BNP discarding JEI?

 Taken aback by the intensity of pro-liberation spirit and ethos demonstrated by tens of thousands of young men and women gathered at Shahbag, renamed ‘Projanma Chattor’ (new generation squire), demanding execution of all war criminals and ban on JEI, the BNP may have decided to discard JEI before holding its rally. But by doing this, BNP has no doubt acknowledged the message emanating from Projanmo Chattor - when the country’s men and women gathered there rend the air with slogans ‘Hang war criminals’ and ‘Ban Jamaat’ they are not meaning any non-sense.

JEI was the most organized, most active and largest Islamic party that had collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces during the liberation war. Al Badr, Al Shams and Razakar – three wings formed as militia by the JEI – had perpetrated inhuman brutalities on the freedom fighters. During the nine months of liberation war they had committed heinous war crimes that left over three million killed and a quarter million women raped,

let alone the planned elimination of best brains of the soil. Hence, demands for capital punishment for the war crimes and crimes against humanity now emanating from Shahbag are not surprising. These demands are the oldest ones linked to the birth of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of people are now demonstrating against the JEI for war crimes committed by its leaders in 1971 at Shahbag intersection, dubbed by many as Bangladesh’s ‘Tahrir Squire’, because never before has civil society expressed so clearly its anger against what happened during the liberation war. The movement began after Abdul Quader Molla, a senior JEI leader was sentenced to life imprisonment by International Crimes Tribunal for his role in killing and rape during the war. The Shahbag movement soon snowballed into a mass movement demanding death for Molla and all other war criminals as well as ban on JEI. To make their protests more effective the demonstrators have also started boycotting all commercial activities, offices, banks, educational institutions and cultural organizations associated with JEI.

Bangladesh has been witnessing repeated acts of JEI perpetrated violence over the greater part of last three months in all the major cities and towns aimed at scuttling the ongoing war crimes trial. JEI activists also killed Ahmed Razib Haidar, one of the anti-Jamaat Shahbag protesters to intimidate them. But the threats held out by JEI activists has not deterred the youths from continuing their movements. In the face of mass outrage after the Abdul Quader Molla verdict and the demand for banning JEI, the government has amended the International Crimes Tribunal Act enabling the state to appeal against inadequate punishment awarded by the tribunals. Moreover the tribunals can now hold trial of organizations as well as individuals for committing crimes against humanity during the liberation war in 1971.

Now there has been resurgence of the country’s youths. The young generation was kept in the dark for long about the role played by the anti-liberation forces during the war in 1971. After retreat of the secular and progressive forces in the aftermath of assassination of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, the JEI and other pro-Pakistani forces and entities occupied the space vacated by the former and began fabricating the history of liberation war to suit their design. As dismantling the new born state of Bangladesh would be neither possible nor would it be acceptable to the people, a state sponsored campaign was launched by them to distort the history of the greatest moment of the nation\'s existence.

In the distorted history name of Pakistan and its local collaborators disappeared from the narratives of Liberation War. The soldiers who killed freedom fighters and raped thousands of Bengali women were termed "hanadar bahini" (attacking army) without any identification of who they were and where they came from, as if they dropped from the sky without any identity. Not only identity but also full description of what the so-called "hanadar bahini" did was removed from the accounts of the 1971 war. This demonstrated how deep the attempt was to prevent the young generations from knowing the truth.

The distorted history portrayed JEI not as one collaborating with the killers who butchered the freedom fighters, looted their properties and raped their mothers, daughters and sisters, but as protectors of the sovereignty of Pakistan. In this history, the brutal suppression of the freedom fighters, the genocide, the rapes, the destruction of homes and properties, stories of thousands of dead bodies with hands tied at the back floating in rivers were completely removed, and replaced by stories of how the Indian army waged war against Pakistan, invaded its territories and took over its eastern wing.

It was primarily due to this reason, the younger generations who did not witness the extreme brutalities and distress inflicted on their forefathers and freedom fighters in 1971, elected the Pak collaborators and war crimes masterminds including JEI leaders Matiur Rahman Nizami and Delwar Hossen Sayeedi as well as BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury as members of Parliament instead of trashing them into the dustbin. Ironically enough many such war criminals also became Ministers. Now all the war criminals stand before the young generation unmasked. The young people have come out on the street vowing to strengthen the unprecedented movement and not returning home without capital punishment being meted out to war criminals and ban on JEI.

An impartial and objective history of the liberation war of Bangladesh and the process initiated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to bring the war criminals of 1971 to justice complement and supplement each other as an objective and unbiased history constitutes the basis for carrying out trial of war crimes. The war criminals of 1971 did everything to deprive the people of their legitimate rights to know how their forefathers and freedom fighters were treated and the barbaric and gruesome manner in which freedom fighters and their relatives were massacred and their dead bodies mutilated and dumped by the JEI and other pro-Pak / anti-liberation forces. Even after birth of Bangladesh as a nation, these anti-liberation elements including former JEI Chief Ghulam Azam carried out international campaigns to prevent recognition of Bangladesh as an independent country, so that hapless people of the country could not receive international support and assistance for growth and prosperity. In fact these pro-Pak forces never gave up trying to destroy Bangladesh.

Now there has been resurgence of people, mostly belonging to young generation, who are eagerly waiting to see the war criminals brought to justice. They are of the view that trial of war criminals should not be under existing regular law of the land. Not only is such trials time consuming; they also give chance to the culprits and perpetrators to escape conviction through various loopholes.

BNP’s reliance on JEI for support enabled the latter to wield influence disproportionate to its political clout. JEI has benefited the most by banking upon BNP hoping that riding BNP’s coat tail will enable it to ferry across ocean of troubles facing it. Whether BNP will take the risk of continuing its alliance with JEI to shield the war criminals and face the wrath of the people is for the party leadership to decide. But time has certainly come for the BNP not only to discard JEI but also to sever entire links with the latter for ever in order to pronounce its patriotic and nationalist stance.