Dhaka University draws flak for Islami Bank sponsorship

The social media has been abuzz with criticisms over the sponsoring of a Dhaka University Alumni Association programme by the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited.

The bank is said to have links to the Jamaat-e-Islami, some of whose leaders have been convicted as 1971 war criminals.
 
The bank, in association with SAHCO International Ltd and National Bank Ltd, sponsored a reunion styled 'Hironmoy Alumni Melbondhon' on Saturday.
 
DU Vice-Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, former minister Dilip Barua, chiefs of Bangladesh Police and RAB, among other dignitaries, attended the event.
 
On the Intellectual Martyrs Day last December, the university severed ties with all Pakistani academic institutions.
 
Jamaat has been described as a ‘criminal organisation’ by a special war crimes tribunal for the involvement of its leaders in crimes against humanity to thwart the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.
 
The Islami Bank has always been run by Jamaat leaders or people who subscribe to its ideology.
 
Former chairman of the bank Abu Nasser Mohammad Abduz Zaher was allegedly a leader of the pro-Pakistan militia Al-Badr in Chittagong during the Liberation War. Condemned war criminal Mir Kashem Ali was its vice-chairman.
 
Ganajagaran Mancha organiser Maruf Rosul, also a DU alumnus, has shared on his Facebook page an image of the logo of the reunion, with the name of Islami Bank written right below the event’s title.
 
“Didn’t Dhaka University Alumni Association find any bank [for sponsorship] other than Islami Bank run by the war criminals?” he wrote.
 
“We hesitate to act against the financial institutions run by the war criminals because our ideological stance is not clear. A reunion that moves away from the ideals of 1971 to use the Islami Bank logo brings more pain than joy.”
 
DU student Riazul Alam Bhuiyan in another post has written, “Whereas Dhaka University severs links with Pakistan, its alumni association takes money from Islami Bank. What a display of double standard by the hub of progressive minds!”
 
Responding to a question in the comment section, he says, “You must know Islami Bank is run by war criminal organisation Jamaat. You also must know this bank finances militant activities in this country.”
 
“Instead of taking over the bank, the state has taken money from it for different government events including for an Independence Day programme. This gives the bank sort of legitimacy to run its radicalisation activities.”
 
“Sponsoring an event of the Dhaka University alumni helps Islami Bank to win legitimacy for all its unethical activities,” he adds.
 
Referring to the Islami Bank logo in the reunion banner, a journalist, who covered the event, wrote on his Facebook page, “Whenever I looked at the stage, this one thing made me sad, ashamed.”
 
In the comment section, he said ‘most banks’ of Bangladesh were named in the vote of thanks at the programme.
 
“The amounts the banks paid must not have been paltry! Despite getting so much money from them, who gave so much importance to Islami Bank and why?”
 
Attacking the reunion organisers, DU student Sanjibon Sudip wrote, “They perhaps did it because they were running short of funds. But only if they asked me, I would have surely helped them out with some money. I may be poor but I am generous.”
 
The government has faced a barrage of criticism for taking money from Islami Bank which tops the list, prepared by Ganajagaran Mancha, of institutions run by war criminals.
 
The bank had donated Tk 30 million for ‘Lakho Konthe Sonar Bangla’, an Independence Day programme, in 2014 but the government later rejected it in the face of a social media outcry.
 
But in the food packets distributed among the participants that day, medicines provided by Ibn Sina Pharmaceuticals were found packed. This trust is linked to the Islami Bank and those who run it.
 
The government also drew ire for taking money from the bank for the 2011 cricket World Cup and for seeking Tk 10 billion for the Padma Bridge construction.
 
Islami Bank has been under international pressure in the last few years after a US Senate Committee report accused it of terrorist financing.
 
Banks like HSBC UK, Citi Bank NA and Bank of America suspended transaction with it in 2014.
 
According to Bangladesh Bank, Islami Bank maintained accounts of people, who were on the UN's suspicious people's list. The Islami Bank authorities did not disclose information of those accounts to the central bank.