US Human-rights Report: Claims about Jamaat worrying

Slamming the recently-published US human-rights report on Bangladesh, Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee yesterday said the report's "untrue" claims about Jamaat-e-Islam will instigate Jamaat-led "fundamentalism and terrorsim" in the entire subcontinent, including Bangladesh.

"Being in an alliance with BNP and with connivance of the US State Department, Jamaat is still engaged in various forms of evil conspiracy against democracy and sovereignty of the country through their sponsored militant, terrorist organisations," reads a statement of the pro-liberation platform.

In response to the State Department reporting that Jamaat candidates are not being able to compete in elections under the party banner as the government scrapped their registration, the platform said the government never cancelled it.

"Jamaat is an anti-democratic fascist party which does not obey the constitution. That's why the High Court scrapped its registration, not the government," added the statement.

The signatories to the statement include Justice Shamsul Huda; former Supreme Court justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik; Barrister Shafique Ahmed; Prof Anupam Sen; eminent thespian Ramendu Majumdar; noted artists Hashem Khan and Rafiqun Nabi; writer, historian and war-crimes researcher Shahriar Kabir; Prof Muntasir Mamun; Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal.