Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Leader	Matiur Rahman Nizami
Spokesperson	Abdur Razzaque
Founded	1976
Headquarters	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ideology	Islamism
Website
jamaat-e-islami.org
Politics of Bangladesh Political parties Elections

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ জামায়াতে ইসলামী, Bangladesh Islamic Assembly), previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (a.k.a 'Jamaat'), is a far-right Islamist political party in Bangladesh.

It joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in an alliance and a four-party coalition government during 2001-2006 and held two Ministries in Khaleda Zia's government, and it served as a member of the Four Party Alliance.

Jamaat was an anti-liberation front who openly attempted to stop the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan, believing it would have existed better as a united Islamic state; it had previously opposed the partition of India. Several of Jamaat-e-Islami's leadership have been implicated in war crimes surrounding the collaboration with Pakistan during the Bangladesh War of Independence.

History of the party

British India (1941-1947)

see also Jamaat-e-Islami

The Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in pre-partition India by Syed Ab'ul Ala Maududi in 1941. Maududi moved to Pakistan from India after independence and the current party in Bangladesh originated out of the East Pakistan wing of the party. However, Jamaat had opposed the creation of a Pakistan as a separate state for the Muslims of India. While persisting in his anti-Pakistan ideology, Maududi wrote in one of his books, "If we have ever uttered a single word in the favor of creation of Pakistan, it must be proved with references." Therefore Jamaat-e-Islami also did not support the Muslim League, the largest Muslim party, in the core election of 1946.

Pakistan Period (1948 - 1971)

After the creation of Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami was divided into separate Indian and Pakistani organizations. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami originates from the Jamaat wing in then-East Pakistan. Jamaat strongly opposed an independent Bangladesh, which it considered against Islam. Jammat-e-Islami willingly participated in the puppet democratic movement in Pakistan during the Martial Law Period declared by General Ayub Khan. An all party democratic alliance (DAC) was formed in 1965. Ghulam Azam was one of the members of that alliance that counted Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as reluctant members.

One of Jamaat's top leaders Ali Ahsan Al-Mujahidi made the following statement on “Daily Sangram” on October 15, 1971 vociferously declaring their allegiance to Pakistan and opposition to the Liberation War of Bangladesh:

"The youths of the Razakars and al-Badar forces and all other voluntary organizations have been working for the nation to protect it from the collaborators and agents of India. But, recently it was observed that a section of political leaders like ZA Bhutto, Kawsar Niazi, Mufti Mahmud and Asgar Khan have been making objectionable remarks about the patriots."

Jamaat opposition of Bangladesh Independence

Rayerbazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1971. Historical photograph of the Rayerbazar killing fields in Bangladesh, 1971. It shows the killing of intellectuals as part of 1971 Bangladesh atrocities.

The core principles of the Jamaat philosophy is that the separation of Bangladesh to form a secular, democratic country was against Islamic law, which is what they believe should be used to govern both Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is also their belief that the Culture of Bengal is heavily influenced by Hinduism and therefore cannot coexist with Islamic law.

These philosophies were the reason for which Al-Badr (which mainly consisted of members and supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami) took part in anti liberation activities Dhaka and throughout the country.

Formation of paramilitary forces

Ashraf Hossain, a leader of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, created the Al-Badr militia in Jamalpur District on 22 April 1971. Current Jamaat leader Matiur Rahman Nizami was the supreme commander of this militia. Ian editorial published on the Daily Sangram on November 14, 1971, Nizami stated that "আমাদের বিশ্বাস, সেদিন যুবকেরা আমাদের সশস্ত্র বাহিনীর পাশাপাশি দাঁড়িয়ে হিন্দু বাহিনীকে পর্যুদস্ত করে হিন্দুস্তানকে খতম করে সারা বিশ্বে ইসলামের বিজয় পতাকা উড্ডীন করবে।" (We believe that our young members will fight side by side with our army to defeat the Hindu forces, and destroy India, and raise the flag of Islam in the whole world").

In May, 1971, Jamaat leader Mawlana Yusuf created the Razakar militia in Khulna. The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna.

Bangladesh Period (1978 - present)

Jamaat was banned after the independece of Bangladesh, and its top leaders fled to West Pakistan. Government of Bangladesh also cancelled the citizenship of Golam Azam, the chief leader of Jamaat. Azam then moved to London, and other leaders moved to the Middle East. Golam Azam then initated an activity of 'Not Accept Bangladesh' (Bangaldesh Na Manjoor). . This activity lasted until 1979 till his return to Bangaldesh. Under this, Golam Azam wrote numerous letters to Middle east rich arab states to not aid Bangladesh in any way. In 1974 in Muslim Congress at Bengaji, Libya, Golam Azam spoke strongly aginst an independent Bangladesh and urged islamic world to boycott the country. Founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975 by pro-pakistani army group and thus enabled army chief Major general Ziaur Rahman(a former BAKSAL member of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman"Book Source: Tinti sena Obhuthan by Colonel Hamid " ) to seize power. With Rahman's coup, Jamaat again resumed political activities in Bangladesh. Rahman also allowed Azam to return to Bangladesh as the leader of Jamaat.

Although, Jamaat members formed 'Islamic Democratic League' -IDL after 1971 and continued till 1979. Maulana Abdur Rahim was chief of IDL. At 1979, when Jamaat were permitted to start political activities again, Maulana Abdur Rahim refused to integrate into new Jamaat and he and his followers continued the IDL.

After the end of military rule in 1990, mass protests began against Azam and Jamaat under war criminal charges headed by Jahanara Imam, an author who lost her two sons and husband in the liberation war. Azam's citizenship was challenged in supreme court as he was holding a Pakistani passport. Due to lack of any credible evidence of why he would not be a citizen of Bangaldesh, Bangladesh's supreme court had to allow Azam to have a Bangladeshi passport and continue his political activities. Imam died a few years later of cancer. Recent years have seen a revival in the interest of prosecuting war criminals, many of whom are members of Jamaat-e-Islami, including almost all of its top leaders. This has been a point of serious concern for the party.

Bangladesh police arrested Jamaat-e-Islami chief and former Industry Minister Matiur Rahman Nizami from his residence in the capital in a graft case on 19 May 2008. Earlier, two former Cabinet Ministers of the immediate past BNP-led alliance government, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Shamsul Islam were sent to Dhaka Central Jail after they surrendered before the court.

The Jamaat-e-Islami party has slowly been losing the confidence of the Bangladeshi public, mainly due to radical ideals as well as its harboring of sympathies towards Pakistan. In the parliamentary elections of December 2008, the Jamaat-e-Islami party was thwarted by the Grand Alliance, garnering less than 5 seats out of the total 300 that constitute for the national parliament. This has been a cause for concern to the Four-Party alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as the Jamaat-e-Islami is their primary political partner.

In a ruling by the Bangladesh Supreme Court in July 2010, the Court found that religious-based parties violated the tenets of secularism enshrined in the nation's founding Constitution, and subsequently banned the operations of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The Jamaat in parliamentary elections

1973 Parliament Election	1978 Parliament Election	1986 Parliament Election	1991 Parliament Election	1996 Parliament Election	2001 Parliament Election	2008 Parliament Election
Party was banned because of its opposition of Bangladesh independence and collaborated with Pakistan army.	Party was allowed to start political activities.	Won 10 seats.	Won 18 seats.	Won 3 seats.	Won 18 seats. (took part by forming alliance with 3 other parties.)	Won 2 seats.(took part by forming alliance with 3 other parties.)

See also

• Bangladesh Liberation War
• Jamaat-e-Islami
• Islami Chhatra Shibir
• List of political parties in Bangladesh
• Golam Azam
• Delwar Hossain Sayidee

References

• "Document of Independence" by Government of Bangladesh.
• "A betrayal to remember" by A A K Niazi
• "Jibone Ja Deklam" (What I saw in life) , a biography by Golam Azam
• "Ma" (Mother) by Anisul haque
• "The Rape of Bangladesh" by Robert Anthony
• "Muktir Gaan", documentary by Tareq Masud and Catherine Masud
• The Nation, "The 'Talibanization' of Bangladesh"

External links

• Jamaat-e-Islami Manifesto
• Matiur Rahman Nizami at Chatham House explaining his party's philosophy
• Jamaat leaders to be kept in custody: Tribunal