BartaBangla Report :: The High Court on Thursday declared illegal the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party.
It also asked Election Commission to cancel the registration of the party.
The three-member larger bench of the HC comprising Justices M Moazzem Hossain, M Enayetur Rahim, Kazi Reza-Ul-Haq passed the verdict on the basis of majority.
Among the three judges, two opined the same view while another gave split opinion.
Among the three judges, two opined the same view while another gave split opinion.
Soon after the order, Advocate Tajul Islam, counsel for Jamaat, told The Independent that they are not happy with the judgement.
Replying to a question he said although the High Court declared illegal the registration of the party, Jamaat will survive as there is no legal bar to continue its activities.
Thursday’s HC verdict came on a writ petition filed earlier by Bangladesh Tariqat Federation challenging the legality of Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration as a political party.
On June 15, the three-member special bench of Justice M Moazzam Husain, Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque kept the matter for delivering its order after concluding the hearing on the petition from the both sides.
On January 27, 2009, a High Court bench led by Justice ABM Khairul Haque issued a rule on the Election Commission, the Ameer and the Secretary General of the Jamaat-e-Islami, asking them to explain why the registration of Jamaat as a political party should not be declared unlawful and ultra virus of the Constitution.
AFP adds: “It is hereby declared illegal,” said Moazzem Hossain, the chief judge hearing the case amid tight security outside the courthouse in Dhaka.
A lawyer for the Bangladeshi election commission, which oversees preparations for elections due next January, said the ruling meant Jamaat could not field candidates.
“As a party Jamaat’s registration with the election commission is declared illegal, with the consequence that they cannot contest the election as a political party,” Shahdeen Malik told AFP.
“The party can still carry on with other political activities. If it amends its charter, to bring it in conformity with the constitution and reapplies for registration, it can be re-registered,” Malik added.
There were fears ahead of the ruling that it could trigger fresh protests by Jamaat supporters in the politically volatile country, already reeling from violence over war crimes verdicts passed on Jamaat’s top leadership.
Police and members of the elite Rapid Action Battalion were deployed outside the court in central Dhaka but there were no immediate reports of violence.
The ruling comes after a leading Sufi group, which practises Islamic mysticism, filed the public interest litigation in January 2009 seeking to scrap Jamaat’s registration.
Secular protesters have long demanded that Jamaat be banned for its role in the 1971 war of independence, during which it opposed Bangladesh’s breakaway from Pakistan.
Top Jamaat leaders are being tried for crimes during the war and four of them have been sentenced to death for murder, mass murder, rape and religious persecution.
Protests over the verdicts have sparked violence that has left at least 150 people dead during street clashes with security forces, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday.
Jamaat says the trials are a sham aimed at eliminating the party, which is a key opposition force.