The much-hyped ‘Dhaka Siege’ programme of Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh begins after Fajar prayers on Sunday without any finishing timeline for it.
“The Dhaka Siege will begin after Fajar prayers on Sunday and there has been no instruction from the top leader so far when it will end,” Maulana Ahlullah Wasel, chief of Hefajat’s media wing, told UNB on Saturday night.
Amid escalating tension over their siege programme, Hefajat leaders repeatedly said their programme is neither to dislodge the government nor install another in power, but to force the current regime to accept their 13-point demand.
As the Dhaka Siege programme has no specific timeline to end, intelligence officials apprehended that it might have a link with Khaleda Zia’s 48-hour ultimatum to the government to clearly announce that the next general election will be held under a non-party administration.
Hefajat-e-Islam called the Dhaka Siege programme from its April 6 grand rally at the city’s Shapla Chattar demanding that their 13-point demand be met by April 30.
Hefajat’s 13-point demand includes passing a law in parliament with a provision for the maximum punishment of death sentence to check defaming Allah, Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) and Islam and smear campaigns against Muslims, putting an end to the infiltration of all alien culture, including adultery and free mixing of male and female and officially declaring Qadianis (Ahmadiyyas) as non-Muslims.
Meanwhile, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, addressing the 18-party alliance rally in the city on Saturday, lent BNP’s support to Hefajat-e-Islam’s Dhaka Siege urging the government to allow the Islamist group to observe its programme without any trouble.
She also warned that the consequences will not be good if the government obstructs the programme.
BNP vice-chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka, addressing the same rally, warned the government that if it obstructs the Hefajat’s programmes his party and the 18-party alliance will not sit idle.
As the Dhaka Siege programme has six focal points, leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League will remain alert so that no chaos and anarchy is created over the Hefajat’s programme.
At an extending meeting of Dhaka City unit Awami League at the party’s central office on Saturday, the leaders and activists of the ruling party and its associate bodies were asked to take position at all entry points of the capital to help police maintain law and order.
Talking to reporters city, AL general secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said, “If Hefajat tries to kill people in the name of their programme, people will resist them and Awami League will assist people.”
Besides, Jatiya Party Chairman and former President HM Ershad on Saturday asked his party leaders and activists to cooperate with the Islamist group in enforcing its siege programme.
In a statement, the former military ruler also urged the government to accept the justified demands of Hefajat considering the people’s religious sentiment, and hoped that the government will assist Hefajat to peacefully observe the programme.
Hefajat leaders, however, vowed to make their Dhaka Siege a complete success despite repeated requests by the government to withdraw it.
They said their workers and supporters will take control over all the entry points surrounding Dhaka after Fajr prayers on Sunday morning.They will block roads at points like Babu Bazar Bridge, Postagala Bridge, Demra Bridge, Kanchpur Bridge, Amin Bazar Bridge of Gabtoali and Abdullahpur of Tongi Bridge from shortly before dawn on Sunday.
They will be guided by a nayeb-e-ameer of the Islamist group at each point to enforce the siege.
The Islamist organisation asked its supporters to join the programme with tasbih (beads), jainamaj (prayer mats), miswakh (wooden toothbrush) and dry foods.
Hefajat that staged a massive showdown at the city’s Shapla Chattar on April 6 also called upon the owners and the workers of launches and other transports to carry its leaders and activists to Dhaka and stop plying those on both road and river routes on Sunday (May 5).
Earlier, briefing reporters at the office of Dhaka City unit Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh in the city’s Lalbagh area on Friday, Hefajat’s Dhaka City convener Maulana Nur Hossain Kashemi said the rights of all workers will be implemented if the 13-point demand is met.
Khashemi said thousands of Tawhidi janata have already reached Dhaka and many more are ready to join the much-hyped Dhaka Siege programme.
“The Dhaka siege programe will be made successful peaceful at any cost,” he said.
Source: UNB Connect