Socio-Cultural organisations of Bangladesh organised a demonstration in Dhaka on Tuesday demanding arrest of the hardline Islamist Hefazat-e-Islam chief Junaid Babunagari and Joint Secretary Mamunul Haque for opposing the installation of Banagabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s sculpture.
The protest was organised by 60 Social and Cultural organisations under the banner of Ghatak Dal Nirmul Committee.The organisations formed a human chain and demanded the ban on the radical, communal and terrorism based politics of Jamat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam, reported the official news agency BSS.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque asked the Hefazat-e-Islam to withdraw the statement opposing Bangabandhu’s sculpture. He warned that the statement could invite exemplary punishment.
Earlier, ruling Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader had said on Monday that opposition to the sculpture of Bangabandhu was a challenge to the spirit of Liberation War. He had warned that no speech will be tolerated against the constitution and the state. Recalling the contribution of artists in the Liberation War of Bangladesh he said that they had fought against the atrocities of Pakistani invaders using their paintbrush on the canvas.
The new chief of the hardline Islamist group of Bangladesh Hefazat-e-Islam Junaid Babunagari had said on Friday that it will pull down all the statues in the country, no matter whose statue is this. Hefazat-e-Islam has been opposing the installation of the statue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of his birth centenary ‘Mujib Borsho’.
