Sheikh Hasina slams Hefazet e Islam’s anti-Modi protests – targets religious extremism

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The Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has come down heavily on the radical outfit Hefazat-e-Islami and its leaders, who had ignited protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka.</p>
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A fiery Sheikh Hasina thundered in Parliament on Sunday, castigating Hefazat-e-Islam as a disgrace to the name of Islam, after the Islamic group’s Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque was caught red-handed at a resort with a woman.</p>
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Listing the series of violent protests carried out by Hefazat across the country, Bangladeshi PM said: “I don't want to say what their (Mamunul) character is but you saw it for yourself yesterday. They get caught doing unholy deeds while talking about religion and sanctity”.  A visibly angry Sheikh Hasina fumed that the “"Hefazat leader Mamunul set vehicles on fire and attacked people… after then he went to spend holidays with a beautician in a resort, whom he claimed as his second wife.”</p>
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According to the Dhaka Tribune, Sheikh Hasina warned leaders and supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam involved in the long spell of violence since last month following the visit of PM Modi of legal action. She stressed that her government's zero-tolerance strategy against the hardliners and their organisations. "You, the Hefazat leaders and workers, don't you go to study at Deoband (in India)? So, how dare you protest against the Prime Minister of India's visit?" she said angrily.</p>
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People will never spare these militants, those who only destroy Islam, she said.</p>
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"I want to ask… Islam is a religion of peace, how did these Hefazat militants attack the public!" She added:  "It is a secular country, no one should be attacked in the name of Islam. Who uses children in massacres, set vehicles and homes of Awami League leaders on fire, attacked Awami league workers only, destroyed all the establishments of the government…? These militants are a shame to the Muslims. Those militants will never be spared," she said in her 44 minutes speech ending the parliament session.</p>
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Earlier on Sunday morning, Hasina asked officials of National Security Intelligence (NSI), to take action against the leaders and supporters of the outfit strictly.</p>
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Hefazat-e-Islam is a fundamentalist group that has been at loggerheads with the Sheikh Hasina government over the past 10 years. It has demanded action against atheist bloggers and asked women to veil themselves. According to the sources, Hefazat-e-Islam is a front for the banned Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami which has a strong link with Pakistan and its ISI.  The present chief of the Hefazet-e-Islam Junaid Babu Nagari is a Hadith scholar who studied in Pakistan’s Jamia Uloom-e-Islamia for four years.</p>
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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has always underlined her government's "zero-tolerance" policy to counter violent extremism. She has also positioned her party the Awami League as a secular nationalist party, emphasising on its prosecution and execution of hardline Jamaat-e-Islami leaders who were found guilty of war crimes during the Liberation war in 1971.</p>
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Last year while inaugurating the 50th years of Independence, she issued a strong warning against religious fanatics, saying that her government would not let anyone create any division and anarchy in the country over religion.</p>
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"This Bangladesh is the Bangladesh of Lalon Shah, Rabindranath, Kazi Nazrul, Jiban Ananda… this Bangladesh is the Bangladesh of Shahjalal, Shah Poran, Shah Mokdum, Khanjahan Ali; this Bangladesh is the Bangladesh of Sheikh Mujib and 16.5 crore Bangalis, this country is for all. We won't allow anyone to create any division and anarchy in the name of religion," she asserted.</p>