 Flag of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. |
„Few Americans have heard of Jamaat-e-Islami. But in South Asia, it is notorious. In 1971, Jamaati paramilitary groups slaughtered tens of thousands of Bangladeshis during its War of Liberation from Pakistan. Its terrorist ties today extend from Asia to America.
A new resolution introduced in the House by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) demands an end to U.S. government funding for Jamaat’s U.S. proxies and calls for a criminal investigation into links between a prominent American Jamaati charity and one of Pakistan’s most prominent terrorist movements.
Founded in British India in 1941 by the prominent Islamist theorist Abul Ala Maududi, Jamaat is active across the Indian subcontinent and has been closely involved with terror.
In 2014, Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre from IHS Markit named Jamaat’s student wing in Bangladesh, Islami Chhatra Shibir, the third-most violent non-state armed group in the world. In 2017, the U.S. government designated the head of a Jamaat affiliate in Pakistan and Kashmir a „global terrorist.“ And over the past few months, Jamaat gained international attention after its supporters rallied for the killing of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
Despite never achieving significant political power or electoral success in South Asia, Jamaat exerts a high level of influence over Muslim communities in the West.“ (…)
