Jamaat Secretary General Parwar, eight others arrested in Dhaka

Police have arrested Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar and eight other leaders of the party in Dhaka.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said the arrestees held on Monday evening included two assistant secretaries general of the war crimes-tainted political outfit.  

The arrested assistant secretaries general are Rafiqul Islam Khan and Hamidur Rahman Azad, said a member of Jamaat’s Majlish-e-Shura council.  

He said plainclothesmen surrounded and then detained the Jamaat leaders during a meeting at a home in Bashundhara.  

The DMP commissioner said the Jamaat leaders were meeting “secretly”. “The pieces of evidence collected from them initially point to their anti-state activities.” 

Parwar, a former MP, was made secretary general of the party in 2020, with Shafiqur Rahman as its Amir, or chief.

Several top leaders of the Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan during the Liberation War, have been hanged for crimes against humanity committed in 1971. The party also has its registration with the Election Commission revoked.

A number of Jamaat leaders and activists are behind bars for their alleged involvement in carrying out or planning acts of violence.