Hefazat demands arrest of Sultana Kamal within 24 hours

Hefazat Vice-President Junayed demanded that the government remove the Lady Justice statue from its new location immediately.

Hefazat’s Dhaka city unit leaders on Friday demanded the arrest of rights activist Sultana Kamal within 24 hours, after the committee took offence to hypothetical arguments she made on a News24 talk show.

Vice-President of the Qawmi madrasa-based platform Junayed Al-Habib voiced the demand at a protest programme on the relocation of the Lady Justice statue held at Baitul Mukkaram National Mosque.

The Hefazat leader demanded that Sultana Kamal either be arrested within a day or be exiled from the country like Taslima Nasreen.

Junayed said: “How dare Sultana Kamal! She said that if the statue is not in the country then mosques should not be in the country. If you [Sultana Kamal] come out to the streets, we will break every bone in your body.”

However, at the talk show in question, in response to Hefazat leader Mufti Shakawat Hossain’s statement that no religious structures should be on the Supreme Court premises, Sultana Kamal said: “Then no mosques should be on the premises either.”

Sultana Kamal said that she had meant no harm to any other religious sentiments.

Meanwhile, Junayed also demanded that the government remove the Lady Justice statue from in front of the apex court’s annex building.

Addressing the prime minister and the chief justice, he said: “You will remove the idol from the annex building or we will come to remove it ourselves. If we have to remove the idol, we will remove all idols from Bangladesh.”

Hefazat leaders at the programme also claimed that the idol was installed to satisfy the whims of foreign groups.

Hefazat Vice-President Mujibur Rahman Peshwari said: “Prime Minister [Sheikh Hasina], you are losing votes for the actions of just three or four people. Indian Prime Minister Modi will not keep you in power. This election will not be like the one on January 5, 2014.”

Hefazat leaders also claimed that Chief Justice SK Sinha had lost his credibility and they called for his resignation.

In addition, Hefazat’s Dhaka city committee chief Nur Hossain Kasemi said that they would stage large-scale protests after Ramadan if the statue was not removed at the soonest.

Source: dhakatribune