Jamaat campaigning against govt's move to try war criminals

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Jamaat-e-Islami has launched a countrywide campaign against the government move to try war criminals.
Terming the government move 'anti-Islamic', Jamaat has started distributing booklets and leaflets across the country claiming its party men to be innocent of any war crimes.
Meanwhile, Jamaat leader Mobarak Ali of Eklaspur village in Comilla, arrested in the capital's Pallabi while distributing leaflets and booklets on Tuesday night, was taken on a two-day remand yesterday.
Mobarak, an employee of Public Works Department (PWD) and a resident of the PWD Staff Quarters at Rupnagar in Pallabi, was caught by locals and handed over to police.
Abdul Malek, officer-in-charge (OC) of Pallabi Police Station, told The Daily Star that Mobarak admitted that he is a local Jamaat leader and distributed leaflets and booklets.
"Mobarak, arrested under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc), was produced before the court," Malek said.
Our court correspondent adds: The Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate's Court placed Mobarak on a two-day remand after Alamgir Hossain of Pallabi Police Station, also the investigation officer, sought his five-day remand.
Sources said Jamaat has assigned its several hundred activists to distribute leaflets and booklets in the capital and elsewhere in the country.
The booklet titled 'Allegations of war crimes against Jamaat and its leaders are false and motivated' has been published by Chairman of Jamaat's publication department Maulana Abu Taher Muhammad Masum.
It reads, "Although the head of the post-independence Bangladesh government, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had settled the issue of war crimes with cancellation of the Collaborators Act, the issue has been raised after 38 years of the country's independence for political gains."
None of the Jamaat leaders had been involved in any killings, rape, looting, arson or any other crimes during the liberation war. Those who want to banish Islam-oriented politics from the country have raised the issue to misguide people, it said.
"They have failed to bring allegations of corruption, terrorism and militancy against Jamaat. Their target is not only Jamaat but also all Islamic parties, people and their institutions," the booklet reads.
"If Jamaat comes under attack unlawfully in the name of trial of war criminals, we shall fight it politically and lawfully," it said.
It further reads that a deep conspiracy is being hatched at the national and international level against Islam and Islam-based politics. Since the conspirators do not dare to attack Islam directly, they have opted for an alternative way.
As part of an attempt to create a rift in the BNP-Jamaat alliance, Awami League raised the issue and launched an anti-Jamaat campaign.
Meanwhile, a press release issued by Jamaat's Assistant Publicity Secretary Nurul Islam Bulbul said as an authorised political party, Jamaat published the booklets that are sold on the open market and anyone can buy those.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=84259