Hefazat-e-Islam chief Shah Ahmed Safi brushed aside Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s request to withdraw its Dhaka siege programme set to be observed on Sunday.
Shafi asked the Chittagong-based Islamist group’s followers to participate in the siege without becoming confused by the prime minister’s request.
“There is no reason to cancel the Dhaka siege programme as the prime minister did not give any assurance of fulfilling the 13-point demands,” he said in a statement Friday evening.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hasina also urged the opposition BNP to cancel its rally set for this afternoon at the city’s Shapla Chattar.
However, the Islamist leader announced that ambulances, vehicles used in rescue operations, and those carrying dead bodies and local and foreign visitors to and from the Savar disaster site will remain out of the purview of the Dhaka siege.
About 516 people were killed and several hundred injured in the Rana Plaza collapse at Savar.
