Dhaka:
Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Barrister Abdur Razzak has resigned from the party, the party's official website reported. The information was announced in a statement signed by Abdur Razzak's personal assistant Kausar Hamid on Friday.
Abdur Razzak sent his resignation letter to party chief Maqbool Ahmed in a letter sent from the UK on Friday morning.
Barrister Razzak's eldest son, Barrister Ehsan A Siddique, said regarding his father's resignation from Jamaat, "The incident is true. However, his personal assistant Kausar Sahib knows everything about this matter. Please contact him."
Abdur Razzak's resignation was mainly due to the party's role during the Liberation War in 1971. Barrister Razzak said in his resignation letter that for the past two decades, he has been trying to convince Jamaat that there should be an open discussion about the party's role in 1971 and that it should apologize to the nation, citing Jamaat's role and the reasons for supporting Pakistan during that time.
In his resignation letter, he also mentioned that it is the demand of the hour to build a democratic party based on Islamic values under Bangladesh's secular constitution, but Jamaat has not been able to reform itself according to that demand so far.
In the letter, Barrister Razzak said, "Even today, 47 years after independence, the party leaders have not been able to apologize for their role in 1971. They have not even explained the party's position on the great war of independence."
He said, "More than at any time in the past, it is now more important to take a clear stand with the nation, admitting mistakes and apologizing on behalf of the leaders of that time regarding the harmful role of Jamaat during the 1971 Liberation War."
The proposal to apologize to the nation for its role during the Liberation War and to become active in politics by forming a party under a new name has recently come under renewed discussion in Jamaat-e-Islami. A section of the party's leadership is in favor of such a proposal. This section wants to keep the party active under its current name, acknowledging the mistakes of 1971, or to form a party under a new name.
The party's Central Executive Council recently held an emergency meeting to assess the post-election political situation on December 30. In response to the demands of the party's young leadership, the meeting took a principled decision to apologize for the wrong political role of 1971 and to dissolve the party called Jamaat and devote the party to social service activities. Later, the matter was not approved by the party's highest policy-making body, the Majlis-e-Shura. There, almost everyone agreed on the decision to no longer be part of the 20-party alliance and not to participate in any level of elections.
Abdur Razzak has been based in London for a long time. Before moving to London, he worked as the chief prosecutor for Jamaat leaders accused of war crimes at the International Crimes Tribunal from 2011 to 2015.
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