Banning Jamaat to invite bigger trouble: Muhith

The Jamaat-e-Islami will go underground if the government bans it, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.
“The party [Jamaat] can be banned by enacting law. But it will create a big problem. They will go underground and indulge in killings and other misdeeds. They are good at it,” Muhith told journalists at his secretariat office in the capital.
“The Jamaat is a bloody party … I hate it,” he said.
Asked about rumours that the government had an understanding with the Jamaat over the war crimes issue, the minister said, “It is rubbish … totally rubbish … That was deliberately created by the Jamaat, and the BNP is with them”.
The issue had been discussed at a meeting of the Awami League central working committee on Saturday, said the minister.
Is it believable that the AL would have talks with the Jamaat, he asked.
On Jamaat's hartal to protest the Supreme Court verdict that sentenced Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to imprisonment until death, Muhith said, “They do not believe in Bangladesh. This bloody party should not exist in the country. This is my personal opinion.”
Asked whether the government is under any internal or external pressure over the one-sided January 5 national elections, Muhith said there is no pressure from outside except for the USA.
The US is putting pressure on the government over different issues that are “totally bogus”, he                 said.
Dismissing the opposition's threat of a tougher anti-government movement in the coming days, Muhith said the AL-led government would complete its five-year             term.
Asked whether he would continue as minister, Muhith said, “It will depend on the condition of my health. I am already 81. If there is no health problem, I will serve as minister for full term.”