(April 04, 2011) Bangladeshi security officials on Sunday opened fire and used tear
gas to disperse stone-throwing members of a hardline Islamic group protesting a government
policy for women's equal right to inheritance, leaving one protester dead and 25 others
injured. Police official Mostafizur Rahman said the protesters had also used firearms
during demonstrations in support of Monday's nationwide general strike meant to force
the government to scrap the policy that the protesters brand as anti-Islamic. According
to Muslim family law, women can only claim a quarter of what men get from their parents.
Under the new rules, every child would inherit the same amount. Abdul Mannan, a local
journalist, said the melee broke out after the security officials tried to prevent
the demonstrators from marching through streets. The government of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, Zia's archrival, says it wants women to have greater rights in employment,
inheritance and education. Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority nation of 150 million
people, but it is governed by secular laws, except in the arenas of family issues,
such as marriage and inheritance.