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Demand for Release of Leaders

Jamaat preparing for fresh protests

People in party strongholds fear violence

Rashidul Hasan
After laying low for over three and a half months, the Jamaat-Shibir are preparing to stage "violent demonstrations" for release of their top leaders charged with war crimes.
Party insiders said Jamaat strongholds like Satkhira, Nilphamari, Thakurgaon, Sitakunda of Chittagong, Bagerhat, Gaibandha and Bogra will see fierce protests as soon as war crimes verdicts are given against party Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and Nayeb-e-Ameer Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
In these districts, local people, particularly the Hindus, are already passing an anxious time fearing a fresh spate of violence by Jamaat-Shibir men.
Sources in the Jamaat said this time the party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir have formed "action committees" down to the union level in each upazila. Every committee has an organiser and a financier.
"Members of different committees of our party are often pursued by law enforcers. That's why we have adopted the strategy of forming action committees with those who are not in any committee," said a Jamaat leader in Dinajpur.
Action committees have been formed in five upazilas of Dinajpur district. Top Jamaat leaders in the district are monitoring the activities of those committees. Dodging the law enforcers, Jamaat-Shibir men are holding gatherings in the name of milad and doa mahfil, seerat mahfil and study circles to prepare their activists for the protests. The Jamaat plans to stage protests in lesser-known places in the districts to avoid police action.
It has also launched a massive campaign in remote villages to drum up support for Sayedee. Party activists are playing his sermons in audio cassettes and showing videos.
Jamaat policymakers have already instructed its grassroots to get reunited and launch violent protests if the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty awarded earlier to Sayedee by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
Earlier on February 28 last year, Jamaat-Shibir men had unleashed mayhem in Satkhira, Bogra, Gaibandha, Thakurgaon and several other districts protesting the death penalty awarded to Sayedee by the tribunal.
At least 33 people, including four policemen, were killed on that single dayas Jamaat-Shibir men ran riot in 15 districts.
INSECURITY HAUNTS HINDUS
Though the police in Jamaat strongholds have assured people of taking measures to foil any subversive activities by Jamaat-Shibir men, locals, especially the Hindus, are passing days in anxiety.
Talking to this newspaper, coordinator of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal's Satkhira district unit Azad Hossain said they fear that Jamaat-Shibir men might create anarchy in the district again after the SC verdict in the war crimes case against Sayedee.
Police superintendent of Satkhira Chowdhury Monzurul Kabir said they have been on highest alert to avoid any probable subversive activities. The law enforcers have taken special measures in sensitive areas to this end, he added.
A key component of the BNP-led opposition alliance, the Jamaat was very active during the movement against the Awarni League-led alliance government ahead of the one-sided parliamentary polls on January 5.
The SC could any day set a date for delivering the verdict on the appeals in the war crimes case against Sayedee. Besides, the ICT-1 kept pending the verdict in the war crimes case against Nizami. The trial in the case completed on March 24.
The High Court on August 1 last year declared illegal the Jamaat-e-Islami's registration as a political party with the Election Commission.
Later, Jamaat moved the SC challenging the HC verdict. The appeal is pending with the SC.
The investigation agency of the ICT-1 on March 26 submitted its probe report to the prosecution on Jamaat's involvement in war crimes during the Liberation War in 1971. It suggested banning Jamaat and six other organisations that were associated with the party in 1971.
(Our correspondents in Chittagong, Nilphamari, Labnonirhat, Thakurgaon, Chapainawabganj, Bagerhat, Bogra, Dinajpur, Pirojpur and Satkhira contrib-iii^Jo t h i^ report)