Desk Report:
Rashed Khan, General Secretary of the People’s Rights Council, said, “I don’t think it would be wrong to call Hefazat-e-Islam a major political force in Bangladesh. You (Hefazat-e-Islam) say that you are apolitical; but you control the politics of Bangladesh to a large extent. No matter who comes to power in Bangladesh, no matter who does politics, politics cannot be done in Bangladesh without Hefazat-e-Islam.”
He said these things to the leaders and activists of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh at the national conference organized by the Shaikhul Hadith Parishad at the National Museum in the capital on Saturday.
Rashed Khan said, “Our party, the People’s Rights Council, believes in Islamic values. We are in politics in Bangladesh, we are not an Islamic party like you (Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh). But we, who adopt a moderate stance, are not against Islam. The democratic progress of Bangladesh that embraces Islamic values, must be taken forward.”
He said, “Hasina’s downfall was due to her being Islamophobic. No one in this country has ever been able to do politics by going against Islam, taking a stand against Islam. No one will be able to do politics by going against Islam in the future. The government that has taken a stand against Islam, the statement of secularism, has presented various definitions that conflict with religion in the name of this statement, that government has not been able to do politics in Bangladesh. Therefore, the government that is in place now, the government that will come in the future, everyone will have to do politics and run the country according to Islam.’
This leader of the People’s Rights Council said to the interim government, ‘Make a list of how many madrasa students have given their lives, how many have been attacked. The list of how many were martyred in the massacre that Awami fascism carried out in Shapla Chattar has not been made yet.
‘I will tell the government, bring those who have attacked this clerical community at various times, made it bloody, under the law. A new Bangladesh cannot be formed by keeping madrasa students and clerical community away. We are dreaming of forming a new Bangladesh.’
