Dhaka, Jan 24 (EFE).- Bangladesh’s hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islami has urged the government to refrain from enacting a proposed law protecting transgender persons’ rights, saying it went against Islam.
Hefazat slammed the theory of transgender as “cursed” and a “mental distortion.”
“Recently, a strange doctrine called ‘transgender’ has become apparent… we strongly urge the government to refrain from formulating and implementing the Transgender Persons Rights Protection Act 2023 (draft) in this country,” the group said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
Bangladesh authorities said the law was still in the embryonic stage and that it would take time to formulate it.
“This law has become necessary to determine a few issues, like transgender people’s rights to property and health rights. We are working on it. But the draft is yet to be ready. Once it is ready, everyone will get a chance to give their opinion,” Mohammad Shah Jahan, a deputy director of the social welfare department, told EFE.
Bangladesh officially recognized transgender people as the third gender in 2014. In 2020, it granted them the right to vote under a separate category.
In 2021, Bangladesh declared a tax rebate for companies if 10 percent of their total workforce, or more than 100 workers, were from the marginalized group in the Muslim-majority country.
The issue hit the headlines on Monday after a leading private university of the country sacked a teacher for opposing transgender rights while speaking at a seminar in Dhaka last week.
A video circulated on social media showed BRAC University teacher Asif Mahtab attending a program in Dhaka on Friday and tearing apart two pages of a seventh-grade book that carried the story of a transgender woman.
The story tells the journey of a transgender woman as she faces discrimination within her family and society due to her feminine identity.
She finally finds peace after joining a transgender community, embracing her true self, and changing her name to one that aligns with her authentic identity.
Hundreds of BRAC University students protested in Dhaka on Tuesday, demanding Mahtab’s reinstatement.
Hefazat also condemned the sacking of Mahtab and demanded the university reinstate him in his job.
“BRAC University has shown extreme audacity by relieving lecturer Asif Mahtab from his teaching post for speaking on social and religious issues,” the group said.
The police said they remained on alert to prevent any untoward incidents.
“So far, it is calm today. But we are on alert,” said Oliur Rahman, an on-duty police sub-inspector near the BRAC University campus in Dhaka’s Badda.
Hefazat – which describes itself as a non-political grouping of religious bodies – rose to prominence when thousands of students joined their rally in 2013 demanding criminal prosecution of an atheist.
Other controversial demands of the group included the imposition of the death penalty for blasphemy and segregation of sexes in public spaces.
Hefazat also forced Bangladeshi authorities to remove the statue of the Greek goddess of justice, Themis, from the Supreme Court complex in Dhaka in 2017, condemning it as “un-Islamic”.
