The Election Commission has decided to bring changes in the Representation of People’s Order (RPO) to debar those convicted by the international crimes tribunal from contesting elections.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said this after a meeting with the commission yesterday.
As per the RPO, those convicted by the national and international court or tribunal cannot take part in parliamentary elections.
On the cancellation of the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the CEC said international crimes tribunals are giving their observation on the party, he said. “The EC cannot take any decision on it until it receives the full verdict.”
Meanwhile, the international crimes tribunals have accused the Jamaat-e-Islami of war crimes along with its verdicts on war criminals on different occasions.
The first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh last Monday in its verdict on Jamaat former chief Ghulam Azam said the Jamaat was a “criminal political organisation”. The verdict also observed that nobody who opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 should be allowed to hold an “important position anywhere in the country”.
The two special tribunals in other verdicts on the war crimes of 1971 referred to Jamaat-e-Islami’s involvement in the crimes against humanity. The war crimes tribunal in its verdict on former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad alias Bacchchu Razakar observed “Jamaat’s role in the formation of armed vigilante groups to protect the unity of Pakistan” and “in atrocities perpetrated against innocent Bengalis”.
