Islamist party forces shutdown in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Tight security was enforced on Tuesday as a 48-hour nationwide general strike was called by extreme right wing Jamaat-e-Islami to protest the death sentences imposed on several of its top leaders for 1971 “crimes against humanity”.

Police said Jamaat activists detonated at least a dozen crude bombs and staged brief but stormy processions in the capital in a bid to protect their leaders and the party from a possible ban.

Officials said at least two Jamaat activists were jailed for six months as authorities instituted mobile courts to conduct summary trials against “troublemakers” while several others were detained as the 48-hour shutdown began early on Tuesday morning.

Jamaat called the nationwide general strike to protest what it called “the government repression, persecution and plot to eliminate the party” and a “plot to kill our jailed leaders” under “false cases”.

“We are making a clarion call ... to observe the nationwide general strike to protest the blueprint to kill the jailed top Jamaat leaders,” read the statement signed by acting secretary-general Rafiqul Islam.

Bangladesh launched the trials for the 1971 war crimes in 2010 in line with ruling Awami League’s election pledges and so far two special tribunals indicted over a dozen people most of them being Jamaat leaders, who were found guilty of genocides or mass murders siding with Pakistani troops in 1971.

The two tribunals already handed down the death penalty to four individuals and lengthy terms or life imprisonment to two others. All convicts awarded the punishments were Jamaat stalwarts with the only one being an expelled Jamaat leader.

Two of the accused were from Jamaat’s crucial ally, the main opposition BNP, and one was a junior leader of Awami League.

Prosecutors said investigations were underway against a dozen more high profile suspects.

The trials were welcomed by tens of thousands who wanted justice for the atrocities committed during the liberation war.

But the verdicts against Jamaat stalwarts also plunged the country into political violence with some 150 killed in clashes pitting the activists of the extreme right-wing party against police and paramilitary forces since the first sentence was awarded in January this year.

The 48-hour stoppage came as the trial of the top accused neared its final stage while the government sought to ban the party through the Supreme Court.

The High Court last month ordered the party be stripped of its registration with the Election Commission while a special tribunal trying the war criminals earlier dubbed it a “criminal organisation” for its role in 1971.