Central Publicity Affairs Secretary of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and party’s central executive committee member Matiur Rahman Akanda has issued the following statement on 17 August 2021 protesting and gainsaying an article titled ‘সিরিজ বোমা বিস্ফোরণ এবং জামায়াতের রাজনীতি’ (‘Series bomb blast and the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami) published in Bengali daily ‘Kaler Kantha’ today.
“In the article titled article titled ‘সিরিজ বোমা বিস্ফোরণ এবং জামায়াতের রাজনীতি’ (‘Series bomb blast and the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami), its author Major General retired Mohammad Ali Shikdar has presented some peculiar and fictitious information against Jamaat-e-Islami is totally false, concocted and politically motivated. The column highlighted some information which is far away from truth. I am condemning this intentional propaganda.
In the article, the author stated that in 1953 around 50 thousand Qadiani people had been killed as per the instruction of Mawdudi. But Maulana Mawdudi ordered nobody to conduct such killing. Nobody before Major General retired Mohammad Ali Shikdar had made such claim. The article further claimed that at the end of 1971, Professor Ghulam Azam flew to Pakistan. It was also a sheer lie. Actually, Professor Ghulam Azam went to Pakistan for attending a conference on 21 November of 1971. He wanted to come back to Bangladesh on 3rd December of 1971 but it was not allowed to land in Dhaka. As a result, he became compelled to pass 8 long years in foreign countries. At one point of the article, it was said, Ghulam Azam knew very well that Bangladeshi people have a strong hatred against the name of Jamaat-e-Islami. It is also a false claim. Jamaat has participated in all the parliamentary and local government elections. A significant number of Jamaat candidates had secured victory in those elections which is a certain proof of Jamaat’s popularity. In his article, he tried to implicate Jamaat-e-Islami with the series bomb blast of 2005. He termed JMB as the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami which is also a baseless claim. Even the mad people will not believe his claim. With this article, Major General retired Mohammad Ali Shikdar actually tried to serve the hidden agenda of an invisible vested quarter.
We want to assert that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is a systematic and democratic political party. Jamaat-e-Islami do not believe in terrorism and the party was never got involved with terror acts. Since the inception of Bangladesh, Jamaat has been playing active role in the overall development and prosperity of Bangladesh. Through its welfare activities, Jamaat has been able to secure a place in people’s heart. As such, the people of Bangladesh will not be confused and misguided with the propaganda of the vested propagandists like Major General retired Mohammad Ali Shikdar.
I am urging Major General retired Mohammad Ali Shikdar to be refrained from presenting such false and baseless information against Jamaat-e-Islami. I am also calling upon the authorities of Daily Kaler Kantha not to publish such fictitious article in future.
