IOJ chief says he has list of Awami League leaders doing business with Jamaat-e-Islami men

The chief of an Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) faction has claimed that many Awami League leaders are running a business partnership with a number of leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami despite being political rivals.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 8 August 2016, 01:59 PM
Updated : 8 August 2016, 03:04 PM

At a programme in Dhaka on Monday, Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury said, “I have a list. Many from the Awami League are doing business with the Jamaat leaders.”

He said many Jamaat leaders were not facing legal action because of their business affiliations with the ruling party leaders.

“How will the law enforcers find the Jamaat and Shibir men? They live in high-rise towers. And those towers have the Awami League’s signboard in front of them.”

Chowdhury leads the IOJ faction that is against the Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan in 1971.

A number of top Jamaat leaders have also been either convicted or executed or facing trials for committing war crimes.

The other IOJ faction is a member in the BNP-led 20-Party Alliance.

The Awami League’s Religious Affairs Secretary Sheikh Abdullah was the chief guest of the event Chowdhury was addressing. But he did not say anything about Chowdhury’s allegation.

When asked how many from the Awami League were doing business with Jamaat leaders, the IOJ leader told bdnews24.com: “We are still preparing the list. But we already know about 30 people alone in Dhaka City who are running business with the Jamaat (leaders).”

Amidst a growing demand that the government outlaw Jamaat for being an organisation that directly opposed Bangladesh’s independence, the Awami League leaders have blamed the party for funding anti-government sabotages and militant activities.
 
Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury said, “The Jamaat is not only a threat to Bangladesh, but also to the subcontinent.”
 
The IOJ leader also urged the government to stop those who misinterpret Islam to the youths and engage them in militancy and extremism.