Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami says parliament must function through Islamic laws

In a major announcement to derail secular credentials Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mujibur Rahman has said that only Islamic laws should be followed in the national parliament in future, and there should be no place for man-made ideas or systems.

He made the remark at a public rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on Saturday calling for meeting a seven-point demand, including “justice” for the August 2024 mass killings, holding elections in a proportional representation system, and ensuring a level-playing field for all parties to ensure a free, fair, and peaceful vote.

‘If Pakistan’s 24 years and Bangladesh’s 54 years are added together, it amounts to 78 years. During this entire period, Islam has not been established in the national parliament, and not a single law based on the Quran has been implemented, resulting in unrest, corruption, and widespread suffering for the people,’ Rahman said.


At the rally, echoing Rahman, Jamaat executive council member ATM Azharul Islam said that if the fate of the 180 million people was to be changed, it could only be achieved by following the laws Allah.

‘Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is not a political party in the conventional sense, nor is it merely a religious organisation; it is a comprehensive Islamic movement with no affiliation outside Islam,’ he said.

Representatives from the Nationalist Citizen Party, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam, Khelafat Majlish, Gono Odhikar Parishad, and Nezam-e-Islam Party were present at the meeting, while no representative from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party attended.

BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters that the party had not received any invitation from the Jamaat.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Railway operated four special trains on the Dhaka–Chattogram, Dhaka–Mymensingh, Dhaka–Rajshahi, and Dhaka–Sirajganj routes between Friday night and Sunday morning to transport local-level Jamaat leaders and supporters to Dhaka for the rally, officials said on Saturday.