Bangladesh bans Jamaat,its student wing under anti-terrorism law

The Sheikh Hasina government of Bangladesh on Thursday banned the Jamaat-e-Islami, its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir and all of its front organisations as political parties and entities under the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009.under anti-terrorism law following nationwide unrest, citing the threat posed by the fundamentalist party to public security. A notification issued by the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday confirmed the ban on the Islamist party, a key ally of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party.The ban on Jamaat, Chhatra Shibir and other associated groups came through an executive order under Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan cited Jamaat’s “terrorism in the past, the demand to ban it by the 14-Party Alliance and the civil society, and the party’s link to violence during recent student protests for government job quota reforms” as the reasons behind the decision.The Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed Bangladesh’s independence in the 1971 Liberation.The decision comes over 50 years after its initial prohibition in 1972 for 'misusing religion for political purposes'.
Citing three verdicts of the International Crimes Tribunal related to Jamaat-e-Islami leaders including former Jamaat Ameer Ghulam Azam, the gazette said Jamaat (previously named as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh) and its student wing Shibir (previously known as Islami Chhatra Sangha), the tribunal held Jamaat and its front organisation liable for committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.