Home minister holds meeting with Qawmi madrasa leaders

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has held a meeting with the top clerics of Bangladesh's Qawmi madrasas amid heated protests by Hifazat-e Islam leaders against the construction of a sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka.

The meeting started at Kamal's Dhanmondi residence around 9pm on Monday and lasted for about two hours.

A 12-member delegation led by Maulana Mahmudul Hasan, president of Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasa Education Board, attended the meeting with the minister, according to Sharif Mahmud Apu, a spokesman for the home ministry.

He will brief the media on the details of the meeting at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

Asked about the details of the meeting, Apu said, "The overall situation of the country and sculpture were discussed at the meeting."

Leaders of Hifazat-e-Islam, an alliance of various Qawmi madrasa-centric organisations, railed against the initiative to build a sculpture of Bangabandhu at Dholairpar in Dhaka to mark the Father of the Nation's birth centenary.

Hifazat's Joint General Secretary Mamunul Haque threatened to toss the sculpture into the Buriganga if it was made while Junaid Babunagari, the chief of the radical Islamist group, also threatened to pull down statues no matter which party erects them at a religious gathering in Chattogram.

But the threats have been widely condemned by the civil society with various political, social and cultural organisations taking to the streets in protest.

Under the circumstances, the top scholars of Qawmi madrasas held a discussion at Jatrabari madrasa in Dhaka on Dec 5 led by Mahmudul Hasan. But it is not known whether they presented any proposals from that meeting to the home minister.