Shahabuddin gets tough with Jamaat

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA, FEB. 11. The Bangladesh President, Mr. Shahabuddin Ahmed who has often voiced controversial views on crucial national issues during his three-and-a-half years in office, recently made a crucial decision concerning an appointment with the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief, Prof. Golam Azam, who is well-known as a war criminal for his anti-Bangladesh role during the war of liberation in 1971.

The President's quiet but resolute stand has earned him overwhelming acclamation from pro-liberation groups, but has created a ripple in the four-party Opposition alliance led by Begum Khaleda Zia. The new development not only brought an old issue of ``pro'' and ``anti- liberation'' to the fore, but also honoured a president of Bangladesh who has displayed a regard for the spirit of independence, though it has been largely ignored by the Bangladesh heads of state before.The latest decision came when the Jamaat-e-Islami, in line with its alliance partners, the BNP and Jatiya Party, sought an appointment with the President to request him not to assent to the controversial Public Safety Bill passed by parliament. The move has been severely criticised by most of the Opposition parties. The Jamaat sent a list of its leaders which included the party chief, Prof. Golam Azam. But the Bangabhaban (President House) cut short the list, dropping the name of the party chief. This enraged the Jamaat, which made a second request to the Bangabhaban the next day to include its chief in the delegation. But the Bangabhaban remained adamant.

``By doing so the President has demeaned the prestige of his office ... The nation does not expect it,'' Mr. Qamaruzzaman, a central Jamaat leader, said. Even the Opposition BNP secretary- general, Mr. Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, has requested the President to grant the appointment to the Jamaat leader.

In an official clarification, the Bangabhaban verified that Prof. Golam Azam's name was dropped from the list. As the controversy raged, officials at the Bangabhban said Prof. Azam was not invited to Bangabhaban for his role in the liberation war. ``He is never invited on any national day at Bangabhaban, showing respect to the sentiments of the freedom-loving people of the country.'' Finally, Jamaat did not go to the Bangabhaban without its Ameer.

The President's move jolted the BNP-led Opposition camp and took aback its vital partner, the Jamaat, which over the years could prove politically useful in anti-government movements.

After independence from Pakistan, which Jamaat opposed, the first Awami League Government headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman banned the Jamaat, the Muslim League, and other religion-based parties. After the political change-over of 1975 that toppled the Awami League Government through bloodshed, the military government of Gen. Ziaur Rahman, the late husband of Begum Khaleda Zia, promulgated Political Party Regulations (PPR) giving licence to political parties on applications. For strategic reasons, the Jamaat did not apply for registration, but started doing politics with the then Nejam-e-Islami and the Muslim League under the banner of the Islamic Democratic League (IDL), the Jamaat, however, emerged as an independent party following the withdrawal of the PPR.

The development is said to have greatly influenced the BNP think tanks belonging to the ``pro-liberation group'' in the party. This group believes that Begum Khaleda Zia-led BNP will achieve nothing but dissolution by taking an anti-liberation and fundamentalist party as its close political aide.

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Section  : International
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