The nation celebrates the 43rd Victory Day today with the renewed demand for banning Jamaat-e-Islami and its front organisations in Bangladesh.
The government of independent Bangladesh had banned five communal political parties, including Jamaat, immediately after its victory in the nine-month-long bloody war as they had actively helped the Pakistan occupation forces in committing genocide and other war crimes.
Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (Islami Chhatra Sangha in 1971) have threatened throughout this year to wage a civil war and burn the 56,000 sq-km area of the country to foil the ongoing trial of the war crimes accused, most of whom areits leaders.
Although execution of the first of the war criminals will add to the jubilant mood the nationexperiences on December 16 every year, this timethe Victory Dayarrives withthe big challenge of containinganycriminal and terror activities of these communal forces.
On the Martyred Intellectuals Day on December 14, a number of eminent personalities urged the government to ban Jamaat-Shibir considering them as terrorist organisations, noto political parties.
Newspapers of the newly born independent nation on December 18, 1971 carried the government’s decision to ban the five communal political parties Muslim League and all its factions, Pakistan Democratic Party, Nezam-e-Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan People’s Party.
However, the banned parties, including Jamaat, were given the green light to do politics inthe name of “all-party democracy”duringthe rule of late presidentZiaur Rahman after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
Jamaat has since maintained its communal political mindset.
In its judgment in the case against Jamaat guru and convicted war criminal Ghulam Azam, International Crimes Tribunal 1 said: “After 42 years, it is noticed that some of the anti-liberation people are still staying at the helm of the Jamaat-e-Islami. As a result, the young generation belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami are being psychologically reared up and nurtured with anti-liberation sentiments and communal feelings, which is a matter of great anxiety for a nation.
“There is no proof before the nation that those who played an anti-liberation role in 1971 have ever changed their attitude towards the Liberation War by expressing repentance or by showing respect to the departed souls of three million martyrs.”
The tribunal judges Chairman Justice Fazle Kabir, Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Anwarul Haquetermed Jamaat “a criminal organisation” for its Liberation War role.
They suggested that the government ban anti-liberation people from holding key positions in any government, non-government and socio-political organisations.
The judgement 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 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.”
The judgment further said:“Taking the contextual circumstances coupled with documentary evidence into consideration, we are led to observe that Jamaat-e-Islami, as a political party under the leadership of accused Prof Ghulam Azam, intentionally functioned as a criminal organisation especially during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.”
Based on evidence the judgment said:“Under the leadership of accused Prof GhulamAzam almost all the members of Jamaat-e-Islami along with its subordinate organs actively opposed the very birth of Bangladesh in 1971.”
There has alsobeen a demand to try Jamaat as a party for its crimes against humanity, genocide committed during the Liberation War.
