Jamaat-e-Islam responsible for Islamic militancy

By Jahangir Alam Akash, People in Bangladesh are waiting for the day when war criminals will be brought to trial. In reality, the Islamist political party and anti-liberation force Jamaat-e-Islam is behind the Islamic militancy in Bangladesh. Both individual Jamaat party leaders and the party as a whole have been involved with war crimes that took place in Bangladesh during the fight for independence in 1971.

It has been around 38 years since Bangladesh saw independence. During our fight for freedom, thirty million people died. And two million women lost their dignity through wartime rape. After a nine-month-long war, Bangladesh was born into the world, led by the great national leader, and “father of the nation”, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

It is clear that our neighbor India directly helped our fight for freedom and provided refuge for those who fled from the fighting in Bangladesh. On the other hand, the Jamaat-e-Islam party was against our fight for freedom. They organized killings, raping, looting and burning during that time. After independence, Bangabandhu’s government started conducting trials against the war criminals and even convicted some of them. But on August 15, 1975, some army men killed Bangabandhu, along with his family. Still, his two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehena, were on a visit abroad at that time, so they survived.

But now, the war criminals and anti-liberation force want to kill them as well. To achieve this, they are using the Islamic militants. After Bangabandhu’s murder, the army took power. All the war criminals were freed from jail and absolved of their crimes. From 1975 to 1990, Bangladesh was ruled by the military. Thereafter, Islamization began. General Ziaur Rahman and General H.M. Ershad together subverted the 1972 constitution for their own gains. Both of the military rulers put Islam into constitution. And the people of Bangladesh are still crying out for a trial of the war criminals.

Now, the international community wants to support Bangladesh in bringing its war criminals to trial. With Bangladesh working towards conducting trials for the 1971 war criminals, Pakistan should follow its lead to stop the recurrence of genocide and to end the culture of impunity.

So, in order to combat Islamic militancy, it is essential to finish the trials of war criminals – both individuals and the party itself - who were involved with the mass killings, rapes, lootings and destruction during the freedom fighting in 1971.

The war criminals killed our intellectuals, journalists, writers, filmmakers, doctors, women and children, and anyone who collaborated with the Pakistani army. Not only that, but they are also responsible for the rape, destruction and lootings that took place during the war for independence. Thus, the trial of those war criminals is essential.