B’desh bans Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir under anti-terrorism law

Dhaka, Aug 1 (PTI) Bangladesh on Thursday banned the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir under anti-terrorism law following nationwide unrest, citing the threat posed by the fundamentalist party to public security.

A notification issued by the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday confirmed the ban on the Islamist party, a key ally of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The ban on Jamaat, Chhatra Shibir and other associated groups came through an executive order under Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

“They (Jamaat-Shibir and BNP) just used the students as their shield,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Thursday when Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro called on her at her official residence Ganabhaban here.

The Bangladesh government on Tuesday decided to ban the Jamaat-e-Islami following the deadly nationwide students’ protests over quotas in government jobs, accusing it of exploiting the movement that left at least 150 people dead.

The development comes after a meeting of the ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance passed a resolution earlier this week that Jamaat must be banned from politics.

The recent decision to ban Jamaat comes over 50 years after its initial prohibition in 1972 for “misusing religion for political purposes”.

Top leaders of the ruling Awami League, who have been in power for the past 15 years, have supported the ban on the Jamaat because of its role in the Liberation War.

The Jamaat remained active despite losing its registration and being barred from elections due to court rulings.

The party was allegedly involved in the recent violence surrounding the protests of the quota reform movement, which the government has cited as a reason for the ban, the report added.

Violence gripped Bangladesh for almost the entire of July when the protests that had started in universities and colleges earlier this month, quickly turned into a widespread agitation against Prime Minister Hasina and her government’s policies.

The government called in the Army to quell protests against job quotas after the unrest left at least 150 dead and several thousand people, including policemen, wounded and major government installations damaged.

Law Minister Anisul Huq said on Tuesday the ban is being imposed because of the recent violence associated with the quota reform movement and will be enacted through an executive order, the report added.