The interim government on Wednesday cancelled the order of Awami League government that banned the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir on August 1.
The Home Ministry issued a notification lifting the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir.
The gazette notification reads, "Since there is no specific evidence of involvement of Jamaat, Shibir, and its front organisations in terrorist activities … And since the government believes that the organisations are not involved in terrorist activities."
So, the government as per Section-18 of the Anti-Terrorism Act- 2009 has cancelled the previous circular that banned Jamaat, Shibir and its front organisations, it said.
The decision will come into effect immediately, the notification added.
On August 1, the previous Awami League-led government banned Jamaat, Shibir, and all of its associated organisations as political entities under Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009.
Three days later, on August 5, the Awami League government fell following the students' movement and Sheikh Hasina fled the country.
Meanwhile, Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul on Wednesday said that the Awami League government did not ban Jamaat from any principled stance rather used this issue for political manoeuvring.
"For many years, there has been a demand from certain quarters of our society to ban Jamaat-e-Islami. The Awami League never did this despite being in power for 15 years. Then they did it at a specific moment. They attempted to brutally suppress the movement by labelling the people's uprising as terrorist activities and Jamaat-BNP's terrorism. You have received many pieces of evidence of this multiple times," he said.
The Law Adviser made the statement while speaking with journalists in his office at the Secretariat.
"Our Home Ministry has examined this, and as part of that narrative of labelling Jamaat-BNP's activities as terrorism, they suddenly banned Jamaat and issued a notification," said the Law Adviser.
"The narrative that Awami League wanted to portray the people's revolution as terrorist activities, we cannot be a part of that narrative," he said.
"We cannot be a part of an unjust narrative of a defeated and rejected party in the people's revolution," he added.
Earlier in the morning on Wednesday, Jamaat-appointed lawyer Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir in a briefing at the Supreme Court said that banning order of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir would be cancelled by afternoon.
Manir said the Awami League government banned Jamaat-Shibir on the ground that the parties are involved in terrorist activities. But they did not specify or give any explanation about the criminal activities. Even the present government did not get such activities during investigation.
The Awami League took the steps on August 1 to divert the issue of the mass student protest, he added.
Manir also said that they would move before the Appellate Division next week regarding the registration of Jamaat and its symbol for hearing on a review petition pending before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for disposal. We hope that justice would be ensured from the highest court of the new Bangladesh, Manir added.