Awami League’s joint general secretary, Mahabub-Ul-Alam Hanif, on Monday demanded capital punishment for activists of Hefazat-e-Islam, who allegedly set fire to the Quran.
He also said legal action would be taken against BNP standing committee member MK Anwar for “falsely” claiming that “hundreds” of Hefazat men died in police action on Sunday night and that their bodies were "hidden."
MK Anwar made the claims while briefing the press yesterday and Hanif challenged the BNP leader to provide proof of his claims.
Hanif raised the demands in two press briefings on Monday, one at the party’s headquarters on Bangabandhu Avenue at noon and another at the party president’s office in Dhanmondi in the afternoon.
The AL leader went on to say that no such incidents took place on Sunday night and urged MK Anwar to publicly apologise for statement, which, he claimed, misled the people.
Hanif, who is also a special assistant of the prime minister, claimed Hefezat-e-Islam was not a religious organisation and was working as the “B-team” of Jamaat-e-Islami to save war criminals through vandalism and anarchy.
He continued that no Muslim can believe that a religion-based party could burn copies of the Holy Quran and other Islamic books and demanded capital punishment for those responsible.
On Sunday night, Hefazat activists set fire to 82 religious bookstores located in the southern end of Baitul Mukarram, an action that saw a large number of Qurans and Islamic books being torched.
He also bitterly criticised opposition leader and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia for urging party activists and Dhaka-residents to support and aid Hefazat’s programme, saying her statements gave courage to the Islamist demonstrators to engage in violence.
Responding to a query, the AL leader said they will not be tolerating anarchy anymore. “We will resist Hefazat everywhere in the same manner we resisted them at Motijheel last night [Sunday].”