Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former MP Professor Mia Golam Porwar issued the following statement on March 13, strongly condemning and protesting the statement made by the Information and Broadcasting Advisor of the Interim Government, Mr. Mahfuz Alam, that ‘Jamaat was an accomplice in war crimes.
“I strongly condemn and protest against the statement made by the Information and Broadcasting Advisor of the Interim Government, Mahfuz Alam, in a long Facebook status on Wednesday, March 12, that ‘Jamaat was an accomplice in war crimes during the war of liberation’. I am surprised by his baseless and false statement. In response to Mr. Mahfuz Alam’s status, I would like to state clearly that by making baseless and untrue statements about Jamaat, he spoke in the language of Shahriar Kabir, a spy of the neighbouring country, who is imprisoned now.
He further said that Mr. Mahfuz Alam should remember that he is an advisor to a non-political interim government. Therefore, he has no moral or legal right to criticize and make untrue statements targeting any political party. If he wants to make a political statement, it is appropriate for him to come to the political arena and make a statement accordingly. His statement has questioned the non-political character of the current interim government.
Mr. Mahfuz Alam should have known that the investigation commission formed for war crimes during Sheikh Mujib's tenure did not find any evidence of any involvement of anyone from Jamaat in war crimes. That is why Sheikh Mujib himself declared a general amnesty and released the arrested people and resolved the issue by sending the surrendered Pakistani soldiers back to Pakistan. Former Ameer of Jamaat, Professor Ghulam Azam, filed a case in the Supreme Court and was found innocent and regained his citizenship. Sheikh Hasina's trial of Jamaat leaders by setting up a kangaroo court and falsely accusing them has not been accepted anywhere in the country or abroad. The trial that was conducted by intimidating the judges by setting up a public awareness platform in Shahbagh was a farce in the name of trial. The evidences of such severe irregularities is the Skype scandal, the statement of former Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, the statement of witness Sukhranjan Bali in Maulana Sayedee's case. Even the trial of the Hasina government in the British Supreme Court was not accepted. This proves that the accusation against Jamaat leaders as accomplices in war crimes in 1971 is completely false and politically motivated. Mr. Mahfuz Alam's status is completely untrue, baseless and based on assumptions. However, the countrymen believe that his statement could be from some political ill-intention or from an unfulfilled desire to implement their agenda fueled by some evil force.
In response to the status of Information and Broadcasting Advisor Mr. Mahfuz Alam, I would like to state in clear language that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is a genuine follower of Ahle Sunnat al-Jamaat. Questioning the creed of Jamaat is completely irrelevant and beyond his jurisdiction. Jamaat-e-Islami, along with Faraizi Jamaat, Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam and Nizam-e-Islam, has been unitedly agitating on various issues since the British period until the year 2025 of independent Bangladesh. In 1983, former Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Professor Ghulam Azam, Charmonair Pir Maulana Fazlul Karim and Khilafat Majlis leader Shaikhul Hadith Allama Azizul Haq, Jamiat-e-Ulama Islam leader Maulana Mohiuddin Khan, Nezam-e-Islam leader famous scholar Khatib-e-Azam Maulana Siddique Ahmed and Baitush Sharif Pir Maulana Abdul Jabbar of Chittagong along with notable religious scholars of this country formed Ittehadul Ummah. This proves that Mr. Mahfuz Alam has made baseless, false and misleading comments about Jamaat without knowing it’s history. We hope that after our statement, the confusion in his mind will be removed and he will express regret for his baseless and false statements and refrain from making such statements about Jamaat-e-Islami in the future.
