What was shahbag up against? radical Islam in Bangladesh

The rise of political Islam worldwide, having come through organisations believing in the ideas birthed and shaped by Mawlana Mawdudi and Sayyid Qutb, is noteworthy. The world has witnessed armed and political confl icts fought on the frontlines of religious ideologies, some calling it the "war on terror", others, the "Jihad". It is in this context that the recent phenomenon of the Shahbag movement should be seen. It seems to be standing in opposition to the brand of political Islam of Mawdudi's Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leaders are complicit in the war crimes perpetrated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and which is a part of that convergence of ideas propagating a new world order, arguably an Islamic Caliphate.