JnU students protest Jamaat chief’s remarks on women

Bangla Press Desk: Students of Jagannath University (JnU) held a protest rally on Sunday against remarks made by Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman about working women on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

The protest took place at noon in the university’s Shanti Chattar, where participants described the comments as “objectionable” and “demeaning to women’s dignity.”

Addressing the rally, Farzana Akhter Tumpa, literary and cultural secretary of the university’s women’s hall union and president of the hall unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, strongly condemned the remarks.

She said that such “vulgar and offensive” comments from a person holding a responsible position were unacceptable.

Comparing working women to prostitution, she added, was not only insulting to women but also a direct attack on their human dignity.

JnU unit Chhatra Dal Joint Convener Khadijat-ul Kubra said it was deeply shameful for a responsible figure like the Jamaat ameer to make such statements.

“Equating working women with prostitution can never be acceptable,” she said.

She further noted that millions of women in Bangladesh — including doctors, engineers, teachers, and garment workers — play a vital role in the country’s economy.

“The mindset that assumes women leave their homes to engage in immoral activities is a gross insult to women,” she added.

Khadijat-ul Kubra also accused a political party of hypocrisy, alleging that it uses women for political campaigns on one hand while devaluing them on the other.

She called for an end to such double standards and said women voters would respond through the ballot on the 12th.

A number of female members of the university unit of Chhatra Dal, along with general students, were present at the protest.

The protest follows a post made on Saturday (31 Jan) from Shafiqur’s X account, which was later claimed by Jamaat as the account being hacked.

BP/SP