EC should refuse registration of Jamaat as a legitimate political party of Bangladesh
Why Jamaat must be banned as a political party in Bangladesh
Any old civic organization is not ONE and the SAME as a registered political party of a country. How many times does one have to point that out? Yet the Jamaati honcho, Mr. S A Hannan keeps harping on the 'democratic' right of a religion-based political party. His argument is full of holes. And we should all be aware of what the holes are. There is, for instance, Moududi's Jamaat-i-Islami party in India, but it does not take part in local or national elections. It is not a registered political party in India.
Religion-based political party is a logical impossibility in a secular democracy, as I spell it out below. The Indian Constituent Assembly in 1947 made the attempt to prohibit religion-based political party from its Constitution. The move failed due to Hindu Mahasabha manipulation (which managed to insert a ban on "cow slaughter"). It was Mr. T. N. Haskar who encouraged Bangladeshi Constituent Assembly members in 1972 to accomplish what Indian Constitution could not. A clause was included in Article 12 which prohibits the formation of a political party based on any particular religion, caste or creed in the Bangladesh Constitution, 1972.
Why Jamaat must be banned as a political party in Bangladesh
1) A political party based on religion is propositioned on the principle that all those outside the party are excluded from the 'religion' or, considered lesser members of that religious community. Thus an Islamic political party is already a betrayal of both the fundamental ideal of "equality of all believers in the eye of Allah" and the democratic principle of freedom of religion (meaning free to practice religion without any political binding).
[The point was made stark and clear in 1992 Presidential election in the USA. The Republicans tried to paint the Democrats as godless and irreligious. "I did not hear one word at their Convention", said President George H. W. Bush running for re-election and seeking the Republican party nomination, "and that word is G-O-D". Next day the National Council of Churches vehemently rebuked the statement, "It is sacrilligeous to claim God belongs to one party, or God prefers one political party over the other."]
2) Religion is not the same as a political ideology, here today and gone tomorrow. Neither is it a fixed, monolithic, unchangeable, unvaried institution. A big religion like Islam has various sects, sub-sects, and local groupings. When Jamaat-i-Islami of Bangladesh claims to be adhering to ONE and only one form of Salafi/Wahhabi Sunni Muslim school then it ceases to be representative of other groups of Muslims nurtured by centuries of beliefs and regional practices. It is precisely in this sense of ONE fixed idea at its core that makes Jamaat resemble a fascist organization. As a fascist organization it has engaged in killing Muslims of other sects by the thousands.
3) Islam is not a clergy-oriented religion and has no central authoritative body (like the Vatican in Catholic Christianity) dictating its norms and rules. Wahhabism is a diabolically manipulated diversion from this core principle in Islam. Its ignominious political origin in 18th century Arabia is well-known and it its propagation as the only "pure Islam" is downright kufri and sinful. A political party based on these ideas is, therefore, un-Islamic and undemocratic.
Jamaat-i-Islam MUST be BANNED in Bangladesh in order to SAVE ISLAM in Bangladesh.
STOP fascism in Bangladesh in the guise of Jamaat-i-Islam
Not in Our Name: STOP GENOCIDE OF MUSLIMS, Sectarian and Communal violence in the name of Islam --- signed: Muslim Citizens of Bangladesh
From: Farida Majid
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