TDS Desk:

The Awami League government did not ban Jamaat from any principled stance, rather it used this issue for political maneuvering, said Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul on Wednesday.

“For many years, there has been a demand from certain quarters of our society to ban Jamaat-e-Islami. The Awami League never did this despite being in power for 15 years. Then they did it at a specific moment. They attempted to brutally suppress the movement by labeling the people’s uprising as terrorist activities and Jamaat-BNP’s terrorism. You have received many pieces of evidence of this multiple times,” he said.

Asif made the statement while speaking with journalists in his office at the Secretariat.

“Our Home Ministry has examined this, and as part of that narrative of labeling Jamaat-BNP’s activities as terrorism, they suddenly banned Jamaat and issued a notification,” said the law adviser.

“The narrative that Awami League wanted to portray the people’s revolution as terrorist activities, we cannot be a part of that narrative,” he said.

“We cannot be a part of an unjust narrative of a defeated and rejected party in the people’s revolution,” he added.

The executive order banning Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student organisation Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir during Awami League’s time has been revoked.

A gazette was issued from the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday canceling the earlier notification.

The law adviser also condemned the attacks on former ministers and other accused on court premises, stating that such violence is unacceptable.

He mentioned that he had spoken with major political parties to prevent such incidents and that while parties said they have given clear instructions, spontaneous reactions cannot always be controlled.