Acting Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Maulana ATM Masum issued the following statement on 30th March 2023 protesting and condemning the arrest of 17 people from Dhaka’s Gulshan area’s Quran Shikha Kendra (Quran Learning Center) and subsequently the remand order granted by the court against them.

Gulshan thana police arrested 17 Muslim devotees from Dhaka’s Gulshan area’s Quran Shikha Kendra (Quran Learning Center) including the Imam, two women, and kids while they are saying the Tarabih prayer on the last 27th of March. When their family members and relatives went to the police station to provide them with necessary items, police also arrested 3 of them and consequently arrested another two after carrying an arrest drive in various houses. In total, the law enforcers arrested 21 people in line with this incident. Such an arrest drive is unexpected and untoward. I am condemning the incident severely.

Later, police lodged cases against them in line with the special power act and explosive act. This is the most heinous incident in history. Police claimed that they recovered cocktails along with some books. Police’s claim of recovering explosives from general Muslim devotees, women, and kids is ridiculous. The nation is really embarrassed due to the police’s false campaign.

Police termed the detainees as Jamaat-Shibir activists. The countrymen are not convinced by such a claim. Jamaat-Shibir are not banned organizations so there is no logical ground to arrest the activists of these organizations because of their affiliation. The constitution guarantees all citizens to form a political party. Jamaat-e-Islami is a systematic and democratic party. So, the citizens have the right to get involved with this party. No one has the right to deprive a citizen of this right.

Instead of discharging the due responsibilities, the law enforcers are being used as tools of the government. The consequence of such repression does not bring positive results. The government can not hold office for long by oppressing the people with dissident views.

I am urging the countrymen to raise their voices against this tyrannical government. Besides, I am calling upon the concerned authorities to stop torture and repression and to release all the detained leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatrashibir immediately.