Jamaat expels Barguna leader over controversial DUCSU remarks

The move comes after he labelled the student union a "drug den and brothel"

Jamaat-e-Islami has expelled a party leader from Barguna after he described the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) as a “drug den and brothel”.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mohibullah Harun, the chief of the party’s district committee, said Shamim Ahsan had been removed from his post as assistant secretary general of the district unit, that his party membership had been suspended and that he had been expelled from the organisation.

Ahsan, also the headmaster of a secondary school in Pathaghata Upazila, made the remarks on Saturday night at an election rally, prompting protests in Dhaka and other parts of the country.

The district Jamaat unit said the "reckless" remarks about Dhaka University, widely regarded as the country’s leading institution of higher education and often referred to as the “Oxford of the East”, had hurt and angered current and former students as well as people from different walks of life.

The party said the comments ran counter to its principles and had damaged its image, adding that action was taken following a decision by the district executive committee.

Harun said Jamaat was a "disciplined political party" and that no one involved in acts of indiscipline would be spared.