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The government on Thursday banned faith-based political Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student organisation Islami Chhatra Shibir, accusing them of inciting violence in recent student protests and directly participating in killings and destruction of state properties. 

The home ministry issued a gazette notification to the effect under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, in the afternoon following a decision of the ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance taken on Monday.

The order said that according to Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, Jamaat, Shibir, and their other affiliated bodies would remain banned as a political party and organisations with immediate effect.

Section 18(1)  of the act reads, ‘For the purposes of this Act, the government, on reasonable grounds that a person or an entity is involved in terrorist activities, may, by order, enlist the person in the schedule or proscribe the entity and enlist it in the Schedule.’

After issuing the order, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters in his secretariat office that if Jamaat-Shibir tried to do any violence after the ban, action would be taken against them.

‘Jamaat will not be able to do anything by going underground. We have that capability. We have been fighting against them since 1971,’ he added.

The notification signed by home ministry public security division secretary Jahangir Alam said that in the verdict of several cases given by the International Criminal Tribunal, Jamaat and its affiliated bodies were charged with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the War of Independence in 1971.

It also mentioned that the Election Commission had cancelled the registration of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party following a High Court judgement on a writ petition.

The home ministry order also mentioned that the Appellate Division also upheld the High Court judgement. 

Referring to ongoing student protests, the order said that the government had ample evidence that Jamaat and its affiliate Shibir were directly involved in or incited the recent killings, destructive activities, and terror activities.

‘The government believes that all its affiliates, including Jamaat and Shibir, are involved in terrorist activities,’ it added.

The home minister issued the order after receiving a legal opinion from the law ministry on the same day.

Now that the party is banned, it will not be  allowed to do politics under these names, law minister Anisul Huq told reporters at the secretariat.

Jamaat claimed that banning the party was an attempt to cover up the government’s own misdeeds.

‘The government carried out mass killings by party cadres and law enforcement agencies in the country to suppress the apolitical movement of students,’ Jamaat Amir Shafiqur Rahman said in a statement.

‘The government wants to divert the ongoing movement by banning Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir by an executive order to cover up their misdeeds,’ he said, condemning the ‘unconstitutional, undemocratic, and unjust decision’ of the government.

The Jamaat chief called upon every citizen of the country to ‘systematically protest against the government’s mass killing, deprivation of human rights, oppression, and unconstitutional decision’ to ban their party.

In a statement, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir condemned the government’s decision to ban Jamaat.

‘The government will not be able to divert the attention of the people from the movement by taking these undemocratic actions,’ he said.

‘We are calling on all those who believe in democracy, regardless of party affiliation, to strengthen the movement to bring down the killer government,’ added Fakhrul.

The Election Commission on October 29, 2018, scrapped the registration of Jamaat, a longtime ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, following the High Court verdict that declared Jamaat’s registration illegal.

On August 1, 2013, the HC, in a verdict, declared Jamaat’s registration with the EC illegal.

Rezaul Haque Chandpuri, then secretary general of the Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, an ally of the ruling Awami League, and 24 others filed a writ petition with the HC on January 25, 2009, seeking the declaration of Jamaat’s registration as illegal.

The petitioners argued Jamaat was a religion-based political party and did not believe in the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh.

Jamaat later filed an appeal with the Appellate Division, challenging the HC verdict. The SC upheld the HC verdict, declaring Jamaat’s registration illegal.

Jamaat was founded by Islamist thinker Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi in 1941 in undivided India under British colonial rule.

Jamaat was banned twice, in 1959 and 1964, during the Pakistani era.

The government of independent Bangladesh had banned five communal outfits, including Jamaat, which not only opposed the nation’s independence but also actively helped Pakistan’s occupation forces commit genocide and other crimes against humanity.

The banned parties were allowed in politics during the rule of the late president Ziaur Rahman, who ruled Bangladesh between 1975 and 1981.

Five leaders of the Jamaat, which shared power with the BNP between 2001 and 2006, were executed for committing crimes against humanity during the War of Independence.

Jamaat had representation in Jatiya Sangsad after winning seats in the 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2009 parliamentary polls.

The AL, Jamaat, and several other political parties waged a joint movement in 1996, demanding general elections under a party-neutral caretaker administration.