Bangladesh considers demand for a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami

DHAKA: Bangladesh government today said it would "definitely consider" the demand for a ban on fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami which has been waging a violent protest across the country to halt trial of its top leaders for 1971 war crimes.

Answering a question, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said there has been a demand about banning Jamaat and "the government will definitely consider it".

She said the Election Commission too should consider the demand as what Jamaat has been doing is "pure and simple terrorism".

She compared the violence unleashed by Jamaat ever since its Vice President Delwar Hossan Sayeed was sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal last Thursday, which left more than 80 dead, to the genocide by Pakistani troops and their Bangladeshi collaborators during the liberation war.

Jamaat activists had been indulging in killing, setting houses and places of worship of minorities on fire, targeting the government and private properties and tearing the national flag like they had done more than 40 years ago, Moni said.

She said the current countrywide movement by secular forces against Jamaat and their leaders has brought out the demand for banning Jamaat and the government will "definitely consider the demand".