Jamaat ameer says party will work with BNP in national interest

Bangla Press Desk:  Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman has met BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, saying that Jamaat is prepared to work with the BNP in the interest of the country.

The meeting took place around 7:00pm on Thursday at the BNP chairperson’s office in Gulshan. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed were also present during the talks.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Dr Shafiqur Rahman said discussions were held with Tarique Rahman on whether all political forces could work together after the national election and before the formation of a new government to restore a healthy democratic environment in the country.

He said the nation bid farewell to Begum Khaleda Zia with deep emotion and tears. “Begum Khaleda Zia led this nation three times as prime minister. Beyond that, she lived a life of uncompromising struggle. She fought throughout her life for the restoration of democracy and the establishment of citizens’ rights. In the course of that struggle, the final phase of her life was spent painfully in isolation in prison,” he said.

Also present from Jamaat-e-Islami were Assistant Secretary General and head of the publicity department Ehsanul Mahbub Zubayer, and executive committee members Mobarak Hossain and Saiful Alam Khan Milon.

Meanwhile, addressing media reports published on Wednesday regarding his interview with Reuters, Dr Shafiqur Rahman clarified in a post on his verified Facebook page that the meeting with India was not secret.

He said that in a recent interview with Reuters, a journalist asked him whether Jamaat had any contact, discussions or meetings with India, given that it is a neighbouring country. In response, he explained that after returning home following medical treatment due to illness in mid-last year, many people from home and abroad came to meet him.

He noted that, alongside diplomats from other countries, two Indian diplomats had visited him at his residence at that time. “Like others, there was a courtesy meeting and general discussion with them,” he said.

Dr Shafiqur Rahman further stated that he had made it clear during discussions with diplomats that all such meetings were publicised, and that he had also wanted to disclose the meeting with the Indian diplomats. However, they had requested that it not be made public.

He added that it was made clear then that any future meeting concerning issues of mutual interest between the two countries would be made public, and that there was nothing confidential about such engagements.

Expressing surprise at reports claiming that he had held secret meetings with India, the Jamaat ameer strongly condemned such news and urged the media to refrain from publishing misleading reports without verifying the facts.

BP/SP