Hefazat-e-Islam on Sunday announced a plan to hold a grand rally on December 24 at the Shapla Chattar in Dhaka to press for implementation of its controversial 13-point demand and protest the publication of a caricature of its chief, Shah Ahmed Shafi.
“Posters are being pasted at different parts of the country containing a defamatory caricature of Hefazat’s ameer with the 18-party alliance leader,” Junaid Babunagari, secretary general of the Chittagong-based Islamist group, told a press conference at Hathazari on Sunday.
Reading from a written statement, Babunagari said Hefazat would hold a “grand rally” in the capital on December 24 to demand exemplary punishment for the persons responsible for the caricature, as well as the implementation of its demands that include scraping the National Women Development Policy and banning mixing of men and women in public.
“We are not the opponent of the government. However, they have forced us to take a position against them through conducting propaganda against us,” Babunagari said.
He also announced that the group would hold protest rallies and bring out processions in every district and upazila of the country on
Friday, and hold conferences at different divisional and district headquarters between November 28 and December 24.
On May 5, ahead of a rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, Hefazat supporters created mayhem in the capital’s commercial area.
Law enforcers later dispersed the rally in a late-night crack down, with varying reports following over the number of people killed.