Hefajat threatens oust-govt movement

Hefajat-e Islam, a Chittagong-based group of radical Islamists, holds a grand rally in Barisal city on Thursday.

Leaders of Hefajat-e Islam on Thursday threatened to launch one-point movement of toppling the government if it does not comply with their 13-point demand.

They also sought amendment to the constitution if any of the demands is anti-constitutional.

Zonaid Al Habib, joint member secretary Hefajat, a Chittagong-based group of radical Islamists, came up with the announcement at a grand rally in Barisal city.

As part of Hefajat’s series of rallies, the Barisal divisional grand rally is designed to drum up support for their 13-point demand, which include a law allowing death penalty for maligning Islam and stern punishment to those they call “atheist bloggers”.

Nearly 40,000 Hefajat men thronged the venue of the rally that started around 2:15 pm at Fazlul Haque Avenue and continued over three hours.

Abdul Khaled, vice president of Hefajat Barisal city unit, is leading the rally, reported our Barisal correspondent covering the event.

The gathering also spilled onto adjacent Chalkbazar and Launchghat areas.

Since morning, the radical Islamists activists kept marching towards their rally venue from different parts of Pirojpur, Bhola, Jhalakati, Barguna and Patuakhali districts.

Source: The Daily Star