Asserting that Jamaat-e-Islami and affiliated theocratic extremist groups pose an immediate and ongoing threat to stability and secular democracy in South Asia, a Congressional resolution has urged Bangladesh to deny, disrupt, and dismantle its ability to continue posing an immediate and ongoing threat to religious freedom and regional stability.

The House Resolution No 160, introduced by Republican Congressman Jim Banks from Indiana, among other things also Bangladesh Nationalist Party and all political parties to unequivocally distance themselves from Jamaat-e-Islami and other extremist organizations. The resolution, which was tabled on the floor of the US House of Representatives has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for necessary action.

The resolution which expresses concern about the threat posed to democracy and human rights by theocratic groups operating in South Asia, in particular Pakistan and Bangladesh, is non-binding.  

Asserting that Jamaat-e-Islami members have been linked with al-Qaida and the Taliban; the resolution says that the organization and affiliated theocratic extremist groups pose an immediate and ongoing threat to stability and secular democracy in South Asia, leaving religious minorities at grave risk of continuing violence.

Noting that European Parliament adopted a resolution urging the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to unequivocally distance itself from Jamaat-e-Islami; Congressman Banks said that Bangladeshi jurist and political opposition leader Kamal Hossain has publicly called for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to sever its ties with Jamaat-e-Islami.

Banks alleged that various organizations in the United States that receive Federal funds, such as the Islamic Circle of North America, share leadership and are openly affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami. Repeated attacks on religious minorities, expanding religious extremism, and growing destabilization caused by radical groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates, undermine United States economic and strategic interests in Bangladesh.

As such, the House Resolution expresses its sense that the US should more actively engage with the Government of Bangladesh regarding shared interests in safeguarding human rights, religious freedom, and secular democracy in Bangladesh, while preventing the growth of religious extremism and militancy.

It “calls on the Governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan to deny, disrupt, and dismantle the ability of Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates to continue posing an immediate and ongoing threat to religious freedom and regional stability.”

The resolution also calls on “Bangladesh Nationalist Party and all political parties to unequivocally distance themselves from Jamaat-e-Islami and other extremist organizations.”

Banks in his resolution calls on the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and other relevant agencies, to halt all partnerships and funding arrangements with groups affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami and its domestic affiliates, including the Islamic Circle of North America, ICNA Relief, Helping Hand for Relief and Development, and the Muslim Ummah of North America.