Opposition leader and Jamaat Amir Dr Shafiqur Rahman has said Jamaat-e-Islami is not a party of angels. “We are human, we too make mistakes. We have said one thing clearly: wrongdoing and Jamaat-e-Islami do not go together.”
He made the remarks at the party’s members’ (rukon) conference in Kakrail, Dhaka, on Friday.
The opposition leader said: “We do not claim that we make no mistakes. Rather we call on everyone to point out our mistakes. We will try to correct them. On the question of morality, Jamaat gives no quarter.”
Warning the party’s leaders and workers, Shafiqur Rahman said that just as even a slight stain shows clearly on white cloth, so too the slightest lapse by the workers of an ideological party catches people’s eye. Everyone must therefore stay maximally alert, he said. If a mistake is made there will be a chance to correct it, but if the offence is grave the party will not shrink from taking a hard decision either.
The devil always tries to mislead people, he said, so leaders and workers must be honest and moral in everything. If the honesty of the leadership is ensured, positive change will come to society too.
The opposition leader also said that in every age there have been some crime-prone people. That is why, age after age, people were given guidance towards the right path through the prophets and messengers. “We try to correct ourselves. Even so, just as there can be empty husks among the grains of paddy, there can be exceptions within a society or an organisation,” he said.
On the country’s political situation, he said the spirit of Bangladesh’s mass movement is also having an effect in various countries of the world. But no foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs is desirable, he remarked.
Criticising the government over the referendum, Shafiqur Rahman said the government’s position on the referendum has become clear today. The will of the people is supreme, he said. “The constitution is for the people; the people are not for the constitution. Accepting the result of one popular verdict and denying another cannot be acceptable.”
He said that if problems are not solved in parliament, the people will find the solution on the streets — as happened in 2024. Addressing the government, he said: “Do not pull the constitution about too much. We want to see the government respect the people’s verdict. We will continue our programmes to establish the people’s rights.”
Expressing concern over the country’s law and order situation, he said crimes including murder, terrorism and drugs are rising in the country. The home minister is not as attentive to the duties of his own ministry as he is active on other matters, he said, and should give importance to the work of his ministry and ensure an environment for the country’s people to live in peace.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report