Maqbul Ahmed elected Jamaat ameer
RAFIQUL ISLAM AZAD
Maqbul Ahmed has been elected ameer of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, after serving as its acting ameer for six years, according to party sources.
The results of party ameer election will be announced in a day or two. The partys chief election commissioner, Dr ATM Masum, is expected to administer the oath to the partys third elected ameer immediately after the announcement, said the sources.
Ahmed, 70, will be the first Jamaat ameer having no war crimes allegations against him.
He was elected through secret ballot from among athree-member panel nominated by the Majlish-e-Shura, the highest policymaking body of the party. About 37,535 registered members (Rokons) voted to elect their party chief. The election was held at all divisional and 83 organisational district headquarters in late August, said a city leader preferring anonymity.
The Rokons were free to cast their vote either in favour of any of the panel members or any Rokon chosen by them, he said.
Ahmed secured around 13,000 votes, while party nayebe (deputy) ameer Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, who was sentenced to jail until death for wartime offences, got about 10,000 votes. Sayeedi was not included in the three-member panel of ameer, the city leader added. This is the first time a non-panel member like Sayeedi got a huge mandate for the post of ameer. It reflects the popularity of Sayeedi, said a Rokon.
The then Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan strongly opposed the independence of Bangladesh and the break-up of Pakistan. It collaborated with the Pakistani army in its operations against Bengali nationalists and pro-Liberation intellectuals during the War of Liberation.
At least five top leaders, including party ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojaheed, have already been executed for crimes against humanity.
There was speculation over a change in the name of the party and the importance of young leadership at the centre to replace the old guard, particularly following the execution of top leaders on charges of war crimes. The party finally decided to elect its top leaders without making any major reshuffle in the party.
Maqbuls predecessor, Motiur Rahman Nizami, was hanged on May 11 this year on charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. The post of Jamaat ameer fell vacant after the execution. Prof. Mujibur Rahman got 4,000 votes and Dr Shafiqur Rahmanthe two other panel membersgot 4,000 and 3,000 votes, respectively. A seven-member election commission, headed by executive member ATM Masum, conducted the election.
The new ameer, in consultation with Majlish-e-Sura members, will nominate another panel to elect the party secretary general at a convenient time. Maqbul worked as acting ameer of the Jamaat for about six years following the arrest of ameer Nizami on June 29, 2010. Both Nizami and Mujaheed were elected party ameer and secretary general, respectively, through direct ballots of party rokons in 2001. They were re-elected for the last time in 2009 and there was no election after their arrests, according to party sources.
The Jamaat has been passing through its worst-ever period in recent times following the execution of its top leaders, and it is not allowed to carry out any political activity publicly.
The Jamaat emerged as a political party in Bangladesh after the ban on Islamic parties was lifted in 1976. The party won 18 seats in parliamentary elections in 1991. Their seat strength was reduced to three during the 1996 elections and the party won only two seats in the 2008 polls.
