‘Jamaat will not apologise for 1971 role’

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Salman Tareque Sakil
Published : 00:15, Feb 17, 2019 | Updated : 21:51, Feb 19, 2019

In 1971, Jamaat-e-Islami opposed the 11-point movement and other demands when the struggle for Bangladesh's independence reached its peak.Amid stepping down of one of its senior leader citing party’s failure to apologise for its anti-liberation role and reform party charter, the Jamaat-e-Islami will not make an apology for opposing Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom in 1971.
Meanwhile the party’s move for name change, in line with a proposal by several members of its central Majlis-e-Shura, the highest policymaking forum, has also hit snags.
On Friday (Feb 15), Barrister Abdur Razzaq, the man who led the defence of 1971 war crimes convicts, resigned from the party.
The top leader of the Islamist party, who held the position of assistant secretary general, issued a media statement after sending his letter of resignation from the UK to the Jamaat chief Maqbul Ahmed.
Five days after the 2013 execution of Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla for war crimes, Razzaq left Bangladesh. A British citizen, he has since been living in London.
A day after his resignation, Jamaat expelled its Majlis-e-Shura member Majibur Rahman Monju, also former president of Islami Chhatra Shibir, from the organisation on charges of his involvement in anti-party activities.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Saturday (Feb 16), Monju said that Jamaat has backed off from the initiative to reform the party, including a name change.
“We have been calling for this initiative for quite some time. Much work has been done, including gathering feedbacks from the grassroots level. We were told that significant progress has been made. With all this done, now we are told a five-member panel has been formed,” he said before adding it was nothing but eyewash.
According to him, the matter of a “new initiative” was decided in January.
“The news of forming the five-strong committee was not informed to the media, but only within the party. Which means it’s an attempt to calm the lower ranks. It’s nothing but jiggery-pokery. Mr. Razzaq is a gentlemen, he has done everything in the proper way.”
In his resignation sent to Jamaat Ameer Maqbul Ahmed, Razzaq wrote, “Over the last three decades I have been trying relentlessly to persuade Jamaat to have a frank discussion of the events of 1971, Jamaat’s role in those events and why it decided to support Pakistan and apologise for that decision.”
He said that all his efforts were unsuccessful and that as a result, “those who were born after 1971 and even the many unborn generations who may be associated with Jamaat in future will have to bear this burden".
The resignation letter also stated that he had tried to reform Jamaat “from within” ever since he joined the party that had actively opposed the 1971 Liberation War.
“And I have been continuously striving to achieve that for the last 30 years. I was for structural reform, and full and effective participation of women,” he said. “My reformist views are well known within the party.”
Jamaat, however, says they are considering all avenues.
“We are discussing all aspects, but yet to decide anything,” Central Executive Committee member Syed Abdullah Md Taher told Bangla Tribune earlier.
Quoting another member of the same party body, a former leader of the party’s student front Shibir said on Saturday that the process of forming an organization with a new name was “at its final stages.”
“The official decision will come after the five-strong panel led by Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman files its report,” he told Bangla Tribune on condition of anonymity.
Former Shibir president Monju, who has been expelled from Jamaat, claims that a draft was even prepared for making an apology over the party role during the 1971 Liberation War.
“The key issue within the part now is — an apology will mean blaming our leaders, who have been executed; it’s logical as well as sensitive.
It’s imperative for Jamaat now to spell out whether supporting Pakistan in 1971 was wrong or right, according to him.
“If it’s deemed a right move then the question comes whether to apologise … If it concludes that it was a mistake [to oppose liberation], then it has to be justified and the result would be damaging with the only option left is to dissolve the party, which Mr. Razzaq has said,” Monju told Bangla Tribune.
Meanwhile, a portion of Jamaat leaders and activist suspect an “ulterior motive” behind Razzaq’s resignation and Monju’s expulsion.
A Majis-e-Shura member, on condition anonymity, said the party might oust more people.
A central Shibir leader, who wished to remain unnamed, said, “Some of us suspect a link between the resignation-expulsion and the new initiative.”
Ousted Jamaat leader Monju, however, describes the expulsion as a “promotional move”.
“The party has expelled me, but I have been involved with politics for a long time. So, I will be affiliated with this process [of a new organisation],” he said.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune hours after the news of his resignation broke on Friday, Razzaq confirmed that he is not joining any new organization,
“I don’t know what Jamaat will and will not do, but I have already said in my resignation letter that I will be involved in my own profession,” he said over telephone from London.
There have been continual calls for trying Jamaat as a party for war crimes that include genocide. It was slapped with seven charges of war crimes by investigators of the International Crimes Tribunal in 2014.
As for the call to ban Jamaat, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently told parliament that the party would be outlawed much the same way as it was de-registered as a political party following a court battle.
The Supreme Court has so far convicted seven top leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami with five of them already executed since war crimes trial began in 2010.
In 1971, the Jamaat opposed the 11-point movement and other demands when the struggle for Bangladesh's independence reached its peak.
The party and its erstwhile student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha raised several groups such as the Razakar, Al-Badar, Al-Shams to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation force.
They engaged in mass killing, rape, torture, looting and other war crimes during the war.
A court verdict has termed Jamaat-e-Islami a ‘criminal party’ saying those against the independence of the country should not hold office in any organisation in the country.

/zmi/
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