New Delhi: The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has lifted the nearly month-long ban imposed by the erstwhile Sheikh Hasina administration on the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
Barred from contesting in elections since 2013, the Jamaat-e-Islami has found a revival of sorts ever since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh after ruling for 15 years.
The Jamaat-e-Islami has a contentious history, especially as it was opposed to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, and sided with the Pakistani government. It collaborated in the brutal methods of repression, including killings, torture and sexual assault, imposed by the Pakistani military in erstwhile East Pakistan.
The brutal crackdown by the Pakistani military and collaborating militias led to conservative estimates of at least 3,00,000 Bangladeshis being killed, while some other estimates suggest far higher numbers of victims.
Lakhs of women were victims of sexual assault between March 1971 and December 1971, with support from its armed militias—namely the Al Badr, Al Shams and the Razakars. A number of the leaders of these armed militias as well as members were drawn from the ranks of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
However, by 2001, the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party was a crucial pillar of Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government, with two cabinet members and 17 members in Parliament.
After the return of the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina in 2009, Bangladesh set up the International Crimes Tribunal, which led to the indictment and conviction of a number of leaders associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami for crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.
Hasina accused the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir, of being a militant and terrorist organisation and banned it a mere four days before she was forced to resign on 5 August.
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Aims of Jamaat-e-Islami
According to Jamaat-e-Islami’s constitution, its aim is to “establish a welfare society” based on the ideas of “equity and justice” and to attain the “satisfaction of Almighty Allah.” It has the dual goals of preaching Islam across Bangladesh, as well ensuring the country is made into a welfare state.
The Jamaat-e-Islami’s roots however lie in undivided India, where it was founded in 1941 by Abul Ala Maududi in Lahore, Pakistan. In its early days, the organisation was opposed to the partition of India. It argued instead that India in its entirety should be formed as an Islamic state and opposed the Muslim secularists such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah leading the Muslim League.
March-December 1971
In the late hours of 25 March 1971, after Yahya Khan, the military ruler of Pakistan, left Dhaka, the Pakistani military launched Operation Searchlight to brutally put down protests sweeping across East Pakistan.
In the following months, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ghulam Azam and others were reported to have collaborated with the Pakistani army, through the Central Peace Committee, which was considered to be the first collaborative organisation with the West Pakistan government. Subsequently, the Pakistani military set up other armed militias, including the Al Badr, the Al Shams, and the Razakars.
The armed groups were armed, trained and supported by the Pakistani military and drew heavily from the membership of the Jamaat-e-Islami. The first 96 members of the Razakars were Jamaat-e-Islami activists and were founded in Khulna, according to reports.
The Al Badr and Al Shams groups took the lead in the killing of Bengali intellectuals between 12 and 14 December 1971. An estimated 200 intellectuals were killed during this 48-hour period in torture camps around the country.
The aim was to repress Bengali nationalism, which surged after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman-led Awami League, won an outright majority in Pakistan’s National Assembly, with 167 seats out of 300, in the December 1970 general elections.
Yahya Khan and the parties in the Urdu-speaking West Pakistan, specifically the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), did not wish to see a government led by Mujibur come to power.
According to the book ‘The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and Forgotten Genocide’, author Gary J. Bass notes that the staff of the American Consulate in Dhaka, including Consul General Archer Blood, witnessed the Pakistan Army using tanks and heavy weaponry in an attempt to put down the Bengali nationalists and Hindus protesting across the city.
Later, Azam fled to Pakistan after the liberation of Bangladesh and later lived in exile in London till 1978.
Post-war role
After the independence of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibir Rahman banned the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1972, due to opposing secularism as outlined in the constitution of the new country. On 19 July 1973, the Bangladesh Parliament passed the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act.
The aim of the Act was to allow for the detention, prosecution and punishment of persons for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under international law. No individual was convicted under it until nearly four decades later, when Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009.
In 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were assassinated. Ziaur Rahman, who became President in 1977, lifted the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami, and allowed Azam to return in 1978. On 26 May 1979, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in its present form, according to its constitution.
Anti-military alliance
In 1984, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) allowed the Jamaat-e-Islami to participate in its alliance against the military government of Hussain Muhammed Ershad. The inter-party coalition against Ershad, witnessed multiple setbacks, including in 1986, when both the Awami League and the Jamaat decided to stand in the elections called by the President, while the BNP called to boycott the elections.
In 1988, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Awami League and the BNP worked together to boycott the elections called by Ershad. After the fall of the Ershad government in 1990, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, came together to form a government in 1991 as Bangladesh returned to democracy after 15 years under military rule.
In 2001, Zia and the BNP returned to power, with the Jamaat-e-Islami winning 17 seats and forming a crucial pillar of the four-party alliance leading the country. Two members from the Jamaat-e-Islami were made cabinet members.
However, when Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009, the Jamaat-e-Islami faced numerous setbacks including the formation of the International Crimes Tribunal the same year, which started investigating and indicting its senior leadership.
A number of its leaders including Azam were jailed for life, while some were given the death penalty and executed in the following years. In 2013, the Jamaat-e-Islami’s electoral registration was cancelled, denying it the right to stand for elections as a political party.
Through the years, the organisation continued its activities and was accused of carrying out anti-Hindu riots in 2013, following the verdict in the case of Delwar Hossein Sayeidi—one of its leaders to death for crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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