DHAKA: Bangladesh on Sunday reinstated the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist political party, allowing it to participate in future elections for the first time in over a decade.
The Supreme Court overturned the earlier cancellation of the party’s registration, instructing the Election Commission to process it in line with legal procedures. “The Election Commission is directed to deal with the registration of that party in accordance with law,” confirmed commission lawyer Towhidul Islam while speaking to AFP.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s legal representative, Shishir Monir, welcomed the decision, stating it would help foster a “democratic, inclusive, and multi-party system” in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million. “We hope that Bangladeshis, regardless of their ethnicity or religious identity, will vote for Jamaat, and that the parliament will be vibrant with constructive debates,” Monir told the media.
The party, which had its registration revoked by a 2013 high court ruling under then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, filed an appeal for review following her ouster in August last year.
The Supreme Court’s decision also follows a recent ruling on May 27 that overturned the war crimes conviction of senior Jamaat leader A.T.M. Azharul Islam, who had been sentenced to death in 2014 for his alleged involvement in rape, murder, and genocide during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Jamaat-e-Islami had supported Pakistan during the conflict—an affiliation that still provokes strong emotions among many in Bangladesh. The party had long been at odds with the Awami League, led by Hasina’s father and Bangladesh’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
During her tenure, Hasina banned Jamaat and led a sweeping crackdown on its leadership. Meanwhile, in May this year, the interim government banned Hasina’s own Awami League, pending a verdict in a case linked to the violent suppression of mass protests that led to her removal from office.
