In reply to the question why the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and other religious based political groups have not been arrested so far, Matin said that they might not have any link with corruption.

But, according to a Dhaka-based English daily newspaper, most of the Jamaat leaders were closely involved with murder, looting, encroachment, and embezzlement of relief materials, while its ameer (party chief), former industries minister Matiur Rahman Nizami, is an accused in the August 21, 2004, grenade attack case and in the Paltan shooting case on October 28, 2006.

Jamaat's secretary general and former social welfare minister, Ali Ahsan Mujahid, is accused in connection with a murder during a clash between the 14-party coalition and Jamaat on October 28, 2006.

While Sheikh Hasina was not allowed to travel to the United States because she was charged in an extortion case, Mujahid was allowed to go to Turkey on June 16 whereas he is the accused in a Tk 25 lakh extortion case filed by a Sylhet businessman on May 3. He is also connected with the August 21, 2004, grenade attack case filed by Badar Aziz Uddin, a victim in that attack.

Primary investigations into the allegations revealed numerous misdeeds of Jamaat leaders and leaders of various fundamentalist groups.

No doubt extortion is a criminal offense. It occurs when a person obtains money, property, or services from another through coercion or intimidation, or threatens someone with physical or reputational harm unless he was paid money or given property.

But when a person or a group is against national, racial, or religious groups, and wants to destroy their political and social institutions, culture, language, national feelings, religion, economic existence, personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups, that person or group is not involved in extortion.

This type of group or persons might not be generally involved with criminal offenses, but they want the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The world has seen genocide, but the worst genocide in the annals of history, in 1971, could not have been carried out by the Pakistani army only. Local allies of the Pakistan army helped in the attempted extermination.

For containing the freedom fighters of Bangladesh, the Pakistan government raised paramilitary forces from the members of the student wing of the fundamentalist party Jamaat-e-Islami and the followers of the "Maududi" (a political leader Maulana Abul Ala Maududi) ideology. They were called Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams, and they joined the army in killing and terrorising the people.

These collaborators provided intelligence about the freedom fighters and the supporters and sympathizers of the war, and abducted, arrested, and eventually killed them with the help of the Pakistani army. To wipe out Bengali culture, and being on the verge of defeat on December 14, 1971, the Pakistan army unleashed them to exterminate Bengali intellectuals.

They burned the houses and looted the properties of Bangalees. In addition, they kidnapped thousands of Bangalee women and trafficked them to various Pakistani military camps. Around 450,000 Bangalee women were raped and molested.

Members of Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams are now leading various political parties like Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikko Jote, Khelafat-e-Majlish, and many more, while others live freely in foreign countries. They are capable of grabbing seats in the parliament of Bangladesh. None of these criminals have yet faced trial for the crimes they committed in 1971.

To further consolidate their grip on the country, the defeated forces of the 1971 liberation war are now carrying out bomb attacks across Bangladesh. They don't believe in democracy, rather they use it as a way of surviving, and propagating their views. Their main aims are the destruction of democracy and the implantation of a totalitarian state based on Shariah law.

Before the execution of six terrorists, including Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) supremo Shayek Abdur Rahman and Siddikul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, for involvement in bombings, the people wanted to know who the real puppeteers behind them were. These convicted criminals tried to talk to the media, and even sent a statement to the press.

According to their indication, many leaders from various religious based political groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami, are actively involved in the religious movements and bombings in the country.

Due to interference by a former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker, Abdul Khaleque, police couldn't arrest listed militants of JMB in Sathkhira, Khulna. He even personally formed women JMB cadres and trained them at Chhoygharia Mahila Madrasha in Sathkhira, Khulna.

However, everyone hailed the government and the judiciary for giving punishment to former post and telecommunications minister Barrister Aminul Haque and 24 others, who were sentenced to 31 and half years rigorous imprisonment for "patronising Islamic militancy" in the country.

Although three of the seventeen Jamaat lawmakers in the last parliament -- Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, Gazi Nazrul Islam, and Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury -- are already under arrest on numerous charges, none of them, or anyone from any other fundamentalists group, has been charged either for aiding and abetting Islamic militants or for the crimes they committed in 1971.

Giving punishment to a criminal is always praiseworthy, but ignoring crimes like genocide and crimes against humanity is not good.

Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York.