A High Court ruling in Dhaka has clamped a ban on the Jammat-e-Islami party. It cannot contest elections. The struggle for preserving secularism in Bangladesh has become challenging and no wonder that the ruling coalition led by the Awami League has welcomed the judgement. Secular young voters have also supported the decision. The Jammat’s wings were clipped in 2008 when the Representation of People Order was changed enjoining upon the party the need to revise its charter. The deadline expired in January 2010 but the party ignored the Election Commission’s warnings. It demanded an Islamic state and refused to accept Parliament’s plenary power to scrap laws which were unconstitutional.
The Jammat has now appealed to the Supreme Court but it has to undergo a sea-change to be eligible to contest elections. It may be recalled that the party opposed the creation of Bangladesh and was in alliance with the Pakistan army which slaughtered a huge number of freedom fighters. Trial of war criminals is now going on and has triggered violence in the country. Bangladesh politics is in turmoil and the government will be up against it to face the consequences of the ban on the Jammat. Already the country has experienced a spate of violence. The Jammat is set to launch a 48 hour nationwide strike on August 12-13. It is arguable that despite its unsavoury track record, banning the Jammat was contrary to democratic principles. The gen-next electorate in the country is capable of meeting the party’s threat without a ban imposed on it. Be that as it may, what matters most is ensuring the protection of secularism in Sheikh Hasina’s Bangladesh.