Latif to lose AL posts too

Staff Reporter :
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to strip Abdul Latif Siddiqui not only from the cabinet but also from all the posts of Awami League for his derogatory comments on Hajj, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and Tablig Jamaat.
“He will be removed from the cabinet and all party posts for making derogatory remarks hurting the religious sentiment of people,” she said while talking to party leaders at the VIP lounge of Sylhet MAG Osmani International Airport on Thursday morning on her way to Dhaka after attending the 69th UN General Assembly in the USA. Awami League Central Organising Secretary Mesbah Uddin Ahmed Siraj and Sylhet district AL President Abduz Zahir Chowdhury Sufian quoted the Prime Minister as saying. While talking to reporters, Mesbah Uddin said Sheikh Hasina mentioned that she has performed Hajj for herself and for her father, mother and many other relatives also.
“I have performed Omrah hajj several times. The derogatory comments about the Hajj that hurt the religious sentiment of Muslims will never be tolerated,” the AL leader quoted the Prime Minister.
Latif Siddiqui’s remarks in New York on Sunday triggered widespread criticisms at home and abroad, and embarrassed the government.
Soon after the video of the discussion at Jackson Heights released, the Prime Minister, being annoyed at his comments, decided to sack Siddiqui from the cabinet.
Senior Awami League leader Abdul Latif Siddiqui has been sued by three more persons is two courts accusing him of hurting religious sentiments.
Two courts in Dhaka have heard the matter on Thursday and summoned the ruling party MP.
President of Jananetri Parishad AB Siddiqui, advocate Shah Alam and one Nazim Uddin Badal filed separate cases against the lawmaker.
Telecommunications Minister Siddiqui have been ordered to appear before the court of Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Oct 29 by Metropolitan Magistrate Atikur Rahman in the case filed by AB Siddiqui.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan heard the other two cases on Thursday and summoned the ruling party leader.
On Wednesday, seven cases were filed against the ruling party leader on the same grounds at courts in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Barisal. The minister was personally summoned in five of them.
Siddiqui drew widespread condemnation after rubbishing the practice of Hajj and Tablig Jamaat at a programme in New York on Sunday.
A video clip of him making that statement kicked up a storm as it went viral on the Internet and touched raw nerves within his party and outside. Not the least because a whole lot of Awami league ministers and senior bureaucrats are on Hajj now. “So much manpower is wasted over Hajj. Two million people are now in Saudi Arabia for Hajj. They have no work or role in production. They only eat and go abroad using the country’s money,” Siddiqui was heard saying in the video. He also reacted strongly to a question about Sheikh Hasina’s son and ICT Adviser Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy. “Why do you talk about Joy all the time? Who is ‘Joy Bhai’?
“Joy is not in the Bangladesh government. He does not take decisions.”
The Awami League has said that the Prime Minister has decided immediately to remove him from the Cabinet after his statements. He is also set to lose party membership.