IT is a pity that Jamaat-e-Islam was not banned and banished in the early days. History might have been different for us and we would not be worrying today. But I guess it is too late to fix it now, since the molehill has become a mountain. The party, which opposed the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, looms large in the national context. The government refuses to negotiate without Jamaat and the opposition wants to ditch it. The chance of a political reconciliation looks increasingly remote.

So, it was a mistake to let Jamaat live and return to politics. Jamaat has been a pretty bad actor, and played an atrocious role in the liberation war. It helped a ruthless army kill and rape our own people. But the fact of the

matter is that we did not do anything to hold it accountable. Yes, there have been political movements, mock trials, lots of hullabaloos against it. At the same time, we have also done contradictory things. We have wooed its support in streets and ballots. The presidential candidate of a leading political party made clandestine visit to its head honcho. For all these years, we have condoned and condemned Jamaat-e-Islam in a single breath.

But things have happened in the meantime. The party has been reinstated in national politics. We have restored the citizenship of its leader and lifted the ban on its political activities. We allowed it to contest in national elections. It has won seats in the parliament and now sits in the government, running two ministries. Who is going to explain how so much water has flowed under the bridge?

Somehow the politicians believe that politics is like a conversation. It can be picked up where it is left off, as and when they wish. But the Jamaat we find in 2006 is not the same Jamaat we left in 1971. The party has built its constituency in all these years, winning votes to sit in the parliament. A portion of the population, rightly or wrongly, likes it. If people are the source of all power, then some of that power has been vested in it.

Well, the popularity of Jamaat is not of any concern to me. Some people will always like some people -- different strokes for different folks. It is the fundamental tenet of democracy. It does not matter what I think of Jamaat. It does not matter that I do not like it doing politics with my religious belief. For so long as people vote for it, I have to take it seri-

ously.

That means it is silly to plead the excuse of not negotiating with it for what it did thirty five years ago. It was a mistake not to settle that score then and there. Then we have mingled with it, sharing the streets for political movements, sharing the parliament for debates, and sharing the government for decisions. We are already guilty by association if that is what we wish to avoid by refusing to sit with it.

In democracy, politics must be met with politics and Jamaat can be ousted only if it is rejected by people. It does not matter how it has happened. It does not matter how Jamaat has exploited religion. It does not matter if BNP has sheltered and nurtured it under its wings. If anything, Awami League has not done any better. They never tried to ban Jamaat or stop it from participating in the national elections, at least not when they had the power to change a few things.

Perhaps that is the underlying reality of politics as said by a former US vicepresident: To err is human, but to blame it on someone else is politics. It is the same blame game that persists, the same ineptitude that percolates through all the ploys to crush the opponent. It is a puerile defence many of us used as children when we did not know that passing the guilt was not innocence.

That underpins the fundamental problem in our politics. We are a bunch of adults behaving like kids, our minds trapped in the endless cycle of trick and treat. BNP has dragged us in the mud; its mindless abuses are showing through chaos in its last days. Power shortage, fuel crisis, rampant corruption, spiralling prices, misuse of power, growing violence, and unbridled greed -- all the reasons why it should not return to power again. Awami League has got enough ammunition to finish the enemy.

Yet, how the exclusion of Jamaat from the negotiation table is going to help anything? Will it eliminate Jamaat from politics if some of us keep a distance from it? Can we simply make it vanish six months before the elections, if we could not touch it in more than thirty-five years?

Rather the deadlock is pushing us into the concentric circles of a political bog, as layer upon layer is being heaved on us to perpetuate pomposity, hypocrisy, and hatred. It does not seem like Jamaat is more than an excuse. The real hassle is within us, those who are proud to have fought for the liberation and now are itching to fight amongst each other.

"The emancipation of belief is the most formidable of the tasks of reform, the one on which all else depends," wrote John Kenneth Galbraith, the world-renowned economist who died last week. It also applies to us if you think of it. In 1971, Jamaat opposed our political freedom. In 2006, it is being opposed by us. Our bodies have been liberated, but our minds may not have changed that much.

Do you know why? The politicians do not agree on the caretaker government. They do not agree on the dialogue. They do not agree on the voter list. But they damn well agree on one thing and that is to give short shrift to the people. Be it Awami League, BNP, or Jamaat. If you ask, they all look the same to me. It is time people should learn not to negotiate with any of them.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.