Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has strongly protested at the remarks made by Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh’s Ameer Shah Muhibbullah Babunagari.
The party’s assistant secretary general and chief of central publicity and media, Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair, issued a statement to the press on Monday condemning the comments.
In his statement, Zubair referred to a report published on the front page of Daily Inqilab on 15 September under the headline, “If Jamaat comes to power, the existence of Qawmi, Deobandi and Sunniyat madrasahs won’t remain”.
He described Babunagari’s claim as “false and fabricated,” saying, “There is not a grain of truth in such remarks. This statement is entirely baseless and unbecoming of a respected scholar of his stature. I condemn and protest his comment.”
Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair further stated that Jamaat-e-Islami is a systematic, Islamic-oriented political party. Since its inception, the party has been serving Islam through establishing mosques, madrasahs, and orphanages across the country.
Many Jamaat leaders, activists, and well-wishers, he added, are directly engaged in founding and supporting Qawmi madrasahs. “There is no evidence that any Jamaat leader or activist has ever opposed Qawmi, Deobandi, or Sunniyat madrasahs,” he said in the statement.
The Jamaat assistant secretary general also recalled that during Jamaat’s participation in government between 2001 and 2006, when two of its members held ministerial positions, they had never acted against those religious institutions. “On the contrary, they provided extensive support to those madrasahs. This alone proves that Maulana Babunagari’s apprehension is false and unfounded. Such propaganda cannot mislead the people.”
The statement concluded by urging all parties to refrain from making false and fabricated remarks against Jamaat-e-Islami.