Bangladesh's Interim Govt Lifts Ban on Jamaat-e-Islami: Here's Why That Is Worrying

The newly anointed Mohammad Yunus Government of Bangladesh on Wednesday, lifted the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir less than a month after Sheikh Hasina banned it for allegedly having links to terror activities

LEGACY SET BY MAUDUDI, JAMAAT’S FOUNDER

Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in August 1941 by Syed Abul A’la Maududi, often referred to as a renowned Islamic scholar and a major proponent-cum-influencer of global political Islam.

Born in Aurangabad, Maududi, rather than having a vision for a separate Muslim state, had one to establish India itself as an Islamic state, as per a report published by the Harvard Divinity School.

To get to know more about Maududi’s allegedly radical thought, we refer to what he writes in his book, Jihad in Islam: “Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it.”

Furthermore, a “written evidence” titled Beyond Muslim Brotherhood submitted by Mathew Nelson to a House committee at the British Parliament, termed Maududi’s Jamaat-e-Islami a “close cousin” of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Moreover, in April 2014, when the UK Prime Minister ordered an internal review into Muslim Brotherhood, it was found by Sir John Jenkins, former UK Ambassador to Riyadh, that …”the key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, drew on the thought of the Indo-Pakistani theorist, Abul Ala’a Mawdudi, the founder of the Islamist party Jamaat-eIslami, to promote the doctrine of takfirism.”

“Takfirsm” referred to in the above report, as per a paper submitted to Arab Law Quarterly, refers to an ideology that permits the use of “extreme violence” for establishing Islam in society.

ROLE OF JEI IN ‘EAST PAKISTAN’, LIBERATION MOVEMENT

A policy brief submitted to the South Asia Democratic Forum on JeI’s activities in Bangladesh notes that in erstwhile East Pakistan, the Jamaat was an active backer and supporter of Pakistan and it continued to spread its allegedly radical thoughts until the war broke out in 1971.

During the war, the JeI actively backed Pakistan’s forces and their actions against Bangladeshi nationalists.

The policy brief notes that JeI had created a force called Al Badr, which actively backed and allied with the Pakistani forces during genocides and the famous Operation Searchlights, wherein unarmed freedom fighters were hunted down and massacred by Pakistan.

JEI IN BANGLADESH POST-1971

As soon as Bangladesh declared independence, it banned the Jamaat for its active involvement in the genocide of nationalists and minorities.

However, the organisation continued to work in the background, and quietly spread its thoughts against “secular nationalism” while promoting the idea of “relinking Bengali Muslims with their Islamic heritage”.

In 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated and Lt Gen Ziaur Rahman assumed power and immediately revoked this ban.

Later, JeI initiated its political growth in Bangladesh. The outfit successfully re-established itself, securing 10 seats during the 1986 Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections and 18 seats during the 1991 elections.

After a short setback, due to the BNP-Awami League bi-polarisation, it re-emerged in 2001 as the third largest political party, securing 17 seats as a partner of the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance, which went on to form the government.

The SADF policy brief expressly notes that “JeI believes theocracy is the ultimate way to organise societies and seeks to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh.”

This can be affirmed in the Bangladesh Supreme Court’s decision in 2021; which refused to allow Jamaat’s participation in any electoral processes and kept it disqualified from being a political party, as it allegedly kept religion above the constitution.

BANGLADESH ON PATH OF EXTREMISM?

The legalisation of Jamaat-e-Islami and the release of al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Jashimuddin Rahmani coupled with incidents of violence against Hinduism and the resignation of Dhaka University Professor Abdul Bashir, who was publicly forced to step down over his alleged ban on Quran recitation on college campus, have led to concerns of Bangladesh taking Pakistan’s path towards extremism while swaying away from the concept of secularism.

The Government of India has since February 2019 banned the Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K) for allegedly being “involved in fomenting terrorism and anti-India propaganda”, according to a PIB release dated February 27, 2024.