The High Court has described a petition filed with it seeking orders to hold the Bishwa Ijtema as “embarrassing”.
The High Court division bench judges, Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam, came up with the remarks during the initial hearing of the plea yesterday.
The petition, filed on Monday by Supreme Court lawyer Yunus Mollah, seeks to uphold a directive issued in September that set out a five-point plan of action for the Ijtema before it was withdrawn by the court’s order in just five days, reports the Bangla Tribune.
During the hearing, the court, in a rather disapproving tone, asked: “How will you (the followers of Tabligh Jamaat) preach Islam if you are divided into groups?
“You lock into clashes and then move the court, which is embarrassing for everyone involved,” one of the judges said.
The court also instructed the petitioner to resolve the issues among the Tabligh factions and assured that the matter will be heard then.
Petitioner’s counsel advocate Nurul Amin then informed the court that both at-odds groups will hold separate Ijtemas as instructed by the government if they fail to reach a negotiation.
In the meantime, Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain, who stood for the state, informed the court that specific instructions on the Ijtema may come from an urgent meeting of the Home Ministry, scheduled to be held on Wednesday [today].
After that, the bench fixed January 27 for the next hearing. The judges said they will come up with a ruling by then.
A man was killed and more than 200 people were injured in a series of clashes on December 1 last year between two factions of Tabligh Jamaat in establishing control over Ijtema grounds on the bank of the Turag River in Tongi.
The clash took placed between the supporters of Tabligh Jamaat leader of India Moulana Zubayer Hassan and Tabligh top leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi.
This conflict between the two factions was said to be the continuation of the trouble that began in the 2017 Biswa Ijtema, the annual event of Tabligh Jamaat and the largest Muslim congregation after Hajj.
The first phase of Bishwa Ijtema was due to begin in January but was delayed over the leadership conflicts between the two factions of Tabligh.
The Election Commission also issued an order banning any kind of congregation at Tongi Ijtema field prior to the December 30 election.
Despite the ban, the followers of Delhi Markaz's leader Moulana Mohammed Saad Kandhalvi announced a five-day long Jor Ijtema and the followers of Deoband leader Moulana Zubayer took up positions around the Tongi field and the nearby areas.
As the followers of Saad could not enter the Ijtema area, they took up positions in nearby mosques.
The clash erupted when hundreds of Saad followers began to march towards Tongi on December 1.
The groups locked into another clash over the conflict at Dhaka’s Kakrail Mosque, the headquarters of the religious group’s Bangladesh chapter, in April last year.
