People Respect Sayedee, So They're Protesting The Verdict'- interview with Bangla Jamaat-e-Islami leader

[email protected] (Pranay Sharma, Outlook)
March 14, 2013
The Jamaat-e-Islami is said to be the cause of the present instability in Bangladesh. Many of its leaders are now being tried for alleged crimes committed during the liberation struggle of 1971. There is also a growing mood in the country to isolate and ban the Jamaat. The acting secretary-general of Bangladesh Jam­aat-e-Islami (BJI), Rafiqul Islam Khan, spoke to Pranay Sharma about the current situation, the organisation and what lies in the coming days.
rafiqul_islam_khan

Much of this violence is being attributed to the Jamaat-e-Islami. Is that correct?

The violence is being attributed to Jamaat-e-Islami without any justification. BJI is a lawful political party with representation in Parliament. For the last three years, BJI has not being given permission to organize peaceful meetings and protests. All its party offices are controlled by the security forces. Nobody is allowed to go into the party office without the consent of police. Party leaders and activists are being indiscriminately arrested. Every time the BJI has organized a peaceful protest, the police have fired upon the unarmed and peaceful protestors. It is the police that are causing the violence.

Do you respect the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) against the accused BJI leaders?

The ICT proceedings are totally flawed. This is not only my opinion but that of the international community as well. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Bar Association and a number of others have expressed such views. Even the former attorney general of India has opined that the Act under which the ICT operates is 'ultra virus” to the Constitution of Bangladesh. Many of them have asked for a retrial following the resignation of some of the judges of the Tribunal and appointment of new members in it. Therefore, the ICT has lost all credibility. Even though our attempt for a retrial was rejected we will still go for an appeal to the Supreme Court against the verdict.

Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed the break-up of Pakistan and was against the creation of Bangladesh. When you look back do you regret having taken that stand?

Jamaat-e-Islami had politically opposed the breakup of Pakistan in the same way the Indian National Congress had opposed the division of India in 1947. It was a political act by BJI. The leadership of BJI was in no way involved with the war crimes or “crimes against humanity” as alleged or otherwise.

Many people see the Jamaat-e-Islami as a subversive and religious fundamentalist force and feel that it has no place in a democracy like Bangladesh. How do you react to that?

Jamaat-e-Islami is a democratic political party with Islamic values as its ideals. It wants to establish social, economic and political justice. It is the only political party in Bangladesh which practices intra-party democracy. Its Ameer (head) is elected every four years and its district committee members are elected every two years. BJI believes in constitutionalism and rule of law. It has participated in all the elections in Bangladesh since 1979 and has representations in all parliaments since then.

What are the chances of the Jamaat-e-Islami being banned as an organization? How will you react if that does happen?

In the event BJI is banned as a political party, we will challenge the ban before the High Court and thereafter in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. We will act in a dignified and in a Constitutional manner.

What has been the impact of BJI in Bangladesh so far and what fundamental changes have you brought in the country?

Corruption is endemic in Bangladesh and it hinders Bangladesh's growth and prosperity. Even the arch enemy of BJI praises its leadership for being honest. The two ministers of the BJI in the last BNP-BJI coalition government had earned the reputation of being competent and un-corrupt.

Why are your relations with the Awami League so hostile? You did work with each other in past, why has it become so hostile now?

During the democratic movement in the '80s, and the movement for incorporating the care taker Government in the Constitution, in the mid 90s, BJI and Awami League had fought hand in hand. Awami League has turned against BJI only because of its partnership with Bangladesh Nationalist Party. This Partnership is perceived by Awami League as a threat that can stop it from coming to power.

How are your relations with the US which has been waging a global war on terror against many Islamic organizations and other European countries?

Our relationship with the countries of the European Union and United States is a cordial one. Our representatives are regular visitors to the UK & USA. We are also in contact with the civil society of these two countries. Occasionally we also send our representatives to visit other European Countries as well.

You did enjoy close relations with Pakistan at one time, how are your relations now?

BJI believes in friendly relationship with all the countries.

The Jamaat-e-Islami is seen in India as an anti-Indian force which is committed to spreading hatred and anti-Indian feelings among the people of Bangladesh. Shouldn't India be worried about the Jamaat in Bangladesh?

India is a big country and a neighbour. You cannot change your neighbour and you should not ignore your neighbour. BJI always wants friendly relationship with India on the basis of mutual respect and trust. This trust can only be built if the outstanding problems between the two countries namely: exchange of territories, water sharing, border trade, International trade etc are solved fairly and justly. BJI would be very happy to engage with Indian establishment and Indian civil society.

Could you explain why among others, Hindus are being targeted by the Jamaat cadres?

It is a travesty of truth to say that Hindus are being targeted by BJI members. It is quite the contrary. In time of need, BJI has always stood by its Hindu brothers and sisters who are respectable citizens of Bangladesh. BJI in its recent statement has condemned the attack on Hindus and in their temples. It has asked its work force to protect the life and property of Hindus and all other religious and ethnic minorities.

What kind of relations do you see with India in future?

Good, friendly, working and neighbourly relationship.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 6,2020

Washington D.C., Feb 6: An international team of astronomers has found an unusual monster galaxy that existed about 12 billion years ago when the universe was only 1.8 billion years old.

The team of astronomers was led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside.

Dubbed XMM-2599, the galaxy formed stars at a high rate and then died. Why it suddenly stopped forming stars is unclear.

"Even before the universe was 2 billion years old, XMM-2599 had already formed a mass of more than 300 billion suns, making it an ultra massive galaxy," said Benjamin Forrest, a postdoctoral researcher in the UC Riverside Department of Physics and Astronomy and the study's lead author.

"More remarkably, we show that XMM-2599 formed most of its stars in a huge frenzy when the universe was less than 1 billion years old and then became inactive by the time the universe was only 1.8 billion years old," Forrest added.

The team used spectroscopic observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory's powerful Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infrared Exploration or MOSFIRE, to make detailed measurements of XMM-2599 and precisely quantify its distance.

The study results appear in the Astrophysical Journal.

"In this epoch, very few galaxies have stopped forming stars, and none are as massive as XMM-2599," said Gillian Wilson, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCR in whose lab Forrest works.

"The mere existence of ultramassive galaxies like XMM-2599 proves quite a challenge to numerical models. Even though such massive galaxies are incredibly rare at this epoch, the models do predict them."

"The predicted galaxies, however, are expected to be actively forming stars. What makes XMM-2599 so interesting, unusual, and surprising is that it is no longer forming stars, perhaps because it stopped getting fuel or its black hole began to turn on. Our results call for changes in how models turn off star formation in early galaxies," the professor stated.

The research team found XMM-2599 formed more than 1,000 solar masses a year in stars at its peak of activity -- an extremely high rate of star formation. In contrast, the Milky Way forms about one new star a year.

"XMM-2599 may be a descendant of a population of highly star-forming dusty galaxies in the very early universe that new infrared telescopes have recently discovered," said Danilo Marchesini, an associate professor of astronomy at Tufts University and a co-author on the study.

"We have caught XMM-2599 in its inactive phase," Wilson said, who led the W. M. Keck Observatory data acquisition
Co-author Michael Cooper, a professor of astronomy at UC Irvine, said this outcome is a strong possibility.

"Perhaps during the following 11.7 billion years of cosmic history, XMM-2599 will become the central member of one of the brightest and most massive clusters of galaxies in the local universe," he said.

"Alternatively, it could continue to exist in isolation. Or we could have a scenario that lies between these two outcomes," he stated.

The study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 18,2020

New Delhi, Jul 18: India's national cybersecurity agency CERT-in, has warned people of credit card skimming spreading across the world through e-commerce platforms.

Attackers are typically targeting e-commerce sites because of their wide presence, popularity and the environment LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP), the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) said in a notice on Thursday.

Recently, attackers targeted sites which were hosted on Microsoft's IIS server running with the ASP.NET web application framework, it said.

Some of the sites affected by the attack were found to be running ASP.NET version 4.0.30319, which is no longer officially supported by Microsoft and may contain multiple vulnerabilities, CERT-In said.

The notice also included a list of best practices for website developers including the use of the latest version of ASP.NET web framework, IIS web server and database server.

The advisory is based on research by Malwarebytes which found that this skimming campaign likely began sometime in April this year.

Credit card skimming has become a popular activity for cybercriminals over the past few years, and the increase in online shopping during the pandemic means additional business for them, too, Malwarebytes said in a blog post, adding that attackers do not need to limit themselves to the most popular e-commerce platforms.

Researchers from global cybersecurity and anti-virus brand Kaspersky had warned in December last year that more cybercriminal groups will target online payment processing systems in 2020. 

It said that over the past couple of years, so-called JS-skimming (the method of stealing of payment card data from online stores), has gained immense popularity among attackers. 

Kaspersky researchers in their report said they are currently aware of at least 10 different actors involved in these type of attacks.

Their number will continue to grow during the next year, the report said, adding that the most dangerous attacks will be on companies that provide services such as e-commerce as-a-service, which will lead to the compromise of thousands of companies.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 20,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 20: An American bride asked for money from her invitees so that they can be on the 'exclusive guest list'.

Weddings can be surely expensive. But is it feasible for one to charge the guests to make up for the expenses?

According to Fox News, that is exactly what happened in a recent American wedding. A 19-year-old shared on Reddit that her cousin was getting married on Sunday and announced that she would charge 50 dollars to those who wanted to attend her wedding.

"She said that they can Venmo her money so there won't be no [sic] problems and everyone who paid will be added onto the 'exclusive guest list' which basically means you won't have to wait in line while other guests pay," wrote the user named DaintySheep.

While she refused to pay for entry into her cousin's wedding the bride-to-be contacted the elders in the family which ended up in an embarrassing situation.

"She wanted to get the money she spent on her special day back. I told her I wouldn't be able to come because this was outrageous and that I wish her well on her special day. She contacted my aunt and my aunt called me cheap and rude. My parents offered to pay for my entry, but I refused," continued the disheartened girl.

While in almost every nook and cranny of the world gifting the bride-groom with money is a tradition, asking for money from friends and family to replenish the money spent on a wedding is can be said to be a rare scenario.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.