Country’s two of the most influential Islamic organisations—Hefazat-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami—launched near-simultaneous but separate attacks on the interim government’s Women’s Reform Commission, accusing it of promoting “anti-Islamic” recommendations and demanding its immediate dissolution.
The first blow came from Hefazat-e-Islam, which organised a large-scale rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday. Thousands of activists gathered from across the country to denounce the commission’s reported suggestions to ensure equal rights in matters of inheritance.
At the rally, Hefazat’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Maulana Mahfuzul Haque read out a 12-point charter of demands, prominently featuring the call for abolishing the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission.
“We urge the government not to tolerate any anti-Qur’an or anti-Sunnah policies in a country where 90 percent of the population is Muslim,” Haque said.
Hefazat Ameer Muhibullah Babunagari later declared a nationwide protest programme for May 23 after Jumm’ah prayers.
“The commission is illegitimate and must be disbanded,” he asserted.
Hefazat Secretary General Sajidur Rahman announced that in addition to the May 23 protests, the group will hold divisional conferences over the next three months to “raise awareness and pressure the authorities.”
The second strike came from Jamaat-e-Islami, whose Ameer, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, took the stage at the inauguration of a two-day conference of district and metropolitan leaders at Al-Falah Auditorium in Dhaka’s Moghbazar.
“Some of the recommendations submitted by the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission are in direct violation of Allah’s commands,” Dr. Rahman stated.
“If those are accepted, it would amount to altering the Qur’an. But Allah has declared He revealed the Qur’an and He will protect it. Not a single letter or dot can be changed.”
He warned the government against entertaining “secular and foreign-inspired agendas” in the name of reform, saying such steps would spark nationwide resistance.