The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday delivered its verdict, saying that the Jamaat-e-Islami, as a political party under the leadership of Prof. Ghulam Azam, had deliberately functioned as a ‘criminal organisation’, especially during the Liberation War in 1971. The ICT also observed that the Jamaat-e-Islami could not gauge common people’s pulse during the independence of both Pakistan and Bangladesh, played a detrimental role on the two great occasions, and did not contribute anything towards the creation of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The ICT made the observations while delivering the historic verdict in the case of former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam on charges of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
The three-member ICT bench, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan, said, “We deem it indispensable to get a scenario on the role and stand of the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971, particularly when it established various militia Bahinis, namely Peace Committee, Razakars, Al-Badrs, Al-shams and Al-Mujaheed, among others, in association with the Pakistan army.”
“Jamaat-e-Islami utterly failed to feel the pulse of the common people on the historic occasionsof independence, probably for the lack of its farsightedness as caused by fanaticism,” the verdict noted.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, a religion-based political party and a brainchild of controversial Islamist thinker Maulana Maududi, was significantly pro-active to destroy the Bangalee nation in the name of safeguarding Pakistan, in collaboration with the Pakistan occupation army, the verdict said.
The history of this subcontinent witnesses that while the movement for independence of Pakistan started, the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Maududi, opposed the idea of a separate state for Muslims based on the two-nation theory, it said.
In fact, Bengali Muslims mainly fought for the independence of a separate homeland for Muslims. As soon as Pakistan was independent in 1947, the Jamaat-e-Islami claimed itself as Pakistan’s only Islamic patriotic political party. While the people of East Pakistan again began the struggle for self-determination and independence, the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party tried to resist the independence of Bangladesh in collaboration with the Pakistan occupation army. But as soon as Bangladesh got her independence in 1971 at the expense of millions of lives, the Jamaat-e-Islami claimed itself as a true patriotic party of Bangladesh, terming those pro-liberation parties as Indian agents, it added.
It has been on record that under the leadership of Prof. Ghulam Azam, almost all 233 members of Jamaat-e-Islami, along with its subordinate organs, actively opposed the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 and after 42 years, it had been noticed that some of the anti-liberation people are still at the helm of Jamaat-e-Islami. As a result, young generation belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami has been nurtured with anti-liberation sentiment and communal feeling which is a matter of great anxiety for a nation, the ICT said.
There is, however, no proof that those who played anti-liberation role in 1971, changed their attitude towards the Liberation War by showing repentance or respect for the departed souls of three million martyrs, the verdict said.
“In the interest of establishing a democratic as well as non-communal Bangladesh, we observe that 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 organizations,” the ICT said.
“We are of the opinion that the government may take necessary steps 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,” the verdict observed.
It has been proved beyond doubt that the accused as Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami had exercised his power to form para-Militia Bahinis namely, Peace Committee, Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams by the members of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Sangha. Documentary evidence also proved that the Pakistan occupation army in collaboration with Militia Bahinis launched attacks on unarmed civilians and killed millions of Bangalees during the Liberation War.
-With The Independent input
