Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman has stated a party that has nominated 39 loan defaulters and bank looters as parliamentary candidates cannot build a corruption-free country, adding that it does not befit such a party to speak of creating a corruption-free Bangladesh.
“Corruption and extortion cannot be stopped by sending thieves and looters to parliament,” he said on Sunday afternoon, coming down heavily on the party’s main rival, BNP, in the 12 February general election without explicitly mentioning the party.
Addressing a Jamaat election rally for the Dhaka-6 constituency at Dhupkhola Field in the capital, the Jamaat chief called on voters to ensure victory for the 11-party alliance, saying that politicians are expected to guide the nation and help establish justice and fairness.
However, he said, it was unfortunate that those who had ruled the country in rotation over the past 54 years had failed to ensure justice or implement meaningful plans for the younger generation.
As a result, he said, many young men and women have gone astray, getting caught up in extortion, terrorism and looting.
Shafiqur Rahman said, “Although we became independent from British rule in 1947, we could not enjoy true freedom. In 1971, we again became independent from Pakistan, but we still did not achieve real freedom. In 2024, we were freed from the fascism of imperialist collaborators. We do not want to see any more fascism.”
He said that, while Jamaat believes in friendship with all countries but will not allow any nation to act as master, warning that any attempt to interfere in Bangladesh’s internal affairs would be met with an appropriate response.
Urging young people to prepare themselves to bring about societal change, the Jamaat chief said the next generation would provide future leadership, and that Jamaat-e-Islami has taken necessary plans in that regard for youth development.
If voted into power, he said, the party would not create an “ocean of unemployment” through welfare but would instead turn young people into skilled entrepreneurs.
Also speaking at the rally, Liberal Democratic Party Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed Bir Bikram said the objective of the 1971 Liberation War was to establish a just society, achieve economic freedom and ensure peace and prosperity for the people, but those goals have yet to be achieved, urging voters to ensure victory for the 11-party alliance candidates.
The rally at Dhopkhola Field was chaired by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Dhaka Metropolitan South working committee member and Dhaka-6 constituency committee director Kamrul Ahsan Hasan.
Others present included Nezame-e-Islam Party Secretary General Musa bin Izhar, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami central Majlis-e-Shura member and Dhaka Metropolitan South Nayeb-e-Ameer Abdus Sabur, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis leader Maulana Jahirul Islam, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami central working committee member and Dhaka Metropolitan South Nayeb-e-Ameer Md Helal Uddin.
Also present were AB Party central Organising Secretary Gazi Nasir Uddin, NCP central Joint Member Secretary Alauddin Mohammad, Sheikh Jamal Hossain, father of July uprising martyr Junayed, and Jucsu Vice-President Riazul Islam, among others.
