The Sheikh Hasina government on Thursday banned the Jamaat-e-Islami, its student wing and other outfits related to it through an executive order. The move comes as part of a nationwide crackdown following weeks of violent protests in Bangladesh that left 150 people dead and thousands injured.

As the ruling Awami League and its political allies blamed the Jamaat, its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, and other frontal organisations for inciting violence during recent student protests over a quota system for government jobs, it was almost certain that the government would unleash some tough measure on its political opponents. Thursday's gazette notification of the home ministry revealed that the government cracked the whip under the provisions of an anti-terrorism law.

"As the government believes that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir and its front organisations are involved with terrorist activities, the government, following the Section 18 (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009, declared... banned as political parity and entity," it said.

The Islamist party, formed in 1941 by Syed Abul Ala Maududi in Lahore in British India, has had a long tryst with bans. Soon after Bangladesh's independence, it faced a ban — short-lived though because of sweeping changes in the country's political landscape after 1975 — as the Constitution outlawed political parties on the basis of religion.

In 2013, the High Court declared the registration of Jamaat illegal and barred its participation in elections as its charter breached the Constitution. Its appeal against the order was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2023.

"As a political party, they were already dead as far back as 2013... Today, the government has buried it by putting the nail on the coffin," Barrister Tania Amir, who had been active in the courtrooms and beyond in her fight against the Jamaat, told The Telegraph.

Large sections of the Bangladeshi society — including a section of those opposed to Hasina and her brand of politics — have an aversion towards Jamaat for its role in the 1971 war of independence, during which it opposed Bangladesh’s breakaway from Pakistan. Some Islamist outfits also do not see eye-to-eye with Jamaat.

According to Amir, Jamaat and its allies have been recognised as "terrorist organisations" because of their recent activities — during the nationwide protests over quota reforms — in which they attacked "key infrastructure and strategic points".

"There is a very strong prima facie case that these (acts) were well planned strategic terrorist acts in which innocent citizens lost their lives," Amir explained the rationale behind the government decision.

Shafiqur Rahman, the chief of Jamaat, decried the order calling it anti-constitutional and swatted away allegations that it was behind the recent violence. In a written statement, he blamed the Awami League cadres and law enforcing agencies for muzzling the non-political movement of the students.

Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of BNP, stood by its ally, echoed Rahman and said the decision was taken to divert people's attention from the current situation.

Amid the claims and counter-claims on the legality of the order, a fragile clam prevailed in Bangladesh — still under the surveillance of the armed forces and partial curfew — as ordinary people feared a possible backlash from Jamaat-Shibir supporters, who have, several times in the past, disrupted public life through their violent activities.

There was also a buzz in diplomatic circles in Dhaka that the banning of the Jamaat will not go down well with the US-led western bloc, which have often accused Hasina of muzzling dissent using strong-arm tactics and curbing freedom of expression.

"Section 18 of the anti terror law demands and mandates that once there are such terrorist groups identified and named, they shall be banned by the government... So, this executive order is mandatory under the law and not discretionary. This anti-terror law was an initiative at the behest of the US government as they encouraged all civilised nations to enact such a law," said Amir, before adding that the government also has the mandate to freeze Jamaat's bank accounts.

While multiple sources in the ruling Awami League said that the much-awaited step would go a long way in neutralising the "militant Islamist outfit", Hasina on Thursday spoke about the possibility of these banned outfits going underground and carrying on with their destructive activities.