Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh,
a terrorist outfit, orchestrated a mob attack on ruling Awami League’s
anti-shutdown procession by supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Hifazat-e
Islam on Thursday (11th April
2013) left at least three people dead in Chittagong’s
Fatickchari Upazila. The Islami Chhatra Shibir, Jamaat’s student front, had
called the shutdown for Thursday demanding release of their President Delwar
Hussen. Witnesses said, reports
news media, the procession was attacked near Kazir Haat under Bhujpur Police
Station at around 1:30pm following a
call made on the loudspeakers of a mosque in the area. Three firefighters were
also attacked as they tried to extinguish the fire of the vehicles, and a fire
service vehicle was vandalised by the attackers. When the procession neared
Bhujpur, an announcement was made from the loudspeakers of Kazir Haat’s ‘Boro
Madrassa’ mosque saying criminals were approaching to attack the madrasa, ASP
AFM Nizam Uddin of Hathazari circle said quoting witnesses. Students of the
madrasa and local Jamaat supporters began hurling brickbats at the procession
and attacked them with bamboo sticks and sharp weapons.
Regarding the incident, one of the leading dailies
of Bangladesh reports,
Local Jamaat-Shibir men, including Bhujpur union parishad Chairman Shafiul Alam
Nuri, were involved in Thursday’s attacks on law enforcers and an Awami League
procession in the union, according to primary police investigation. Nuri and 34
others of more than 5,000 accused in the case filed in connection with the
attack were produced before a Chittagong
court yesterday.... “From footage, local sources and witnesses, we have
confirmed that Jamaat-Shibir men, particularly the Bhujpur union parishad
chairman, and its member Taskeer, were involved in the attack,” he said. On
Thursday, alleged Jamaat-Shibir men, joined by several thousand villagers,
attacked an AL motor procession and law enforcers following a rumour that the
marchers had killed a madrasa teacher and were about to attack the Kazirhat
mosque and a Hefajat-run madrasa. Three people were killed and more than 100
people, including 15 policemen, four fire fighters and two border guards, were
injured in the attack. The attackers also set fire to around 100 vehicles,
including 50 motorbikes and a fire-fighting vehicle.
Another report of Daily Star, informs, “Grassroots-level activists of Jamaat-e-Islami are preparing to unleash again vicious protests in the country sensing the international crimes tribunals may convict their former chief Ghulam Azam and leader Kamaruzzaman of war crimes charges. The two tribunals are set to deliver any day the verdicts in the cases against the two top figures of the party. Some district-level senior Jamaat leaders yesterday told The Daily Star that they would enforce hartals and other sorts of protests from the moment the tribunals deliver verdicts convicting the Jamaat leaders.”
The reports reveal few alarming
aspects of violence and terror used by Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh
in recent months. It is true that Jamat-e-Islami is using medieval forms of violence
(such as cutting of veins and limbs or slaughtering its opponents and religious
minorities) from its very emergence. However, in recent months, it is using
violence within a targeted approach of spreading insecurity at large to
dismantle the on going trails of its leaders for crimes against humanity. In
this regard, after attacking the uniform and legal institutions, it targeted
public infrastructures and utilities so that the government is pressed to
negotiate with Jamat. Given this sequential patterns of these waves of
violence, it was only a matter of that Jamat had targeted political activists
and leading political figures (such as Faruk Iqbal Bipul, Vice-President of Youth League, killed by Jamat on 11th April) . So what’s new?
-
First; jamat is playing with the emotion of general
Muslims to create mob attacks by spreading rumors of attacks either on Islam or
on Islamic values or on Islamic institutions etc. by alleged groups of “atheists”.
It is important to note that as Jamat has no respect for the Islamic values of
peace, harmony and tolerance- it has no limitation in fabricating and thereby
misleading the mass to meet their violent goals.
-
Second, Jamat has masked its organization within a fake
identity of an Islamic-social-movement called the Custodian of Islam
(Hifazat-e-Islam). They are using this platform to portray as if those who are
not politically linked with Jamat are supporting its cause as it would “protect”
Islam. This ploy is revealed through the conversations between Jamat leader and
leader of Hifazat-e-Islam telecasted in national news media. In this scandalous
recording Jamat was found to instruct the Hifazat leadership.
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Third, Jamat is not merely carrying out violent actions
against political oppositions, at this stage; it is using a strategy of raising
death-toll at any cost. This means, along with targeted attacks and killings by
its killing-squad- it is pushing misled crowd to attack armed law enforcing
authorities to an extent that it leads to causalities at both ends.
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Last, Jamat is documenting all the killings on visual
media and web-casting these to meet two objectives- primarily to spread fear
and then to inspire all of its supporters to take on similar path of violence.
During the latest attack in Chittagong,
when the chased activists took refuge inside a school, Jamat’s killing-squad
surrounded them and brutally jumped on them in medieval fashion. At the same
time, they were making video clips on modern gadgets which could later found on
YouTube. If these footage are viewed by anyone s/he will not have any
hesitation in supporting the position of Bangladesh,
in its move to ban this terrorist outfit.
Soon another verdict will be
announced by the International Crime Tribunal of Bangladesh. This time it is
Golam Azam- a man facing a strong probability of receiving the highest
punishment for being the mastermind behind the paramilitary force accused of
committing genocide during 1971. It is important to note that Golam Azam has been
always treated as a war criminal of the Bangladesh
liberation war by the general mass because there is no shortage of evidence
against him. Jamat-e-Islam did not consider this negative public image of the
man as a liability. In fact, Jamat did not choose to remove any of the
self-proclaimed or socially branded war criminals from its rank during the last
forty odd years. As for example Golam Azam was the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
until 2000.
Verdict of Golam Azam is critical
as Jamat is certainly looking at this as an opportunity of accelerating its violent
campaign. As it is a fascist and undemocratic outfit, Jamat cannot be
negotiated through dialogue. It is high time to ban this undemocratic instrument
of atrocity. Only then can there be a fair chance of practicing Islam in Bangladesh
by real Muslims for whom Islam stands for peace, harmony and tolerance.
