Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Professor Mia Golam Parwar has alleged that former MP Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman was arrested out of anger at his leaving the BNP to join Jamaat.
He was speaking as chief guest at a protest rally at the north gate of Baitul Mokarram mosque in Dhaka on Saturday.
“As a senior citizen, a freedom fighter and a former MP, Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman can speak about irregularities, mismanagement, corruption and incompetence at Shahjalal International Airport, and if necessary rebuke useless, failed and incompetent officials. But by making an issue of that airport incident, arresting him and taking him on remand, the government has essentially vented political vengeance and anger,” Parwar said.
He said that while BNP leaders went into hiding during programmes announced by Khaleda Zia, Jamaat and Shibir had given their lives on the streets, and BNP leaders could not be found, some even switching off their phones.
Addressing the prime minister, Parwar said he was speaking against his own mother by calling “secret” and “anti-liberation” the very people his mother had formed an alliance and a government with. He alleged that it is the government, not Jamaat, that has covert ties with the Awami League, which is why the Awami League is able to march in the streets.
Presiding over the rally, central executive council member and Dhaka Metropolitan North chief Mohammad Selim Uddin said Ershad had been politically buried and the Awami League had had to flee to Delhi after playing dirty politics over Jamaat, and anyone who tried it again would face a worse fate. By arresting Akhtaruzzaman and taking him on remand, the government wants to send the message that no one can speak against its corruption and irregularities, he said.
Other Jamaat leaders also spoke. After the rally a procession demanding his immediate release went from the Baitul Mokarram north gate through Paltan and the Press Club to the Matsya Bhaban crossing.
Akhtaruzzaman was arrested on Friday in a case filed by an airport security officer, accusing him of creating disorder at the airport, obstructing officials and assaulting an officer on duty.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report