Acting Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Maulana ATM Masum has issued the following statement on 1st April 2023 protesting and condemning the police’s attack on the procession of Islami Aain Bastobayon Committee (Islamic Law Implementation Committee).

“A demonstration was brought out from the north gate premise of Baitul Mukarram on 31st March protesting against the arrest of Muslim devotees from an Islamic center at Gulshan of the capital. While, the procession was about to conclude at the Bijay Nagar circle, all of a sudden police attacked the demonstrators which left many general people injured, and several demonstrators were arrested from the spot. We do not have the word to condemn the arrest drive from a religious gathering followed by a procession.

The incident of arresting pious people while they were saying their prayers and the subsequent arrest of some people who went there to protest the incident is pathetic. These two incidents demonstrated that the government does not believe in religious freedom. By making the attack, the government took a stance against Islam. These incidents have exposed the unilateral ruling system of the incumbent government.

I am urging the concerned authorities to withdraw the false cases, filed against the Muslim devotees and simultaneously demanding their immediate release.