The government has issued an executive order banning Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Islami Chhatra Shibir. This proclamation was issued by the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday afternoon.
According to Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, Jamaat-e-Islami, Chhatra Shibir, and their other affiliate organizations have been banned.
The proclamation stated that since the International Crimes Tribunal, in several verdicts, found Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (formerly Jamaat-e-Islami/Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh) and its affiliate organization, Islami Chhatra Shibir (formerly Islami Chhatra Sangha), guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of 1971; and since the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in writ petition No. 630/2009, on August 1, 2013, canceled the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party with the Election Commission of Bangladesh, a decision upheld by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court; and since the government has sufficient evidence that Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliate organization, Islami Chhatra Shibir, have been involved directly and through incitement in recent killings, destructive activities, and terrorist acts.
The proclamation further stated that since the government believes that Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and its affiliate organization, Islami Chhatra Shibir, along with all their associated organizations, are involved in terrorist activities, the government, exercising the power conferred by Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, has declared Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Islami Chhatra Shibir, along with all their affiliate organizations, banned as political parties and organizations and listed them as banned entities in Schedule-2 of the said Act. This will take immediate effect.
Previously, the Ministry of Law sent a file to the Ministry of Home Affairs providing legal opinions on the ban.
After giving the legal opinion today, Law Minister Anisul Haque told reporters that these parties will no longer be able to engage in politics under their current names.
Government ministers have been accusing Jamaat and its student organization, Islami Chhatra Shibir, of involvement in the violence surrounding the quota reform movement. Against this backdrop, top leaders of the 14-party alliance, led by the Awami League, agreed last Monday to ban Jamaat-Shibir. The meeting, chaired by Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resulted in this decision, which was subsequently enforced through the government’s executive order.
Following the court verdict, the Election Commission canceled Jamaat’s registration in 2013. Jamaat appealed against the High Court’s verdict, but the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court rejected their appeal on November 19, 2023, thereby upholding the decision to cancel the party’s registration.
