Leave Dhaka after rally: Ashraf to Hifazat

The Awami League has asked Hifazat-e-Islam activists to leave Dhaka after their rally without causing chaos.

“No anarchy will be tolerated,” spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam warned at a press briefing amid Hifazat’s rally in the Motijheel business district.

The ruling party’s spokesperson told the Chittagong-based Islamic radicals to not mistake the government’s magnanimity for weakness.

“This time we allowed you to come to Dhaka, next time you will not be able to come (Dhaka) or even come out of your homes.”

Supporters of the organisation started gathering thronging the Motijheel after blocking the accesses to the capital to press for their 13-point charter of demands.

A group of Hifazat supporters locked horns with the law keepers at Gulistan at around noon and the violence spilled to nearby Paltan, Bijoynagar, Kakrail, and Naya Paltan. Hifazat activists went berserk vandalising and torching hundreds of shops and damaging vehicles.

Clashes were going on during Ashraf’s media briefing. He also hinted at going hardline if there were ‘any chaos’.

He said the government would do ‘everything necessary’ to maintain law and order and safety of the people and their property.

Ashraf asked the Hifazat activists to wrap up their rally by evening and leave Dhaka and threatened actions if they did not.

Minutes after the leader’s statement, a Hifazat leader countered, saying they would make the Awami League leave the capital.

At the briefing, Ashraf advised the radical group against considering the ruling party ‘weak’. “The Awami League alone is enough to teach you a lesson,” he said.

The little-known group came to the limelight after it announced to oppose a programme of the Ganajagaran Mancha in Chittagong in March. It has termed the organisers of the Mancha ‘atheists’ and demanded punishment.

The Ganajagaran Mancha has been demonstrating since Feb 5 demanding maximum penalty for convicted war criminals and a ban of the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party. The ruling party alleges the Hifazat is backed by the Jamaat and the BNP.

In April, the radical group had rallied in the capital and put forth a controversial 13-point charter of demands including scrapping the women’s policy and banning the public mixing of sexes.

Ashraf termed the Hifazat the successor of infamous ‘al-Badr’ and ‘Razakars’, the forces that had sided with the akistani troops and actively opposed the nation’s struggle for freedom.

He said the people of Bangladesh will not tolerate mayhem in the name of religion and reiterated the government was ready to take any measures necessary.

Asked if there were any relations between the BNP’s 48-hour ultimatum to concede its demand of a non-party polls-time government and the Hifazat’s rally, Ashraf said the programmes had been fixed after discussion.