Zafar Iqbal for action against Jamaat

Eminent writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal has demanded stern action against the Jamaat-e-Islami for its involvement in blatant acts of terror.

He said this while talking to reporters at the Suhrawardy Udyan, in Dhaka, on Monday.

“The party that had opposed the 1971 Liberation War is now active, not politically but through violent means," Iqbal said.

He felt it would have merited a different treatment had it "acted politically".

“But it is carrying out attacks at night in overt operations and, hence, should be treated like any other terrorist organisation,” the popular writer said at the historic park while taking part in the inaugural ceremony of ‘Bijoy 2013’.

Leaders and activists of Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir have been resorting to violence since November last year in protest against war crimes trials.

But it went berserk after Feb 28, the day an International War Crimes Tribunal sentenced to death its leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a spurt in Jamaat violence since Thursday night, when its leader Abdul Quader Molla was hanged as per a court order for his crimes against humanity.