The interim government on Wednesday lifted the ban on Bangladesh Jamaat-e- Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir within four weeks after the fall of Sheikh Hasina led government amid a mass upsurge.
“The lifting of the ban will come into effect immediately,” said a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Awami League government in an executive order on August 1 banned the Islamist party, its student wing and all front organisations on charge of its involvement in the recent massacres and listed those organisations as prohibited entities.
The ban of the party, which worked against the country’s independence during the war of independence in 1971, was executed under the clause 18/1 of the Anti-terrorism Act, 2009.
The notification, signed by home ministry's senior secretary Mohammad Abdul Momen, said the ban slapped on August 1, 2024 under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 was lifted as there was no particular evidence and nor did the government believe that Jamaat and its associate bodies, including the Chhatra Shibir are involved in terrorist activities and violence.
The decision came into effect as Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country on August 5.
Briefing reporters, Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs adviser Dr Asif Nazrul said the ousted AL government did not ban Jamaat-e-Islami from any policy decision, but wanted to use it as a ploy to brutally
crush the student-people revolution.
“The narrative that they (AL) gave to ban Jamaat mentioning it as a terrorist organisation was not true. The Ministry of Home Affairs has scrutinised that they (AL govt) had termed Jamaat-BNP as terrorist and militant organisations and suddenly published the gazette, as part of their narrative, declaring Jamaat as a terrorist organisation," he said.
“We cannot become a part of their (AL govt) false narrative, where the student-people revolution was termed as terrorist activities. They put all the blame for that on the shoulder of a party and banned it,” he added.
The law adviser said they cannot become a part of any unfair narrative of a party, which was discarded and defeated in the student-people uprising.
“Awami League had banned Jamaat-e-Islami at a particular time with a particular motive. Jamaat had pleaded to withdraw the ban and following that the Home Ministry gave its decision,” he added.
The AL government accused infiltration of militants from Jamaat and Chhatra Shibir in the students' quota reform after the movement turned violent, leaving many dead and key structures damaged.
The AL-led 14-party alliance unanimously recommended banning Jamaat-Shibir during a meeting with the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gonabhaban.
This was the second ban on the party that opposed the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 and its members collaborated with the Pakistani army.
After Bangladesh’s independence, the government applied Article 38 of the 1972 Constitution to ban Jamaat on grounds of the party’s misuse of religion for political purposes.
Since the central theme of Jamaat-e-Islami's politics was religion, the party's organisational existence effectively disappeared in independent Bangladesh.
However, the scenario began to change after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
On May 3, 1976, President ASM Sayem issued an ordinance that repealed the Article 38 of the Constitution, lifting the ban on religion-based politics.
Jamaat-e-Islami did not immediately re-emerge under the name Jamaat-e-Islami. Instead, they opted for a different political party.
On August 24, 1976, Jamaat-e-Islami and several other religion-based parties formed a political platform named Islamic Democratic League (IDL). Members of Jamaat-e-Islami joined this party and entered politics.
Under the banner of the Islamic Democratic League, several leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami participated in the 1979 elections and won six seats.
Through this election, Jamaat-e-Islami leaders entered parliament of independent Bangladesh for the first time.
On May 25, 26, and 27, 1979, a convention of the party was held at the courtyard of Eden Hotel in Dhaka and a new constitution was approved at this conference.
Based on it, on May 27, 1979, Jamaat-e-Islami began its activities in Bangladesh with a four-point programme.
Since then, Jamaat-e-Islami has held meetings and gatherings at various places across the country, including Dhaka.
After the fall of General Ershad, Jamaat-e-Islami won 18 seats in the parliamentary election held in 1991.
The then-BNP formed the government with the support of Jamaat-e-Islami. Without the support of Jamaat-e-Islami, it would not have been possible for the BNP to form a government.
From then on, Jamaat-e-Islami became significant player in Bangladesh politics.
In the general elections held in Bangladesh at the end of 2008, the Awami League won an absolute majority.
Then, according to the election promise, the trial of those accused of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971 began.
Many top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, including Ghulam Azam, were convicted in the trial. Ghulam Azam was sentenced to 90 years in prison. He died in jail.
Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, among others, were sentenced to death.
Jamaat, started its journey on Aug 26, 1941 under the leadership of Syed Abul A’la Moududi with the name Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.
Jamaat was first banned in Pakistan in 1959 for instigating communal violence. Jamaat`s activities were banned again on January 4, 1964 for opposing the Muslim Family Act formulated by Ayub Khan in 1962. The party chief Moududi along with 60 others were arrested.
Of the 60 people, 13 Jamaat leaders were from East Pakistan and Ghulam Azam was one of them.
