Remake its image in the manner of Turkey's Justice Party led by Erdogan
Jamaat: Discontent over Mir Kasem
by Anwar Parvez Halim
PROBE
Vol 8 Issue 51-52 June 11-24
http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=6093
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the only cadre-based political party of the country. It has zero tolerance for any activities within the organization that goes against the party's ideology and principles. It follows a strict chain of command for which it has a solid base and strong unity. In the 30 years since its inception it has not faced any split. This is the assessment of the party's top leaders.
However, speaking to several policy makers of the party and monitoring its activities closely, it seems that cracks are showing in the confidence and trust among the present leadership. Seeds of dissension have been sown. This has been further influenced by powers from within and outside of the country. A split in Jamaat can no longer be ruled out.
In the case of other political parties, it is not too difficult to filch out information from the leaders about inner splits and conflicts. With Jamaat it is not so easy. Whatever discord may exist within, they maintain a stoic front to the outside world. Following stern instructions, the leaders avoid discussing such issues, especially with the media.
The main point of concern within Jamaat at the moment, where all the controversy, debate and differences are focused, is none other than Mir Kasem Ali. He is an influential member of the party's central executive committee and working committee. A successful businessman, Mir Kasem Ali is the Chairman of Diganta Media Corporation, Director of Keari Limied and Country Director of Rabitat Al Alam Al Islami. In 1971 he had ben the General Secretary of Islami Chhatra Sangha.
How it all began
In March this year, news broke out that the names of those enlisted as war criminals had been sent to the various immigration points of the country so that they cold not leave. Mir Kasem Ali is a CIP. According to the rules, he issued a request to the authorities to use the VIP lounge at the airport and on March 24 he went through the VIP lounge, boarded the Qatar Airways flight and flew off to Saudi Arabia.
Mir Kasem Ali's son Barrister Arman was at the airport to see him off. On the same day, Barrister Taposh MP returned from abroad. He knew Barrister Arman, but was not aware who's son he was. Arman and Taposh shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. While talking, Taposh found out that Arman's father was Mir Kasem Ali and that he had left the country through the VIP lounge.
Immediately Taposh questioned the immigration authorities at the airport as to how Mir Kasem Ali had left the country. He also informed the higher level of government about the matter. The matter created hue and cry and the very next day the news in this regard was splashed in all the media. The immigration authorities hurriedly defended themselves saying that till then they hadn't received any list of war criminals. The Diganta authorities stated that Mir Kasem Ali had gone abroad on business and would return in due time.
The government, though, had its suspicions and NBR issued orders to suspend the bank account transactions of Mir Kasem Ali and his family members.
At the same time, suspicions also grew among his opponents within Jamaat. They suspected that Mir Kasem Ali perhaps had come to an understanding with the government and thus could travel abroad to save himself from being tried as a war criminal.
Returning home
Sources report that at the time, Diganta Corporation's Board of Directors dropped him as the signing authority on their bank transactions without consulting him about the matter. Then when Mir Kasem Ali returned, the State Minister for Law suddenly announced that his name was not on the list of war criminals. This created a stir in the party and the suspicions of the conservative section of leaders grew further. In fact, a couple of the leaders even commented to the media negatively about Kasem Ali. This created a rift which still exists.
Jamaat's Assistant Secretary General Muhammed Qamaruzzaman tells PROBE that all this is false publicity and that Mir Kasem Ali called upon the party's Amir upon his return to the country. There is no misunderstanding, he maintains.
Assistant Secretary General Qader Mollah says that he had been misquoted in a report of the daily Kaler Kantha and had cleared up the matter with Mir Kasem Ali.
Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat, Barrister Abdur Razzak, says, "He did the right thing by returning to the country. I advised him to return to the country. I believe that if there were allegations against him, he should face these in court."
Jamaat unhappy with DTV coverage
In order to strictly control the media, the government has put pressure on the Diganta TV channel, just as it has with the other channels. The authorities issued a 'red letter' to DTV with a list of directives and conditions. The channel has closed down its regular talk shows and practiced self censorship where the other programmes were concerned. As for whether Jamaat's public rally at Paltan would be aired live or not, Diganta decided to do whatever the other TV channels did. This displeased the Jamaat high command. In any case, the public rally itself was postponed.
A section among Jamaat's leadership feels that Mir Kasem Ali may have come to a compromise with the government in order to save Diganta TV. The government too feels that if they can use DTV for their own propaganda, this will be all the more convincing to the public.
Jamaat leader Qamaruzzaman denies any such understanding. He tells PROBE, "Jamaat owns DTV from the outset, but we don't want to make this into a party channel. Jamaat believes that DTV should be neutral in its newscasts and programmes." He claims the government is extremely critical concerning DTV.
Quest for a new platform
On June 27 last year, Mir Kasem Ali organized a multimedia presentation at the Diganta TV office. Present at the meeting were Qamaruzzaman, Maqbul Ahmed, Sayeedi, Barrister Abdur Razzak and other senior Jamaat leaders. At this programme, former Secretary Miah Muhammed Ayub presented an analysis paper on 'Quest for a New Platform'.
Miah Ayub is a staunch supporter of Jamaat and was Maulana Nizami's PS when the latter was Minister. In his paper, Miah Ayub pointed to the failure and weakness of the leadership of Islamic parties in Muslim countries the world over. He even criticized the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. He mentioned 1971 and also pointed out that the party's leadership lacked charisma. He said that Jamaat should be more liberal concerning Sharia. At that very meeting, several Jamaat leaders criticized Ayub's paper and demanded an explanation. Later the entire blame fell upon Mir Kasem Ali.
Since then a distance grew between Jamaat and Mir Kasem Ali. He is no longer given much importance in the decision making process. Other than being in the executive committee and the working committee, he had also been a member of the party's foreign affairs committee. But the central committee did not include him in the foreign affairs committee this time.
Mir Kasem Ali had several other responsibilities within the party, but he has been removed from such responsibilities at present.
Several top leaders of the party admitted that such an incident did take place on June 27. They said that Miah Ayub had been a Jamaat supporter even as a Secretary, but he was not a member or a rokon of the party. Therefore, they say, it really makes no difference what he says. And if Jamaat adopted the changes and reforms that he proposed, it would no longer be an Islamic party.
Qader Mollah says, "Even though Mir Kasem Ali had organized the programme, he had no idea what Ayub sahib was going to say."
Another leader says, "The way Mir Kasem Ali or Miah Ayub want to see Jamaat has little difference with parties like Awami League or BNP. This is not possible. Jamaat is a religion-based party. The ideology of the Quran, Sharia and Islam is Jamaat's ideology.
Certain high profile leaders of Jamaat have admitted to PROBE that Jamaat is going through times rougher than ever before. They were under pressure because of the war criminal issue, they were prevented from holding public meetings all over the country, there was the Rajshahi University incident, there leaders and workers were being harassed, they were facing cases and arrest. However, they maintain, there is no conflict within the party. The government was only spreading such propaganda. "A section of the media was also spreading fabricated reports about Jamaat to create a rift within the party and finish it off," says Qader Mollah.
Barrister Abdur Razzak tells PROBE, "Jamaat is a purely democratic party. There are no differences whatsoever about the party's ideology or principles. If there is any misunderstanding concerning any person, this is discussed openly at the party forum. The problem is resolved. So there really is no scope for conflicts or splits." He says, "The things being said about Mir Kasem are not true."
On the other hand, several sources say that there has been long-standing ideological differences between the hardcore leaders of Jamaat and the party's more liberal and modern leaders.This has risen up again in recent times.
Matiur Rahman Nizami, Mujahid, Sayeedi, Qamaruzzaman, Qader Mollah, Abdus Sobhan, Maqbul Ahmed and some others are considered the conservatives in the party. Barrister Abdur Razzak and Mir Kasem Ali are said to be of the modern group within Jamaat.
The conservative group is considered too oriented towards the Middle East. Then again, some even consider Mujahid to be of the Indian lobby. A certain conservative leader, on condition of anonymity, says, "We are not given visas to visit India, but Mir Kasem gets Indian visas. A lot of Diganta TV's equipment has been imported from India too. So he to can be accused of being of the Indian lobby."
In the meantime, cashing in on this distance between the two groups, the government's intelligence agencies are contacting various quarters within the party.
Observers feel that due to global circumstances, Jamaat's trusted ally Saudi Arabia no longer holds that much importance. In fact, Saudi Arabia is rather bent on looking after US interests. But then, the US also views Jamaat as a moderate democratic party. They are also very clear about the war criminal trial. They have said that they will only support this if it is carried out on international standards. The question is what stand the US will adopt if the trial is not held on international standards.
It is also clear that the US is in favour of allowing Jamaat to exist because banning it may give rise to Islamic militancy. On the other hand, the neighbouring country is all for the trial of the war criminals and suppression of terrorism. They are pleased with the steps the government is taking in this regard.
Analysts feel that local and foreign quarters are likely to work actively at creating a rift within Jamaat. If Jamaat walks into the trap, a split is inevitable.
parvez1966@yahoo.com
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