Jamaat-e-Islami, a significant opposition party with millions of followers was prohibited from running for office in 2013 after high court judges determined that its charter contradicted the country’s secular constitution, which is predominantly Muslim.
Bangladesh’s upcoming general elections are scheduled on January 7. Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan led a five-member Supreme Court Appellate Division bench that issued the verdict. The primary attorney for Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami failed to show up in court citing “personal problems,” and his earlier motion to postpone the case for six weeks was also denied.
Jamaat has filed a case with the Supreme Court to contest the judgment in 2014 and 2018, when they were barred from taking part in elections.
Ten years ago, the High Court’s ruling nullified the party’s Election Commission registration, prohibiting it from running for office or using party emblems. However, it did not forbid it from taking involved in politics.
In a two-day nationwide walkout that got underway on Sunday, Jamaat joined the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). In order for a neutral government to conduct elections in Bangladesh before the January 7 election, the opposition, which includes the BNP, Jamaat, and other minor parties, has asked that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resign from office.
Why Jamaat-e-Islami ban?
For many years, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has been Hasina’s fiercest adversary. Jamaat-e-Islami has been an important ally of this party. Zia, the nation’s leader from 2001 to 2006, shared power with the Islamist party.
Following her rise to office in 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration attempted to prosecute the leading figures of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami for their roles in war crimes and genocide committed during the nation’s independence struggle. Since 2013, some have received life sentences or been executed.
During her 15 years in office, Hasina has presided over extraordinary economic progress, but Western countries are concerned about political regression and thousands of extrajudicial killings.
An opposition gathering in the most recent part of last month resulted in violent clashes that claimed the life of a police officer. Following that, Hasina initiated a crackdown that resulted in the arrest of over 10,000 BNP supporters and the majority of the organization’s top leadership. At least 2,300 of Jamaat’s leaders and activists were detained, the organization stated.
Hasina plans to run for reelection a fourth time in January, and Zia’s party has threatened to abstain from the elections. According to the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, they will likewise boycott from Hasina’s election.
The Islamist party has long been called for to be banned in Bangladesh by secular forces and others, but the government has not responded. It is also seen as a moderate Islamist party by the US.
The Inception Of Jamaat-e-Islami
Philosopher Abul Ala Maududi founded the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1941 as an Islamic institution in India. Jamaat-e-Islami was founded as a social movement with the goal of transforming societies to reflect Islamic principles. The organization’s primary goal was to establish an Islamic-valued, undivided Indian state.
When the Indian State was divided into two independent countries (India and Pakistan) in 1947, the Jamaat-e-Islami’s goal of establishing a single, unified Indian State was dashed. While India developed into a secular country with a sizable Muslim minority and a majority Hindu population, Pakistan became a state dominated by Muslims.
Despite its geographic separation from Pakistan, the majority-Muslim nation of Bangladesh today has remained a part of Pakistan. They called it East Pakistan. And so Jamaat-e-Islami’s journey in Bangladesh began.
There were a number of notable differences between West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), despite being primarily Muslim states. As a result, the demand for East Pakistan’s people to establish their own state did not arise very quickly.
Formation of Bangladesh
Civil unrest that resulted from the Pakistani government’s demand that Urdu be made the official language of the country, despite Bengali being the primary language spoken in East Pakistan, was the initial manifestation of the people’s discontent.
People in East Pakistan protested against this decision in the streets. After the election of 1970, the protest which had first begun as a linguistic movement took the shape of Bangladesh’s liberation struggle.
The West Pakistani government was compelled to hold free elections by the nationalist movement in East Pakistan, which was spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the AL political party in East Pakistan. Despite winning this election, AL was kept out of power by West Pakistan.
The liberation war of Bangladesh began in March 1971 as a result of this denial of the legal rights of a duly elected government.
The Liberation War
Nine months of fighting elapsed before Bangladesh gained its independence on December 16, 1971. The Jamaat-e-Islami was essential to this conflict. The Jamaat-e-Islami’s response to the liberation war was consistent with their goal of maintaining Muslim unity.
The Pakistani Army had complete backing from Jamaat-e-Islami members in Bangladesh for their operations against the East Pakistani and Bangladeshi liberation fighters.
In order to aid the Pakistani Army’s military endeavors, the Jamaat-e-Islami also founded other organizations such the “Al-Badar” and “Al-Shams” (also referred to as the Rajakar Bahini in Bengali). Islami Chhatra Sibir, the student branch of Jamaat-e-Islami in East Pakistan, is the creator of Al-Badar.
The history of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh after independence is remarkable. Even though the group actively promoted anti-liberation, it was nevertheless able to resurface as a political force in the recently established Bangladesh.
It is obvious that Jamaat-e-Islami had no place in Bangladesh at first. Several prominent Jamaat-e-Islami figures who survived the conflict and backed the Pakistan Army fled to Pakistan.
Many people stayed in Bangladesh to live. On January 12, 1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, dubbed the Father of the Nation, took office as Bangladesh’s first prime minister after independence.
He wasted little time in launching attempts to destroy radical religious organizations. Four guiding ideas were used to draft Bangladesh’s first constitution as part of this initiative: secularism, nationalism, socialism, and democracy.
Article 38 of this Constitution forbade political parties in Bangladesh from operating on the basis of religious affiliation or motivations. Jamaat-e-Islami thus lost its ability to function as a political party in Bangladesh.