Khilafat Andolon, one of the 12 small parties, admitted to be against the Shahbagh movement but refuted any ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami, stating ‘not even Awami League hates them (Jamaat) as much as we do’.
Khilafat Andolon’s Assistant Secretary General Mujibur Rahman Hamidi was speaking to bdnews24.com amidst their Sunday’s nationwide shutdown.
“There is no question of ties with Jamaat… We hate them (Jamaat) more than Awami League does,” he said.
“We know where our difference lies with them (Jamaat)… From deep inside our heart.”
Many Islamist parties have ideological differences with the Jamaat – the party that sided with Pakistan during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.
Protesters demanding capital punishment for war criminals alleged that anti-Shahbagh Jamaat was confusing other Islamist parties. The protesters are also demanding a ban on the Jamaat.
On Friday, ‘Islamists’ wreaked havoc across Bangladesh alleging that the Shahbagh protesters were out to ‘defame Islam’, which the demonstrators demanding capital punishment for war criminals have strongly denied. Police blame Jamaat for orchestrating Friday’s violence, which claimed four lives.
Sunday’s shutdown was called by the 12 small parties in protest against ‘obstructing’ their programme by the police.
Mujibur Rahman said they were not linked to Friday’s violence. “Khilafat Andolon did not cause this violence… However, there might be outsiders in such a big procession… They did it (violence).”
“Islam is not a religion of violence,” he said.
Although many pro-shutdown processions were visible on Sunday no activities of the small parties were noticed.
All shops beside the Kamrangir Char headquarters of the Khilafat Andolon in Dhaka were seen to be open as normalcy prevailed in capital Dhaka.
“We do not like the politics of violence… We observe peaceful shutdowns, “he said.
He alleged that although there were plans to bring out a procession from the party headquarters, but it didn’t happen in the face of police obstruction.
Source: bdnews24
bdnews24 is an AL front and their news cannot be trusted.