Bangladesh to ban opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party: Law minister

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh's law minister announced on Tuesday that the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party and its students' wing would be banned.

Anisul Huq told reporters in the capital Dhaka that the government will ban the religiopolitical party and its students' wing Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir by using "executive powers" by Wednesday.

The announcement comes after the ruling Awami League party-led coalition on Monday accused the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing of “carrying out violence" during the student protests.

However, the Jamaat-e-Islami denied the allegations, describing the government announcement as an "illegal move." The government is blaming the opposition in an attempt to "hide its killing of the students," the party said in a statement posted on social media.

The Bangladesh Election Commission has already cancelled the party's registration in 2013 during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League-led government.

Bangladesh was rocked by violent student protests demanding reforms in public jobs. The protests have subsided since the government imposed a nationwide curfew and deployed the military.

The government has now reduced the quota in public jobs to 7%, with 5% reserved for the children of war veterans.

The protests began after a court restored the quote to 56%, including 30% for relatives of those who fought in Pakistan's 1971 war of liberation.

The Home Ministry reports that at least 150 people were killed during several days of student protests.

However, independent sources and local media reported that at least 266 people were killed in the protests, most of whom had bullet wounds, and that thousands more were injured.

According to the Daily Star newspaper, over 10,000 people have been arrested in the last 12 days, including many members of opposition parties.