Six presenters of religious programmes in different private television channels, two of whom are involved with Jamaat-e-Islami, have been sued in connection with the killing of Shaikh Nurul Islam Faruqi.
Emran Hussain Tushar, Dhaka city unit general secretary of Islami Chhatra Sena – student wing of Islamic Front Bangladesh, filed the case with Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The accused are NTV’s Tarek Monawar; ATN Bangla’s Arakanullah Haruni and Kamaluddin Jafree; RTV and Radio Today presenter Khalid Saifullah Bakshi; Diganta TV and Peace TV anchor Kazi Ibrahim; and Bangla Vision’s Mokhtar Ahmed.
Of the accused, Tarek Monwar is a rokon of Jamaat while Jafree is the former Jamaat ameer of Narsingdi district unit.
Presenter of religious programmes on Channel i, Faruqi, 60, was slaughtered by a group of unidentified people at his house on August 24.
He was a Presidium member of Islamic Front – a platform of several Islamist organisations. He also served as the international affairs secretary of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, an Islamist group that opposes Jamaat and Hefazat-e-Islam.
Faruqi was the imam of Supreme Court mosque. He had different business including a hajj agency.
Magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur recoded the statement of the plaintiff. The judge also directed the officer-in-charge of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police to register the complaint as a regular case and carry out investigation along with the murder case filed by Faruqi’s family with the same police station.
In the case, Emran alleged that Jamaat-Shibir extremists had tried to kill Faruqi in January, 2010 while Kazi Ibrahim threatened to kill him in Trishal of Mymensingh in 2012.
According to the case details, at a meeting arranged by “Association of Islami Media Personality” on August 22, accused Tarek Monwar had threatened to burn Faruqi down. The other accused supported Tarek’s speech at the same meeting.
Leaders of Ahle Sunnat too blame Jamaat for the killing of Faruqi since he used to speak against superstitions and fanaticism.
At a recent rally in Chittagong, Ahle Sunnat leaders also demanded ban on Peace TV and several programmes on different private channels for instigating militancy. Police say difference over religious ideology was the main reason behind Faruqi murder.
