Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General and Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on 29 June publicly demanded that Jamaat-e-Islami apologise to the nation for opposing Bangladesh's independence during the 1971 Liberation War, warning that the Islamist party's political future in the country depends on it coming clean about its wartime role. The remarks were made during parliamentary debate on the proposed 2026-27 national budget in Dhaka.

What Fakhrul Said in Parliament

Addressing Jamaat directly, Fakhrul said the party had never once apologised for its conduct in 1971, a silence he described as politically untenable. 'For your role in 1971, you have not apologised even once. You should have apologised before the nation. Had you done so, today's problems would not have existed. But you did not. On the contrary, your leader Golam Azam declared that in 1971 ‘we did not make a mistake’. You can even reconsider it now,' he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star, Bangladesh's leading English-language newspaper.

Fakhrul added: 'You should make your position on Bangladesh clear to us, to the nation. I don’t want to go further.' The remarks signal a hardening of the ruling BNP's posture toward Jamaat, even as both parties have at times operated in overlapping political space.

BNP Targets NCP-Jamaat Alliance

Fakhrul also turned his criticism toward the National Citizen Party (NCP), which has aligned itself with Jamaat. He acknowledged the NCP's potential but cautioned its younger leadership against associating with a force that, in his words, 'did not believe in Bangladesh's independence.' 'These young politicians have much potential. They will do well. We want them to succeed. But they should not carry the stigma of being associated with those who denied Bangladesh's very existence,' he said.

Home Minister Echoes the Criticism

Bangladesh's Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed separately questioned whether Jamaat could genuinely be regarded as a religious party, given its 1971 record. Ahmed pointed to the National Freedom Fighters Council Act, which, he said, explicitly establishes that 'the then Jamaat opposed the Liberation War. That has been settled.'

The Historical Context

Jamaat-e-Islami's role in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War has remained one of the most contested fault lines in the country's politics for over five decades. According to reports, the party not only opposed Bangladesh's independence but also allegedly sided with the Pakistani military, becoming complicit — critics argue — in atrocities against civilians. Several Jamaat leaders were tried and convicted by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal in subsequent decades for war crimes committed during the conflict.

This comes amid renewed scrutiny of Jamaat's political rehabilitation efforts and its alliances with newer political formations. Notably, the party has never issued a formal, unconditional apology for its wartime conduct — a fact that critics describe as a 'deliberate act of obfuscation' rather than a historical oversight, according to a recent report in Times of Bangladesh.

What Comes Next

The BNP's public pressure campaign raises the stakes for Jamaat ahead of any future electoral cycle. Whether Jamaat responds — and how — will likely shape coalition arithmetic in Bangladesh's fragmented political landscape. The debate also puts the NCP in an uncomfortable position, forcing its leadership to publicly define its relationship with a party whose 1971 record remains legally and morally unresolved.