ConflictBarometer_2016

ASIA AND OCEANIA
munity members and vandalism of their temples and property
were reported. On October 30, about 15 temples and
100 houses were torched in Nasirnagar district, Chittagong
division, allegedly over a contentious social media post. Five
days after the attack which was understated by officials, five
homes were again vandalized. Civil society and minority organisations
such as the Hindu Buddhist Christian Union Council
(HBCUC) continued to express their concern over the perceived
security threat and staged demonstrations to condemn
the recent attacks. They also claimed that government
would not do enough to protect minorities from attacks on
their members and religious sites.
mwf
BANGLADESH (OPPOSITION)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1991
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
BNP, JeI vs. government
system/ideology, national power
136
The conflict over national power and the orientation of the
political system between the opposition parties Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), on the one
hand, and the government led by the Awami League (AL),
on the other, continued as a violent crisis. BNP and JeI
were supported by their student organizations Bangladesh
Jatiyatabadi Chatra Dal (BJC) and Islami Chatra Shibir (ICS),
whereas the ruling Awami League was supported by its student
wing Bangladesh Chatra League (BCL).
Local union parishad elections were held in six phases in
4,275 union parishads from March 22 to July 4. Like in previous
years, election-related violence erupted all over the
country leaving at least 63 dead and more than 1,144 injured.
While JeI had been banned from taking part in local elections
since 2013, BNP, AL, and independent candidates, often nonnominated
AL and BNP members, contested in the polls.
In the run up to the elections, clashes between the different
parties as well as clashes within each party over nominations
of candidates started in February. For instance, on February
20, supporters of rivaling AL candidates clashed in Mahishkur,
Satkhira district, Khulna division. At least twelve people were
injured.
During the six days of the election, reported irregularities
such as vote rigging, ballot stuffing, and ballot snatching, resulted
in clashes between AL candidates and their supporters,
as well as between AL and BNP members and the police.
For example on May 28, the fifth election phase, armed
supporters of AL candidate Shakiruzzaman Rakhal and independent
AL candidate Sajahan Mia clashed over alleged false
votes casting at Khutirchar Ebtadaye Madrasa polling center,
Jamalpur district, Dhaka division. Police intervened and
opened fire. In total, four people were killed and more than
50 injured including policemen. During the election process,
several candidates withdrew their candidacy in response to
alleged threats by AL and government officials, and in protest
against voting irregularities. Subsequently, AL won numerous
posts uncontested.
As in previous years, several high ranking members of BNP
and JeI were prosecuted for crimes allegedly committed during
the independence war of 1971. For example, Motiur Rahman
Nizami and Mir Quasem Ali, two previous Jel leaders,
were executed after the AL-initiated International Crimes Tribunal
had sentenced them to death in 2014. In response, JeI
called for protests and nationwide strikes. On March 8, members
of the JeI and JeI-ICS clashed with the police in Dhaka
city, eponymous division, throwing brickbats while the latter
fired into the crowd, leaving at least two JeI supporters injured.
The national government continued to deny the so-called Islamic
State's presence in the country and instead held the opposition
responsible for most of the assaults [→ Bangladesh
(Islamist groups)]. In the course of year, the government
launched several security operations to crackdown on militants.
However, opposition parties, among them BNP and JeI,
accused the government of arresting their members instead.
Furthermore, the opposition repeatedly criticized the government
for a lack of democracy and freedom of the press, as well
as the growing violence in the country.
After the AL-led government had abolished the caretaker government,
an interim government during elections, BNP had
boycotted the national elections in 2014. On December 18,
President Abul Hamid invited several parties, including BNP,
to begin a dialogue over the formation of a new Election Commission.
igi
CHINA (HONG KONG)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1997
Conflict parties: pro-democracy groups, proindependence
groups vs. government,
SAR government
Conflict items:
autonomy, system/ideology
The conflict between various Hong Kong (HK) pro-democracy
groups, on the one hand, the governments of the People's Republic
of China (PRC) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region (HKSAR), on the other, regarding autonomy and
the political system in HK, escalated to a violent crisis.
On January 1, around 1,600 democracy advocates marched
with yellow umbrellas in the central business district, calling
for internet freedom and demanding the resignation of the
Chief Executive of HK, Leung Chun-ying. In early January, after
another bookseller critical of the PRC had disappeared,
the HK Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements
in China organized a march with thousands heading towards
the Beijing Liaison Office (BLO), demanding explanations for
the disappearances and calling for freedom of speech. On
February 8, during the Chinese New Year celebration, violent
clashes erupted between HK police and more than 300
demonstrators after the police had cracked down street food
vendors in the Mong Kok District. While protesters attacked
the police with bottles, bricks, and ignited garbage cans, the
latter responded with pepper spray and fired warning shots.
90 police forces and four journalists were injured and at least
60 people arrested. Subsequently, head of the BLO Zhang Xiaoming
condemned the rioters as ''radical separatists'' who
showed ''tendencies of terrorism''.
On March 28, students and pro-independence activists