Jamaat's statement on TIB research misleading

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Tuesday said the statement of the Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general on the recently published TIB research titled “The Institutional Governance of Political Parties in Bangladesh” is misleading and a misrepresentation of the truth.

At the same time, the organisation describes the formation of separate committees for women, in the name of nominal compliance with the Representation of the People Order (RPO), 1972, as a deceptive attempt to claim that women are included at all levels of the party, TIB said in a press release on Tuesday.

TIB also expressed surprise at the party's statement, which termed the research findings "false" while denying the reality. However, TIB appreciates Jamaat for reviewing the research report seriously.

TIB's research states that, under Section 90B(1)(b)(ii) of the RPO, 1972, every political party must set a target in its constitution to reserve at least 33 per cent of membership in committees at all levels for women and achieve this target gradually by 2030. However, an analysis of women's representation in the central committees of political parties reveals significant shortcomings in complying with this legal provision.

In this regard, the central committee refers to the central or national executive committee, central executive council or central executive body. Information on similar committees was collected for all parties.

According to information published on the Bangladesh Jamaat’s website, there are no women members in its 19-member Central Executive Council for the 2023–25 period. This is a clear violation of the relevant provision of the RPO, which stipulates that every committee of a party must have women members.

Jamaat's statement also mentioned that its Central Working Committee has 21 women members and its Central Majlis-e-Shura has 122 women members. In addition, approximately 43 per cent of the party's rukons (members) are women.

This research, however, refers only to the inclusion of women in the central committee, meaning the central or national executive council or committee of a party. It does not mention the number of women in a party's national or central council, conference or Majlis-e-Shura.

The RPO, 1972, does not stipulate how many women members a party must have. Rather, it emphasises how many women from among the party's women activists should be included in its committees. Therefore, citing such irrelevant examples by the Jamaat Secretary General is nothing but a misrepresentation of the truth, TIB said.

All other political parties in Bangladesh have one committee at each level, with varying degrees of women's representation. However, Jamaat's constitution provides for separate committees for women at every level solely to conduct organisational activities among women.

In other words, there is one committee for men and a separate committee for women activists at every level. Similarly, separate Majlis-e-Shura and working committees are maintained for women activists.

Although no separate Central Executive Council has been formed for women, no woman activist has been included in the party's Central Executive Council either.

The practice of excluding women activists from leadership positions in Jamaat, including the posts of Ameer-e-Jamaat, Naib-e-Ameer, Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General, is also evident.

Forming separate committees for women to conduct political activities exclusively among women does not mean that women are genuinely included in the party's activities. Rather, women have been confined within a specific boundary in this regard. Claiming these separate committees as evidence of women's inclusion in the party is a deceptive attempt, TIB said.

On the other hand, the research also mentioned that Jamaat did not nominate any woman candidate in any constituency in the 13th parliamentary election. If, as claimed by Jamaat, 43 per cent of its members are women, not even one woman member was nominated to contest the election. However, Jamaat made no comment on this issue in its statement.

Furthermore, various provisions of the constitution of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami—including building society on the basis of the fundamental beliefs and spirit of Islam and not recognising anyone other than Allah as the owner of sovereign power; rejecting all rules, regulations and methods other than those prescribed by Allah in social, economic and political spheres; maintaining no relations with institutions that go against Islamic beliefs; granting associate membership or membership to non-Muslim citizens subject to their agreement with the party's political and economic programmes; imposing separate conditions in the constitution for Muslim and non-Muslim citizens to obtain “membership or associate membership”; and maintaining separate departments or committees and conducting separate activities for women activists—are in conflict with various articles of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh (all power belongs to the people; the fundamental principles of state policy—secularism and religious freedom; and non-discrimination on the grounds of religion, gender and other factors), read the press release .

Therefore, there is no scope to describe TIB's research findings on the inclusion of women in the central committee of Jamaat as "false" or "misleading".

Rather, TIB believes that, through this statement, Jamaat is attempting to deny the research findings and conceal the actual political practices within the party by using irrelevant information.

TIB calls upon all political parties, including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, to take the findings of the published research report seriously and undertake institutional reforms within their respective parties in line with the recommendations raised in the report.

It to mention that TIB collects data for all its research using internationally recognised research methodologies followed in social sciences. To ensure the reliability and accuracy of research data, initially collected information is compared with information obtained from various direct and indirect sources. Research reports are prepared after cross-checking at different levels and stages and verifying information through all possible sources.

Similarly, for the research in question, interviews were conducted with officials or nominated representatives at the central level of political parties, party leaders and activists, Election Commission officials, political analysts, teachers and researchers. Information was also collected and verified from political parties' websites, documents obtained from party offices, news reports published in the media, research articles and books.