, the capital, thousands of police and security officials were in evidence. According to reports dozens were injured and more than 50 people were arrested.
Tension between the secular and religious elements of Bangladesh’s legal system were heightened earlier this year when a teenage girl was lashed to death after being convicted by a local religious court.