Ban Jamaat
War crimes investigators have recommended banning the Jamaat-e-Islami and six organisations that were associated with it back in 1971, as they have found the involvement of these anti-liberation bodies in grievous crimes committed during the Liberation War.
Officials of the war crimes probe agency also recommended confiscating the assets of these organisations.
“Evidence found during the investigation primarily proved that the Jamaat and its associate organisations committed genocide and other war crimes during the Liberation War,” Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator of the investigation agency, told a press conference at its Dhanmondi office in the capital yesterday.
The agency completed its investigation into the role of the Jamaat and its associate bodies yesterday.
The six organisations were Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), Jamaat's then student wing, Shanti Committee, Razakar Bahini, Al-Badr Bahini, Al-Shams Bahini and the Jamaat's mouthpiece daily Sangram, Hannan said.
“Policies, policymakers, organisers, directors and all the leaders and activists of these accused organisations are responsible for the said crimes,” he said.
Of the six, Shanti Committee, Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams are inoperative now. The ICS was renamed as Islami Chhatra Shibir in 1977, while Sangram continues to be a Jamaat mouthpiece, documents say.
The agency will hand over the 373-page report along with 2,303 pages of documents to the prosecution tomorrow. After scrutiny, the prosecution will press charges against the Jamaat.
It will be the first case against any political party or organisation over the 1971 war crimes.
Sanaul Haque, a senior member of the agency, said that after the Nuremberg trial in Germany, Bangladesh is going to try a political party for war crimes. “It's a historic moment.”
At the Nuremberg Tribunal, seven Nazi organisations, including the Reich Cabinet, Hitler's paramilitary force Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo, the secret police force, were tried for war crimes committed during World War II. Four of these organisations were convicted, and the Nazi party was banned.
During the 1971 war, the Jamaat openly opposed the country's independence and indulged in indiscriminate massacre of its political opponents belonging to the Bangalee nation, according to a judgment of a war crimes tribunal.
But the Islamist party never repented its role.
About the Jamaat's involvement in crimes, Sanaul said the party took a stance against the Liberation War, joined the Peace Committee and formed Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams, the auxiliary forces of the Pakistan army, in line with its political decision.
Jamaat members, as per the decision, took part in numerous atrocities with the Pakistan army in 1971, he said, adding, "So, the Jamaat has to take superior responsibility for these crimes."
About daily Sangram's role, Sanaul said it published instructions and plans of the Jamaat high command and provocative speeches of its leaders that encouraged the party men to commit crimes.
“So, Sangram is also liable for these offences.”
The Pakistan army and its local collaborators killed some three million Bangalees, raped around a quarter million women and forced about 10 million Bangalees to take shelter in India during the nine-month war.
Hannan Khan, coordinator of the investigation agency, said they found the involvement of these organisations in crimes against humanity (murder, rape, extermination, deportation, abduction, torture and other inhumane acts), genocide and war crimes.
These organisations also abetted and conspired to commit such crimes and in many cases failed to prevent such crimes. These acts were in violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949, which is applicable in any armed conflict, he added.
During its investigation that started in August last year, the agency also looked into the Jamaat's other activities since its birth to show that the party still believes in the same ideology, he said.
Sanaul said the agency would request the prosecution for praying to the tribunal for a “sequential ban of the Jamaat” so that no one can do politics by following the Jamaat's ideology.
The High Court has already declared the party's registration with the Election Commission illegal, making it ineligible to take part in national elections. The matter is now pending with the Supreme Court.
Sanaul said the agency had cited 70 persons, including victims, war crimes researchers and historians, as witnesses and around 20 books, research papers and magazines and even documents of the Jamaat, to prove the charges.
Asked about the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the current student wing of the Jamaat, Sanaul said the organisation would have to face the same fate as the Jamaat if the prosecution could prove that it was the successor of the Islami Chhatra Sangha.
Established by the highly controversial Abul Ala Moududi in 1941, the Jamaat had been banned twice, in 1959 and 1964, for creating communal violence.
In independent Bangladesh, the party was banned immediately after liberation, but was later allowed by late president Ziaur Rahman regime to do politics.
The war crimes charges against the Jamaat come at a time when five of its top leaders have already been convicted of such crimes while four others, including its chief, are facing trial. One of the convicts was hanged in December last year.
Delivering its verdict in the case against former Jamaat ameer Ghulam Azam, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 observed, "…Jamaat-e-Islami, as a political party under the leadership of accused Prof Ghulam Azam, intentionally functioned as a criminal organisation, especially during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.”
Justice seekers and war crimes victims and their families have long been demanding the trial of the Jamaat as a party.
The demand gained momentum in February last year, when youths occupied the Shahbagh intersection in the capital calling for the highest punishment to be handed down to war criminals and a ban on the Jamaat and Shibir.
Following the protest, the government amended the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, allowing the state to appeal against inadequate sentencing and paving the way for trials of organisations on charges of war crimes.
However, some legal experts said the Act had no provision for handing down punishment to any organisation and that the law should be amended again before the trial starts.
The investigation agency and the prosecution dismissed the view, saying the Jamaat could be punished for war crimes under the General Clauses Act.
Meanwhile, the Jamaat in a statement yesterday said it had no connection with the charges.
“The charges are false, fabricated and ill motivated,” said the statement issued by its acting ameer Maqbul Ahmad and acting secretary general Shafiqul Islam.
Contacted, Shishir Manir, a member of Jamaat's defence team, said if the prosecution filed a case against the Jamaat, they would take legal steps as required.
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