DHAKA: Over 200 senior leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, including ex-ameer Prof Golam Azam, are learnt to be under intelligence surveillance in connection with various contentious matters evolving after the arrest of the party’s three key men.
Competent sources said acting ameer Makbul Hossain and stand-in secretary-general ATM Azharul Islam are among those under watch. Their overseas travel is unofficially restricted.
An intelligence high official told banglanews24.com.bd that the Jamaat leaders are being kept under surveillance being directed by higher authority “so that they cannot go into hiding or flee the country”.
Sources say that another reason for the countrywide surveillance is to prevent any possible anarchy by any of the Jamaat cadres. Intelligence suspects that the arrest of theirs three top leaders--Motiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Ali Ahsan Mojahid--may impel Jamaat cadres to unleash chaos, including resorting to “suicide attacks”.
Meanwhile, the beleaguered Jamaat leaders are adopting various tactics to dodge the surveillance. Several of them turned off their cell phones.
The others under the surveillance are Abdul Kader Mollah, Md Kamaruzzaman, Mujibur Rahman, Tasnim Alam, Hamidur Rahman Azad MP, Nurul Islam Bulbul, MA Aziz, Rafiqul Islam Khan, Shahjahan Chowdhury, Afsar Uddin Chowdhury and Shamsul Islam.
Asked about the surveillance and Jamaat leaders’ evasive movements,
Jamaat publicity secretary Tasnim Aalm told banglanews24.com.bd, “A little fear naturally mounted over the arrest of the three top leaders upon a fake case filed by government. It is difficult to say when police are arresting whom. Government’s such behaviour can naturally spread panic among our leaders and workers.”
A mid-level leader said that many of them are not staying at home. Some are taking shelter in their relatives’ houses. Some are staying in different bachelor pads.
Jamaat’s ex-ameer Golam Azam visits his son in London every year. After the Awami League government came to power in 2009, he has not been allowed to fly for London. Police seized his passport on 27 April this year.
Azam was stripped of his citizenship in 1973 for his anti-liberation role in the 1971 independence war and got it back in 1994. He had earlier faced a mock trial on war-crime charges.
This time around, it is almost certain that the ex-Jamaat chief will face real trial on charges of war crimes in 1971 as the AL government has formed a tribunal and launched investigations against the suspects, who include many Jamaat leaders.
BDST: 1146 HRS, 9 JULY 2010-07-09
