New Age - 7 April 2013
Hefajat wants blasphemy law
Asks govt to punish ‘atheist’ bloggers if it wants to stay in power
Mustafizur Rahman and Abdullah Juberee
Tens of thousands of Islamists from across the country joined Hefajat-e-Islam’s rally at Matijheet in the capital on Saturday to press for ‘death’ to the ‘atheist’ bloggers and branded Awami League government as ‘atheist’.
Leaders of Hefajat, a platform of some Islamist groups mostly from Qwami madrassah background, demanded enactment of ‘blasphemy law’ for ensuring highest punishment for derogatory remarks on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (SM) and stopping ‘free mixing’ of men and women.
They claimed that the aim of their movement was to protect Islam, not to do politics.
‘Our major demands are reinstatement of the phrase “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah” in the constitution, enactment of a blasphemy law with provisions for death penalty for people making derogatorary remarks on Allah, Islam and the Quran, and exemplary punishment of the “atheist” bloggers for “mocking” Allah and the Prophet (SM),’ Hefajat chief Shah Ahmed Shafi said while addressing the rally.
In his written speech, the 93-year-old Islamist leader also said that the government would have to accept the demands if it wanted to stay in power or to go to power again in the next elections.
He demanded repeal of the existing education policy and the women development policy branding them ‘anti-Islamic’.
‘The human sea at Motijheel proves that the atheists have no place in the country which is the land of Muslims,’ said Shafi, also director general of Hathajari Madrassah in Chittagong.
He said truth would prevail over lies.
Shafi who mounted the podium at 2:40pm concluded the rally leading prayers as his son Anas Madani read out the speech on behalf of his ailing father.
As he read out his father’s statement thousands of Hefajat activists raised their hands shouting ‘hang the atheist bloggers’ to counter the slogan of Shahbagh protesters who were demanding capital punishment for the war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir.
The Hefajat activists filled Matjheel and its surroundings, including Fakirerpul, Ittefaq crossing and Paltan in one of the biggest rallies in recent times.
Wearing headbands and holding placards reading ‘death to atheist bloggers’, Islamists poured in the venue in their thousands from different areas of Dhaka and outlying districts.
Private offices and businesses in the commercial hub had to shut due to the rally as it was a weekly holiday for government offices.
Many protesters carrying dry food and water travelled a long way on foot to reach Motijheel due to a hartal enforced by Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, Sector Commanders Forum and 24 other socio-cultural organisations against the Hefajat’s ‘long march’.
The Hefajat activists branded the youths spearheading the Shahbagh protests as ‘atheist bloggers’ and demanded their ‘execution’, including blogger Imran H Sarker and writer Shahriar Kabir.
The rally that began at around 9:00am concluded in a peaceful manner before 5:00pm as instructed by the police department.
Tight security was in place from Friday night to Saturday evening to prevent trouble.
Several thousand volunteers of the Islamist groups cordoned off the rally venue.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain and Sadeque Hossain Khoka joined the rally to express solidarity on behalf of the party chairperson Khaleda Zia and Jatiya Party presidium member Kazi Zafar Ahmed visited them to express solidarity on behalf of the party chair HM Ershad.
Hefazat leaders said that the ‘atheist’ government had no authority to stay in power in a country where 90 per cent of the population were Muslims, terming the government ‘munafek (hypocrites) for applying ‘double standards’.
The Islamist leaders claimed that their movement was apolitical, though they had some political issues on their charter of demands. They gave the government a month to accept their demands or face ‘tougher’ programmes.
It announced a series of rallies across the country, including a countrywide general strike, for April 8 and ‘Dhaka siege’ for May 5.
Ahmed Shafi on March 10 announced the ‘long march’ to Dhaka to push for, among other issues, their demands for an end to ‘police firing on demonstrations and killing of Muslims, release of all ulema and withdrawal of all cases filed against ulema and the Muslims, declaring the Ahmadiyyas non-Muslims, an end to alien and anti-Islamic culture such as candlelight vigil and dismantling of all sculptures from universities and roads.
Hefajat’s central joint secretary general Mufti Mohammad Foyezullah read out the declaration raising the 13-point charter of demands of the platform.
Hefajat’s secretary general Zunayed Babunagari accused the government of applying double standards about the ‘long march’ and alleged that ruling party activists had attacked the marchers at places, injuring a number of them.
He called on the ruling AL to sever its ‘ties’ with the ‘atheist’ bloggers to prove that it was a ‘government of the Muslims’.
The Islamists alleged that they had faced obstacles from the police and AL activists at different places during their march to Dhaka that began Friday after juma prayers.
‘Police turned away many of our fellows from Gabtoli last evening. Chhatra League activists in front of Jahangirnagar University also stopped our march towards Dhaka. We came to the venue on foot,’ said madrassah teacher Iman Uddin, 70, who came from Makinganj and was accompanied by his two sons—both masrassah students.
BNP and Jatiya Party, among others, set up camps in and around the venue to provide food and drinking water to the marchers. Many individuals also distributed food among the Islamists.
Communications between Dhaka and the rest of the country remained almost snapped on Friday and Saturday as buses stayed off the roads, frequency of trains were reduced, and water vessels remained anchored at river ports fearing violence ahead of the Dhaka march and the rally.
The Hefajat-e Islam leaders alleged that specific orders from the authorities had led to the scarcity of transport. They said many of them marched for Dhaka ‘on foot’ from nearby districts while many others could not come from far away districts like Chittagong and Sylhet as transport operators at the eleventh hour refused to provide buses.
New Age correspondent in Chittagong reported that thousands of Hefajat activists held a rally at WASA intersection in the port city on the day after they failed to join the main rally in the capital.
Addressing the rally, their leaders, including the central organising secretary, Azizul Haque Islamabadi, demanded death penalty for the ‘atheist’ bloggers for ‘defaming’ Islam and the Prophet (SM).
Traffic remained suspended during the rally.
The Barisal correspondent said Hefajat-e-Islam activists had marched in a procession in the city on Saturday afternoon soon after the central programme had announced its next course of action.
They called for the people to make the day-long hartal on April 8 and ‘Dhaka siege’ on May 5 ‘successful’.
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