An islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) faction has described Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s stance on religion as ‘timely’ and welcomed her actions against those undermining Islam.
Led by Maulana Abdul Latif Nezami and Mufti Faizullah, this IOJ faction broke away from the BNP-led 20-Party alliance last year.
Nezami and Faizullah were close to Hifazat-e Islam, which opposes the Ganajagaran Mancha’s movement for highest punishment for 1971 war criminals and pushes for punishment of the ‘atheist bloggers’.
The Ganajagaran movement had the support of the Awami League and even Hasina had said her ‘heart was at Shahbagh’.
But the prime minister has recently lashed out at the ‘freethinkers’ saying: “What they often write in pursuit of freethinking is unreadable and causes revulsions.”
This seems to have pleased the Nezami-Faizullah faction which welcomed the prime minister’s remarks in a media statement issued on Monday.
It said the prime minister’s remarks were ‘timely’ and reflected the aspirations of 92 percent of the country’s population.
“Her remarks are very positive. It proves there is no place in Bangladesh for those who oppose Islam and promote atheism.
“This is a clear sign that those who undermine our Prophet will not be tolerated in Bangladesh and people are united in opposing them,” said the statement.
But Nezami and Faizullah were critical of the government’s education policies.
“Atheists and Communists have conspired to purge our curriculum of essays and poetry drawn from religion and morality and promoted anti-Islam views in the name of progress, secularism and modernity. This is not acceptable,” said their statement.
Source: Bd news24
