Jamaat renames party

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday brought about a fundamental change in its constitution changing party's name, recognising war of Liberation and replacing 'Allah's Law' with social system based on Islamic justice. "Henceforth Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh will be known as Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami", Jamaat assistant secretary general, Mohammad Quamaruzzaman said after submitting application to the Election Commission (EC) for registration.
Registration with EC is mandatory for a party to contest national poll stated for December 18 next.
The change in Jamaat constitution was made to fulfil conditions laid down under amended RPO.
"We have submitted our application fulfilling all conditions set by the Election Commission under RPO-2008", Mohammad Kamaruzzaman added. He was accompanied by Barrister Abdur Razzak, law secretary of the party, Rafiqul Islam Khan, ATM Azharul Islam Khan and Jasimuddin Sarker for submission of application to EC.
He said as per RPO-2008 we have to amend some clauses of our party constitution as Jammat believes in a system and loves to practise rule of law. So the party constitution has been changed, he added.
As per changes Jammat replaced the word "to establish rule of Allah in the country" from its party constitution with "to establish a just society based on Islam", included women's wing in its central body, Majlish-e-Shura. Jammat has 25 per cent female workers in its party, but did not include them as members in the highest policy making body.
Replying to a question, Kamaruzzaman told reporters that they incorporated a word in the constitution, "non-Muslim", as per RPO. "Our constitution says all people can be member of the party if they are citizens of the country. However, to make it more flexible we replaced the word "all people" with "non-Muslim", he said. It may be mentioned that according to RPO-2008, all people irrespective of religion, caste and creed could have access to a party provided he/she is Bangladesh's citizen by birth. Regarding the liberation, Jammat leaders said since May 1979 Jammat started its activity, "we started our journey by accepting the independence of the country which was achieved through liberation war. We are conducting all of our activities that line, so there is no contradiction between Jamaat and Bangladesh's constitution."
He said it was a propaganda might be based on ignorance or confusion about our party's name, as it is a wing of an international party. But this is not based on facts we believe in the constitution of the country, we respect the law of the land and we want to establish a fully just society based on Islam.