Jamaat chief warns against ‘Dark Era’
Amid growing concerns over a series of cocktail-bomb explosions, arson attacks and alleged sabotage by activists of the banned Awami League and its affiliated organisations, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman has questioned the effectiveness and conduct of the country’s intelligence agencies.
He expressed concern that explosives were being detonated even in front of an intelligence agency’s office, while intelligence personnel were allegedly spending their time harassing opposition lawmakers and pressuring them to change their political affiliations.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Dr Shafiqur questioned how such security breaches could occur if intelligence agencies were effectively performing their duties.
“Cocktail bombs are going off in front of an intelligence agency’s office. If even that place is not safe, what do those intelligence people do?” he asked.
He also cast doubt on the reliability of intelligence reports, alleging that information presented as major intelligence successes was sometimes entirely fabricated.
“Sometimes we hear information about intelligence successes, but it is false information. What is claimed to be certain information is one hundred per cent false,” he said.
The opposition leader further alleged that intelligence personnel were contacting opposition lawmakers and attempting to influence their political positions.
Citing an account shared by a fellow MP, the Jamaat Ameer said an individual claiming to be from an intelligence office had telephoned the lawmaker and urged him to leave Jamaat-e-Islami and undertake certain activities.
“Now the intelligence people are functioning in various places to harass opposition members in different ways. Just now an MP said that someone from an intelligence office had phoned him and told him: ‘Leave Jamaat. Do this work,'” he said.
Dr Shafiqur said he had advised the MP to preserve the caller’s telephone number and submit it to the Home Minister for verification.
“I told him it could be fake or it could be genuine. Let us record this number and give it to the Home Minister, so that they can find out who it is,” he added.
Questioning the authority of intelligence personnel to interfere in the political affiliations of elected representatives, he asked whether they had any mandate to instruct lawmakers to leave a particular political party.
“Does any intelligence member have the responsibility or the right to say this at all?” he questioned.
Describing the alleged conduct as an abuse of authority, Dr Shafiqur warned against a return to the period of political repression under the previous Awami League government.
“This is audacity. Are we going back to that dark era again? The dark era of 15 and a half years. We do not want to see that era return,” he said.