The Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami is believed to have extensive ties with the ISI, with several members having traveled to Pakistan….reports Asian Lite News
The Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, has become the key orchestrator behind the student protests and subsequent upheaval in Bangladesh, India Today reported.
The radical student group is thought to be supported by Pakistan’s ISI, which sought to oust Sheikh Hasina. Hasina was forced to resign as Prime Minister on Monday after the army gave her only 45 minutes to step down and flee the country.
India Today quoted sources revealing that over the past two years, many ICS members have been enrolled in various Bangladeshi universities, where they began inciting student unrest. The recent protests over a contentious quota system for government jobs were predominantly led by these university students.
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According to the India Today reports, the ICS’s primary strongholds are Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Jahangir University, Sylhet University, and Rajshahi University. Notably, all student organizations that won university elections in the last three years did so with ICS support. The ICS is believed to have extensive ties with the ISI, with several members having traveled to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, a total of 2,400 individuals, including several top leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, have been granted bail in connection with cases related to the recent violence following student protests in the South Asian country, local media reported on Wednesday.
Among those granted bail are prominent figures such as BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar, Bangladesh Jatiyo Party (Manju) Chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partho, and former Ducsu vice-president Nurul Haque Nur, The Dhaka Star reported.
The individuals were produced before the court between July 17 and August 4 on charges of rioting, illegal gatherings, assaulting law enforcers, arson, and damaging property.
Additionally, at least 15 cases were filed over murder, and two under the Cyber Security Act for spreading false and fabricated information on social platforms.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka granted bail to the accused after defence lawyers filed petitions on Tuesday, reports the local media, quoting court staffers.
Following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the announcement of an interim government, there was a surge in the sale of bail bonds.
The hearings were held immediately whenever a bail application was made in a political case.
The hearings for bail applications in political cases were expedited, with immediate sessions held upon submission of applications.
Lawyers began queuing to apply for bail for those arrested in political cases starting Tuesday morning. Long lines of lawyers formed at the court booths to purchase bail bonds, following a decision taken during a morning meeting with lawyers at the district judge’s court meeting room, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
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