Country’s prominent politicians, academics and intellectuals have unanimously expressed the view that Jamaat-e-Islami should be banned following the ICT verdict on Monday that it is a criminal organisation. The ICT in its judgement in Ghulam Azam’s case said, “In the interest of establishing a democratic as well as non-communal Bangladesh, no such anti-liberation people should be allowed to sit at the helm of Executives of the Government, social or political parties including government and non-government organisations. We are of the opinion that the Government may take necessary steps to that end for debarring those anti-liberation persons from holding the said superior posts in order to establish a democratic and non-communal country for which millions of people sacrificed their lives during the War of Liberation.”
Talking to the Independent on the issue, Rashed Khan Menon, MP, president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh said as the tribunal’s verdict has clearly termed the Jamaat-e-Islami as ‘criminal organisation,’ it should be banned immediately to establish a democratic and non-communal country.
“The Jamaat-e-Islami is an organisation of war criminals. So the government should take legal steps immediately as per constitution to ban the party. It should also shut down their financial institutions, which are their main source of power.
Mujahidul Islam Selim, president of the Communist Party of Bangladesh said, “It was the expectation and demand of all to ban the party long ago. There should not be any reason to delay the matter.”
“Jamaat has been banned in 1971, but later it has been given legality in an illegal way. Action should have been taken to ban the party long ago. If it is not done after the observation of the ICT verdict, it will be clear that there is a political motive behind,” he added.
Welcoming the tribunal’s observation terming Jamaat as a criminal organisation, AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University said, “Jamaat has no right to do politics in the an independent country like Bangladesh because the party was against our liberation war in 1971 and had direct role in crimes against humanity, including mass killing, arson, rape.”
“It has been the demand of the people for a long time to ban the organisation immediately,” he added.
Professor M. Anwar Hossain, Vice-Chancellor of Jahangirnagar University said that the government has to take initiative to ban Jammat-e-Islami.
It is an important observation of the tribunal that the government should take necessary steps to debar those anti-liberation persons from holding the said superior posts in order to establish a democratic and non-communal country,” he said. “The willingness of the government is enough to ban Jamaat as it is a militant organisation. There is no reason that the government could not ban the party. Earlier the government banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B). In the same way Jamaat should be banned,”
he said.
Professor Anu Muhammad said Jamaat should be banned for the nefarious activities committed including the War of Independence in 1971.
But he said that the ruling Awami League government could not take any action against the party.
“I don’t think Awami League would be able to take any action to ban Jamaat. If the government really wants to ban the party, first of all, it has to clear all the legal matters and bring massive political reforms,” he observed.
“The government has to take action against the financial institutions of Jamaat which is the big power of Jamaat but it is a difficult matter for the government,” he added.
Terming Jamaat-e-Islami as a criminal organization, noted educationist Professor Muntasir Mamun suggested that the Election Commission must ban this organization as soon as possible for the welfare of the country.
“If the Election Commission does not cancel Jamaat’s political registration, it will create a devastating situation for the whole nation. The country would turn into a state of criminals,” he observed.
“The pro-liberation forces in the spirit of Liberation War consider Jamaat a criminal organization. Even the verdict already given clearly mentioned that Jamaat-e-Islami is a criminal organization,” he said.
He also said “the party should be banned as they had not only committed criminal offence in 1971 but also are committing the same activities in the country.”
Eminent cultural personality Nasiruddin Yousuf said, “It is unfortunate that it has taken 42 years to term Jamaat as a criminal organization.”
“Jamaat committed crimes against humanity during the liberation war and tens of thousands of people are the witnesses of it. So it should be banned, ” he added.
“If the party continues the same criminal activities like they committed in 1971, the future generation would face terrible situation and the country would turn into Afghanistan,” he opined.
Liberation War Museum Trustee Mofidul Haque said, the politics of Jamaat should be banned considering the tribunal verdict as it termed the Jamaat as a criminal organization.
He also said that the government should take quick step to ban the anti-liberation organization.
-With The Independent input
