Jamaat now terror outfit

The government has been considering taking action against the Jamaat-e-Islami under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 as the party has emerged as a terrorist organisation, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu yesterday said.
"Jamaat has turned out to be a party of militants and terrorists. We are assessing the law to take action against it," the minister told a press briefing at the Press Information Department at the Secretariat.
Under the anti-terrorism law, the government can ban an organisation for terrorism and militant activities.
Inu did not make it clear whether the law would be applied to ban Jamaat but said a tribunal could be formed for speedy trial of a terrorist party under the law.
Over the last few weeks, Inu and some other ministers have been talking about the government assessing different laws to take action against Jamaat.
Asked how long the assessment would continue, Inu said the recent attacks and violence by Jamaat had been taken under consideration seriously.
But Jamaat was registered with the Election Commission, he said, adding which was why the government was moving slowly to ensure everything was done rightly.
The information minister denied the allegation that the government was delaying the process in its political interests. "It is Opposition Leader Khaleda who has vested interests in supporting Jamaat," Inu said, urging Khaleda to cut off relations with Jamaat for the sake of democracy.
Only a few media houses, including Bangla daily Amar Desh and Naya Diganta, have been misusing the press freedom and carrying out propaganda about the ongoing war crimes trial, he said.
"Other media houses are doing factual reporting," said Inu, calling upon Khaleda to stop her attacks on the media.
Some foreign media outlets are following Amar Desh and Naya Diganta and publishing misleading reports about Bangladesh. "We reject this kind of reporting that does not speak of the reality."
Replying to a question, Inu said, "We are not against any Islamist group but we are against militants. Bangladesh government is not against Islam or Islamic scholars.
"Jamaat-Shibir men have recently unleashed violence in 15 districts across the country. The government has launched an executive inquiry into all the deaths and attacks to find whether those occurred because of the failure of local administration and law enforcers," the information minister added.