Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner Tim Bolotnikoff has visited a madrasa run by a Hifazat-e Islam leader at Chittagong ‘to know about Kaomi madrasa’.
He went to Jamiatul Uloom Al-Islamia at Lalkhan Bazar at around 4:15pm on Thursday and came out an hour later.
After the visit to the religious school, run by Hifazat central leader Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury who is the principal, the diplomat declined to speak to journalists.
However, Hifazat’s International Affairs Advisor Ubaidur Rahman Khan Nodvi spoke to the media for the madrasa about Bolotnikoff’s visit.
He said: “The Deputy High Commissioner came to know about Kaomi madrasa and the differences between Alia and Kaomi madrasas.”
Nodvi, also a Senior Sub-Editor at Daily Inqilab newspaper, said the Australian government was implementing a programme to provide computer education at a madrasa in the port city’s Chandgaon.
“The Australian Deputy High Commissioner came to attend the concluding ceremony. He visited this (Jamiatul Uloom) madrasa as it is near the hotel he was staying.”
Asked what was discussed with the diplomat, he said: “He asked if we took any government assistance like Alia madrasas do. He also wanted to know if we were ready to undertake any development programme.”
“We told him if that (programme) matched our ideology and didn’t go against Islam, we are ready to get n board.”
To a question whether the envoy talked about Hifazat, Nodvi said: “Since the principal of this madrasa is a leader of Hifazat-e Islam, a few words were said about it.”
Asked if Dhaka’s Shapla Chattar incident on May 5-6 was discussed, he said: “No political discussion happened here.”
Mufti Izharul and other central leaders of the Hifazat including Mohibullah Babu Nagari, Azizul Haq Islamabadi and Harun Izhar were present during the diplomat’s visit.
Source: Bd news24