Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Secretary General and former Member of Parliament, Professor Mia Golam Porwar, issued a statement on 26 October expressing concern over the unreasonable and baseless demand made by the BNP to exclude officials and employees of various service-oriented and non-political institutions—including Islami Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Islami Bank Hospital, and Ibn Sina Hospital—from election duties in the upcoming national election.

In his statement, he said, “On 23 October, one of the major political parties of the country, the BNP, urged the Election Commission not to assign officials and employees of Islami Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Islami Bank Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital, and other similar service-oriented and non-political organizations to election duties. I express my concern over this call. We believe this demand is politically motivated, unreasonable, and completely unacceptable. There is no logical basis behind it.”

He further stated, “These institutions are service-oriented and non-political. For a long time, they have been performing their duties with great reputation and efficiency. People from all walks of life, irrespective of religion or background, have been receiving services from these institutions with satisfaction. The officials and employees of these organizations carry out their duties with honesty and dedication—their neutrality has never been in question.”

He added, “The people of the country believe that if political parties continue to make such baseless accusations against service-oriented and non-political institutions, it will create uncertainty and disorder surrounding the election itself. If the Election Commission accepts such flimsy, politically motivated, and misleading demands, many more pointless demands will follow in the future, which could disrupt the electoral process.”

“We call upon the Election Commission not to entertain this misleading, baseless, flimsy, and politically motivated demand of the BNP,” he concluded.