BNP has questioned the credibility of Jamaat-e-Islami’s claim that its Ameer Shafiqur Rahman’s X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked, noting that the statement came nine hours after a post drew widespread criticism.
Mahdi Amin, spokesperson for BNP’s election management committee, expressed doubt over the credibility of such claims at a press conference at the party’s Gulshan office on Sunday.
He said, “After nearly nine hours of criticism over an anti-women post, how logical is it to suddenly claim at 1am that the account was hacked?”
He added, “We all know that when any important or verified account is hacked, the first and foremost responsibility is to immediately inform the public so that confusion does not spread and people remain cautious. But here, the hacking claim was made only after public outrage had already erupted.”
Referring to several posts made from Shafiqur Rahman’s Facebook account during the same period, Mahdi said, “Among those, we did not see any post mentioning that his X account was hacked. Later, we noticed that they went to Hatirjheel Police Station at 3:30am to file a general diary (GD). In that GD, it was clearly stated that they learned about the hacking at 4:55pm.”
Mahdi, also an adviser to the BNP chairman, said, “If they knew in the afternoon that the account was hacked, why was the GD filed almost 12 hours later? Is there any logical explanation for this delay? Moreover, how credible is the claim that the account was restored just hours after announcing it was hacked?”
“We want to say clearly that we always stand for women’s freedom, dignity, and equal rights. Such language and mentality cannot be acceptable in any civilized society. This is an outright expression of misogyny.”
The BNP spokesperson added, “We are deeply shocked to see that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman, from his verified X handle, used filthy, vile, and derogatory language towards women, which has sparked nationwide discussion. If this is true, then it is an attempt to push the entire social system back into medieval darkness.”
He continued, “Regrettably, this is not new behavior for this political party. Earlier, we saw one of their leaders use the same obscene words towards female students of Dhaka University. We also saw the party chief openly make remarks about reducing women’s working hours.”
“We have seen this party repeatedly declare that no woman can ever hold its top leadership position. Yet their women members go door to door collecting people’s NID cards and bKash numbers. Is this their so-called justice?”
He said, “Jamaat claims that people have already seen the BNP, and now they should be given a chance. But the people of this country are already witnessing how, in the name of medieval barbarism, half of the population—our mothers and sisters—are being insulted. On behalf of the BNP, we declare clearly that there will be no compromise, no fear, and no retreat when it comes to protecting women’s dignity across the country and online.”
BNP Media Cell convener Moudud Hossain Alamgir Pavel, Jubo Dal central president Abdul Monayem Munna, and Swechchasebak Dal central senior vice-president Yasin Ali were present, among others.
