India ‘instigating’ Dhaka war crimes trials, says Jamaat
By IANSFriday, April 2, 2010
DHAKA - Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, has blamed “India’s instigation” for the war crimes trial the government has initiated to bring to book those who killed unarmed civilians during the 1971 freedom movement.
The Jamaat secretary general and one of the principal accused, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed said at a rally in Bogra in northern Bangladesh: “India apprehends that only the military and the Jamaat could prevent Bangladesh from becoming a proxy for India.”
The Jamaat had opposed Bangladesh’s creation and ideologically, considers India as the “enemy nation”. Banned after independence, the Jamaat bounced back when the country was ruled by military-led governments in the late 1970s.
Jamaat shared power during 2001-06 under Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Mojaheed was the social welfare minister.
He called upon Jamaat cadres to prepare for “ultimate sacrifice through martyrdom”, bdnews4.com newspaper website reported.
“One must be ready to embrace martyrdom without hesitation. Attacks and lawsuits will not be enough to stop Jamaat.”
Earlier on March 31, Mojaheed told reporters that no Jamaat leader was involved in any war crime during the Liberation War in 1971 and there is no way they can be labelled as war criminals.
