Nearly six months after holding a rally at Shapla Chattar of the capital’s Motijheel which turned violent against the state and the people, radical Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh on Saturday declared another showdown in Dhaka for November 15.
Hefazat Joint Secretary General Mainuddin Ruhi also announced that they would also hold huge rallies in Sylhet on November 7 and Khulna on November 8 demanding realisation of their 13-point demands, cancelling the Qawmi Madrasa Education Authority Bill, 2013, and release of its leaders and activists detained over the May 5-6 mayhem in the city.
From a rally held at Hathazari College ground in the afternoon, Ruhi threatened tougher programmes like hartals if the government tried to interrupt the rallies.
Hefazat, however, did not confirm the venue of the Dhaka rally.
From the programme, the Hefazat leaders also demanded the release of its detained leaders including Mufti Izharul and Mufti Wakkas; resuming operation of Diganta TV and Islamic TV, and publication of daily Amar Desh; and release of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, the former energy adviser to Khaleda Zia in 2001-06.
Formed in 2010, Hefazat resurfaced in February against the youths who had waged a movement in Shahbagh demanding death penalty for war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-Shibir. Hefazat termed the organisers “atheists” and demanded their execution for “demeaning Islam.” In April, they held a long-march towards Dhaka and a rally at Motijheel over the 13-point demands. The rally ended without any major violence except for attacks on journalists.
Later they held the Dhaka blockade programme on May 5 and in the afternoon, a rally at Motijheel. But violence carried out by the Hefazat supporters around Paltan area created panic among the people as well as concerned the government.
Several people died in the daylong violence while over a hundred people injured during the mayhem. Several hundred shops were burnt, vandalised and looted while the road dividers were razed including the trees planted on them.
As the protesters had not left the place despite several warnings by the government, the law enforcers had launched crackdown on them in the midnight and drove them out of the city through Jatrabari.
Though Hefazat and its supporters, especially BNP and Jamaat, first claimed the number of deaths that night to be several thousand, they could not give any proof. The government claims that the number be 18 who died during the violence on May 5 and 6. Ruling government ally Jatiya Party too supported the Hefazat programmes.
In his address yesterday, Shah Ahmed Shafi, ameer of the Hathazari-based group comprising Qawmi teachers and students and backed by the opposition parties, defended his much controversial speech comparing women with tamarind.
A video clip of the speech, made by Shafi a couple of years back at an Islamic conference mainly on how the women should act, went viral on YouTube and Facebook. The Hefazat leader in his sermons had asked the women to stay at home and suggested that the female children be taught at school at best up to primary level. He also claimed that the working women were not doing anything good for their families and the societies as their earnings were not “ethical.”
Saturday he claimed: “I did not term the women tamarind rather I just compared them with tamarind. It is true that whenever anyone witnesses a child having tamarind, his/her tongue becomes wet with saliva.
“I have also compared women with flowers. Whenever anybody sees a flower, he/she wants to take its smell bringing it near to the nose. So I have told the women not to roam around ‘nakedly,’” he added.
Shafi also said if a man came closer to a beautiful woman, he would become lustful if he was a “real male.”
Regarding the accreditation of Qawmi madrasa certificates by an authority, as proposed by the government, Shafi said they would accept the accreditation if the government did it complying with their conditions.
Junaid Babunagari, secretary general of Hefazat, said there would be thousands of corpses if the government had tried to harm the Qawmi madrasas. “The Qawmi madrasas will not go under the control of anyone.”
Senior Hefazat leaders including Abdul Hamid, Nur Hossain Kashemi, Junaid Al Habibi and Zafarullah Khan also addressed the rally.
The cabinet was supposed to discuss the draft Qawmi madrasa bill on October 28 but it was held back for further scrutiny.
A day before, Hefazat leaders threatened to wage civil war if the government tried to establish its control on the Qawmi madrasas. These madrasas have so far remained out of any sort of official monitoring and recognition.
