B’desh bans Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir

Dhaka: Bangladesh on Thursday banned the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir under anti-terrorism law following nationwide unrest over the quota system for government jobs, accusing the fundamentalist party of instigating protests that left at least 150 people dead.

A notification issued by the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday confirmed the ban on the Islamist party, a key ally of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The ban on Jamaat, Chhatra Shibir and other associated groups came through an executive order under Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

“They (Jamaat-Shibir and BNP) just used the students as their shield,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Thursday when Italian

Ambassador Antonio Alessandro called on her at her official residence Ganabhaban here.

A Home Ministry spokesman said that the government on August 1 banned all political activities of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its various wings.

The Bangladesh government on Tuesday decided to ban the Jamaat-e-Islami following the

deadly nationwide students’ protests over quotas in government jobs, accusing it of exploiting the movement that left at least 150 people dead.

The development comes after a meeting of the ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance

passed a resolution earlier this week that Jamaat must be banned from politics.