Jamaat-e-Islami ban lifted by Bangladesh interim govt post Sheikh Hasina’s exit; ’no specific evidence found’

Bangladesh's interim government, led by Muhammed Yunus, on Wednesday, withdrew a ban on the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, imposed in the final days of the rule of the now-ousted Sheikh Hasina.

According to a notice issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh, the authorities did not find any “specific evidence” of involvement of Jamaat-e-Islami and its associated organisation, Islami Chhatra Shibir's involvement in any violent or subversive activities, reported Bloomberg.

Earlier, on August 1, Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government issued a notification banning the party under anti-terrorism laws.

Why was Jamaat-e-Islami banned

A party with millions of supporters, the Jamaat-e-Islami, was banned from contesting the 2013 polls after High Court judges ruled that the party's charter violated the secular constitution of the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami party had been imposed during the last days of Sheikh Hasina's governance to restrict the protesters during the student uprising in July.

'No moral ground'

Meanwhile, a law advisor from Bangladesh, Asif Nazrul, commented that the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League did not ban the party on any moral grounds. “We can't be part of that narrative,” said the advisor, reported TOI.

The report further mentioned that Nazrul said various sections had demanded the Jamaat be banned for the last 15 years. Still, the Awami League did not ban it then and imposed the ban at a special moment during the student protests.

Formation of Jamaat-e-Islami

The Islamist party was formed during British colonial rule in undivided India in 1941. The party had opposed Bangladesh's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan and sided with the Pakistani troops during the Liberation War.

Since 2013, most of the Jamaat-e-Islami party's leaders have either been hanged or jailed, according to a report by Al Jazeera. They have also been convicted of several crimes such as rapes, abductions and killings, added the report.