Explaining why removed minister Abdul Latif Siddique could not be arrested although he is facing a number of arrest warrants, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan on Monday said there were some difficulties in arresting an MP when Parliament is in session.
“There’re court warrants for his (Latif’s) arrest…that’s true …at the same time this is also a fact that he still enjoys the parliament membership. As the parliament is in session, the Speaker’s approval is necessary for the arrest of an incumbent MP,” he said.
The junior minister made the remarks at his Secretariat office when journalists asked him why Latif Siddique was not arrested at the airport on his arrival from India on Sunday night.
He, however, parried a further question of the reporters as to when the sacked minister will be arrested.
Despite having several court warrants pending for his arrest, 77-year-old former Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddique returned home on Sunday night, nearly two months after his disparaging remarks against Islam in the USA.
Latif who arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Kolkata by an Air India flight around 8:40pm left the airport under an escort of law enforcers for an undisclosed location through the domestic terminal of the airport.
At a views-exchange meeting with expatriates from Tangail in New York on September 28, Latif Siddique made disparaging remarks about hajj, one of the main pillars of Islam, and Tablig Jamaat, an Islamic organisation.
His remarks triggered widespread criticisms both at home and abroad, and subsequently a number of courts across the country, including ones in Dhaka, Chittagong and Narail, issued warrants for the arrest of him in separate cases filed for hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims with his derogatory comments.
Meanwhile, different Islamic parties staged demonstrations at different parts of the country, including Dhaka, demanding immediate arrest of Latif Siddique.
Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh threatened to enforce a daylong countrywide hartal on Thursday if Latif is not arrested by Wednesday for his disparaging remarks against Islam.
Besides, leaders of Ahle Sunnat-al Jamaat, another Islamist group, have issued a threat to besiege the Home Ministry on Wednesday if Latif is not arrested in 48 hours.
Source: UNB
