Govt set to ban Jamaat-Shibir

The Awami League-led 14-party alliance yesterday unanimously recommended that the government ban Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir for their alleged involvement in anti-state activities.

The alliance made the recommendation at a meeting at the Gono Bhaban, presided over by AL President Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina, also the prime minister, assured that her government will act on the recommendation and issue a gazette notification in this regard within two days, said sources.

"For the sake of national interests, the 14-party members unanimously agreed to ban politics of Jamaat-Shibir to eliminate the anti-state element," Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader told reporters after the meeting, which started at 5:00pm and ended around 8.

"Jamaat-Shibir have recently committed unprecedented acts of terrorism, including killing police officers and hanging [their] bodies. It is essential to root out this anti-national force."

In 2018, the Election Commission scrapped the registration of Jamaat as a political party,rendering it ineligible to contest elections.

Founded by the controversial Islamist scholar Abul Ala Moududi in 1941, Jamaat had been banned twice before, in 1959 and 1964 in Pakistan, for its communal role.

In 1971, the party had taken a stance against the nation's independence and massacred pro-Liberation activists.

At the beginning of yesterday's meeting, Hasina branded BNP-Chhatra Dal and Jamaat-Shibir as militants, saying they are out to stop the country's development journey, reports UNB.

"The incidents occurring now are not political; rather, they are the acts of militants bent on destroying Bangladesh."

She also dismissed the notion that the recent unrest was related to the quota reform movement and attributed it instead to malicious intent.

"Their ill motives were visible; the quota reform was not an issue at all."

According to sources, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon; Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haque Inu; Tariqat Federation Chairman Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizbhandari; Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua; and Jatiya Party (Manju) General Secretary Sheikh Shahidul Islam spoke for banning Jamaat.

Accepting the recommendation by the 14-party leaders, Hasina said her government will take measures to ban Jamaat-Shibir within two days, said sources.

According to meeting sources, some members of the 14-party combine said the government should not lift the ongoing curfew until the situation is normal again, and suggested the armed forces remain deployed for at least another month, even if the curfew is lifted.

Earlier on July 20, the government, on the alliance's recommendation, imposed the nationwide curfew and deployed armed forces to assist the civil administration in ensuring national security and protecting lives and properties following the unrest centring the quota reform movement.

JP General Secretary Sheikh Shahidul Islam yesterday urged the government to reopen educational institutions in phases, adding that the ongoing HSC examinations should be completed as soon as possible, meeting sources said.

Meanwhile, Rashed Khan Menon and Hasanul Haque Inu said the ruling party and the government high-ups should be careful while making public statements.

They mentioned Obaidul Quader's statement on Sunday that there was "a conspiracy to occupy the Gono Bhaban in a manner similar to the events in Sri Lanka, had the curfew not been imposed".

They opined that such remarks may erode people's confidence in the government. The prime minister endorsed their opinion.

Quader, who was at the meeting, claimed he did not say it in that manner and the media misquoted him.

Inu then said, "Sometimes a bishop, a knight, and even the queen has to be sacrificed to protect the king."

Referring to a photo of the six detained protest organisers eating at the DB office, Menon said such activities by a government official carries a wrong message to the people, and that a political crisis should be dealt with by the politicians.

People do not trust political solutions given by bureaucrats, and the statement made by the protesters from the DB office is nothing but a mockery, meeting sources quoted him as saying.

To this, the PM said she will take care of Additional Commissioner (DB) of DMP Harun Or Rashid, who is also at the helm of the Detective Branch.

Earlier at the meeting, Hasina said her government will not spare anyone involved in the mayhem centring the quota reform movement.

She asked the home minister to nab all those responsible for the vandalism.

She also directed him not to consider any criminal as a "protester".

Hasina asked the law minister to ensure that none of those arrested over vandalism can escape through "loopholes in the law".