Assuming different name will make Jamaat 'underground party': AG

Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam yesterday said that if Jamaat-e-Islami men run the party with a different name, despite its registration with the Election Commission (EC) being cancelled by the High Court, it will be considered “underground politics”, which the countrymen will not approve of.

The state has no obligation to give any facilities to a party that conducts “underground politics” without registering with the EC, he said while talking to reporters at his office on Supreme Court premises.

He said all political parties should register with the EC.    

Replying to a question, the attorney general said his office will take an initiative soon for the Supreme Court (SC) hearing on the 2013 appeal filed by Jamaat-e-Islami, challenging the High Court (HC) verdict that declared its registration with EC illegal.

On February 6, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the parliament that the government has nothing to do with banning Jamaat-e-Islami, as a case in this regard is pending with SC.

On August 1, 2013, following a writ petition, a three-member special HC bench by a majority view declared the registration of Jamaat as a political party illegal.

The same year, Jamaat, a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, filed an appeal and a leave-to-appeal petition with the Appellate Division challenging the HC verdict.

On October 29 last year, the EC scrapped the registration of Jamaat and issued a gazette notification to this end, blocking the party from contesting in December 30 national election.