After Sheikh Hasina’s ouster from power in Bangladesh, the decisions taken during her tenure are also being changed. According to reports, the interim government of Bangladesh may soon lift the ban on the pro-Pakistani organization Jamaat-e-Islami. The Sheikh Hasina government had banned Jamaat on 1 August due to violent attacks during anti-government protests, after which Jamaat started protesting more violently and Sheikh Hasina had to leave power and flee. After Sheikh Hasina left power, the main opposition party BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami formed an interim government with the help of the army. Therefore, now the head of the interim government Mohammad Yunus is ready to lift the ban on Jamaat.
Talking to the Bangladeshi newspaper Dhaka Tribune, Jamaat’s lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir said that the decision to lift the ban on Jamaat is being taken after a meeting with the army and the interim government. In fact, the process of reversing Hasina’s decisions started after she fled the country on August 5. BNP leader Khaleda Zia, who was serving a 17-year jail sentence, was released in a meeting between the army chief, political parties and the president on August 5. Jamaat-e-Islami is currently formally banned, which will soon be lifted by the government.
Jamaat is a radical Islamist and pro-Pakistan organization. In the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence, it supported the Pakistani army. Apart from this, this organization has also been associated with the attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh. Amidst the protests against Sheikh Hasina, people associated with Jamaat continuously attacked Hindus, due to which it was also banned. But this ban did not have much effect. After Hasina fled the country, violent incidents took place against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh. Even in 2001, when there was violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, the name of Jamaat-e-Islami came up in that too.
In 2001, Jamaat formed the government in Bangladesh along with BNP. After their victory, workers of both these parties started committing violence against minorities. In this violence, hundreds of women were raped and their houses were burnt and if they protested, they were killed. Later when Sheikh Hasina’s government came back to power, an investigation was conducted against this violence, in which it came out that more than 250 Hindu women were raped. Thousands of workers of both the parties were involved in these incidents.