Those Who Commit Genocide Have No Right To Do Politics: Jamaat Ameer

Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh’s chief Dr Shafiqur Rahman says that those who carried out genocide have no right to do politics in this country.

“During the last 15 years of the Awami League regime, no one was exempted from loot and oppression. The cries of the reached the Throne of Allah and as a result, the July uprising took place,” he said at his party’s rally in Khulna on Friday (September 27) morning.

He said the interim government will make necessary reforms and organise a free and fair election to hand over power to the elected public representatives. “The government has to announce roadmaps for this reform and the elections,” he said.

Referring to the Awami League, he said that those who have committed genocide against the people cannot have the right to do politics.

The ouster of Awami League’s autocratic regime through a student-led mass protest on August 5 rejuvenated Bangladesh’s political landscape. An interim government currently running the country says it will organise a free, fair and participatory election after making necessary reforms.

Jamaat-e-Islami, arguably the largest Islamist party in the sub-continent, was formed on August 26, 1941 led by Syed Abul A’la Moududi with the name Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. It was briefly banned in Pakistan in 1964 for opposing the Muslim Family Act.

Jamaat actively opposed Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom in 1971 and was banned after independence. BNP-founder Ziaur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first military ruler, allowed Jamaat to re-enter politics. The party’s chief Ghulam Azam returned to Bangladesh in 1979 and took helm.

Some of the party’s top leaders, including Ghulam Azam, have been convicted of war crimes and many have been executed.