Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh on Thursday lambasted the government for arresting Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman saying that it was done just to appease a handful of ‘atheists and apostates’.
“We think he (Mahmudur) was arrested in a planned way to make anti-Islamists and atheists-apostates happy,” Hefajat’s Dhaka city unit leaders said in a statement signed by Maulana Ahlullah Wasel, the unit’s publicity cell chief.
Hefajat leaders also issued a threat that the whole country will be on fire if Mahmudur Rahman is not released.
Mentioning that Mahmudur Rahman has won the hearts of millions of devout Muslims by exposing atheists through the Amar Desh, the leaders of the Islamist group said, “The government is doing excesses only to meet the demands of a few atheists and apostates. If the government doesn’t change its double standard, people will surely give a befitting reply in time.”
Besides, the Islamist group is scheduled to decide its action programme at a meeting at its office in the capital’s Lalbagh area in the afternoon.
Earlier in the morning, police arrested Mahmudur Rahman from his Karwanbazar office on charge of sedition.
Hefajat’s Dhaka city unit leaders -- Nur Hossain Kashemi, its leaders Mufti Fayezullah, Maulana Zafarullah Khan and Maulana Abul Hasan Amini are, among others, signatories to the statement.
Earlier, the Islamist group in their post-long march rally in the city on April 6 warned the government that they will paralise the country if any move is taken to arrest Mahmudur Rahman.
