Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamist political party that entered into coalition with the BNP during its previous turn in power, has seen better days. The three top leaders of the party were arrested this week on charges of hurting the sentiments of Muslims. This has all come about because another Bangladeshi religious group filed charges against Jamaat leader Motiur Rahman Nizami and his deputies for favorably comparing the Jamaat leader to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
Quite apart from the deeply ironic position Jamaat finds itself in–namely being an Islamist and being charged for offending Muslims–this is a baldy political move meant to unseat the most powerful Muslim group while it dodders along, weakened. For behind the recent politics, stands the looming War Crimes Trial, designed to publicly assign blame to collaborators charged with helping orchestrate the massacre of Bengali journalists and intellectuals in 1971 at the hands of the Pakistani military.
Nizami and his deputies were arrested on Tuesday for failing to appear in court to answer the charges filed against them. Due to the particular public mode of the arrests, partisans of Jamaat and its student league, Shibir broke out into the streets demanding the release of their leaders. Their protest following the violently disruptive protest strikes over the weekend, resulting in teh arrest of more than 55 Jamaat activists. (Nevertheless, surely there are other political motivations stand behind this entire set of circumstances.)
Interestingly, The Daily Reports tha Khaleda Zia has come out strongly against the arrest of leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami. No doubt this is all part of the BNP plan to draw a narrative that shows the Awami League, violently turning against its opposition party, a picture perfect remembrance of its past history.
