Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in its maiden public rally in a decade on Saturday in Dhaka said that a neutral caretaker government must be instituted to hold a fair, neutral and participatory national election scheduled in January 2024 and added that there could be talks over the formation of such an interim government.
A written statement by acting ameer [chief] of the Jamaat Mujibur Rahman, read aloud in the programme by the party’s publicity secretary Md Matiur Rahman Akanda, placed 10-point demands, calling of holding fair, neutral and participatory national election under a caretaker government.
Jamaat in its demands also asked for the release of their leaders, including ameer Shafiqur Rahman, nayeb-e-ameer ANM Shamsul Islam and secretary general Mia Golam Porwar, from the jail.
They also called on the government to allow them to open their party offices across the country without any delay, also allowing them to hold rallies and meetings as guaranteed by the constitution.
Amid a huge deployment of police in armed gear and in plain clothes, Jamaat’s Dhaka South city unit held the three-hour-long rally at the auditorium of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, attended by several thousand Jamaat followers, many of whom occupied nearby roads due to shortage of space on the IEB compound.
Jamaat organised the rally to protest against soaring prices of essential items and demand the release of their senior leaders and the reintroduction of the caretaker government system for holding national elections.
In their 10-point demands, they also called for the return of disappeared retired Brigadier General Abdullah Aman Azmi, Supreme Court lawyer Arman Ahmed Bin Kashem,Jamaat activist Zakir Hossain and Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders AL Mokaddes and Mohammad Oliullah, among others, who were disappeared over the decade.
They also called on the government to withdraw all cases filed against members of the Jamaat and their affiliated organisations.
They demanded the repeal of the Digital Security Act and reopening of their media outlets shut in the past 14 years.
As the chief of the programme, Syeed Abdullah Muhammad Taher, nayeb-e-ameer (vice-president) of the Jamaat, said that talks could be held over the process of the formation of a neutral caretaker government to hold the coming election in a free and fair manner.
‘Caretaker, caretaker, caretaker,’ he repeated thrice, adding that they would join a united movement for this purpose.
He also said that a level-playing field would not be possible with keeping this government in the power. Muhammad Taher called for national unity to solve the crisis.
The leader criticised the ruling party and its student wing and cited the example of how Abrar Fahad, a student of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was killed.
The party’s publicity secretary Md Matiur Rahman Akanda, also a Supreme Court lawyer, pointed that the decision of challenging the legality of the Jamaat’s registration as a political party was still pending with the Supreme Court.
AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad, an assistant secretary general of the Jamaat and a former parliamentarian for Cox’s Bazar-2, said that whenever the Awami League came to power it ruined democracy and violated human rights.
He said that they would work for realising the demand of the people to remove the ‘authoritarian’ government. The leader, however, said that they wanted to follow peaceful means as the party did not believe in terrorism and in the use of force.
They also demanded the release of their war crime convict leaders Delwar Hossain Sayedee and assistant secretary general ATM Azharul Islam, among others, alleging that many other leaders were arrested multiple times at the jail gates in new cases soon after their releases on bail in other cases.
