Pro-BNP intellectual Prof Emajuddin Ahamed's sudden statement that BNP chief Khaleda Zia decided to sever ties with long-time ally Jamaat-e-Islami has created much confusion among the party leaders. Several senior leaders of the BNP said they had no idea about any such issue while Jamaat-e-Islami leaders urged Prof Emajuddin to withdraw his statement. The former Dhaka University VC, however, did not make it clear whether the separation was meant only for the time being – to take part in the all-party anti-militancy talks, or Jamaat will be dropped from the 20-party combine. Issuing a press release, Jamaat protested and condemned the statement and asked Prof Emajuddin to withdraw his remark. When contacted for their reaction, several BNP leaders felt embarrassed to make any comment. A Standing Committee member seeking anonymity told the Dhaka Tribune: “He [Emajuddin] does not hold any portfolio in the BNP; so he cannot say anything like this.” Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, another Standing Committee member, said that he had no idea whether the party chief had taken such a decision at all. A vice-chairman of the party wishing anonymity said the issue was unclear to him, but he confirmed that the BNP was yet to make any decision on cutting ties with Jamaat. Another senior leader said that it was more or less clear that Jamaat would be kept out of BNP’s national unity initiative taken to curb militancy. The top leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami have been tried and some of them executed for their involvement in crimes against humanity during the country’s Liberation War. Jamaat is a key component of the 20-party alliance and they fought the general elections in 2001 and 2008 under the same platform. Some Jamaat leaders were also accused of having ties to banned militant outfits including Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Several top Jamaat leaders earlier admitted that some leaders and activists had left the party and joined the JMB at different times. Several countries have prescribed the BNP to cut ties with Jamaat after its members carried out violent attacks on people and law enforcers during the alliance’s anti-government movement in 2014 and 2015, and previously after the verdict in a war crimes case against its top leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee in 2013. For these reasons, many leaders and supporters of the BNP find the presence of Jamaat in the alliance embarrassing. But the tie has remained intact. Prof Emajuddin made the announcement speaking at a discussion in Dhaka yesterday, at a time when the ruling party has been refusing the call of the BNP chief to form a national unity against militant activities because of its ties to Jamaat. He also said the national unity against militancy was a must in the current context. “One particular political party is a hindrance to the national unity. The government can ban that party any time, if it wants,” he said, without naming Jamaat. “Khaleda Zia has decided that there is no need to keep that party in the [BNP-led] 20-party alliance for the sake of national unity,” he added.Some pro-BNP intellectuals have always been pursuing Khaleda either to sever ties with Jamaat or maintain a strategic distance with the party. In mid-July, a group of intellectuals and professionals asked the BNP chairperson to leave Jamaat or give it a condition to apologise to the nation for the misdeeds the party and its members had done in 1971. They said that it was needed for forging a national unity with all parties to tackle militancy. Appearing from the meeting, barrister Rafique-Ul Huq said that he had recommended that the BNP abandon Jamaat. Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury said he had told the BNP chief that Jamaat must apologise for the role of its predecessors during the Liberation War. Zafrullah also said that Khaleda could also maintain relation with Jamaat, if she wanted, in the way they had been together in 1991. In 1991, Jamaat was not a BNP ally, but it supported the BNP to form the government.Jamaat will not cut ties with the BNP until the three-time former premier asks them to do so, several BNP leaders observe. The BNP would sever ties with Jamaat when it is “convenient” for it and not under pressure from the government. A senior leader told the Dhaka Tribune that the BNP should not abandon Jamaat as per the prescription of the government. “The BNP should not be a victim of the government’s politics.”After two back-to-back terror attacks last month – the July 1 Gulshan attack and the July 7 Sholakia attack, Khaleda called for a national unity as a means to curb militancy in Bangladesh. At a meeting at her Gulshan office, some alliance leaders expressed grievances over Jamaat and said it should make its position clear. Some leaders suggested calling for a national convention against militancy. Jamaat leader Abdul Halim who was present at the meeting supported the idea. Khaleda then reportedly said that Jamaat was the main barrier to this and her view was echoed by the alliance leaders. As Khaleda mentioned Badruddoza Chowdhury, Dr Kamal Hossain and Kader Siddique who had severed ties with Jamaat, Halim questioned the importance of those parties during elections. Khaleda replied that those parties were important in national politics. Khaleda continued that her party had to accept criticisms for keeping ties with Jamaat. “You [Jamaat] formed an alliance with the Awami League and compelled me to step down from office. Why are you not disclosing the agreement you had with them?” At that point, Halim said: “You are the alliance leader. You can fix who to stay in the alliance and who not?” The discussion that day was stuck and no decision came from the meeting. The next day, Khaleda held another meeting with noted intellectuals, most of who favoured keeping a strategic distance with Jamaat.The BNP formed an alliance of four parties including Jamaat before the 2001 elections and bagged majority votes to form government. Jamaat was given two seats in the cabinet as it was the second largest party in the alliance. Then Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and senior leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid became ministers, first time for any Jamaat leader in Bangladesh’s history, and their induction created massive criticisms. The two parties had similar ties in 1991 and Jamaat secured around 30 seats. Jamaat was not with the BNP before the 1996 elections, and the result was significant – it got only two seats. In 1976, Ziaur Rahman, founder of the BNP, allowed Jamaat to be a part of national politics by withdrawing the ban on religion-based politics imposed after Bangladesh’s independence.