Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged all to remain alert so that militant acts cannot be carried out in the name of Islam, as it promotes peace and the rights of people.
"We have to take steps so that Islam always remains on top," she said while inaugurating the Hajj program 2018 at Hajj Camp in Dhaka's Ashkona area on Wednesday.
Sheikh Hasina said Islam believes in peace, and repeatedly emphasizes the rights of human beings and welfare of people.
"But often we see some people engaging in terrorist acts in the name of this religion and this puts our religion into question before the whole world," she said.
The prime minister said this causes problems for Muslims when they travel to various countries of the world.
She added: "But, holy Islam is the most peaceful religion. Islam says the people of all religions will perform their own religious rituals independently. Our Prophet repeatedly said that."
She mentioned that some people engaged in violence and lawlessness just to undermine the religion. "Nobody has the right to malign our religion."
The prime minister said the government wants no one to spread confusion about Islam and it wants to build a system so that people can understand the real meaning of Islam.
"For that, we have taken a project to construct 560 mosques in different areas of the country under the supervision of the Islamic Foundation."
Sheikh Hasina mentioned that 80% of the places for these mosques have been selected, and the project received the government's nod, involving Tk800 crore. "Apart from being used for prayers, these mosques will spread the real meaning of Islam so that no one can confuse people."
Chaired by Religious Affairs Minister Principal Matior Rahman, the program was addressed, among others, by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Religious Affairs Ministry Bazlul Huq Haroon, Advocate Sahara Khatun, MP, Saudi Charge d'Affaires Amir Bin Omar Bin Salem, and Secretary Md Anisur Rahman.
After the inaugural program, the prime minister exchanged greetings with the Hajj pilgrims.
The hajj flights carrying Bangladeshi pilgrims will begin on July 14. This year, a total of 127,198 pilgrims - 7,198 under government management and 120,000 under private management - will perform hajj from Bangladesh.
There are two packages – Package 1 Tk3,97,929 and Package 2 Tk331,359 - for the hajj travellers under government management, and the flight fare has been fixed at Tk138,191 under these two packages.
