BANGLADESH

Claiming that Jamaat-e-Islami is uniting inside and outside the country under various names, Awami League general secretary on Tuesday advocated ban on the 'anti-liberation' party.

"We need to grow beyond the notion that photograph of Ghulam Azam and Jamaat have to be around for democracy [in the country]," he told a discussion in the capital.

Referring to the ban on Nazi forces in Germany and the political party of Benito Mussolini in Italy, he said: "Should we say there is no democracy in those countries?"

Ashraf, also the local government and rural development minister, said: "Jamaat, Muslim League and PDP were banned [after the independence]. But after Bangabandhu was assassinated, these anti-liberation parties were allowed back in politics by Gen Ziaur Rahman."

He urged everyone to stay alert against Jamaat's activities inside and outside the country.

Ghulam Azam, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief during the Liberation war, is currently facing war crimes charges.

He stayed in London for seven years after 1971 and returned to Bangladesh in 1978 during Gen Zia's rule.

On the issue of war crimes trial, Ashraf, said: "The trial began under hostile conditions as it started 40 years after the crimes were committed, and most of the witnesses are either missing or dead."

Azam had allegedly led the infamous, 'Peace Committee', Rajakar, Al-Badr and collaborated with the Pakistan Army, which executed massacre and torture in Bangladesh during the Liberation War.

He also allegedly advocated the cause of Pakistan in the middle-eastern countries during the war.