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| Bangladesh |
| Hefazat plans showdown in Chittagong city |
| 2014-03-29 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] The radical Islamist group Hefajat-e-Islam ...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home... is planning to flex its muscle in Chittagong city in the name of a two-day Islamic conference scheduled to be held in the first week of April in Laldighi Maidan. Leaders of the organization at a presser on February 11 announced that it would hold the Resalat Conference on April 3. Hefazat Organising Secretary Azizul Hoque Islamabadi said they had already gotten approval from the CMP. However the date of the conference could be deferred by a day or two due to the ongoing ICC World Cup T20. He also said although there was no cricket match on those days the CMP requested them to defer it by a day or two for the sake of the smooth exit of the foreign guests. "We have completed all preparations," he said adding that they were expecting participation of more than 50 thousand people at the two-day conference. A leader of the organization preferring anonymity said they would hold the conference in Chittagong as the government was not allowing them to hold any rally in the city since the incident of Shapla Chattar in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. "We will ensure huge gathering as it is the first programme in the city after the incident at Shapla Chattar," he added. Earlier, the Hefazat announced to hold two-day Islamic conference on the Jamaatul Falah Mosque premises in the city on December 12 and 13 but failed to do so as the CMP did not allow them. The organization announced a dawn-to-dusk hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in Chittagong on December 15 protesting the decision of the CMP but they later called it off. |
| Posted by:Fred |