A spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has rejected opposition BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s statement calling their religious rally “controversial in nature” and pulling up the government for allowing them to hold the event.
Ahmad Tabsir Chowdhury said Mirza Fakhrul’s statement was a “glaring breach” of the constitution that allows all citizens to hold rallies, irrespective of religion, caste and creed.
A group of Islamists attacked Ahmadnagar village under the northern Panchagarh Sadar on March 2 during a Jalsa of the community.
After the attack, the BNP secretary general blamed the government and said the attack “was staged by the government to divert the attention."
But a day later Mirza Fakhrul said, “Why did the government give permission to hold such a controversial event?" The video of that statement has generated reaction among netizens on social media.
“We unanimously reject this statement,” Tabsir Chowdhury, the Ahmadiyya spokesperson, said.
He reminded Mirza Fakhrul of constitutional obligations that allows citizens to hold rallies, and said: “Our rally was scheduled to be held inside our premises. We did not seek permission to take it at busy streets like capital’s Paltan and we believe it is our right to hold such events as these are peaceful in nature”.
Article 37 in the constitution denotes “every citizen shall have the right to assemble and to participate in public meetings and processions peacefully and without arms, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of public order or public health.”
He further questioned “how can Fakhrul become oblivious to such constitutional rights. Such statements by Fakhrul clearly affront our constitutional rights to hold such events peacefully”.
“And When such statements come out directly from the mouth of a political party’s stalwart like Fakhrul, it is really ironic for us,” he added.
He further requested all the political parties to at least maintain a modicum of decency while making comments on issues like this surrounding any minority community.
Fakhrul's remark comes at a time when Basherkella – a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Twitter account – condemned police action to stop the violence over the Ahmadiyya religious event and called for "boycotting" the community.
The Ahmadiyya community has called it a "hate campaign" against them.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami's Acting Secretary General Maulana ATM Masum issued a statement on 5 March, asking the government to officially declare the Ahmadiyya community "non-Muslim".
