Jamaat provides explanation of ameer’s letter seeking ministerial status for adviser

In response to discussions surrounding a letter from the party’s ameer requesting that his adviser be appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the status of a minister, Jamaat-e-Islami has issued an explanation.

The party stated that adviser Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan had added the section regarding ministerial status in the letter beyond the instructions of the ameer.

After the matter came to the party’s attention, Mahmudul Hasan was relieved of his duties.

Following widespread discussion after Prothom Alo published a report yesterday, Tuesday, titled “Leader of the Opposition seeks his adviser be appointed to foreign ministry”, Jamaat-e-Islami issued this explanation in the evening through a statement sent by its Secretary General, Mia Golam Porwar. The statement was also published on the party’s official Facebook page.

The statement noted that recently a news report had appeared in the media concerning a letter sent from the office of the leader of the opposition in Parliament and Jamaat-e-Islami ameer, Shafiqur Rahman, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As the report had created some confusion among the public, the statement was issued to clarify the matter.

According to the statement, the incident reported in the media took place approximately two weeks ago.

At that time, Professor Mahmudul Hasan was serving as the foreign affairs adviser to the Jamaat ameer.

He had been assigned the responsibility of sending a letter to the Foreign Minister in order to clarify certain positions of Jamaat-e-Islami regarding the country’s foreign affairs.

The statement said, “However, he included several matters in the letter beyond those instructed by the ameer and sent it to the ministry. In particular, the section in the letter referring to ministerial status was not included in the ameer’s instructions.”

The letter from the office of the Opposition Leader, Shafiqur Rahman, was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 22 February.

Written on the official letterhead of the National Parliament and signed by Shafiqur Rahman, the letter addressed to Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman requested that Mahmudul Hasan be posted to the ministry with the status of a minister.

It also stated that such an appointment would enable the opposition party’s “foreign policy positions” to be presented to the government, reviewed and help maintain “balance” in international relations.

Prothom Alo published its report based on a copy of that letter. Professional diplomats expressed surprise upon seeing such a request, stating that no such appointment had ever been made in the country before, nor had they heard of such a practice abroad.

In the statement, Mia Golam Porwar said that as soon as the matter came to the attention of the party, the Jamaat ameer took the necessary action.

Mahmudul Hasan was formally relieved of his responsibilities on 2 March.

Subsequently, Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem (Arman), the party’s member of parliament from the Dhaka-14 constituency, was appointed as the new foreign affairs adviser to the Leader of the Opposition.

The statement added, “Jamaat-e-Islami believes in responsible, transparent and accountable political conduct. If any confusion or misunderstanding arises regarding any matter, Jamaat believes in correcting it promptly. In this case as well, the necessary measures have already been taken.”