Bangladesh interim government lifts ban on Jamaat-e-Islami

Dhaka Bangladesh’s interim government on Wednesday lifted a ban that was imposed on Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, and its student wing Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir by the previous Sheikh Hasina regime.

The home ministry issued a gazette notification withdrawing the ban on the party and all its affiliated organisations with immediate effect.

The notification, issued in Bengali, said the ban was being lifted because no specific evidence was found of the involvement of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliated organisations in acts of “terrorism and violence”. It further stated that the interim government believes that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliated organisations are not involved in “any terrorist activities”.

Four days before former premier Sheikh Hasina stepped down and fled to India, her government had banned the party and its affiliated organisations through an executive order issued on August 1. At that time, Hasina’s government had accused the Jamaat of being involved in violent protests across the country.

The protests in July, which were spearheaded by students, were launched to oppose a controversial quota in government jobs. Though the quota was struck down by a court, the protests were transformed into a movement for the ouster of Hasina.

Bangladesh’s Election Commission had revoked the registration of the Jamaat in 2013 after a high court verdict. Later, Jamaat appealed against the high court’s verdict. However, the appellate division of the Supreme Court upheld the verdict and dismissed the Jamaat’s appeal in 2023.

The party, earlier known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, has been banned four times since its founding in 1941 in pre-partition British India under the leadership of Syed Abul Ala Maududi. After the establishment of new constitutions in Pakistan in 1959 and 1964, and in independent Bangladesh in 1972, the Jamaat was banned along with all other religious parties.

The Jamaat was a key ally of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), with its members holding ministerial positions in coalition governments during 2001-05. Reacting to the lifting of the ban on Wednesday, BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir expressed his party’s opposition to the banning of any political party. “We are not in favour of banning any political party. The Constitution permits people to support any party, but it must support freedom and sovereignty,” he told journalists.

Hasina’s government had charged several Jamaat leaders with crimes during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. Between 2013 and 2016, five Jamaat leaders, including party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, were convicted and hanged.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman told PTI that his party seeks harmonious and stable ties with India but New Delhi needs to reconsider its foreign policy for the neighbourhood. Rahman also said the Jamaat supports close India-Bangladesh relations but also wants Bangladesh to have strong and balanced ties with Pakistan, China and the US.

Rahman claimed India’s perception of the Jamaat as an “anti-India” party is mistaken and said the party is not against any country. “We are pro-Bangladesh and are solely interested in safeguarding the interests of Bangladesh,” he said.

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