Prepare for inevitable revolution: Jamaat chief

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer and Leader of the Opposition in parliament, Shafiqur Rahman, said on Saturday that the verdict of the public referendum and the July Charter must be implemented, warning that if no solution is reached in parliament, the party will take its case directly to people across the country.

He was addressing a divisional rally organized by the 11-party alliance at the Khulna Circuit House ground on Saturday afternoon.

“Where we do not need the speaker’s permission to speak, we will speak with the people. A mass awakening will take place across the country,” he said.

Calling on the country’s youth, Shafiqur Rahman said they had removed fascism through the July Revolution, and urged them, if necessary, to be ready for another “inevitable revolution” to remove what he described as neo-fascism. He said the student movement had not been aimed at installing any individual, family, or group in power, but at building an independent, sovereign, accountable, and humane Bangladesh.

“We do not want any chaos in the country. But we will not bow down to injustice, corruption, extortion, occupation or domination,” he said.

Shafiqur Rahman said people had supported the country’s political change in the hope of building a non-discriminatory, corruption-free, and democratic state system, but said those expectations had yet to be fulfilled. He alleged that commitments previously made to the public had not been honored, and that state institutions had been politicised and weakened, leading to an erosion of public rights.

On border issues, he said the people of Bangladesh, together with law enforcement agencies, would work jointly to protect the country’s sovereignty and security, adding that Bangladesh would not bow to foreign domination or aggression.

The rally was organized around demands for implementation of the referendum verdict, relief from public hardship, and control of commodity prices.

Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar chaired the event, while former Colonel Oli Ahmed and Maulana Mamunul Haque addressed the gathering as special guests.