Hardliners to stand for elections, promise sharia law

BANGLADESH'S Islamists are readying to make political gains after being crushed for years by the government that was overthrown in a mass uprising last year, rallying hardline loyalists for eagerly anticipated elections.

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“We are pretty confident about entering the parliament in the next election,” said Muhammad Mamunul Haque, joint secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam, a coalition of Islamic schools.

The coalition held a mass rally in the capital, Dhaka, yesterday in what was expected to be one of their biggest public shows of strength for years as religious activism gains popularity. Haque, 52, said the group would push to implement sharia, or Islamic law - which includes capital punishment for blasphemy against Islam — and believes the group’s network of tens of thousands of seminaries - claiming to have some 500000 members — means they will do well if the vote “is free and fair”.